Just a little light relief hopefully, the Boy's finally catch up for a few beers.

"If you don't want to go then say no." Kim watched Adam pacing up and down Al's back deck. He'd been like this for about an hour, ever since they'd arrived after dropping Oliver off. He made Kim a coffee but his had gone cold on the table.

The catalyst for this little episode was Kevin and Jay inviting him out for some beers, 'a boy's night'.

"I'm okay."

Kim sat on the outdoor chair and hummed. "Looks like it."

"I will be okay, I will be."

"Adam, you don't have to go. If you are unsure they'll understand."

Since he'd been back he had managed to navigate most social situations without too much trouble. This one snuck up on him though. Focussing on Oliver had given him the perfect out every time but Jay had overheard Kim saying that Daisy was with her Dad this weekend and Oliver had a sleepover birthday party so she was free to catch up.

That gave Adam no out, he'd blown them off a few times by telling them he was hanging out with Oliver but this time that wasn't an option. Still if he had really been opposed to it the boy's would've backed off and Kim offered to tell them but Adam didn't want that. He told her he was capable of pulling the pin himself, he just hadn't and now he wished he did.

"No, it's fine."

"You don't look fine, you look anything but fine."

Adam stopped and looked at Kim. "Are you offering to keep me occupied instead?" She smiled at his cheeky wink. She couldn't lie, the flirting made her happy. It made her giddy and she felt like a school girl again.

"You wish."

"That I do." He rolled his shoulders. "I'm sure once I get there I will be fine. It's the anticipation that makes me nervous."

"Me too." Kim blushed. They just had to flirt with each other, it was innate.

Kim was dropping him off at Molly's. They had chosen to meet there because he at least knew that place and felt comfortable. Erin was picking up Atwater and dropping them both off and she did offer to pick him up as well but he wanted to see Kim first. He had spent the day with Oliver but had been disappointed that it had to be cut short because of his party. Spending time with his son was his priority right now.

She squeezed his hand before he got out of the car. "Have a good night and don't forget, you can tell them to stop any time. You can leave whenever you want. Or text me, think of a safe word and I'll come get you."

"I know. I'll be fine." He leant towards her a little like he was going to kiss her but stopped and smiled. "Be safe."

Kim watching until he was inside. She really hoped that the night went well and she had asked the boys to just take it easy on him. She reminded them that Adam didn't talk about his case for a reason. If he wanted to talk about he would, just don't ask him.

"How's Ollie?" Kevin asked as they waited for Jay to bring their beers over. Adam ran his hands up and down his thighs nervously. "You getting' the hang of it?"

"Hang of what?"

"Being a Dad."

Adam inhaled sharply. He didn't expect them to dive straight in. "It's good, I think. Ollie seems happy. Kim hasn't blasted me yet. I haven't killed him, or need to take him to hospital. So it's good."

"He's a good kid."

Adam nodded. "Yeah he is." That he could agree with.

"And Kim?" Kev sat back a little so Jay could slid the tray of beer and shots in front of them. "She's good?"

"Yep." Adam knocked back the shot. "We aren't talkin' about that. Okay?"

"Okay." Kevin nodded, a little surprised at how on edge he seemed. He knew that Kim would be a touchy subject though but wanted to push it a little. Everyone knew they were spending time together and that made them happy but they were both very wary and cagey.

"So?" Jay changed the subject, he picked up on Adam's unease. "Fishing?"

It was awkward until Adam chuckled and took a mouthful of his beer. "Yeah, fishing. Don't knock it until you try it. Peace and quiet, beers, fire, catch your own food, what's not to like?"

They planned a fishing trip, that in all likelihood would never happen. One thing Adam couldn't imagine was these two camping rough and he started to laugh. "You are probably the two people the least likely to survive in the wild."

"Hey." Atwater argued. "I'm adaptable."

Adam laughed. "You can't go anywhere without checking yourself in the mirror three times on the way out."

"That was years ago. I've changed." Atwater quipped without thinking but the laughter on his lips died when he saw the look on Adam's face. "But yeah, you're right, I ain't no woodsman."

Adam drank his beer quietly. He had no idea why this was uncomfortable for him. He had spent time with them both since he'd been back but he just couldn't shake it. Tonight just wasn't sitting right with him. He didn't know what to talk about, he didn't want to talk about Kim or anything related to the case or being a cop. Oliver felt like safe ground but talking about Oliver meant talking about Kim.

"So? How did you and Joelle meet?" Adam did his best to shake off his unease and felt like this was the best option.

"Ummm." Kevin looked a little sheepish and Jay threw his head back and laughed.

Adam looked at both of them. It felt like he'd hit on something that was going to enjoy. "Sounds interesting."

"Not really." Kevin tried to play it down.

Jay was having none of it though. "She ran him over with her car."

"Ha, What? That's gold." Adam snorted and banged his glass on the table. "Go on."

"Not exactly true. Halstead always has to over dramatize it." Kevin wasn't really bothered by telling the story especially if it made this whole night a little less awkward. He'd felt it as well, just something was off and the first half hour or so was like pulling teeth. It was hard having to remind himself that this wasn't the same anymore. For Jay and him they'd lived this whole life and remembering that Adam had missed it all and lived life as another man was still a bit of a head spin. He just assumed that he'd slip back into being his best mate and it had been a shock to learn that it wasn't going to be that easy.

Adam shook his head. "Nah, I want his version." He turned slightly towards Jay. "So? Spill."

Jay insisted that the would need another round of drinks before they started and he nodded at Hermann who happily obliged.

"You know how he has a habit of talking bullshit on his phone and not watching where he was walking?"

"Oh yeah. Lucky he hasn't had his legs broken, or his skull." It had always been a trait of Kev's, he got so into his phone conversations that they literally had to steer him out of trouble more often than not. If they wanted to rile Kev up they would hide his phone, the man was obsessed with it and was constantly trying to get them to download all sorts of weird apps that were 'gonna change ya life'. The amount of times he got hacked because of the shit he downloaded was insane. Tech support hated Kev, 90% of the de-bugging of phones they did was directly linked to Kevin Atwater. There was always a gullible rookie that took him up on his get rich quick schemes. He had a reputation which according to Kim hadn't really changed, he liked to call himself and 'early adopter'.

"Anyway, he was doing his usual, chatting up some poor hapless girl and bang, straight out into traffic."

"Wait so, the girl he was chatting up wasn't who he ended up with? Adam frowned. "Interesting."

"Oh, it gets better." Jay laughed at Kevin who was sitting with his arms folded across his chest and pouting. "So Joelle gets out of the car and absolutely goes to town on him. Like, people stopped and filmed it."

"It was a bit over the top." Kevin argued. At the time he was too stunned to notice but once he got his wits about him he tried to defuse the situation while Jay and Erin stood by and did nothing to help. Once they saw that Kev was uninjured they let Joelle say her piece. They were tired of trying to get him to pay attention to the world around him, for a good a cop he was, he was also dumb as rocks.

Jay laughed. "Man, it was legendary. It went viral. I will dig it out and show you. Joelle schooled him even though he was lying on the ground. She fair sat him on his ass with the car. All the while this chick on the phone is screaming hysterically, asking him if he was alright, completely wigging out."

"I need to see this video." Adam couldn't stop laughing. "I can't believe I've never heard this?"

He had met Joelle briefly and thought she was the perfect match for Kevin. Everyone told him that she reined him in and that she was a doll. Kim had talked her up right from the start. Joelle didn't put up with his shit, which was precisely the kind of woman he needed apparently.

"Kev here was going through a phase. New love every other week. He was enjoying Chicago and Joelle stopped him in his tracks."

"Literally." Kevin hummed. "Sweetest bit of honey."

Jay dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Joelle snatched the phone out of his hand and told the random woman to stop being such an overly dramatic queen and hung up on her." Jay continued. "She then turned on Kev, demanded his name and contact details before she even realised he was a cop."

"How'd that go down?"

"Started her off on a whole other rant about modern day policing." Jay laughed hard. "It was quite the spectacle. Made the news, Voight knew about it before we even got back to the District. Everyone saw it."

Jay pulled his phone out and found the video, it was still online and he knew exactly where to find it. Kevin rolled his eyes repeatedly as Adam pissed himself laughing at the whole show.

It was exactly what Adam needed and they were all laughing and shit stirring like old times while they were enjoying the beers. Kevin took over the story and told him how he had called Joelle to arrange to get her car fixed, he'd left a nice dent in the side panel and he had charmed her ass off. "She couldn't say no and the rest is history."

Jay snorted and choked a little on his beer. "Bullshit."

"She said no?" Adam handed him a napkin.

"Oh no, she said yes eventually, it took a few weeks but well Kevin here isn't too bright when it comes to the ladies and he had this little thing going with his favourite restaurant and he took all his dates there. It was smooth, the owner knew all Kev's moves so it was like an operation but the only thing was when he finally got Joelle to go out with him, just so happened that the lovely young lady he had been trying to impress on the phone when he walked out in front of her car was also a fan of the place."

"No fucking way?" Adam gasped.

"Oh yes, took him six weeks of hard core wooing to get Joelle to even look at him again. Spent most of his pay packet on flowers. Our boy was smitten, bitten by the love bug finally. Apparently it was Joelle giving poor hapless Martha a life lesson when she tried to muscle in on their date that turned Kev on."

"It wasn't that bad. You make shit up." Kevin huffed.

"Yeah, nah. Joelle pulled you out of some deep shit brother. She saved your ass." Jay turned to Adam. "We arrested Martha's ass a few months later turning tricks."

"…the fuck? She was a hooker?"

Kevin sounded indignant. "She wasn't a hooker, well I wasn't payin' her, I didn't know. We'd been on like one date. She wanted out, she'd been out for a while and then got dragged back in to get some cash to pay her old man's medical bills."

"Holy fucking shit. Kev you dodged a bullet man." He lifted his glass and tapped Kevin's. "To Joelle man, I'm glad she ran your ass down."

"Me too Bro, me too."

His phone beeped with a message and he glanced at it quickly, knowing it would be Kim checking in. He knew he'd freaked her out earlier with his anxiety about tonight, but honestly he was good. He'd relaxed and talking about Kevin and Joelle was entertaining. "I'm good." He sent back quickly and put his phone away again.

Both Kev and Jay watched him and knew it was Kim checking up on him.

"So, another round?" He jumped up. "And then I wanna hear about how you two haven't fucked up fatherhood yet. I need some tips."

They got into a groove and it was a good night and he didn't get to speak to Kim until the next morning when Kim called him. "How'd you go?"

"Fine." He croaked into his phone, lying back down on his bed and covering his closed eyes with his arm. It was a late night and they'd ended up hitting it hard. He'd staggered through the door close to 3am.

"Are you hungover?"

"Very." He groaned. "Hey, I'm good, it was good."

"I knew you would be. I missed talking to you though." Kim admitted. "Will we see you today?"

"It's Sunday, you always see me Sunday."