can match wits with him while investigating the murder of her granddaughter Keesha's boyfriend and the apparent attempted murder of Keesha. Provenza and Patrice start a relationship after Provenza arrests Keesha for her boyfriend's murder, something that causes her extended family to dislike him but Patrice doesn't hold against Provenza, particularly after hearing Keesha's disturbing confession. They later get engaged and eventually married. Unlike his other marriages, Provenza's marriage with Patrice appears to be a lasting and supportive one, Patrice being the widow of another cop and thus understanding much of Provenza's struggles. In "Risk Assessment" of Major Crimes, Provenza reveals that his motivation for becoming a police officer is he wanted to help people but hates fire, preferring getting shot to fire. He also states that he enjoys bossing people around as another reason. At the beginning of The Closer Provenza joins with Priority Homicide's protest of Chief Johnson taking over the division by requesting a transfer. While he tells Flynn he has no intention of helping her, Provenza pretty quickly proves he cares nothing about politics in the pursuit of a killer. By the end of the first season Provenza firmly entrenches himself as Chief Johnson's loyal second in command even going as far as to organize Priority Homicide to thwart Captain Taylor's personally motivated "conduct unbecoming" complaint against Chief Johnson. Provenza is injured during a shooting incident in the murder room in the second season. He and Johnson are both put on leave following the incident. He and Lt. Andy Flynn have a close, albeit sometimes caustic, friendship. (During the first season he appears to regard Flynn in a gruff and unfriendly manner, before it emerges in later seasons that the two share a rather amiable history.) After four divorces, Provenza apparently has several children—he complains about paying a lot of child support. In "Next of Kin Part 1" he also mentions having a grandson and mentions that he has more than one grandchild in "The Last Word" and "Hindsight, Part 4" while complaining. In the episode "Dial M For Provenza", he reveals to Assistant Chief Will Pope that the terms of his first divorce require him to split his pension with his first wife, so he therefore refuses to retire. Pope sympathizes with him, having made a similar arrangement with his own first wife. In season 5 of Major Crimes, Provenza's first wife remarries, ending his