"good morning, sir" Ana says, softly, entering Sergeant Grey's office.

"this will only take a minute and then you can enjoy your day off" Grey assures her before handing her a file.

"what's this?" Ana asks, softly.

"an official transfer request" Grey responds.

Ana's eyebrows furrow and she takes the file. Her eyes widen exponentially when she sees that Tim has requested her to be transferred to Nolan's new TO and to take Nolan on with Lucy.

"h-he wants to transfer me?" Ana whispers.

"yes" Grey answers.

"w-why?" Ana whispers.

"This new training officer... she's... a lot. Me and the training officers talked about it and didn't think that Nolan could handle her, there was some debate, but Tim volunteered to transfer you" Grey explains.

"right" Ana sniffles.

"now all you have to do is sign here" Grey says, handing her a pen.

Ana nods, signing the paper and handing it back to Grey. He nods, his way of dismissing her.

Ana manages to make it to her car before she starts sobbing.

Money problems. Tim problems. And now she's been abandoned... again.

"w-we're gonna get through this" Ana whispers to herself, hiccuping.

"w-w-we're gonna survive... w-we have to" Ana sobs.

She's right in the middle of crying when she gets a call.

"hello?" Ana murmurs, softly, trying to make it sound like she's not been crying.

"Officer Cabrera, this is Detective Nyla Harper. I'm your new training officer." Harper's voice comes over the phone.

"right... I'm looking forward to working with you, ma'am" Ana sniffles.

"sure" Harper says, indicating that she's not excited about working with Ana. "I thought we should get a drink, size each other up a bit before shift tomorrow. Meet me at Third Strike. 20 minutes."

"um... yeah, okay" Ana agrees, softly. "I'll see you there"

Ana gets no response because Harper hangs up.

Ana quickly fixes her makeup before driving to Third Strike. Ana checks with the bartender but Harper isn't here yet so she orders herself a lemonade. Ana goes to a table, never having been one for bars. Her fingers tap on the table as she looks around, anxiously.

"Let me guess. First date? Worried he's not gonna show?" The waitress asks, coming over, and setting down her lemonade.

"um... no, j-just, waiting to meet up with a new coworker" Ana answers, softly. "thank you, ma'am" Ana says, softly, when the waitress gives her her lemonade.

"you don't drink?" the waitress asks, raising an eyebrow.

"no, ma'am" Ana replies, softly.

"was a member of your family in Cuba an alcoholic or did you have a run in during that long roadtrip your grandparents took you across the states before you landed in LA?" The waitress asks.

"w-what?" Ana whispers, looking up again. "you're her, Detective Harper?"

"took you long enough" Harper says, sitting down across from her.

"m-may I ask why?" Ana asks, softly.

"Wanted to see if you could play." Harper smirks.

"r-right, ma'am" Ana nods, softly.

"so why don't you drink?" Harper presses.

"um... I had a roommate in college, her father was an alcoholic, so I swore off drinking in front of her and it just k-kinda snowballed" Ana explains, softly.

"oh god, you're one of those" Harper realizes.

"o-one of what, ma'am?" Ana asks, softly.

"A guardian. There are two kinds of cops, Officer Cabrera, there are Warriors and Guardians. One's a hunter, the other's a nurturer. One is only alive when they're in the fight. The other is happy to clock out after 12. One is worth my time. The other is not." Harper says, tossing off her apron and walking away.

"oh" Ana whispers, watching her walk away.

[Timeskip]

We have a new Training Officer joining us this morning, Detective Nyla Harper." Grey starts roll call, looking around.

"Nyla?" He calls before he sees Harper chatting with another officer and motions her into the briefing room.

"What's up?" Harper asks.

"You're late for roll call." Grey replies.

"Oh, that's still a thing?" Harper asks before sitting down next to Ana.

It's not gone unnoticed by Ana that Lucy has moved to sitting next to Jackson and Nolan, leaving her alone.

"Take a seat. As I was saying, Detective Harper just completed four years of undercover work. She has volunteered to bring her wealth of experience to the FTO program. Officer Cabrera, I'm sure you'll learn a lot." Grey introduces

"yes, sir" Ana replies, softly.

"If you need anything, ask Lopez and Bradford. They'll bring you up to speed." Grey tells Harper.

"Yes, sir." Harper promises.

"All right, that's it. Be safe out there." Grey says, dismissing them.

Ana stands up and walks away when she sees Tim and Angela approaching Harper. Ana goes down to the quartermaster and grabs the gear before any of the rookies are there.

Ana knows the routine by now. People are friends with you for a little bit before going back to pretending you don't exist. But this time, she'd gotten her hopes up and it hurts a lot more than it usually does.

She thought she had friends.

Turns out she mistook people who put up with her for friends... again.

"What's all this?" Harper interrupts her from her thought process, seeing Ana with the two bags of gear.

"Our gear, ma'am" Ana replies, softly.

Ana's eyebrows furrow as Harper starts taking things out of the bags.

"Ticket book? You're not gonna need that. Or that. Or this." Harper says as she pulls things out of the bag.

"um... Sergeant Grey wants two citations per week, ma'am" Ana protests, softly.

"Grey's not your TO." Harper replies before turning to the quartermaster. "Give me an AR-15 with PVS-14 night vision and a laser sight."

"You're AR certified?" The quartermaster asks.

"Card's on file." Harper answers.

"Coming up." The quarter master says.

"You think we're gonna need an AR-15?" Ana asks, softly, frowning.

"Sure hope so." Harper answers.

"I-I'm sorry about last night" Ana murmurs, softly. "b-but I do really want to learn from you."

"Oh, I won't be teaching you." Harper replies.

"W-what? You're my training officer." Ana says, softly, frowning.

"Which earns me a 5% pay bump. Whether you learn or not." Harper responds.

She walks away with the AR-15, leaving Ana stunned.

"okay..." Ana murmurs, quickly stuffing the gear bags with the stuff that Harper took out and following after her.

[Timeskip]

"That guy has a broken taillight." Ana frowns, softly, leaning forward in the passenger seat. Ana is observing while on patrol while Harper doesn't seem to give two shits about the job.

"Which he clearly can't afford to fix." Harper responds.

"oh. that was close, she should've stopped" Ana murmurs, softly. "could've caused an accident.

"But she didn't. Is this why you became a cop, runt? To harass hard-working people just trying to get by? Doesn't sound very guardian-like to me." Harper answers.

"n-no, ma'am, b-but it's important in case that it does happen. a-and Sergeant Grey likes to see 2 citations, 2 misdemeanors, and 2 felony arrests" Ana says, softly.

"Yeah, we won't be doing that." Harper responds.

"h-he could fire us" Ana points out, softly.

"I can't get fired. I have a golden ticket." Harper replies.

"w-what's a golden ticket?" Ana asks, softly.

"It's a reward for policing above and beyond. I had my choice, any station, any detail." Harper explains.

"Oh. So you picked this" Ana hums, softly.

"Mm-hmm." Harper nods.

"c-congrats on the golden ticket, you must've done some amazing things" Ana says, softly.

"It's what warriors do, Officer Cabrera. Which is why we don't get out of this car for anything less than a felony. And when we do step out, we step out hard and fast. Strike before they can. And if you slow me down, you are done." Harper replies.

Ana sits back in her seat.

This is the first time she's ever seriously considered quitting, but it all just feels like it's crashing in on her.

[Timeskip]

"Maserati. No plates." Ana realizes, softly. "I'm guessing you don't want to stop, ma'am"

"No, this one, we stop." Harper says.

"There's a rag around the steering column to hide the broken ignition. That car is stolen." Ana realizes, softly, as they pull the car over.

"Driver in the Maserati, pull over. Driver. Step out of the car." Harper says through the loud speaker.

"You're hot for a cop." The driver (Kriff) says, getting out of the car.

"I know. Everybody out. Now. Hands where I can see them. Runt. VIN." Harper instructs.

"Control, 7-Adam-15. Need you to run a VIN for me. Number's 7-1-8-" Ana starts, softly.

"Hey, stay where you are. Stay where you are! You're under arrest. Hey, stop!" Harper says, running after Kriff who is running away.

7-Adam-15. In foot pursuit of suspect. 7th and Figueroa. Hispanic male, 5'7", gray shirt, gray jeans. Requesting backup and airship." Ana says, softly, over the radio, before running after Harper.

"Aah! Aaaah!" Kriff yells in pain as Ana runs over to him, right next to a two story building.

"7-Adam-15. Start an RA to 7th and Figueroa. Suspect down. Broken leg. Conscious and breathing. Just stay still. Help is on the way." Ana says, softly, over the radio.

"She pushed me. That bitch pushed me." Kriff yells.

Ana looks up to see Harper standing at the edge of the two story building.

[Timeskip]

"Okay, ready." The EMT says as he gets Kriff into the ambulance.

"what happened?" Ana asks, softly.

"Gravity." Harper replies, shortly.

"He says you pushed him." Ana frowns, softly.

"I know I said I wasn't gonna teach you anything, Runt, but, um, here's a lesson. Criminals lie." Harper says, making Ana's frown deepen.

[Timeskip]

"um... excuse me. May I have a word?" Ana asks, softly, knocking on Grey's door before entering.

She freezes when she sees Harper in the office along with Sergeant Grey.

"Oh, right on time." Harper smirks.

"I'll come back later, sorry, sir, ma'am" Ana says, softly, moving to leave.

"No. Stay. This concerns you, too. See, Detective Harper asked me to review her body-cam footage." Grey says, making Ana stay.

They watch the footage, which shows Kriff jumped off of the roof instead of being pushed.

"Looks conclusive to me." Grey says.

"Yes, sir." Ana agrees, softly.

"So I'll forward it to Internal Affairs with a memo. Hopefully it'll head off any civil lawsuits that might be coming your way." Grey tells Harper.

"Thank you, sir." Harper says, moving to leave.

"You're welcome." Grey responds.

"And thank you for the trust, runt." Harper snarls, pushing past Ana.

"I'm really sorry, sir." Ana says, softly. "I-I just-... with everything you told me... I didn't... I'm really sorry"

"No, you did the right thing coming to me." Grey shakes his head.

"Got word this morning. Detective Harper spent the last four years doing "controlled deliveries" in the LAPD-DEA task force." Grey says.

"I'm sorry, w-what does that mean?" Ana asks, softly.

"An undercover agent poses as a drug smuggler. Goes into Mexico, negotiates with the cartel. Guarantees delivery of dope into the U. S. with their own lives. And then they actually smuggle the dope over the border, planting micro trackers in it. See, and then once it's distributed, SWAT moves in, arrests everyone that touched it." Grey explains.

"And then you go back to Mexico to do it again" Ana realizes, softly.

"But only now, the cartel is looking for someone to blame, with blow torches, power tools, you know." Grey adds.

"oh" Ana whispers, beginning to realize what he's saying.

"She spent the last four years neck-deep in paranoia and adrenaline, lying every time she opened her mouth, striking out at any sign of aggression. Now, don't get me wrong I have the utmost respect for her service, but transitioning back into a uniform? That's gonna be a bitch." Grey finishes.

"I'm going to help her, sir" Ana promises, softly.

"knew you would, that's why Bradford paired you with her" Grey answers, before dismissing her.

[Timeskip]

"Son of a bitch." Harper says.

They're parked across the street from a laundromat and Harper is looking at a man inside.

"who's he?" Ana asks, softly.

"Corkscrew. I knew him in Arizona. If he's in LA, something's up." Harper replies.

"w-wait, you met him undercover?" Ana questions, softly, getting even more confused when she sees Harper taking off her uniform.

"w-what are you doing?" Ana asks, softly. "w-w-we're not supposed to take our uniform off during shift"

"You gonna run and tell Grey?" Harper replies.

"n-no, I just need you to tell me what's going on, let me help you" Ana pleads, softly

"Corkscrew knew me as a tweaker named Crystal. If I play it right, he'll tell me why he's in town. Only come in if I need you." Harper instructs.

"H-how will I know?" Ana murmurs, softly, watching Harper get out of the car.

"You'll know." Harper replies, closing the shop door and walking towards the laundromat.

Ana sighs, watching the interaction, finally, she decides to screw it and call Lucy.

"Hey, you're on speaker. What's up?" Lucy asks.

"um... w-would it be worse to d-disobey a direct order or w-watch your TO get dragged back undercover?" Ana asks, softly.

"what the hell is going on?" Tim asks over the phone.

Ana freezes when she hears his voice.

"h-hold on, I'll call you back" Ana murmurs, softly, hanging up the phone and going back to watching Harper and Corkscrew.

She watches as Corkscrew gets all up in Harper's face. Ana decides to screw it, getting out of the car and entering the laundromat.

"hey, what's going on?" Ana asks, softly.

"Uh, uh, this crazy bitch attacked me." Corkscrew stuttered out.

"Turn around. Put your hands on the wall. Spread your feet. Ma'am, I need you to do the same thing." Ana instructs, softly, starting to cuff Harper.

"Let him go. Arrest me." Harper whispers.

"Ma'am, you're under arrest. Come on. Give me your hand." Ana decides.

"I'm tellin' you, she started it." Corkscrew insisted.

"have you known her before today?" Ana asks, softly.

"I never seen her before. Why? What did she say?" Corkscrew asks, obviously lying.

"Nothing. Just a routine question. I just need your ID and your mobile number, and I can get out of your hair." Ana replies, softly.

"Yeah, it's, uh- It's 480-" Corkscrew starts.

"Sorry, I need to get it off your actual phone. Procedure." Ana explains, softly.

"Okay." Corkscrew says, handing her his phone.

"Perfect. Thank you. Thanks." Ana says, softly. "have a good day, sir"

She finishes cuffing Harper and walks her out to the car, putting her in the backseat.

"All right, we're far enough away. Pull over and let me out." Harper orders. Ana obeys, pulling over and letting Harper out.

"Listen, runt" Harper starts about ten minutes after a tense silence. "you didn't know. you came blazing in. that isn't how undercover operations work, you could've blown my cover"

"this isn't an undercover operation" Ana murmurs, softly.

Harper slams on the breaks. "get out and walk" Harper orders.

Ana obeys, getting out and watching as Harper drives away, presumably back to the station.

[Timeskip]

Thankfully, she called Tim and Lucy and they picked her up before grilling her on what happened. She got back just in time for a briefing that Grey called

"This is Ross Tegan, AKA Corkscrew. He operates as a straw buyer out of Arizona, transporting unlicensed weapons into California where they end up on our streets. Thanks to Detective Harper, we now know the location of his next sale. Detective?" Grey begins.

"He may not look like much, but Corkscrew is putting guns in the hands of the most dangerous gangs in the city. Cut off his pipeline, our streets get safer, and our jobs get easier." Harper explains.

"So we'll observe the exchange from a van across the street. As soon as the buy takes place, SWAT will move in to make the arrest." Grey orders.

"What about me?" Harper asks.

"So, you and Cabrera will secure the perimeter with Bradford, Chen, and Nolan. Make sure we don't get any nasty surprises." Grey responds.

"So, it's my bust, but you want me to wait outside?" Harper asks.

"That's exactly what I want, Detective Harper. Is that gonna be a problem?" Grey asks, raising an eyebrow.

"No, sir." Harper replies.

"Good. Gear up." Grey dismisses them.

"Hang back, cupcake. You need to watch your back." Tim says, Ana almost flinches from the nickname

"I'll be miles from the action, sir" Ana replies, softly.

"I mean with Harper. Now, Grey's put you in a bad position. She's a land mine waiting to go off. So if you find yourself in a jam, text me or Lucy. We'll be there." Bradford promises.

"Thank you, sir" Ana nods, softly.

"Be safe" Lucy says.

"Let's go, Chen." Tim says and Ana watches as they walk away.

[Timeskip]

"They're upping the buy. Hold position." The head of SWAT says over the radio.

"Who's the buyer?" Ana asks, softly, confused.

"Most likely, it's one of two local arms dealers, Osito or Brooker." Harper responds.

"Osito. The Teddy Bear?" Ana questions, softly.

"It's his nickname, I assume it's meant to be ironic. Between those two guys, they provide 60% of the guns from here to Fresno." Harper explains.

"oh, thank you, ma'am" Ana says, softly, before they go quiet again.

[Timeskip]

"All right, deal is done. Moving in. Perimeter units, lock down all traffic." The SWAT leader says over the radio.

"What? No. No. Hold that order. Stay in position." Harper says over the radio.

"Who the hell is this?!" The SWAT leader asks over the radio.

"Harper. Osito is a must-catch. If we roll up on these guys now, we will spook him," Harper explains.

"He's not coming, and we can't risk losing these two." The SWAT leader replies.

"Yeah, but –" Harper starts.

"Detective Harper, this is not your call. Respect the chain of command and your fellow officers, or I will fire you, golden ticket or not." Grey threatens.

"Team one, move in." SWAT leader says over the radio.

"Where are you going? We're on perimeter." Ana asks, softly, when Harper gets out of the car.

"I am not gonna let these guys blow my operation." Harper answers.

"it's not your operation, you provided information but it was never your operation. Listen, I don't know why you're here, but I do know that undercover is hard and coming back to patrol will be terrible, but I'm here and I want to help you. Don't blow your golden ticket on this! On some lousy drug dealers who will get you fired!" Ana says, blocking Harper.

Somehow, her speech manages to get Harper to stop and Ana breathes a sigh of relief.

Ana looks to the side, seeing a blue Mustang make a u-turn.

"Did you see that?" Ana asks, softly.

"What?" Harper asks, annoyed.

"The driver in the blue Mustang, he made a U-turn and looked scared, that could be Osito" Ana points out, softly.

"Or it could be some random guy that realized he left his phone at the store." Harper shrugs.

"I don't think so, he almost froze up when he saw the cops and he looked worried." Ana disagrees.

"What did he look like?" Harper asks.

"Um. Hispanic, mid-30s, full face, brown hair, scar over his left eye." Ana lists, softly.

"That's Osito. Don't call it in. SWAT already has their bust. This guy is mine." Harper says.

Ana texts Lucy as Harper speeds after the blue Mustang, giving her access to her location on her phone.

"Where he's going?" Ana asks, softly, as they follow the Mustang.

"With any luck, he's leading us to his home base." Harper replies.

"Maybe we should wait for backup" Ana says, softly.

"Nah, that's too conspicuous. Long as he doesn't know we're following him, there's no telling where he might lead us." Harper answers.

"we're in the shop, you know that, right?" Ana asks, softly.

"I know." Harper replies, as they pull up to a gated storage complex.

"okay, what are we doing now?" Ana asks, softly, as Harper gets out of the car.

"It's perfect. There's only one way in or out." Harper replies.

"7-Adam-15. We got a 417 at Diamond Lock Storage. 19901 Jefferson Boulevard. Requesting backup and airship. Code 2 High." Ana says over the radio.

"feel better?" Harper asks.

"No" Ana responds, softly.

They manage to arrest the man in charge of the gate and get inside. They pass a storage locker and see three men loading up boxes into a truck.

Harper immediately starts to shoot, with Ana quickly following after. Harper moves out of cover to get a better shot. Ana, on instinct alone, gets in front of her and gets shot in the vest.

She falls to the side, it knocks the wind out of her and she can't get up yet. She hears sirens as Lucy and Tim arrive, quickly firing back as well. With the backup, they manage to capture Osito and some of his gang members.

"you good, cupcake?" Tim asks, helping her stand.

"yeah, the vest caught it, sir" Ana replies, softly. "thank you"

[Timeskip]

Ana gets home late, having worked a little side job for five hours. When she enters the apartment, she sees that it's empty. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion until she finds a note with a simple address.

"9860 Angels Drive, suite 98" Ana reads the address aloud.

Worried that her grandparents were kidnapped or worse, Ana rushes to the apartment. When she gets inside, however, she freezes.

Tim and Lucy are standing there with her family.

"w-what's going on?" Ana asks, softly, stepping inside and closing the door.

Moose runs over and Ana leans down to pet him but keeps eye contact with her family and friends.

"a little birdy told us you've been having money problems" Lucy starts.

Ana tilts her head, still confused.

"every officer has 5% of their salary, including overtime, set aside for emergency situations, turns out, that yours is more than enough to pay for a new, slightly smaller apartment, and to eat lunch" Tim explains.

"w-wait, what?" Ana asks, softly, pinching herself to make sure this isn't a dream.

"Puedes confundirte más tarde, las carnitas ya están listas." Carmen says, ushering Ana further into the new apartment to the dining table. (You can be confused later, the carnitas are done now.)

Ana bites her lip, looking back at Lucy and Tim before allowing herself to be sat down for dinner.

"thank you" Ana says, softly, as Lucy and Tim are getting ready to go.

[Timeskip]

"hey, it's what friends are for" Lucy responds, hugging Ana.

Ana smiles, waving them goodbye.

When she goes to bed that night, she does cry.

But they aren't tears of sadness or frustration.

They are tears of joy and relief.

She has friends.