Thank you, Reg. I appreciate the comment. Maybe you are right; Street took a different approach on the show... I started writing this fresh off Under Fire, and there I had the feeling the apology might've been more forced, and I took the conversations Street had with Tan and Chris and Molly and heightened that tension right there. You will see right now he is more hurt himself. Hang in there.
And now, enjoy the next chapter :)
On the cab ride home, Chris is still confused and surprised that Molly apparently suggested that she'd stay with her. It felt odd that Molly would trust her like this after their frosty encounter just last week.
She hadn't dared to ask what had happened at the hospital, but with the doctor suggesting a visit to monitor the situation, Chris assumed that Molly hadn't lost her baby.
At their building, Chris made sure Molly was settled in her apartment before she went across the hall to grab just a few necessities for the night.
When she came back over, Molly has put a couple of cushions and blankets on the bigger sofa for her, and there are two steaming mugs sitting on the coffee table.
After a little while spent just sitting in silence, Chris's phone lights up with a message, and she quickly grabs it when she reads Street's name on the screen.
"I hope your friend is okay. Just text me when you have time to talk." Chris reads and lets out a sigh.
She hopes Molly didn't read the name, and she turns the phone over when she places it back down next to herself.
"I am sorry that I disrupted your evening. I shouldn't be your priority. Your friends should be." Molly softly mumbles and curls her feet under herself.
"You needed someone. It's okay. I really had no plans." Chris replies and then adds softly, "Are you okay?"
Chris studies Molly intently while she takes a minute to answer. It was a loaded question, and the answer surprises Chris.
"Honestly? I don't know."
Chris isn't too sure if she should offer what is on her mind right now, but she does anyway: "Do you want to talk about it?"
The surprised gasps from across tell her that was not what Molly was expecting. And so, she tries to save herself. "You don't have to. I get it. We aren't exactly friends."
That elicits a small laugh from Molly. "And yet you told Jim I was a friend. I am guessing that it was me he referred to in his text." she elaborates quickly, seeing Chris's confused expression.
"He, uhm, he called when you were in the exam room, I didn't tell him it was you, but he heard the intercom system and knew I was at a hospital..." Chris sputters out.
"Chris, it's okay. I figured you two would rebuild your friendship someday. You should talk to him. He took it hard when it got out you wouldn't come back." Molly almost verbatim repeats what Erika told her before.
Molly shut down the conversation immediately after that and went to bed, leaving Chris alone with the shock of that statement. What did that mean? The next morning, she didn't dare bring the subject back up. In all honesty, discussing Street with Molly felt wrong anyway, but still, something niggled at her.
After breakfast, Chris was antsy. She had that appointment with Lynch, but she also had signed those papers that she would stay with Molly for 24 hours, and when she broached the subject with Molly, the other woman all but shooed her out of the apartment with a spare key. Just to be safe.
The drive to HQ Chris spent trying to think of a way to talk to Street about what was going through her mind without betraying the trust instilled in her. Because by now she had a lot of questions for him.
Her meeting with Lynch, Cortez, and Hondo was a quick formality, and she'd be back Monday to start recertification on a couple of things, like her beloved sniper rifle.
The rest of 20 David was training when Hondo called them over. Chris saw Deacon's reassuring smile and the grin from Tan. After Hondo had announced she'd be back, even Street cracked a smile, although Chris thought for a second she saw something like disappointment in his eyes too.
After a quick round of congrats and welcome back, Street walks up to her and asks if she has some time for a coffee. She can see it in his shuffling demeanor he really needs to get something off his chest. Chris figures it couldn't hurt. She pats the unfamiliar key in her pocket and nods for him to go ahead.
They silently wander out onto the quad with their paper cups and walk a little further than the benches this time.
"Is your friend okay?" he softly asks, and Chris's eyes widen a fraction. "I think so. She is home and hopefully resting."
"I didn't mean to disturb you yesterday, but Chris, I really want to talk to you about the past four years. And I need you to understand that although Molly and I aren't together anymore, you had nothing to do with that." Chris feels his eyes on her, and after gulping down a little lump, she lifts her eyes to him.
She nods her head for him to continue while also quickly checking how long it has been since she left the apartment.
Chris silently listens to Street explaining what happened next. How they hadn't exactly talked for almost two years until they found themselves thrown together at a project. How he and Molly had found their way back to each other only to break again at the anniversary of their loss. Hearing Street tell the ordeal of losing their baby and walking away from each other is heartbreaking, and Chris struggles to find the right words to say. Or even to open up a little bit herself.
While Chris is still trying to think of something to say, her phone starts ringing with an unknown number. She holds up her finger for him to give her a moment.
"Hello?" she answers the line.
"Sorry, I know you are probably still at SWAT figuring out your schedule, but my OB can fit me in in about an hour if you could drive me?" Molly stammers out over the phone, and Chris's eyes go a little wide in shock. She quickly checks if Street has heard any of that, but he seems unphased.
Chris wants to tell him, but she also knows that this is not her news to share, so she carefully words her reply.
"I am just finishing up here, and I can be back at the apartment in 15 to 20 minutes. How long is the ride to your doctor's office?"
After hanging up with Molly, Chris apologizes for running off now and promises they will talk more soon when they are both not busy.
She feels bad for keeping who she is helping from him, especially when Street tells her, "Go, be with your friend. She wouldn't have called if it weren't important."
They hug goodbye, and there is an awkwardness in it that Chris can't quite pinpoint. Although she guesses it is also because she feels like she is keeping something important from her friend.
The doctor's visit is quick, and after that, Molly insists on paying for a little lunch to thank Chris.
"Can I ask one more thing of you?" Molly while they are waiting for their orders.
Chris furrows her brows in confusion but nods her head anyway.
"I, well, I wasn't pregnant apparently. They suspect endometriosis, maybe even worsened through my first miscarriage." Chris listens to Molly explain and can't help but reach over the table and squeeze her hand. "I am sorry. Are you okay?"
"I don't know. I don't even know why I felt the need to tell you that and then ask you not to tell..." Molly trails off and silently confirms for Chris what she had been suspecting.
Their lunch after that moment is spent quietly and back at their building; they go their separate ways. Molly feels okay but promises if anything would go wrong, she'd call. Chris is relieved she can spend some alone time to wrap her head around everything she heard today.
She feels deeply sorry for her friend's grief and wonders why these two seem to be drawn to each other, even still care for each other but don't seem to get past this one loss. Her inner voice also adds that there is that comment from Molly too.
But Chris has no time to dwell on that and gets ready to meet Bonnie and Tan, who has a good laugh at her expense when she tells them where she is living. The next couple of weeks went by in a flurry of retraining and finding her new routine. Somewhere along the way, Chris had started going up to the roof terrace after a long week to just relax with a glass of wine and stare at the horizon. It had become a ritual she held dear, and even if it had been awkward at first, she had discovered along the way that Molly too sought refuge on that roof.
Over time they had started talking, and by now, Chris could honestly say she considered the other woman a friend.