labyrinth, the rookie.

the bet.

A Wednesday morning, Evelyn wakes up after a night of partying. She was definitely hungover, that's what she ended up determining. She rubs her eyes and turns over. There's a guy in her bed. Tim Bradford is in her bed. She looks at him with a look of fear as she crawls out of bed to go get August ready for daycare. 20 minutes later, Evelyn is drinking her coffee while August is eating pancakes as Tim comes out of Evelyn's room, "Morning." he says in an awkward manner. Evelyn gives a slight smile, "Good morning to you too. Um, would you want to ride to work together? Do you have your car?" Tim shakes his head no. He walks over to the kitchen island and Evelyn slides over a cup of coffee to him. They both drink their coffees silently. After a few minutes of awkwardness, Evelyn walks over to August and picks him up. Tim smiles watching. He loves seeing her do what she does best. She walks over, grabs the keys and stands in the doorway, "You coming?" Tim nods and they both head out to the car. Evelyn buckles i'm August, goes to the other side of the car and sits down. She looks over at Tim, "We're not gonna tell anyone about this right? Tim sighs, "Absolutely not."

•••
Evelyn walks into the briefing room and takes a seat. All she can think about is how much hangovers suck. She looks up and Grey is going on and on about how today was a problem day or something. She could barely focus. Angela looks at her sister with a concerned look and hits her arm, "You gotta pay attention during these. I know you know that." Evelyn gives a slight smile and sits up, "Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm just really hungover." Angela laughs. Grey continues the meeting and tells everyone problem spots are areas that attract crime like a magnet. He pairs Evelyn with Nolan and as usual, Jackson and Angela are paired along with Lucy and Tim. Thank god she thinks. Thank god she doesn't have to work directly with Tim today.

•••

Lucy and Tim are getting their gear and Lucy starts questioning him about the night before. She does that smirk she always does and says, "So what'd you do last night?" Tim panics and racks his brain for something. He opens his mouth and says, "Gym. Dinner. Study." He knows that isn't true. He spent the night with Evelyn Brooks. Lucy doesn't buy it, "Really? I saw Brooks was real hungover this morning." Tim annoyed looks at Lucy, "Do you wanna run behind the shop boot?" Lucy walks away, "No! I'm shutting up now!"

•••

Evelyn let Nolan drive the shop today. She didn't do that often. She really starting warming up to the guy. He was rambling about Jessica. His new girlfriend. He noticed something was up with his superior officer. He looked over at her, "What's up with you?" She had a quick mental debate if she should tell him the truth or not. She decided to tell him the truth. "I slept with Tim Bradford last night.", she says hesitantly. Nolan jumps up from his seat, "What? Like our Tim Bradford? That's insane!" Evelyn looks down, "I know. I know. But it's driving me crazy because I feel like I'm in love with him but what if I'm not?" Nolan sits there stunned. He didn't know how to take this, especially from someone he isn't really friends with. He keeps driving letting Evelyn sit with what she just admitted. He arrives to their supposed problem spot. Nolan looks over at Brooks in confusion, "This is our problem spot?" Evelyn smiles, "Yup. What do you see?" Nolan analyzes the scene, "A guy waiting for this bus?", he says. "Nope. Drug dealer. This corner is big for upper class dopers. Oxy, Molly, Benzos, Vikes, anything a well off dude can choke down with a Kombucha spritzer.", says Evelyn. Nolan nods in approval and continues to watch the scene as someone pulls up at the supposed exchange. "And right on cue. Are we gonna bust that deal?", asks Nolan inquisitively. Evelyn shakes her head no, "We need to scare the clients away so business takes a hit. Take a lead on this one." They hit the sirens and pull up in front of the buyer's car. Nolan walks over to ask for license and registration. That's too slow. Evelyn impatiently tells the buyer she saw him exchange money for a baggie. He denies it. She knows he bought it. He's bullshitting her. She insists he hands over the baggie. He explains it's for his friends down at City Hall. Bullshit. He gets a call. Evelyn watches every move he makes. He starts crying and hands over the baggie, "I'm sorry. I just needed to take off the edge! I'm under a lot of pressure!" Nolan helps him out of the car and puts him into handcuffs and into the back of the shop.

•••

Evelyn walks into holding to process that buyer, she overhears a conversation she wishes she never heard. Lucy is setting Tim up with someone. Lucy's paying and if he doesn't have a good time, Lucy has to do 50 push ups after every call. She started to feel an overwhelming feeling of jealousy. She couldn't help but want him. She didn't want him yesterday and now he's all she wants. He consumes all her thoughts. Never has she felt like this for anyone. Ever.

•••

One of their calls led Evelyn and John at the hospital. Nolan seemed to be freaked by the doctor that took over their case. She couldn't help but wonder who that was to him. Jessica, his girlfriend, walks in and starts bossing people around, completely ignoring Nolan. She leans over to whisper in his ear, "She really is pissed at you." Nolan smiles in annoyance of his TO. She gets up from her seat, "I'm taking the shop. Dispatch someone to come get you when you're done here." He pauses, "You're leaving?" Evelyn walks towards the elevator doors, "Yup. Gotta help Angela get ready for dinner with Wesley's Mommy Dearest." Nolan looks unsure, "Oh good luck with that." She yells out thank you and leaves with the shop.

•••

Evelyn walks up to Angela's house, August holding her hand. She knocks. Angela answers with a beaming smile and hug. "Thank you for coming. I just wanna make an impression you know?" Evelyn smiles and walks in, "I get it Ange. Let me help." Evelyn smiles at Wesley as August runs over to him to plays trucks. Angela leads Evelyn into her room. There's at least 25 dresses laying around with beauty and hair products all over. Angela sits down on the bed along with Evelyn. "I just want her to like me. I am dating her one and only son." Evelyn smiles, "She will like you. I helped raise you", she tucks Angela's hair behind her ear, "You're amazing. Badass. Kind. The best sister anyone could ever ask for. You have nothing to worry about. But you should definitely pick that red dress over there." Angela laughs. No one will ever understand the bond they share. A little later, Evelyn is helping Angela curl her hair when she suddenly blurts out her secret. "I slept with Tim Bradford yesterday!" Angela turned her head stunned, "I'm sorry, what?!" Evelyn gives her sister a little smirk, "Yeah. We we're drunk and it happened. I woke up to him in my bed this morning." Angela smiles and playfully hits her sister's arm, "No way!! I am definitely gonna ship this." Evelyn looks down, "Wouldn't count on it. I heard Lucy setting him up on a date. I don't know why but he's literally all I can think about. I hate this." Angela looks at her older sister, "You're in love Evelyn Louise. Evelyn Louise Brooks is in love!" They both talk about it for a bit and laugh. Angela finally is ready and chats with Wesley about meeting his mom as Evelyn starts packing up herself and August to leave. She signals to Angela to call her later and tell her everything. They had made up theories that Wesley didn't want Angela to meet his mom because she was some kind of alien.

•••

She's home. Finally. August is in bed and she's just her. It's just Evelyn. She sits on her couch drinking wine. Never has she felt like this. She's been in love many times surely. Just not a love like this. Tim Bradford had formed a hold on her after one night. He couldn't ever know that though. He's on a date tonight she's thinking to herself. Come on Ev, he's probably gonna have a girlfriend soon. She grabs her phone off the couch and dials a number. A woman answered, "Hey you. It's been a bit. How you doing?" Evelyn sighs of relief. That woman is her voice of reason. "I'm not too bad. I just miss you Ny." She smiled talking to the one person who understood her almost as well as Angela. Nyla Harper.