"Mommy, what are you doing there?" Hailee looked at her mother from across the table. "Studying penal codes for my exam today. It's for reaching the six-month-mark on the job."
Hailee walked over to look at the contents of the book lying in front of Lucy on the table. "Looks hard."
Lucy chuckled and pulled her daughter onto her lap. "It is hard, but it will make me one step closer to becoming an actual police officer who cannot be fired for the teeny-tiniest reason." She tickled Hailee and smiled when she heard her bright laughter. "Come on, let's get you to school, shall we?"
On shift she was able to push down the thoughts about the exam and focused solely on being on patrol. Their first call was easy, a man whose wife went missing a couple of weeks ago being exposed by a psychic. He basically confessed everything, didn't even ask for a lawyer.
However, things changed abruptly when all units were called back to the station, and they were briefed about a suspected biological terror attack connected to Nolan's homicide situation. "Your exams will be postponed until tomorrow. Get this guy!" Grey ordered and everyone got up to hunt the remaining two terrorists.
As Bradford got up, Lucy got out her phone, quickly typing a text message to someone before looking up at her T.O. "Sir, I have to make a phone call, its important." Tim looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you calling? We can't risk to put other people in panic mode." Lucy sighed, she knew that was true, but it would eat her alive if she didn't at least took precautions for her child. "I know, it'll be quick." Tim rolled his eyes as he watched her dial a number and disappearing out through the main entrance.
"Hello, is this Mid-Wilshire-Elementary? Yes, my name's Officer Lucy Chen, my daughter Hailee goes to your school. Could you please pass a note to her?"
Tim watched through the glass as she was talking on the phone, making his way to the garage as he saw her wrapping up the call.
When Lucy got to the shop, Bradford was already sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for her. "Come on, we got to interview this passenger. He called about a mixed-up bag, and he found chemical equipment in it." He drove off quickly as soon as she was buckled up and soon later, they were knocking on Langston's door.
"Took you long enough, the bag's here." The passenger showed them inside and stopped in front of a backpack filled with scientific equipment. "Did you touch anything in there?" Tim asked, but he already knew his answer when he saw his bleeding finger and heard the coughs. "Chen, stay out of here." "What?" But she was cut off by the door being slammed shut by Bradford.
"Sir, what's going on?" But she didn't get an answer. Lucy only faintly heard Tim's voice through the door. "Chen, is everything alright out there with you?" He asked through the door and Lucy nodded – he couldn't see her. "Yes, CDC is on their way. Tim, you've got to get out of there." She heard him sigh on the other side. "No, we've got to keep this contained. I'll be fine, you keep your head in the game from the outside."
Lucy waited until Morgan arrived with homeland security. "Officer Chen, what exactly happened?" He ordered her outside while the CDC covered the door in duct tape and plastic.
"Yeah, so this passenger mistakenly grabbed the wrong bag which had a bunch of scientific equipment inside. He cut himself on it and got infected. Officer Bradford was in the room when we noticed, and he shut me out."
Morgan headed back to the door and knocked. "Officer Bradford, here's Dr. Morgan. Everything all right in there?" "Yeah, I'm fine, but Langston is struggling. His nose won't stop bleeding. He started coughing up blood about 20 minutes ago as well." Tim explained as he was pressed against the bedroom door.
A few moments later, Chen and Morgan were watching the situation through his bodycam as he poked through the bag with his baton, showing them the contents. A growth medium, the virus and a misting fan – that's how they were going to spread the virus all over Los Angeles.
As Tim continued to show them the stuff, Lucy spotted Langston behind her T.O. with a chair. "Tim! Watch out!" she yelled but it was too late. She heard the crash from the outside when Langston hit Tim with the chair. "Tim, are you okay?" She asked when the video monitoring stabilized and she watched as Tim cuffed him to the bedpost. "Depends on your definition of the word." At least he was still joking a little bit.
She couldn't do anything for Tim but wait. As she sat on the ground and leaned against the door, she listened to the information coming on their radios. "We have a positive I.D. on our second suspect." Talia's voice came through the radio.
She sat there, quietly. Lucy didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity. Somewhere in between her sitting down there and then talking to Tim again, she knew Langston had passed away.
"Hey Tim, Morgan said the vaccine's minutes aways now." She wasn't very convincing and she heard a faint laugh from the other side of the door. "Chen, I know you're good at a lot of things but lying isn't one of them."
Lucy sighed but smiled. "You think I'm good at things? I need that in writing", she laughed, "How are you doing? Any symptoms yet?"
She heard some shuffling from his side. "I'm sweating like a pig, but it's like 100 degrees in here."
"I'm sure everything will be fine." Lucy said, but Tim only scoffed. "I know you do. But if it isn't, I'll take matters into my own hands. I won't go out like Pete did here." Lucy swallowed as Tim showed his gun in the body cam.
They didn't say anything for a while after that. Well, until they heard Lopez's voice on their radios. "7-Adam-7, show code 4 at our location. Suspect down."
"Hey Tim, I'll go make a phone call." "Same person as before?" "Yeah."
She called Hailee, reassuring that she was safe somewhere far from the danger. Lucy was glad that her daughter's best friend was always happy to spend more time with her after school. Just as she hung up, Morgan walked over with a small package in his hands. "Please tell me this is the vaccine." Lucy looked at him hopefully. He nodded.
She watched as he headed into the bedroom and injected Tim with the vaccine. Smiling, she finally was able to step outside the quarantine house through the tent and when she found herself on the front lawn, she was greeted by her fellow rookies and training officers. "Hey, heard you guys saved the day" She laughed.
Together they observed as Tim came out of the house, escorted by two guys in hazmat suits.
He was fine. Until he fell backwards into the grass unconscious.
Lucy was the first to hover over his body when he hit the ground. "Tim!" Is what she recalls saying but everything after that is a blur.
She remembers seeing him go into shock, having to watch as his body spasmed on the gurney as the paramedics tried to hold him down to give him medicine. It's only when Lucy heard gunfire that her head became clear, and she exited the ambulance upon arrival.
She had spotted the third terrorist and Nolan was about to shoot her when his gun ran empty. At last minute, Tim jumped out of the ambulance and shot her. "God I should've taken yesterday off." He mumbled as he stretched his shoulder.
After that, she hadn't seen Bradford for two weeks. He was recovering and she took her exam, worked front desk for a while. Occasionally, she had food sent over to his place for fast recovery.
The next time they saw each other at roll call was when Grey wrote down their exam scores, with Nolan scoring highest and Chen following right behind with a score of 91 out of 100.
"You did well, Chen. I'm proud of you." And that just made her about the happiest person in the world right now.
Later that day, Lucy celebrated her exam score with Hailee and their favorite chocolate cake. Her daughter had even gotten her a small trophy, knowing how much her mother loved them and Lucy kept it sacred on her desk.
"Oh, and there's another thing," Lucy started, grinning wide as she pointed her fork at Hailee. "Officer Grumpy complimented me! Can you believe that?" She beamed, picking up another fork-full of cake. Her daughter stayed quiet but smiled. She loved seeing her mother happy again, it was much rarer before she was accepted for the Police Academy.
"So, what do you say – A movie and then off to bed?" Lucy suggested and soon enough, the two of them ended their day cozied up on the couch with fuzzy blankets, but even then, Lucy couldn't stop smiling about Tim's compliment.