Chenford: One Shot to the Heart

As Wade Grey...

*Imagine finding out that Grey ships Chen and Bradford. It would be so awkwardly cute!*

He didn't see it at first. But then again, there may not have been anything to consider at first. She was impressive. As their sergeant, he couldn't consider many thoughts beyond that as it was in his job description to be fair and partial. But she was. And he... well, he was one of the best T.O.'s he had ever witnessed in action. So much for being impartial. He knew from general gossip that Tim Bradford wasn't who he once was. It was understandable. No, his wife hadn't become a drug addict right under his nose, but he could sympathize. Not openly of course. Bradford didn't quite grasp the concept that emotion was perfectly normal. Gossip also said that he had become volatile and uncontrollable. He was a pain to deal with. He knew it was true, Bradford was a pain, but that had been true since day 1. The other half, he took with a grain of salt. Tim Bradford was one of the strongest people he had ever come in contact with. Even if he was struggling, it was unlikely that he could get away with too much crap before he caught wind of it. Besides, he figured that if it were bad enough, Chen would say something about it. Of all the rookies, he figured she would be able to handle him. Grey had a suspicion she would pull through, killing Bradford's current washout record. 

The fact that Chen didn't walk in with resignation papers after her first shift gave him high hopes. Bradford was the best for a reason. Not the easiest reasons though. Chen had a bit of a break since Bradford got shot. Again. Grey wasn't privy to much. But gossip about Tim's behavior had lightened, thank goodness. Things between him and Chen didn't change all at once. It just happened to be by dramatic incidence followed by another. 

The quarantine house. Tim fainting outside the quarantine house. 

Chen's abduction. Oh boy. That was another load in itself. There was so much he didn't know, but he was glad not to. From the position as his superior, he would have had no choice but to report it. He saw it hit Tim harder than he expected it to. The fact that he could tell that Tim wasn't okay meant that it was bad. When they did find her, he was afraid that they were going to have to tear him off her body. The way he held her close... well, he didn't give himself over to too much speculation. He knew Tim knew where the lines were. He was careful about which ones to cross. A relationship with his rookie was one that he would never even consider. Seargent Grey couldn't consider the implications of anything. Sure, Tim clearly cared about her more than any of the previous rookies he had trained. But Chen was different than any rookie he had ever trained.  Off the clock, Wade Grey could consider it. Privately, he would erase all the existing circumstances and think based solely on their character. He thought that given time, they would be good together. 

Tim's name still came up in gossip. Though in a more positive/questioning light. Why had he not taken the sergeant's position in Hollywood? Though Tim presented him with a clearly rehearsed denial of the position, Grey knew Chen was the real reason. 

Things were quiet for quite a while. Until Chen got too interested in UC work for Tim's liking. Grey knew about as much as most. But maybe a bit more where things with Isabel were concerned. Most people around the station knew past tense Isabel. She was Bradford's wife. She was a cop. She was a happy person. She was the light of his life. Until she wasn't. But Grey had known that cop. He had known Isabel as a rookie, as a human, and a clean, strait-laced cop. And at the occasional barbeque, he knew her as Tim's husband. The woman who was able to take one of the most difficult men he knew and morph him into someone unrecognizable. Where was the keenly focused rookie/army veteran that he knew? Gone. In his place was a relaxed, smiling man who passionately discussed the Rams game from the night before. 

Then Isabel got interested in UC. Neither of them could have anticipated the landslide her stepping into the dark side would create. Even Tim, with all of his army experience and book knowledge of what a UC career required, could not have foreseen all the hurt it would bring him. Isabel jumped into the deep end. Their goodbye, he imagined, had been simple. Neither expecting any extreme blowback. 

Be... careful, okay? 

It's the job, Tim. But yeah, I'll be safe.

They had been quite the pair.  Until, well, everything imploded. Grey had blatantly ignored some things that he knew he shouldn't have as a sergeant. But as Tim's friend (somewhat), even though as his friend it was less of an excuse to turn a blind eye, he turned the blind eye. Maybe if he hadn't, things wouldn't have been so bad. They'd never know, unfortunately. What occurred was quiet at first. Isabel stopped coming to work. She put in for endless vacation time, used sick days up like heroin. Horrible analogy, yeah, he knew. What no one had known, and Grey had slowly only guessed, was that Tim was the one putting in the requests. Because by that point, Isabel was long gone. She came in one final time as a cop. Everyone could see the change in her. She tried to withdraw something. Narcan maybe. The cop behind the desk smelled something fishy. 

This chick is the undercover baddie they talk about? I guess she looks like she could be as hot as they say that she was. Something's off though. 

Tim had turned in her badge later that day. Said she couldn't do it anymore, was all the explanation he gave. She got picked up for possession three months later and the precinct gossip erupted. Grey, Angela, and Captain Anderson were the only three who really understood what had happened from the moment Tim brought in her badge. The fact that she wasn't the one to hand it in, along with the bags under Tim's eyes, all added up. Isabel had gone too deep. Grey often found himself caught in a crossroads. He wanted to help Tim. But he knew that Tim had a hard time accepting help. He for sure wouldn't take time off or talk to anyone. Grey wanted to make sure that he was okay, even though he knew he wasn't. Grey just needed him okay enough so that he wouldn't have to order him to take time off. 

When Lucy showed up on the scene, arresting someone before she even clocked in, Grey knew exactly which T.O. she would get. Bradford would be good for her. But deep down he knew that she would be good for Tim. Tim needed someone to challenge him. Sometimes Grey felt like he had used them as pieces in a board game. But if he had stuck to his original plan, things would have fallen apart. Bishop was always going to get Nolan. But Tim was supposed to get Jackson. Angela was supposed to get Lucy. At the last minute, he went off-script. What could have happened if he hadn't? Well, he wasn't one to consider what might have been. Jackson might have still been alive. But at what cost?

Lucy becoming interested in UC was the first time he had seen and/or heard of Tim imploding. As the superior officer, he could not play favorites and interfere. Lucy was a capable individual and he trusted her abilities especially everything she had been through. So she went through with it. Tim was tense and short through the entire ordeal. But she did it. 

It was so obvious. Maybe not to them. But it was to him. They were good for each other. Maybe one was more influential on one than the other. 

It was absolutely agonizing. As, once again, the superior officer, he could not condone a superior-subordinate relationship. But as Wade Grey, he was a hardcore "shipper" as it was known these days. Someday, maybe someday. Geez these guys had him on the edge of his seat!