My daughter -The Rookie

5- Ignoring Grey

Bradford, go to channel 12.' A voice said over the radio. It was Grey. Tim and I looked at each other, confused. I sat up a little straighter, removing my head from Tim's shoulder while he grabbed his radio. 'Bradford, go for channel 12.' He said to Grey through his radio. 'Yes, where are you? I have a deceased Captain that I need to handle and you just disappear? Also, we have another problem. We can't find Chen. She isn't answering her radio and both her city and personnel phone are going straight to voicemail.' Grey explained. He sounded stressed and emotional, understandable for the situation. 'Ohhh.' I brought out, feeling guilty as I grabbed my phone and saw 10 missed calls from Jackson, Grey and John. 'I'm so sorry sir. Chen is with me. We, ehhh... We, We'll be right there.' Tim tried to explain, but the words weren't really coming out. 'You have got to be kidding me, you can't do that, Bradford. Especially right now. I'll see you soon.' An annoyed Grey responded.

'I'm so sorry.' I apologized to Tim but he could only smile. 'Don't worry, It'll be fine.' 'No Tim, Grey is gonna have a lot of questions that I need to answer and I don't think I can do that right now. I can't tell him, not yet.' I panicked. 'No, it's fine.' Tim assured me, putting his hands on my shoulders so I wouldn't start spiraling again. 'Look at me.' And I did what he asked. 'You don't need to tell him right now if you don't want to. You can always tell him tomorrow.' But I wasn't having it. 'Really, how is that going to work? We disappeared for 10 minutes and then we came back without telling him what happened?' I kept spiraling. 'Do you want me to tell him?' He asked me. 'I can't ask you to do that' I protested. 'You're not, I'm offering. You just walk straight to the shop. You don't even have to look at anyone. I'll explain to Grey what's going on and then I'll drop you off at home, how about that?' He left me no room to protest. 'And if he wants to talk to me?' I could only see the flops in this plan. 'Then nothing. You just ignore him and let me handle it. I'm sure he'll understand when he knows what's going on' he protected me. 'Really, thank you.' I hugged him and he stroked my hair, hugging me back.

We both got up and I took a deep breath before walking back with Tim. Our shop was parked on the other side of the business so I needed to get past all those people in order to get in. The closer we got, the more nervous I got. I stared at the ground, walking faster and faster as I tried to control my breathing. 'Chen.' I heard a loud voice shout at me. I knew it was Grey and I felt really bad for ignoring him like that, but I also felt how close I was to breaking down again. 'Chen!' I heard, same voice shout. 'Lucy!' That was Jackson. I ignored them all as I walked towards the shop as fast a possible. Tim, who had been walking behind me this whole time, walked towards Grey to explain the situation. Our shop wasn't far away from where he was standing so when I got in I opened the window a little to hear what they were saying.

'Why is your boot running off, ignoring my commands?' Grey asked Tim, mad. 'Because I told her she could, sir.' Tim said back, his voice, strong but respectful. 'And why do you think you have the right to do that?' Grey said, confused. Tim wanted to answer, but he looked around and saw all the officers around them. 'Can we talk in privat about this?' I heard Tim asked. I looked in the mirror above my head and saw them walking a little closer towards the shop, away from the others. 'Look, I'm sorry we were gone for that long, but Lucy isn't feeling like herself right now and she needs to go home.' He added, softly but loud enough for me to hear. 'I don't care, we're all sad about this, but he is a cop. She needs to handle this and you two need to inform Andersen's family.' Grey snapped. His words hurt me a little. 'Sir, that already happened. Captain's parents are dead, she was single and her daughter already knows.' 'And you know that, how?' Grey asked, a little less mad. 'Because I just watched her break down in my arms about it, so I sent her to the shop and I was hoping I would get your approval to bring her home.' Tim reacted. I could hear how he tried not to raise his voice. 'Sorry, what?' Grey asked, extremely confused. 'She gave me permission to tell you this.' Tim started and I heard him sigh. 'Lucy Chen, is Zoe's daughter. Andersen adopted her when she was only 12 years old.' He finally said. It felt like a weight fell off my shoulders as I smiled through my new tears. It felt good to have him protect me.

'You're kidding, right?' 'I'm afraid not.' Tim added. 'Why wasn't I aware of this?' Grey asked. 'I have no idea, but I'm apparently the first one she told, so please keep it quiet.' 'Okay, well, ehhh. Yes, you have my permission to bring her home and tell her, she can take the day off tomorrow. We'll talk about this later.' Grey pulled himself together. I could hear that he was feeling a little bit guilty. 'Thank you, sir. See you tomorrow.' 'Yes, take care of her.' Grey responded before Tim walked towards the shop.

After a couple seconds, Tim got in the car and closed the door. He looked at me and slightly smiled. 'Don't worry, I heard everything. Thank you for doing that.' I said, grateful. 'Good, I'll bring you home now so you can get some rest.' He responded, starting the car. 'Thank you, but I'm not taking my day off tomorrow. I said, staring out to the road in front of us. I saw Tim looking at me from the corner of my eye. 'I think that's a bad idea. If you're too distracted it can get you killed.' I looked at him. 'I appreciate you looking out for me, but I don't trust myself enough to stay at home, alone, right now. I'm already making myself crazy by overthinking this and I'd probably go back to...' I started, regretting what I had said. 'Probably go back to what?' Tim asked, concerned but curious. 'No, never mind, I- it's stupid.' I stuttered, not wanting to approach this subject. 'Are you gonna be okay tonight? Do I need to worry?' Tim asked. I hesitated. 'Hey, if you're not. You need to tell me. It's okay to be upset.' He added. 'I know, and thank you, but I think I'll be fine.' I lied. It was pretty convincing, but Tim knew me too well to fall for it. He gave me a second to reconsider but I didn't. He pulled up in front of my apartment building and stopped the car. 'Okay, but call me if you need anything, okay?' I nodded and thanked him again. I knew what I could do if I was upset, but I didn't want to tell Tim that so before I got out, I took off my belt and left it on the passenger seat. I did it secretly so Tim would only notice it, when I had already left. I got out, left my belt with my gun, taser, bullets and other weapons in the car and walked into my apartment building.