"So according to Carson, Vance is most likely located at a warehouse facility in South Gate at this address." Grey showed the address which had been written on a white board to the people standing in roll call room.

Zara's smart ass wrote it down so Tim wouldn't annoy her about it later.

"Alright. Detectives Wolfe and Vestri will stake it out with patrol units from that division, while you guys will head over to Bronson Estates, where Carson says Vance's girlfriend, Cesiah Olivo, lives." The sergeant explains handing out papers with the woman's information on it.

"But Carson doesn't know which apartment she lives in, so we'll have to do some knocking on doors." Wolfe announces and everyone nods talking his words in.

"Alright, listen up. This has the potential of being a very dangerous operation. Vance is a heavy hitter. He has a well armed crew. So he won't go down easy. Alright watch each others backs out there, and be careful."

Everyone gets up from their places and mentally prepares themselves to do their job.

"Hey." Zara catches up as she approaches her T.O. who stops walking at the sound of her voice.

"Go kit up our shop. Ask Mike for the Bradford special." he demands before walking off.

Damn.

"What even is that?" she calls after him just to receive no responds.

<<<<>>>>

"Let's gear up." Bradford commands as they finally arrive at their destination getting out of the shop slamming the doors shut.

"Got your backup piece?" he asks Zara who nods. "Uh, yeah, of course." she bends down and looks at the weapon holstered right above her ankle.

Tim had already opened their trunk took some metal plates to which Zara furrowed her brows in confusion.

"What's this?" she asks as he puts it on.

"Trauma plate for your vest. Little extra protection." he explains and she chuckles before undoing the buttons on her uniform to put the vest on. "Oh. Bradford Special. You really think we're gonna need this?"

"You know why they call this place the Bronson Estates?" He inquired as the other duo's approached them.

"Cause a guy named Bronson build it?" she responds clearly having no idea. "No. Back when you were in short pants, there was a movie called "Death Wish." Starred Charles Bronson." Angela explains and Zara nods her head, but she still didn't get it.

"Yeah. For a long time, responding to a call here meant that you had a death wish." Talia finished her friends sentence.

"But its better now, right?" Jackson asks.

"It's no longer the wild, wild west. Lots of low-income families live here." Lopez says and Ryan cuts her off.

"But it never ever hurts to be extra cautious and careful."

When Zara walks over to her shop door Jackson follows after her. "Hey. What happened at Nolan's last night?"

She knew that Lucy was at his last night but she wouldn't give that information to jackson.

"How should i know? I was at the hospital yesterday." she shrugs trying not to seem to suspicious.

"Thought you might have talked to him. Is there more to the story i haven't heard? Because i've already asked Lucy and she doesn't know anything."

Shit.

This is the last time im ever covering without getting paid.

"Uh no, i don't know. Why?"

He knew that she knew exactly what was going on.

"No reason."

she nods her head before stepping back towards the T.O.s, Lucy was looking like a dear in headlights as she bit on her nails.

Zara gave her a reassuring smile and a hidden thumbs up making her breath out on relief.

Tim took a rifle out of the trunk, the gun cocked right before he spoke up. "Let's go." before he could slam the trunk Lopez spoke up again.

"A little extra shock and awe?" she mocks, smiling slightly.

"Damn straight." he responds, his facial expressions not changing.

"We're here to talk to people, not scare the hell out of them." Bishop explains and Tim narrows his eyes.

"Speak for yourself."

It was silent for a few moments right before Bradford rolled his eyes and placed the riffle back into the trunk, slightly pissed.

He huffed slamming the trunk shut after the gun was secured. "Alright, let's do this."

"This'll go faster if we split up. You alright riding solo?" He asked Talia who walked beside him.

"Have you met me?" she asks back.

"Okay. Brown and I will start on three. Chen and Stone will go on four. You take two and Jackson and Lopez will ground it. Stay in constant radio contact." he explains loudly for everyone to hear.

As they approach the door he opens it and lets Zara in first right after shooting her a wink.

"What a gentleman." Lopez whistled and slapped her boy bestfriend on the shoulder before entering the estates.

<<<<>>>>

Tim knocks on a door, hand on his gun.

"Who's there?" a female voice asks from the other side of the door.

"Gas company." Tim lies as Zara watches him.

He was so hot.

Stop.

A few seconds later the door opens, much to their surprise it was the woman they were looking for.

The second she sees cops she attempts to slam the door shut but Bradford was faster.

"Cesiah Olivo. Just the woman we're looking for."

He manages to push past her with his gun out ready to clear the apartment, Zara following in suit.

"Marcus isn't here." she announces annoyed that cops were here.

Zara slams the door after her as Tim speaks up again. "Yeah, we're gonna need to be sure."

"Hey, you can't-" the pregnant woman yelled and he turned towards her. "Sit!" he ordered.

"Clear." Him and Her called out at the same time while clearing the apartment.

They put their guns into the holster as they watched Cesiah walking over to the couch to sit down.

"When's the last time you heard from Vance?" Tim inquires.

"Yesterday. He was supposed to come over last night. He never ever showed up." she explains, Zara and Tim show a knowing glance before the female cop speaks up.

"You know who he is? What he does for a living?" She asks, not believing that someone would date that man who had a free will.

"Yeah." she huffed looking onto the ground not wanting to talk about it.

"And you're okay with that?"

The pregnant answers straight away. "No." she shakes her head before explaining the full story behind her being here. "But i was already pregnant by the time i found out. And he made me move in here so his guys could keep an eye on me. Make sure i don't go anywhere."

Zara sighed, this was worse than they thought.

"So you're a prisoner." Bradford states and Cesiah shakes her head again.

"No. But he had a son who died in a car accident. He needs to make sure nothing happens to our baby."

"You want out, we can get you out." Tim declares and Olivo chuckles. "Only if i give him up. Forget it."

"if we-" Tim begins but gets cut off by Zara. "Cesiah, do you really want a guy like that taking care of your child? there's no guarantee that he'll keep you around after this baby is born."

"All you have to do is call him. Say you're not feeling well. You're worried about the baby." Tim calmly explains to the woman.

"I can't." she responds before tim leans forward and takes Cesiahs phone.

"It's one call. We get him out of your life for good, make sure you and your baby are safe."

Olivo scoffed, raising her eyebrows. "You promise?" she glared at the man in front of her.

"He hurt someone i care about. He's going away forever."

Zara who had been looking at Tim now averted her gaze onto the floor.

She had forgotten about Isabel.

Zara was scared of whatever feeling she had been developing towards the man who was her boss.

In a few months maybe his opinion would change and he'd want his wife back and drop her.

She wanted to tell him that whatever they had wouldn't work out and not to make any further mistakes.

But she didn't know how.

Tim still loved Isabel.

Zara didn't want to be a rebound until his wife became normal again.

She'd tell him tomorrow, at the end of shift before their date.

She needed to get her shit together before she did it, grow some balls and just reject everything she had wanted.

Life was unfair.

Cesiah looked down at her stomach, before looking at Zara and then Tim who held out the phone.

Reluctantly she grabbed it before dialing Marcus. The two cops glanced at each other hoping this entire mission wouldn't go south.

The phone rang, and then the brunette spoke up. "It's me- You need to come over. I-I don't feel right. I-I'm worried that there's something wrong."

It was silent for a few seconds before the pregnant began speaking again. "I'm not. What if there's something wrong with the baby?"

After he told her to stay put he hung up.

<<<<>>>>

A few minutes passed and the next thing that Zara and Tim heard was gun fire. They turned towards the door, hands on their guns.

They stepped closer to the door and Tim looked through the peephole, he didn't see anything before he pulled out the radio.

"7-Adam-19. Shots fired at Bronson Estates."

The Radio began hissing as if something had been blocking the signal. "Control, respond." he calmly demands as the hissing doesn't stop.

Cesiah speaks up.

"Marcus has a frequency jammer in the basement. One of his guys brought it back from Iraq."

Zara took out her phone. "No signal." she utters looking up at Tim who met her gaze.

<<<<>>>>

"We don't have time for packing. We gotta go." Tim demands and the two females both turn towards him.

"Hush!" Zara hisses.

"I need things for the baby. I can't leave here without them." Cesiah rambles and Zara places a hand onto her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"It's okay. We're gonna get you to a safe place." she reassures.

Olivo breathed in and out heavily.

"When are you due?" she asks.

"A week ago."

Zara's jaw dropped at the answer. "Shit." she muttered under her breath.

"Vance. Your boyfriend's here." Tim calls out making Zara walk over towards him.

One of his guys knocked on the door, Tims hand was on his gun and Zara's jaw almost dropped when she saw how veiny it was.

What wasn't perfect about him?

From his perfect blue eyes to his stubborn self everything was perfect.

She hadn't really looked at his hands but she regretted it immensely that she hadn't given his hands attention.

"To the police officers inside, im here for Cesiah. She walks out, you walk away. Otherwise we're gonna come in and take her."

Everyone glanced at everyone in the room while Marcus spoke.

"No you're not. Cause you cant risk her getting hit in the crossfire. You give up, we'll make sure she goes to a hospital when the baby comes." Tims attempt at negotiating clearly didn't work.

"Forget it. Im not leaving here without my kid." The man from outside explains.

"Then i'd say we're at a stalemate." Tim declared right before Zara approached him. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"I bought us a little time, but they're coming through that door soon enough. And im not sure we can stop them." Tim whispers and Zaras slightly scared eyes met his before he looked back out the peephole.

<<<<>>>>

After a while of anxious waiting, Cesiah began groaning and breathing sharply all while clutching her stomach almost sinking to the ground. "You okay?" Zaras concerned voice rang through the air.

"A contraction." Cesiah announces and the female cop approaches her, helping her over to the couch.

"Really big one." the pregnant mutters.

"Alright. Maybe you should sit down."

Cesiah continued to breathe heavily as she felt pain running through the entire body.

"How long until somebody knows we're missing?" Zara asks Tim who turns around to face her when he hears her voice.

"It might be a while. We're on a special assignment here. They don't expect us to check in regularly."

Zara nodded taking in Tim's words as if they hadn't been that horrid, they were.

The female cop tended to the pregnant in front of her trying to calm her down a little bit.

"They blocked the peephole." Tim announces.

"What, so we're blind?" she asks him and he shakes his head looking at a window just above the door.

"No, we're not. Find me some tape."

Zara felt bad for asking the currently groaning woman where she had tape. "Cesiah, do-do you have any tape?"

The woman pointed to a small dresser. "Front, front. Just.." Zara opened the drawer as Tim took a stick.

She handed her T.O. the tape as he then motioned to her body cam. "Give me your body cam."

She did as told and took it off. It beeped as he put it on and explained to her what she had to do.

"Put tape right here. There's a body-cam app on your city-issued phone. Open it."

Their hands met as she placed the cam on the stick and then wrapped some tape around it while he held it up.

She then took out her other phone opening the body-cam app just like Tim told her to.

He lifted up the stick with the phone so that they could see what was going on outside of the door.

She moved closer to him showing him the recording on her phone while she smelt his heaven like cologne.

"They're getting ready to come in. Help me barricade the door." Tim demands and his girl nods her head.

"Zara?" Cesiah called out and the woman turned towards her. "Yeah?"

"My water just broke."

Zara looked at Tim who returned her shocked look.

<<<<>>>>

Cesiah groaned in pain as she lied down on the couch. "What are we gonna do? If they break through the door, we're gonna get overrun." she states and he gets onto his knees in front of her taking out his back up piece from his ankle.

"Gotta get to them first." he huffs getting ready to fire.

"Okay." she mutters showing him the recording from outside. Tims jaw was clenched throughout the entire wait for the men to attack.

Zara placed a hand on his shoulder, he unclenched his jaw looking up at her for a few seconds.

When two men appeared on the screen ready to break down the door, he began firing.

The gun shots rang through the air just like Cesiahs screams did as she curled up on the couch.

Tim continued to fire, taking down one of the men.

When Zara saw a shooter with a machine gun approaching she pulled Tim onto the ground.

One of his hands wrapped itself around her head to protect her as they lied on the ground hoping to not get shot.

Cesiah lied on the couch screaming and sobbing in fear for her own life.

"Stop, Stop! You're gonna hit Cesiah!" Vance yelled and after that the only thing they heard was the other men muttering something and then dragging their injured friend away.

Tim removed his hand from her head helping her to get up after they supposed that it was safe.

"Should we move her to a different room?" she asks her voice slightly shaking.

Tim looked at the body cam and saw no one in the hall way. "Looks like we're clear for now."

Zara crawled over to the woman on the couch to check her well-being. "I need to go to the hospital. The baby's coming." Cesiah rambled.

"Yeah, no, i know, i know. But thats not possible right now."

Olivo shuddered while Zara looked for some towels, when she saw some she reached for them.

"Wait. So, what? You're gonna deliver my baby?" The pregnant asked scared.

Zara turned to Tim her eyes wide not knowing what to say. He nodded reassuringly and them diverted his gaze away from her onto the phone.

"Yeah. Yes, i guess i am."

Cesiahs breathing got even heavier when the words left Zara's mouth.

<<<<>>>>

The woman screams in agony as her breath gets heavier every second. Her sobs got louder and louder, Zara tried her best to reassure her that everything would be fine but she wasn't sure that it was working.

"It's okay. Just-Just breathe. I know that sounds cliché but i promise it does work." she tries to soothe the entire situation while placing towels on the couch.

"Have you done this before?" Olivos concerned voice asks and Zara looks at her before responding.

"No, no. I was in a first-aid course, they taught us a bit of this plus i also aced this at the Academy."

She didn't look relieved in the slightest bit.

"I know- Your birth plan didn't involve a cop and your couch, but i promise you, i will protect you and your baby. Okay?"

"Okay." Cesiah breathes.

"I'll be right back." Zara says before standing up to get to the kitchen. "I assume this is another Tim Test." she huffs as she searches for more towels.

"They don't stop just cause we're pinned down. And let's face it, you'd think less of me if they did." He explains and she rolls her eyes.

<<<<>>>>

Cries echoed through the entire room as Zara held the baby she just helped to bring into this world.

"It's a girl." she whispers in awe as she slightly rocks the child in her arms.

Zara then carefully hands the baby to its mother who had also been sobbing from the pain she had to endure.

Cesiah let out a soft laugh as she finally got to hold her baby.

"Good job, boot." Tim says and Zara nods her head thankfully, she wiped her nose and then moved over to Tim keeping a bit of a distance though.

"What's wrong?" she asks when she sees his puzzled stare onto the phone.

"Something's not right." he announces stepping closer to the door.

When they heard a crash it was already to late.

"Look out!" Tim yelled at Zara who didn't have time to reach for her gun, a bullet went right into her chest.

The impact making her fall to the ground, knocking her out momentarily.

Tim began fighting the men, shooting one of them during the process. Vance stepped over and tried to take the baby while Cesiah screamed.

Gun shots continued to run through the air as Zaras entire world spun around.

Everything in the room was distorted, she didn't recognise any of the voices as she opened her eyes.

She sat up and ripped her uniform open, just to see that the trauma plate had saved her life by catching the bullet.

Tim fought against two of the men while Zara tried to get herself to stand up and not fall unconscious again.

She pulled her backup piece from her ankle and pointed it at Vance. "Hey!" she yelled angrily, as he saw the weapon in her hand his eyes widened and he stepped away from the mother who was holding her baby and ran like hell out of the apartment.

One of the men choked Tim from behind, Zara kicked him into his inner knee making him let go off Tim with a groan.

Zara and Tim both began fighting against the two men, Tim slammed the mans head against the wall cuffing him straight after reading him his rights.

Zara was tackled onto the ground by the large man in front of her. She punched him across the face as she tried to reach for her taser or pepperspray.

Tim was faster.

He turned the guy on his back and punched him a dozen times making sure he couldn't put up a fight anymore and would leave Zara alone.

"You good?" he asked her slightly out of breath and she nodded her head gulping. "Yeah."

He stepped closer to her, stretching out one of his bruised veiny hands to help her up.

She took it and he pulled her up swiftly, their faces close but not close enough for a kiss that both of them had been craving.

<<<<>>>>

Outside of the building all hell broke lose, SWAT, Metro, R.A units, at least 30 shops stood in front of the Bronson Estates.

The people from the new already being here as well, recording everything as Vance's crew was getting loaded into the cars.

Indistinct conversation were heard all over the god damn place, sirens wailed as well and Zara felt her head popping.

She walked next to Cesiah who was getting rolled to an ambulance. "They're gonna take you to the hospital, make sure everything's okay." she explains calmly to the woman who held her new born wrapped in a yellow towel.

"Then what happens?" she asks, fearing of what would possibly happen next.

"Whatever you want. You're free now, Cesiah. You and your baby. I'll check on you later."

"Thank you." the woman whisper softly smiling at the officer.

She stood there, wearing a jacket which had belonged to Tim as the ambulance doors closed and the car drove away.

"Zara!" Both Lucy and Jackson yelled making her turn around to see both of them walking towards her.

Jackson ran the last few meters and engulfed the brunette into a tight hug. They then opened their arms and let lucy in as well.

"This was a crazy day."

<<<<>>>>

Zara lied in her bed, her thoughts all over her mind as she tried to figure out what would happen next.

She was scared, of course she was.

Her entire life long she hasn't taken anything that seriously, other than the job of course but now her entire world seemed upside down because of her job.

She knew that one day eventually it would, maybe not passing an exam could ruin her entire career.

But right now a person was her problem.

Tim motherfucking Bradford.

What seemed to be a random hookup turned into him being her T.O. and holding her career in his hands.

As if her live hadn't been tough enough.

Her phone buzzed, she frowned. Who would text her this late into the night? Someone who probably knew she was awake because she couldn't sleep.

unknown number

hey sis

"oh fuck no."

<<<<>>>>

new chapter<3

who do you think texted Zara??

thx for 4k reads it means a lot to me🤍

-nicole

3800 words