Chapter 24: I told you so
The one where Tim accidently hurts Lucy.
To say that Tim Bradford hated undercover Work would be putting it lightly, he despised it. Firstly, the detectives who ran the Ops where usually too entitled and thought themselves better than any other Officer. It simply wasn't in Tim's Bradford nature to put up with that. And secondly, it had been undercover work that had been the cause of Isabel's addiction. Anyone who had done it, had to admit: It caused an incomparable rush that left you craving for more. Some people would consider it a positive fact, as an incentive to get better but Tim saw it as a warning of how easy it was to get stuck in a downward spiral.
At that moment Tim didn't know why, as he and Lucy walked to the briefing room, after Grey had called their unit and Lopez's in, he couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going to happen. Something during Nolan's and Harper's call had gone wrong, for a change, and the sergeant had called the other two teams in. Lucy looked at her T.O. and noticed the pensive look he had, almost since the beginning of shift as if he could feel bad news coming.
"Think Nolan managed to get himself green lit again?" Lucy asked him, a teasing tone in her voice so to relax the sombre mood.
"Not even he is that good." He told her with a weak smile as they turned the corner to the briefing room.
"Then why do you look soo sour?" Lucy asked, looking at his facial expression. His face had been fixed between really pissed and really annoyed all they, she even kept her conversation to the minimum to avoid getting the dial fixed on really pissed.
"Just got a bad feeling about today." He explained, one thing Tim Bradford was proud was his bad day sensor. It never failed him and when he ignored it, his days usually went even worst.
"When don't you have a bad feeling?" Lucy asked, half serious- half joking. Tim's definition of bad days were many, either it was a bad day because his favourite food is sold out or it is a bad day because he is getting heavily shot at. To Lucy those are very different ways to describe her day, to Tim they are simply bad… her scepticism was understandable.
"Funny." He answer as he noticed the two other man in the briefing room. He held the door open for Chen to enter, like it was custom.
"Officer Bradford and Officer Chen." Sergeant Grey greeted as the two officers entered the room. Lucy sent Nolan a look as to ask if everything was ok, and his only answer was a shrug. Definitely something was wrong.
"What's going on?" Tim asked after surveying the room for an extra second, taking a more prolonged look at the two man they didn't recognized. Lucy and Tim remained by the entrance door, opposite to Nolan, Harper, Lopez and West but facing Sergeant Grey. Close to each other if any sort of back up was necessary but not close enough for anyone to think of their proximity as inappropriate.
"Officer Nolan and Officer Harper ran into some trouble today." Sergeant Grey informed the entire room, pointing at Harper and Nolan with his head. The more experienced officer looked like it was a normal day in the office while Nolan looked a little worse from wear.
"What else is new?" Angela mocked, what made Lucy and Jackson smirk while Tim simple allowed a small grin. Nolan and Harper didn't even bother to look embarrassed. Everyone knew where the two went, trouble fallowed.
"Real trouble Officer Lopez." Grey reprimanded the older female Officer who allowed herself to look a little apologetic for the comment. "They found a shipping container with 20 dead bodies inside."
"20?" West asked shocked, his face slightly pale as he imagined the sight in his head.
"Human trafficking?" Tim asked at the same time. Lucy watched as his posture became even more ridged, how that was possible she didn't know, as he paid closer attention to the subject being discussed.
"We think so." Answered the unknown man with black straight air, steeping forward for the first time since the conversation. "We believe trafficked into LA by the N317."
"The N317? Who are those?" Lucy asked, her knowledge of street Gangs didn't go very far. It extended to the only run in Tim and she had while on the job and the one that costed Captain her life. While she didn't know much, she did know one thing: They weren't meant to be messed up with.
"A gang based out of Skid Row, they handle everything that is trafficking: Guns, drugs and people. Been traying to catch them since 2009." Explained the older Asian man, while his partner was dressed in black casual clothes, he wore a black suit. It was clear who between the two was in charge.
"And who are you?" Tim asked the man, his gaze sharp and intimidating. The man didn't even paid attention to that, clearly not bothered by the rude and brusque tone her T.O. used. Any other person would have quivered, or at least she would have… not that's she is much of an example, every time he spoke to her in the beginning of training Lucy felt like crying.
"Detective Lee and Detective Gomez, Organized crime" The older man introduced himself and his partner, showing Tim is badge. He nodded to the two man but his hard facade didn't break.
"The leader of the N317 was arrested in the summer of 2007, Hector Hernandez. They lost popularity after that." Tim informed; he remembered the arrest clearly. He had been training at the academy and it had been all over the news, no one talked about anything else.
"Yes, until his son was old enough to take charge." Detective Lee explained. "After then, the gang has only been rising. Hector delegates most of the work, the only one he still hold in his grasp is human trafficking. Most of the strip joints in the city are filled with people he smuggled from Eastern Europe, Asia or South America. He represents 20% of all human traffic in California and his transports are getting more and more inhumane."
"Where they ever humane?" Nolan muttered under his breath and Lucy swallowed drily. She remembered her criminology classes in college. Human Trafficking is one of the most horrendous and ruthless crimes, it had the ability to strip people of their national, cultural identity but also their personal identity. It was hard to catch, hard to end and even harder to mend.
"And you haven't been able to catch him why?" Angela asked, her tone was inquisitive more than anything else, but Lucy wondered if the detectives saw it as an accusation.
"Hector isn't like his dad. He is cautious almost paranoid with who and what he surrounds himself with. Besides he has taps in almost every department, inclusive Organized Crime." Detective Gomez explained, while Hector senior ran his gang like a big party, Hector was much more business orientated. He went to make money not to have fun.
"Then why are you here?" Tim asked, looking at the two detectives inquisitively. Organized crime didn't bother talking to low ranking patrol officers if they didn't plan on obtaining anything from them.
"I know Nyla, she is straight up. She says you are too." Gomez looked at Nyla who gave him a nod in agreement. They had met in many of her assignments, while a lot of the detectives and Cops on the unit where dirty, Gomez and Lee had always stayed through to their badge.
"We can help." Nyla explained to the rest of her colleagues while Nolan nodded in agreement, already into his T.O.'s plans.
"And how can we do that?" Tim asked, after all his bad day radar hadn't failed him. He knew exactly what she meant, he just hoped he was wrong.
"Hector is wary and knows everyone on our unit, which makes undercover work tough…" Detective Lee started to explain but Tim didn't even let them finish.
"So, you want us to do your dirty work." Tim accused harshly, detectives always thought they could come in give the orders, leave the fall out of whatever shitty plan they had to them and get the credits. Fucking marrons.
"Bradford." Sergeant Grey warned, and Lucy watched, worriedly, as Tim clenches and unclenched his fist to control all the anger he felt inside.
"Hector holds tight to his father watch, wears it every time. If we could get close enough to plant a trace there, we could watch his every move, maybe even catch him in the act." Gomez explained, looking straight at Tim, who seamed to be the one most opposed to the idea.
"It would certainly put us closer than we ever have been." Lee reinforced.
"And you want us to do it?" Angela asked, she didn't look one bit bothered by the idea what was completely opposed to her former T.O.'s attitude. But the truth was, Angela had always dreamed of being a Detective and every assignment put her on step closer to her final goal.
"Actually, we want you and Chen to do it." Detective Lee explained. Like a slow-motion Video, everyone turned to notice Tim's reaction. Waiting for the protest that would clearly follow.
"Me?" Lucy asked surprised, allowing herself to intervene in the conversation that she had for the most part only observed. She was so sure that she would be stuck as back up, that the mention of her name came as a complete shock. Her? Why her?
"Forget it." Tim said immediately, while Lucy asked her question. While her tone was one of shock, Tim's was filled with anger that he was trying his hardest to contain.
"Bradford hear us out." Harper asked.
"Lopez has experience. I'm not sending Chen undercover with a nutjob." Tim stated very clearly, his voice harsh and demanding, one that left no space for arguments. Still Lucy sighed and against her better judgment decided to intervene.
"I would like to hear the plan." Chen spoke softly, taking a step forward to step closer to her T.O., so that their arms touched. She shot him a reassuring smile that did nothing to calm his nerves. "How would we do it?"
"Nothing too tricky really." Harper explained, offering Lucy a small smile of gratitude. While it didn't mean that the plan would move forward, it allowed for them to explain it, without Tim completely losing his shit.
"We would get you into the Wild Rose Gentlemen's club, he owns it and makes an appearance every night to check on business. We would give each of you a tracking ship, the one who gets closer to him, attaches it to the watch. Get in and get out." Gomez explained. It did feel like a simple, easy plan but like most things in life they seemed simple but ended up being trickier.
"Wouldn't he recognise us?" Angela asked, intrigued by the proposition.
"We would be stripers?" Lucy asked shocked, only then did It register where the operation would take place and she paled.
"He wouldn't recognise you because he has girls that have no connection to his network, but you are foreign looking enough not to arise suspicion. And yes, Officer Chen, to avoid detection you would be stripers." Detective Lee explained, offering her a reassuring nod and Lucy blushed. She was no prude in her private life, but she wasn't fond the possibility of being a stripper to a complete creep.
"Who would be our backup? And when would we do it?" Angela asked, Lucy was still too embarrassed to ask any question, so she was thankful the other T.O. was making them.
"We, Officer Nolan and Detective Harper are too involved and the possibility for him to recognize us would be too great. But if we move forward, Officer West and Bradford as well as Sergeant Grey would be with you, passing as patrons. We would do it tonight, the sooner the better." The detective explained, and Lucy had to control herself not to blush at the thought that she might need to act as a striper in front of her T.O. On the very attractive T.O. that she had a slight crush on.
"I'm in. You?" Angela answered quickly and turning to Lucy for her answer. Her quick answer came only from the possibility of what this assignment could mean to her career and she wasn't going to risk, losing it.
"No way, too soon." Tim answered before Lucy could even answer. She wasn't ready, for god sakes she wasn't even ready to go on a date and they thought she could handle being groped by a total stranger. Too many things could go wrong, and he wasn't going to risk it.
"Bradford…" Harper tried to reason with him, but it was futile.
"There's no time to prepare them well enough." Tim's brain was too busy analysing all the thing that could go wrong. Sure, he didn't doubt her ability, but the possibilities only drove him insane, she wasn't ready for it and maybe he wasn't either.
"I would like to do it." Lucy said, clearing her though and interrupting her T.O. who looked at her surprised. "If I can help get this bastard behind bars, I want to do it."
"Chen…" He tried to reason with her, she had nothing to prove to anyone. He tried to convey that message to her through his eyes and he was sure she understood because she turned away and looked at sergeant Grey.
"Would you mind if I have a word with officer Bradford outside?" Lucy asks the Detectives and Sergeant Grey; interrupting Tim. Grey nodded his head in agreement and Lucy mentioned for Tim to follow her outside.
She led them towards the side, into the hallway that lead to the looker rooms. If Tim didn't look pissed before, he certainly looked now. Lucy crossed her arms tightly over her chest, as to assert her positions. She wasn't backing off, even if the hurt and worry she saw behind all the anger made her want to apologize and hug him.
"I want to do this, Tim." She informed him. She could do this; she wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone. She simply wanted to help and knew if she didn't, her conscience would weight her down.
"It's too dangerous Lucy." Tim reasoned with her, his voice not harsh but also not soft. He wanted her to know how serious he was but that he wasn't angry, not with her. Maybe at everyone else for suggesting it, but never at her.
"you'll be there with me." She remembered him, he would have her back. No harm could come to her on his watch, she was sure.
"That's not enough." He whispered, shaking his head slightly as to clear his thoughts. "Just because I'm there, doesn't mean I'll be able to help you if something goes wrong."
"Why would something go wrong?" she asked, of course she knew things could go wrong but in their line of duty it could happen at any minute. They couldn't afford to think like that.
"Because in undercover work, something always goes wrong." That was the truth for Tim. Either at the moment of the operation or after, something always goes wrong.
"You will be there by my side Tim and that is all the reassuring I need. You won't let me down, you never do." She explained again
"It's out of my control." She didn't understand. He wasn't afraid the assignment would hurt her, after all he would be there, but it could change Lucy permanently like it had changed…
"I'm not Isabel, Tim. I'm not going to get obsessed with undercover work." Lucy reassured him, she knew him well and was aware where his insecurities came from.
"You don't know that." Isabel had thought that too and look at her.
"Yes, I do." Lucy said strongly, taking a step closer to him. "I don't have any desire of being a detective and as of the moment I just want to get to patrol Officer."
"Our desires change." He corrected her, there was a time where he thought the same thing. Maybe it was because Tim was always a person of set ideals and so had Isabel been, that was what attracted him to her in the first place. But after the first taste of undercover work, she was never the same. People said the drugs ruined her, but they were just the last stage, the UW did the true damage.
"No, I don't think my will. I know exactly what I want." She told him very seriously and Tim got the slight impression she didn't mean just work wise. "And my very harsh and stubborn T.O. just reinforced my ideas. I join LAPD because I wanted to piss my parents but that wasn't the main reason. They don't believe law enforcement is here to protect the people and I am going to prove them wrong. I'm going to prove them that we work for and with the community for their interests, for their safety not simply to fill reports. And you know who proved to me that I was right?"
"Who?" He asked, his resolve dissolving.
"My stubborn but amazing T.O., who pretends he is an idiot but in reality, is a real gem… but don't tell him that, he has a bit of an ego already." She kind of whispered teasingly.
"Sounds like he's hard to deal with." He apologized in his own way. Only she could handle him soo well.
"Yeah but I'm getting the hang of it." Lucy smirked, uncrossing her arms. "So, will you let me do it?"
"I don't need to let you do anything Boot. You are your own owner." He remembered her. Lucy Chen was the boss of herself.
"Yes but I really like to have your approval and your support." She admitted softly, offering him a soft smile. She knew he would be there to back her up no matter his opinion but she didn't want to go against his wishes, felt like a betrayal of sorts. "It would mean a lot to me."
"We are doing it. Happy Boot?" He answered gruffly. Just because he agreed with it, didn't mean he was happy.
"Yes, very." She clapped her hands together and he rolled her eyes.
"Don't get all that with me or I'll make you run drills in a hazmat suit." He threatened.
"And you are back to normal." She mocked, turning her back towards him and heading back towards the room.
"yeah, yeah, and we need to get brief in, come on." He gave her a slight push towards the door.
"Let's put this show on the row." Lucy announced as they entered the room. Harper, the detectives and Grey sighed in relieve while Lopez smirked, clearly the majority thought that it was a no go, but Lopez knew how much of a sucker Tim was for Lucy.
"So how do we do this?"
"Good, glad you accepted." Detective Lee said, giving them a nod. "We don't won't either of you to be exposed for too long."
"Yes, the more time you spend at the Club the more likely someone will notice you don't actually work there." Detective Gomez agreed, the goal was to have them inside the least possible.
"And how exactly will you get us inside?" Angela asked.
"One of the girls is our CI, she will sneak you in though the back door around 10 pm." Gomez explained, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the desk. "Hector will arrive around 10h30 and 11H. we'll make sure you three get inside between 10 and 10h30."
"So, we just have to get close to him?" Lucy confirmed, looking from her T.O. to Sergeant Grey, both nodding in reassurance.
"Can't be really that hard!?" Angela smirked, surely, they could distract a man for a couple seconds. That had never been a problem before, they tended to be easily distracted.
"we hope not, and this is the chip." Lee held the tiny chip in his hand, it was so small that Lucy almost couldn't see it. "Each of you, will have one attached to your body, you can choose the place but make sure you can remove it discreetly. Whoever gets closer to Hector should attach it to the bottom of his watch, we'll let you know if it's attached properly."
"Will we be wearing coms?" Lucy asked, considering they wouldn't be able to have their guns or any sort of protective gear at least a way to quickly communicate with the team would be nice.
"No, you won't." Detective Lee answered, shaking his head.
"They should." Tim contradicted quickly, even though they would be close by if the girls had coms, they could pick up sounds much more easily. Specially sounds that were hard to hear normally.
"It's too risky, they will be up and close with him. He could spot it." Lee explained and Lucy blushed slightly at the thought of being up and close with the guy. Thankfully she managed to control her desire to gag. "Besides the three of you will be close by, you'll communicate with them and we communicate with you. Hector has a usual seat on a velvet green armchair, two of you should arrange to seat on the sides and one behind him for optimal coverage."
"Nolan and I are going to get the bikinis." Harper informed as she signalled for Nolan to follow her.
"Bikinis?" Lucy asking swallowing hard, Tim covered his mouth with one hand to cover his smirk at Lucy's awkwardness.
"We are stripers for a night Chen, what did you think we would wear? A toga?" Angela teased her but offering her a reassuring smile, nevertheless. To he honest, Lucy hadn't given it much thought, but she didn't expect lingerie.
"Funny. So, what do we do know?" Lucy answered. She crossed her arms defensively over her chest, great now everyone thought she was completely naïve.
"If I were you, I would practice slipping the chip under the watch." Detective Lee told her, with a light grin, he could tell she was a little nervous. He nodded as he, detective Gomez and Grey headed towards his office.
"Come on Boot, let's see your distracting skills." Tim squeezed her shoulder slightly and walked her towards a table, where hopefully he could give her all the tips he had.
"Are you ready?" Tim asked Lucy as he finished strapping his earpiece to his left ear, looking her up and down to make sure she was ok.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Lucy admitted, fidgeting with her dress, she really wanted to take the horrible leopard print trikini off.
"We can still leave Lucy, it's never too late." He remembered her, as he noticed the flicker of doubt behind her eyes. If they had been alone, he would have pulled a strand of hair behind her ear or ran a hand alongside her arm for comfort but as they were not, he contented himself in simply calming her down through words.
"We need to do this, you know that." She remembered him and he nodded in agreement. As much as he didn't like undercover work, he did realise how important it was in this case in particular, it could be the difference between putting this guy behind bars or allowing more innocent, vulnerable and scared people to die… they couldn't handle the guilt that would follow if that continued to happened because they did nothing.
"Ok girls, it's time to go." Detective Lee remembered as the clock neared 10 p.m. Angela and Lucy nodded, and the first officer opened the door stepping outside, Lucy felt Tim's fingers graze slightly her elbow, as to reassure her.
Lucy glanced back at Tim as Angela and her exited the van and headed towards the back door to the club. He nodded at her and mouthed: I'll be there to which she responded with a timid nod.
If Lucy could read Tim's mind, her worry would grow even bigger. He trusted his Boot and he knew she was very capable, but all her attempts to distract him to slip him the chip were average to be nice, nevertheless it was a job they needed to get done. So even though he was worried, he managed to tranquilize himself with the thought that he would be only a few seats away from her if needed.
"Hey, you ready?" Angela asked as she tightened her trench around her body as the two girls walked towards the back door, where a young woman awaited them.
"Think so." Lucy answered, but he voice came out a lot shakier than she wanted.
"I'm nervous too, it's normal." Angela offered her a smile and Lucy mentally thanked her for trying to calm her down. "Besides, that trikini looks great on you."
"Please shut up." Lucy asked in a soft whine, as she shifted uncomfortably under her sweater dress. She was expecting a much skimpier option but still the leopard print trikini had a neckline that was too low, and the bottoms dug into her bum.
"Oh, you have nothing to be ashamed of, besides I'm keeping mine for Weasley's sake." Angela winked and Lucy laughed at the innuendo, only Angela Lopez could be soo shameless in a situation like this.
"You Lucy and Angela?" The young blond woman asked in a thick accent as she closed the door behind the two.
"Yes." The two officers answered at the same time, as they surveyed the small room, they were in. It was a makeshift dressing room.
"You stay, I get you when he here, yes?" The woman, who Lee and Gomez had called Sugar asked in a thick Russian accent. "Don't speak and make accent if do."
"Thank you." Lucy said and the skimpy dress blond woman left towards the main salon. "She seems nice."
"Right." Angela nodded ironically and looked at Lucy. "If possible, I approach Hector and you head towards West. Got it?"
"Yes." Lucy agreed. She was aware Tim had talked to Angela and asked her to take the lead on this one and had it been any other circumstance she would have been mad. But truth be told Lucy was thankful he had looked after her, he knew she could do it but made it very clear she didn't need to.
Lucy spend the next 45 minutes passing the room and watching the clock, while Angela simply sat back and filled her nails. As time passed Lucy became more and more nervous, what if he didn't come today? Their opportunity would be lost and there was no chance of getting the chip in. As she looked at Angela, she wished she had her ability to relax or at least hide her nervousness, she was sure she looked like a nervous mess.
"You ready?" Sugar peeked into the room and called to Angela and Lucy. "He arrive now."
Angela nodded and looked at Lucy who breathed out and nodded back. Angela took out her trench coat first and Lucy fallowed a little hesitantly. She exited behind Angela and tried her hardest to still her beating heart, she also fidgeted with her bikini bottoms as to make me it more comfortable – to no vain.
"Stop it." Angela whispered to her, turning slightly back before they rounded the corner into the salon floor. The salon was exactly what Lucy had pictured: tacky decorations, badly lit and dubious smells. She roamed the room with her eyes, firstly, to search for her back up. She spotter Sergeant Grey seating further in the back, deeply staring into his drink to avoid looking at his two officers. Jackson was sitting on a couch to the left, a smirk on his face doing his best to avoid a whistle or a comment. Lastly, she noticed her T.O., who she really wished she hadn't seen because Tim's look caused her interior to light up on fire. He was looking at her like she was the only candy left on the candy shop and while she knew it was mostly due to her skimpy outfit, she didn't mind it one bit. In fact, she felt a little flattered.
After her initial shock at Tim's reaction, Lucy regained her composure and looked around to find Hector. Finding him wasn't hard, he was exactly like his picture. What she didn't expect was that another woman would already be giving him a lap dance. Angela had also halted a bit in her step to decide her next move, clearly, they had to wait for another opportunity to present itself. Angela headed left and Lucy watched her head towards Jackson, a safe option to wait for an opportunity. Lucy cursed inside, apparently Angela's generosity extended only to Hector, so she was left with a decision to make: either head towards Sergeant Grey or Tim. Sighing and cursing silently, she headed towards Tim there wasn't really any other option. She was not going to give a "fake" lap dance to Sergeant Grey, she rather die of embarrassment with Tim. Tim's eyes widened as he watched Lucy approach him, as unprofessional as it was, he had been unable to take his eyes from her body. He was aware Lucy had a good body, curvy and fit at the same time, he just wasn't prepared to see soo much of it so soon.
"What are you doing Boot?" He whispered harshly as Lucy stood over him and leaned closer, resting her hand on each side of his head. The position left Tim very uncomfortable, considering his eyes were levelled with her cleavage and he was already having a hard time not looking at it.
"What do you think I'm doing!? It's not like I have a choice." She answered him, their lips so close together that to any stranger It would look like she was simply propositioning him something.
"Go pick someone else." He muttered to her harshly and could hear someone laugh in his ear. It would have been hilarious if he wasn't the one about to be in a very embarrassing situation
"I'm not going to give Grey a lap dance." She whispered, a mixture of angry and flushed, her lips by his ear as she lowered herself to his lap. "I didn't want to be here either."
"Actually, you did want to be here." He remembered her. They could be both in their homes, watching television under a comfortable blanket. Instead of being here, feeling extremely uncomfortable by the fact that this situation was very inappropriate for a T.O. and his Rookie.
"That was not what I meant." She said, rotating her hips slightly. The movement resulted in Tim's hands shutting up to hold her hips.
"What the hell are you doing? Stop moving." He ordered gruffly. He was not going to get himself in deep waters just for this mission.
"It has to seem like I'm giving you a lap dance." She explained shifting her hips slightly and Tim sighed. Why did he agree with this?
"Well it doesn't. You are terrible at this." He told her, holding her in place by the strength of his hands.
"Just so you know, no one has complaint before." She informed as his hands forced her to simply sit on his lap. "I just don't have the best conditions."
"Oh really, and what would those be?" He whispered, with a smile on his lips. No one had to tell him that Lucy was a very beautiful young woman, who probably had her fair share of experiences. But considering how awkwardly she was moving; Tim had a hard time believing she was a master at the art of teasing.
"Firstly, I wouldn't do it in an armchair or with this awful thing." She explained, referring the bathing suit that Tim was secretly very fond of. "And most certainly, not with my T.O." She frizzed as she tossed her head side to side. Tim smirked at her use of his ranking instead of his name, it allowed him to wonder if she wouldn't be opposed to do something like this when he was no longer her T.O.
"I'll see it when I believe it." He teased her softly, his voice so low that only she could listen and not everyone else in the operation van.
"Shut up, you're being mean." Lucy snapped, clearly not understanding the innuendo behind his words. "How is Hector?"
"Clearly enjoying his lap dance." Tim informed her his voice tight as she wiggled slightly on his lap. "Can't blame the man, it looks legit."
"Glad you are humoured but we need to get him closer to me or to Angela." Lucy remembered him, controlling her urges to slap him slightly. "Clearly it's not going to be through my showgirl skills."
"And obviously not through Angela's." Tim told her as he watched Angela and West. "I think she is worse than you, how that's possible…"
"Bradford not helping." Lucy remember, biting (a little too harshly) the top of his ear, where her lips had been hovering over.
"Alright, we need something to distract him from his leisure activity." He said pensively, trying to quickly formulate an alternative in his head.
"Maybe a fight?" Lucy suggested. "If you and Grey started a fight, he would intervene."
"He would watch. His security guards would be the one to intervene." Tim explained, Hector was to cautious to get himself into a potential fight, especially with someone that could take him down.
"Shit." Lucy cursed softly, and here they were thinking it was gonna be like stealing candy from a little kid.
"But we could play on that." Tim answered, looking at Lucy's face. While Hector would allow his guards to intervene if the fight was with someone who he didn't see has a threat, someone he could save. "Do you trust me?"
"You got a plan!?" Lucy whispered to Tim, his lips were soo close to her she was having a hard time focusing.
"Yeah." He nodded.
"ok, of course I trust you. You know that." Lucy answered, giving him a soft nod as she looked deep into his blue eyes.
"Lean into me, like you are whispering something in my ear." He told her and she did so, allowing his hands to grip her waist.
"Ok, now…" She asked and as she did that, Tim pushed her away and gently and yet rightly threw her on the ground. The gesture caught Lucy soo of guard that she used her left hand to support her fall, which resulted in a sharp pain to shot through her arm and a relative laud whimper escape her lips.
"Stupid Bitch, stop biting me." Tim shouted harshly, standing up from the chair and rubbing his ear. His outburst caught the attention of the patrons in the club and Lucy immediately understood his plan. Play her a prey, who needed to be rescued.
"I-I-I…" Lucy played along, trying her best to look scared. The fact that Tim didn't warn her of his move, made her reaction more genuine.
"It's alright sweetheart." A soft voice whispered from her left, and Lucy looked up to see Hector approach with his bodyguards behind him. "That's no way to treat a lady." He remembered Tim and nodded at his guards to step forward.
"She was the one who bit me." Tim defended himself harshly, his eyes full of fake hatred as the guards wrapped their hands around his arms. "Let go of me, I can see myself out of this shity club." He pulled his arm away and walked towards the exit, nodding very slightly at Grey to indicate that everything was alright.
"Come on sweetheart, let's get you up." Hector told Lucy as he held her arms and helped her up. She took the opportunity, as he was focused on her wellbeing, to slip the chip from under her bikini. "Are you okay?"
"My wrist…" She started to say in a thick Asian accent but stopped to pretend she had difficulties in balancing herself. As the hero he thought he was, Hector reached for Lucy. The young officer took the opportunity to hold onto his wrists for support and slip the chip underneath his watch, undetected.
"You should get some rest." Hector told Lucy softly, like she was a little girl and Lucy had to resist the urge to cower away from him.
"I have her." Lucy herd Angela say from behind her and only did she notice the other officer behind her.
"Thank you, darling." Hector thanked Angela, offering her a soft smile. The older woman had to control her urge to vomit as she reached for Lucy. "You'll be okay, little one." He patted Lucy softly in the cheek as he allowed Angela to guide her away and into the back room.
"You two do know how to make a show." Angela teased her as they rounded the corner, continuing to support Lucy like she needed it.
"It was all Tim, I had no clue." Lucy told Angela as they entered the dressing-room and she released her.
"He does use his brain after all." Angela joked as the two slipped on their clothes. "Let's get the hell out of here, the job is done." Angela held the door to the back exit open, ready to go home and shower.
"Thankfully. I swear I'll never do this again." Lucy promised as she left after Angela, rubbing her wrist softly. She had been a little stupid for using it to support the fall and by the throbbing she felt, it was most likely sprained.
"You okay?" Angela asked as she noticed Lucy massage her wrist.
"Think I landed wrong." Lucy explained, her wrist did look a little swollen but nothing that made her too suspicious.
"Maybe you should get it checked out." Angela suggested. Sometimes the little falls landed quit a hard blow.
"No, it'll be ok with some ice. "Lucy assured her as they approached the van, all she wanted to do was get home and fall asleep cuddling her big pink bear.
"Well done Ladies." Detective Gomez congratulated them as they entered the van, Nolan putting it straight in motion, leading them a few blocks over to where they had parked their cars. "Genius move."
"It was all Bradford as much as it pains me to say." Angela admitted, smiling slyly at the occupants of the van.
"You ok?" Tim asked Lucy softly as she sat next to him, completely ignoring Angela's comment. His eyes roomed over Lucy to check for any injuries, sitting when he realised there were no signs of any life-threatening injuries. Sure, he knew that everything had gone well but those, maybe, 10 minutes that he couldn't see or hear her made him worried like never before. He had been literally seconds away from gearing up and leaving the van to go get her.
"Yeah." Lucy answered, smiling softly at him. "Clever move." She complimented, throwing him a wink.
"Thanks." He answered, looking away from her for the first time to see if anyone was listening to their conversation, thankfully and purposefully everyone was minding their own business and allowing them to talk. Harper and john at the front of the van and the two detectives where talking to Lopez, getting her report of the events. Grey and West would walk up to the original meeting point.
"You would be good, at this undercover thing." Lucy said playfully, with a trading grin, now that her heartbeat had returned to normal. Even though she was aware that Tim Bradford would never become a Detective, she couldn't help but notice how good of a job he did. He was ingenious, resourceful and perceptive, everything Tim decided to do was well done and UW wouldn't be different -even if he didn't like it.
"The hell I would." He answered harshly, shaking his head at her. "We are never doing this again." He told her not leaving any space for complaints. If it was up to him, Lucy would never do undercover work, either as a rookie or a full-on officer. He just couldn't risk it; he couldn't risk losing her. Not her!
"It was a joke." Lucy remembered him, raising her hands defensively. The movement caused her to remember the slight ache she felt on her wrist.
"Not funny." He answered drily, as he noticed Lucy rub her wrist. "Hey what's wrong?"
"Nothing." She answered too quickly, and Tim knew immediately that something was definitely wrong.
"Clearly not nothing." He snapped as he pulled her hand away from her wrist and made her show the latter to him. "Chen this is swollen."
"It's a just a little sore. I used it to cushion my fall. It was stupid." Lucy quickly explained and tried to pull her hand away from him, to no vail. Tim gaze was one of pure regret and anguish.
"No, I shouldn't have done it." Tim chastised himself. "I should have thought about something else."
"You got the job done." She explained, he had nothing to be ashamed of. They did the job and that was what mattered, a little scrape was more than perfectly understandable.
"At your expanse." He remembered her, nothing was more worth than the wellbeing of your partner, not worth more than her.
"No Tim. It's just a sprain, it will pass." She said firmly, she wasn't going to allow him to punish himself for it.
"It isn't just a sprain." Tim told her shaking his head, it wasn't about the sprain. It was about what Undercover work did to him, it made him prioritize the job over the safe keeping of his own partner. Made him lose focus of what police work was all about and he didn't like it. Everyone knew what it had done to Isabel, but no one knew what it almost did to him, how much it made him forget the values he worked soo hard to achieve.
"Don't put words into my mouth Tim." Lucy warned him in a serious tone as John parked the Van and Tim exited it, not bothering to answer her. She didn't understand, she didn't know how he truly was in these situations. "No, you don't get to just leave like that." Lucy told him as she too jumped of the van and walked, briskly, after him.
"Chen, I just need to clear my head." Tim told her, continuing to walk away from her but Tim stopped by pulling the back of his blazer. "You should go get that check that wrist."
"I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. Not until we get some things straight."
"Boot, you are my responsibility." Even when she would stop being his Boot, Lucy would always be his responsibility, he would always care for her and her safety.
"And I'm okay because you are always there." She told him, her voice raising a few octaves but quickly returning to normal when she noticed that everyone else was still around. "You are always there for me Tim, whether it is on the job or on my personal life you are always there, and you always have my best interest at heart and that's what makes us a good Tim. I trust you to have my back, to put my best interest up front but to also allow me to do my job no matter how dangerous it is. It doesn't matter if it is a stake out or an undercover detail."
"It's not about you Lucy, it's about me." Tim admitted, voice soft. "I know you can do it, I now you can handle the work and the sprain. Fuck, you can even handle the bullets, but it changes me. It makes me lose focus of what truly matters."
"What truly maters is getting the job done, it's protecting the community, the people." She remembered him; he had told her that when she had become his Rookie. She lived by those same words, they were, after all, what drove her to be the best Officer possible.
"But it isn't worth it if I risk the life of someone else." He answered defeatedly.
"Tim, this isn't Afghanistan and I'm not Isabel." Tim reached towards him with her arms and squeezed his arms in reassurance. "Whatever you had to do to make sure you followed the orders that were given, is done and over with. You have nothing to be ashamed of and if you need forgiveness for your decisions, I give it to you. And Isabel Tim, she made her own choices and you supported her because that's what you do when you love someone, you didn't put anything ahead of her. You put her ahead of everything else."
"I…" He tried to say, a little taken back by her words. He hadn't known that he needed to hear that, much less from her but maybe it was the fact that she was the one who saw through the barriers and understood what he needed. It was that, that had the right impact, making him understand that he didn't need to be ashamed for the options he made to safeguard others, whether others were his country or those he loved.
"The only answer I accept is: You are absolutely right Lucy, light of my day, muse of my life." Tim couldn't help but laugh at her attempt to lighten the situation. "And then you would kindly beg to take me home before I freeze, or my wrist gets to the size of a tennis ball."
"The most I can do is ask to take you home, beg is a little too much for me." He told her as he removed his blazer and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You handled yourself very well in there."
"Thanks, I did need to control you big baby." Lucy teased as they walked towards his car. "You are getting all mushy."
"I'll show you mushy, tomorrow." He threatened, looking softly at her. She did have the ability to make him feel like a superhero and a mere human at the same time.
"Hey that's not fair, I have a swollen wrist." She whined mockingly, showing him her wrist like a little kid. It wasn't as swollen as before, and the throbbing had subsided.
"Hey nice job." Angela told them as they passed her on the way to Tim's car.
"Thanks." Lucy and Tim answered at the same time, sharing a look between the two.
"You know, I think you should keep that trikini." Angela whispered in Lucy's hear as she gave her a quick hug. "Someone liked it a lot." She pulled back and winked at Lucy, who blushed brightly.
"What did she want?" Tim asked with a raised eyebrow as he watch her face go from slightly rose to full on tomato.
"To remind me to put ice on my wrist." She answered, clearing her throat and resting the back of her hand against a warm cheek.
"Right." Tim nodded his head as he held the passenger door to his car open for her. "And you look like a tomato because she told you to ice it."
"Funny, mister please stop moving." She mocked, remembering him of their former conversation at the club. He rolled his eyes at her and simply closed the door on her teasing face. His mind going back to the picture of her in that skimpy bikini, and didn't he know how much he would enjoy it one day.
Hey guys, here it is Chapter 24! Finally, I know! I took my time writing this one for a couple of reasons: Firstly I finally had the opportunity to spend some time with my dad and my half siblings because they were, until last week, under sanitary encloser due to the number of Covid cases where they lived so I wanted to enjoy their company and relax. Secondly: I had forgotten how much I enjoy writing and allowing my imagination to lead my writing because I was writing with the purpose of pushing out chapters on fixed dates. From now one I'll take my time writing them and allowing my imagination to determine when they end, hopefully I'll still keep updating multiple times a week. I hope you understand.
I loved writing this one and I hope you enjoy it as well and it allows you to get through a Sunday without the Rookie .
I adore your feedback; it means a lot to me 3
-stay safe, XO.