Hey everyone!

Well, here is the third installment of this story.

Let's see what happens when Kim visits New York.

Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for your constant support, for taking time to read and review. You are amazing!

Happy reading!

Xoxo,

Nina

"Someone is in an exceptionally good mood today." Erin commented as she sat on the edge of my desk.

"I am. I just got the best message I could get." I said leaning back on my chair.

"Did we finally win the lotto? No, wait! You managed to get us mojitos happy hour in the Red Room?" Erin sounded really excited. She had been talking about that place for weeks now.

"Nah, it's neither of those things." I slid my phone over my desk, showing Erin the reason for my chirpy attitude. "It's better."

"Oh, I see. So I'll finally have the pleasure to meet Kimberly Burgess." She said as she was eying Kim's plane ticket.

"You will. After I'm done with her." I said smiling.

"Aghh Ruzek! Way too much information." She said with a scrunched up nose and almost closing her eyes.

"Hey, I didn't say anything, that's just your dirty mind doing its thing."

"I guess I can say hanging out with you hasn't helped much." We both laughed. "So, how long is she staying for?"

"Not long enough. Lands here on a Wednesday night and flies back Sunday. But hey, it's better than nothing and I'm sure as hell gonna enjoy every second I get with her."

"Look at you, all in love and everything." She teased me because this was the first time she had actually seen me so motivated and in love with someone. "All jokes aside, I'm so glad you're this happy and excited. I told you this day would come and you always fought me on that and here you are." Erin's bright smile was proof of the honesty in her words.

"I argued with you because I always knew Kim was it for me, and before Mexico I didn't consider this possibility. But I guess you were right and the day did come. And yeah, I'm in love and everything." I said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Awwww, Ruzek. You just made me tear up a little." She joked again. That was part of our playful brother-sister type relationship we had going on.

"Shut up." I gently nudged her. "I do have to talk to Al though. I need to get those days off."

"Agh no! Don't do this to me. I'm gonna be stuck with that Matthews guy, he's unbearable." She rolled her eyes and whined.

"I don't recall you asking what were my thoughts when you took 10 days off to go to Bora Bora with OA." She giggled. Erin had been dating OA from the FBI for almost a year now. They met working on a case and they hit it off, the chemistry between them was undeniable then and that remains until now. "This is only four days, two of which are the weekend and lately Al has given us those off. So, you can't complain." I said with a sassy look on my face.

"Fine. I guess I had that coming. And when is she coming?"

"Next week." By the look on Erin's face I could tell the goofy look on my face was making me come across as a moron. But I was happy, I couldn't hide it and I truly didn't care.

"Oh, so she's going to be here for the party." I nodded at Erin's comment. "Does she know?"

"No, I haven't told her yet. I didn't want to over the phone, and now that I know she'll be here in a few days, I'm probably just going to wait to see her."

"Ok. That sounds fair. Keep in mind that us girls like to be on the loop of everything that's going on."

"Yeah, I know. I'll tell her." I looked down. Erin was right and I knew it, on top of that I was well aware of the fact that Kim and I had agreed on talking about everything, so that was that.

"Good." She paused a little and I could tell that she wanted to change the subject. "Appart from a dinner date with me of course, what else do you have planned for her?" I had to smile at her comment. Erin was a very important part of my life, so introducing her to Kim was out of the question. I really wanted them to meet and hopefully get along.

"Well, she's never been here, so I thought about doing all the touristy things, you know?

"That's cute! Let me know if you need any help with anything."

"Will do."

Our friendly chat was interrupted by our radios, dutty was calling and both of us darted out of the district.

Although we walked into a pretty ugly sight as soon as we got to the crime scene, we pulled the right strings and were able to find our suspect. We were at it all day, so to say that I was crushed was an understatement.

I was finally at home, the lighting was dim and all I wanted was a beer and to lay down on my couch.

Kim and I had talked in the morning when she surprised me by telling me she was finally going to come and visit. It was nearly the end of August and we haven't seen each other since Jay's wedding. So, yeah, I was craving her.

We had gotten into a little routine. We would text each other every morning and talk almost every day, texts, calls, video calls and we managed to spice things up, too. I missed her like crazy, but I was happy I had her, even if it was long distance. Kim is everything I ever wanted, the woman I want to share my life with, I have no doubts.

I was falling asleep when the buzzing of my phone woke me up.

"Hey." My voice was raspy and filled with sleep, causing Jay to laugh.

"What's up bro? Taking a little nap?"

"I got home a few minutes ago, I'm dead."

"Stop whining." He chuckled. "Listen, I'm gonna turn this into a video call. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, sure." I moved my phone away from my face to see the screen and find Jay right there, and he had company. "Will, hi!"

"Hey Ruzek." Will sounded serious, and having both of them on the same call was giving me the chills. My brain was jumping all over the place and once it got to the worst place of them all, I jumped up and was instantly awake.

"You guys, is everything alright? Is Kim ok?" I knew I was panicking and my voice and face were doing nothing to hide that.

"Relax man, she's fine." Jay tried to ease my mind, but he was also having fun mocking me.

"Yeah, the girls went out so Jay and I decided to give you a call." Will added.

"Um, ok."

"So, Kim told us that she was missing our annual sibling barbecue because she's going to New York next weekend." Jay finally blurted out.

"Jay, you guys don't have an annual barbecue. I know that." I said, almost rolling my eyes.

"Ok, we don't." Will interrupted. "But if we did, she wouldn't be attending because of you."

"Wait." I said as I shifted the position I was currently in and moved the phone on my hand to take a better look at their setting. "Are you?" I paused trying to figure out where they were. "Is that an interrogation room?"

"It is my friend." Jay took a deep breath before continuing speaking. "You know, when Kim told us she was going to see you, we were happy."

"Yeah, we like you too together." Will added.

"But." I had no idea what they were about to tell me. Even if we were friends, they were also my brothers in law so this whole thing was a little nerve wracking.

"But, Jay and I realized that we never talked to you, and that makes us two crappy older brothers."

"We should have done this in person, but with covid and you two being locked up and then the wedding, it was crazy. So we wanted to make this formal, and what's more formal than the interrogation room?" Jay looked as serious as Will, although his demeanor was telling me just how much fun he was having.

"Couldn't agree more." I took a deep breath and started talking before they said anything. "Guys, you know how strongly I feel about Kim. I love her, I've loved her since we were kids."

"We know that, bro. We just want to make sure you're serious about this. Kim will literally cut our balls off if she ever knows we told you this, but she really is in love with you." My friend was determined to keep this fresh and light. Will on the other hand, he really wanted to show me the whole picture.

"When you left neither Jay nor I were there, but we know for a fact how much she was hurting. We don't ever want to see her like that again. She truly is our sister, even if we have no blood connection, she is our family and we will always have her back."

Will's words were caring and firm. I know how close they were and their bond was incredible to watch.

"I appreciate you telling me this." I ran my free hand through my face. "I know I screwed up in the past, and I have no intention of repeating any of that. I want to take care of her and make her happy. Gosh, I want everything with her." I looked at the screen and both Halsteads were staring at each other.

"So I guess we're gonna have to get acquainted with the idea of having little Ruzek nieces and nephews some day." Will said to Jay.

"I guess so." Jay chucked back to his brother.

"If I could only be so lucky." I said smiling. They were both playing with me now.

"I'm glad we got this conversation out of the way, we know you guys will make it." Jay said with calm eyes.

"I have faith we will."

"And even if you decide to live in New York together, we will miss our girl but we will be happy if you are happy."

"Thanks Will. We haven't talked about that yet, so I have no idea what will happen."

"Relax dude, you'll figure out when you have to. Now you enjoy your weekend together and hope to see you around here soon."

I smiled and laid back on my couch after hearing Will's words. "But if you break her heart again, I will hunt you down and kill you."

"And I will make it all go away." Jay finished off in a half joke half serous tone. "We know you're both adults, but she's our baby sister, and we are not joking. Take care of her. She has the sweetest heart and it's in your hands now."

"I will. I promise. I'm aware of how valuable that is and I will protect it. I will protect her with my life."

"Perfect. That's what we wanted to hear." Will smiled.

"And, I'm not sure we've officially said this before. But since your face is already plastered in my wedding pictures, welcome to the family, bro."

"Thanks guys." I chuckled. "I thought I was a part of your family already, though."

"Well yeah, but it hits different now." Will chuckled and hugged his brother over the shoulder. "As much as I love this brotherly chat we're having, I need to make it to Med on time, I'm covering the Night Shift."

"And I promised Hailey I would leave our lunch for tomorrow ready, so we'll talk tomorrow."

"Alright. Talk to you tomorrow boys."

I ended the call and went back to my beer, which of course was hot and undrinkable by now, so I just started at the ceiling for a second and all I could think about was Kim and how real all of this was, how intense and fierce it was. Since I came here, I dated and fooled around with whoever I wanted. Everything was brief and superficial, except for one girl. I thought I was in love with her, but something didn't add up, I felt strange and weird and so did she. I always found myself comparing what I was feeling for her to the only true feelings I ever had for someone, and that was Kim. Luckily we ended things before taking it too far when we both realized we weren't meant for each other and that whatever we felt wasn't true love.

I never thought I would be in this position again, head over heels into someone, so confident about the relationship I have and so proud to call Kim, the love of my life. It's amazing what life can do if you let it.

When I finally managed wipe off the stupid grin on my face, I got up and went to take a shower and hop in bed before calling my girl to say good night.

I went to my room in only my boxers, it was August and New York was on fire. I went to grab my phone and realized that I had two missed calls from Kim.

"Hey, beautiful." I called her back while I threw myself in bed. I was yearning to hear her voice.

"Hey bubz!" Her voice was chirpy and relaxed at the same time. "Guess what? I'm a little drunk." The way she extended the 'i' told me that she was more than just a little drunk.

"You don't say." I said laughing to myself.

"Mmm hmmm. And I miss you."

"I miss you too, baby."

"And I wish I could jump your bones right now." Drunk Kim was one of my favorites, she was just so spontaneous.

"I wish that too. Gosh, you have no idea how much."

"Believe me, I do. When that plane lands Ruzek, you have no idea what's coming your way."

"Burgess, don't do this to me. I'm weak." Her soft giggle on the other end of the line was having an effect on me. "Where are you?"

"Home? Why?" I couldn't see her, but I knew she had a flirty smile on.

"Nothing, I just want to make sure you're safe."

"Awww, hot, cute and caring. What did I do to deserve that?" She sighed, and kept talking. Alcohol did that to her. "I love you." When she giggled again I had a pretty good guess of what was coming next. "So? Where are you?"

"Home as well."

"Where exactly?" She was almost purring and it was so fucking sexy.

"My bed."

"Getting ready to sleep?"

"Yup."

"So, just your boxers on?" I chuckled at her question.

"Yes. You sound like you want to play." I was biting my lower lip.

"I do. Do you?"

"There's nothing I want more, but I can't, knowing that you're drunk. I feel like I'm not respecting you."

"Uh, uh, uh." She said, trying to correct me. "It's just a little drunk. Come on baby, I need you, I want you."

"If you were here you could literally see, that I want you and need you too. But I won't do this for me and not look after you. I would never do anything like that to you."

"Aghh, I hate it when you play gentleman on me."

"No you don't. You love it."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." She whined like a kid. "Living far from you sucks. We need to solve that."

"I agree. We can talk about it when you come next week."

"Yes. Although, first sex and then talk."

"Don't you worry about that. We won't be having any sleep that Wednesday."

"You better keep your word. I'm gonna take a cold shower since my boyfriend shut me down like that."

"I'll make it up to you, when you can really enjoy it. Sleep tight. I love you."

"I love you too, bubz."

"I'll call you tomorrow. Drink lots of water."

"Yes, dad." She was bummed I didn't play her game, but she had no idea how hard it was for me to put a stop to that, because I wanted it as bad as she did. But respecting her and loving her was always my first priority.

"Oh, I'm your daddy alright." That made her laugh.

"I love you. I'll drink water and we'll talk tomorrow. Hope you dream about me."

"You left me so worked up I don't have any doubts I will be dreaming about you." I let go a deep breath. "Kim?"

"What?"

"I can't wait to see you."