Jamie walked out of the locker room in his uniform and headed to Renzulli's office, he saw Renzulli through the window talking to who Jamie assumed was Kathleen Riley the Rookie he would be training. Jamie took a deep breath and knocked on the door, and when he heard Renzulli calling for him to enter he stepped through the door.
"Probationary Officer Kathleen Riley this is your Training Officer, Officer Jamie Reagan" said Renzulli, Jamie stepped forward and shook Kathleen's hand; he noticed that Kathleen had sharp deep blue eyes and light brown hair and also judging by her name must have Irish ancestors. "Right go out and get to know each other while doing your tour" finished Renzulli.
Jamie sniggered as he led Kathleen out of the office "that Riley is his 'polite' way of saying get out of my office" Kathleen cracked a smile and followed Jamie out of the office and outside to get in their squad car.
"So guessing by your name you have Irish ancestors?" asked Jamie, he thought as a conversation starter it seemed ok and a good starting point to share information.
"Yeah both my mom's and dad's families came from Ireland. What about you?" said Kathleen,
"Me too, guess that means we should get along fine. So were you named after anyone? As sometimes that is the tradition"
"I don't think so, and I know my name is a bit of a mouthful so most people, except my grandma that is, call me Kathy" smiled Kathy, "so do you come from one of those typical big Irish families?"
Jamie laughed "I wouldn't say so, I don't have any cousins from my dad's side of the family and I only have three cousins on my mom's side. And I'm one of four"
"Are you the unlucky youngest one?" asked Kathy,
Jamie smiled "yes unfortunately, by five years, I guess by saying that you are the youngest as well"
"Yep by seven years, but we also don't come from a big family. There's just me and my older brother and we have two cousins from my dad's side and none from my mom's side" replied Kathy observing the streets as Jamie steered them through the morning traffic.
"So are you the first cop in the family?" asked Jamie,
"Nope, my dad's side of the family are cops. My grandpa retired a Captain back in 2002, my dad was a cop, my two cousins who are twins are also cops and their dad is a cop as well"
Jamie looked at Kathy when they reached a set of lights, "you said your dad 'was' a cop?"
Kathy turned to face him and smiled sadly, "my dad was killed on duty when I was 8"
"I'm sorry" replied Jamie understanding how it felt to lose a family member to the job.
"It's ok" smiled Kathy shrugging, "it happened a long time ago"
"So I guess your mom wasn't best pleased when you said you wanted to be a cop?" asked Jamie knowing exactly how that felt.
"No she wasn't. I planned on going to the Academy straight after High school but my mom and brother didn't want me to so I agreed to go to college to appease them. I think they hoped I would change my mind but as you can see I hadn't" Kathy said watching the passing streets.
"Well I don't think I need to tell you if I'm the first cop in my family" smiled Jamie trying to lighten the mood,
"No I don't think you do" laughed Kathy, "so what's the plan of action?"
"Well" started Jamie as he pulled up the squad car on the edge of a park and got out quickly followed by Kathy, "as you would have been taught the basics in the Academy I think I'll teach you something my TO, Sergeant Renzulli, put great stock into and felt the Academy lacked in teaching"
"What's that?" asked Kathy keeping pace with Jamie as he led them towards an area which had lots of benches.
"The art of observation" replied Jamie, "now observe the people around in this area. You see that guy in the running clothes over there sitting on a bench? Now what do you think he's doing?"
Kathy observed the man sat on the bench waving his wife or girlfriend on and saying something she couldn't quite hear, "well it would look like he's hurt by the way he's holding his ankle but he seems a bit calm to have a hurt ankle so I'm guessing he's faking it so he can get out of running" commented Kathy. Jamie and Kathy then watched when after the woman was out of sight her partner got up completely fine and walked in what must have been the way back to their house or apartment.
"Well done Officer Riley it seems you have good observation skills" congratulated Jamie,
"Thanks sir" replied Kathy,
"Er… just call me Reagan while on duty and Jamie when off duty as I'm not really much of a higher rank than you" said Jamie,
"Ok" Kathy said when nodding.
"Oh I have to warn you that at some point you're going to have to meet my family as it is a sort of tradition to introduce the family to a partner as it also helps with getting to know each other better" said Jamie sympathetically, "don't worry no matter what you hear their alright, well all of them apart from my brother Danny. When you meet him on the job which you most likely will, just do the opposite of what he does"
"Right" laughed Kathy "and I have to warn you then that my family can be kinda odd, in a good way! But still odd"
Jamie laughed, "Come on Rookie we've got a tour to finish". Jamie felt more confident about being a TO after starting to show Kathy what to do on the streets and because she came from a family of cops she already knew the risks. Also because she appeared to have good observation skills and apparently good shooting skills Jamie felt easier knowing that he wasn't training someone who would be completely dependent on his guidance. Because that would only fuel his worry for getting another partner killed on the job.