LITTLE STREET

two

"26-David, suspect in custody," comes over the comms. Dragging the guy, Street heads back to HQ with the rest of the team. They may have caught this guy but the big player is still out there.

"Take him to interrogation," Hondo says, before going to talk to Hicks. Street watches as they take the guy away, something itching in him. He's been feeling like this all day like something bad is going to happen.

The feeling turns out to be true when he gets a call from Athena's school. He picks up the phone and gets connected to the principal on the other end.

He mindlessly listens to the chatter, tuning out anything unimportant but then he hears those words.

She's been hurt

He robotically walks over to where Hondo and Hicks are talking, still holding his phone to his ear. He can see the concerned looks on both their faces, his face must give away more than he thought.

"Commander, I need the rest of the day off." Before either of them can say anything he gives a pleading look to Hicks. "Is it– " Street cuts him off with a nod, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Alright go, we can handle this," A short 'thank you' falls from his lip before he's rushing out. In the chaos of all that Hondo didn't manage to get a word in so he runs after Street yelling 'wait' but the man is long gone.

He goes back to Hicks, making a face. An endless amount of questions on the tip of his tongue. The commander just holds up a hand, making a gesture that shows 'We'll talk about this later.'

Hondo accepts that for now but the team doesn't. When he returns they all turn to him. "Where's Street?" Tan asks, looking lost. Hondo shakes his head. "Hicks just gave him the rest of the day off. Seemed like an emergency."

"What sort of emergency?" Luca questions. "He didn't say but Hicks knew what he meant." More confused looks. "So they have some sort of secret that we don't know about."

"Look, guys, we need to get back to work. I'm sure Street or Hicks will explain later." The team accepts that, no one daring to go against their leader.

~~~

Street enters the school and walks to the main office. He spots Athena sitting on a chair, messing with her phone.

"Thena," he calls, rushing towards her. She raises her head and that's when he sees it. A black eye. He crouches down in front of her, silently asking her what happened.

"Got into a small fight, I'm fine."

Before he can say anything, he hears his name being called. "Mr. Street, you can go in." The father and daughter get up and walk into the principal's office.

The principal stands up and shakes hands with Street. They both sit down in the very uncomfortable chairs. The man drones on about how Athena's not being punished because it wasn't her fault but Street isn't paying attention, he knows Athena will tell him what happened when they get home.

He zones back in when they're told that they can go, he gets up and goes through the formalities before the two walk out of the building, towards the car. Neither of them says anything until they're both seated and the car starts.

"Are you okay?" He asks finally. His daughter hums, assuring him. "This older guy was harassing a girl and he wouldn't back off even when I tried to talk to him," she starts, "Then he grabbed her and his grip was so tight she was about to cry so I yelled at him, and then he grabbed me so I punched him."

He contemplates for a second before nodding. "Good job," she lets out a little laugh before switching on the radio.

~~~

The two spend the rest of the day together getting done some things that they hadn't gotten around to. By the time night falls, Athena is already passed out in her room but Street can't fall asleep. He knows that she wasn't in any real danger today but he can't help but think what if? He knows the dangers of the world, has seen them firsthand, how can he let his 15 year old daughter out in the world knowing what's out there?

~~~

The next morning he arrives at HQ, taking a deep breath before entering. As soon as he takes a step in, the team all turn to him.

Before he can say anything, he's bombarded with questions by his team. 'Where were you?' 'What happened?' 'You look tired' 'Why'd you leave?"

"QUIET!" Hondo yells, everyone shuts up and looks to him. "Let Street speak,"

"Look guys I left because I had a family emergency, it's been resolved and that's all I'm going to say." The man in question says. As he starts opening his locker, Chris comes up to him. "Was it your mom?" She asks.

He knows what she's implying, that he might be getting caught up in a web of trouble again. "Nah, don't worry about it."

~~~

The youngest members of the team — not including Street — gather around the kitchen table, frustrated. Each one of them has been pouring over the events of the last week, trying to figure out the reason for their teammate's strange behaviour.

"Maybe he's in trouble with his mom again?" Luca suggests, grimacing. "I don't think so. I asked and he denied it, it didn't seem like he was lying."

"Nate's anniversary is coming up," Tan states. "You think that's it?" The other two shake their heads. "He doesn't seem sad, just tired and a bit stressed."

"Well whatever it is, we need to make sure he knows that he can come to us." The three conclude, hoping Street will open up soon. They hate to think about what could be stressing out their teammate.

They decide to let him deal with it on his own for now, agreeing to step in only if extremely necessary.

a/n --- this is the first fic that I've posted. all feedback is appreciated!