I'm Really Not Fine At All

3. If What We Had Was Real, How Could You Be Fine?

Street was leaning against the kitchen counter of Luca's house smiling at his phone.

"Dude, how much longer are you gonna stare at your phone? It's two words," Luca pointed out.

Street finally peeled his eyes away from his device to look at Luca and replied, "It's not JUST two words. She texted me. She initiated contact with me. She sent me a 'good night' text last night."

"Don't read into it too much," Luca warned.

"Come on. This is all I've got. The love of my life forgot all about me and has been pushing me away. All that I have is this text. It feels like progress," he said with hope dripping in his voice.

"Street, you have to remember that you're dealing with old Chris. She was guarded, scared, pushed everyone away, and only focused on her career. She's not looking for a boyfriend, let alone a husband. I really don't want you getting your hopes up," Luca said earnestly.

"You know what? She's going back to work today, so we'll see soon enough," Street replied sassily.

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Chris was relieved when she pulled into the HQ parking lot and finally felt at home. Entering the building was another breath of fresh air of familiarity. She looked around, taking in everything and seeing how familiar it all felt. Taking a lap around HQ, the only difference she saw was there was a plaque on the wall for a fallen female officer that she didn't recognize. For some reason, she swallowed hard, even though she didn't know who it was that had passed. Something inside her felt achy about this plaque.

"Chris," Hicks barked, causing her to turn around, and added, "You have an appointment with our doctors to make sure you're cleared to go back."

"Yeah, I've got my check-up in 10 minutes. I'm just gonna change real quick," she guaranteed.

"Good to hear. I was gonna ask about your honeymoon, but..."

"But, you probably know more than me about my...trip, since I don't remember anything," Chris said flatly.

"Right...sorry," he apologized awkwardly.

She shrugged and headed into the locker room. When she opened her locker, she checked the door to see a picture of her and Street.

"Hey, babe," Street greeted sweetly as he walked into the locker room.

"Hi," she replied and looked back inside the locker, trying to recognize the contents, letting his slip-up of calling her "babe" go.

"What are you doing in my locker?" He asked.

"Your locker? You took my locker?" She questioned.

"Well, yeah, since you quit SWAT, I took your locker over for you," he explained.

"You did that?" She was touched.

"Of course, It felt like it was a small way to keep you here when you weren't on SWAT anymore," he replied.

She nodded speechlessly, unsure how to respond to such a simple but thoughtful act. It was another moment that made her chest feel tense. "So, which one is my locker, then?" She asked to change the subject, hoping to ease the feeling building inside.

"It's this one over here," he said and crossed the room to open her new locker.

Her eyes scanned the locker. The clothes inside were unfamiliar and on the door was a picture of yet another memory captured of her and Street that she couldn't recall.

"You okay?" He asked, watching her expression as her eyes raked over the contents of the locker.

"Yeah...it's just...different," she confessed.