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Tim watches as the newest rookies do their twenty laps around the track. He has been training rookies at the academy for two years now and is great at his job. He loves what he does and it’s easier to bounce them from here if needed. There are two in this class he’s wary of. Miles Penn and Seth Ridley are the most challenging rookies he has had in a while. Lucy was challenging, but in all the best ways.
“Penn.” Tim barks out and he comes jogging over to him.
“Yes sir.” Penn is originally from Texas and has previously worked as a cop. It is not working in his favor.
“What are you doing?” It seems that Penn feels he doesn’t need to always listen or do as he’s told.
“Well, I ran most of the laps.”
Tim really wishes he could scream or slap him. “Now you can start all over, boot. You are a recruit just like the rest of them. Now go.” Penn goes to run his laps while groaning. “Add five more for giving me issues.”
The end of the day just can’t come fast enough. He has to make some tough decisions before the end of next week regarding some of these rookies. Penn and Ridley do have potential to be good cops. He’s not sure they will last once they’re on the streets.
Tim finally heads home and he’s greeted by Kojo. “Hi bud. How was your day? Were you the best boy?” Kojo barks and Tim pats his head.
He lets Kojo outside and then starts on dinner. He’s almost finished when he feels two arms wrap around his midsection. “Hey you.”
Lucy mumbles something into his back. “Hi babe.” Tim turns around and she looks exhausted. He took the position at the academy so he was out of her chain of command. Some things really did matter more and he would have left her he department for her. Everyone felt he was perfect for the position. Tim proposed eight months ago and they’ve now been married for two months. “Long day?”
“The longest.” Lucy yawns and lays her head against his chest. “How was your day?” One of her hands rests on Tim’s chest and he moves some of the hair out of her face.
Tim kisses her before answering. “It was okay. These rookies love to test me, but this class is almost done at least.”
Lucy chews her bottom lip. “What is it?”
“Grey told me which rookies were being assigned to Mid-Wilshire.”
This piques Tim’s interest. “Should I be worried about who you’re getting?” Lucy wraps her arms around Tim and tries to distract him. “Lucy.”
She sighs softly knowing he won’t be thrilled. “Ridley and Penn are being sent to Mid-Wilshire.”
Tim turns the stove off and groans. “And you’ll end up training one of these idiots.”
Lucy interjects. “Tim, you know that I can handle myself and if they weren’t good enough, you would have cut them.”
He knows that Lucy is right. “I know that you can, but it’s like they do enough good to get by and then make stupid mistakes.” Lucy knows that he’s tense and stressed.
“Baby, you’re a great leader and you have the best eye for the best recruits, okay? I promise I won’t let anything happen to me.”
Tim surges to kiss her and pushes her against the wall. “I know that Luce. Now let’s eat. I worked hard on our dinner and then we can take a shower.” He really hopes Lucy is paired with Ridley and not Penn. Tim won’t say anything about his wife working in the LAPD and will let that be a nice surprise for the rookies when they start.
The next day, Tim really observes these two. They do work hard and Penn decides that he won’t give any pushback. It’s a relief and they end up leaving earlier than normal. He decides to swing by the station to see Lucy.
“It’s good to see your face around here again. I thought that you became too good for us.” Angela decides to give Tim a hard time.
“I’ve been a little busy.” Tim grumbles.
Angela rolls her eyes. “Mhm. Busy with work or busy trying to get your wife pregnant?” Tim almost chokes on air and Nyla slaps his back when he starts choking.
He looks at Angela exasperated. “What the hell.”
“What? You two couldn’t keep your hands to yourself when you worked together. I can only imagine how bad it is now.” Angela smirks at her best friend.
Lucy picks that moment to walk over. “Are you two done harassing my husband or can I steal him away?”
“He’s all yours.” Angela winks and walks away. Lucy shakes her head.
They walk to her office and he pulls her in for a hug. “You do know that Grey won’t assign me a certain rookie because you ask him not to.”
“That’s not why I’m here.” Tim is lying and they both know it. His face softens when he looks at her. She has a pointed look on her face. “I know that he wouldn’t do that, Luce. I did miss you today though.”
She leans up to kiss him. “I always miss you. I‘m almost done and then I will be home. I’ll grab dinner on the way home and then you can work on getting me pregnant.”
Tim once again starts choking. “Lucy.”
“What? We both know that we can’t keep our hands off each other.” She gently pushes him out of her office so that she can finish paperwork.
The next week comes fairly quickly and he can’t believe this class is almost done. There’s two days left until the rookies graduate. “Let’s go boots. You need to do better than that, especially on the streets.” Tim had added drills in that will better prepare them for certain situations. The brass is very satisfied with how the newest batches of cops have been.
Penn walks over. “You may have passed, but you still screwed up. I’d wipe that smirk off your face.”
“I saved my hostage.” Penn says smugly.
Tim gets close to him. “By making risky moves. You’re damn lucky that there were no casualties. You got lucky. Are you trying to kill your TO?”
“N..no sir.” Ridley is shaking because he’s going next. He has done well, but he’s way too nervous sometimes.
“That’s what I thought. Your turn Ridley.” Tim is surprised to see him do the best. “Just because you did so well doesn’t mean you’re any more than a boot in my book.”
Ridley walks away and Tim grins. He enjoys scaring them.
The next day, they finish training. He pulls them aside. “You two are going to graduate. Just know that I have friends everywhere in the department. They know about the rookies coming in and what to look for. Penn, if you don’t cut your cocky attitude off, you’ll be bounced quicker than you can say hello.” Penn’s eyes go wide. “And Ridley, you need to stop lying about your life. I’ve heard you tell people three or four different versions of events. The truth always comes out. This doesn’t affect your training, but it can come back to bite you in the ass.”
Tim goes home and he’s surprised to see Lucy has beat him. “So will you be gracing yourself at roll call tomorrow?”
Tim shakes his head. “Grey may or may not have invited me. It’ll be funny to see their faces when they hear that there’s another Bradford around.”
Lucy lets out a laugh. “It will be an enjoyable moment. Now how about you feed me and then we can enjoy our night together before I have to train a new rookie tomorrow?”
The next morning, Tim follows Lucy into work. He has a few days off before the newest class starts and Wade enjoys having him around. He won’t make himself visible though. “It’s rookie day.” Lucy is excited.
Lucy is sitting in her office with Tim. “You’re way too cheery about that.”
“I remember when you used to be the one excited about rookie day.” Lucy grins.
Tim moves so he’s leaning against her desk. “Maybe one rookie changed it all for me. After her, it just wasn’t the same after she finished.”
“Oh really? What about her changed it for you?” Lucy grazes her fingertips along the back of his neck.
Tim is very glad that he closed the door. His hands snake his way around her hips. “Hmmm, her light, her sass, her ability to challenge me, her mind, her beauty, and her very amazing body.”
Lucy throws her head back in laughter. “She sounds pretty great.”
“Hands down, the greatest woman I know.” Lucy throws her arms around his neck and kisses him.
They’re interrupted by insistent knocking. “Just because I let your husband in the station doesn’t mean you can have sexy times in your office.” Grey’s voice vibrates through the door.
They both go red. “I’m coming sir.” Lucy yells breathlessly. “We will pick this up later.” She murmurs into his ear before walking out. Tim knows he needs time to compose himself. He waits until he knows that everyone is in the briefing room before heading out.
Lucy and Grey are standing at the front. “It’s one of my favorite days, rookie day.” The two up front look nervous.
“You two may have made it through the academy but you need to earn your right to be here.”
Tim sees the two rookies up front and then catches Lucy’s eye. She nods her head and they both finally pay better attention when Grey starts talking about pairing the rookies with their TO’s. “Officer Penn, you will be with Officer Nolan. Just know that I’ll be watching you both very closely.” Tim has to stifle back a laugh. Nolan is always on Grey’s bad side.
“That leaves Officer Ridley.” He looks nervous. “You are assigned to Sergeant Bradford.” Both rookies are in shock.
“But I thought he worked at the academy?”Ridley blurts out and chuckles can be heard around the room.
Lucy steps forward and makes herself known. “I’m not sure what you mean, but I am Sergeant Bradford.”
Ridley’s eyes go wide and he is so confused. “There’s two of them. Oh my god.” With that he falls to the floor, having passed out. Tim finally makes his presence known.
“Well that’s a hell of a way to start.” Grey looks at Tim and has to stop himself from laughing.
“Stop scaring the rookies. I think your wife has that handled.” Grey tells him.
“Yes sir.” He takes his leave satisfied with both Penn and Ridley’s reactions. Lucy smiles and watches Penn help Ridley stand up. It’s going to be a fun year.