From Down Here Chapter 23
Kojo doesn't recognize the scent of the woman at Tim's door, but Tim seems to know her. She follows him inside. "Bishop, what are you doing here?"
"I'm working on tracking shipments of guns from Mexico into LA, Bradford," Bishop tells Tim, "so I asked Lopez to fill me in on what's going on. You hooked up with a cop you trained as a rookie? I had enough trouble separating Chen and Nolan, and they were the same rank. This is worse. What the hell, Bradford? You should know better."
"Bishop, I didn't have a personal relationship with Chen while she was my rookie."
"Uh-huh, but you had one while you were her sergeant. Stupid, Bradford. And from what I heard, she engineered your transfer to Metro – and you kept working with her right up until she got the tap. And when you go back to work, you still would be if Lopez and Harper weren't watching out for her. You blew everything up, Bradford."
"I blew everything up?" Kojo doesn't understand the words, but Tim looks mad when he repeats them.
"That's what Lopez and Harper told me. Since she got out of here, Chen has been screwing up. That's putting her at risk. And it's probably putting them at risk, too."
"I know," Tim says, looking sad. "I'm trying to fix it."
"How are you going to fix it?" Bishop asks.
"Chen and I are doing the couples counseling thing. We went last night."
Bishop has a look on her face that Kojo can't figure out. "And how did that go?"
"OK," Tim says.
Bishop's face doesn't look any happier. "Really?"
"All right. It could have been better. Chen and I had to go through all the things we said to each other that weren't true," Tim says.
Bishop hits Tim's arm with her paw. "Meaning how you lied to each other."
"I guess," Tim says.
"So now what?" Bishop asks.
"We're supposed to practice not lying to each other," Tim says.
Bishop moves her head from side to side the way Kojo wags his tail. "Don't you have to see each other to do that?"
"We will be. I'm due back at Metro tomorrow, and Chen's going to keep on her case with Lopez and Harper, so we won't see each other on the job." Kojo understands enough of that to know that Tim will be gone the next day. He'll miss him but knows that Tim is always happier when he can go to work. And Tamara may come over to walk him and maybe give him a treat. But he hears Tim keep talking to Bishop. "But we're going to try a regular date and see how it goes."
"Where are you taking her?" Bishop asks.
"I was thinking about Happy Garden. She loves veggies."
"But you don't, and she knows that, right?"
"Right. I figure she'll know I'm doing something nice for her."
Kojo watches as Bishop does the looking-up thing and wags her head some more. "She'll know you're trying to play up to her. If you two are going to get along as a couple, why can't you pick a place you'll both like? If you go Chinese, she can have all the vegetables she wants, and you can still have steak or ribs or something."
"When did you start getting smart about relationships, Bishop?" Tim asks.
Bishop stops moving her head and looks at Tim. "Maybe after lying meant I had to leave the LAPD. I started fresh in more ways than just joining the ATF, Bradford."
"You met someone?"
"Yeah. And I had to drop some of my old habits, too. It was hard, Bradford. It takes a lot of work to keep being straight with people – with someone."
"But it's worth it?" Tim asks.
"Yeah," Bishop says, with a happier face. "I think it is."
Kojo gives a happy yip as he scents Nolan outside the door before Tim opens it. Tim has a happy face. "Thanks for coming, John. I guess you and Bailey are busy planning your wedding."
"Mostly Bailey," John says. "It is up to the bride to choose what she wants to do. My most important task is to agree with her as often as possible. So, I hear tomorrow is your big day. You're returning to Metro?"
"Yes, I am," Tim says. "That's why I need your help. I'll be gone at all hours. And you probably heard that Lucy won't be here at all."
"That kind of news is hard to miss." Nolan puts his paw on Tim's back. "Sorry, man. I know how much that can hurt."
"Yeah, right," Tim says. "But I didn't ask you to come over because I wanted sympathy. Lucy and I are going to try to put things back together. But until we do, Kojo is going to be spending a lot of time here alone. I can get Tamara to spend some time with him. And Genny will bring the boys by sometimes." Kojo barks at the mention of his friends, but Tim keeps talking to Nolan. "But I'll need to have him in the backyard a lot so he can do his business out there. I want to reinforce the fence. When our crazy neighbor snuck in, he loosened some of the boards. I'm afraid that if Kojo sees an S-Q-U-I-R-R-E-L, he might break through one of them to go after it. And sometimes the teenagers come through here too fast to stop if he runs out in the street. I need to keep him in."
Nolan crouches down to scratch Kojo behind the ears. "We've got to keep you safe, right, boy? Genny also asked me to build a dog run for Skye," Nolan says, standing up again. "So I guess I'll be doing good business in Bradford canine safety. I have two days off after tomorrow. It probably won't take me more than a few hours to reinforce your fence. It's good quality redwood. I'll just have to find lumber to match it. Then I can get started on the run for Genny."
"Are you sure Bailey won't want to pull you in for wedding stuff?" Tim asks. "When Isabel and I got married, there were all kinds of little things she wanted to hash out."
"Bailey's going to be on duty at the firehouse, so it's just as well I have something to keep me busy. And I'd like to get all my projects cleared before we get into the holidays. That way, Bailey and I can be together whenever our schedules actually mesh."
To Kojo, Tim sounds sad. "Sounds like you've got it all worked out."
"Emphasis on the work, Bradford," Nolan says. "Bailey and I had a lot to get through, a lot to get past. You know that. The whole division knows what happened with her ex. But we want to be together. I don't think either of us can picture ourselves with anyone else. So we're determined to do what it takes. And when Bailey gets determined about something, just get out of the way."
"Lucy's the same," Tim says.
Nolan's face does something Kojo can't figure out. "I know. It used to be all about her career, even more than any relationship. She wanted to do UC and make detective. She's done that. So I guess what you need to know is what she's determined about now."
Tim's paws curl up tight. "I'm going to find out."