Altruism | Part Two : Care

Episode Four

"good morning, sir" Ana says, softly, entering Sergeant Grey's office.

"this will only take a minute and then you can enjoy your day off" Grey assures her before handing her a file.

"what's this?" Ana asks, softly.

"an official transfer request" Grey responds.

Ana's eyebrows furrow and she takes the file. Her eyes widen exponentially when she sees that Tim has requested her to be transferred to Nolan's new TO and to take Nolan on with Lucy.

"h-he wants to transfer me?" Ana whispers.

"yes" Grey answers.

"w-why?" Ana whispers.

"This new training officer... she's... a lot. Me and the training officers talked about it and didn't think that Nolan could handle her, there was some debate, but Tim volunteered to transfer you" Grey explains.

"right" Ana sniffles.

"now all you have to do is sign here" Grey says, handing her a pen.

Ana nods, signing the paper and handing it back to Grey. He nods, his way of dismissing her. 

Ana manages to make it to her car before she starts sobbing. 

Money problems. Tim problems. And now she's been abandoned... again.

"w-we're gonna get through this" Ana whispers to herself, hiccuping.

"w-w-we're gonna survive... w-we have to" Ana sobs.

She's right in the middle of crying when she gets a call.

"hello?" Ana murmurs, softly, trying to make it sound like she's not been crying.

"Officer Cabrera, this is Detective Nyla Harper. I'm your new training officer." Harper's voice comes over the phone.

"right... I'm looking forward to working with you, ma'am" Ana sniffles.

"sure" Harper says, indicating that she's not excited about working with Ana. "I thought we should get a drink, size each other up a bit before shift tomorrow. Meet me at Third Strike. 20 minutes."

"um... yeah, okay" Ana agrees, softly. "I'll see you there"

Ana gets no response because Harper hangs up.

Ana quickly fixes her makeup before driving to Third Strike. Ana checks with the bartender but Harper isn't here yet so she orders herself a lemonade. Ana goes to a table, never having been one for bars. Her fingers tap on the table as she looks around, anxiously.

"Let me guess. First date? Worried he's not gonna show?" The waitress asks, coming over, and setting down her lemonade.

"um... no, j-just, waiting to meet up with a new coworker" Ana answers, softly. "thank you, ma'am" Ana says, softly, when the waitress gives her her lemonade.

"you don't drink?" the waitress asks, raising an eyebrow.

"no, ma'am" Ana replies, softly.

"was a member of your family in Cuba an alcoholic or did you have a run in during that long roadtrip your grandparents took you across the states before you landed in LA?" The waitress asks.

"w-what?" Ana whispers, looking up again. "you're her, Detective Harper?"

"took you long enough" Harper says, sitting down across from her.

"m-may I ask why?" Ana asks, softly.

"Wanted to see if you could play." Harper smirks. 

"r-right, ma'am" Ana nods, softly.