Chapter 54: Newcomer
"Hey, we believed you're never gonna make it in time!" Hondo teased them as Luca, Chris and Street arrived in a hurry.
"The man is hard to wake up, we had to go to his house!" Chris explained.
"Hey, hey, be nice with your older one!"
Street tapped him on the shoulder. "We feel you bro, but please explain to us how you can sleep so deeply, asking for a friend!"
They sat in the waiting room, waiting for Tan's new update. Luca placed in a corner and kept sleeping, finishing his night. Hondo played on his phone while Deac was reading a magazine.
"Should I be worried?" Street asked to Chris, whose head was resting on his shoulder.
"What are you telling this?"
"The way you're looking at the nurse at the counter… Should I be worried?" He started laughing.
"What? I'm not looking at everyone. Just waiting and I'm bored and tired at the moment."
"Don't mind you, she's cute. Love the red hair."
She raised her head to look at him in the eyes.
"Ohhhhh you're being jealous?"
"Not at all… In fact, it's true I was looking at her, she's really cute. And the tattoo on her right forearm… A dolphin if I saw well… Kind of hot…"
He looked at her with big eyes.
"Look who's jealous now!" She exulted.
"Ok I may be… Let's agree we can check out together but not touch… After all, it's not because you're on diet, you can't look at the menu." He announced, proud of his metaphor.
"Didn't know you were a poet, Jim Street!" She concluded, laughing.
"Hey guys!" Tan irrupted in the room, smiley and overjoyed.
The whole team stopped to do whatever they were doing and stared at their friend in the middle of the room. All silent all of a sudden.
"Joyce Mei Tan, she's finally here! 6,6 pounds of cuteness. 19 inches of sweetness. Bonnie is fine, tired but fine." He was almost crying.
"Awesome, man!" Hondo was the first to hug him.
"Welcome in the dad's world! Tiring but so rewarding!" Deac congratulated Victor.
"Congrats man! So happy for you!" Luca hugged Tan with all the strength he had.
"Hey, in my arm, bro, that's awesome! So glad for you and Bonnie!" Street embraced him after Luca.
"Congratulations to both of you! Can't wait to meet this little angel!" Chris asked.
"Sure she'll be happy to see all of you as soon as she's back in the room."
Tan vanished in the corridor, running and walking through the medical trolleys and the medical staff.
"Guess he'll be back in a moment." Street joked.
"Don't blame him. When Matthew was born, I had so much in mind, I even forgot about my socks at work."
"Ah, ah, ah, remember this one, Deac. I lent you a pair!" Hondo laughed at the memory.
"You see! For Lila, I was better and for Samuel and Victoria, I was at the top. But your first baby, it's special. I can't describe the feeling."
"All I know is that I'm hungry now, I go to the vending machine. Someone wants something? "
"Come with you, Luca. Will kill for a Coke and some skittles. J, you want some M&M?"
"If you talk to my stomach feelings, then…" She laughed, listening to him. He didn't know to say yes or no.
"And an ice tea, I imagine…"
"You know me too well."
"We're bothering you, lovebirds?" Hondo interrupted. "A Coke for me, Luca. Thanks."
"And coffee for me." Deac asked.
Chris and Luca left the waiting room to get the beverages and candies in a hurry. When Luca was hungry, it was no time for joking.
"So Street, you and Chris, you think about having a baby on your own?" Deac dared to ask.
"For the moment, no. And to be honest, we don't know. Maybe, we haven't decided yet. I mean, if it comes, it'll come and if not, it's fate. We're good together. Chris loves her career, me too. We're at a great place now and we're good."
"The more important is that you're good. There's so many ways to live our lives."
"Yeah Hondo, forever grateful for SWAT to have put you on my path, to have put Chris on my way. Don't know where I'll be without this pain in the ass." He laughed and made the others laugh.
"Believe, we all need a pain in the ass to keep us on the right path!" Deac joked.
"Couldn't say better. Don't know what I'll do without Nichelle!"
"She's back soon?" Street asked.
"Two days! Counting the hours!"
"Look at our softie Hondo!" Street started teasing, making Deac snicker.
"What did we miss?" It was Luca 's voice coming from behind.
"Hondo being a softie!" Street announced proudly.
"As if he was the only one!" Chris irrupted from Luca's back.
"Any file on the man, Chris?" Hondo asked, being curious.
"I may…."
"Not cool, C."
"Ah ah ah, but I won't say a word. I live with him, he could make me pay later."
Chris and Luca gave the beverages and candies to their friends and they kept talking for a while until Tan reappeared in the waiting room to tell them they could come to see Bonnie and Joyce.
The whole team followed him through the corridors he seemed to know by heart and entered the room at the end of one of them.
"Heyyyy!" Bonnie looked tired but she was grinning.
"Heyyyy" They all answered with the same tone.
"Here to meet the newcomer and congratulate the courageous mom!"
"Hondo, you know how to talk to women! Take notes, Victor!"
"You're alright?" Street asked her.
"Yes, tired and a little uncomfortable but Joyce was totally worth it!" She turned the baby's face towards them.
"She's so tiny!" Luca told immediately.
"Tiny but strong!" Deac added. "She's beautiful!"
"Absolutely too sweet!" Chris kept complimenting little Joyce. "Nice work!"
Bonnie laughed, making the baby move. "Guess, I've to learn to laugh more silently. The baby started to cry. "Oh seems like she's hungry, if you excuse me!"
"Will come and see you later! Tan, enjoy the moment. And see you in a few days, Hicks offered you some days off for the occasion!"
"The things you have to do to have extra days off!" Luca faked grumbling, making them all laugh. And Baby Joyce cry even more.
"She doesn't seem to like your jokes, Luca!" Chris teased him before they all left the room.
Hondo kept them a few more minutes at the entrance of the hospital to explain them how things will work for the days to come. For today, Street will work with them as Rodriguez took her shift with 50-Squad this morning. Then 20-Squad will work for three days with one less spot, time that Tan will be back.
"And now, go home, take a nap and meet me at noon at SWAT HQ. We need to be at 100%!"
"Yes boss!" They all answered, Street even happier than the others to call Hondo his boss once again.
On their way to the bike, Chris found Street was sad.
"Everything's ok?"
"Sad not to see the red-headed again… Kind of miss her."
"You dumb!" She giggled.
"The dumb you married."
"Oh, lucky…" And before she could end her sentence, his mouth was over hers.
[…]
When they arrived at SWAT HQ before noon, they were still a little sleepy. The nap they had taken had been good but it didn't replace a good night sleep. On the parking lot, Chris parked the car next to Luca's truck.
"Hey Luca!" Chris told as she got out of the car.
"Slept well?"
"When I look at our face, I can say that the answer is no." Street joined them.
"You may not have slept well, you still know how to make jokes."
"Thanks Luca for recognizing this!"
"He didn't know they were good jokes." Chris smirked.
They kept talking while walking till the locker room to get change. Street was happy to be there, with his former team, like before. With the people he considered as his family. Except Tan but he was pretty busy at the moment.
They joined Hondo, Deac and Hicks in the control room. They were already working.
"Perfect, you're here!" Hicks was the first one to see Chris, Street and Luca enter the room.
Hondo briefed Street about the ongoing investigation. 20-Squad was after a gang of thieves who robbed jewelry stores, disguised as rabbits. They had already robbed 7 stores in Los Angeles and the last video they published online proved they were about to do it again.
"They are dangerous and unpredictable. By chance, my snitch came to me earlier to give me the address where they're hiding." Hondo announced. "He knew the men by name and one of his good clients told him where they were located because he was pissed by the noise they were doing. Listening music loudly till the middle of the night. Get prepared, people, we're going catching some robbers!"
The team got prepared, putting their bulletproof jackets and loading their guns. Then they sat in Black Betty and waited for Hondo's orders. As Luca was driving and Deac checking for the road, Hondo explained to them how they were gonna enter the house.
"Luca, Street, you take the back of the house and then go directly to the basement. Chris, Deac, you're with me at the front of the house. Then we inspect the first floor, then the second one. Got it?"
They all nodded, already focused on their mission and sharing a punch of encouragement before getting off Black Betty.
"Go at your position, people and stay liquid!" Hondo announced.
"Stay liquid!" The whole team answered all together.
Luca and Street ran at the back of the house, Hondo, Deac and Chris in front of it. They coordinated and made the doors blow up at the same time. They entered the house with a perfect synchronization and blocked the house off.
"Right side, clear."
"Left side, clear."
The two lines resonated in the house, indicated they could continue to progress in the corridors and other rooms. And then one, two, three shots. No one jumped, remaining focused on their goal. Deac walked out of a room at the second floor with a man handcuffed. Luca went back from the ceiling with another one. Jim, in the garden, had controlled a third one on the floor.
"Hey boss!" Chris's voice resonated at the bottom of the corridor. Hondo came to see her. "Look, our rabbits are out of the hole!" She opened a door and reveled a room full of rabbit disguises.
"What's up, Doc!"
Chris snickered. It was fun, still easy and a little dumb but funny.
"You want a carrot, too?"
"No, thanks orange is not my color!" Hondo added with a large smile.
"20-David to Squad. Everything's ok?"
"Suspects down." Resounded three times in the talkie, confirming Hondo the three men were down. "20-David to Command. Code 4. Suspects down and in custody."
[…]
"So good to be almost all together!" Luca shouted while they were watching LAPD taking the handcuffed men in their cars.
"Reminds us of good times, you're right!" Hondo added. "It was a good day: Tan having a baby, us closing this case, working with this pain in the ass that is Jim Street. And speaking of the Devil, where is he?"
"Haven't seen him since the arrest." Chris answered. "But you know him he likes to talk so much, he must be telling all the details to one of those policemen."
"Poor man!" Luca joked, making the others laugh.
"Hey, talking about me?" They all turned as they recognized Jim's voice. He was coming towards us, a German shepherd next to him. He was holding his leash.
"What's this, bro?"
"Hum, Luca, I guess this is pretty obvious." Jim teased him.
"Ah ha ha, very funny, kid."
"Found him in the cabin at the end of the garden, he was whining. Poor dog was locked inside, probably for days."
"Jim Street, protector of the animals." Hondo immediately said.
"It's just to have an animal to let him live this way, right, lil boy." He knelt to pet him.
"Got to let you, Hicks is calling me! See you at HQ!" Hondo left them.
"See you later, kids. Need to close the case with LAPD as Hondo is with Hicks." Deac went to the inside of the house to meet the inspector in chief.
"Meet me in Black Betty, have to see if my lady is ok!"
"Guess it's just you and me, Long Beach."
"And the dog… I was wondering… Maybe we could adopt him… He's alone, lonely. Kind of break my heart to see him like this…"
"Are you kidding? Yes, of course, yes." She knelt to pet the dog before finally raising her head. "But since you, you want a dog? "
"Found him and the first thing he did was to jump on me and leak me. As if he hasn't seen someone for days!"
"And you were not afraid when he did this? And by the way, how do you know it's a he?"
"Because it's obvious… And also because I found his bowl in the house. His name was on it… And this is when I knew we had to adopt this dog…"
She looked at him puzzled, not really understanding what he was telling.
"His name is Diablo. Kind of foreshadowing, right?"
She burst into laughing, petting the dog more tightly. "Really?" She asked with a laugh.
"Yes, yes, I swear! Right, Diablo?"
The dog barked. "You see, it's his name!"
"So I guess you have a new home from now on, Diablo." Chris concluded before standing up. For only answer, the dog lied down at Chris's and Jim's feet. It was a mutual deal.