Chapter Text
Sergeant Grey flicked through the paperwork, his voice echoed through Lucy's head, but she was properly listening. She was too focused on her thoughts. She had seen Bradford, her former training officer. She remembered how it used to be, and she actually missed his annoying jabs but at the end of the day he was training her, because the job was dangerous. Lucy smiled to herself and continued staring a head, the urge to look back to where Bradford was sitting was killing her, but she was too afraid to show her emotions.
After some time, being around Bradford had made Lucy feel a certain way. A certain way that she had felt before with the past men she had dated, and it scared her, because she wasn't so sure why she had grown on the man.
'You look like you're in the heavens right now', Nolan chuckled gently.
And Lucky raised an eyebrow at him, 'I'm just... Happy', she said.
She was also nervous, but only because she was in the same room as Bradford. The thing is, Tim Bradford already had someone, they had gotten together around the time their longest running officer had left- actually it was the officer's daughter who Bradford had snagged, and Lucy couldn't help but feel jealous, because Bradford clearly had a type because she remembered his wife. Blond hair, blue eyes? Ashley McGrady was the perfect woman for him. Lucy was completely different, round face and brownish-black hair, and definitely not his type.
Only one can dream, I guess.
When the group had been dismissed Lucy had stepped out with Nolan by her side. It was just her and him now, Jackson had been killed not too long ago and Lucy felt lost and broken when he was gone. It was worse enough that she had to come home to an empty apartment, it hurt too so bad... But along came Tamara and Lucy could feel herself healing. She knew that Nolan was hurting too, but he was more silent about it, Lucy applauded him because he had shown great strength, especially during the framing incident with Detective Armstrong.
Lucy didn't like thinking back at that moment in time, where Nolan was on the other side of the glass, it hurt to see him like that, so that's why she made sure that everything made sense, because she knew that he wasn't the type to ever hurt anyone. Armstrong had been a dangerous man- but it still hurt to lose him too, because he was a lovely man... Until he wasn't.
Lucy stopped in her tracks when she saw the familiar blonde hair and blue eyes, and she watched as McGrady walked right into the room and caught Bradford's attention immediately. She couldn't handle watching this, so she pivoted and walked the other direction with Nolan following close behind.
'Is everything alright? You backtracked all of a sudden', he said.
Lucy wasn't going to admit to him that she had fallen in love with Bradford- Nolan was her ex-boyfriend as well... Even though he was quite lovely even after the breakup, it was like water off a duck's back to be honest and Lucy was glad. Thanks to Officer Bishop, who urged her to move on past Nolan, though she had missed being so close to him, Lucy would never go back because she wanted to move forward.
Lucy made the mistake of looking back at the front because she witnessed Bradford kissing McGrady and she closed her eyes for a few moments and breathed out. She was lucky that they didn't ride together anymore, it would have been torture. Though the last time, she had sat in Bradford's shop, she had "pretended" to admit that she had feelings for him and the results were absolutely flawless, seeing how pissed off Bradford was, was worth it and Lucy had no clue why he didn't strangle her right then and there.
'Oh, that's Bradford's girlfriend- Officer McGrady's daughter to be exact, I didn't think she would come by today', Nolan said.
Lucy looked anywhere but Bradford and Nolan narrowed his eyes at her, 'no... You don't... You like him, don't you?' He said.
Lucy felt her face grow hot and she glared at him, 'I do not like him! He's my former TO!' She snapped.
'And? You were a rookie alongside me, and we dated', Nolan said.
He had a point and that annoyed Lucy, 'he's a lot older than me', she added and Nolan stared at her, 'and so am I', he answered.
Lucy rolled her eyes, 'whatever, can we focus on something else?' She said.
Nolan was quiet but Lucy could see that he was thinking long and hard, 'John, whatever you're thinking about, stop thinking about it', she said.
But a smile stretched across his face, 'I have an idea, if you want to forget about Bradford, then I have a good friend who might be up for a little date', he said.
Lucy's eyebrows rose and she looked back at Bradford who was still chatting with McGrady. Finally, she sighed, 'alright, give me more, who is this friend of yours?' She said.
'His name is Charlie, he's been single for some time and he's only just gotten back into dating, he's thirty, so close to your age if it makes you feel better', he added quickly.
Lucy raised an eyebrow at him, 'hmm... I'll need to see a photo of him and then I'll decide if he's good for me', she said.
’Oh? He looks a little like me- maybe even Officer Bradford’, Nolan winked at her.
Lucy glared at him, ‘photo, please’, she said.
Nolan went through his phone and passed his phone to her and Lucy was quite surprised to see that Charlie was good looking… If anything, he was pretty hot.
’Oh uh, I don’t know if I can date him’, she said.
Nolan frowned, ‘are you serious? He seems perfect for you- and he’s not one of those men who take advantage of women, he’s quite lovely’.
’Then why hasn’t he got a girlfriend by now?’ She said.
’Because he wasn’t looking, he lost his girlfriend over a year ago now and now he’s asked for my help’, he said.
Lucy smiled at him, Nolan was a lovely man which was why she fell for him in the first place.
‘Alright, how about you let him know that I’m interested, then you can pass my number over to him’, she said.
She was focused on Nolan that she hadn’t noticed Bradford approaching her from behind.
’Officer Chen, Officer Nolan, don’t you have to go on patrol now?’ Bradford said.
Lucy felt her face grow hot as she looked up at him, ‘on it!’ She said.
She was riding with Nolan today and she was happy with that, for now. Her heart was still racing as she thought about seeing someone else whilst still working with the man who made her heart skip a beat.
You can do this, it’s not that hard.