Chapter 5: Return to work
"Hey Chris! You're back!" Tan was the first to see her this morning. She was welcomed by her teammates as a rock star. Luca pushed the others and hugged her as strongly as he could.
"Easy Luca, you're gonna break her and we need our best sniper in good health. Welcome back, Chris."
"Thanks Boss!" She loved Hondo's reassuring voice. She took her bag and got changed in the locker room. She liked to wear her uniform again. It allowed her to focus on something else than her guiltiness regarding Street. She explained to him this morning before leaving the hospital that she was back at SWAT from today and that he will spend the day alone. Tabitha had her phone number and would call if something was going wrong. She kissed his forehead before leaving the room, checking no one was around. "See you tonight!"
Chris joined the team in the control room. Hicks was about to review the last progress they had made on Karlsson case. "We have shut down all his bank accounts and seized his houses in the whole areas. The man is still nowhere to be found but at least he has no money left except the one he has with him. Should stop him."
Chris swallowed hard. This bastard was still in nature and was a possible threat to her team. She didn't like this. Hicks continued the briefing and gave all the David squads a case for the next few days. 20-David squad was supposed to track a gang which fenced stolen guns.
"Chris, you don't know Alicia, yet?"
"No. Nice to meet you. I'm Chris Alonso."
"Ohhh, no need to introduce. I do know you! You're the reason I joined SWAT!"
Chris lowered her head. She really didn't like compliments. They made her ill-at-ease.
"Thanks for opening the road for us."
Chris nodded. "It's OK. Glad to have you with us."
"Alicia will keep working with 20-David squad for a while. You know… Till Street is back with us. Rhokker is gonna be sulking at us but whatever. She used to work with us now, knows our habits." Hondo tried his best to introduce Alicia. Chris was just back and he knew she was still fragile because of what had happened to Street.
"Two women in the team. Think you can handle this, boss?"
"Ohhh Chris, you underestimate me." He tapped her shoulder. "See you in thirty minutes, need to get some information from Hicks and we can roll."
The two women nodded in agreement and joined the rest of the team in the training hall. Tan and Luca were doing weighs while Deac was doing tractions.
"Ready to box with me on the ring?"
"Of course!" Alicia was more than happy to share a moment with Chris. Chris smiled at her and went to equip. When she came back, Alicia was already waiting for her. Chris stepped across the elastic bands around the ring and joined her in the middle. "Ready?"
Alicia nodded, smiling. The two women trained for the next two hours. Hondo had warned them his meeting with Hicks will be longer than expected. As they boxed together, Chris watched Alicia. She needed to analyze her style, her moves. She quickly understood she was the quick kind of women. She avoided the punches easily and answered to any of Chris's attacks. She had definitively the good state of mind to be in SWAT.
Later, Chris switched her place with Luca who wanted to learn Alicia some of his moves. She got up on the treadmill and put her earphones. She wanted to cut from the world and focus on her effort. Deac came a little while later to tell her they needed to be ready to roll in the next thirty minutes.
She walked to the locker room, changed into more appropriate clothes to go on the field. Hondo explained to them the gang they were going after was specialized in arms trafficking. They had committed some robberies in the area but they were not really well-organized. More into the know-it-all and conceited style. The team needed to apprehend them in their HQ, aka a little house in North Hollywood.
"Stay liquid and remember they can be dangerous because they are unpredicted. Remain on alert all the time. And I was about to forget." He turned to Nora who was waiting at the door frame. "Fowler will come with us, just in case!"
Nora waved at the whole team before joining them. "Glad to see you Nora!" Luca was overjoyed when she was around. They had become good friends over the last months. The others welcomed her warmly before Hondo gave the "time to roll" they had been all waiting for.
They got up on Black Betty. Luca drove them to North Hollywood, he knew the road by heart. He was living there after all. Chris recognized the streets. They were next to where Luca and Jim were living. He parked in front of a small, inoffensive house. Who could have imagined it was the HQ of a dangerous gang? Hondo explained the tactics they were using. Chris and Tan will enter the house by the backyard, while Deac and he will take care of the front door. Luca and Alicia will remain as back up with Nora and will enter the house as soon as he will give them the signal. All nodded. It was time to roll.
Tan and Chris got out first and ran to the backyard, Deac and Hondo imitate them and placed on each side of the front door. Luca, Alicia and Nora remained next to Black Betty, ready to come in scene as soon as they were given the order to. Everything went fast. Tan, Chris, Deac and Hondo came in the house simultaneously to catch the men inside and sandwich them.
As the first floor was secured, Hondo called for backup. Luca, Alicia and Nora came in a few seconds. Tan and Chris arrested two men in the basement, Hondo and Deac three at second floor. Luca and Alicia stopped two others in the garden while Nora was treating a man on the kitchen floor.
"20-David to others. The suspects are all down. I repeat all suspects down and in custody. Good job."
Hondo came out to tell LAPD officers they could enter to get the suspects to SWAT HQ. The policemen came closer and took the criminals into the cars they had parked in front of the house. Nora gave her last recommendations to the EMT paramedics before joining the team.
"Good job everyone! Chris, feel good to have you back!"
"Thank Boss! Feels good to be back with you too and good job everyone!"
"Yeah, good job. Now let's go the HQ to question those men and close the case. Not so hard when you consider all the guns in the basement."
Luca took the wheel, Tan seated next to him. The rest of the team got up at the back of Black Betty. At HQ, Hondo and Hicks went to interrogate the men while the others debriefed the mission with Lynch. In less time than Chris could think, the day was already over. Her first day back at SWAT was finished. In the blink of an eye, it was already time to go home. Chris changed in the locker room, wished a good evening to her teammates and left the building in a hurry. She needed some time on her own.
[…]
After work, she took some minutes in her car. Away from SWAT yard. She parked her car in a random street in Downtown LA to think about her day. She needed to be alone. To be surrounded by silence. She had loved running after these guys and cuffed two of them. Locking them up in the interests of public safety. She felt useful. It was as if she was alive again. But she felt guilty to be able to do so when Jim was stuck in a hospital bed.
She turned the engine on and drove to her apartment. The place smelled stuffy. She was almost living at the hospital now, in Jim's room. She couldn't come home, she needed to be close to him, to give him strength. She appreciated the contact of his skin against hers, even if it was only for a short while. She opened the windows when was there, took a shower, packed some new clothes and drove till the hospital. As usual, she parked in a parallel street, not for the others figuring out she was sleeping here.
She walked till the ICU. She knew the way by heart now and stopped at the nurses's station to ask for news. "Nothing new, Chris, sorry. His vitals are good but he's not waking up. Only him can decide to come back to reality now. Maybe his body needs more time to heal…"
"Thanks, Andy." She smiled at her and went to the locker room to drop her bag. She picked the old one and went to put it in the trunk of her car. At this hour, she was quite sure to see anyone but the hospital staff. Before entering Jim's room, she did her hair quickly and put her clothes correctly. It was stupid, she thought, but she wanted to be fit to be seen. She opened the door and moved back. Molly was in the room.
"Oh sorry, I'll be back." She closed the door quickly. She wanted to move fast, away from here. But Molly has decided otherwise.
"Chris, Chris. Don't go. We need to talk."
Chris stopped walking and took a deep breath. She turned to face Molly, Jim's perfect, beautiful girlfriend. "Don't want to disturb… I can come back later…"
"No, no, please come…" She made her sign to enter the room. Chris walked till the place, reluctantly. She tried to keep a slight smile on her face. Not easy when all she wanted at this precise moment was to escape far away from here. An awkward silence took place in the room. Neither of the women knew what to say. All they did was to look at Street who was still deeply sleeping and the machine surrounding him.
Molly was the first one to talk. "Thanks for the other day… The doctor came earlier today and told me you stayed with Jim all night… And that it helped him to hold on… To feel a presence with him…"
"Oh it's ok… It's nothing… Street is my best friend… He saved my life this day… This was the least thing I could do to… Help… You know…"
"I know Chris… The doctor also told me he could be able to remove Jim from the machines in a few days as he's almost able to breathe on his own now…"
"That's good news." Chris didn't want to say to her she already knew all of this because she was spending all her free time and her nights here.
"Yes… Chris, can I ask you a question?"
Chris was surprised by Molly's move. But she had no choice but to accept. "Of course."
"You and Jim… You are very close. You can't deny this… This is why I came to you first to ask you if has was single… But you know… Was there something else at some point… You two are so close…It's kind of disturbing sometimes…"
Chris was astonished by Molly's questions. She didn't understand why she suspected there was something more than friendship between Jim and she. Except for this kiss they shared years ago, there was nothing to talk about. They were great friends, that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn't get why she had this impression, when Jim and she were together for over a year now.
"No… Of course not… Jim and I are friends… Really great friends… My best friend… So we talk a lot together…"
"Oh I didn't want to offend you, Chris… This is just that you seem so close all the time… I've noticed you understand each other without talking, all in the eyes… Just a little disturbing for me… Especially when I didn't share this connivance with him…"
"Oh … It's just because of the job, you know… We are forced to trust each other at every level to have each other's back… So it implies not talking and understanding the other with eyes. Very common at SWAT. You'll get used to it. Just a matter of time."
Chris lowered her head. She didn't want to talk about this anymore. All she wanted was to sleep and she couldn't consider going home and leave Jim alone. But Molly acted like she was the one willing to stay tonight.
"Goodbye, Molly. Be back tomorrow and the day after… Maybe we'll meet here."
She'd rather go away. She went back to her car, she got on and waited. She couldn't imagine getting back there with Molly around. She wanted to be alone with Jim. She jumped when she heard her phone ringing. It was a text message from Andy.
*She's gone. Coast is clear.*
She smiled, got out of the car and rushed to the ICU.
"Hey Chris! Glad you to be back! Doc wants to talk to you. He's waiting in Jim's room."
Chris's heartbeat rose within the seconds she heard" Jim", "doctor" and "wants to talk to you" in the same sentence. She opened the door of the room. Dr. Paulsen was there.
"Miss Alonso, I was waiting for you."