The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume Two

Casualties

"we're running this?" Rachel asks, looking up at the steep hill. 

"that we are" Tim responds, seeing Elle's car pull up in the parking lot. 

"hey" Elle says, getting out with her hair pulled into a ponytail and a water bottle. 

"we're running this?" Rachel repeats to Elle.

"yup, Sergeant's orders" Elle nods.

"I'm not a Sergeant" Tim protests.

"but you passed the Sergeant exam" Elle points out, biting her lip.

"yes, but-" Tim stops himself, knowing that nothing will stop Elle from casually congratulating him on his achievement. 

"you got him to shut up fast" Rachel smiles. "but seriously, we're running this"

"yeah, try to catch up babe" Tim smirks at Rachel before starting the run. 

Elle gives Rachel a sheepish smile before following after Tim with Rachel sighing and running after the two. 

When they reach a quarter of the way, Tim stops them. Tim looks like he's just taken a casual stroll, Elle is breathing a little bit harder but otherwise she looks fine while Rachel's skin is gleaming with sweat and she's panting hard.

"here" Elle hands Rachel her bottle of water.

"thanks" Rachel says, having already had her entire water bottle.

"I think this is good for the day" Tim decides. 

"we weren't going to run the whole thing?" Rachel frowns.

Elle and Tim exchange a look, they were going to run the whole thing but they don't want to make Rachel feel inferior or guilty for being the reason they don't do the entire hike.

"no, no, of course not, that'd be ridiculous" Tim assures.

"I've only run at most halfway up and that was on a lot of caffeine" Elle agrees.

"okay, do we have to run back down?" Rachel asks.

"no, we'll walk, it's too steep to run down safely" Tim answers, putting his hand on the small of Rachel's back and guiding her back down the hill.

Elle watches as Tim and Rachel get in their car, pretending to be leaving as well. Once Tim and Rachel's car leaves the parking lot and drives off, Elle refills her water bottle at a public water fountain nearby and does the hike. 

When she arrives at the top of the hill, sweating but smiling as she looks over the view of Los Angeles, she gets a text from Tim.

Good girl.

Elle looks around, but finds nobody. Her eyes land back on the text and she smiles. 

[Fifteen Hours Later]

"All right. Let's get started. First things first, let's welcome Detective Armstrong back from vacation, huh?" Sergeant Grey says, starting roll call.

"Ah, yeah, thank you. Okay, look. Before I get started with the morning's business, I just want to thank everyone again for all their hard work in the Rosalind Dyer case. That was a... difficult time. Now... you all have printouts of the latest developments from the detective tables. But I want to go over one item. A federal operation is launching in Filipino Town, so until further notice, all marked units are to stay clear of Alvarado, between Montrose and the 101." Armstrong explains.

"Anything we should be aware of?" Tim asks while Elle looks over the printout.

"Not according to the FBI, but, you know, they ain't big on sharing, so if you need to contact anybody in that area, run them through LA CLEAR and notify your supervisor immediately." Armstrong answers.