S.W.A.T. Short stories

Luca's daughter: Heart disease

The majority of the team was seated in the back of Black Betty. All was covered in dust and dirt from the last mission. Luca was at his usual spot, driving his beloved tactical vehicle.
"Hey Luca. How is Liv doing?" Deacon broke the silence. The other teammates immediately looked up and followed the conversation.
"She's been better. The doc said it could be her heart and not just anxiety," Luca replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. A sigh could be heard from Hondo who shook his head.
"Anything we can do?" Deacon asked sincerely. He was worried about his fellow S.W.A.T. members daughter. They were the only two with children on the team. They had spent numerous evenings and weekends together with their families. Olivia was like another daughter to Deacon.
"I dunno at this point. She has another appointment tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get more answers. She really didn't look good this morning," Luca said. He tried to hold back a tear by focusing on driving them back to the S.W.A.T. headquarters. The rest of the ride was silent.

After finished yet another mission, the group called 20-David was de-stressing by taking a punch at each other in the ring. Chris was fighting with Hondo while the others cheered them on from the side line.
"Go Chris!" Street yelled a few times. Everyone could see it made her smile, but she would not admit it afterwards. As soon as everyone had had their turn in the boxing ring, they all left for the locker rooms. While changing into their civilian clothes a phone rang.
"Hello? Liv? You there?" Luca's voice was the only one that could be heard. Everyone else had stopped their small talk as soon as they saw the expression on the older mans face.
"Liv, stay where you are. I'm coming home right now," he said with urgency. He didn't hang up the phone when he quickly filled his bag with his things from the locker. The look on Hondo's face was a big question mark with a hint of being concerned.
"She's worse. Says she can't breathe and feels faint," Luca said while covering the phone with his hand so that his daughter couldn't hear the concern in his tone. Without hesitation the entire team ran out towards the cars.
"I'm driving. Get in," Hondo said. Luca was in no shape to drive while talking to his daughter. With each second it took to get to the house, you could see and hear the desperation grow in Luca. Deacon was sitting in the back of the car and could relate to the fear of having a kid that is not well. A fathers worst nightmare is to lose their child. Hondo broke the majority of traffic rules to get there as fast as possible. The car wasn't even still when the other two jumped out and ran up the small front yard.

With a loud bang the door was smacked up against the wall as the two men ran inside.
"Liv! Olivia!" Luca yelled as loud as possible. No sound. Not even a cry. They ran through the entire house before almost stumbling over the body of the 18 year old. She had collapsed halfway inside the bathroom.
"Jesus..." Deacon muttered to himself as he stepped over her and kneeled down by her head. Her face was pale, lips a light blue colour and her hair had fallen halfway out of its messy bun. Her father kept running his hands through his hair and attempting to take deep breaths, but they came out shaky.

"Luca, look at me. Luca!" Hondo tried to get the attention of the distressed man. Normally Luca was well composed and could easily handle difficult situations, but seeing his daughter laying unconscious on the floor was too much for the usually unbreakable man to handle.
"I can't. I can't. Man, I can't handle this," he muttered mostly to himself. His boss had to shake him back to reality while the catholic man assessed the young girl. Her pulse was becoming weaker by the minute and her breathing was shallow. Deacon stood up just as Street and Chris walked in, "Hondo get the car running, Luca help me carry her out, Chris or Street call the hospital and alert them to a possible heart attack." Everyone looked terrified, but quickly nodded and followed their orders.

13 days later Luca walked in the halls of the S.W.A.T. headquarters with his eyes clued to his phone. "Hey man, how you holding up?" Hondo asked. The dirty blonde haired man nearly dropped the phone with surprise.
A small grin filled the boss' face.
"I didn't see you, boss!" Luca replied with a small laugh. "Been better. It's tough after you know.." he trailed off hoping he got the idea. Talking about what happened to his daughter made him sad.
"I understand. If you need more time off or anything else, just let me know," Hondo said patting him on the shoulder. He got a nod of appreciation in return.

Another few weeks passed. Everyone around Luca had noticed that he wasn't the same. He was constantly on edge and looking at his phone. The commander had tried to convince him to take more time off, but had lost the battle each time. Instead he had asked the rest of the squad to keep and extra eye on him on and off work. That is exactly what they did. They took turns on dropping by the house with food, movies and just to be there for him. One evening Deacon invited the team over for dinner with the family. Annie had prepared the most delicious meal with options for everyone.

"Hey Luc, glad you could make it," Deacon said as Luca stepped through the front door. "Happy to be here," he replied with a big smile on his face.
"Hey Liv, I'm even happier to see you, but don't tell your father," Deacon said with a smirk. She just laughed in respond and gave him a well needed hug. Once they all had eaten and the Kay children had been put to sleep, they all gathered around the table for a chat before the night ended.
"So how are you doing, Liv?" Chris asked holding her arms over her chest and leaned back into her chair. Olivia shifted uncomfortably in the chair. She was fidgeting with her hands under the table to keep her anxiety under control.
"I'm better. Thank you for asking," she replied. Luca sensed her discomfort. He tried to explain what had happened as he knew she wasn't ready to say it herself and that the team all wanted to know as they were worried about her.
"She has valves problems in the heart which caused her breathlessness, tiredness and lastly her collapse at home," he explained. You could practically hear the wheels turning in each of the guys heads. Chris was intensely listening to the words, while Street was trying to hold himself back from jumping over the table to hug Olivia.
"The doc said it's most likely because she has coro... coro..." he struggles with the word and felt his cheek go warm.
"Coronary heart disease. It's one of the most common types," Olivia finished and smiled at him. He nodded and squeezed her hand under the table. Deacon looked at Annie with sadness.
"Isn't that when the coronary arteries are narrow or blocked? Typically caused by being overweight or high blood pressure?" He asked quietly. Olivia nodded and said: "It is, but in some cases, my case, you don't have any of the risk factors but still get it. Something to do with genetics. It's probably from my mother, but who knows," she explained. Chris' mouth was hanging open and she was trying hard to process the information given to her. Hondo patted Street on the shoulder, giving him a go to hug Olivia. He stood up immediately and walked over. He scooped her up and held her tight while whispering that she would be okay.
At that moment Olivia felt like she would be okay again. The past few weeks that almost felt hopeless. But now she was with her family and enjoyed every second of it.

The following few months Chris would unexpectedly drop by the house where Luca, Liv and Street lived. She said she was lonely, but they all knew that she was checking up on her favourite person outside of S.W.A.T.