1x14: Plain Clothes Day

***

The rookies get to the bottom of the stairs coming from Zoe's office, seeing as it was Plain Clothes Day, Tim was standing with Hunter, who'd gone through a bunch of therapy to get the strength back into her leg, which she did finally.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?" Angela asked.

"Please, they're just as green as they were yesterday." Talia scoffed.

"What are you looking at, Boot? I'm not even here." Tim said to Lucy.

"Let's go get our gear." Jackson said.

The rookies head towards the kit room, Hunter, Tim, Nolan, Talia and Angela following. "My wash out number's three. What about you?" Angela asked Talia.

"Same. I bet Tim's is up in double digits by now."

"Damn straight. I've had 11 rookies bounced from the program during Plain Clothes Day. Looking to make it an even dozen today." Tim said.

The rookies are getting their gear at the kit counter with their T.O.s talking behind them. "Do not listen. They're just trying to psych us out." Nolan said to his other two rookies and picks up two duffel bags from the counter, as usual.

"Already making a mistake." Talia said.

"If we're not here, why get two kit bags?" Angela asked.

"We're supposed to have two bags, just in case they have to take action." Nolan said.

"First mistake avoided. So many left to make." Tim said.

"This is going to be a very long day." Nolan said.

"No kidding." Hunter comments.

"Hey, where's your partner?" Angela asked.

"His girlfriend, Daisy, had to go to hospital after getting into a car crash, so he's taken the next two weeks off." Hunter said, watching as Lucy tensed at the mention of Grant's girlfriend.

"Sounds serious." Angela comments.

"Well they have been dating for a month or two, so I think it's serious." Hunter.

"Grant still living with you?" Tim asked.

"Yep." Hunter said.

The rookies grab their gear and walk off, the TOs following. Hunter was riding by herself today, which was going to be interesting.

***

Lucy is about to get in the shop when she spots Tim leaning against a wall with a pen and an envelope. "What are you doing?" Lucy asked.

"Filled out your evaluation." Tim said.

"But we haven't even left yet." Lucy replies.

"Yeah. I already know how today's gonna go." Tim said.

"No, you don't. You're just trying to get in my head. But it won't work," Lucy realizes she's just gotten in on the passenger side and gets out again to let Tim get in. "Right. Thank you." Lucy said. She gets in the driver's side and Tim hands her the envelope.

"Don't open it until end of shift." Tim advised.

"Whatever you wrote in here, I'm gonna prove you wrong." Lucy said.

"I knew you'd say that. It's in there." Tim said.

***

They're cruising down a residential street. "First time you've let me drive." Lucy said.

"I'm not here, Boot." Tim said.

"Right. Of course. Sorry," Lucy spots a man with a video camera lurking behind a curbside power box. "Why would a guy from the power company need a video camera?" She follows the direction he's filming, seeing a woman through a window in her bedroom. "That sick bastard. He's filming her," Lucy hits the siren briefly. "LAPD, stop!" Lucy knocks him down with the door of the shop and jumps out to cuff him. "Hands behind your back. Easy." She said.

"I didn't do anything!" Todd yelled.

"Yeah, well, your camera says otherwise. Do you even work at the power company?" Lucy asked.

"Lawyer." is all Todd said.

"Yeah, you're gonna need one. 7-Adam-19, show us one in custody, 3rd and Arden. Did you include this arrest in your evaluation, Officer Bradford? Watch your head. Get in." Lucy said, directing Todd into the shop.

***

"Just got off the phone with dispatch. My suspect, Todd Collins, is on parole for a 261. He's a tier 3 sex offender and a 290 violent-habitual. That's a pretty good arrest, huh? Okay. Uh, let's see, I've got my victim's statement, seized my suspect's phone, canvassed for witnesses -" Lucy is thinking. "Ch-ch ch-ch ch-ch ch-ch. Yep, we're good to go," Lucy said, Tim looks up at her. "What?" She asked.

"Didn't say anything." Tim said.

"But you're giving me the look." Lucy said.

"What look?" Tim asked.

"That look. Am I missing something? Wait, don't answer that." Lucy said.

"Wasn't going to." Tim replied, still leaning on the van holding his phone.

"Good. Because I made a solid pinch here. All right. Let's go." Lucy said walking back to the shop.

***

Lucy escorts their suspect into a holding cell and shuts the door. "Inside. Yeah." She said. Lucy pulls out the envelope Tim gave her. She can't resist; opening the envelope, she finds another envelope inside with a message written on it: "I said AFTER your shift!" 

When Tim speaks, she turns to find him watching her. "I know everything you're gonna do, Boot. Just like I knew you wouldn't process all your suspect's property." He said.

"What are you talking about? I took everything Todd Collins had wallet, camera, phone, keys." Lucy replied closing the envelope.

"Mm-hmm. So tell me, how did Peeping Todd get to where you arrested him?" Tim asked.

"He drove. Like I said, I have his car keys." Lucy said.

"But not his car. Most child sex offenders have a network with other offenders. They share videos of their sick desires, which leads to other victims. Other suspects. Where do you think they keep this cornucopia of evidence?" Tim asked.

"In their cars -" Lucy realised.

"That's right." Tim said.

"- in case parole officers search their houses." Lucy said.

"His car is a treasure trove of evidence. Other crimes, more victims, DNA evidence we may never have obtained otherwise. And you just left it in the street." Tim said.

"Um - He was fiddling with his phone the entire time he was running," Lucy goes over to a locker and pulls out a bag with Todd's phone in it. She finds a text message Todd sent before she caught him. ""Cops got me. Get my van."" Lucy said reading the message.

"You recall seeing a van, Boot?" Tim asked.

"There was that blue van. That work van. It was right there!" Lucy said.

***

Lucy and Tim's shop screeches to a halt. The street is empty, no vehicle parked nearby. "Control, we need a reverse directory on a vehicle registered to Todd Collins." Lucy said into her radio.

"7-Adam-19, subject owns a blue '98 Econoline E-350 van with California plates, Six-Paul-Charlie-Ida-zero-niner-three. It shows the vehicle was impounded from your location an hour ago." Dispatch said.

"What?" Lucy asked herself, looking around when she looked at Tim. "You had the van impounded?" She asked him.

"Once it was clear you overlooked that detail." Tim said.

"But then why did we race over here?" Lucy asked.

"So you could discover your own mistake. That's what today's all about, Boot."

"A-And it's just a bonus that you get to humiliate me?" Lucy asked.

"Don't blame me for the fact that you let yourself get rattled by one dubious look. You make it out here and find yourself riding solo, these streets will test you in ways you didn't think possible. The only way to survive is to control your environment at all times." Tim replied getting back in the shop.

"You're pretty talkative for a silent observer." Lucy said.

***

Nolan is briefing Hunter and another, Quigley Smitty on his "mission". "All right, listen up. The felon we are after is one Marcus Quincannon. Intel has led me to believe he's currently in room 104. Here, I've drawn a detailed layout of the motel room. As you can see, there are -" Nolan was saying.

"Four walls and a toilet. Like every other motel room in the world," Smitty interrupts and speaks to Talia. "We really gotta take orders from your Boot?" He asked.

"He's in charge today, Smitty." Talia shrugged.

"Trust me. I've got this all worked out. I'm going in first. Lopez, you're gonna be covering C-side containment. Smitty, you'll be breaching. I'll come in straight. I want you to come swing around the open side. If I call "Trailer, trailer", you come from C-side to A-side and trail in behind us. Textbook dynamic entry." Nolan explained.

"Okay, let's do it." Hunter said.

"All right. I'm green, and go. Smitty?" Nolan asked.

"Yeah. Green and go." Smitty replied.

Nolan bangs on the motel room door. "LAPD, open up."

"Go away!" Ruby yelled.

"Breach, breach," the three cops burst in and swarm the room, checking for suspects. Ruby is standing aghast next to a baby in a sleep chair. "Show me your hands!" Nolan yelled.

"Oh, my God! What are you doing?!" Ruby yelled in fear.

"Bathroom clear." Smitty said.

"Room clear." Hunter said.

Nolan speaks to Ruby. "Where's Marcus Quincannon?" He asked.

"Who?" Ruby replied.

"The owner of the red Expedition outside. The motel manager said it belonged to the person in this room." Nolan said.

"Yeah. Me. I bought it from some guy on Craigslist like three days ago. I was just filling out the DMV change of title." Ruby said.

"She's telling the truth, Officer Nolan. Your gun-runner was never even here." Hunter said looking at the form.

"Uh- Uh, ma'am, I'm terribly sorry. Obviously, there's been a mistake." Nolan said.

The baby is crying. Ruby is unimpressed by Nolan. "Do you know how long it took me to get Liza down? You woke her up. You can put her back to bed." She deposits Liza in Nolan's arms.

***

Lucy approaches a yard surrounded by a chain-link fence. A dog is barking continually in the yard. "Hello? LAPD. Anyone home? Hey, girl. It's okay."

"Not exactly what I meant by control your environment." Tim comments.

The neighbor, Emma, appears to be trimming her hedge. "That dog barks all the time." She said.

"Ma'am, do you know if the dog's owner is home?" Lucy asked.

"Mm-hmm." Emma said.

Acker comes storming around the side of the house and kicks dirt at the dog. "Shut up! Shut up, Missy!" He yelled.

"Hey, whoa. There's no need for that." Lucy said.

"Honey, she's my dog. I can treat her however the hell I want." Acker said.

"Sir, we've received a complaint about your dog." Lucy said.

"And I wonder who made it! Emma, you called the damn cops?!" Acker yelled looking at Emma.

"Your dog's a menace. It's just bark, bark, bark all day long." Emma argued.

"It's a dog. It's kind of their thing." Acker replied.

"Uh, ma'am, just step aside. I'll handle this. Sir, you need to try to keep your dog from barking." Lucy said.

"No problem. I'm good at making bitches shut their mouths." Acker said.

"Have a nice day, sir." Lucy started walking off.

"Shut the hell up." Acker kicked dirt at Missy.

Lucy noticed and walked back to the fence. "Hey, stop kicking dirt at the dog, or else." She warned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa - or else what?" Acker asked.

"If I have to come back here, or even get a whiff that you're abusing this animal, I will make you my personal project. Do you understand?" Lucy turned to Tim. "I'd say I controlled that environment." She said they returned to the station.

***

"Sir. Dispatch says you wanted to see us." Tim said walking into Grey's office with Lucy in tow.

"Yeah, shut the door. You know, I remember my Plain Clothes Day. It was a long time ago, but I remember it. Desperate to make an impression. My T.O. watching me like a hawk. But the pressure got to me, and I made all kinds of mistakes, stupid ones, too. And completely out of character. Which is why, Officer Chen, I sympathize with your situation." Grey said directly to Lucy.

"Sir?" Lucy asked.

"We got a rude conduct complaint against you from, um, a Rodney Acker. He said you verbally threatened him to get his dog in line, or else." Grey said.

"Any way to cool this guy off, sir?" Tim asked.

"I tried, but he's pretty dug in. He wants to make it formal, so Internal Affairs has been notified. Captain Andersen is in meetings all day, but she wants to talk to you at the end of shift." Grey said.

"Uh sir, what kind of disciplinary action am I looking at?" Lucy asked.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Tim said.

"She should know. Threatening a civilian is a serious offense for any officer, but to do it as a probationary employee? Even a minor infraction can have a serious impact." Grey explained.

"How serious?" Lucy asked.

"Worst case scenario, you'll be my 12th rookie to wash out on Plain Clothes Day." Tim shrugged.

***

Talia, Tim and Hunter are seated nearby Nolan and Lucy at the food trucks during their lunch break. "If Chen threatened the guy, why didn't you step in and sort it out?" Talia asked.

"It's Plain Clothes Day. That'd be cheating. You know I'm a man of principles." Tim said.

"Yeah, but they could terminate her." Hunter reminded him.

"Come on, I'm not gonna let that happen." Tim said.

"Thought you were a man of principles?" Hunter asked.

"And contradictions." Tim said.

They look over to where Wolfe is sitting by himself. "You think he's back too soon?" Talia asked.

"No such thing as too soon." Tim said.

"Tim, drop the macho act. The guy lost his partner in the line. Some cops never recover from that. I'll be back." Talia said, walking over to Wolfe and sitting with him.

"Anyway, we should go." Hunter said as she and Tim stand up, Lucy follows Tim.

***

Grey, Hunter and other LAPD personnel have arrived to the hotel Nolan was covering, looking for the woman whom he brushed off earlier in the day. "The victim's name is Lynn McDaniels. She lives in Van Nuys with her husband, Chris, a trucker with a serious history of domestic violence. There's a BOLO out for him now. Detectives are reaching out to friends and family. You should probably get back on the street." Grey said.

"Sergeant, if it's all the same, I'd like to stay attached to this." Nolan said.

"I know. But standing here, crossing fingers, helps no one. When I hear something, you'll hear something." Grey replied.

***

Lucy and Tim roll up in front of Acker's house. "This man filed a complaint against me. We shouldn't be back here." Lucy said.

"You're right. You shouldn't be here. I'm fine." Tim said.

"Aren't I supposed to be making all the decisions today?" Lucy asked.

"You are. And right now, you decided to let me save your job." Tim said.

"Sir, it means a lot that you care about my future as an officer, but this is -"

"Relax, Boot. I simply believe that if you're gonna get fired, it'll be because of me, not some asshat's rude conduct complaint. Stay here." Tim said getting out of the shop. He goes up to knock on the front door, and Acker opens it. "LAPD." He said.

"What do you want?" Acker asked.

"Here's the thing, Mr. Acker. Officer Chen got a little overzealous." Tim said.

"You call it overzealous, I call it a threat under the color of authority. We'll see what a jury decides." Acker replied.

"Hey, look, you're upset. That's understandable. So, perhaps we can work this out." Tim suggested.

"Go on, keep talking." Acker said getting his phone out.

"Look, if there's anything I can do for you, anything you might need a police officer's assistance with, you just let me -"

"Hello? Watch commander, please." Acker said into the phone.

"Why are you calling my boss?" Tim asked.

"Because I'm gonna make a harassment complaint against you, too, pal." Acker said.

"Have a good night, sir." Tim said.

"I will. You, I'm not so sure!" Acker yelled.

Tim goes back to sit in the car. "How'd it go?" Lucy asked.

"Drive." Tim ordered.

Lucy is watching the dog scratching and whining at Acker's garage door, which has some stains on it. "Uh, hold on," Lucy looks through a scope. "Is that blood?" She asked and glanced at Tim. "Could be blood." Lucy said.

"Could be something else." Tim suggested.

"But it could be blood. Which gives me PC. I can search that garage." Lucy said.

"Look, if you're wrong, he'll claim you're retaliating against him. You'll definitely be fired, and he'll just add another zero to his settlement check with the city. Smart move here is to walk away. So what's it gonna be, Boot? It's your call." Tim said to her.

Lucy opens the fence and walks up the driveway toward the garage. Missy is still scratching, and Lucy sees Acker walking through his house toward the back, watching her. "Missy, what's going on in there?" Lucy asked the door.

Acker bursts out of the back door. "No, don't open that!" Lucy opens the garage door to find Emma, the neighbor, dead on the floor. "It was an accident. She- She got in my face. She just wouldn't shut up!" Acker yelled.

"You're under arrest. Hey! Get on the ground. Get on the ground! All right. Hands behind your back. You're under arrest." Lucy gets Acker on the ground and cuffs him while Missy barks.

"Shut up, Missy!" Acker yelled.

"That's a good dog." Lucy said.

***

Outside Zoe's office, Lucy is waiting for her to finish her phone call. Tim is standing nearby and Hunter is standing waiting for both of them. "End of shift, Boot. Don't you want to open your evaluation?" Tim asked.

"Why? Captain is probably gonna fire me, so what does it even matter now?" Lucy replied.

"Just do it." Tim said.

Lucy opens the envelope and reads the paper inside. ""Officer Chen second-guessed every decision she made."" Lucy read.

"The whole point of me doing this was to get under your skin." Tim said.

"Clearly you did, sir." Lucy comments.

"Yeah, until the end. Because when it really counted, you didn't hesitate. You put it all on the line, and you made the right call. Which really pisses me off because now I got to rewrite the damn thing." Tim takes the paper and tears it up.

"Tim, what's gonna happen to me?" Lucy asked.

Before Tim could answer Zoe called out. "Officer Chen, step inside." Lucy goes inside and closes the door and Zoe talks to her and after a couple minutes Lucy leaves and Zoe calls out to Tim. "Officer Bradford! Your turn."

"Good luck." Hunter said to her friend, having already changed out of her uniform.

***

Later, Tim's standing, talking with Hunter, Angela and Talia. "So, what are you gonna be doing tonight Hunter?" Angela asked.

"I'm gonna go check on Grant at Shaw Memorial, seeing as he hasn't returned to the apartment yet." Hunter said. "So that means I need to get him a change of clothes." She adds.

The four of them continue talking when Lucy comes over to them, holding a yellow envelope with Tim's name on it. "Before I leave, Officer Bradford, I just wanted to give you this. It's my evaluation of you." Lucy said handing it to Tim.

"That's not how it works, Boot." Tim said.

"Yeah, well, if you don't want to read it, don't." Lucy goes back to the rookie group and starts getting her two friends moving.

"You gonna open it?" Hunter asked.

Tim opens the envelope and pulls out a small piece of paper. "What is it?" Talia asked.

"Their bar tab. That little -" Tim trailed off, Hunter, Talia and Angela all started laughing.

***

Hunter walked into the reception area of Shaw Memorial. "Hi, I've got a friend visiting his girlfriend. My friend's Grant Lawrence." Hunter said.

"Yeah, he's in 401." the receptionist said.

"Thank you." Hunter replied.

Hunter knocked on the door of room 401 and walked in, when Grant beckoned for her to come in. "Daisy, this is my partner Hunter Lopez, Hunter this is my girlfriend Daisy Ward." Grant said introducing the two.

"Nice to meet you, Grant's spoken a lot about you." Hunter said smiling at Daisy, who smiled back. "Here, so you don't have to leave her." Hunter said handing Grant a duffle bag.

"Thanks." Grant said, going to get changed seeing as Hunter wasn't leaving.

"Grant's sung your praises a lot, how'd you two meet?" Daisy asked.

"I met Grant when he was a rookie at the LAPD, he was the Boot of my best friend Tim Bradford and once he graduated from the program he and I got paired together to see if we could work together and we could, so we were made permanent partners." Hunter said.

"Well, he loves riding with you." Daisy said.

"Good, because he's stuck with me until one of us retires." Hunter said.

Daisy laughed. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" Grant asked walking back into the room.

"Maybe, maybe not." said Hunter with a grin, standing up. "Nice meeting you Daisy," Hunter turns to Grant. "See you when you get back." She said.

Hunter walked out the room and left the hospital.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sadly, Hunter wasn't in this one very much, I apologise.

Also, here:

Chole Bennet as Daisy Ward

Yes, I'm a marvel fan as already stated, so I'm paying homage to my all time AoS character Grant Ward, by using his first name and some of his childhood for Grant Lawrence's backstory with one exception.

Which is why I'm pay homage to my favourite AoS ship Skyeward, by giving Grant's love interest until further notice, the name Daisy Ward, giving her Grant Ward's last name from Agents of SHIELD.