Title: Happenstance
Count: 224
Genre: General
Challenge: Crossover. Author's choice for subject, but must include characters from at least two of the franchises. We're allowed 100 words per L&O franchise...I chose CI and the Mothership.
October 1993
Wiping his hands on a towel, Lewis entered his office. He'd owned the autobody shop for four years and had three employees. A high school student came in three afternoons a week to answer the phone and keep the books.
"How was school?"
She shrugged. "S'ok."
Lewis sat behind his desk. "What's up?"
"My dad's on my case about what I'm going to do with my life."
Lewis laughed. "Took a run-in with the cops to get me here."
Her eyes widened. "You're a criminal?"
"No! I was 17, my best friend Bobby left for college, and I was pissed off. I got drunk in this industrial park and started breaking windows."
"No way!"
"Yeah. A cop on stakeout heard the glass. He grabbed my shirt, started yelling. Anyway, this detective…Briscoe…took pity on me. Instead of arresting me he took me to the body shop owner the next day and arranged for me to work off the broken windows. And the rest…."
"…is history," she finished. "Scared straight, huh? I come from a family of cops, you know."
"Listen, there are worse things you can do with your life." Lewis headed back to the shop floor.
Nina Cassady shrugged and got back to work, but that night she thought maybe she would check out the police academy brochures her dad kept leaving around.
A/N: For those who don't watch the Mothership, Nina Cassady was Detective Green's new partner last season. She replaced Detective Fontana, who replaced Lennie Briscoe.