A/N: Many thanks to my lovely Beta LDT5413. Your encouragement and help have been amazing!

"My Boot's acting weird."

Officer Tim Bradford sighed, feeling frustrated and annoyed, and looked expectantly at both women. They were all grabbing a quick lunch between calls.

"Weirder than Boots usually act, you mean?" Angela inquired without even glancing up from her sandwich.

"I'm being serious, she's all, blah. I don't know how to explain it, I don't speak girl." Tim rolled his eyes.

Talia smacked him in the shoulder. "And you almost had me fooled, what with all that seemingly real concern for a human being other than yourself."

"Hey!" He complained, squinting his eyes threateningly. "I worry about people. Just not a lot. But anyway, I'm really worried about Chen. She's just… not herself, lately."

"How so?" Talia asked, more for his sake than personal interest.

"Well… she's quieter. Does everything I ask her to do before I even say the words. And the other day she even told me how much she appreciated everything I had taught her, including all the teasing." Tim's eyes were wide, and his frown deepened as his friends remained apparently unconcerned. "How do you not find this weird?"

"I find it good. Excellent, actually." Talia shrugged.

"Ideal, even." Angela concurred, slightly envious. "I wish my Boot was that well-trained." She murmured wistfully.

"He'd need a good trainer for that." Tim smirked, and groaned in pain again as Angela smacked right where he'd been hit by Talia. "But still, I have a bad feeling; I don't like having those. I don't like caring, but that's what happens when we have sad little rookies following us around every day and depending on us for everything."

"Are you done venting?"

"No. Are you always this empathetic, Bishop?"

"No. I'm usually even less, but I'm feeling generous today. Your sad little rookie is coming this way, and I just thought you wouldn't particularly enjoy her finding out you actually care about her."

Tim winced as he thought of the implications that revelation would have on their partnership, the most important one being she would lose the little remaining fear she felt towards him. He turned his head around to see Chen coming their way, having finished eating before her two companions. Her expression was the same one she had been sporting the past few weeks: tense, professional and dare he say a little sad.

"Officer Bradford, I'm ready. If you want, I can go back to the shop while you finish eating and start running some plates."

Tim eyed her intently scrutinizing her words, her posture, her expression in search for an explanation as to why he felt so out of sorts regarding her. Running plates was, in fact, quite a good idea, and he had no idea why it made him so uncomfortable to hear her so competently suggest it.

Talia coughed discreetly, bringing him back from his thoughts.

"Uh, sure. Go ahead. I expect at least 35 plates checked before I get there."

Chen smiled. "I wouldn't expect any less."

As Chen walked away, Angela laughed sarcastically. "Oh, yeah, I see what you mean, Poor you, boo hoo, you have a competent Boot you no longer need to order around to get things done. I feel for you. Really."

"Shut up." Tim mumbled, and took a bite out of his hot dog.

They had been driving around for almost an hour without a call getting in. It was an unusually hot day, and people were probably either enjoying the beach or conserving energy at home.

Yes, it was a slow day, and the quiet, sombre mood in the car was not aiding Tim in his efforts to stay awake.

"Boot, say something. I'm this close to taking an involuntary nap behind this wheel, and it's your duty to prevent your TO from causing an accident of potentially mass proportions."

He saw her smile slightly from the corner of his eye. Without taking her eyes off the road, she leaned comfortably into her seat. "What would you like to talk about?"

Tim rolled his eyes. "Anything that will keep me awake."

Chen chuckled quietly. "Sorry. I'm not really used to you wanting to chit chat in the shop."

"Never stopped you before."

"True." The sad smile returned, and Tim frowned slightly in response. "Well-"

The radio crackled to life as a call came through, "All units, be advised, blue Mercedes heading North in Ground Street with units in pursuit."

Tim all but sighed in relief. Finally some action.

"We're close. We'll intercept it. Tag us in-"

"Already on it." Chen nodded, picking up the radio and responded.

They headed towards Ground Street, speeding up as they began hearing the syrens. A dark blue Mercedes and four police cars came out of a narrow street and passed by them. Tim sped up to keep up with the chase, but as they were reaching a turnabout two of the police cars collided with a truck.

Chen gasped, and Tim all but hit both cars from behind, missing them by an inch.

"Hold on." He instructed, his gaze fixed on the blue Mercedes that kept going ahead. He was about to tell her to call in the accident, when he realized she was already doing it. "Good job, Boot. Now keep your eyes on the road. This guy has skills, and something tells me this isn't going to be easy."

"Got it."

Both kept their focus on the chase, wincing every time the Mercedes almost ran over a pedestrian.

"This guy's a menace. What the hell is he thinking?"

"There's a street fair a few blocks from here. If he reaches there…" She murmured, looking at him worriedly.

"Yeah." He answered, curtly. "Let's hope he crashes before he gets that far."

No more than three minutes later, one of the patrol cars bumped the Mercedes from behind, forcing him off the road in what was probably the least deserted part of the street. The Mercedes lost control and headed into an open field that was sometimes used as an illegal parking spot, and eventually stopped. Tim left the car along with Chen and they both took cover as they waited to see what would happen. Smoke was coming out of the front of the car, and the driver's door slowly opened. A man in his early forties came out of the car with his hands in the air, as instructed by the officers, and was immediately cuffed.

Tim smiled, content. "Now this was a chase. You see, Boot? Adrenaline. That's what I needed to stay awake. B-" He glanced around in search for her, and found she was no longer by the car. In fact, she was nowhere to be seen.

He stood up. "Boot?"

No answer.

Looking around, he spotted her behind a brick wall that had probably once belonged to a now demolished house. As he reached where she stood, he saw that she was hunched forward, vomiting.

"Boot?"

He heard her gasp slightly, only to vomit once more. Approaching her carefully, he spoke more gently than he had initially thought.

"You sick, Boot?"

She didn't answer and kept breathing heavily. Tim thought he heard a sob, but surely he had misheard. Chen didn't cry. And even if she did, she wouldn't sob. Not in front of him.

She mumbled something.

"What?"

"I made sure he was contained before I…" She repeated, without moving from her position. "I didn't leave… I didn't l-leave you without backup. I…"

"Sure, that's not what I'm…" He sighed. "Chen, listen, you're really starting to worry me, so I would appreciate if-"

"Okay."

"Huh?"

"Okay." Chen murmured, and then straightened up with difficulty. "I'll tell you. I had to, someday, anyway."

"Okay." Tim assented, more than a little wary of her tone. "You feeling better?"

Chen smiled a sad smile. "Yeah. Thanks."

"What…?"

Chen shrugged and looked him straight in the eye. "I messed up." Her lower lip trembled ever so slightly. "I got drunk one night, got r- raped and…" A sob escaped her, and soon she was collapsing into his arms.

Tim held her, a blank expression on his face. Angry thoughts ran furiously inside his head, and the only thing that was keeping him from physically reacting to her revelation was the fact that he knew if he let go she would collapse on the floor.

"And two weeks ago I found out that I'm pregnant."

Tim's heart painfully skipped a beat.