Enjoy?
When he heard that the client had shown up with an LAPD escort Jim Street curses internally. Yes, he had expected Molly to spend the day at HQ with her father after last night's fiasco, but he had also expected that the Commander would be smarter and not send her home with an obvious escort.
He hurries downstairs and when he comes towards the entrance he has to curse again. Leaving Mike there wasn't the best idea, but he would only have gotten in the way upstairs.
Street recognizes from a distance that two women are slightly irritated and that the dog, a female if the notes are correct, protects them both from Mike. It's going to be a stressful assignment if that dog is aggressive.
He recognizes Molly right away. The high heels and the pencil skirt are unmistakable and yet the sweater doesn't quite fit into the picture. As he gets closer, he recognizes the SWAT eagle and sees his assumption confirmed where Molly has spent her day. How Mike gets to the LAPD company is a mystery to him.
The other woman has her back turned to him and appears to be on the phone. Street is about to yell across the lawn, but he holds back. He actually wanted to avoid all of his employees knowing how well he knew the client.
On the last few meters he calls out anyway, "Mike, go help Joe upstairs with the tech. We can go straight into the apartment and wire everything there."
Both women immediately stop moving. Molly turns her body in his direction while the other bends down to the dog and strokes the chocolate-colored fur.
"Jim," Molly gives him an almost relieved smile. "That's a great surprise, isn't it Chris?"
Street pauses in his stride for a moment. Did he just hear that right?
When he looks at the other woman again, he pretty much sees the shock and disbelief on Chris' face that he is feeling right now.
His head feels empty all of a sudden. He had just not expected her at all. What was she doing here?
"What a coincidence," he hears the fake cheer. He would always recognize that. Also the way her body stays focused on the dog. In any case, she's not particularly pleased to see him here.
Not that he is jumping of joy right now. Jim tries to shake off the constricting thoughts.
"Then you are in good hands," says Chris dryly and it sounds kind of wrong to his ears. As if she just wanted to get away quickly.
Chris takes a few steps towards the front door and the dog looks back and forth between the women, a bit confused before she gets in Chris's way.
"We should go in Molly, we really still have to check the apartment and your neighbor's too," Jim tries to regain control of the situation. A slightly horrified cough comes from Chris. "What do you have to do in my apartment?"
He is speechless for a moment and a thousand thoughts are running in Jim's head. He had actually planned to observe the situation from the neighbor's apartment in order to have as little contact as possible with his old life in LA. That was probably no longer possible.
"We wanted to see whether we could have a better view of the hallway from there and whether we could install a camera or two to just hit all angles." he tries to sound as professional and firm as possible.
Jim already sees that the situation is getting trickier than he first thought. So Chris is the neighbor with the gun.
So now he tries to lead Molly carefully but as he walks past the dog she growls at him.
"Luna," Molly hisses. But the Labrador is not intimidated. She waits until Chris moves too and then keeps walking back and forth between the two women.
When they reach Molly's door, Chris takes a few steps to her door, but here too Luna disagrees. She makes her displeasure clear with a sharp bark and a nudge to Chris's leg.
Jim sees Molly's confused look. "Chris? Aren't you coming?"
Chris makes a face. "Molly, it makes sense what the other guy said downstairs. LAPD shouldn't be privy to the plans. It's better if I'm not there. You're in good hands."
She unswervingly turns the key in the lock and Jim honestly has to admit he's a little glad that Chris doesn't come with them. He doesn't know how to deal with her right now. And she doesn't really seem to want to see him either.
But they all hadn't counted on Luna. The young dog stands in Chris's way and won't let her go into her apartment. "Luna, you should take care of your mom." Jim sees how the animal moves its head between the two women and when Molly pushes her apartment open and Jim lets in, the Labrador rushes directly behind and stops him barking. Only to check in the hallway that Molly and Chris are still there.
Molly and Chris are standing in the hallway and Jim feels a little out of place in the apartment. He slowly walks back to the door and looks into the hallway. Molly has taken the few steps over to Chris and looks her straight in the eye.
"Chris, you promised to stay with me for the meeting. You understand more about it." Jim is feeling a little uncomfortable listening in on their private conversation, but he can't stop himself either.
"Molly, you are in good hands. And really, LAPD ..." he sees Chris clutching her key and somewhat helplessly pressing the sentence out.
"But you are not LAPD now. You are my neighbor and friend. And Jim said he has to go to your apartment afterward too, so you can be there." Molly pulls on Chris' hand and crosses their fingers. Luna seems satisfied with that too and barks happily before reminding herself that she left the strange man in the apartment.
Jim moves quickly into the apartment so as not to show that he has overheard the conversation and he hopes that no one can see how much the intimacy of the two confuses him.
If his notes hadn't indicated the Labrador belongs to Molly, right now he would've bet on Chris.
"Sit down, then hopefully Luna will stop growling," Molly's voice suddenly breaks through his thoughts and he collapses on the sofa.
Chris is curled up in an armchair while Molly is sitting on the second sofa. Luna sits between the women and doesn't take her eyes off Jim.
He takes another deep breath and then begins to explain the plan. The team will be on a more frequent rotation and from now on always in pairs. A bodyguard will also be in the apartment at all times.
Molly takes a deep breath to cover her surprise at that but Chris seems to have expected that announcement. " As long as you don't let the idiot in here, I think that's a good idea."
She also pulls her phone out of her pocket. "Sorry, seems important. Deac." Chris says apologetically, pats Luna briefly on the head, and disappears.
Jim can't help but exhale a little relieved and he notices how tension is releasing from him. Molly seems to have noticed that too, as she is looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you have any questions about the procedure in the coming days?" Jim tries to find his way back into the professional side of the conversation.
Molly leans back slightly, her arms crossed in front of her body, and continues to fix Jim Street with a raised eyebrow.
He looks kind of relieved, but he's still nervous since Chris left.
"Will you be here or will you go?" she finally asks and looks towards the front door.
Jim clears his throat briefly. "I'm in charge of the operation and I won't be here a lot. Maybe it's better that way," he mumbles the second part so softly that Molly thinks she has misheard for a moment.
"Okay, so one of your people is going to be sitting in my apartment at all times?" she asks further and pats Luna behind the ear.
"Yes, one of us will be with you all the time. You don't go anywhere without someone coming along and Luna will need to be on a leash if she is so defensive." an offended bark interrupts him. "She doesn't like that word and she won't like you for using it near her," explains Molly with a laugh when she sees Jim's frightened face.
A short time later there is a knock on the door and another employee asks when Street is going to the other apartment. He sees immediately that Molly is also reminiscent of his statement before, and to his horror, she says, "You better go now then. And maybe we can go jogging after? Luna was a little bored today. I need to power her out."
Jim swallows hard for a moment, then turns to his colleague and instructs him to go through the apartment on his own.
He looks in Molly's direction and says, "Well, then let me put on my jogging shoes and, then let's go for a run."
Molly shakes her head but agrees and goes to change clothes herself.
She resolves to get to the bottom of this strange situation. The way the two reacted to each other was too strange and way too cold.
When Jim comes back from changing, he sees Molly standing with Chris in the latter's apartment door and talking softly. Chris seems to look into her apartment every now and then, presumably to check what Tom and Luke are doing there. The two should only briefly attach two cameras to cover all blind spots in the corridor. Luna sits nicely between the two women and seems a little impatient for the start of the jogging round. Every now and then she nudges both women alternately on the hand with her snout.
Suddenly Chris freezes for a second. She must have noticed him.
Jim clears his throat embarrassed and Molly gives Chris another quick squeeze and whispers something in her ear, which causes Chris to send a glare Molly's way that would make him apologize on the spot out of fear. Molly only winks once and then calls Luna with her.
"Come on Luna, you can train your new playmate today." Molly laughs and throws a rope in Jim's direction.
He lets Molly set the pace and adjusts his stride to hers. The dog is still a bit skeptical and doesn't let Jim out of her sight as he notices. She walks next to Molly most of the time, but she keeps turning around and checking what's going on whenever she runs ahead.