Always You || A Chenford AU

Chapter 6

Tim's POV:

In the police department, you can get a promotion every time you want. When you're a rookie, you can become a P2, when you're a P2 you can become a P3 which leads to training officers. But you can also become a detective or go into any other department. The only promotion then is sergeant. Which seemed pretty interesting, even though I've been a T.O. for years now. Lucy was an amazing rookie and she would be the best to finish my T.O. period with. So I've been studying to become a sergeant.

There are a few problems, though. The higher you score, the better. But it meant reading books, learning and studying. And that's not really my strongest suit...

Luckily for me, there are a few sergeants and the chief who like me and give any tips at any point. Chief Williams has decided to put another book on my Sergeant's exam reading list.

"Split Second Leadership: Leading Men In The Line Of Duty." The title screamed 1960s. When there weren't any women in the department to lead. Now 50 years later, everything has changed. There were a lot of powerful women now.

"Men?" Lucy asked with a face that said how misogynistic is chief Williams if he recommended this book?

"It's from the '60s. How is this relevant to 21st-century policing?" I asked Grey. Because the department has changed a lot over the last 50 years. Let alone still be for men only.

"Ours is not to reason why, Officer Bradford. Read the book." Which I should do. Guess I don't really have an opinion and answer to my question.

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"If I have to suffer, so do you. So, you're gonna read this out loud to me between calls. Only way I'm gonna get it memorized in time." 

"Or I could drive and you could read it to yourself." There's no way I'm going to read a book all by myself. Nor am i going to let Lucy drive.

"Nice try, start reading." 

"Okay. 'Chapter One. True leadership generates respect, not fear. It elevates people, rather than diminishing them.' I like this book." Ofcourse she would. She was a psych major after all. Even if she left psychology class, psychology would never leave her. "'The number-one mistake new leaders make is to think themselves suddenly infallible. The best leaders understand that even the lowliest patrol officer has something valuable to teach them.' Repeat that last part back to me. Memorizing is all about repetition. Trust me. I'm a psych major. I know this stuff."

"'The best leaders understand that even the lowliest patrol officer has something valuable to teach them.'" Lucy wanted me to repeat that part again and again. But luckily Dispatch gave us a call.

Going from a stupid book to an even more stupid call couldn't be possible. Just our luck that two brothers decided to shoot at each other to see which military vest was the best. Unfortunately one wasn't bulletproof, one of the brothers had a gsw in his upper torso. He pulled through in the end.

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"'Chapter Three. The healthy habits of command. Delegation is the key to leading men in times of stress. Don't ever think you can carry the load all by yourself.' That is so true. Don't you think?" Why van she be so persistent. Sometimes you have to carry some load all on your own. Because you were the only one who went through it.

"It's hard enough to listen to it without you editorializing." The book was bad, but her adding stuff made it a bit worse but also better. Because it meant I had to listen to her more.

"Hey, I'm happy to stop reading and catch up on paperwork. You're gonna have to re-read all of this anyway to really memorize it." Guess she doesn't know me that well then...

"No. I memorize best when I hear it." The look on her face screamed disbelieve. And then the psychology in her started again.

"You might have a learning difference. Technically, it's classified as a disability, but it really just means that you're wired to process information differently. In your case, through  hearing rather than reading." Which probably meant why I had to go to class, instead of studying in college. But still, why would I only find out now? When I'm almost 40. Don't they find learning disabilities in kids when they're very young?

"I don't have a learning disability."

"A lot of people have them. I bet Genny helped you through High School and Isabel helped you in the Academy, read through the materials with you and stuff." Is she psychic? She was right. I told her I didn't want to talk about it. And luck was once again on my side because there was Dispatch again.

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As a cop, you need to maintain your mussles to be able to pin down every single criminal. And today I almost failed. So here we are boxing and working out in the gym at the station.

"Training for the rematch with Nico?" Lucy walked in. She was right. Atleast we got him in the end... "Here." She said as she handed me what looked like an ipod with earbuds. "This is Split Second Leadership: Leading Men In The Line of Duty, the audio book."

"This book's out of print. There's no audio book." No way. She didn't.

"Yeah, which is why I recorded one for you. Uh, listen, I talked to Genny, and from what she said, it's clear you're a kinesthetic learner, which just means that you need to listen while you're being active in order to absorb things. There's no shame in it. Really. Honestly, it's probably why you excel at being a cop. I'll see you tomorrow." She was serious, wasn't she? She might've been the most empathetic person I've ever met. Caring so much for everyone else.

"Yeah. Thank you." She walked out after that. I decided to hit play and there was Lucy's voice filled my ears, while she read the book out loud. She's my friend again, isn't she?