Chapter 29

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The next morning, our class gathered up on the outside training ground of the academy. After running a few laps around the track, we were introduced to the obstacle track. The course entailed a couple of sprint areas, a set of stairs, obstacles we had to run around as well as climb over and under, dummy drag stations, and balance beams. We were taught the best techniques to pass each obstacle, then every recruit did the course while being timed. We would redo the course regularly over the next few months, and the times would show our progress.

Aidan volunteered to go first and flew through the course, the obstacles barely slowing him down. Another recruit who'd also been in the military went next and aced the course too. The longer I stood there and watched, the more my nerves picked up, and I started second-guessing if I could even do certain parts of the obstacle course.

To silence those thoughts, I surprised myself and stepped forward and volunteered to do the course next. The instructor nodded in recognition.

I sprinted down the length of the course, jumped over a low obstacle, crawled under the next, ran up the steps and down again, taking one step at a time like we were instructed to do. I arrived in the sandpit and dragged the heavy dummy several feet to the edge of the pit, climbed over a fence that reached up to my shoulder, and crossed the balance-beams effortlessly. As I jumped off the last beam, I saw the six-foot wall in the distance, and while I sprinted towards it, I knew that this would be the most difficult obstacle for me. Kicking my foot off the wall, I lunged up and grabbed onto the top edge of the wall. I had hoped that the momentum would lift me high enough so that I could hook my leg over right away, but I slipped back down. I took another run at the wall and tensed the muscles in my arms, trying to pull myself up.

"You should have done more pushups," I hissed at myself as I failed and dropped to the ground again.

I bent over and rested my hands on my knees, allowing myself to take a short break to catch my breath. Setting my sights on the edge of the wall, I blocked out all thoughts of the instructor and the other recruits watching me fail. Instead, I focused on the task at hand and what I needed my body to do, then ran at the wall one more time. Gathering up and diverting all my strength to my arms, I pulled myself up just enough to swing my leg over the edge and dropped down on the other side. I heard soft cheering and applause from a few of the recruits and finished the rest of the course.

"Upton, 3 minutes and 42 seconds," the instructor announced and scribbled the time onto his chart.

I returned to the group of recruits and only realised when I came to a stop how out of breath I was. I worked out multiple times a week and had always thought of myself as physically fit, but standing there, breathing heavily, I recognised that I would have to step up my game if I wanted to keep up with the physical training at the academy.

A few of the recruits that followed me also struggled to climb over the six-foot wall. One recruit who was a few inches shorter than me impressed everyone when she charged over the wall effortlessly and finished the course in just over three minutes.

When it was Mei's turn, a murmur went through the group of recruits as she sprinted up to the wall. She ran and jumped, but her fingertips didn't even reach the top of the wall, and she slammed against the bricks harshly. She jumped a few more times and twice she reached the edge of the wall and managed to hang on, but her arms weren't strong enough to pull her up.

The instructor stood by idly and watched her struggle. I glanced at his stopwatch and saw the digits tick to seven minutes. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other impatiently, finding it hard to bear to watch Mei fight fruitlessly and see the strength drain from her body.

Another minute passed. Quietly and calmly, I stepped out of the group of recruits. Keeping my eyes trained on Mei and avoiding looking at the instructor, I walked over to her. I reached the wall at the end of another one of Mei's failed attempts to jump. Her legs gave out under her when she landed, and she fell to the ground. Without saying anything, I reached out my hand, pulled her up, then leaned against the wall to give her a leg-up. She glanced back at the instructor briefly before accepting my help but decided to take it. I boosted her up, and she swung her leg to the other side and let herself drop down.

While she finished the rest of the course, I walked back to the group and filed into my spot. I wasn't sure if there would be consequences for what I had just done, but watching Mei in distress without helping her, hadn't been an option for me.

"Cho, 10 minutes and 2 seconds," the instructor called out when Mei had dragged herself over the finish line.

Her face was bright red from embarrassment and exhaustion, her usual bright smile had evaporated, and frustrated tears welled in her eyes as she retreated to the very back of the group.

The instructor turned around to face the recruits. "Teamwork. That's why out in the field every police officer has a partner," he stated monotonously. "Next!"

At lunch, I found Mei sitting by herself in the furthest corner of the cafeteria. She looked tiny in her chair, and her face held a sombre expression.

"Hey, Mei," I said carefully and gave her a little, reassuring smile as I sat down with her.

A faint smile flitted over her delicate features.

"Thank you for helping me out earlier," she whispered. "I was really worried that the instructor would punish you for it."

"Don't worry about it. I decided to take that risk. And don't let what happened get you down too much. Nobody expects you to be perfect at everything right away. Just wait, at the end of our training you'll be flying over that wall," I assured her, trying to encourage and cheer her up.

Aidan made his way over to our table and joined us. He studied Mei for a moment.

"Are you still down because of the wall thing?" he asked. "I wouldn't be. I know how instructors like him think, and I'm certain that he was very impressed by your relentless effort and determination. You might feel like you've failed, but in his book, that was a good performance."

Mei glanced up from her food. "You think so?" she asked softly.

Aidan nodded, and Mei's expression lit up slightly. I looked over at Aidan and caught his eye to convey a silent thank you to him. He pressed his lips together and nodded in recognition.

For the second half of the day, we were back in the classroom learning about the criminal justice and jail system, ethics, and more state law.

In the evening, I drove home and sat down at my kitchen island. I spread all my learning materials out around me and went through everything we'd been taught so far. We'd be writing a test at the end of each week, and I decided to update my study guide every night.

Jay had texted me earlier to let me know that he would be stopping by later, and half an hour before he arrived, I had started preparing some dinner.

When I heard the key in my door and Jay let himself in, I was sitting at the island again, going through the flashcards I had made.

He walked up behind me and leaned down to bury his face in the crook of my neck. He inhaled deeply and whispered, "Hey, you," before scattering a few kisses across my neck.

I squirmed under the touch as his beard tickled my skin, then spun around on my stool to face him. Jay held a bouquet of red roses mixed with baby's-breath in his hand. He placed it down on the island to free his hands, so he could lift me off my seat and onto the island to reduce the height difference between us. He pushed the stool out of the way and stepped closer to me. I reached up and stroked my hand from his temple to his cheek. I had missed those green eyes and that freckled face all day and the night before. He leaned in closer and rested his forehead against mine while I closed my eyes and enjoyed the closeness. His hands cupped the sides of my face, and he pressed his lips to mine. Butterflies rejoiced in my stomach.

He broke the kiss momentarily to say, "First time I let myself in. I liked it."

When he pulled back, I motioned towards the flowers. "What are those for?" I asked with a curious smile.

"I questioned a witness in her flower shop today," he explained with a soft smirk on his lips while running his hands up and down the sides of my thighs. "When her husband walked in, she got nervous and scared, so I had to pretend that I was a customer. The husband asked who I was buying flowers for, and I told him I was getting them for my girlfriend."

My smile widened, and I raised an eyebrow. "Your girlfriend? Who is she, and when do I get to meet her? I think I need to apologise to her for sleeping with her boyfriend."

"I think you'd like her. At least I do very much," Jay said, his mouth curving into a smile. "She's beautiful but doesn't seem to know just how beautiful she is. I love the way she looks at me with the most incredible blue eyes I've ever seen." He brushed a strand of hair out of my face, and I got lost in his stare. "She gets charmingly excited by the smallest things, makes me laugh, she is kind and selfless, adventurous and brave, and badass no end."

I was overcome with emotion by his words, and my vision blurred as tears came to my eyes. He would have continued, but before he could open his mouth again, I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in to kiss him.

"You make me so happy," I whispered against his lips, then enveloped him in an affectionate hug.

Jay held me tightly, and I melted into his touch. We lingered for a few minutes, tracing our fingers up and down each other's backs and shoulders, quietly expressing our appreciation for one another.

"Are you hungry?" I asked eventually, my words muffled by his T-shirt.

"Yeah, I'm starving," he confirmed.

"I made pasta," I told him and reluctantly separated my limbs from his and jumped off the counter to put the flowers into a vase and warm up the food.

Jay stayed by the island and inspected my books and learning material. "It's the second day, and you're already making flashcards," he noticed.

"Yeah, I like being on top of things early," I commented while filling water into a vase.

I placed the bouquet into it, arranged the flowers nicely, and placed the vase onto the windowsill of my kitchen window.

"I like how motivated you are," he added and picked up my flashcards. "Name the three components of the criminal justice system," he read out the first one.

"What, you're going to quiz me now?" I objected with a grin and turned on the stove.

"Yeah, come on. Three components. First one starts with an L," he teased.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Law enforcement, judiciary, and corrections."

He didn't need to look at the back of the card. "Well done," he said in an exaggeratedly impressed tone and moved on to the next card. "Give me the definition of a crime."

"An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law," I recited.

"What's an offence?"

"Any violation of written law."

Jay dropped the flashcards back down onto the counter. "Yeah, I think you're good without me. You don't need my help."

He helped me move my books to the side, and we sat down to have our dinner.

"How was the second day at the academy?" Jay asked before taking the first bite.

"It was fun. Before lunch, we trained on the obstacle track, and after lunch, we learned all this," I said and patted my notepads and flashcards.

"How was the obstacle track?"

"Considering that it was my first time on the track, I'm happy with how I did, but I definitely need to do more cardio training and work on my upper body strength," I told him and squeezed my biceps.

"Have you made any friends yet?"

"Yeah, I've been hanging out with Aidan and Mei. He was in the Navy. I think you'd like him. Mei is very sweet. I really hope she prevails and doesn't get discouraged by the tough side of the academy. She is very determined, but I had to help her out on the course today. Luckily the instructor approved and didn't reprimand me for it."

"It isn't easy to know if you're made for this kind of a job before you go in and try it. Let's hope she's one of those people who quickly learn how to toughen up," Jay replied. "I like that you stepped out of line and helped her. A good cop needs to know when to follow their instincts."

"Thank you," I smiled and stroked his hand. "How was your day?"

"Busy but good. I went to see Doctor Charles during lunch today."

"Did you like him?" I inquired curiously.

"It was only a short introductory session, but I have a good feeling about it. I feel like I can trust him and be comfortable enough around him to open up."

"That's really good news," I sighed, feeling hopeful. "And the case you're working, how's that going?"

"Yeah, we'll see," Jay answered and got up to get himself another serving. "I actually wanted to talk to you about the case. I need your input on something."

Surprised, I straightened up. "Okay, shoot."

"The woman that sold me the flowers, her husband robbed a check-cashing store, and an innocent civilian died because of it. We're trying to get the wife to flip on him, but even though he's a violent and dangerous man and beats her, she won't help us. Not even for her daughter."

I nodded along quietly, understanding the situation.

"If you don't want to talk about this topic, just tell me," he quickly added.

"No, that's alright. What's your question?"

"Do you have any advice on how we could go about convincing her to help and work with us? Her husband is such a huge danger to her. You should have seen the photos of her face from when she was admitted to the hospital a few years ago."

His brows drew together, and his lips tightened as he saw the images in his mind. This case was difficult for him, and I could see on his face, in his composure, and hear it in his tone.

I reflected for a few seconds before answering. "There's no one way of going about this that will certainly work. My mother is a good example of that. I tried everything, and nothing worked."

Jay nodded. "Yeah, I understand that."

"The woman you're dealing with is just trying to survive, and right now the police is a threat to her survival. You need to find a way to give her hope. A concrete, tangible escape plan. She needs to see what her new life will look like. Proof that it's possible, that she and her daughter will be safe, and the husband can't come after them," I explained.

Jay listened intently and thought about my advice for a moment. "Like showing her a safe apartment where she and her daughter could stay?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Okay, I'll bring that idea up to Voight tomorrow. Thank you," he said and smiled at me genuinely.

"No problem. Keep me posted on how it goes."