Ember spots Chen talking to Bishop by the entrance of the briefing room, and by the look of it, it looked heated. She made a note to herself to ask Chen about it. She didn't want to think that her friend was being pushed around by the other officers.
As Grey walks into the room, detailing all of Nolan's mistakes, he turns to her.
"Onward. Officer Ross is in need of a training officer until Bradford is cleared for duty. Officer Scott Wrigley, you get the nod. That's it. Stay safe out there." He dismisses them and Ember hurries to get the war bags and set up the shop, only to find her T.O. getting them.
"Sir, I can carry those for you. There's no need..." Wrigley stops her by saying, "I've been on the job 12 years, never fired my weapon. You took on a couple high-powered jokers, saved your T.O. on day two. So that makes you a rock star in my book. And rock stars don't pack-mule the gear." He had a sort of impressed look on his face. Ember couldn't help the heat rising up her neck and cheeks, and simply replied, "I was just trying to not get killed out there." The two make it to the car.
"Aww. Modest, too. I can see why Tim's been boasting about you."
At this, Ember laughed, "We both know that's a lie."
Wrigley joins in, "You got me, but I'm not like that. I give credit where it's due, and you have earned a free pass today. So anything you need, just ask."
Ember smiled, but it quickly fell as her mind began running wild assumptions.
Is he giving me a false sense of security to see if I'll slip up?
Does he want me to ask for something, then write me up as obnoxious?
Is this a test?!?
Ember sighed and tried to convince herself that she was just overreacting, and she knew who exactly to blame.
Timothy freaking Bradford.
She hadn't even known the man for a week, and he managed to get under her skin. Bloody crawled up there and planted seeds of discord. With his stupid tests, and his stupid rules, and his stupid hair.
God, his hair is amazing. Ember thought to herself.
She snapped out of her thoughts, not only for having almost inappropriate thoughts about her T.O's hair, but she didn't want Wrigley to think she was distracted while on the job. The two rolled up to a corner and parked. Ember couldn't figure out what they were doing here.
"Are we waiting for something, Sir?" She asked, still analyzing her surroundings.
"Nope." Wrigley replied quickly, "Just a nice morning of rolling-stop citations. Should take us nicely into lunch."
"We're just going to sit here all morning?" She wanted to add a 'bloody' before the morning, but had to restrain herself from doing so.
"Hey, writing tickets is the heart of the job." Wrigley defended. Ember sighed, and they settled into silence.
"Don't you want to quiz me or something? See if I'm learning the right stuff?" She tried to strike up conversation, which was quickly shut down with a "Nope," from her new T.O.
Ember tsked under her breath, submitting to what could be a very long morning. A couple hours passed, and Ember started coming up with her own jokes.
What do you call a slow morning in the cemetery? A grave situation.
Ba-dum-tss!
What do you call a snail that's in a hurry on a slow morning? Sprinter the snail!
Clang!
Ha! Sprinter the Snail. My god, I am bored. Ember giggled at her thoughts, though somehow managing to still be attentive to the task at hand. Wrigley glanced at the rookie, who was trying not to giggle loudly.
"Is there a problem?" Wrigley questioned.
Ember, trying to swallow her amusement, said, "None sir. Just in my thoughts."
He seemed content with her answer and he turned his attention back to the corner. Soon enough it was lunch, and Wrigley drove them to a diner. He steps out and Ember follows suit.
Great morning, Officer Ross. I'm gonna drop you here for lunch" He points to the door.
"Excuse me?" Ember genuinely asked, not believing she heard what she thought she did.
"Oh, uh, I like to go home to eat, you know, get these wool pants off, air things out. Be back in 40." Wrigley walked out of the diner.
"Excuse me!?" Ember asked again, still processing what the heck just happened. Realizing that her T.O did in fact just drop her off in some diner, Ember figured she might as well make the best out of her situation. It wasn't as busy so that's a plus.
She grabbed her meal and sat at an empty booth. As she settled down, Ember couldn't help but compare her current T.O to her original one.
For one, Wrigley praised her without prompting or asking for it. Simply acknowledging her good deeds. And this was just in the first half of the shift. Whereas Mr. Big Bad Wolf seemed to have made it his personal mission to undermine and humiliate her.
Ember didn't want to think of Bradford as petty, after all she did call him a bastard, and muttered insults when she could in his presence, but what other reason would he have to be such a dic...
"Why the long face, Boot?" A smooth voice broke through Ember's thoughts, causing her to yelp.
"What are you doing here?" She asked panicky, pinching herself under the table to make sure she was actually seeing him, and not conjuring an image from her thoughts.
Bradford raised an eyebrow at the tone his rookie used, but decided to ignore it, and slid into her booth.
"Heard you got Wrigley. He always dumps his rookies here while he goes home to eat mac and cheese in his undies"
"Should I be worried that you know the exact state of undress my T.O is in? Or more concerned that you came over to check up on me? " Ember asked teasingly, after getting over her initial shock. She saw the unamused look on Bradford's face and she coughed trying to save face, feeling a slight heat rushing up her neck.
"I live around the corner. I was getting takeout." Bradford finally answered, mildly enjoying watching her squirm under his gaze.
"Right." She replied, half disappointed, half disbelief. She turned back to her meal, not interested in continuing the conversation.
"So, how's it going?" Ember wondered what exactly he was asking. Was he asking so that she can talk Wrigley up, and have her permanently transferred to him? Was he asking so that she can talk down on Wrigley's style of policing, and eventually write her up for insubordination?
This line of thinking can not be healthy, she thought.
"It's good. Officer Wrigley is, um - Yeah, he's - he's cautious." She settled with a half truth kind of statement. She truly believed Wrigley was a good cop, but that can mean different things to different people.
"He's what we call a slug, just doing his time, allergic to real police work." Bradford said, looking closely at his rookie's face, trying to see her reaction. He smirked when he saw a small smile trying to crack her face.
"Yeah. Yeah."
"But surely you must like the quiet." He slyly said, trying to gauge another reaction out of her. Suddenly a dispatch call came through Ember's radio.
"That's three blocks from here, Boot." Bradford pointed out the diner.
"I'm just a rookie, my T.O isn't around and I don't have a car, and yet you want me to respond.?"
"You've got legs, don't you?" Bradford replied with a deadpan look.
Ember narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll show you legs." She growled, grabbing her radio and responding to the call. She dropped cash to cover her bill and dashed out of the diner, hearing Bradford behind her yelling, "Run, Boot! Run!"
Bradford saw his rookie racing after the suspect. He couldn't help but feel a sense of pride, not only from seeing Ember running in the heat, barely getting through her lunch, but also how she kept thinking she could get away with insulting him and coming up with smart-ass responses. He smirked as all the ideas came to him as to how to punish her when he was her T.O. again.
Ember chases her suspect, and tackles him to the sidewalk. As she tries to cuff him, he starts to struggle against her, which Ember immediately puts an end to.
"Boy, don't you even think about making my day more difficult. I have had a slow morning, a quarter lunch and unexpected company. Don't test me." And just as she was pulling him up, Wrigley drove over to her, grinning in approval at her arrest.
They drive back to the station, where Wrigley quizzes Ember on how to process an arrest. She couldn't help but feel accomplished when Wrigley kept nodding at her, and they finished the process with Grey signing off the paperwork.
______________________________________________________________________________
The rookies finally had a moment to themselves in the break-room.
"Am I just being difficult? This training officer is too hard, this one's too soft. I'm like the viking version of Goldilocks." Ember sighed loudly as she slipped in one of the chairs, snacking on her granola bar.
"I don't know. An afternoon of traffic stops sounds good right about now." West dejectedly said.
"Who are you and what have you done with Officer Extra Credit?" Nolan asked, to which Chen added, "Always the first to volunteer, the most prepared rookie in the history of the LAPD."
"Don't worry, I'll knock him out and he'll be good as new." Ember said, clocking her shoulders back as though preparing to punch the lights out of West.
"There will be no need for that," West quickly shot down Ember's idea, which she pouted at, "cause I'm still that guy." He looks at his worried friends' face, and before they could say anything, his T.O. called for him.
"You think he's okay?" Chen asked the remaining two.
"He's probably just getting slightly overwhelmed, we can talk to him later." Ember said finishing up her substitute for lunch, Nolan agreeing with her.
Ember grabbed her phone and quickly texted Marina for recipe suggestions she thought West would enjoy. She wanted to cheer up her friend and what better way to do that than have a home cooked meal, but Ember was quickly regretting asking Marina for help, as she started talking about having a cleansing ritual at his place and inviting good spirits to possess him, which Ember quickly shot down.
I wish spirits could possess me and help pass the time, she rolled her eyes as she imagined similar afternoon activities to her morning one. As she said her goodbyes to Chen and Nolan, she noticed Bishop looking at the two, reminding Ember of the morning before briefing, wondering if Bishop perhaps knew about Nolan and Chen. She made another mental note to talk to Chen about it.
______________________________________________________________________________
Jackson sighed as he opened his fridge and forgot that he had to go grocery shopping. Grabbing his phone to just order in, and do his shopping tomorrow evening, he hears a sharp knocking on his door. He rushes to open it and is surprised to see who it is.
"Ember? What are you doing here?"
"Getting crushed by these groceries, the usual." Her voice was muffled by the bags she was balancing in her arms. Jackson laughed as he helped her unload the bags onto his counter.
"You've got to be a psychic because I literally just ran out of groceries." Jackson smiled genuinely for the first time that day.
"Well, Marina always said it was my hidden superpower." Ember shrugged, looking smug.
"Not that I don't appreciate your company, but what are you really doing here?" Ember grabbed the bottle of booze she bought and poured herself and Jackson a glass.
"If you're anything like me, you don't like to be pestered when you're going through something," she passed the glass to Jackson and took a sip from hers, "but that doesn't mean you have to be alone when processing whatever it is you're going through. So I figured, since I had a slow day and you had a shitty day, we can be together and talk about anything else while having a home cooked meal, and booze!" Ember raised the bottle, while attempting to do jazz hands. Jackson grinned at her, completely appreciating her presence at the time, and figured he might as well enjoy himself just for tonight, before waking up to his problem tomorrow.
"Fair enough. What are we making?" Jackson tried to figure that out while opening the bags.
Ember had a devilish smirk on her face, "Irish Whiskey Stir Fry."
As the two got caught up in cooking up a storm in the kitchen, they were both thankful for each other. No nagging, bugging, or pressuring one another, just having a good time together.