Thanks to claira8683 for helping me out when I was stuck :) Now I can see the light again.
Chris felt herself getting anxious. She was behind the bar and had her gun stashed close to her station. She felt exposed without the weapon, but the outfit of every girl in this place just didn't help in concealing a gun effectively. While observing the crowd in the club, Chris polishes some glasses, and she feels the other girls' eyes on herself. In her head, she is counting down the minutes until of them asks what apparently they have been whispering the whole damn day already.
"So, Lola, are you going to leave the floor and work the rooms now?" Crystal asks so sweetly that Chris has to concentrate to not roll her eyes before turning with a scoff.
"No, one-time thing," she tries to sound confident and shrugs it off and still leaves room for speculation.
"Didn't look like it from where we were standing," the woman challenges her.
Now Chris really rolls her eyes. "Think what you want. They asked me to entertain a VIP, and that's it. And now back to work." She adds the last part with a nod of her head, and the ladies spring into action when they notice Salazar walking over.
"Ah, Lolita, I see you opted for a normal dress tonight. Too bad," he walks past and peeks around the bar. "You'll join us later, right?"
Chris nods and smiles, all the while hoping that when she joins him tonight, it is with her gun drawn. Rodriguez will give her a sign. He is connected to Hicks and the rest of the operation through his phone.
Street is getting ready in Long Beach. Nate has already left the apartment for the bar, and so he has a quiet moment to call Hondo and ask if everything is in place. It feels wrong to hear that Chris and Rodriguez will have basically no backup besides a few patrol cars, and at least two SWAT teams are covering him. "Street, focus on your job. Chris will be fine. Vice has it covered," Hondo reminds him. "You make sure your part works out, and then your brother will be safe."
Street nods. "I know, just…." "I know Street. We will make sure Chris gets out okay too. Hicks has that covered."
Street wants to ask some more, but Hondo has to run and get the teams in position.
About an hour later, Street is at the wheel of a black limousine driving into the harbor. He knows that his colleagues are here somewhere, and after he gets out of the car, he can't stop himself from taking a look around.
"Expecting someone?" Nolan asks him suspiciously, and Street hurries to cover with "Force of habit," hoping that it will work. He closes his eyes shortly and then checks to see if everyone is here. Taking off his jacket will be the sign that the teams can move in, and when he is sure, he shrugs out of the garment.
Chris is still pretty bored behind the bar. It shapes up to be a slow night. Which works out in their favor, not too many patrons to keep out of the mess, but it doesn't help her head. She hates not being in the loop, and this, basically sitting on her hands, is getting on her nerves.
"Raul is looking for you. They want you upstairs," Crystal informs Chris, and when she checks the drinks order, the dirty martini with two olives is on there.
Go time.
She grabs the tray and a dishtowel to conceal her gun on her way up. When she has reached the top of the stairs and turns to the VIP section, her heart stops for a second. How come she hadn't seen him walk in?
But she doesn't have the time to freeze as below LAPD storms in, and she places down the tray too.
"LAPD, you are under arrest," they shout almost in unison with the officers downstairs. Chris makes sure she walks over to Nate and puts cuffs on the man while everyone else is also cuffed and brought outside. Outside she puts Nate into an unmarked car and tells the officer to wait for her.
"Raul, I need your phone. I need to call Hicks." She holds out her hand, and Rodriguez points to his earpiece. "Yes, sir. You heard that right. I'll pass her along," he replies before handing over his phone.
"Alonso, I hear your operation was a success. We can't exactly say the same for us," Hicks starts. "Ehm, Sir, I just arrested Nate. Street's brother. He was here."
"Bring him here. I am sure Street wants to explain this himself." Hicks orders, and then the line cuts. Chris lets out a sigh of relief. Brining Nate to SWAT HQ was exactly what she had wanted to do.
Chris is deep in thought on the ride into HQ, but suddenly Nate says from the backseat. "They didn't find drugs in the piggy banks because the stuff isn't inside the boxes. The stuff in the boxes gets thrown out. We only keep the cardboard." Chris turns in her seat and stares at the man with her mouth agape.
She pulls out her phone, which had been stashed in her purse.
"Hondo, the cardboard," and she can hear her boss yelling at the cleanup crew to collect every piece and put it into evidence.
Shortly after they arrive at HQ and Chris asks quietly, "How did you know that?" while taking off the cuffs. Nate pulls out a piece of cardboard in a plastic bag from his back pocket. "Nolan gave me this for Salazar to test. I just put the rest together,"
She leads him inside, and Nate asks," So Jimmy didn't really quit SWAT, didn't he?" "That's the word on the Street. Come on; I'll put you in the kitchen so you can relax a little."
Walking through the halls, Chris can feel almost every officer in the building stare at her, and that makes her want to change so badly. So, after putting Nate up in the kitchen, she heads for the locker room to change into her uniform.
When she comes back to the kitchen, she can already hear Street talking to Nate and decides to give them a little space to catch up. In tech, she grabs a tablet and looks for the reports Street handed in the last few weeks. Now that the operation is over, they have been made public on their internal network. Her heart sinks, reading what he went through. Alone.
And she is beating herself up for giving upon him. How could he fool her that easily? They were friends. She should know better. Shouldn't she be able to read him by now? The way he seemed to be able to read her?
Chris shakes her head and retreats to the armory cage. A place where she probably won't be disturbed while reading through those reports. After she has read all but one report, she hears Street walking Nate outside. She looks up, and for a brief moment, her eyes meet Streets. He nods, and she immediately knows they will talk later, after debrief.
That debrief goes as expected. All the pieces fall into place nicely, from the broken armed man dropping the photos at Molly's office all the way to the arrests and takedowns at both locations. Hicks smiles and congratulates the team.
"Great work, everyone! That was one tough and complicated operation." The team begins to high-five and share brief hugs. Chris glances up and nods at Hondo and Tan across from her with a smile, as Deacon next to her hugs her,
"Great undercover work Chris. You smashed it." As she thanks Deacon and returns the hug, she raises her eyes to meet Streets. He smiles at her, and she returns a soft smile. Though she swallows slightly, not sure how this conversation they will have later will go.
Once the rest of the team has left, she walks into the locker room, frowning when she finds it empty. Maybe he left? Perhaps he wanted to explain it all to Molly? 'Guess we will talk later,' she mumbles. Suddenly realizing how much that sentiment hurt. She swallows and frowns and is about to open the door and walk out when the door from the shower room opens, and Street comes out. She freezes as he tugs a t-shirt down over his chiseled chest and moves to his locker.
"Hey," he says simply.
"Hey," she returns, "I ah, I thought you had left when I.." she motioned around the locker room.
"No, I ah, just wanted to shower off that feeling, you know, before I go see Molly." As he looked from his bag back up to her, he saw the hurt on her face that she tried to hide with a clearing of her throat and a few steps to the sink to face away from him.
"You sure it's all okay? I mean, I can imagine she is.." she began.
"Chris.' He cut her off. "It's okay. I will explain it was a case and …" He paused, zipping closed his bag and sitting down on the bench.
"And?" Chris let out slowly.
"And hope for the best, I guess." He shrugged. As she looked back at him, she could feel the fear and sadness coming off him. She swallowed and stepped closer.
"I know me talking to her won't help. But I would if you wanted me to. I mean, I can only imagine what she thinks of those photos and …."
"And... what my stupid ass has made a mess of." He muttered
"Hey, you were working. She's a smart girl. She will understand that and..."
"No, Chris." He fidgeted with his fingers. "When this all started to go down, it was like I ghosted her."
"Yeah, but she knows now though that you were just undercover and…."
"No, you're not understanding," he shook his head, realizing Chris didn't know everything about the conversation with Molly outside the gallery. About how he had told her about what happened between them and then just seemingly, to her, disappeared.
Chris frowned and tilted her head. "What am I not understanding?"
"The art gallery night, the last time I hung out with Molly. The night we ran into Ty and Kira." Chris sat on the bench and looked at him, and fidgeted with her hands.
"Yeah?" She prompted.
"Well, after I freaked out and left and she followed, I owed her an explanation. So, I told her." He muttered and looked up to Chris.
"Told her?" Chris looked at him, confused. "Told her about what?" It was as she said it that she realized. "Oh, about that night. About us?' She said, glancing about, checking no one was there. To which he nodded.
"I mean, I explained it was in the past and all that, but we were, well on delicate ground, I guess you'd say, and then the call from Nate and the case and ..."
"And the photos." Chris widened her eyes and laughed. "Oh, shit… well, that escalated quickly." She chuckled. He couldn't help but laugh at her amusement.
"Stop," he laughed back, "She probably hates me." Chris shoved him playfully.
"Come on. Molly is an intelligent woman. She seems to really want it to work with you, Street. She was here while you were under and asked about you." she stopped watching him.
"So, what do I do now?" He looked back at her.
"You go and do exactly what you were planning. You go, find her and explain." She encouraged him.
Street still hesitates before grabbing his backpack, but Chris beats him before he can say anything. "You go and fix your relationship, and we will talk later."