Safe Place to Hide || Chenford / The Rookie

Chapter 11

Lucy often finds hopefulness in the dawn of a new day, but, on this particular morning, her mood is sour. The light of day seems to only amplify the sting of her humiliation and her dread about the second note.

Under the spray of the shower, her mind wanders back to the night before, and she replays the moments leading up to her bold decision to kiss Tim, and, now, further distanced from the immediacy of her mortification at his response, she is sure that she could not have misread things so completely. Sure, she can be impulsive at times, and, sure, she had quite a bit on her mind, but she is absolutely certain she wouldn't have taken such a huge leap if she hadn't been so positive that he was right there with her. And the more certain she is that she could not — would not — have done what she had without some kind of signal, the angrier she gets, both at herself and at Tim.

She groans, covering her face with her hands at the idea of having to face him today. And with everything on her plate, this complication is the last thing she needs to be focusing on. And though almost every part of her wants to crawl back into bed and hibernate for the next year, she instead gives herself the rest of her shower to wallow about her stupidity and his confusing signals, deciding that for everyone's sake, she needs to just mentally set the whole thing aside and move on.

Once out of the shower, she notices a missed text on her phone. She sighs deeply when she sees that it's from Tamara's teacher, Adam Donovan, asking if she wants to grab a drink that evening. Her initial gut reaction is to just politely decline the invitation. She is most definitely not in the headspace for a date, no matter how cute or kind the date in question appears to be. But a small voice in the back of her head reminds her that if there's any chance he knows anything that could help her figure out who shot Tamara, it will be time well spent. And also that maybe a drink with a cute guy wouldn't be the worst thing for her heavily bruised ego.

She shoots a quick text to Angela, "Did anything come back on Adam Donovan? Tamara's teacher?"

Angela's response comes through a few minutes later, "Nope. Clean as a whistle. No complaints on his record or corroboration from our other interviews re: Jenna's accusation. I think you're right — she was trying to draw attention away from something else."

***

Immediately following roll call, Tim and Lucy are back in Grey's office. Grey's forehead is creased as he studies the note before looking up at Lucy.

Lucy fights the urge to take a step backward and make herself as small as possible beneath his scrutinizing gaze.

"So Tim tells me you were seeing Nolan, and that you and he may have misled IA about the nature of your relationship during these interviews."

Lucy nods meekly.

Grey raises his eyebrows and shakes his head. "Can't account for taste, I guess," he mutters under his breath.

Tim suppresses a smirk, while Lucy frowns.

Grey sighs, "Look, fraternization amongst officers, especially officers in training is frowned upon, yes, but we're not stupid. We know it happens. Just take a look at Exhibit A over here," Grey gestures to Tim, who rolls his eyes.

"We were in —"

"Different divisions," Grey finishes for him, "and I'm sure absolutely nothing untoward happened when you were training together as Rookies, am I right?"

Tim grunts, crossing his arms and looking away, while Lucy wonders if there could possibly be anything more mortifying than having to listen to her boss talk to the man she had basically thrown herself at 12 hours ago about untoward behavior with another woman in front of her, all in the context of discussing her very own untoward behavior. Manifesting the earth to open up and swallow me whole. Please, god.

"Anyway. The point is — we get it. This job is intense. Connections form," and suddenly the air is that much heavier as Grey glances between Tim and Lucy, and she tells herself that as tempting as it seems, bolting from the room will not solve any of her current problems. "It's an issue that you didn't disclose the relationship, but the bigger issue is that you lied to IA."

Lucy shifts, trying not to squirm too obviously as she's forced to face her past transgressions head-on.

"Ultimately, though, it wasn't directly relevant to the investigation, and they have larger fish to fry; if they wanted to reprimand you or Nolan for it, they had every opportunity to do it when you were both probationary officers.

"Officer Chen, I'm not saying there won't be any consequences for you and Nolan when the dust settles, but you've proven yourself to be an extremely valuable addition to the LAPD, and right now our only priority is to ensure your safety and get to the bottom of whoever this is that is coming after one of our own. I don't want you worrying about anything else right now; is that clear?"

Lucy nods vigorously, overwhelmed by the sense of relief that washes over her as Grey continues.

"Go ahead and get Harper and Lopez up to speed on this latest development, in case it is tied to your UC operation or Tamara's shooting. But, beyond that, we'll keep this need to know. I'll reach out to IA to see if I can't get more detail on what specifically was in the report and who would have access to photocopy it.

"Officer Chen, I'm not going to order it yet, but I'm going to strongly encourage you to take Harper up on the offer of the safe house until we can get to the bottom of this."

Lucy glances toward Tim and notices the rigidity of his stance, arms crossed and jaw locked. There's no question about what he wants her to do, and it's unlikely he's going to back her on any other option.

She turns a pleading gaze to Sergeant Grey, "Please, sir. I think we're really getting close to something with Tamara's shooting. I appreciate the opportunity you've given me to work the case so far, and I know I can do more good here than I can if I'm locked away in some safe house."

Grey frowns, "Like I said, I'm not ordering it at this point, but if there's any additional escalation, in any form, you're not going to have a choice in the matter."

Lucy nods, "I understand sir, thank you."

"I'll check into keeping a patrol unit assigned to your apartment in the meantime."

Lucy looks at Grey in confusion, mouth opening to question what he's talking about, when she chances a glance at Tim and realization washes over her. Of course he hadn't just left her apartment last night without fighting her on going to the safe house if he didn't have some other plan in mind.

So she instead just nods again, pushing aside her mild irritation at Tim having gone behind her back and having to be babysat by her colleagues. "Thank you, sir."

It's preferable to being shipped away to a safe house, at least.

***

It's mid-morning when they stop off at a gas station food mart for a caffeine fix. Lucy is grateful that it's the first lull they've hit all morning since she's not entirely sure how awkward things might get between her and Tim without the ongoing distraction of calls coming in. And though she's grateful they've been able to keep busy, she's also hoping the current lull might carry them through to lunch so that they can make another stop by Faircrest High.

She is mindlessly perusing the tabloid headlines near the register when the door chimes as someone enters on the other side of the store. Tim, who is making his way toward her, coffee in hand, glances back as the door opens and when he turns back toward Lucy, she's not sure she's ever seen color drain out of anyone's face so quickly.

Before she can even blink, he's closed the distance between them, shielding her from the rest of the store with his body, and gripping her arm so firmly that Lucy is sure he has no idea how roughly he's handling her. His voice is a low, but dead serious growl that causes the skin on her arms to prickle, "Don't say a word. Don't argue. Don't even blink. Turn around, go out the door, get in the shop, and drive. I'll meet you 2 blocks west of here in 15 minutes."

She opens her mouth to respond, but clamps it shut in response to his hissed, "Now!" The realization that he's not angry, but instead terrified, compels her to move without any further hesitation.