The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume One

Crash Course

"Is that all we are to you?" Lopez asks, walking down the hall to where Bradford is in a wheelchair.

"Hey." Bradford nods.

"You know, it's funny. He didn't tell us he was getting out. 'Cause he's a tough guy." Bishop teases.

"Who doesn't need anybody's help." Lopez adds.

"Are you two finished? And which one of you two sent me flowers?" Bradford asks.

"flowers?" Lopez asks, now confused.

"yeah" Bradford says, like it's obvious.

"neither of us sent you flowers" Bishop frowns. 

"then who did?" Bradford questions.

[Four Hours Later]

Elle is fiddling with her fingers, waiting for roll call to start.

"Oh. Very funny, you guys." Nolan notes when he pulls out his chair and sees a wedding bouquet.

Other people laugh but Elle just looks back down at her fingers.

She knew moving from Russia to Hawaii to LA would be hard, but she didn't imagine just how much of an outsider she'd feel like. Hell, Elle has been here for the same amount of time as the other rookies and the others seem to already know the other cops while Elle still feels very alone.

"Of course, you know, this means now I have to throw them." Nolan says.

Elle doesn't pay much attention until the bouquet lands in front of her. 

"All right, the honeymoon's over. 3, 5, 21. Officer Nolan, you care to guess what these numbers represent?" Grey announces, starting roll call while Elle plays with the petals of one of the flowers.

"Combination to your heart, sir?" Nolan guesses.

"3 is the number of opportunities you had to disable Runaway Bride's car yesterday. 5 vehicles were damaged because you failed to do so. And the last number. Officer Bishop." Grey starts.

"$21,000 in property damage the city has to pay." Bishop finishes.

Elle's eyebrows furrow in confusion, wondering just how much money that is. She's struggled to understand American currency and just trusts her debit card to pay for what she needs.

It always does, so there's that.

"Correct. All in all, Officer Nolan's first pursuit reveals room for improvement." Grey nods.

"Yes, sir." Bishop agrees.

"Onward. Officer Chen is in need of a training officer until Tim Bradford is cleared for duty. Officer Scott Wrigley, you get the nod. That's it. Stay safe out there. Oh, Lopez, West, Solokov see the captain on the way out." Grey says, dismissing them.

"What do you think she wants?" Jackson asks as Elle walks over to him and Lopez.

"Nothing good." Lopez shakes her head.

[Five Minutes Later]

"I was reading over your report on the Officer Bradford shooting. First off, neither of you had your body cams on, which I understand. You were under fire. What I don't understand is how Officer Lopez emptied two magazines, striking the suspect in the leg, and Officer Solokov emptied three magazines covering for Officer Lopez but Officer West, you didn't fire a single shot." Anderson explains.

"If I may. Officer West did not have a protected position from which to fire, so I urged him to stay down while I engaged the suspect." Lopez lies.

"Is there anything that you would like to add?" Anderson asks Jackson.