Warning: I don't have a beta-reader (yeah that hasn't changed either) and as English is not my main language I'm bound to make mistakes. I hope it's not too bad and you'll bear with me.

If you don't like, don't read. Flames will probably be ignored; constructive critics and other reviews are always very welcome. Read and enjoy.

So here we are with chapter 5. It's time to see what our meddlers are up to again. I can promise some (lots?) Stris in chapter 6.

Disclaimer: Don't own, just playing around so don't sue… Belongs to CBS Studios, Sony Pictures Television and many others.


"We have every right to create our own destiny, but none to interfere in someone else's." Martin Rubin. ;)


Deac looked at Annie as she was happily humming under her breath. Since Tan and Bonnie's ceremony last weekend, she had been very cheery. He knew the plotting and meddling were still under way but since their long conversation a week earlier, he hadn't really heard anything about that. The whole ceremony had been a success and he had enjoyed that event immensely. It had shown him that the Team, his second family, needed to share moments like those more often. The last two years had been stressful ones and they had not found enough time to unwind together and work through their problems as a team. They had discussed that with Hondo and Luca after lunch and they had all agreed. They had let events drive their lives in the past months and they needed to grow closer again. Even Rocker had sounded interested in sharing private moments. In the past they used to have at least a barbecue or another outing once a month. They would start that again.

At the end, Tan's wedding had been a very positive wakeup call. They needed this closeness. Sure, their work was demanding but together they were stronger. They had not been present enough for Chris last year after Erika's death. They had been more concerned by their own personal issues and Deac definitely regretted all that especially when he thought about his own struggles with depression. He had not been there when he had always seen her as part of his close family. At the end, she had managed to handle her grief with Tan and Street's help when they should have all rallied around her. They had agreed something like that should never happen again, whatever the hardships they had to face.

Annie had happily agreed. Her sparkling eyes had taken a calculating glance and he knew she was seeing this as a way to work on her little side project. Bonnie had of course been very busy on her fine day, but Annie had managed to get Nichelle on board. Hondo had just rolled his eyes and proclaimed than the less, he knew the better it would be. He had laughed and said he wanted to be able to use plausible deniability in case their pretty plan would dramatically backfire. Deac had nodded thinking this was how he should have handled the whole situation himself. But now it was too late, he had given in to Annie and he would have to bear the brunt. He looked at her and decided to ask directly where they were standing right now.

"So have you given up on your little operation?" At his words, she turned around with a puzzled gaze. "I mean your scheme about finding the perfect someone for Street and Chris. I was thinking…"

"You're not getting out of there, David." She chuckled with a resolute headshake. "I don't care what Hondo said, you're in."

"That's not what I was going to say." He tried to defend himself, feeling a blush creep on his face at the blatant lie. His wife's snort stopped his denial and he sighed. "Okay so maybe I thought that Hondo had taken the better route. But I will still help."

"Of course you will." Annie smiled sweetly at him. "We agreed we needed to be more present for those who needed our help. And to answer your previous question, we're making good progress. I discussed with Luca yesterday evening and he gave me interesting information. Bonnie was very busy but we're supposed to chat tonight. And Nichelle wants me to brief her about the whole thing."

The satisfied grin she sent his way gave him shivers. She looked and sounded like Hicks before an operation. He wondered how well she had planned all that. Suddenly she raised a finger and hastily grabbed her phone. Her fingers flew on the screen of the smartphone, as she was quickly texting. After a few moments, a very satisfied smile appeared on her face. She put her phone down on their dresser and clapped her hands.

"Perfect. They are all available." She grabbed their laptop and opened it on the vanity table. She waved him over, patting the spot next to her on their bedroom bench. He obediently sat and watched as she opened the chat application and soon he saw the smiling faces of their friends. "Hi guys. We're a little earlier than planned but Bonnie only has twenty minutes to spare tonight."

"Yeah I don't have much more time either." Luca said as he watched behind him. "Street is next room. I have to be discreet I turned down the sound as much as I could."

They all laughed at his comment, except Deac who just shook his head.

"Don't mind David. He is in one of his moods tonight." They chuckled in good humor at her jab and Annie grabbed her phone again. "So I took some notes. Nichelle I'll brief you once Bonnie and Luca will disconnect… if you have time of course."

"Yeah no problem. I'm alone tonight except for that excellent bottle of Merlot" The pretty brunette showed her glass to her friends. "I think it's sweet what you are trying to do."

"Sweet?" Deac parroted after her and Annie elbowed him before he could add anything else.

"Oh I see we have another reluctant participant." Nichelle joked. "I tried to talk Hondo into joining but he brushed me off again. But I think that if we managed to set one of them up he might help with the other."

"Bonnie do you want to start as you have to leave first or do you want to let Luca begin?" Annie asked.

"If I may start?" Luca asked with a bright sigh. "I know for a fact that Street didn't spend the whole afternoon talking and dancing. He disappeared at least a good half an hour, probably even more. When I needed to leave and I tried to call him, his phone went directly to voicemail and that's very unusual."

"Oh now that is interesting." Annie giggled as she stared at Bonnie. "Any idea with whom he was? There were several very pretty young ladies at his table. You certainly chose well."

"Well actually I have no clue." The pretty blonde admitted. "I had thought he would hit it off with Anna or Jenny, but they were both very disappointed. They chatted over lunch but they lost him when everyone went in to dance."

"So they also noticed that he disappeared." Luca said with a satisfied grin. "Ah I told you so. I grabbed him to go inside and dance with us and suddenly he wasn't there anymore. He was just gone."

"Yeah Street in stealth mode that's unusual." Deac chimed in and he earned a warning glance.

"You're not helping David." His wife chided him. "Okay that is not what I expected. I hoped that we would at least be able see if he were interested in anyone. Could he have been with one of your other friends, Bonnie?"

"None of them said anything." She shook her head. "I know several of them were clearly interested. But to me it sounded like neither got anywhere. That was very disappointing."

"Well not everything was disappointing. Chris clearly spent some quality time with your cousin Julian." Luca informed them. "When I was looking for Street, I found a rather disheveled Chris and when your cousin walked by, he winked at her and she blushed like mad. So we have at least scored with one of them."

"But doesn't Julian live in Chicago?" Annie wondered worriedly. "That's not ideal."

"We've been trying to get him back on the west coast. I know he is seriously considering it. If he likes Chris that could be an additional enticement for him to move back to LA. Several hospitals and clinics have offered him positions in California. Oh that would be perfect." Bonnie clapped her hands excitedly. "Damn I have to run. My parents have invited us over. I'll try to discuss with the gals again. Sarah was at the same table as Street. She's usually pretty insightful, maybe she will have noticed something. And I'll definitely talk to Julian to find out what happened with Chris. He won't probably say much… you know he's a real gentleman but I'll keep you posted. Love you guys, Victor is calling me."

They all waved at each other and Bonnie cut the connection.

"Luca do you think you can maybe discuss with Street and see if you can find anything out? I would have thought he'd have fallen for one of Bonnie's friends."

"I saw him talk with a cute waitress at one point." Luca suddenly remembered and he squinted his eyes as he thought about it. "It was before we all went in to dance, but he had gone inside just before that. I didn't think much about that, but now… I wonder. I guess I could always try to talk about the ceremony… Worst case scenario he won't say a thing, but maybe he'll let something slip."

"Hmm maybe. So what next? Bonnie and Victor's ceremony was a perfect occasion to be all together and have them meet new people." Annie reflected. "Are we up to organize another event? We spoke about a barbecue last weekend. Who could organize that?"

"We could have it here." Luca offered. "The house is not big, but we have already done it in the past. It could be nice. I'm up for it. And Street couldn't disappear from his own party."

"That sounds like a plan."

"Wait a moment…" Luca turned his head and yelled. "Street? Can you come over? We have a question for you?"

The others saw as the door opened and Street appeared, the surprise evident on his face when he saw what Luca was doing.

"Who is we?" He wondered as he moved closer to his friend. He smiled when he recognized Nichelle, Annie and Deac. "Hey guys? What are you plotting here?"

"We're not plotting anything." Luca countered defensively.

"Yeah that's why you're having this call in your room and not in the living room next to me."

"You were watching a movie I didn't want to disturb you. Well anyway, we wanted to organize a little party before the weather declined. We discussed that at the wedding. I thought we could have it here, what do you think?"

"Yeah sure why not? We never really celebrated you guys coming back from Germany and the whole team being back in action."

"Oh I have an idea. We could have a German themed lunch." The older man proposed excitedly. "We need sausages, sauerkraut, beer, pretzels… Oh we could ask Chris for help, she enjoyed the local food and I think she even bought a cookbook."

"Chris bought a cookbook, she didn't say anything about that." He chuckled. "Well I'm all in. That sounds like fun. And Nichelle you could ask Hondo to organize a Mexican themed lunch next time. He has been talking nonstop about all the great food he sampled there. Hey about food, roommate. Should I order the pizza you were raving about before you disappeared for this impromptu call? Because honestly I'm starving."

"Yeah do that. I should be done shortly. Take the big one I'm ravenous too."

"Okay. Bye guys…Whatever you are all plotting here." He gave the screen and his friends a last suspicious look and waved them goodbye as he turned around and left his friend's bedroom.

Deac couldn't help but laugh at Street's jibe. They would need to be more discreet if they expected to stay undetected. Bonnie's matchmaking had been hard to ignore. He had discreetly followed those girls' progress or lack thereof during the course of the day. He couldn't blame Street for having escaped as soon as he could. He probably would have done the same if he had been in his shoes. The girls could be oblivious, as they didn't know Street that well, but Luca knew better than to raise his suspicions like that. Hondo definitely had taken the better stance.

"You have to question him Luca." Annie insisted as soon as the door closed on the young officer. "He seems in a good mood."

"Are you insane?" Deac looked at his wife disbelievingly. "Did you just hear what he said? The kid is suspicious enough as it is. If Luca starts grilling him over pizza, he'll know for sure something is up."

"Why are you not checking on the kids? I think I heard something."

"I didn't hear anything. They are all asleep." He countered. Looking back at the computer, he saw the amused looks on their friends' faces. They certainly were enjoying their exchange. "And you need me. Someone has to be the voice of reason in this madness and it seems it has to be me. Because you guys have lost your minds. Street is naturally suspicious and you're raising all sorts of red flags. You need to tone it down."

"Hey Deac I think I can test the waters." Luca finally said. "I can be discreet when needed. I promise I won't push too hard. I can do that."

Deac shook his head in disbelief and sighed.

"Okay but if you mess that up, I want out." He countered and stared at his wife. "I have to work with them every day. Being the current leader of 20 David I need to tread this carefully. You get that, right?"

"Fine." Annie reluctantly agreed. "Luca be careful, don't push too hard. Keep it casual. At the first sign, he suspects anything you change subjects."

"He already suspects something." Deac reminded her. Annie rolled her eyes at him but remained silent. "Nichelle you should back out when you still can."

The brunette's melodic laughter filled the room and she stared at her friends.

"And miss all the fun? I think not." She took another sip of her wine and dangled the glass in front of the screen. "You are way too serious Deac. You need to relax."

"And I think the Merlot is talking right now." She burst out laughing when he finished talking.

"Why are you not checking if there isn't a nice movie streaming somewhere while your adorable wife fills me in about that great plan of hers?" She offered with a playful smirk.

"You guys are hopeless." Deac said as he stood up. "I'll deny I helped you, you realize that?"

"Street saw you David, you're in." His wife reminded him and more laugher could be heard over the laptop's speakers.

"Dammit."


Street grabbed the pizza from the delivery guy and pushed money with enough for a nice tip in the waiting hands of the teenager. The youngster smiled thankfully at him and waved as he rushed back to his truck.

"Luca! The pizza is here!" He yelled as he closed the front door. His eyes went back to his friend's bedroom and he wondered once more, what he was up to. He had heard laughter more than once but the sound was too low to actually understand what they were talking about and it was beyond frustrating. He sighed as he walked to the living room and put the box on the coffee table. He checked his watch once more and wondered if he should knock at Luca's door or simply start eating. He decided to wait another five minutes and grabbed his phone to send Chris a text when the door finally opened on his smiling friend.

"Ah great the pizza is here." He opened the box and grabbed a big slice. "Yeah nothing beats a Meat-Lovers pizza. Thanks man! You should have started."

"I'm not starving to the point I can't wait for you." Street said with a smile and helped himself to a greasy piece of heaven. They ate a few moments in silence. He waited for the older man to go for a second slice before finally quizzing him about his strange video call. "So what was that call about? I saw Nichelle, Annie and Deac. I saw your heated conversation at Tan's wedding. Are you guys up to something?"

"Yeah we just agreed that we needed to have more outings together. You know, barbecues, game or sports nights. The last two years were pretty stressful and we have kinda drifted apart. With my injury and being gone to Germany I was out of the loop in the last months, but now I'm back and I'm ready to rock."

Street nodded as his friend spoke. He had definitely missed their weekends together or their sports nights. The comradery with the other teams while still very much present was not what it used to be. SWAT was a family and he was all for making sure their ties were stronger than ever.

"That's why I offered we would host the next outing here with this Bierfest idea." Luca chuckled. "I will ask Chris tomorrow if she is okay to help. I doubt she'll refuse."

"Have you discussed when this should happen?"

"I think we're all off duty Sunday in two weeks. That should give us enough time to organize everything. I'll ask Melissa if she'll help us too."

"Hey it's getting serious with her it seems." Street smirked at him and saw how Luca blushed a little at his comment.

"Yeah she's really great. I had the best Sunday with her. It's like she's the person I have always been waiting for."

"I'm glad to hear that. I hadn't realized you were that smitten." They fistbumped and both grinned. "You deserve all the happiness in the world, man!"

"Thanks. I must admit it took me by surprise too." He chuckled. "I think all the hardships I had to overcome lately made realize what I really wanted. And she's pretty much that."

"You need someone great who is going to take good care of you. I can't always be the one to do that." He joked with a wink.

"Yeah especially when you disappear on me." Luca cheekily noted. Street's comment was too perfect to pass he decided with a satisfied grin.

"What?" Street looked at him quizzically.

"At Tan's wedding." He reminded him. "I took you with us to dance and show the ladies how smooth SWAT officers can be and suddenly you weren't there anymore. Where the heck did you go?"

"I didn't go anywhere. I just moved away from the DJ and his speakers. I thought I was going to end up deaf."

"Come on, I looked everywhere for you after Melissa called me." Luca shook his head with a disbelieving smile. "You were definitely not on the dance floor. And your phone went directly to voicemail. I was lucky to meet Chris before I had to leave. You didn't block my number did you?"

"Of course I didn't." He took his phone ready to demonstrate it. "I can prove it to you. I assure you I was around. I can't explain why you didn't find me… Chris found me right away and I saw you running away but you were in too much of a rush to see me."

"Yeah… Well I wouldn't have blamed you if you had looked for a quiet place in those gorgeous gardens to talk to one of those pretty bridesmaids…" Luca dared.

"Oh no… Never start anything with a bridesmaid at a wedding. That's a big no-no." Street laughed. "I made that mistake in the past, believe me I learned my lesson. And the ones at my table were totally not my type."

"Really? I thought they were quite pretty."

"Yeah and crazy and way too forward for my taste." Street made a comical grimace and the other man laughed. "They were way too handsy. I value my personal space."

He grinned and looked at Luca. He wondered briefly, why he didn't feel bad lying so blatantly to one of his best friends.

"Well it's a shame. Weddings are usually the perfect place to meet single people. Tan's friend Eddy left with Bonnie's friend Sarah, they both seemed very happy. And Chris seemed to have had a great time with Julian."

"A great time?" His eyes were suddenly glued to Luca wondering how he had come to that conclusion.

"Didn't you see how flushed she was?" Luca wondered with amusement as he hit playfully Street. "When Julian walked next to us you should have seen the smoldering look he sent her way and she blushed like crazy at his wink. I'm sure they spend some quality time together and that's why she was a little disheveled."

He knew how disheveled and flushed Chris was when she left their little hideout. He supposed he should be glad Luca thought she had been with Julian and hadn't noticed they had disappeared at the same time. But somehow this train of thoughts didn't sit well with him.

"Damn I'm so happy for her." He continued. "Last year was brutal for our Chris. Julian seems to be a really great guy. Bonnie says he might be relocating to LA in the coming months. He's exactly what the doctor prescribed. We totally need to make sure he can come to our party. I'll ask Bonnie."

Luca grabbed another slice of pizza and ate it with gusto. Street looked disbelievingly at his friend. Chris had dismissed Julian's interest in her, but now Street wondered if he didn't need to pay closer attention to it.