In the conference room.
Rorschach was wrestling with the Introduction to Policing the chief had just given him, trying to brute‑force it into his head.
The book was not thick, maybe twenty or thirty pages, but it was packed with jargon that read like a spell book and made his head pound.
"What are you reading?"
Ginny shoved the door open and, the moment she saw him, broke into a bright smile. She sauntered over, snatched the book from his hands, and started flipping through it.
Rorschach's first reaction was to glance nervously behind her. Seeing that the always‑smiling, suit‑and‑tie middle‑aged man was not with her, he quietly let out a breath.
He eyed Ginny as she focused on the book and asked, a little cautious, "You… didn't talk trash about me to your dad, did you?"
"Huh?"
Whatever she thought of made her cheeks flush, but she quickly shook her head and snorted, "Talk about you? What, tell him you spend all day thinking up new ways to torture me?"
Rorschach looked unconvinced. No matter how he replayed it, something about the way Ginny's dad had looked at him felt off.
Felt like the kid had said plenty behind his back.
Ginny turned away on purpose, then stopped when she saw something on the page and started reading aloud: "A good leader understands that even the most ordinary trainee officer has something he can learn from."
She shut the book, glanced back at him, and smiled. "Repeat that back to me."
"I'd love to learn, but what exactly am I supposed to be learning from you?"
Rorschach snatched the book back and teased, "How to drop your gun in the bathroom, get conned out of cash, or get lost after only a few days on the job?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Why are you suddenly reading, anyway?"
"Need it for the exams. Have to memorize the whole thing. F*ck, nothing I hate more than a book."
Rorschach grumbled, then forced himself back to the text.
Ginny watched him struggle, tilting her head, clearly turning something over in her mind.
After a while, more people started filing into the conference room.
All patrol officers—new hires on probation and the FTOs paired with them.
Chief Griffin straightened his clothes, stepped up to the front, gave everyone a quick pep talk, and then, as usual, started running the new recruits' body‑cam footage on the projector one by one.
Officially, it was to "identify gaps and correct mistakes."
In practice, it was public humiliation.
First up was a Black officer who had managed to make the same mistake Ginny had.
After finding an injured person on the roadside, he misreported the location three times in a row, then had to ask a passerby for directions—who turned out to be a white supremacist with a swastika tattoo and called him "n****r" to his face.
He never did get the ambulance there, but he did arrest an old man for insulting an officer.
Next was another rookie's tape, and this one was worse.
He had collared a few strippers buying drugs on the street and gone to cuff them. His hand "accidentally" lingered on one woman's thigh a couple of extra seconds, and she turned around and filed a sexual harassment complaint.
"Hahahaha—"
Rorschach lost it.
More rookie disasters followed.
One grabbed two guys having sex in public and got tagged as homophobic. Another pulled over a speeding car only to find a dog in the driver's seat and, not knowing how to write the ticket, just waved it on. A third went to clear out undocumented squatters and ended up sprinting down the block with two bulldogs on his heels.
Rorschach clapped and laughed so hard his sides hurt.
Better content than Saturday Night Live.
Then the next clip came up, and the laughter died in his throat.
Ginny's body‑cam.
At first, she was humming Taylor Swift, then bolted after him when he spotted a street deal and rushed out of the squad car—only to go down flat on her face.
When they hit a house full of illegals, she was about to step through the door when he swung it shut in her face and smashed her nose.
Facing off with gangbangers, she drew her Taser to return fire. At five meters, she still missed.
The room erupted. Officers who were close with Rorschach started heckling him.
And it kept getting worse. On a coffee run he had sent her on, Ginny was caught badmouthing him behind his back, calling him "a heartless psycho" and "completely inhuman."
"Hahaha, Rorschach, looks like your training methods need work," someone shouted.
Without looking back, he raised a middle finger at the peanut gallery.
When he turned again, he realized the rookie who had been sitting behind him was gone.
"That rookie…"
He picked up the eval form at his elbow, thought for a moment, and wrote Ginny's score for her probation.
Half an hour later, the public execution of the new officers wrapped up.
Some walked out relieved, others looking like they wanted to be sick. More than half would have to reapply for the exam after failing to meet the bar.
Rorschach was about to head straight for New York but ran into Ginny as soon as he stepped out the door.
"What, hid because you knew you were about to make a fool of yourself?" he said dryly.
Ginny chuckled, scratching her cheek. "So I made a fool of myself. You don't know your weaknesses, you don't get better."
Rorschach couldn't help smiling. He tossed her the sealed envelope with her eval. "Open it after your shift. No point ruining your appetite this early."
He turned to go. Ginny suddenly shoved an MP5 into his hands.
Not the gun—a little MP5 music player.
"Here. Listen to it on the way," she said, then bolted, clutching her own score.
Around the corner, she waited until she was sure he had driven off, then tore the envelope open with a mix of nerves and excitement.
The first thing she saw was a sticky note in bold letters: I SAID AFTER YOUR SHIFT.
She stuck out her tongue like her thoughts had been read, then looked down at the form. When she saw the number, she clapped a hand over her mouth in delight.
"Yes—!"
Outside the precinct, Rorschach had just tossed the MP5 onto the passenger seat and was about to pull out when someone knocked on his window.
Jack Bauer stood there, smiling in at him.
"Uh, Mr. Bauer, something you need?" Rorschach asked, forcing on his most polite grin.
Jack handed him a card. "I went out to that park last night. Have to say, your solo combat skills are impressive. We don't have many at CTU who could match you. If you ever want a change, come to CTU. I can get you in through a special slot."
"CTU, huh?"
Rorschach glanced down at the address and phone number. He did not refuse, just said, "I'll think about it. Thanks for the offer, Mr. Bauer."
Jack nodded, still smiling—then his expression snapped flat, and he jabbed a finger at Rorschach. "And if I ever hear you had my daughter chasing a squad car like a stray again, I will make you regret it."
"Never again," Rorschach said quickly. "Ginny's got a great attitude, works hard, and doesn't coast on her background. She's got real potential."
Jack gave him an odd look and, as he left, pointed at him again in warning.
After he walked off, Rorschach looked at the card in his hand and thought of the threat.
Guy really did know how to keep work and family separate.
He shrugged, started the engine, and, before pulling away, slipped Ginny's MP5 earbuds in and hit play.
A crisp, sweet voice came through at once.
"Introduction to Policing, Chapter One, Section One: The Realities of Police Work… Oh, and this audiobook is lovingly produced by your number‑one trainee, Ginny Bauer…"
Rorschach blinked.
A few hundred meters down the road, he still could not help smiling.
Should've given her a higher score.
————————
Night.
In a high‑end apartment.
Fresh out of the shower, Ginny lay on her stomach writing in her diary, pale legs swinging lazily in the air. Her mood was clearly excellent.
Next to her lay her eval sheet, the 80 circled at the top. She glanced at the score, giggled to herself, and bent back over her notebook.
Before long, the day‑by‑day rambling turned to one topic: Rorschach.
"I once heard that women usually divide men into four types."
"Daddy, Virgins, Sluts, Bitches."
"If a man can be as reliable as a daddy boyfriend, as heart‑fluttering as a first love, as attractive as a green tea, and as hot‑and‑cold as a bad man, then no woman can escape his charm."
"I'm sure of it now. I've already fallen for Rorschach."
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(End of Chapter)
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