The patrol officer looked at the ID they had just found on the kid and showed it at his partner. "You think?"
"I hope not." He took another look at the ID and groaned. "I so don't want to make this call."
They been called to an out of control party, along with several other cars and unfortunately for them they had been lumbered with the passed out drunk kid who proceeded to start vomiting the moment they tried to get him up. They'd called an Ambo and helped load him into the back before deciding what to do. They certainly could charge the kid but neither of them wanted to deal with the fallout from that. It seemed like it could be a career-limiting move.
"You're the senior officer, I am not making that call." The rookie patrolman threw his hands up and walked away. He didn't know much but he knew that was a potentially bad for his health to agree to handle it.
Adam looked at the phone, the last thing he needed was to be called into work and lately his phone ringing at all hours set his teeth on edge. "Ruzek."
"Detective Ruzek. It's Ryan Matthews from the 31st." He frowned a little, he knew Ryan from his time at the 21st and they occasionally bumped each other at a crime scene and had shared the odd beer at a social function but they were hardly what you would call friends, so he knew this wasn't a friendly chat. He also would have been surprised if Halstead had called him in at the moment, unless it was a big case because of the drama he had going on at home. He knew Adam didn't want to be too far away from his family right now and everyone else in Intelligence was willing to pull a bit of extra weight until things evened out.
"Hey Ryan. You need me to come in?"
"Ah, nah man we just picked up your boy, Angus." Adam's stomach fell through the floor.
"Tell me he's ok?"
"He's ok but we've sent him to Med. He's drunk man, like passed out vomiting drunk."
"Fuck." This they did not need. He had a barely functioning daughter and a wife who was out of her mind with worry. Angus had just picked the worst possible time to fuck up royally.
Polly had gone over to see Abbey's mom the day after the Abbey died and it hadn't gone well. Adam and Sam had taken her; she had nagged them constantly to let her go. Sam hadn't really left her side since the previous day and it was sweet to see how caring he was. He kept asking Kim and Adam what he should be doing to help Polly, like they had any idea. They were all on this rollercoaster together and nobody knew what was around the bend, they just strapped themselves in and tried to survive the ride.
One thing they did wish was that they'd never taken Polly over to Abbey's house but she was desperate to go. Janice was out of her mind with grief. "It's your fault." She screamed at Polly. "This is all your fault. Why didn't you know? Why didn't you stop her?"
Adam had gone outside to talk to Abbey's uncle, Janice was still a little pissed off with him and through it all they had kept their distance from each other and Adam had mainly dealt with Murray. Even the few times Kim reached out to her she liked to remind her how much Adam had been mean to her, she needed to take her anger out on someone, Simon wasn't within her reach anymore so Adam and her ex-husband copped the lot. Joe wanted to know what was happening with Simon, not that Adam could tell him much more. He didn't know whether he had been told about Abbey's Suicide and had no interest in finding out. He did know that he was not having the easiest to times in prison but decided to keep that to himself. Sometimes it was better that the public just didn't know what really went on inside the fence. Needless to say, Simon was certainly paying for his crime. Gen Pop was not the place for guys who raped teenage girls and funnily enough Gen Pop was where he ended up.
The yelling from inside bought them both running and he found Sam holding Janice back as she was screaming at Polly who was just about catatonic. Polly was holding her face where Janice had slapped her and that had sent Sam off the deep end. "Don't you dare touch Polly." He'd yelled as he grabbed the grieving woman and pulled her away from his girlfriend. "Don't you hurt her."
Joe pulled Janice away from Sam while Adam's focus was on Polly. "What the hell happened?" He looked from Polly back to Sam and Janice.
"She hit Polly." Sam was beside himself and Adam was a little stunned by his reaction. Polly was motionless, her hand was still on her face but she was starting to shake in Adam's arms. He reached out and tried to grab Sam's arm but he shrugged off Adam's hand angrily. "No." He snapped when Adam asked him to step away. Adam needed to be a cop for a moment and try to get the situation back under control and the one person he needed to control first was Sam and he was having none of it. Sam didn't care what Janice was dealing with, she hit Polly and nobody laid on hand on his girlfriend.
"Sam" he grabbed his arm again and Sam actually looked at him and Adam could see the anger and fear in his eyes, he was seriously struggling to control himself. "Get out now and take Polly with you." It was his cop voice that finally got through to him and he literally shoved Polly into his arms and pushed them both towards the door. Sam sat her down on the front porch and crouched in front of her, touching her face lightly. "Polly, Baby. Are you hurt?" She shook her head and looked at Sam and wondered where she was and then it hit her like a tonne of bricks. Sam caught her as she dissolved into a flood of tears.
"What the hell?" Adam turned back to face Janice as brother was still holding her back.
"She knew." Janice was now screaming at Adam. "She had to know. Was she too busy fucking around with her boyfriend to care anymore? She knew. Abbey told her. This is her fault; this is on your head. You pushed and pushed and you ruined her life."
"Janice, Polly didn't know. Abbey didn't tell anyone this time." This was blowing up in their faces and he doubted that Polly was strong enough to deal with it. She didn't need the guilt trip, she was blaming herself today as it was and nothing they said seemed to be getting through to her. Now to have Janice laying this all at her feet was the last thing anyone needed.
"Why not?"
"Because she didn't want anyone to save her." Despite trying to stay calm he struggled. "It's not Polly's fault. You want to blame someone blame the man who repeatedly raped your daughter, the man you bought into her house." He probably shouldn't have said what he did but sometimes the truth was just ugly.
"I don't want her here, I don't want you here. I hate you, I hate your daughter."
"Okay. Okay." Adam was doing his best to maintain some control. "We'll go. But Janice, Polly loved Abbey and you know she would have done anything for her, anything at all. We all would have. We are all sorry about Abbey and we'll miss her so much, she was part of our family too. She was a beautiful girl." There was nothing else he could say. Janice would calm down eventually, grief made you say and do terrible things to people, particularly those closest to you. That wasn't his biggest concern though; his biggest worry was the girl he'd bought into the world. He didn't know how much more she could take. This was a brutal world she was seeing and it was breaking his heart.
They were still sitting on the front porch when Adam came out. He helped get Polly up. "I didn't know Dad, I didn't know." She just kept repeating desperately.
"We know Polly, we know. You would have done anything for Abbey."
"I want to show Janice the messages." She tried to push her Dad away and turn back to the house.
Both Adam and Sam held onto her. "No Sweet Pea, we need to leave Janice alone for a while."
"I want her to know that I didn't know." It wasn't a pleasant trip home. Polly was devastated and Sam was struggling to cope. Adam needed to get him away from her for a few minutes and make him catch his breath. He seemed so angry and obviously seeing Polly so upset was fuelling his anger.
Kim took Polly inside when they got home and Adam waved her away when she tried to ask what was going on. "Take Polly inside, I'll be in in a minute."
Sam was pacing back and forth with his hands clenched tightly on top of his head. "She hit Polly."
"I know she did, and that's not right but man grief makes you do strange things. You saw Polly yesterday going wild. They are just trying to deal with it and they both lashed out." He rested his hands on Sam's chest, trying to break his tension.
"I didn't like it, no one touches Polly."
"Sam, buddy it's okay. I love that you want to protect her and I am glad you were there but don't make it a bigger deal than it is. Okay?" The kid would have no idea how happy it made Adam to see him protecting his daughter. He couldn't ask for more in a boyfriend, he loved that Sam seemed to be as fiercely protective of Polly as he was.
"It is a big deal, she hurt Polly. I don't like seeing her hurt. I hate this, I hate all this, its fucked." He shook his hands roughly trying to stop himself from letting out the tears he was desperately trying to hide. He didn't want to cry in front of her father, he had to be stronger than that.
"I hate it too, trust me. And if this were any other situation I would be right behind you in defending Polly but let's just take a breath and calm down a little. I need you to calm down." Adam hugged the poor kid; something he thought a few short months ago was never going to happen. "Just keep looking out for her okay? I trust you to look after her. You are doing great Kid." He wasn't sure if Sam would ever understand what it meant to be called 'Kid' by Adam and he doubted he would ever explain it to him. Al called him Kid, and to this day it meant the world to Adam.
Once Adam was sure that he had calmed down he let him go back inside and all he wanted to do was see Polly. Kim jumped up and let him take her place on the couch and when Polly saw him she burst into tears again and buried her head into his chest as he wrapped her up in his arms. "I love you so much Polly." He whispered over and over again. "Don't push me away." He begged. He was just as worried as Adam was that they were going to be on the outer again.
"I won't. You have to stay here." It was breaking Kim and Adam's heart listening to them. "You can't leave me. I don't want you to go." They guessed he was spending another night. Last time she pushed everyone away and this time she was clinging to Sam and wasn't letting him go.
Adam had never told Kim about Angus's concern that Polly was going to hurt herself because out of all this he thought that would push Kim over the edge and he'd made the decision to keep his word to his son. Now part of him wished he had because deep down he knew this was behind whatever led Angus into this mess he'd got himself into. He was so not looking forward to going upstairs to tell her he was going to Med to pick up their blind drunk fourteen-year-old son.
"Thanks Ryan, anything else I should know. No charges?"
"Nah, he's good. We just got him out of there."
"I owe you one." He hung up and threw his phone on the table in frustration.
Adam contemplated not telling Kim but that was never going to work and he would never survive her reaction if he just left and came home with a drunk son so he bit the bullet and sat on the edge of the bed and brushed her hair back over her shoulder. "Hey Darlin'."
"Do you have to go to work?" Kim opened her eyes and saw him with this jacket in his hand. Lately she found it harder to say goodbye to him late at night or early in the morning, she had come to rely on him being around maybe a little too much. If Polly had relied on Sam the last few days, Adam and Kim had clung to each other as well.
"No. I need to go to Med. Ryan Matthews just called. Angus seems to have got himself a little drunk."
"What? Adam, what?" she sat bolt upright.
"Angus is drunk, like really drunk apparently and Matthews organised an Ambo to take him to Med. I'm going to go."
Kim started climbing out of bed. "I'm coming with you."
He tried to hold her back but it was pointless. "I'll go and call you as soon as I see him." Kim was having none of it though. "Someone needs to stay here in case Polly needs us."
"Sam's here, he'll look after her."
Eventually Adam relented because Kim was determined to come, he couldn't keep her away from Angus and he could go and send her a million photos but until she saw him with her own eyes she would never rest. He crept into Polly's room, trying not to freak out at the sight of her in bed with her boyfriend and quietly woke Sam, who looked terrified to see Adam hovering over him. "Kim and I have to go pick up Angus, he's drunk. Look after Pol and call me if you need us."
It was the third night Sam had stayed; it wasn't always the plan. He was going to only stay that first night, Adam had made that decision on the spot and then the blow up with Janice happened and Polly refused to let go of him. It was decided that he could stay the weekend to make sure Polly was back on her feet a little more. Adam wasn't thrilled with the arrangement and Sam's parents had some concerns but they all decided what was best for Polly trumped all else at this stage. As long as he realised that this wasn't an open invitation to basically move in to his daughter's bedroom permanently and he couldn't come and go as he pleased.
"I am going to have his fucking guts for garters." Adam roared as they drove to the hospital. Kim was a sobbing mess beside him and despite his best attempts to comfort her he couldn't. Nothing he could do or say made one iota of difference and that pissed him off even more. "What the fuck was he thinking?"
"Adam."
"What? What Kim?" he knew she shouldn't be taking it out on her but he needed to vent now otherwise some poor helpless nurse or doctor was about to cop both of Adam Ruzek's barrels. "Our fourteen year old son is in hospital with probable alcohol poisoning. Right now, at this very point in time we don't need this. Did we run over a fucking black cat or something?"
"I don't know."
"I mean. Come on. Angus knows better than this. With all this shit with Polly I can't deal with this as well." While Adam was busy worrying about everyone else Kim was starting to see signs that Adam was close to falling off the edge. He'd taken such a heavy burden on his shoulders throughout the whole saga. Lately, the last few days he'd been on the phone constantly to Abbey's father who wasn't coping and reached out to Adam for help. While he was more than happy to assist it was starting to take its toll. Angus doing this was not ideal, not by a long shot and may finally be the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Maybe we've neglected him?"
"No, you are not blaming this on us. We didn't pour it down his throat. Angus knows precisely how we feel about underage drinking, he's god damn lucky he's not in lock up." Kim did note that Adam was spitting out his full name, usually he always called him Gus except when he was really angry with him and right now Adam was furious.
They knew they shouldn't be fighting, but nobody really understood the stress they were under and they tried to shoulder the burden alone and show their children that they were strong for them and it was taking it's toll. "Because it's so much better to be in hospital." Kim barked back at him.
"At least they can fix him so I can kill him."
When Kim burst into tears again he regretted it instantly. "No Adam, please don't say that."
"Sorry." He reached out and pulled her close, tucking her head onto his shoulder. "I'm sorry Baby. I am so disappointed in him though and I hate being disappointed."
Adam seemed a bit surprised when Kim reached for his hand as they headed into the hospital. He was so tense and it took a moment for him to relax but eventually Kim felt his fingers go slack as they curled around hers. "Angus Ruzek." The poor woman at the admit desk copped his foul mood smack in the face.
"And you are?" She checked her screen.
"His parents." He hissed. When she told them that she'd run out of visitor passes and would need to get some more it pissed Adam off even more so he grabbed his badge and literally shoved it in her face "There's my god damn visitors badge."
Kim burst into tears when she saw him. He had nasal prongs on to give him oxygen and he was hooked up to an IV. It was obvious he'd been vomiting and he wasn't awake although they assured him he was just 'sleeping' and not in any immediate danger. He was just going to have the mother of all hangovers. The IV would rehydrate him, which would help with the hangover. Adam did mumble something about taking it out and letting him suffer but Kim's sharp look made him shut his mouth.
"How long?"
"A couple of hours and you can take him home. He needs to be much more alert and certainly needs to stop vomiting before he can go. The biggest risk to him right now is aspirating on his vomit, hence he needs to stay on his side." They had shoved a huge wedge behind his back to stop him rolling over.
"What was his BAC?" Adam was starting to feel a little saner now that he'd laid eyes on him. Kim was basically just staring at him, brushing the hair back from his forehead and whispering to him that she was there. She wasn't even listening to the Doctor talking to Adam.
"It seemed to peak at 0.19."
"Holy fuck. What'd he drink?"
"We are not sure, he came in alone. I understand from a party the cops were called to, they sent him in."
"Yeah, they called me. We are both CPD too." Adam shoved his hands in his pockets as he noticed them starting to shake a little now that the shock was replacing the anger. "Anything long term we need to worry about?"
"Highly unlikely but I am tipping it might be the last time he does this for a while."
"Well considering he'll be locked in the house for months, maybe years you can bet on that." Angus had basically blown his chance at being allowed to go to parties for the foreseeable future. Or have a life for that matter.
He stood by his bed for a bit, rubbing his leg but not speaking. He was watching Kim who was not taking her eyes off her son and something she'd said in the car came back to him. Had they neglected him? Had they not paid enough attention to what was going on with Angus? Were they too worried about Polly and Abbey to see the warning signs that Angus wasn't coping? It killed him to think that they had.
Adam had tried hard to still be there for him. They went on their runs, they went to his games together when he still wasn't playing and now he was back playing Adam still went. Adam had taken him to the batting cage, go carting or out shopping for new gear. He made sure he was around when he needed to go to the Physio. They took him to New York and Adam had spent a lot of time with him that weekend, they'd had a great time at the Baseball, which was a dream come true for Gus to see a game at Yankee Stadium. They'd had their boy's weekend, which sure it didn't start off great but they'd had a good time. He honestly didn't know what else he could have done.
"It's not your fault." Kim knew what Adam was thinking.
"No, you sure?"
"Adam, what more could you have done?"
'I don't know Kim." He looked at his wife sadly. "God Kim, I can't do this."
The only thing that was going to get Kim to leave her son's side was her husband's tears and his sudden movement towards the door. He tried to get past her but she refused to let him go. "Adam. Don't push me away."
"He's got to be okay." He choked on a sob.
"He will be. Adam, stay please. I need you to stay with me and stay for Angus, he needs you."
"I can't see him like this." He pointed to the bed. "It reminds me…." He couldn't say the words. He couldn't say it reminded him of Abbey and the night he spent sitting beside her bed.
He didn't need to say it though because Kim knew. "It's not the same Baby, it's not. Angus is going to be fine."
"You don't know that. What if this is the start?"
"How is he any different from you? How many times did you stuff up and get in trouble?"
"A few."
"Exactly. We always knew that Angus was too much like you. This is not the start, we'll make sure of it." He was still so rigid and nothing Kim could do got him to relax even a little. "Let's not get carried away. I think he's a smart boy and hopefully this has taught him a lesson."
"I hope you are right."
Kim was perched on Adam's knee, she had convinced him to stay. She was leaning on the bed when Angus finally started to stir. "Mom." He groaned weakly. Adam sat back and watched. He had calmed down and basically sat with his head buried in Kim's back while she leant forward on the bed and watched her son breathe.
"Angus, you scared us."
"Sorry."
"Where's Dad?"
"He's right here."
"I'm sorry Dad." He started to cry and that made him gag and they just got out of the way as he vomited all over the bed and floor and chair they had just been sitting in. He looked so sad and pathetic in the bed, he was shivering and vomiting and both Kim and Adam were beside themselves trying to help him.
Adam may have been pissed off with him but he was more frightened right now than anything. There was no way he was going to get off scot free that's for sure but right now it didn't really matter, Angus was desperately unwell and as a parent it was horrible to watch.
The Doctor came in and ordered up some anti-emetics and another banana bag to help with the dehydration from the vomiting and they moved him up to the ward to stay the rest of the night. He'd had another BAC level taken and it was coming down slowly but he was still pretty well out of it. It would be unlikely that he'd be going home anytime in the next few hours. Kim refused to leave so Adam headed home to check on Polly and have a shower and change, he'd copped a bit of one of Gus' projectile spews and although he'd changed into a scrubs shirt the hospital had rustled up he really needed a shower. Hopefully by the time he got back Angus would be ready to come home.
There wasn't much else either of them could do while Angus slept it off, except worry. The anti-emetics would also probably make him sleepy hence why they waited so long to give them to him. They wanted to alcohol level to start coming down a bit before giving him anything that might hinder him waking up if he needed to vomit.
Both Sam and Polly woke up when they heard Adam come home. "What time is it?" She asked him sleepily.
"It's early." He reached for his phone and checked the time. It was a little after five am. "Your folks had to go pick up Gus, he's drunk apparently." Polly couldn't go back to sleep though until she knew what was going on and she found her Dad downstairs leaning with both hands on the kitchen sink looking out the window at the dark early morning sky.
"Dad, How's Gus?" Adam jumped a little when Polly spoke.
"Hey Pol. What are you doing up?"
"I heard you come in. Sam said Gus was drunk."
"Yep, he's in Med sleeping it off."
"Is he okay?" He could hear the panic in her voice. It was the little things that set her off lately.
"Yes Polly, he's going to be fine. A hangover the size of Canada but he'll be okay. Please don't worry, go back to bed." He never, in a million years thought he'd be telling his daughter to go back to bed when there was currently a boy in there.
"Okay." It was obvious that Adam wasn't up for talking but Polly had to ask before she left. "Is it because of me?"
"No, what makes you say that?"
"He told me yesterday that he was worried about me, that I am too sad."
Just what he didn't need right now was more of his daughter's tears. He had his own, he'd had Kim's and Angus's already tonight. "Polly, this is not your fault. Angus was just being stupid."
"He's not stupid Dad, he's scared."
"You're right, I'm sorry. I am just a little disappointed with him right now. There was a better way to handle this. You can imagine what it's doing to your Mom."
"Dad I am sad, but it's not like that. It's not like Abbey." Sam had talked to her about it; he'd flat out asked her if she felt like hurting herself. It had shocked her and she'd been angry with him but when he explained that he was terrified of losing her and that he knew her parents were too and after her conversation with Angus Polly let go of her anger and promised him that she wasn't going to hurt herself. "I've never felt like that."
Angus had nervously approached Polly when Sam had gone home to get a change of clothes. She wanted a few minutes alone and she had been pissed off with him for pushing her too hard about her current lack of appetite so she was happy that he'd left for a little while as long as he promised to come back. "What's up Gus?" Polly tried not to sound exasperated. She barely had any time to herself lately.
"I don't want you to hurt yourself." He blurted out, tears spilling out of the corners of his eyes involuntarily.
"What are you talking about Gus?"
"Like Abbey. You're sad and I am worried about you." Polly was a little stunned. It had been confronting when Sam asked her about it and she had been seriously annoyed with him but she didn't expect it from her brother either.
"Hey." She made him look at her. "Gus, I'm going to be here annoying you for a long time yet. Please don't worry."
"I do worry." He was as stiff as a board when Polly tried to hug him. "You're my sister and I feel bad about what happened to Abbey but I feel worse because I was glad it wasn't you. That's horrible isn't it?"
"No, it's not Gus."
"I don't want you to be sad anymore Polly. I'm scared you'll get too sad."
"Gus, don't. I don't feel like that at all." Eventually he relaxed and they sat together quietly, just holding each other's hands.
"Can you not tell Mom and Dad?"
"Tell them what?"
"About this. I don't want them to worry." He knew if Polly told his Dad, after they'd already talked about it his Dad would start to worry even more and then he'd tell his Mom and he didn't want to upset her. She was upset enough as it was. He'd tried to keep it away from Polly too but he just needed to know she was going to be okay. It got too much for him, he was drowning in his fears and that probably pushed him over the edge.
Adam wiped his face with both his hands. He was glad it had been a long time since he realised that he wasn't too tough to cry and show those closest to you that it was okay to show your emotions. "You don't know how much I needed to hear you say that." Polly came and hugged him for a few minutes but they didn't talk. She didn't need to say anything else, she'd said it all.