"Chen!" Nyla calls as she heads toward Lucy in the middle of the station.

Lucy waves goodbye to Aaron, who heads to the men's locker room to change out after their shift and turns towards Nyla.

The detective with Nyla steps in front of her, taking over, despite the fact Lucy can tell that Nyla's trying to gain the upper hand on him, on this conversation.

"Officer Chen, I'm Detective Rosen from narcotics." Lucy nods, looks to Nyla in question, but doesn't get much from her blank look. "I'll cut right to the chase. We know you're a superb undercover officer, and we need you for a case we're working."

Lucy quirks an eyebrow, suddenly recalling the case Angela had mentioned, that started everything a week ago. "You need me, specifically?"

Nyla looks like she wants to say something, but she holds back and Lucy turns back to the detective. "You've got a history with successful narcotics ops, and we need someone who can speak both Spanish and Tagalog. You see, we have a drug trafficker who will only do his dealings in Tagalog and-"

"You don't have to do it," Nyla finally interrupts, giving Detective Rosen a harsh stare, cutting him off before he starts explaining the entire op to Lucy as if she's said yes.

"No one ever has to do anything," Detective Rosen shoots back. "But Officer Chen is an officer with intensive undercover training and a history of successful operations behind her, as well as goals in undercover work, no? And we know she's been chasing detective. If you ask me, she should've scored higher on that exam, I don't see why she wouldn't-"

Lucy sees Mad Dog pass by across the station and her heart beats quicker in anxiety, wondering, worrying, if Tim is around.

"You don't know our officers, Detective, and sometimes they're not…"

"I'll do it," Lucy says instantly, surprising them both, and even herself.

Why not? she figures.

She needs to get the hell away from Mid-Wilshire for a while. Away from Tim, who's always nearby though she can tell he's trying to avoid her by hiding in his office as often as he can. Away from Tim's voice that comes across her damn walkie when she's in the middle of patrol and it hits her in the hardest way. Away from everyone who's looking at her with those sad, knowing looks. Away from Mid-Wilshire where every inch of her place of employment is laced with memories of her failed relationship, because her memories with Tim started the day that she stepped foot inside. Away from everyone who means well, but away from all the are you okays that are going to make her crazy, because no – of course she's not okay about any of it.

"Officer Chen will be in touch," Nyla dismisses Rosen, who holds eye contact with her for an agonizingly long time before looking at Lucy and nodding and turning in the other direction.

Nyla turns to Lucy, holding her gaze so intensely that Lucy wants to look away, but she doesn't let herself.

"You can't go under if you're not one hundred percent in it," Nyla reminds her gently but harshly.

"I'm fine."

"You just told me the other day that you were about to give up undercover work all together."

"For a reason that's no longer pertinent, so…"

"You're coming off of a breakup," Nyla says, and Lucy feels sick hearing the words cut and dried like that. "You're hurting," she adds softly.

"I know, but I'm fine," Lucy says even though she knows she isn't, but that has nothing to do with her undercover skills. She knows she can put it out of her brain in order to do this. "It was over a week ago." Nyla interrupts her to scoff at that, as if a week is any amount of time to move on. "I mean, I can compartmentalize. And besides, it will actually be good for me."

"Lucy…" Nyla's eyebrows furrow, because that reasoning sounds like that of someone who's not in the right frame of mind to go undercover.

"That's not what I mean," Lucy backtracks, knowing her words sound like someone trying to escape instead of wanting to do the work. "Look, it's what we always do, right?" she shoots back. "No matter what's going on in our lives, we have to leave it behind and forget about it. If I can do it when I'm happy, I can do it when I'm…" she doesn't even know how to describe her state right now, the word sad seeming like not enough, so she adds, "It has to be me," Lucy reminds her. "You heard him. I'm the only one who fits the description. You know me, Harper, if I couldn't do it, I'd say so. I know I can. You know I can."

Tim knows, Lucy thinks. Tim knows and trusts when she says she can do something or when she doesn't want to pull the plug. She wonders if Nyla has the same faith in her.

She wonders if she even trusts herself right now.

Nyla studies her for a long moment, then nods, because Lucy has never done anything but prove herself when she goes undercover.

"Alright. Start getting your stuff in order," Nyla agrees and Lucy nods, a strange sense of relief and dread filling her at once.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Angela asks.

"What?" Tim looks up from his desk to see Angela in the doorway to his office. She doesn't stay there long, though, as she pushes her way in and crosses her arms, staring at him.

"You. With Lucy. How long is this going to go on? You really broke up with the woman you're head over heels in love with, because of the fact she…what, wanted to give up undercover work?"

Tim crosses his arms own arms defiantly and shakes his head. "You don't even know the whole story."

"Right. Because you won't talk to me about it. I've only heard pieces of Lucy's version. So? Tell me."

Tim shakes his head. "That's not… she still thinks I can't handle it."

"I don't think that's true," Angela says knowingly.

Tim rolls his eyes at Angela and the fact she thinks she knows all about this situation. "I've tried, okay? I've told her I still have reservations about undercover work. She knows that I do, I was honest about that," he says and Angela nods along. "I told her I'd work through it. I am working through it. We've talked about it. And still she's saying she wants to give it up. She's blaming it on the exam now. But she has to fight for it, y'know? That's who Lucy is. Instead, she's just letting it be an excuse to give it up so that she doesn't have to worry about me not being able to handle it anymore."

"You're an idiot."

"Would you stop saying that?"

"She's been forced to think about other paths besides undercover work after the detective's exam and maybe now she can finally see herself doing something else, where she can also live a normal, fulfilling life outside of the job."

"But she's a fighter, she can figure out a way to get what she wants. Now, all of a sudden, she's saying she just doesn't want to do it and it's better for us. I don't want her to give up on it for us. I don't want her making that huge of a sacrifice for me," he grumbles.

"Like moving to a desk job?"

Tim glares at her. "That's not the same."

"Do you ever think it's not for you? Maybe it's for her, too?"

"She's always wanted to do undercover work."

"Well, things change. And you're not listening to her. I think there's a part of you that just cannot process that someone in this world would find you more important to them than anything else, because no one ever has before."

They sit in silence for a long moment.

"It's for the best," Tim finally replies.

"Even if it was, worst case scenario, because she didn't want you to suffer through another relationship where your partner is undercover all the time, is that really an offense worthy of a break-up?"

"You don't understand," Tim grouses, looking down at his desk and picking up his pen, going back to his paperwork.

"No. I don't."

"I love her," he snaps. "She's an amazing cop. Hell, Angela, I trained her. I can't let her throw all that down the drain. And if I'm even part of her thought process in giving this up, then…"

"You're an idiot," she says again and Tim scoffs and rolls his eyes.

Lucy sorts through her clothes, tossing the ones that she'll take with her onto her bed.

She's glad Tamara's in the room, because she suddenly comes across one of Tim's t-shirts and startles a bit, the sadness and wistfulness washing over her immediately.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tamara asks as Lucy begins to pack her things into a bag, tossing the offending t-shirt into the laundry basket on the floor. Tamara notices.

"It's work," Lucy says simply, not meeting her eyes.

"Yeah, but… you and Tim just broke up."

"It was a week ago."

"Okay, you keep saying that like a week is a substantial amount of time."

"I want to do this," Lucy says all too unconvincingly. "It's only me they can use for this operation."

"Doesn't mean you have to go," Tamara counters. "You do still have free will, don't you? Or did you sign that away at UC school?"

"I need to do this," she amends. "I mean, I need to see if this is where my heart still is. Career wise. Now that Tim's out of the picture." Tamara rolls her eyes in a way that says she knows Tim is never going to be out of the picture, but Lucy ignores her. "Harper and Lopez said that you can call them if you need anything while I'm away."

"Yeah, okay," Tamara says with a shrug. "I'll be fine."

"I know, but just in case."

Tamara nods and Lucy feels a pang of sadness hit her when she remembered how she'd asked Tim to look after Tamara last time, how he'd told her of course he would, not to even worry about it, as if it was obvious that he'd look out for Tamara.

And it had been.

Then, Lucy feels a sting of sadness at leaving Tamara. How long will she be gone? She has no clue. Angela had said it'd likely be short term, but when she spoke with Nyla and Rosen last, he'd mentioned it could be longer than they'd originally thought. What if something happens to her while she's undercover, where will that leave Tamara? How will that hurt Tamara?

It's not only Tim that she has trouble leaving.

It's her whole life that's hard for her to leave behind.

It was easy, before. When she was single and not worried about not coming home to people, when she didn't have a relationship to invest her personal time in, when she thought it was the only path she wanted to pursue.

She'd brought up the K-9 unit not long after the exam. Tim had laughed and said it was just because she wanted the dog, that they couldn't be bringing more dogs home until they lived together.

As if it was meant to happen any day. Now, it's over.

And she can't get the dog because she can't give it away to Tim, this time.

She misses Kojo, too.

"I can always call Tim," Tamara tests the water with a knowing raise of her eyebrows.

"I'm sure you could," Lucy says softly, because she knows that if Tamara called needing something while she was away, Tim would still be there in a heartbeat.

It's late, and Tim's busy scrounging together something to eat after feeding Kojo. Kojo keeps looking at him pathetically, as if he notices that Tim is home more often but he doesn't care because Lucy isn't with him. He frowns when he hears the doorbell ring and Kojo starts barking.

Tim opens his door with a sigh after a glance outside shows him the person who rang the doorbell and got Kojo all worked up is Nyla.

"What are you doing here?" he asks, Kojo barking. "Sit," he commands, and Kojo sits and quiets down with a grumble, sensing that Nyla is approved by his owner.

"I'm here to give you one last chance," she says simply as she pushes her way in. "Nice to see you, too, by the way."

Tim rolls his eyes, but steps back and lets her in, shutting the door behind her. "One last chance for what?"

"To fix things with Lucy."

Tim narrows his eyes at her. "Why is the entire station fixated on this?"

"Because for years we've watched the two of you dance around each other in denial, then we watched you figure it out, and now we're watching you blow it all up. You, this time, not you two." Nyla changes gears, focuses again on her point. "She's going undercover."

The news startles him a bit, but he refuses to show it. "And?"

"This is your last chance to fix things, say 'Hey, Lucy, I heard you before. You can do whatever you want with your career' before she goes under. You shouldn't leave things unsaid."

Tim snorts. "She can do whatever she wants," he points out. "She's free to make any choice she wants. And look what she's choosing now that I'm out of the picture? Back to chasing undercover work. Kinda makes my point, doesn't it?"

Nyla rolls her eyes, now. "Are you really this obtuse?"

"Lucy can do undercover work if she wants, or she can walk away from it if she wants and go after some new path. She's got all the opportunities available to her without having to consider anyone else."

"Yeah, and what a fabulous life that is," Nyla snaps. "She was happy with you. So happy she wanted to walk away and live a normal life with you, have a family with you. But wow, Bradford, you really did her a favor because now she's alone and heartbroken, but damn she doesn't have to think about you when making a career choice."

"You think I'm happy?" he snaps. "I'm miserable! Okay? I love her, too. It's not always black and white."

"You're going to regret it, one day," Nyla says with a sad, knowing smile. "You know what I learned? Undercover work isn't always meant to last a lifetime. It works for a season, then people move on with their lives. They do a lot of good, they learn a lot, but then sometimes priorities in life takes over. People have families. There comes a time when you don't want to give every hour of every day to your job. That's why I'm here now. I should've walked away sooner, because I took it to the point it almost got my daughter involved. You lost a wife to this job. I lost a husband. I get it. Don't lose Lucy, too."

"It's late," Tim says abruptly and Nyla shrugs, making her way to the door.

"Tomorrow, ten o'clock, she's going under."

He waits a beat. "Is she okay to take this op?"

"She says she is," Nyla returns. "You always said she knows when she can't handle it."

"Yeah, but I feel like…" he starts, remembering the way Isabel had used operations as chances to escape, the one thing he'd asked Lucy never to do. Then he realizes he broke up with her so he has no right to ask such a thing, really, so he simply nods. "Okay. Good night."

Tim is so busy hurrying through the station to try and get to his office that he doesn't even see the person he's trying desperately to avoid appear right before him. He stops on his heels before he crashes into her, and she blinks at him, surprised as he is to have him suddenly in her line of vision, inches from her.

"Oh. Hi," she says, startled and surprised.

"Hi," he says carefully, noting her plain clothes and remembers Nyla's warning: ten o'clock tomorrow morning. "I, uh, I hear you're going undercover."

He says it simply because he doesn't know what else to say to her, but he can tell she feels an accusation in his words and she crosses her arms, stubbornly.

"Well, isn't that what you told me to do?"

"Sure," he agrees easily. He can feel Aaron's eyes on them from across the bullpen, and he's surely not the only one. "Be careful," he says, because he doesn't know what else to say, but his voice still comes out laced with unintended tenderness.

"I don't need you to tell me to be careful," she snaps with a bitter laugh.

"I… sorry," he says, burnt from the fire in her tone.

"Mmhmm," she returns, her voice icy and cool, and he realizes he may never see the Lucy he used to know again.

Nyla walks up, gives Tim a look as if she's giving him one last chance to say something, but he only nods to her in greeting. "Harper," he says as he turns and walks away, noting Aaron's head whip around to pretend like he wasn't watching.

Tim looks away, down at his stupid Metro t-shirt, the job that will now always be a reminder of Lucy and…

… the sacrifice he himself had made for their relationship.

Only, that hadn't been the original sacrifice. It had been a desk job, one that she knew he would hate and would never have let him take if she'd known he was about to do it.

So then she arranged that godforsaken five-player trade, for his sake, which cost her the detective's exam, and now here they are. He and their relationship have already unintentionally cost her enough.

"Hey, Sarge," Aaron's in front of him, now, pulling him from his hurricane of thoughts. "I was thinking I need a caffeine jolt, you up for run to the coffee truck?"

Tim narrows his eyes at him. He knows it's a pity invite. Aaron would never willingly go to his coffee truck, and the only reason he's inviting him for coffee now is to get him away from this situation.

But he needs to get the hell out of here until Lucy is gone.

"Sure. I'm driving."

Aaron rolls his eyes as Tim gives one last glance back at Lucy. They pass by Celina who takes one look at Tim and gasps and makes an oof sound, Aaron looking back and shushing her as she mouths something about his aura.

He doesn't know what possesses him to look back, takes one look back at Lucy who's watching him, too.

Maybe it's Celina and her talk about auras getting him off kilter, but he can't shake the feeling he has as he takes one last look at her before looking away.

It takes six days before they even make contact with her.

Six long days that Lucy waits, left alone with her thoughts.

She goes over her cover story, her cover persona, until it's drilled into her mind and she knows it better than she knows her own life story.

She tries to keep her mind off of the obvious, but she can't help it.

She wonders what he's thinking. She knows he's worried. She knows he probably thinks she shouldn't have taken this op, given her state of mind. She knows he probably thinks he's been proven right, that she really wants to do undercover work.

She wonders what Tamara's up to, if she's passed her exam she was stressed about, how she hates she couldn't text her a good luck text before and treat her to dinner, after.

She notices the day and time of Jack's birthday party, regrets that she's missing it. Before the whole breakup occurred, she and Tim had been planning what gift to buy him. They'd, of course, started making it into some little friendly competition, who could come up with the best gift idea. She had seen visions of their future, buying birthday gifts for their own kids.

There's a thump at the door and she jumps, taking a deep breath before finding her cover, scolding herself for not being ready in the right frame of mind.

"Yo! You Alice?" she hears through the door, looks through the peephole to see it's him, Dante Benitez. Rosen had a CI plant her name to Benitez, knowing he'd be interested in a drug runner who speaks Tagalog, because he wants desperately to get into an operation with Rodolfo Nivera, the real guy Rosen wants to take down.

She opens the door to see the man she knows is Benitez. "Who's asking?" she fires back.

"I'm doing the talking around here."

So, he's feisty. "Then I guess I'm not Alice."

He narrows his eyes at her, studies her. "Benitez."

"You got a first name, Benitez?"

"Nothing you need to know." She raises her eyebrows at him, ready to shut the door when he uses his foot to stop her. "Dante Benitez."

"Why you bothering me here, Dante?"

He glares at her at the use of her first name, but she knows she's gained the upper hand. "I hear you run for Burrell."

"Sometimes."

"You speak Tagalog?"

"Depends who's asking."

"I'll give you a decent cut if you run for me," Benitez says, looking around to make sure no one is listening. "Double what Burrell gives you. But you gotta help me get in with this dude Rodolfo. He won't do no business with anyone unless they speak to him in Tagalog."

Lucy nods. "I'm listening."

Two days later, Lucy (or, Alice) meets up with Benitez again with the promise that Rodolfo will show.

"Give me your phone," Benitez says as they wait for him in the empty warehouse.

She snorts. "Why the hell am I going to do that?"

"Rodolfo isn't going to talk to anyone if they got phones on them," he says, holding out his hand and wriggling his fingers at her, indicating she should hand it over. "He's paranoid about cops and shit, always afraid he's going to be recorded or something."

Lucy rolls her eyes, hands the phone over and sits down to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

With nothing to do, her thoughts wander.

Finally, they hear a bang as a door opens and shuts, and Rodolfo shows, but he's not alone – he has a guy by his side. It's clear Rodolfo's in charge but the friend is there to do the speaking for him.

Benitez and his crew get up to instantly engage, bickering about why he's shown up so late, Rodolfo wants their phones, and Lucy hangs back as they sort it all out.

When Lucy finally gets a good look at the friend who had walked in beside him, she knows she's in trouble.

She recognizes him. She had arrested him.

And it wasn't just an easy arrest. She'd been riding with Tim and they'd taken him in after a big scuffle. He'd made annoying comments in the back of the shop the entire time, picking up on the fact they were a couple. She'd been surprised, because they hadn't done anything to indicate they were together, but apparently, they just give off that vibe in how they interact. He'd made several smartass comments until Tim barked at him.

Still, they'd had enough of an encounter that she should be on alert that he may recognize her.

Truthfully, she should've clocked him sooner – undercover training had taught her that whenever someone new enters the premises you should figure out if there's any connection, any threat to your cover.

But she's a little bit off her game, and she hates to admit it, but she'd wasted valuable seconds noting this guy's familiarity because she'd been thinking about Tim, wondering what he was doing, what he was thinking, while they sat around waiting for this guy to show up, two hours and thirty-two minutes late and it took her a moment to get back into the right headspace when they showed.

Now she just hopes that out of uniform, with her hair down around her face, he won't recall her.

"Who's this?" he asks, looking her up and down and without a doubt, she knows he senses some sort of familiarity that he can't place.

Lucy decides to let the others speak for her, not chancing giving him more recognition than he needs if he hears her voice.

"She's solid," Benitez says and Lucy knows she has to be confident, so she looks up at the new guy and directly into his eyes.

"Nah. She's not for real," he says.

"Shut the hell up!" Benitez snaps. "If I say she's solid, she's solid. You're the one who's fucking three hours late."

The friend lets it go, but gives Lucy one last look into her eyes, and she's not sure if he knows who she is or if he's just bold like that. She knows she can't let her confidence falter, so she snaps back into character, promising herself she will not be distracted again.

She knows she should probably pull herself out, there's a definitely concern here – but maybe he really doesn't recognize her? Maybe he's just a fool. And besides, it's not like she can do anything about it right now, in the middle of this situation, no phone.

She'll play it out until her check-in tonight, then she'll bring up the concern, see what the plan is from there.

For a while, it seems to be fine. They start business dealings, she speaks to Rodolfo in Tagalog, they seem to earn his trust. They're going to meet up with them later that night because Rodolfo has a shipment coming in and if Benitez helps him, he's in.

"And we're keeping the phones until tonight," he tells them, patting the box he put them in as he and his friend ride off in his fancy car.

The hours between, Lucy debates what to do.

She can't reach out to anyone without her phone, and she's in the presence of Benitez and his crew, anyway. She could use the phone at the motel to try and contact the station, if she can remember anyone's number.

She can remember Tim's.

She could call him, ask him to get a message to Nyla.

But still, she's not that sure that there's even a problem here. Maybe the friend is just an idiot, making stupid comments about her not being for real because he doesn't trust anyone. Maybe she's reading more into his looks because she recognizes him.

It's definitely not that serious that she has to involve Tim.

Plus, if all goes according to plan tonight, they should have enough to take down both Benitez and Rodolfo.

But when they arrive for the meet up that night, only the friend is there.

She knows this isn't right.

"Where the hell is Rodolfo?" one of Benitez's crew snaps when they see only the friend.

"Busy," he tells them with a smirk.

"Yo, what the fuck is this?" Benitez rumbles. "We had a deal. Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"Tony," is all the info he gives and that's when he turns to Lucy. "Where's the boyfriend?" he asks, suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts.

She looks up, straight into his eyes, and she knows what he means. "I don't have any boyfriend."

"Hmm," the smirk on his lips makes Lucy feel uneasy. "Not how I remember it."