5x16: Exposed

***

Hunter and Tim were laying in his bed asleep, Hunter's phone was sitting on her bedside table and it started buzzing, Hunter reluctantly uncurled herself from Tim and rolled over. "Who is it?" Tim mumbled trying to pull her back.

Hunter looked at the number. "Unknown," she picked it up and answered the call laying back on her pillow. "Hello?" Hunter asked.

"Loca, you gotta stop texting. I told you, I'm grabbing a drink at Zona Rosa. I'll be home when I'm home." Foster said.

Hunter's eyes widened and she shot up from the bed. "Wrong number?" Tim asked, he reached out for Hunter again, waking up properly when he noticed she wasn't there and was grabbing clothes from the drawers. "What's happening?" Tim asked.

Hunter turned around. "One of the UC's I training with many years ago needs a covert rescue," Hunter watches Tim get out of the bed and walk to the wardrobe. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Backing you up." Tim deadpanned, Hunter smiled. The two quickly got dressed and Tim handed Hunter the keys to his truck.

***

Hunter arrived at the parking lot to the club that Foster had called her from, Hunter parked the truck and got out, Tim meanwhile was hiding in the footwell of the back seat. "Nono." She yelled.

Foster turned towards her. "Oh, man."

"What the hell? You said you'd be home. I got three sick kids and someplace else to be." Hunter yelled.

"Damn, baby. I'm sorry." Foster said.

"Damn, man. You let your baby mama talk to you like that?" Vance Jameson asked him.

"Who is talking to you?" Hunter asked before turning to Foster. "It's bad enough that you roll into the club without me, but you gotta do it with all these inbred white boys."

"What'd you just say?" Jameson asked.

"Did I stutter?" Hunter yelled.

"Hey, chill! All right. She didn't mean nothing by it. It's just displaced anger towards me." Foster said trying to defuse the situation.

"Mm-hmm." Hunter groaned and placed a hand on her forehead.

"Now, I got to deal with this tonight. Can we hook up tomorrow?" Foster asked.

"Yeah. Okay. This right here tells me something about your commitment level."

"Hey, Vince, you know I'm down with the cause." Foster said.

Hunter scoffed. "Really?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to keep the peace!" Foster yelled as the other got in their trucks and drove away.

"Okay, let's go." Hunter and Foster turned around and start walking back to the truck.

"Damn, you came in hot. Damn." Foster said.

Hunter moved away from him now that the others had gone. "All clear." She called.

Tim slides out the truck. "Noah Foster." Foster offered his hand to Tim.

The two men shook hands. "Tim Bradford."

Foster and Tim let their hands drop and Foster turned to Hunter. "I'm impressed you managed to scrounge up backup this fast."

Hunter moved to stand beside Tim. "Yeah, I mean, helps that we're dating and I was sleeping his bed." Hunter deadpanned.

"Oh! Oh, you're that Bradford." Foster said.

Tim's ears pricked up at that. "Curious to know what that means."

"Later," Hunter looked at Foster. "Okay, so, who did we just rescue you from?

""The Army of Freedom." Militia group born in Victorville. I started running with them about a month ago. Still haven't managed to breach their inner circle yet."

"Pushed a little too hard tonight?" Tim asked.

"Maybe. But I had to roll the dice. They're about to move something big."

"That can't be good." Tim comments.

"I need to go brief my guys in Victorville, then I need a local assist. Is that doable?" Foster asked.

"100%," Hunter turned to Tim with wide eyes that he paid no attention to. "We'll set you up at Mid-Wilshire."

"You –" Hunter was giving Tim a glare.

Foster chuckled. "Damn it, it's good to see you, Hot Pants."

"Hot Pants?" Tim asked.

"Don't call me Hot Pants." Hunter scowled.

"I also need somewhere to stay tonight." Foster added.

Hunter and Tim shared a look silently arguing, Hunter reluctantly agreeing to Foster staying for one night and Tim rejecting the idea completely but ultimately Hunter won and Foster was staying the night at Tim's house.

The three walked back to the truck, Tim took the keys off of Hunter and she got into the passenger seat while Foster got into the backseat.

***

The three arrived back at Tim's, there was two empty bedrooms, Hunter's former bedroom and Lexi's former bedroom which are now both guest room. "You can sleep in one of those two rooms." Hunter deadpanned to him.

Hunter without another word walked into Tim's bedroom which was basically their bedroom at this point and Tim followed her in, closing the door after making sure Foster was in one of the guest rooms. "What's up?" Tim asked her.

Hunter sighed as she got out of the clothes and back into her pyjamas, she climbed back under the covers. "Foster and I were at UC school together, it was after our rookie year so after you and I broke up," Tim nods. "We became friends but he fell in love with me, I rebuffed him every time and deleted his number, blocking it as well as soon as I graduated UC school so he must've gotten a new number and decided to call mine in the hopes that it's the same as it always has been." She explained.

Tim got into the bed beside Hunter and she curled into him again. "I'm sorry that he decided to call you and not someone else." Hunter sighed. "I mean once he's gone again you can block that other number as well." Tim added.

Hunter laughed. "I like that plan."

Tim frowned for a moment. "What did Foster mean when he said 'you're that Bradford?'" Tim asked.

Hunter stiffened slightly and chuckled nervously. "I talked about you, a lot, quite a lot more than I'd like to admit, I never told him we dated and broke up just said we're friends but the amount of times I talked about you I suppose he just assumed."

***

The next morning Hunter hummed as she reached out for Tim when she felt the cold side of his bed, she frowned and grabbed her phone off of it's charger, checking his location he was at the station already.

Hunter threw her own clothes on and walked out the room wearing just socks on her feet as her shoes were at the front door, jumping when she noticed Foster rummaging around in the kitchen. "Jesus," Foster turned around to Hunter. "I forgot you were here, come on we're going to the station." She said.

Without another word Hunter placed her shoes on, grabbed her car keys and dragged Foster out of her kitchen and to her Toyota and the two sat in silence as they drove to the station. 

Hunter parked her car underground beside Tim's truck. "Head to Grey's office, debrief with him." Hunter deadpanned as the two exited the car and Hunter locked it, walking ahead of Foster.

***

Hunter saw Tim in the bullpen in his uniform talking to Smitty of all people, Hunter had just gotten changed, she started walking over to them and that's when Tim noticed her. "You're kidding. Thanks." Smitty walked off.

"Kidding about what?" Hunter asked. "And why were you talking to Smitty of all people?" Hunter asked again.

"Uh, nothing." Tim replied.

Hunter scowled. "Okay," she looked at Tim, placing a hand on his arm. "You left so early." She complains. "You're my ride to work nowadays." She added.

"Yeah sorry, you were woken up late and we didn't get back to bed till early morning so I let you sleep." Tim replied.

"Hmm, anyways, I managed to get Foster a room at the Four Seasons so the house is ours again tonight." Hunter said, smirking.

"Good." Tim said shortly.

Hunter frowned and stepped in front of him, placing a hand on his chest to stop him walking. "Hey. Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, fine. Yeah, we should get in there. The briefing's about to start." Tim said, walking past Hunter.

"Oh." Hunter said, following after Tim.

***

Hunter and Tim were the last ones in the briefing room, Grey and the others watched as they walked in, Tim stood beside Grey and Hunter just sat beside Grant. "Finally," Grey said, Hunter rolled her eyes. "I'll get right to it. This is Detective Foster with Victorville P.D. He's been undercover for the last three months," Foster walked up to the front and stood beside Grey. "Get a good look. If you see him in the field, pretend like you don't know him, but he is one of us. That being said, Detective." Grey stepped aside.

"I've been working a group called "The Army of Freedom." Wannabe militia tough guys who are becoming increasingly active. Yesterday, I caught wind of a new operation." Foster explained.

"Is it some kind of an attack?" Grant asked.

"Possibly. But what I did overhear was talk of sourcing lab equipment and chemicals." Foster replied.

"Mobile drug lab?" Lucy suggested.

"That was my first thought."

"Then we're most likely talking meth." Angela said.

"For most of these radical groups, narcotics is their main source of income. And two weeks ago, my department brought down their primary meth lab." Foster said.

"All those volatile chemicals, might as well be a bomb driving around the city." Celina comments.

"Exactly." Foster said.

"Did you get a plate?" Aaron asked.

"No plate. No VIN. From the quick look I did get, it was a older white truck with a purple or blue faded stripe." Foster said.

"Did you have any luck reconnecting with them after last night?" Hunter asked.

"No. My main contact, Vince Jameson, hasn't returned any of my texts, which means I've either blown my cover or he's a criminal with poor social skills. Time will tell." Foster said.

"A list of known militia members have been given to L.A. CLEAR. We'll coordinate through them to have a central hub of information." Tim speaks up.

"Look, we're gonna do a full court press on this truck. If anyone sees a vehicle even loosely matching the description, let us know, we'll stop and FI them." Grey said also speaking up.

"Lopez and I will hit up our CIs, see if any of them have heard of a mobile drug lab." Nyla said.

"If anyone comes across the actual truck, isolate it, and then call the bomb squad." Tim jumps in.

"All right, that's it. Be safe out there," everyone stands up, Angela and Nyla walk out first, Hunter and Tim both head towards a respective exit when Grey calls out to them. "Bradford, Lopez, hold back," Tim and Hunter walked up to Grey, Foster was also hanging around in the bullpen. "I want Metro to be ready to move on these guys in a moment's notice."

"Of course." Tim said.

"Not "of course." Last week, I needed you on the check cashing robbery. It took Metro two hours to show up." Grey complained.

"We were on another job." Tim deadpanned.

"That's why you'll be riding with Lopez and Foster today. So there'll be no delays. I want this thing off my streets ASAP." Grey said.

Tim glanced at Hunter. "Yes, sir." The two walked out, Tim holding the door open for Hunter and then following her out.

***

The three rode in the shop in silence before Hunter turned to Foster. "You really think you were burned last night?" She asked.

"I was pushing pretty hard to get intel. Maybe I should have held my nerve and gone with them." Foster said.

"Foster, you know better than that. Rule number one of U.C. work -- Never follow to a secondary location. No mission is worth getting yourself killed over." Hunter deadpanned.

"Yeah, I know, but it's driving me crazy I might have messed this one up."

"Yeah. Well, hey, have you called April yet? She must be thrilled that you're out." Hunter comments.

"We broke up. Well, she broke up with me and she was many years ago, I'm surprised you remembered her."

"Well I liked her." Hunter said, sharing a look with Tim and he smirked knowing that the look meant 'I liked her more than you'.

"Apparently, I was "closed off" and it was like "dating a robot"." Hunter hummed. "I'm starting to think the undercover life isn't conducive to a happy relationship." Foster deadpanned, looking between Hunter and Tim.

"Well, I mean, that probably depends on the couple." Hunter said, placing a hand on Tim's arm.

Foster frowned at the PDA and comments. "Is that why you quit UC work?" Hunter snapped her head towards him. "I heard from a friend in the NYPD, anyway, did you quit UC work because relationship trumps career because I heard from that friend that you were single."

Hunter rolled her eyes. "I was single in New York and quitting UC work was a personal choice my relationship has nothing to do with it. Besides, I'm thinking of returning to UC work." She deadpanned. "Not that I owe you an explanation."

"Well, far be it for me to judge, but you were by far the most talented cop at U.C. school. Be a shame if you didn't take the plunge once again." Foster said.

Hunter groaned. "Okay, listen my choices are my own I do not want nor need your opinion on my life, do you understand?"

"Sure." Foster sighed.

That's when they hear Nyla over the radio. "Lopez, go to channel 13." Hunter deciding she wants to know what Angela and Nyla are gonna talk about also switches to channel 13 to listen in.

"What's up?" Angela asked.

"The whole mother-in-law situation -- sweet or creepy?"

"Situational. Why are you asking?"

"James hooked her up with the baby cam feed." Nyla said.

Hunter winced, she can't imagine that happening, she knew for a fact that she would get the most secure baby cams as possible like Wesley and Angela had since the Elijah situation started.

"Oh, no, that's definitely creepy. You need to cut her off." Angela said.

"Thank you."

"Now, here's my question. Wesley hired private security on the Elijah front, and he says he thinks he hired a guy, but this morning, an ex-British Special Forces hottie showed up at our door." Angela said.

"You think he's lying?"

"Uh... More importantly, what's her name?" Aaron questioned.

"Why? So you can find a photo?" Angela asked.

"Uh, yeah. It's Valentine's Day, and I'm flying solo." Aaron replied.

"Charlie Bristow."

"Charlie Bris-- Wow." Nyla said.

Hunter searches her up and whistles, showing Tim a photo before he looked back at the road, Hunter just rolled her eyes.

"Damn. I'm sure she was probably the most qualified candidate." Aaron said.

"This woman is with your husband right now?" Celina asked.

"Yes." Angela said.

"I would shut that down so fast." Celina comments.

"Okay. You guys -- You guys, you are all overreacting, all right? Wesley is not the cheating type." Nolan said.

"He's not as squeaky clean as you think."

"Wait. Seriously?" Nolan asked.

"Angela, you need to get that woman out of your house sooner rather than later." Grant said.

That's when Tim grabbed the radio and spoke into it. "There's a meth lab cobbled together by a bunch of mouth breathers speeding through our city. We need to focus." Tim said sounding pissed off.

"Why are you so cranky? First Valentine's Day. You should be basking in the glow of new love well old love." Grant said, Hunter and Tim could practically hear the smirk as Hunter's partner speaks, he was riding with Lucy for the day.

"That's right. What are you guys doing tonight?" Lucy asked.

Hunter snatched the radio out of Tim's hand. "We are not talking about Valentine's Day plans on an open channel." She looked at Tim as she said it.

"At least one of you has some sense. Nolan, Harper, I need you to divert back to the station. We have a developing situation that needs immediate attention." Grey said.

"Copy that." Nolan said.

"Copy."

"And, Lopez, get that woman out of your house." Grey said, Hunter laughed slightly because Grey had been listening the entire time without saying a word.

***

Hunter looked at Tim, they were still patrolling and Foster was on the phone. "Out with it." She whispered, placing a hand on Tim's shoulder.

"What?" Tim asked.

"What's wrong with you today?" Hunter questioned. "Is it about Foster because I told you what he was doing, are you jealous?" She asked.

Tim shakes his head. "No. This is about you going behind my back to get me into Metro."

Hunter starts shaking her head. "No, I didn't."

Tim glared at her. "I heard it from Smitty, he said that you came to him for help." He replied.

Hunter sighed and scratched her forehead for a moment. "I had to do something. You were miserable riding that desk. And it was my fault that you were there." She said.

"Okay. Ok-- Fine. But how do you think that makes me look?" Tim asked her.

Hunter scoffed. "What?"

"How does it make me look? My girlfriend has to solve my problems for me?" Tim asked.

Hunter rolled her eyes. "Please tell me this is not some fragile-male-ego thing." She said.

"That -- That is not what's happening here." Tim said.

"Are you just mad that I solved this problem better than you did?" Hunter asked him.

"You think that's why I'm mad?" Tim asked.

"W-- Come on! We were just trying to help." Hunter said having a slip of the tongue.

""We"? Who else was involved?" Tim asked.

"Did I say "we"? I meant "me." Me was trying to help -- I was trying to help." Hunter said.

Suddenly Foster spoke up after getting off the phone. "Oh, they're definitely freezing me out. None of my contacts are getting back to me." He said.

Tim and Hunter just sat in silence ignoring one another for the time being.

"7-Adam-100. L.A. CLEAR just flagged an incoming 911 call from one of your militia members, Vince Jameson." Dispatch said.

Hunter picked up the radio. "Would you patch it through, please?"

"Help. I need help." Jameson said.

"Yes, sir. What's the nature of your emergency?"

"It got on me. I can't breathe!"

"What got on you? Sir, what were you exposed to?" The operator asked.

"They left me. Please. I'm dying." Jameson said.

"Dispatch, we need the address for that call." Hunter said.

***

Hunter, Tim and Foster arrived at the building where Jameson was and walked in carefully, their guns unholstered, once they walked into a warehouse Tim noticed Jameson's body on the ground. "Body."

"Geez. Meth did not do that to his body," Hunter looked at Tim. "You and I both know what did this." Hunter said.

"Yeah. That's chemical weapons exposure." Tim said.

Hunter turned to Foster. "Look, your militia is not making meth."

"They're making sarin gas." Tim said.

Later, Dr. Morgan from the CDC arrived along with several other LAPD cops. "Haven't seen you since Tim was infected." Hunter comments when she sees Morgan.

Dr. Morgan nods to her and then looks at the body. "As if we're not busy enough," Morgan looks at the body. "It's definitely chemical-weapons exposure."

"My guess is sarin gas," Tim gestures between himself and Hunter. "We've seen it before."

"Where?" Morgan asked them.

Hunter spoke up before Tim could. "Sorry. It's classified." She deadpanned.

"Normally boys love saying that, surprised that you're the one telling me Lopez." Hunter rolled her eyes. "Bring me up to speed?" Morgan requested.

"We've been tracking what we thought was a mobile meth lab tied to a militia group." Foster explained.

"Oh, you got the lab part right but the cook part wrong." Morgan replied.

"Yeah, basically." Foster said.

That's when Grey walked in with Lucy and Grant. "As if we're not busy enough." Grey comments.

Dr. Morgan turned to Grey. "That's what I said." She said.

"Accidental exposure?" Grey asked.

"It seems likely. They were either loading supplies or --"

"Or preparing for an attack." Hunter suggested.

"Worst case, what kind of body count are we looking at if this is sarin?" Angela asked.

"Depends on several variables -- concentration of the gas, population density, weather conditions. The good news is, sarin evaporates quickly. The threat is immediate but short-lived." Hunter replied.

"Well, they'll want to release it somewhere contained, maximize effectiveness." Tim said.

"I'll notify the brass and the Feds, put together a target list." Grey said.

"I'll get another rapid response team in the field." Morgan said.

Later, Angela had arrived but she stepped away to take a call from Wesley for a few minutes and walked back over to Grant, Lucy, Tim, Hunter and Foster, Angela mentally took note of the fact that Tim and Hunter's shoulders weren't touching like normal when the two stood together. "Vince has a sister in Eagle Rock."

"Well, let's get her down here, show her what happened to her brother, see if she knows anything." Tim said.

That's when Morgan walked over having been on the phone herself. "We got a situation. A friend of our second Ebola suspect just heard that Kip's girlfriend went into labor an hour ago."

"Where?" Lucy asked as she was standing with Grant, Tim, Hunter, Angela and Foster.

***

Later, Nolan and Celina were dealing with the third ebola situation, Nyla and Aaron were dealing with the second and Dr. Morgan had gone with them meanwhile the other cops were outside in the containment yard waiting for Jameson's sister to arrive.

"All right. Vince's sister should be landing any minute." Tim said.

"Hook me up." Foster said.

Hunter cuffed Foster. "You think she'll recognize you?" She asked.

"Only met her once. Wasn't clear if she was a believer." Foster replied.

Hunter moved and stood by Tim as Raelynn Jameson arrived. "Ms. Jameson. I'm Sergeant Bradford." Tim said.

"This about my brother?" Raelynn asked.

"It is. I'm sorry to inform you, but... he was killed earlier today." Tim said.

"What? How?" Raelynn asked.

"Let me show you." Tim said.

Tim and Hunter led Raelynn to a van and Tim put a pair of gloves on and unzipped the bodybag, showing Raelynn her brother, she turned away for a moment. "What the hell happened to him?" She asked the cops.

"Sarin gas. But we think you know that already." Hunter deadpanned.

"I do not. I have no idea what Vince has been into. We barely talk." Raelynn lied.

"Ms. Jameson, your brother's engaged in domestic terrorism. The group he was working with is still at large, and they're planning an attack. We need you to tell us everything you know." Tim deadpanned.

"I told you. I don't know nothing," Raelynn turned and points at Foster who was cuffed and leaning against a wooden board. "Why don't you ask him? He was with my brother last time I saw him."

Hunter and Tim glanced over. "We tried, but he lawyered up."

"Okay. Look. I wish I could help, but I can't. Now if you're done with the questions, I'm gonna go call my mom, tell her about Vince." Raelynn walked off.

Hunter and Tim walked over to Foster, Hunter uncuffed him. "You hear all that?" She asked.

"Yeah." Foster replied.

"Well, hopefully we spooked her enough to make a call," Hunter walked over and someone held up the crime scene tape. "Thank you." She said, placing her cuffs back on her duty belt.

"Thank you." Tim said following her.

Hunter got into the passenger seat after Raelynn left. "Control, target is on the move. Has she made a call yet?" She asked into the radio.

"Patching the tap to your unit now." Dispatch said.

"It's me." Raelynn said.

"You shouldn't be calling."

"What the hell happened to Vince?!"

"Martyr to the cause. He'll be a hero soon enough."

"Yeah. Well, the cops are right on top of us."

"Doesn't matter. I'm on Pico, heading for Union Station. It'll all be over in 30 minutes."

"Let's go." Hunter said closing the passenger door, Foster got back into the back seat and Tim in the drivers and then they left.

"Metro units inbound. First Team will stage up with Nolan. Second Team, stage off site with us, bring up the rear." Tim said into the radio while driving the shop.

***

They were able to prevent the sarin gas from being spread over LA and now it was end of shift time so Hunter got changed into her clothes from this morning, leather pants, heeled boots and a deep red blouse, she undid her bun and half tied it up.

Hunter walked into Tim's office where he was filling out paperwork. "Hi." Hunter said.

Tim glanced up at her for a moment. "Hi." He looked back down at the paperwork.

Hunter sighed. "I get why you're angry," Tim looks up and places the pen down, leaning back in his chair. "Even though you were miserable as court liaison and I spearheaded an almost impossible five-player trade to save you... I shouldn't have done it all behind your back." She said.

"Is that an apology?" Tim asked.

"Yes." Hunter said.

Tim nods his head. "All right." He makes no move to stand up.

"No! Look, because you never would've let me work my magic if I had told you, and then I would have ended up transferring to another station to save you from yourself, and...this worked out so much better. And if you can't see that, I'm sorry not sorry." Hunter explained.

"Okay," Tim said thinking for a moment. "I accept your non-apology."

"Good." Hunter said.

"Good." Tim replied nodding his head.

"So, are we going to dinner or what? I'm starving." Hunter comments.

"We are," Tim makes a hand gesture around Hunter's outfit. "But your, uh -- your outfit is missing a little something." Tim said.

Hunter looked down. "What?" She asked.

That's when she hears a draw open and Tim grabs something out, a box, and he walks up to her. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Hunter takes the box and opens it. "Oh, wow. It's beautiful," it was a circular necklace with an opal stone encrusted in it, she looked at Tim. "Did you pick this out yourself?" She asked.

"I did. Is that shocking?" Tim asked.

"No, you always choose the best jewelry for my birthday," Hunter replied putting the box down. "You clearly have good taste just like you have mostly good taste in women dating me and then Issy, marrying Issy, divorcing and dating me again, Ashley wasn't the best choice of person to date," Tim just looks at Hunter bemused before putting the necklace on, Hunter moves her hair out of the way. "Thank you," she said as Tim adjusted the pendant to make sure it was where it needed to be before Hunter turned her head to face him as he was still behind her. "Do you want to skip dinner?"

"No. I'm hungry," Tim said, Hunter nods, placing a hand on the necklace and starts fiddling with it. "And you're gonna need that fuel for later." Tim replied, removing his hand off of Hunter's back and walking out. Hunter smiled and walked out after him, closing the office door behind her.

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

Noah wasn't too OOC for this story just a little OOC.

I loved this episode it was one of my favourites.

And if you hate that Noah's OOC I did warn you that I hated him a lot in the last chapter, so no complaining.

Hope you enjoy.