Chapter 53 : Back to LA
As soon as they got back to work, their life took another rhythm. Wandering was over, they needed to catch criminals. Not that they didn't like this, but the return to reality was violent.
"Anyone ok to have a beer tonight?" Luca asked as they were changing in the locker room. "Chris could tell us about the honeymoon! Been more than one month since you're back and we don't know anything!"
Tan didn't lose a second to woo from the bottom of the room, making Chris blush. Which was exactly his goals.
"Busted!" He shouted. "Ok for me, but I need to be home by 8!"
"Won't stay longer. Want to see Annie and the kids. For once, our shifts ends up early. Would like to put them in bed!"
"So many family men around! Count on me for partying, Luca!" Hondo exulted.
"Won't stay long too but ok!" Alicia answered, joyfully.
"What about you, Chris? And Jim, is he finishing early tonight?"
"Ok for the beer, but I'll go home early too. Between the hiking, the trip and the job, I'm exhausted. As is J. And he's finishing in…" She looked at her watch. "In 2 hours, he can join us for a last drink! I send him a message."
20-Squad left SWAT HQ and drove till Luca's favorite bar. As he entered the place, the boss, the barman and the waitresses recognized him immediately.
"Your fav table will be ready in 5 minutes!"
"You're known by everyone, Luca!" Chris yelled at her friend, punching him in the arm.
"You know me!" Luca started to parade.
"Look at this proud peacock!" Tan told.
"Don't go there, Tan!" Hondo started to laugh.
"Looks like the waitress is waving at us." Alicia warned everyone.
The whole team walked to the table, sat and order their favorite beverage.
"So Chris, how was honeymoon?" Tan was the first to start teasing Chris, who tried her best to hide her discomfort.
"The trip was great. Thanks for asking, Tan." She remained impassive, hiding her awkwardness. She didn't like to speak of her private life in public. Even if she was doing better with time, she was still feeling bad when the attention was focused on her too much.
"Not even an anecdote?" Deac asked, to help her to get out of Tan and Luca's claws.
She told them about the bear lying in the middle of their path in Sequoia Park, about all the squirrels, about them falling asleep on the first day when they had planned to go for a walk and to wake up in the middle of the night, starving and finishing eating biscuits and drinking orange juice in pack.
"It was fun." She ended, grinning.
"Glad to see you smile like this, Chris." Luca told, before hugging her.
"Yes! This smile, I mean, you're glowing, really, Chris. It's good to see you like this." Hondo finally says.
"Let's drink to this! And also to Luca kicking the ass of the man who almost hurt Black Betty!" Alicia proposed, mischievously.
"Ah, ah, ah, Rodriguez! Never play with my heart like that!"
"Not me, it was this man." She started laughing. "Sorry but I can't remove from my mind how you ran after him, yelling –don't touch to my Betty- Hilarious!"
"Betty is Luca's one love, Alicia." Hondo kept the teasing.
"Hey, hey, hey, seems like you have a lot of fun here!"
"Hey Street! Finally here!" Tan got up to hug his best friend.
"You miss Alicia, teasing Luca about Black Betty." Deac announced.
"Can do it again if needed!" Alicia answered playfully.
"Finally here, joining us. We've almost waited for us, kid!"
"Sorry, Hondo. Some people here help to make the streets safer."
"Oh, come on! What do you think we do, dude!" Tan was always the first to answer to this kind of provocation.
Street made clear he was glad of his joke and went to seat next to Chris who handed him the rest of her bottle of beer.
"Just for this time, after each has a bottle!"
"Look how lucky I am!" She tapped him on the arm, as she was used to do when she was pissed at his actions. Or when she faked to be.
"And after everyone believes I'm the bad one!" Chris answered, rolling her eyes.
The team ordered new beverages, Street told them about the places they had been. Chris was feeling better, her favorite chatterbox was here and all she needed to do was to listen, nod and add some details to Jim's long, detailed stories.
"Sorry to break the mood but I've to leave!" Tan told, just after checking his phone.
"Follow you! Need to go asap if I want to see the kids before they go to bed. See you tomorrow, party people!"
"Got to imitate you, have to be at home in 30 minutes or my boyfriend is gonna kill me, I've spent another night out. You know between the drinks and the job, he has troubles to adjust."
Tan, Alicia and Deac vanished by the door, letting the rest of the team around the table.
"What about a good pizza?" Hondo proposed.
"Why not? But not too late, we're starting shifts at 8 tomorrow morning." Chris warned her boss. She knew he loved partying too much, especially when he was alone at home for the whole week. Nichelle was at a meeting in Saint Louis.
"Promise Grandma Chris!" Luca answered, bursting into laughing at his own joke.
"Meet at Mario's! " Hondo announced. "Send you the address on your phone." Before they could answer, he was already on the phone with Mario booking a table for four.
The dinner spent fast. Chris asked for some news from Nichelle to Hondo, Street about the meeting she was at in Saint Louis. Luca talked to them about the initiative he was starting in his neighborhood to help the kids to read. As a child of dyslexia, he wanted to show them it was not a burden, that they could make it a force. Tuana and Kelly were helping from time to time.
"So Tuana is still in the picture…" Street started to tease the man he considered as his big bro for life. As he saw, Luca was getting more and more embarrassed, based on his red face, he turned to Hondo to ask news about Pops, Darryl and Charice. Hondo winked at him, getting the move.
"They're all fine. Darryl is getting well with his garage, Leroy's still helping and things are getting really good. Mom is still the same, always busy. Even more since she's invested in Nichelle's community and Pops, I mean, it's Pops, always, off here, there, and everywhere. "
They kept talking about everything, Chris explained how her Uncle Sarzo and her auntie Elena planned to organize a big party for Diego's 40, Street confessed he was already helping Elena to choose the recipes for the dinner.
"You should see them scrolling the books, while Uncle Sarzo and I fix the house!"
"Hey, you handle the construction work while I'm on the food part. Perfect fit!"
She nodded, rolling her eyes and grinning. He had an answer for everything.
They ordered desserts. It was almost 10PM, time to go home as tomorrow morning, 20-Squad shift started early. They left on the parking lot and got home. Chris parked her car in front of the building, letting some place for Jim to park his bike.
They entered the apartment, both in their own bubbles. Chris ran to the shower, Jim took some times to check on the mails, which were on the table. Mostly commercials. He grabbed a large amount of paper and put them in the trash. Chris walked out of the bathroom, already in pajamas.
"Place is free, meet me in bed, I'm exhausted."
"Won't be long either, I'm exhausted too." He ran to the bathroom, took a short but hot shower and joined Chris in the bed. She was already half sleeping. He quickly went under the blanket and embraced Chris's waist with one of his arms, dropping a kiss on her hair, letting know he was there.
She turned to face him, half asleep. "You were fast!"
"I had good motivation."
She smiled, her eyes half closed. "You were cold, right?" She let out a faint laugh.
"You know me too well"!" He kissed her once again, while she turned on the other side, taking some moments to cuddle against him. He pressed her more tightly against his body. He loved feeling her so close. And the last thing he knew, they were both asleep.
[…]
They were woken up with a start in the middle of the night. Jim's phone was ringing. He hardly opened his eyes and grabbed it. It was still dark outside. And Chris was mumbling something next to him. He let go of her contact to get out of the bed and answered the call.
"Hey, bro. What's up? Everything is alright?"
"Sorry for calling so late or so early…"
"No, no, no, it's ok. " Street kept talking, rubbing his eyes, to try to emerge from sleep.
"It's just… She's coming, she's coming, she's almost here and…"
"Don't say more, Tan! We're on our way! Which hospital?"
He gave him all the information and asked him to call the rest of the team. He couldn't remain alone. He was both excited and scared. He needed his fam to be here so he could be there for Bonnie.
When he turned, Chris was up in the frame of the door. Still sleepy, but worried.
"Hey! Sorry for all the noise…"
"Everything is alright?" She really sounded stressed by the situation. No one liked calls in the middle of the night.
"Yeah, yeah. It was Tan, Bonnie is about to give birth. The man is totally stressed but don't worry, everyone is fine!"
She nodded, feeling relieved.
"He asked me to call the whole team so we can meet at the hospital.
"I call Deac and Hondo, call Luca, the man is a mess to wake up." She laughed, remembering when they used to date and still hide from everyone and the man didn't wake when they had fun in the bedroom.
She vanished in the bedroom and came out after only a few minutes, Street was still trying to reach Luca.
"He's not answering, the man could sleep next to a plane's reactor and he'd still hear nothing!"
"Better go to his house to grab him, no?" Chris proposed as she saw Jim was a little anxious about Luca not answering his phone. "Deac and Hondo are on their way, Tan won't be alone for too long. Hondo informed Hicks too. Just texted me than he switched 20- David shifts with 60 today and Alicia is replacing you on 50 for the day."
He nodded in agreement, she was so efficient when he didn't even manage to have Luca on the phone.
Ten minutes later, they were driving through Los Angeles on Jim's bike. The streets were empty, they arrived quickly to Luca's house. As predicted, all the lights were off. By chance, Jim still got a key to enter.
"Wait for me here, I'm gonna wake up the beast!" Jim joked.
"Will be in the kitchen, making some coffee."
Jim knocked at Luca's bedroom's door before coming in. "Hey Luca, it's Street. You awake?"
The man let out a small moan and turned in his bed. "More complicated than predicted…"
He gave him little taps on the top of his back till he finally jumped.
"Come on, what's …" He stopped at he saw Street's smiley face. "What the fuck are you doing here, kiddo?"
"Called you earlier, but you didn't wake up. So Chris thought it was better we came to wake you up in person. She's in the kitchen making some coffee. Hurry, man, get dressed, Tan's baby is coming!"
"What? But that's awesome, bro!"
"I know, hurry, the rest of the team is waiting for us at the hospital!"
Luca rushed out of his bedroom and ran till the bathroom to get prepared, barely noticing to Chris who waved at him as she saw him.
"Transparent!" She told Jim as he joined her in the kitchen.
"Mostly sleepy and maybe a little blind." She handed him a cup of coffee.
"And you're a vile flatterer."
"Can't do anything if the man has no taste, you're fire, baby!" She gave him big eyes, he knew she hated this way to talk, but he did it anyway, just to bother her.
"Hey Chris, thanks for the coffee!"
"You see, he's not blind. " She teased Street.
"Not totally!"
"Must have missed something here." Luca concluded.
"Time to go meet the team at the hospital. Hondo just texted me, Tan's daughter is almost here!"