Rookie Resolve

Chapter 14

The rookies were at the station gym polishing up on their skills. Currently, Lucy and Ember were sparring, and it didn't take long for Ember to knock her down. She looked unimpressed, as she knew her friend's level, and came to the conclusion that she wasn't bringing her A-game.

"You're holding back." Ember voiced, unable to even bother hiding the irritation her words carried.

"I'm not." Lucy, out of breath, stood up slowly and faced Ember again.

"Really?" Ember did not give Lucy a chance to process what was happening. She went in with a feint, startling Lucy, before throwing a barrage of punches, and Ember was planning on ending it with a strong right hook, but stopped mere centimetres from Lucy's face. Completely spent, Lucy dropped to the ground, weakly tapping out. Ember smirked, knowing she was probably too harsh on the girl, but she did love winning.

A couple more rounds with Nolan and Jackson, and Ember easily wiping their face on the mat, the group call it quits as they needed to start getting ready for work.

As Ember got dressed in the locker room, Lucy called out to her.

"What is it, Chen?"

"Come on, you can't possibly still be mad at me? It's been weeks." Lucy tried to reason.

"And yet in that entire time, I haven't heard an adequate apology come out of your mouth." Ember breezed by her, planning to find her T.O

"Well, how can I, when you're always avoiding me?" Lucy yelled, gaining the attention of other officers around them. Ember, already tired with everything, whipped back and stood in front of Lucy.

"Fair enough. You have my attention now. Although, I recommend you speak with your inside voice as to not alert the others here about your little tryst with Johnny boy, or your lack of trust in your friend's ability to know better than to date their superior officer." Ember uttered under her breath. Lucy, caught off guard, starting blabbering.

"Well um...you see, the um...see here—"

"Aaaaand..." Ember glanced at the watch on the wall, "that's 10 seconds of my life I'm never getting back. This was fun, let's not do this again, m'kay?" she roughly pats Lucy's shoulder and heads to find Bradford, and soon enough, the two were on the road.

Bradford was mildly surprised at how quiet his rookie was being. She wasn't playing on her phone, not aimlessly looking out of the window. If she wasn't quickly surveying where they were driving, her eyes were on the laptop screen. He could get used to this.

"People have stared at me with less intense gazes and we've done things that would be inappropriate to discuss with my superior." Ember's voice cut through the silence, causing Bradford to glare at her.

"Just surprised you can actually be quiet. Considering your morbid curiosity with things that usually don't involve you." Despite being thankful he didn't go through with helping his wife, he was still salty that his rookie scolded him.

"Would you rather I not call you for your bullshit?" Ember gave him a vacant look, and getting a response, simply replied, "Thought so," and returned to the laptop. After a lengthy silence, Ember figured she'd cut him some slack.

"It may not seem like it, but you did the right thing."

Bradford knew exactly what she was referring to, "Doesn't change the fact that those drugs aren't hers. She's in this situation because she let herself get taken advantage of." Ember could tell he was just tired with the whole thing, but before she could do or say anything, the laptop beeped. Ember's face paled.

"It's an officer-involved shooting. It's Nolan."

Bradford, familiar with the procedure, drove them back to the station. Ember was rounded up with Lucy and Jackson, and the three were led to their own interrogation room in hopes to get more information about Nolan. The interrogations ended, but they knew this was far from over. Lopez saw the dejected rookies and called them over to the breakroom.