2x17: Control

***

Grant and Daisy walked into his and Hunter's apartment, holding bags of takeout and they sit themselves down on the sofa. Debating on what to watch. "Honestly, I think that we should stick with it. They say it gets good after episode 12." Grant said.

"Oh. So only nine more hours of being bored out of my mind. Pass." Daisy replied dryly.

"I like it. I think it's subtle and nuanced. I suppose you'd rather watch Action Heist?" Grant asked.

"Any day." Daisy replied.

"Okay, they have a shark attack on an elevator, Dais." Grant said emphatically at how unrealistic the show was.

"And it was awesome." Daisy replied.

"You know what? It doesn't even matter what we watch, because I won't be looking at the screen anyway." Grant leans in for a kiss, but they are interrupted when Hunter comes barreling out of her room.

"Sugarfish? You guys are the best!" Hunter bounces over and elbows her way to a seat between her roommate and hid girlfriend.

"Uh--" Daisy started moving so that Hunter could fit on the couch.

"Come on, let me in! Let me in!" Daisy looks mildly amused; Grant looks downright dismayed. Hunter opens the bag of takeout and prepares to help herself to the sushi rolls.

"Uh...I thought you were hanging out with Angela tonight." Grant said.

"Yeah, no. I canceled because tonight is a new episode of Action Heist." Daisy knew that Hunter was lying about cancelling because of a TV show, it was because of her trauma. Hunter is pressing a button on the remote. "Bam!"

"Previously on Action Heist..." Daisy looks at Grant smirking, knowing that she'd won indirectly because of Hunter.

***

"Lastly, the brass wants us to increase our social media presence within the community." Grey said wrapping up the morning roll call.

"We're cops, not influencers." Tim deadpanned.

"Like it or not, Officer Bradford, you're both. A strong relationship with the public makes us all safer. So let's show them we're people, too. Get out there, take a few selfies," Grey said, Nolan raised his hand. "Yes, Officer Nolan?" Grey asked.

"Back in Foxburg, I knew most of the cops by name." Nolan replied.

"Because there were four of them." Hunter deadpanned.

The other cops laughed at that and Nolan glanced over at Hunter. "Five," Nolan then looked forward. "But the number didn't matter. It's just that they spent most of their time on foot. I mean, how are we supposed to take a selfie with someone when we're trapped in our shop most of the day?" Nolan asked.

"That's a good point. We do spend too much time locked inside our shops. New plan. Everyone spends the morning on foot patrol," the other officers groaned at that and Grey looked at Nolan. "Good one, Officer Nolan." Grey said.

Nolan already regrets saying anything, as do his fellow officers, Hunter was glaring a hole into the back of Nolan's head.

***

Grant and Hunter are walking their beat. "What's up with you?" Hunter asked Grant, noticing that he wasn't too happy.

"Nothing." Grant lied.

Hunter opened her mouth to say more when a mother and son stop walking when they see the two cops. "Mommy! Policeman!" The son yelled.

"Hi, there, buddy. What's your name?" Grant asked the young boy.

"Sam. Is that a real gun?" Sam asked.

"It sure is." Grant replied.

"Can I hold it?"

"Oh! No. That's against the rules. But I do have some stickers here for you." Grant handed stickers over to Sam.

"Thanks!" Sam and his mom walk on.

"You bet, buddy. Have a good day," Grant said to the boy and he turns to Hunter. "See? That was great!"

"There are four felonies an hour in Los Angeles. But, no, that was a good use of time." Hunter deadpanned, she hated foot patrol.

***

Tim and Lucy are walking along the sidewalk, past a cafe. "I've got no problem with community engagement. Citizens play a vital role in policing. The more they like us, the more they help us." Tim said.

"That's a surprisingly enlightened attitude." Lucy replied.

A man, Paul, steps out of the cafe to speak to them. "Yo -- Yo, officers. Uh, I got a legal question."

"Sorry, we're not real cops. We're extras. There's a movie shoot down the street." Tim said.

"Oh. Cool. Thanks." Paul goes back inside and the cops walk on.

"What am I? Google? Do your own research." Tim huffed and Lucy just smiled.

***

Hunter and Grant were still patrolling. "Do you reckon Angela's annoyed that I cancelled last night?" She asked her friend.

"She's your sister." Grant replied testily. "So, you'll have to ask her yourself." Grant replied, speeding his pace up slightly.

Hunter followed. "Okay, what's up?"

"You crashed my date with Daisy." Grant said, annoyed.

"Daisy owns her own house, can't you guys just hang out there?" Hunter asked.

***

Tim and Lucy are still walking their beat with Lucy talking. "Do you think Rachel's disappointed I canceled last night?" She asked.

"Don't know." Tim replied.

"Man, I felt bad. She found this bartender that tailors cocktails to your astrological sign. It sounded cool. I just -- I was tired, and I needed a night in. She gets that, right?" Lucy asked curiously.

"You might find this surprising, but your college friend and I don't actually hang out, ever. So, if you want to know you need to ask her." Tim said evenly.

"Helpful." Lucy deadpanned dryly.

Across the street, a group of Girl Scouts has a table set up, selling cookies. A man runs past the table, grabs some boxes of cookies, and runs off, with Tim and Lucy in pursuit on foot. "Police!" Tim yelled.

The thief, Stoner runs out into the street and collides with a moving car. He flies headfirst into the windshield and is stuck with his head and shoulders inside the car. The driver slams on the brakes and the car screeches to a halt.

"Control, 7-Adam-19. Requesting an RA unit." Tim said grabbing his radio out and speaking into it.

"He came out of nowhere!" The driver yelled, horrified at what happened.

"Palmetto and Mateo. Head verse vehicle. CT." Tim said into his radio.

Lucy gets into the car to gauge the man's condition. "Okay, stay still. Oh, man, I think it got into an artery. There's a lot of blood."

"Aah!" Stoner screamed in pain.

One of the Girl Scouts, Emily, appears next to the car and offers Emily some assistance. "Here. You can use this scarf and pen to make a tourniquet."

"Thank you." Lucy said taking the scarf that Emily had offered her and the pen as well.

"Place it two inches above the wound." Emily said.

"Okay." Stoner groaned in pain as Lucy tied off the wound. "All right, the bleeding's stopped." Lucy said with relief.

"Am I gonna get a badge for this?" Emily asked, Lucy gave her a forced smile which looked more like a grimace.

Grant and Hunter having heard Tim over the radio asking for an RA arrived on scene before said RA, Hunter had tracked Tim's phone to pinpoint his location. "Ooh." Hunter and Grant said upon seeing what happened.

An RA finally shows up, nine minutes later, Hunter looked up. "Nine minutes, Lang? You guys are usually much faster than that." She said.

"Hello to you too, Lopez." Emmett smirked.

"Knock it off, Lang." Tim snapped at the firefighter, who always seemed to be flirting with Hunter no matter how many times she rebuffed him.

Emmett walked over to where Lucy was as she got out of the car. "Bradford's your TO?" He asked her.

"Yeah." Lucy replied.

"My condolences."

"That's what everyone says. Except Lopez." Lucy said, waving in Hunter's general directions.

"Emmett."

"Lucy."

Emmett looks at what Stoner had stolen. "All this over a few boxes of Marsh Yellows?" He wondered.

"Right? They couldn't get Pim-Pams?" Lucy asked with a chuckle.

"Who made the tourniquet?" Emmett asked looking at the tourniquet with interest.

"I did!" Lucy and Emmett looked back at Emily. "Officer Lucy helped." She said.

"Well, excellent work!" Emmett said looking over at Lucy.

"Thank you." Lucy smiled.

The two of them stared at each other when Stoner spoke. "Uh...help."

"Oh. Right." Emmett realised and turned back to helping Stoner.

***

Emmett was at the front desk in Shaw Memorial giving a few boxes of cookies from the Girl Guides to the reception desk. "Thank you so much. I'll give these to the nurses." One of the receptionists said.

Lucy walks over noticing the collection of boxes that Emmett was still holding even after giving some to the hospital. "Oh, she got you good." She said.

"Yeah, that Emily kid's a hustler." Emmett said glancing down at the boxes.

"Uh-huh." Lucy agreed,

"I'm handing them out to my favorite nurses so I don't have to eat them all." Emmett said.

Lucy took three boxes off Emmett. "Oh, man, I do not have that kind of will power. I'm gonna eat three boxes while I binge-watch "Action Heist" tonight." She states looking them over.

Emmett and Lucy were walking together, Emmett turned to Lucy. "Whoa, hold on. You watch that?" He asked.

"Yes." Lucy replied eyeing him oddly.

"Man, I love that show! The second Harry showed up with that mustache, I knew he was --" Emmett was saying.

"He was the evil twin!" Lucy said interrupting him.

"Yes!" Emmett agreed.

"Yeah, mustache equals evil. That's Bad Guy 101." Lucy scoffed.

"Exactly." Emmett said.

"Yeah."

"Well... if you like action and heists, there happens to be a Rupert Payne marathon at the Aero. And I have an extra ticket for Saturday night, if you wanna... come with me." Emmett invited Lucy out.

"Cool. Um... Actually, Saturday is bad for me," Lucy lied, she wasn't ready to go out of a date again since what happened. "But, uh... thank you for asking." Lucy said.

"Of course." Emmett replied.

"Let's hit it, Boot. Later, Lang." Tim said walking over to the two of them.

"All right, Bradford. Lucy." Emmett walked off in the other direction.

Lucy joined Tim over by the elevators. "He seems nice." She comments.

"Sure." Tim shrugged.

"Do you know him well?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Play a little pick-up basketball together," Lucy gives him a look and Tim shakes his head. "Oh. No." Tim said.

"What?" Lucy asked innocently.

"No. Forget it." Tim said, as the doors to the elevator opened and some people got off.

"What?!" Lucy asked, as she and Tim entered the elevator.

"Your social life is not my responsibility. I learned that lesson the hard way with Hunter's social life. You wanna vet Emmett, you go to somebody else." Tim said and Lucy gave him a look as the elevator doors closed.

***

Hunter and Grant were knocking off. "Hey, look, I'm not in a great place with my social life right now, so if it helps I can hang out at Tim's place tonight." Hunter said to her friend.

Grant shook his head. "You don't have to. I understand and so does Daisy."

Hunter also shook her head. "It's not fair on you and Daisy." She was saying, Grant looked over at her. "Don't even argue, you know I'm right and I wished you'd told me earlier." Hunter said to him.

Tim walked into the reception area. "Hunter," the two of them looked over at Tim. "Grey needs another team on the DEA op. You wanna put in some OT?" He asked.

"Sure. Yeah. I'm not doing anything. I'll go get changed." Hunter said dumping the cookies into Grant's arms.

"All right, let's go." Tim walked out.

Hunter turned to follow when Grant spoke. "Hey, Hunt. We're okay, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. Why wouldn't we be?" Hunter replied and returned to get changed back into her uniform.

***

Hunter and Tim were sitting in Tim's shop in awkward silence, with Hunter playing with her hands, signaling to Tim that she was antsy about something but didn't think he'd want to talk about it. "What's going on?" Tim finally asked her.

Hunter looked up at him. "Oh, nothing." She lied.

Tim scoffed. "Your anxiousness and fiddling with your hands tell me otherwise." He replied. Hunter then placed her hands down on her legs when her foot started jiggling with nerves. "Hunter, what's going on?" He asked this time wanting an answer so he can try and help her.

Hunter sighed. "So, strange question, do you think it's time for me to start dating again?"

Tim let out a breath of almost relief, she wasn't about to drop the bombshell of she had a terminal illness on him. "Do you think it's time you start dating again, 'cause I can't make that choice for you."

Hunter opened her mouth to reply when Nolan knocked on the window, Hunter rolled it down. "Hey. Just going for a coffee run. Can I get you guys anything?" He asked.

"Two coffees. Black." Hunter answered, Nolan nodded and walked off, Hunter turned back to Tim. "I don't know, that's why I want your help."

"Why would you even care what I think?" Tim wondered.

"What? Your my best friend and my ex boyfriend, of course I care about what you think, sometimes I won't listen but I like your opinions." Hunter states.

"The last time I gave you romantic advice, I-I pushed you towards Jake, and...you almost died. In fact you did die, I had to breath the air back into your lungs." Tim said.

"That's -- That's ridiculous. There was no reason to suspect anything. What happened -- What happened wasn't your fault. W-Wasn't mine or Lucy's or Grant's, either. Look, I-I wouldn't ask your advice if I didn't value your opinion." Hunter said.

"Lucy can do better than Emmett." Tim said avoiding Hunter's question.

"She so can, I mean he's a firefighter for god's sake. But honest opinion seeing as you're trying to avoid it, should I date again?" Hunter asked.

"I-I don't know. I want to say yes but then I worry if your drink gets spiked and you get taken advantage of and then I'll go out of my mind worrying for you because you'll shut down and--" Tim trailed off.

Hunter placed a hand on Tim's arm. "Which is why when I'm ready I'll slowly roll back in and have you come with me to wherever I go in the early days and just have you nearby at another table. All I needed was your honest opinion."

Nolan had dropped off their coffees and Tim sighed. "I forgot how long stakeouts could take." He leaned his head on the head rest.

Hunter was about to respond when Nyla's voice came over the radio. "Bradford, Lopez. Let the SUV get out of the area and then stop that vehicle." 

"7-Adam-19, suspect vehicle spotted heading east on Midland," Tim put the shop in drive as they followed the SUV that went past. "Pursuing." Hunter said.

Hunter and Tim continued following the SUV when Nyla once again came over the shop radio. "7-Adam-19, be advised. Ripper is in the decoy vehicle. I repeat, he is in the decoy vehicle."

Hunter picked up the radio as they came upon the SUV. "Coming up on the vehicle heading northeast on Beaudry, approaching 4th Street intersection."

The next thing Hunter and Tim knew was that the shop was being slammed into at the side, sending the the shop across the road, smashing the mirrors and knocking the two of them out, Tim regained consciousness just before Hunter.

Tim looked over at Hunter. "Hunter," the raven woke up, she had glass in her hair and a cut on her head. "You okay?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Hunter winced upon feeling the head wound.

Tim grabbed the shop radio. "Harper, Bradford."

"Go to Harper. Was Ripper in the SUV?"

"Unknown. We got ambushed by a second vehicle. Brown pickup truck. Both vehicles got away." Tim said.

Nyla, Nolan and the DEA managed to arrest Ripper and unfortunately Bianca, Nolan's first CI, while Emmett and other RA's arrived to help handle any injuries that had been inflicted. "It's not too deep luckily." Emmett said, looking at Hunter's head wound.

"Good." Hunter replied.

Emmett cleaned the wound and put some butterfly strips on it and then Hunter made her way over to Tim and seeing as they had both been cleared, they returned to Tim's house for the night.

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I did enjoy this episode.