Stris – One of those nights
Shift was over. Finally. Not that Street didn't like his job. He liked it. He loved it. It was what saved his life. There he met his real family. The people who loved him for who he was, even the little jackass he was when he came here for the first time. And Chris. His best friend. His confident. His better half. His lobster – for whoever would get the reference. The love of his life.
Chris texted him earlier, saying she was working from home tonight. He hadn't seen her for the last couples of days. She stayed sleeping at the safe house. A new girl had arrived from El Salvador and she wanted to make her feel as comfortable as she could be. He understood the approach. But he was missing her a lot. Her face, her smile, her giggles, her smell, her body against his. But he also knew she was doing the good thing.
He changed from tactics gear to casual clothes quickly. He couldn't wait to go home. To see her. To tell her about this crazy day. Because it had been a total crazy day.
"Lost in your dreams, lover boy?"
Street jumped, hearing Tan call him out from his side.
"No, no." He laughed. "Just tired. Today has been a long day and I just want to go home and rest."
"And spending time with Chris!" Luca added, with a large smile on his face.
Street turned to his friends, grinning. Dimples more dimple-y than usual.
"Guess that's a yes, seeing your face." Tan teased him.
"Let the man alone!" Hondo took his bossy tone. "Who's not blessed to find his girl back home after a day like this."
"Talk for you, already seen my girl today. She's waiting for me in the yard, with more horsepower under her hood. Speaking of, who wants to celebrate with me tonight?"
"Tonight, I can't. Nichelle is waiting for me. But what about this weekend?"
"Yes!" Tan agreed right away.
"BBQ in my garden. To celebrate Black Betty coming back stronger and baby girl!" Hondo couldn't believe what he was saying right now. In a few months, he was gonna have a baby girl on his own.
"You'll tell us what to bring!" Deac told. "Annie and the kids will be excited about this idea! Especially when I tell Annie gender reveal party is kind of cancelled."
"Chris will be here, Street?" Tan asked.
"For sure. Martha, Vera and Jenni would take an eye over the girls. They're helping her a lot."
"Great to hear, haven't seen her since last time we had dinner at Deac's." Hondo approved.
"Things are getting better now. She's finally found her rhythm. Between safe house, palliative care and... Us."
Street added the last words using a low voice. Unable to hide the little smirk as he used the word "Us". He grabbed his backpack and gained some composure.
"See you tomorrow, guys. Luca, see you later!" And Street vanished through the door. He walked fast through the lobby. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He loved his colleagues but he wanted to go home. He drove through LA to get home. Rolling down the avenues. Barely paying attention to the people on the sidewalks.
He eventually parked the bike in the alley in front of the house and removed his helmet. Lights were on inside. He knew what it meant and he was unable to stop a large grin to invade his face.
"Honey, I'm home!" He entered the house, laughing to his joke. And put his backpack and jacket in his bedroom.
"Because you really think you're funny?"
He laughed at the sound of her voice and rushed to the living room to see her. Chris was in the sofa, her computer on the legs, looking at him. Rolling the eyes and finally grinning at him.
"Glad to see you…" She confessed, whispering.
"Days have been way too long without you around."
"Same…" She gave him a shy smile.
He hurried to come and sit next to her in the sofa. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for grants for the safe house. The ongoing one is ending at the end of the year and I don't want to be caught off guard."
"Any lead? Read an article about a grant from LA council the other day in the newspaper. Have you heard about this one?"
"I was just reading something on this one…" She faced him and gave him one of her idiotic smiles.
"Great minds think alike…" He dropped a kiss on her lips as soon as he finished his sentence.
"Perfect fit…"
He smiled at the reference. It was generally him who said this kind of things to her. She turned the eyes from him to the computer to put it aside.
"How was your day? Probably more exciting than me crushing the ass of the neighbor because he was threatening one of the girls because he was convinced she stole his garbage bin…"
"How did it end?" He smirked, already imagining the answer.
"Let's say, he won't come back at the house."
"You little scary devil." They laughed to the nickname that he had just invented.
"So what about yours?"
"Let's say it was a crazy day!"
"I'm listening." She sat crossed-legged in front of him.
"Black Betty got stolen after a criminal squad made a false SWAT call this morning!"
"Wait, what? Betty was stolen?! Is Luca Ok?"
"Yes, yes, don't worry. It's ok now but Luca went crazy and spiraled over Betty. We all did our best to keep him calm and supported. But you know the man when it comes to Betty."
"He loves his car, she's his girl."
"He called Tan every day while in Germany to get news from Betty… Did you know that?"
"No way! He did?"
"Tan told me this morning. But seriously, you didn't know?"
"I assure you that I didn't. You know we weren't all the time together with Luca in Germany… I mean he didn't know I texted you and called you almost all nights…"
"Touché!" She punched him in the shoulder.
"But he was ok, right?"
Street smiled to her. "Yeah, he's ok. Just had to remind him he was the heart of the team. Not just a wheel man"
She looked at him, nodding, pouting. He was right. Luca was the heart of the team. The kindest soul she had met.
"That was nice of you…"
"He deserved to hear this… Sometimes, I've the impression he's undermining himself when he deserves the world."
"He does…"
"But it's ok now. Betty is all good in SWAT yard. Even if Luca had to shot in her engine to stop the criminals from escaping"
"He what?!"
"He shot his girl to save her life and it worked well as now she's 60 more horses than before. Luca is overjoyed. Guess he's playing with his new toy right now. He was not in a hurry to leave HQ tonight."
"Ah guys and their cars… Or bikes."
"Hey you like the bike rides!"
"I do but sometimes I've the impression you love your bike more than me."
"Believe me, it's not gonna happen."
He bent to drop a warm kiss on her lips. She answered putting her tongue In his now so familiar mouth. They separate after a few seconds. All goofy.
"Seems like it was a very busy day… Glad you share the end of it with me…"
"It's always a pleasure… Even more when I've not seen my girl for several days. But…"
"But what?" She frowned. She was afraid of what might come next.
"It was not the only thing that happened today…"
"Wait?! There's more?"
"Yes! I left early this morning."
"Yeah, leg day. You always leave early on leg day. For a reason I ignore you love this moment of torture."
He smiled. She knew him too well.
"Anyway, I didn't go to leg day today."
"What? But why? What happened?"
"Deac texted me yesterday and asked me to help him with stuff to drop at Nichelle's community center. There she gave him an envelope with the baby gender in it to give to Annie for…"
"Yes for the party on Sunday."
"Yes except Deac let the gender reveal envelop in Betty, just before she was stolen."
Chris started to giggle, making Street giggle too.
"May have suggested him to call the doctor office to ask for the baby gender."
"You didn't?"
"Oh yes I did. After all, the matter was that Hondo and Nichelle got surprised. No matter if Deac knew before."
"But you know Deac is so bad at lying. He can't even keep secret the Christmas presents he's offering!"
"I know, but what was I supposed to do?" He shrugged. "Desperate cause, desperate measures! Deac called Nichelle's doctor to get the info. Except I caught him in the locker room and said "girl" a little too loud so Stevens heard it."
"Oh Gosh, guys, you're lost causes!" She giggled more.
"No wait! We figured everything out. Tan and Luca helped."
"Because of course, you told them about the baby gender."
"Told you desperate cause, desperate measures." He laughed, hearing her restraining more giggles. "We held a gender reveal party in the yard. Balloons and streamers hidden inside Betty. We sent a fake message to Nichelle to make her come to HQ and we invented a story so Hondo opened Black Betty back door and they both discovered the gender!"
"Which is? Oh please, don't make me beg!"
He smirked to her remark. "It's a girl. Hondo and Nichelle are having a baby girl!"
"Ohhhh it's awesome! A baby girl for Hondo and Nichelle. She's gonna be so spoiled. But what about Annie's gender reveal party on Sunday?"
"Guess we're going to a BBQ at Hondo's, celebrating Baby Girl and Black Betty instead."
"Not so bad either."
She laughed.
"Oh and we met Jackie Vasquez too. She's Hondo former patrol partner. A hell of a woman."
"Should I be worried?"
"Ummmmmm don't know… May me think of you. Badass. Strong-headed. Determined. Her SWAT application was denied ten years ago, the same year Hondo's one got accepted. Hicks was in the panel refusing her application just because she was a woman…. It was before you revolutionized this archaic institution, Chris."
"Oh come on, I didn't do anything big…"
"Of course you did. You paved the way for other women. You fought old prejudice and show women were as capable as men. Sometimes even more."
"Stop I'm gonna blush…" She turned to the computer besides her to hide her confusion and turned it off.
"Thought you were supposed to work tonight?"
"A girl can change her mind, no? Haven't we this cooking show to watch?"
He grinned. "Yes, we're 4 episodes late."
"Sounds like a great evening to me."
She cuddled against him. He put his arms around her shoulders first, then let his hand stroke her back. She cuddled tighter, putting her legs above his.
"Even better if we order some food… What about Bo Buns from your fav Vietnamese restaurant?"
She raised the head to look at him. Grinning. "You read in me like in a book…"
"Got you all figured out." He smiled like the Cheshire cat.
"In your dreams, Long Beach. Maybe for the food, but there's a lot of things you still don't know about me."
"Like?"
She grabbed the remote control and turned the TV on. "Like me rooting for Josie."
"Oh come on, she's not even able to make a correct Chantilly cream! Bintie is so much better! She's able to do whatever she wants as soon as…"
He stopped talking, noticing she was looking at me, with her soft brown eyes, a smile on her face.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just you're sexy when you're speaking French."
"I can talk more French for you if you like…"
"'I'd love that." She let her arms embracing his waist and put the head against his chest.
He kissed the top of her head and felt her shivering under his lips and fingers.
"Maybe one of those nights, then…"
For now, they had a cooking show to binge watch.