"Let's get Kira back safe and take these sons of bitches down…. rolling up in 10!" Luca shouted…
Hondo announced "Fill the gaps…..."
"Stay Liquid…." They replied in unison. But even that didn't sound the same without Chris, Street thought.
"Here we go in 3….2….1" Luca hollered, and the back door swung open.
"Street and Tan you take the two side, Deac and Logan you take the four, Luca you're with me" Hondo barked.
"Breech in 5…4…3…2…..1… go" announced Deac as he pried open the door. The team swung into action.
Several closely timed gunshots rang out as Luca shouted, "Suspect 1 down", he and Hondo continued to move into the warehouse "Gimme two" Hondo hollered, "two two" barked Luca patting him on the back and following him up the stairs.
"Street…. Left side" Tan pointed as they separated to search two adjoining rooms.
"Left side clear"
"Right side clear"
"Tan out…"
"Street out."
"We got a rabbit" Street yelled as he and Tan took off along the gantry way after him, Street saw the gantry turned left ahead and was mentally calculating what it would take for him to swing off the railing onto the boxes and pallets below.
He swung his rifle over his shoulder and with two hands in one swift movement scaled the railing and leapt on the pile of pallets below. He continued to move forward, jumping down the levels until he was closing in on the suspect who was racing down the stairs to the warehouse floor. Street could hear Tan approaching behind the suspect as he leaped across the gap between the last pallet and the door of the warehouse.
"Aghhhhhh…. STAY DOWN… STAY DOWN" he shouted. Tan patted Streets back "Nice work" as Street cuffed him. "You got him?" Street asked Tan,
"Yeah" Tan said, and Street was off again, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Deacon and Logan met Street in the next loading bay. Hondo and Luca came seconds later followed by Tan who had handed the suspect off too Rockers team outside.
Hondo motioned their next moves without words. His hands waving and telling each member what to do. They thought the Emancipators where in the next room with Kira. They all separated again. Deacon and Logan placed explosives on the door, Tan and Street lined up behind them and readied their flash bangs as Hondo gave the count.
The breech was swift and well executed. "LAPD SWAT" Hondo shouted, "get on the ground", the team fanned out and each side of him,
"Don't do it…." Bang ….. bang…bang…bang ... bang... shots peppered the team as the Emancipators returned fire. Deac and Luca took out three suspects. Hondo and Street another two.
The masked leader fled through a trap door in the floor, Logan shouted "RABBIT" and he and Hondo went after him.
Street rushed forward seeing a chair in front of a camera. Kira was tied to it, with the sack on her head. "Hey…hey..." Street said compassionately removing the sack and the gag from her mouth. Kira was shaking and crying and in shock.
"We got you now" Deac said placing a hand on her shoulder as they freed her, before hugging her and guiding her out to the waiting EMT's. Street and Luca moved to follow Hondo and Logan.
"Gimme two" Luca barked at Street as he neared the entry into the tunnel below,
"Two two two" Street patted his back.
They jumped into the hole and turned opposite ways upon landing.
"This way" Luca said and they moved through the tunnels. They came to a fork, "Go left" Luca motioned to Street. Street peeled off to the left. They could hear their team mates ahead of them, but it was hard to work out where exactly they were. It was dark and winding down there.
Bang …. Bang ….. Bang …...Bang, shots rang out from nearby and Hondo's voice filled his ears on the comms "20 David, Code 4 …We got him."
Street stood upright in the darkened tunnel and let out a big slow breath to control his adrenaline rush. He lowered his rifle and paused. It was over, they had Kira back and had successfully neutralised this lot of Emancipators. He was turning to walk back when he felt a presence behind him, he started to spin around and another member of the Emancipators who had been hiding in the dark tried to jump him.
As Hondo and Logan came back to Luca, Luca looked confused. "26 David…. Do you copy?" he said into his radio calling Street. Where was he? Why wasn't he back? Silence filled the air as Hondo and Logan held their breath.
"22 David to 26 David… Street …... Do you copy? Luca tried again. Nothing.
They all held their breathe as Luca again hit his radio, "22 David to 26 David…..Street….. Do you copy?"
Hondo, knowing something wasn't right and fear filling his every thought, motioned for Logan and Luca to follow as they began to search the tunnel Street had gone down. Hondo rounded a corner and seeing a shadow move ushered the others to stop and get down. With guns aimed, they all breathed a sigh of relief as Street rounded the corner with an offender in coughs. When they arrived back at HQ and piled out of black betty, Street grabbed Hondo.
"Hey… once I finish my paperwork and get squared away …can I go see Chris, make sure she is ok?" he asked "She is gunna be climbing the walls"
"Yeah…. Yeah …... that would be a good idea. She needs someone looking out for her right now Street… I'm glad you two are tight" Hondo nodded, distracted by his own thoughts.
"Yeah…. Ah…?" Street paused debating whether to say anything to Hondo like Deacon had suggested. As he went to speak again Luca and Tan came around the back of Black Betty trying to unload the gear.
"Yo…. Hondo…... still coming to the game later?" Luca asked, not realising he had interrupted,
"Yeah… maybe man… got a mountain of paper work to do first" Hondo answered.
Street took it as a sign that he should wait a bit, so he headed inside. He sat quietly trying to finish, trying to concentrate and get her off his mind.
'Ding' Street raised an eyebrow and glanced at his phone on the table. His heart leapt up into his throat when her saw her name on the screen.
Chris: "Thank you… Thank you to you all. You have no idea how important you all are to me. I am so lucky to have the best SWAT family ever"
He smiled, Chris must have sent that to us all he thought.
'Ding' It was her again,
Chris: "Cortez told me how vital you were in finding Kira and the mission today, Thank you!"
…...Chris lay in her bed tapping her phone on the table. She wished she could just stop feeling the way she did. The shame, the guilt and the pain she felt was heavy inside her, like her body was full of concrete. She wanted to fix the hurt badly, but she couldn't. Kira and Ty would probably want her to leave and move out when this was over, and she understood that completely. She had exchanged a few short texts with Ty but nothing to repair the pain and damage she had caused. She had developed feelings for them both and knowing she had broken their trust and crossed a line in that ominous kiss with Street that night broke her. Not only had that kiss irreparably broken her relationship, but it just might break her friendship with Street too. She had worked so hard in the weeks after that kiss to build a wall back up between them… to push him away and create distance so that nothing more would happen. The fear ate her up inside that if it did Streets hard work to get back on SWAT, back on the team would be for nothing. That she would also be the reason he would lose it all. It hurt her heart that she was hurting him, pushing him so far away. She wanted him there, she wanted him in arms reach, but she didn't trust herself around him because of the profound things he made her feel, already a few times since being in here she had crumbled to his words, and touch and let her wall down a bit, but the battle inside to keep it up strong was starting to weaken her.
Back at HQ Street sat staring blankly at the phone, he didn't know what he should write back,
"no problem…hope you're doing ok"
He pushed the phone away a bit and tried to refocus on the page in front of him.
Chris read his reply and wondered if she should ask him to come by, she badly wanted to see him, but was scared she would crack in his presence a bit more.
Street signed the bottom of the page and slipped the pages into the Captains pigeon hole. He headed to the parking garage. 'God, I hope Chris is doing ok' he thought. Cortez caught up to him by the elevator.
"Street..." she said holding up her hand for him to wait. "I have already told Chris about Kira being safe and also told her that Ty has gone to LA General to be with her…. Please give Chris our best" she said, "the team will come by later after shift if visiting hours are still open". Street nodded,
"Ok, I will, thanks."
"Keep your pager on…...we may still need you yet… shift isn't over" Cortez added as the doors began close. Street nodded. He was terrified for Chris and of the state he would find her in when he got to her. He walked to the garage in a trance, swung open the door of the charger, climbed in and drove off. The now familiar route to Angels of Mercy seemed quick for peak hour. As well as the walk from the carpark to her room. He stopped at the hospital gift shop and bought her favourite flavoured milk and a snack, he thought flowers seemed a bit …... well 'no…not right' he thought.
"Hi…." He said knocking cautiously and opening her door slowly.
"Hey" she said …... truly surprised to see him on shift time and in uniform. She tried to meet his eyes. Her thoughts were still swirling, and she didn't know how to stop them other than to not look at him and let him read her. "Are you still on the clock?" she asked as she nervously sat upright on the bed.
"Yeah… Hondo let me come check on you…...we are all worried about you Chris" He watched her as she fidgeted on the bed and he knew she was avoiding his eyes "I bought you a gift" he said showing her the milk and a chocolate bar. Chris looked at him with a tiny smirk, but he saw that her eyes smiled. She had a cautious expression on her face, and he knew she was guarded right now, he understood why. He hadn't seen her since this all went down. He hadn't spoken to Deacon about her reaction after she found out the Emancipators snatched up Kira.
"I'm…." Chris blew a breath out her lips and looked up at the roof. 'Come on' she said to herself, 'pull it together!' She tried again… "I… ahhh" Street stood at the end of her bed with his hands resting up on the top of his vest, he contemplated moving closer. He could see that she was about to cry. Every part of him wanted to comfort her, but he knew how fragile she was right now….
"Thank you" she whispered …. only glancing at him for a second before looking down at the bed, she was swallowing hard to control her tears. Her eyes began to well up and she closed them tight trying to stop the tears from escaping.
Street wanted to comfort her more than anything in the world but was debating his own head whether moving any closer right now was the right thing to do. As she began to whimper, he couldn't resist. He tentatively stepped towards her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey… It's ok Chris…." She didn't pull away from him, so he slowly sat down on the bed. She couldn't look at him. She felt so ashamed of her behaviour and knew Street deserved better. As she cried, he just sat there frozen for minute before moving his hand onto hers on the bed. She again didn't push him away, so he gently pulled her to him and held her while she cried.
"Hey… it's all good we got her back, she's safe" he whispered as took in the scent of her hair. "it's ok…. I got you…..." Chris shuddered in his arms and wiped her tears away with her sleeve.
"I… I'm…...sorry" she mumbled, as she started to sit upright. Street let her go and shifted slightly back on the bed.
"Don't cry" he said picking up her hand and holding in both of his. She was terrified to look at him in that moment. Looking into his eyes would undo her, she was sure of it. She quickly glanced at him and Street took that opportunity to wipe a tear from her cheek with his hand "you're doing better every day, Kira is safe now and things are going to be ok …. I promise" he began to stand back up and tenderly tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear before stepping back to give her space.
She didn't look directly at him at him. Having him this close was like a drug. His smell and warmth were intoxicating, and Chris had to fight with every inch of herself to hold her wall up. Feeling his hand gently touch her face almost made her crumble. Street knew she was still wrestling with the guilt and pain. He stood for a minute near the bed, not knowing what to do. He wanted to hold her and hug her like he had before when she was upset, but he knew her well enough to know when her walls were up, and they were up at this moment. The silence in the room was heavy. Streets mind raced with what to say to her.
Meanwhile inside Chris's head she was fighting with herself. 'Ty…... well he barely spoke 5 words to me when Cortez and Deac bought him here, he struggled to even look at me. Was he in shock or does he blame me for everything? …. Understandable I guess…. He did give me hug and pat my hand, but I bet Deacon and Cortez noted the tension. …. now Kira must hate me, it's my fault all of this happened. If I hadn't of given into my damn desire that night and encouraged that kiss with Street, she never would have stormed out of here and been snatched up…. I want to talk to them, but I bet they don't wanna see me…. And Street…...Well he has been amazing through this all, but I have been so atrocious to him, he probably wants to run a mile too.'
"Chris…... I …. Ah…..I just wanted to make sure you were ok, but if you'd rather I go and let you get some rest…I…" Street started, he didn't want to stay if he was making her uncomfortable, he didn't want her to lash out at him in anger either and say things again like 'we're friends Street and nothing more, we're not gunna talk, we're just gunna do our jobs or we can only be teammates on the job, not friends' those words and the way she turned her back on him broke his heart into millions of pieces.
As Street relived the heartbreak, Chris turned her face to look at him answering "Street… no…. I …. just don't…. don't know how to fix it…... I'm sorry" Chris was scared, if she hurt anyone further it would absolutely kill her. She knew she had to find a way to mend the relationships she had damaged but right now she felt lost and often alone stuck here. She knew if she kept pushing him away that one day that maybe the day he doesn't come back. She remembered the feeling of wanting to kiss him again in the kitchen at HQ the day after the fundraiser. But instead she had shattered his heart so profoundly she would swear she heard it fall and break on the floor. Those memories killed her inside.
Every part of Street was screaming at him to move to her and hold her tight, to tell her everything he felt in the depths of his heart, but he held back. He couldn't explain why other than he just knew this was not the right time. Instead he sat himself on the empty bed next to hers facing her. He watched her, and as much as Chris wanted to be the unreadable strong type…... he could see her heartbreak and angst from a mile away.
"It's ok Chris…... I am here for you" He said. Those words warmed her cold broken heart and she let a smile form on her face as she slowly turned her face to look at him.