"Loosen up, Officer Ross. I'm not going to bite." Reed tried to break the silence, noticing the tense stance Ember was in.
"Sorry. I just have alot on my mind, sir." Ember sighed, then seized up again when she remembered this man was a T.O. and could mark her off for anything. "Not saying that I'm distracted. I'm completely focused on..." she stopped speaking when Reed started laughing.
"Man, Tim really did the number on you, didn't he? So suspicious."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ember denied.
"Come on, you can tell me. How's Bradford as a T.O.?" Ember knew Reed was teasing her from his smile, and she finally relaxed.
"Aren't I supposed to get info on you, and not provide dirt on my T.O.?"
"I thought I was your T.O.'' Reed feigned being hurt.
"Fine, I won't be giving you, my new T.O., info on my T.O. Happy?"
"Extremely." They laughed and continued patrolling. They talked about everything.
"I don't get why Tim would say you're difficult."
Ember raised her eyebrow, "Why do I get the feeling that's not the word he used when talking about me?"
"Eh...I plead the fifth." Reed chuckled nervously. Ember gave him a small smile and looked out the window.
"You should know, if he didn't believe you're worth the effort, he wouldn't be so hard on you."
"That makes no sense but somehow also makes sense." Ember scrunched her face in thought.
"Well, Tim's a good guy. He's just been going through tough times."
Ember knew she was treading in dangerous waters, but she was too curious for her own good.
"Do these tough times involve Isabel?"
Reed froze, his eyes widening. "I'm surprised he told you about her." He finally said after recovering from the shock.
"He didn't tell me. I met her during my shift on my second day, then again on the day Bradford came back after getting shot."
"Mhmm...I wonder why he didn't tell me." Reed looked deep in thought.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pry." Ember said apologetically.
"It's okay. It's not like I told you anything." Reed smiled, "he plays this tough guy act so well sometimes, I forget he's still hurting from her departure. But now he has you, so I'm not as worried."
"The man does not have me." Ember replied quickly, Reed smirking.
"Sure he doesn't." He winks at her, laughing when she goes on a word rampage of insults
________________________
"So, how's the new T.O.?" Ember asked Chen while eating their lunch near the food truck.
"She's...not what I expected." Lucy replied, picking at her meal.
"If anyone can handle the unexpected, it's you, love." Ember side hugged her friend, giving her the biggest smile. The girls continued chatting, before Bradford rushed towards their table.
"Officer Chen, give us a moment." Bradford demanded, never taking his eyes off his rookie.
"Uhm...sure." Chen, confused at what was happening, walked off to join Nolan and West.
"What can I do for you, Officer Bradford?" Ember getting a déjà vu moment of her T.O. disrupting her meal.
"You must be enjoying this." Bradford spoke through gritted teeth.
"You're gonna have to be more specific sir, cause I'm currently enjoying a lot of things. The weather, this burrito, my peaceful moment before you came through..."
"Did you know West was broken?" Bradford gripped the table so hard, Ember lifted her meal in fear of him potentially breaking the table.
"Well, that's just rude. You can't call a person broken, and I don't even know what you're talking about."
"Your friend is all bark. Big talk about being the legacy rookie, and yet he freezes up at the sight of bullets."
Ember started connecting the dots. West being upset these past few days. To carry such a burden, especially someone like him, whom everyone expects to dominate in everything. She felt awful for not being there for him and helping him out with his fright.
Ember turns and sees him, along with Nolan and Chen looking at her and Bradford. She looks directly at West and mouths We need to talk, and he nods.
Ember turns her attention back to Bradford. She could simply deny any knowledge of the matter, which would be the truth, but she just had a peaceful morning and lunch, till he showed up and she wanted to punish him a bit as well.
"Well what are you waiting for?"
"Excuse me?" Bradford was irritated at her.
"You come here all macho, chasing away my friend, and ruining my quiet afternoon and lunch, and you have the gall to assume I would help you insult my friend about his unfortunate situation?"
"Would you tell me if you knew?" Bradford finally asked.
"Well, I guess we'll never know now, will we?" She grabs her cups and drinks, not breaking eye contact.
"This is pointless. Is every rookie this year hopeless?" Bradford runs his hand down his face in irritated disbelief.
"Hey!" Ember furiously whispered, startling Bradford, "I get you might have issues with me, for whatever reason you've come up with, but that doesn't mean you get to take it out on Jackson. He is a good noodle, and I know he'll be a great cop. You said it yourself, he's broken. By saying that, you're implying he can be fixed. So go fix him." Ember pointed towards his shop, and where West was standing, breathing heavily from her rant.
Bradford summoned every willpower he could to not crack a small smile at his rookie.
"I should write you up for talking to me like that."
"And yet you're not going to do that, and you know why?"
"Enlighten me."
"Deep down, you value my input, my way of thinking. Otherwise, you wouldn't even have bothered talking to me about West."
"And if I can't fix him?"
"I'll lose all respect for you, which isn't much to begin with." Ember smiled with close eyes. Bradford rolled his eyes and started getting up from the table.
"Officer Bradford?" He looks back to look at Ember, who was back on her meal.
"If anyone can help him, it's you."
"You're probably right. Who knows, when I succeed, I might just get him permanently transferred to me." Ember actual laughed at this
"Please, we both know I'm the only one who could stand riding with you for a year."
"Whatever, Boot." Bradford walks off, a small smile finally cracking on his face.
As Bradford and West head out, Nolan and Chen rush towards Ember, curious about what the two were talking about earlier.
"Bradford isn't going to throw Jackson under the bus. Trust me."
"How can you even say that? All the guy does is torture you?" Nolan gasped after hearing how the conversation went.
"It's not torture, its training, and the man's calculating, not cruel. He'll just take this as a challenge to his abilities as a T.O., then he'll use that as a test the next time we're together."
"I hope you're right." The three said their goodbyes and headed off to their T.O.s to finish up the shift.
__________________________________________________________
"They must be confident if they're pulling a drug deal in broad daylight." Ember said, looking through a scope surveying the parking lot.
"Well, the most dangerous criminals are the smart ones, and the dumb ones. Though I can't tell if this is them being smart, or just being plain stupid." Reed asked for the scope to look out.
"Maybe they just want to hide in the chaos. Busy parking lots, multiple exits. Sounds pretty smart to me."
"And you continue to impress, Officer Ross. I'm tempted to request a rookie transfer." Reed smiled.
"And leave Bradford to prey on another rookie? That is my burden to bear, at least for another year. I doubt he'd let me go that easily anyway." Ember snotted at the thought.
"You two were truly made for one another. So possessive." Everything happened so fast after that. Soon enough there were shots fired, and West apprehending the first suspect. Ember and Reed accompanied Grey to get the other suspect. They gathered the drugs as evidence and headed back to the station.
"The moment of truth is upon us. End of shift. You had to learn something about your T.O.s and they'd get a day off. Time to come clean. Start us off Officer West."
"Sorry, sir. I was unable to gain any insight into Officer Bradford." West quickly replied.
"Disappointing. Officer Chen?"
"I, too, failed in my assignment, Sergeant."
All right, how about you, Officer Nolan?"
"Sorry, sir. Just as stumped as the others."
"Well, then, that leaves you, Officer Ross. You can literally say anything and win."
Ember slyly looks at Reed, who's grinning like a Cheshire cat, convinced he had won the day off.
No wonder he was so chatty, clever thing.
Ember then had a devilish idea. "I didn't get any info from or about Officer Reed, sir. I'm sorry."
A strained gasp could be heard from the T.O.s side of the room. Everyone turned to see Reed covering his mouth, a distraught look on his face. He kept his eyes on Ember like she had ripped his heart out and stomped on it.
"Is there a problem, Officer Reed?" Grey stared at him in an almost challenging way. Reed, like a deer freezing up in the sight of headlights, clears his throat, opens then closes his mouth, not trusting his voice, and shakes his head at the sergeant. Grey dismisses the lot and Reed ambushes Ember.
"Why?" Reed whined.
"If I'm winning a day off for a TO I'd rather it be for the one I'll be spending a lot of time with. Improve my chances of getting on his good side." Ember smiled and walked towards the locker room.
"The bastard already likes you, Boot." Reed yelled, once again gaining everyone's attention.
As Ember was heading to her motorcycle, her phone rang.
"Hey Ma. Just got off work, heading home now."
"That's wonderful darling. I just wanted to make sure you got Reginald's email."
"Who even uses email these days for casual communication, like come on guys."
"Civilised people use emails. It's like all our etiquette teachings flew out the window the minute you became a police officer."
"But you replied to my text the other day."
"Only because I wasn't going to be going back and forth replying to your text via email." Marina continued ranting on about how technology would continue destroying etiquette.
"Ma! What was Reggie's email about?" Ember pinched her nose in frustration.
"Oh yes. The dinner party we were talking about will be in two weeks. Attendance is mandatory. You are to bring a date, and not wear a suit. I don't care that it's tailored. You will wear a beautiful dinner dress, or so help me, I will turn you into my own personal manikin. Reginald's friends from the university will be there, so let's dress to impress."
"What if I can't make it? My job is unpredictable, you know."
"I will burn that atrocious machine you call a vehicle."
Ember gasped, gripping her motorcycle. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh...but I would." She could hear her godmother's smirk over the phone. Not wanting to take any chances, she sighed and agreed to be there.
Of course she'd tell me to bring a date, unbelievable.
As she revved her 'atrocious machine' to life, she spotted Reed and Bradford heading to their cars. They stop after noticing her. Reed waved at her, which she graciously returned. Bradford simply gave her a nod, and she smiled at him. She puts on her helmet and rides off. Then suddenly an intrusive thought came to Ember's mind.
Why not invite Bradford to the dinner party?
She figured this thought stemmed from the last time she had dinner with her godmothers, and Marina insisted on knowing more about Officer 'Bard' but that didn't mean she wanted the man there for herself. Yeah, he'll just be there as a distraction for her godmothers. Then again, they could tell him things he could use against her, and that wasn't something she'd want to risk.
I think I'll just ask Jackson to accompany me.