Adam leaned forward in his seat, "This is it." He pointed to the two story house, "It's old as fuck, isn't it?" The house was in disrepair, the porch railing was missing spindles and the steps leading to the door were broken.

"Should we park?" Kim asked him.

"No. Let's drive around the block, and get a lay for the land and then park." Adam suggested. "Let's park near the vacant lot and walk back. Don't want to draw any unwanted attention."

"I think it's safe to say this isn't a stash house." Kim pointed out, "Doesn't look like anyone has been here in quite some time. Look at the driveway, that's virgin snow. No tire tracks, no footprints that I can see."

"Let's park, we need to go inside." Adam fired off a text to Voight letting him know they arrived and that they would be going inside the house.

They walked the perimeter of the house, looked in a few windows before going in. It didn't take much effort to get the front door open, the hinges were rusted and the door had a serious case of dry rot.

Adam led the way, his gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, they were instantly overwhelmed by a god awful aroma, "Fuck..." he gasped as he used the back of his hand to cover his mouth and nose.

"Someone has been here at some point." Kim used the end of her flashlight to push around some papers that sat on an upside down bucket, "No identifying information on any of these papers, it's mostly take out menus, newspapers."

Kim turned her flashlight towards the hallway bathing it in a soft glow, "Let's start clearing rooms."

"Bang out this floor first?"

"Yeah. I'll get the kitchen. You take that hallway." Kim didn't see anything of interest in the living room or the small dining room that was off the right of the kitchen.

The kitchen was a disaster, dirty plates sat on the floor and countertops. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a couple of roaches scurried across the floor, but that wasn't what made her heart jump in her throat.

"Adam!" Kim called out.

Adam had just finished checking out the smallest bathroom he'd ever seen in his life and was on his way to the room at the end of the hall when he heard Kim calling him.

"What's up?" Adam stood in the doorway.

Kim held it up for him, "A baby bottle."

"So?" Adam moved further into the kitchen and it soon realized why Kim was concerned.

It wasn't just one bottle, the sink was filled with bottles and a couple of sippy cups, curdled milk in the sippy cups, the formula left in the bottles had soured. Kim scanned the kitchen, it was messy with spoiled food on the counter and floor.

Kim felt her stomach turn, "Adam..."

Despite everything that had gone wrong between them he could still read her like a book, she was on edge, "Let's go upstairs."

"You don't think anyone is here...do you?"

Adam led the way upstairs, he turned back to her, "What's your gut say?" He whispered to her.

Kim's hand hovered over her weapon, "It's not good. We need to check every room." She placed her other hand on Adam's shoulder, "We stay together and we clear each room one at a time."

They worked swiftly and quietly, as they approached the last room Kim's uneasiness grew by leaps and bounds. She carefully opened the door as soon as her flashlight hit the room she spotted the playpen in the corner of the room.

She gasped and raced into the room, ignoring all she had been taught when it came to clearing a room.

"There's a baby in here." Kim looked back over her shoulder at Adam, "Oh my god..." she couldn't believe it, she reached in and picked the baby up. The baby was wearing pajamas and stunk to high heaven, "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know." Adam went to the small dresser and pulled open the top drawer and found some clothes none of it appropriate for winter, he went down to the next drawer and found a few items for an older child. He held up a shirt for Kim to look at, "This isn't the baby's it's way too big." It was a pink shirt, "Where is the kid this belongs to..cause it's not the baby's."

Kim swayed with the baby in her arms, "I don't know." She began to rummage through the dresser drawers, "I need a diaper." She was really struggling with how foul the baby smelt, "This is unreal. Who would leave their baby all alone?"

"I don't know." Adam went to the closet, "Maybe there are diapers in here?" He could smell the kid from where he was standing, it was an awful pungent smell he couldn't imagine what it must've been like for Kim, "I don't see anything." He turned around to face Kim. He didn't like the way she was looking at him, "What?"

Kim closed the gap between them, she shoved the baby in Adam's arms and pushed past him, she crouched down and peered inside the closet.

"Kim?"

"Shh.." she reached behind herself and waved her hand at Adam hoping to silence him, "Honey..." she spoke softly and sweetly, "My name is Kim..." she held the flashlight low to keep it out of the kid's eyes

Adam moved closer, "Kim? What the fuck?"

"No!" A tiny voice shouted, "Go away!"

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm a police officer. My name is Kim, can you come out?" Kim peered at the little girl, she looked to be about four or five. She was skinny, and her eyes had dark bags beneath them, she was clearly terrified.

"No!" She screamed, "No..no...no..." she had giant tears rolling down her cheeks. She had nowhere to go, she was trapped.

Kim sat down and reached a hand out to touch her, "I know you're scared, I'd be scared too. You're safe now, please come out of the closet, baby. I want to see you, make sure you're okay."

The little girl moved further into the closet.

"Hey, sweetheart..." Adam spoke for the first time.

"Go away! Bad! Bad!" The girl screamed, if she had been terrified just a few minutes ago she had reached a new level of fear. She threw herself at Kim, her tiny body trembling with fear.

"That's Adam, he's my friend. He's a police officer." Kim explained as she stroked the little girl's hair, it was stringy and greasy. It was obvious neither child had been bathed in a while and the uneasiness Kim had felt earlier had been replaced with anger.

"He's bad!"

"No, he's good." Kim countered, "I promise. Adam is my friend."

"He's got my baby. Gimme my baby! I want my baby!" She stood up from Kim's lap and charged at Adam, her hands curled into tiny fists and she wailed away at Adam's legs.

Kim grabbed her shoulders, "Stop sweetie. The baby is safe with Adam."

"Gimme Diesel!"

"Diesel?" Adam arched an eyebrow, "Interesting name."

"How about if I hold Diesel, would that be okay?" Kim asked as she took the baby from Adam, "See, he's okay. What's your name?"

Adam reached for the light switch and turned it on, both kids reacted to the sudden bright light and both he and Kim noticed how dire the situation was.

"I'm Harleigh." She replied, "I'm five."

"Nice to meet you Harleigh. Where is your mommy?"

Harleigh scrunched her face up, "I dunno." She shrugged.

"What about your daddy?" Kim stroked her hair, "Where is he?"

"I dunno."

Adam began to rifle through the dresser drawers, "There are no diapers in here."

Harleigh glared at him, "Diapers all gone." She was still pretty agitated.

"Diesel stinks." Adam pinched his nostrils together, "he needs to be changed."

"I changeded him in the morning time." Harleigh went to the trash can, "see?" She pointed to the soiled diaper.

Kim went to the overflowing trash can Harleigh stood beside, it reeked. It was filled with dirty diapers, empty food containers and countless other items.

"We need diapers." Kim looked to Adam, "He needs to be changed." She held Diesel away from her body, she knew it was just a matter of time before the diaper overflowed and she wanted no part of that mess.

"We don't got none. They're all gone." Harleigh reiterated with her hands on her hips, "You..." she pointed to Adam, "gotta buy some."

"Me?" Adam placed his hand against his chest, "Why me?"

Kim glared at him, "I'll go. You can stay with the kids."

"Hell no. I'll go." Adam retorted, "What kind?"

"The green bag. Diesel uses the green bag. The one with the number 2 on it. That's his size." Harleigh picked up one of the dirty diapers and held it up, "See? Like this."

Adam backed up as she approached him, "Got it." The kid was impressive she knew exactly what her brother needed and did what she needed to make sure he got it.

Kim took a quick inventory of the room and it was apparent they needed more than just diapers, "I need to make a list, we need more than diapers. We need wipes, I didn't see any formula in the kitchen, we should get some food for Harleigh."

Kim was suddenly aware of just how dire the situation was, she was furious that the children had been left alone.

"I don't know what to get." Adam explained, "I think we've got bigger issues Kim. Two of them to be exact. We need to make some phone calls."

"Yes. I know. We need to prioritize. Diapers and food first. Let's go back into the living room." She didn't want to risk someone coming into the house unnoticed. "I will make a list for you and as soon as you get back we will get DFACS involved."

"A list?"

"Yes." Kim grabbed the small notebook she kept on her at all times, "Diapers, formula, new bottles, wipes, diaper cream..." she rattled off a least a half dozen other times before Adam interrupted her.

"That's a ton of stuff." He pointed out, "shouldn't we start by getting DFACS involved? This is beyond our skill set." He kept circling back to calling the proper authorities, this was beyond their capabilities.

"You've smelled Diesel, yes?"

"He's ripe. I'm trying to keep my distance." Adam announced, "I remember passing a store on the way in..." he knew better than to fight her on it, and the baby was in a dire need of a diaper change.

"Thank you."