I woke up extra early today, I was so excited. It was my favorite day of the year, Rookie Day. It had been a rough year for me, but I was ready to start training my new boot.
So I got up at 4:30 to make a protein-heavy breakfast so I could hit the gym and still have time to scope out the new boots before roll call. I had so much energy buzzing under my skin I had to burn it off or I would be jittery in the shop. A new boot meant a fresh lump of clay to mold into another great LAPD officer. And this one would be years of experience culminating into one officer, the perfect rookie. But until I knew who I was assigned all I could do was strategize my game plan.
So that's what I did while I ran 5 miles, lifted weights for a half hour, and did 100 pushups and another 100 crunches before hitting the punching bag for about 45 minutes. I thought of nothing but every possible scenario that could arise this first shift and felt confident by the time I hit the showers and got changed for rookie day.
"I love rookie day," I said walking through the locker room, scoping out the new meat with Officer Willis and Officer Mitchell behind me.
"It's Christmas and the Purge all-in-one." I rested my hands on my hips, looking at the new boot coming in.
He was a young, lanky, black kid who was just a little too perky for his first day on the job.
"There's my first present," I said to Officer Willis with a smirk.
"Morning, Boot," I said sternly.
He smiled back at me. "Good morning sir-"
"Did I say you could talk?" I cut him off and got close to him until he stepped back. "You better pray I'm not your training officer, Boot, cuz I will make your life a living hell."
He still looked cool, calm, and collected. "Sir, I would be thrilled to have you as a T. O. My father raised me to push myself to the edge of my abilities and he would be deeply disappointed if I failed to do so now that I have joined him in service," he said confidently.
I looked down at his uniform and saw the name tag. WEST
"And your father is-" I started.
"Commander West of Internal Affairs, yes, sir," Boot replied.
I wasn't expecting that. I definitely did not want this Boot, he was going to be way too sensitive, his daddy always in his corner to protect him.
"Roll call in 10," I said then left. This one boot wasn't going to rock me. I was solid, he was just a little hiccup. The other two can't be that bad.
I got to roll call early and took my seat near the back. I was definitely going to scope out the other two new rookies to join our ranks this year. They would be sitting in the first row where only rookies sit. So I wasn't surprised when a couple of minutes later two of the three rookies filed in with everyone else and took their seats.
Boot West sat first in the far spot and the new girl sat next to him. She was of Asian descent, small, and pretty and would be the easiest to break. She wasn't tough like Bishop or Lopez was. But she was chatting comfortably with Boot West, I assumed they must have been friends at the academy.
A few minutes later the third rookie still hadn't shown and I was irritated. If that was my rookie I was going to be so pissed. But then at the last minute, he came in and took the last seat at the table and he was old. Like older than me old. For a spilt moment, I prayed to the T.O. gods to stick me with the girl.
And then roll call was started by Sergeant Grey and I focused while he gave his "every cop is forged" speech he gave to all new rookies.
"It's time to play the Training Officer Match Game." Sergeant Grey announced, "Our contestants are Lucy Chen, hotshot who made her first arrest before clocking in for work."
Impressive.
"Legacy Jackson West, who broke all his dad's records at the academy."
Eh.
"And John Nolan, who was born before disco died."
Ew.
"And our winners are... Officer Bradford, you get our hotshot."
Lucy Chen and of course she looked back at me the moment I thought her name. I steeled my features, never letting anyone know what I am thinking.
"Officer Lopez, you get our Legacy. Leaving Bishop to ride with the 40-year-old rookie."
Grey finished up his speech and then dismissed us after holding Nolan back. I turned to Bishop, "Well, you got the short stick."
"No kidding," she replied as we all filed out.
Now it was Boot Time. I couldn't wait to break Officer Chen.
After collecting our gear we headed to the top of the parking garage to set up our shop.
"This is a shop. Do not call it a car. It is where you work." I instructed in my drill sergeant voice as I walked her around the classic crown victoria we would be driving today.
"First, you check the exterior for damage." I pointed at some small marks.
"Any nicks, scapes, or dents need to be logged," I added, then opened the rear passenger door.
"Check the back seat thoroughly for anything a suspect may have left behind. Money, drugs, weapons?"
She nodded in acknowledgment.
"Why aren't you taking notes Officer Chen? Do you think I'm impressed because you picked some low-hanging fruit on your way to work?" I drilled her.
What she didn't know won't hurt her.
She scrambled to get out her notepad and start writing.
"On to shotgun safety," I shouted and we moved to the trunk of the shop, keeping up a brutal pace. "Check the barrel, and verify that it is clear. Then close the action."
"In the back of the shop you have police tape, road flares, and spike strips." I pointed to the prepacked supplies that motor pool dealt with.
"Now body cam check. Turn on your cam and clearly state your name, rank, and badge number."
"Officer Lucy Chen, rookie, 28537." She said confidently. So far, so good.
"Now in the shop," I said and I directed her to the driver's side as I took the passenger side. "Log into the box and put in our serial number."
I waited a moment while she finished her task before I pinned her with a serious stare. She stared back at me like an adorable deer caught in the headlights. She had big doe brown eyes. They had flecks of gold in them making them shine, but what really caught me off guard was her. She hadn't looked away. She had met my gaze and just held it. No rookie had ever done that to me before. She was brave.
"Now, check lights and sirens. And finally, Boot, check yourself. You are about to hit the streets with a loaded weapon and I will not have you get me killed out there. This about to be the worst day of your life."
"Yes, sir." She said, nodding meekly. I wasn't sure she believed me, but now we were going to see if she really had what it takes to be a cop.
"Now get out of the driver's seat, I'm driving," I demanded sternly. There was no way in hell I was letting her drive on her first day. Or ever really.
"Oh, yeah, of course." She mumbled and quickly got out and swapped seats with me. We got back into the shop, buckled up, then hit the streets to start patrol until a call came our way.
After a couple of minutes of riding in silence, I decided she was ready for the next test.
"So, why do you want to be a cop?" I asked.
She did a double take, obviously confused. "Is this a trick question?" she asked.
"You want me to train you, I need to know why you're in this shop," I replied.
"Okay... Um... My parents are both therapists, so I spent my childhood talking about my feelings-"
Without warning I slammed on the breaks. "I've been shot! Where are you, Boot?"
"What?!"
"I'm bleeding to death. You have to call for help. Where are you?!" I pressed. "Where are you?" I shouted again.
She twisted in her seat trying to find a street sign, at a complete loss as to where we were.
"Now, I'm dead." I sighed. "It's your fault. Get out."
"What?"
"Get out and walk. You can get back in when you know where you are." I said.
She stared back at me like a deer caught in headlights again. Her eyes were so expressive. It wasn't hard to figure out what she was thinking. I loved these the moments you could only share with a rookie. The innocence and naivety that only a rookie could possess.
Slowly she unbuckled her seat belt and opened the shop door, watching me carefully the whole time, waiting for this test to be some sort of prank, but it wasn't. I didn't do pranks, this job was serious, her situational awareness was important and this is how people learn.
She closed the door and kept a hand on the window as we moved along at 5 mph.
"You know where you are yet Officer Chen?" I asked once she looked resigned. "No?"
She looked around again to no avail.
"Then finished your story - why'd you become a cop?"
She hesitated for a beat, still trying to catch up with me.
"Here, I'll do it for you. You wanted to piss off your parents for making you an emotional science experiment. You-" I was interrupted.
*Honk honk*
I slammed the brakes again and looked in my mirror and couldn't believe what I was seeing. This rolling traffic violation just honked at a cop. I stopped the shop, got out, and walked back to address the obviously illegal migrant workers packed in a tiny, overloaded work pickup while she dutifully took up the cover position.
"Gentleman, I have an honest question for you. Were you grown in a petri dish of stupid?" I asked, leaning down to the window to speak to them.
"Por favor?" They started speaking rapidly in Spanish to tell me they don't know any English.
"Don't pull that crap with me." I sneered, this was Southern California, everyone was bilingual here.
Chen then spoke to them in Spanish,"license and registration please."
"Well, aren't you fancy?" I said to her as they handed me the papers.
"Tell him, it's immigrants like them that make Americans like you look bad. If it was up to me, we'd send them all back by catapult." I said directly to them in plain English.
In Spanish she told them,"He said, you should avoid honking at the police when your truck is in violation of most state vehicle codes."
"Officer Chen, a word," I stated, handing them their papers back.
We stepped over to the side and I hit her body cam turning it off.
"Do I strike you as a man who means what he says?"
"Yes sir."
"Do I seem laid back to you? Wishy-washy in any way?"
"No sir."
In Spanish, I spoke, "in that case, why would you change the words that come out of my mouth?"
"Everything is a test Officer Chen and you just got another 'F'. I know what you're thinking, was that casual racism a test too, or just the Spanish? Unfortunately for you, there is no way to know." And the disappointment on her face was real as she battled with the feelings that she was dying to tell me about.
"Now, get in the shop, we got a call." I ordered her and she practically stomped back to the shop.
A few minutes later we came upon a nasty traffic jam and what appeared to be a deranged man beating a car with a bat or pipe, it was hard to tell. I parked as close as I could and we both got out of the shop and began to approach the raging suspect.
I walked up to where Bishop was and watched as Boot Nolan tried to calm the man standing on top of the car. So far he wasn't very successful. Just as he finally got the man to come down he bolted down the street.
"Go get him, Boot," I told Chen and she did a double take before booking off after the man.
With Chen and Nolan chasing the suspect on foot, Bishop and I got back into our shops and followed them to a parking lot where Boot Chen took down the suspect with a solid tackle while Boot Nolan struggled with a fence chain he had attempted to climb and had failed.
By the time I got out of the shop and approached them Boot Chen was already cuffing the suspect. Thankfully, she had that part down.
I released Nolan from the gate and said, "Welcome to the arrest." Then I went to help Chen restrain the suspect as he was still moving around and blabbering about something when his phone started to ring. I helped Chen hold him down while Bishop fished his phone from his pocket.
"Hi, this is Officer Bishop. Yes ma'am I am with your husband now. Who's Lucas?"
"Sir, where is your little boy?" Bishop asked the suspect.
"I swear I only left him in the car for a minute. The unicorn has him." He answered in a manic state. He must have been on drugs or something.
"We have to find that boy. That car is an oven," said Boot Nolan.
"Come on Boot. We will take him in for processing, you guys hit the streets and start searching for this kid, dad couldn't have gone far," I said and helped haul the man into the back of the shop to take him in.
---
Finally, it was lunchtime, my favorite part of the day. I rattled off my order to my Boot, ordered myself a cold soda, and took a seat at the nearby picnic table where Angela and Talia shortly joined me.
I was sipping my soda when Bishop said, "How's your day going Angela? Cuz I saved a kid. Probably going to make the paper tomorrow." She smiled gratuitously.
Anglea smirked back. "You're so cute trying to get under my skin."
I scoffed. "Trying? She's already under." I sipped my soda. "Just like you're under hers."
Angela looked taken back. "What the hell are you talking about?"
I replied candidly, "You have wanted to be a detective since you were a kid. Talia just wants it because it's a stepping stone to the top. That pisses you off. Meanwhile, she knows that your ability to be mercenary gives you a leg up, cause she's got an overdeveloped sense of morality which gets in her way." I sipped more of my soda.
They both responded, "Shut up!"
"Well," I shrugged "I don't know why the hell you two are so determined to get out of patrol. This is where all the fun is." I smiled. Patrol was my home. It's also where the all action happens. Everyday was different, unpredictable, and never boring. You couldn't find this anywhere else. Why anybody wouldn't want anything else was beyond me.
Thankfully my boot arrived with my lunch; I was starving. I was just about to dig in when I noticed something off.
"You didn't forget the hot sauce did you, Boot?" I asked, and she sighed in resignation then ran off the get the hot sauce.
"Is there meat in this?" Bishop asked her boot.
"Uh, no..." Nolan stammered.
Then they were called back out.
---
The next morning roll call started with Nolan's body cam footage of him getting caught in the chain of the fence.
Next, Grey showed Chen's perfect flying tackle. It was an impressive tackle
Then Grey announced the BOLO and offered to give whoever gets the guy gets Superbowl Sunday off.
"I've decided your punishment," I told Chen as we pulled into Circus Liquor Store and got out of the shop.
"Are you going to tell me what it is?" She asked.
"I'm more of a show-you kind of guy," I replied.
I got out and walked toward the shady guy loitering outside. "Ghost Head!" I shouted and he started walking away.
"No, no. Wait a minute," I called out to him.
"Yo, this is harassment," Ghost Head complained.
"What? No, it's just good customer service. Kind of like a frequent flyer program for dirtbag drug dealers. Search him, Boot." I commanded.
"Uh?" She sighed. "Turn around and grab the wall."
"Make me... Boot." Ghost Head antagonized her. I had a feeling he wouldn't comply.
She laid hands on him, he pushed her back. They started grappling.
"Keep your hands up, Chen. Don't let him get on top of you." I cheered for her.
Then she headbutted him, punched him in the gut, kicked him to the ground, and cuffed him. So, she had some fight in her. That was good. She better be able to handle herself if she was ever going to be on patrol solo.
"You're under arrest." She grunted upon completion of her task. Then she looked up at me, angry. "That was my punishment?"
I smiled. I liked that look on her. Defiance ran hot in her right now, I could see it. "Yep, plus I got to see if you could handle yourself so really it was a twofer."
I helped her get GH up and walk him back to the shop.
"When you tell this story in lock up you may want to leave out the part where you got your ass kicked by a girl," I smirked. Chen had done well for herself.
From behind me, I heard a woman start shouting hey! It was a soft, feminine voice, and I almost didn't recognize it at first.
We got to the shop, I opened the back door, and turned around. I was gut-punched. All the air left my body as I processed what was happening in front of me. My vision tunneled and I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Isabel...
"Hey, let him go, come on. For real." She complained at me like I was just another cop hassling her friend, instead of her estranged husband.
I was in shock seeing just how far my wife has fallen. She was so strung out she didn't even recognize me.
"You alright here?" Chen asked behind me.
"Isabel?" I said, as I stared blankly at my wife. Unable to focus on anything but her.
"Leave him alone," Isabel started to beg. How could she not recognize me. I panicked not knowing what to do. She needed help, but I was on the job. My rookie was standing right behind me with Ghosthead, ready to haul him in. But I didn't care this was my wife, I couldn't abandon her like this.
"Isabel? It's me, it's Tim. It's okay." I tried to soothe her. "I have been trying to find you, just to make sure you were okay. Are you okay?" I asked softly, trying not to scare her like she's a skittish cat. My hands went up to touch her, but she stepped back and away from me.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Get off me." She said and I hadn't even made contact with her. Did she really hate me this much?
"I just want to help," I told her. I wanted so much more, but I would settle for at least this. I couldn't stand thinking about her like this. She could do better for herself and she knew it.
"You want to help me?" She asked.
"Yeah." Of course, I wanted to help.
"Give me all your cash." She demanded.
"What?" Are you serious right now?
"Give me your money." She demanded again. This wasn't my Isabel. I missed my Isabel. This version of her was someone else entirely.
"God, I'll get you rehab." I tried to negotiate.
"I don't need rehab. Come on, please." She begged, desperate for the money and we both knew why.
The suffering on her drug-adled face was clear, but she wouldn't let me help her. I looked back to see Chen watching with Ghosthead bent over the back of the shop, waiting on me. I pulled out my pocket clip and couldn't even decide on what to say before Isabel snatched it and ran for dear life. There went my wife and all my cash.
This fucking sucked, and my new boot just witnessed it all.
"Hey! What do you want to me do with this guy?" Chen shouted out to me now that Isabel had run off.
"Cut him loose. Let him go." I sighed so defeated, closing the rear shop door then landing in the driver's seat with an exasperated sigh.
Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back. Lucy got in the passenger side and I could feel her staring at me.
"What the hell just happened?" She asked softly.
"That was my wife... I haven't seen her in almost a year," I explained.
I was overwhelmed by the feelings that were welling up inside me, the sadness and devastation washing over me. This was the most open and vulnerable I had ever been with a rookie, especially on day one.
Almost annoyingly, she sat there in comfortable silence as if she was letting me process my feelings, when she spoke in a soft whisper. "I won't tell anyone."
I sniffed the tears back and composed myself. "You're damn right you won't."
"7-adam-15 (Nolan and Bishop) requesting backup on possible BOLO suspect." Came across the radio.
"7-adam-19 responding," I answered.
We drive and arrive a short few minutes later.
"7-adam-15, 5 minutes out."
"That's the address for Selby. We will set up in the alley in case Selby decides to rabbit when Bishop and Nolan come calling." I said, looking at the house Selby was associated with.
We pulled around in the alley to find a man standing there. Chen recognized him first. It was Selby.
"Call it in. Backup and airship," I told her.
"7-adam-19 we are code 6 on BOLO suspect. Need backup and airship." Lucy chirped into the radio.
We stepped out of the shop but she started to shut her door and walk over to talk to him when I stopped her.
"No, no, no. You stay here until we clear them from that car." I scolded her.
She stepped back in behind the shop door.
"LAPD, gentlemen. Step away from the car and show me your hands." I announced.
"There a problem, officer?" Selby asked, standing behind a car with an open trunk.
"There will be if you don't show me those hands! Now!" I shouted at him.
Selby suddenly was shooting at us from above the hood of his open trunk. Chen and I immediately drew our pistols and began to return fire. I got a few good shots off until I was punched in the side by a bullet. I hit the ground hard.
Chen went around the back of the car and called for help on the radio. Then got up and returned fire without hesitation before grabbing me and pulling me behind the shop with her. So far, she had done everything right and if I wasn't bleeding to death right now might almost be proud. That and the guys were still shooting at us. We would be lucky to make it out of this alive.
"Don't worry about me, shoot back," I yelled and she complied, firing off several more rounds before changing the magazine. She continued to return fire until the shop caught fire then she immediately grabbed me and started pulling me away. I was almost certain we were going to die, but by some miracle, Nolan showed up and distracted the shooter and Chen was able to drag me to temporary safety.
While Nolan engaged in a gunfight, paramedics arrived and started tending to my gaping gunshot wound. The shooter ran off and Nolan came over and asked if I was okay.
"No, I got shot!" I yelled in agony as the EMTs poked and prodded my wound. "Go and get him Boot!"
"Go!" I yelled again and she started running.
Not long after that, they loaded me up into the ambulance and we hit the road. About halfway through the ride I blacked out. I woke up in the hospital with the heart rate monitor beeping incessantly to constantly remind everyone around me I was still alive. Oh, this was going to suck.
.............................................
Author's note:
Welcome to Falling for Lucy! This is a super detailed, canon, fanfic from Tim Bradford's perspective. I enjoy imagining exactly what he is thinking and feeling when he looks like stone to the world. One of my first watch throughs of the show I remember thinking Bradford was a bit of a hardass, but then I went back and really started to think about it and in some ways The Rookie almost feels more like their story rather than Nolan's. So yeah, if you are interested in that perspective keep reading!
Songs:
Kings & Queens - ChinChin (Theme song)
Hammer - Welshly Arms
Radio Codes:
Code 2 - Urgent, No Lights or Sirens
Code 3 - Calls for immediate response with lights and sirens
Code 4 - No Further Assistance Needed
Code 6 - Unit is conducting a field investigation and no assistance is anticipated
I started a Spotify playlist for all the music I include in this book. Go check it out!
Search: Falling For Lucy: Chenford on Spotify!