Nolan's Journal Chapter 11
"Damn! Damn! Damn! Bailey has damaged fallopian tubes. She thinks it's from an infection she contracted from that sonofabitch Jason. She took care of it as soon as she could, but apparently, that was too late. The doctor says my sperm density is adequate, which means I'm not shooting blanks. So we could have a child by IVF, except that Bailey doesn't want to. She says she's seen too many women try cycle after cycle, waiting and hoping only to end up with broken hearts and empty bank accounts. I can't really disagree. I've known a couple of families like that myself. Still, I made sure that Bailey knows that if she changes her mind, I'm in.
"Celina has moved in with Lucy. It's great for Celina. Her old roommate was driving her nuts, a relative thing for Celina, but I understand. It's really good for Lucy, too. With Tamara moving out and her breakup with Tim, she can use the support. The two of them do see eye to eye on a lot of things, like healing herbs. It's a good match.
"After the bloodbath from the Mafia, I think everyone in the department was hoping for a lull. We didn't get one. Tim is still in trouble, but that's not the worst of what's happened. Everyone, including Metro, was still so short-handed that they called Tim back for an operation. Of course, he was at the bottom of the totem pole and possibly under it. So they stuck him doing what was essentially lookout duty. That meant that he wasn't with the group that breached a building. The operation was planned by a member of Metro known as 'Mad Dog.' Something, and right now no one is entirely sure what, went wrong. The building blew up. Mad Dog was only slightly injured, but the rest of the squad that went in was killed. It seems like the LAPD is running out of black bands for our badges and out of grief counselors.
"Understandably, Mad Dog took his squad's loss harder than anyone on the force. He texted Tim, saying they needed to talk. He wanted to meet on a roof. If I were Tim, that would have given me pause. But then, I haven't had my professional life turned upside down and inside out. Tim went up to the roof and talked to Mad Dog. But the next thing he knew, Mad Dog let himself fall over the edge. The acrimony between the two men was no secret, so Tim is under suspicion and on administrative leave. The leave may not be such a bad thing. Maybe it will give him more of a chance to get his head straight. But since he is facing discipline, as his union rep, I'm his advocate.
"Despite their breakup, Lucy is worried as hell about him. She would be. That's Lucy. She came to me when I was in trouble after we broke up, too. She kept me from getting killed. Still, it's a little weird to console a woman I used to sleep with about the loss of her most recent lover. But it would be even weirder if I hadn't married Bailey. It seems like the couples that weren't already married, like Grey and Luna, have serially tied the knot. And each one of us faced at least one major crisis.
"For Angela and Wesley, it was La Fiera and then Elijah Stone. For Harper and James, she was torn between two lovers – and dealing with an ex-husband trying to keep her daughter away from her. Then Bailey and I had to get past her keeping the fact that she was still married to Jason from me. And after that Rosalind Dyer pulled her last act of revenge on us. So I suppose that it was Lucy and Tim's turn for the curse of Mid-Wilshire. God! I'd better not ever say that to Celina. She'd bring in Sabina to try and lift it. I can just see Grey's face. Maybe Tim and Lucy will manage to overcome whatever is coming between them. I know that she wants to. Tim's always hard to read. But I'm guessing he'd like to overcome it too.
"On the brighter side, things at the center are going well. Fortunately, the major battles in LA right now are taking place in other neighborhoods. The nutrition program is picking up steam. We have several tutors helping kids with their schoolwork. Aaron and James are still teamed up to help anyone they feel has been falsely convicted of a crime. So they'll be making visits if anyone in that neighborhood needs their services.
"Another ray of sunshine in the past couple of days is the further progress that Gino and his husband have made with Joey. The boy is still reluctant to speak, but it turns out that he's OK with the little writing that he's learned to do. He managed a legible 'Joey R.' Having at least an initial for his surname could help a lot in identifying him. Celina and I are trying to reach out to all the schools, preschools, and daycare providers anywhere near the supermarket where he was spotted with the female who yelled at him and hit him. So far, we have a few possibilities, for when we have the time to run them down. Gino would do it himself, but a school or daycare is a lot more likely to reveal that information to a cop than a civilian. Honestly, I don't know what we'll do with the woman when we find her. We can charge her with child abuse and endangerment, but I doubt that she'll be very forthcoming with much that's useful for helping Joey. Still, you never know. Also, Gino says that learning Joey's family background may help address any medical issues that come up along the way. That makes sense."
"As Tim's union rep, I just now got a call with the results of the forensic examination of Mad Dog's body. Tim's DNA wasn't on it anywhere, making it impossible that Tim could have pushed him, or even that they had an argument at close range. Common sense would dictate that should be the end of Tim's troubles, about Mad Dog anyway, but apparently not. There's a detective named Pierson who is sniffing at his heels with some kind of conspiracy theory that Tim and Mad Dog were in it together on blowing up the building since they are both survivors. According to Pierson, Mad Dog was telling Tim that he felt so guilty about the whole thing that he thought they should come clean. Then when Tim wouldn't go along, Mad Dog took his own life. It's ridiculous, but Tim seems to be keeping something back. I think Lucy knows what it is, but she isn't about to talk. Secrets have a way of surfacing eventually. Bailey found that out the hard way with Jason. Whatever Tim and Lucy are holding back could very easily end up biting them both in the ass. It might not make the department look very good, either. I really hope that doesn't happen. Still, all the secrecy is making me nervous, and I have too damn much to be nervous about already. The whole department does. We can't afford any more losses."