Well, here it is, something new just for this version... a fight for some justice, some closure and some compensation.
Oliver was in between both his parent's, holding their hands tightly. He was nervous but insisted he wanted to do this. He wanted to do this for his Dad.
Kim was still on edge about it but when they sat down with Oliver and discussed it with him he insisted that he would be okay. Adam and Kim had talked to his attorney, who they both knew through the Police Department and wanted to help Adam put this behind him and she could sense their reservations but also thought it was their best chance of making the case.
They had been instructed not to talk to Oliver about what he should and shouldn't say, and they weren't to tell him what questions they would ask. He had no idea that this was about getting compensation for the years of trauma they'd both experienced.
He thought it was just about helping his Dad get better and he wanted that more than anything, especially if that meant he'd stay with him and his Mom.
Adam paced up and down the hallway while Kim took him through to the interview room. Oliver hung onto his mother's hand as he was introduced to the panel, she could feel both his nervousness and determination. There was two elderly men, a younger lady, Tess who was the appointed psychologist who would be conducting the interview and two attorneys.
They had decided that Adam and Kim shouldn't be in the room during the interview although they would be allowed to watch from another room via video link. Oliver didn't know they were watching either because they didn't want him to think he had to be careful about what he said and they didn't want him to be influenced by his parents.
He was asked to state his full name. "Oliver James Burgess Ruzek." He answered instantly. Even though officially he was Ruzek Burgess, Oliver he had started calling himself Oliver Ruzek. As far as he was concerned that's who he was now.
"Thank you for coming in Oliver." Tess smiled at him kindly. "How are you?"
"I'm good thank you." He responded politely. Kim had always drummed manners into both her children. They were definitely kids and could be wild and loud, but they were always polite. He had his hands on his lap underneath the table and they were clenched into tight balls.
"Do you know why you are here?"
"To help my Dad."
"Your Dad, Adam?" Tess clarified.
"Yes. Adam Ruzek."
"Not Steve?"
"He's is not my Dad."
"But he was your Dad for a long time." Tess didn't particularly enjoy asking these questions. She wasn't quite sure what they were hoping to get out of it but she was doing as she was instructed. As far as she was aware they would be making a compensation offer but they wanted to interview all three of them and she was called in to Interview Oliver. "When did he stop being your Dad? After Adam come home?"
"When he hit me, when he got drunk all the time and yelled at my Mom, when he made my sister cry." Behind the window Kim gasped. She hadn't expected Oliver to be quite so upfront and candid from the start.
"Did your Mom report your Dad for hitting you?"
"He's not my Dad." Oliver shot back. "And no, because I was scared that he'd hurt my Mom if she did, or Daisy."
"Not you?" Tess asked him. "You weren't scared he was going to hurt you?"
"I didn't care, I just wanted to protect my Mom and my sister."
Oliver ran his fists up and down his thighs. His lip quivered a little and Tess asked him if he was okay to go on. "Yes." By now Kim was furious, why the hell were they asking him about Steve? That had nothing to do with Adam.
"Tell me what you knew about Adam, before he came back, before you knew he was alive."
"I knew he was a cop and he worked with my Mom, I have his badge and my Mom would tell me about him all the time. Al and Trudy and Jay and Kevin all told me about him and how good a cop he was and how much he loved my Mom. He would've loved me if he'd known. He would've stayed." Oliver answered honestly. "I know he was my real Dad. My Mom told me about him all the time and she had a box of his things that she let me look at sometimes. He's my Dad."
"You know he couldn't stay."
"You took him away from me and my Mom." Oliver cried angrily. "My Mom wouldn't have got hurt, I wouldn't have got a black eye if you didn't take my Dad away from me. It's your fault."
"What about Daisy? If Adam had stayed you wouldn't have Daisy as a sister."
It was an awful question to ask a child and Kim exploded. "What sort of question is that? How could they ask a little boy that. To choose between his Dad and his sister?" she seethed at the Agent, who at least looked uncomfortable. "This was a mistake."
Oliver seemed to be growing before their eyes though. "I love my sister." He wasn't deterred. "Her Dad doesn't love me, he never did. When she was born he stopped caring about me. Adam loves Daisy and me. He loves Daisy even though he's not her Dad. That's what good people do. My Dad is a good person."
Tess spoke the two men quietly and then turned to Oliver again. "Since Adam has been back..."
"He's my Dad, call him my Dad." Oliver demanded. "That's his name. That's what I call him."
Tess nodded. She liked this kid, he clearly loved his Dad. "Okay, since your Dad has been back. Tell me about that. Do you know why he went away?"
"Yes. Because he had a case and some people threatened to hurt my Mom and my Pops and Grandma so my Dad went away to protect us because he loved them. He didn't know about me." They hadn't told Oliver that the reason he was away so long was a lie. Adam didn't want him to know or think that he chose not to come back to him sooner.
"How does that make you feel?"
"Sad and scared. It's really hard sometimes."
"Why is it hard?"
"Because of what you did to my Dad. He gets sad, he gets angry…he's sorry he hurt us."
Tess interrupted him. "Does he hurt you or your Mom?" Oliver just stared back at them. "Physically? Does he hit you or your Mom? Do you ever feel unsafe with your Dad?"
Kim glanced quickly at Adam as his head snapped up and he had a look of fear on his face. "Adam, just breathe." Kim squeezed his hand. "You make us feel safe."
"Are you sure? I know sometimes it gets rough…." He whispered.
Kim cut him off. "No, we know you'd never hurt us, I trust you, Oliver trusts you. We know you aren't angry with us. We are not scared of you."
Oliver answered instantly "No, No never. He loves us, he would never hurt me or my Mom. He loves my Mom so much. He's not angry at me, he's angry at you." He pointed to the men in the room. "He's sad every time he realises that he missed out on my growing up. You took that away from him, and me, you took my Dad away from me."
"Oliver." He was starting to get worked up and Tess tried to calm him down but he wasn't listening.
"I made him a book of all the photos of me growing up, from when I was a baby so he could get to know me. I didn't have any photos with my Dad to put in that book. I love my Dad. We made him a movie and it makes him cry. It makes my Mom cry. I just want my Dad to be happy. I don't want him to get sad, he goes away by himself sometimes because he's scared. He can't live with us because he's scared." He stood up and yelled across the room. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate what you did to my Dad, I hate what you did to my Mom and me. My Dad never held me as a baby and I hate you because it's your fault."
Adam sat with his head in his hands, he couldn't watch his son. "Make it stop, Kim, please make it stop." He was in agony. Kim nodded towards the Agent who was sitting with them and she left the room and stopped the interview.
"No." Oliver screamed. "You ruined my life. You need to fix it, you need to fix my Dad. I'm trying, my Mom is trying. It's all your fault. He's my Dad, I love him."
Adam had followed the agent into the Interview room and Oliver flew out of the chair and into his Dad's arms. "I love you Dad."
"I'm sorry Ollie, I'm so sorry." It broke Kim's hear watching her two boys sobbing their hearts out.
Kim glared at the gormless men behind the table. "Are you happy? Look what you've done." She hissed. "Look at them." She barked at them when they glanced down at the table. "You broke them, you need to damn well sit there and watch them and you need to fix this."
They all took a break and Adam and Oliver were taken back to the viewing room and together with Kim they were given some time alone to calm down. Adam kept apologising to Oliver for making him do this. "It's okay Dad, I just want you to get better." He didn't blame his Dad. "Did I help?"
"You did, I'm so proud of you."
Adam took him for a walk when they interviewed Kim, he didn't want to see it and he didn't want Oliver to see it. He was worried if his Mom would be okay and Adam assured him that she was the toughest woman he knew and those people didn't know what was about to hit them.
"What is your relationship with Adam Ruzek."
"He's the father of my eldest child. He's part of our family."
"And your relationship?"
"He's the father of my child, he's family." She repeated.
Agent Barnett, as she know knew him decided to drop it once it was clear Kim was not about to give them any further information. She hadn't lied, he was Oliver's father and they were a family. "How did you find out he was alive?"
"Not through you." Kim snapped. "Someone got a phone call from Adam after you had cut him loose. I saw him about a week later."
"And, how did you know it was him?"
Kim levelled her gaze at Agent Barnett. He was short, fat and old and looked like he had been out of behind a desk for decades. "I guess there is something about the father of your child that you always remember. Even though you'd put him through hell for nine years, for no actual reason I might add, he still had the same eyes, the same smile that I'd fallen in love with."
"So the same man?"
Kim leant forward and stared hard. "I didn't say that at all, don't put words in my mouth. Let me make this very clear… physical things don't change, his eyes, his smile, they are physical things that's what he was born with. But he had changed, he was broken, he was hurt, he felt guilty, he was tormented, he still is. He wakes up at night gasping for breath. He holds onto the people he loves so tight in case they leave him again. He's always looking over his shoulder. Sometimes he can't stand noise and hates being touched and he is desperately trying to be there for his son and learn how to be a father. He is haunted by what you did to him, the choice you foisted on him with two hours' notice and then you destroyed his life, his future, my life, his parents life and the life of his only child."
"That can't be easy for you." Tess asked softly.
"No, no it's not but we love Adam, Oliver loves him and that scares me, because sometimes he worries too much about his Dad and how he is doing and he gets scared that you are going to take him away again and quite frankly I blame you for all of that." Kim continued. "And we, his family aren't giving up on him like you did."
She barely drew breath. "We pay for counselling for Oliver to help him cope with Adam and his mental health challenges and Adam sees a counsellor regularly as well. And I am so proud of them because neither of them are willing to give up." Kim didn't even give them a chance to speak. "As you can imagine that is a financial burden on both of us but Adam is determined to make sure Oliver gets all the help he needs even if that means he doesn't get the help he was desperately needs for himself because that's what a father does. He puts Oliver, and even Daisy before his own needs."
"Kim…." The second man spoke, he'd been quiet so far just watching Kim and she hadn't flinched.
She held up her hand. "I didn't want Oliver to come in here. I can't believe you actually wanted to see how your mismanagement and deceit affected a nine year old boy, but I shouldn't really be surprised considering everything else you've done. Oliver wanted to do it though, he wanted you to see what you'd done. That you robbed him of the love of his father for eight years of his life. The years that will form him and stay with him forever and that he can never get back."
Tess interjected. "We had to make sure we had the full picture."
"The full picture…" Kim scoffed. "…well let me give you the full picture, the bit you missed was Adam in tears in that room." She pointed to the large one-way window behind her. "…begging for us to make it stop. To get Oliver away from you because it was breaking him watching Oliver telling you how much he loves his Dad and how much he hates what you did to him." Kim's voice wobbled just a little.
"Did you know that stress in pregnancy can affect the unborn child, it has been linked to anxiety, depression, increased risk of ADHD and cardiovascular disease in later life. So that's the risks you've saddled my son with because I can tell you losing the father of your child early in a pregnancy was devastating, painful, stressful and cruel." Kim had often worried about the effect her stress would have on her baby and tried to control it, but you can't control grief.
"You owe it to him, and to Adam to make this right. I know you can't change what happened now but you can give him closure and let him get on with putting his life back together with his son, his parents, his friends and us, his family." Kim finished. "And you can make sure that we have the means to take care of Oliver, for whatever challenges he faces and Adam because I want him to have whatever help he needs."
She reached into her bag and pulled out a two photos, placing them in front of the panel. "This is the first photo I have of Oliver James Ruzek Burgess with his father Adam Ruzek. He was eight years old and just met his father." Tess looked at it however the two men didn't. "Look at it." She hissed at them again, she wasn't letting them off the hook, they were going to look at what they'd done. "You did this to them. Look at it."
It was the photo of the two of them on Adam's bike not long after they met. She had mixed feelings about that photo. She loved it because of the pure joy on both their faces and she hated it because of what it was. Their first photo together.
She then placed another photo on the table. It was Oliver's tiny newborn hand on his father's badge. And she loved and hated that photo too. "On the day he was born, that's the only thing of his father he had. I held onto that while I gave birth to his son so that I could feel a part of Adam with me, because you had taken that away from me. That's it… a cold metal badge."
There was a faint look of recognition on their faces. Perhaps they were finally getting it. "Not only did you take Adam away from his only child, you also took away his career. A career he loved, that he was passionate about and that he was good at."
"You need to do the right thing for once because over the past ten years nothing you did was right, do the right thing now, please. If not for Adam, then for his nine year old son." Kim left the room and went in search of Adam and Oliver. Oliver saw her first and flew into her arms. She assured him she was okay. The emotional fallout from today was going to be enormous, for all of them.
Adam was the last person to speak to the panel and Kim and Oliver watched from the next room. He wasn't in there for long. He didn't have a lot to say.
"How long have you been in a relationship with Kim Burgess?" He was asked straight up and it didn't make a lot of sense to him why this was even bought into the conversation.
"Almost fourteen years."
"While you were away?"
Adam glared at them. "That's how long I've loved her."
"Did you know she was pregnant when you left?"
"No, but you did." He shot back at them. "You knew she was pregnant before you killed me off and you knew for eight years that I had a son."
"It was for your own good Adam, we were protecting you."
"Who from? You." He pointed to Agent Barnett and then the next man, Agent Caldwell. "Or you? Because it certainly wasn't for me, or Kim or my unborn child." He stood up. "So now I'm giving you two hours to make a choice, because that's how long you gave me." He dropped a letter on the table with his compensation request. "This, or my story, " he dropped another folder in front of them "…which has already been told, sent and is ready to go and will blow this to shit. It's your choice. Door A or Door B, and I really don't think you'd like Door B." He shrugged. "Just a hunch. Lucas was very helpful."
Adam had waited a few weeks before he started this process in the hope of protecting him from the fallout. He had begrudgingly accepted that Lucas was part of the system and they'd chewed him up and spat him out as well. He respected what he'd done for him.
Agent Caldwell picked up the folder. "Oh don't worry, I learnt a lot about hiding in plain sight, covering my tracks and leaving no trace. I had nine years to refine my skill. Think of that as a preview, a teaser if you will." Adam smiled. "However pick Door A and all those files will never see the light of day. I just want this to be over."
He stared at both of them and walked towards the door. Pausing briefly. "The clocking is ticking."