Chapter Text
“Wake up, birthday boy! Today is gonna be a great day!” Lucy called out cheerfully.
As her son grumbled and turned to the side, Lucy made her way to his bed.
“Come on, I prepared a special breakfast for you. Okay, it’s frozen waffles, I had a big day at work yesterday and didn’t catch much sleep but... I’m gonna let you have ice cream with it.”
She sat down on the bed as she spoke. Louis turned his head to face her with a smile.
“I’m 18 now, Mum. I can make my own choices and eat ice cream whenever I want.”
“Not if I eat it all before you get to the kitchen.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Watch me!” Lucy teased with a mischievous sparkle in her eye. She kissed her son’s forehead before heading to the door.
“I’ll be downstairs in 15. Don’t eat all the ice cream. Oh, and Mum?” Louis called after her.
“Yeah?”
“Can you put sprinkles on mine?”
“You got it!” she replied with a smile.
18 years. Louis was turning 18 today. Lucy still couldn’t believe it had already been 18 years since she was in the hospital giving birth to her baby. Having her son was the best decision she ever made. Louis was her pride and joy, the best thing that ever happened to her.
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Lucy hears the shower upstairs turning on. Time to get the ice cream out if she wants it to be ready right when her son sits down. She wasn’t going to wrestle with the hard block of dessert but couldn’t let it melt completely either. The shower turns off, letting Lucy know it was time to prepare the bowls. She puts the box back in the freezer and grabs the box of rainbow sprinkles. Louis always loved those and growing up didn’t stop him from wanting some with EVERY dessert. Lucy is pretty sure he would eat some with every meal if she lets him.
Louis’ footsteps down the stairs meant it was time to put the bowl of ice cream in front of his chair for a perfectly timed breakfast. It took her a few tries but throughout the years, Lucy got very good at perfectly timing mornings. Her son having a consistent routine helped a lot.
“Good morning mum, how was work yesterday? I did not hear you get home” Louis asked before taking a first bite of waffle.
“You were already sleeping. Celina got intel on a big shipment from one of her CI. We apprehended 5 of Rivera’s men. Well, one of them was a woman actually.”
“I can’t wait to do it myself !”
“Calm down Officer Hotshot. You first need to finish high school.”
“I know mom, high school diploma, community college then I’ll spend a year either working or traveling or anything else. Then, once I’m 21, I’ll apply. We’ve talked about it thousands of time”
Lucy nod. Her son’s future was already decided. She had little to do with it, it was all his decision. She actually tried to talk him out of it a few times. Lucy was well placed to know how dangerous the job was, she did not want to worry for her son on a daily basis. All she ever wanted was for him to be safe.
“I can’t believe my little boy is 18 !” Lucy grabs her son’s face in her hand and kisses her forehead.
“Come on mom, let me eat ! And you should do the same, your ice cream's melting”
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Lucy’s phone rings as a text message shows up on her lock screen.
“Can you tell me why your girlfriend is texting me to say she’s waiting for you?”
“Cause my phone is on silent because of all the Happy birthday texts I’m getting. Your son’s very popular, you know.’ Louis answers with a somewhat cocky smile
“Grab your back and go to school !”
Louis gets up and kisses his mother's cheek. He grabs his backpack and heads to the door while Lucy grabs the dirty dishes. As he opens the front door, he hears her scream.
“And tell your girlfriend she could come in and say ‘hi’ instead of texting, I gave her a key for a reason.”
“You're seeing her tonight”
Lucy had organized a dinner at Louis’ favorite restaurant and invited some of the most important people in their life : some of her friends and Louis’ girlfriend. He’ll celebrate with his friend on Friday while she enjoys a girl’s night out at Tamara’s.
After cleaning the dishes and a bit of tidying she didn’t have time for the previous night, it was time to leave for work. She opens her safe and takes her off-duty weapon. She grabs her keys and bag and heads to the door.
“Good Morning Isaac !”
“Morning Officer Chen, I’ve got some mail for your son !”
Isaac Ericson, one of Lucy’s neighbors and their local postman, hands her a pile of birthday cards. She nods and accepts it before waving goodbye to her neighbor. Lucy opens the front door to put the card inside when she notices an envelope poking from the pile. She immediately recognized the logo of the company that sent it. She takes it and stares at it for a while, battling with herself not to open it.
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“I almost opened it, John ! I’ve always said I didn’t care but once I had it between my hands, I just wanted to rip it open and read it ! Am I a bad mother ?”
“But you didn’t. Ok ?”
John was Lucy’s first choice whenever she needed someone to confide. Especially when the subject was her son. More than being his best friend, he did an amazing job raising Henry so he was her go-to since the day she decided to have Louis. He was also navigating having a kid and patrol at the time, Bailey and him adopted a 5 years old little girl that was now 22 and a college senior.
“I swear, for the last 18 years you’ve asked me if you were a bad mother every two weeks. And you know what?”
“You’ve always answered that I was not.” Lucy answers with a sigh.
“I’ve always answered that you were not. You’re an amazing mom to my godson, he’s lucky to have you as a parent.” Nolan reassured as he does every time. “The letter he received contains his biological father’s information. I don’t think I would have shown as much restraint as you did.”
“Thanks.” Lucy smiles at her friend. She made a great decision telling him about the letter and an even better one asking him to be her son’s godfather. “Come on, roll call won’t wait for us.”
“Celina’s sick so we’re riding together, Luce?”
“You’re the one getting the gear if we are.” Lucy announces with a smile.
Roll call wasn’t really interesting today. There were not a lot of cases left open by night shift as it wasn’t a very eventful night. The two friends were free to ride together and wait for the workload to come to them as the day started. Officer Chen makes her way to the shop and checks her phone waiting for her friend to arrive.
“On your phone again Officer Chen?”
“Not at all Officer Nolan, it was your imagination.” Lucy replies. “Just checking on Tamara. She has a hard time finding a sitter.”
“As if my grand-daughter wasn’t the perfect babysitter for the twins…”
“Grand-daughter… you’re so old…”
“Yeah!” Officer Nolan shouts with a frown. Lucy grins at her partner and starts the shop.
“According to Tamara, you’re grand-daughter is perfect. The twins love her. Megan’s amazing but… she’s rarely free when Tamara needs her.”
“Whose fault is that?” Officer Nolan asks with a sassy tone.
“Hey ! I’m not saying that as a bad thing, it’s just a fact. When I invite both of them, I know Tamara is gonna have trouble finding another sitter. But this is Louis’ birthday, I had to invite them both.”
The few seconds of silence that follow are cut by a call over the radio. A 311 at a gym 2 minutes away from their location. Who doesn’t dream of seeing some stranger’s butt at 6:30 in the morning… Actually, more than some butt. Turned out a group of college friends were drinking in the bar across the street from the gym. One dared another to do his morning gym session naked.
Twenty minutes later, the 19 years old is sitting in the back of the shop with nothing on but one of Nolan’s old LAPD sweatshirt on. His friends fled the place with his clothes when they saw the two cops coming in. Lucy sighs as she goes back in traffic.
“Please tell me Louis is NOT going to be that stupid once he graduates high school.”
“He won’t. He’s way smarter than that.”
“You know, I was valedictorian in high school” The handcuffed teen mentions.
“And now you’re at the back of our shop for underage drinking and indecent exposure.” States Officer Nolan.
“Just saying, being smart doesn’t mean that kid isn’t gonna do mad shit ! The stupider, the funnier.”
Officer Chen looks at her friend with a hint of terror in the eye. She couldn’t fathom the thought of her little baby in the back of a shop. Her friend puts a hand on her shoulder and gestures to his breathing pattern to calm her.
“Louis is smarter than that. You know he is going to avoid anything that could land him a criminal record. He knows he has no chance of getting in the LAPD if he does.”
“Your kid wants to be a police officer? Sick ! If he wants some fun before that, you can give him my number. It’s in my- Shit, can we turn around, I forgot my phone at the bar !”
Officer Nolan turns to stare at the drunk, waiting for him to realize what he’s saying.
“Right, my friends left with it. I hope. You can just write it down, I should know it. It’s 0-”
“I’m not giving your number to my son !” Shout Officer Chen. “We’re getting you to processing and we’re handing you to the DA. Do you even listen to yourself? Do you have an idea of the charges you’re facing?”
“It was just a stupid dare. No one was harmed !”
Officer Chen abruptly stops the shop on the side of the road to face the drunk kid. Some part of her, deep inside, can’t help but imagine it’s some kind of twisted version of Louis.
“Just a stupid dare? Did you stop to think about the people who were in the gym? Do you really think they wanted to see a… a… Nolan, help me”
“What my partner means is the 4 other people in the gym probably didn’t want a side of naked teen with their morning workout.” Nolan says in a calmer tone.
“I was actually looking for a mean way to say he didn’t have any muscle but thanks.”
“The word you were looking for is twig then.”
“I’m not a twig” The drunk snaps.
“We unfortunately saw your body. Sorry to say that you are.” John admits.