Kim leant on the doorframe of her son's room. He was head down at his small desk finishing off some homework. She looked at the posters on the walls and smiled, he was so happy lately. His father made him happy and joy they'd both got out of changing the posters over to the Cubs and sending Atwater photos to stir him up was priceless, they were like two kids in a candy shop. "Hey Bud, how was school?"

"Good." He muttered without even looking up.

"Dinner is almost ready. Are you nearly done?" She pushed herself off the door and came and stood behind Oliver and rested her hands on his shoulders. She frowned as she looked at his homework, one it was Math and she hated Math in school and the other issue she had was with his writing. That bloody left handed chicken scratch he had inherited. Now though, it didn't bother her as much as it used to. "Hey I talked to your Dad today."

"Dad," he finally looked up at her. "Adam?" He would still sometimes just check who Kim meant. Especially after the whole Christmas debacle, along with everything else that had gone down Steve had lit into Oliver when he called him by his name and not 'Dad'. He very rarely called Adam anything but Dad now and Adam loved it but he had reverted to calling Steve by his name on the rare occasion he even mentioned him and that had not gone down well.

"Yes, your Dad. He wanted to know if you wanted to go to a hockey game with him."

"Yes, please Can I?" he almost leapt out of his seat.

"It's a school night."

"Please Mom, please. I will do all my homework, I'll look after Daisy, and I'll take the trash out." His begging was cute. Of course she was going to let him go. She wasn't sure who was more excited, Oliver or Adam. When Adam had called her he sounded like a kid who just got a new puppy.

"Adam, you don't need to do this."

"Come on Kim," even he had taken to begging. "This guy we are doing this job for has tickets, like rink side tickets and he can't go and offered them to me. I know it's a school night, but I want to take Ollie. Please." Kim had laughed down the phone.

"Your begging is pathetic, you know that?"

"Yes."

"Okay, okay. You win." He whooped for joy. She couldn't deny that Adam had embraced being a father. Oliver adored him and they were like two peas in a pod and she would often find them with their heads together doing god knows what. If he wasn't mucking around with Oliver he was making Daisy's day by singing and dancing with her or having a tea party or playing shops with her. "But Adam, don't let him down. Steve did this, offered to take him to a game and then blew him off."

That had broken Ollie's heart and probably, looking back now his will to try with him anymore. Steve had promised to take him to a game and Ollie had sat and waited and waited for him to come home. Eventually Kim had carried him sobbing to bed. Steve arrived home hours later, drunk and just shrugged. "Something came up."

"I am not Steve." Adam added with a hint of annoyance, he had given Kim no reason to keep likening him to her husband. "Kim, stop comparing me and him, you know I hate it."

It had taken them a good few weeks to get back on an even keel after Christmas. The next day Adam had called Oliver early to make sure he was okay. He had also called Kim to organise his day with Oliver and she was still not in the mood to talk. "Do you want me to come over when he picks up his car?"

"Yes, because that would be really fucking helpful. He already thinks you are sleeping here, but pissing him off even more would probably make you happy."

"Okay, how about you drop the attitude?" Adam snapped back at her. "I was just offering. You know in case he tries to abuse you again or one of the kids."

"I can take care of my kids Adam."

"Obviously."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." When Adam picked up Oliver Kim barely spoke to him. Steve had obviously been and gone by that stage as his car wasn't there and Oliver had told Adam that Steve was angry but his Pappy was with him so it didn't get too bad. Although he did point out that Adam had punched him, George tried to reassure her that he wasn't angry with Adam or Kim for what happened but that he did hate that it had come to this.

Adam messaged Kim later that night. He wanted to call but wasn't sure she would take it or that it wouldn't end in another argument.

'I hope you are okay? Kim I don't want to hurt you or see you get hurt. It kills me to watch you go through this. I hated seeing that look of fear on your face; I hated seeing your kids scared in their own home. I just wanted to protect you, all of you. I never want you to think you have to do this alone, I told you I am 100% on your side.'

'I know and thank you. It's just really confusing at the moment and I need some time and space. I can't think when you are around.'

'I think about you all the time.'

Why could they say more in messages than they could face to face?

Once the New Year rolled around they were at least getting back to being friends again and they just didn't talk about the fight. Things smoothed out and Adam agreed to let Kim deal with her ex and stayed out of it. He kept his opinions to himself and kept his distance when he knew Steve was going to be around to pick up or drop off Daisy. Oliver didn't have anything to do with him and at least he felt more relaxed about that.

By the time Kim got home from work Ollie was dressed ready for the game. He sat at the front window and watched and waited for Adam's truck and Kim didn't even get the chance to get out of the kitchen before he was out the door as soon as he pulled up outside.

"Hey Ollie my man." He held his hand out for a fist bump. "Ready to go."

"Have fun. And Adam." He stopped and looked at Kim. She was standing with Daisy who Kim had already prised of his leg; she wanted to go with them. He blew her a kiss who just giggled; even her daughter was besotted with him. "He's got school tomorrow, try not the feed him complete crap and get him bouncing off the roof." He just winked at her. God damn him and his charms and she laughed when they shared another fist bump as Adam climbed in and Kim knew that what she had just said had gone in one ear and out the other. She never quite knew what they got up to when they went out together but they were both incredibly happy so that was good enough for Kim.

"Where are they going?" Daisy asked as she waved goodbye to her brother and Adam.

"Boy's Night Out, so that means a Girl's night for you and me."

"Can we paint our toes?" Daisy suddenly forgot all about the fact that she was missing out. Kim didn't get as much time with Daisy as she would have liked with her spending every second weekend with her father and right now that was working out for them okay. Things were cordial at best and she hoped it continued for Daisy's sake but she missed her when she wasn't around. Oliver was basically just waiting for Adam 24/7 and she felt a little redundant most weekends when Daisy was away. Now Daisy was also asking when she could go on a date with Adam. She was desperate to go out with him like Oliver did.

"What colour?"

"Pink." Kim nodded, she hated pink nail polish, but pink it was. "And sparkles." That was going to go down a treat at work. Sparkly pink nail polish went so well with her sidearm.

Oliver slipped his hand in to Adam's as they walked into the United Centre and the crowd started to build. The past few months had been better than he ever imagined when he decided that he needed to come back to Chicago and at least make peace with his past. This, he never expected. In all the years he was away the thought that this was even a possibility never crossed his mind. When his world was blown apart he accepted that he would never have a family again and now he had a son.

"Can Dad come in?" Oliver was beyond hyped when they got home. The Blackhawks had won; he was sporting a new jersey and whenever he got home from his time with Adam you couldn't wipe the smile off his face, or Adam's.

"What did you feed him?"

"Not much, just a hotdog and an ice-cream." Adam tried to look indignant. "And maybe a soda. He's high on life, Hawks won."

The grip that Oliver had on his hand was vice like. He wasn't letting him go just yet. "Okay." Kim agreed as she stood aside and let Oliver drag him inside, Adam playfully slapping her on the butt as he passed. He hadn't spent much time at their house lately. "But you need to get changed and clean your teeth."

Oliver trudged upstairs reluctantly and they stood a little awkwardly in the hallway. "Daisy has made you something, it's on the end of her bed and she made me 'pinky swear' that you would come and get it." Kim chuckled. Daisy had been very serious about that point; that Adam had to come and get it, even though she was sound asleep.

Adam took the stairs two at a time and snuck into Daisy's room. He picked up the picture on the foot of her bed and it was a drawing of her and Adam and his bike. Scrawled along the bottom was her chaotic writing; she had tried to write the nickname Adam had given her. He smiled and crept closer and kissed her dark little head. This girl, god he wished she was his too.

While they were both upstairs Kim grabbed two beers from the fridge and sat on the couch, now he was here she didn't want him to leave just yet. She had missed talking to him, she missed someone being interested in her and she had to admit that she really missed the way he flirted with her. She nervously rolled the bottle between her two hands. How much more complicated could her life get?

Adam jogged lightly down the stairs and he put the picture with his keys and wallet. Kim leant forward and grabbed the beer from the table and held it out for him. He ran his hand lightly across her shoulders as he made his way around to sit down next to her. "Did you like that?" She asked.

"What? Touching you?"

He took a slow mouthful of beer as he watched her blush, the slight flush on her cheeks and she would look from under her eyelashes and he swore he could see some love in her eyes or at the very least lust. "No, Daisy's picture?"

"I think I am going to run out of room on my fridge soon." It was true; his fridge had become a shrine to Oliver and Daisy.

"Why do you have both my kids wrapped around your finger?"

"Because I am awesome." Kim just nodded and turned her head when she heard Oliver coming downstairs. He was still beaming as he squeezed in between his mother and father.

"Mom let me download when the Cubbies won the first time. Can we watch it?" Atwater teased Oliver about switching teams but Adam was excited and had bought them tickets to the opening game for Christmas and couldn't wait to take him.

"We can, but not right now. It's a school night, but how about the next time it's a snow day we knock them out."

"Do you remember that? Was that before you went away?" Oliver was bouncing still, he loved talking to Adam about where he had been and what he had done while he was away and Adam tried to be as accommodating as possible but sometimes it was all too much and Kim would have to step in.

"It was. It was a good night. The whole city was a party; it was crazy. I think even your Mom and I partied together that night." He winked at Kim who was just happy to watch them together, she would never get sick of this.

Oliver threw his arms around Adam's neck and thanked him for taking him to the game when Kim nudged him to let him know it was time for bed. "I'll be back in a minute. Get yourself another beer." She pointed to the kitchen. Really it would be better if he left but he was willing to continue to torture himself if it meant time alone with her. They had got lost for a while and he had missed her, more than he thought possible. He was in no rush to leave now that she had offered an olive branch.

This time he was holding out a beer for her. "Tell me about the day he was born."

"You know about that?" They had talked about his first few days and how scared and emotional she was and he had the photo book and movie that they had made him but he just loved hearing her talk about Oliver, the pure love in her voice when she talked about his son was intoxicating.

"No I mean, the labour and his birth."

Hugging her knees to her chest she thought about it for a moment. "I was terrified. I wasn't sure what had woken me up, the last few days everything had been aching but this was different. I felt like a beached whale and would waddle around the house, going crazy. I hated not being at work and they used to laugh at me when I kept turning up just to say hello. I ignored the pain that day until I could barely breathe. I think I was too scared to face facts; I didn't want to be in labour. I didn't want to lose that part of you growing inside me. I wanted him to stay in there forever. In there he was safe. I could keep him safe."

"Erin was with you right?"

"She was. I eventually called her when I think the contractions were about eight minutes apart and as soon as she answered the phone I burst into tears. That sent her into a panic; I think they were at my door in about ten minutes and they lived twenty minutes away. I still don't think Lindsay let Halstead drive though."

"That's because she's a control freak."

"Platt offered to be my birthing partner but the thought of her seeing me in all my glory was a bridge too far. The whole waiting room was full within the hour. I felt sorry for anyone else in that room; they were surrounded by cops along with half of Firehouse 51 and of course your parents. They must have thought the world was ending. I wasn't alone that's for sure, but I had never felt so alone."

Adam reached out and rested a hand on the only part of her he could touch without shifting his body. He ran his thumb up and down her ankle but his eyes never left her face. "It hurt like hell, l thought I was going to split in half and the contractions just kept coming but nothing was happening, the Doctor eventually broke my waters and it happened pretty quick after that. It was so intense and the pain was incredible but nothing like the pain in my heart. I loved him the moment I saw him, he looked so small and helpless and all I could see was you. I was sobbing, Erin was crying and we were both just this blubbering mess. He was this strange blue colour, covered in blood and god knows what else and screaming blue murder but I loved him. I hate that you didn't get that moment, that first moment when you look at them and think oh my god we made this and he's perfect."

"I was just late to the party. I did think that, I think that all the time." He was a constant surprise; the comments he made about Oliver and her or Daisy were always the sweetest. "And I still look at you two together and think that."

They were both looking at his hand on her ankle, unable to take the risk of seeing each other's pain or desire because they both had a heady mix of both. "Do you remember where you were that day?"

"France I think. I spent most of the first year backpacking through Europe. I wasn't anybody and over there I could just be no one, no one cared who I was." As soon as Kim had told him when his birthday was, April 25th he sat down and tried to work out where he was, what he was doing. Strangely he was trying to figure out if anything felt different, it was ridiculous but at the time he was desperate to cling to something. He wanted a tangible link to his son; he wanted something to make sense.

"Your Mom and Dad were the first people to see him." Kim waved her hands. "More crying. People must of thought we didn't like him with the amount of crying that was going on. You wouldn't believe the amount of tears; Platt and Voight even shed a few. We were definitely surrounded if not a little smothered with love."

"My Mom told me about the first time she held him, that it was like turning back the clock to the first time she saw me."

"I don't think I slept at all that first night. I just sat and held him. I think I was scared that if I closed my eyes someone would take him away from me." Adam moved closer to her and his hand had moved from her ankle to her knee where he was now dragging all his fingers lightly across it and it made her skin tingle. Kim took a deep breath. "He was so beautiful. He looked like you."

"He was a handsome dude, right?" Again that little blush that crept across her face made his heart race.

"He was perfect." Kim fingers twitched a little as she resisted the urge to run her hands through his hair. "I had no idea what to call him, it took about four days for me to decide. I kept thinking what would you think of it. I could imagine you rolling your eyes if it wasn't manly enough. I thought about calling him Adam but that just hurt too much. I thought that the world needed an Adam Ruzek but I couldn't do it. There was never going to be another you, I didn't want to replace you."

"I love his name." He couldn't imagine him being anything else. "What else did you consider?"

Kim had to stop and think, it was so long ago and in all honesty those early days were a blur, a whirlwind of joy, heartache and exhaustion. "Cooper, Lucas, Max and Leo were on the top of the list I think. I really liked Leo but he just looked like an Oliver. James was obviously because of you." James was Adam's middle name. "Oliver James Ruzek Burgess" she whispered, although very rarely did they use his full name in the past but Kim had noticed that Oliver had started writing his full name on his school work lately and he wanted people to know that he was Oliver Ruzek Burgess. He had showed Adam and that had made him pretty emotional.

"I'm glad you chose Oliver."

"You don't like the others?"

"They are okay. I just really like Oliver." He shrugged. "Reminds me of Olinsky." Adam had always been aware of the role that Al had played in Oliver's life. That first day he saw Oliver standing in Al's kitchen he could see the bond between them. Oliver had freaked out and looked to Al for support and his reassurance.

"Me too."

Kim gave into the twitch and raked her hand through his hair. Adam closed his eyes and tried to just let this moment happen. When he opened them again he could see tears on her cheeks. "Why are you crying?"

"Because of you."

"You don't have to cry over me anymore." He sat up a little and took the beer bottle from her hand and placed it on the table. It felt like his insides were bubble wrap and when he captured her lips with his, softly at first he felt like every single one of those bubbles was popping.

Who was going to baulk first? Who had the fortitude to stop it or the courage to keep going? Kim's hand slid under his shirt and she dragged her fingers across his back making him moan quietly before he sucked on her lower lip. "Kim." He growled her name as she pulled away slightly. "Let me kiss you."

All of her nerve endings felt like they were on fire. The feeling of his body pressing her deeper into the corner of the couch, his hands on her face, his tongue begging for access was all too much, she felt strangely overwhelmed and content at the same time. She tried not to think and just feel.

Just when she was about to fall he stopped. Pulling away he pressed his lips against hers and let them linger before resting his forehead on hers. "I know this can't happen." His voice was hoarse, painfully so.

"Why not?"

"What if it doesn't work?" Pushing himself up off her he ran his hands back and forth through his hair roughly. He couldn't look at her; if he did he would give in to her.

"What if it does?"