The Rookie

Crash Course

Another day on the job meant another day closer to having my regular T.O. It was hard to admit, but I actually kind of missed Tim Bradford's teaching techniques. I was bouncing from officer to officer and it was hard to keep track of what everyone wanted out of me. 

I was heading to the briefing room when I ran into Jackson. "Good morning Jackson." I greeted happily.

"Woah, where's the usual bad attitude this morning?" He asked confused.

"Bradford got out of the hospital this morning which means that pretty soon I can stop hopping from shop to shop." I said excitedly. "Are you ok?" I asked noticing his sour mood.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't get the best sleep." He said. I could tell that he was lying, but I didn't want to push him to tell me anything. He would tell me when he was ready. Nolan then approached us and joined our group.

"Hey, how's it going?" Nolan asked.

"Pretty good, thanks for asking." I said happily again and he looked at me suspiciously.

"That's good. How about you, Jackson?" He asked directing his attention to West. 

"Great." He lied, but then corrected himself. "All right, fine. I didn't get much sleep."

"Are you worried about something?" Nolan asked concerned for his wellbeing. 

"No, no. Just, uh, excited to get back out there." He insisted as we walked into the briefing room. We went to our usual seats at the front of the room when Nolan stopped. 

"Oh. Very funny, you guys." Nolan said taking the bouquet in his hands. It was a reference to the bride jumper that he had earlier this week. "Of course, you know, this means now I have to throw them." He said as he tossed the bouquet over his shoulder. Chen ducked them and then Sergeant Grey walked in.

"All right, the honeymoon's over. 3, 5, 21. Officer Nolan, you care to guess what these numbers represent?" Sergeant Grey said unimpressed by the theatrics that just took place.

"Combination to your heart, sir?" Nolan joked and everyone laughed.

"3 is the number of opportunities you had to disable Runaway Bride's car yesterday. 5 vehicles were damaged because you failed to do so. And the last number. Officer Bishop." Grey asked Nolan's T.O.

"$21,000 in property damage the city has to pay." She said ashamed.

"Correct. All in all, Officer Nolan's first pursuit reveals room for improvement." Grey said obviously.

"Yes, sir." Bishop confirmed.

"Onward. Officer McNally is in need of a training officer until Tim Bradford is cleared for duty. Officer Scott Wrigley, you get the nod." Grey ordered and I looked back to see Wrigley waving his hand at me. I hoped that today wasn't going to be a disaster. "That's it. Stay safe out there. Oh, Lopez, West, see the captain on the way out." Grey dismissed us and I went straight to get our gear. I was surprised to see that as I approached the gear station Wrigley already had all of our gear and was walking towards the shop.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

"Nope, I'm good." He answered cheerfully.

"Are you sure I can't carry that?" I asked worried that he was going to report to Tim after this.

"Absolutely. I've been on the job 12 years, never fired my weapon. You took on a couple high-powered jokers, saved your T.O. on day two. So that makes you a rock star in my book. And rock stars don't pack-mule the gear." He said complimenting me as I helped him put the gear in the shop.