Worst thing on the Job
AN: Thanks to edge15684 for the review that inspired the chapter's name...
Here is the final part of the preview that Starting in What the future holds...
She knew that this was the hardest part of policing, but loosing one of your people is the worst thing that can happen to a supervisor at any level. Many people think that their boss is a heartless person who does not care at all, but McNally and her people learned that this was not the case. Now on the way to the recent Police Widow, she understood the need for a Police Chaplain and she understood that the Police Chief wanted to show the support from the department, but she could not understand how people did this as a job. She remembered something they taught her back in the Police Academy, one of the veteran officers had come into the class one day and allowed them to ask questions of him. The question that McNally thought of was this; what is the hardest part of your job? The officer had looked like he had aged 10 years in the split second that it took for him to come up with an answer. "It is seeing people on their worst day everyday, when you show up to a call, do not expect anyone to comply with you, do not expect people to be courteous or even polite. When you go to do a death notification, you will have to hold yourself together while you have to person that the loved one will no longer come home, that their husband, wife, daughter, brother, sister, or son will not come and embrace them or even say hello again. That is the Worst thing on the job. You all will learn it, I hope for your sake that it will not be soon."
As soon as she had arrived, she knew that Mrs. Davis also knew that they were outside. Almost wishing that it wasn't her duty to tell her or that the situation had turned out differently, Andy got out of the truck, put her hat on and quickly squared away her uniform. When she was done, the chief and the Chaplain were standing next to her. Once again and for the last time, she pushed down the emotions and feelings that were raging a loosing war inside of her. "Let's Go," is all she said as she started walking. As they began walking up to the door, they all knew that this was not going to be one of the cases where the next of kin was glad that the deceased was dead. They all clearly saw the sticker in the window; it was a black square with a thin blue line running down the center. When the three of them reached the porch, Mrs. Davis came out to them, she said 4 words. "Andy, Is he dead?" Andy obviously shaken said but one word in response. The woman began to cry as Andy reached out for her. Mrs. Davis cried silently into Andy's jacket, while Andy held her. After a few minutes, Anna Davis let go of Andy and went to get her seven year old daughter. Emily Davis was a beautiful child with gorgeous locks of brunette hair. When she saw Andy; she said, "Andy, where is my daddy?" Anna stepped in and said, "Daddy is serving and protecting in Heaven now sweetie, but he is watching over us just like Ms. Andy does for the other officers." Andy's heart had broken when Emily had asked where her father was, but the answer that Anna had given, was so perfect in her opinion, and she felt so honored that regardless of what happened, she would try to help them as much as she could. She thought back to Davis' last words realized that she welcomed the opportunity to help the family, and she would not let them down.
Andy never had seen something so sad as when she attended the funeral of Corporal Davis. It was not one thing that made it sad, but the combination of each individual factor. First was the parade to the cemetery; second, the Canadian Flag draped across the casket; the fact that every officer from her division and many others were in attendance, there were speeches from many different people, from the rookies that the trained, to buddies he graduated the academy, and the most heartbreaking speech was from his own daughter. She started with the line that hooked everybody and only released them when she was done. "Daddy, I don't know if you can hear me, but I want you to know how much I love and miss you. I am proud that you go and catch bad men and help everybody. Daddy, I know that you are watching over me know cause Mommy said so. I want to tell you that I am going to grow up and be a policewoman just like you were. I'm going to catch the bad men and make you proud. Bye Daddy, I love you." When the crowd froze in contemplation of what the little girl had just said, Andy rose from her chair, let go of Sam's hand, and walked to the podium. "Hello, My name is Andy, I was Ryan's Staff Sergeant. When Constable Davis first joined 15 Division, he arrived shortly after many of our former training officers and officers promoted or transferred to follow their souls. I can remember going up to Ryan on his first day and introducing him to all the faces around the parade room. When Best wrapped up the briefing that day he ended with Serve, Protect, and make us all proud. I remember thinking that it was weird that Best used that as he had never before and he normally ended with something reminding us to not screw up. After the first day with Davis, I realized that Best had said it because we were no longer the ragtag group of screwy rookies, we were no longer the new kids on the block and that we could now handle what Toronto threw at us on a daily basis, no for all of you that are wondering if we never made a mistake again. We did, but we did it confidently and knew how to correct the problem. When I shared this revelation with Ryan, he gave me a knowing smile and walked away. Until recently, I didn't know that after telling him that, he talked to then Sergeant Best and recommended me for Staff Sergeant School and eventually to lead the division. When Ryan died, I was holding him in my arms, I was trying to save him, but he knew that he didn't have much longer to live. Right before he passed, he told me to 'serve and protect his family.' I didn't realize that until today, that he meant more than his wife Anna and his daughter Emily. He meant all of you. He meant the Toronto Police Service. He meant everyone in Canada." Andy takes a deep breath, and as she does, she realizes that all the eyes within the space were on her. She is surprised when she is encouraged by this rather than frightened. "The Toronto Police Service has a signal for a officer to return to the station. Traditionally, this is used in our police funerals to signify that officer has returned to the final station of his or her final shift. We will now ring out that code." Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The sound of each ring was like that to closing a book for the final time. "Constable Ryan Davis, I salute your heroism and dedication to the Toronto Police Service. May you rest in peace." Andy heard the salute of all the officers in attendance. She walked to Sam and they both left.
As they got to Andy's truck, the radio crackled and they got in, flipped on the lights, and went back to work.
"15 Sierra 1, Responding."
