~ Chapter written by both myself and fellow writer Chris Cody ~
Cortez, Hondo and Commander Hicks congratulated Chris.
"Where is Street?" Cortez asked
"He is on his way in with the paperwork from is PFT" Chris answered, "he passed it this morning and will be bringing it to you to ask to be reinstated to full duties."
Cortez nodded "well once he arrives you need to get him up here to sign the forms, so we can get this transfer approved ASAP".
Chris nodded and excused herself to go meet him. As she closed the door and walked down the hall, she took out her phone and rang him,
"Hey, Congratulations babe, I am so proud of you" she said as he answered her call, she could hear he was on hands free on his bike somewhere, "where are you now?"
"Hey beautiful…...I'm about 3 blocks out, missing me that badly already?" he teased
"No" she said defensively "Ok yes…... but… I um … have a surprise for you when you get here"
"mmmmm…" Street said, "sounds enticing?"
Chris smiled and laughed, "Stop it…It's an important surprise" she said "I'll meet you in the garage"
As she tucked her phone back into her pocket she walked with purpose. She was excited to tell him she had asked to transfer so that he could resume his place on 20 David, and they could continue to see where this relationship, this love took them.
Chris swung open the doors to the garage and stepped inside glancing about for his bike. Then she heard him coming down the ramp and watched him park in the empty bay near her.
'Damn he is sexy on that bike' she muttered as she watched him climb off and take off his helmet.
He took the paperwork out of his pocket and waved it at her as she began to approach him.
Chris's smile was just as big as his.
"Hell yeah" She said wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. He kissed her back passionately, before remembering he was inside HQ and then he drew back,
"Shit sorry…. Not at work" he grinned at her.
She was standing there smiling at him "ok…. what?" he said, "are you gunna tell me what my important surprise is?" he asked holding her close to him.
Chris inhaled and chewed her lip.
"I have…. been thinking about this a fair bit lately and …... I had always planned to go down this road since realising what we have"
Street tilted his head looking at her, wondering where she was heading with this.
"I've just been with Hicks, Cortez and Hondo and officially asked them to transfer me to 50 David permanently so that I can pursue a romantic relationship, with you Jim Street!"
He blinked a few times processing what she said.
"Chris…... what… why?... You don't…" She held her finger on his lips.
"I am doing this…. for us both…. but yes, for you!" she said stepping closer and pressing her body against his. "You are such an amazing guy, I know I want this with you so much that I am willing to move a team over, if It means I can still have you"
He smiled down at her. His heart was bursting with love in that moment. 'How the hell did I manage to make her love me?' he thought as he leaned in and kissed her again.
"Come on…. Cortez and Hicks wanna see you ASAP" she smiled. Hondo was still in Hicks office with Cortez when she knocked on the door. As she walked in with Street, she slipped her hand into his. He glanced down at it and smiled.
Cortez walked to him and hugged him,
"Congratulations on the reinstatement…. And on this" she said gesturing to the two of them.
Street smiled "thanks" and he glanced back at Chris who looked so beautiful and happy right now. It made his heart race.
"Ok you two love birds, we need to fill out all the proper paperwork and get the procedures underway for the relationship and transfer." Hicks said as he walked up and shook Streets hand before pulling him in to hug him. "I'm happy for you both" he added. Once Hondo had signed his part, he headed back to the team to wait for Street and Chris to come and tell them.
"Now…...The transfer won't be official until tomorrow. Until then, you both are still on 20 David,
and under Hondo's direct command. Don't make him fire one of you." Hicks said with a light chuckle at the end. "Especially you Street." Cortez shook her head, and gave them both a quick hug, before heading back to her office.
Chris and Street were on Cloud 9 as they left Hicks' office and headed to tell the team. Chris grabbed his hand as they walked, and she squeezed it hard. He looked over at her. She wore a beaming smile on her face from cheek to cheek. He couldn't help but smile back. 'God, she is so friggin' beautiful. How the hell did I manage to convince her that I was the one for her? She's simply amazing, I am so glad she chose me' Street thought to himself as they walked hand to hand to the situation room.
"Oh…..." Street said, looking at the empty room. "Where are they all?" He glanced about and looked at Chris. She smiled and nodded knowingly,
"Knowing Hondo, they are in the kitchen. There's a lot more privacy in there." She said tugging his hand and leading him towards the kitchen. "And food." Street said sarcastically. They both laughed.
As they reached the door into the kitchen Chris turned and stopped.
"Here we go…" she said looking at him as if to say 'are you ready'
Street inhaled deeply and nodded his head towards the door… "Do you think Luca and Tan have any idea about us? I mean are they gunna already kinda know?" he said.
Chris smiled back at him, "I wouldn't be surprised if they kinda do. Not like we did a fantastic job at keeping our emotions hidden the last few months." Chris said with a small laugh. Street chuckled a bit nodding and looked into her brown eyes. He could get lost in her big beautiful dark brown eyes all day. He was still pinching himself that this all was actually real. That she actually had chosen to do this, to be his!
"So, how are we going to tell them?" he asked her. "I mean …. Hondo and Deacon already know."
"Well, Deac doesn't know about the transfer, but yeah he does the rest of it. I have an idea so leave it to me." She said biting her lip a bit, she wore a small smirk on her face and winked at him. Street looked at her a confused but intrigued.
"What are you …." he couldn't help but chuckle at her as she raised her eyebrows at him "What are you planning, Chris?"
She looked up at him, gazing into his eyes and slowly and gently pulled him down to kiss her. "One rule," she said placing her hand on his chest as she looked back into his eyes, "just follow my lead."
Chris entered the kitchen and Street followed. He took a seat on a stool as the rest of the team gathered around the large bench. She clearly had something in mind as her way of telling the team. Street realised he hadn't put that much thought into it. He would have just walked in and told them, 'Chris and I are dating each other, and she is moving to 50 David while we see what this is', but she clearly had other ideas. Chris stood next to him, Tan and Luca looked pretty confused wondering what this all was about.
"As some of you know or maybe don't know" she said gesturing to Luca and Tan. "Street and I have been in a very tough and awkward place, both here at work and outside of work lately." She said, looking at her friends and teammates. They all nodded and looked at her as she continued.
"So…. ah this morning, I spoke to Hondo, Cortez and Hicks, as I made a decision to put in a transfer to 50 David." Luca, Tan and Deac were clearly all a bit shocked. Luca spoke up first,
"Wait Chris. Why are you transferring? This is stupid…I mean …I understand that you two are in a tough spot, but is it really that bad, I mean it can't be that bad that you need to transfer?" She was going to speak, when Tan spoke up as well,
"Yeah, Luca's right. Come on, this is a family Chris. Can't we all just talk it out and sort out our issues before anyone does that and has to transfer teams." Chris grinned a little it was hard for her to hide the excitement she felt inside. She motioned for everyone to relax, and as they settled down. She finally spoke again,
"Ok look guys. This transfer has to happen. There is no way around it. I've put a lot of thought into this and it is the only way I can be truly happy"
Luca and Tan sat back in their seats. Luca shook his head and glared at Street with kind of an angry expression on his face. Street tilted his head at him and gave him a pleading look. Tan pursed his lips and stared at the ground. Chris and Street could both tell he was pissed about this too. Chris saw the tension in the room rising and held up her hand at Luca. She looked over at Street, and smiled at him with a wink,
"I don't want anyone blaming Street for this, this was a not just his fault, we both agree we have both done things that have led to the current situation and me transferring is the only way we both get what we want, and what we need." Tan tilted his head confused by her words. Chris couldn't stop smiling and she locked eyes with Street. "Before anyone else gets their undies in a bunch…. You all need to know that this is why I put in for a transfer." She took a few steps to Street and wrapping her arms around his neck she kissed him deeply, before he got the vibe and kissed her back. Everyone looked at each other, a little shocked.
Luca jumped up, "Hell yeah!" he drummed on the table "About time you guys! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Congratulations!" and he moved to them and hugged them both.
Tan and Deacon did the same. As everyone began to settle down Luca turned to Street,
"Shit you had me worried then, I thought you had done something to really piss Chris off, piss her off enough, that she was moving just to get away from you!" Hondo chuckled watching the team ribbing Street.
"Why am I always the one that gets the blame?" Street raised his hands palm up and shrugged at them. They all laughed as Tan joked,
"Come on dude, do I really need to answer that?"
Hondo leant over the table and looked at the team. "Hey guys, can I have a minute…. as happy as we are for Chris and Street, this will be the last shift that both of them will be on the team. Now, I get that that upsets everyone, but Chris is only going to be one team over. We will always still think of you as 20 David."
"Thanks Boss" Chris smiled as she glanced around the group. "I will always think of you guys as my family" Chris said, "except this way…" she said glancing at Street "I'll get two SWAT families"
"Hey," Luca said standing up excitedly "We have to throw you two a party! This is to huge not to celebrate" Luca was so excited and happy for them both.
Chris was standing next to Street, he had sat back on the stool and she couldn't help but step between his legs and put her arms around him. She was so happy right now. He smiled back at her, before wrapping his arms around her too. Finally! Finally, after two years of being best friends, and almost losing each other, they had found their way to this point and were officially together. It was finally out in the open, no longer just their little secret. Chris was happy that the team knew now, and she glanced around the room. She could see how happy they all were for them. Everyone was talking and laughing and hugging them. Deacon stood next to Hondo who was looking over his team. He placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Are you sure you want to let her go to Rocker?" Deacon said. Hondo was looking at his team.
"I don't want to let anyone go." Hondo sighed. "But like she said, there's no way around it. They did the right thing, and I couldn't be happier for them. They have had a rough few months. It's about time they got their acts together and worked it out." Deacon nodded. He knew Hondo was a bit sad to see her go. She was one of the best SWAT officers he ever had the pleasure of working with. Deacon had thought of Chris as a kind of daughter, not just a teammate. He knew Hondo felt the same.
"Yeah" Deacon began, "can't deny they both deserve this." He said smiling at them. "You know it's a stupid rule," he said as he glanced at Hondo "they fought hard to get to each other, sucks one has to leave the team now." Hondo nodded at Deacons words.
"Yeah, but like you said Deac, they deserve to be happy"
"Well Hondo. You made them this strong. Look how far they have both come that speaks volumes about your leadership!" Hondo smiled at Deac
"Thanks, but I can't be upset she's transferring. I hate losing her to Rocker don't get me wrong but, I'm really happy for them. Street has come a long way from that brazen, careless kid we met 2 years ago, and if he managed to grow up and change and get Chris to fall in love with him, deeply enough for her to ask to transfer teams so that she could be with him, he's gotta be one special guy you know." Hondo said glancing at Deacon. Deacon nodded agreeing with Hondo.
The happiness in the room was suddenly interrupted by the beeping of their phones.
"Suit up!" Hondo said, as they made their way to the locker room. Chris walked at Streets side and glanced at him, Street looked back at her and saw a bit of sadness on her face. He knew she was a little upset that this would probably be her last call with the team.
"Hey…." He said stopping her outside the locker room doors, "You ok?"
"Yeah..." She smiled at him before frowning a bit "I'm a bit sad, nostalgic I guess, I'm really gunna miss this, gunna miss you guys, as my team you know…. It will just take a little bit for me to get used to the new normal I guess." she said glancing back up to him. Street wore a worried expression. His dimples quivered as he chewed his words.
"Look, this is a huge step… for us both…... if you wanna slow it down….and maybe asks Hicks to put a hold on that transfer… I won't …."
Chris smiled seeing him worrying about her and trying to find a way to fix her worry. She held up her finger for him to stop,
"Hey…. Stop… I'm not regretting anything, I'm still definite on shifting teams… I'm just gunna miss being 24 David a bit is all, I want to do this with you" she squeezed his hands "I honestly do" she looked up into his eyes, he smiled at her and nodded,
"Ok… come on" he said as he pushed open the door and they moved to their lockers.
Within minutes, they were all suited up, and climbing into the back of Black Betty. Street and Chris both sat next to each other, as they always did. This time it was different though. This would be their first and only mission on the same team as a couple. Chris smiled broadly as he sat next her, she closed her eyes thinking about the significance of this mission. She was so happy to finally be able to say she was with him, he was hers and that they were a couple. Street glanced at her and smiled, he placed his hand on her knee and she placed her hand over his.
Hondo looked at them with a small smirk. He saw they were happy and maybe even a bit distracted. He decided to have a little fun with them.
"Hey. You two lovebirds. You guys can still focus on the mission, right? I don't have to keep one of you in the truck, do I?" They both laughed.
"No boss. We're focused on the mission. It won't happen again." Street said, with a smile, slowly withdrawing his hand from Chris's knee as she glanced sideways at him with a smirk.
"It better not." Hondo said, with a small chuckle.
They rode along listening to Deacon explain and update the information on the scene they were heading to, Chris was actually surprised how well she was able to focus. As Luca called out from the driver seat.
"15 seconds out!" The team braced, holding the handles above their heads and all swaying involuntarily as Black Betty came to a sudden stop. Hondo called to them
"Fill the gaps." The team shouted back in unison "Stay liquid!"
"Another day in paradise" Tan shouted as he turned to the group. They could all hear rapid gunfire as they climbed out. They were greeted by thick black smoke pouring from the windows of the house and Cortez and Hicks, were standing near the mobile command centre motioning for them to come.
"What do we got?" asked Hondo, as he and the team piled out of Black Betty.
"LAFD arrived here 30minutes ago and requested our presence after reports of an explosion and subsequent fire." Hicks said nodding at the house which was rapidly becoming engulfed in flames.
"I know you didn't call us out here to play firefighter." Street joked. Everyone chuckled a bit at that.
The Commander smirked at Street. "Correct Street. When LAFD attempted to enter the residence, they were greeted with automatic gunfire."
Chris shook her head. "Who the hell shoots at firefighters?" Hicks and Cortez stepped over to the screen on the side of the Mobile Command Centre.
"This guy does." Cortez said, pointing at the mugshot on the screen. "Greg Hinds. According to our records, he was released from prison last week. He tried to set up his own drug lab, resulting in the explosion this afternoon" The team looked over at the smoking house.
"He has barricaded himself in a room at the rear of the residence and is refusing to come out"
Cortez explained the floorplan of the house. "The fire is mainly in these 3 rooms here, Hinds is barricaded in this room." She said tapping the map.
"It's going to be very hot and smoky. Mask up, stay close and use your thermal vision." The team nodded, masked up and headed towards the house. The air inside was thick with smoke and embers. The Fire Department didn't get a chance to extinguish all of the flames, before the shooter started firing. From the looks of it, some of the fire put itself out, but the thick, black smoke made it clear that there was still active fires inside. The team quickly, but cautiously made their way through the rooms. Within a minute or two, they had cleared the majority of the house, besides the last room at the rear where Cortez had said Hinds was. Hondo motioned for the team to stack up on the door. Three on the left and three on the right.
"LAPD Metro SWAT! Come out with your hands up!" Hondo shouted. The suspect immediately opened fire. The bullets went through the already fire-weakened door like butter. Chris tapped Deacon on the shoulder.
"There's holes in the adjacent walls due to the fire. These walls are just wood and sheetrock. If two stay on the door and the rest go through the walls, we can surround him. Deacon nodded and past the idea to Hondo, who gave the thumbs up.
Tan and Deacon took the far left office, and Chris and Street took the right, leaving Hondo and Luca on the main door. As Chris had said, there were holes in the walls formed by the flames. Hondo kicked the main door open, and each team of two came through the burnt walls.
"PUT IT DOWN!" shouted Deacon. Hinds, knowing he was surrounded, placed the gun on the floor, as Deacon cuffed him. They all high fived as they exited the house, giving the Fire Captain the all clear. Firefighters sprung back into action and started to smother the remaining flames with water. Deacon handed the suspect off to a couple of Unis that placed him in a black and white.
"Great job in there team." Hondo said. "Before we go back to HQ and shower, I want everyone to get checked out by the medics. They all nodded and headed over to the group of EMTs and Firefighters. Chris and Street walked over and sat down on the curb together.
"How did you know about the walls being weakened?" She smiled and looked at him.
"You know my uncle owns a construction company. Comes with the territory I guess." He nodded and kissed her cheek.
"You taste like soot and ash." He said smiling at her.
"I bet I do. Probably smell like it too." She said laughing.
Back to HQ they all sat in the locker room and had their daily debrief.
"So where are we having this party for you two?" Luca asked, looking over at Chris and Street.
"We can have it at my place." Street answered.
"Hell yeah." Luca said, high fiving him. Chris smiled at him.
"Hey, we can have a huge party, but I don't want to see anyone going to Hicks about the transfer." Chris said, nudging Luca. "I really want this I do" she said stepping to Street and holding him in her arms. They smiled at them both, all loved up,
"Ok you two lovebirds, give each other some space" Hondo said walking passed them and tapping Chris's back.
"Great work out there you guys." Hondo said loudly "This may have been the last call we all will go on together, but Chris is always 20 David and part of our SWAT family. I will see all of you at the party later!" he smiled. Chris was upset it would be the last time she would be with the team at work, but she loved Street more than anything. She was glad he would be by her side 24/7.