Judy Hopps (fluffy_cop) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-08-03 22:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, judy hopps, will gorski |
Who: Will & Judy
What: Introductions
When: Before the plot
Where: Irvine PD
Rating: Low
Status: Complete!
It was strange, starting again at a new precinct on the other side of the country. At a place where no one knew him. He stepped into the precinct, his head on a swivel as he took in the sights around him. As much as everything was different, it was a relief to know that some things, mostly precincts, stayed the same no matter where in the country he was.
"Hey," he said, approaching a blond detective sitting behind a desk. "I'm uh, looking for a Sergeant Partington?"
The cop looked up and gave him a look as if assessing him, then jerked his thumb over toward an office door. "Over there, probably," the man said gruffly, and as Will walked toward the office, he was uncomfortably aware of the detectives eyes on him.
It didn't take too long once he introduced himself to the Sergeant. He was expecting Will, and the paperwork was already prepared for him. All Will had to do was sign them, and the Sergeant collected them and filed them to be processed later.
"Alright," Partington said. "Let's go introduce you to your new partner."
Will nodded, a little nervous, kind of excited. He hoped that they'd get along. He couldn't expect to get along with whoever it was more than he did Diego, but that was one of the sacrifices to packing up and moving away. He was led over to another desk where a petite girl was sitting. If it wasn't for her uniform, crisp and blue, there was no way that he would have pegged her as a police officer. Which would explain the look of surprise when Partington said "Well, Gorski, here she is. Officer Hopps, meet Officer Gorski. Your new partner."
Nick had been...interesting to say the least. He didn’t seem to have the time of day for her and she always had the distinct impression he was trying to avoid her. He left her with all the paperwork and when she finally confronted him about it, she got the “seniority” talk. It seemed a lot of the cops here felt that way and there was little she could to try and shake it. It was almost bittersweet when it was announced he was being transferred to the Anaheim PD to help out there. She wondered if she would be provided with a new partner and was pleasantly surprised to find out that she had. A new transfer, something she almost pumped her fist into the air for. Would a transfer still be considered a rookie? Probably not, but at least she wasn’t the newest recruit in the department.
She had been finishing up a report when the captain came by to introduce them. She stood up, taking in her new partner for the first time. He seemed to be about her age, that was always good. Sometimes the age gap in the department created tensions and she’d rather not have it start out on a weird foot.
“Hi! You must be Will.” Judy held her hand out for him to shake. “It’s nice to meet you! I’m Judy!” She glanced at Partington, nodding her head. “Don’t worry chief, I’ve got it from here.”
Partington nodded. “Well, you kids have fun,” he jested, and then turned to leave the two new partners to get acquainted.
“Will Gorski,” Will confirmed, taking Judy’s hand and giving it a couple of firm shakes. “It’s nice to meet you, Judy. How long have you been working here?”
“Just a couple months now,” she admitted, although she quickly followed it up with, “But it feels like a couple years now! Once you get situated here, you become parta the ship, parta the crew real fast.” She grinned, kicking a chair for him to sit down. She nodded her head to the desk across from her. “That’ll be your desk, but Nick has to finish cleaning it up. Sorry now if you have to do most of it for him.” She rolled her eyes. “Old partner.”
She sat down next to him in her own chair, leaning back to really look at him. “You’re coming from Chicago, yeah? How about you? How long were you there for?”
Will smiled, glad at the news. It had been hard to get integrated at the Chicago PD, partly because all the old cops had known him since he was a baby. They all knew everything about him - all his scraped knees, how often he’d ended up in the back of his dad’s cop car, the whole situation with the Sara Partell investigation. He hoped that being accepted here, on the other side of the country where no one knew him, would be easier.
“I don’t mind,” he said, glancing over at the desk. Really, it wouldn’t take him more than a few minutes to box everything up for this Nick guy. “I was in Chicago for thirty years,” he said, smiling lightly. “But I was on the force for six years over there.”
Judy gave him an impressed look, excited at his tenure. She hoped he didn’t look down, like it was a bad thing to have a rookie be his new partner. But she’d be able to show him that tenure or not, she was there to work and be the best. “Six years is pretty impressive! Did you always know you’d be a cop?”
Laughter burst from Will’s throat, unbidden, at Judy’s question. “No, definitely not,” he said. “Being a cop was the last thing I wanted to do when I was younger. My old man was a police, and it kind of turned me off of the whole thing.”
Judy was surprised by his response, her eyes going a bit wide before she could smile along with him. “I imagine your teenage years were fun,” she joked, shaking her head. “What turned it around for ya then? Suddenly wanting to follow in your dad’s footsteps?”
“I spent more time than I’d like to admit in the back of his cruiser,” he said with a smile, but it became a little more strained at her question. “Not exactly,” he said vaguely. He’d been told not to talk about Sara Patrell his whole life; his father had even sent him to counselling to make him stop ‘making up stories’ about what he’d seen. Even here, on the other side of the country, where no one was likely to be familiar with the 20 year old case, he was hesitant to talk about it. At least, not to a woman he’d just met, even if she was his partner.
“Really?” Judy couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head, readjusting against the desk and folding her arms across her chest. “So you kinda rebelled against your old man?” She grinned, wondering if her own father felt the same way about her. He wanted her to stay and help keep the farm running. She wasn’t sure if that was pure laziness or true interest in keeping her around.
She raised her eyebrows, thinking he would continue with his sentence and explain what it was that made him change his mind about the whole thing. Or maybe it wasn’t something he wanted to share at the moment. “Right. Well, I can give ya a tour around this place, but there’s not much here. Probably nothing you haven’t seen before.” She grinned. “We could go grab something to eat if you’re hungry. I can show you around and where our patrol will be.”
“Checking out our beat sounds like a good idea,” Will said. It was better to get familiar with it sooner, rather than later, especially when he was in a completely unfamiliar city on the other side of the country. “You can show me the best places to eat on our route too. Two birds, one stone.”