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"Hey, you okay?" Tim asked her as she shoved the suspect in the back of the shop, rubbing the sweat from her temple.
"Yeah, yeah. Just this heat." She examined her own arm, noticing the tiny shards still stuck in her skin.
"Here," he reached into the back of his shop, grabbing a bottle and handing it to her, cap unscrewed. She took a sip, but then proceeded to down the entire thing when she saw Tim's concern.
"You want someone to come and take a look at that?" He asked.
"No, no. It's just irritating, not painful. I think I have a greater chance of getting heatstroke right now."
"In that case, here you go." He grabbed another three bottles and passed them over.
"You coming down to the station too?" She asked, curious if they had more individuals to target today.
"We've got another call to get to, and then I'll be back."
"Good. Good," she said, rubbing her flushed hand. Usually she was all down for some good LA sun on duty, but paired with the torturous heat - she couldn't wait to get back to the station and do some paperwork in a building with functioning AC.
*
"Lucy, you coming?" Angela asked, appearing seemingly from nowhere.
"Coming where?" Lucy asked, fanning herself with a report, fiddling around with one of the shards she'd plucked out of her own arm.
"To do the interrogation."
"Um, isn't Nyla handling that?"
"Nope, all you today. You want to be detective, yes?"
"Yes, but, Angela..."
"In that case, no buts. Lucy, we would have missed the lab entirely if you hadn't insisted on pushing through. We could be on the verge of shutting them down, for good. All because of you."
"I can't take all the credit."
"I don't hand out credit like candy. Take it when it's due. Besides, the takedown was something to witness. So, you coming?"
"Sure." Lucy got up, grabbing another swig of water, scratching at her hand, still red.
Maybe she should get it looked at... But that could wait - she was not about to let Lopez down.
*
"How's she doing?" Tim slid inbetween Nyla and Angela, joining the duo in watching Lucy carefully and craftily lead the interrogation.
"Excellently. We've got another name never referenced, and she's holding her own."
"Although how she is holding up in that uniform is a mystery; it's like a furnace in there."
They carried on watching Lucy at work, and Tim couldn't help but feel immense pride for his former Rookie. Nothing was going to break her.
*
"Look, Officer, I need a break. It's way too hot. Maybe we can go somewhere with AC or a window that opens?"
"This is not a resort. You tell me what we need and then I'll leave you alone to get all the cool air you want in holding. What were you doing?"
"I told you, I don't know what we were doing. My job is just to protect the product."
Lucy itched at her still red arm again - if she kept this up, she'd scratch all the way down to the bone.
*
"Do you know if she got that checked out?" He asked the detectives, but they just shook their heads.
He was about to follow up with another question, but then Lucy turned to face the glass, looking... off.
He knocked on the glass, but Lucy just responded with a thumbs up.
Every fibre of his being wanted to go in, but he'd hate to undermine her in front of the suspect.
She took a deep breath in and turned around, proceeding to carry on as though nothing was amiss.
Lucy made it another 83 seconds before she could no longer keep face in front of the suspect. She felt like she was on fire, and she took a look at her arm, realising a little too late that it wasn't sunburn - whatever Walker was protecting, some of it must have been in the glass he'd shattered against her.
A substance that was still unknown to them.
She was poisoned.
"Guys, you need to..." she begun but everything went dark and she felt her feet fold under her.
*
Tim reacted almost instantaneously, rushing out of the room and bursting in, ignoring Walker and making a beeline to Lucy, who was out cold but throwing up what to Tim looked like the snack bars he kept in his office in case she needed a pick me up.
Did the heat get to her?
He rolled her over to the side, calling out for a medic as Harper rushed in and pulled Walker out of the room.
They had no idea what was going on...
"You're going to be ok. I'm here, Luce. I'm here," he told her, as she hurled once again, and he tilted her head back.
"That's right, get it all out. Where's my RA?" he yelled, powerless to do anything but watch as Lucy contorted on the ground, expelling her stomach contents.
"Lucy?" He questioned when the worst of it seemed to be over, but she was still out, unresponsive.
He'd seen a rookie collapse from heatstroke before, but never with such further consequences. He gently moved her away from the puddle, still keeping her on her side. His fingers wrapped around her wrist, and he sighed in relief that, albeit weak, she had a pulse.
"Tim." Lopez came in, taking note of the situation, "how's she doing?"
"Still out. Where are the medics?"
"2 minutes out. Is it the heat?" Angela asked, herself looking like she was on the verge on collapsing.
"Maybe? Hang on, what's that?" Angela asked, pointing at Lucy's arm. Tim took hold of it: "She told me he smashed something over her arm, but it was just irritating her. I mean, it is really red, but that's probably the heat, right?"
"Maybe."
"But, hang on..." He ran his fingers gently over her injury, confused when he felt a spattering of bumps spiralling from it. Now that was no sign of sunburn.
"Angela, you need to leave and lock the door."
"Tim?"
"Just do it. And don't let the medics in."
"Okay, okay," She did as he asked, locking the door behind her and calling him up on his radio.
"What's going on?"
"Whatever Walker hit her with, I think it had something in it, something that led to all of this. All the heat and redness made us mistake it for heatstroke."
"What about you?"
"I think I'm fine - I don't think I'm in danger of being exposed. Just, make sure they know."
Tim watched as Angela disappeared from view and he turned his full attention back to her, his panic going up a notch as he struggled to feel her pulse.
She was not dying, not on his watch.