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Today was not going to be a good day, Lucy had so been hoping, thinking, it would be. She didn’t have any reason to think it wouldn’t be a good day… Until the patrol officers wondered why Grey hadn’t come to start rollcall. Until they could see Grey’s office containing three people.
They were getting restless, nervous, Internal Affairs did that to Patrol Officers, it was like school kids when the SuperIntendent would come to their class. Lucy felt a pit drop through her stomach into her feet, not because of Percy West, he’d sent her a message about being there for the next West cop-family get-together just last week.
The person that scared her, that made her shoulders bunch like she was watching a suspect decide between fight or flight, was her mother. Only she knew that it was her father, waiting farther away in the hallway, as if ready to help Mrs. Chen make a hasty getaway. He was shifting his eyes between the officers that walked around the desks as if any one of them could harm him or his wife.
Jackson was the second to realize what was going on, Tim barely recognized the people but recognized Lucy and Jackson tensing as they were going to have to tackle another roid fanatic on PCP.
Tim knew that Grey was annoyed at whatever the woman who looked enough like Lucy from behind to be some relation and Percy didn’t look happy either, but that didn’t really say how bad this was going to be for Officer Chen. He slipped out of the rollcall room as Angela passed by with the last bit of her most recent case ready to file into evidence.
“Has Lucy said anything to you about her parents?”
Angela was a little startled, and after a second hoping that it was pregnancy brain and not her skills slipping that allowed such a breach in personal awareness.
“Uhum…” She stalled while she thought, “Not really… Jackson invited me out for dinner after Lucy didn’t get the P2 celebration dinner she wanted with them, but that changed after they decided on sushi instead of steak-God I could go for a burger now.” Thank god she didn’t miss sushi as much, that would be a hard craving to kick when it wouldn’t be satisfied for months now.
“Well, Shit!” Tim’s hands clutched at his own elbows and biceps more.
Sargent Grey seemed to have dismissed Mrs. Chen and left his office with West while Lucy’s parental figures started trailing behind them.
It’s hard for cops not to hear as much as possible, you kinda want that in your officers. But that wasn’t exactly helping Lucy’s impending bad day.
“You are going to get people killed!” the hurried, desperate voice of the woman brings every officer on the floor to attention. Angela and Tim turn around the rollcall room corner to get a better look at the drama unfolding.
Grey turns around, all puffed shoulders and in charge arms crossed in front of him.
“No. I am not. There is no basis in your claims, and they hold no weight in this precinct.”
“You can’t be serious?!” Mr. Chen butts in, putting an arm around his wife. Lucy remembers when that arm was broken in a sling the first time he saw her in uniform, still in long sleeves and a tie at the beginning of her Rookie year.
“She is not a real cop! She needs to get a career that won’t kill her before she’s 30!” Mrs.Chen cried.
“Umma!” It seemed like the whole floor turned to Lucy, not sure whether the breakfast theatre would turn out.
Lucy was only steps out the door, still surrounded by glass, knowing that this was happening in front of all her new peers.
“Lucy…” the gaping on her mother’s face like she just wanted out of a painful situation.
“Why are you here?” Lucy used her cop voice, emulated from a combination of Tim, Angela, and Harper.
“You need to stop this…”
“No. I will not be having this conversation again.” Her hands came up to grip her belt, still open but strong.
“We never had a conversation, you get angry and kicked me out of your apartment, then sent your roommate after us.”
“I’m not quitting!” Lucy looked up as her voice got exasperated.
“She was trying to convince Sargent Grey and I this morning that we should fire you.” Percy West informed her, looking just as much to Jackson standing behind Lucy, proud that he was her backup beyond the work from their shop on the streets.
“You can’t be serious?”
“Oh yes, we are! This is not healthy Lucy, turning internalized hatred and suicidal ideation into a full-time occupation.” Mrs. Chen tried to reach for her daughter’s hands.
“WHAT!” A chorus of voices rang out
“I’m not suicidal,”
“Of course you are, why else would you continue to work here once you’ve proven to us that you are healed and independent after your kidnapping?” Mr. Chen reasoned.
“Appa!” Lucy took a step back from her parents, “that isn’t what this is. This is my career, it's more than my job it's my vocation. I love this work, I do good. Work.”
“Oh please, you followed a boyfriend into the police academy after trying to find yourself for years, you could still get your masters and a Ph.D. before your 30. Make some progress to catch up with where you should be.” A passive wave of Mrs. Chen’s hand seemed so cavalier for a woman brushing aside her adult child’s opinion on her own life, it really hit the officer’s listening in.
“I DID NOT!” Lucy started and then lowered her voice, “I did not follow a boyfriend into the academy, I found someone there and broke it off when I realized it would only hurt my career in the force. I chose this job over everything because I love it. I love being a cop, I work hard to be a good cop, I am proud of my job, I am not doing this for any other reason.”
“Lucy, this is not a smart choice. We raised you to be smart, to do the right thing, not to hurt like this. Internalizing your problems instead of facing them, dropping out of your masters is one thing, we understood the need to rebel and find your own reason for helping the world, but this is not helpful. It's hateful.”
“Now listen here. You are not department therapists, you are not Officer Chen’s therapists, You have a conflict of interest even as psychological professionals. Officer Chen has never given any indication that she is anything but an outstanding employee of the city that has the potential to help others in a million different ways.” Grey’s frustration seemed to boil over, “I accepted your request for a meeting because you are my officer’s family because she had such a difficult experience as a Rookie. But I will not have my officers be verbally attacked in our own home.”
As much as her parents looked like they would rather be anywhere but in this police station, they didn’t budge.
“You are dismissed. Go.” Tim steps up to the little collection that has been the center of attention for the last five minutes.
He’s not even sure how well he can even be seen with Grey and Percy West standing between the Chen’s and the former Rookies.
“We’ll be here when you need us, Lucy.”
“That won’t be necessary.” She didn’t tear up, she slipped back into an authoritative cop tone. With a hard stare like she was daring her parents to push this boundary one more time to see what she was really made of.
With a nod and pursed lips, her parents shuffled out of the precinct at a pace that could never be described as slow.
“I’m so sorry sirs-“
“No need Chen. Everyone knows cops aren’t universally adored, it was bound to be someone’s family.” Percy shook her hand with a comforting pat to her shoulder.
“Let’s get the day back on track, shall we? We’ve got time to make up for.” Grey marches the three of them needed back into the room with a softer smile than he usually gives those so close to Rookie status.
Everything seems to go back to the due process, but everyone is a little on edge, sneaking glances at Chen again.
Now she’s the officer who survived a serial killer and dramatic helicopter parents in the precinct. Not the start she wanted to her career, but it’ll do. A day out on the streets will be just the thing to get her out of this headspace.
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It’s after their shift that Jackson drags her to Grey’s house for a barbeque and football game. Angela bringing Wesley alongside their Mid-Wilshire family. Nolan, Harper, and Tim… There to be the family she needs because it was shoved in their faces today how little support Lucy had outside of them this past few years. How her job was her life for a reason, even if she encouraged others to have a healthier balance, it all comes back to what you love, what you’re meant to do, your driving force in the world. Hers is being a cop, and they needed her to know how much they love her for it and that they recognize how much love they receive from her through it.
And maybe Grey took a moment to give her a side hug, quickly, and with no one in sight. And maybe it wouldn’t come up again until she was stuttering when asking if he’d be at her wedding, because he was as close to a fatherly support since her academy days.
And Mid-Wilshire takes care of its family.