Sam avoided it for as long as possible. He'd had dinner at Polly's place a couple of times and her parents were actually quite normal. Her Dad did ask a lot of questions but he was pretty casual about it and Sam certainly didn't feel threatened by him. He thought her Mom was really sweet and she would do her best to keep her Dad under control and it was pretty funny to watch. Sam swore that sometimes he was just doing it to get a rise out of Polly and his wife and it worked every time.

Now apparently he had to face the 'family' and that was when things might just get a little more challenging for Sam because this family included the Intelligence Unit and a fair sprinkling of CFD also. Polly warned him that her Dad tended to get worse when he was surrounded by this unruly mob but if he passed this test he was home and hosed. The thought that it was a test wasn't exactly filling him with confidence.

It was Kim's birthday and as always they had a huge BBQ. It tended to be the first one of the year once it wasn't quite below freezing anymore. Polly convinced Sam that coming early rather than later would be his best option, just like ripping off the Band-Aid. "You turn up late they will all be here and circling like hungry dogs. They'll have had a few drinks and you will be fresh meat."

"Polly, this is not making me feel any better. Just so you know."

"So come early and then you can meet them in dribs and drabs and when they are at their most docile." They way she kept talking about them like they were a pack of wild dogs was not helping him with his nerves.

What Polly had neglected to tell Sam was that out of all the kids here not only was she the oldest she was also the only girl. She thought that might flip him out a little too much. Lucas Dawson was an only child, Joey, Max and Riley Halstead were all boys and Jackson Severide was barely five and the youngest of the lot. Obviously Antonio and Al had daughters but they were adults now so they weren't really included in this unruly mob.

It had taken Kelly a long time to get over Anna's death, they hadn't been together long but it had hit him hard and he went back to his hard partying ways for a while but he gradually moved on. There had been quite a few girlfriends over the years and everyone had been surprised when Kelsey fell pregnant not long after they started going out. To their credit they had done pretty well and Jackson Severide was a tearaway but all the other kids loved him. Joe Cruz also managed to produce only boys, Noah, Daniel, Walt and James. They had kept trying for a girl, Stacey his wife was desperate for a daughter but they decided to stop once James was born.

They never knew if Hudson and Tate Atwater would come or not. Kev and Elise had split up a long time ago and things were tense at best between them and sometimes Kev had the boys and sometimes he didn't. Kevin had now been seeing Bessie for the past year but nobody was really feeling her just yet and Elise basically hated her and she didn't want her anywhere near her boys. How Kim and Adam lucked out with the only girl was beyond them as everyone else spat out boy after boy.

Throw in Al, who thought of Polly and Angus as his own grandkids, Hank Voight or Papa as Polly and Gus always called him and Trudy Platt, who to this day still teased the shit out of Adam and it had all the ingredients for a natural disaster. The lightening rod in the middle of all this was poor hapless Sam, the boy who had decided to hitch his carriage to Polly Ruzek's wagon.

Polly met Sam outside. He leant on the car for a few minutes and grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a kiss. "Just so you know, like before we go in. I am the only girl out of everyone's kids so they tend to be a little over protective." She drummed her fingers on his chest.

"You are enjoying this aren't you?"

"Just a little." She nodded and giggled. "You'll be fine. Dad likes you and Mom thinks you're pretty cute so they won't let them get too out of control." She kissed him again. "Unless Dad get's really drunk and then all bets are off." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the house.

"I actually feel sick Polly." He whined.

"Happy Birthday Mrs Ruzek." Sam handed her a bunch of flowers. Polly insisted that he didn't have to get her anything but it felt rude not too. He'd briefly talked to Adam on the way in and it had settled his nerves just a little seeing that no one was around and he did mention that Kim would love the flowers and that he was showing him up. Of course that was a lie, Adam spoilt Kim rotten on her birthday like always. She'd got jewellery and new lingerie, obviously just as much for him as for Kim and he always took her out for dinner to a restaurant they'd never been to before. She was treated like a queen with breakfast in bed but Sam didn't need to know that, he was petrified so Adam threw him a bone.

Trudy snorted, even after all this time she still saw Burgess as this wide eyed rookie who used to hang off her desk and complain constantly about god knows what. "Who's this? Should I know who this is?" She looked from Sam to Kim and back at Sam.

"This is Sam. Polly's boyfriend."

"Since when has Polly been allowed to date? Why did I not know this?" She eyed Sam suspiciously and turned back to Kim and spoke like he wasn't even there. "His background check was clear?" Sam did wonder if he should just back out of the kitchen and hide outside because the way this woman was checking him out made him nervous. Kim introduced him to Trudy Platt and it did little to make him want to stay. He had heard about this woman, Kim's old boss and how she still made Adam nervous.

"Since Sam was brave enough to actually come inside and not just honk his horn from the driveway." Adam came through the back door at precisely that moment. "And he keeps coming back."

"Right." Trudy held out her glass demanding that Adam fill it before she grabbed Sam by the arm and led him outside. "I need to chat to this Ben character."

"It's Sam." He offered weakly as he was led away. He shot a quick look at Adam who was laughing; he was going to get no help from him. Right now Polly's Dad was a walk in the park compared to this Trudy woman.

"Don't care. You may not be around long enough for me to remember your real name." She scoffed. "So Ben will do for now."

"Well that's a comforting thought." He mumbled under his breath. Trudy's lips twitched into something that almost resembled a smile. Oh she liked this boy; Adam Ruzek deserved someone who was just as belligerent as he was.

'Where's Sam?" Polly had run upstairs briefly and when she came back down both her parents were in the kitchen peering out the window.

"Trudy wanted a chat so they are outside." Adam pointed through the window.

"Why? Why would you let that happen?" Both of them laughed as she bolted from the house. They thought it was hysterical when Trudy held up her hand as soon as Polly's foot hit the back porch making Polly stop dead in her tracks. "I'll talk to you in a minute." She did not even bat an eyelid or take his eyes of Sam as she pointed at Polly.

Things didn't get much better for Sam and by the time he was introduced to Voight he had almost lost the will to live. He barely had the chance to talk to Polly and she just watched on helplessly as her family showed no mercy. He was grateful when the Nerf guns came out and he jumped at the chance to muck around with the boys and get away from the family interrogations.

Sam was pretty cute when he was carrying Jackson on his back and getting him to shoot at the other boys and he had Jackson squealing with joy because up until now he had been left out of the game being so little and everyone was worried he'd get hurt. Sam had taken it upon himself to help him join in the fun. He even held his own when suddenly it became adults against kids and he was obviously the main target. He rallied the troops for a full on frontal assault on the adults and while they focussed on Sam, the rest of his army ambushed Adam, Jay, Kevin and Antonio. The kids loved him and there was a lot of high fiving going on after they declared themselves the winners.

"Polly." He whispered when she sat on the arm of the chair he had collapsed in. "They are going to kill me eventually, aren't they?"

"They are not going to kill you."

"You sure? There is talk of paintballing."

They were certainly enjoying playing with Sam and as frustrated as Polly was she knew them well enough to know that if they didn't like him they wouldn't have bothered and the fact he wasn't backing down and crawling into his shell was impressing Adam the most. "You are not going paintballing with them."

"It didn't seem like it was a choice."

Al came and sat down beside them. He was the only one Sam hadn't had the pleasure of being interrogated by yet. He asked Polly to go grab him a beer and Sam let go of her hand, he had enjoyed the five minutes he got to talk to her. They'd had very little chance to even talk to each other.

"She's like my granddaughter." Al muttered, he wasn't even looking at Sam he was watching Polly. Since his retirement Al had become more of a hermit than ever before. He still happily came out when he was invited and loved these big family catch ups but he just didn't seek anyone out. Adam had a regular catch up with him and it was mutually beneficial for both of them and they had him and Voight over for dinner at least once a month. To this day Al was still his mentor, his sanity check and his sounding board.

"I really like her."

"So do I." Al was quiet and a lot less in his face than some of the others had been. Trudy had been the worst but the three cops; Jay, Kevin and Antonio were not that much better. They were almost like cats playing with a half dead mouse. "I talked to her Dad about you, quite a bit actually. He's very forthcoming with some information."

"I seem to be the hot topic of conversation today."

"Ah, everyone is just surprised that Polly has grown up all of a sudden. It wasn't that long ago that she was running around the bullpen with pigtails trying to get glittery stickers and candies from our desks."

"Polly still likes stealing candy."

"Typical bloody Ruzek." Al watched Polly as she made her way back towards them. "Ruzek thinks you are okay and that's good enough for me."

He patted Sam on the knee as Polly approached and handed Al his beer. "What did he tell you?"

"Al told me how you've always been a gummy bear thief." He reached up for Polly's hand and Al didn't miss the look they shared. They were cute together and this boy wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Now that he'd held his own against some pretty stiff opposition everyone eased up on Sam for the rest of the afternoon and evening and that allowed him to relax and start to enjoy himself. He'd been tortured enough for now but to give him credit he didn't take a backwards step. How quickly the tables turned though and suddenly he was being told all sorts of stories about what Polly used to get up too and she was the one that was cringing.

A Sunday afternoon spent alone together shortly after that day with Polly's family changed everything for them. They'd gone down to the beach near his parent's summerhouse. It wasn't exactly warm and the water was freezing but they spent a few hours mucking around with each other and Polly squealed when Sam picked her up and threatened to dump her in the water and giggled as he piggy backed her down the beach before heading back to the house to warm up. Sam lit the fire and they made hot chocolate and cuddled up and watched a movie. When Polly slipped a hand up under Sam's shirt he was a little surprised, Polly had never really made the first move.

Polly didn't look at him for a while and Sam just let her go but when she caught him staring at her and she pulled her hand away quickly and he smiled, sat up and took his shirt off and grabbed her hand and rested it back on his chest. He closed his eyes and waited and slowly she started moving her fingers. Her nervousness disappeared eventually. "I like your hands."

"You do?"

"I like them even better now they are touching me."

"It feels nice."

"Yes it does. I am not going to stop you anytime soon that's for sure."

Polly was now lying on her side, facing Sam. He rolled his head towards her and smiled before closing his eyes and letting Polly continue. "What's this scar from?"

"I had pneumonia when I was ten and had a collapsed lung so they put in a chest tube." She was running her fingers over a faint scar between two of his ribs.

"Did it hurt?"

"Don't remember the tube, but the pneumonia was pretty shitty. I think I missed more than a month of school." He was surprised when she leant forward and kissed his scar, it was a pretty sweet moment and surprisingly sexy.

"You got any scars you want me to kiss?"

"No." She blushed and looked away shyly.

"You are lying."

"How can you tell?"

Sam propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at Polly and touched her cheek lightly. "Because you are blushing and it's very cute."

"I got bitten, by this little kid in Day Care. Apparently Dad flipped out completely and ordered every test under the sun, there may even have been talk of charges being laid. Apparently over reacting has always been his thing and Mom seriously considered not sending me anymore because she was so embarrassed. I think I was three."

"I am not looking forward to your Dad's over-reaction."

"To what?"

"To this." He closed the distance between them and kissed her hard. Running his hands down her back he pulled her hips in close to his and made sure she was aware of precisely the effect she was having on him. He let her go just as quickly.

"Oh, okay."

"Show me your scar?" He asked quietly; it was almost a little desperately. She was seriously pushing him to the edge even if she didn't know it.

When Polly showed no signs of even pointing it out to him Sam grabbed one arm and then the other and held them above her head. "Show me?" he teased her playfully.

"No."

"Ah, come on Babe. Show me." He begged and she eventually relented and told him if he wanted to see it he had to let her go. Polly rolled over on her back and unbuttoned her jeans and pulled it down over one hip while she lifted her shirt a little. Sam's eyes widened with delight. "It's on my hip."

Sam laughed as he ran his fingers over her skin until they stopped on the faintest of scars. "Is that it?" It wasn't the fact he was touching her skin it was the location that set Polly's heart racing and then when he slowly lowered his mouth of kissed her bare hip she thought it was going to stop altogether.

"That's it."

"It's cute. I can't believe someone bit my baby." He kissed it again and then nipped her skin lightly making her gasp and jump a little.

Polly's eyes fluttered closed and then she pulled her jeans back over her hip letting Sam know he'd gone as low as he was going to go but she did let him push her shirt up and kiss the skin on her belly. "Can I take this off?" He muttered, his breath tickling her skin.

"Yes." And Polly tried to relax as he slowly unbuttoned her shirt and pushed it off her shoulders. The feeling of his hands and mouth against her skin was intoxicating and she could see how it would be easy to get carried away and when he rolled over and pressed her body into the ground with his it was almost game over. He was gently nudging her forward, pushing her a little more each time but as soon as he felt any kind of resistance he stopped.

This particular afternoon it left them both breathless, it wasn't just hands touching bare skin, it was bodies pressed together creating heat and friction that was pushing them forward relentlessly. Suddenly Sam sat up and handed Polly her shirt. "You should put this back on."

"Why?"

"Because Polly, look at me." He nodded towards his groin, not that he needed to point that out, she'd certainly felt it. "I need to stop because you are not ready for this."

"How do you know?"

"Because you are scared to touch me." She grabbed the shirt and pulled it on. Both of them felt a little disappointed at the abrupt end to their make out session but it was for the best. Polly wasn't ready, Sam wanted her to be but as much as he could have ignored her feelings and pushed her harder he wasn't that guy.

"I want to be." She added a little quietly, dropping her head so that he couldn't see her face.

Sam leant forward, hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head so that he could see her. He rubbed his thumb across her cheek before kissing her softly. "One day Polly, it's okay. I can wait."

"How long?" Despite how well they were getting on and how close they were getting Polly still worried about what Abbey had said that day, that eventually he would move on if she didn't give him what he wanted.

"Until you are ready." He pressed his forehead against hers. "Don't worry."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not. Today was perfect." And it had been, it took Polly a little while to relax around him stop feeling embarrassed but by the time they drove home he was making her laugh again. Polly knew where they were heading and she was starting to feel like it was going to happen sooner rather than later and Sam had realised he was in far too deep now to walk away.

They didn't see what was ahead though; nobody saw it coming.