A/N: This one shot is something I came up with if Adam had stayed on patrol a little longer than half an episode. Also this is my first time trying to write in first person so please be patient with me and let me know what you think please! And if anyone has any ideas for other one shots they would like to see let me know! I have been having writers block as of recently.
Graveyard shift at the 27th. This was complete bull. Erin got to come and go as she pleased, but me? I get dumped to the worst shift in a crappy district when I went to work somewhere else for a bit to get my head on straight. Complete bull.
The only good note is my partner was a buddy from the academy. Chris is driving and has been hounding me with questions about Intelligence and my undercover operation. He is like a dog begging from scraps at the table since this has been his beat since graduating from the academy and he says he has seen little to know action. The biggest story he had was arresting a guy once with a prostitute. He hadn't even fired his gun. I can't deal with that. Maybe if I go back and grovel to Voight he will change his mind?
"2709. Please report to the Riverwalk for extra foot patrol there have been a few suspicious looking persons calls tonight." A voice came over the radio. It sounded just as annoyed to be here as I did.
"Copy that." I said into my radio as Chris turned the car around to head back in the direction of the Riverwalk. Is it bad that I want something to jump off? I hope this is something more than a perv staring at some kids making out or someone off their meds wandering around.
When we finally got to the Riverwalk Chris radioed in to see what we should be looking for but they said just to keep our eyes open. So that's helpful. Thankfully as we walked around he was mostly out of his questions and started talking about the Blackhawks. I could do this conversation. We were discussing last night's game when someone jogged by me that looked similar to Kim. I couldn't tell cause the hood of the sweatshirt was up. Weird. I mean she has been on my mind since I got back and kissed her. I crashed on her couch for one day and we talked a bit but nothing substantial. I was going to see if she wanted to get dinner to celebrate us both being back in Intelligence but that was a short lived fantasy. I want to talk to her. That kiss. That was something. Something I definitely want to work on. Now that I was at a different district and working different hours it was hard to try to set something up so we could discuss what that kiss meant and where we go from here.
The conversation turned to the baseball starting soon and if the Cubs could make it to the playoffs again. As we patrolled Chris gave five dollars to a homeless man that I could have sworn was Olinksy except I never saw his face. And there was a couple making out on a bench that looked like Halstead and Lindsay. I have to be projecting my desire to be back in Intelligence. Right? Or am I going crazy? This is going to be a long night if I keep this up.
We continued walking around. This call seemed to be a bust. Our radio sounded as the homeless man and couple came running passed us. "Kidnapping in progress at the Riverwalk." Shit. It was them. I went running in the same direction as them and Chris followed me. They all stopped by a gray van and had their guns drawn. Voight, Rixton, and Atwater were there also from what I could see and another patrol team. I pulled out my gun and looked to Chris who was pulling his as well. Finally he would get some excitement. I looked over to the van and saw a guy with a ski mask on his face holding a gun to a woman's head. I looked closer. Shit. It was Kim. She was definitely the woman I saw running earlier now that the hood was down it was easy to tell. What is going on? I looked on as Voight moved closer and showed the perp he was putting his gun away.
"Why don't you just let the girl go and we can talk this out." Voight said. Girl? This wasn't a girl, this was Kim. What was he playing?
"That's not how this is going to work." The guy said keeping his gun firmly on Kim's temple.
I don't know why but I was slowly moving around the half circle they had around the guy towards the back of the van.
"You haven't hurt her yet. You can still walk out of this." Voight said again. I could hear how hard it was for Voight to keep calm and not yell. Voight always yelled why was he holding back now? Especially since this guy was holding gun to a member of his teams head? Why hadn't anyone taken a shot yet? At this point I was near the back of the van.
"Oh I am going to walk away from this. But you all may not." The guy said just as the sliding door of the van opened and a guy with an automatic rifle starting shooting at the team. The guy with Kim moved her into the van. I had to do something. I opened the back door of the van and jumped in. I closed the door behind me as the van started to move and I continued to here the gun go off from the side of the van. Three. That's three perps. And me. And Kim. All in this van. The shooting finally stopped and they closed the van door. We have to be going close to 80 miles per hour I was thinking when they finally noticed me. The guy with the gun on Kim pointed it at me. And I had my gun pointed at him.
"Don't think about it. Or I will kill her he said." The guy said.
I went to lower my gun and then heard two gun shots. And then Kim screamed. What just happened? Ow. Why does everything hurt?
"That should do it." I heard one of the guys say as the other moved into the front of the van with the driver. Then everything went black.
Am I on the ground? How did I get here? Why does my leg hurt so bad? I started to open my eyes. And I saw her. I saw Kim. I must have died, right? I am dead and this is heaven. But why does she look so scared?
"Oh. Thank god. Adam." I heard her say.
"What's going on? What happened? I asked her. I now felt the pain in my chest.
"They shot you. Your vest stopped one in your chest but they got you in the leg. I managed to convince them to let you in here with me." Kim said.
In here? Where are we? I then looked around a bit. It looks like we are in a cage. There are other cages. Are there girls in there too? I can't really see. It was really dark in whatever room we were in.
"Where are we? What's going on?" I asked. I needed some answers cause right now my head was a mess.
I heard Kim let out a heavy sigh. "We had been trying to track down girls who had gone missing from the Riverwalk. Erin and I were bait. We both had trackers." Kim explained.
"What? Why would you do that?" I asked. Why would she offer herself up as bait? And what kind of bait was Lindsay if she was sucking face with Halstead?
"It was our only option. They would take one of us to where they were holding the rest of the girls and then the team would track us here and make the move. They should probably be here any minute." Kim explained to me. It still seemed dumb. But it made sense why no one was shooting earlier. They wanted her to be taken so they could follow.
"But Lindsay was sucking face with Halstead. That didn't seem like bait." I said. Not my most elegant sentence.
"Probably trying to keep you from noticing them. Once we saw you arrived Voight said we all had to be careful not to blow our cover." Kim explained to me. Makes sense I guess.
"Now why were you an idiot and jumped in the van?" Kim asked me. That was a good question.
"I wasn't going to let them take you. I wasn't going to let anything happen to you." I explained. I would take twenty bullets for her if I had to.
"Nothing was going to happen to me. From what we have seen they haven't hurt any of the girls they took yet and from looking around here they all just look scared not harmed." Kim said to me. "You really think Voight would put me and Lindsay up as bait if he thought we would get hurt."
Well that made sense.
"I wasn't thinking. I just knew I wasn't going to let you get hurt." I replied. That's all that was in my head. She was not to get hurt. I would not let Kim get hurt.
"Voight's going to be pissed if this messes things up." Kim told me.
"Yeah probably but I am already doing the graveyard at the 27th and never get to see you or any of my friends so what else worse could he do to me?" I asked her. And it was true nothing Voight could do to me would be worse. It was weird having this conversation with Kim keeping her hands firmly pressed on my leg. It was kinda close to my groin. Head out of the gutter, Ruzek. I had to control myself.
"I was really shocked that morning when I walked into the bullpen and Rixton was still there and you weren't." Kim told me.
"You and me both, Darlin'." I responded. Shit. Where did the Darlin' come from?
"Adam." Kim said quietly to me. It wasn't the good way she says my name. It was the bad way. I hate the bad way.
"Sorry." I muttered.
"We should talk about the other night. But maybe not when you have a bullet in your leg." Kim said to me.
"Is it a good talk or a bad talk?" I asked. If it was a bad talk we might as well do it now. So I could just have all the pain in the world at one time. If she told me she didn't want something after that kiss the pain in my heart would be far worse then the one in my leg. I watch her closely as she took a deep breath. And then she said, "Adam, I love you." She loves me? She loves me! Why do I feel like there is more?
"But?" I asked. I didn't want the but.
"There is not but. I love you. Always have. Always will. That kiss helped me realize that." Kim said. WHAT!? SHE FEELS THE SAME WAY! This would be more exciting if we weren't trapped in a cage and I wasn't bleeding from a gunshot. I was about to say something back when we both heard a commotion coming from another room and multiple guns firing. Kim then looked back at me and said, "Looks like the cavalry has arrived."
Well isn't their timing just peachy? After two minutes things got quieter and someone opened the door letting light into the dark room we were in. It was Kevin. Thank goodness. He looked around the room with his flashlight and gun out and then saw us.
"The room is clear, Kev." Kim yelled over to him. He put away his gun and walked over to us.
"You two okay?" Kevin asked us both looking at her holding my leg.
"He needs to get to the hospital soon. I'm not sure how much blood he has lost." Kim told Kevin.
"Hey." Was all I could say. What does one say in this position?
Kevin laughed at me. "Hey, man. I'll call you a bus." Kevin used his radio to call for an ambulance and then continued walking around the room. I could hear him gently reassuring the girls that he would get them out of there before he radioed again for some bolt cutters. Voight and Jay walked in a few minutes later and Jay carried the bolt cutters.
"What we got?" Voight asked.
"Four girls, not including myself." Kim told Voight while Jay cut the bolts on the cage. Kevin was further back in the room reassuring a girl that was crying.
"Four? We only had three go missing." Voight asked. He hadn't said anything to me yet. That probably wasn't good.
"No family to report her missing. I was able to talk to them for a bit when he was still unconscious and got details." Kim said quietly to Voight.
"Nice to see you, Ruzek." Voight said to me. Really? Nice to see you? That's what I am gonna get? I decided not to respond. It was probably a bit childish. But I had a bullet in my leg, I could be a bit childish. I earned that right.
"What happened at the scene? Was everyone okay?" Kim asked instead. She could see me being childish. She still knew me so well. And she loved me! I had to keep thinking of that right now. Things were getting fuzzy and I didn't want to deal with Voight. I was just going to keep thinking about that fact that Kim loved me.
"Rixton and a patrol officer were shot. We had to wait to get them both to Med before we came after you." Voight explained. Jay continued to go around the room unlocking cages.
"Are they okay?" Kim asked with the concern oozing from her voice.
"They should be. We will follow up when we get this one to Med and the rest of the girls." Voight explained. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, right?" Voight now asked.
"All good." Kim said to him. I could hear the bit of pride in her voice. I wonder if Voight caught it.
"Good. You did good work. And managed to keep this one alive." Voight replied. I was just going to bite my tongue but really any response I had wouldn't matter. She did keep me alive. I probably would be dead without her.
"Yeah. It took a bit of work to get them to leave him with me and not kill him without letting out that I was a cop but they obviously bought it." Kim told him just as Lindsay walked in with the paramedics. Finally I could get out of here.
Kim let go of where she was holding pressure to get out of the cage and let the paramedics work and things got really fuzzy. I heard someone say my name and then everything went black again.
I didn't have to open my eyes to know I was in the hospital. It was the smell. And the machines beeping. And I could feel the oxygen tube flowing the air into me. I laid their for a few minutes with my eyes closed still trying to process everything. I was shot. Kim was okay. There was a dull ache in my chest and leg. I'm guessing that was thanks to some pain medications from some doctors. Oh and Kim loved me. I needed to remember that. That was the most important thing.
I finally opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. I didn't have to look far to find her. She was asleep in a chair pulled up right next to my bed. The woman I loved was right next to me. And she loved me too. Things would be okay. I didn't want to wake her so I just lied there and looked at her. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes on. And I was going to make sure she knew that. I would tell her every day if I had to. I wasn't going to let her out of my hands this time. Things would be different.
I was lost in my thoughts of her I barely noticed the Voight had walked in.
"Good to see you up." He said to me. He walked over to a cabinet in the room and pulled out a blanket. I was confused until he walked over to where Kim was and gently placed it over her. Well that was sweet. Did I really just call Voight sweet? That was weird.
"Thanks." I finally got out.
"I should be the one thanking you." Voight said. Say what? I thought he was going to be pissed at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Turns out the lower level guys of a smuggling ring didn't know what to do with a cop so they called a higher up to come deal with you. The leader ended up coming with a few others to figure out a plan, assuming to kill you, and we got them all when we got there." Voight explained to me.
"Well that worked out nicely." I said. I had no idea what else to say. My dumb luck.
"It did. I took the assumption you would want to use your free pass for getting shot to move back to Intelligence so I already have the paperwork in motion for you to come back when you are recovered." Voight explained to me. This has got to be a dream. There is no way this is real. But just in case it is real I said, "Thank you, Sarge."
"Rest up. We will see you in a few weeks." Voight said to me before turning to walk out. Before he left he room he turned back to me and said, "Don't let that one get away again." As he nodded to Kim.
"I definitely won't" I responded. He nodded and headed out the door. I lied there for a bit just thinking about everything when a nurse walked in. I guess Voight told her I was awake and she started checking my vitals and asking me how my pain was. This woke Kim. She almost jumped awake. It was pretty adorable. I just followed the nurse and let Kim wake up before I talked to her. Once the nurse left I finally said.
"Hi." She stood up from the chair and came closer to me and grabbed my hand.
"How are you feeling?" She asked me.
"Now that she just gave me more pain meds? Wonderful." I replied with a small smile. "I do understand what you said about feeling like a puppet when you first wake up. Voight was here and there were words coming out of my mouth but I had no idea how they were."
"Voight was here?" She asked. I thought I would get a laugh first before she asked that.
"Yeah while you were asleep. He said I actually did good and I'll be back in Intelligence when I get back from medical leave." I told her.
"That's great." She said with a big smile on her face. I knew she meant it too. She said the first night I was back that she wanted me back in Intelligence.
"Yeah. I still have to talk to the doctor and find out how long that leave will be." I said and realized. I still had no idea how long I would be out. Or what I would have to do for my recovery process. I'm guessing I would be restricted from walking in the beginning. Good thing my new apartment is a three-flight walk up. That was going to be fun.
"You have to stay off your leg for a week and do minimum walking and some physical therapy the following week." Kim responded. What? How'd she know?
"I talked to your doctor. I kinda told them you would stay with me since I live on the first floor and you said your new apartment was a walk up. I hope that was okay." Its like she can read my mind.
"That sounds good to me. On one condition." I said to her. Her face went a little sad at first.
"What is that?" She asked.
"I don't have to sleep on those pink sheets for the two weeks." I said. I slept on them that one night and it was not my cup of tea waking up to pink.
"Oh. Well I was thinking you would sleep in my bed." Kim replied. That was nice of her.
"And you would sleep on the pink sheets?" I asked.
"Well. I was thinking we would both sleep in my bed." She replied a little hurt actually. How did I not think of that?
"Oh. I like that plan much better." I said. Kim sleeping in my arms? Waking up and her being the first thing I see? That sounded so much better then either of us sleeping on the couch.
"You sure? I can sleep on the couch." Kim responded.
"I am sure. I didn't get to say this earlier. But I love you too. Always have. Always will. No matter what we go through Kim, its you. It will always be you. We can work on any issues as long as I have you in my life I am good." I admitted to her. She didn't say anything she just moved closer to me. She put her hand on my face and then leaned in and kissed me. And like that I felt as if everything was right in my life again.