Warning: More than one heart will be broken in the process of telling this story. Mine might already be one of them, and if I'll do my job right, yours could be the next in line.

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One Last Song

Nothing is more musical than hearts beating for each other, whole or cracked they might be.

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"Jim?"

Hair snapped to attention on the back of Street's neck. That voice… Street froze in place and time, but the sweet sound only she could pull off while uttering just the syllable of his name was very present and real.

But how could it be her? She'd shattered his heart in a million pieces and disappeared eons ago.

He turned ever so slowly, his eyes leaving the brightness of his cell phone's screen to land on a pair of brand new sneakers, in open contrast with the worn-out gray of the linoleum floor. The attempt for a deep breath of sterile air fell short. His gaze climbed up her slim pale legs until stumbling, just below her knees, into the rim of a pastel-blue dress, punctuated with tiny rosy flowers. Her long fingers, which were once so accustomed to entwine with his, tucked a crocheted aquamarine bunny in a leather purse. Her free hand pressed flat at the center of her chest, her torso and arms hugged comfortably by a cotton sweater of just a shade of blue darker than her dress.

Why couldn't he control his heart, beating mercilessly out of his chest?

Street found himself lost in the memory of his fingers trailing through her wavy hair, even now beautifully cascading over her shoulders. They glittered with auburn highlights as the natural light filtering from the sliding doors at her side played on them, eliciting sudden images in his mind. He was back walking with her, hand in hand, breathing her scent mixed with the chilly fall air. Then they were wrapped in a plaid, cuddling on the beach while admiring the fiery sunset.

As finally, Street's look fell on her sweetly shy smile, butterflies took flight in his stomach, and her ocean-green eyes startled a shaky breath out of him.

It was her.

The world started spinning. Street instinctively put a protective hand on the barely healed surgical scar on his side, feeling the soft cotton of his T-shirt wrinkling under shaking fingertips. Despite his brain desperately fighting it, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Her voice pierced his bubble, as melodic as ever. "Long time no see."

-o- -o- -o-

One month later

-o- -o- -o-

Chris's day started dull and unremarkable, precisely like every single day of the week she's been back in LA. She crossed the HQ door, hoping for some actual action. Between reports, paperwork, and everything concerning the TLI experience, this was her first proper shift with 20-David. Or so she had thought until Hicks had crushed her hopes, declaring a training day.

Chris should have expected it. In the last three months, the team as she knew it had crumbled to pieces due to every member being hijacked elsewhere. But now that everyone was back, things were slowly settling to normal again. And she needed normal.

"See you at the shooting range in ten," Hondo said while heading out the locker room with Deacon in his wake.

Chris glanced up from her bootlaces and watched them go, wondering what they still had to discuss in private. It had been a long summer for both of them, out of the field fighting nonsense politics more often than out there fighting crime in assistance to other squads. However, it should be all on the right path now, also thanks to Hicks.

"How is it to not be the one who sets times and gives orders anymore?" Tan asked Luca with a smirk. "I bet you got used to that role after two rounds teaching those foreign guys."

"How is it to finally be back with the A-team?" Luca retorted loud enough so Rocker, who'd been stepping in the locker room at that moment, could take notice of the comment.

As the guys teased each other a little more, Chris's eyes fell on Erika's nametag plastered inside her own locker. She still missed her every day, but she was not the only one. Rocker missed her, too, and not only because he had now to replace a team member. A burdensome task anyway. After the extended honeymoon, Tan came back to find 20-David was still far from being operative and stepped in Erika's spot with 50-David. But they all knew the fill-in was temporary. One of the cadets that Deacon helped train in the last months would soon have their chance to prove their value.

The sound of Street's locker door slamming closed brought Chris back from her stream of thoughts. Street had gotten ready for the training session in record time though he'd come last among them. Working in the office for longer than everyone had hoped for had given him the bad habit of cutting it close too often. In his defense, his convalescence had been challenging, to say the least—for what Chris had learned from the others since they were barely on speaking terms outside of work from before her departure. All she knew for sure was that Street had managed to pass the fitness tests to go back operating at full capacity mere days ago.

Chris hid a cringe while following her teammate out the door. She still couldn't understand why he had to donate a part of his liver to his ungrateful, irresponsible mother. It was a relief that both of them managed to pull through the surgery just fine, at least physically, but Chris did not trust that woman the slightest. And she still wasn't sure how Street pulled it through emotionally. It was even hard to tell if he was nervous or excited for his first proper shift with his team, and that rattled Chris, so used to read him like an open book.

"Were you ever planning to tell us you have a new girlfriend?" Tan reached out for Street as the group crossed the corridor toward the shooting range.

Chris's heart jumped up to her throat. She sharpened her ears, forcing her eyes not to inquire Street too plainly.

"There's nothing to tell." He kept walking, not-so-casually avoiding his friend's eyes.

"I knew it," Luca cut in, slapping his hands on his roommate's shoulders. "Come on, spit it up."

Street shrugged him off. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb," Tan chided him just as they caught sight of Hondo and Deacon. "I saw you with her at a cafè down the block this morning."

"Oh, her." Street flashed the shadow of a flustered smile, cheeks dimples deepening. "She's a friend."

"Sure. 'Cause you hold hands with all your friends."

At Tan's last words, Chris's stomach knotted. Out of sight, out of mind? Really? After… She tried to block the memory of Street's klutz love confession when she'd been more messed up than ever as well as why and how he'd ended things with his previous girlfriend. All the same, heat rose up to her head. When will he ever learn? She tried to shake the thought off with more intention. Could she really expect he would live like a monk until she gave in to him? Because that could never happen. Ever, she repeated to herself. Shut it down. And still, she didn't want another Molly on her conscience…

"Fine," Street said, fanning the sparks of interest in his friends' eyes and almost killing off Chris's heartbeat. "Next time we're out for a coffee," he continued, "I'll hold your hand, too, Tan."

Grimaces of disappointment mingled with amused grins on the guys' faces. Before Tan or anyone else could reply in kind, though, duty called and ruined their plans for an intense but stress-free training day. Real action. Just what Chris needed now. She forcefully put on hold the gut feeling that had awoken inside her and, like everyone else, focused on the job.

As it turned out, 20-David was still the perfectly-oiled machine it had always been. Just like none of them ever left. The band was officially back together.

Nothing particularly dangerous, spicy, or out of the ordinary happened for several shifts. Time to practice the new techniques Chris and Luca had brought back from Germany sure didn't lack. After the year they all had, this dullness was a breath of fresh air. Better not to say it out too loud, though, or the other shoe would drop directly on their head.

"So who's up for a drink at that new place in South Beach that Rocker has been mentioning?" Tan said, bottoming his casual shirt all the way up. "He said it's a must-go."

Chris was tempted even though exhausted. A change of setting and one single drink with friends could be just what she needed before going home to unwind. "Honeymoon phase is already over, or Bonnie is working late again?" she teased from behind her locker door, buying time to decide if she was up to it or not.

"The latter," Tan smiled somewhat nostalgically, probably flooded by the memories of their extended honeymoon in Bali. He recovered quickly, saying, "It won't hurt trying out the place before taking my wife there on a surprise date."

"Smart man." Luca put his hands on his friend's shoulders and squeezed them lightly. "What are we waiting for?"

"Chris? Street?" Tan looked at them expectantly. "First round on me."

"For Bonnie." Chris shrugged her tiredness off. "I'm not sure I can trust Rocker's tastes or even yours, and I don't want her ending up in some kind of joint."

"Rain-check," Street said, sliding his backpack on his shoulder. "Sorry."

"You're seeing that girl again?" Luca inquired. "That would be what, four days in a row? Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell us?"

Chris straightened up. Street's love life was not her favorite subject, to say the least. However, that unsettling gut feeling had been silently churning in her stomach since the first mention of the mysterious woman days ago.

"I told you, I'm helping out an old friend."

"Yeah, maybe it started like that," Luca's mouth quirked up, "but then one thing leads to another, and—"

"How far back does this acquaintance go?" Tan eyed Street suspiciously. "Isn't it by chance one of the thoughtful nurses who took care of you after the transplant? Wait," he froze as hit by lightning. "Don't tell me she's one of Molly's friends."

To Chris's immense relief, Street's expression gave no sign Tan hit the mark with his assumptions.

"The daughter or the niece of someone else here at the HQ?" Tan's eyes widened. "Someone even higher in the chain?"

Chris held her breath. Even he couldn't be that naive.

Street spoke in his own defense at last, "Nothing like that."

"Then what are you trying to hide?" Luca pressed, his eyebrow drew together.

"Okay." Street folded his arms across his chest, his shoulders stiffening. "Her name is Zee. We met during her first stay in LA. That was before she went back home on the East Coast. Now I'm helping her settle back here."

Tan stared, wide-eyed once again. "That redhead is called Xie?"

"Z-e-e. It's a nickname," Street sighed wearily but didn't follow up with the girl's full name.

"Okay, but it's what now?" Luca asked. "Over a month of settling back in?"

"She has some loose ends to tie up from her old life. I'm supporting her through the process."

"Sorry, but that doesn't cut it. Why are you keeping it such a secret then?" Luca's blue eyes twitched with malice. "Is she an old friend or an old flame?"

The moment of truth. Chris tried to hide her extreme curiosity by shuffling something in her backpack. Her stomach was in a knot.

"Fine." Exasperation seemed to have won Street. "I met her back when I worked patrol with LBC PD. We dated for a while. Didn't work." He shrugged. "Haven't heard from her since."

"Until now," Chris somehow found the strength to causally add.

"I bumped into her by chance. It felt natural to catch up. That's it."

"Reconnecting with an old flame explains the long hours out of home," Luca playfully elbowed Tan, who smirked childishly back at him.

"You know what? That's why I didn't want to tell you guys about her from the start." Street pushed his way toward the locker room door. "She's someone I care about. She asked for my help, and that's what I'm trying to give her."

"Whoa, no need to get all worked up," Luca called after Street, making him freeze on the spot.

Chris studied Street's back as his shoulders raised in a deep breath before he turned to his teammates.

"Sorry, guys," he plastered a smile on his face. "I guess all the running up and about today wrecked me harder than I thought. Have fun at that new place. Next time I'm buying, promise."

And with that, he was out, leaving his friends glancing at each other. In all this, Chris had almost forgotten she'd agreed to have a drink with the guys. The evening out seemed suddenly less inviting.

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