After the incident, Sarzo had insisted that Street take Chris home. He didn't want her to drive alone, after all, he had seen the way she had taken it. Chris protested, but she knew she was no match for her uncle and he meant well.
Silence reigned in the car. Neither Chris nor Street said a word. As he steered the car, he kept glancing with one eye at Chris, but he couldn't make out any facial features. She was looking out the window as if she were not present and was completely lost in thought.
"Chris? Are you okay?" he asked gently. After these good two months, he already knew her a bit and knew how to assess her states of mind. Chris didn't answer, she continued to stubbornly look out the window.
"Are you mad at me?" he asked again, expecting an emotional outburst now. But again nothing. After a few minutes Chris stirred in her seat.
"I'm ok and no I'm not mad, I'm just tired." Chris voice sounded sad and exhausted. Street didn't harken any further for the time being and took her home the quickest way possible.
Chris had a restless sleep, even Champ, who usually always slept with her, sought out that night because she tossed and turned. In the morning, Chris felt like she was exhausted. She went to the kitchen and made herself a strong, black coffee. Looking at her phone she saw 43 missed calls, she could guess who they were from, Clark. Seven messages were also there, almost always saying the same thing. He was so sorry and he didn't know what had gotten into him. He was frustrated because Chris had been standing him up or not answering the phone for the last few weeks and that was why he had been drinking. Chris shook her head in annoyance. He was making it pretty easy on himself. Another message said he was going to make it up to her and he was going to take her out for a romantic evening. He loved her so much and wanted everything to be like it was before the fight. Chris thought about what she should do and if she was honest, his words didn't leave her cold. She wanted to try again and give the relationship a chance, after all she loved him too, at least that's what she told herself.
Chris had the day off and spent it with Champ. They went for a walk, played ball and she enjoyed the time with him. In the evening Chris had made herself pretty and stood a little nervously in front of Clark's door. She wanted to finally spend some quality, carefree time with him. When the door opened Clark beamed at her.
"Hey babe, glad you're here." He pulled her to him and kissed her stormily. As he pulled away from her he eyed her up and down. "Wow you look really hot today." He whispered in her ear.
"Thanks, I was looking forward to seeing you." Chris leaned forward again and kissed him. Once they were inside, Chris was amazed. Clark had candles set up and it looked really romantic, actually that wasn't his style at all.
"Ok, what did you get up to?" she had to laugh.
"Me, nothing of course. It's all for you babe." He wrapped his arms around her middle from behind and kissed her neck. Chris turned to face him and again their lips met greedily. She was fiddling with the buttons on his shirt when Clark's phone rang.
"Oh no, don't answer it." Chris mumbled between kisses.
"At least let me look up for a minute to see if it's important." Clark put some distance between their two bodies and looked at the display. "Oh sorry, but I have to get that, it's really important." He looked apologetically at Chris and left the room. Chris was immediately annoyed, because strangely enough he always had to make a phone call when she was with him. It was starting to seem really strange to her. Chris struggled with herself, should she follow up and listen to him, or should she trust him. Lately she had the feeling that Clark was hiding some things from her that were going on in his life. She decided to follow him for a moment so that she could forget all her doubts afterwards.
Chris crept towards the bedroom where Clark was. She heard him talking excitedly to someone, he kept running his hand through his hair and he seemed nervous. She could only understand snatches of words, because if she leaned too far toward the door, Clark might spot her.
"Mitch listen to me, I really need this stuff, without it I'm screwed." Clark walked around the bed and wiped his hand over his mouth. "Yeah, that's it, can you get it for me by tomorrow? Oh great, and the file on Ryan Parker too." Ryan Parker? Who the hell was Ryan Parker? But she could research that when she was home, probably he had arrested this Parker once or something. What stuff did he desperately need? Was he involved in crooked business?
"Oh God, this can't be happening," Chris whispered to herself. She walked back into the living room totally confused and distraught. She paced like a tiger in a cage.
"What am I going to do now? Should I talk to him about it? No, I'd rather not, I'll wait and see. I'm sure there's a very simple reason for it." she talked to herself again. But how should she act now, should he be involved in something after all?
When two arms wrapped around her from behind again, Chris startled and winced.
"Babe what are you so jumpy about?" He started kissing her neck again and reached forward to undo the buttons of her blouse. Chris was uncomfortable at that moment and she couldn't possibly make love to him now. She wriggled out of his grip and Clark looked at her, puzzled.
"Sorry Clark, but I'm not feeling well at all right now. I'm not sure, but I think I've upset my stomach. I - I'd better go home. We'll just make up for tonight, okay?" Chris was nervous inside. Hopefully Clark would take her excuse.
"Too bad, but sure, can't help it. Do you want me to drive you?" he asked.
"No, no, thanks. I'll manage." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Bye." And off she went. Once in the car, she clung to the steering wheel with her hands and took a deep breath. Suddenly, she was really overcome with a powerful nausea. Was her boyfriend involved in something criminal? With a queasy feeling, she drove home.
The next morning Chris woke up feeling miserable. She had hardly slept, her thoughts kept turning to the phone call from Clark, to Parker`s file, and to this stuff he was asking for. "What do I do now? Should I talk to my boss about it? No, why startle everyone when there's probably a simple explanation." she spoke to herself and tears came from her anger and despair. Champ was immediately at her side and nudged her with his cold muzzle. Chris couldn't help it and had to smile.
"You know how it goes to cheer someone up my boy." She petted him and went to take a shower. The situation was weighing heavily on her mind.
When Champ and she arrived at the department, Champ ran to Street. It had become a ritual by now for Champ to get his petting and a treat from him first thing.
"Good morning big guy." Street greeted the German shepherd and Champ almost rolled over with joy. "Where did you leave your mistress today?" Street looked around, but there was no sign of Chris. Street made his way to the kitchen to get a coffee when he spotted her there.
"Hey, this is where you've been hiding. You okay?" He looked at her and noticed she was different today than the last few days.
"Morning. Yeah everything ok, just didn't sleep well." Said Chris tonelessly. "What's on the agenda today?" she wanted to know.
"Well if you mean our cartel, nothing. There's no sign of life from them. I don't get it. If you ask me, our mole has been sending them info again that they should lay low because we're on to them." Street speculated, musing. "Hello, anybody here?" He waved his hand in front of her face.
"Um yeah, what did you say?" she replied, confused.
"Well you're really lucky we're not chasing the cartel today." He raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, I told you I didn't sleep well." she returned a bit snappishly. Street raised his hands apologetically. "Sorry Street, really having a bad day today and yes, I also think that the mole has once again done a great job and warned the cartel about us." Chris tried to smile at him, although she didn't feel like it at the moment.
"Ha! You did listen to me." he winked at her and walked towards the door. "Come on champ, let's go for a walk and give your mistress her peace." He tapped his thigh and Champ followed.
"Thanks!" Chris called after him.
Chris was about to get in the car with Champ when Street came running.
"Chris, wait a minute." Chris turned around and automatically had to smile. "Would you like to come to the beach with me? We could talk some more, I still owe you some answers." said Street. Chris looked at him frowning.
"Street, what are you talking about? You don't owe me anything."
"Yes I do, remember when we were going to talk about my parents at the barbeque and your friend interrupted us?" He was almost a little uncomfortable bringing up that situation again, knowing how embarrassed Chris was.
"Oh that. Yes there was something." she grinned. And quite spontaneously came from her, "Yeah, why not, right champ? We don't have anything else planned." Champ looked at her with a tilted head and barked once.
"I'll take that as a yes." Street now laughed as well.
When the three of them arrived at the beach, they walked through the sand for a while. They had taken off their shoes and the cool sand felt really good after the day's work. Sreet had taken a blanket with him on which the two took a seat. They took turns throwing Champ his ball into the sea and he couldn't get enough of it. Silence reigned briefly and Chris brushed a strand behind her ear.
"What happened to your family Street?" she didn't beat around the bush. Street sighed briefly and took another deep breath. Chris sensed he wasn't having an easy time talking about it.
"My father was an alcoholic and actually beat up my mother and me almost every day. I was 11 when he came home one day and started hitting my mom again, I thought he was going to kill her." he paused briefly and swallowed. "When he went out again, my mother suddenly took a gun out of her bag. I was totally shocked, I didn't understand what she wanted with that thing. She told me to call Coward until he came, and she hid in my closet." Street kneaded his fingers and looked down at her. "I called coward three times and he came at me. Chris, I really thought that was it now and he was going to kill me. My mom came out of the closet before he could reach me and pulled the trigger, several times. He collapsed in front of my eyes. I will never forget that moment. She was arrested and I was sent to the home. I was passed from foster home to foster home until Buck showed up. He had arrested my mother and also got the truth out of me about my father's death. He took me in and I really learned a lot from him. Who knows where I'd be today without him." Chris reached for his hand and squeezed it.
"God Street, I can't imagine how awful that must have been for you. I know what it's like to live with someone who's addicted to alcohol." Street looked at Chris and frowned. "My mother drank four bottles of vodka a day, easy. When I was 13 she crashed four other people all died just because her drunken brain couldn't think straight. She had never cared for me, I was always on my own." Now it was Chris who became thoughtful.
"You should be so proud of yourself Chris. Look at what you've become. A confident, smart, humorous and absolutely brilliant police officer." Street smiled encouragingly at her and Chris blushed. She looked at him briefly, but immediately away again because she couldn't handle his words at the moment.
