Donny didn't feel like all people deserved second chances. There were those who didn't learn from their mistakes, and it was something that felt like it was going to be given to them without a single bit of remorse. He had seen that a lot in his years as a cop. He had been unhappy when some things happened. When cops who gave cops a bad name were given a second chance, they only fell flat again and made them look like they were horrible people.

Second chances when it came to love were different, though. Donny thought that everyone deserved that, but he hadn't been sure how to go about that for himself.

Then he met Molly. Well, re-met her. They had passed by each other, and he had been introduced to her years ago when he started at SWAT because Hicks wanted everyone to know what his kids looked like, just in case. He hadn't given her a second thought back then because he was married to Val. There was more than enough shit going on in his personal life that he didn't need to invite anything close to glancing at a person.

Val had always been jealous as hell. Donny had thought that it meant that she loved him, but in the end, she had been insecure, and she would cheat if given a chance, so she thought that Donny was going to as well.

Which was how they got to where they were, Donny, dating a woman while his marriage was going through the last legs of the whole thing. I had been over from the moment that he had walked in to find Val riding the guy from down the street in their bed. The act had been the nail in the coffin, but Val had fought everything, and the whole process took way too much time. Nearly two years where he told no one but his team because he didn't need that shit going through the ranks.

"Rocker, why are you disengaging from this?" Deacon asked.

Donny closed his eyes, and he looked at Deacon. "I can't take part in this, no matter how much he deserves it, and my team should not either."

"What is going on?" Hicks demanded over the radio.

"Rocker is refusing to help me with the arrest, and then he said his team shouldn't take part as well."

"Yeah, cause he caught me fucking his wife when they were still married," the guy said.

"Fuck," Deacon said.

Donny knew that things were going to be horrible because there was a reason why Deacon rarely ever cursed like that.

"I tried to keep it quiet because I didn't need that at work, and I didn't need to make a big deal out of it. He was just one of a long string of guys she had an affair with while we were married. He was also the only cop. I knew when I walked in and saw him that she planned to hurt me with it. I didn't react the way that she wanted, and it pissed her off. So, I don't want to taint this arrest in any way, shape, or form."

"Agreed. Don't lay a single hand on him. I'll get you more uniformed officers, Deacon, to make sure that this stays clean. Rocker, report to me when you get back to HQ."

Donny swallowed, and he inhaled and then exhaled. He had done nothing wrong. Cops cheated with others all the time. If that was something that got them in trouble, there would be a hell of a lot fewer cops all across the country.

---

Donny steeled himself before he entered Hicks' office. The door was open, so he didn't knock cause that was the protocol. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Molly sitting across from her father.

"Shut the door, Donny," Hicks said.

Donny was a rare name from Hicks, mostly because even when it was him at Molly's place, he was called Rocker. He didn't mind it. This was a weird way of being.

Molly patted the chair beside her. She smiled at him.

"Dad called me, and he wanted to make sure that I was here for this because he wants to make sure that you are okay."

"I haven't even thought about him in a while. He lived down the street from us, and it was only after my lawyer hired a private investigator that we realized how many men she had been sleeping with. She filed for divorce right after, and she didn't think that I would want to look into how many men she had slept with. She was very, very wrong about that."

"You made the right decision to back off as soon as you found the culprit cop. He can't say shit because there was no idea who he was until you caught him in that place. Deacon putting the cuffs on him and waiting until the patrol officers get there is good. I've already kicked this up the chain. You will not face backlash for this. Molly told me a little bit about it, things she felt that you would tell me, but saving you from having to do it. I wish you had told me before, but you've never crossed paths with him before and never thought you would. I would never keep track of who you are assigned to work with like that on calls, so it was a moot point beyond having your back if I knew he was there."

"I knew you would never talk about it, Sir. I just didn't like talking about it. Having it on the record for my divorce was one thing. Telling Molly was another. Even my team really didn't know much about it. They knew that I had found my wife in bed with a guy and found out later that she had been with a lot of other men, but not anything close to that. I didn't think I would cross paths with him because there are other SWAT units that take care of those areas from other parts of the LAPD."

HIcks nodded.

"Well, it's happened, and we will deal with it the best way we can. Professional standards are going to have a field day with him, not with you. I'll make sure that they have no reason to hurt you when it comes to this."

Donny was glad that Hicks had his back.

"I'm going to talk to the team, you two have a few moments to talk, and then you are off for the rest of the shift. I'm sure that your head would be in place for this, but why push it? Have time to calm down and get your head around things, getting out there that you never wanted out there. Your team won't gossip, but others will."

Donny was glad that Hicks had accepted him as Molly's boyfriend, even if he still wanted her to have someone else in her life. He wasn't sure that he knew that Donny respected her, and he would treat anything with her just like he had with Val.

The biggest thing was that Molly would never act like Val, and Donny knew that. He had no worries when it came to that. Molly was the best person that he had ever met in his life, and she reinforced that over and over again.

His second chance at love was going to be even better than his first run at love.

The End