Daisy's day started out just like any other, with a bowl cereal and a piece of fruit. She went for her daily run in the neighbourhood before going to work. After having parked her car, she nearly walked into Deacon who were on the phone with Annie. She quietly apologised and walked around him, cheeks bright red. Deacon just shook his head and smiled at her.
"Morning sunshine," Hondo greeted as she walked past him in the locker room. "Morning boss," she replied with a smile as she pushed her belongings into her metal locker.
The following few hours went smoothly for anyone but Daisy. She were clumsier than normal, she had already bumped into a team member twice, dropped a cup of coffee, lost paperwork only to find it later with the help of Luca and dropped her phone multiple times. The others had noticed and kept an extra eye on her as she seemed distracted. Hondo were about to call her over for a talk to check up on her as he were slightly more worried with her clumsiness than the rest of the team. He could not help but think she were sleep deprived, especially when looking at the bags forming under her eyes. Just as he had asked her for a chat, their phones went off. "We are not done yet," Hondo said motioning for her to follow him to the screens for an update. "We are needed to help out with collecting a suspect who are dangerous and most likely armed. Gear up, all the information you need is on the tablet otherwise you know what to do," commander Hicks informed, handling the leader of 20-David the tablet. "You heard the man," Hondo said. On the way towards the suspect, the team went through the little information on the tablet.
The high-risk warrant were supposed to be close to routine, but that were not the case. When the S.W.A.T. team had reached the apartment building of the suspect they quickly found that he were armed as predicted, and he had barricaded himself in a room with his wife. Hondo were trying to de-escalate the situation by talking to the man who were holding a semi-automatic gun that could kill anyone nearby in seconds. In the meantime, Daisy were clearing the apartment next door with Luca while Chris and Street were helping people out of rooms down the end of the corridor. Deacon were right behind Hondo, giving him cover.
"Clear, give me two," Luca said holding his position until Daisy tapped him on the shoulder twice. They moved as one towards the next door. The small apartment must be the home of a mother and a teenage daughter, Daisy thought when looking at the pictures as she went around the apartment. "Clear," Luca and Daisy said almost simultaneously. "Something is off about this room," Daisy thought out loud when Luca walked into the teen girl's room, seconds after the light went out and gunshots pierced the sudden silence. Four shots.
"Officer down!" could be heard over the radio and everyones hearts skipped a beat. Deacon were handcuffing the suspect by the time the lights came back on, Hondo standing behind him with his gun pointing at the suspect. His face expression were blank, but his mind were racing. Deacon shot him a look as to ask what member of their team were down, Hondo shook his head. "Who?" Street asked over the radio once he had gained control of the situation surrounding him and Chris. A few minutes went by, but it felt like hours. "Daisy has been shot," Luca's voice cracked when telling his team that he had failed to protect his partner. Daisy were laying on the ground with two bullet wounds, one to the leg and another had hit her collarbone, breaking it into a lot of pieces. The last two bullets that were heard leaving a gun were stuck in the wall behind Daisy. No suspects were seen.
Street ran into the room with Chris on his heels, upon seeing his friend on the ground with a pained expression on her face, he immediately called for medics. "What do you need?" Chris asked as she kneeled down next to Luca. "An extra set of hands would be nice," he said letting out a big breath and nodded in the direction of her torso, he had already put pressure on the leg wound as it were bleeding the most. The bullet near her heart had hit right next to the vest. "This is going to hurt Daise," Chris said flashing an apologetic smile before putting pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. A painful scream made every officer nearby flinch with sympathy.
The sound plastered a concerned expression across Hondo's face and he looked at Deacon, who nodded knowing that he wanted to check on Daisy. Hondo nodded back and bolted out of the apartment towards the rest of his teammates. As he reached the teenage girls room, he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him. "Stay down!" Luca repeated as Daisy tried to get up, but she were held down by both Chris and Luca. They still tried to put pressure on her wounds, but she were determined to get up. "Daisy, you are hurt. Stay down until the paramedics get here," Hondo ordered. He quickly assessed his colleague, the leg bleeding were obviously the most serious one, but the shot through the collarbone seemed to be more painful. "If she tries to get up, put more pressure on the collarbone. I'll be back with the medics," Hondo informed them. The thought of more pain made Daisy stay completely still. She let out a sigh of frustration and stared into Luca's eyes. "He is mad at me," she stated more than asked. Chris shared eye contact with Luca, not saying a word.
The day after Daisy Evans were release from the hospital, Hondo had dropped by to check on her. He knocked on her front door and within seconds someone opened it. "Hey Hondo, come on in," Luca said with a big smile. Not who Hondo had expected to see so it caught him slightly off guard, but he followed his friend inside. Daisy were sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket with her leg elevated and her arm in a sling. Next to the sofa were a wheelchair, another thing Hondo had not been expecting to see.
"May I?" he asked motioning for the empty seat next to her. "You may," she said back, scooting a bit away to make more space. "I better get going. Duke is waiting for his walk. See you tonight," Luca said as he had the feeling that their boss wanted to talk in private. Daisy thanked him for coming by and made him promise to bring the dog by later. Once the door slammed behind him, an awkward silence fell between the two remaining.
"So, how are you doing?" Hondo asked, eyeing her sore body. She shifted to look at him, but regretted it as soon as a sharp pain shot through her body. Her face expression said it all. "Been better, surgery went well. Collarbone mostly fixed and I'll be off my feet for another two weeks, then physio therapy for a few months. I should be good to go after," she explained with sadness in her tone. He nodded understandingly, but were already thinking about a solution to how the team could function a man down for so long. He thought about asking Rocker for a favour.
"It's good to hear that you will be returning," he replied with a genuine smile on his otherwise tired face. "Can we continue our talk?" he added on, hoping she would be up for it. She nodded and waited for him to continue talking. "I noticed that you have been a lot more clumsy lately and I am getting worried," he blurted out. "Are you okay? Do you sleep enough? Is there anything that could be triggering your distracted behaviour?" he added on. Daisy were not expecting that and gave him an expression of utterly confusion. Without realising she crossed her good arm over the injured one in a defensive way. "Sorry about that..." she mumbled. "I would like to help in any way I can. I do not want to see you get hurt, again." The look on his face confirmed her suspicion as to him believing the shootout were her fault. It send her blood boiling. "It was not my fault. The room were clear, then the lights went out and shots were fired. Once the lights came on, the only people in the room was Luca and I!" she blurted out in a slightly pissed off way. Hondo raised is eyebrows in surprise. "Okay, okay, okay," he said holding his hands up defensively and stood up. "I'll go back to the scene and see what I can find," he informed her before walking out. Daisy were left alone in her living room with a feeling of remorse. If she could, she would had run out after him to apologise for her outburst, but at the same time she were actually hurt by the accusation from him. She thought he were her friend, her family, but he seemed more like a boss looking for someone to blame. Something she did not expect from him.
A few days later and a lot of good cooking from Luca, Daisy decided that she would go to the headquarters to sort things out with Hondo. She had managed to walk with one crutch and her arm in a sling as long as it were not on stairs. As she were making her way through the hallway, she were met with smiles and familiar faces. All which gave her a warm feeling inside. Just as she stood in the doorway into the area filled with computers and technology, her phone rang. She grabbed it out of her jacket pocket to see who would be calling her when the team were all at work and she had yet been good at making friends outside of work. The caller ID read HONDO. She looked up to see him staring at her alongside Luca. "No need to call, I'm right here," she said with a small laugh which made both men chuckle.
"Good news! Some pervert in the building had installed a night vision camera in the girl's bedroom and it caught the ambush. Well, not good for the girl, but in our case, it's perfect," Luca informed her, looking proud. Daisy were about to walk up to the table to watch what actually happened, when she dropped the crutch. Muttering swear words to herself she went to pick it up, but Hondo beat her to it. "Here," he almost whispered before taking a few steps back to not make her feel crowded. "Thanks," she said politely.
They watched the video together and saw how two armed men had been hiding in a secret room next to the girl's bed. They surfaced once the lights were out and shot at the direction of Daisy. Seeing herself fall to the ground, she made a disgusted face expression. Once the four shots had been fired, the men went back into the secret room and remained there until the scene were cleared. "We have already identified the shooters, Chris and Street is on their way to pick them up as we speak," Hondo informed her in his usual professional way. She nodded, taking in all the new information. "Can I speak to you, Hondo?" Daisy asked with pleading eyes. Luca took his cue to leave and went for the kitchen.
"Before you say anything, I would like to apologise for accusing you of being distracted," Hondo said sincerely. He never meant to blame her or make her feel less useful. He were indeed just worried about her. "It's okay. I might had been distracted," she began explaining. "It's tough moving out of state with no family and starting a new job, a new life," she added on. Pausing, she took in a shaky breath. "I'm lonely. I mean it's lovely that Luca stops by so often, but it's hard to go from being with my brother almost 24/7 and to being alone the majority of the time," she had tears in her eyes, something that she never showed to others. Without thinking, Hondo pulled her in for a hug. "We are your family now. We are all here for you, no matter what," he whispered, just holding her for a bit.