I am so hugely sorry for how long it took me to update this I got super distracted writing Sandle stuff!

But I felt like I should finish this off and I'm super sorry if it doesn't make sense because it's been so long since you read it!

But here it is the last chapter of Spilt Liquor

Spilt Liquor: Chapter 12

"So where's your car Mr. Cooper?" Flack asked cutting to the chase, not wasting any time.

"I don't know..." he responded, glancing at Danny who was standing with his back leaning against the wall his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Danny said sharply.

"I sold it...some guy...asked me if I was looking to sell...offered me a good price...so I thought what the heck. It was a rusted tin can on wheels." He shrugged.

"Who did you sell it to?" Flack asked him.

"I didn't ask. He didn't tell. Tall feller...not from around here..."

They sent a sketch artist in, and eventually an image appeared of the man, that would a vital suspect. Danny ran it through cotis.

He rushed to see Mac, finally finding him in his office.

"You gotta see this boss." He handed Mac the bit of paper waiting for a reaction.

xxx

The car was left abandoned by the side of the road. They all pulled out their guns ready to pull open the doors but before this could happen a man stepped out holding his hands behind his head.

They all stopped looking at each other with a look that suggested understanding and shock.

xxx

The man they had arrested sat in the interrogation room staring at the floor not looking anyone in the eye.

"So Mr. Ross, do you want to tell us what happened or would you like us to tell you?" Danny said sitting himself down in front of him.

"I raped and killed Kezia Turner." He stated in a dull emotionless tone.

Danny was shocked that the man in front of them was Adam's father. He was shocked that someone who seemed to show no remorse could for ending the life of an innocent young woman could be the father of one of the nicest guys he'd ever met.

"Why?" he asked in baffled tone, Danny glanced over his shoulder at Flack who was standing leaning against the wall with a disgusted look on his face.

"The bitch ran away. I told her not to." The heartless man in front of them shrugged.

From the other side of the glass Adam felt every muscle in his body tense, as he froze up. Wide eyed he seemed to regress back to childhood in that moment. It was almost as if the glass between him and the interrogation room wasn't even there. The air seemed to have disappeared and he was suffocating, heat began rising inside his body leaving him feeling dizzy.

Stella watched not knowing what to do, words were caught up in her throat. He silently moved past her.

"Adam." Stella said trying to bring Adam back from the memories that he'd lost himself in but he seemed not to register what she had said he disappeared into the men's bathroom.

Adam looked at himself in the mirror. The features, the person in front of him didn't register, the image he was seeing didn't feel like his own. It was as if there was something moving beneath his skin, clawing to be let out. Water dripped from his face carrying away his heat and hitting the ceramic of the sink silently.

Catching his breath he walked back outside in time to see his father being escorted out.

The past few days were heavy on his shoulders, he just wanted to close his eyes and wake up to find this was all a dream. He wanted to be able to go to sleep and wake up to find that none of this had happened, the way all of the books he read as a child ended.

But he knew that was not going to happen.

"Hey...I'll buy you a drink." Stella said to Adam taking him by the arm.

xxx

Adam didn't want a drink. He didn't want anything. But there they were sitting in a bar drinking beers.

"I think you've had enough. Come on let's get out of here." Stella smiled at Adam as he sat in a daze. They walked outside but still Adam said nothing.

"You can stay at mine." Stella offered as Adam's place was still taped up.

"Thanks." Adam smiled at her in a forced way.

"What is it? Go on spit it out?" Stella said bluntly not thinking any more ways of being able to coax Adam into opening up.

"Sometimes...sometimes I'm scared...that I'm going to be like him." Adam stopped and under a flood of a street light. Stella followed suit and turned to face him.

She took Adams hands in her own and smiled at him in a way that he had never seen before.

"That will never happen. You're an amazing person Adam. You more of a man than he ever could be."

Stella couldn't help herself she placed a kiss on Adam's lips. The people around them seemed to slow as they lost themselves in the moment. Adam pulled Stella into his arms letting her warmth, and her words be the feeling of home.

A feeling that he had never had.

A feeling that he had spent all of these years needing.

But here he was.

New York. With a family. With a home.

The End