She knew this was coming, didn't mean she was prepared for it. She had been sick to her stomach all morning, hearing his voice first thing in the morning was never a good sign.

She'd take it and move on.

She had to own this, if she wanted to make it right the first step was to own it.

Adam lifted Deacon up so he was sitting on the counter, "You hungry?" He asked checking the fridge, it was nearly empty aside from a few cans of beer and some leftover take out food he let the door close on its on, and he moved to the small cabinet that he knew contained the snacks or at least it had the last time he was there. Now it was empty, he checked the rest of the cabinets, finding them all pretty bare aside from a few cans of vegetables and some ramen noodles.

"Where's all the food?" Adam asked him, "Did you eat this morning before school?

"No. Mommy didn't shop yet" Deacon told him.

Adam hung his head and sighed, he'd leant her three hundred dollars just a few days ago so she could pick up groceries and he had nearly told her no only for her to beg him.

"Adam, please! It's for food. I was supposed to get paid last week but our checks..something happened I dunno please, just until I get paid. Your nephew needs to eat" tears streamed from her eyes as she begged.

"Fine, Okay." Adam relented grabbing his wallet, "How much?"

Mia contemplated it briefly, "Three hundred? Deke needs some warmer clothes too, it's going to be getting cold soon" she had no shame, she knew Deacon was her meal ticket and she wasn't above using him.

"Why not?" Adam finally asked him, "Never mind." He waved his hand about, "mommy upstairs?"

Deke shrugged, "I dunno". He jumped down from the counter, "I'm gonna watch tv."

Mia finally came downstairs and Adam ushered her into the small bathroom and closed the door, ignoring her protests.

"What the fuck, Mia! The school tried calling you, they called me. I had to leave work. Deke busted his lip, he wanted to come home. What the fuck are you on?" He glared at her, "Your high as a fucking kite, aren't you?"

Mia shook her head, "No! I'm not high, Adam. I'm fucking tired. Some of us have to work all night.."

"Stop it." He had his hands on his hips, "The school..they're worried about Deacon, said he goes to school in dirty clothes, that they're too small. He doesn't bathe."

"The principal is a dick, Adam. I send my boy to school clean, sure his clothes may be old hand me downs, but he's dressed." She tried to push past him, "Move!"

Adam grabbed her upper arms, "No. Not yet. Child Services, Mia. They're watching you. Get your shit together! I gave you money just a few days ago..why's there no food?"

"I lost it or it was stolen...I'm not sure okay? I'm not proud, but in case you haven't noticed this isn't the best area.." She finally squeezed past him and went looking for Deacon.

Adam wanted to throttle her, he had stuck his neck out for her and he was beginning to think it was for nought. He was a sucker, there was no other way to describe she was playing him.

This only added to the intense stress he was already under, all of it could be traced back to Mia.

Fucking Mia.

He had Woods breathing down his neck and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep him at bay. He'd been feeding him crumbs for weeks now, and he knew he was growing tired of what Adam was bringing him or more appropriately, what he wasn't bringing him.

He wanted something on Voight, something that would bring him down, and he wanted Adam to be the one to give it him.

"Sit." Voight ordered. He pointed to the chair opposite his desk and stared long had hard at Kim, his gaze was intense and even the toughest criminals would wilt right before his eyes.

Not Kim.

She matched his steely gaze with one of her own, he had to respect that.

It had to be done though, she needed to be held responsible for what she had done. She was good police, she had busted her ass to earn her spot upstairs but she needed to pay the piper.

She had brought attention to the unit, that was the last thing they needed.

"I'm sorry.." Kim wanted to get out in front of it, own her mistake.

Hank wasn't having it, he held his hand up to stop her, "Stop talking. I don't want to hear excuses, I don't want to hear anything. You need to listen"

She nodded her head, letting him know she understood.

"What goes on in here? It stays here. You don't run your mouth to anyone other than those in this unit. Our cases, and our way of handling things? They're not up for discussion and it's definitely not pillow talk fodder with your ADA boyfriend." He moved to sit on the corner of his desk, "We're lucky it didn't cost us that case, and now we need to be looking over our shoulders. You know we can't work that way"

Kim clenched her teeth, "Understood, won't happen again."

"Damn right it won't. Your badge and gun."

"What? Seriously? Matt won't say anything, he promised." Fuck if she didn't sound like a teenager.

"Badge and gun, Burgess." Voight repeated himself.

Begrudgingly she handed them over, "How long?"

"I will let you know." He replied, as she started for the door he called her, "Kim.." his tone softened a bit, "You're good police. You're an important member of this team, it was a mistake but you need to be held accountable." He folded his arms across his chest, "Some advice?"

"Sure."

"Be careful who you trust, okay? You're quick to trust people, and it's an admirable trait, but you seem to trust the wrong people. It's a pattern with you, putting your trust in the wrong person. Turning your back on those you can trust" He shrugged, "Something to think about. I'll be in touch."

"I'll be waiting." Kim pulled the door closed behind her as she left.

Adam tapped Deacon on the head, "Wanna go grab some grub?" He wasn't about to leave him with Mia.

"Mommy too?" Deacon stood on the couch.

Adam curled his lip, "Nah, it's man day. Just me and you kid."

"Please?" Deacon clasped his hands together.

Mia jumped in, "Not today, buddy. I'm not feeling all that great. Go and have fun with Uncle Adam"

Kim was pleased she didn't run into anyone on the way out of the building, she knew she was seconds away from losing it and she preferred to do that in private. She yanked open her car door and dropped into the seat, burying her face in her hands as she finally allowed herself to cry.

Adam cut Deke's burger in half and pushed the plate back in front of him, "You wanna tell me how you busted your lip?" He watched as Deacon dumped a mountain of ketchup on his plate, "You didn't fall did you?"

Deacon closed the bottle of ketchup and pushed it to the side, "Not really." He wiped his hands on his shirt, "You can't tell anyone at school, okay? They'll be mad at me. I don't want them to be mad."

"Deacon, if someone is hurting you, I have to tell the school. I have to protect you, you're my buddy."

"I don't want to talk." Deacon frowned, "I just want to eat."

"We need to talk." Adam told him, "I love you buddy, I love you so much. I'm your uncle, it's my job to protect you. To keep you safe, you need to tell me what's going on. At school and home."

"You love me?" Deacon asked, his eyes wide, "Really?"

"Really." Adam smiled, "why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know. I don't think my mom loves me. Not really." His eyes welled with tears, "She never says it, I tell her all the time. She never says it back though" his lip quivered. "No one likes me.."

"Deke.."

"Don't call me that! I hate it!" Deacon yelled, the diners around them turning to see what was going on.

"I'm sorry. I thought you liked it" Adam grabbed his hand, "Deacon, you need to talk to me. Let me help you."

Deacon knew he needed to clue his uncle in, "They call me Deke the Geek at school and I hate it. They're mean to me. All the boys are, they didn't believe me when I said you were a cop. They pushed me down, they kept pushing me. That's when I got hurt." He was in tears, Adam moved from his side of the table and slid in next to his nephew pulling him into his arms.

"I'm sorry buddy" He kissed his head, "I'm going to handle this for you, I'm going to keep you safe. I promise." He pulled back, "Tell me about Mom. The school says sometimes you're not dressed nicely or that you may not have had a bath or shower in a few days. Is that true?"

Deacon moved away from Adam, "Did my teacher say that? She doesn't like mom. I just know it."

"Deacon.."

He sighed heavily, "Sometimes. Only cause the water is broken. Sometimes it doesn't work..mom said it's cause our place is a dump. That it's too old."

Adam knew that was bullshit. Yes, the building was an older unit but it's water worked, he was beginning to get a clearer picture of what his half sister was like and how it was affecting his nephew.

"Does mom every seem off? Does she act strange?" Fuck he hated this conversation, he wished he had never answered the door the day she showed up at his apartment. He loved his nephew and he'd never wish him away, it was Mia he could do without. She had brought him nothing but trouble, she was his weakness and Denny Woods had pounced on it.

To be fair he couldn't blame Mia for that, he had decided to play his game. It was self preservation, he'd never last a second in jail.

He had dug himself quite the hole and he didn't think he'd ever climb out.

"Yeah." Deacon admitted, "She sleeps a lot some days and sometimes I can't wake her up. She has to take medicine a lot, and it's scary. I don't like it."

"Medicine?"

"Yeah. It's gross, she has to do a shot." Deacon explained, he pushed his sleeve up, "here.." he pointed to the area around his elbow, "with a needle."

Adam closed his eyes and sat silent for a moment, he knew she had an issue with alcohol and he had suspected drugs as well, but he just assumed it was pain pills. Which was bad enough on it's on right, but heroin or crack? That was an entirely different beast.

Perhaps Child Services should be involved, he wasn't sure how to proceed. Deacon deserved better and the last thing he wanted for his nephew was to end up in the system. He stuck between a rock and a hard place and both options sucked balls.

"Let's go" Adam paid the bill and led Deacon from the diner, "let's go grab some groceries and get you some new clothes. This is all going to work out buddy, I'm going to make sure of it."

She grabbed her phone off the table, she had fallen asleep and the incessant buzzing of her phone had woken her up.

It was a text.

"Think it's best if we part ways, it was fun while it lasted. Take Care"

She laughed out loud, it wasn't comical at all but it was ironic. Of course Matt had ended things, she had refused to give him the information he wanted. At the time she didn't think much of it, considering he was a prosecutor they were on the same team. She soon discovered that he wasn't on the up and up, and that he was after something much bigger than that.

What exactly she hadn't figured out.

It no longer mattered.

They were done.

She was left with yet another failed relationship, she had such high hopes for this one. He had a solid career with room for growth and all his ducks in a row but the end result was the same.

She was alone.

Perhaps it was time she stayed that way.

"These ones" Deacon smiled, "Can I have these ones?" He bounced on his toes, loving the silver and blue Nike's, "they're not too much money are they? It's okay if they are. I understand."

Adam shook his head, "Nope. Not if you love them. They're pretty sweet huh? Can you run fast in them? You should test them on the track, make sure they're the ones you want."

"Okay" Deacon smiled before taking off for the track.

Adam was livid. He wanted to throttle Mia, he was done lending her money, if she needed groceries he'd buy them, Deacon needed clothes? He'd buy them. He had loaded up the cart with some clothes and a heavy coat before grabbing Deacon and heading to the cash register. He was certain he was dropping close to a grand today between groceries and clothes but he was okay with it.

It was for Deacon.

He'd do anything for that kid, even if it cost him everything.

Kim pulled her hair up into a sloppy ponytail as she answered the door, not surprised at all to find Kevin on the other side, "Come on in."

Kevin wasted no time, "Suspended? What the hell?" He asked her. He had been floored to hear she'd be out for the foreseeable future. They all had found themselves in hot water at some point, but he never expected it would happen to Burgess. She was the epitome of a 'by the book' cop, she followed the law to the letter never swaying into the gray area. The rest of the unit lived in the gray but not Burgess.

"Don't want to talk about it. It was a stupid mistake on my part. Won't happen again." Kim told him, "You hungry?"

"No." He stopped her from going in the kitchen, "you're upset. Talk to me"

Kim knew he wouldn't drop it, "Fine. I talked to Matt about a case, somehow it got back to Voight. So, he benched me. Pulled my badge and gun. Gave me a talk about trusting the wrong people. Not two hours later, I get a text from Matt. We're done."

"Sorry.."

Kim fold her arms across her chest, "So yes I'm upset. I'm fucking upset, Kevin. Nothing goes right for me, nothing."

Kevin pulled her into his arms, "I'm sorry Burgess."

"Me too."

Adam had ignored Mia when they finally got home, afraid he'd say something he couldn't take back. He didn't care if it hurt Mia, in fact he'd love to unleash on her but he refused to say something that would upset Deacon.

Deacon was all that mattered, he'd do whatever he had to do to protect that kid.

Even play ball with Woods if need be.

His phone buzzed in his back pocket, it was time to play ball.

"Later kid, I gotta go"

"Catch a bad guy?" Deacon asked.

"Something like that." Adam exchanged a fist bump, "I'll see you soon. Be good, I love you."

"I love you too, Uncle Adam."

This just may be a bit longer than I had originally anticipated, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing at this point. LOL