AUTHORS NOTE: Please leave reviews if you're liking the story or if you have constructive criticism. It's greatly appreciated. Happy reading, reader friends.
Lucy sighed as she fingered her small nameplate on her uniform. She wondered briefly how long it would take to get her new one. When she thought of how she had to go about getting it, she cringed, knowing that there would be lectures from both her Sergeant and Watch Commander. She blew out a breath and buttoned up her uniform top, making sure her ring was tucked securely underneath. She made her way towards the conference room, running into Officer West on her way.
He grinned, walking along with her, "Morning Lucy. Ready to get this week started?"
She grimaced and slowly shook her head, "No. I want to just go back to bed and rewind the last forty-eight hours."
He smirked, "That good of a weekend huh?"
"You have no idea."
Jackson eyed her quickly before holding the door open for her to walk through, "So what did you end up doing?"
Lucy bit back the obvious answer as Tim's heated gaze and body came to mind. Instead she shrugged casually and stepped into the conference room, "Just caught up on all my shows and ate some Chinese food."
Jackson sighed, hoping to get more information than that. He was about to ask if she had seen anyone from work during the weekend, but was cut short by Sergeant Grey entering the room. As the officers sat down to begin roll call, Jackson eyed the room quickly and noticed the Commander was there as well. Sighing he knew they would be in roll call a bit longer than usual.
Lucy sighed and sunk down in her seat as roll call began, her mind wondering to the last two days with Tim. She jumped when she felt the room staring at her. She felt heat flood her face when Sergeant Grey addressed her, his voice sarcastic as ever, "Am I boring you Officer Chen?"
She shook her head and swallowed roughly, "No Sir," she bit her lip before trying to salvage what bit of dignity she had left, but knew it was pointless with the excuse she was going to give, "I'm just tired sir."
She glanced around the room and felt Tim's worried gaze before she saw it. She faced forward and tried to focus on the rest of roll call. She sighed when she stood to leave, but sat back down quickly when a wave of dizziness hit her. Jackson was by her side almost immediately, "Hey you alright?"
Lucy nodded slowly before trying again, but stopped when the Sergeant bellowed across the room, "Bradford, Chen, West, and Lopez up front for a moment."
Jackson and Lucy grimaced and moved to the front as everyone else moved to begin their patrol. They all watched as Grey stared down Bradford before addressing the small group, "It's come to my attention that some of you can no longer work together due to personal reasons, so I'm switching up partners. Bradford you're with Lopez, Chen with West," he glanced between Lucy and Jackson, "I trust you two know what you're doing; it's been almost two years since your rookie year, so don't do anything stupid."
The group nodded quickly before exiting the conference room. As Jackson was grabbing their gear bags, he felt a shadow loom over him. He turned to see Bradford staring him down as he walked closer. Jackson looked around quickly and realized that he had gotten backed into a far corner.
Tim glanced around quickly before leaning down to growl in Jackson's ear, "If something happens to Chen while you're with her I'll become your personal nightmare. I don't care who your father is and I don't care if it would cost me my badge. You understand?"
Jackson nodded quickly before swallowing roughly, "I won't let anything happen to her."
There was a beat of silence before Lucy appeared looking a bit pale, but ready to go. "Everything okay here guys?"
Bradford sucked in a breath before turning to Lucy quickly. His eyes took her in one last time before they parted for the day, "Yea just giving Officer West some last minute pointers on how best to patrol with you is all."
Lucy rolled her eyes before stepping around Bradford, discreetly running her hand along his chest, before turning to Jackson, "Ready to go?"
"Yes. Let's get the heck out of here."
Lucy sighed quickly before turning back to Tim, "Be careful today."
Tim sighed softly before nodding, "You too Boot."
She smiled softly at the endearment before following Jackson to start her shift. She tossed the keys to the shop in Jackson's general direction before sliding into the passenger seat, massaging her temples when she felt a headache forming. She winced as the driver side door shut with a loud slam. She turned to Jackson with a raised eyebrow, "Ready?"
"Yep. Just trying not to rush my funeral is all."
Lucy rolled her eyes before leaning back in her seat, "Oh please. We've worked together for the last few years. What makes you think I'm going to get you hurt?''
Jackson realized his slip up and shook his head, "Nothing, I'm just joking; let's get this show on the road."
After two arrests, a domestic call, and a false alarm Jackson and Lucy heard the radio crackle to life. 'Seven Adam Twenty-one, you need to report back to the station immediately."
Lucy grabbed at the radio to confirm that they got the message and where on their way back. When Lucy walked through the doors of the station she knew that she was the one that the sergeant needed to see. As she made her way up to his office she eyed Tim already in the office. She stopped and breathed in deep, knowing that she and Tim finally had face the music about everything. She opened the door and walked through the door and up to Grey's desk. She took a deep breath before eyeing her boss carefully, "You wanted to see me sir?"
She jumped slightly when Grey didn't even answer, deciding just to get to the point, "Yes I wanted to see you Officer Chen, or should I just address you as Officer Bradford from now on?" Grey glanced between the two officers quickly, before continuing, "I want a straight answer from both of you. Not vague answers or general timelines. I want exact dates, because I know you both have them. Are we clear?"
The two officers nodded quickly before taking seats in front of the desk, hoping to get this lecture over quickly. Grey sighed before launching the first question at them, "When did your relationship start?"
Tim glanced quickly at Lucy and leaned forward, "Around the time Captain Anderson died; a few months after, six months maybe," he ran a hand through his short hair, "So around the fall of 2019."
Grey tossed down his pen and sighed, "Alright. When did you get married?"
Lucy bit her lip and answered quickly, "Only a week or so ago; May 4th. Sir."
She cringed when his eyes narrowed before scribbling down a few quick notes. The tension was thick, but she sat up a bit straighter in her chair. She jumped only slightly when Grey tossed down his pen and looked between her and Tim again before addressing them both, "Here is what's going to happen: you both fill out the proper paperwork for HR, you will not work together unless absolutely necessary, and you will be on probation until I see fit to take you off it. Are we clear?"
They both cringed, but nodded nonetheless. Lucy bit her lip before addressing Grey, hoping not to piss him off much more than they already had, "Who are we going to be partnered with sir?"
The smirk on the sergeants face made Lucy stomach roll, "I would put you with West and Lopez, but that would be too much fun for you both. Chen you're with Officer Wrigley, Bradford with Officer Galvez, you'll love him; he's a talker."
Tim sighed, but didn't comment, knowing that he would be in even more trouble if he did. He eyed the clock and realized the shift was almost over. He was hopeful that he could finish off the shift with Lopez before working with someone new. He sighed before turning to Grey with hopeful eyes, "We can finish off our shifts with our current partners right? Because I don't want to start the last half of my shift with someone new."
Grey sighed and stood quickly, his voice rising to fill the room, "Quite frankly Officer Bradford, I don't really care what you want at the moment. You'll work with whoever I tell you to work with, when I tell you to work with them. Are we beginning to understand each other?"
Tim sat up straight and nodded curtly, "Yes sir."
Lucy's eyes widened, never seeing Tim chastised before. She glanced between Tim and Grey before biting her lip. Her voice soft in the large room, "Sir, this may not be the best time to ask, but when can I get my new nameplate for my uniform?"
Grey gave an irritated sigh before shaking his head, "You can get a new one when your paperwork is processed properly with HR, Bradford. If there isn't any more questions, get out of my office before I decide to fire the both of you."
Lucy ignored the small bit of pride she had when the sergeant addressed her as Bradford. She scurried out of the office and made her way to the break room where Jackson was patiently waiting. He stood up when she entered, "Everything okay?"
Lucy sighed and shook her head, "No everything is not okay. I'm assuming starting tomorrow I have to partner with…Wrigley," she paused to kick the chair gently to take out her frustrations, 'overly cautious, traffic ticket loving Wrigley."
Jackson rose an eyebrow and leaned against the counter, "Okay I think I missed something. Why are you being partnered with Wrigley?"
Lucy sighed, knowing that everyone in the department would find out about her and Tim in a matter of days, if not hours. She sighed before launching into a brief detail, "The short version is that Tim and I…we're married. We've been together for a while; a few months after Captain Anderson died. It just happened. One day we're partners and the next we're friends, and then all of a sudden we're falling in love without meaning to. Needless to say, I'm on probation until further notice; Tim and I both are."
As Lucy breathed in deep, Jackson couldn't help, but think that no one had won the bet. He then smirked because he at least guessed that they were already together. He shook his head and sighed, "So what? You're being punished by being put with a crappy partner. I'm sure in the next six months you'll be able to get partnered with someone you actually like. I know you and Tim were good, but that's out the window now for obvious reasons. Hey maybe you and I could be partnered together when you get off probation or whatever."
Lucy sighed and trudged out of the break room, trying to move quickly to the garage so they could finish the long shift, "Fat chance Jackson. I dated my T.O and hid it from the higher ups. We hid it for a long time, it just became serious enough that we had to bring it up to Sergeant Grey."
Jackson moved to open the car door and rose an eyebrow, "What do you mean by serious enough? You guys are dating and you hid it for a while, so what…"
"We're married Jackson. Tim and I decided we didn't want to waste any more time dancing around hypotheticals, what if's, and wishing for things. We want a house and kids with a dog," she paused and gave a tiny smile before shrugging," well Tim wants a cat, says there intelligent and loving creatures and…"
She trailed off and sighed before getting in the car, turning as Jackson slid in and started the engine "Nothing else matters really. I just know that I love him with everything I am and he loves me. We want that crazy, insane, wild ride of a life and we didn't want to wait. Screw politics of policing and higher brass of the job."
Jackson smirked and pulled out of the garage and into the street before glancing briefly at Lucy, "You do know that the whole district is behind you? Hell, half of everyone had bets on when you guys were going to get together. Even Grey had an opinion; he wasn't in the bets of course, but he knew that you guys would get together eventually. He just hoped that you guys would have done it properly through the paperwork and such. Grey just has to do something as a form of punishment to put down on paper. Nothing too severe really. He's just partnering you with someone you hate for a while."
Lucy leaned back in her seat and sighed, knowing the next six months was going to drag by. She felt her ring through her shirt and smiled, knowing that she would go through a dozen officer Wrigley's if it meant going home to Tim every night. She sighed again, looking forward to getting her probation period over and done with, she just didn't know that by the end of it, her life wouldn't be the same.
