The Rookie: Echoes of the Past - Chapter Ten Previous Chapters: One / Two / Three / Four / Five / Six / Seven / Eight / Nine Spotify Playlist for The Rookie: Echoes of the Past - HERE TW: None
Previously on The Rookie
"I would be sitting in a dark room, completely blind, waiting for a monster from my past to hunt me down! And you—you would have been out on the streets trying to play the hero! Victor ruined my brother's life. He destroyed my family. I refuse to let him destroy yours too!"
Nolan stopped, the sheer desperation in her voice cutting through his anger. He stared at his rookie, seeing past the uniform to the terrified, defensive twenty-nine-year-old who had spent her entire life learning that she could only rely on herself. The heavy silence stretched between them in the heat of the parking lot, both breathing heavily, the rift between T.O. and rookie wider than it had ever been.
The echo of Ellie’s words faded into the heavy, shimmering heat of the industrial lot. She stood with her chest heaving, her knuckles white where she gripped the frame of the shop door, her blue eyes defiant despite the tears shining in them.
Nolan stared at her, the sharp edges of his fury slowly blunting against the raw desperation in her face. He took a long, measured breath, letting the silence stretch between them until the immediate heat of the argument began to cool. He was furious that she had put them both in danger, but as he looked at her, he also saw the terrifying isolation she had lived in for years.
He stepped closer, his voice dropping from a yell, but retaining the firm, unyielding authority of a Training Officer.
"You think you’re protecting me by lying to me?" Nolan asked, his tone steady and dead serious. "Ellie, the day you put on that badge and sat in my shop, your past became my problem. That’s what a partnership is. You don't get to decide what bullets I take, and you definitely don't get to run a solo operation on my watch."
Ellie opened her mouth to argue, but Nolan cut her off with a sharp raise of his hand.
"No. I am still your T.O.," he said firmly, leaning in slightly to ensure she was listening. "And as your T.O., I am telling you right now: you are not going after Victor Martin alone. You get that out of your head now,” Nolan continued, firm and steady, “he wants a war with you? Fine. But he’s going to have to go through me, Lopez, Harper, and the entire LAPD to get to you. We take him down together. No more late-night records searches, no more secrets. Got it?"
Ellie stared at him, her defenses instantly flaring against the sudden comfort of his words. To her, promises of safety were a luxury she couldn't afford—every time she trusted someone in her past, it had ended in ruin. She didn't want a protector; she wanted to survive.
She pulled her hands off the roof of the shop, her expression hardening as she pulled her closed-off mask completely back over her face. "I don't need a team, John. And I don't need a lecture," Ellie said, her voice dropping to a cold, clipped whisper that completely rejected his comfort. She opened the passenger door, refusing to meet his eyes. "I want to go back to the station. If I'm going to be sidelined, I'd rather hear it from Sergeant Grey."
Before Nolan could answer, she climbed into the shop and slammed the door shut, staring straight ahead through the cracked windshield.
He stood on the asphalt for a brief second, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. He looked back toward the warehouse, where Angela and Nyla were watching from the doorway and signaled that they were heading back, before turning around to get into the driver's seat. The tension inside the car was thick enough to suffocate, and as he started the engine, he knew the real battle right now wasn’t just catching Victor—it was breaking through the walls Ellie had built around herself.
The three-mile drive from the industrial district back to the Mid-Wilshire precinct was defined by an absolute, crushing silence. The only sound inside the shop was the low hum of the air conditioning and the occasional crackle of the dispatch radio reporting routine calls across the city. Nolan kept his eyes fixed firmly on the road, his hands gripping the steering wheel with a tight, controlled tension. He didn't offer any more fatherly advice or attempt to break the ice.
Ellie sat rigid in the passenger seat, staring blindly out the window at the passing L.A. traffic. Her ribs throbbed in rhythm with her heartbeat, and she could feel the dull, familiar headache of her blood sugar trying to stabilize.
When Nolan finally steered the shop down the concrete ramp into the secure subterranean parking garage, the shadows of the precinct enveloped them. He pulled into their designated slot and cut the engine. The sudden absence of the motor left the car deathly quiet.
Before either of them could reach for their door handles, a tall, imposing figure stepped out from the shadows nearby. It was Sergeant Grey.
His face was grim; his jaw set so tightly the muscles bunched beneath his skin. He didn't wait for them to gather their war bags. He marched straight to the passenger side of the shop and yanked the door open himself.
"Out. Both of you," Grey commanded, his deep voice echoing heavily off the concrete walls.
Ellie stepped out of the vehicle, instinctively straightening her uniform.
Nolan moved around the hood, matching Grey's serious expression. "Sarge, we found his planning ground. Lopez and Harper are processing it now, but Victor Martin—"
"I don't care about the warehouse right now, John," Grey interrupted, cutting him off with a sharp, heavy wave of his hand. He looked directly at Ellie, his expression holding a rare, dangerous flash of fury.
"Officer Moore, thirty minutes ago, a secure, digital file was sent directly to my department email."
Ellie felt a sudden, familiar chill drop straight into her stomach. "What was in it, sir?"
Grey pulled a tablet from beneath his arm and flipped the screen toward them. "He sent photos of you." Ellie leaned in, Nolan crowding over her shoulder.
The first image on the screen made her breath hitch. It was a high-resolution telephoto shot of her through her own living room window. Victor had to have been standing on the fire escape across the street.
Grey swiped the screen. The next few photos showed her out on the streets of Los Angeles—alone at the store, on shift and standing beside Nolan at an active traffic stop, laughing as they debriefed a call, and walking back to the shop. Victor had been trailing her shifts for days, hiding just out of sight of.
But it was the final photo that completely shattered the room's remaining air. It was a vibrant, dimly lit color shot of Ellie holding a microphone, singing. Just taken the other night. She was standing on the small stage of the local karaoke bar the Mid-Wilshire crew had gone to just a few nights back. Lucy, Angela, and Nyla were visible in the blurry background, cheering her on. John and Bailey slow dancing during her “Lover” cover.
Victor hadn't just been tracking her shifts. He had been sitting in the dark corners of her sanctuaries, watching her celebrate with the only people she considered friends. Family.
"He’s letting us know he can just barely touch you whenever he wants," Grey said, his voice dropping to a low, fierce growl as he locked his eyes onto Ellie. "He knows your apartment, he knows your shifts, and he knows your friends. This stops right now. We are locking this down, and you are going into immediate protective custody."
"No, sir," Ellie said, her voice cutting through the damp air of the parking garage with a sharp, defiant ring. She stepped toward Grey, completely ignoring the dull ache in her ribs and the sudden warning vibration of the glucose monitor on her hip. "With all due respect, I am not going into a safe house."
Grey’s brow furrowed, his chest expanding as he took an intimidating step forward. "Officer Moore, this is not up for a debate. You are sidelined."
"Sidelining me is exactly what he wants!" Ellie argued back, her blue eyes flashing with a fierce desperation that made Nolan throw a cautious, warning glance her way. She refused to back down; her gaze locked squarely onto her sergeant.
"Look at the photos, sir! He’s tracking my routine. He wants me isolated, panicked, and hidden away where he can dictate the terms."
"And out here, you're a moving target pulling an armed killer into the path of my officers," Grey countered, his deep voice booming off the concrete walls. "You think I'm going to let Nolan or Lopez take a bullet because you're too stubborn to accept protection?"
"If I'm in a safe house, Victor will just pivot to someone else to lure me out anyways!" Ellie yelled, her voice cracking as the exhaustion of the last twenty-four hours finally threatened to breach her armor.
"He’ll go after my brother in Ohio, or he’ll target Angela, or Lucy, or Nolan! He’s trying to clear the board, Sarge. If I'm on the streets, wearing this uniform and riding in a shop, we control the variable. We know exactly who he’s looking for."
Nolan stepped in, his hand raised slightly to de-escalate the rising volume between his rookie and his commander. "Sarge, as much as I hate to admit it, she might have a point about this. Victor is a manipulator. If we pull her completely off the board, he’s going to change his tactics, and we lose our only tether to his movements."
Grey looked from Nolan’s serious face back to Ellie, who stood shaking slightly but completely unyielding in front of the shop. The silence in the garage stretched tight as the shift commander weighed the extreme risk against the tactical reality.
"You stay in this building until I say otherwise," Grey finally ordered, pointing a heavy finger at Ellie's chest. "Fine, no safe house, but you are off the streets. You sit in the bullpen, the briefing room, I don’t care where, you work the files with Lopez and Harper, and you don't even look at a shop or the front door until they give us a definitive lead on those digital timestamps. Do I make myself clear, Officer Moore?"
Ellie swallowed hard, the tension in her jaw loosening just a fraction. She knew she’d lost this fight. "Yes, sir."
"Nolan, get her upstairs and get her some food," Grey muttered, turning on his heel toward the elevator. "I want eyes on her every second of shift."
The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and Ellie walked out into the busy bullpen with Nolan following closely behind. The noise of ringing phones, clacking keyboards, and busy officers felt strange after the intense silence of the parking garage, but Ellie could still feel the weight of everything.
Before they could even reach their desks, Lucy hurried around the corner. She wasn't in her patrol uniform; she was dressed in comfortable off-duty clothes, a scheduled day off, but her expression was laced with concern. News traveled fast in Mid-Wilshire, and the moment she had heard about the digital photos—especially the one from the karaoke bar—she had dropped everything to check on her friend.
"Ellie," Lucy said, stepping right into her path and gently grabbing her by the forearms. Her eyes searched Ellie's face, immediately taking in the pale complexion and the underlying exhaustion. "Grey updated us. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Luce," Ellie murmured, though the slight tremor in her voice gave her away. "Just... a lot to process."
"Right, which is why you're going to sit down," Lucy said, her tone shifting into a firm, no-nonsense authority that left no room for argument. She guided Ellie to a nearby desk and pushed her gently into the chair. From a brown paper bag she was carrying, Lucy pulled out a chilled bottle of unsweetened almond milk and a container filled with a prepared chicken salad with avocado and leafy greens.
"Look at me, Ellie. We saw those photos. We know he was at the karaoke bar. But you need to remember something: he was hiding in the dark. He didn't come to us because he’s a coward who relies on the shadows. You have an entire precinct of the best cops in Los Angeles looking for this guy now."
Ellie swallowed her food, the cool almond milk helping to clear the lingering fuzziness from her head. She looked at Lucy, then at Nolan, feeling the heavy, isolating walls, she had built around herself beginning to soften just a fraction. For the first time since leaving Ohio, she wasn't just Riley Ryan running from a monster in the dark. She was an LAPD officer, and she had friends standing right in front of the target on her back.
Nolan quietly stepped away from the desk, leaving Lucy to keep a close eye on Ellie as she finished her meal. He walked down the short hallway toward the sergeant’s office, his expression neutral. He knocked once on the open glass door before stepping inside.
Sergeant Grey looked up from his computer, his brow furrowed. "Nolan. Tell me your rookie isn’t by herself." He sighed.
"Lucy’s got her handled, Sarge," Nolan said, closing the door behind him to ensure the conversation stayed completely private. He took a seat across from the desk, leaning forward. "Look, Ellie’s right about the safe house. If we put her in a standard department location, it takes her entirely out of the loop and makes her feel like a prisoner. But we can't let her go back to her apartment either."
Grey crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. "I’m listening. What do you have in mind?"
"Let her stay with me and Bailey," Nolan proposed seriously. "Our place has a bit tighter security now. After everything that’s happened Tim came over and rigorously tested our perimeter security protocols a while back, we upgraded the entire system. Reinforced locks, smart cameras with blind-spot coverage, and a direct panic feed straight to the precinct."
Grey remained silent for a moment, weighing the option. He knew Nolan’s house was secure, and having a veteran officer—plus an emergency responder like Bailey—on site provided an extra layer of immediate protection that a lonely apartment simply couldn't offer.
"And you think Moore will agree to this?" Grey asked skeptically. "She just spent ten minutes downstairs fighting me tooth and nail against being coddled."
"She rejected the department's safe house because she's terrified of being isolated and sidelined," Nolan countered gently. "If she stays with me, she’s with her partner, and someone that she trusts. She’s still in the fight, but she’s safe when the uniform comes off. It keeps her safe without making her feel like she's trapped in a cage."
Grey rubbed his jaw, staring at the digital photos still displayed on his tablet screen. The image of Ellie at the karaoke bar was a stark reminder of how close Victor had crawled.
"Alright," Grey, sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, finally conceding. He pointed a finger at Nolan. "She stays with you. But the second she leaves your property; she is under escort. I’m serious. Clear it with Bailey, but it's on you to convince your rookie to pack a bag. Go tell her."
“Yes, sir.”
Nolan walked back into the bustling bullpen, his face a neutral mask to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention from the surrounding officers. He approached the desk where Lucy was still sitting with Ellie, who was finishing the last few bites of her salad. Her color looked significantly better.
Nolan pulled his chair back up, leaning in close so his voice wouldn't carry. "Lucy, can you give us a minute?"
Lucy looked between Nolan and Ellie, picking up on the sudden shift in his demeanor. She gave Ellie’s arm a supportive squeeze. "Of course. I’m going to go grab a coffee downstairs. Let me know if you need anything else, Ellie."
Once Lucy walked away, Ellie set her plastic fork down and braced herself, her blue eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at her Training Officer.
"What did Grey say? Am I being handed a desk assignment for the rest of my rookie year? Am I fired?"
"No," Nolan said gently, but with the firm undercurrent of his T.O. authority. "You're still on the case with Lopez and Harper. But Grey was right about one thing: you cannot go back to your apartment. Victor knows where it is."
Ellie’s jaw tightened, her defensive walls instantly going up. "John, I told you downstairs—"
"I know what you said," Nolan interrupted smoothly, holding up a hand. "You don't want a department safe house. You don't want to be locked away in some random location while the rest of us are out on the streets. So, I gave Grey an alternative, and he approved it. You're staying with me and Bailey."
Ellie froze, the ready argument dying on her tongue as she stared at him in surprise. "What? No, no, no, no. John, I can't do that. I'm not going to invade your home and bring a target to your front door."
"You're not invading anything. Bailey is already on board," Nolan countered even though he hadn’t called her yet, "and as for the target, our house is a lot tighter than your apartment building. Bradford came over right around the time you started and rigorously tested our security. He was able to find every blind spot, every weak entry point, and we fixed all of them. We upgraded the locks, installed smart cameras, and put in a direct panic line to the station. It cost two sets of Laker’s tickets, but it was well worth it. Structurally and tactically, it's the safest place for you."
Ellie looked down at her hands, her fingers tracing the edge of the desk. The instinct to reject the offer—to keep running and handling her problems entirely alone—was pulling at her, but Nolan’s logic was ironclad. Staying with her partner meant she wasn't being sidelined. She was still part of the team, just sleeping behind a secure shield.
"I don't want you or Bailey getting hurt because of me," she whispered, the vulnerability slipping through her armor for a brief second. Nolan reached over, briefly placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We're both first responders, Ellie. We face risks every day. But we face them together. Pack a bag from your locker after the shift. You're riding home with me."
Author's Note: Alright, I think I'm just gonna stop saying "oh this one was my longest" because now I'm pretty sure this one is the longest so far. I honestly have no idea anymore.
I do apologize if the lengths are too long. I also apologize if the page breaks suck. I'm a newb to posting my own shit on tumblr honestly.
I wanna thank everyone who has reacted to my posts. I honestly don't know how long this story will be. I've got quite a bit of content and even a "deleted scene" of the karaoke scene, eventually. I meant to actually FIT it in somewhere in one of the chapters, but my brain fizzled and forgot to add it.
I welcome any and all feedback! <3
