Chapter 14 : Back home

Street kept on fighting each day, each hour when he was in physiotherapy. Sometimes, Nic told him he was pushing too hard. But he didn't care about the aching and sore muscles. He just wanted to put all this nightmare behind him. The only good thing coming from this accident was that he knew for sure SWAT was his only family now. A same and crazy family who had never let him down. Even in his worst day.

And there was Chris. They had always been close but this accident had changed something in their dynamics, in their relationship. She was his best friend. But he could feel she was more and he hated him for this because she told him in the past she will never date a cop again because of what had happened with Thompson. But anyway, he liked this new level of connivance. He was fine with it because he knew that even if they would never be a thing, they would always be a huge part of each other life.

For the next month and a half, he worked hard. Most of the time when Chris arrived on the evening, he was sleeping because he was exhausted of all the efforts he had done during the day. But it paid off. He was able to move on his own, walk until the exercises room only with a single crutch. Quicker every day. He timed him every morning and every evening. The day it took him less than ten minutes to walk this corridor, he cried alone in the bathroom. He was proud of him, of his progress, of his determination.

"Hey, Jim! Already here?"

"You didn't expect me so early Nic, right?"

"No! You're even 10 minutes earlier and on your two feet. You know what it means?"

"That I'm coming home soon?"

"Right! Just need to check with Dr. Paulsen some last points but you should be able to leave in a few days."

Street couldn't help but grinning. He did, he totally did it. He crushed all the expectations and was ready to be home. To move on to a new step of his recovery. To get back to his previous life.

Nic noticed the little smile on his face. "He'll come to see you tonight. Chris will be here?"

He nodded proudly, whispering "yes". "So you could tell her the good news!" Nic winked at him. "Guess she'll be happy too. But enough talking, time to work! Today, we take care of your legs!"

She showed him the machine with heavy weighs ballasted on each side and he understood he will have to lift them up again and again for long minutes. But he didn't care, he will be home for the weekend.

[…]

Day at the rehab was off and he walked to his room. Light was on. Chris must have been already here. He waved at the nurses at the station and opened the door of his room. Chris was seated in the chair, reading one of these autobiographies she liked so much.

"Hey" He told very slowly. She jumped and raised her head from her book.

"Hey" she answered with a large grin on her lips. They remained silent for a while. Smiling idiotically at each other.

"Is your book ok?" Jim broke the silence. It had to or things would be too awkward.

She was surprised by his move. "Oh, yeah... Very good actually. It's about a woman who has to leave her country because she had told aloud she had been raped and had accused her perpetrator. Except it was not how it works where she was born…"

"Sounds harsh…"

"Yeah that's why her story is beautiful! She made her country shiver, she changed the rules. She makes things change…." She closed the book and put it on the table. "What about you? You seem to go well."

"Yeah… I am… Day was good, really good in fact." He was so happy but he couldn't find the words. Too many emotions at the moment. And Chris looking at him with her intense, big black eyes.

"In fact…" He started with his shaking voice. "In fact… Nic told me this morning I should be out of here at the end of the week… Dr. Paulsen comes tonight to tell me … Us... About the terms and conditions... But it's over… Rehab is over… Just some random sessions and some meetings to tell if I'm good at going back at work… But it's over, Chris… It's over…"

He couldn't stop the tears that were coming in his eyes. He was free. Almost freed from his crutch. Healed. She remained motionless for a while, time to process the info she had just heard. He swore he saw tears in her eyes too. He knew it was not a vision when she swept them with her sleeve.

She got up and hugged him. It was so fast, Jim couldn't analyze her move. He just felt her body against him. He allowed him to embrace her, letting his arms surrounding her chest and pressed her against him. She nestled her face in his shoulder, putting her arms around his neck. The nightmare was over. And they needed to enjoy this moment and to thank whatever force above them for this little moment of bliss they were sharing right now.

[…]

Dr. Paulsen came later in the evening. After the hug. After the awkward moment that followed. After the uneasiness of the situation. After Chris told him about Luca catching a young boy before he stole a car. After they laughed when she explained to him the kid tried to climb on Black Betty and Luca tackled on the ground before he had a single chance to get Luca's first love.

"So Nic told you the good news? Miss Alonso, I guess you already know." She nodded. "I've checked your last exams and Xrays and everything is fine. Your ribs are almost consolidated, your legs are still a little fragile but it's a matter of weeks before they will be perfectly liable. And no trace of the wrong medication in your blood again. Glad to tell you this, but you're a new man, Mister Street! And the day after tomorrow, you'll be free."

He handed him a batch of papers. "Your door opener! And I see you in a month. The date and hour of the appointment are in the file. Congratulations, Mister Street!"

Dr. Paulsen closed the door. Street and Chris looked for a while till...

"You did it, you f****ng did it!" Chris yelled in the room.

"I did it, WE did it! Chris, this is a f****ng miracle! Thanks, really, thanks for being my friend, for defending me, for showing the claws when no one believed in me, even me. WE did it!"

Chris blushed. She didn't deserve all these compliments. After she was the one who sent him there in the first place. It was just poetic justice. She just whispered "We did it!"

[…]

"Have you seen my phone?" Jim panicked. He didn't see the object he liked this much.

"Have you checked in your backpack?"

"Yes!"

"Even in the small purse inside your bag?"

He didn't tell a word and went to check. "Got it!"

"Damn Street, you always forget about this purse when you put everything in it."

He could tell she was stressed by the way she was talking to him. "Sorry, first place I'll check next time before I ask you… It's just that…"

She cut him. She didn't like when she was like this.

"Time to go to the ICU to tell goodbyes to Tabitha, Andy and Julie and all the other ones!"

"Feels embarrassed to have nothing to offer them after all they have done…" Street lowered his head. He felt awkward to go and see these women and come with empty hands.

Chris rummaged in the cupboard and turned to Street, handed him a little brown bag. "This is why I went to the chocolate shop this morning while you were with Nic and Dr. Paulsen for the last check up and bought these chocolate boxes. One for each nurse. You'll thank me later." She added to tease him.

"Read my mind. Impressive!"

"You'll pay me back later."

Street snorted. She knew how to read into him, like in a book. He grabbed the bag and followed her outside the room. He walked with his crutch, quicker every day. But he knew Chris was slowing down for him.

"Soon I'll go faster than you, you know this?"

"In your dreams, Long Beach!"

He let out a laugh while they reached the elevator. He pushed the button to go to the ICU. It felt weird to be back there. He hadn't been there since he left the service. Physiotherapy occupied all his days and on the evening he was too tired to go there. Of course, Tabitha often came to visit him and asked him if he was ok. He knew Chris , on the contrary, often went to see them, just to get news, to say hi. She really liked Tabitha, they talked a lot. Which was surprising when you knew how quiet Chris could be.

The doors of the elevator opened and Jim recognized the place, the place where he was reborn. He heard the beeps of the machines and it reminded him of bad memories.

"Hey, you're ok?"

He felt Chris's hand on his shoulder, pressing smoothing.

"Yeah… Yeah… Just a bad memory, but it's alright."

She nodded and gave him her squishy smile he liked so much. He smiled her back to let her know he was OK.

Tabitha was the first to see them. "Heyyyyyy, you're here! I've heard the good news!"

"Hey Tabitha! I'm sure Chris told you already!"

"She may have said some words yesterday when I saw her at the cafeteria. But anyway, congratulations!" She hugged him with energy. "So happy for you! You've fought like a lion!"

"Heyyyyy Jim, you're here." He turned and saw Andy with Julie.

"You really think I was gonna leave this place without telling goodbye? I'm not such a monster!"

"That's debatable!" Chris answered before bursting into laughing.

"Ok, Ok, you're all against me now? What have I done to deserve so much hate?"

"Look at this niňos playing the poor little boy. " Andy teased him.

"Wonder why I brought you this then!" He handed them the little bag.

"Ohhhhhh Jim, you shouldn't have ! That's really nice!"

"My pleasure. Especially after what you have done for me… For us…" He turned to look at Chris and winked at her. "There's a box for any of you. Really ridiculous compared to what you have done…"

The three women unpacked the little chocolate boxes, each of them with a name written on it. They thanked him warmly. They hugged once again, they told Chris and Jim how much they were going to miss them.

"But the most important is that I don't want to see around now. Shoo, shoo!" She waved at them. "Sorry, I've to leave, a new patient is coming in less than 10 minutes."

Andy and Julie followed her, after telling goodbyes. "Time to go home!"

He smiled at Chris and then walked to his bedroom for one last time. He took his backpack, she took the suitcase. The room looked so empty, so large now. They looked at every nook and cranny before Chris closed the door. They greeted the nurses before going out of the service. Walking these corridors one last time was weird and joyful at the same time. Neither of them told a word. There was no word for this.

He waited for her in front of the hospital and she came to get the car. She parked it a few minutes later near him. He joined her in the car and drove him till home. Once again, they didn't talk. Chris kept her eyes on the road while Jim enjoyed the landscape and the fresh air… and the fact that she knew the way till his house by heart.

"And we… You are home. Luca is already waiting for you!"

Chris pointed Luca waving from the porch. He walked towards them to help with the bags. As he entered the house, Jim was reassured nothing had changed while he was away. The same pieces of furniture, the same pinball machine, the same mess with Luca's clothes on the chair near the window. He smiled. He was home. The nightmare was over.

Luca brought the bags in Jim's bedroom. He hugged him as he came back in the living room. "Glad you're back here, lil bro!"

"Glad to be back too, bro." He hugged him back.

Chris looked at the scene, moved by what she saw. It was better to leave, let them make up for lost time. She got out and walked to her car.

"You thought you could leave me so easily?"

She turned to him, grinning. "No... I didn't want to interrupt… You know… With Luca... You seemed to be so happy to see Luca again…"

He came closer and hugged her. She didn't see this coming. She didn't fight. She liked this sensation. He let her arms embraced his waist and laid her head over his chest.

"Thanks Chris, thanks for everything."

She didn't answer, she didn't know what to say anyway. They separated after long minutes. She walked to her car and left, waving at him till he was not in her field of vision anymore. And then Jim got back inside.