"She knows." Adam had snatched at his phone as soon as he saw Al's name flash up. He knew that Al was going to tell her and he had barely been able to sit still all day. He been for a long run, been to the gym and tried to watch a movie, nothing could take his mind off it for long.

"Is she okay?" It was all he could think about. The moment he learned that he was getting out of the hell he had been in for the past nine years his first thought had been of Kim. For nine long years he had desperately tried to forget about her and had stumbled from one disastrous relationship to another, trying to find a way to forget whilst attempting to recapture the magic and feelings that he had with the one he was forced to leave behind. Not that they were all a disaster, far from it and it wouldn't be fair to the women he had shared a life with but he was never in one place long enough to let himself fall in too deep. They just weren't her and he could never tell them why he couldn't love them like they probably deserved.

"Not really."

"Al, I never meant to hurt her. Did you tell her that, she has to know that. I need her to know." It was the pleas of a desperate man.

"Adam, you need to give her some time." He had pushed and pushed Al to tell her. He wanted to come back to Chicago but he wouldn't do that until Kim knew. Every day he called or messaged Al asking him if he'd told her yet. It was all he had, Al was his only link to his past and he was desperately clinging to him.

"I can't man."

"I know this is tough, but you've waited this long. Just a few more days."

"Al, I can't." He wasn't surprised to hear him start sobbing. Adam had barely been able to control himself when he first saw Al. He'd been to hell and back and was desperately trying to climb out of the abyss before it swallowed him completely. "I can't."

"Adam. Come on, this is going to affect a lot of people. Let Kim get her head around it." Al hadn't told him much about Kim's life beyond the fact that she was married, although currently separated and that she had two children. He had been deliberately vague about that and he knew she was still working in Intelligence.

"Please tell me she didn't marry Roman?" he had groaned when Al told him that she was married. That was one thing that would make this nightmare worse. He expected her to get on with her life, but that would have been like squeezing his nuts in a vice.

"She didn't marry Roman. Her husband is not a cop."

"I just want to see her and apologise. I need to talk to her and try and explain all this. This fucking mess that the FEDS got me into. I want to see my family, I want to see my Pops and Mom. They think I'm dead and I am not." He was starting to sound a little agitated. "I need to come home."

"Okay. I will see what I can do but you've got go at Kim's pace at least for now."

"I'm trying."

This had been the biggest fucking nightmare. He had gone undercover with the FEDS thinking it would be good for his career but they had fucked up royally and he'd been made. That quickly spiralled into Witness Protection that became a necessity once his family and Kim were threatened. He had seen what these animals did to people who crossed them, and he had crossed them big time or someone had and he had to cop it in the neck. So reluctantly he had agreed to be killed off and sent out of the country initially to have a whole new life. The thing about witness protection though was the family you left behind had closure. They had a body to bury and grieve over. He had none of that, no closure, no chance to say goodbye and no opportunity to save one single memento from his past. All he had was a memory that he could never shake.

When he had finally got out from under the FEDS, when every single person they had fucked over regarding this case had died his first decision was to head back home. He chose Detroit, just until he got his bearings and contacted Al. They had asked him to take his time to consider it but nothing was going to change his mind and after nine years he had waited long enough to make things right.

"Olinsky." He was still in the habit of answering his phone like he had done for years. Short, sharp and to the point. Adam knew he had the right number when he heard that greeting and he almost smiled.

"Bet you never thought you'd hear my voice again?" Al shook his head and looked at his phone trying to place the voice, which sounded familiar but was distorted by his obvious nerves and it was a number he didn't recognise. He'd spoken to a lot of people over the years, and a lot of people probably wanted to 'thank' him for putting them away but this voice sounded too familiar.

'Who is this?"

"Al, it's me." He paused, the name still sounded unfamiliar on his tongue after years of being known as Paul Benson. "Adam, it's Adam Ruzek."

"Bullshit. Who is this?" It did rattle something inside him though, a faint familiarity perhaps.

"O, it's me. I swear. The young upstart you pulled out of the academy almost fourteen years ago."

"Ruzek's dead." Al snapped. This wasn't funny.

"He was, but he lives again."

"What the fuck?"

"Witness Protection. FEDS UC case that went sideways nine years ago. I am guessing you wept over my coffin, had a beer or two in my name, gave my desk away and forgot all about me." The laugh was forced. He knew Al was going to be sceptical but he had to convince him. If he couldn't convince him he had no idea how he was going to manage the rest. "I hope at least you and Voight gave the FEDS some shit over that? I hope someone missed me?"

"Are you fucking with me? This is not funny."

"No Al, I'm not." He answered the million questions that Al threw at him, about his life in Chicago, cases they'd worked on and without hesitation he had been able to confirm every single detail. He'd spent copious nights reliving his old life when he was alone and pining for his past. Obviously Al was testing him and who could blame him.

"Where are you?"

"In Detroit."

"I'll be there tomorrow. Send me your address."

Al had to see for himself. He called Voight first. "That FEDS case, the one that Ruzek went under on. Did anything seem off to you?"

"Apart from the fact they got one of my best UC's killed?" It had always stuck in Voight's gut how that ended. He'd tried to get answers and had got stonewalled at every turn. They'd burnt a lot of bridges trying to uncover the truth about what went wrong, who ratted Ruzek out but got nowhere. There was no way it went down any other way, he was too good at his job, he was smart and cunning. Something wasn't right and the way the FEDS kept blowing them off didn't sit right with them but they just couldn't crack it. It took a long time for Voight to sign off on any UC work with them again.

"Yeah, that. Are we sure it's all above board?"

"Pfft, doubt it. They never are." Voight snorted. "Al, what's this about?"

"I just got a call about that case…." Al paused. It still seems so implausible but he had been around long enough to know that sometimes things weren't always black and white. He just wasn't ready to open that can of worms again until he had no choice. "…I'm not sure everything happened the way we were told."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, I am going to meet someone in Detroit tomorrow. I'll let you know."

Two days later he appeared on Voight's doorstep with a bottle a scotch and a bag which he dropped beside him as he sat down. Voight rustled up some glasses and poured them both a drink. "Are you going to tell me what this is in aid of?" He held up the glass. "What was in Detroit?"

Al leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees and rolled the glass between his hands, he stared at the liquid swirling in bottom. "Adam Ruzek was in Detroit."

"Adam Ruzek?" Voight breathed out slowly and sat back like all the stuffing had been knocked out of him. Never in a million years did he expect that, even knowing that whatever Voight was doing up there was about this case. "Are you kidding me? This isn't funny Al."

"Not funny at all. I spent the day yesterday with Adam Ruzek." He swallowed the contents of his glass in one go and held it out so Voight could refill it. He'd be damn if they weren't going to finish that bottle tonight.

It had been surreal. He knocked on the door still expecting it to be some hoax yet before him stood Adam Ruzek, a little older but most definitely alive. "Hey O." They stood and looked at each other for a moment before Al held out his hand and Adam shook it tightly and Al eventually pulled his hand away.

"Can I say, what the fuck?"

"Yep you can." Adam nodded his head. "You look good old man. Not a day older or wiser."

"Now I know it's you." He held out his arms and Adam stepped into them and for the first time in a long time he felt something almost close to peace.

Al was exhausted; it was a long and emotional day. They had covered a lot of ground, Adam had asked him about everyone, they talked about old times and eventually they got around to the case. He handed Al his files, knowing full well that he would want to check it out. "I still don't know who let the cat out of the bag." The Feds had been very careful to make sure that part had been removed.

"We tried to look into it. Voight went all Voight on the FEDS but we got nothing. Until this day he still hates that case. We never got over it, nobody did."

"Neither did I." Adam scratched his beard, it was the first time he'd let it grow in years and it felt uncomfortable. He's spent most of his time with a number one haircut and clean-shaven but now his hair was getting a little longer and he felt like he was starting to grow into his own self again, physically at least. He had cut his hair off after the FEDS killed him, like he was shedding his own skin and it was something he did to keep himself in the right headspace, or more importantly out of Adam Ruzek's head space. "Can you tell Kim?"

"If you want me too."

"I don't think turning up and knocking on her door would be good. She might shoot me."

"Probably. You know she's done good. She's a good cop, better than all of us combined."

"So she's running the joint now?"

"Nah, not quite. Antonio is."

"Is she happy?"

The look on Al's face told him everything he needed to know. He couldn't help but feel some hope. "She's okay."

"But not happy?" His desperation was written all over his face.

"Kim is having a rough time with her husband. I'm not really sure what's going on but she's hangin' tough." That piece of information had spun Adam out a little. He didn't want her to be unhappy but it changed everything, it would be easier to walk away if she was happy. Maybe.

Al now looked at Voight and mulled over things for a moment. It was all he thought about for days and part of him still wondered if this was a dream. Maybe he was going mad? "You always knew that something was up with that case."

"I did, didn't expect this though."

"Nope." He stared at the bottom of his glass holding it out for a refill. Tomorrow was going to hurt but it might be good to not be able to think about this mess for a while and the scotch would certainly help. "And now I need to tell Kim."

"So you want me to come with?"

"Nah, I promised him I would do it. You know, I feel like I owe it to him." Al exhaled slowly. "What the fuck did we miss? How did we miss that he wasn't dead? Who's body did we bury?"

Al and Voight had trawled through the notes, dragged out their own long buried files and made as many calls as they could. They were no closer to finding any answers, nobody knew anything or they were very good a pretending not to know and that was frustrating all the while Adam was hounding Al to tell Kim.

Now that he had he needed to work on getting Kim to see him again. She was coming around, not nearly quick enough for Adam though.

He talked to her every day and the question was always the same. "Are you ready to talk to Adam? He's waiting."

"Not yet Al, I can't." Seeing him would make this real. She had asked Al every day if it was really him and Al's answer never changed. 'It's Adam.'

And then one day she just nodded. "I want to see him."