Kim was doing her best to focus on the magazine in her hand but she found it hard to focus, she was nervous as hell and was growing impatient. She was waiting for Adam to come out of his appointment with a clean bill of health.

He was discharged from the hospital just over six weeks ago, he was doing out patient physical therapy for his hip injury and was still dealing with some abdominal discomfort and the occasional headache from his concussion. The headaches were growing fewer and further apart but still had the potential to knock him on his ass.

Kim convinced him to stay with her and Mack but she knew he was desperate to go home to his house.

The house he had bought for Kim and Makayla, he had insisted she move in to the house but she had left him hanging that night and then things went off the rails at work, he closed on the house about two weeks prior to getting shot.

The house was in good shape for the most part, but Adam was living out of boxes and it wasn't feasible for him to go back home once he was discharged, not that it was an easy task to convince him but Kim was determined.

With every squeak of the door she looked up hopeful to see Adam only to be disappointed when it wasn't him.

"Finally." She jumped up, tossed the magazine on to the small side table beside her chair and met him halfway, relieved to see he was no longer using a walker. He moved slowly still but she hated seeing that walker and couldn't wait for the day he didn't need it. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Adam told her, "everything looks good, getting closer to being cleared to return to work, but not close enough." He was growing frustrated and wasn't the best at being patient, and it didn't help that he had a massive case of cabin fever.

"Good." Kim looped her arm through his as they made their way out of the building, "are you hungry? I'm starved. I'd like to talk you, without little ears around."

"I could eat." Adam replied. He leaned into Kim a bit, his gait was a bit awkward still and his stamina was nowhere near what it was before being shot. "Sorry." He mumbled a bit.

"You're fine, Adam."

Since Adam's discharge, Makayla had been his shadow and rarely left his side for more than a few minutes at a time. She wanted to 'take care' of him, like he had taken care of her and Kim and it was very sweet to watch but it was also a bit suffocating for Adam.

He did his best to not let Mack see that it was a bit much at times and Kim played interference when she could see that he needed a break.

This was a conversation she didn't want Mack to hear, the kid had a knack for hearing things she shouldn't hear and Kim didn't want her to overhear this one because she wasn't sure how it would play out.

Adam watched as Kim pushed the food around her plate, "I thought you were starving.." he asked in between mouthfuls of his burger, "do you not like it?"

Kim shrugged her shoulders a bit, "kind of lost my appetite." Her stomach was filled with butterflies and she feared even one bite would result in her vomiting.

"You seem nervous.." Adam ran the napkin over his face and hands before pushing his plate to the side, "What did you want to talk about?"

Kim laughed lightly, "that's a bit of a loaded question now, isn't it?"

"Aren't they all?" Adam asked, "I mean, it's us after all."

Kim knew she needed to do this but she was suddenly terrified, so much hinged on his answer and she wasn't sure what he would say.

"Just before you bought your dad's house.." Kim started, "you mentioned buying it for Makayla and me, that you'd live in the UC apartment.."

"I remember." Adam chimed in, he felt a heaviness in his gut all of a sudden and he felt as if he might puke.

"When you asked me, I was blown away. In shock really." She explained, "I just didn't know why.." she sighed, "… why you would ask, things have been so complicated for us."

Adam shrugged his shoulders, "Is it though? I mean in a way I get it. I do but then I don't get it, you know?" He reached for her hand, "One thing that I know beyond a shadow of doubt is that I love you. I always have, that's never stopped. I will always love you. Mack? I love her. She's my kid, I know that technically I'm not her dad…."

Kim interrupted him."Adam, she is your daughter." Kim took hold of his hand, "I know I haven't made it easy for you, it's been a bit of push, pull thing when it comes to Mack." She tried to pull her hand away only for Adam to grip it a bit tighter, "…I don't know why I did that, and I hate that pulled that card when she was missing, I was so scared."

"I appreciate you saying that, it means the world to me, I love her so much and I want provide for her. I want her to know that's she is loved and that she is safe. That I will do anything for her. That's what I wanted to do when I bought my dad's house." He told her, "I think we both said and did things we didn't mean, we were both scared. It's okay Kim, really it's fine. I get it."

"Don't let me off so easy. It wasn't okay, I saw the hurt in your eyes. I broke your heart when I said it. Then after we got her back, everything felt wrong between us, then you went under and I had to listen to you over the radio, you thought you were dying. You declared your love for Mack.." she fought against them tears in her eyes, "..and I let you leave, to go live in that filthy apartment."

"That was a nasty place wasn't it?" Adam pretended to gag.

"I'll take your word for it." Kim laughed, "I guess what I'm trying to get at it is, well I love you. I'm IN love with you. You are and have always been it for me, relationships have never been my strong suit, but I'm a better person when I'm with you. You make me a better person."

"Darlin', you are the best person I know. Full stop. We have both made mistakes, but it always comes back to us. We always find our way back to each other. I think we both needed to grow up. Me more than you. I think what happened along the way, our failed engagement, seeing other people, it needed to happen. So we would realize what we had together, that the love we shared was forever. It was pure and it wasn't complicated not even close. Was it hard? Fuck yes, but it's worth fighting for."

Kim gave in and started to cry, "Adam, I want to fight for it. I want to fight for us." She leaned across the table to kiss him, "I want us to be a family, not some 'modern family', but a real family. I want it all with you."

"Move in with me" Adam asked as she sat back down.

"I have a few conditions before I can even consider moving in." She had hoped to ask him if she and Makayla could move in with him. She had counted on the conversation going a bit differently from how it was playing out. It didn't matter all that much her conditions remained the same.

"What are they?" Adam asked her. His heart was racing and he suddenly felt nauseous.

"I've written them down" she knew it would be a struggle to say the words, to say the things to him that were so long overdue. Kim reached into her purse and pulled an envelope out, "This is the first one."

Adam took the envelope from her and opened it, it didn't take him long to make sense of it, "Absolutely." There wasn't an ounce of hesitation, "the other one?"

She pulled out another envelope.

"Yes." He told her.

Thanks for reading! Epilogue coming soon.