Bad Timing (Dominique Luca x Reader)
This is probably going to be a fic moving forward so stay tuned to keep reading!
Premise: You and Luca always seem to have bad timing.
Based on episode 5.11: Old School Cool
It had been a over a year since Dominique Luca had seen your face, since he had seen your smile and now, he was staring at it on the whiteboard they were using in the Ops Room after the cyber attack that had been initiated by Shadowboxx. It was an older one of you in the academy. Your hair was brushed back into a conservative bun, the buttons on your uniform glinting in the light. You looked vibrant, ready to take on the world.
He tried to remember the last words he’d said to you, but they eluded him. He remembered that hug though, how tightly you had clung to one another before breaking apart. He had wanted to kiss you, wanted to confess how he felt but the timing was wrong. He was leaving for Germany a few days later. He hoped he had told you to stay safe, to take care of yourself.
He was brought back to the present by the sound of Deacon’s voice.
“The guys who grabbed up Shadowboxx work for Joseph Loughlin, he used to be part of the Irish Mob before he branched out to do his own thing trafficking girls in from Eastern European countries.” Deacon said as he used a magnet to secure Lochlin’s picture onto the board.
Luca took in the details from the image. Lochlin was pale by L.A standards, his pallor washed out and features pointed and sharp. His brown hair was flecked with glints of auburn and styled the same way that you saw on the club kids these days. The ones who practically made a living, making their presence known in the VIP sections.
“Last year Lochlin and his brother Eddie had the monopoly on brothels in the exclusive areas of L.A, they provided exclusive services to high end clients with particular appetites.” Hicks stepped in, pinning up a picture of Eddie Lochlin before picking up the red marker pen and scrawling the word deceased underneath.
“Underage girls?” Chris prompted; her arms crossed over her chest.
“Some as young as twelve.” Hicks told the team, his lips pursing together grimly. “Our friend here had become acquaintances with the brothers during a previous undercover operation, it appears Eddie had taken quite a shine to her.”
Luca shifted slight; he could feel the muscles in his jaw beginning to clench at the thought of that scumbag anywhere near you. He knew you well enough to see what had happened, you’d leveraged Eddie’s attraction to find a way in. You wouldn’t have been able to stand the thought of what those young girls were going through at the hands of these monsters. He felt nauseous thinking about it.
“Eddie O’Lochlin was a big cokehead back in the day.” Tan informed the rest of the room. “Back in Vice, he had dealers supplying to him multiple times a day.”
“He still was up until a year ago.” Hicks commented dryly before continuing. “Although these two had the trafficking routes, they didn’t have the skillset to deal with the operational aspects of such a fast-growing business, which is where our U.C came in. She managed to get intel on the financials and trafficking operation. Major Crimes were working with Interpol on dismantling the whole thing when things took a turn and Eddie was killed by our undercover officer.”
There was an undercurrent in Hick’s voice, something that made the hair on the back of Luca’s neck stand up. He didn’t know what it was but there was more to the story than he was saying. He could feel it in his bones.
“Eddie had a rep for not understanding the word no at the time. Intel suggested that was the reason he was kicked out of the Irish Mob to begin with, he was creating too many problems for them to clean up.” Tan informed the rest of the room. “We could never prove anything; no complaints were filed, and they seemed to handle the issue in house. I think they would have killed him if it weren’t for Joey, he was always the smarter of the two and the craziest.”
“So, they just sent her in there knowing that.” Hondo snapped, lacing his fingers together behind his head as he stared at the board murderously. “Jesus Christ.”
“Someone higher up the chain of command was obviously playing things fast and loose.” Hicks stated, shaking his head, and crossing his arms over his chest. “The focus I imagine was on the client list.”
“I’m guessing she handled it, if he ended up dead.” Street said, gesturing to the photograph of Eddie.
“He gave it a good go before she managed to put two rounds in his chest.” Hicks supplied, bowing his head. “The way he came at her, I doubt anything less would have stopped him.”
A flush of rage flushed through Luca, it started in the pit of his stomach and climbed up into his lungs as he imagined you trapped in that situation, having to defend yourself. The images darted through his brain like snapshots, the violence you may have suffered until you managed to get your hands on a gun. He couldn’t stand the thought of it.
“Can’t say that I wouldn’t have done the same myself.” Chris said venomously. “Sounds like the bastard deserved it.”
There were murmurs from the room before Hicks began again.
“After the indictment came down, Joey managed to post bail. He appealed to the Irish Mob, but they told him to clean up his own mess. I doubt they were too broken up about Eddie’s death.” Hicks told them. “Word on the street is that he’s been kicking up a storm about getting revenge for Eddie’s death.”
“Obviously he didn’t know who she was until he received that data packet from Shadowboxx.” Deacon supplemented, tapping his finger on the picture of Shadowboxx. “I’m guessing a lot of things started to make sense for him then.”
“This doesn’t explain why they snatched up Shadowboxx though.” Chris commented, her dark eyebrows etching into a frown. “And left the USB with all of her information behind.”
“Actually, it does.” Luca said, rubbing the bridge of his nose between two fingers to offset the tension headache that was brewing behind his eyes. “Before I shipped off to Germany, she was talking about updating the security at her house. It was after that thing with Lieutenant Lopez.”
“Yea, he used to do undercover in the Gang Unit before he became Lieutenant in Narcotics. Someone from one of his old cases spotted him in the street and followed him home. Killed him and his wife. It was all over the news at the time.” Tan recounted before tilting his head to Luca. “Do you know if she followed through?”
“We lost touch not long after that.” Luca said turning his attention to Deacon. “But I recommended your firm, said you may be able to give her a discount on account of the fact she’d worked with us before.”
“We gave her a pretty good deal.” Deacon informed the room as he pinned up the plans of the house. “We set up a geofence connected to a state-of-the-art alarm system as well as cameras. It would be hard to sneak up on her.”
“In the taster packet, Shadowboxx included her address but a basic run down of the security package.” Hicks told them, his hand rubbing across his jaw. “O’Lochlin must have realised they needed a hacker and with Shadowboxx’s rep he was perfect for the job.”
“As soon as Shadowboxx takes down the security, they can swing in and take her out.” Chris said, pushing off the table she was leaning against. “Has someone tried to contact her?”
“P.D hasn’t managed to get a hold of her yet. It keeps going to voicemail.” Hicks told them. “I’m going to roll out with you, set up a command post at the location. We can’t rely on all these glitchy coms.”
“There was this thing she was going to at my church.” Deacon said quietly, his arms crossed over his chest. He rose his head to meet Luca’s gaze. “It’s a meeting for people suffering from PTSD. They have to turn their phones for the session. I’ll call the pastor and see if she attended.”
Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Luca’s chest tightened at the revelation as the words echoed in his mind. You had talked about the nightmares, about the hypervigilance, being unable to switch off, always alert. He saw it for what it was at the time, suggested you get help. You declined, you always did, you could handle it…
Until a year ago, when you’d come out of an undercover op with Eddie O’Lochlin’s blood on your hands. When he’d gotten back from Germany, you hadn’t returned his texts. He assumed you were still undercover but now he realised you were in trouble. It pained him that he hadn’t tried harder, that he hadn’t physically tried to reach out.
“The rest of you, we’re rolling out in five.” Hicks told them before jerking his head towards the door indicating for them to follow.
“You didn’t know?” Chris asked quietly as the others in the room began to filter out.
“I knew there were problems.” He told her, crossing his arms at his chest, and raising his eyes to the ceiling. “I thought she was still undercover. She usually reaches out when she’s back on the grid.”
“The two of you…” Chris trailed off as Luca shook his head.
“I wanted to; I think she did too, but the timing was never right. We got close after S.W.A.T helped her out on that first case but then I injured my hip and back. She was right there with me through that, and she was so…” he trailed off, the edges of his lips tipped up into a smile. “There were days when I didn’t feel like getting out bed because I thought my future with S.W.A.T was over. She used to come around when Street was at work, kick my ass into gear. We’d walk Duke around the block, stop at whatever foodtruck was on the corner that day. It got me motivated again.”
“She seems like a good person to have in your corner.” Chris asked, leaning back against the table beside him, her elbow nudging his slightly. “What happened?”
The thing about Chris was that she showed how much she cared with her body language and her words. That brief physical contact was her way of letting him know she was there, to listen, to talk if he needed.
“By the time I got my head in the right place, that opportunity in Germany came up.” Luca told her with a shrug of his shoulders. “We both knew I had to take it. I wanted…”
He paused for a moment, clearing his throat.
“I wanted to tell her, but it didn’t seem fair. Saying that and leaving, it wasn’t right. So, I left. I got a text a few weeks later telling me she had taken a new assignment and would be out of contact for a while.”
“U.C you know…” Chris tutted with her tongue. “It puts you through the ringer and what happened with Eddie, that’s got to have fucked with her. It can take a long time to deal with something like that, it can shift your whole world view.”
Luca nodded, swallowing hard against the well of emotion in his throat. He couldn’t imagine what that must have been like for you, trying to handle something like that alone.
The door swung open as Deacon stepped into the room, his expression severe and his body thrumming with purpose as he paused in front of them.
“I just got off the phone with my pastor.” He told them. “She was at today’s group, they finished up fifteen minutes ago. She was already on the way home before he took my call.”
“We need to go.” Luca said pushing off the table. “We gotta stop her walking into that trap.”
