Chapter 1. Beginning the End of the Year

At the Jump Street chapel. Tom, Judy, Ioki, and Doug sit at their desks in a cluster, obviously bored, all reading. It's the last week before high school summer vacation.

Tom Hanson couldn't take his eyes off of her, his sometimes partner, Judy Hoffs. Sitting next to Penhall, he looked over slyly while pretending to read a book. She was so close to him, reclined at her desk chair, ankles crossed and feet propped on the top. He wanted to reach his hand out and touch the dark curls framing her perfect face, run a finger along one of the thick red hoop earrings that dangled from her ears. Judy had great style, and had even taught Tom how to dress for the undercover work four years ago when he first came to Jump Street.

He didn't quite know what to make of her back then. The doe eyed and formerly brown haired Officer Hoffs. She was gorgeous as hell, that was for sure. But she didn't seem to be into him or anyone else. Lord knows Doug sure tried. Ioki too. Even Jenko once said that nothing could hold him back if he'd been fifteen years younger, and Captain Fuller, who thought of her as a daughter, admitted that he often put Judy out as surefire bait to gain young men's trust and help solve their cases. That's how they'd been able to get that big pot dealer to turn himself in, and how they'd captured a street gang leader who took over a high school.

Tom felt worried the first time that Fuller assigned him to work with Judy. Mostly because he didn't know Fuller well yet and missed Jenko. Also because he felt so comfortable with his best friend and usual partner, Penhall, the sensitive clown. Fortunately, working with Judy alone had turned out to be great. Really great. By personality, and also because of the impact on him after his father died, Tom usually came off as a warm yet reserved person. The women he normally dated said that they found him attractive because he seemed "mysterious" and, at a laugh to Tom, described him with words like smoldering and intense. But Tom had never agreed. "Nah, I'm just a cop. A cop who likes to bowl."

"You've got to loosen up, Hansen,"was the first thing that Judy told him, smiling, a pink bandana tied like a headband around her thick hair. With her, as partners and friends, he found himself opening up more and more. He liked how she always smiled and laughed at his sarcastic jokes. How she was smart and professional, and also bold enough to tell him or any other cop around when they were out of line or had gone too far. From her clothes to her police work, Judy was creative. She'd even helped Doug convince him to be in the McQuaid brothers, a routine he truly got a kick out of and loved acting with Penhall.

After everything that he and Judy had been through together and the lows they'd seen each other through, the worst of it being Amy's death, and then the rape, both of which he wished he could have prevented and saved each woman from, their true bond was in how much they both cared about police work and how their actions affected people. Both innocent and perps. In all honesty, Tom was beginning to regret some of the busts that he'd made over the years. After his brief stint going undercover in juvenile lock-up, running things as the shot caller, he began to question the effectiveness of the system and how sending these kids to the inside was like sending them to hell. Especially the good kids who'd just made mistakes or gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. Judy felt the same way.

One night at the chapel, they were alone together working late to fill out their reports. Tom had been quieter and much more tense than usual, his jaw line tight. Judy noticed and suggested that they get out of there, to go for a drive and get some air. She brought him up to lover's lane on the north shore, which surprised Tom but just made Judy laugh. She'd spent some time there during a hazing case and liked to visit it again whenever she needed a quiet place to come and sort out her thoughts.

"The kids sure picked a great place," she told him. Tom laughed too. Sitting there under the moonlight in his brown leather jacket, with her there next to him in a pink off-shoulder sweater, they looked like they could be a couple in one of those high school movies. Not usually his style. Tom noticed how deeply the work of pretending had taken over his life.

"What makes you want to be a cop, Hoffs?"Tom had asked her, looking for an answer that maybe he could share himself.

"I want to make a difference with my life. Why, Tom?"

"I don't know if I want to do this anymore. I don't know if I want to keep being a cop."

Judy didn't say anything back to him at first. Then, his movie girlfriend turned her slim body to face him and rested the side of her face against the headrest. Their deep brown eyes locked, and seemingly from out of nowhere, it was like a loud pop and firecracker sparklers went off inside of his mind. Tom broke from her eyes and turned his head down, a habit he had of going inside his mind to think. When he looked up, Judy's face was still there watching him, and he met her coffee eyes once again.

Right then and there, Tom Hansen realized that he was completely in love with Judy Hoffs.

"You're the best person I know…" He told her, even surprising himself. Judy's face registered an expression of faint confusion. She began to form her lips to speak, but Tom didn't give her a chance. His forehead softly moved to meet hers. Tom lingered, and could feel her warm exhalation against his cheek. His eyes swept around her face, taking it all in, and he felt bashful each time their eyes briefly locked. Tom traced a finger down the arm of her pink sweater.

"Jude…" he whispered, and then kissed her.