Conflicted (Flip Zimmerman)

16. Trouble Follows..

"Okay which one of you cocksuckers wants to tell me what the hell happened?" Bridges said leaning back into his chair, glaring at the men sitting in front of him.

"Chief, i have no idea. Zimmerman just snapped-" Merlot claimed pointing at Flip.

"Merlot shut the fuck up, you know exactly-" Flip said loudly as he faced him.

"Zimmerman you threw the first punch!" Smith growled almost jumping out of his seat.

"Both of you, enough. This is like watching toddlers fighting over a toy." Trapp said as he stood next to Bridges.

"I won't tolerate any fighting. You think I appreciate getting phone calls about two detectives having a bar fight, on my night off. It makes the department look bad, use your fucking brain. You think they're going to approve our budget plan if they hear detectives fighting over what exactly? Hmm?" Bridges demanded slamming paperwork on his desk.

"No sir." The three of them grumbled.

"Who's gonna tell me what this is about? We'll handle it." Bridges said a bit more calmly.

Flip glared at the two detectives next to him. "Alright here's what happened," Merlot broke the silence, "smith and I, were just having some locker room talk and Zimmerman got offended-" Merlot explained

"Bullshit." Flip grumbled. Bridges glared at him, Trapp rolled his eyes. "They were talking about a detective. Which is disrespectful, sir, i couldn't tolerate." Flip cut off Merlot. The two men scoffed at him.

"I believe Salem is capable of defending herself, she's proven that many times. Don't you think Flip?" Bridges asked raising his eyebrow.

"She wasn't there, sir." Flip added, Trapp and Bridges looked at each other.

"What are you her knight in shinning armor?" Smith sneered Merlot chuckling. Flip lunged at him, Trapp quickly pulled him away before anything escalated.

"Enough!" Bridges yelled, "You two," he pointed at Smith and Merlot, "both of you need to start respecting her or you'll deal with me. Smith you forget there are cameras everywhere, I know what you did-" Bridges glared at Smith.

'Oh shit, did he see..?' Flip slightly panicked internally.

"Sir, i don't know-" Smith started to say, Bridges held his hand up, shutting him up.

"Flip this is your first strike. Two more and I'll move Salem to homicide. Wipe the smirk off your face Merlot. I don't care what you two do in you and Salem on your free time but if you disobey orders, you'll have me to deal with. Got it?" Bridges asked they nodded.

"Since multiple people saw you throw the first punch, Flip. The next week, you will be patrolling in uniform instead of detective work," Trapp explained Smith chuckled

"I don't know why your laughing? You're going to be his partner." Bridges pointed at Smith,

"What?!" They both exclaimed, they nearly started arguing.

"The fight was between you two. You both wanna act like toddlers, I'll treat you like toddlers. If I'm dragged back here at one in the morning again, I'll have you both demoted. Go home get cleaned up. I better see you two in uniform tomorrow, report to Landers. Dismissed." Bridges said waving them off. Merlot and Smith stood up and walked out. Flip remained seated.

"What? What do you want?" Bridges asked annoyed, Trapp scoffed at him.

"How did you know about Smith? I doubt Salem said anything about it." Flip said looking at both of them.