"Everyone have a seat. Today is a special day for our rookies. 'Cause today we switch things up. That's right. Everybody gets a new training officer. Nolan, you'll be riding with Officer Stone. West, you'll be riding with Officer Bradford. Chen, you'll be with Bishop and Brown you'll be with Lopez."

Zara cheered in her mind, according to Jackson, Lopez was cool.

At least she'd get a day off from Tim.

"But learning how to navigate a new T.O. is not your only challenge. By the end of next shift, i expect every rookie to uncover something personal about their training officer, something they don't want you to know. This will je a test of your investigative instincts and your fortitude. Best insight will win a day off. Worst one handles Saturday night cavity searches."

Officers murmur as pretty much no one wants to work on a saturday.

"That's it. Good luck." Grey smiles as everyone gets out of their seats.

<<<<>>>>

"So, what else do i have to know about riding with Lopez?" Zara asks Jackson.

"Yeah, like im gonna give you a head start." he mutters writing something on a sheet of paper.

"Tim's gonna eat me alive, isn't he?"

"Yeah, like im gonna give you a head start." she mocks him taking the war bags.

"You? No. You're a rock star, a legacy who excelled at the academy. If Tim could create a cop in a test tube, it would be you." Lucy explains and Zara nods agreeing.

"Unless he's gonna set out to dominate you and prove that you aren't all that." Nolan claims.

"Is it too late to change my answer? 'Cause, uh, that. Oh, hey, what about Talia? Any tips on how to get on her good side?"

"Oh, im sorry, Jackson and Zara are right. No head starts." nolan declared.

<<<<>>>>

"Is the kid really a rock star?" Tim asks.

"Jackson? Yeah. He's better prepared than any rookie i've ever had." Lopez responds.

"Screw prep. How is he out on the street?"

"So far, so good." she lies.

"What about Brown?" she questions Bradford.

"She's alright, a bit anxious sometimes and she has a big mouth."

Lopez nods.

"What about Nolan?" Ryan asks Talia.

She sighs.

"He's a talker."

"What about Chen?" Bishop pried.

"She's nice."

<<<<>>>>

The car door slammed as Zara closed the trunk, walking over to the passenger side, ready to roll.

Lopez enters, speaking up immediately.

"I was raised by a single mom. Everything i own was a hand-me-down from my four brothers, so i care about what i wear and how i look. Now you don't have to spend the next two days hunting for insight."

Zara raises her eyebrows at Angelas directness.

She liked her already.

"Thank you?" she responded, not sure what to say.

"Are you a teachers pet, boot? Cause i thought i was gonna get a chance of pace with you."

"You will get a chance with me, ma'am." Zara promises and Lopez smirks.

"Good. Because if i win you Grey's day off, you're gonna help me fix my garage door or ask your constructor friend Nolan to do it."

"Happy to help. But im probably gonna need more than an 'she likes nice clothes' to win this thing."

Zara and Angela get into the shop.

"Where are we going first?"

"Court. I have to testify in a trial. Should take a few hours."

"Okay then."

<<<<>>>>

The duo entered the courthouse.

"Hey, lopez. Looking good."

Angela chuckled.

"Thanks. How's your wife?"

Zara let out a laugh.

"This is the only place in L.A. where you can find all the law enforcement agencies together. LAPD, Highway Patrol, Sheriff's Department everyone acting like the top of the food chain."

Brown nodded, taking a note in her head.

"See that guy with the comb-over? They call him Hot-Stuff. Know why?"

"Nothing comes to mind." The rookie snorts as she looked at that man. Lopez grinned before answering.

"Cause he somehow managed to get sriracha in his eyes while he was driving. Ended up in Echo Park Lake."

Zara began laughing.

"Oh, and that's Officer Davis. She collects American Girl dolls and uses them to recreate scenes from '50 shades.'"

Browns smile faded as she narrowed her eyes in disgust.

"She's single, if you wanna set her up with someone."

Lopez and Brown both stare at each other, not knowing they would soon be the best of friends.

"Thank you. How do you know all this?"

"Ah, well, if you want keep secrets, don't work in law enforcement."

Zara nodded.

<<<<>>>>

The rookie sat outside of the court room, going through her phone as she waited for Lopez to be free to roll.

She suddenly sneezes and a criminal which is being lead to a room speaks up. "Bless you."

"Thank you." she nods.

The next moment she heard grunting and bodies falling to the ground. She stands up tugging her phone into her back pocket before stepping forward cautiously.

She then saw the criminal, that had spoke to her rushing at her. She grunted as she fell to the floor, chasing after the suspect.

"Officer needs help! Criminal on the loose." she yells across the halls hearing her voice echo as she runs faster.

The alarm begins to blare and the man now runs towards the staircase. She follows after.

"Stop! Police!" she shouts after him.

She now was in the middle of the court building, looking around but not seeing him.

He disappeared from her sight making her huff as she managed to catch her breath.

"Lopez is gonna murder me."

<<<<>>>>

Angela talks to a sheriff, before approaching Zara. "Sorry. i tried to catch the guy." she apologises.

"Now we gotta find him. Fugitive's name is Nestor Garcia. He's a mid level drug dealer looking at 10 to 20 if he's convicted. Residence is in Boyle Heights. I volunteered us to check it out."

She nodded, after that the two left looking for their suspect.

<<<<>>>>

"Have you ever dated a cop?"

Angela glanced at Zara making her talk her was out of it.

"Not for me. Because that guy in the courthouse was hitting on you."

Lopez nods before answering.

"Its not worth it. That guy can run around racking up trophies, but i date one cop, and i get a rep, so i fish in other pools."

She knocks on the door. "Nestor Garcia, police. Come out."

Both of them put their hands on the gun, Lopez walks over to the window trying to see if someone was inside.

"What if we were to talk to local merchants?"

Zara nods into the direction of a young boy selling lemonade who had already been staring at them.

"Alright."

They approached him.

"Hey, how much?" brown asks the blonde boy.

"A dollar." he responds and she takes out her wallet and hands him the dollar.

"A little steep, but alright. Thank you." She thanks him.

Lopez watches as she takes a sip and almost spits it out. She grimaces as she didn't want the boy to be embarrassed for his poor lemonade.

"Mm. Didn't expect it to be so, uhh.. thick."

Zara tries not to puke while Angela changes the theme.

"You know the family next door?"

The boy shrugs. "Sure. The dad's a drug dealer. My mom gets really talky when she has Chardonnay."

At the first part of his sentence Zaras jaw dropped.

"Have you seen him around today?" She asks.

"No, he's probably at the thing." he answers swiftly, clearly not knowing what else to say other than thing.

"What thing?"

The blondes eyes switch to both of the female officers. "Buy some more lemonade and i'll tell you."

Zara widens her eyes.

Never ever drinking that again.

"Are you trying to extort a law enforcement officer?" Lopez questions raising her eyebrows.

"No, it's basic supply and demand. I have something you need, so i can set the price." he responds, Brown makes a grimace looking away as she places her hands onto her hips.

"At least he's getting a quality education." she says to angela.

"Too bad he won't get the same one in juvenile detention. You got a permit for the lemonade stand?"

<<<<>>>>

Latin music played as the two female cops entered the party. "There he is. Thats some nice quinceañera."

Lopez chuckles.

People cheered and applaused as the birthday girl went onto the dance floor with her dad.

"Aww, he escaped custody to share a dance with his daughter. Thats kind of sweet and im not joking." Zara states.

"Its selfish, cause now her memory of this is gonna be us arresting him in front of her entire family. He did it for himself, not for her."

"I didn't think of it like that."

"That's because you probably had a dad who was around." Angela announces.

"Let me guess. Your dad was M.I.A, showed up when it was convenient, brought a toy once in a while and acted like a savior?"

"It was a stuffed animal. Last one he brought, i fed to the garbage disposal. And then he got cancer."

"Im sorry." Zara utters placing her hand on Angela's shoulder.

The T.O. nods thankfully.

"We'll let him finish the dance right?"

"Of course. Im not a monster."

The mid lever drug dealer noticed the two cops standing at the entrance of the party, he widened his eyes and both of them nodded at him, allowing to finish the dance.

He smiles at them gratefully.

<<<<>>>>

It was lunch time.

Zara and Angela stood at the food truck waiting for their meals to get ready.

"So, did you have a quinceañera?" The younger out of the two asks.

"Of course, and i looked good." she replied grinning at the end of the sentence.

"Who'd you dance with? Cause you said you had a single mom earlier."

"My abuelo."

Zara nods understandingly.

"He made me laugh the whole time. My mom was pissed."

Brown giggled.

The next second tires screeched as Tim's shop approached.

"Oh hell no."

"Someones gotta be starving."

The two female said at the same time before laughing.

"Lopez!" Tim yelled across the entire area.

"Damn, what did you do?" The rookie whistles.

"Give us a minute." The older one responds and Zara walks off to meet the Jackson who was sitting in the car looking scared as hell.

"Any idea what that could be about?" She asked as the two could hear them arguing but she couldn't make any words out.

"Me." he responds as Zara looks at him slightly shocked.

"What happened?" she questions him, she was actually scared. Whatever happened that set off Tim like this wasn't good in any way.

"I think im done."

"What?" she hisses not believing him.

"Yeah. I froze up when the shooting started. Same thing had happened at the Selby shootout, but Lopez covered for me, so. Look i don't know how to fix it. I have to fix it."

"Listen, Jack. You're gonna make it through this. Me, Lucy and Nolan will help you." she softly says.

"How?"

"Walk away, Zara."

She turns to face him clenching her jaw. "Tim-"

"I gave you an order."

She walks up to him before dragging him out of ear shot from both Jackson and Angela.

"Listen to me. He's worth fighting for. You and Lopez both know it. You could ruin both his and one of your closest friends careers if you rat him out. So instead of doing that you could try to find a way to help him, he has potential. It would all go to waste if you decided to ruin it with something like this." she rants and he sighs.

"Zara, it's not that easy. What happens when he is on his own and can't fire back? i'd rather have him loose his job than his life." he explains and turns to walk back.

She grabs him by the arm and pulls him back.

"Then find a way to help him. Please." she whispers her brown eyes shimmering with tears.

He huffs.

"I'll try my best, okay?" he responds and she nods smiling thankfully.

"Come here." he mutters and pulls her into his arms, hugging her tightly.

She definitely did not expect this, nevertheless she wrapped her arms around him as well.

After a minute he let her go, he smiled at her one last time before disappearing.

<<<<>>>>

Lopez and Brown got out of the shop. They had returned to the station after their lunch, which both of them ate in silence.

Zara didn't know that Angela saw her and Tim.

"Guess you were right about cops and secrets."

"Yeah, i should've taken my own advice."

"For what it's worth, you covering for Jackson was a stand-up thing to do."

"It was selfish, not noble. I did it to protect myself." Angela states and Zara doesn't respond.

Because she didn't even know what she could say.

The door buzzed and Lopez walked off.

<<<<>>>>

Zara was calling Jackson on repeat, she wanted to know what exactly had happened and if Tim would help him.

"Hey, jack. its me, again. I just wanna know if you're alright and what you and Tim were talking about. Just, please call me back, alright?"

She didn't get an answer for the next hour making her worry.

She texted Tim.

Bradford

What will you do?

You'll find out soon.

What?

she was left on read as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Son of a bitch."

<<<<>>>>

"Lopez, Brown."

Captain andersen says as the two females step up the stairs. "You wanted to see us?" The T.O. asks.

"The quinceañera felon you picked up yesterday, Nestor Garcia? He's requested to speak with you both."

"Why?"

"A.D.A. thinks it's connected to a plea deal he's trying to cut. She's bringing him in from the courthouse now. You let me know how it goes."

with that she disappeared.

"Yes, ma'am." Zara nods.

<<<<>>>>

"I want to thank you for yesterday. That dance meant a lot to my daughter, and the fact that you let me finish, that means a lot to me."

The police officer sat with Garcia and some other people in the interrogation room.

"So, to reward you, I have a gift. A drug deal is going down this afternoon, large shipment, that kind of bust that'll get you noticed."

Zara raised her eyebrows at his words, trying to figure out if he was lying or not.

"And you're just giving us this because we were nice to you?" Lopez asks.

"No, im doing this to reduce my sentence. But im gibing it to you because you were nice to me. So, you'd better hurry up, call the D.A. to make a deal, because the exchange is going down in two hours."

The female duo glanced at each other.

<<<<>>>>

Lopez, Brown, Nolan, Stone, West, Bradford, Bishop, Chen and Sergeant Grey stood in the room where roll call takes place in the morning.

A large map of a shopping center spread out in the middle of the room on a desk.

"According to Garcia, the exchange is going down at Stoneson Home Supply on Sunset."

Lucy suddenly spoke up.

"W-They're gonna make a drug deal in the parking lot in the broad daylight?"

"Box stores are the perfect cover. Busy parking lots, multiple exits. They hide in the chaos." Ryan explains and Lucy nods, taking notes.

"At 1500 hours, a car loaded with 80 kilos of cocaine driven up from Mexico will land in the parking lot. The driver will walk away. A runner for the buyer will climb behind the wheel and drive off. The whole thing takes 90 seconds."

"According to Nestor, the shipment is in a red civic with Nevada plates." Lopez states before Grey begins talking again.

"Now, the parking lot only has two access points here and here." He stops and points to two exit and entry places.

"Officer Bradford, you'll be parked out of sight over there. Officer Bishop, you'll have all eyes on this exit here along with Officer Stone over there."

"And what about us, Sergeant? What's our position?" Zara asks Wade.

"We need to know exactly when the car lands, so we need eyes on the whole parking lot. You will be with me here."

<<<<>>>>

The shop followed after the car Sergeant Grey was driving, Zara and Angela got out, stepping towards the car.

"License and Registration?" Brown playfully asks. Grey laughed, and then took the binocular looking around the parking lot.

The walkie talkie chirped as he spoke into it. "I think i see our welcoming party. A Ram, three hispanics inside, heads on a swivel. No sign of our red civic yet. Stand by."

"Copy that." Bradfords voice answers.

It was silent for a few moments before Zara and Wade spotted the drug filled car.

"Here we go. Red civic, Nevada plates, entering parking lot."

A man wearing a beanie got out of the car before walking away from it as if he hadn't just placed a car with drugs on it there.

The hispanic men left the ram, taking careful steps to the red car. Wade nods at Zara and she walks away back to the shop right before he starts his engine.

Lopez now also started the engine, one of the men got into the drivers seat. "Go, go, go!" Angela yells into the radio.

Then sirens wailed, tires squealed as they were ready to intervene. Browns hand was placed on her gun, just incase she needed to use it.

They stopped the car right before it could exit the parking lot, tires screeched as the driver panicked.

Before he could drive back and escape through the other parking lot exit Bishop and Chen stopped their shop leaving him unable to leave.

The car did a full twist right before driving through a sign. "7-Adam-15, going after the red civic. In need of Backup and Airship."

They left the lot chasing after the car.

"7-Adam-11, responding."

Zara saw Ryan and Nolan leaving the parking lot as well as her and Lopez got out of their shop.

The Hispanic men pulled their guns out, accidentally shooting a woman in the back of her leg because she was in their way of fire.

"Aah!" The poor blonde cried out as she sunk onto the ground.

The two females began to fire back instantly. "Ma'am! stay down!" the rookie yelled at the bleeding woman who tried to stand up.

"Im opened up!" Zara says and Angela nods before responding. "Let's go! i got you!"

The two made their way forward to get to the shot person. Brown put away her gun as Lopez still fired at the drug dealers, the rookie helped the woman up and swiftly moved to safety with her.

She groaned in pain and Zara whispered an "i got you and everything will be okay." to the crying female.

They went behind a truck, ready to fire again. Brown ducked taking out her radio.

"7-adam-7, in need of an ambulance at Stoneson Home Supply on Sunset. Active Gunshots being fired, tell the ambulance to park a street away until its clear."

Then she tended to the woman.

She took some fancy cloth out of the bag which the woman bought before, Zara helped her apply pressure to make sure that she didn't bleed out.

Then Brown went back up and continued to shoot. She heard a gun getting shot at an immense speed letting her know it was a automatic one.

Tim and Jackson where the only ones left and with her best friend panicking it meant that Tim was alone.

No.

"I can make it. i can get in there." Zara explained. "For reload!" lopez shouts and begins reloading her weapon.

"I got you!" Zara exclaims and fires while her T.O. for the day reloads.

"Ready?"

"Yeah. Got you."

Brown went down, she crawled under the car into the direction of the shooters. She then ducked down and rushed over to the next car before disappearing under it.

She looked at the guy above and then at his feet, she shrugged before she decided to pull them.

The hispanic male fell to the ground hitting his head on the car in the process, knocking him out completely.

She then slid his gun away as she cuffed him.

"One suspect in custody." Jacksons voice was heard over the radio.

"Another suspect in custody." Zara also says into the radio as she almost forgot.

<<<<>>>>

It was the end of the two days, where each rookie had gotten a new T.O., Zara was sad, she wouldn't get to drive with Lopez who she had befriended with ease.

The two exchanged numbers and wanted to meet for a few drinks some day after a long excruciating shift.

"The moment of truth is upon us. End of shifts. Time to come clean. What did you learn about your T.O.s? Officer West."

It was silent for a few seconds as Jackson clenched his jaw before responding. "Sorry, sir. I wasn't able to gain any insight into Officer Bradford."

"That's disappointing. Officer Chen?" He continues stepping over to the first female in line.

"I, too, failed in my assignment, Sergeant." She utters gulping.

"Alright, Officer Brown?" He moved over to the girl which was like a daughter to him.

"I also failed." she explains and he raises his eyebrows before sighing.

"Well then, that leaves you, Officer Nolan. You can literally say anything and win the contest."

"Sorry, sir. Just as stumped as the others." he announces.

Grey chuckled.

"Okay, fine. So no one wants extra credit. I guess we'll start at the basics. Tomorrow morning, you will have a quiz on your rook books. Study hard, 'cause 80 percent is considered a fail in my house. Dismissed."

Indistinct conversations began as Sergeant left. John cleared his throat before leaving the room.

<<<<>>>>

Lucy had returned in the night, Zara had been in the kitchen studying crazily.

It was at least 1 in the night and she was the definition of tired. Chen had turned her back to Brown as she hung her coat on the rack.

"I've been meaning to say this for a while now but i know about you and John. Only a dumb blind ass person wouldn't see it." she utters right before yawning.

"There's nothing to know about anymore." Lucy responds her voice slightly cracking making her best friend sit up, suddenly not so tired anymore.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she inquires as she steps over to Chen.

"We broke up." she explains sobbing and Browns jaw drops.

"What?!"

<<<<>>>>

Angela and Zara are just iconic together and y'all will get more of them soon<3

hope yall liked this chapter🤍

-nicole

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