Adam nudged Vanessa, who had fallen asleep against his shoulder when he saw Connor Rhodes approaching. Jordan was up out of his seat already. "How's my brother?"

Adam stood between them both, his arms around each of them waiting to catch them if he needed too. He tried to read Connor's face but he was inscrutable, he'd perfected his poker face over the years. "He's in recovery. He's going to be fine." Adam let his head rolled back and exhaled slowly with relief, he didn't even realise he had been holding his breath until he felt it rush out of him before returning his attention to Connor. "We've repaired his kidney and the stab wound knicked his bowel but he's not in any immediate danger."

"Can we see him?" Vanessa burst into tears as soon as Connor told them he was going to be okay.

"In a few minutes, he's still in recovery but as soon as he's settled in his room we will come and get you."

"See I told you." Adam leant down and whispered in Vanessa's ear when and he wrapped her up in a bear hug. "He's going to be bugging us for a long time yet." He felt her body shake with her sobs. "Hey, hey. Come on now, Kevin is our big guy, he's not leaving us."

Jordan tried not to be affected by it all but Adam heard him sniff a few times. He squeezed his shoulder. "It's okay Jordy." He tried to be the tough kid, it was hard for him because his brother was a cop and people either didn't trust him or pressured him into doing stupid stuff to prove himself but he was a good kid that was just trying to find his own little part of the world.

Adam took them through when they called. He stood at the door and let Vanessa and Jordan see their brother. Vanessa was sobbing against his chest while Jordan looked uncomfortable but held Kevin's hand tightly. "Hey, I'm good, I'm all good." He kept telling them. He looked relatively small in the hospital bed, which was no mean feat. Atwater was anything but small.

"Thanks for bringing them in." Vanessa and Jordan perched themselves beside Kev and he finally nodded for Adam to come in.

"No worries Kev, Burgess went and picked them up."

"Burgess is here?" He tried to smile but it was a struggle, he really felt like shit and hurt like hell but he was trying not to freak the kids out. Adam could see it; there was no way he wanted them to worry anymore than they already were so he was trying to suck it up but each breath was a struggle at the moment. He spent a lot of time trying to shield them from life's harsh lessons and this was one of them.

"She's outside."

"Can you get her to come in?"

"I love you too Bro." Adam muttered. "I've been sitting here worrying about your sorry ass all day and all you want to do is see Burgess?"

"I'm injured and I want to see her pretty face, not yours."

"You are obviously fine." Adam grumbled as he retreated to the waiting room and sent Burgess in.

Kevin really just wanted Kim to do two things for him. He wanted Kim to keep an eye on Jordan and Vanessa. "I know it's a lot to ask with everything you've got going on with Nicole and Zoe but I worry about them and Ruzek together. He can barely look after himself, can you just make sure he doesn't lose them or starve them to death."

"We don't need babysitting." Jordan protested.

"I know you don't, but Vanessa needs protecting from the disaster that might just be Ruz."

Kim promised to keep an eye on them. Adam had already told her that he was going to stay with them and he'd looked at her funny when she laughed. This was going to be fun; watching Adam try and get two other people organised in the mornings when he struggled to get himself to work in a reasonable state was going to keep everyone amused.

Secondly Kevin wanted Kim to tell Ella. Adam had already told him that they hadn't called her yet because he wanted to know that his buddy was going to be okay first. "She'll freak out completely. You need to tell her that I am fine, she'll listen to you. Ruz will be too blunt, she might need a softer touch."

"You really don't think he's capable of anything do you?"

"No."

She never quite understood how people trusted Adam with their life yet thought he was completely incapable of looking after himself or anyone else for that matter. "He's taken good care of Vanessa and Jordan today."

"Just busting his balls, you know that. I just think Ella might be freaked out and need a bit more of a gentle touch."

She took Vanessa and Jordan out when Voight came in and sent them down to the cafeteria with Adam to get something to eat. They'd been at the hospital for hours with nothing to eat or drink. Voight was on a mission and wanted to talk to Kevin about what happened out there today before anyone else started getting in his head about it. He knew that Ruzek would start asking him at the first opportunity.

"I should have followed Rixton. He went one way and I just wanted to check out the area we were in and he noticed the room off to the side, if anyone was going to be hiding it would be in there so he went and I scoped the area ahead of me but before I could turn back I felt this white hot pain shooting through me. Did you get the guy?"

"Yep, Ruzek and Halstead got him after he stabbed you." Voight scratched his neck. "Who made the call to split up?"

"We didn't really talk about it, it just happened that way."

To say Voight was satisfied would be an understatement but Atwater was giving up nothing else.

Kim made the call to Ella; she grabbed the number from Kevin's phone before she left. "Is he okay?" Ella literally screamed down the phone. Her heart had started racing as soon as Kim identified herself and she knew that something had happened to Kevin. There was no other reason for his friend to be calling her; they'd only ever met once.

"He is, he's out of surgery, worrying about you instead of himself and annoying everyone."

Kim went on to explain Kevin's injuries and his surgery. "I think he'd really like to see you, he's trying to act tough but I know him, he's hurting."

"What about Jordan and Vanessa?"

"They are here right now. We'll be taking them home soon, they've been here all day."

Kim could hear Ella starting to waiver a little. "Ella, I know this is a shock and I know you are struggling a little with Kevin being a cop but he really cares about you, I can tell and I think you know it and feel it too. Just come and talk to him."

"I have Mavis with me. I need to call her father and see if he can take her." She promised to call Kim back and let her know if she could organise something for Mavis. The last thing she wanted to do was bring her into the hospital, she wasn't ready for that yet and she just needed a moment to think and breathe.

When Ella finally turned up, Adam was up and out of his chair and embracing her the instant she came in. She looked terrified. She'd met Jay and Kim and Adam but had only heard about the rest of the team and the room was full of cops when she came in. "Are you okay?" Adam could feel her reluctance.

"I am. How's Kevin?"

"Well he'll be happy to see you. Jordan and Vanessa are in with him at the moment. We'll take them home and leave you to listen to his whining."

"I don't think I can stay long."

Adam rubbed her arms lightly. He knew how much Kev liked this girl, dare he say that he even was in love with her and he was pretty keen to make sure that Ella didn't give that up. "Hey. Kevin's going to be okay. I get that this is confronting but put all that aside and just think for a minute about Kev the guy who I know you've been spending time with and you are both loving that, not Kev the cop."

"Adam. This is too much."

"Just go talk to Kevin. Go see him please."

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

"He's whining and annoying, yes Ella he is going to be okay."

Adam took her down the Kevin's room and beckoned the kids away, telling them to say goodbye and they'd be back in the morning. Kevin hugged both of them before they left and told them not to give Ruzek a hard time and he'd be checking up on them. Everyone could see how much he was struggling with his pain and just being weary after the surgery although his face certainly did light up when Ella came in. She stood back nervously until the room was clear.

"Hey Babe." Kevin lifted his hand. "Come here." As she slipped her hand into his Kevin lifted it to his dry cracked lips, kissing them before tugging on her arm and pulling her down so he could really kiss her. "I'm okay." He whispered, sensing her reluctance.

A tear splashed down her cheek onto Kevin's. "This scares me."

"I know, but this is nothing."

"It's not nothing Kev. You've been stabbed."

"Could be worse."

"I'm not sure." He tightened his grip on her hand, suddenly feeling that if he let go she was going to slip out of his fingers and disappear out of his life. He didn't want her to go.

"Just sit with me, just for a bit." He begged and Ella pulled up a chair and rested her head on the bed near his hip. Kevin stroked the side of her face lightly and he felt her tears. "Don't cry Baby."

"I'm scared Kevin." She squeezed her eyes closed.

"What scares you?"

"That one day you won't come home."

"That could happen to any one of us, I can't stop doing my job because I'm worried about getting hurt. If I do that, if I hesitate then I might get to come home but Ruzek won't, or Halstead or Burgess and I couldn't live with myself if that happened. So I have to keep doing my job and not worrying about the what ifs." That drove Kevin more than anything, he loved his job and helping people but on those days were it was tough, when you saw people doing shit that just made you lose a little bit of faith in humanity the thought that he had to keep going because other people relied on him to get home to their loved ones every single night. Voight had drummed that into them from the start. 'Everybody goes home at night.'

"That's easy for you, you are not taking phone calls from someone you hardly know telling you that you are in surgery after being stabbed."

"Can I take that this has freaked you out so much to mean that you care?"

"Of course I care." Ella's head snapped up.

"Good, because Ella Baby, I love you." He expected her to smile; he didn't expect her to burst into tears.

"Damn you, Kevin Atwater." And he certainly didn't expect her to run from the room.