"Do we have an issue, Rocker?" Hondo asked as he got into Donny's path.

"No, we don't. I would just make sure that your team calms down a little," Donny said.

Hondo looked to be about to say something when the locker room door opened up and in came a woman. Donny looked back at Hondo and dismissed the woman. She looked like she was there for something, but this between him and Hondo wasn't done.

"You started it," Hondo said.

"I did a simple prank that hurt nothing but ego," Donny said. It was the way of the two squads and had been long before either of them had taken over the team lead positions; hell, it had been that way before Buck and Mumford were the leads. There could only ever be one star team, and that meant that the shit that happened between them was the fun stuff. "I didn't leave another SWAT member with burns."

Hondo flinched. He rubbed his hand on his face, then he deflated. Donny relaxed himself as well. He was all for the small things they did to help cut the emotions that they all ran with. Still, Parker was not the kind of person who took that well, and no one knew it until Donny's second was in the hospital with burns to his face from the chemicals that Parker had put into his lotion.

"I'll make sure that whatever happens, the team knows. I'm sorry. I just..." Hondo waved his hand.

They all knew it. Hondo had trouble reining in Parker. Or he had until Hicks had fired him. The pranks had gotten out of hand because Parker hadn't known when to stop them, and the chemicals in the lotion were enough that Donny wasn't going to stand for him being there anymore. Hicks hadn't been happy at all.

"Rocker," the woman said, drawing Donny's gaze from Hondo to her.

"Miss Hicks," Donny said.

"You can call me Molly or Hicks. I need a few minutes alone with Hondo, please," Molly said.

"Of course," Donny said. He looked at Hondo to make sure he was okay with it.

When Hondo nodded, Donny headed back out into the commons area, where he was going to go after a heavy bag until he felt better about himself. He would brief his team later. They were off for the day, and he was there to be in the command center when Hondo's team headed out as soon as the new team member for them would be there. Hicks hadn't been the one to pick the team member either. Donny had heard that the SWAT member had been trained elsewhere to make sure that no favoritism happened. It happened so rarely. Even Luca hadn't done that. He had stayed where his father and grandfather had trained. So the new person had to be related to someone even more important, or their family was still in control and would have stopped them.

"Don't go to Hicks' office," Tan offered up.

Donny looked at where the rest of Hondo's team was standing around. Chris and Luca were trying to act like they were doing something, but didn't seem to have their hearts into it.

"What's going on?" Donny asked, giving up on grabbing the tape to wrap his hands for punching things.

"The new member of the team, it came down from above, and Hicks can't veto it. He's also pissed as hell about the going behind his back about training them," Tan said.

"Who?" Donny asked.

"We have no idea." Luca looked pissed that he didn't know.

"Where is Deacon?" Donnhy asked. Deacon might have been briefed on this. It wasn't like Hondo and Deacon weren't going to have a say in this.

As if summoned, Deacon came down the far stairs, and he headed right for them.

"Hey, so, Hicks has already sent whoever it is to find Hondo," Deacon said.

Donny looked back where he and Hondo had been, where Molly Hicks had been left with Hondo. It had been strange that she needed to talk to him, but he figured it had something to do with her job. Only he hadn't heard her talking about it for a while, or Hicks.

"What's with that look?" Chris asked.

"I was going at it with Hondo about what Parker did, and there was a person who came in and said they needed to talk with Hondo alone. They would have been enough to send Hicks into orbit." Donny couldn't even think about what made Molly do it. He didn't even understand a single bit of it. She had been there for a while in the background, watching.

As Donny played back the memories of her watching them for years, he realized that she had been working on it for a long time. The baby fat dropped off, and then the building of muscle began. It had happened slowly and was something that had been easy to dismiss as her just training to make sure that she could handle her stress.

"Who?" Luca asked.

"Twenty squad, I'd like you to meet your new teammate, Molly Hicks," Hondo said loud enough for the whole of the area to hear him.

Donny loved the looks on the rest of Hondo's squad's faces as they took in Molly standing beside Hondo in the uniform.

The other thing that Donny loved was her appearance. She had always been pretty, but Donny had kept himself away from her for many reasons. Since his divorce, following Val's attempt to bully Cortez into abandoning her reform, he had fewer reasons to stay away. Hicks was scary as hell, and Donny pitied the guy whom Molly finally brought home as a boyfriend. He could just see the ones she had brought home when she was in high school, if she even dated.

Life was going to be interesting.

---

The rules for SWAT were pretty simple when it came to dating among the ranks. Molly understood why they existed because that kind of dynamic could be the thing that killed a team, literally and metaphorically. There was a minor issue with the ranking system, but Molly knew how to navigate it when dealing with team leads from different teams and those of lower rank. As long as she documented the whole relationship, they were good. There had been a push for the kind of thing a while back, because while there was a chance for a power imbalance, there was just as much chance of a power imbalance of other natures when the ranks were taken out of it.

Molly looked at where Rocker was training with his team; they were doing hand-to-hand in the ring, using it as a safe place to go down. She was working on the extra tests that her father had given her because he was still pissed at her. She had wanted to join SWAT years ago, but she had been afraid of it, and then her mother had died. She didn't want to be in a place where she would be the reason her father was mourning someone else. Of course, things had changed when Molly discovered that, although she enjoyed her field of study, she disliked the daily grind of it. So, her plan had been put into place.

It had been hard as hell since she hadn't actually joined the LAPD, but there was a track to get more women into SWAT, and she had been part of the change that was needed for that—the changes in the fitness that allowed for a different kind of strength. In addition to other changes, SWAT was allowed to include different types of built men. The training itself remained unchanged; only the presentation was updated. After passing the test, she attended the academy at a different location to avoid involving her father, with the intention of eventually transferring to the LAPD.

Her father hadn't spoken to her in days at this point. Molly didn't care because he was hurt and was licking his wounds. If she needed him, he would be right there.

"You might want to stare less," Chris said as she came over and sat beside Molly.

"Why? Then he might not notice."

"You are seriously going after him?"

"Yes. I'm sure that things are different and things will be different, but in the end, I know the rules and how to get around them to make sure that no one can say anything."

Chris didn't say anything as the training wound down. Molly felt bad about making sure she was on Hondo's team, but she trusted him most of all, along with Deacon, and then there was the rest of the team. It was enough that she knew she would be as safe as possible with them. She also didn't want to be on Rocker's team because she planned on snagging that man for herself.

"Did you join SWAT for that or other reasons?"

"I wanted to be a SWAT officer when I was younger, but then Dad lost a few officers, and then Mom died. I put that away for other pursuits. Now I feel different about it. There were three other women with me in that training, and the changes made there will ripple here, allowing for different training. It's working well there, and I'm a test case, in a lot of ways that you never were. I could have qualified with the old standards, but I also know that there are different ways of getting the same result."

"I'm glad. I've seen some of the changes. There are old guards here who don't like it, but there has been an uptick in men trying out for SWAT across the board now that the regulations are being revised to align with a broader approach. It makes things a lot easier to see what kind of people we could have had over the years, the ones who might have made a change for the better." Chris scooted closer to Molly. "Are you sure about wanting to try for this? For him?"

"Yes. We had a night a few years ago, it wasn't anything sexual or romantic, but I came out of it with the idea that I was going to go after him. He was just fresh out of the divorce after that whole shit show with his wife sending those threatening letters. I didn't want to just sit in his lap. Then this came up. I've looked into the legal side of the LAPD things, and I doubt that anyone would really have an issue with this, given that I'll probably end up eating him alive."

Chris laughed, and she looked at where Rocker was still with his team. They were resting, so Molly got to watch them. Rocker looked at them a few times, trying to gauge what they were talking about, Molly figured. It was enough that it made her want to have a lot of fun with him. She could see them training and then letting it keep on going. It would have to be somewhere else, like his place. She had heard his team discussing the training area he had set up in his garage. It was enough for her to think that after their first date, she could talk him into sparring or something similar and see where it went. It made her wet just thinking about it, which was not good at work.

"Well, I wish you luck in your endeavors. If you need help with something, just let me know. I'm sure that I can help you at least trap him."

Molly laughed. Trapping sounded like it was going to be the best part of it all. She just needed to get him there.

The End