Lucy chen ~ chenford ~ chronic illness

1)Heat

Work was slow today. And the weather was making everyone a little irritated. It was 27degrees (Celsius)  and though Lucy would've loved to be by the beach right now, instead like almost everyone other officer on the LAPD she was parading the streets of LA. On hot days like this it was often 'All hands on deck' because when it got hot, people got mad or just stupid.

"Ugh." Lucy groaned turning up the AC in the shop. "You alright?" Aaron questioned, widening his eyes precariously at the sweating officer beside him. "Yeah, just hot." She replied. But though Lucy wasn't lying about being hot she was also flooded with nausea, dizziness and her heart rate was way too high. As an annoying vibration from her watch kept reminding her. POTS was never fun, but in the heat she felt defeated.

Her chronic illnesses were kept on a low profile when she was at work because she knew how people could be and didn't want any unnecessary attention. So she kept her diagnosis restricted to Grey, Nolan and Bradford which meant she was safe and far away from unwanted attention. As Lucy replayed her conversation with Grey in her head she imagined her answer being different, because when he offered her desk duty this morning she simply said she could handle the heat and gave him a reassuring smile.

'Requesting backup at Elm street.' The radio buzzed breaking through the quiet sound of Thorsen's and her shop. Lucy's head nodded back at Aaron's questioning eyes before picking up the radio and tagging themselves onto the case. The pair were 15minutes but still the closest officers in range for backup, so on their drive they listened out for any other assisting offers joining them. Slowly, their backup had grown from 2 cops to 7 which seemed unnecessary till another voice broke through the machine.
'Officer down, stab wound, I repeat it's-'
Just as they were about to learn who had been reported injured, the radio filled the shop with the sound of empty static. "Shit!" Aaron yelled, slamming his hand against the steering wheel. "It's overheated, our signal seems to have vanished completely." Anxiety began to spike her heart rate even more. "Even our hand held radios are dead." Lucy added to herself.

Eventually the officers arrived at the scene and immediately rushed to Grey who was standing behind a streak of yellow caution tape that has already began to fade in the sunlight. "Our radios are out." Lucy and Aaron said in sync before greeting him. "Okay." Grey replied, pausing to think. "Backup radios are in my shop, it's down the road." Both of their brown eyes focused down to the hill where his shop must be parked. "First, go see Lopez." Lucy's hand swiped against her forehead, before letting out a sigh and heading towards Angela. "Chen, you good?" Grey questioned as she left. All she did was nod, not knowing if speaking was worth the energy.

The crime scene stretched from the porch of a house, all the way to the end of a green field that linked to its back garden. Unfortunately for Lucy, Lopez was standing at the back. Aaron charged on to see the detective, Chen straggling behind silently begging he would slow down.

"There you are." The detective remarked as  Lucy finally managed to meet them. "You look a little pale, you alright?" Her tone changed quickly once she'd taken a look at the younger officers face. "Yeah, who got hurt?" The syllables slurred slightly as Lucy spoke, but it wasn't enough to be noticeable. "Not one of our officers, the case seems to have been picked up by us and Brooklyn. Our radios have been going mad." Angela's eyes rolled clearly annoyed with her long day. "Our radios are out, gonna have to get the backups from Grey's shop." But before Aaron got a reply another officer yelled for him, and he rushed off to help. "Guess I'm getting them." A sigh escaped her but she started walking back, waving goodbye to the detective and giving Aaron a nod who had turned back to mouth an apology.

Blood rushed to Lucy's legs as she stumbled, she felt a slight sway in her walk. She lifted her black trousers which were way too hot for today, to check if her legs were alright. As expected, her circulation was annoyingly turning her legs purple. "Bloody acrocyanosis." She muttered under her breath but she was already half way down the hill, no one could hear her.