~Chapter Completed with assistance from fellow writer Chris Cody ~

Chris began making a coffee and sighed heavily as she waited for the machine to heat up. She was fidgeting with her coffee cup and chewing her lip as she stared out the window. "Morning" …. the sound of Ty's voice behind her made her jump.

"Oh... Morning…" she replied a little startled as she glanced behind her.

"You sleep ok?" He asked as he walked up behind her and leant around her to grab the milk.

Chris smiled a little uncomfortably as she stepped back to allow him to grab the jug. "Yeah…. I ah…. I did", she answered and darted her eyes from him to the coffee machine. Ty could feel her unease, just as he had sensed last night when she had gone to bed early.

"You ok?" Ty asked stepping to her and placing his hands on either side of her shoulders.

Chris blinked and inhaled, "Yeah… I ah…." She hesitated a little and blinked slowly, tilting her head to the side. "I'm just anxious about Kira…. Is she okay?"

Ty smiled and squeezed her shoulders "Yeah, she is ok. She got in pretty late and was tired, but she seems ok, she should be out of the shower soon if you hang about". Chris smiled a strained smile and sipped her coffee. She stepped around Ty and went back to her room to get dressed for shift. As she grabbed her backpack off the bed, she frowned at herself in the mirror. 'Maybe I should just go into work and give her some space' she thought. 'I don't wanna rush her'. Chris walked out to the entry way and put her bag down near her shoes. As she stood up and turned to head back to the kitchen, she saw Kira coming out, reading from a file in her hands. Chris paused and bit her lip, hesitating a little. She swallowed hard and began to walk towards her.

"Hey", Chris said softly, watching Kira closely. Kira looked up from the file in her hands.

"Oh hey" she said smiling and glancing back down at the file briefly, before closing it and looking back at Chris. "Sorry I ah…... missed dinner last night…. Work is crazy and …."

"It's ok" Chris interrupted… "I …. ah…. I get that stuff here" she said motioning between the three of them, "is a little awkward…...right now…. you know"

Kira smiled in the corner of her mouth and nodded "Yeah, I ah…. I'm working through it" she said patting Chris's arm as she motioned for her to sit at the bench. Chris carried her coffee in both her hands and sat nervously on the stool watching Kira as she walked around to the fridge. Ty had gone to shower and as she sat there bouncing her knees up and down a little, she watched Kira for any sign that this was going to be ok. Kira took the juice out and poured a glass and looked up at Chris who was watching her. Kira grinned,

"What?" she said shaking her head a little…...

"Oh…. I" Chris was a little startled "Sorry I didn't mean to be staring at you… I was thinking" Kira smiled and walked around the bench to stand in front of Chris. She inhaled and looked at the floor, before slowly bringing her gaze up to meet Chris's.

"Chris…...look" she began as she placed her hands on Chris's knees to steady them. Chris smiled and closed her eyes, Kira always knew how to make her feel better. "I think you are amazing, and you know how much I want this to work", Chris watched her scanning her face trying to work out where this was going.

"But?" Chris asked frowning and squeezing her hands.

"No, no but." Kira said smiling and squeezing her hand back…. "I like you and I guess I was just really jealous that you have feelings for Jim and kissed him….and…. ok now is the but…. BUT I am trying to work through that all… to not throw this away" she said waving her hand around the apartment. Chris felt a small wave of happiness hearing Kira say those words. It made the smile grow across her face and she tugged Kira into her to hug her. Kira smiled and squeezed her tight, drawing back as Ty's voice startled them both.

"Hey…. I'm glad to see you two smiling with each other again". They both turned and smiled at him.

"Yeah, Look…. I gotta go or I'll be late" Chris said as she stood up off the stool and smiled again at Kira. Kira chewed her lip a bit and smiled back,

"Ok… see you tonight" Kira said, and Chris leaned in and kissed her softly.

"Be safe out there" Ty said walking to her, and she leaned up and kissed him too.

"Always" she replied… "Bye". As Chris walked down the stairs to her truck, she smiled… wondering if things were actually getting back on track with them now. She drove in singing to the radio and feeling good about her day to come. As she pulled into the garage at HQ, she saw Streets bike and all of 50 David's vehicles still there. It made her purse her lips a little and sigh. If she was being honest…it worried her seeing him again after the way their last encounter had been. It still made her feel sad when she thought about it. He had been her best friend and closest person for so long… now all of a sudden, they barely spoke. It really made her chest ache and stomach hurt. She sighed and tilted her head to the side, telling herself to suck it up and get moving as she swung open her door and climbed out. Walking into HQ and turning down the corridor to the locker room she was met by Deacon and Luca.

"Hey" Deac said nodding at her,

"Morning Chris" Luca chimed in as they both fell into pace with her heading for the locker room.

"Hey" Chris replied with a smile.

"How are you?" Deac said studying her a little.

Chris nodded slowly… "I'm okay" she answered slowly giving him a shrug.

"Really?" he asked raising an eyebrow. Deac put up an arm to stop her. "Hey Chris" he said softly stopping her as he nodded for Luca to go ahead and give them some space.

"Remember I am here if you need to talk" he said kindly, with a caring smile.

"Thanks" Chris said slowly letting out a sigh, "I'm okay…I mean I can focus on the job… I just dunno what is going on with the rest of my life right now". She paused and turned up the corner of her mouth into a frown. "I dunno if Ty and Kira are gunna work out and admitting that to myself, let alone out loud really hurts" She dropped her gaze and closed her eyes. "It's a mess, Deac" she laughed a little. "This time it is me who is a little screwed up" shaking her head and inhaling.

"Hey, come on Chris… you will figure it out…" Deac paused trying to find the right words. Chris looked at him and he could see the sadness in her eyes. He knew with one look that Chris was drowning a little, that there was so much going on in her home life that she needed a friend to talk it out with. Deac had figured from the current situation between her and Street, and the current iciness between them that they weren't there for each other like they used to be and so he gently held her shoulder. "How about you come around home for dinner tonight and we can talk then?"

Chris raised her gaze a little shocked, "Um…. I ah"

"Not taking no for an answer Chris… You need this" he said swinging open the door to the locker room.

Chris shrugged "yeah I don't want to intrude….I "

"After shift… No buts!" Deac said pointing at her.

She was chuckling a little and smiling as they entered the locker room. Chris's smile and happy chuckle were short lived as she rounded the corner to see 50 David all in there milling around. Her gaze instantly landed on Street and he turned to look at her at the sound of her laugh. She swallowed hard and nodded at him, a small smile in the corner of her mouth as she made her way to her locker and turned away from him. Seeing him again right now, the way her thoughts were, the mess her life was in, was not helping. She felt tears stinging in her eyes and so she busied herself with getting ready and tried to ignore his presence and gaze on her.

The locker room banter restarted,

"Stop" Street laughed as Rocker pointed and nodded at Luca.

"I'll ask Luca if it's true then, huh?" He teased

"Go ahead" Street replied with a slight chuckle, motioning to Luca. Chris frowned not sure what was going on and looked questioningly at Street then at Rocker.

"What?... Ask me what?" Luca laughed turning to Rocker.

Chris glanced sideways at Luca, then the other way at Street who was smiling a little embarrassed, head down placing things in his locker.

"So, our little playboy Street here, has deleted all the dating apps and is truly done with them huh? …. What will the single ladies of LA do with all their broken hearts now?" Rocker said ruffling the back of Streets hair. Street chuckled and swatted at Rockers hand. Chris couldn't help but smile a little and bite her lip. She liked the idea of him being off those apps and away from those women she had seen him have a string of one night stands with, but she hid her face in her locker and pretended to feel indifferent.

"He did" Luca said nodding, "I watched him do it". Luca moved passed them and patted Streets shoulder "I am proud of you man". Chris again couldn't help the smile on her face, but she didn't look at him, she kept her head down in her locker.

"Oh oh oh.. well there it is" Rocker laughed, and Deacon smirked nodding approvingly with a smile at Street.

Street took his shower bag from his locker. And flung a towel over his shoulder. "Yeah yeah… keep going…" he laughed with Rocker.

"No man…seriously" Rockers tone changed from the teasing banter to a serious leader. "All this change, the hard work you are putting in here, the new attitude…", he placed a hand on Streets shoulder, "People are noticing and I am really proud of you….." He smiled at Street and Street nodded back with a small grin. "Just don't think this means I'll go easy on you with those new certifications that you are after though" he added as he turned to leave.

"Oh, I know it" Street called as Rockers chuckle echoed down the hall.

Chris swallowed hard and breathed in deeply. She was happy hearing that Street was making those changes in his life. She never really expected him to actually do it. As he turned to move to the showers, he ran his eyes over her. She glanced sideways at him and for the brief moment their eyes met smiles grew on each of their faces. Time slowed and she felt that connection she had been missing so much. Her smile made him happy, she blinked slowly with a nod at him and he knew that that was her little way of approving what she just heard. He blinked slowly back at her and she was sure for a second she could feel him almost telling her without a word that he missed her. Her smile and gaze dropped, and she closed her eyes with a sad expression. Street could see she was struggling, he wanted so badly to help her…. But he knew that was not what Chris had said she wanted. He was fighting an internal battle as to whether to say anything to her when the moment was interrupted by the clunk of the door as Tan and Hondo entered.

"Hondo, Tan" Street said smiling at them with a nod.

"Hey man" they answered as Street headed around the corner to the showers.

Several minutes later, Hondo was beginning to go over some drills they were going to try out during their down time, when their phones all began beeping in a chorus.

"Oh…. What's up" Luca and Deac asked first looking at theirs.

"Hostage situation, downtown…Let's go" Hondo said frowning.

As Chris and Becker grabbed their bags, Street came around from the showers, towel around his waist,

"50 David are joining you, we have it too" he said holding up his phone.

"Must be serious" Becker said nodding at Chris for her to go ahead of him. Chris couldn't help but pause and bite the inside of her lip seeing him standing there in just a towel. Her eyes blazed over him briefly before she met his eyes and quickly added

"See you out there" turning away, grinning a little to herself as she exited with Becker. As soon she turned into the corridor, she could she that something was up inside of HQ. The place was buzzing, people almost running, loud voices and worried faces. Chris glanced at Becker with concern,

"You seeing this?"

"Uh – huh" he nodded as they both matched the pace of the others and almost ran to the situation room. Rounding the corner Chris's eyes began scanning the room, Rocker, Hondo, Deacon, Stevens, Luca & Tan were all in there, as well as several detectives from the major crimes squad. Their faces showed the worry they all felt and Deacon through Chris a worried frowned.

"What's up?" She asked moving next to him as her eyes began to watch the monitors. She recognised the building downtown and was listening to Hondo and Rocker talking to the detectives over her shoulder, when Stevens stepped next to her and Becker,

"We have 23 hostages being held by his guy", he tapped the monitor, "Julian Rohleder, number 1 most wanted by major crimes. He has them on the 3rd floor and has already shot one of them when LAPD tried to enter the building"

Chris nodded with a frown, "What's his story?"

Stevens held up his finger at her with a grin knowing Chris was anxious to be up to speed.

"Rohleder, is wanted for 4 kidnappings, 6 homicides and is linked a range of armed robberies and weapons smuggling cases. He had been in hiding until spotted today Downton, detectives think he was trying to get to his sister, Michelle Moon." He pointed at the woman's picture. "She works here in the legal aid offices" Chris opened her mouth to speak when Stevens added "Hicks daughter works there and is one of the 23 hostages" Chris looked up the hostage pictures and instantly saw Molly. "Hicks has already headed down of course and we are about to roll out to work beside the negotiators" …..

"ok….This is family…..Let's go" added Deacon. As Chris turned to follow him, she almost bumped right into Street. Her eyes raising to his and he looked at the monitor, she could see the worry on his face. She patted his shoulder, with a nod,

"Come on, let's go" She said, he forced a smile at her and turned to follow her and Stevens out.