Chapter Text
She was new to I.A.—she moved departments not long after Jack moved out—and she was still getting to know her partner, Warren.
“We’ve got a live one!” He said, putting the phone back in its cradle. He laughed at his own joke, and she smiled weakly.
“Who is it this time?” Another officer asked.
“Detective Flynn.” Sharon watched as money exchanged hands throughout the office.
“Do you really make bets on which officer will get us called in?”
“Let me teach you something important, Raydor. In the LAPD, no one likes us. We have to band together, otherwise, we will have no one.”
“And making bets is banding us together?”
“It’s a friendly competition. Not everyone participates. Especially now that Flynn’s been promoted to Detective. He’s always doing something.”
“What department?”
“Homicide.”
They entered the office a few floors up from their own.
Two men were in a screaming match in the middle of the office.
“Your dirtbag nearly killed me!”
“It was the uniform downstairs that didn’t check him completely!”
“Do you expect me to believe he changed clothes and still kept it on him? When did he have time to remove it from its hiding place?”
“You’ve had it out for my client since the beginning!”
The lawyer, Collins said, changing the subject. He noticed Sharon and Warren then.
“Finally. It’s about time you got here. This detective tried to kill my client!”
The detective spun to face them, his eyes focused on her partner, “his client nearly slit my throat with a pen!”
“Can someone calmly explain the situation?” Warren asked. The crowd around her partner groaned. She knew I.A. wasn’t popular, but she wasn’t expecting a response like this.
“Are you going to get him fired?” The lawyer demanded, “or do I need to sue the LAPD?”
“Is that a threat, Collins?” Flynn grabbed the lawyer.
“Detective Flynn!” She called. Flynn paused, turning to look at her.
“You heard him threaten the department!”
“That still does not give you the excuse to use excessive force.”
“Excessive force? Are you kidding me, lady?”
“Detective Raydor.”
“Oh, my apologies, Detective.” His voice was laced with sarcasm. Another detective came forward.
“Well take it from here, Flynn.” The man said. Flynn looked like he wouldn’t let Collins go, but he looked at the other detective and backed away.
“We’ll take him, Detective Taylor.” Warren said, stepping forward.
“You, too, Detective Flynn.” Warren continued. Flynn’s face was flushed as he turned towards the door.
“He deserved it.”
“I would keep your thoughts to yourself until the interview is over.” She offered, smirking.
He merely grumbled in response.
She led him downstairs to their interview rooms.
Warren offered to let her sit in on the interviews as long as he led them. Both men were still angry about the fight above.
“Explain what happened.” Warren said.
“My client was explaining his innocence when Detective Flynn threatened him.”
“Threatened him? In what way?” She added. She looked to Warren, but he nodded.
“He was in his face! Threatening maximum security for a misdemeanor!”
“We aren’t the jury. You don’t need to act for us.” Warren said.
“Detective Flynn is a walking lawsuit that I will happily represent many clients for. He needs to get his anger under control.”
“Explain the attack.” Sharon prompted, again Warren nodded.
“Right. Well the detective was leaning over the table at my client, screaming about him going to prison and my client reached out and tried to stab the detective with a pen to keep him back. It was self defense!”
“Where did your client get a pen?” Warren asked.
“He must have swiped it from downstairs when he signed his things away.”
“The pen downstairs is chained to the desk. I think at least one officer would have noticed if your client yanked a pen off the desk.” Sharon pointed out.
Collins was sweating.
“Maybe he swiped it from a desk on the way in. Who knows with criminals?”
“He’s a criminal now?” Sharon asked.
Collins licked his lips.
“Do we need to have a look at the weapon in question, counselor?” Warren asked.
“Are you implying that I gave him that pen?”
“You and Detective Flynn have a history, don’t you, Collins?” Warren pushed.
“He’s a maniac! Like I said—a walking lawsuit just waiting to happen.”
“I think we have everything, don’t you, Detective?”
“I believe we do.” They stood together.
“Wait! Why are you leaving now? Don’t you want to know what else Detective Flynn did in that interview?”
“We were recording the interview. I think we can get to the truth.”
“Wait!” Collins called again, but Sharon and Warren were gone.
“I’m going to go look at the evidence. Do you think you can handle Flynn?”
“I’m telling him he’s not going to be charged—I shouldn’t need backup for that.”
“Right. Good job in there, Raydor.”
“You, too, Warren.”
Sharon pushed open the other interview room.
Flynn still looked steamed, pacing back and forth behind the table.
He looked up when she came in, and stopped.
“If they sent the rookie in, I must be clear.”
She sighed. He may not be charged for the assault on the perp, but based on the bets she’d seen in the office before they’d come, he wasn’t exactly innocent either.
“You are correct. You aren’t going to be charged for your actions with Mr. Resson.”
“It was that dirtbag lawyer’s pen, wasn’t it?”
“Detective Warren is checking now.”
“You said my actions with Resson—Surely you guys aren’t writing me up for anything else.”
“You used excessive force on a lawyer. He was not a threat to you, and you attacked him.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am. I hope this will deter any more rule breaking in the future.”
He merely stared at her as she turned on her heel and left him in the interview room.
Warren met her just outside in the hallway.
“You’re writing him up?”
“He broke the rules.”
“That stuff happens all the time, Raydor.”
“Well it’s not going to happen without consequences any more.”
Sharon left her partner in the hallway, headed back to her desk to fill out the paperwork.
“What the hell is this?” Captain Hillard, head of Homicide said, slamming a stack of papers on her desk.
She looked up at him, feigning ignorance.
“It is a write up for Detective Flynn for using excessive force.”
“This is a joke.”
“It’s not, Captain.”
“Is there a problem here?” Captain Daniels, her captain, asked.
“This detective thinks she can write up my detectives for petty reasons. Probably because he rejected her.”
Sharon calmly pulled a packet from her desk.
She started writing Captain Hillard’s name at the top of the packet.
“What the hell is she doing?” Captain Hillard demanded.
She continued filling out the form for his harassment.
“Aren’t you going to stop her?” Captain Hillard demanded again.
“You harassed another officer. She’s reporting it. That’s her job. You are a superior officer, and all you have done is ask for special accommodations for one of your detectives.”
“I’ll have your badges for this… this… insubordination!”
“We are at the same level, Captain.” Captain Daniel’s continued.
“Don’t think I won’t report this Chief Thompson.”
“You go right ahead, Steve.”
Captain Hillard stormed out of the I.A. offices.
“Raydor, my office.” Her captain said. She stood, and made her way as calmly as she could to the Captain’s office. She didn’t want her fellow officers to see her sweat.
“Do you have a death wish, Raydor?” Her captain asked as soon as she closed his door, surprising her.
“It seems like the rules have been merely guidelines before now, only applicable to some. That shouldn’t be the case. We are law enforcement officers. What we allow and don’t allow sends a message to people all over that the LAPD that they can do whatever they want.”
Her captain stared at her for a long time.
“I’m glad to see you were the right person for this position. You’ll have my job before you know it.”
She stared back at him, shocked. She wasn’t used to compliments—either from her superiors or other officers. People generally despised her no matter what she did at work.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Finish that paperwork. I’d like to process it before the end of the day today.”
“Yes, sir.” She turned, thinking she was dismissed.
“And, Raydor?”
She turned back to face him.
“Keep up the good work. If we had more cops like you, we would be out of a job.” She paused, touched. She had never expected him to defend her actions.
“Thank you, sir.”
She went back to her desk and finished her work. Only then did she allow a smile to creep up her cheeks.
Sharon’s reputation grew within her own department. Apparently many people had been bullied or belittled by Captain Hillard, and they respected her for holding her ground. Even Warren, her supposed mentor, started deferring to her in most situations.
Sharon didn’t face Captain Hillard in the field until there was an OIS a few months after their last encounter.
She and Warren were called into an alley downtown where Homicide waited.
“The rat squad,” she heard. She’d grown accustomed to the nickname.
“It was a good shoot.” The officer in question, Matthews said as they neared the scene.
“Shut up, Matthews. Rat squad is here. Where’s your rep?”
“I don’t need a rep. It was a good shoot.”
Sharon raised her eyebrow as she neared Captain Hillard and Matthews.
“Detective Raydor, the bitch herself.”
Ignoring his comment, Sharon turned to Detective Matthews. “Tell me what happened.”
“You don’t have to tell her anything.” Captain Hillard said.
“No, I wanna tell her.”
“Shut up, dammit. Shut up!”
“Captain Hillard, do you need to be escorted away from the scene?” She asked, looking at him for the first time.
“I’d like to see you try.” More homicide detectives were surrounding them, curious about the sudden commotion.
“What, your pathetic excuse for a mentor won’t defend you?” Captain Hillard asked, standing to his full height.
“Are you sure that is the route you wish to take, Captain Hillard?” She asked again, unfazed.
“Maybe it is, so what?”
Sharon waved to fingers at nearby uniforms.
“Please escort Captain Hillard outside of the crime scene.”
Hillard laughed. He stopped when the officers grabbed his arms. “Very funny. All right. Who set me up?” He was looking around at his detectives. None of them were laughing.
“Sir, we are going to have to ask you to leave.” One of the uniforms said.
“You can’t be serious. I’m a captain. She’s a detective. Escort her off the scene you idiots.”
The uniforms looked to her for confirmation. She nodded and they began walking him out.
“I’ll have your badges for this! Every single one of you!”
Captain Hillard rounded the corner and she went back to questioning Detective Matthews.
After her interview, she was examining the crime scene, when someone came up behind her. She whirled around, expecting Captain Hillard to have slipped the uniforms, but it wasn’t him. She did know the officer’s face however.
“Detective Flynn.” He seemed surprised she knew his name.
“Quite the change in demeanor from the last time I saw you.” She said. She went back to her work, but kept him in her peripheral vision. She knew what Flynn was capable of.
“Yeah,” he rubbed his neck. He actually looked embarrassed.
“What can I do for you, Detective? This is still I.A.’s scene until we clear it.”
“What? That’s not why I was…” She stopped examining the trash next to the dumpster and looked at him.
“I wanted to tell you how—impressive that was. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to Hillard the way you did. Even Chief Thompson bends to him.”
“The key is not to let him get under your skin. He is not unique in that regard.” She had to look away from him. He was distracting her.
“I’ll be sad to see you go.”
“What?”
“There’s no way you’ll still be here in the morning. Captain Hillard is a staple here.”
“Captain Hillard broke a dozen rules during that interaction. It is my job to enforce those rules. It doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t like it, rules don’t change based on who you know,” she paused. “Or at least, they shouldn’t.” She had to look at him again.
He just stared at her.
“Raydor! Is this detective bothering you?” Warren asked. She was grateful for her partner’s interruption. Flynn was pulling her focus from the case.
“Yes, please escort him behind the tape. We still have the scene.” Detective Flynn watched her for a while before Warren put a hand on his back, turning him away.
Back at the office, her own Captain pulled her aside.
“Raydor, what did you do?”
“Captain Hillard was obstructing me from my investigation. I followed protocol.”
“They’re gonna have your head for this, Raydor. I’m not sure I can protect you this time.”
“With respect, Captain, I don’t need you to protect me. I followed the rules. If that gets me relocated, perhaps I’ll be placed within a precinct that respects the rules that should govern all of us.”
“You’re gonna kill me, Raydor. But damn if you don’t inspire me to want to be better.” He sighed and ran his hands through his already tousled hair. “I used to be like you, but too many underhanded deals crushed my spirit.” He paused, lost in his own memories.
“I’ll back you on this when the hammer comes down, because it will.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“You’re dismissed, Detective.”
After weeks of debate, Sharon’s case was accepted. Captain Hillard was placed on probation for 6 weeks, pending approval from an anger management specialist before he could return to work.
Internal Affairs threw her a party when she got back to the office.
On her way back to her vehicle that night, she heard someone jogging up behind her.
She spun around, hand on her weapon.
Detective Flynn put his hands up, stopping several feet from her.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you, I just wanted to congratulate you.”
“Congratulate me? I got your boss put on probation.”
“It’s about time someone stood up to that asshole.”
He looked alarmed. “Are you going to write me up for that remark?”
“I think I’ll let that one slide—this time.” She said, smirking.
He exhaled, genuinely looking relieved. She moved her hand from her weapon.
“I just want to say, you are an inspiration, and I'm in awe of your tenacity.”
She struggled to swallow, this hadn’t gone how she’d anticipated at all.
“Thank you, Detective Flynn.” She said.
“Andy.” He offered his hand and she took it.
“Sharon.” They shook hands for a moment, but then stopped. Neither one of them let the other go.
He took a step closer. She felt herself lean into him.
His lips parted and his eyes closed. She closed her own eyes as his hand cupped her neck. Their lips met.
He tilted her chin up slightly and deepened the kiss. She was gasping when she placed a hand on his chest and pushed him away.
He followed her silent command, moving completely out of her reach.
“I’m sorry.” He said through quick breaths.
“I—don’t be.” She replied, hating herself for stopping the kiss, but knowing she had to if she wanted to keep her career.
A door slammed nearby as someone entered the parking garage.
Sharon took the moment to dart for her cruiser. She couldn’t face him, not right now. She had to get her emotions in check. She was a married woman. Well, a recently separated married woman. She had Emily and Ricky to think of. She couldn’t start an affair with another detective—even if he was a damn good kisser.
She put her cruiser in reverse and left the garage before she could change her mind and demand more from him.