Seventeenth part: new beginnings

Chris and Jim

Song: Imagine Dragons – Only

Jim finally woke up. I smiled at him. "Good morning, Sleepy beauty!" He kissed me on the mouth before I had the time to say anything else.

"Good morning, you! You're awake since when?"

"Almost an hour. Been waiting for you. " She pressed his hand. "I think we need to talk…"

She was serious. He was either. This talking was necessary. More than necessary, it was gonna define what they were to each other. Each one knew how it was important to stay focused and to share every feeling they had. Before, each of them would have feared to talk like that. Not anymore.

"I'm happy of what we are. I'm proud of what you've built… I'm…" He stopped as she took his hand and placed it against her chest.

"And I'm not ready on giving upon us." As she smiled at him, he jumed on her and kissed her deeply.

"I'm not either, Chris. You know that, right?" She answered me by kissing more deeply. We stayed like that for minutes. Our frontheads were against each other. Like the time we first kissed in my backyard, that time our relationship changed forever.

We talked for hours. About our work, about pour relationship. About combining our relationship and our job. About how telling to the others one of them had to quit the team to go to Rokker's one.

"It should be me. I should be the one to integrate another team. I arrived last in SWAT. And you did so much to be on the team. You have made history and I don't want to break that."

"And I don't agree with you. I'm a grown-up woman. And I can choose what I want to do. Of course I love being in Hondo's team. And I love being with you. Today, I… We have a choice to make. And I know it'll be hard whatever we choose. But I also know that what we had it's…" I lost my word. My eyes were wet. When I was with this man, I couldn't control anything.

He dried my tears with his fingers. "What we have is something so precious… And I don't want to lose this."

"Maybe we should go to SWAT and tell everyone. And we'll see what happen when we go to see Hicks after that?" She felt relived for a while. It was already time to go to work.

Later that day, we arrived both on my bike. Why did we have to hide anymore? We were about to say the truth. We are gonna be official in front of our colleagues and I was so nervous. She was too. She pressed my hand. "Everything's gonna be alright. You know that?"

"I do know that. That's just so weird to finally tell the truth…"

"And relieving! We're gonna be able to live the best of our lives. No need to hide, we could go everywhere we want to go, when we want to go…"

I knew Jim was right but I had never taken such a big risk. And I was gonna do because if right now, I was very sure of something, it was I did love James Street!

We entered the building as teammates and joined the team in the locker room. Everyone was there including Tan who nodded at us. Just the time to exchange a look and we were in.

"Hey guys, can we have your attention for just a second?"

Tan smiled. He understood it was THE time. Deac, Hondo and Luca stopped talking and turned to us. Now that all these eyes were looking at us, we were less brave than we had decided to be. Luca broke the silence.

"Hey, what's up?"

Chris and Jim exchanged a look. It was time, they could not go back. "Guys, Chris and I have something to tell you. We talked about it for months now but a fact made us understand it was time to do it now… Since a few months…. Chris and I are … dating…. And things are going very well and …"

"And .." Chris' hands were shaking. Jim grabbed them in his. "And we don't want to hide anymore…Even if it means one of them has to switch team."

Hondo, Luca and Deac looked at us puzzled for a while. Then all smiled.

"Congrats guys, it's awesome" Luca shouted. "Always knew you have a special connection" Hondo added. "You'd better be good with her, little boy! She's like a daughter to me!" Deac said. Finally Tan came by us and hugged us so hard we were thinking about fading.

We smiled. This moment we were so scared of was passed and everything was fine. Chris squizzed my hand. Jim squeezed mine. For a moment, we lost track of time. When we came back to reality, the team was laughing at us.

"Look at these lovebirds. They are on their own cloud and they don't care about us anymore !" Hondo teased us. We laughed. Yeah maybe he was right. Neither of us had already felt this way. But Oh God it was exhilarating.

"We all know you were close. And deep down inside, we all knew one day you becoming a couple could be a possibility." Tan finally admitted.

"To be fair, when Street came into the squad, years ago, just after you two met, we all bet on the date you'll be finally together" Luca laughed so hard, he must have woken up the whole neighborhood.

We burst into laughing. Then we became serious. "Jim and I have to leave you for some times just time to tell Hicks about us and to decide which one of us will switch team from now on…. We have not decided yet. Despite hours of talking, despite all the pros and all the cons, we don't know yet what to do…"

"You could tell Hicks tomorrow. No need to hurry up, kids." Hondo finally told us before inviting is night, we had the time of our life. We laughed, we talked. We were with our friends and we were together as a couple in a public place. We even kissed and no one told us we were not allowed to. We were normal. It was normal. And it seemed so obvious.

The day after, we arrived SWAT first. We changed in the locker room, shared a kiss and then went to Hicks' office. He was not there yet. So we waited until he came. When we saw him at the end of the corridor, our hands –that once were strongly attached - pulled apart. It was time. We nodded.

"You wanted to see me?" Hicks asked.

We entered Hicks' office. Neither of us told a word but we could read in each other's eyes.

"Chief, we would like to talk about something with you. That's why we asked your secretary an appointment" Chris didn't stop talking. She knew that if she stopped right now, she might not be brave enough to tell what she had too.

Hicks sat at his office and invited Chris an Jim to do the same. "What was this important for you to see me so quickly? Nothing important? You didn't screw up on field, did you?"

"No chief. We just wanted to talk about something more… Private…"

Chris stopped talking. Hicks looked at us in the eyes. He was curious. We both could see that.

"We would like to…. Tell you about … Our relationship…. Chris and I are in love… We are a couple and we don't want to hide it anymore. We already told Team David about it. And we know we're gonna have to work in different teams. And we both agree to that."

Hicks remained quiet for a while.

"Molly told me about you months ago. She told me before leaving LA it was just a matter of time before you two being in sync with your feelings. She was right. That's my daughter, she's brilliant! Don't feel bad, Street. She's not angry at you, not at all. She loved being with you. She has just arrived too late. That's her word. True story"

Chris and Jim remained silent. They were both stunned. Molly who broke Chris' heart when she had started dating Jim was finally their guardian angel. Who could have believed that? Certainly not her!

"Go to work, Kids. I'll talk with HR to know how we're gonna deal with you two being a couple. In the same time, be safe and I don't want to see you warbling in SWAT headquarters!"

We got of the office wondering what had just happened. Chris remained silent as always. I was not in the same mood I needed to talk. "That was… not what I had expected!"

And all of a sudden, we burst into laughing. We couldn't stop. We were so afraid of this moment. We were so stressed and it was over and everything was fine. Chris pressed my hands and smiled. Jim pulled her towards him. Her faces were so close and they kissed. Right here in SWAT headquarters where all started. Right here in front of the chief's office. And they didn't care if someone saw them. At that moment, they were only the two of them and it was enough.

A few days after, Hicks called them in his office. The HR had decided of their future.

"Thanks for coming, kids. I discuss your situation with the HR, that's why Miss Lopes is with us today."

She nodded at us to say hi. Hicks kept talking: "Miss Lopes wants to hear if you have decided anything about your career and would like to propose you an arrangement if you have no idea what to do."

We looked at each other. "Chief, Jim and I have been talking for days, even weeks now. And we can't decide which one has to leave Team David. We both want to because we don't want to break the rules but we both have troubles to decide because we love this team too much. And it's getting worse with time because we overthink about it and it's making us crazy."

Miss Lopes wrote a lot on her notebook while Chris was talking. Then she started to talk: "I read your files, both of you and you are two excellent elements of LA SWAT. Alonso, you made history by being the first woman to ever enter SWAT and since your arrival, your service record is exemplary. Street, you had troubles at the beginning but since you had been reintegrated, you have been a really good agent. It has been difficult to choose."

Chris grabbed Jim's hands. She was so stressed. Having no control over her future? It was terrifying! Jim was anxious too. He squeezed her hands to let her know he was feeling the same way.

"Then I saw that as an opportunity. I met the mayor of LA last month and she was asking me about women in police. How many of them were in the police? How they were perceived? And yesterday, she called me to tell she decided to create a new task force inside SWAT. A task force who could take in charge all the crimes only a woman can understand like rapes, abductions or abuse… And I gave your name as the new leader of this team, Alonso."

Chris and Street looked at each other. Both as surprised as the other. They had imagined a lot of scenario but not this one where Chris got a team of her own.

"What are you thinking about this, Miss Alonso?"Miss Lopes asked. "You can take your time to answer but I need to know your answer by the end of the week."

Chris pressed Street's hand. No word needed. They both knew she had to accept this offer. It was the chance of a lifetime and they chose her!

"I… I… Accept… I am very flattered.. But Why me?"

"You do an amazing job every day at SWAT in Team David, Chris. It was only a matter of time before you get your own team. Hicks added before anyone else could say something.

"I call you to give the details and we'll have to meet for you to create your team."

Chris nodded. "Can I suggest some names? Can I recruit people I know, people I trust like Erika Rodgers?"

"You can do everything you want, Chris. It's your team."

When she heard Hicks' words, Chris couldn't hold back her tears. All her hard work was finally rewarded. Jim came closer and whispered in her ear: "You so deserve this, my little tiny warrior". She didn't think and fell into Jim's arms. Here, in front of Miss Lopes from the HR, in front of Hicks, her boss and father of his boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. Some would have said it was weird. At this moment, it was the only thing she could think about, it was the only place she wanted to be.

Time was come to tell what was going on to Team David. For Chris, it was the end of a chapter in her life but the start of a new exciting one. Of course, she won't be able to work with those who became over years he family. But she will always see them. And she was about to get her own team! Who could have believed that when she registered to become a SWAT agent that one day she will lead a team?

"Congratulations, sis!So happy for you! You deserve it, you kill everything!" Luca shouted when Chris learnt him the news.

"So happy for you, Chris" It was Tan's turn to congratulate her. Hondo came and hugged her" Well done, Chris! I always know you were the best of us".

Deac was the last to come, his eyes were wet. "Gonna miss you, Chris. You know you're like a daughter to me". Her eyes were wet too. He hugged her strongly. Before he let her go, he whispered in her ear: "You deserve all that happen to you, Chris. Hope you know that… And if you don't, I count on Jim to tell you how wonderful you are…"

"Don't worry, Deac. He does it every day".

"So I think you find the right guy…"

Chris smiled. Yes, she does. She fought her feelings for Jim for so long and it was once she allowed her to love Jim for real that her life made a true watershed. She – for sure – was a lucky girl even though she had worked hard for it.

She raised her head. Street winked at her. She joined him and took his hand in hers. No need to hide anymore. SWAT had brought her everything in her life. She loved four of her teammates as brothers, she was in love with the fifth of them and in a few days, she was going to take the lead of the first SWAT tactics team. Her new life had just begun…