Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen: Legal Action

You should know, I'm the one who's in control

Little Mix - Power

Patrolman Calvin Simmons was 6'4 with wide set shoulders and a muscular physique that came from working out far too often at the gym. He had a reputation of using his formidable size in order to intimidate suspects, there had been a few complaints about excessive force in his jacket, mostly from his earlier years, he seemed to be toeing the line these days. Or at least doing a better job of covering for himself. There had been whispers of suspects taking a while to get to the precinct between arrests, Simmons wasn't on her shift so it wasn't Sergeant's Trudy Platt's problem until now that is.

Already she could see he had no respect for her, it was in the way his lips twitched up in that smug smile of his. He stood tall on the opposite side of the desk, his back ram rod straight, his large hands clasped together in front of him. Despite her height he towered over her and made no bones about standing within her personal space in the small office. She didn't scare easy, she wouldn't have made it as long as she had as a cop if she did. Platt didn't even bother to rise from her seat, she simply sat on the opposite side of the desk, her head tilted up towards Simmons. In front of her on the desk, was a white laptop with an open Facebook page.

Asking for a deep dive on Simmons off the books had opened up all sorts of interesting intelligence on the other man. They hadn't even had to look at the Cloud, everything they had to leverage Simmons had been there as blatant as day.

Normally Trudy wouldn't have even considered this route, however these were dire circumstances and she was prepared to fight dirty when it came to protecting the people she cared about. What Herrmann had done was wrong, but it was for the right reasons. Knowing what she knew about Simmons and his connection to John Sheppard, she understood why he had done what he had done. If Kayla had gone alone with Simmons and his partner, there was a high chance that she wouldn't have come back unscathed.

Herrmann had known that, after what had happened with her and the baby, him and Severide had made it their business to watch out for Kayla. When the occasional friend of Sheppard's would 'drop by' they had made sure that those guys hadn't even stepped over the threshold, they never got to see Kayla and she had never known that they had come visiting. Firehouse 51 were family and they protected their own. Simmons had been one of those friends and Herrmann had recognized him off the bat when he had turned up at the firehouse. He had told Trudy that being arrested was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. No matter what happened he had done the right thing.

"Sarge? You wanted to see me." Simmons prompted, shifting from side to side.

It was his first sign of uneasiness and Trudy had to admit she enjoyed his momentary discomfort. It wasn't even a drop in the ocean when she compared it to the anxiety that Kayla must have felt when they had turned up at the firehouse this morning. After what happened with Sorenson last night the other woman must have been terrified when she was confronted with this mountain of a man. By the time Trudy had gotten in to see her in the custody suite, the other woman had shut down completely. She understood that it was a self defense mechanism, a way of processing the trauma that she was experiencing and Simmons had been the one to put her back there in the thick of it once more.

"Is this your Facebook page?" Trudy asked him Simmons, turning the laptop towards him so he could see the screen clearly.

The larger man bent at the waist, his forehead creasing as he took in the information upon the glossy, white laptop. For a moment he looked perplexed, he hadn't seen this coming and that was exactly what Trudy wanted.

"Yes ma'am I believe it is." he responded.

"And this video here." Trudy said, using a pen to point out a link to Youtube that was currently displaying on his timeline. "Did this footage come off your bodycam?"

Simmons had the good grace to bow his head, she could see his lips pursed in a grim line. There was a muscle twitching in his jaw, a sign of stress she hoped as she decided to apply the pressure.

"Yes ma'am. Some of my friends, we post this stuff on Facebook for a laugh." he informed her, a twinge of irritation in his voice.

"So you illegally accessed a CPD administrative server to capture video from your city-issued body cam for one purpose, to humiliate a citizen of this city, the same city we took an oath to protect from bullies like you." Trudy snapped at him, her tone full of ire as her gaze fixed upon him. "The way I see it you have two choices. One, involves you getting written up and ends with a suspension and possible termination of your job here at CPD. The second option means you get to walk out of this room and carry out the remainder of your shift so Simmons what will it be?"

"I'll drop the charges against Herrmann and take down the video but there's nothing I can do about Sorenson." Simmons relented, keeping his head bowed, unwilling to meet her gaze. "Kayla embarrassed him and he wants his due."

"Noted." Trudy acknowledged before gesturing towards the door. "You're dismissed."

Hey Guys, Trudy is on the case! How's everyone's Christmas shopping going?

Nat: I know what you mean. I was writing it I was like Mike you are such an ass! Thank you for your continued support.

Anime: The worst part is I think deep down somewhere she still loves him in a way but she knows how bad he is for her. I kinda hope someone just murders him lol but we should be so lucky.

Lauren: Thanks so much for such a lovely comment, this was a fun storyline to write. You'll have to wait and see what happens!