Adam hit the ground like a rock. He screamed in agony and curled into a fetal position. "Fuck, Fuck, oh my fucking god." The footsteps, he heard them and for a brief moment he did contemplate that it might be someone coming back to finish the job but right now there was nothing he could do about it and maybe death would be a sweet relief. He couldn't move. The pain was paralysing.

The footsteps started coming from behind him, heavier and closer and suddenly he heard Kev gasp as he paused briefly and placed his hand on his partners shoulder. "Dude.."

"Go Kev." Adam waved his arm wildly. "Catch the fucker."

Kevin took off at a sprint just as Kim and Jay rounded the corner and saw Kev running down the alley and Adam curled in a ball on the ground barely moving. "Adam." Kim screamed.

She dropped to her knees beside him while Jay stood and provided cover.

"Are you hit? Where are you hit?" she ran her hands over his vest and scanned his body for blood and saw nothing. "Adam. Where are you hit?"

"In my fucking nuts."

"What?"

"It's my nuts Kim, I can taste them." He was still in the fetal position, refusing to move, even the slightest of movements caused him indescribable pain as he clutching his groin.

"Oh." An involuntary laugh escaped her lips. "Sorry. Are you okay?"

"No I am not fucking okay." He spat back at her. "Do I look fucking okay? I'm fucking dying and my nuts are in my throat and my dick is on fire."

"Can you get up?"

"No, I need an Bus. I'm dying Kim."

It was mean to laugh but Kim couldn't help herself. Sure, he was in pain but there was something ridiculous about it as well, it wasn't the first time she'd seen in in distress after even the lightest of knocks. She rubbed her hand up and down his back while he moaned and groaned in a ball on the ground. "You are not dying Adam."

"I am."

"Yo…" Atwater jogged back towards them. "You need a bus?"

"Yes." Adam whined.

"No, we don't need a bus, he's just copped a knock to his pride and joy and is whining like a baby."

Atwater took note of the position on Adam's hands and he understood when Kim gave him a bemused look. "Oh.. poor bastard." He did as well as Kim did at hiding his smirk. There was nothing funny about it, he knew that very well but it was some innate reaction when another brother copped a whack to the nuts. It was a nervous laugh, because you knew at any moment it could be you lying on the ground in a pool of sweat, misery and no sympathy.

"I'm dying Kev, Kim doesn't care."

"Sure Bro."

Kim just shook her head, they weren't calling out the Ambulance, it was a waste of resources. "Did you get him?" Despite Adam's theatrics they were actually in the process of executing a search warrant and their person of interest had bolted out the back door and that was how Adam ended up chasing him.

Adam had lost his footing jumping the fence and the perp had hidden behind a shed, and while Adam approached carefully he had suddenly leapt out and belted him once in the nuts and dropped the plank of wood and took off down the alley as Adam crumpled to the ground. Kevin had hoofed it out the back door once they saw their target crash through the door and Kim who was out front had taken off as well when Kevin radioed that he was heading Adam's way. Once they knew that Adam was actually okay they had a job to do.

"Yeah. Halstead is just handing him off to Patrol."

"He needs to be charged with assault Police Officer and assault with a deadly weapon." Kevin and Kim just looked at each other, more than amused at the whiny little voice drifting up from their feet. He sounded pathetic and Kim was dreading taking him home if he was going to continue this dying swan act.

"Can you take him home tonight?" Kim queried.

Kevin held up both his hands and took a step back. "He's all yours."

"At least help me get him up." She sighed and crouched back down beside Adam. "Hey, come on, let's get you up and in the car." Slipped her arm through his Kevin grabbed his other arm and they got him of his feet and hobbling in the direction of their car.

"I can't drive." He whimpered as he remained doubled over while Kevin and Kim walked him towards his truck.

"I know." Kim assured him. "I'll drive."

The carry on just getting him in the car was way over the top and Kim was actually starting to get a little concerned. Initially they thought he was just being a typical male but then Adam was usually a little more stoic than he was being right now. If he could've sat in the car with his legs spread any wider he would've. The whimper and the tears in his eyes when Kim hit a speed bump was alarming.

She placed a hand on his as he rubbed them up and down his thighs. He had already undone the zip on his jeans and tried to pull the crotch away from his groin. "I think I might just swing by Med on the way back to the District."

"What for?" His voice was unusually high pitched and Kim was starting to be a little concerned.

"Adam, you can barely move or breathe. You are in agony."

"Well that would be because of the block of wood that smashed into my junk." He grimaced again when Kim braked suddenly as the car in front of them stopped. "I don't need to go to Med."

"I beg to differ and since I am driving I get to make the decision."

"I won't get out of the car."

"Then we will sit in the parking lot until you do or I will call Platt and get her to come down…."

He may have got out of the car, slowly he wasn't particularly happy about it and muttered all the way into the hospital about how ridiculous this all was and that she owed him when they got home. Although having Platt anywhere near this tragedy was impetus enough to make him agree to get it checked out. At least they got taken into a quiet cubicle to wait, the benefit of the badge. The department was busy and it was likely to take a while and Kim sent a message to Voight letting him know they'd been caught up at the hospital.

"Burgess was vague about why exactly Ruzek is needing to be checked out. Is it his shoulder again?" Voight looked at his phone and then at Atwater. They'd gone out together, he knew Halstead was down in booking getting the suspect checked in and yet only Kevin came back. It was a routine warrant, although he knew things often went pear shaped.

"Block of wood to the man berries."

"Ouch." He visibly cringed. "Lucky it's not Halstead." The eye roll was subtle but noted by Atwater. It wasn't so much Jay that was the issue, but when he got hurt it became a little bigger than it needed to be for some. "Where are we at?"

Kevin filled Voight in, including Ruzek's misadventure. "Is it really that bad?" Voight looked a little concerned. This was the guy that broke his shoulder and refused to take any time off, not even a day. Sure they were working against the clock trying to find Makayla but he was back at work the next day liked nothing had happened and also didn't take time off when he OD'd. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken a sick day.

"Seemed so, he was down for the count. There was a lot of whining."

"Check in on them." Voight nodded and left him to it.

Kim grabbed her phone from her back pocket when it rang. Adam was lying on the bed, eyes closed and his arm draped over his face. He didn't even open his eyes when Kim spoke. "Hey Kev."

"How's it goin'?"

"Just waiting to see the Doctor. Does Voight need me to come back?" She almost begged. A grumpy whiny Adam wasn't much fun to be around.

"Nah, it's all good. How's the patient?"

She looked him over. "Tragic. Very tragic."

Adam scoffed.

Kim stepped out when the Doctor arrived. Fortunately it was someone they'd never seen before for which Adam was grateful. He had to pee in a bottle and didn't enjoy the bit of manhandling as the Doctor 'inspected the damage'.

He did have some blood in his urine and was severely swollen but they didn't think he had any permanent damage. He was going to be sore and swollen for a few days and needed to take it easy and the Doctor suggested it was "Probably best to avoid any excitement for a bit."

"Excitement?" Adam muttered. "It doesn't know what excitement is."

He had instructions to wear a support cup for a few days, use ice-packs for the swelling, take ibuprofen and not do any heavy lifting. If he started to notice any abnormal swelling, bruising, pain or bleeding he would need to come straight back.

"You need to check it regularly, it needs to be cupped gently." He informed Kim when she came back in. "Doctor's orders."

"I spoke to him outside, funny he never mentioned that." She did lift up the sheet though and take a look. It wasn't like she hadn't seen it all before, many, many times. "Yikes." She gasped. "It looks nasty Adam."

"It feels nasty, but way to cheer me up Burgess."

"Anytime. Are you ready to go? I can drop you off at home."

Adam did argue that he was fine to go back to work, he could at least do paperwork and then he wouldn't waste any personal time. As long as he didn't chase any perps, jump fences or try and be a hero the Doctor had no issue with him being on desk duty. Not that once he started walking up the stairs he didn't have doubts if he could make it and he certainly wasn't excited about going home and needing to climb the stairs there either. Each step was like a red hot poker to his groin.

Voight finally told Kim to take him home when it was clear Adam wasn't coping. Voight had found him in the locker room lying on the bench breathing deeply. "Go home Ruzek."

"I'm fine Boss, just waiting for the painkillers to kick in."

"It wasn't a suggestion, it was an order. Burgess is waiting." Voight dismissed him outright. "Get going."

Kim left him in the car while she picked Mak up from school, he eased the back of seat into a reclining position to ease the tension on his groin and he couldn't wait to get his jeans off. They felt like they were cutting him in half. There was a nice pair of sweat pants with his name on it lying on his bedroom floor right now calling his name.

"Hi Adam." Makayla bounced into the back seat and leant forward to give him a fist bump.

"Hey Darlin', how was your day?"

"So good, so good. How was your day?"

"It was a rough one, but I feel better now I've seen your pretty smiling face." Not matter what Adam had going on he was never not happy to see Makayla. She was literally the light in their lives, the sun around which they rotated.

He closed his eyes and just listened to Kim and Mak talking about her day at school on the way home. She also had a birthday party invite and was so excited about it. They had started talking about her own birthday recently and she had asked for a party. Last year was just a few of their friends and while they went all out this year she was desperate for a party with her friends from school.

Frankly they had no idea what they were doing or how to even organise a birthday party for an eight year old girl but Kim was willing to dive in head first. There was a lot of behind the scenes planning going on that he wasn't privy too and he was more than happy to remain in that blissful state of ignorance knowing full well that he would be there on the day and she'd be the Queen. Planning parties just wasn't his jam.

"Oh my goodness." Makayla gasped as Adam slowly got himself out of the car and hobbled into the house. "You are really hurt."

"I'll be fine Darlin'."

"I'll help you up the stairs." She grabbed his hand and encouraged him, counting the steps as he went. 'One foot, now the other, one foot… you are almost there…. you can do it.' She offered to help him get changed as well which Adam politely declined. "I'll just wait for you here." She stood outside his bedroom door, talking to him constantly, making sure he was okay, that he didn't need help and telling him to be careful not to fall over.

Kim thought it was amusing. She did feel bad for him, it was obvious that it was a severe blow and he was in a lot of pain but he was a little whiny and Makayla going all mother hen on him was fun to watch.

It wasn't the first time she'd been like this. When Kim first came home from hospital she was exactly the same and hovered over her constantly and didn't want to go to school because she needed to stay home and take care of Kim. She was waiting for the offer to stay home tomorrow and look after Adam.

Makayla helped him back down the stairs and set him up on the couch with a pillow, blanket and a bottle of water. She offered to get him some snacks and asked him what he wanted for dinner and grabbed the remote for him so he could watch TV before she sat up next to him and held his hand tenderly.

He was enjoying the attention because Kim had literally abandoned him and let Makayla do the fussing and she had no such qualms doing so. She was in her element and it was very cute to watch. Mack had such a beautiful little soul.

"Does it hurt as much as when Kim was shot and nearly died?"

Ten one, ten one.. officer down.

It was a direct hit.