You ready for that beer?

A pretty good friend

It's only April, but this is California so it's already hot like hell. When I step out of the Betty, I feel like a roasted chicken, which really makes me question my eating habits for a moment. But more than that I curse myself for not drinking more this morning. At the moment I feel perfectly fine, but I'm not sure if my circulation is up to run, fight and shoot the whole day.

"Chris, you okay?"

As Hondo joins me, I turn away. "Don't waste time. Let's go in."

Why do they always do this? Just because I've been sick last week they think they have to handle me with kid gloves. The boys are great, but sometimes they don't even notice how they treat me differently than each other. They probably wouldn't to this with Street, whose glances by the way I've been noticing the whole morning. Will he let it go already? I thought I had made myself clear. And I really can't deal with his flirt attempts right now.

But he surprises me. Instead of putting on this mischievous grin again, he gives me an enigmatic look. "Come on. Let's go get that baby out of here."

It's actually the exact thing I need right now. I'm sick of everyone asking if I'm okay, I finally want to do something, get active. Strange, how Street is the only one who seems to get that. A lucky shot? Probably.

He did not seem so oversensitive to me in the little time I had known him. Usually it's Deacon who gets me, while the other boys are just ... being boys. I've come to the conclusion it's because he has a wife and kids, is a caring father, while the others never seemed to have had a relationship that lasted more than a year. I doubt Street is any different to that.

I guess it must have been a lucky shot. Would have been to nice to be true, anyway, finding someone who finally gets me.

✴✴✴

"LAPD S.W.A.T! Hands behind your back!"

As we break into the hut, yelling, Alice Becker immediatly jumps behind a table, using the basket with little baby Tariq Lewis as a shield.

"If you shoot, you'll blow him up first before me!", she cries.

Of course we don't shoot. Instead we look to Hondo, who usually does the negotiating part, and he turns on his soft, diplomatic voice.

"Alice, nobody has to get hurt", he says gently. "Do you really want to put a child in danger? Look at him. He's still a baby. If you do have any love left for your ex-wife, let him go."

The last sentence was a mistake. Beckers face hardens, her eyes get as dark as a midnight sky.

But that's not all. For a tiny moment, I notice something else. Becker gives Tariq a quick look, and in the face of this terrified, crying baby boy, something in her gaze softenes. There is yearning now in her eyes, jealousy, and a deep going pain.

And suddenly, I'm certain there's more to this story. More than just a jealous ex-wife trying to hurt the new lover.

"This is 24-David to Command", I whisper on radio, while Hondo is still trying to negotioate. "I need more research on our suspect, concerning any records on adoption papers, sperm donation, birth clinics; everything that has to do with babies."

Cracking. Then the voice of Captain Cortez. "On it, officer", she says and while there's silence, I hold my breath.

"Here!", Captain Cortes cries out in amazement. "I've got something. Two years ago, Becker was pregnant. By a donated sperm, as you guessed. She had a misscariage. Must have driven her marriage apart, too, 'cause three months later she and Lewis handed in their divorce."

I take a deep breath, sensing I am on the right track.

"And about Becker's ex-wife, Tarah Lewis? And the new fiancée?"