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1. Trash Duty
The two officers stared at the dumpster in front of them, neither one of them wanting to face the harsh reality. Suddenly, the man placed his finger on his nose and turned to the girl. Lucy's eyes went wide, jaw dropping at the gesture.
"Not it," John called out.
"You've got to be kidding me," Lucy deadpanned. "What are you, four?"
John didn't answer, merely staring at the dumpster. Lucy groaned, but she didn't protest. She slipped on the latex gloves and began to mentally prepare herself for the inevitable.
"Come on Lucy," she mumbled to herself. "It's good for your career."
"You need a boost?" John asked as Lucy stepped towards the dumpster.
"I'm good," she said sharply.
She was in no mood for height jokes. Lucy placed both hands on the edge of the dumpster, but the smell instantly hit her. She all but leaped backwards, simultaneously dry heaving and cursing.
"Now I'm starting to feel a little bad."
"Nolan, I swear to god if you don't shut up."
The man went silent when he spotted the sharp glare and made a mental note that short girls were always the scariest. But he followed her orders and merely watched as Lucy made her second attempt. This time, Lucy took a deep breath before approaching, but she still hesitated before diving in, seriously debating if her career was worth stepping into whatever was in there. Just as Lucy put her leg up on the edge, ready to jump into hell, a familiar voice rang out.
"Chen! Nolan!" Lucy immediately turned, having never been more grateful to see the detective sauntering towards her. "What's going on here?"
"We were just about to search the dumpster for the gun," Nolan explained. "A witness said he saw the suspect throw it as he ran and there's no gun here in the alley."
Angela raised a brow as she assessed the situation. Lucy still had her leg propped up, but her eyes were practically begging the detective to get her out of this situation. Meanwhile Nolan was standing there with his classic 'kid with his arm in the candy jar' face.
"Lucy, get down from there." The younger woman let out a sigh of relief and her lips curved into a grateful smile. Meanwhile, Angela turned to John. "Come on, dude. Don't make the little princess go rummaging through the trash. You do it, Nolan."
John looked like he wanted to protest, but when he was met with a glare, he nodded. "Yes ma'am." Strike his previous thought; all girls are scary.
As John rummaged (and audibly gagged) through the dumpster, Lucy made her way to the detective’s side. She flashed her another grateful smile and was met with a reassuring glance. They didn't exchange any words, but when she turned to leave, there was a look that flashed across Angela's face. Something that Lucy couldn't put her finger on.
2. Chauffeur for a Day
Lucy was starting to regret giving Tamara her car. Not because she thought Tamara didn’t need it. But because she was living on a cop’s salary, aka she didn’t exactly have the means to get a new (or extremely used) car right away. So when John invited the entire group over to his place for dinner that night, she knew she had to decline.
"I would love to, but you know I don't have a car right now, and you're on the opposite side of town so an Uber would be ridiculously expensive." Lucy tended to ramble, even more so when she was declining such a generous offer.
"Oh no problem," John shrugged. "We can find someone to drop you off. Or I can even drive you back."
"No, no, I couldn't ask you to do that. It's like 45 minutes each way."
John shook his head. "I'm not taking no for an answer." Lucy stared at him in response, because there was no way she would make him drive an hour and a half for her. But the man did not look like he was gonna budge.
"What's with the staring contest?"
Lucy turned and she couldn't stop the grin from forming at the sight of Angela next to her. The detective smiled back, eyes linger a little too long, before turning back to John.
"Lucy doesn't want to come to dinner."
Angela's eyes widened slightly. "You bailing on us, Chen?" Amusement laced her words, but there was a flicker of disappointment on her face.
"No, I just," Lucy paused for a beat, unsure whether she wanted to go into all the details right there. "I don't have my car right now, so I don't have a ride."
"I offered to drive her," John cut in.
"And I told you, no way."
"But-"
"I could drive you." Lucy felt her heart skip a beat. When neither one of them replied, Angela shrugged. "You're on my way, so it's really no big deal."
"Are you su-"
John put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, and gently shoved her behind him. "She means thank you." Angela smiled in amusement before tilting her head to meet the eyes of the hidden girl.
"I'm assuming you need a ride there too?" Angela asked, smiling as Lucy nodded shyly. "Okay, I'll meet you in the parking lot after our shift."
John gave her a thumbs up, and Lucy just nodded again. The older woman chuckled lightly before walking off, giving them a quick wave. When she was out of earshot, John was met with a sharp slap on the shoulder.
"Ow, what the heck was that for?"
"For inconveniencing Angela," Lucy hissed back. "She never drives people."
"And yet," John drawled out the words, a knowing look on his face. "She's driving you."
To say Lucy was distracted during her shift was an understatement. Did she endanger anyone? Of course not, she was a professional. But did she almost sit on a bench labeled "wet paint" during her lunch break? Maybe.
Speaking of lunch break, while Lucy was busy avoiding wet paint, Angela was missing from her usual spot at the food trucks. Instead, the detective was standing in the parking lot, hauling shopping bags of trash out of her car. How the hell did so much trash get here? Angela didn't answer her own thought, but she did mumble a few choice words as she spent her break cleaning out the car.
For once in her life, Angela was grateful for the piles of papers cluttering her desk, because it gave her a chance to eat in peace. Or as much peace as one could get as they read through reports.
"Hi Ange," the sudden greeting slightly made Angela pop her head up from the case file.
"Hey there," she mumbled back, mouth full of burrito.
Lucy giggled, before handing the detective one of the napkins from her desk. "Sorry, I didn't know you were eating. I can come back later." As she stood to leave, Angela shot out a hand, and gently grabbed her wrist.
"No, stay, your company is always welcome."
Lucy felt her cheeks flush at the statement. "I just wanted to ask if you're sure about driving me later? It's really no big deal if I skip tonight. There's actually a really interesting documentary on DNA forensics that's on tonight, and I've really wanted to see it so I-" She cut herself off when she noticed the smirk on Angela's face.
"Lucy," she drawled out, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Do you not want to be in my car?"
"No, no that's not what I meant. I just don't want you to inconvenience yourself for me, and like I said, I really want to see this documentary. So it's a win-win, actually."
"Except, you won't be at dinner." Angela paused for a second, lowering her voice ever so slightly. "And I'll miss you."
Lucy's eyes widened and jaw dropped slightly. Satisfied with the younger woman's reaction, Angela rose from her desk. She winked once before sauntering away.
"See you in an hour," Angela called out over her shoulder. "Don't be late!"
The hour flew by and the next thing she knew, Angela was leaning against her car, eyes glued to the station door. When she finally spotted her target, she felt her breath hitch. Oh shit. There must've been some way Lucy knew about today's dinner in advance, because there was no reason why she should look that good on an everyday basis. She was clad in a long flowy skirt that swayed as she walked, hair down in lose curls, framing her face perfectly. She looked ethereal.
"Hey Detective," Lucy greeted, flashing a grin.
It took Angela a second to respond, still a little dazed from Lucy's off-duty look. "You ready to go?" Her voice cracked slightly, resulting in a raised brow and a small nod.
"M'lady," Angela joked as she held the door open. Lucy slipped in, laughing up at her, and for the second time that night, Angela felt those damn butterflies in her stomach.
This was going to be a long night.
The ride was silent, aside from the low sounds of the radio. Lucy had flickered through the stations before settling on one that was blasting all the "2000s romcom hits" as the host described. "Oh my gosh, I love this song!' Lucy shouted suddenly. Immediately, she turned to Angela and began belting the lyrics at her.
"So many things that I wanna say. You know I like my girls a little bit older."
As they pulled up to a red light, Angela turned over to the singing girl, who took it as an opportunity to flash a little wink before continuing her one woman show. Angela only hoped that the glow of the stop light was concealing her reddening cheeks. When they arrived at John's door, Nyla pulled her aside and put a hand to her forehead.
"I'm fine," Angela said.
"Why are you so flushed?" Nyla whispered, not wanting too many to hear that she was under the weather.
"I'm not," Angela insisted, but her eyes instinctively landed on the source. Nyla follow her gaze and instantly put the pieces together. At her silence, Angela turned to Nyla, who wiggled her eyebrows at her. "Nyla, no. It's not what you're thinking."
The other woman threw her hands up in response. "I'm not thinking anything." Before Angela could protest, Nyla made her exit, but not before wiggling her eyebrows once more.
This was going to be a long night.
And a long night it was, indeed. The conversations were fun, and there was nothing more she loved than being in a room with her favorite people, but it was hard to fully enjoy herself when Nyla kept giving her knowing looks. Lucy, on the other hand, was definitely enjoying herself. Somehow her glass was always full, and that was never a good idea for the small girl. But lucky for her, she had a personal chauffeur.
Speaking of her driver, Angela glanced at her watch before taking a glance over at Lucy, who was currently engrossed in a conversation with Jackson and John about god knows what. But Lucy's cheeks were that slight shade of pink that Angela knew too well. So Angela made her way over to the younger girl, casually draping an arm around her shoulder, effectively capturing her attention.
"Come on Princess," Angela softly interrupted. "Your chariot awaits."
"Ange!" Lucy practically shouted, arms wrapping around the older woman's waist.
"She's drunk."
"Thank you Jackson, I couldn't tell," Angela replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
"I just mean, you should probably take her home," Jackson clarified. "Cause you know, she shouldn't be left alone."
"And tell me, West," Angela drawled out. "Why you can't drive her? I thought you guys were roommates."
"He's staying with me tonight," John blurted out, and Angela raised a brow. "He volunteered to help clean up after everyone leaves."
"I'm sleepy."
Angela narrowed her eyes at the two men, but she diverted her attention back to the drunk girl who was currently wrapped around her like a koala. Not that Angela minded. Both girls said their goodbyes before making their way outside. Lucy collapsed into the passenger seat and Angela had to buckle her in.
The drive back was quieter than the drive there because the radio wasn't on, but neither girl minded.
"Thanks for driving me," a small voice whispered. "I really wanted to come tonight."
"I know," Angela replied softly.
3. Date Night
"Lopez, hello?"
A hand waved in front of her face, pulling her from her daze. "Yeah, what's up Nyla?" She received a raised brow in response.
"I have been talking to you for the past two minutes, and you've been staring with that dumb look on your face," Nyla replied. She glanced over her shoulder, eyes darting around to figure out what had Angela so distracted. It didn't take Nyla long to realize that it wasn't a what, but a who. "You gonna ask her out, or are you enjoying being a 12 year old with a crush?"
Angela felt her cheeks flush. "She looks really good today," she mumbled. Nyla laughed before swatting her partner with the case file.
"Focus girl, we got a murderer to catch," Nyla reminded. "You can get the girl later."
When the two returned to the station, Angela was riding the high of catching not one, but two murderers, and when she spotted Lucy, her day only got better. Lucy was off duty and about to head out the door when Angela called out.
"Hey you," Lucy greeted, smiling as the detective jogged up to her.
"Hey," Angela smiled back. "Listen, Luce, I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner or something?"
"I'd love to!"
"Great, does tonight work?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't," Lucy apologized. "I have a date tonight."
"Oh." Angela felt her face fall, but she quickly put on a small smile. "No big deal, some other time!"
Without waiting for a response, Angela spun on her heel and made a b-line for the locker room. "Ange!" She exhaled softly before turning around, making sure she had a bright smile on her face.
"Have fun tonight, be safe!" Angela called out, waving at the younger girl.
This time, she turned around and didn't look back.
Angela appreciated a good romcom movie, but that didn't mean she enjoyed being a walking cliche. Hence she convinced herself that sitting on the couch with her second glass of wine was not her being a heartbroken girl from literally every movie, but a necessity because she had opened the bottle a few days ago and couldn't let it go to waste. And of course, the shameless rom com playing on her television was because she couldn't find anything else on Netflix. Not because it was the only thing preventing her from thinking about a certain someone on a date. No of course not.
Which is why, when there was a knock at her door, she paused the TV, unsure exactly where the sound was coming from.
"Ange? It's me." There was a slight pause. "It's me, Lucy."
But she already knew who it was.
"Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting," Lucy said as Angela opened the door, letting her step into the house. She smiled sheepishly, eyes glancing around Angela's living room, and her gaze landed on the single glass of wine.
"No, I was just-" Angela trailed off as she followed Lucy's gaze, choosing to focus on the mess instead. "Nevermind. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on your date?"
"He stood me up."
"What?!"
Lucy laughed slightly and shrugged. "I mean I got all dressed up and I was just sitting at the restaurant by myself. I kept telling the waitress that he was coming. I felt like such a loser." Angela tilted her head to the side, scanning Lucy's face.
"If it makes you feel better, we can still go out," Angela said suddenly.
"Really?" Lucy instantly perked up.
"You look surprised," Angela replied, eyes narrowing slightly. "Do you not want to go with me?"
Lucy immediately shook her head and smiled softly. "You always ask questions like that, and my answer is always 'no, I love going out with you.' I only ask because you're not exactly the going out type, and I want to make sure you actually want to go. I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to." At the end of her sentence, the younger girl reached out and placed a soft hand on Angela's arm.
Angela's arm was currently on fire.
"Where do you wanna go?" Lucy asked as if she wasn't sending Angela into cardiac arrest.
"Wherever you want Princess," Angela replied, hoping that her voice wasn't betraying her excitement. "I'm okay with anything."
Lucy paused for a minute and glanced around the living room, a smile playing on her lips. "What if we stay here?"
"You sure? You're all dressed up."
Lucy smiled and lowered the hand from Angela's arm down, lingering on her wrist. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've got everything I need, right here." Angela grinned back, but she noticed the slight change in Lucy's eyes.
"Have I ever told you that you're really pretty?" Lucy's rhetorical question made the older woman blush, as if the lack of distance between them wasn't already setting Angela's body temperature through the roof. "You know, I was actually kinda happy when my date didn't show."
Angela raised a brow, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Oh really?"
"Mhmm," Lucy hummed back, eyes darting down towards the ground before back to Angela's. "Honestly, I was pretty excited when you asked me out earlier."
"I asked you out?" Lucy's face fell for a second, and Angela couldn't help but laugh. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I definitely asked you out."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Neither one of them spoke for a while, both of them content with the revelation of these new feelings. But when Lucy's hand slipped into Angela's, she noticed where Angela's eyes were focused. With her other hand, Lucy reached up and cupped Angela's cheek.
"I really, really want to kiss you," Angela whispered.
"What's stopping you?"
That was all Angela's need to hear. When their lips met, Angela swore her entire body was on fire. Her hands made their way to the back of Lucy's head, successfully deepening the kiss.
"You know," Angela mumbled against Lucy's lips. "That was even better than I imagined."
Lucy flashed back an amused look. "You imagined?"
Angela shrugged back. "What can I say? I get what I want." Lucy chuckled back before reconnecting their lips.
4. A Certified Yapper
Lucy is a certified yapper. No one at the station was going to argue with you there. For example, whenever they went out to dinner, Lucy always found herself chatting up the staff and earning herself a free dessert (which Angela always enjoyed). But there were a few moments when Angela regretted having a yapper girlfriend.
And this was one of them.
"Of course, I told him, it's not his fault that the dog was barking, but he just kept going on and on. You know how annoying it is to listen to someone for that long?" Lucy ranted.
"Mhmm, the audacity," Angela replied, stretching out the last word.
It wasn't as if Lucy's story wasn't interesting. But it was currently Friday night after a long shift, and Lucy hadn't stopped talking since they left the station. She had even found a way to talk through a mouthful of pad thai (although Angela did think that was pretty funny). For the record, Angela wasn't sick of listening to Lucy. In fact, she would argue that there was nothing she loved more than listening to her girlfriend talk. But at the moment, there was something she wanted to do more.
"Are you even listening to me?" Angela nodded furiously in reply, but Lucy narrowed her eyes. "What was I saying?"
"That you wanted to kiss me."
"Ye-wait no. Ange!"
Angela chuckled at the blush spreading across her girlfriend's cheeks. "You are such a teenage boy sometimes," she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Her lips pressed into a slight pout and it only fueled Angela's desires.
"I can't help it," Angela whispered back, crawling over to the other edge of the couch where Lucy was sitting cross legged.
When Angela reached her destination, she was still in her bear like position, hands on both sides of Lucy, faces mere inches apart. Lucy subconsciously leaned closer, causing a small smirk to fall on her girlfriend's lips. She always knew what Lucy wanted, and she never failed to keep that a secret.
"So, you wanna finish that story?" Angela teased.
"Shut up," Lucy replied, still unmoving.
Angela's smirk turned into a small teasing smile. "You sure? Cause I always love puppy stories." That one earned her a smack on the arm.
"Just shut up and kiss me already."
"Your wish is my command, Princess."
5. Police gala
When Grey told the station that there was going to be a charity gala, Angela's mind immediately came up with five different excuses to get out of it. But her eyes landed on a certain figure a few rows ahead. Half a second later, Lucy turned back and flashed a grin. A chance to see her girlfriend all dressed up and show her off to the entire force? Angela was not going to pass this up.
The question now, was what to wear.
"Baby, you're killing me," Angela had begged a few days earlier. "I need to know what you're wearing so I can match."
"No, absolutely not," Lucy had replied firmly, refusing to give in.
"Can I at least know the color?"
"Black."
And that was it.
Out of all the things in life that Lucy chose to be tight lipped about, she chose the one thing that made Angela lose her mind. So here she was, standing in front of a closet full of dresses with only 10 minutes before she had to leave the house, a dial tone playing in the background.
"Hey there," Angela greeted when the ringing stopped.
"Please don't ask me what I think you're going to ask me," Celina replied. Angela could practically see the girl's face.
"Juarez, I am begging you." Angela hated resorting to this, but she couldn't think of anything else. "I just need to see it really quick so I know what to wear."
"I can't! She made me promise, and you know what happens if you upset her."
"Don't I know it," Angela mumbled. "Fine fine, thanks for nothing Juarez."
"See you later!"
Not bothering to reply, Angela hung up and immediately dialed another number.
"Well, hello."
"Princess, please!" Angela begged. "It's only 30 minutes until I see you, just send me a picture now."
"And that's 30 minutes of waiting for you."
Lucy's reply made Angela huff in frustration.
"Baby, I want us to be the hottest couple there, but I can't do that if I don't know what to wear."
"Honey," Lucy drawled out her sentence. "You could wear a paper bag, and you would still be the hottest in the room."
Angela felt her cheeks flush. Before she could come up with a flirty retort, she heard a click and her jaw dropped slightly. Oh she did not. As much as she wanted to call her girlfriend back, Angela knew she didn't have time for this.
Turning back to her closet, she took another scan before making a selection.
Here goes nothing.
Thirty minutes later, Angela stood outside Lucy's door, nervously brushing invisible wrinkles out of her dress. She had taken a huge gamble and settled on a black halter top dress. She had gotten it a whim a few months ago, but she hadn't had an opportunity to actually wear it. It was simple and elegant, but she prayed that it wouldn't clash with her girlfriend's attire.
Speaking of the younger woman, when she opened the door, Lucy looked visibly stunned.
“You’re staring, babe.”
Angela shifted slightly under her girlfriend's gaze. They'd only been dating for a few months and their dates were always on the casual side, because neither one of them had the energy to get all dressed up after a long day. This was the first time either of them had seen the other all decked up, and Angela wasn't sure how to interpret her girlfriend's silence.
“Wow Ange.”
The older woman let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding.
“Cat got your tongue?” She teased.
“No, I mean wow. You always look good but wow." Lucy shook her head, as if trying to shake the words into the right place. "You look like a princess, Ange.”
A blush spread across her cheeks. "Speak for yourself, Princess." True to her word, Lucy was decked out in a black dress. The deep plunge v-neck was captivating, enticing, and elegant all at the same time.
Perfectly Lucy.
"I think we need to switch nicknames," Lucy announced.
Angela chuckled. "You really like this dress, huh?" Lucy nodded quickly.
"If you look this good now, I can't even imagine how stunning you'd be in your wedding dress."
The statement made both of them freeze.
"I just mean whenever you get married. It doesn't have to be to me, although, I'd hope it was me. But, like, if we break up then whenever you get married, not that I want us to break up, but we're not really at the marriage stage yet. We've never talked about marriage, and I don't even know if you want to get married, but that'd be a shame you know, cause I think you'd look so good in a wedding dress. But I mean, you can wear a trash bag and I think it'd have the same effect, cause you're gorgeous. Have I ever mentioned that you're gorgeous? Cause you are, and I've always thought so, and it's times like this when I remember how out of my league you are, and I just-"
After a full minute of rambling, Angela finally put the poor girl out of her misery. She gently cupped Lucy's cheeks and pressed their lips together.
"Princess, breathe," she whispered when she pulled away.
"Sorry," Lucy mumbled, wrapping her arms around Angela's waist. "Got a little carried away."
"I'll say," Angela joked.
Lucy rolled her eyes slightly, but there was still a slight nervousness that remained. Angela leaned forwarded and pecked her lips once more, before meeting her gaze.
"And for the record," Angela paused, taking a deep breath. "I do want to marry you."
"Really?"
Lucy's eyes lit up and Angela could feel the younger girl's body relax.
"Not now, of course. But yeah, eventually."
They stood in silence for a moment, neither one wanting to ruin the moment.
"So," Lucy had a slight mischievous glint in her eye, making Angela already regret her proclamation. "Are we going to hyphenate? Chen-Lopez?"
"One step at a time, Princess."