[CONTENTID1] THE DETECTIVE - PART 1 [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

Taehyung + OC (Jamie Lee)

Part One

Word Count: 5.1K

Written by: AnnieWilson & AlexWilson

Five Weeks Ago...

"Detective Kim, please understand," Chief Jeon sighs, his wrinkles deepening as he frowns at the files scattered across his desk. The detective scoffs and glares at him, his arms folded as his badge rests comfortably on the pocket of his shirt.

"A partner? I've said it before and I'll say it again — I work alone. I don't need someone getting in my way, especially not some rookie detective," Taehyung growls, running a hand through his dark locks. "I'm not putting my life in another person's hands. God forbid, some kid who's never worked on a Narcotics case before." The chief glances up from the piece of paper for the first time in the whole conversation with a raised eyebrow and groans, rubbing the temples of his head.

"Taehyung... please, just do this for me. Remember, I got you where you are now. If Tae Li didn't help me with my ex-wife, you would still be another rookie cop waiting so eagerly for that one lucky break," the older man reminds him, though his expression is laced with desperation. "Everyone deserves a chance, Taehyung. Give your new partner one, like I gave you one."

"Chief Jeon, you know my answer," Taehyung concludes and walks out the door, though not before turning around one last time. "I don't work with other people. We don't want a repeat of what happened before, do we?" The chief doesn't respond and instead, sends him one last pleading look. "I'm sorry but I can't risk that again. I won't, I refuse to. Please, try to understand." 

It's not very often at all that Kim Taehyung tries to appease to anyone, not even the Chief of Police himself. But the old man is right, he is the one who threw a high-profile, open Narcotics case onto Taehyung's desk one day, years ago, which gave him the breakthrough that got him to the position he is at today. However, as much as he believes that he owes it to Chief Jeon to welcome this new partner of his in, Taehyung can't bring himself to do so.

Not after what happened on that one case, two years ago.

So, with a respectful nod directed at the Chief of the Seoul Police Department, Taehyung turns around and leaves his boss' office. He then walks to his desk more or less in the centre of the large room, where he's surrounded by his colleagues, and collapses onto his chair. He grunts softly, an ache in his back making itself known once again. He closes his eyes very briefly, allowing his thoughts to float around in his head.

It was never really Kim Taehyung's dream to be a detective or to even dabble in anything police-related. He comes from a middle-high class family, with both of his parents being real estate lawyers. Growing up, he was interested in simple things like cars and electronics. By fifteen, he'd decided that a career in mechanics suited him best, though he wasn't yet sure which specific job was the most desirable.

But he was young, he had time to figure it out. Little did he, nor his entire family, know that before his 16th birthday his older brother would be found dead in the upstairs bathroom of their house. It wasn't even Taehyung who found him, it was his big sister, Tae Li. As it turned out, their brother had been meddling with the wrong crowd for months and had overdosed on heroin which was given to him by one of his 'friends'. No suicide note, no goodbyes.

Kim Taemin was simply snuffed out, without so much as a warning. The worst part? He did it to himself. Whilst Tae Li tried to find reason in their brother's death, whilst she tried to bring herself to understand why he'd do something so selfish, Taehyung was simply angry. No, he was enraged. He hated Taemin for doing that to himself and to their family. Taemin ruined them.

After the oldest sibling's death, Tae Li and Taehyung's parents' marriage fell apart. They couldn't cope with the questions, the looks, the stress...the pressure to 'get over it' after a while, to move on from something so tragic. Tae Li coped by burying herself in schoolwork, by shutting out everyone except for a few close friends and her favourite teachers. Taehyung, however, simply shut everyone out. He became quiet and reserved; cold. He pushed all his friends away and threw away his dream to be some sort of mechanic.

Instead, he decided to pursue a career in the police department. It would be the first step towards being a Narcotics Officer, to being someone who could chase down the type of people that poisoned Taemin's mind with their lies and their empty promises, and to bring them to justice. He didn't, and still doesn't, want anyone to lose someone they love to an addiction to any type of drug, be it perscribed or not.

However, the death of Kim Taemin is not the reason behind Taehyung's unshaking conviction against having a partner. That is a completely different story, one which made Taehyung the distrusting, prejudiced man he is today. 

Laughter and noisy chatter erupts within the police department, rousing Taehyung from his deep train of thought. He scrunches his face up and rubs it tiredly, before getting up and lazily walking over to where a few cops and fellow detectives have gathered near the entrance of the building. He carelessly shoves a few of the officers aside, ignoring their disgruntled exclaimations as he finds his way to the front of what seems to now be some sort of ring of contenders. Inside the ring is a woman dressed in skin-tight jeans, black converse and a plain white T-shirt, and a young male cop. The woman is beyond good-looking, with a body that demands attention and a face that deserves applause.

The officer and the woman seem to be in a heated argument, with the male cop sporting a red cheek. The young woman has her eyes narrowed, an eagle-glare pinned on him. Taehyung stares at her for a few more seconds, appreciating her good looks, before sliding his eyes back to the male upon hearing his name.

"Detective Kim!" The male cop shouts, bowing once he sees the man of higher power. "This woman— I swear, she harrassed me, sir!" Taehyung glances back at the female who utters a mocking scoff, shaking her head whilst muttering incoherently.

"This young woman here?" Taehyung asks, his tone reflecting every bit of boredom he feels. The male cop nods firmly. "You're telling this woman, this barely 5'4 woman who is obviously new here, given I've never seen her before, harassed a 150 pound, level 3 officer?"

"Yessir! She slapped me out of nowhere."

"Objection!" the female exclaims, raising her hand before pointing at the cop. "He's lying...sir. He tried to lay one on me so I slapped him and kneed him where the sun doesn't shine."

"You...kneed him?" Taehyung asks. 

"I'm not afraid to fight dirty, sir," the beautiful young woman replies with a nod. Taehyung can't help but snort a laugh. Everyone knows that Jackson Wang is one of the flirtiest, and borderline erted, officers in the department. It's not surprising to hear that he tried to make a move on the fresh meat, which is why Taehyung is going to let her public humiliation of Jackson, slide.

"I saw nothing," he states, effectively dismissing the younger male.

Jackson's eyes widen, "Wh-what? But sir! She hit me! Multiple times!"

"Then maybe you'll finally learn," Taehyung replies coolly, "to keep your own hands to yourself. I hope so, before slaps turn into astounding punches and that pretty face of yours is ruined. Wouldn't that be a shame?"

"But sir—"

"Go," he orders, cutting the young cop off. "Before I change my mind and write you up for innapproprite workplace behaviour. You don't want disciplinary action taken against you, do you, Wang?"

"No, sir," Jackson sighs.

"Then get. The rest of you, disperse. Now." His colleagues, though a lot of them are his subordinates due to his high rank, do as they're told and quickly return to their jobs. Taehyung turns to follow his own orders when the somewhat raspy voice of the pretty newbie rings out again.

"Ah, excuse me!"

Taehyung continues to walk, ignoring her shouts. He reaches his desk, though finds that she's hot on his trail. "Hey, didn't you hear me? I called you, like, ten times."

"I heard," he replies, bluntly adding: "I just chose to ignore you. Now get out of my face, your presence is burdensome."

"Wow," she scoffs incredulously, "you're one ray of ing sunshire, aren't you?"

"So I've been told."

She snorts, "Listen, I don't know what the hell your problem is but I was going to thank you for putting that creep in his place. Now, I don't think I want to thank you at all!"

"You just did," Taehyung states. "I accept your thanks. Now, leave."

"I didn't— you're just— I'm gonna— urgh! Whatever, I'm leaving," she grunts out frustratedly, turning around and angrily leaving. Taehyung already has his nose buried in case notes, though he looks up to watch her storm away from him. If she wasn't so pretty, he thinks, she'd be that much more unbearable.

, is he glad he'll never have to deal with her again. He knows from the badge that hung on her hip that she definitely works here, though since he mostly keeps to himself, it's unlikely their paths will cross again.

"Kim Tae," Lee Jinki, one of the Homicide Detectives of the SPD, calls out. He strides to Taehyung's desk with an evident, though not overbearing, confidence and throws a glance over his shoulder. "I see you've met your new partner."

"Excuse me?" Taehyung blinks at him, waiting for his sunbae to elaborate. Kim Taehyung doesn't have anyone he considers a friend and doesn't classify the people he works with as anything more than just colleagues and, some of them, simply strangers that happen to be in the same place as him five days of the week. However, he begrudgingly admits to himself that Lee Jinki might be more than just a colleague.

Perhaps an acquaintance. 

It doesn't mean, however, that he trusts the older man. He won't make that mistake again.

"Your partner," Jinki repeats, nodding in the direction that the young woman stormed away in, "Y'know, Jamie Lee. Canadian-born, half-Korean, a cop for four years. Long hair, pretty face...a body to die and kill for." Jinki shakes his head, grinning sheepishly.

"Did you just read out her profile?"

The older male continues without addressing his question, "Ah, I need to get my mind out of the gutter. Jinjja, I'm jealous of you, Kim. All I've got for a partner is some loudmouthed kid with a weird fashion sense."

Taehyung snorts, "Kibum does dress a bit weird." He shakes his head, "Hold up. That girl is my new partner? The one that roughed up Wang?"

"Yep," the Homicide Detective replies with a loud smack of his lips. "Just transferred here from NYC. Heard this is her first case as a detective. A rookie."

" me," Taehyung grunts, leaning back in his chair. "I do not have the ing time for this." 

"If my partner looked like her," Mark Tuan, a Taiwanese-American Cyber Crime detective, interjects, "I'd make time." Jinki laughs, nodding in agreement with the generally quiet detective. Taehyung's eyes search for the young woman again and they find her moments later. He watches her angrily kick a water dispenser before huffing out a breath and folding her arms.

Taehyung finds himself praying to any god that is listening that Jamie Lee transfers within the next week or two. He fits the lone wolf role, he works better on his own. Having a partner will not only slow him down, it'll jeopordise their cases — how can they make an efficient team if he can't trust the person he's meant to be willing to die to protect. Taehyung figures it'll be in everyone's best interest if he forces this young woman to transfer out of the department or, at least, ask for a new partner.

He'll do whatever it takes.

Unfortunately