The past that brought us back together

3

"Mommy!" Lucy was awoken by a little person jumping into her bed and start poking and softly patting her mother's face to make her wake up. The woman had to bite back a smile as she pretended to sleep and shifted to her side.

Lucy heard a small huff of frustration coming from her daughter.

The little girl pouted as she moved to lift one of Chen's arms to make herself a space to lay in the empty place the arm left. She was now cuddled on her mother's chest and shifted to keep up with her plan.

"Mommy" She insisted, Lucy limited to let out an exaggerated yawn.

"Mom" No answer, she shook her mother's shoulder.

"Mama" That finally got a reply.

The little girl squealed in surprise and started laughing when she was grabbed by the waist and in a quick movement moved to the center of the bed before she was attacked by kisses on her face and tickles on her armpits and stomach.

The cop stopped with her attack as the little girl took gulps of air between her giggles. Lucy who was on top of her laid her head on her daughter's chest as she let her gather herself.

"Hi!" The girl said happily as she wrapped a strand of her mothers hair in her tiny fist.

"Morning baby" Lucy said as she rolled on to her back and grabbed the kid by the armpits to make her sit on her lap and kissed her daughter's chubby cheek.

"We got you a surprise!" The five year-old informed her excitedly as she squirmed on her mother's lap while the other woman tried to move away some of the hair that was all over the little girl's face.

Wait a moment... We?

Chen decided to not question it and played along. Maybe it was one of her daughter's imaginary friends.

"Uh huh. Daddy and I made breakfast just for you" Lucy froze for a second. Daddy? Who was Elizabeth talking about? But still decided to not comment a thing.

"Yeah? What did you cook?" Lucy didn't want to think in the state she would find her kitchen in.

"Pancakes" Another voice intervined. It was a masculine, gruff and deep voice that was stepping into the bedroom.

Crash!

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Lucy was awoken by a crashing sound coming from the bathroom. Her heart was beating faster than ever. It had all been a dream but it had felt so real, she had been so close to seen who the mysterious man was. Was that Lizzie's real father? Was that how her baby actually looked like? Why did that two voices sounded so familiar?

"Sorry!" The teenager called out.

"Are you okay? What broke?" Lucy replied as she rubbed the sleep out with her hands.

Tamara hesitated. "Nothing!" She pathetically lied. "Are you sure? I heard something breaking!" Obviously Lucy would know she was lying.

"Just my eyeshadow palette!" Lucy sighed. She had given the teenager as a birthday gift two weeks ago and she had already broken it. Lucy took her phone to see the hour; 7:23 a.m. fuck, she was supposed to be in the shop in less than an hour.

Lucy jumped out of the bed and went to her room and change her clothes. She wouldn't have time to shower or have breakfast. She would grab some coffee on the way to work, if she was late Tim would litterally kill her.

The cop said a quick goodbye to the teenager before closing the door behind her back and got in the car. She had 15 minutes to arrive.

Thankfully she made it on time and sure, she almost had a car accident but she made it on time. Lucy was aware she looked wrecked by the look Angela gave her but the younger cop ignored it.

The day went by pretty fast and now Lucy needed to talk to Angela. She had asked Tamara if she could tell the detective what they had talked about and the teenager reluctantly accepted.

And she was not going to lie, she was exhausted. Between Tamara's nightmares and almost being knocked out by someone two times her side today, she just wanted to sleep forever.

She was lucky to find the detective before she was about to get on her car.

"Angela!" Lucy yelled before the older brunette could close the car door.

"Chen" Angela basically groaned. She looked tired too, it had been a long day for everyone. "What would you possibly need at this moment?" She said with an annoyed tone, Lucy was about chicken out but she had promised the teen she would do this.

"I kind of need a favor" Straight to the point, it was easier that way.

Angela could hear the hesitation and anxiety on Lucy's tone and the curiosity on her won so she accepted. "Alright, tell me. What do you need?" She said.

"It's about Tamara, actually." Maybe knowing it was about Tamara would soften Angela, the woman truly liked the teenager.

"Is she okay?" She asked. "Is she in trouble? What did she do this time?" Lucy almost laughed, Tamara was known for getting in trouble.

"Yeah, yeah. She's fine, she just needs some help with something." Chen rushed to say. "She asked for my help to find her biological parents." Angela's brows shoot up in confusion.

"Her bio parents? I thought they were dead..." Saying Lopez was confused was an understatement, she has heard Tamara talking about her parents and never mentioned being adopted.

"Yeah that's what I also thought but last night she told me the Collins were her adoptive parents. She wants to get emancipated and needs both of their signatures." Lucy quickly explained.

"She tried to look for them herself but couldn't find much and last night I did some research but it's still not enough so now I'm asking for your help" The younger brunette stated.

"I- I... Alright, tell me what you found" Angela requested. She wanted to make more questions but didn't want to pry.

"There's not much if I'm being honest. Tamara doesn't even know when her real birthday is, said her parents changed it the day adopted her. She does know her mother was a collage student from Los Angeles, she gave birth in Shaw's Memorial Hospital". Lucy was right, what they knew was basically useless but Angela was a great dectective

"Sure, I'll look into it. If you or Tamara find something else tell me" The detective said and by the look on Lucy's knew there was something else she wanted to say.

"There's something else, isn't it?" She stated the facts. Lucy opened and closed her mouth but no sound came out.

The cop looked to the side and bit her lip, she couldn't believe she was about to do this.

"Okay... I'll tell you something and no one hear me out no one can know about it" Lucy said looking Angela straight into the eye.

Angela frowned, she had never seen Chen so serious in the 4 years they have known each other. She nodded.

"I need you to help me find my daughter" Angela almost chocked on her own saliva. Had she heard right? Did Chen say daughter? Lopez totally did not expect this.

"Your what?" Angela exclaimed. "My daughter, I want to find her" Lucy quietly repeated and Lopez nodded before she rubbed her face with both hands.

"What happened to her?" Angela was aware of how invasive she was being but needed the information.

"I was eighteen, my parents forced me to give her up in adoption. It was a one night thing, I can't remember who the father is, I was too drunk" Lucy's eyes filled with tears, she saw Angela's face softening.

"It was a close adoption. Some couple adopted her, I don't know what happened with her. Her name should be Elizabeth Collins, born the 4th of November, 2004." Chen said with a choked voice, no matter how much time passed by, it still hurt to talk about the subject.

Angela reached out and grabbed Lucy's hand.

"Do you have anything from her? I don't know... A picture or something? Something that can give us a lead."