Street still stopped by the hospital every day to see her in the next few weeks. Some days she was doing better than others. He found her mood to be unpredictable, but he completely understood why. She was stuck in there until the doctors were happy her wounds had healed proficiently and could do nothing but over think things, her physical recovery frustrated her too, she was anxious to get back to 100%, but struggled to deal with the time it was taking.

One late afternoon, Street came by after shift with Deacon, he stopped dead in his tracks for a second when they turned the corner to be confronted by Ty and Kira walking towards them from Chris's room. Deac furrowed his brows and gave Street a worried look…... 'why is acting like that?' Deac thought.

Streets heart pounded out of his chest 'why were they here? He hadn't seen them for ages, had they begun to patch things up? Or were they here to end it for good? Was Chris ok? Was she going to push him away again now and shut him out? oh god …...oh god' raced through his head.

"Kira!...Ty!..." Deacon said trying to hide his concern for Street. "How are you doing?" he said hugging Kira politely and then shaking Ty's hand. Ty looked at Street and Street sensed his disapproval, shame filled Streets mind.

"Hey …Ty" Street nervously offered his hand to Ty and Ty turned his frown slowly into a smile, "Look … I know we've had some tension between us man…...but get in here. You saved Kira and brought her back to me safe…... I am forever grateful and in your guys debt". Street was surprised. After Ty hugged him, Kira put her arms out. "Thank you, Jim…...honestly…...thank you!" She said hugging him. Street was thankful they were so civil after what had happened between them.

"You on your way in?" Kira said to Deacon motioning towards the door of Chris's room.

"Yeah…. thought we would pop in after shift and say hi… she is going crazy most days being couped up in here" Deacon replied.

"She is so lucky to have a wonderful team and work family around her" Kira smiled.

Street desperately wanted to know why they were here and what state Chris was in. He wanted to push past them and run to her room. But Street managed to contain his impulses. As Ty, Kira and Deac made small talk their voices seemed to float miles away and Street was in his own head.

Dr Jamison walked past the group on his way to see Chris and double backed when he saw Street. He recognised Street and politely interrupted the group.

"Excuse me, I'm Dr Jamison, are you all here to see Ms Alonso?"

"Um... no… we …..." Kira answered pointing to herself and Ty "are just on our way out, but these two fine officers were hoping to see her" Kira replied. Street saw that she was genuine when she said thank you to him, she was being kind and understanding and Street immediately felt awful for wishing them gone out of Chris's life for good.

"Can I hassle you to give me 20 minutes with her to run through a few important things?" Streets mind raced with fear. What did he mean?

"Of course, we will go grab a coffee" Deacon answered.

The group walked to the cafeteria, as Deacon ordered 4 coffees and chatted to Kira. Ty tapped Streets arm and asked if they could talk outside. Street was nervous and anxious. His heart raced as he followed him to the courtyard.

"Look …. "Ty started "I …... I want you to know that we completely understand your side of this" Street fidgeted and did his best to listen attentively without letting his mind race ahead. "Kira and I took a while to come to terms will all that had happened, and we came to see Chris today as we couldn't just walk away from this like it had been. We were here the whole day with her, and we spent a lot of time talking about things. I just want to be honest and up front with you." Street glanced away… his mind knew what was coming…...and he felt his heart crack a little,

"Chris is in a delicate spot right now and we just wanted her to know that we are ok, we don't blame her for what happened to Kira or what happened between you guys… we wanted her to know we didn't hate her or anything, because we knew she would be punishing herself."

'oh, great they blame me…...damn…...just like Chris said he thought', "if this comes out the team and everyone will blame you Street…. you will lose it all" Street replayed the words so clearly in his head. Chris had been right, and Street knew it, he swallowed hard and his dimples flared,

"…. and we realise" Ty continued "that Chris tried to do the right thing by telling us what happened that night, and now all she feels is guilt and sadness ….…. but in that moment after fighting with Annie and seeing Kira and I laughing and having a great time together she was hurting and scared and she ran to you for comfort. Kira and I wish she wanted to run to us when she was hurting but look…. Street…. you guys have always been amazing friends long before Kira and I came along, so we understand that there are likely to be buried feelings and desires for each other that you both have pushed a long way down so that you can still your jobs and keep the team together."

Street glanced at Ty who had a caring look on his face, 'God …...Is there a but coming' Street prayed.

"I have seen the two of you together and can see how much you care for her and look if I am honest, as much as it hurts me to admit it, I can see that she cares deeply for you too. Kira and I both agree that Chris needs to able to make the decision about who she wants to move forward with based on how she feels in her own heart, and she may need a bit of time to decide that. If she wants to continue with Kira and I we would ask you respect that, but if Chris decides she would like to try things with you then when will respect that too."

Streets heart fluttered. That was not what he expected to hear. He nodded at Ty and motioned for him to sit on the bench with him.

"Look…man…. I completely respect you and Kira, and I am so sorry for my part in all of this. I know that kiss between Chris and I broke your trust….and that it was wrong…. but in that moment …the rest of the world fell away, and I selfishly didn't care." Street saw Ty nodding at him as he listened, "I guess I never once stopped to question why she came by that night, she came by all the time and nothing like that ever happened. I guess… I mean…. yes, I want her to want there to one day be an us but…I also know that there may never be" Street looked down. Admitting that Chris may never let this happen between them killed him inside.

"Hey…" Ty could see that Street was hurting too. "Let's just let this all play out and see what happens. Kira and I will visit when we can, we will try to stick to times when we know you are on shift so that you can see her without us hanging about when you're free, does that sound fair?"

Street honestly was dumbfounded that they were being so good about this. "Yeah that sounds good" Street answered. Secretly he wanted to say "no" and keep her all to himself, but he knew that this was the right thing to do. If Chris was going to decide that she wanted to try again with them then he had to let her do that, he just hoped and prayed she wouldn't break his heart again.

"OK, one latte' no sugar and one skim latte'" Deacon said approaching them and handing them both a cup. He gave Street a worried look and tried to force a smile. They made small talk for a while until Ty and Kira said they had to go.

"Yeah, Deac we better pop up soon or visiting will be over" Street said. They watched Ty and Kira walk away and Deacon looked back at Street. He placed his hand on Streets back,

"You ok?"

"Yeah…. I guess…I mean that went a lot better than I had ever thought it would?" he said looking surprised at Deac.

"What did Ty want to talk to you about for so long?"

"Um…... kinda establish some ground rules I guess?" Street said as he started walking, he was anxious to get upstairs to see Chris.

"What because you are here every day and … well…. they are the ones actually dating her?" Deacon said quickening his stride to catch up to Street. Street kinda sensed Deacon was teasing him a little. But Deacon had obviously noticed that they hadn't been around as much lately too.

"Uh, well…... they aren't actually dating her at the moment… a few days after Chris woke up in the hospital the first time, she broke up with them…" Deacon paused momentarily before grabbing Streets arm and stopping him, Street glanced away nervously.

"What…... why?" flew out of Deacons mouth before he thought about it,

"Well …. Chris … she told them about… something that happened a few months back"

Deac raised his eyebrow at Street. Street saw Deac was onto him,

"can I tell you something in confidence again?"

Deacon looked concerned and patted Streets arm,

"of course, you can"

"Well you know the night of the police fundraiser when Chris and Annie got into it?" Deac looked shocked that Street knew about that and he slowly nodded eyeing Street closely.

"Chris was really upset and felt judged, she kept seeing Kira and Ty mingling in the crowd, smiling and laughing and touching each other, without even giving her a second thought. That combined with the team's reactions of concern made her doubt their relationship too. She took a cab and came to find me at my place…. I was having my own pity party after what happened with my mum" Street paused and looked at Deac. Deac looked terrified he was about to hear something that he wasn't sure he wanted to know….

"She bought a bottle of whiskey and we sat on the porch drinking it and talking about her relationship with them and about my relationship with my mom".

Deac bit his bottom lip and listened attentively. "When it was getting late, she hugged me goodbye and it well it kinda lingered a bit, she thanked me for always being there for her then she leaned up and kissed me… and I kissed her back…... and then she realised what she'd done and ran off to get home. …." Deac didn't say a word but rubbed Streets back and nodded.

"She wouldn't speak to me or look at me at all after …she told me the next day after shift that we couldn't even be friends anymore, just work mates. She shattered my heart in a million pieces. She pushed me away for the entire two weeks between then and the accident. Since then we have started to try and rebuild us, but she keeps having setbacks, like when Kira was taken and then she pushes me away again…... now with them being back…. I'm scared she will push me away for good."

Deacon hugged Street and then looked at him pursing his lips. "Street…." He began as they waited for the elevator. "You have to tell Chris how you feel, that these feelings you have are more than just a small temporary attraction. If she is unsure and doubts how serious you are, she might just go back to Ty and Kira and then you will never know if she want anything between you."

Street nodded, "Yeah but if I unload all of that on her now after Ty and Kira have shown back up, she will push me away again for sure".

"Let's just see what she is like when we get up there" Deacon said walking into the elevator. "If it's ok, I will leave you with her."

As they approached her room Street felt the nerves reverberate through his whole body. He was terrified of what she would react like. Deacon knocked on her door and poked his head in,

"Knock, knock…... Can we come in?"

"Deac…. Hey…. sure" Chris said, sitting herself up on the bed.

Deac stepped through the door and Street stepped into the door way. He instantly noticed her expression change when she saw him.

"Hey Chris" Street said,

"Hey" She answered dropping her gaze uncomfortably back to Deac.

"So, we…ah…. ran into Ty and Kira outside" Deac began. Chris's face showed her shock and she glanced at Street with a tinge of shame in her eyes. "Kira seems to be doing really well and Ty was happy to have the chance to catch up."

Chris uncomfortably nodded "yeah…. ah… Kira…." she looked out of the corner of her eye at Street who was standing near the bed next to hers, hands in pockets fidgeting, but not looking back at her. "She is doing really well…." Chris was keen to change the topic. "How was your shift... miss anything exciting today?" she asked smiling at Deac.

Deacon could read the room well enough to know that Chris was nervous about them seeing Kira and Ty and obviously worried what Street was thinking.

"Well …... A few drama packed moments chasing the bad guys, but nothing stellar today." Deac replied.

"oh…...except for Luca losing the keys the Black Betty down a drain" Street smirked looking at Deac. Deac laughed and so did Chris. 'man I love the sound of her laugh' Street thought. He soaked it in.

"Ok… how the hell did he manage that?" Chris asked

"he had 'em clipped on his belt like usual, then got into it with this one-niner and they came loose, and they were gone" Deac and Street both chuckled remembering the moments.

"Damn…. I hate that I missed that!" Chris said laughing. Street phone began to ring,

Ring…ring…...ring

"Sorry…. excuse me" he said walking outside the room to answer it.

Chris watched him walk out to the corridor, she was hoping he was ok. She had felt how uncomfortable he was and noticed that he couldn't look at her. She was watching him pace up and down, her gaze taking all of him in, when Deac leaned over and placed a hand on her leg.

"Hey, Chris?"

It immediately brought her back to Deacon "Yeah?"

"Can I say something without you getting upset?"

Chris was confused and little caught off guard. "Yeah…..." she answered nervously nodding,

"He is here every day for you, he talks about you nonstop, I see how he would do anything for you…" Chris nervously glanced down away from Deacon worried he would read her too easily.

"Do you care about him like he cares about you?"

"We are best friends" she blurted…... a little too quickly. Deacon tilted his head and raised his eyebrows.

"Chris… he is worried sick about you, he needs you in his life…. Be kind to him"

Before she could answer Deacon, Street came back into the room

"Sorry about that"

Deacon only stayed for another 5 minutes and then said he needed to get home to help Annie. Street hesitated whether he should go too. Chris seemed awkward and uncomfortable around him right now. He was preparing himself to say, "I better go too" when Deac patted his shoulder and said, "I'll leave you to catch Chris up the gossip of HQ" and he left.

Street watched the door close behind Deacon and then dropped his gaze to the floor. Chris watched him but didn't know what to say. The air was tense and heavy.