At the hospital the atmosphere changed, there was too much movement for a common night shift, and the usual silence was replaced by a constant murmur.

"Excuse me, sir," the agent outside Street's door drew Deacon's attention. "The nurses seem a little too eager, don't you think?"

Deacon glanced at his unconscious friend, than he got up from the armchair, and call for someone.

"What's happening?" he asked as a nurse approached.

"A missing child has been reported to us, disappeared from the ER," she explained. "Can one of you help us, please?"

The LAPD agent watched the Swat member, waiting for orders.

Deacon looked at Street for a good moment; he was sleeping soundly.
He knew he wasn't supposed to left his side, but as a father he could not stay there doing nothing in a situation like that.

"Yeah, I'll search with you," he said to the nurse, then he turned to the agent. "You stay here, don't move!"

The guard nodded.

A few minutes later Street woke up to the sound of Deacon's cell phone, waving on the little table next to his bed.

"Deac'?" he whispered. "What's happening man?" he said, looking around, but his friend wasn't there.

He tried to move in a sitting position, but a sudden flush of pain made him lean back on the bed, leaving him out of breath.
He tried to focus, and guess what was going on, and unexpectedly he heard the echo of a blow, and the fire alarm was activated.

The LAPD agent noticed smoke coming from behind the corner, and glanced inside the room.

"I need to check on this," he said, noticing Street was awake. "Are you alright?"

There were people screaming and crying, so he knew it could be serious, and he nodded.

"Ok, I'll be right back," the agent said, leaving his position.

.

Street was extremely confused, and started to sense something was really off.
He tried to reach Deacon's cell phone, but the pain of lifting even a single arm was too much, and he had to stop moving.

He was about to ask for explanation to the doctor that was coming in, but he soon recognize in him his captor. He tried to move again, reaching the call button, but Gretcher came close in a blink.

The man quickly disconnected him from the monitors, taking off all of the wires, and pulling the call button away from his reach.

"Stop, don't touch me," he said, gasping, and trying to get up from the bed, but he couldn't.

He wanted to scream, to cry for help, but his voice couldn't come out.

Gretcher grinned, and took a pillow from behind Street's back.

He tried to oppose, but his muscles didn't obey his will.

The look on the man's face was insane, his eyes were full of anger and frustration.

Street tried to recall all his strengths, and grabbed Gretcher's arms to push him away, as the man was pushing the pillow into his face.

He was struggling to breath, and the more the oxygen lacked to his brain, the more he lost the few strength he had left.
He couldn't let the grab go, he knew that he couldn't surrender like that.

He was about to lose consciousness when he heard a shot, and the pressure on his face stopped.

Gretcher fell on the ground, as he felt a sharp pain in his left knee, and Deacon immediately handcuffed him.

As soon as the LAPD agent secured the man, the swat member rushed to his struggling colleague.

In that moment the rest of the team arrived.
Tan and Luca dragged Gretcher out, as he started kicking and screaming, to oppose to the cops, and a nurse occurred to check on his wound.

Hondo and Chris approached Street, while Deacon was already on his side, taking the pillow away from his face.

"It's ok, you're safe now, just focus on your breath," Deacon put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ended." Chris took his hand. "We got him!"

The panic started to drift away, as he painfully regained control on his respiratory rate.

A nurse came in to reconnect him to the monitors, and make sure he was alright. The Swat team had to step outside, so the doctors could take care of their friend.

"I know, I shouldn't left him," Deacon tried to apologize.

"He is going to be ok," Hondo reassured him. "We managed to stop the man in time, that's all that matters right now." He tapped his colleague shoulder,

"The man was clever." Luca added. "He fake an emergency, he even blew up a trashcan! You could not imagine that was just a set up."

Despite all the reassurance he was receiving, Deacon couldn't get Street out of his sight, constantly glancing trough the door, to see how he was doing.

.

"Glad to hear that, good job," Cortez said hanging up the phone.

Grace looked up to her, with eyes full of hope.

"They got him," Cortez nodded. "You don't have to be scared of him anymore."

"Is it really the end?" she asked incredulous. "I mean... for good?"

"Yes. You can count on it," she assured. "Double kidnapping and attempted murder of a police officer, he won't be able to see daylight anymore."

Grace sighted in relief.

"And what's gonna happen to me?" she hesitantly asked.

"You will probably have to testify, but you will be free to go."

"You are gonna let me go?" she said. "Despite what I did to Jimmy?"

"You were coerced to do so... Didn't you?"

"Yeah, of course. He is...he was..." She couldn't finish her fraise.
She looked out of the window. "I need to talk to him...to explain. Do you think he would see me?"

"I think he only needs rest for now," Cortez replied.
"But he had a really hard time, and he will need all his friends to come out of this."

"Yeah. Well, I don't think he shell out me in that category anymore..."

"If there is one thing I learned about Jim Street is that he never turn his back on his family, and you are pretty close to family for him."

.

As soon as the doctor left, Hondo's team could get in to see their guy.

"Right now LAPD is taking care of Gretcher for us," Luca said. "You don't have to worry anymore."

Street nodded. "Thank you, guys..." he tried to take a deep breath.
"For everything," he whispered.

They were all smiling and nodding, thankful that he was ok.

"I'm sorry kid, I should have never left you alone," Deacon said.

"It's ok..." It took a while till he could replay. "You...you saved...me." He tried to smile, hardly focusing on his friend, as the pain killers the nurse just injected in him started to make their effect.

He leaned back, heavily panting. "Sorry guys...I don't think...I can have...a long chat."

"Don't worry buddy, take all the rest you need," Luca said, gently tapping his shoulder.

"Yeah, we should go make sure the man gets what he deserves," Tan said.

"And report to Hicks," Hondo stepped in.

Deacon stared at his friend, hesitant to leave, still feeling guilty he nearly got him killed.

"Let's go, paper work waits for you Deac'," Hondo added, nodding at Street.

"Yeah, I know: I fired, I had to immediately report, but..."

"I'm fine. You caught him... I don't need the babysitter anymore," Street said, reassuring him. "Besides, I feel I'm going to drift away soon, so..."

"Ok, so I will just sit here till you're gone," Chris said, than she turned to her boss. "I'm gonna stay here a little bit more, if it's ok for you."

Hondo nodded, with everyone else approval.

"I'm not used to receive all this attentions...That's... That's kind of embarrassing," he tried to protest. "You really don't need to..."

"Don't argue with the girl, kid," Hondo ordered. "You are not gonna win this."

"Yeah, ok," he said, not having the strength to protest further.

Street slightly lift his right hand to greet his friends as they got out, then he let his weight abandoned on the pillow.

"I'm really glad it's over," Chris said as soon as the two of them were alone in the room.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"You know, I was about to read your locker letter..." she said, looking outside the window. "I'm just relived I didn't have to..." she looked back to her friend, only to find him already asleep.

"Good." She smiled at him. "I wasn't in the mood for a open hart conversation anyway," she said, and she set next to his bed staring at him for a while before having the courage to leave.

.

A couple of days later Hondo was there to check on his teammate's progresses, he was walking through the corridor when he heard Chris voice calling for him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Same as you, checking on a friend," she said, approaching Street's room.

He was still bedridden, but at least this time he could fist bump with his friends to greet them.

"Woh... You look terrible." She smiled.

"Yeah... Rough night," he said. "But I'll get there."

"Of course you will, you are too stubborn for letting go," Hondo stepped in.

Street tried to reach the glass of water waiting for him on the table, but he moved to fast, and had to hide the flush of pain that invested him.

Chris rushed to take the water for him as his try failed.
"Here, you don't need to act tough with us," she said, and put it directly in his hands.

"Tanks," He whispered, with his voice full of resignation.

"Hey, don't rush things," Hondo ordered him. "Doc said it will take at least a couple of weeks till you will be back on your feet."

"Yeah, but..."

"Don't mess up! You have to fully recover, if you want to be back with us."

"If I want?"

"Yeah, we are waiting for you."

"Of course we are," Chris added.

At that moment Grace appeared at the door.

Street stood silent, acknowledging her presence.

She was just standing there, waiting for the right moment to come in.

Chris turned back, and saw her. "What the hell are you doing here?" she harshly said.

"No, it's ok. Let her in," Street said. "Please..."

"Shift will start soon, we have to go," Hondo made Chris a sign they should go.

"Yeah," Chris nodded hesitant. "I'll call you later, ok?"

"That sounds good, thanks," he replied, and the two cops went out, leaving them alone.

Instantly an awkward silence filled the room.

"I..." "I'm.." The two started speaking simultaneously.

"I'm so sorry..." she managed to say.

"I'm just glad you're ok," he reassured her.

"You have every reason to be mad at me, you don't have to... I'll understand if you hate me..."

"I don't!" he quickly replied, making her a sing to sit down next to him.
"Yeah, I was confused, and maybe a little mad at first, but you are my sister," he paused. "You really are."

Her eyes were filled by tears.

"After all he did when we were child, I can't blame you to have been frightened." He took her hand, painfully turning to watch her straight, but she still wouldn't look him in the eyes.

"Hey," he managed to make her lift her face. "I know we never knew how having a real family feels like." He cleared his voice. "My team is desperately trying to teach me that for a while, and I want you to learn that too."

He smiled. "It's a good feeling, I promise."

.

AN: So...this is the end! Thank you very much for having come so far with me, I sincerely hope you enjoyed the journey.

Some of you asked me to continue, but I'm afraid that's not in my plans right now.
For the possibility of writing a sequel though, well, let's leave that door open...