Case 06 - Zofia's new home

<Some time after SWAT S1E3 and The Rookie>

"You really traveled to South America and back in a shipping container to smuggle weapons for your boss?"

John Nolan sat on the lawn watching the deck dry after Ben and him gave it a paint job. Nolan replaced a few screws to tighten the boards and sanded the surface because they didn't need to replace the wood entirely. It really only needed some treatment, according to John.

"Yeah, those trips were the absolute scariest shit. My trip to England on a cruise ship with Kraft was the only enjoyable one. But you know, I thought I was backed by the FBI with nothing to worry about. But not being in LA, not even in California, not even in the US... it felt oddly like I was stranded in a different world. All alone. I'm honestly kind of scared to leave for New York in January," Ben said as he handed over a cold drink to John. "I don't think the question 'Will I make it home okay?' will ever leave my mind in this life."

John kept quiet at that with a solemn expression for a while as he nursed his drink.

"You know, all this bias training, and I still thought you'd offer me beer. Being like 3/4 German and all that."

"Yeah, I'm fighting stereotypes here. You're not the only one telling me that," Ben responded with a laugh.

"Hehe," John laughed with him. "You got any family left in LA?"

Ben turned quiet at that, and John noticed he made a blunder, "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Nah, you were trying to make a very nice point. I can see that. I can appreciate that. But I guess I still gotta find that someone I long to come home to. That someone who will miss you when you're late or didn't check in with for a while. That kind of deal?"

"Yeah..."

"I'll surround myself with friends and hope for the best," Ben offered with a tranquil smile.

"Sounds like a good plan, healthy," Nolan mumbled.

"Yeah, like that dude about to enter my home uninvited. You're gonna love him. Got some serious golden retriever energy," Ben answered.

"Police Officer Dominique Luca. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Ben shouted when he heard someone drop a bag in his living room.

"Hey hey, fresh coat's still wet," Nolan shouted, too, when Luca was about to run over the freshly oiled deck from the patio door.

"Aw shoot! Thanks for the heads-up!" Luca shouted as he ran to the garage to come to the backyard through there.

"Hey bro," Luca greeted with his standard bro-hug and then greeted Nolan. "Yo man, you a friend of Ben's? Then you're my friend, too. Name's Luca."

"Hi, John Nolan. Call me John," Nolan offered while a little overwhelmed.

"You doin' some work on your new house, Ben? Deck looks amazing," Luca praised as he looked around like a little kid on a sugar rush.

"Yeah, John here has the magic touch. He's the officer who caught your rabbit yesterday, by the way. I get the feeling you didn't catch his name or face," Ben introduced with a grin.

"Nah, bro!! That's killer! You're LAPD?"

"Yes, I mean no. I'm a rookie at Mid-Wilshire still," Nolan answered quickly.

"That means your heart is in the right place. I'm SWAT, fifteen years on the force, but by the way Ben joked, I get the feeling you already knew."

Ben grabbed a drink from the cooler for Luca and had him sit down with Nolan.

"Luca over here is third generation SWAT. His grandpa was an 'OS' - Original SWAT. His mug is in every photograph for the first ever SWAT team in the command center," Ben added.

Nolan looked impressed and praised, "That's some awe-inspiring family legacy. Your pops and grandpops must be proud."

"Yeah, they are, but it's a little complicated," Luca shared, but neither of the other two asked follow-up questions because of Luca's hundred-yard-stare.

"Okay then, Luca, what can I do for you?"

Luca gave Ben a big grin and answered, "My girl kicked me out, I need a place to crash!"

Ben looked at Luca with an empty expression before shrugging, "Yeah, sure. But you remember Zofia Nowicki, right?"

Luca nodded with a wry smile and answered, "Yes, you can only mean one Zofia. One of the victims from when we first met, right?"

Ben affirmed and continued, "She's due to be released from the mental health clinic she's at in a few days. I offered her a place to stay until she finds herself. And, you know, she developed androphobia because of what those animals did to her. Can't be alone in a room with another man without hyperventilating. Somehow, I'm exempt, probably because of how it all went down."

<SWAT S1E4>

"Alright, all cool, man. I get it. I'll call in SWAT code and ask my team to house me starting tomorrow!"

"Is that like the 'bro code'?" Nolan asked with an interested expression.

"Way more holy! SWAT code is sacred! No man left behind," Luca said while gesturing grandly and offering some more nuggets of SWAT code wisdom.

The three talked a little more, and Nolan was completely swept away in all the stories Luca told about being in SWAT. Luca was simply a natural storyteller despite saying 'bro' almost twice every sentence.

Having Luca over was not much fun after you were done talking it out. He ate all the leftovers in Ben's fridge, then played on Ben's Nintendo Switch all night until three in the morning. Ben himself only managed to get away from playing Mario Kart at 1AM.

But like he promised, Luca was gone the next day. The SWAT officer later texted Ben that he managed to score a place at Street's just at the end of the shift. Ben himself had another session at the dermatologist who gave him a dry look when he came with a huge amount of the tattoos they were 'scrubbing off' getting tattooed over.

He also had more training and got some more certifications done that week until it was finally time to pick up Zofia. Despite still being on sick leave, he checked all the boxes to be reinstated as an officer in the LAPD. So he got a temporary badge and a police radio again he left at home for the pick up.

-----

Ben greeted the beautiful blonde outside the clinic, but neither of them talked. He helped her onto his motorcycle and put on the helmet for her. With a smile, he also put his leather jacket on her and closed it up so she wouldn't get a windchill despite the warm weather.

"Hold on tight," Ben instructed as he gently got a hold of her hands to put them around his waist.

Once at his home, he showed her around before making her choose one of the two empty rooms. An hour later, they were outside again to buy her a bunch of necessities and clothes. All three boxes on Ben's bike were packed fully. For a moment, Ben wondered if he should get a car after all. Though, as a detective, he would likely get one from LAPD, which was why he was reluctant in the first place.

After parking the bike in his garage, Ben and Zofia started unloading their haul but were interrupted by Chris arriving with Champ, her dog. Ben couldn't believe it took so long that they timed their shopping trip with the end of Chris' 12-hour shift.

"Zofia, Ben. I came as soon as I could. Stupid drug lords making immigrants into mules," she greeted and swept Zofia in a tight hug.

Ben himself started talking to Champ in German, joking that he finally had someone to talk German with again. It was only the second time they met, but Ben and Champ had an instant connection to one another.

After they moved all the groceries and other items they bought inside, Ben handed over his computer on Chris' demand and the two women started online shopping in the living room while Ben started cooking a simple meal.

He wasn't some amazing chef, but pasta with sauce didn't require some crazy skill. They ate, made Ben pay for almost $500 in even more clothes - not that Ben didn't have plenty of money lying around and gladly did it - and talked until even later than what Luca put him through. In the end, Chris even stayed again, though this time sharing a room with Zofia on her request.

-----

"Ben, we talked all night until sunrise about what Zofia could do now," Chris greeted in the late morning as they found Ben cutting apples, pears, and cheese in the kitchen for brunch.

"Oh? Great, what did you have in mind, Zofia? What do you wanna do with your life?"

"I don't want to smooch off of you long. I always liked kids," Zofia said and started blushing. "Not to become housewife. I want to be teacher because as kid I had very nice teacher in school. She was big role model, very kind."

"I see... I don't think you finished Polish highschool, right? That makes things harder, but not impossible. I know that's not what you want, but daycares and pre-schools are always looking for reliable employees. Maybe you could do that until you study enough for a diploma and a degree? There's some training programs for that. I could help you get into those for your resumé," Ben rambled on but stopped saying more after seeing both women grinning at him. "Maybe start with nanny work or just plain babysitting?"

"Told you he could plan your whole life for you in under a minute," Chris quipped with a big grin as she grabbed a bowl of cut-up fruit to eat.

Zofia walked over and hugged Ben with all the strength she could muster, "You are like my angel. I can never repay you."

"You never had to, I'm using you to ease my own worries and guilt," Ben countered with a grin and patted her head. "Now eat something."

"I'm about to go shopping for some more girl stuff she was too embarrassed to buy yesterday. If it takes too long, can we give you a holler for you to pick her up so I can get to work in time?"

"Yeah, I'll be on a quick run, and then I'm just studying and waiting for the guys from the security company to come install the alarm system today. Didn't plan to head out because it's Zofia's first day here," Ben agreed with a shrug as he drank some tea.

"No beer, no coffee. Are you like a secret monk or something?"

Ben threw a small cheese cube at Chris and answered, "Don't gatekeep my life. And how is drinking coffee a German stereotype?"

"Whatever, hipster," Chris scoffed instead of replying with another taunt.

"You know what? I'll order some nice beer just so I don't have to have this conversation anymore," Ben answered with a sigh. Chris grinned and finished her breakfast while teasing Ben some more.

Once the two women were out again, Ben dressed up in the gear Luca had dropped off for him. That included longlegged black cargo pants and a tightfitting SWAT logo shirt. Ben also wore his shoulder holster, gun included, badge, and then he wore a thin, loose logo jacket over it all. His running shoes were standard issue SWAT all terrain sneakers with high ankles, and he was looking to sweat them up a little just like the gear. He needed to get into shape and get used to running in this outfit.

He picked up Champ's leash because Chris left him with Ben, and they began jogging together. Half an hour later, Ben found himself near Crenshaw High School near his home. The school day was still a few hours, but there would be a lunch break soon, Ben mentally calculated.

And then he saw two people that clearly shouldn't be waiting in front of a high school. He wanted to simply jog past, but he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.

So he called dispatch while looking at the car from a hidden position, "This is Officer Weiss, badge number 8337. I'm off-duty on sick leave, jogging on 11th Ave near Crenshaw High. West entrance has two latinos with machine pistols waiting in a green Impala. License plate Adam-2-Adam-6-4-Sam-7-Lincoln. I repeat Adam-2-Adam-6-4-Sam-7-Lincoln."

"*Adam-2-Adam-6-4-Sam-7-Lincoln - copy. Sending units to your location.*"

Just then, the school bell started ringing. Immediately, teenagers started pouring out.

"Please be advised, school is on lunch break. I'm engaging to see what's up with them."

"*Stay safe, Officer Weiss.*"

Ben jogged over from behind the car and walked up to it with the line to dispatch still open. He knocked on the driver's window while flashing his badge, Champ hot on his heels. The two passengers in the car didn't even flinch seeing him and put the uzis they had near their feet.

"¿Qué necesitas, gringo? [What do you need, white man?]"

"My spanish is a little rusty, so allow me to answer in English, that alright with you?"

The two latinos sneered, but Ben continued anyway, "This is a school. These are all kids. Why are you bringing weapons like those to such a place?"

"Sólo estoy aquí por mi primito. [Only here for my lil cousin.]"

"Primito... lil cousin?" The banger nodded with a raised brow. "Is your cousin in some kind of trouble?"

That stumped the driver a little as he answered a simple, "No."

"Why are you flashing your pieces near kids then?"

"No son mis hijos. [They ain't my kids.]"

Ben furrowed his brows. He didn't want to try arresting these two because he couldn't be sure he could resolve this peacefully.

Just then, a teenage boy with clearly latin roots jumped into the Impala's backseat. The three in the car stayed quiet, so with fists clenched, Ben could do nothing but watch as the Impala drove away with the driver looking at him with a derisive smile.

"Dispatch, be advised: Impala left the premises after a young boy entered. 5'5, latino, swept back brown hair, ripped black jeans, white T, open green short-sleeved shirt, brown backpack. Outstanding description for driver is: somewhere between 5'5 and 5'9, latino, buzz-cut, baggy blue jeans, green shirt over white shirt. Praying hand tattoo on left side of the neck, spider web tattoo back of the neck. Healed GSW left ear."

"*Roger that, units getting redirected. Have a safe day, Officer Weiss.*"

"Thanks, you too," Ben replied absentmindedly.

He looked down to Champ, who only whined, then back to all of the kids getting out of the school.

"LA, man..."

Twenty minutes later, Ben was back home and got a call from the security company he hired. They were due in another half an hour.

Since he had an IT degree, he decided he would go for a more involved home security system that could benefit from his expertise. Like remote access via phone, encrypted cloud storage for videos, redundancies, and all that. He still wasn't entirely sure how to explain all that to Zofia, but maybe she would just simply get the security code while he explained the rest to Chris or someone else from SWAT.

Two hours later, Zofia arrived to see a bunch of men wiring cameras into the house from all kinds of angles. All the cameras looked to be hidden from plain view from the streets. A little uneasy with the situation, Zofia walked in - Chris only had time to drop her off and not bring her in.

"Hello, Miss Weiss. If you're looking for Mister Weiss, he's in the basement with the dog," one of the men said while working to plant a camera with full view of whoever presses the doorbell.

Zofia nodded quickly and hurried to the basement just as fast. She was so fast, she practically flew down the stairs.

Down there, Ben was working on a medium-sized server rack. Not that Zofia knew, but there was a UPS in the bottom, his ISP's router, an additional LTE SIM-card router, two small 12-port switches, and two servers in it. Ben sat at his laptop typing away with another bigger monitor hung up on the side of the rack and a smaller one showing the progress of a big installation process. Champ was lying near him, perking up at the new person entering the basement. But he quickly lied back down when he noticed it was Zofia.

She silently moved to him to hug him while shaking a little.

"You alright? Chris drop you off?"

"Yes, yes. Just, scary to see foreign men with you not in sight."

Ben patted her arm in comfort, "You mean unknown or unfamiliar men. And sorry, I hope they told you where I am. I told them to direct you here if I didn't notice you arriving."

"They did."

Ben stayed quiet but kept reassuring Zofia.

"What is all this?"

"I'm not taking any chances with you living here. I want you to feel safe, and I hopefully do that by having access to all the cameras in this house 24/7 from everywhere in the world. I'll share the code for the security system with you when those guys are done tomorrow."

"You are smart enough for this?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Zofia giggled and messed with Ben's almost shoulder-length hair, but she didn't answer.

"How was shopping? Got everything you need?"

"I have big bag of swimwear, panties and bras now. But Chris pay. It feels very bad for that," Zofia said with a sigh.

"Don't feel bad. Did she keep the receipt?"

Zofia nodded.

"Then just pay her back in the future if the feeling doesn't go away. We're here to help you, not make you feel bad. I know you're good for it," Ben reassured.

The two stayed quiet for a while until Zofia pointed at another small metal box resting on the make-shift desk Ben was working on.

"What is this?"

"Ah, that's a small computer called Raspberry Pi. You can do all kinds of things with these, and I'll set it up as a hidden fail safe in case anything goes wrong. I'll hide it somewhere in the house, and even without power on and without any signal, it will eventually upload the last few hours of the camera feed to the cloud."

"I didn't know you are so... conspiracy man," Zofia retorted in a shocked expression.

"You mean conspirator? Or are you telling me I'm being paranoid?"

"Yes! Paranoid!"

"Well, are you feeling safer if I can find out if someone was in our house even if someone cuts the power and blows up the electronics with an EMP?"

"If I know what EMP is, maybe. But don't explain. Thank you for thinking of me," Zofia sincerely replied as she rubbed his shoulder.

"How do you learn this?"

"I did lots of those things for Kraft, learned it on the fly with the knowledge from my degree. Kraft mostly had me do it to his stashes, sometimes in the hideouts. But for hideouts, it was too big a footprint, he said."

Zofia stayed quiet after that and watched Ben work, sometimes petting Champ.

Eventually, Ben asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, but I want to cook today. To feel useful."

Ben nodded, "Sure, but as long as you pull your weight a little in the household, you don't have to force yourself to do anything you can't or don't want to do. Let's go up together, I'll continue when those guys are out."

They made dinner together in the end because Zofia wasn't fully knowledgeable about the kitchen yet and made another simple pasta dish. Zofia didn't really bring a wealth of cooking experience from her life as a simple Polish village girl with her either.

After dinner, Ben showed Zofia how to work his washing machine because she definitely didn't want him washing her underwear after going out of her way to shop for them with a woman instead of him. Then, he started hanging out in his hot tub, even with the five workers still working outside the house. The balancing act to keep the tablet he had out of the water was annoying, but the hot tub was nice.

He only briefly exited when he walked Champ and then again when the workers said goodbye and set a time to finish the rest of the work the following day. Back inside, he forgot the time until Chris called out to him.

"What up, Aquaman?"

"'Sup, Chris. How was your shift?"

"Quiet, but I heard your day wasn't."

Ben lifted an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"You're LAPD SWAT now and called dispatch off-duty. You think Commander Hicks and Captain Cortez don't hear that?"

"You serious?"

"I mean, you flagged two Patriotas with uzis at a high school. What did you think was going to happen?"

Ben swallowed, "Dunno? Definitely not me getting tattled on to the entire department?"

"Oh? You didn't question the gang name. You know Patriotas Verdes? They're definitely new to LA."

"White Front was beefing with them quite hard. Something about stealing the color-naming scheme, I bet. If it wasn't that, it was racism, I guess," Ben answered with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, your call-in helped flag a kid, Eddy Morales. His older cousin from Mexico is in town and trying to get him to join the gang, according to Eddy's mother. You confirmed her worst fears. Scaring him straight is our only option left, but we didn't find him yet when my shift was over."

"Why are you telling me all that from dry land?"

"What? Want me to hop into your little hottub so you can catch a glimpse or cop a feel?"

Ben narrowed his eyes, "You're too clever. Anybody ever tell you that?"

"Not often enough," Chris countered with a wink. "But yeah, I'll come relax after I grab some leftovers and talked to Zofia and Champ. Thanks for watching him today."

"He's a good boy and a great partner for my jogging pace, so all good. You got a swimsuit, or do I need to go get a blindfold?"

"Nah, Zofia wasn't the only one shopping earlier. I have a bikini in my car. You'll be the first to see it," Chris replied while she pumped her eyebrows. "Hope you know how to appreciate that."

"Yeah, got two sixpacks in the fridge in the garage, just for you by the way. You and all the other alcoholics in the LAPD throwing shade at me."

"You learn quick," Chris praised. "Thanks again for taking in Champ. Haider flew home with her two daughters for the week while her husband is out, and asked me to take him, but my uncle's working construction in East LA and took my cousin. I didn't want him to be alone all day."

"Nah, all good. Champ's the best. I think Zofia likes him, too."