5x18: Double Trouble

***

Hunter groaned with her head in her hands. "Woah, what have I missed?" Lexi asked walking into the house for morning breakfast, she glanced at Tim who was looking pissed off and looked like he was about to remove the TV from the wall and throw it outside.

Hunter just pointed to the Netflix page. There it was, the Dim and Juicy Documentary involving Tim and Hunter. Lexi smiled widely and sat down. "We're so watching this." She said.

Tim scowled. "I'm glad our pain and suffering is entertaining to you." Lexi smiled at them as she grabbed the remote and pressed play on the Documentary. 

***

Footage is shown of Hunter in the bullpen by herself, looking very pissed off. "How long is this going to take?" She asked.

"Hello to you too." The interviewer said.

Hunter scowled at him before looking around. "You're interviewing me alone, why?"

"No, I thought it would be valuable to hear from you separately."

"And you can't interview me with Grant because?" Hunter asked.

"Apparently he called in sick as did Officer Chen."

Hunter frowned and grabbed her phone out and called Grant. "Do you know how dead to me you are? Good, you are spending the next several weeks attempting to make this up to me. Good." Hunter put her phone away and looked at the interviewer. "So where do you want to start?"

"So, how did you first meet Jake Butler?"

"A case. My--" Hunter paused trying to find the right words and just decided to get it over and done with. "My daughter, Rose-Alexandra, bought a car at a police auction, only to find drugs hidden inside. So, we traced that back to Jake and arrested him."

"Your daughter?"

"Will no longer be mentioned in this interview." Hunter deadpanned.

"Which brings us to the elephant in the room."

"Right. Yeah. The whole look-alike thing." Hunter said softly.

***

Footage of Tim sitting in his office is shown. "He didn't look that much like me."

Archival footage of Dim in the interrogation room is shown as the interviewer spoke. "How can you say that? You look almost identical." He deadpanned.

The footage switches back to the office. "Says you."

"Says Angela Lopez." The interviewer added.

***

Footage of Hunter is shown. "I called his doppelganger Dim." She deadpanned without missing a beat.

"That's funny, but also a little prejudicial, don't you think?"

Hunter frowned in confusion. "In what way?" Hunter asked.

"I mean, the fact that you were denigrating his intelligence comes to mind." The interviewer replies.

"I mean, if the shoe fits. Look, when you have been doing this job as long as I have, it becomes very clear that most criminals are... well, dim." Hunter deadpanned.

***

Scene switches back to Tim's office. "Wait, If you called Jake "Dim," what did you call Sava?

Archival footage of Sava Rivera is shown in the Interrogation room. "Hello?!" She yelled, tapping her fingers on the table in annoyance.

"Juicy and it's Hunter's fault, she started it." Tim deadpanned.

***

Scene switches back to Hunter. "Tim called her Juicy because I called Jake, Dim, so he retaliated, knowing it would annoy me and it did." Hunter replied.

"And then you and Sergeant Bradford went undercover as your doppelgangers, Dim and Juicy." The interviewer said.

"Yes. So, uh, Tim first, and then I joined him on a UC operation in Las Vegas, where we put some very bad people behind bars." Hunter replied.

"And was it around this time that you and Tim became intimate?"

"N-- " Hunter sighed. "N-No. We -- We had to pretend at intimacy while we were undercover, well nothing really happened while we were undercover, nothing worth mentioning anyway, he was single I was single but neither of us knew at the time." She said, slightly lying to keep her personal life out of the spot light.

"I want to dial in on that." The interviewer said.

"Do we have to? I..." Hunter was saying.

"The odds of you and Tim coming face-to-face with Dim and Juicy are already astronomical, but for both couples to hook up --"

The interviewer was cut off when Tim walked in. "Interview's over. I need Lopez. Hey." Tim turned to her.

"Hey. Oh. What's wrong?" Hunter asked.

"Not here." Tim said.

Hunter got off of the seat. "Thank god." She said before turning to the interviewer. "Excuse me, I hope I don't have to come back."

"Hmm."

Tim and Hunter walked into the briefing room, Hunter covered the mic that had been attached to her uniform knowing they were being filmed. "Nolan and Celina responded to a missing-persons call. It was Sava. Jake's missing." Tim said.

"What?" Hunter asked, before face palming. "He's probably high on drugs somewhere and she's freaking out for nothing," Tim gives Hunter a look. "But we should look into it.

***

Footage is shown of the others being interviewed before the footage ended up in the briefing room with security camera footage of Dim and Juicy with Dim leaving and not coming back. "Okay, so Dim walked into the hallway at 2:03 p.m." Tim said.

"But there are no cameras in that hallway." Hunter added from beside Tim.

"Right. So he walked out of this shot at 2:03. And never emerged from the hallway." Tim agreed.

"We have hours more footage of those two rooms, but Dim never reappears." Hunter said.

***

Footage of Tim is shown in his office again. "That's unusual, to say the least. Do you have a theory on what happened?"

"No, but Juicy sure did." Tim deadpanned.

"And what theory was that?"

"Alien abduction." Tim replied.

***

Footage of Hunter being interviewed again is shown. "Do you and Tim keep secrets from each other?" The interviewer asked.

"Do Tim and I keep secrets from each other?" Hunter asked herself looking at the ceiling for a  moment before looking back at the interviewer. "He's literally in that office because of a secret I kept from him, so yeah we keep secrets from each other."

***

Scene switches to Tim. "I'm literally sitting in this office because of a secret she kept."

"So Detective Lopez said." The interviewer replied.

"Then why did you ask me the question if Hunter already responded."

***

Archival footage of Tim, Hunter, Grant and Lucy in the briefing room together is shown when Aaron speaks over the radio. "7-Lincoln-7. Send an R.A. to my location, and alert Sergeant Grey. I just found a body, and it's Sergeant Tim Bradford."

Tim looked over at Lucy, Grant and Hunter, the raven haired cop looked at her boyfriend while Grant and Lucy shared a confused look. "What?" Hunter asked with a deep frown on her face.

"Give me that," Tim grabbed Hunter's radio off of her duty belt. "No, it's not. I'm at the station."

***

"Officer Nolan said that Dim's time of death was approximately 30 hours before Aaron found the body." The interviewer said.

"So around 6:00 p.m. the day of Jake's disappearance." Tim deadpanned.

"Did it bother you, seeing his body?"

"What do you mean?" Tim questioned.

"To see a version of yourself dead in a dumpster, no matter how much you protest that you don't see the resemblance, I mean, it had to be a little disconcerting." The interviewer comments.

"Yeah, a little, I guess." Tim shrugged.

***

Scene switches back to Hunter being interviewed again. "What about you?" The interviewer asked Hunter.

"What about me?" Hunter asked staring the interviewer down.

"Did it bother you, seeing Dim's body given how much he looks like your boyfriend?"

Hunter thought for a moment. "It was a little disconcerting but other than that Dim's body was just another DB for us."

"Your partner and sister informed me that you and Tim have very high walls, why is that?" The interviewer asked.

"Because if we don't the violence would consume us, my walls were built when I was first deployed, Tim's was way earlier than that, he was still a child when he started building his walls up."

The interviewer hummed. "Can you tell me why his walls were built up when he was a child?"

Hunter frowned. "No, that's all you're getting about our desensitization to DB's and about how high our walls are."

"Seeing as Tim's walls have been up longer than yours do they make it difficult to be in a relationship with him?" The interviewer asked.

"No, because I can break them down." Hunter deadpanned.

***

Archival footage of Angela, Nyla, Tim and Hunter in the Baudelaire house with Charles and Camille looking at Tim and Hunter in confusion, the two cops shared a look. "It's uncanny." Charles comments.

"It's freaky is what it is. You look like twins." Camille said.

"Okay, let's get back on track here. You say that Holland did not show up for work that Tuesday." Nyla said.

"And you never heard from her?" Angela asked.

"That's right. No call, no text, no e-mail, no Snapchat, no ClipTalk, no --"

"We get it." Angela deadpanned.

"And you were never aware that she went missing?" Hunter asked.

"No. We were paying her under the table, so I guess no one knew to contact us. Should we have our lawyer here?" Charles asked.

"That's up to you. But then it becomes a whole thing." Tim said.

"Yeah. Right now, we are just trying to get some clarity. It can't be a coincidence that two people that work for you showed up murdered." Nyla comments.

"You're looking at the wrong people. I mean, we were scammed by Karen and Skip -- Jake and Sava. Whatever their real names are. We're the real victims here." Charles said.

"Of course. But without another suspect, you can see why we are talking to you." Nyla said.

Camille turned to Charles. "Jesse."

"Who's Jesse?" Tim asked.

***

Archival footage of Grey, Tim, Hunter, Angela, Nyla, Lucy and Grant walking down a hallway in the mansion when Tim notices something out the corner of his eye. "Hey, guys. Wait. Hold up."

"What do you got?" Grey asked as they all stopped walking.

Tim pushed in the wall and it revealed a secret tunnel. "Let's check it out."

"Be careful," they all walked in. "Hey. Stay back." Grey said to the interview people.

"Weird tunnel." Angela comments.

That's when they end up in a secret room. "Wow." Lucy said.

"What is this? It's dusty." Tim pulls a piece of fabric off of a painting and waves the dust away.

"Woah." Grant said in shock.

"What is it?" Angela asked.

"No way." Lucy said, her jaw dropped.

"Grey." Tim said.

Hunter starts laughing. "Oh!"

"What is it?" Grey and Angela walked over and there was a portrait of a soldier looking exactly like Grey, an entire carbon copy. "You gotta be kidding me." Grey said.

"Oh, my God. It looks just like you." Angela comments.

The group then got back to work which is when Hunter noticed a hatch. "Guys," everyone turned to her. "I've got something," she removes the wall and poked her head out revealing the backyard before looking back at her friends. "Well now we know how Dim got out." She comments.

***

The interviewer and documentary continued when towards the end, Tim and Hunter ended up in Tim's kitchen with much reluctance and arguing from Tim and Hunter. "Does it shake you at all -- the fact that your doppelgangers' relationship was so dysfunctional?" The interviewer asked.

Lexi was sitting on the couch out of view from the camera, reading a book, she just rolled her eyes. 

"That's an unfair characterization. It wasn't dysfunctional. I mean, Jake cheated with Sava's best friend after trying to cut her out of a big money deal." Hunter said.

"Fair enough. But that doesn't change the question."

"What are you implying? That -- That we might suffer the same fate because of a couple of people who looked a tiny bit like us that were misfits?" Tim asked.

"I think it's a reasonable question." The interviewer replied.

"You're working too hard," Tim deadpanned and Hunter watched him speak. "Okay, l-- I get it, all right? You're invested in a certain answer because it makes for a better documentary. But we are not Jake and Sava, okay? I mean, they -- they are criminals whose lives were based on deceit. O-Of course that duplicity infected their relationship," Tim looked at Hunter. "But... we are in a very different place." He said.

"Mm-hmm. And what place is that?" The interviewer asked.

Hunter scoffed and Tim frowned. "If you don't know, then you haven't been paying attention. I mean..." Hunter trailed off.

"Okay. So, a place of honesty, respect, love." The interviewer said.

"Yeah. I mean, those are -- those are good words. Yeah."

"But do those qualities guarantee that your relationship will succeed where theirs failed?"

"Oh, w-- Well, you -- Okay, you know what? Of -- Of course not. But at this moment, I mean, Tim and I are in a really beautiful place. And that's all that matters."

"Yeah. Look, the thing you learn early on as police officers is that your future is never certain." Tim added.

"Yeah. Anything can happen to anyone at any time." Hunter said.

"Especially if they overstay their welcome." Tim points at the interviewer and cameraman and then to the front door, Hunter just placed a hand on Tim's arm.

"Uh -- Oh. Oh, does that mean..." The interviewer trailed off.

"Yeah, we're -- Yeah. We're done." Hunter and Tim start removing the microphones.

Hunter turned to Tim. "Do you want to get sushi?" Hunter asked.

"Oh, that's perfect," Tim turned to Lexi. "Lexi, wanna join?" He asked.

"Yeah, after this chapter, I'll meet you there." Lexi replied.

"Okay," Tim turned to the interviewer. "Listen. We're gonna be back in an hour. Place better be spotless." He warned.

"Oh, God." Hunter chuckled.

"Yes, sir." The interviewer replied.

"Bye." Hunter placed a hand on Tim's arm as she was walking behind him, the two walked out the door.

The cameraman turned to the interviewer. "Okay. Let's pack it up. You don't think he's really mad at me, do you?" He asked.

"Yeah," the cameraman and interviewer turned to Lexi who was sitting on the couch reading a book, she glanced up. "He's pissed, they both are, you practically forced your way into their house, their private space for something they hate doing," Lexi stands up and walks over to the door. "I'll be back in an hour with them, so like he said, place better be spotless."

***

Hunter turned the TV off after the documentary ended, after she and Tim were forced by Lexi to watch it. "That was funny, you two just hated doing that. But it was nice watching the whole thing and seeing different perspectives." Lexi said.

"But?" Tim asked.

"I'm never participating in one again." Lexi deadpanned.

"Exactly, it's just painful." Hunter replied.

Lexi yawned and checked the time. "I'm gonna head off and I'll see you two tomorrow, hopefully." She said before walking out the door. Tim and Hunter watched Lexi leave before finding something else on Netflix to watch together.

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While Double Trouble is one of my favourite episodes, I don't want to write the whole thing, so I'm cutting it short and because it's my story, I can do what I want.

Also, despite you, my readers, not getting the full documentary, Lexi, Tim and Hunter watched the whole thing with all the others being interviewed.

Also, yeah, I decided Lexi should appear in this one seeing as Tim and Hunter are finally dating.

Underline is the documentary episode and underline is also archival footage. (Does that make sense?)