Kim was surprised to see Atwater, Halstead and Jonas all crowded around her desk looking at a box that was sitting in the middle of it. "What are you doing?"
"Wondering what this is?" Kevin picked up the box and shook it, obviously trying to work out what was in it. If she hadn't turned up he probably would have opened it and claimed he was doing it for her own safety. "I think it might be empty." He bobbed his hand up and down indicating that it was light.
Kim grabbed it from him. "I think it is addressed to me." She flashed them the name on the top of the box. Neatly typed so that gave no clues but she knew, without even opening it who it was from. She waited until they had finally given up and went back to their own desks before she opened it although they were still watching her, peering at her over their computer screens.
Peeking inside the box she found an empty packet of Gummy Bears and a note. 'Wonder where they are hiding?' and she blushed a little.
"Care to share?" Kevin was now sitting on the edge of his desk flat out staring at her. If he had to take a guess at who it was from he would have bet his house on it being from Ruzek. Those two just couldn't help themselves and it was written all over each of their faces every time they were in the same room together, and now even when they weren't.
"Not really." She slid it into her desk drawer as Antonio came out of his office. That had always meant one thing, they had a case and Kim was relieved because it gave her a chance to compose herself and focus.
Finding a moment to send him a message without Kevin's eagle eyes on her took a while. 'Should I send out a search party?'
'Please do, I only hope its as thorough as the one the other night.'
Kim had spent yesterday at home with Daisy. She had only vomited once more that night but she preferred to stay at home with her. Antonio was pretty good with that as long as she got some paperwork done, they didn't always need to be in the Bullpen if they didn't have an active case going. She had talked to Adam, he called first thing to see how Daisy was but they didn't talk about what Daisy's ill-timed spew had interrupted.
Catching up during the week was pretty rare. Kim's hours were erratic at best and one thing she didn't want was for this to be a rushed moment and she didn't want to make plans that she may not be able to keep, that would just be frustrating. Man, it was going to be a long week though.
The next morning her phone buzzed with a message. Of course he waited until he knew she would be at work. The photo of a Gummy Bear sticking out of the top of his jean's pocket certainly made her tingle in anticipation, she was loving the way his mind was working. He had far too much time on his hands though and idle hands were dangerous.
By the third morning everyone was starting to notice. She never did have a very good poker face as far Adam was concerned and she would snatch at her phone and then spend the next hour grinning like an idiot. Thursday's instalment was Gummy Bears on his pillow. Kim replied. 'They look lonely?'
'They are, so lonely in fact they just told me that their little bodies are aching.'
On Friday her phone started buzzing a little after six reluctantly pulling her from her sleep. Groaning as she reached for it she hoped like hell it wasn't because something had jumped off because she was actually looking forward to Oliver's Assembly, probably because it meant seeing Adam, she had missed him. She smiled when she saw it was from him. It was a photo of Gummy Bears lined up on his bare stomach. 'They are waiting for you.'
'Oh good lord Adam, stop.'
'You don't mean that.'
'Suddenly I feel like Gummy bears for breakfast.'
'How long until you can get here?'
That was so not happening. There were a lot of upsides to having children, but there were also definitely some downsides and not being able to drop everything on a whim was one of them. Kim hauled herself out of bed and into the shower before getting Oliver and Daisy up and ready for school.
She didn't see him until he arrived at Oliver's school for his assembly and grabbed her hand. "Hey." Finally most of the other mother's at the school had stopped with the gawking and gossiping. Not that Steve had been around all that much for a couple of years but Adam's sudden appearance had definitely caused a stir. Was she having an affair? Who was he? Where was her husband? Eventually it had got around that he was Oliver's real father and that started a whole other round of gossip. He'd been in jail? He'd run off with another woman? Or she had kept Oliver a secret from him for all his life?
"You've had a busy week I see?"
"Being creative takes a lot of time and energy. It's not easy getting the lighting right and those little buggers are hard to get to stand upright."
As they took their seats Kim made sure she kept a tight grip on his hand. Along with being close to Adam this made her happy. She was happy that he just kept doing the things he promised to do; he was always there for Oliver. Perhaps they were closer now than they had even been, she wished that they hadn't had to go through all the years of pain to get here, but here they were. When there was a break in the Assembly she leaned over and whispered, "Hold out you hand."
He did as he was told and reaching into her pocket she grabbed a handful of Gummy Bears and placed them in his hand as her eyes twinkled. This was so not the place to getting their flirt on, but self-control had long been thrown out the window. His eyes never left her face as he placed one in his mouth and then licked his lips. Kim just about died on the spot. Damn him.
Walking back to her car Adam slipped his hand into hers. "I've missed you this week. More than usual."
"It's been a long week that's for sure."
"Are you coming over tonight? Daisy's being picked up in the morning. Steve's apparently got something on and his parents are busy too."
"I've got that birthday dinner for Craig at work. I agreed weeks ago." He really wanted to back out but he hated it when people did that at the last minute and knew that Craig's wife had gone to a lot of time and effort.
"Bad timing."
Before they could go any further her phone rang. She sighed as she held it up and showed Atwater's name. "Speaking of bad timing." Adam held the door open as she climbed into her car. "Let's do something with Oliver tomorrow."
Kim nodded as she answered her phone. It was hard to focus on what Atwater was telling her as she watched him walk away. God, they needed to sort this out. This was killing her.
"So?" Erin bought them over both a coffee and slid into the bench seat opposite her friend. Friday lunchtime coffees were always appreciated and it had almost become a bit of a ritual and part of her initial recovery process and they had just continued on with it as often as possible. "What's going on?"
"Daisy started the week by vomiting in my bed so that was a great few days, she's all good now though and Oliver and I managed to avoid it." It had surprised her how a dose of a stomach bug could wreak havoc on a household. If one went down it was a steady procession through the rest of the house and there was nothing worse than dealing with a sick child when you felt just as hideous. "How's Gracie? We need to get them together soon."
"She's good. She's been asking about a play date with Daisy." Erin winked. "What's going on with Adam? He's been making you all giddy apparently."
Kim felt a blush creep up on her and she looked at her coffee cup. "He's just been a bit flirty this week."
"Really?" Kim's blush increased when Erin tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.
"I think we've both realised that we can't stay away from each other much longer."
That much was obvious and it kept smacking them in the face like the night Daisy had scammed her date, the gummy bear carry on last week and the day he caught Kim wrapped just in a towel. Kim had just stepped out of the shower when she heard glass shattering. Grabbing a towel she bolted down the stairs and stopped on a dime when she found Adam in her kitchen, crouching down picking up pieces of a broken glass.
"Oh." She pulled the towel closer around her body.
His eyes just about bugged out of his head and Kim blushed when he didn't look away. "Sorry." Adam stuttered. "Ollie let me in, I dropped this." He held up the bits of broken glass. Kim took a step towards the table, wincing as a piece of glass stabbed her foot.
Adam was speechless. She was standing there with her wet hair and a towel barely covering her and he didn't know what to do, all he wanted to do was look and touch and to feel her again. She hobbled towards the chair and sat down to look at her bleeding foot.
"Sit still." He eventually moved and grabbed some paper towel and lifted her foot into his lap. Kim had to laugh at how focussed he was on the tiny sliver of glass.
It was hard to breathe; suddenly there was not a lot of air in the room. She was practically naked, her foot was in his lap and he could see up her leg and the towel was leaving little to his imagination. Once he had successfully retrieved the glass he lifted her foot slightly and kissed it but his eyes were wandering and Kim noticed and suddenly felt flustered.
As soon as he let her go she bolted upstairs and came back down dressed minutes later. He was standing by the door with Oliver ready to go and they both could barely look at each other. Later that night he sent her a message. 'My heart, oh my fragile heart.' Cryptic, sweet and she was completely in love with him.
Erin leant across the table and stared straight at her. "And that's what you want?"
"Oh god yes." She couldn't have sounded any more desperate if she tried and Erin just laughed.
"Then go for it."
"Easier said than done. Daisy's volcanic ice cream spew stopped it dead in it's tracks last weekend. It's just finding the time alone." Kim flopped back against the bench. Sexual frustration was fun for a little while but it was starting to hurt. "I can't just dump my kids because I am desperate to have sex."
"Kim, if everyone who wants you and Adam to sort your shit out took them for a night you wouldn't see them for a month."
"Okay." She was a little embarrassed. They knew everyone had been talking about them and their attempts to keep things under the radar had failed dismally.
Erin felt like she had to broach one more subject though. "Except Steve, not sure he'd been keen." The pained look on Kim's face was hard to miss. Everyone, bar the stray dog on the corner knew that Adam and Kim belonged together, it had been a long and arduous road they had travelled and if anyone deserved happiness it was these two but it had to be for the right reasons. "Are you sure that's done?"
"Yes, oh god Erin, Yes." Kim was quick to respond. "Erin that was done before I knew Adam was alive."
"It seemed a bit sudden. I mean I knew you were having some pretty big issues with his drinking. Hell I know all about that, but it just seemed to snap one day."
For others it probably did seem that way because she had never explained the real reasons why she had finally made the decision to end her marriage. It was the moment that made her face the reality that it just wasn't there anymore and hadn't been for a while, what was the point of pretending and trying to hold it all together. "He hit Oliver."
"What? When?" Kim initially found it hard to believe that Steve would do that and judging by the look on Erin's face she found it almost impossible too. "Kim, why didn't you tell me?"
Her head sagged a little; it killed her to admit it. "I couldn't I was ashamed. I'd let Oliver down and Oliver begged me not to tell anyone, he just wanted it to go away. At that moment though I knew it was over."
"Does Adam know? I am guessing that's why he punched him out?"
"He does. Ollie told him that night he had to go get him. Needless to say he was furious and he refuses to let him near Ollie. Can't say I blame him." Kim broke the cookie on her plate into smaller pieces.
"What does Steve think about that, about not seeing Oliver?"
"Doesn't matter, does it? He is not that interested in Oliver anymore." Despite the fact that Oliver had absolutely blossomed with Adam around it still hurt Kim that the man she married, the one who told her that he loved her son like he was his own was so quick to wipe his hands of him.
"What about Daisy?"
"He adores Daisy and I would never take her away from him. I don't think he would ever hurt her but he's not exactly stable at the moment and I do worry about her with him. His parent's are great though, they spend a lot of time with her and they are keeping an eye on her."
Kim wiped her hands on the napkin and pushed her plate away, her cookie uneaten. "He got a little more aggressive with me which caused the fight with Adam and but things have settled down a fair bit. Adam lost it when he bought Ollie home after Hank's Christmas lunch and Steve was threatening me, he had gone to hit Oliver on Christmas Day and Adam was livid. Things got pretty bad pretty quickly. I couldn't blame him though he just wants to protect Oliver."
"Wow, I thought I was in a mess."
"I know right."
"But you can do one thing to make something right." Erin smiled a little too cheekily. "Let us have the kids for the weekend."
"Daisy is with Steve this weekend."
"Great, then Jay and Oliver can hang out." Jay had always loved spending some time with Oliver, he liked the testosterone hit it gave him, although you'd think he'd have enough of that at work but apparently not. He'd always spent time with Oliver and when Adam came back and it didn't happen as often, for obvious reasons and he'd missed it.
"Are you sure?" Kim was suddenly beset with excitement while also being riddled with nerves. It wasn't supposed to be this hard nor was it supposed to be planned and plotted with military like precision. However if this was the way it had to be then so be it.
Erin looked as frustrated as Kim felt. "Kim, for the love of god. Go and have sex with Adam."