Chapter 4: Better sooner than later
When Street found Chris, she was in Hicks's office, in front of the little girl who seemed totally prostrated with fear in the sofa. Banks was not there anymore.
"Hey…"
She turned slowly and was surprised to see him here. At least, she looked like she was. She gave him a faint smile before turning again to face the little girl.
"Hey, my name is Chris and here is my special best friend, Jim. And you, what's your name?"
Street shivered when he heard her calling "her special best friend" but he tried to contain his trouble. He couldn't let something show here, now. It was neither the place, nor the moment. Right now the focus was on this little girl who was completely terrified.
She was still silent. Motionless. Frightened, more and more every second. Her eyes reminded him of the first day he came to social services. He was twelve, lost and scared. He must have looked the same in front of this woman who begged him for hours to talk about him.
Chris turned to him, with a defeated look. She couldn't give up now. Sooner or later the little girl would talk. After all, she was the one she hugged and fell asleep in her arms at the harbor. It had to mean something. He gave her a little chin move and she understood she needed to keep talking to the girl. Even if she remained silent.
It reminded her of the moment she told him to get creative when this little Turkish girl, Ella, had been found on a crime scene and immediately saw that she could trust him. It was her time to get creative now. And she appreciated Street remained in the corner of the room, not interfering.
"I'm Chris and I work for LAPD SWAT. I'm a cop. A good one." She saw the little girl's look changed a little bit. As if she was interested in what she was saying, as if she was curious.
"All I want to do is to help you, but to help you, I need you to trust me. I promise I won't hurt you. I just want to help you and to know who did this to you, cariῆa…"
The little girl jumped when she heard the last word. As if it had woken up something in her. As if it reminded her of something.
"Come te llamas? Me llamo Chris y esta mi amigo, Jim. "
Once again the little girl looked at Chris with big eyes.
"Keep going… Think you're on something." Street whispered to Chris as he came closer to her.
"Soy la policìa y quiero ayudarte… Puedes confiar en mi… Y Jim tambien… Nosotros queremos ayudarte."
The little girl looked at them for a long while, as if she was deciphering every of their features. Street and Chris remained motionless, trying not to scare her. At least not to scare her more than she was already. They just looked at her and smiled. The kid had big, sad brown eyes, red cheeks and thin lips. She hugged her rhinoceros plush toy so hard, probably to get some comfort that Street and Chris were afraid the plush blew up at every moment.
"Me llamo Erica…"
Chris and Street still remained silent for a while, surprised and stunned the little girl finally said a word. Even three at the moment. And this name… It reminded them of so many memories. Happy and terrific ones. They shared a look before turning to the girl.
"Esta bien! Encantado de conocerte, Erica. "
Street nodded in agreement. His Spanish was not as good as Chris and right now, no word could get out of his mouth in this language.
"¿Y cuál es el nombre de tonelada de rinoceronte? "
"Tu lindo rinoceronte azul" Street tried in Spanish, not knowing if it was the right words and if they were in the right order.
The little girl gave them a faint smile before handed them the plush toy.
"Se llama Julio."
"Encantado de conocerte, Julio." Chris took one of Julio's paws to shake it.
"Buenos dias, Julio!" Chris turned to Street and saw how proud he was to have said some words into Spanish. She grinned at him. This day was not so bad after all.
They kept talking with the little girl for more hours, but each time they tried to know more about her life, she closed like a shell. Street played with Julio, and got some smiles from her. He mimed and played while Chris was doing the talking. Kind of amusing when you knew that normally Street was the talkative one. Except this time his knowledge in Spanish was quite limited.
"Alonso, a word?" Hicks entered his office and found the two officers seated on the ground playing with a plush toy, a blanket and little cars. Street was imitating the plane while Chris was making faces.
"Yes, yes, Sir." She seems surprised to hear his voice. The little girl looked at her with big, scared eyes. She grabbed her hand. Chris could feel fear and anxiety as she pressed harder her wrist.
"Tengo que ir a ver a mi jefe para hablar, pero volveré pronto."
"I wait for you in the corridor." Hicks told her before closing the door.
The little girl nodded but Chris could still feel her stress, her small hand pressing stronger and stronger her wrist.
"No te preocupes, vuelvo enseguida. Y no estás solo, Jim se queda contigo."
Street looked at her, the moment he heard her calling him by his first name. At this precise moment, he remembered this day when they were waiting for their new assignment and Chris told him that no one would ever called him Jim. It made him smile. He liked that she was wrong at the time. He grinned at her, like an idiot.
"What?" She asked him, surprised.
"Thought you said, no one will ever call me Jim…" She laughed as only answer. Making the little girl less stressed all of a sudden.
"Jim es muy gracioso como ves. Os dejo en buenas manos. Me apuro."
"Estoy mucho divertido!" His uncertain accent helped the little girl to feel better.
Chris enjoyed the moment to slip away from the office and found Hicks waiting for her in the corridor.
"Alonso, sorry to disturb. Have you made any progress?"
"Yes. Her name is Erica, his plush toy is named Julio. Nothing more but we're working on it with Street. She seems more relaxed with us now… Any news from the social services?"
"Still nothing. Last time I've checked they told me they were looking a shelter for the next few days, at least for the night but they've a lot of work and it could take a few days before they are able to take her in charge."
"A few days? How is it even possible? She's a kid, she's been through hell and no one can take care of her?!"
"I'm sorry, Alonso. I tried to make things faster. But they're under water... Keep you updated. Have to go now, sorry."
Hicks left her in the middle of the corridor. He had a meeting with the FBI in the control room. About Rodriguez and his traffic. She took one more minute to assimilate all she had heard about. All this mess pissed her off deeply. She didn't understand that the system let a little girl with no defense like this. And yet, she did understand. Social workers were not magicians. They did with what they got and that meant very few. At least, Hicks was in touch with them.
She waited to calm down to come back in the room. Or at least for her anger to be less visible. She slowly walked back to Hicks's office. As she opened the door, she saw the little girl on Street's knees. He was trying to tell her a story in his poor Spanish. And all the tension she had known before disappear. She stayed motionless for a moment to watch the scene. She needed this softness right now.
"Hey, you're back?" Street's voice brought her to reality.
"Hey…" She tried to smile but the urge was not here. But she had to, for this little girl who had been through too much already. Except Street didn't buy it. He placed the little girl on the sofa and mimed that he will be back in a few minutes, that he needed to talk with Chris.
"Ablo con Chris… Vuelvo…" The little girl gave him a faint smile. She should have understood what he wanted to say despite his poor Spanish.
He came closer to Chris, next to Hicks's desk.
"So what did Hicks say? Is it ok? Guess it's not, looking at your face, you seem upset. Not that I'm judging but…"
"Street!" She cut him. He stopped talking immediately. "Overtalking again."
"Sorry…" He lowered his head like a little kid who had been caught in the middle of a bad joke.
"No… It's kind of cute you care so much for this little girl…"
This time, it was him who cut her. "Not only for the little girl, Chris…" He grabbed her hand. She wished she had been able to push him back but she couldn't. He was the only one who could do this to her.
"Talk to me…"
She took a deep breath.
"Social services are overwhelmed and can't take care of Erica… Means she's gonna stay here for an uncertain amount of time, with a random officer keeping an eye over her… As if she hadn't already been traumatized enough… Really, you imagine?!"
She smiled slightly. "Yes, I've my little idea on this."
"Oh no, I'm sorry, I didn't want to…"
"No, it's ok, Chris. I'm fine with this. Really." He pressed her hand tighter in his. She enjoyed the moment to grab his fingers. "You know after my mom killed my dad, I slept at the police station for 4 nights. If I hadn't had Buck, I wouldn't have eaten at all. He brought me food and drinks and even comics. He stayed with me, talking or just doing nothing. Don't know what I'd have become if it wasn't for him…"
As she was listening to him, Chris realized what she had to do. It was so simple and she didn't know how she hadn't thought of it earlier. What a fool she was! She let go of Street's hand, reluctantly and walked outside of the office in a hurry, letting Street dazed in the middle of the room.
[…]
"Let me take her home…." She was standing in front of her team leader and Commander in the middle of the lobby.
She had arrived some seconds earlier in front of them and didn't let them the time to ask what she was doing here.
"She can't stay this way… I mean, she's sleeping in a sofa, in an office, alone with a random officer to check on her… Social services won't be there before days as they are overwhelmed…"
Hondo and Hicks looked at each other. It was an option they didn't think about despite the fact that the little girl was very close from Chris since the beginning.
"I get you, Chris but it's hard to take care of a child like this…" Hondo tried to resonate her.
"A child like what? Lost, scared, looking for landmarks? The same kind of kid you decided to help when you took care of Darryl? All I see here is a little girl who needs support and I know I can give her this. At least, time for the social services to find her family to welcome her…"
"Are you really sure, Chris?" Hicks tried to calm things down. He knew Chris's temper could be very volcanic.
"Affirmative, Commander. I won't let her this way, I can't. She just needs love and attention and she won't get anything of this, staying here."
Hondo nodded at Chris, not saying a word. He understood it was not an irrational and rushed decision. She had been thinking about it for the last couple of hours. And in a way, it reminded him of his own story with Darryl.
"Let me call social services and ask them if it is possible." Chris cracked a smile. "Don't promise anything, Alonso. I'll try but don't take it for granted!" Hicks left Hondo and Chris.
"Sure you want to do this… I mean it's a lot of work… Even for some days…"
"I am. I can feel it, inside my mind. My bones. This kid needs me, Boss."
Hondo nodded, he had felt the same way when he first met Darryl. An irreversible need to help the kid. To give him what he was missing the most. The urge to make his life easier, better.
"Get back to work, Chris. Focus on the case. I'm gonna ask Wendy to keep her today. And tonight, you should have an answer from social services. Knowing Hicks, he's gonna stalk them till he gets the answer he wants."
Hondo and Chris snorted. The man was certainly one of the toughest and hardest person they knew. They nodded in agreement.
"Thanks Boss, for the support…"
"My pleasure, Chris. This little girl is really lucky you take care of her."
"I'm not the only one who does…" She whispered.
"Let's joined the others in the control room. They're looking for the location of other containers in LA harbor."
"Just let me some minutes to inform Street. Time for Wendy to come and we join you as soon as we can!"
"See you there, just texted Wendy, she's on her way."
"Thanks again, Boss." And she hurried to tell everything to Street.
