Okay, I guess I should give you a peek into Street's mind right? This chapter sort of is set in and around the Season 2 finale with my twists added. Enjoy. (Remember Season 2 canon is part of this story)
Street feels awkward. They are all standing around talking, waiting for the ceremony to start. To an outsider, it might look normal, but he feels the distance. Chris hasn't even acknowledged his presence with a nod, and he wonders how long it will take until someone on the team will notice. After the day he had, he could use someone to talk to. Seeing his mom at that low of a point, having her confuse him with his father of all people. Jim can't help the shudder that runs down his spine at the memory. He repeats the mantra "I am nothing like him!" over and over just to keep it together. If it were any other function, he would've stayed away. Just like that night but he couldn't. This was Deac's night. A very deserved honor and he should be here. So he is.
Don't ask him what the conversation is actually about. It seems Luca and Tan are trading jabs. He only gets fully back to reality when Hondo shoos them along to take their seats. Street moves along the row of chairs in the front. Consciously counting out that his team all get a seat when he sits down. Just before he has reached the end of the row, he finally hears a very familiar laugh. And sure, when he looks up his feet stop moving.
How is she here?
He feels Chris brush past him and sees her fling her arms around the last person he thought he would see here tonight. Tan pushes him in his chair and plops down beside him. "Don't even think about it. Chris would eat you alive."
The pointed look in the direction of the two women tells him he was a little too obvious in his reaction and he needs to correct his friend's assumptions. „I wasn't…" but his reply gets interrupted by a raised eyebrow from Tan and the sound of the ceremony starting from the stage.
He forces himself to concentrate on the speeches and on what is happening in front but still, his eyes are being drawn to the end of the row multiple times. How didn't he know they are friends?
He told himself he needed to just ignore her presence, but he knew that would be hard. Especially since she decided on that red dress. It wasn't the one she wore when they had last seen each other but it was red all the same and the color threatened to bring the memory back. He forces the images back and strains to listen to Deacon's speech. Only bits and pieces register with him and for some reason, they are all the references to family and the closeness in the team. This team really has each other's back.
He lets himself remember how he almost lost that connection and support through his own stupidity and how he had vowed to himself to never make that mistake again.
When Deac singles out Chris and her involvement in today's takedown he can't help but glance over and make sure she is okay. He also gets a glimpse of Molly sitting right next to Chris and his heart feels a small stab. They look so close, sitting over there, next to each other and talking.
How come he didn't know they are friends? He has to remind himself not to look in their direction for too long. Tan is sitting right next to him and he is really not in the mood tonight to explain this mess. Especially if he has no idea what is going on and why Molly is back in town. He makes a mental note to try and find out. Find a way to talk to Molly later on.
He really tries to concentrate on the rest of the speech, but that does not prove easy.
After the speech is over and everyone is applauding, he tries to discreetly check where Molly is and if there is an opportunity to just talk to her alone. But Jim realizes quickly that there probably won't be a way. Not tonight. Tan has been watching him and is already grinning. He doesn't know if he can survive more teasing right now. Not with the memory of their last night in his mind.
His trip to Pittsburgh after Christmas had been amazing. They had reconnected at the toy drive and their talk after, and he had been incredibly happy. Their former connection was still there. He had enjoyed their time together. Cuddled together on the sofa watching the ball drop, in Times Square, he thought it was perfect. And he had known he wanted to fix them. He knew in all seriousness that it was probably rushing them, but he couldn't help himself. He needed to know if she was ready to go back to that point. The moment they had before they had broken each other.
So, he asked if she ever thought about moving back to LA. He remembers the uneasy silence that had followed. And the No that had formed on her lips just seconds before he had grabbed his stuff and left.
He had spent the night at the airport and flown back home the next day with his planned flight. They hadn't spoken since and it still hurt. He knew he was to blame. He could've called and tried to fix it again, but he couldn't bring himself to do so.
Luca and Tan pull him back to the present. The team was apparently making plans to go have a drink together to celebrate Deac.
"You in?" Tan asks him and looks a little impatient.
Jim takes another moment to contemplate, and his eyes wander over to where he can hear Chris and Molly laughing. Then nods his head and heads out with his teammates.
They had one single drink, Chris looked over the moon happy and couldn't stop telling everyone that Molly was moving back, she apparently had a job lined up already. He felt his heart shatter into a thousand tiny pieces.
Why now all of a sudden? He had so many questions. If this had happened last year he had been in heaven and now he was just confused and a little bit angry too.
At the end of their drinks, Deacon had invited them all over for a real celebration, which meant a BBQ in the Kay's backyard. Something to look forward to.
Street had driven home with Luca still wondering. He had tried to stay away from Chris, well as much as possible with the team standing close together in a bar and he had tried not to listen in on her private conversations. Tan had asked all the questions that were running around in his head, but Chris stayed mum on Molly's reasons to move back, besides LA is the best city in the world and any Cali girl would eventually come back.
The next few days fly by in a flurry of calls and workouts.
The turmoil inside his head is not exactly subsiding.
Chris is not speaking to him outside of work-related things, she almost completely stopped joking with him, but still pretends to when Tan and Luca start.
Right now, he just wishes he could get his friend back. The easy dynamic they had, sharing things and talk through the other mess in his head.
While he laces up his boots Deacon walks into the locker room.
"Sorry, guys. Looks like we are on-call Saturday. Are you still okay with having the BBQ at my place?"
"Yeah, sure." Tan and Luca reply. "We can chase the bad guys in between courses!" Luca adds and gives Tan the obligatory high five for that.
And so, it comes. Saturday starts with an early morning call, which stretches out into the afternoon.
They are clearing up the scene and head to clean up themselves at HQ because no one wants to show up sweaty to sit down and eat.
Street hears Deacon talk on the phone to Annie saying that he has to make another small detour but that the team will be on its way.
When Street and Luca arrive at the house they walk inside and a little awkwardly pick up the screaming infant they find in the fold-out crib in the living room.
"Hey, Annie. I think you have one too many of these little ones around. You opening a daycare?" Luca asks when Street stops next to Annie with the fussy bundle in his arms.
"Oh, wasn't there a monitor next to her?" Annie looks around frantically until she spots the receiver on the ground. "Great, dead batteries. Can you just hold her a minute longer, while I go get her bottle ready?"
She motions for Street and Luca to sit down and Street manages to do so awkwardly. When Annie comes back Tan is with her.
"Deac and the rest are a little behind me. Red lights." He pauses while Annie grabs Josie from Street to start giving her the bottle.
The three men walk away a couple of paces and see the older kids storm directly for their dad and apparently favorite aunt, who are walking out onto the deck right now. When Deacon and Chris have reached them Tan just has to ask "Cute kid back there, Street. Yours?"
Luca grins from ear to ear and Street is just stunned into silence.
"What kid?" Chris asks clearly surprised.
Deacon smiles at them. "I guess you met Josie then. Annie's goddaughter."
Chris interjects with a pointed look at Tan and Luca. "And I would never make that joke again. Especially not in front of Hicks. She is his granddaughter."
Both grins fade into shock.
Jim is slowly coming out of his daze while Luca and Tan try to get Chris to explain why she didn't resolve the bet early on. In his head Street tentatively tries to make the calculations, if this is Molly's daughter… he can't stop himself from asking "What about her parents? Why aren't they here?" it is obvious now that no one outside 20 David and the kids is in the backyard.
"Molly had her first big work function today and she didn't want to bring Josie for that." Annie, who just had walked over to them explains while balancing the little girl on her chest.
"And the father better stays in Pittsburgh if he wants to survive." Chris can be heard mumbling between her teeth.
Somehow Jim's heart breaks a little at the thought that Molly could have possibly moved on that fast after their well, attempt at a new relationship. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Luca slap his hands onto Chris' shoulders to massage the assumed tension out of them "Come on Chris. No death threats or we have to arrest you."
Jim's mind continues racing. The infant looks no older than a month or two and if his math isn't completely off, she has to be his. But it makes no sense in his mind that Molly wouldn't tell him.
As per usual the team has just started to relax when they get a call and have to leave. Street hopes when they are finished, he might get a chance to ask Molly about his suspicions in private.
They only finish very late and all drive to their respective homes to get some sleep. Not that Jim sleeps much.
The next couple of shifts are so busy he doesn't have much time to think about the fact that he might have a daughter. He felt a strong need to just call Molly and figure this out but every time he picks up the phone, he nixes the idea almost immediately.
He needs to do this in person, see her face.
Could that beautiful little girl really be his daughter?
The following day their shift had been really slow and so he had idle time to think. The only way he could quiet his mind was exerting himself and so he went all out with Tan in the ring. He could focus on the job out on a call they had but now leaving the locker room and heading home all these thoughts hit him again.
When he rounds the corner to the kitchen, he hears voices. Jim's steps falter before he reaches the corner. He recognizes Molly's voice in an instance. It sounds like she is talking to Josie and Jim can't help the smile on his face while imagining Molly with the little girl.
The second adult voice is the commander.
"Come on Molly, you don't need to worry. We will have a great evening together." There is an unfamiliar tease and fondness in the commander's voice.
"I know dad, it's just always hard leaving her behind." Molly laments. "Sweet girl, you will be good for your grandpa, will you?" Jim can hear the affection in her voice, and it almost breaks his heart. He wants to walk around the corner and just confront her, but his boss's voice stops him.
"You could always leave her with her father. When am I going to meet that man anyway?"
"Dad don't start. Okay. He is busy and has a life. We are not a part of that." Molly's voice sounds shaky and Jim wonders if she could really be talking about him?
"But he knows you are in LA with Josie, right? You are not risking a lawsuit by moving here?" Hicks sounds worried. Was Chris right? Had Molly met someone in Pittsburgh and moved on?
Jim is rooted to his spot behind the corner and he listens in on their private conversation.
"Yes, dad. He knows we are here, and he won't sue me." Molly's voice has gotten back her conviction and it feels like a stab to his heart.
"As long as I get to meet the man in the future…" the commander circles back to the topic that in all reality is the most intriguing right now.
"Don't worry, dad. You will have plenty of opportunities to pester him to your heart's content when we are all ready for that." Molly interrupts and after a beat of silence continues with "Thank god, you are here."
Jim hears Chris now and knows he has to leave his hideout soon. He is confused and hurt at the same time and needs some time to himself to figure out what this all means. Could it really be true? Molly had moved on. Maybe she never was available?
He shakes his head. The Molly he knew wouldn't cheat so she must've moved on very quickly and that hurt. She had sounded so much like she was in contact with Josie's dad, and they were planning to work out their family. Their family. Not his.
He walks back into the locker room, changes back into his workout gear, and gets out his frustration with the punching bag.