The next few days Victor had started a new habit out of his worrying. He always checked in with Chris quietly and made sure she was okay. He also was careful not to let it slip he already knew that Street was also helping her or something, so she didn't think he was spying on them. Which he absolutely wasn't. He was just worried for his friend.
After about a week Chris just smiled at him in the morning and gave him a nod. Tan had noticed that she was somewhat looking worse, and her hand was just a tad shaky. "Do you wanna go a round in the ring with me?" he offers, and Chris accepts.
"Let me get ready and we can start," Tan nods again and leaves to do a light warm up.
Out of the corner of his eyes he sees Street throwing him a confused glance, but he doesn't think much of it until a while later. After the workout had been interrupted by a case they only got back to HQ for lunch. Victor was in the kitchen grabbing some water when the door opens and Street walks in with purpose.
"Hey," Tan greets him and holds out a second bottle of water. Street takes it and starts twisting the cap back and forth, looking like he is trying to make a decision.
"Tan listen, I know about the," Street starts and looks around cautiously while stepping a little closer and adding "barfight" in a lower voice. "Why didn't you say something when I questioned the blender?"
Victor has to force himself to take a deep breath before replying. He is exceptionally glad that Chris seemingly really asked for help and has come clean, but he couldn't help but be cautious here. He never fully believed Chris's reasoning for not calling Street but calling his buddy out on his suspicion wouldn't go over well either. "It was one time, and she asked me to keep it to myself," the slightly defensive tone didn't go unnoticed by Street and the raised eyebrow tells Tan as much. "Have you thought about the fact that she didn't call you or lied to you that morning? It wasn't my place to bust her," Tan can't help himself and fire back making Street wince a little.
"Point taken, but I know now, and I am guessing you know a lot more because of the way you're smothering Chris right now," Street gives back and finally seems calm enough to take a sip of the water in his hands.
Chris had started on the paperwork for the case, but her head was killing her. She had stashed some electrolyte water in the fridge this morning and decided to grab that now instead of after finishing her work out with Tan. Something that helped her greatly. Was it the smartest choice to overexert yourself before heading home, just to sleep through the night? Probably not but everything is better than numbing yourself with alcohol or God forbid pills. A little voice in the back of her head reminds her of the grief group and that talking also helps but for various reasons she didn't feel ready yet to talk to Tan or anyone close to her about the situation in more detail. Unconscious a smile tugs at the corners of her lips when she thinks about how supportive Street has been the last few days. Ever since she asked him to come with her to the grief group. She remembered his shock at discovering how bad it had been, and yes, she was grateful for him to come with her to AA too.
Chris pushes open the door to the kitchen and stops dead in her track instinctively. Tan and Street stand near the table and stop talking the second they heard the door. They look caught.
Huh?
"Hey," Street says cautiously and watches Chris walking to the fridge with knitted eyebrows.
"You already finished with the paperwork or what is going on?" Chris decides to call them out on being lazy.
"Nope, but water was needed," Tan holds up his bottle to accentuate his point. "And food for lunch," Street adds now munching on a wrap he must've grabbed out of the fridge too.
Chris rolls her eyes and takes a sip out of her bottle, choosing to ignore the curious stares from the two men.
"When we're done with the admin stuff and debrief, Tan do you have time to finish our workout?" Chris asks casually while leaning against the cool table.
Tan shifts his eyes to Street and widens them slightly, as if to say "See I am not pushing her," and Street almost imperceptivity nods.
"Yeah, sure. I can make the time," Tan mumbles and Chris walks out again, pleased to know she has a way of getting her energy levels down.
The two men shortly after head to do their respective paperwork too, although Street still wants to confront his friend about keeping the situation a secret. That just doesn't sit right with him. You say something when your friend is in trouble. Especially in their line of work, right?
At the end of the day, when Street gets ready to leave, he sees Tan and Chris laughing and joking while getting ready for their round in the ring. Just something feels off for him. He remembers that morning with the blender story clearly and also the case that day. Chris and Tan had been paired up and looking back now, he remembers there was a tension.
Street tries to shake off the strange, suspicious feeling but when he arrives at home, the silence in the house just makes his thoughts spin out and he decides to shoot his buddy a text. Something told him Tan still had something on his mind. The way he had fired back about the blender incident, something definitely wasn't sitting right with him.
After their boxing session is over and they have showered Chris has left pretty quickly, leaving Tan alone in the locker room.
"Do you have time for a beer?" he read his text and shakes his head. What was going on now? But since Bonnie was away on a work trip Tan had nothing but time and he decided to just drive out to Luca and Street's place instead of a reply.