"How's Burgess? She ready to come back?" Atwater slid a beer in front of his buddy. Molly's had a slight buzz about it, a low hum that was familiar and comforting. At lot had changed around them all lately but this place remained the same.

"Ask her yourself." Ruzek nodded towards the door as Kim weaved her way through the crowd. He took a long pull on his beer and it felt like heaven as it slid down his throat. Today had been torture, pure and simple. He'd been in shitty situations, filthy rat infested drug dens that smelt like piss and shit but today he actually would have preferred that.

He was worried that he'd stuffed things up and replayed it all in his head a hundred times.

Atwater swung around and his face lit up like Christmas. "Burgess." He held out his arms and Kim was happy to feel them wrap around her and almost squeeze the life out of her. It didn't help that he was a little buzzed and when he was sometimes he forgot this own strength. "My favourite partner ever." Kev drawled.

"Hey. Do you mind?" Adam tried to sound hurt. "My feelings man. I've had a rough day."

"Ha, she's prettier to look at all day than you."

"True that." Adam muttered as a smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"Kev." Kim leant back and looked up at her friend. "Are you a little drunk?"

Kev frowned and then pinched two fingers together. "Perhaps a little bit. I was left to my own devices too long. I thought I was stood up."

"By who?"

"That Lug." He pointed his beer in Adam's direction. "He was on some date apparently." Kevin raised both eyebrows, hoping for some kind of answer or acknowledgement that they'd been together.

"So I heard. I also heard it didn't go as planned. Is he still whining?"

"You'd be whining too. I can tell you Kev, it was the worst and I mean the worst." Adam shuddered dramatically. "Can we not talk about it?"

"Man you are such a grumpy old man some days. O has rubbed off on you."

"And I want to drink to forget." He held up his empty bottle. "My buy." Jumping up from his stool he rested one hand lightly on Kim's back as he asked her what she wanted. His hand twitched a little, he couldn't help it nor did he want to stop it because he loved the bolt of electricity that shot up his arm.

"How's Zo?" Adam handed her the wine that she ordered and slid into the stool beside her. He was glad she was here; it was really the only reason he came. If Kim had called him to say she was staying home he would have blown Kev off. Not that he didn't want to have a drink with Kev but after today the one person he needed to see was now sitting right beside him.

"Better. Still a little mortified and she has decided that life is not fair."

"Ha, she's right."

Kim rubbed his thigh lightly under the table. "You did good. You know that right."

"I never want to talk about it again. Okay?"

The day had started out great but he should have known, his training should have prepared him for the fact the things can turn to shit in the blink of an eye.

"Adam." Zoe squealed. "Hurry Up, we are going to miss it."

"Zo Zo, we've got heaps of time." He looked at his watch and grimaced. "Or not."

"I told you we were going to be late." She tugged on his hand and dragged him along until they started running through the parking lot towards the cinema. They were going to see a Despicable Me 3, Zoe liked to think of it as a date and Adam was happy to run with it.

"You were the one who needed a last minute change." Adam had rolled his eyes when Zoe decided at the last minute that she couldn't wear her blue shirt because Adam was in blue and it looked 'creepy' if they were dressed the same. Nicole had just laughed and thanked Adam again for taking her out for the day. They were trying to rebuild Zoe's trust in men and show her that there were good men in the world and as Kim had told her, Adam was one of the good ones. It also gave Nicole and Kim the opportunity to look at a few places that Nicole was hoping to rent closer to Kim before they were meeting up with her ex and the lawyers for some mediation. This was the first time Zoe had been out alone with Adam, so it was a big deal for Zoe and she was beyond excited. For Nicole it was also a huge step, letting Zoe have any kind of freedom was hard but Zoe loved Adam and he had done nothing to make Nicole feel wary, it was time to loosen her grip a little. It was kind of a big deal for Kim too.

"And you drove like an old woman."

"I did not." He nudged her playfully.

They loaded up on popcorn, sodas and candy and their butts hit the seat just as the opening credits started. "See perfect timing." Adam whispered in her ear and he didn't see the exaggerated eye roll in the dark cinema, nor did he see the little blush. Zoe had a bit of a crush on him. Kim and Nicole had teased him about it because he was completely oblivious to it.

"I like girls' crushing on me. It's good for my ego." He shot back at them.

"Guess that explains the ego the size of Texas right now." Kim patted his cheek lightly and grinned. Nicole smiled; she loved seeing how happy her sister was right now. They had some dark times, some really heavy moments when Nicole struggled to see beyond her next breath but Adam had bought a lot of light into the house. He made Kim happy and he had Zoe at his beck and call and hanging off his every word. Their dance challenges on the PlayStation Adam had set up was a sight to behold.

Adam let his mind drift a little. They had ordered lunch and Zoe had then disappeared to the bathroom. They'd had fun so far, the movie wasn't the greatest but he'd enjoyed spending time with Zoe. She was a tough kid, she'd had to be going through a liver transplant, which she was reminded of everyday with the big scar and truckload of medications she took but she handled it like a trooper and was almost proud of her scar. And now she was lumbered with her parents nasty divorce and her mother's horrendous attack and still she kept on shining.

Finally he felt like he was getting his life back on track. He'd had dreams, being a Dad was one of them but for a while he couldn't see how that was ever going to happen now. At this precise point in time he couldn't put his hand on his heart and say it was all sorted and he was completely happy but he was closer than he had been in a long, long time.

The food appeared and Zoe still wasn't back. How long did girls take in the bathroom? The diner was pretty busy so he assumed it might take a little longer but not this long. He had no idea how to handle it, he'd never thought about things like this, obviously if she was a boy he could just go check it out but he could hardly go barrelling into the ladies room calling out for her. He was just about to call over the waitress and ask her to go check if she was okay when he saw her coming back and noticed that all the bounce had gone out of her step.

A ripple of panic trickled through him when she asked if they could go. "What happened Zo? Are you okay?"

"I feel sick."

"Have you been sick?" He felt her forehead, he had no idea why but he'd seen Nicole do it when Zoe had told her that she didn't feel well. He assumed he was feeling for a fever but she felt fine.

"No." She burst into tears and that ripple of panic Adam felt turned into a torrent. "I'm bleeding." She stuttered.

"What? Where? Did someone hurt you?" His eyes darted around the diner and he could suddenly feel his pulse pounding in his ears. He leapt up and tried to check Zoe over and he couldn't see any injuries. She baulked a little when he reached out to grab her hands when he noticed her starting to shake. It was as much to steady his nerves as it was to help Zoe.

"No, Adam. Can we go, please?" she begged.

"Zo…"

"I want my Mom." She buried her head in her hands. "Please."

"Okay. Okay." He threw some bills on the table to cover the tab and followed Zoe as she bolted out to the car. "Zoe, you are freaking me out a little."

"It's like down there." Adam was momentarily confused and then it suddenly clicked. Fuck.

"Oh." The look of absolute horror on Zoe's face freaked Adam out and he closed his eyes and tried to breathe. Zoe wanted her Mom but not as much as he did right now; he wanted Nicole, Kim or anyone really. He was so far out of his comfort zone it wasn't funny.

He tried calling Kim but her phone was off and didn't want to leave a message that would panic them, they had enough on their plate today as it was. "Okay, it's you and me."

"Adam. I don't know what to do."

"You talked to your Mom about this right? Or had some classes at school?"

"Sure."

"What did she say?"

"I don't remember." She did remember because it sounded horrible but the thought of talking to Adam about it was a bridge too far. She didn't even like talking to her Mom about it and would do anything to avoid it. This was mortifying and embarrassing and Adam was never going to want to look at her again. Why now? Why today?

"We need to get you some things. We'll stop at a pharmacy, maybe they can help?"

"No, can we just go home?"

"We can, but we need to stop first. You can stay in the car if you like." He couldn't imagine how distressing this must be for Zoe and he suddenly decided that if he were ever lucky enough to have children boys would suit him just fine. He squeezed her hand lightly and promised to be quick as he jumped out of his truck.

Now he found himself in front of a row of every goddamn sanitary item known to man and there were rows and rows of them. He had paid zero attention to it in the past. Kim had sent him shopping on a few occasions but had always sent him a photo of what to get and he'd grab it and go and not even look back. Some things he was happy to remain oblivious too. He wracked his brain and reached for his phone.

"What is it Ruzek?" Platt barked at him.

"Ah, Trudy I need help." She was the only female he could think of that could help him right now and he also knew that Zoe was comfortable with Trudy after she stayed with her when Nicole was first in hospital and Kim had taken the drugs at the undercover sting.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Adam suddenly felt a little defensive. "Anyway, I am in a pharmacy."

"If you are going to ask me whether you need small, medium or large I don't think you'll like my answer."

"Hilarious." It was hardly the time for jokes. "No, what do I get for a twelve year old who just got her first period?"

"Ruzek, what?"

He exhaled slowly. "I am with Zoe, Nicole and Kim are at the lawyers doing mediation and ah Zoe has just started…" he let his voice tail off. He had a lot of words and comments about it all when he talked to Kim about it usually when he was complaining that it was getting in the way of him 'feeling the love', none of them seemed appropriate right now. Kim would constantly roll her eyes at him when he did everything possible to avoid using the actual words. For some stupid reason he hated actually saying the word period, it made his skin crawl. This, right now was his worst nightmare. Platt was going to get off on this, she'd be dining out on it for years, he had a distraught teenager in his car and he actually felt like he was going to vomit.

"Oh, okay. Poor girl."

"Poor girl? What about me? I am freaking out?"

"Suck it up princess." She told him exactly what he needed to get and he felt he was spending far too much time peering at every single packet and starting to get funny looks from other shoppers so she grabbed pretty much one of everything and hightailed it out of there, not before grabbing a handful of chocolate bars at the checkout on the way through.

Trudy was waiting for them when they got home and it mortified Zoe even more. It was bad enough that Adam knew about it, now Trudy did too. Everyone was going to know and despite her mother telling her that every single woman in the world dealt with this it did not make her feel any better. "You told her?" she shrieked at Adam when they pulled up.

"I had to Zo, I have no idea what to do. I tried to call Kim. You like Trudy and you know, she knows about this stuff." Trudy helped her out of his truck and took her straight inside and upstairs. Platt may have been a hard assed bitch to him most of the time but deep down she had a heart of gold and in lieu of anyone else being available she was the perfect person to help Zoe right now.

By the time Kim got home things were about as normal as they could be.

They'd feasted. The remnants of bowls of ice cream, candy and a 'wicked hot chocolate' lay scattered around them on the table and Adam was painfully enduring Pitch Perfect. Adam had declared, once Trudy had left that this called for an "afternoon on the couch, watching a crappy movie and eating shit food."

"Can we watch anything?"

"Absolutely. It's your choice Zo Zo." He did talk her out of High School Musical but failed in his attempts to circumnavigate Pitch Perfect. Despite Zoe jumping up and going to the bathroom, which Adam knew was completely unnecessary every half hour she eventually fell asleep with her feet in Adam's lap. He'd only once mentioned that she didn't need to worry so much and the look Zoe gave him made his toes curl slightly.

He rolled his head back to look at Kim when she came in. "Hey." He moved Zoe's feet carefully and grabbed Kim's arm and literally dragged her into the kitchen and when Kim moved in for a kiss he pecked her quickly on the lips, which made her even more suspicious. He was acting weird.

"What's up?

"Where's Nicole?"

"Gone shopping for some stuff for dinner. She's having a few friends over tonight."

"Oh okay." He was hopping from foot to foot. "Kim, we had a bit of an incident."

"Adam…." This wasn't supposed to happen. Nicole would never trust him again if Zoe were hurt or frightened. "What did you do?"

"Why does everyone automatically think I did something?" He grumbled, shooting Kim a withering look. "Take a look at the table." He waved his hands wildly at the lounge room. "Ice-cream, a shit ton of chocolate and a very crappy movie."

"So?"

"Kim. I seem to recall you do that when you get your, you know… period." He almost choked on the word.

Kim pressed her hands to her cheeks. "Nooooo."

"Oh yes." He nodded. "Yes Indeed."

"How horrible for Zoe. She must be devastated."

"Why is everyone worried about Zoe and not me?" Adam whined.

"You're a big boy." Kim ran her hand up his arm. "What did you do?"

"Freaked out obviously. I tried to call you but your phone was off so I called Trudy. She came over and sorted it out." Adam was still waving his arms around. "And I may have bought the entire store out of things."

"That I can imagine." Kim stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. It was soft and sweet and seemed to calm him down a little. "I'm going to check on Zoe."

"I'm going take off." Adam grabbed his wallet and keys off the bench. "I need to go do something manly."

"Manly?" Kim was highly amused. He leant in for another kiss and scoffed as she kept laughing at him.

"You coming to Molly's later? Atwater has been at me all day." Kim nodded and gave him a quick hug. Before he left he squatted down beside Zoe and woke her up when he kissed her temple.

"Hey Zo, Kim's here. I am going to take off. You are a star; you are my star. Thanks for the date." He could see the tears starting to form in her eyes and hightailed it out of there before anyone had the chance to blink.

Kim dropped down on the couch and rubbed Zoe's leg. It was not like she had given any thought to how she would deal with this either. The thought had never crossed her mind, this was Nicole's issue and they never really even talked about their own periods, it was just something you got on with. Kim tried to remember back to when she first started and it was much later than twelve that's for sure. "How are you?"

"Okay. Where's Mom?"

"Just at the store, she'll be home soon."

"Adam won't want to talk to me now." Zoe buried her head in the cushion.

"Of course he will. He still talks to your mom and me and we go through this too. Believe me he's okay with this. Its just life." Kim pulled her into her arms and they sat and cuddled on the couch until Nicole got home and let her mother take over. Zoe had burst into tears when she saw her Mom causing her to panic until Kim pulled her aside and told her what had gone on.

Nicole came and sat on the edge of Kim's bed and watched her as she got dressed to go out. Kim had offered to stay but Nicole was adamant that she head out and enjoy herself. "Zoe said Adam was really good."

Km peered in the mirror and put on her earrings and stood back, looked at them and changed her mind. She rifled through her earring box until she found another pair. "I think he's got at little PTSD."

"Can you thank him for me?"

"And pay him back for the hundred of dollars of stuff he bought?"

"How cute would he have been doing that?" The more time she spent around Adam the more she liked him. She actually couldn't figure out why her sister ever thought it was a good idea to pass him up. If she was single, not recently abused and on the market Adam would be lucky to get out alive, and if he wasn't madly in love with her sister of course. Her daughter wasn't the only one crushing on him; all three women in this house carried a little torch for him. Kim's was just a full on flamethrower.

"Can I buy you dinner?" Adam played with her fingers as they rested on his thigh. "I figure you are broke?"

"Ha, I had some unexpected expenses today."

"The maternity pads were a nice touch." Kim teased him, she knew he still wasn't comfortable and the way he kept looking at her it was cute. He was begging her to stop.

"I panicked, people where staring at me and I was spending far too much time in that aisle."

"Nicole wants me to thank you. So let me buy you dinner?"

"Nicole owes me, big time." He stared straight at her and he didn't bother to hide the look of desperate need as his lips twitched into the smallest of smiles. "And yes, you can buy me dinner." The smile turned to a grimace as her hand crept higher and higher. "Or you can come back to my place and cook me dinner."

"I'd like that."

"Just one question?"

Kim knew what was coming, she could tell by the look on his face "No." Kim dug her fingers into his inner thigh and nudged his shoulder with hers but it was her smile that lit up the room and that alone made his heart race.

A/N: I banged this out in a hurry so forgive me if it is a bit rough, but I had an idea and ran with it. I usually don't post a chapter until I have agonised over it for weeks but this one I wrote last night. It came from a chat I had with someone about awkward conversations and I tried to imagine how terrible Adam would be at them. Also I know I completely ignored the end of the last chapter...annoying right?