Chris wasn't exactly thrilled to have Molly standing there and just something in the other woman's demeanor, the way her eyes flit around the rotunda and the workout area tells Chris that this wasn't a professional visit. Chris nods her head anyway and moves to square away the workout equipment.
"Give me a moment to shower and change, and then I'll meet you outside for a coffee?" Chris offers while climbing out of the ring.
When she walks outside, she turns her head a couple of times until she spots Molly sitting a little out of the way, almost hidden from view, and that somehow makes her feel sorry for her.
After Chris has taken a seat and sips on the coffee, she waits for Molly to start the conversation, but nothing happens, so she turns to her side and asks. "What can I help you with?" She needs her to ask, so she can try not to say the wrong thing.
"I, wow this is awkward," Molly fumbles for words. She takes a deep breath and then lifts her eyes to Chris.
"I guess what I want to ask is, what I need to hear is your side of those pictures," she finally gets out with a long-relieved sigh after.
Chris can't help but stiffen her shoulders a little, she had hoped that she'd never actually have to talk about those again.
"Listen, Molly, I am not sure what my side will help but I can assure you it was by no means planned or pleasant. When I went undercover, I had no idea Street was going to show up there, nor that he was under as well. I didn't lie to you when I said I hadn't heard from him." Chris starts and Molly nods slowly taking all that in.
"So how did this situation happen? It did look… " Molly trails off not able to bring herself to say the words.
"Everyone in that room knew Street was a cop. He went under as himself to get his brother out and the targets wanted to have a conversation without him listening in. They thought a pretty girl could distract him." Chris continues on and studies Molly's expression carefully. She spots the hurt immediately.
"And how come you got chosen?" Molly asks, her voice laced with hurt and defeat.
Chris can't help but laugh a little. "Sorry, I don't mean to laugh at you. It just, well when I walked into that meeting and we both saw each other Street messed up. He reacted weirdly to me being there. Thankfully the targets interpreted that reaction as attraction and not recognition. Or we would've had a much bigger problem than that scene we had to play-act there…" she tries to explain as dry and even as possible.
"I just, I can't get his expression out of my head on that one picture I got," Molly mumbles and shakes her head.
Chris scoots closer. "Molly, he was just shocked. We didn't have an opportunity to warn him about what was coming and like I said, it was awkward and not very pleasant, but we had to pretend and put on a show."
Chris takes a breath and contemplates if she really wants to get involved but when she looks across the quad and notices his bike in the lot, she squares her shoulders and says:
"Listen, he is probably going to kill me for saying this, but he has been really quiet and on edge the last couple of days. I am guessing you didn't talk to him about all this. Molly, it's not my story you have to believe. You have to figure out if you believe him." Chris finishes with a pat to Molly's knee and the other woman nods.
"Thank you anyway. I guess I needed you to confirm. I just with everything that happened before…" Molly trails off again and stares at the entrance. When Chris follows her gaze, she sees Street leaning against the frame looking at them questioningly.
Both women get up and Chris walks away with an encouraging nod to Molly. She hasn't taken more than a handful of steps when she hears a phone ringing behind her and Molly picking up the line. Chris can see it in Street's face that he is disappointed and when she reaches him, she just tells him "Go, and talk to her," as encouragingly as she can but he just shakes his head.
Chris levels him with a confused stare and Street just motions to where Molly is getting in her car.
"Maybe something came up, I mean she took that call," she offers with a shrug, but Street just lets his head hang and looks rather defeated.
Chris places a hand on his shoulder. "What happened when you went to talk to her? Why didn't you just come over, right now?"
"She asked for space. I didn't want to intrude…" he mumbles, before speaking up. "Why was she talking to you anyway?"
Chris stopped in her step and tilted her head to tell him to follow her. This was definitely not an inside HQ conversation. She walks back to where she had been sitting with Molly and waits for Street to follow.
He chuckles lightly before sitting down but Chris can tell he is nervous.
"That bad?" he motions around with his hand.
"No, not bad. Just curious." Chris replies and tries to work out what she wants to say next. "Okay, she came to me to ask about the undercover thing," she continues, and Street's face almost immediately perks up.
"And what did you tell her?"
"The truth," Chris shrugs. "It was unplanned, awkward but necessary and nothing more."
She glances to her side to see him nodding along. "And I told her to talk to you about it."
Street turns his lips into a hopeful smile and Chris pats his shoulder while getting up.
"Chris?" his voice stops her from walking away. "Are we really, okay?"
She turns on her heel to look back at him. "Yeah, why wouldn't we be?"
"I just, I feel we haven't spent much time and I, I miss you," he lets out quietly looking up at her.
Chris can't help and raise an eyebrow at him "Wasn't that more you than me lately?".
Street hangs his head again shaking it slightly before looking back up and pushing off the bench.
"I meant before that too. I mean I didn't even know about Ty and Kira until they basically told me. What happened to us?" he stands right in front of her and studies her face.
Chris frowns a little thinking. She'd called him that night because she needed her friend but he'd been busy and she sure as hell didn't want to be where she was now… in the middle of his relationship. So she takes a breath, squares her shoulders, and simply answers "Life, I guess. We just had, have different priorities now. Doesn't mean we aren't friends anymore."
If he wanted to say anything in return it gets nixed by their phones going off, and both of them just taking of for the locker room to get ready.
