AN: thanks for all the good responses. I decided to put up another chapter. I've written a whole bunch but don't knowif I should keep it the way it is, or go in a whole different direction. Tell me if you like what you see, and if I should continue or not. Tell me if you don't like what you see too, response is always awesome.
I woke up to Rizzo licking my nose. That's how I woke up everyday, so just because it's the day I finally have off after weeks straight, why would it be any different? Five in the morning, on a Thursday, and I still couldn't get any sleep. Crazy dog. I was about to put her outside and go back to bed when I realized that I was already up, so why not just get started. Me and Rizzo went out on a run on the beach like normal, about six miles, and then I took her back home, before I headed out to the gym. I got an hour in there, and went back home to grab a shower and change.
It was eight o' clock by then, and I figured I would just hang around all day. I watched about twenty minutes of ESPN before I was bored out of my mind. I needed to get out of the house, but, the only problem was, I have no friends except for SWAT. None of them would be up yet, so I just pulled my bike out and went on a ride.
It was nice. I weaved in and out of the bike lane, not caring about anything except whether or not I was going to turn left or right. I got caught up in my thoughts, and found myself thinking about what had happened the day before. Chris had really saved my ass. That guy wanted to tear me up and down into peices. He was reloading just for me, I could tell. She had seen too. I was broken from my thoughts as I slammed into something hard. I fell to the pavement, unaware of exactly what had just happened. I stood up to find thatI had ridden directly into a car. A parked car. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen. Then I realized I was at Chris's house. Why? I dont know. But there I was, an idiot standing next to a Honda Civic, holding my head, and laughing at the fact that I had just rammed a parked car with my bicycle. Another familiar laugh rang out.
"Having some issues there Street?" Chris laughed from her front porch.
"Ah...what can I say, speechless," I said as I shrugged my shoulders and grinned. She laughed again.
"Yeah? So what brings you here on our day off?" She said. I figured she would ask me that.
"I...don't..exactly know..." I trailed off, rubbing my head.
"Well, Eliza's at school, you wanna hang out? Preferably not on the bike..."She said, smirking back at me.
"Sounds good to me," I said,"But first, could I wash the gravel out of my palms. That'd be nice."
"Yeah, go ahead, you can come in, you remember where the bathroom is right?"
"Yeah," I said as I walked up fer front porch holding my raw hands in front of me, palms up. They had that weird burning feeling.
I walked into Chris's house, remembering how much I loved the smell. It smelled a lot more feminine than I was used to, and I liked it. I headed down the hall towards the bathroom. I was still laughing to myself over the circumstances. What was I doing in Chris's house? Sure, we had gone and hung out a lot, and I had gone inside, but Eliza was always there. It seemed different, because we were alone. I finished rinsing the dirt and rocks off my hands, and I was going to go back to the front of the house, but a picture in the hall way caught my eye.
It was Chris and Eliza. Eliza was laughing hysterically and pointing at something just beyond the edge of the paper, and Chris was laughing at her daughters giddiness. It must have been about a year old now, because Chris's arm was up in a sling, and wrapped in white gauze. It was right after the Montel incident; right after she got shot. She looked so happy, just happy to be with her daughter. It was beautiful.
"Nice picture huh?" Chris whispered, making me jump about a mile out of my shoes. She laughed and grinned at me.
"Jumpy?"
Naw, it's not like that Chris, you just...caught me by surprise," I muttered, trying to keep the smallest peice of my machoism.
"Yeah yeah yeah, you keep telling yourself that Jim." She laughed again, and the turned her attention back to the photo.
"Yeah, I think she was laughing at the guy across the street." She said," If I remember right, his leaf blower was...malfunctioning." We both laughed at that, and I caught the tone of her voice, it wasn't loud and annoying like most laughs were to me, it was like music to my ears.
"So, what do you wanna do?" I asked.
"Anything, as long as I am home by three to pick Eliza up from school." she said, and then thought quickly and added, "and sober."
"Yeah, well that pretty much rules out anything I was thinking." I said, almost totally serious.
"We could just drive around and stop when something looks good," Chris offered. That was the best idea I had heard all day.
"Sounds perfect,"I said, and flashed her a smile. I caught myself as I bared the pearly whites. What was I doing? That was my pretty boy smile, and Chris was my partner. I have to keep myself in control.
"Lets go." She said, and we headed out to her Civic. I pulled the seatbelt across my chest, and decided minutes later that it was a good idea to do so. Chris drove like a maniac. We were maintaining at about a hundred twenty, and I was scared out of my mind. She took one look at me, and laughed. She eased up on the gas, and I calmed down a little.
"Sanchez...you don't drive like this with Eliza in the car do you?" I asked.
"No way Jimmy boy, never. I'm not a bad mom like that." She said, and her head turned to the left, and she slammed the brakes to slow down, and took the next U- turn. She must have found where she wanted to go. Chris eased us into a parking place, and I looked up. There were too many signs to know exactly where Chris wanted to go.
"Hey, Chris, where are we going?" I asked.
"Subway man, I'm hungry." She said, as she pulled out of the car. I chuckled to my self. Leave it to Chris to drive guided by her stomach. "Lets eat some grub"
We ordered some food, and sat down to eat. We talked about random stupid things, like we always did. Since the rest of the time we spent together, we were either shooting up criminals, or getting our asses kicked in training, or bored as hell working extra hours on traffic duty, the light conversation was a nice distraction. But while we sat, I couldn't help but notice how gorgeous she was. Not in that skanky, stuck up way, but in the, normal, and fuckingest toughest girl to ever kick your ass. She was fierce, but funny and soft when you get down to it. Her eyes saddened, and the conversation turned heavy.
"Man, Jim, yesterday, that was some pretty heavy stuff. I mean, that was just...crazy you know?" she said, dropping her gaze to the floor.
"That's really messing with you isn't it?" I said, not wanting to see her upset. I put my hand under her chin, and lifted her face to mine. "Chris, listen to me, those kids were crazy, drugged up and angry at the world. They didn't know what they were doing, and, sad as it is, that's what it takes for all of us to learn how dangerous the world really is you know?" Her face hardened, and she brushed my hand away.
"How's that gonna keep Eliza safe? I don't want her to have to deal with all the psychos in the world." Chris sighed.
"That's what it is, this is all about Eliza. Chris, she's a good kid, just keep your eye on her, and keep her outta trouble. Don't worry about her. She'll do fine."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Good, I needed somebody else to tell me that, because, even if she was a crack whore, god forbid, I would still love her to death." Chris said, and her face cracked into a grin. I almost kissed her, right there. She was so perfect. She laughed, and I broke out in nervous laughter, but I don't think she noticed.
"All right," I said as I stood up and shook out my legs, picking up the trash to throw away." What are we doing next?"
"I don't know Street, whatever comes next," Chris laughed, pulling her keys out of her pocket and walking towards the car.
Me and Chris didn't really do much, we kinda just drove around, laughing at people, ugly cars, and pretty much anything remotely funny. In no time, it was almost three, so we drove, actually, more like flew the way Chris drives, to Eliza's school. We were early, and we just waited around for about five or ten minutes before the bell rang, didn't say much. Then the bell sounded and a flood of kids came running out of classrooms, and I don't know how she did it, but Chris walked right up into the crowd, and picked out Eliza, in seconds flat. Eliza looked a little puzzled, but happy to see me.
"Hi Jim." She wrapped her arms around me for a hug. I smiled, and returned the gesture. Eliza pulled away and cocked her head to one side, and asked us a question.
"What were you guys doing?" She said, curious.
"Nothing mija, we were just hanging out." Chris answered , laughing at the funny face Eliza was making. I don't think she believed us, but that was the truth.
"So how was school?" I asked, trying to start up a conversation.
"Fine I guess, the same as always." Eliza said. We walked slowly through the mass of kids towards the car parked a block away.
"Yeah, what did you do?" Chris asked again, giving me a look showing the same feeling that things would be awkward if we didn't talk.
"Nothing really, just work." Eliza said. "Oh wow, look at the car over there," she said, her face lighting up,"It's an old Charger."
"Yeah, a beautiful car." I said, in awe as a 1970 Dodge Charger drove by. It was jet black, and obviously muscled out. Beautiful, just beautiful. "You know, Eliza, most kids I know would have had no clue as to what kind of car that was. How did you know that was a Charger?"
"My mama teaches me all about cars," she said, her face beaming from the compliment.
"Is that right?" I said as I looked up Chris's way. As her partner for over a year now, of course I knew Chris liked cars, but I didn't ever think about the fact that she might have taught Eliza anything. But, of course she would, it's Chris we're talking about here.
"Oh yeah, ask her anything, Eliza is pro when it comes to vintage american muscle." Chris said. Eliza was nodding her head proudly. I thought hard, and then asked her a question nobody could answer.
"Ok...hmm...you know who Steve McQueen is right?" I asked. Eliza nodded.
"Well, what year was his Charger when he was Bullit?"
"Easy, 1968" Eliza said. I was blown away. No other kid would know that off the top of their head.
"I am impressed," I said.
"You should be," Chris said, smirking in my direction. We arrived at her car, and Eliza immediatly called shotgun, and I wasn't one to break the shotgun rules, so she got the front seat, and I was stuffed in the back, but was having no problem with it. We pretty much kept talking cars on the way to my apartment, where Chris dropped me off.
"Hey Street," she called from through the passenger's side window as I was walking away.
"Yeah?" I said, turning to face her.
"Wanna take traffic with me tomorrow after training? I need some extra hours, and I don't wanna go it alone, it gets boring."
"Sure, no problem Chris," I said, happy at the fact that she wanted me to tag along.
"Ok, later then, Jim"
"See ya Sanchez."
"Bye Jim," Eliza's voice called out as they drove away.
I walked up the stairs, and unlocked the door,only to be tackled by Rizzo seconds afterwards. I picked myself up off the ground, and laughed. I patted her on the back, and walked in. It was good to be home, but I missed being around Chris. She was what I wants now, I wanted to be here, with her. I laid down on my bed to just chill, and realized that I left my bike at her house. That was perfect, because now I had an excuse to go back. I got lost in my thoughts of Chris, only to be brought back by the sound of Rizzo licking my face. She gave me the look that said "Please feed me Jim." I got up, and took care of that, and sat down to watch some TV. I ended up watching some made for TV movie on Lifetime, it was boring, couldn't really tell you what it was about. I channelsurfed a little more, and watched some cartoons, I have to say, I enjoyed it. My stomach started growling, and I went to the kitchen for some chow. I made myself some spaghetti, and watched some more cartoons until it was about elven, and then I hit the sack, dreaming of Chris all night.