He walked down the street. He had to stretch his legs and try to get a clear head. When he glanced at his watch it was already 11:45 pm. He turned left to walk home when he heard loud voices.

"Don´t be a little bitch now you want it too."
"Don´t touch me. Get your hands off me." He heard a woman´s voice.
Immediately after, another man shouted. "Stop, damn it, I´m calling the police."

Street would recognize her voice among thousands. "Chris." he muttered and ran into the bar. The guy who had grabbed her was lying on his stomach on the floor, Chris on top of him, holding his hands behind his back. Somehow the guy managed to free himself and hit Chris with his fist on her left eye.
"Ah damn." she held her cheek and now sat on the floor. Street charged at the guy, grabbed him and pulled him up. When Chris noticed Street she was startled for a moment, because she was embarrassed that he saw her like this, drunk and involved in a fight. Secretly she was glad that he was there, because she no longer had the situation under control.

"LAPD move." He grabbed the guy and pulled him outside the door, so Chris wouldn´t hear what he had to say.
"I hate men who hit women. If you touch a woman again, God help you, you hear me? And if you touch her again," he tilted his head slightly in Chris´ direction, "or come near her, then God´s mercy is going to be the least of your problems, believe me." Street´s words came out in a low menacing whisper.
The guy swallowed hard. "Yo dude I got it, it´s cool." he raised his hands placatingly. "Good, then get out of here before I lose it." The guy ran away.

Inside the bar Chris was arguing with the owner. "I´m also LAPD, you can give me the keys, please. I´m not driving anymore, I´ll take a cab." but the man remained firm.

Street sighed and joined them. "Sir, I am her colleague. I´ll make sure she gets home safely. You can give me the keys." After the bars owner had agreed, Chris and Street stood outside, neither knowing what to say. Chris looked at her feed ashamed.
"Street, you can give me my keys, the guy isn´t looking anymore." she held out her hand to him.
"I was serious Chris. I´ll take you home and you can get your key back tomorrow at HQ." he looked at her as stern as he could. Chris rolled her eyes and snorted.
"I can take care of myself, I don´t need a babysitter and I want the keys now dammit." "Yeah I just saw that how you can take care of yourself. You´re drunk, you got in a fight with some guy and you got a black eye. Mature performance Chris and very grown up." he replies sarcastically. Chris was raging inside and was pissed off.
"Who do you think you are Street? You want to reproach me, you of all people? Who doesn´t have his life under control, huh? Who broke up with his girlfriend because a pipedream?" she wanted to ran further but Street interrupted her.
"Great Chris, really great lashing out like a defiant little kid. You know what? See how you get home, I don´t need this anymore, I´ve had enough. Every time I try to rebuild, you push me away, it fucking hurts." he was really struck by her words, especially by the pipe dream. He really loved her, it wasn´t just a crush. Chris had to swallow briefly after his words but immediately found hers again.
"I´m going home now. Alone. You can keep my keys, I don´t care." Chris was offended, her eye hurt and she was angry. Angry at Street but mostly at herself. The words she had just thrown at him were unfair, she knew that, but they bubbled out of her and the alcohol did the rest.

Chris walked in one direction, Street in the other. Despite everything he had a bad feeling about letting her walk home alone and at night. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
"Hey Tan, sorry to bother you so late, but I need your help." Tan listened to the story Street told. Street was careful to leave out the personal drama and just hoped Tan wouldn't ask about the reasons later. Tan got straight into the car and drove the route Street had given him. When he saw her he honked briefly. There was no reaction from Chris so he honked again.
"Hey asshole, just keep driving man. What the fuck do you want from me?" she said annoyed. When she turned around she saw Tan and immediately she wanted to sink into the ground.
"Oh Tan, hi. Um sorry, I thought you were one of those honking for attention idiots." she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.
"Hey Chris, it´s okay. Do you need a lift?" he looked at her questioningly. A thought immediately popped into her head. What was Tan doing here at this hour? What a strange coincidence and that was when it hit her and the anger rose again.
"I can´t believe it. That crazy freak did not seriously send Tan after me." she said more to herself but Tan heard her words.
"Don´t be too mad at him. He´s just worried about you and to be honest, I´m glad he called me. Come on, get in." he smiled at her. She took a deep breath, got in and thanked him.

Once in her flat, Chris went into the bathroom and washed her face with cool water. She had to clear her head somehow. Tan looked around the flat. Empty pizza boxes, bottles and other rubbish were everywhere.
"I told the owner I was LAPD too but he would only give Street my key. I didn´t even start the fight. The guy grabbed my ass and I just fought back. Street then threw him out." Tan had to grin.
"After you knocked the idiot to the floor and Street then worked him over too, I´m sure he won´t come near you again. Your eye looks bad, I´ll get you some ice." Looking into the freezer Tan winced. Apart from the bottles of vodka and whiskey there was nothing in it.
"They were for the housewarming." Chris quickly interjected but she was uncomfortable.
"Should I be worried? Look, I know Erika´s death is really upsetting you and it´s only been a few weeks but getting drunk and fighting with random guys is not the answer." she interrupted him.
"Hey, I won the TLI competition, didn´t I? I´m fine." an uncomfortable silence fell. "It´s late. you don´t have to stay. I´ll just tidy up here and go to bed."
"I have one more question Chris. Why didn´t you let Street drive you home instead of running away?" Chris was not prepared for that question. She started to sweat and didn´t know exactly what to say.
"Street and I are having some differences at the moment but I don´t want to talk about it right now, ok?" Tan nodded and still offered that he was there for her anytime and that he would box with her if that would help.

Chris dropped onto her sofa, exhausted. She hadn´t imagined it to be like this. She was unhappy, she missed Erika very much and the thing with Street couldn´t be worse after this evening. After cleaning up, she treated herself to half a bottle of vodka and fell into a restless sleep.

Tan stood next to his charger outside of the HQ and waited for Street. He had slept badly and was worried about Chris. How can I help her? I´ve never seen her like this before, that´s not her. She and Street hardly speak to each other anymore, something must have happened.

When he saw Street getng of his bike, he went to meet him.
"Good morning." Street greeted him a little suprised. "Were you waiting for me?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact I was."
"Have you been missing me already?" he tried to joke.
"No - yes, oh listen. We need to talk about Chris."
Street let out a sigh. What does he want to talk to me aout? Maybe about the thing in the bar? Surely he hasn´t noticed anything about the weird situation between us...?

"Yes we really should."
"You have time for a beer after shift? A pleasant atmosphere wouldn´t be bad." Together they went inside and were immediately introduced to a new case. The day went quietly. Tan watched his friends throughout the day. Chris was highly concentrated and hardly spoke a word, least of all to Street. Before yesterday he had blamed her reticence on Erika´s death but now he was no longer so sure. Maybe Street would tell him more.

The two men had arrived at the bar. They both ordered a beer. Neither said a word. They looked at each other and knew there was a lot to talk about but nobody knew how to start. Finally Tan took the plunge:

"Chris is in trouble. Last night at her apartement I was really shocked." Street looked at him with wide eyes. "There was trash everywhere, pizza boxes and vodka bottles. I was gonna get her something to ice her eye. Street I thought I didn´t see right. There were at least nine bottles of vodka and whiskey in there. Of course she tried talking her way out of it saying it was for the housewarming but I don´t believe her. She´s not herself. Drinking and fighting." Street was speechless. He knew Chris wasn´t well but he wasn´t aware that it was so bad. Immediately guilt began to rise in him. Should he have taken better care of her? Shouldn´t he have confessed his feelings for her? Should he´ve been a better friend? "Street?" Tan pulled him out of his mind.
"Sorry Tan that shocked me. Thanks for taking care of her yesterday." Tan took a deep breath. Now he had to proach a slightly more delicate subject.
"What´s going on between you two? You hardly talk to each other anymore. You can hardly look each other in the eyes anymore. What the hell happened?" Street knew he couldn´t lie to him now. Tan was way too involved, it wouldn´t be fair. So he summoned up all his courage and about. He told him everything. Starting with their kiss after the Fundraiser not even leaving out the termination of the friendship by Chris nor the reconciliation. Her matchmaking efforts concerning Molly and the subsequent distancing on her part. When he started with the most recent events, his confession after Erikas death and detailing Chris' harsh and hurtful reaction, not even leaving out the pipedream. How all of that had lead to his breakup Tan was shocked and it took him a minute to find his words.

"Man Street I had no idea. That´s really complicated. You love her, don´t you?"
Street nodded. "With all my heart."
"Do you think she loves you too?"
"Pff, right now I´d say she hates me and that´s not going to change." he seemed defeated. Saying it out loud hurt.
"I don´t know exactly what advice I can give you Street but you need to have another conversation with her. You have to sort out your problems. How are you going to keep working together like this? Something´s bound to go wrong. Maybe you can save your friendship after all, or at least find a good level."
"You´re right Tan. I´ll try one last time. I want to be there for her and I want nothing more than to be able to call her my best friend again. I need her in my life." They both finished their beers and went home. He and Tan were aware of the tough times ahead on Street but he wanted to help his buddy and Chris too.