Slowly, she looked up. "So where does this leave us?" She whispered.

"Still here, together, I hope." He answered reaching for her hand.

"Are you sure that is what you want?" Chris let out, not reaching for his back.

"Yes, Chris." He answered. Taking her hand and tugging it until she looked at him. "Just because I haven't processed this all quite yet, doesn't mean my feelings for you have changed."

Chris just swallowed and nodded without looking back up at him.

"Talk to me please, don't shut down. We need to both reach a resolution here, peacefully and I can't do that if you throw up those walls." He begged.

She inhaled and steadied herself. "So, you are not doubting this? Us at all?" She asked.

"Chris." He sighed squeezing her hands slightly and rubbing his thumbs on her fingers as he spoke. "Did I ask myself today if this was over? Yes. Do I want to end this? No. Why did I even ask myself that? Because this is a messy shitty situation and if I am confused and a bit overwhelmed, I can only begin to imagine how scared and upset you must be. But please, Chris," he waited for her to look back at him. "Today has been a lot to process. But bottom line, I still want us."

Chris watched him closely.

"Do you want me to go?" He asked with sadness in his voice after she had just looked at him in silence for a few moments.

"No." She answered quietly, letting out a sigh and squeezing his hands. She could see how much the events today and maybe even her reaction had hurt him. "I am just scared. Something still feels off and it's worrying me."

"Hey," he whispered moving closer to hug her. "It's okay, I get it. It's a lot."

"Yeah." She looked up at him with pain on her face.

They spent a while, just hanging out and watching TV, but Jared could feel the vibe. He knew he should give her space to process all of this. So, it wasn't too long before he had said goodnight and headed to a hotel. Chris had swallowed hard and felt a little guilty, but she also knew they needed some time to work this out and him staying at her place, sleeping in her bed, did not feel right right now.

As she woke slowly the next morning, she smiled remembering all of their great times. But she couldn't help but then feel her stomach sink, as she thought about him and Caitlin. Why was her gut telling her something was off there? And then there was also how Street had made her feel, twice now in the last week. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't told him about that. But how on earth could she? Did that make her worse than him? Was she actively hiding something? What even was it? She had resided herself to the fact that her and Street could never be anything so, what was she worrying about, right?

Before Chris could calm her raging thoughts and decide what to do, her phone began to ring on the bedside table.

It was Jared.

"Good Morning." She answered.

"Hey." His voice sounded sad and shaky.

"You okay? What is it?" She asked as she propped herself up on her elbow.

"I um, I have to go back to Las Vegas. Today. Right now, actually." He said with a bit of disbelief in his voice.

"Why? What happened?" Chris asked shocked.

"There's been another development in the case. Another family targeted but we thought we had the whole crew involved, but as it now appears, maybe not."

Within 30 minutes, he was up, dressed, packed and had driven by her place. He was standing by his truck. He was nervous to have to say goodbye to her now, again after these latest events. Especially as they had not had enough time to fully rebuild and reconnect.

"Please, just, don't shut down on me." He begged holding her hands and gently guiding her closer to himself.

"I'm not trying to shut down." She answered with a sigh. "We just have some shit to get through I guess." She finished looking up at him.

"I'm sorry I have to leave. I wish I could stay, spend a few days here. Work all of this out with you properly." He spoke softly and brushed hair tenderly from her face.

"Yeah, I know. It's okay. I understand." She answered.

"You are amazing Chris. I will be back as soon as I can. Please hold onto that." He whispered.

She nodded. "I will, we will talk soon when you get a minute. Now go on, before you get another call. Drive safely."

And with that she stood watching his truck disappear from sight. She sighed and frowned. Trying to process the sick, sad feeling inside of her. Was she sad that he was gone? Or sad about the state of things. She spent the rest of that day, trying not to think too much about this mess. Instead, she busied herself with errands, grabbing some groceries and picking up some things before her appointment to get her ankle signed off. She was relieved later that afternoon to be able to call Hicks as she stepped out of the doctor's office, to inform him she would be back at HQ the next day.

Before starting her truck to drive home, she got a text from Street.

'Hey, so are you okay? How did it all turn out?'

She realised he was probably worrying about her, after the things she told him the other night. She sat looking at his text for a moment, before typing,

'Okay, I guess. Danielle isn't his. But Jared is back in Las Vegas with work now.'

She then turned off the screen, pushed the phone into her bag and started to drive home.

As the sun began to set, she arrived back at her apartment. Closing the door of her truck she immediately spotted a clue that her night was about to get interesting. Street's bike sat parked in the parking lot. She sighed and rolled her eyes slightly.

'And why are you here now?' She mumbled walking past it eyeing it.

As she climbed the first flight of stairs, she knew he would have seen her truck pull in, she couldn't turn and run from facing him. But facing him now, feeling like this confused mess that she was... it worried her. As she approached her floor, she vividly remembered the last time they were together. The words he had said before he left.

'You will just have to trust now that things will be okay and work themselves out. And even if it hurts and your broken, I will be there to pick you back up and put you back together."

She smiled and paused. She knew he would have read that text about Jared going back to Las Vegas and he would have wanted to come and check on her. Make sure she hadn't fallen apart. So, taking a deep breath she took that step around the corner to see him waiting at her door.