Chapter Text
Lucy has done dozens of first days over the years– she’s started to become an expert at it.
Between moving around so much as a kid, some very persistent schooling, the academy, joining the force, and then some, she’s learned the best ice breakers to play at a morning meeting. She’s learned how to expertly make friends with anyone sitting in reach, and she’s become an expert at reading people’s demeanor. So today should be no different.
Just another first day, Chen .
“It’s going to be good,” Jackson said, leaning against the doorway to her bathroom. She messed with her hair for what felt like the past hour in an effort to not look messy. It’s harder than it looks to seem cool and confident in the face of her most anxiety inducing move to date. “You needed to get out of Topanga.”
“I know,” Lucy murmured, hands falling from her hair to the vanity. “And I’m grateful for you getting me in, really. It’s just…”
“Nerve wracking?” Jackson finished for her. She nodded. “Anyone would be nervous after what you went through. You’re allowed to be nervous. How long did it take me to get back to normal after Stanton?” Lucy met his eyes in the reflection, both sending the other a sad smile. She grabbed her necklace hanging from the knob of the medicine cabinet, gesturing for him to help her put it on. He slid up behind her to clasp it around her neck. “The gang will be back together again.”
“God, I can’t wait,” Lucy puffed out a breath. “I could use the familiar faces.”
She had kept in touch with her friends from the academy the best she could, but when they all split off into separate stations, it became more and more difficult to juggle. Her and Jackson lived together, which made it easy to stay close, but she had plenty of others who had graduated alongside her that went off into proper Los Angeles while she was sent out into the mountain scape all on her own. She won’t lie– she loved Topanga. She loved the people, the views, and the fresh air. She had a love there that ached to remember. She needed to be back to something familiar.
“You’re gonna be great,” Jackson reassured, squeezing her arm. “Now let’s go, please. Before I get smoked for being late.”
That’s also going to be nice– driving in together. No open silent roads. No loneliness in the mornings as she takes her commute with nothing but a mug of coffee and whatever radio station connects out in the middle of nowhere. No tense doctors appointments without someone in the chair who knew her well enough to back her up.
Upon arrival at her new station, she takes a moment to admire the way glass walls stretch several floors into the sky, and the people that mill around it. The city stretching in each direction, traffic flowing, life bustling by.
She could get used to this.
Jackson and Lucy walk into the bullpen together. He leans in to point out specific problematic coworkers– That’s Jan. He’ll steal your lunch. And Smitty– don’t ask him to do anything. It won’t get done . He shows her where the break room is, and points out the bathrooms, holding, and questioning. It’s huge.
“And, of course, the briefing room,” Jackson said, swinging the door open into a room full of cops geering up for the start of shift. It didn’t take long for Lucy to locate a familiar face.
“Officer Nolan,” Lucy stated, strolling up with her hands stuffed in her pockets. He looked up from his notepad and beamed.
“What the Hell are you doing here?” He asked incredulously with a beaming grin, standing. They pull one another into a hug for the first time in years. It was a nice sentiment after the Hell that has been the past few months.
“Division change,” Lucy said, grinning as he pulled back. “I’m one of you now.”
“Really?” Nolan chuckled. “I thought they scattered most of you Topanga’s to Hollywood. Welcome to mayhem.”
“I’m eager to see it.”
“Alright folks, let's settle down,” a man called as he strolled in. On his heels was Detective’s Sergeant Harper, who met her eyes. Lucy offered a shy smile before finding an open chair between Jackson and Nolan. “Good morning. We had a busy night with overflow from the hills, so let’s jump straight to it.”
Lucy adjusted her posture and listened in for the cases being doled out. There’s a brief review of a burglary team that escaped some movie studios with priceless artifacts from historical sets– the case gets tossed to a detective sitting a few rows behind Lucy. There’s a homicide from the Wilshire division– no witnesses, no surveillance. It gets tossed to someone a few seats right. Nolan and his boot are being sent to patrol the Glendale zone after some stalking incidents from this past week. She’s not used to seeing so many people have things to do– more so, not used to seeing so many people in one briefing room.
“I’m going to turn the floor over to Sergeant Harper,” the man declared, side stepping. Harper takes the podium.
“Alright. There’s been a little shifting around of divisions. I know the rumor mill is spinning, and I want to put some stuff to rest here and now,” Harper declared. “The investigation into Topanga is being completed internally, and is being handled by IA. Please, keep your noses out of it, and welcome any new officers that may join us in the coming months. They have already been cleared, so I don’t want to hear any complaints. Nobody is being moved who doesn’t want to move. I have no intention in shipping any of you off to the Hollywood division unless you piss me off.”
There’s a resounding chuckle from the room.
“That being said, we do have another new face joining us. Please, introduce yourself, be brief,” Harper gestured to her. Her heart leapt to her throat in anticipation. She’d gotten really good at ice breakers, but she’d never been a huge fan of the “stand up and say hi” approach. Lucy, nevertheless, stands.
“Good morning,” Lucy greeted, giving the room a wave. “Detective Lucy Chen. I’m specialized in undercover narcotics and sex crimes. I know this city and how it runs pretty well, so… you need anything, don’t be afraid to wave me down.”
With that, she sits back down.
“Detective Chen will be spending the first couple days attached to either Detective Lopez or Sergeant Bradford until she’s accustomed to the routines of Wilshire. Please make her feel welcome. Dismissed.”
With that, the room all stands and empties. Lucy pats Nolan on the shoulder as he swept away to retrieve his rookie. Jackson sidled up beside her.
“You’ll love Lopez,” Jackson said. “She was my TO, got promoted to detective midway through. She’s as good as they come.”
“What about Bradford?” Lucy asked, shuffling out of the briefing room with him. Jackson remained notably quiet. “Jackson…”
“You’ll do great,” Jackson reassured. “Gotta go. Bye!”
Eyes wide, she huffed watching him skirt away as quickly as possible. Her shoulders dropped and she scanned her surroundings, wondering where to go from here. She wasn’t necessarily assigned any cases, nor pointed in the direction of Lopez or Bradford. Thus, she stood, uncertain.
“Chen!”
Glancing over her shoulder, she shot a smile at the Watch Commander who led the briefing this morning. She walked over, trying not to appear as intimidated as she was.
“Lieutenant Grey,” he introduced, holding a hand out. She shook it. “Sorry to hear about Topanga.”
“I appreciate it, sir,” she said, nodding. “But it’s all squared away, and I’m cleared to be back. Eager to get to work.”
“I’m sure,” he hummed. “Harper told me good things.” Lucy glanced at the sergeant, who waved them off.
“I don’t tell people good things. I tell them true things and let them decide as such.”
“Regardless,” the lieutenant said. “Lopez is in the field until after lunch, so I have you riding with Sergeant Bradford this morning. He takes high priority calls, typically supervises major incidents, so you can take point as you see fit.”
“Sounds great,” Lucy said. “Where can I find him?”
“He’ll be here in a few minutes. Saturdays can be rough.”
“Traffic was a beast,” Lucy agreed. “Should I go prep a shop for us?”
“Might as well.”
When Lucy approaches the catalog counter, she flashed her credentials before signing out two war bags, a long gun, and the keys to a shop. They assign her an unmarked vehicle thanks to the detective's status. She loads up a blacked-out SUV with the warbags as a man approaches.
“I’m driving,” he declared flatly without so much as a greeting.
“I’m sorry?” Lucy frowned. “I’d rather drive if-”
“You’re my ride along, I drive,” he stated. “Get in.”
Discouraged by his attitude, Lucy climbed into the shop and settled into the passenger seat. He typed in his login as she flipped on the cameras.
“Basic shop rules-”
“I’m not a rookie, Sergeant,” Lucy interrupted. He shot a glare at her. “I’m sorry to say you still have to treat me with respect like any other officer.”
“I am treating you like any other officer. If you were my boot, you would be getting a blue page for being annoying,” he stated. Lucy recoiled. “Shop rules: we don’t talk personal lives. Only conversation should be about the job. I don’t care about Topanga, or how you like the neighborhood. No food in the shop other than water and coffee.”
“You realize this is a detective’s vehicle, right? Not yours?” Lucy responded, unamused. He doesn’t respond– just turns over the engine and hits the buzzer to open up the sally port. “Who shit in your cereal this morning?”
Once again, no response. She huffed, sitting back and succumbing to the annoyance. Great start, Chen.
The morning dragged.
She spent it trapped in a car with a man who hated her for no reason with minimal backup for the tension in the air. Any time they stopped, he took point and left her in the dust. It was infuriating. It was like being a helpless rookie all over again.
“What do you do?” Lucy asked the next time they climbed back in the shop. There was a long pause. “Do you have a specialty?”
“I’m an S-II,” he answered gruffly, and obviously begrudging that she found a loophole in his no personal talk rule. “And a training coordinator.”
“You’re a TO?” Lucy asked back with a scoff. He shot her a look– something between a glare and surprise that she scoffed at him.
“When I have the time, yeah,” he muttered. “Is there an issue?”
“No issue,” Lucy stated, watching out the window. “You just don’t give the teacher energy.” Rolling his eyes, all he could do was want to laugh at her. Teacher energy . “Y’know. Nurture people’s minds.”
“It’s not about nurture out here,” he recalled. “It’s about not dying . If your TO failed to teach you that, then maybe you need to go back to day one.”
At the mention of her TO, Lucy tensed. She averted her gaze to the pedestrians strolling down the sidewalk and let silence fall over them. If Bradford was interested in Lucy’s specialty, he wasn’t asking about it.
The next place they arrive at is a crime scene, already taped off. It’s nearing lunch, and Lucy couldn’t wait to sit down with Jackson and complain about this nightmare of a sergeant. What kind of supervisor is such an intolerable piece of work?
“Bradford,” a woman beckoned from across the scene. She was in plain clothes– finally, another detective . “You got a ride-along today?”
“No. Your new accomplice,” Tim stated dully. “Detective Lopez, Detective Chen. She’s your problem now.”
Gawking at the man, Lucy’s jaw fell in disbelief.
“Angela,” the woman greeted, not paying Sergeant Bradford any attention and holding out her hand. Lucy shook it.
“Lucy Chen,” she said with a smile. “UC Detective, Narcotics and Sex Crimes.”
“Homicide,” she said, gesturing to the scene behind her. “UC, huh? Didn’t know they had those in Topanga.”
“They don’t anymore,” Lucy scoffed. “I got outsourced to whatever division needed a UC. Wilshire won the bid.”
“You’ve bounced all over Los Angeles, I suppose?”
“And then some.”
“Good,” Lopez declared. “I like you. Alright, Bradford, I got someone for you to hunt down for me.”
“I’m not patrol,” Bradford said back, but still waited for the request.
“No, but I’m taking your friend here, so you can do me a favor,” Lopez said, tearing a piece of paper out of her notepad. “Follow back with these guys. They all have priors, and two of them are on parole, so do a check in.”
Glancing at the list, then up at Lopez, he nodded once.
“Thanks Boo,” she said, turning on her heel and marching off, leaving Bradford with the laundry list. “You ever work homicides?”
“When I first made detective and whenever necessary on patrol,” Lucy confirmed, walking quickly to catch up. “I specialized in UC, but I went wherever Topanga needed me to go.”
“Understandable,” Lopez lifted the tape for her to duck under. She wrinkled her nose at the stench, but pushed through. It’s part of the job. “Try not to get too bothered by Bradford. He comes off rough, but he’s sweet under all that grit.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Lopez shot her a sad smile and nodded her into the other room where the murder took place. There was a long streak of blood leading to where the primary stain of blood sat. Lucy frowned as she studied the scene, uncertain with what it meant. What's the point of moving a body only a couple feet?
“They staged him over here?” Lucy asked, cocking her head to the side as she scanned the path.
“My presumption is that they planned on disposing of the body and got interrupted,” Lopez declared. “Coroner thinks he died on impact from blunt-force trauma to the back of the head– I can’t see a reason to take him only half a room away from where he dropped.” She looked over at Lucy, breaking out into a smile. “Alright, kid. Show me what you got. What’s your first impressions?”
“First impression?” Lucy repeated back. Lopez nodded. “Well, for starters… that’s a lot of blood for a head wound, so I’m going to assume there were other injuries on the body, unless he was hit hard enough to crack his skull.” The senior detective watched Lucy pace across the room to the start of the blood trail. Lucy’s eyes skirt the surroundings. “There’s a backdoor available directly behind me, but I drag the body toward the living room instead. If my plans are to get rid of it, then I’m doing a bad job of it.”
“Dragging the body toward the living room, but you stop,” Lopez shot back.
“I stop,” Lucy agreed, slowly following the trail back. She scanned the surroundings and located a window across from the pool of blood. “I see something and I run.”
“See what?”
“Someone in the driveway,” Lucy said, pointing to the window. “Delivery guy, the wife, door to door salesman– someone who would come knocking, maybe peek through the window and see what I’m doing.”
“But no report came in for two hours.”
“Because I dipped out before anyone could see me?” Lucy proposed. “Back door was unlocked. I take off through the backyard, no one sees who was here. Who called in the report?”
“A neighbor who was expecting him by for cake last night.”
Lucy raised an eyebrow, then glanced back at the living room.
“And we notified next of kin?”
“His wife.”
“And where was she last night when he was supposed to be… getting cake from the neighbor?”
Lopez broke out into a grin.
“Detective Chen, you are going to fit right in.”
“Did I come to the right conclusion?” Lucy beamed.
“I have the wife at the station, so we’ll see.”
“And the goose-chase you sent Bradford on?”
“Gotta keep him busy somehow,” Lopez smirked. “C’mon. You’re gonna take point on interrogation.”
Smiling to herself, all she felt was pure giddiness. It’s about time someone took her seriously.
“No, I don’t think you understand,” Lucy said, holding a hand out as she took a long drink from her glass. “He didn’t just imply anything. He outright said I was annoying.”
“Well…”
“Don’t you start,” Lucy said with a glare at her best friend. Jackson and Nolan both laugh, shaking their heads incredulously at her. “You get to call me annoying because I am terrible about washing my silverware. He rode with me for all of thirty minutes and said it to my face . What a jerk!”
“I know it’s frustrating,” Nolan said with a smile, shaking his head. “But you can’t take it personally. The Sarge is known for being tough. Especially on new people.”
“That’s called hazing, and I went through it already in Topanga. I don’t need to be treated like a mindless kid running through the streets of Los Angeles. I’m a professional -”
“Didn’t you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch today?”
“Professionals get hungry!”
The two of them kept laughing at her. She groaned, planting her head in her hands. Sure, maybe her less than mature lunch choices don’t lend itself to her status as a woman-in-charge, but in her defense… they’re good! Suddenly a PB and J disqualifies her from doing her job?
“It’s not even that– it’s just…” Lucy frowned, shoulders dropping. She ran a hand over her face. “After the way everything crashed and burned in Topanga…? Is it really so bad if I just want to be… normal? I’m not saying I want people to bow at my feet and fawn over the hell I went through, but… it would be nice to not be treated like crap, either.”
This was the closest she’d gotten to “normal” lately. A drink with friends, leaving the apartment, dressed in regular people clothes. She even brushed her teeth this morning. It all felt like a big success. Her afternoon with Detective Lopez felt productive, and exciting, and revitalized her love for the job. But Bradford… fucking Bradford.
“Lucy…” Jackson frowned. “Of course. No one is saying that.”
“After everything, I just… I want to settle in,” Lucy confessed. “I want to-to have faith in the people I work with. I-I want to trust people again. I want to get back to what feels good about the job.”
“Chen,” Nolan said, leaning forward onto his elbows, setting his beer down. “I know Bradford is abrasive. Believe me– I was his rookie, and he… he was tough. But I can also promise that no one will have your back quite like him.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Lucy rolled her eyes. “As of right now, I have about as much faith in him as I do with the Topanga department.”
Just like that, a blanket of discomfort fell over them all.
It had been the talk of the division. Hell, most divisions were treating her home branch as a cautionary tale. Using her as a cautionary tale. But no one knew the story of what really happened quite like she does. No one will ever truly grasp the gravity of the past year like she will. There is an irreparable breach of trust when Lucy walks into any room of colleagues, and she will have to live with that until the day she dies.
For now, though, she tries to ease herself in the company of Jackson West and John Nolan, two of her “partners in crime” from the academy. Jackson, who wouldn’t even let separating divisions drive a wedge between them, and Nolan, who may have gone years without seeing her, but was still one of the first faces she saw after waking up in that hospital room.
If there is one thing she’d been forced to learn, though, it’s that you can’t take anyone at face value.