"At 11:15 thus morning, the LAPD engaged in a pursuit of Number One on FBI's Most Wanted list. All departmental resources were brought to bear on this dangerous fugitive, including our most decorated officer, Kaydence Patton."

During the captains speech, the film that had been recorded was shown.

People cheered and applauded when they brought in a cuffed Nolan, who in the film was the criminal.

Now Kaydence stood next to Zoe and Grey holding a plate in her hands. "On behalf of Make-A-Wish, the City of Los Angeles, and the LAPD, we hereby thank Honorary Police Officer Kaydence Patton."

The cheering began again, even nolan in cuffs applauded for the young girl.

<<<<>>>>

Zara, Jackson and Lucy had been laughing at some jokes they have been making the past minutes. "What?" Chen wheezed as she tried to catch her own breath.

"Morning." Nolan says sternly as if his panties had been in a twist.

"Hey." Jackson replies slightly leaning over the table to look at his old friend. "Where were you this weekend? We, uh, hit up a Dodger game with tickets zara got us and went to that pop-up karaoke disco." Jackson explains and Nolan is slightly shocked and confused.

"Uh, my back was bothering me, so i just stayed home to take care of it." He claims.

Zara doesn't quite believe him.

"Well, cowboy up next time, cause we can't be The Four Amigos with just three people, right?"

"Yeah, totally." Lucy says and Zara grimaces by the tone.

Before anyone else could say anything to make the situation worse or better the sergeant appears.

"Alright, grab your seats. A special day here at Mid-Wilshire. In fact, we're gonna start off by playing a game i like to call "what is a patrol officer's least favourite assignment?" Officer Lopez, why don't you get us started."

"Easy. Guardian a dead body."

Some people begin to laugh.

"Solid one. Officer Bradford?"

"Canvassing in the rain." he answers as people murmur.

"Bishop."

"Driving the drunk wagon. It's just nasty."

"Stone?"

"Paperwork tops everything."

People began laughing at her words agreeing with her. "Without a doubt. And yet, for me, the absolute worst is the VIP ride along."

Each officer begins to groan.

"Why? that sounds like fun." Nolan asks and Zara face palms herself, if the sergeant didn't like it then it sure as hell wasn't fun.

"Officer Bishop, would you like to inform your Boot why the ride along tops my list?"

"Because if anything happens to your VIP, it's your ass. So, you take the lowest of low-risk calls. Its makes a 12-hour shift feel twice as long." she explains and he nods his head, now understanding.

"Plus, you're trapped in a car all day with an entitled prima donna coated in body spray."

Bishop chuckled at Tims words.

"Officer Nolan, you want to take a guess why we're playing this game?" The sergeant asks the oldest rookie.

"Because you're giving me the VIP ride along?" he asks back.

"No." Grey answers and Zara laughs.

"Really?"

"No. You absolutely got the ride along."

Wade returns to the stage and the cops laugh, while Nolan sits there regretting his existence.

"He's waiting in the Captain's office for you now." he continues.

"Sir, is it too late to ask for a sick day?" Talia wonders and Zara snorts whispering under her breath making jackson laugh.

"I ask myself that everyday."

"Yes, it is." wade answers and Talia huffs.

"Uh, who is this VIP, anyway?"

<<<<>>>>

Tim looked down on his watch, waiting for Zara. "Sorry." she mutters rushing up to him.

"The battery was dead, so they had to find us another shop, and then i had to put gas in it. But we're ready to roll now, so."

During her rant about what had happened the last 30 minutes she took the war bags.

"You know, when i was a rookie, i got here two hours before roll call to get the best shop from motor pool, re-wash it and load the gear." she rolled her eyes while he wasn't looking.

"Is this the cop version if walking five miles in the snow to school?" she laughed.

"This isn't story time, boot. Im reminding you how easy you have it."

She wanted to call in sick.

And her shift hadn't even started properly.

"Understood, sir. Thank you for all your support." Zara wanted to gag at her own words.

Some cop that she hadn't known approached the two. "Officer Bradford, Sergeant Grey wants to see you in his office." with that the man left.

"Get the shop set up, ill be right back." he mutters to his boot, as he passes his hand ghost her lower back for a few seconds making her shiver.

Omg, fuck you body reactions.

<<<<>>>>

Tim sat in roll-call room at a desk as he fiddled with his hands, clearly upset.

Zara walked in when she saw him.

"Hey, what's, uh- what's going on? What did Grey want? Are we going out?" she asked him and he stayed silent, his gaze wandered over to two detectives bringing his wife in.

Zaras jaw dropped as she saw the woman in cuffs. Her T.O. stood up walking past her.

Thats when the blonde sees Tim.

Her face changes.

<<<<>>>>

"Isn't public urination usually a citation?" she asks her T.O. as they lead a criminal to the cells.

"You need to brush to on your California Penal Code. Section 314. Indecent exposure is a misdemeanour subject to six months in jail."

He opened the door for the brunette.

"Indecent exposure requires an offended party." she states.

"Plenty of offended families living in apartment building across that alley."

She furrows her brows letting out an "mm."

"Respectfully, sir, that'll never stick." she claims as she sat the criminal down, making him hand over his belongings.

"It doesn't matter. Start processing."

Zara saw the way that he had been staring at the cell his wife had been in. "Hey. Do you want me to give you a shout if i see the detectives?" she offers and he smiles slightly nodding.

"Yeah."

He waves over the men who has the keys for each cells.

Zara walks away a bit to give them privacy as she looks out for the detectives.

She was to curious.

She peaked and it looked like she was begging him for something.

crazy that she had the nerve to do that after everything.

<<<<>>>>

The second Zara saw tim approaching his own car through the rear mirror she opened her car door stepping out.

He looks shocked and confused when he slams his car door before rushing forward to her.

"What are you doing here?" he asks her as she sighs.

"No, what are you doing here?" she asks back looking at him.

"Look, you're out of your depth on this." he says and she breathes in and out before she speaks up.

"Look, i've been riding with you for two months. You project the rogue cop thing, but you're always on the right side of the law-" he cuts her off.

"If you came all the way over hear to psychoanalyse me, you wasted your time."

"No, i- I came here to remind you.. that you'll regret helping her. Because its not gonna change her. But it'll sure as hell change you."

he narrows his eyes mid-sentence and when he turns around to leave she stops him.

"You care about her, thats okay but that won't make her come back to you. Every addict tells you they'll get clean but will they ever live up to that promise? No. Right now your enabling her, because she got herself in this mess, and its her mess. So you don't have to clean it up for her, she chose this life for herself the second she began to take drugs."

He is to stunned to say anything.

"But if you want to help her, then do it. But it won't make her come back to you, and deep down you know it." she whispers before turning around and walking back to her car.

Now he was the one to stop her right before she could get in. She was about to say something and then his lips collided with hers.

She was stunned to say the least.

It was gentle and soft, zaras stomach did twists as she felt his hands wrapping around her waist pulling her even closer to him.

Tim's eager self grinned into the passionate kiss, he felt the blood running through his veins and his heart speeding up.

Zaras hands grabbed his collar, pulling him even further down to her. She melted into the kiss, feeling a rush of desire as her mind went blank.

This man and his effect on her.

The electricity of the moment consumed her, leaving all thoughts in a hazy haze.

This was wrong, so so so wrong.

He was her T.O. she couldn't just make out with him, and he was married which actually worsened the entire situation. Zara broke away from the kiss, her inner turmoil conflicting with her desire.

„This is wrong." she mutters trying to catch her breath desperately. She looked into his eyes, realization sinking in. "We can't do this." she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Zara hated herself for literally everything but her job ruining that? She wanted to kiss him again but there was no turning back.

Tim was staring at her with a mix of regret and longing. He reached out hesitantly, his hand stopping just short of touching her cheek. She wished she wouldn't have of leaned into his touch at that moment but she did.

Now she knew what it was like to cant have something or more likely someone she wanted other than family.

Being here, with Tim out of all people wasn't good.

„I know that you think this is wrong and in some way it definitely is but we can't just pretend nothing happened." he whispers as she shivers under his touch. She sighed deeply, not knowing what to do anymore.

She made out with her Boss.

And also slept with him.

She nods her head. „What now?" she inquires and he bites his inner cheek for a minute, trying o figure out what to say and do.

„Go out with me."

<<<<>>>>

"Sir, last night-" she began but got cut off by Tim.

"Didn't happen. That clear?" he announced and she was confused.

He asked her to go out with him, she agreed and now this? Right, he was married.

Yeah that wasn't on his mind when they made out in front of his wife's apartment.

Sergeant Grey approached them.

"Hey, I got some bad news. Can't be worse than yesterday. See, i'm afraid it can. Detectives executed a search warrant on your wife's apartment this morning. They found a kilo hidden in the heating unit. She's with her lawyer now. Im sorry, Tim." Grey patted his shoulder before leaving.

Zara didn't know that he had put it back.

She thought he threw it into some trash can or burned the drugs.

"You did the right thing." she utters and he scoffs. "Not for Isabel." with that he left.

<<<<>>>>

The shift had ended, the entire car ride was silent between the two.

Zara was in thoughts, she had dressed herself back into normal clothes and was now heading out.

Why would he ask her on a date and then tell her to forget it right after?

That's the reason she mostly hated men.

And the only thing that happened was that she had made a fool out of herself.

Something was wrong with Tim, his wife just got caught with drugs and it was clear that his emotions would be all over the place but literally leading her on and then basically rejecting her?

That sucked.

He wasn't worth her time, that she had decided and she would stick with that. But she knew that he was what she had wanted, even if for a short amount of time.

She would never ever really stop wanting to be with him but she would shut it down until it would disappear.

That was the best way, right?

She gulped as she approached her car, she hadn't even heard her name getting called across the parking lot.

"Zara!"

She furrowed her eyebrows before turning around to see Tim.

"What?" she asked sharply.

She was tired of the job and just wanted to go home and drop into her bed for sleep.

Seeing her T.O. wasn't on her todo-list after shift.

"Are you free tomorrow?" he inquires stepping closer to her. She looked at him clueless.

"Why?"

"For dinner?" he answers, he couldn't actually believe that she had forgotten that.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she responds before stepping back and walking to her car, wanting to go home.

"You seriously forgot?"

She rolled her eyes placing her head on the car roof before turning around to face him again.

"Forgot about what? nothing happened."

He looker confused, this was becoming messy and he hadn't even known what he did wrong.

"Look, im taking that as a "you have changed your mind on everything." and that's alright." He explains before walking off.

Zara was angry as hell.

She was furious, she felt her blood boiling under her skin and she couldn't stop her mouth from opening.

She let out a aggravated laugh.

"Me? Changing my mind on everything? Are you really that stupid?"

He stopped in his walk, sighing before turning around. "Then what the hell are you doing right now?" he asked before stepping closer to her again.

"You literally told me to for-" she begins almost yelling at him. He cut her off.

"You misunderstood. I wanted you to forget about what i was doing at the apartment." he calmly explains and her jaw drops.

She almost laughed at her dumbness. "Oh." she utters and he nods.

It was silent for a few minutes before Zara spoke up. "You still up for dinner?" she inquires her confidence slightly fading.

"Yes."

<<<<>>>>

new chapter!!

hope y'all enjoyed this, some of you might be thinking im rushing into Brownford but there will be some heavy things going their way to stop them from dating for a while.

pls comment + vote🤍

-nicole

2400 words