labyrinth, the rookie.

the night general.

Evelyn woke up at 6am to the sound of her son calling mama. As per usual. She headed to her son's room and picked him up. She kissed the side of his head. There's no one she loves more than this boy. She gets him dressed and gives him breakfast which is eggs and toast. Evelyn smiles at her son as she's making his lunch for daycare. She hates leaving him to go to work but it's much better than how little she would've seen him if she was still undercover.

•••

It's now 10am. Evelyn has dropped off her son and is heading into work. Late. She's new to this, her second week on the job and she's already late. She runs into the daily briefings and sits in the back. Grey looks behind everyone to look at her. She gives a sight smile and melts into her seat from embarrassment. Grey continues to introduce Nick Armstrong and explains how Nolan will be unavailable as a rookie for the day, as he's giving a tour to Detective Armstrong. As everyone is leaving, Grey calls out for Evelyn to meet him in his office. Almost the whole room turns and looks at her, including Angela, Jackson and Lucy. Grey walks out. Evelyn gets up and as she's walking to his office, she mumbles under her breath, "I'm so getting fired." She walks into the sergeant's office with a slight smile. Grey looks at her and can clearly tell how nervous she is. "Don't worry. I didn't call you in here to fire you. I did notice you were late which you will need to improve but I've been a parent before. Never a single one, which is why I'm letting you off on a pass." Grey finishes with sympathy in his voice. Evelyn cannot be more relieved. She smiles at her superior officer, "Thank you so much sir. I would love to say this won't happen again but I seriously can't promise that." Wade gives a little giggle. He tells her, her assignment of the day and he sends her out of his office. Angela sees her sister and walks towards her accompanied by Jackson. "Why we're you late this morning? Is Auggie okay?" Angela asks with much concern in her voice. Evelyn gives her a little smile, "He's okay. I just can't ever make it to work on time with him around right now. We haven't found a routine that works yet." Angela and Evelyn talk about August and their move until Jackson pulls Angela to get to work. Considering all the rookies we're riding with their respective training officers, or in Nolan's case, Nick Armstrong, she had to ride alone. Evelyn hates riding alone. She doesn't find peace in the silent like most people, she finds the silence terrifying. Sergeant Grey did assign her to shadow Nolan and Armstrong though. That helped considering how much she likes Nolan. She pulls up the scene to see two people gagged basically falling out of the house. She runs towards them and takes out their gags, "Hey. Are you okay? What's going on?" One of the two victims speaks up, "They have our son!" Evelyn tries and questions them but they're very clearly distressed. Matt, the father, runs back into the house. Evelyn tries to stop him as she's chasing him to the upstairs. As they reach the master bedroom, they see Jeff, Matt's son laying there deceased. Nolan runs up behind them and he gives Evelyn a look. Half an hour later, Grey arrives with the crime scene unit. He walks over to Evelyn and asks, "What do we got?" Evelyn sighs to start listing the situation, "Jeff Christian. 17 years old. Apparent gun shot wound to the back. His parents, Matt and Marilyn Christian. Both Assaulted. They described two masked assailants. Males, white, possibly hispanic, 5"9" to 5"11", medium build." Grey walks over to gather more details from the original scene. Evelyn's phone rings. She walks outside and answers, "Hey. How are you?" Tim Bradford was on the other line, "Oh you know, riding with Lucy as always. Doing some teachin'." Evelyn laughs. The two met on her second day. Exchanged numbers on her 4th day on the job. They've been texting and calling ever since. Lucy speaks up, "Hey! Tim has finally decided to let me know it's been you he's been texting. Not that it was ever a big deal but i'm glad it's you!" Evelyn smiles, "Thanks Chen. How's Tim doing on his reading?" Tim takes the phone back, "Tim can answer questions himself, thank you. My reading is going kinda sideways but it's gonna be fine." Evelyn is in such awe of him, "You sure?" Tim is just as much in awe with her as she is with him, "Yup. I've got this." The two talk for a bit longer until Tim and Lucy got a call. They hang up and she holds her phone against her chest. She was seriously starting to fall in love with that man. Evelyn got a call from Angela and Jackson that they got Matt's location from Marilyn. She raced over to a construction facility. She has her gun drawn to Matt along with Nolan and Armstrong. "Matt! What did you do with Craig?" He yells out.
Matt stares at the three cops, "What he deserved. And now it's over. Or it's gonna be over soon, anyway." Armstrong signals the cement mixer filling a vat nearby. She runs over to pull him out as John and Nick are trying to talk Matt down. As strong as she is, she cannot pull out Craig alone. He calls out for Nick and he runs over to
help her pull him out. Nolan hears the noose crack around his neck. He feels instant guilt for some reason, even when he knew Craig was a criminal. Evelyn is preforming CPR on Craig and finally he takes a breath. She's been working this job for years but her heart still stops every time a life is in her hands. Back at the station, she's packing up her stuff to head back home. Most days, her cycle is the same. It never ends. She always wishes she'd have something new to do but yet it's always the same. Wake up, get herself and August ready, drop him off, go to work, pick August up and go to bed. Her days are all the same. She decides to change that for once. She catches up with Lucy as their heading out the building, "Hey! I know this is super awkward but I really need to make myself some friends here. Do you want to hang out tonight? I'll have to have my son around but you know, could still
be fun!" Lucy gives her a big smile and nods, "Yeah! Please. Let's hang out. I do have to go get Jackson from Smitty's awful parking lot living situation but I'd love to. I'm sure Jackson would too." Evelyn gives Lucy a big smile and explains she has to go pick up her son but that they should both meet her at her house.

•••

The three are sitting on the couch hysterically laughing. Jackson was showing embarrassing pictures of Tim. Evelyn was in her kitchen with August laughing as Chen and West we're in her living room. The second August met them, he officially had a new favourite aunt and a new favourite uncle. This group of friends was definitely unexpected considering how so very different they are but sometimes the most unexpected friendships are the best ones.