Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter. I'm really happy with the turn-out it's getting so thanks again.

Adam showered and had his usual greasy breakfast, downing his black coffee in order to wake up better. He had taken more than one beer when he fell on his couch. Two days of taking care of a ten-year-old wasn't a norm for him and it had tired him out. He drove to the district in a dead quiet truck. For some reason, he had a feeling today would be chaotic and he just enjoyed the silence while he could. He walked up the stairs to the district and Platt flagged him.

"How'd it go with Burgess last night? Michael got home okay?"

"Michael got home okay Sarge. He promised he'd help his mom around the house." He confirmed but he was pretty sure Kim had called her after he had left and that she already knew that information.

"Good to hear." He tapped the counter and gave her a lopsided grin before heading for the palm scanner. "Good to hear. She said under her breath as she watched him go up.

"Ruz, my man." Kevin pulled him into a hug. "We missed your sorry ass up here these last couple of days."

"It's damn good to be back."

"Glad to have you back Ruzek."

"Thanks, Sarge."

"So, let's get this show on the road, we've got a case." Voight gave his instructions and Adam was in the car with Kevin.

"So, I got what you asked." Kevin handed Adam a folder.

"How bad is it?" Adam skimmed through the pages.

"Dude's not a walk in the park. Two counts of assault, drug possession charges."

"Michael says she had a restraining order against him."

"Domestic violence." Adam's eyes fell on the pictures in the file.

"Where was Michael when that happened?" Adam's jaw was set in anger and the next words coming out of Kevin would decide if he blew up or not.

"School. She pressed charges but I spoke with the arresting officer and the story they fed the boy was that it happened on the job."

"That son of a bitch." He growled. "We have eyes on him?"

"My boy has him in the desert of Arizona. Been clean since moving there."

"His ass better hope he stays there." He closed the file and dropped it in his back seat just in time for the guy they were sitting on got out of his house. "Here we go." They worked the case all day and for once, they managed to solve it pretty quickly, for which Adam was grateful. She stopped by his sister's house on his way to the supermarket, his fridge pretty empty.

"Adam, what are you doing here?" His sister hugged him and let him inside.

"Thought I'd swing by, see how Sammy's doing?"

"He's in his room, he'll be happy to see you."

"Thanks Kate." She watched her brother climb the stairs and frowned. Something seemed to be on his mind but she was never one to pry because Adam was rarely one to share, especially if it had to do with work.

"Hey little man, what you up to?" Adam poked his head in his nephew's bedroom door.

"Killing it at Clash of clans." He showed his uncle his tablet.

"Are you even allowed on that game?" He chuckled.

"Maybe." Came Sammy's reply. "Is Michael still with you?"

"No, I dropped him off with his mom yesterday. You're good friends with him, right?"

"Yeah, we hang out a lot together." He put his tablet aside and sat cross legged on his bed. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm going to ask you a question I just want an honest answer okay?" Sammy simply nodded. "What do you know about his dad? Does he ever talk about him?"

"He's a douchebag that hit his mom."

"He tell you that?" If Michael knew about it than he hadn't believed the version he was given by the arresting officer.

"Yes. His mom doesn't know about it. He said he overheard his mom talk with Mrs. Platt." Sammy said but suddenly realized he had talked too much. "Is Michael going to be in trouble for eavesdropping?"

"No bud he won't." He promised. "So, are you ready for your next game?"

"I think so."

"Good man. I got to go but I'll see you there okay?"

"Yeah, night uncle Adam."

"Night bud." He went back down and went to see his sister in the kitchen.

"Did you eat? I have some leftover dinner in the fridge."

"I'm good, thanks. Been a long day, I'll just grab a beer and crash."

"Okay." She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you okay Adam?" She pushed.

"Yeah Kate, I'm good, promise." He kissed her cheek.

"Are we going to see you at Sammy's game next week end?"

"Yeah, promised him I'd be there."

"Good, I can't wait for you to watch the team crush it. Sammy's been doing great."

"Yeah, I saw him at practice yesterday, he's getting really good."

"James has been working a lot with him every week end."

"Good, good. Listen, I have to go but I'll see you on Saturday."

"Alright. You be careful out there you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am." He smiled at her. "Good night."

"Night big brother." He chuckled and let himself out. He stopped at the store and grabbed himself some beer and some more food. The light turned red and he looked around for a second. When it turned green again, Adam took a hard right and headed in the opposite direction of his place. He found himself in front of Kim's apartment building. Was this a good idea? Probably not, but learning everything he did today from the file and from Sammy, it changed everything. He walked up the flight of stairs and stopped in front of the closed door. He didn't know what he was going to tell her but he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Getting no answer but hearing some mumbling from the other side, he tried the knob and pushed the door only to hear the mumbling turn into a string of curses.

"Kim? Michael?" He called out but getting no answer, he followed Kim's voice and found her in the kitchen. "Am I interrupting something? His voice held teasing as his lips curled into a smile. Kim practically jumped out of her skin.

"What the hell Adam?" The spatula she held in her hand pointed at him.

"What are you going to do with that, slap me?"

"Want to try me?" She took a step forward, making him take one step back.

"No, I'm good. Where's Michael?"

"With Mrs. Molina next door. She's teaching him a few tricks in the kitchen."

"Feel like lowering your weapon officer?"

"Oh yeah, sorry." She said sheepishly.

"Need some help with that?" He pointed to the skillet that was on the stove top.

"No, I'm good, I've got it." She turned around and returned to the job at hand. "What are you doing here anyways?" She asked without malice, just genuine wonder.

"I stopped by my sister's house to see my nephew Sammy and thought about Michael so I thought I'd come see how the two of you are doing."

"Sammy? From school and baseball?"

"Yeah. Small world huh?"

"Yeah. How come I never saw you at one of his games?"

"Intelligence keeps me pretty busy."

"That girlfriend of yours must find it hard."

"No girlfriend, just me." He was leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets. "What about Michael's dad, he around?" Kim jumped at the question and the movement made her collide to the skillet and burn herself, making it fall to the ground with a clatter.

"Fuck." She yelled and Adam was at her side in a second.

"Kim, are you okay?"

"Stay away from me." She moved past him to put her stinging arm under the water.

"Let me help you."

"I think you've done enough. I'd like you to leave."

"Come on Kim, please." He attempted to help her again but she rebuked.

"I appreciate everything that you've done for both Michael and I but I think that I can take it from here."

"Listen Kim. I didn't mean to pry. It's none of my business I just figured that we could get to know each other with Michael and Sammy being friends that's it."

"Please Detective Ruzek, I don't want to have to ask again."

"Mom, I thought I heard Adam's voice." Michael walked into their awkward moment and smiled when he laid eyes on Adam.

"Hey buddy, how was it at Mrs. Molina's?" Kim snapped out of it as Adam stood awkwardly in the middle of their kitchen.

"It was fun. She taught me how to do empanadas." He smiled brightly. "Are you staying for desert Adam?" Michael asked hopefully.

"Adam has an early day tomorrow and you have school so he was just about to leave." Kim cooked up an excuse so Adam couldn't stay.

"Yeah, sorry Mike." He gave his best apologetic smile to the kid. "You take care of your mom okay?" He ruffled his hair and smiled a more genuine smile.

"I will. Bye Adam."

"Bye Mike. Have a good evening Kim." It was her turn to receive an apology through a smile from Adam that he hoped would tell her just how sorry he was for asking such a direct and personal question. He only received a nod in response and showed himself out. He was in dire need of that beer after screwing it up and that's how he ended his evening, emptying the six pack and crashing for the night.

Kim picked the skillet up from the floor while Michael went to wash up and tried her best to wash the burn with clean water but a knock on the door made her stop what she was doing. She walked to the front of her apartment and looked through the people, opening to the person on the other side.

"Trudy, what are you doing here?" She let her Sargent come inside and closed the door behind her.

"I came to see how you and Mikey were doing."

"Aunt Trudyyy." She turned around to hear him whine in displeasure.

"Little man." She ruffled his hair but he pulled away from her. "Where's my hug?" Michael didn't object and went into her waiting arms.

"Catch any bad guys?"

"Yeah, tons. Intelligence even put three of them in jail tonight." Trudy would tell him stories about the cases Intelligence would catch and he always listened to her with so much attention.

"Aunt Trudy?" She hummed in response. "Does Adam work with mom on patrol?" Trudy saw Kim stiffen up and she didn't like it.

"No bud, Adam is a Detective in Intelligence."

"Sweet."

"Tell you what. You go get settled in bed and I'll come tell you a story when Adam just started in Intelligence." She said with a smile.

"Two minutes."

"I'll be right there." She was now looking at Kim with a scowl on her face. "I'm going to tell that boy a story and you better tell me what exactly is going on." She said between gritted teeth before she disappeared down the hall. Kim finished clearing the mess in her kitchen and pulled out the first aid kit on the kitchen in an attempt to bandage up her burn but Trudy came back a little bit later and helped her without a work and Kim knew better than to object. "So, share, now."

"Adam asked me about Matthew." She flat out came out with it and Trudy looked at her in surprise.

"Say that again?"

"He asked me if he was still around. I sort of panicked."

"What did you tell him?"

"That I wanted him to leave."

"That's good." She finished bandaging her good arm up. "Michael was out before I even had a chance to finish my story."

"Good. I could really use the sleep." The day had been long and tiring and she just wanted to curl up in bed and relax.

"Alright, I'll leave you too it but don't forget to call if you need anything." She stood up.

"I will, thanks Trudy."

"Anytime Burgess." She placed a hand on her shoulder and let herself out.

Kim put the first aid kit away and took one of her pain pills before calling it an evening. She read for a little while before she fell asleep with the book in her hands, exhausted physically and emotionally.

Trudy had one destination in mind and she was going to check it off her list before morning. She knew where she was headed and didn't miss a peat when she killed her engine and walked out of her car. It was a two-story building and she knew that Adam had the top part of it so she climbed his stairs two at a time and started banging on his door.

Adam stirred as a faint knocking disrupted his sleep. The knocking became more persistent and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before swinging his legs over the bed. He ran a hand through his hair as the knocking became increasingly louder

"Minute, I'll be right there." He growled, angry at the disturbance of his sleep. "What the hell do you want?" He swung the door open and wasn't ready for the attack.

"What the HELL have you done?" Trudy's finger poked angrily at his chest, Adam stunned into silence.

A/N: Oops so the questions didn't go over so well with Kim and Trudy and Adam and Kim are left with some cold between them. How will that affect them going forward? Please take a few seconds to review before you go, your thoughts always mean the world. - Sarra