The Engagement Talk

-at the CPD station front lobby

Kim-"You've been engaged twice before? I'm your third?"

Adam-"You knew that."

K-"No, I didn't."

A-"You didn't?" He looks at Kim and sees hurt and confusion all over her face. "You didn't." Kevin yells at Adam to get his butt upstairs. "Okay, I have to go upstairs, but we're gonna talk about this later."

K-"Oh yeah, we will."

CPD*CPD*CPD

-Kim and Sean's squad car

K-" I don't know. He seems really happy about the engagement. I rather have someone excited about marrying me than being upset and not caring at all. So what if he's been engaged twice before me? Right?"

Sean-"Yeah, but some people enjoy the movie trailers rather than the movies. They like the idea of it. I really think that you need to talk to Adam and tell him exactly what's bothering you and how you're feeling. Maybe even push the wedding to a later date or a year if you or him are having any doubts. Basically, just be honest and open and communicate with him."

K-"Yeah, you're right. That's good advice."

S-"Hey, those are our guys."

Kim and Sean quickly open their car doors and start chasing after the suspects and finally arrest them after running for awhile.

CPD*CPD*CPD

-at Adam's apartment

Adam had texted Kim to meet at his apartment, so that they could eat dinner and talk.

After both of them finished eating the take-out Chinese food in silence, Kim wanted answers.

"Okay, go. Explain to me how you were engaged not once, but twice, before you proposed to me," she said, in a mad and confused tone, with her arms crossed against her chest, sitting on the couch.

"Uhm, well, the first one was to Nicole. She was 19 and I was 20. It was a summer of puppy love that ended with a $30 ring and a six pack of beer. It was over before Halloween," he said nervously, playing with his hands.

K-"Why did you two break up?"

A-"I broke up with her because we weren't a match. She was only my second girlfriend. We started dating in June and hung out everyday together for 3 months, until summer ended. When September came, we couldn't hang out as much because we were both busy with college and jobs, and then we started fighting a lot. We lost the slight connection we had made during the summer, and fell out of love, well, what I thought what was love at 20 years old, with each other. I broke up with her in the beginning of that October. I haven't seen her or talked to her since.

"Ok, what about Wendy?", asked Kim, still looking upset.

A-Well, Wendy and I started dating in 2008. It was always just comfortable. She's a very easy going person. The reasons we broke up were because she felt that the job changed me, maybe it did, but in a good way. It's hard to be in a relationship with a cop. Also, it just got too comfortable. Eventually, I started saying I love you out of obligation. I only proposed to Wendy because after several years of dating, it was just the next step. Even though she ended it and gave me back the ring, I was planning on ending it with her. She just beat me to the punch. I think that it ended so amicably was because we both knew it was over for a while. We lost the romantic feelings for each other and by the end, we were more like friends. Also, because deep in the back of my mind, I had feelings for you, still do, and was started to fall in love with you."

He moves next to her on the couch and starts to kiss her neck and then her cheek and then her lips.

"No! You can't just kiss me and make it all better! It doesn't fix this!" said Kim, angrily and frustrated, throwing her hands up in the air.

"I need more! I need you to dig deep and really think why those engagements ended and why this one will make it to a wedding and marriage. Because to me, it sounds like you caught up in the moment and was impulsive. Maybe it's because you don't want to get married. Maybe it's because your parents got divorced. You've told me very little about your parent's divorce.

"Ok, Kim. I'll tell you about my parents divorce. My mom was a great mom, the best, until her brother died, car accident, then she started drinking a lot. A month after her brother died, my mom was acting strange and yelling at me to do something for her, but she wasn't making sense and I didn't know what she wanted from me. She, then, just started hitting me and yelling at me, at ten years old. I was terrified of her. Luckily, I was fast and saw an opportunity and ran to the bathroom and locked the door. Over three years, she attacked me five more times. Each year, she would just drink more in volume and frequency. She tried AA and other programs and therapy, but that didn't work. When I was 13, my dad finally had enough and divorced her. Luckily, that was her breaking point, because she had gotten a DUI right before he divorced her, so I legally couldn't see her for 6 months. During those 6 months, she got sober. I was allowed to see her and would spend weekends with her and it was great. Until my senior year of high school, my grandpa, my mom's dad, died. He was old, almost 80. My mom fell apart and started drinking again. The last time I saw her was when I was 21. I gave her a letter telling her that I didn't want anything to do with her until she got sober, and to call me when she was a year sober. She never called."

"Oh, Adam, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, Kim. I've dealt with it and went to therapy. I think that's why I made so many mistakes when it comes to love. I never saw a true, health and happy relationship. With Nicole, I was so in the moment and too impulsive. With Wendy, I felt like I had to propose to her. We had been dating for so long, and it was just the next step. But with you, it's completely different.

K-"What do you mean?"

Adam said, staring deeply into Kim's eyes, "I'm completely and totally in love with you. I can't imagine not loving you."

K-"I have one more question. Do you have any doubts about us getting married? Because if you do, we should postpone the wedding to a later date or year."

Adam jumps off the couch, "Did you hear what I just said? I don't have a single doubt in my mind about marrying you. I want to marry you because I love you! I can't imagine my life without you. With Nicole and Wendy, I didn't see a future with them past the wedding day. With you, I see our wedding day, you looking so beautiful in a white dress, surrounded by our friends and family. I see you telling me that you're pregnant and me being so happy. I see you being pregnant, with a big bump, giving birth, with me cheering you on and supporting you. I see myself crying as I hold our child for the first time. I see happy times and hard times in the nursery and park, the first day of school, first date, first dance, high school graduation. It always ends with you and I looking at each other, being proud and happy of our child."Adam pacing around the couch and coffee table.

"I see you getting promoted and working in Intelligence with me or with another great unit. I see you and I getting old and gray and retiring, traveling together and taking care of our grandchildren. I can't live without you. I want you. I need you. You are the best and most important thing in my life." said Adam, with tears in his eyes.

"Wow…Adam, that was beautiful," said Kim, with tears in her eyes, "I see the future and all those things with you, too. No one else. I love you."

"I love you too, darling," said Adam.

They kiss passionately and go off to the bedroom.