Falling For Lucy

Epi 20 - Free Fall

Today was exam day. As I sat in the conference room before roll call I reflected on the last 6 months of getting to know and working with Lucy Chen. It was obvious by now to me that Lucy was going to be a great cop. She took all the shit I threw at her in training in stride. I almost never rattled her and even when I did she barely showed it. She had her emotions under complete control. I hated it about her.

Soon people started to filter in. Angela joined me next and the three rookies came in together, chatting like normal. Angela smirked at me then spoke out loud. "An 80 might be a passing grade, Boot, but if you don't get at least a 90, you should turn in your badge on general principle." Angela said to West.

"Officer Chen," I looked pointedly at her, "I will take it as a personal insult if you get anything less than a 93."

"Yes, sir." She smirked, then turned in her seat to better look at me.  "Have you figured out what you're going to do with all your new free time? Might I suggest a book club?"

Free time? What free time?

This is what I mean. It's like my standards and expectations mean nothing to her. I could have told her I would boot her myself if she got anything less than 100 and she would still smile and nod and have a sassy comeback. I have only seen Chen show fear only a handful of times on the job and this time wasn't one of them. It irritated me. It's like she was getting under my skin and embedding herself there.

After this exam today we would move on to phase 2 of her training and I knew I would finally have a chance to rattle her then.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, still curious what new free time she thought I was acquiring.

"You know, after I pass, there won't be any more daily evals to write." She answered.

"Whether I evaluate you daily or weekly, I will continue to judge you every minute. Understood." I replied a bit heated because it was true, I thought about Lucy all the time, maybe even too much.

"Yes, sir." She nodded and spinned in her seat as Grey finally entered and called the room to attention. Bishop filed in and took her seat to my left.

"So, alright. Big Day ahead. Rookies will work the first 6 hours of their shift on patrol then come back and take the written test. Hey, try not to tire them out this morning. Just take the easy calls, okay?" Grey instructed.

Just because it's exam day doesn't mean I am ever going to give my rookie a free pass.

"I don't do easy." I said out loud and immediately regretted it.

Grey spinned back to face me. "But you do follow direct orders, am I right Officer Bradford?" He said directly to me, voice sounding deep and disappointed.

"Yes, sir." I nodded.

"Good." Grey smiled, "Easy, then." He walked back toward the podium and addressed the rookies. "Following the written exam, you three will report to the Chief's office where he will administer the oral exam. Remember, he can fail you for a dozen different reasons, so..." He thinks about it. "Remind me, Officer Nolan, how the Chief feels about you?"

"Oh, big fan, sir." Nolan replied with a smirk.

"Mmh- yeah. Alright, see you three back here in 6 hours." Grey said and dismissed us. "Alright that's it!"

____

We were patrolling when the radio chirped, "7-Adam-19, silent hold-up alarm activated at Madame Megan's Psychic Shop. 2417 Vine. Code 3."

We responded to the call and when we arrived to the shop we could hear a man yelling in the back. We pulled our weapons and entered the shop, clearing the room.