Work Text:
Cassie Montgomery enters the Mid-Wilshire police department with a pep in her step.
It’s her first official day as a rookie in the LAPD and she’s excited. Also, nervous - but mostly excited. She’s known she wanted to be a cop since she was eleven, and finally the day has come.
She starts heading in the direction of the locker rooms to get changed for her first roll call.
“Where you going, Boot?” A voice calls out, stopping her in her tracks. Cassie turns, finding herself face to face with a uniformed officer. His name tag reads Thorsen, and he’s wearing a disapproving look on his face.
“Uh, locker room, then roll call?” She thought she knew the way to the locker rooms, she’d visited the precinct once she knew she was going to be stationed here so that she’d know her way around when she started.
“Oh, no. You need to present yourself to the Captain first. It's tradition.” Thorsen smiles, and Cassie is relieved. He’s clearly just trying to help.
“Ok, thanks!” She can’t believe she’d never heard of this tradition, even after all of the research she had done. And unlike the locker room, she doesn’t actually know where the Captain’s office is.
Thorsen must realize this, as he directs her, “down the hall, up the stairs.”
Once upstairs, Cassie easily finds the door with the Captain Bradford plaque next to it. However, the door is wide open, and there’s no one inside.
She hesitates at the threshold, not sure what the proper etiquette is, but figures it would be okay to wait inside. She decides to stay standing, though.
While she waits, she can’t help but take a look around the room. Seeing all the plaques and awards lining the walls is quite impressive. She can only imagine all the time and experience it took to make Captain.
Cassie smiles as she notices the pictures on the desk - there almost seem to be more pictures than awards, which is a true feat. She moves closer, even more curious to see what the Captain’s personal life looks like.
Years of a story unfold before her. The Captain is tall and very handsome (especially for someone of his age), with graying hair and blue eyes, and his wife (she gathers from the wedding photo) is extremely gorgeous herself, with long brown waves and warm dark eyes. She counts four kids in total - three girls, one boy - in the latest family photo, appearing to range from elementary to middle school ages, plus one adorable brown and white dog. There are pictures of each of the kids at different ages, going all the way back to when they were babies. From the baby photos, it’s clear that the youngest two are twins. They look like a very happy family.
“ Ahem. ”
Someone behind her clears their throat and Cassie jumps, spinning to find a woman standing at the entrance to the room.
Scratch that - to find the woman from the photos standing there. She’s wearing a fitted black pantsuit, and has her hair up in a bun, but it’s definitely her. The Captain’s wife.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Cassie rushes to explain. “I'm just here waiting for Captain Bradford. But if you need to talk to him first, I can wait outside.”
The woman doesn’t respond, save for an amused-looking smile. Then she makes her way further into the office, stepping behind the Captain’s desk, much to Cassie’s surprise.
“You must be Officer Montgomery,” the woman finally says.
“How…” Cassie wonders aloud. And then it clicks. The reason the woman from the photos is in this room, knows her name, and is sitting at the Captain’s desk is because-
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Captain Bradford. Captain Lucy Bradford.”
Cassie feels her face go red. “I’m so sorry! Ma’am. I don’t know why I assumed…”
“It's okay,” Captain Bradford brushes her off with a wave of her hand. “I’m used to it. I took my husband’s name, who’s been in the LAPD for over a decade longer than me, so people are often surprised to find out I’m the one with the bars. So, what can I help you with, Officer Montgomery? I know your name from your file, by the way. Very impressive reports from the academy.”
“Thanks,” Cassie mumbles, still feeling embarrassed about her little mishap, and now even more confused that the Captain doesn’t seem to know why she’s there. “Uh, I was told I needed to present myself to you before roll call?”
Bradford purses her lips together, clearly trying not to smile. “Well, the bad news is, you got punked. There is no such tradition.”
Oh. Cassie’s heart sinks. That actually makes a lot of sense. But now she’s struck out twice before her first shift has even started.
“The good news is,” the Captain continues, kindly, “you got here early. So why don't you sit down?”
Knowing an order when she hears one, Cassie obeys, taking a seat in front of the Captain’s desk.
“I try to make it a point to speak privately to all of the female recruits soon after they start, and ride at least one shift with them during training. So we’re just getting a head start on things,” Bradford smiles at her, before adopting a more serious demeanor.
“Officer Montgomery. You are a woman in the LAPD, and unfortunately, that comes with its challenges. The first piece of advice I ever got from a senior female officer, my first week on the job, was a warning that I would be branded for dating the person I was dating at the time. What she told me was true back then, and it’s probably still true today. As women, we have to work twice as hard as the men to prove ourselves, and even then, there’s a good chance we’ll be judged for something. Things have come far in the past century, but not far enough.”
Cassie nods in somber agreement, as the Captain continues.
“But that’s not the message I want you to start your career with. It’s important to me to impart to my female recruits different advice than I got from that officer. Because you can’t control what other people are going to think about you. What you can do is be good at your job. So listen to your training officer, learn everything you can from your senior officers, and excel at being a cop. Spend some time on the mats with other female officers, learn how to use your body to your advantage. Show people that you’re a badass, and don’t let anyone tell you there’s something you can't do. And as long as you’re doing that - screw what anyone else thinks about the rest of it.”
Wow, Cassie thinks, inspired, this woman isn’t just impressive - I want to be her someday.
“You’re probably going to end up hearing this from someone anyway,” Bradford adds, “so I'll just tell you - my husband, Sergeant Tim Bradford,” she nods in the direction of the photos, smiling softly as she mentions him, “and I met because he was my TO when I was a rookie.”
Cassie tries to hide her surprise, but she’s not sure she’s doing a very good job.
“Don’t worry, whatever you’re thinking, I’ve heard worse. Nothing happened when I was his rookie, of course. Once we got together we had to disclose our relationship to the Watch Commander at the time, who made sure there was no conflict of interest and that we were no longer in each other’s chain of command. So now, for example, my husband is actually your Watch Commander, but he reports to a different Captain in the station, not me. And yes, there has been lots of talk about me over the years. But I don’t regret my choices, not for a minute. So if I can become Captain after something like that, you should know that the sky’s the limit for you. The job is important, don’t get me wrong, but don’t sacrifice your happiness for it.”
“I…I won’t,” Cassie says, sincerely, “thank you.”
“Don’t get any thoughts, though,” the Captain warns, “I already know who your TO is and besides the fact he’s married, he’s also practically old enough to be your grandfather.”
Cassie’s not sure how to respond to that part.
“Alright, that’s enough from me,” Bradford concludes, “You better get changed and to roll call. The Watch Commander doesn’t tolerate tardiness. But I want you to know that my door is always open.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Seriously.”
Captain Bradford nods, a hint of a smile on her lips, dismissing Cassie by pointing at the door.
I think I'm gonna love it here, Cassie thinks. And then, catching sight of the time, she runs to the locker room to make it to roll call on time.
“We should really stop doing this in here,” Tim pronounces, slightly out of breath, as he zips up his pants. He leans back in her desk chair, unabashedly studying her where she’s perched atop her desk, still half naked.
“I know,” Lucy shakes her head, chuckling softly. This didn’t happen often, and it more likely than not wouldn’t be the last time, but it was a risk. It was a good thing her door had a lock. “I happen to know for a fact that Wesley and Angela still use the supply closet downstairs on a regular basis, if that makes you feel any better.”
“Thanks for that image,” Tim glares at her, reaching for his duty belt that he luckily had the mind to lay safely off to the side before that happened.
Lucy feels around behind her for her missing articles of clothing. “We needed this, though. It says something when there are fewer distractions on shift at a police station than there are at home.”
As their kids got older, they were becoming more and more independent, but between the four of them, someone always needed something - whether it was help with homework, needing to be driven to an afterschool activity, or wanting to talk about their day. And someone was always hungry. Lucy absolutely loved their life, but it was a challenge to find time, just the two of them. And despite nearly two decades together, they still desperately craved alone time. Hence, why she’d practically jumped him the moment he stepped foot in her office.
“I can’t believe we’ve officially reached the stage where we go to sleep before our kids do on most nights,” Tim sighs in agreement. “You know what we need? A vacation, just the two of us.”
Lucy grins, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Ooh, yes! Let’s look at possible dates and locations tonight. Between my parents, Genny, and Aunt Amy, it shouldn’t be too hard to find arrangements for the kids…”
She continues to redress while running possible scenarios in her mind, pulling her arms through her suit jacket. She’s pretty sure she can get Tim to agree to a beach vacation if she promises to let him pick out her swimsuit…
“Hey, Luce?” Tim pulls her out of her trance.
“Mmhmm?”
He wheels the chair closer to the desk so that he’s seated between her legs. He leans forward, placing a kiss to her chest, warming the spot between her breasts.*“Forgetting something?”
“Whoops,” Lucy blushes, quickly sliding off the desk in search of her bra and top, which had ended up on opposite sides of the room. She places her clothes back on in the correct order this time.
“So, you didn’t get a chance to tell me,” she makes her way back over to Tim. “How was Rookie Day? Still feel like Christmas?”
“It’s not quite the same as when it was my job to make their lives a living hell,” Tim admits, and Lucy rolls her eyes. “But it was still a good day. Will be interesting to see how this group turns out.”
“I met one of them this morning. Montgomery? I’m pretty sure it was Thorsen who told her she needed to report to me before roll call.”
“Some things never change,” Tim smirks. “You know, she reminded me of you a little when you were a rookie.”
“Oh really?” Lucy raises a brow. “In what way?”
“Uh…she seemed excited. Eager. Smart,” she can tell Tim is trying to choose his words wisely. “And she had a very determined look on her face, which now makes sense given I’m sure she had just come from hearing your famous pep talk,” he says teasingly, but Lucy knows that he’s actually extremely supportive of how she makes it a point to share her hard-won perspective with all of the female recruits.
“I surprised her, though,” Lucy shares. “She was waiting here when I walked in, and I could tell she thought I was the Captain’s wife at first, not the Captain.”
“I’m sorry,” Tim offers an empathetic smile. “I know that still happens far too often.”
Lucy shrugs. “It does. But I like getting to see the surprised look on people’s faces when they realize. And prove them wrong if they think a woman shouldn’t have this job.” Then she smiles, her turn to tease him, “I bet you secretly like it though, that people think you’re Captain Bradford, given that my successes are your successes and all.”
“Lucy…” Tim fixes her with a pointed look, “there is no doubt in my mind that these” - he gestures to the wall of plaques - “are your successes. And I am extremely proud to merely be the Captain’s husband. ”
Lucy leans over to place a loving kiss on his lips. How is it possible that her love for this man grows more and more with every passing day?
“Well, you know I really couldn’t have done any of it without you,” she tells him, pointing, not to the awards, but to the pictures of their family. The fact that Tim had taken extended leave after each birth to stay home with their kids is what had allowed her to continue to advance in her career. “So how about we call them our successes?”
“Our successes, I’ll take it,” Tim reaches out to take her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Come on, let’s go home. Our other successes are waiting for us.”
