7x02: The Watcher

***

Hunter and Hope were awake, it was about four in the morning, Hunter was allowing Tim to sleep as he spent most of the night awake trying to get Hope to sleep and he did for about three hours.

Hope was babbling nonsensical noises at her mother who nodded her head smiling as she drank her coffee to keep herself awake when Hope squealed with happiness at Kojo joining the two of them after realising that Hope was gone.

"Hey boy." Hunter said, scratching behind Kojo's ears. When Tim walked out of the bedroom. "Hey, coffee's in the pot." She said looking at him.

"Good, why didn't you wake me?" Tim asked.

"Because were awake until one in the morning." Hunter deadpanned.

Tim chuckled and poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting beside Hunter. "What time's Genny picking her up? Seeing as you two were the ones that organized it." He said.

"Uh 7:00 then we can go." Hunter said.

"Ah, so three more hours." Tim comments. Hunter yawned and nodded her head. "Go back to bed, I've got her."

Hunter shakes her head adamantly. "You were up from six yesterday morning to one this morning, you need sleep more than I do." She said.

Tim laughed dryly. "I'm the one that got you pregnant, you're the one that pumps every few hours and you're the one that went through twelve hours of labour, pretty sure I owe you and you need sleep." He deadpanned.

Hunter laughed. "I love you but I'm already awake and so are you, so we might as well get her started on liking the Rams, Dodgers and Lakers teams." She said walking over to turn on the recordings that they made of old Rams games.

"Yes, I love that idea," Tim looks at the baby in his arms. "Come on, we'll turn you into a Rams fan soon enough." He sat down and looked at Hope with a serious expression. "And if you don't, I'm disowning you."

Hunter turns around to Tim. "Tim!" She hits his shoulder lightly as he's holding the baby meaning that she can't hit his chest. "Don't worry Hope, we won't disown you." She said the baby just stared at her mother blankly.

"No, we just might speak to you for a while." Tim deadpanned at her.

Hunter clicks her tongue and shakes her head. "Idiot." She muttered.

***

Later it was around 7:00 AM, Tim drives into the parking lot and parked his truck, Hunter was driving herself in seeing as they were keeping their relationship quiet from the new rookies, Hope was off with her aunt. Tim snaps out of his thoughts when he sees his rookie walking into the parking lot carrying a hiking bag. " The hell you doing boot?" Tim asked walking over to him.

"I'm going to work sir." Penn replied.

"Yeah, I'm not blind. I'm asking why you've been coming to work like you're leaving for a six-month deployment." Tim snapped.

"What, this old thing? It's a little cross-training trick I picked up from my high school football coach. Heavy backpack equals easy cardio." Penn explained.

"Well do it in your own time. Cops don't walk to work." Tim reminds him.

"Oh, I know LA is not a walking city, but I didn't think y'all would care so much how I got myself places." Penn states.

"I care when it's an officer safety issue." Tim said.

"What you worried someone's gonna jump me for my milk money?" Penn asked with a chuckle.

"No. I'm worried that some hardcore criminal pissed at you for locking up his buddy might sneak up behind you and slit your throat. That'll put an abrupt ending to your easy cardio." Tim replied bluntly.

"You're a pretty intense guy, you know that?' Penn asked looking slightly disturbed at what Tim just said.

"What's your point?" Tim asked before walking inside.

***

Celina high fives the other patrol officers as she speaks cheerfully. "Do we know what day it is?" Celina asked cheerfully as she walks to her locker, talking to Lucy and Hunter. "Yo, I can't believe it's finally Plain Clothes Day. I mean, it's normal to be nervous, right?" Celina asked Lucy and Hunter.

The three of them were putting their uniforms on. "Yeah, of course. And listen, Nolan wouldn't have authorized it if he wasn't sure you were ready." Hunter said, putting her duty belt on.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Lucy, I bet your Plain Clothes Day was a breeze, huh?" Celina asked.

Lucy was just about finished buttoning up her shirt. "Actually, I almost washed out. But Nolan's not Tim. And I don't think he's gonna mess with your head."

"Yeah." Celina agreed. Hunter snorts at a message she was sent by Angela, something about complaining that she was put on patrol for the day with Nyla as well.

***

Meanwhile in the men's locker room, Tim was speaking to Nolan as he put his uniform on. "You need to mess with her head. Only way to make sure she's ready." Tim states.

Nolan looks shocked at that and shakes his head as Tim finishes strapping on his vest and grabbing a shirt. "Yeah, that's not my style." Nolan argued.

"Your style is also being evaluated today. But Juarez is a good cop. If she messes up, it's as much your failure as it is hers." Tim states.

"Wait a minute. Lucy is a great cop, and you almost washed her out." Nolan reminds him.

"I did. But you're not me. Everyone knows I'm an exceptional TO. You, on the other hand, have yet to prove yourself." Tim said, closing his locker and walking off.

***

"It's the only way to prove a TO doesn't have to play mind games in order to train a good rookie. It's not enough to win. I have to crush Tim in this competition." Hunter said to Celina back in the woman's locker room.

Celina was lacing up her boots and looked at Hunter. "Wait, so the contest is just about TO styles?" Celina asked.

"I mean, what else would it be about?" Hunter asked.

"Uh, nothing." Celina replied.

That's when Angela and Nyla walked in. "She thinks it's about having another kid." Angela deadpanned.

"And she's not alone." Nyla deadpanned.

Hunter's jaw dropped. "Hope's not even six months old."

Lucy smirks. "And you two are so in love with each other we're just surprised you're not pregnant yet."

Hunter grumbled something under her breath about them all being nuts. "This is just a fun bet which we always had even before we got together." She said.

The other four women shared a look before Lucy looked at Angela and Nyla closely. "So, back in uniform. How does it feel?" She asked, Angela and Nyla were in uniform because of a shortage of patrol officers seeing as there was that major corruption scandal.

"Itchy." Angela said.

"I am already sweating. But we are rooting for you today, Juarez. Patrol really cannot afford to lose another body right now." Nyla said as she and Angela move deeper into the locker room, Celina shares a look with Lucy and Hunter.

***

Lexi and Wesley were walking and talking with James, heading towards the captains office. "The boys are obsessed with this masked vigilante." James said.

"Jack, too. Whoever he is, he is isn't making my job any easier." Wesley comments.

"Citizen's arrest is perfectly legal." Lexi deadpanned.

"But false imprisonment isn't. And the fuzzy line between the two is for the jury to decide." Wesley said.

"Well, at least he isn't hurting anyone." James comments.

"Mm." Lexi and Wesley hummed.

That's when Grey walked over. "Yet," the three of them looked at him. "I hope you don't mind but the captain wants me to sit in on this morning's proceedings." He said.

"Not at all. Just don't think I'm gonna go easy because we're friendly." James said.

"Of course not. I'll see you up there." Grey walked up the stairs.

That's when Nyla and Angela walked over, Wesley looked Angela up and down. "Wow, look at you. It reminds me of the first day we met." He comments.

"I hate it. I forgot how much these pants flatten out my ass." Angela comments.

"Well, it still looks pretty good to me." Wesley comments.

""Pretty good"?" Angela asked.

Lexi snorts in amusement at that. "Uh, I move to have my previous comment stricken from the record." Wesley said.

"Are you ready for your meeting?" Nyla asked James.

"The real question is, are they ready for me?" James replied.

That's when Keith Graham walks down the steps and Nyla points at him. "OK, not one word." She said.

"I was just gonna say thank you both for your sacrifice. The detectives owe you one." Graham replied.

"You've owed my sister 200 bucks since the Super Bowl. She wants her money." Angela deadpanned with a hand on her hip.

"Understood. But seriously, if I need a crime scene babysat today, you guys are my first call. Tell your sister I said hello." Graham said.

"Mm-hmm." Nyla hummed sharing a look with Angela, it was common knowledge that Keith Graham had a crush on Hunter but she was oblivious to it because she was too in love with Tim to notice anyone else.

"We should go." Angela said.

"Yeah. Uh, have a good meeting." Nyla said.

"Thanks. See you tonight." James replied.

"Yeah." Nyla agreed.

"Be careful today." Wesley said to Angela, she just nods and the two of them walked off.

"Not a fan of that detective?" James asked Lexi and Wesley seeing their annoyed expressions

"Not at liberty to say." Lexi deadpanned and the three of them walked upstairs following Grey.

***

Hunter's standing outside the roll call room, Tim moves over to her, subtly tapping her thigh with two fingers. "I didn't see your boot in the locker room, Lopez. If he's late for roll call, you'll be in the hole before the day even starts." Tim said.

"He has a few minutes." Hunter replied.

Tim looked at his watch. "He has 43 seconds." Tim walked inside the locker room.

Hunter followed after Nolan into the roll call room. "Hey, uh, have you guys seen Seth?" She asked, Celina shook her head and walked to the rookie table.

"No." Nolan replied with a shake of her head.

"Damn it." Hunter said, she grabbed her phone out and called Ridley.

"This is Seth. Leave a message." Ridley's voicemail said, Hunter sighed and placed her phone away.

With Grey in a meeting with the Captain, Wesley, Lexi and James Murray, Nyla's husband, Tim was taking roll call today and so he stood up at the podium. "All right, everybody. Settle down. It is 8:00 a.m. on the dot, which means roll call has started, and Sergeant Lopez's boot is officially," Ridley slips in the side door of the roll call room. "You're late, Boot." Tim called out to him.

"Ooh!" The other officers cheered.

"Late!" Smitty yelled.

"Sorry, I-I didn't-" Ridley tried to say as he sat down beside Celina and Penn.

"Sergeant Lopez, what's an acceptable excuse for a rookie to be late to roll call?" Tim asked Hunter.

"There isn't one." The brunette sighed.

"That's right. Which means today, you'll be starting in the loss column. Moving on, Lieutenant Grey is in a meeting with the captain and a community activist." Tim added, moving on.

"Boo." Smitty said quietly and Nyla turned and glared at him.

"That representative is James Murray. Look, I know we all had friends lose their pensions over this mess, but they made that bed. They crossed lines we can't cross. Now it's up to us to regain the community's trust," Tim turns on the TV screen and it shows a video of a vigilante. "Otherwise, we'll be dealing with nonsense like this. Now, I'm sure you've all heard about this jackass running around, trying to be some masked avenger." Tim said.

"He's called The Watcher." Smitty states.

"Yeah, I'm not calling him that." Tim deadpanned at him.

"He's just an attention seeking wannabe desperate for internet fame." Angela said.

"You might be right. But there has been a measurable spike in crime in the neighborhood since we've been shorthanded. Look, if the residents start thinking this clown is more reliable than us, we have a huge problem. That's why today we're gonna be doing some good old-fashioned community policing." Tim states.

"You mean foot patrol?" Nyla asked.

"Yeah, we're not doing that," Tim stared at Angela intensely and she relented. "Fine, but only to show up that masked weirdo." She sighed.

"Everyone get out there, shake hands, kiss some babies," Angela perks up at that and quickly texts Genny to be walking in the streets for the day in the hopes that they'd cross paths. "Hand out business cards. Let the residents feel your presence," Nolan raised his hand. "Everyone expect Nolan and Juarez, who will be on Plain Clothes Day. All right, that's it. Be safe out there." Tim said and everyone stood up and left.

***

Ridley and Hunter were patrolling. "You are so lucky. If Sergeant Bradford was your TO, you'd be spending the rest of your shift scrubbing holding cells with-- with a toothbrush.." Hunter said.

"Well, I'm glad that he's not my TO." Ridley snarked.

Hunter slammed on the breaks, causing her shop to screech to a halt jolting the two of them forward slightly, she turned towards Ridley. "Do you want to run alongside the shop while you reconsider your attitude?" She asked.

"No, ma'am. Sorry." Ridley apologised.

"Good," Hunter started driving again. "'Cause... 'cause I don't want to be that kind of TO, well actually I do but that's beside the point. You showing up late for your second-ever roll call, either you don't respect me or--or--" Hunter was saying.

"No, of course not." Ridley interrupted.

Hunter held a hand up. "Or you're not taking your training seriously, Ridley." Hunter finished.

Ridley sighed. "Sergeant Lopez, I promise you that is not the case. I--I know it's no excuse, but I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and it ran--it ran late. So it's not-- it's not gonna happen again."

"Good." Hunter replied.

***

Penn and Tim were walking on the street. "Community policing in a city the size of LA is a lot more complicated than whatever you're used to back in Texas." Tim explained to Penn.

"You mean I can't just pop down to the bingo hall and shake hands with all my cousins right now?" Penn asked, Tim just glared at him.

A woman was in her front yard. "Uh, excuse me, officers?"

"Yes, ma'am. What can we do you for?" Penn asked.

"Would you mind helping me bring my garbage bin in? It's so heavy." The woman said.

"Uh, yes, ma'am. I'd be happy to," Penn grabbed her bin and wheeled it into her front yard. "You know, I would have thought a woman in as good a shape as yourself would have no problem bringing this bin in." Penn flirted.

The woman leaned on her mailbox. "Well, just because a woman can do something herself doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy watching a handsome young man do it for her."

"All right, if there's nothing else you need from us, ma'am, we're gonna need to be moving on." Tim said, Penn walks out and stands beside Tim.

"You have a great day, ma'am. 911 is the number if you need us again." Penn states.

"Let's go. She knows what 911 is." Tim said as he and Penn walk away.

"Well, you told me to be friendly." Penn said.

"That kind of friendly will get you sued. Next time, just focus on professional." Tim advised.

***

Hunter and Ridley were walking on a street and Ridley stops to talk to the shopkeeper who was sweeping the street outside his shop. "Hey, excuse me, sir. Do you have a minute to talk?" Ridley asked.

"Depends. What about?" The shopkeeper asked.

"Well, this is Sergeant Lopez. I'm Officer Ridley. We're introducing ourselves around the neighborhood. We're trying to get a sense of what we can do to better serve the community." Ridley said.

"Better? Son, are you new?" The shopkeeper asked.

"Actually, yes, I--I am. You're gonna have to forgive me. I'm still learning." Ridley said.

"OK, well, then I'll educate you. This used to be a nice neighborhood to raise a family. And then the gangs started moving in and the drugs. And now the only time the police ever seem to show up is to make an easy arrest or to use us as an example for young officers like yourself. See The Watcher there?" The shopkeeper and two cops look at the photo of the masked vigilante taped into the window. "Now, I don't know if The Watcher is helping, hurting, or just plain crazy, but at least he's here. And you'd be surprised what a big difference that makes." He said.

"Well, sir, next time you've got a problem, you can contact me directly. And I will personally make sure that the police respond." Ridley said, handing the shopkeeper his card.

"I just might." The shopkeeper said and went inside.

Hunter walked over to Ridley. "Ridley," he looked over at her. "That was good." She said.

***

Hunter and Ridley are walking down another street, Hunter notices someone walking across the road. "What can you tell me about that guy crossing the street?" She asked.

"Late teens, early 20s, 5'10"- 6' tall, slim build. His colors and tattoos suggest that he is affiliated. Without getting any closer, I'd say he's a part of the 6th Street Devils." Ridley said.

"And what's our authority to stop and talk to him?" Hunter questioned.

"Well, the standard for probable cause and detention states that we need to have a reasonable belief that the person in question has or will commit a crime. For example, if this was an 11532(a), loitering for the purpose of selling drugs, then we could stop him." Ridley said.

The man, Bicho, notices Ridley and Hunter and starts running. "Follow that suspect!" Hunter yelled.

"LAPD! Stop!" Ridley yelled running after the suspect.

Hunter stayed with Bicho and grabbed her radio and spoke into it. "7-Adam-19, we've got shots fired in the alleyway off Beverly," Bicho stood up. "Sir, the ambulance is on its way." She said to him.

"I'm good, I'm good. This ain't the first time I've been shot." Bicho replied, a hand on his shoulder to stem the blood.

"You're still going to the hospital." Hunter deadpanned.

Ridley came back. "He had a car. He got away." He explained.

"Did you get the plate? The make? Ridley! Did--where did they go? What direction did they go?" Hunter asked, Ridley didn't answer, having no idea, Hunter placed a hand on her forehead and huffed in annoyance.

***

Ridley's getting chewed out by Grey with Hunter standing in the office beside him. "You're an embarrassment. Not only did you fail to radio in your location while chasing an armed suspect, you were unable to provide any details that might help us identify his vehicle. These are the fundamentals, Officer Ridley. Things they teach you the first week at the Academy."

"There's no excuse, sir." Ridley said.

"You're damn right! Step outside. I need to speak to Sergeant Lopez for a minute," Ridley stepped outside and closed the door, Grey spoke to Hunter. "Let me be blunt. Do you think Ridley has what it takes to make it through the FTO program?" He asked.

"I think Officer Ridley shows a lot of potential." Hunter answered diplomatically.

"Very diplomatic. Now I need your honest opinion." Grey replied.

"I think he's smart, thoughtful, and empathetic, but he's made some very basic mistakes, which I-I understand at this stage in his training is to be expected. I -- I think at this point, it's too soon to tell." Hunter replied.

"Every rookie makes mistakes. But we're under a microscope right now. So if you ever start to think that he might be a liability, I need you to let me know right away." Grey said.

"Yes, sir." Hunter replied.

"All right." Grey sat down again and Hunter walked out of the office. "Lopez," Hunter turned around and Grey waved her back in, she walked in and closed the door. "Did you get any sleep last night? You look dead on your feet and I know having a new baby at home is exhausting."

"I slept longer than Tim, he stayed up with Hope until one in the morning while I was in bed from ten till four which is when Hope woke up after a three hour nap, I was going to let Tim sleep but he woke up like three minutes later." Hunter deadpanned.

Grey sighed and nodded. "Tell Tim that you guys can knock off whenever you need to go nap and if you want, drop Hope off at Luna and I's for the night." He said.

Hunter grinned. "You just want to spend more time for the baby."

Grey grinned back. "Yes, I do." He nods. Hunter laughed and walked out of the office.

***

Hunter was in the bullpen with Ridley. "Sergeant Lopez, I'm sorry--" Ridley was saying.

"No. You need to stop apologizing. All right? Get your head in the game. Go study your Rook Book." Hunter ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." Ridley walked away.

Tim walked over to Hunter. "Hear the vigilante's escalated to attempted murder. Too bad he got away." He commented.

"Are you seriously here to gloat about how badly my rookie screwed up?" Hunter scoffed.

"Of course not," Hunter gives him a look. "A little. Look, being a TO is hard. No. Being a good TO is even harder. First lesson I learned is you can't let their failures be your fault, not at the beginning. You have to make those failures a teachable moment." Tim explained to her.

"Well, that's very enlightened of you." Hunter mused. "And Ridley's not my first rookie." She reminds him.

"Don't sound so surprised." Tim comments. "Also, you trained Nolan when he had no TO, you weren't a full time TO until now." He said.

Hunter nods in agreement at that. "How's it going with Officer Texas?" She asked.

"So far, so good. Still got half a shift left." Tim sighed.

"Mm." Hunter looked around carefully before grazing her hand on Tim's arm and then walked towards one of the storage closets, Tim joined her 30 seconds later.

***

Hunter and Tim are making out in a storage room, with Hunter against the wall, Tim pulls back. "I've got 15 minutes." Hunter said.

"Don't worry. You know I'm good under pressure." Tim replied.

"Yeah." Hunter agreed and Tim started kissing her again.

***

Tim stepped out the storage closet and went to find his boot, Hunter walked out thirty seconds later and went to go to the locker room as a just in case before going off to find Ridley, who was sitting at a desk in the bullpen reading his rook book. Penn and Tim were walking out in silence to get back onto patrol.

***

Tim and Penn were still on foot patrol, heading back to their shop. "So where exactly do you live? Must be pretty close to the station." Tim commented.

"Over on Stanley. I can smell the tar pits from my apartment. Probably why I got such a good deal." Penn replied.

Tim's phone started ringing, he looked at who it was seeing that it was Angela, he answered it. "Hey, what's up?" He asked.

"Harper and I have a plan to track down the vigilante. Can you and your Boot back us up?" Angela asked.

Tim turned and looked at Penn who was standing by the passenger door. "Absolutely."

Tim and Penn got into their shop and Tim started driving.

"7-Adam-100, what's your ETA for that 4-15 in the alley off Fuller?" Angela asked.

"Still six minutes out." Tim said.

"Be advised, original RP has called back multiple times to report screaming from that event." Angela added.

"Copy. We'll be there as soon as we can." Tim said.

Penn, Tim, Angela and Nyla are all on the scene and the masked vigilant, Thomas Forsythe, an ex cop, gets out of his car and Nyla points her gun at him as she yelled. "Police! Hands up! Show me your hands!"

Tim, Penn and Angela all had their guns out as well. "Police! Show me your hands!" Tim and Penn walk over to him. "Search him, Boot." Tim ordered.

"Keep your hands on your head!" Penn yelled.

"I got a gun in the holster on my right hip." Forsythe warned.

Penn grabbed the gun and looked at it. "It's a 9-millimeter."

Angela walked over and turned Forsythe around and pushed him against the car. "Same as the one used to shoot Bicho." Nyla said.

"Hold on, hold on. I didn't shoot anybody." Forsythe said.

Angela grabbed Forsythe's ID. "Thomas Forsythe, you're under arrest for attempted murder."

Penn cuffed Forsythe. "I want a lawyer." Forsythe deadpanned.

"Get up." Penn hauled Forsythe to his and Tim's shop.

***

Later that night, Penn walked to his car, it was nighttime, he opened the trunk when Tim appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "You know it's illegal to live in a vehicle parked on the street?" He asked.

Penn jumped and turned around. "Sweet suffering lord, you scared the crap out of me."

"Exactly. You're completely exposed. Not to mention it's against the law, which you're sworn to uphold." Tim said.

"Of course. But I can't afford to rent a place right now. All right? I've got some debts to repay." Penn said.

"That doesn't make it better. Officers in financial trouble are much easier to corrupt. What if someone steals your vehicle or breaks into it and steals your service weapon or police equipment? You'd be terminated on the spot, which is exactly what I should do right now." Tim replied.

"No, wait, don't. Don't do that. Please, I--I -- I need this. I screwed up. All right? I played football in college and I thought I was going pro. So I spent some money before I technically had it. And--" Penn was saying.

"You blew out your knee jumping off the roof at a frat party like an idiot. Which is a tragedy, because you were destined to be one hell of a running back. Well, all that's in the past. And right now, I'm giving you 24 hours to find yourself a legal place to live. Otherwise, you're gonna have to find yourself a third career to screw up." Tim replied before walking off and returning to his house where Hunter was already waiting for him.

***

Tim returned to the house, Genny was gonna stop by with Hope and the boys for a little bit and they did, the boys, Austin and Tyler, went to play on Lexi's PS5. "Don't break that, Lexi will sue you or make sure you by a new one for her and they're really hard to find." Hunter warned.

"Yes aunt Hunter." Tyler and Austin said before sitting down and playing on the console.

Genny handed Hope off to her father. "She's a good baby, Angela texted me this morning saying you guys were doing foot patrol and made sure I was walking with Hope because you said and I quote 'go out and kiss some babies' so that's what Angela did."

"I'm gonna regret giving you Angie's number." Hunter deadpanned.

Genny nodded. "Yes, yes you are." She agreed and sat down at the island table. "So, how's wedding planning going?" She asked.

Tim sighed. "It's not, we've both got rookies to train and sleep's pretty much nonexistent." He deadpanned. "Not to mention my boot's homeless." He said.

Hunter's jaw dropped. "How the hell did he get into force? You're meant to have an address on a form." She said.

Tim shrugged. "He's pretty near apartments and probably put a random number down in the form and collects his mail from that mail box." He said.

Hunter shakes her head and clicks her tongue. "That's ridiculous." She said.

Genny hummed. "So, how long did you give him to find a place?" She asked.

"24 hours otherwise he's gone and I wouldn't mind that." Tim said.

"Course you wouldn't, you'd love to wash out your boot to make it an even dozen." Hunter comments. Tim just shrugged and nodded as Hope babbled at him and he walked off and sat on the couch.

***

The next day Hunter, walked into the Sallyport where Ridley was already waiting outside the shop. "Hey, I, uh, got the shop all set up. I came in early to top it off with some gas. I put some air in the tires. And I even got you a coffee." He said.

"Thank you. You know that doesn't wipe the slate clean from yesterday's mistakes, right?" Hunter reminded him.

"Yes, ma'am. Um, but actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. The reason I came in late yesterday and, uh, why I took my eye off the ball with the vigilante, um... four years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. And it was aggressive, and my odds weren't very good. But I did-- I did beat it. But a week ago, I went in to get some routine blood work done, and my results came back as irregular." Ridley explained.

"I'm sorry. That sounds incredibly stressful. Seth, you know, I'm -- I'm the one that's responsible for your safety on the job. And you--you really should have told me." Hunter said sympathetically.

"I know, I know. It's just... people treat you different when they know that you're sick." Ridley replied.

"Yeah. But there's no excuses." Lucy said.

"You're right. And I should have told you." Ridley replied.

"Well, when do you get the results back?" Hunter asked.

"Soon, I hope. But--" Ridley sighed. "It feels like forever." He said.

"Mm. Yeah, there's nothing we can do about that now, right? What do you say we focus on other people's problems for today?" Hunter suggested.

"I'd love that." Ridley replied, the two got into their shop.

***

Tim and Penn arrive at Imelda's house getting shot at as they dug behind the shop, Tim grabbed his radio. "7-Adam-100, shots fired at our location."

Hunter and Ridley arrived just after Tim and Penn and both of them got out of their shop as well and started firing on the gangbangers, one of them shoots Hunter's window and she ducks for cover.

"7-Adam-15, we're under fire in the foot alley on the east side of the detached garage." Nolan was heard saying over the radio.

Penn and Tim peek out from behind their shop doors and fire at the gangbangers too, while Nolan and Celina fire from where they're hiding.

Penn glanced over at Tim. "Hey, what's your position on the liberal use of flash-bangs?" He asked.

"Do it," Penn raced to the trunk and opened it to grab out the flash bangs and Tim grabbed the shop radio and radioed Hunter. "Lopez, we're gonna flash-bang 'em. Be ready." He informed her.

"They're low on ammo. Just wait for the reload." Hunter replied.

"Copy," Penn came back with two flash bangs and placed one in Tim's seat, he grabbed it. "Now." Penn and Tim threw the flash bangs causing them to explode loudly and send smoke everywhere, distracting the gangbangers.

"Let's go." Hunter said to Ridley and the two moved towards the house.

Penn took off running and tackled one of the gangbangers before he got away. "Not a bad hit for a running back." Tim comments.

Hunter cuffs one of the men and hands him off to Officer Jan. "Jan, take him."

"Let's go." Tim said as Hunter and Ridley made their way over to Tim and Penn.

Hunter grabbed out her radio. "Nolan, we're coming up behind them."

"Copy that. We're in the foot alley. We have four shooters posted up behind the Honda." Nolan said, he then yelled out to the gunners as Ridley, Hunter, Penn and Tim took their positions. "6th Street Devils, you are surrounded and outgunned. You have five seconds to lay down your guns." Nolan told them.

The gunmen all carefully stood up holding their guns in a way that mean they weren't going to shoot and they made their ways over to Nolan as Ridley, Tim, Penn and Hunter made their ways over as well. "You, down." Nolan said to the leader.

Hunter was arresting one of the other men as Ridley dealt with his friend, Penn kicked the gun away from the one Nolan was arresting. "Secure Imelda." Nolan said to one of the three rookies.

Imelda ran over and grabbed the gun pointing it at the gunman Nolan was arresting causing the cops to point their weapons at her. "Drop the gun! Do it right now! Drop it!" Hunter yelled.

Celina spoke up. "Imelda, drop the gun. Look around. There's no chance of you walking out of this alive unless you do what I say."

"I don't care. They killed my daughter. They deserve to die, every last one of them." Imelda replied.

"Maybe. But if you don't let them go, I will be forced to end your life in order to save his. Does that sound like justice to you?" Celina asked.

"I want to die." Imelda informed her.

"But I don't want to kill a grieving mother for avenging her daughter's murder," Celina lowered her voice to a whisper. "Please," Imelda glanced at Celina and she started sobbing, Celina grabbed the gun out of her hands and Imelda lowered to her knees. "On your knees." Imelda interlaced her fingers and Tim cuffed her.

***

The three TOs are sitting outside the food trucks having a drink each. "There is no way we were that clueless. I mean, I know we were rookies, but we had some common sense." Nolan scoffed.

Hunter was sitting across from Tim and Nolan was sitting in the middle of the two of them. "No rookie has common sense." Tim replied.

"After my first day as a TO, I wrote Harper a very long apology letter and sent her a spa gift certificate." Nolan said.

"Aww." Hunter chuckled.

"Aww." Tim said as well.

"All right. That is it for me. I'm gonna go home and soak my entire body in ice." Nolan said finishing up his drink.

"All right. Have a good night." Tim said.

"See you tomorrow." Lucy said.

"Good night." Nolan then left.

"So, uh, your Boot handled himself OK out there today." Tim admits.

"Yeah, he's, um -- yeah, we're-- we're figuring it out," Hunter went silent for a moment and pointed to an empty spot beside her. "Now are you move your seat over here or what?" Tim chuckled but he did move his seat over beside Hunter's, Tim grabbed her hand and played with her fingers. "How was Texas the rest of the day?" Hunter asked.

Tim's phone rang before he had a chance to answer. "About to find out." Tim said.

"Oh." Hunter said.

Tim stood up and walked away so he could speak to Penn, tilting the phone horizontal, almost as if to show Penn that he and Hunter were out together and that she was off limits, he wasn't quite sure if that would work though and Tim couldn't exactly say anything out loud until Lucy became a sergeant. "Time's up, Boot. You find a place to live?" He asked.

"Howdy. I sure did. Let me introduce you to my new landlord." Penn said.

Penn handed the phone to Smitty. "Bradford. Just welcoming the kid to the neighborhood."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Pass me back to my Boot."

"It's only temporary until I bank enough money to get my own place."

"Yeah, that's what every guy said when they first moved into that lot. All right. I'll see you tomorrow. You bought yourself another shift." Tim hung up and walked back over to Hunter and sat down beside her again, once again grabbing her hand.

Hunter moves closer to him and placed a hand on his cheek and kissed him and then rests her forehead against his. "We should go, I suppose." Hunter said, not moving.

"Yeah, we should relieve Genny." Tim comments, standing up and pulling Hunter up with him. The two walked to the truck and headed home.

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I hate Ridley so much, I don't trust him.

Jealous Wesley and Tim are gonna be the best part of season 7.

Celina being happy she passed was great and I loved that Grey just smiled while Celina did a happy dance was so cute, I loved it.

Hope you enjoy.