The Good Cop Reads

1- library scene

TJ wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, his gaze skidding over the ‘O’ section marked with a small flap of paper, before pulling back at the unexpected sight of a hefty parchment that bears (as far as he can see without his glasses), the letter ‘T’ on its spine. 

Easing the book out carefully, he blinks once, twice, until his vision clears a fair amount, still taking notice of the terrifyingly high up situation the ladder he’s on has created.

“Tuthmosis…that’s not right…how does someone mix up these texts when they’re out of reach for a normal person?” He groans, stretching across the aisle, reaching for its polished wood— and the ladder splinters.

The young man lets out a panicked yelp as he loses his footing, and his palms meet the surface of the tall bookcase.

Is he safe?

Apparently not. He thinks as the structure topples noisily, knocking over almost every other one in a domino effect.

2- prison scene + that one goofy ahh kiss scene

The group is ushered into the visitors’ pen, and across from where TJ and his father are standing with the guide, two guards burst out, holding down a woman with effort.

“They said she was just looking…for a good time.” the guide states, vexed.

The girl looked as if she had been there for a long time, with matted, waist-length hair framing a dirt-coated face filled with anger.

The chains holding her clanked against the metal of the bars as she shook them, and TJ catches her glare cautiously, ducking his head in a hissed whisper.

“I’m sorry, you’re telling me that she knows the location of–”

Tony flips the key over in his hands repeatedly, looking around excitedly at the nearby vendors, before TJ cuffs him around the head frustratedly as a bid to stay focused.

“Hey, this is a very valuable person, son. Don’t you go messing it up again,” TJ’s father protests as the woman tilts her head, looking downright murderous, aside from the valiant smirk on her face. She speaks finally, gesturing to TJ himself with a carefree flick of her bandaged wrists.

“So, who’s the princess?” She states, as if asking a genuine question.

“E-excuse me?” He splutters, his eyes wide, and he steps back, affronted.

Tony wilts a little, his attempt at stepping in front of his son protectively failing right in front of him.

As this happens, the warden of the prison fans his face, muttering something like I’ll be back soon, and the chatter of the stalls around them fades quickly as TJ turns around, tugging the key from his father’s grip stubbornly, holding it up for the prisoner to see.

The woman’s eyes flash for a split second, then disappear behind locks of dark brown hair.

“We’ve…we’ve found your puzzle object. Could you tell us more about it?” TJ asks, curiously stepping forward.

She shakes her head.

“But-” he pleads, a little more beggar-like than he cares to admit.

“No.” She steels herself. “No. You want to know about Hamunaptra.”

 “How-” TJ blanches, and leans down a little more, for his voice not to be heard above the hustle of the streets. “How do you know this–this box is from-”

“I know, because I was there.” She interrupts him, her tone agitated. “You happy?”

His father narrows his eyes, shoving past TJ to rudely (but fairly innocently) point out.

“How do we know you’re not telling us a lie?” He questions, before the woman squints vaguely at him, a sparkle of something playing in her eyes.

“Hey…Don’t I know you? You seem really familiar, old man.” She feigns deep thought, and TJ is thinking of giving his father a warning, when her fist darts out from the bars, striking Tony square in the jaw. He hits the dusty ground, out cold. TJ’s eyes flicker over to his father’s figure, letting out an unsurprised snort as the guards rush over, clubbing the prisoner over the head.

She tosses her head like an enraged bull, a disgruntled look on her face as she stares back at the guards with hate in her eyes.

“Hold on…you were at–actually at Hamunaptra?” He hisses out, keeping his voice low.

She diverts her attention back to him, her voice saccharine sweet.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did. Really,”

“Can you tell me everything?”

“Like how to get there?”

“That would be amazing, I mean-”

She flutters the back of her hand at him in a ‘come here’ motion.

TJ steps closer at her beckon, smiling to himself as he goes over his father, wary but willing to humor her just this once.

Once the distance between him and the woman is far more than a comfortable distance, about a nose-length residing between them, she cups her hand up to the side of her mouth as if to whisper a secret.

Instead, she moved her hand to his chin, as fast as a lightning-strike, tilting it slightly in her grasp as she presses her lips fiercely to his.

It ends as quick as it began, and she releases him, shoving him away. 

“Then get me the hell out of here!”

For future reference (or if you wanna take ideas, thats good! just maybe credit me I don't know)

A re-do of the department's snow resort event like in episode 7 except someone actually helps TJ to ski (the poor little man)

Burl's retirement date arrives and the whole force has a giant like a GIANT party for the dude :D

Big Tony screws something up (and more news at ten)

(IDEA FROM @merryfeastingcrank) Cora's cat Freeloader (aka one of TJ's favourite things) (besides from Cora) (ahem ahem)

Transmasc! Ryan because it just feels like it makes sense (im so sorry if this offends someone idk)

post-appendix removal (it's weak but what else can I do)

TJ and Cora being obliviously in love and the entire department losing their minds over it

Cora smirked as soon as their bedroom door was shut behind them. The air was tinged with barely-repressed excitement, seeing as the first round of IVF hadn't failed so far, and now the both of them just had to wait to see if the embryos took.

TJ blanched, his face heating up slightly in embarrassment.

"What about-- Won't Dad hear it? We can't-" He trailed off sheepishly, standing to attention like a soldier as Cora spoke back up.

"Burl and Tony are watching the game down at Farrell's, not to mention I kind of. . . paid the old man to keep him there for at least a few hours or so more." She grimaced, a guilty but playful shine in her brown eyes.

TJ exhaled through his nose in a quiet laugh, drawing closer to her as he almost gawped in admiration and well, pure affection for the genius that was his wife. God, he didn't deserve her at all. He thought in his bliss-like state as they sat down together on the bed, Cora wasting no time in unbuckling his belt, and pressing kisses along his jawline, where he'd shaved just the other day.

All thoughts running through his head ceased as his own choked out cry sounded softly from the back of his throat, signaling that Cora had found what she was looking for.

"Think about it," she egged him on, her hand stroking him torturingly slow from in his pants, once, twice, and a wave of dizzied pleasure crashed over him, rocking him in her grip a little. "You can be as loud as you need to be tonight, alright? Can you make those pretty sounds for me, TJ?" His wife murmured as she fixed her warm gaze onto his half-closed one, her words imprinting in TJ's brain, a memory that he hoped would stay forever.

He wasn't usually one to fold this quickly in the bedroom as he was tonight, but a; it was Cora and that spoke for itself, and b; it was refreshing to settle down and let somebody else take the lead.

She already did most of the time, though. Sure, he was happy to occasionally switch it up and adopt the confident, dominant role that he knew she loved especially.

But this way was how it typically flowed, and he felt he was able to satisfy her just as well as she did him.

"Cora--" He sputtered, cutting himself off with a held-back groan and feeling himself harden rapidly in her palm, before leaned forwards to nuzzle his cheek against hers lovingly, even in the disgraceful state she'd gotten him into. "Please. Keep talking."

"Give me a second." She shot him a sly smile, and she ducked her head down. Apprehension barely had time to zip up his spine before she sloped her tongue gently but surely over the length of his painfully hard erection, prompting a gasped "Oh my God" over and over from under TJ's breath, amid the obvious tremble of his legs around her.

He looked down at her shakily as she continued, and to TJ's embarrassment, a daringly intense motion on Cora's part caused his hips to buck up and draw his cock further into her mouth.

She giggled a little, reaching up to tap him on the shoulder smugly. "What do you say we take this a little faster?" Cora dragged on, peering up at him through her eyelashes, her eyes dark with a certain something that frankly, was driving TJ up the wall. He nodded down at Cora, his lips thinly sealed in worry of something slipping out that would end this moment.

She nodded back, and resettled herself, one hand on his still-clothed leg as her head bobbed a small amount, apparently she was still intent on torturing him.

Between a particularly loud whimper, TJ desperately raked his hands through her wavy black hair in an attempt to get her to go deeper down on him and ease the oncoming tide of his release, to which she obliged, her comforting voice causing TJ's eyes to flutter shut among the blinding light of his climax.

He opened his eyes once Cora's cozy weight was beside him, caressing his face with words he couldn't remember to make out.

"...Wow." He stuttered, smiling a clumsy and delicate smile.

(Part 4!! You guys are amazing!)

Hearing the soft but clear tinkling of a bell, Cora bristled with confusion, and sat up.

The sheets now rested at her hip as she caught sight of the mute nurse who'd made the noise, who was now holding up a whiteboard to her patiently.

"Um... I really appreciate your message, but I can't read it. Can you turn the lights on, if that's possible?" her patient replied with a slight irritated flare of her nostrils, flicking her gaze around the room once more

Callie gestured to the lights with a tilted head, and following Cora's reluctant approval, the dimmer lights were switched on and the writing on the nurse's board was visible without it being too bright.

Frieda said a visitor was here for you. Do you mind if they come in?

Her eyes flashing with surprise, she stilled. It might be him, and then what? Her throat was closing up just at the thought of him, accompanied by the familiar bittersweet pang of longing that showed itself simultaneously.

But she nodded despite her reservations, and the freckled nurse disappeared behind the door where the lights were too bright to look at for long. Soon after, Cora looked up from a loose thread in her gown when she heard the sharp click of the metal door, and she saw him, and he saw her, and his eyes glimmered with what she thought was relief, before he quickly came to her side, holding her face in his hands where he stood.

"I need to tell you something," she blurted out, her hands firmly on his

At Cora's outburst, he took that as a sign to step back from the hospital bed, his face going back into Squeaky Mode, amicable terror no doubt wreaking havoc in his mind again, like it always did.

She couldn't always tell what he was thinking, but often, now more than not, Cora was able to read her friend like a grade-school book.

"A-are you alright?" he managed, trembling visibly until she stroked his face reassuringly, tucking his hair behind his ears gently.

"I missed you," he breathed out shakily, finally.

He offered a timid TJ-style smile, and she cracked, unable to stop herself from reaching up and closing the distance between her and him with a emotion-filled hug, and she whispered in his ear quietly, so quiet she didn't know if he heard it, while her fingers raked through his hair;

A cloud.

Her mind was in an isolated cloud, alone, up where the air was thin enough to kill.

She would've preferred it that way. But try as she might, Cora considered herself to be severely lacking in the 'luck' department.

Except for when she found the family that took her in and invited her for dinner and made her feel emotion again.

19 year old Cora Vasquez, if asked what she would be doing once she had a day off, would scoff in the asker's face, fill her calendar up with work, work, and more work just to let people know that she was fine, thank you very much.

Because, after everything that she'd gone through, why should she let anyone in? If she trusted, she believed she'd lose everything.

And she still believes it now. Just less.

That year, Cora spent her Christmas looking out of the coffee shop's window at the families passing by, wrenching her gaze away from the wooly mittens of the children, or the snow-bitten but smiling faces of their parents.

And she's been chasing after so many unreachable things that she hasn't paid any attention to the things that really matter.

The squad and all the jokes, gags and fake blackmail they had accumulated over the years.

When Ryan brought his new cat in and the whole room went to chaos.

Burl's leaving party, and how it was extended a whole week because nobody wanted him to retire, and "leave us with the choir boy!".

The little clump of girls that worked in the force that gathered every Friday at Farrell's for drinks. Somehow, a handful of guys would be dragged along with them. Cora didn't think she'd ever get to see or hear her own boss do an impression of 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' on the old karaoke machine.

She loved it though, regardless. TJ was just an angel, and she loved it.

She loved him.

She'd taken so long to realise that the coffees he refused to let her pay for, the sideways glances when he thought she was looking at the case files, the warm smiles, all of it was for her.

TJ Caruso was a pain in the ass, but he was also her closest friend, her mentor, and (even if she hated it) he was and had her whole heart.

She just didn't know how to express it anymore.

It had been 3 weeks, and the staff had informed everyone that today would likely be her last day in anesthesia because of the thinning they'd commenced in the meds about 5 days ago.

And TJ was working late that evening.

The night before, he'd (like every day since the shooting) gone to talk to her about everything and nothing at the same time. How all the detectives and officers were doing, stories that his father had told his friends too many times to count, how his day was going (she'd definitely laugh at this)

He'd been researching all the information he could find on induced comas, and other related things, so he didn't screw up and could help her the best he could. She deserved only the best, after all, she was the definition of best in his opinion.

Smart, funny, and god, if he looked too many times at her on a normal day, he'd usually be wound up for the rest of their shifts.

Is that bad? It's probably bad. Oh dear.

TJ swiped the weariness out of his eyes with the back of his hand, resettling on his desk chair to get a better angle of the witness's hastily-scribbled report.

He'd have to re-assess it in the morning.

She winced as the iron-tang of blood hit her in the face, and as she looked slowly, drowsily down at her body, where a swathe of bandage was secured around her waist down to her stomach, the other stretch of white which was on her arm being eased off by a stressed looking nurse, and she jolted her head away, fighting her gag reflex as red skin peeled away from the single yellowish, angry sore that must've been one of the places she'd gotten shot.

"Can I have some water?" She cringed as her raspy voice reached her ears, and started to cough violently.

"You're awake!" The nurse perked up a little, then upon hearing Cora's condition, she blanched.

"Hold on, let me just, Callie!" she got up off her knees, calling for who was presumably the other late-shifter assigned to this ward.

A head popped around the curtains, and the nurse who was changing the dressings motioned something with her hands, and Callie took off again, nodding.

"Was that..Is she deaf? I hope you don't mind me asking," Cora asked with wide eyes, her face alight in interest.

"No, Callie is just mute, the kind soul, so we use ASL here to communicate with them and also it's kind of easier to gesture than to speak." The woman smiled. "Ooh, I was also going to say, there was a young man at the front desk asking to see you a few hours ago, he looked so worried, poor thing..."

She sharply looked up from picking her fingernails, a jolt of surprise zipping through her nerves as she stared at the nurse.

"Is that..alright? We can send him away, so many women here get visitors-"

"No, no please don't. Can you um, possibly let him in as soon as you can? I really need to tell him something, before it's too late and I fuck up again." Cora half-begged, not caring if her nerves showed through her voice. She'd had enough of holding her tongue anyway.

Callie returned, her curly red hair falling slightly out of place as she lowered down to give Cora the water, and a mutual smile of gratitude was shared between them before she stepped back into the seat of her desk, her eyes trained on the screen as it lit up her face in the midnight lighting.

"I can maybe ask around for you in a few hours, I think you should get some rest while you can, First, before that happens, I need to change your dressings." She answered warmly from the other side of the room, where she was dropping the used equipment into a yellow bag.

Cora nodded, tapping on the small cannula that snaked off the bed, behind her, where it connected to a small bag of what looked like water, even though it clearly wasn't water.

As the nurse came over, she took Cora's forearm in her hands affably, and in a second or two, there was a fresh sheet of cloth on her wound, the sting of ointment felt easily beneath the layer.

"Right, so I'm not trying to be weird, but since the other bandage is around your torso, I'm going to need you to loosen and pull down your gown,"

"Oh, okay. Also, I was wondering, what's your name, so I can stop referring to you as 'kind woman'?"

The lady laughed a little, her eyes crinkling at the sides, easily visible even through the lack of light.

She looked a little bit like Cora, if she was going to say anything about it, minus her bleached hair tips and her long high-ponytail.

"It's Frieda, but lots of people find that weird, so just Freya if you're one of those people." She smiled, looking back at Cora as the curtains were drawn quickly.

As she untied the small knot in the back of her hospital clothing, Cora looked the other way awkwardly as the nurse produced an intimidating roll of fresh cloth, covering her chest with her hands.

Sooner than she'd thought, the cold sensation of the ointment on her overheated skin made her stomach flip, and she let out a small, surprised yelp, at the amusement of Frieda, who was focused on her patient's side.

She was muttering words under her breath as she worked, even if Cora wasn't looking her way, she silently wondered how working in a hospital would be different from working in the squad. Did they have the same kind of banter? Was it harder on your mental health?

Most of all, did the nurses fall in love with their boss?

That was a weird question.

As soon as the bandage had been secured around her waist and lower chest, she got to work, busying herself with the strings of the gown as Frieda once again returned to the yellow bag, then checked on the IV drip.

"I'll just go now and tell your poor friend he can see you," Frieda announced airily as she opened the curtains, and the light, as little as it was, poured in. Cora gulped, hoping she wouldn't start crying like she had the last time she'd been as low as she was.

Which, funnily enough, she hadn't even apologized for.

She'd been angry at everything that night, not to mention tired, still drowsy from whatever Warren put in the champagne, and she'd taken it out on poor Anthony, who'd just been trying to help. She failed to ask his dad where his son had been when the reception took place, eventually finding out that he went through something that was probably worse than what she had from the grapevine of chatter that circulated around the offices, since TJ was conveniently ushered out of the room whenever she came into it by anyone who was there at the time.

But despite TJ's physical presence (and the warmth and light and love he brought) being absent from the too-long hallways that her boots loved to echo on as she tried to sort her shit out on the walk to and from a taxi (she'd been too terrified to use her car), she'd still think of him.

And it helped chase her demons away for a while.

Just For Us

simperoniandcheese

Summary:

Cora and TJ have secrets. This is one of them.

Tall and tan, and young, and lovely,

The girl from Ipanema goes walking,

"God, Caruso, change your alarm already, it's driving me insane," Cora groaned, burrowing deeper into the mattress.

TJ chuckled, and leant over to silence his phone before settling back into the sheets, gently peeling them back until his wife's face was looking back at him.

"Think that's annoying?" He smiled, to which she tilted her head in amused confusion. "On the morning of my 18th birthday, Dad changed my alarm--he switched the English segment around with the actual start of the song, which is in Portuguese. I thought I was losing my mind."

"Jesus, that does sound like Tony." Cora replied, her voice straining as she stretched, then returning to normal as her head came to rest on her husband's lap, where he began to softly caress her hair, the tips of his teeth showing in a brisk grin as she reached back to cup his cheek with her free hand, the other pinching, grasping at the hem of her singlet.

"Do you think we should tell him, though? About..." TJ frowned a little, trailing off.

Cora's hand on his face slackened, and her other hand went up to the now-noticeable slope of her stomach, where it stayed as she breathed, her expression one of deep thought, and TJ's mind went into overdrive, the cogs of his brain tick-tick-ticking as he spilled out. "I-I mean, we don't have to, it's your choice, I--" but eventually stopping as he caught her withering look.

"Assuming we're 17 or so weeks along, it won't be too far ahead before everyone in the force cleverly deduces that this little goblin here isn't just a case of going ham on the takeout." She sat up to nearer his level, her focus so clear like a mirror on her face he could've smashed it with a hammer.

Although, he thinks bemusedly as they lean into each other like magnets, as the younger guys in the squad would put it, I "definitely smashed" something else entirely to get to where I am now.

Nevertheless, TJ nods, gesturing for her to go on as she shifts her head against his collarbone.

"My point is that there's not much point trying to hide anything soon. I'm thinking we could just tell people straight off, with none of that Hollywood-type 'we're pregnant!' shit."

"That sounds good, I think." He trembled slightly, his words cutting out with a nervous bob of his Adam's apple.

"Shit-I didn't mean to stress you out, TJ, I'm sorry," She gasped, grabbing his hands firmly. "I want you to tell me if something's bugging you, 'kay?" She looked into his eyes, her pupils almost entirely swallowing her irises because of the lack of light that was in the bedroom.

"I'm just terrified that I'll slip up and everything will be ruined because of me. You know me, I make horrible decisions 80 or 90 percent of the time, and screwing up is even less of an option because now there's gonna be our child in the picture," He stressed, 

She cut him off again with the type of hug that silences. 

"Okay, okay. Think of this as that one Star Wars movie where Darth Vader's wife is pregnant and he's like 'you're gonna die in childbirth, nooo', and she doesn't actually, she's killed by him because of his anger and evil, the very evil that sprouted from the fear he had of not being able to save her." Cora articulated with a squeeze of her hands in his, and he looked back at her with a mildly concerned expression.

"...I've only watched the original trilogy, Cora." He exhaled.

"Well now you've watched the prequels. Anyway, I wanted to show you something I bought," she told him, a certain something sparkling in her eyes as she led him down the stairs and to the small table, where a small box was lying.

"I have a feeling I'm going to be pleasantly surprised," TJ remarked with a small smile on his lips.

"Open it, open it," Cora giggled, her face aglow like she knew something he didn't. (Which, to be fair, was exactly what it was.)

"I hope it's not a razor, Burl got me that as a little joke one ti..." He faltered, his words, all that he was going to say, gone in a flash. 

It was a mug. A mug that said "#1 Dad". He felt himself tear up a little, as his brain apparently hadn't woken up to the fact that yes, they were bringing a child into the world.

Out of love.

Him and Cora.

"Thank you," TJ choked out, at a loss for words. 

He opted for the non-verbal approach instead, pulling her into his embrace tearfully and pressing his lips against hers, and he was crying and she was crying and all he could muster was a small sob while she patted him on the back softly, her voice whispering into his ear.

The room came into startling color as TJ's head slipped from his hand, and his eyes went wide when someone yelped at the other end of the room.

As he readjusted his glasses, the blurred figure turned into a sad-looking 28-year-old with glasses and his iPad in hand.

"...Morning, Ryan." He sighed as he sat up, running a hand through his hair.

The younger man blanched.

"Did I wake you up? Aw, man."

Getting up, TJ felt his pockets for his gun, and affirming it was there, straightened up to face his colleague, shaking his head no.

"..How is she doing?" Ryan asked finally, his eyes looked red and puffy. "I just couldn't sleep last night, thinking about it after I went home, you sitting there, taking all the blame, when it was me who couldn't even disarm one guy."

TJ exhaled slowly, coming to rest his hands on Ryan's shoulders.

"Ryan, I know how easy it is to blame yourself when things like this happen. I do it all the time. But no matter what we feel about this, her...everything-" he paused to gesture around the room as Ryan looked confusedly at him, "we have to remember that this job, being a part of the squad comes with danger and risk. And you know as much as I do, as Cora did, that when you pass that exam, when you say 'yes', you are acknowledging that you could be injured or worse."

The other detective didn't answer for a long time, instead slumping down to the floor.

"She's stable, though, so." TJ shrugged, walking back to Cora's side, the back of his hand brushing against hers for a few seconds before he sat down, forcing his teeth down hard against his lip when it trembled.

He'd been over this too many times to count, and yet his mind still couldn't shake off what Cora Vasquez did to him.

"That's kind of rich coming from you.." Ryan replied, following the older man with a puzzled look in his eyes, setting his iPad down finally on top of the small duffel he had brought in the corner.

From the bowling alley they had competed at.

enjoy : D

TJ has always made sure he's been there for her.

But, he thinks as he sits over her sleeping form, on the verge of tears as he bites down on his tongue (which, by the way, was a teeth-clenchingly fruitless method of trying not to cry), that was far from the truth now.

He sighed again, his thumbs darting from side to side against the hard plastic of the hospital bed Cora lay in, a distraction from the frantic pacing of hours ago, before Burl had left, Ryan following suit a while after.

Now, TJ was left in the dimmed light of the early morning hospital, his gaze unwillingly drifting to her soft hands, covering a thick swathe of bandages near her torso. He bit back a sob as he realised that yes, that was blood showing through the once crisp-white texture, and that he should probably alert someone.

But for now, TJ just stayed seated.

"It should've been me." He choked out, his voice breaking. "You don't deserve this, not after everything you've been through since I let you in."

Continuing, he bit his lip to avoid a small chuckle. "You would kill me if you heard this, but a part of me wants to say that it's my fault for hiring you, roping you into danger, when you could've stayed safe as my dad's PO."

"But we're here now. I can't change that as much as I wish I could've avoided my feelings for you."

How pitiful this must look to anyone listening. A detective in an induced coma to reduce the pain, her boss, her clean-shaven, neat freak, stupid, STUPID boss watching over her, a creepy owl like one you would've found as the bad guy in a children's book, long limbs accompanied by large, unblinking eyes.

"I wasn't there for you when the building collapsed, or when you got shot--" he stopped himself with a tear rolling down his face, his eyes slamming shut as he fought for breath against the wave of grief.

He couldn't save his mother then, and he couldn't save Cora now.

Sitting back down, he slumped into the large chair facing the bed and curled in on himself.

Author: literati42

Word count: 826

Rating: General Audiences

Summary: TJ and Ryan work as barista’s in Connie’s coffee shop, while on the side working as consultants for regular costumers, Detectives Burl and Cora. The shop feels like a family, but on the day Tony is released from prison a mysterious note seems to imply the family is about to get bigger. And what does all this have to do with a jewel heist turned murder?

Author: literati42

Rating: Teen and up

Word count: 380