Chapter Text
“What would you do if Zoe applied to the academy?”
Lucy looked up from her paperwork, seeing Enriquez standing at her door.
“Hi,” Lucy replied. “How are you?”
“Good. Bad. I don’t know. What would you do, Lucy?” Enriquez walked into Lucy’s office, sitting down in one of the chairs at Lucy’s desk.
“What would I do,” Lucy repeated slowly. “If my daughter - who is currently two years old - applied to the academy?”
Enriquez nodded once. “Yes.”
“Well, considering she’d have to be 21, I wouldn’t worry about them accepting her application.”
Enriquez rolled her eyes, and Lucy chuckled. “I’m being serious. What would you do? Would you let her do it?”
Lucy studied Enriquez for a moment. “Did Eva apply to the academy?”
Enriquez’s jaw twitched, and she kept her gaze fixed on Lucy’s desk. “She didn’t just apply. She got accepted. Without even telling me that she submitted the application.”
Lucy leaned back in her chair, her hands settling on her belly, where hers and Tim’s second child had been growing for the last nine months. “How did you react when she told you?”
“I… might have yelled at her.”
Lucy made a face. “You really think that was the best path forward?”
“No! But I…I didn’t know what to do. I was flustered and taken aback.”
“Eva has wanted to be a police officer since she was like, 10 years old. It was one of the first things she told me when I met her for the first time.”
“I didn’t think she’d actually do it! She’s only 21!”
“And she’s old enough now to drink, vote, and join the academy.”
Enriquez rolled her eyes. “You’re not helping.”
Lucy gave a mischievous smile. “Seriously, though, she’s an adult now. You have to let her have some freedom. And she wants this. Even if you say no, she’s going to find some way to do it without you approving. You remember what you were like at 21.”
“That was a lot longer ago than when you were 21, Lucy.”
“Yeah, well, regardless. She’s going to do it regardless of whether you like it or not. It’s up to you now whether you decide to support her, or to alienate her.”
Enriquez sighed. “Yeah. That’s probably true.”
“She’s stubborn. Like you.”
“Hey.”
Lucy laughed, then leaned back.
“Are you actually mad?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah. I’m pretty mad. That she didn’t tell me.”
“And?” Lucy quirked an eyebrow.
“She should’ve told me.”
Lucy sighed, exasperated. “And?”
Enriquez sighed. “I’m scared.”
Lucy nodded.
“She’s only 21. That’s not that old. She doesn’t have experience or wisdom or anything - she’s so green. And I love that to some extents because it means we did a good job protecting her, and she had the chance to be a child, but she–she’s not ready for the academy. She’s not ready to be a police officer.”
Lucy shrugged. “I beg to differ. She’s an incredibly mature 21-year-old, Adriana. I was nowhere close to that at her age, and I turned out okay.”
Enriquez stayed silent.
“Did I ever tell you about my parents?” Lucy said, after a minute.
Enriquez shook her head.
“They’re both psychologists. I graduated high school, went to college for psychology for 4 years. I took a year off, worked, travelled around, much to their dismay. Applied to grad school, because my parents wanted me to be a psychologist, so that’s what I did. Made it through the first 2 years of my masters and then dropped out. Then I spent 9 months in a van eating roadside burritos. I was 27 when I joined the academy.”
She took a breath before continuing.
“My parents made it very clear they did not want me to be a cop. They offered to let me move back in with them, resume college, and become a psychologist, or a doctor. When I graduated from the FTO program, my parents were ment to come over for dinner. Only my mom came. My dad didn’t think it was important enough. My mom told me that she saw me as a paid bully for the city. That if I wanted to help people, I should be a doctor.”
She looked down, rubbing her hand over a sore spot on her belly, taking a deep breath before she spoke again.
“I haven’t spoken to her since. I text her when I moved in with Tim, so she’d have my new address, but she never reached out. We invited them to our wedding, but they declined the invitation. They don’t know about Zoe. They don’t know that we’re having another baby.”
Enriquez waited a beat, then looked up at Lucy. “They really don’t know?”
Lucy shook her head, smiling sadly.
She looked up to Enriquez, her eyes glassy. “You don’t want that to be you and Eva.”
She reached over the desk and took Enriquez’s hands. “You’re allowed to be scared. That’s part of being a parent. But you cannot let it control her choices. At the end of the day, they are her choices. You can choose to support them, and to be there if she fails and help her get back up again, or you can choose to keep pushing her away because you’re scared.”
Enriquez wiped her eyes, her own tears flowing by now.
“I’m so scared,” Enriquez whispered. “I’m so scared that something’s going to happen to her. She’s my baby. I can’t lose her.”
“So tell her that,” Lucy replied, squeezing Enriquez’s hands. “Tell her that, and apologise. And then teach her to be a good cop so that she knows what to do if something does happen. You can support her, or you can risk losing her. Fear makes you think those are the same thing - but they’re not.”
Enriquez nodded slowly. “Sorry to put all this on you.”
Lucy shook her head. “Don’t even worry. It’s about time you asked me for something instead of the other way around.”
They both laughed, and Lucy leaned back, stretching her arms up. She winced briefly, and Enriquez caught it.
“You good?” she asked.
Lucy shifted, attempting to push herself off the chair she was sitting on. “Yeah. Can you call my husband, please?”
“Why?” Enriquez asked, head tilting in concern.
“Because he’s about to be a father of two, and I’m not driving myself to the hospital.”
“O–kay.” Enriquez said, reaching for her phone and calling Tim. Within two minutes, he was in Lucy’s office, taking her arm.
“Alright Adriana, I would stay but I’ve gotta go have a child now,” Lucy said. “Good luck with Eva. Let me know how everything turns out.”
“Uh, yeah,” Enriquez replied. “Good luck to you, too.”
Lucy smiled as Tim helped her out of the office, Enriquez winking at her as she waddled past.