Short chapter.
--Restaurant Patio--
I'm with Nolan grabbing more drinks when we get back to the table we hear Jackson and Lucy calling out spots on the body.
"Small of your back?"
"No!"
"Uh, left ankle?"
"Oh, so close."
"Right ankle."
"Hold on. It's my turn. You don't get to go twice."
Nolan interrupted them when we got there with the drinks. "Favorite body parts? I don't -"
"Guessing where we keep our off-duty weapon." Jackson explained while Nolan and I sat down.
"Wait. Hold on. Let me guess. Ankle holster - like most old-timers."
"Okay, "A," I'm not an old-timer. You're confusing age with experience. "B," not even close."
"He doesn't even carry an off-duty piece."
"I'm sorry. How did I not know that?"
"I'm still getting used to carrying a loaded weapon on the job. I don't know that I could handle packing heat in my real life."
"What about you Elena where do you carry yours." Jackson asked me.
I looked back up and asked a question. "Which one?"
Getting a laugh from the three. When they looked back at me they realized I wasn't Joking.
"Wait really?" A surprised Lucy
"Yea carry 2 one on the ankle and another tucked in a concealed holster on my pants." I answered shrugging.
"Oh, no." Nolan said before becoming very interested in his drink confusing us.
"What?" Lucy asked.
"Sgt. Grey is sitting over there with his wife. He's coming over here. Oh, man." Nolan said before looking back up and seeing him walk to us. "Hey. Small world."
"Too small right now. You know, for 19 years, my wife and I have gone out on February 13th. Why the 13th, you ask? Because the 14th, Valentine's Day, is for amateurs. The 13th is calm and relaxed. It's easy to find a table. There's no overpriced prix-fixe meals. It's just me and my lovely bride good food, a warm conversation, a place where I can not think about the job for a little while." Grey said
"Sounds nice, sir." Jackson said
"It is, which is why on my special night, I don't want to see your faces. So by the time I walk back to my table, you will be gone. Am I clear?"
"Crystal." Lucy said
"Like Ghosts" Jackson followed up with.
"Have a good evening." Grey said before walking away after one more sip we got up and started to leave.
"Okay. Shall we?"
"Yeah.
We get close to the door passing the bar where a man kept bothering a woman.
"Get off me."
"What's taking so long?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Hey! Can we get our drink?!"
"Get off me!"
Nolan started to walk over but Lucy stopped him so I walk past them.
"Miss, are you all right?"
"He bought me a drink I don't want, and he's not taking no for an answer."
Nolan has joined me by then.
"All right, time to leave the girl alone." Nolan said while grabbing the mans arm pulling her away.
"Get your own girl. This one's mine."
"All right we are not doing this sir you need to come with us we are cops." I got fed up with the man which with me only seemed to only get him angrier. We then get into a tussle where the man punches Nolan then stabs me with a fork then literally picks me up and throws me across the area I land crashing into Sgt Grey's table.
"Fuck, this man stabbed me with a fork of all things." I said pulling it out when Nolan crashes over the table next to us landing on the floor cuffing the man.
Luna kneels next to me helping with the stab while Grey got up to call for a transport and RA for me and to direct the scene until a uniformed officer shows up.
"I'm fine ma'am its a tiny fork so it didn't do much of any damage." I said as I stood up pausing before continuing to speak. "Sorry about yalls Valentine's dinner I know the owner this place I'll get you a place here the day after Valentines."
"Oh how nice thank you but you don't have to." Luna replied
"It's necessary ma'am." I walked up to Grey. "Sir, I am sorry about this I know the owner I will get you new seats on after Valentines day for it to be less chaotic or a day that you have off next sir."
"Thank you officer Alverez at least one of you know how to apologized for ruining my night with my lovely wife." Grey said while pointedly looking at Nolan.
--The next morning at the Station--
We were all sitting down at the tables waiting for Sgt Grey to come in and start the briefing.
"Nolan, you know he is going to bring up last night. Right." I said turning my head to look at him.
"No, I don't think he will. Anyway why are you here didn't you get stabbed yesterday at dinner." Nolan said feeling a little confident.
"Yes, I was stabbed, but the injury is actually not bad I was cleared immediately. I guess that is what happens when it's the smallest fork on the table. After some googling it turns out its a oyster fork." I responded getting a few looks from the surrounding officers. Before anyone else could ask questions Grey walked in.
" All right, we know what today is. The most dangerous day of our year." Nolan asked surprised about the fact that Grey just dropped.
"Valentine's Day, sir? Really? Not Black Friday, not New Year's?"
"That's right, Officer Nolan. Breakups and broken hearts. Jealousy and revenge. All make for a perfect storm of heightened emotion and dangerous situations. Hell, sometimes violence can find you minding your own business at dinner."
"Sir, again, I can't tell you how sorry I am."
"I'm not the one that needs the apologies, Officer Nolan. anyway someone else that was involved too got me a freebie at the restaurant for any day I get free." Grey started talking in front of Nolan before moving over to me desk nodding his head.
"Yes, sir. Please apologize to your wife for me. "
"I traded shifts for last night off. The night you ruined."
"Yes, sir."
"Uh, sir? I don't see my T. O." Lucy interrupted before Nolan could say much else.
"Officer Bradford's taken a personal day."
"You're kidding. Tim hasn't taken a personal day in his entire life." Lopez said out surprised at what Grey just said.
"Be that as it may, he's off today. So, Chen Alverez, you'll be assigned to the front desk. All right. That's it. Everybody be safe out there."
They dismiss us the four of us got to the kit room with Nolan starting out the requestion of gear after he finished Jackson was next after he finished Lucy almost started getting gear.
"Lucy what are you doing we are front desk they don't need shot guns up there.
" Oh. Right. Sorry. Muscle memory. " She responded pulling back from the papers like they burned her before we started to walk to the front desk. That's when Lopez and Bishop joined us at the kit room.
"Officers, I'm having a little get-together tonight. Love if you could join." Nolan asked them.
Chen and I manned the desk giving the officer typically there the time to organize some papers he had sitting around. When this man walked up to Lucy when she called out for the next person while I dealt with a older woman who was taking her time filling out the complaint form.
"Next."
"Hi. Uh I need to talk to a vice cop." He finished
"Okay, about what?"
"Um I need to find a hooker. And not a street-walker. Uh, she's, uh, higher class than that. I, uh, met her at a hotel bar and, uh, spent some, uh, time with her on Saturday, and, uh, I'd like to take her out tonight on a date for, uh, Valentine's Day." He stuttered his answer clearly embarrassed to ask confusing Lucy and me as I was listening in while waiting for the woman.
"So you walked into a police station to find a prostitute?" Lucy asked clearly amused and weirded out by the question from the man.
"Well, yeah. You guys have, like, binders full of them right? I figure I can just page through the girls till I spot her."
"Yeah, uh, I'm sorry, sir. The LAPD is not a referral service for prostitutes."
"Okay, uh, you're standing in the way of true love." The man said clearly annoyed with him.
"And that's a burden I will have to bear. Next." Lucy cut the man off and calling for the next person in time for the lady I was helping to finish and hand me the paper and before I could ask her if she needed anything else she huffed and then stomped out and left.
We were working through the people as they came and when we had a small break in the wave of people a lady came up to the front desk with a basket dropping it on the desk causing it to shake startling Lucy.
"Hi. Is Officer Nolan around?"
"Oh, yeah, I think I just saw him. Sorry, you are?"
"I am a very grateful citizen."
"Oh."
"He saved my life this morning."
"Oh! Okay" Lucy then grabbed the phone and paged Nolan to the front to take the basket and talk to the woman.
"Do you know him?" the woman asked both of us.
"Yeah, a bit." Lucy said while I only nodded at her question.
"He seems like a lovely man."
"He definitely puts out that dad energy." I said to the woman
"He's okay." Lucy said shortly after I spoke up with my answer.
"He saved my life."
"Yeah, you said." That is when Nolan came in seeing the woman at the front desk.
"Oh, hey! What are you doing here? You should be at home in bed."
"I'm on my way home. The hospital gave me a clean bill of health thanks to you." She was saying to Nolan.
"Oh, good."
"Yeah. Just some superficial burns."
"Ooh."
"Yeah. These are for you." she then motioned to the muffin basket that she had dropped onto the desk.
"Wow. That is, uh, extremely kind, very thoughtful, and entirely unnecessary. Um, but now you should really get home and get some rest."
"Well, maybe you can stop by later and check in on me."
"I, um I do have a, um, long shift that I really should be getting back to. But, again, thank you so much. This is really nice, and I'm - just so glad that you're all right, and, uh, thank you. That's - Yeah." Nolan clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation going on.
"Well, thank you. Thank you for - Yeah, thank you." She giggled out like a school girl before walking out.
"She seems nice." Lucy said to Nolan with her brow raised.
"She has a school girl crush on you Officer Nolan." I said wiggling my eye brows at Nolan getting a dad glare from him and a laugh from Lucy.
"Uh, yeah, I saved her life." Nolan said before walking away from the front trying to evacuate the location of that embarrassing encounter for himself.
"So she said. Don't forget your muffins." Lucy said motioning to the basket sitting on the counter.
Causing Nolan to spin around back to the desk and reach for the basket. "Right" Picking the basket up getting a grunt from Nolan who was surprised by the weight of the basket of muffins. "Heavier than they look." Before spinning back to the bullpen and leaving.
After a short while a courier delivered flowers to the station.
"Oh, who are these for?" I asked the man dropping them off while Lucy dealing with another person.
"For a Talia Bishop." He said looking at the order on his phone.
"Ah, She's not here right now I will take them and give them to her when she gets back." I said signing for the flowers.
After a spending the rest of the shift dealing with people and taking one man to the drunk tank for stumbling in and then puking right in front of the desk it was just a slow day.
Lucy Nolan and I got changed before driving over to his house for his party.