Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination

A/N: Been a while since I updated this one. Thanks to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter, you guys are the best. Here's a little daddy/daughter day.

Adam was standing nervously at the top of the altar. Kevin was standing right behind him as his best man and he put his hands on his shoulders from behind.

"Breathe brother." He chuckled. "You're marrying the love of your life."

"I know." He took two deep breaths. "I just can't wait to have her forever." His breath got caught in his throat when he laid eyes on her. She was wearing a simple, floor length, chiffon dress with short lace sleeves and a navy blue silk belt around her waist, her hair styled in fish braid, her make-up simple and her smile the most beautiful accessory. Her arm was looped around her father's but her eyes were only on him. She held a bouquet of white roses and rink peonies and her barely there baby bump was cradled gently with it. She couldn't be more beautiful than she was in that exact moment. They exchanged simple vows and Adam made a promise to cherish her and their unborn child for the rest of their lives. When he was told to kiss the bride, taking her cheeks between his palms, he kissed her lips softly before pulling her into a deeper kiss.

"Welcome to forever Mrs. Ruzek." He pulled away from her but the vision of love was replaced with blood dripping from her hairline and a vacant, dead expression.

"Rebecca." He shot up in bed, his body covered with sweat. He had trouble regulating his breathing. It was still pitch black outside and Adam tried to remember happy memories to calm himself down. He moved his right hand away from his body and bumped against someone and his eyes finally fell on his daughter who was curled up on the side, clearly unbothered by her father's nightmare. He got out of bed slowly not to disturb her and padded down to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. He was leaning against the counter, looking at the yard from the sink. He took a long pull and let the cool liquid soothe his tight lungs. He wondered how long it would take him to come around to no longer having nightmares about her and for the happier times to outweigh the dark ones. He emptied the glass and returned to his bed, lying down next to his daughter. He pushed a strand of hair out of Mackenzie's face and placed his hand on her back, letting her breathing calm him and return to the land of sleep.

When he woke up again, Mackenzie was curled up into his chest but he couldn't remember the moment of the night when that happened. He wasn't sure what they would be doing but he wanted to do something fun with her while he was off, especially after the last case. He watched her sleep and he saw the time on the night table and he knew it wouldn't be too long until she did wake up.

"Daddy?" She mumbled into his chest.

"It's morning baby girl." He whispered against her hair.

"Do we have to get up?" She grumbled.

"We don't have to but don't you want to spend some quality daddy and me time today?"

"Anything I want?"

"Yeah. Pretty girls get to choose today."

"Can we go to the market and invite uncle Kevin over with the boys?"

"Sure, I'll call him a bit later because I'm pretty sure uncle Kevin is still sleeping like a log." He chuckled.

"Can we pick pretty flowers for the kitchen table too?"

"Sure." Rebecca always loved to get them on the weekend and Adam could never say no to her when she wanted some too. "Are you ready to get up?"

"Mmhmm." She pulled her body away from her dad's and left the comfort of the blankets to go change. Adam took a long breathe and pushed the blankets away. He knew he needed to take a shower to get rid of the remnants of his nightmare, so he grabbed some clothes and headed to the en-suite. He really wished they would stop, and he didn't know what to do to stop them. It was clear right now that writing it down was not helping all that much. Maybe spending the whole day with Mackenzie was exactly when he needed.

He got out of the shower and slipped into jeans and a grey and blue button-down t-shirt. He found Mackenzie in front of cartoons, still in her pj's.

"Still not dressed?"

"Mmhmm, after breakfast daddy."

"Okay." He laughed. "What do you want kiddo?"

"My favourite."

"Hungry man's breakfast coming right up." He had no idea where she put all of that food but he always loved to watch her eat it up because she always talked her way through breakfast and that was one of the happier times. "It's ready." He placed a plate on the table and sat down with some toast and some eggs from himself, a cup of black coffee in hand.

"Are we going to go by the water too?"

"Anything you want, it's you and me all day long."

"Sweet. I like you working the beat daddy, we spend more time together." She stuffed another forkful in her mouth.

"Yeah, I like it too." He mused. He would take the nightmares for the rest of his life if his daughter was happy. He finished eating his breakfast while she kept telling him all the things she wanted them to do together. "Come on, go get dressed and I'll do your hair." He stood and grabbed her plate and empty glass of milk and did the dishes while she went to change. He sipped on a new cup of coffee and reading the paper while he waited but about half way through the cup, Mackenzie still hadn't showed her face. He went directly to her room and knocked gently. "You ready baby girl?" He called through the door.

"Almost." He could hear her huff behind the closed door. He pushed it open slowly and couldn't help the laugh that bubbled through his lips.

"You need any help?" He offered, leaning against the doorframe as his daughter danced around, trying to get her top tied.

"I'm fine daddy." She grumbled as she kept wiggling, trying to get the back of it done.

"It's okay to ask for help Kenzie." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and walked towards her and stopped her spinning, zipping the rest of her shirt up

"I wanted to be able to it by myself."

"Want to know a secret?" He turned her so she was facing him. "Mommy needed some help with stuff like that too." He smiled softly at her.

"Okay, I'm ready now."

"Ponytail?"

"No, I'm good like this." She smiled at him.

"You look beautiful." He kissed the top of her head. "And I love you so much."

"Love you too daddy." They hugged and he guided her out of the house and into his truck. She spoke his ear off from the back and he would laugh every now and then when she talked about her friends from school. The market was already crowded and Adam made sure Mackenzie knew she had to stay close because the last thing he wanted was for her to get lost in the crowd.

"Where to first?" There was so many things to see and do but the shopping for food always came last when they were actually on their way back to the truck.

"Cheese."

"Alright, cheese it is." That was her favourite snack when they came here. He walked behind her and watched her go and ask for what she wanted and he paid it when he made it to her.

"Hey Ruzek." Adam looked up after putting his wallet in his back pocket and he smiled when he saw his partner.

"Jim. What are the chances?" They shook hands.

"Gotta take advantage of this day off."

"Oh yeah." Adam turned to have an eye on Mackenzie when he found her talking to a boy he figured was Riley, Jim's son.

"Daddy, can we go to the park?" She turned around with a wide smile on her face.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?"

"This is Riley, Mr. Barnes's son." He was about a couple of inches taller than her and a spitting image of his father.

"You can call me Jim." Barnes chuckled. "And half an hour bud, we have to meet grandpa and grandma for lunch." He told his son.

"Okay dad." The two turned around and ran towards the nearest park and both Adam and Kim followed close behind in light conversation.

"How're you doing?" Jim asked as they sat on the park bench to watch the kids play.

Adam looked at Jim and looked back at the kids before answering. "Bad night but pushing through." He sighed. "For her."

"She seems to be doing okay."

"Better than me that's for sure. I'm just hoping for normal for her, let her be six again." He answered truthfully. "I need to be able to give her more of those."

"I don't know you Adam, not like your team in Intelligence but she looks happy, I think you're doing a great job with her."

"And apparently I'm the only one who doesn't see it." He scoffed.

"I think you're putting that added pressure on yourself to become the perfect parent unit. Maybe try to give yourself some slack?"

"Trying, I really am, but failing miserably."

"Give it time and we've got your back, we'll remind you from time to time."

"Thanks for having my back out here too."

"That's what partners are for." He looked at his watch, the thirty minutes almost done.

"We should get something scheduled, the kids seem to be having fun together." Adam laughed as Riley was trying to help Mackenzie on the monkey bars and she fell on him after losing grip on the fourth bar.

"Yeah that'd be fun, give them more time to do it." They had come to the market to kill time mostly until lunch.

"Yeah that'd be great."

"Riley, come on bud."

"Five more minutes dad."

"Now kid." The two came back grumbling.

"Come dad, I want to stay with Mackenzie some more." Riley whined on his way back.

"Your dad and I will set something up for the two of you to have more time to play, how's that sound?" Adam chuckled, their two pouty faces too much.

"Please." Mackenzie was always so cute when she begged.

"Promise."

"Yes." The kids gave each other a high five. They hugged and both guys shook hands and Adam was alone with Mackenzie again.

"I like him daddy."

"Riley?"

"Yes, and his dad. He's your new partner right?" She questioned as they started walking through the market for some food.

"Yeah he is."

"He as good as Uncle Kevin?" She questioned as they walked along the booths. Adam could only laugh at her tough Detective work.

"You know that no one will come even close to Uncle Kev baby but we make a really good team."

"Good because you need someone to look after you when I can't." She said confidently. As they neared the fruits booth.

"Is that so?" He tried to tickle her but she dodged him and bumped into someone.

"Oh my." Mackenzie looked up into a woman's eyes.

"I'm sorry ma'am" She said sheepishly

"It's okay. Hmmm you look familiar." She smiled at the little girl. "Is your daddy a police officer by any chance?" Kim looked up and her eyes met Adam's with a smile.

"Yes ma'am." Mackenzie looked between Kim and her father. "Do you know her daddy?" She looked back towards Adam and whispered to him.

"Yeah baby, I know her." Adam laughed. "Kim Burgess, I'd like you to meet my daughter Mackenzie Joy." Kim extended her hand and took the smaller one Mackenzie offered her.

"Hi Mackenzie." Kim smiled at her. "Can I tell you a secret?" She lowered herself to her level. Mackenzie nodded her approval. "You're even prettier than the picture your daddy showed me the other day."

"I like her daddy." Adam could see the slight blush spread on his daughter's cheeks. "Do you work with daddy too?

"No I don't."

"She helped daddy catch the bad guys when I worked with grandpa Hank." Kim stood again and smiled at Adam.

"Grandpa Hank?"

"We're a pretty close knit group." He said, not really wanting to delve into personal stuff like that. They didn't really know each other and he didn't want to burden her with a dark back story.

"It's a very impressive team." She agreed.

"Do you want to come buy some fruit with us?" Mackenzie asked Kim.

"Mackenzie Joy." Adam couldn't believe she was asking that to a complete stranger for her. "Kim didn't come here on her day off to be bothered by people.

"I'm sorry." She leaned herself into Adam's frame.

"No it's okay." Kim smiled at Adam. "I think maybe daddy wants to spend some time with you and mommy on his day off sweetie."

"Mommy's in heaven, it's just daddy and me." Mackenzie said innocently but it knocked the wind out of Kim.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She stuttered. "I didn't know, I thought." She had no words to express how much she felt bad.

"It's okay." Adam schooled his features like he always did with strangers. "We're still adjusting." He shrugged.

"Can she come now daddy?"

"I don't mind, if you want." He looked at Kim, unsure of himself.

"Sure, I have a few things to get too." Mackenzie bounced once in triumph and pulled on Kim's hand.

"They have the best strawberries here."

"I love strawberries." Adam watched as Mackenzie pulled Kim around, Kim not showing an ounce of resistance and he banked in his memory this small slice of happiness away. He'd have to thank Kim later for being so generous of her time. They got everything the two of them needed and ended up having lunch and grabbing an ice cream at the waterfront.

"Thank you." Adam said as they sat down with their ice cream, Mackenzie making cartwheels in the sand.

"For what?" Kim looked at him.

"You didn't have to spend this time with us."

"It's the most fun I've had it a long time." She admitted. "Your daughter is wonderful Adam, you're doing a good job raising her."

"I try." He raised the corner of his lips in a shy smile.

"She's happy, I'd say you're doing a pretty good job." She bumped her shoulder against his and smiled. "Don't be so hard on yourself." She whispered, returning her attention to her ice cream cone. They stayed like that in silence, watching Mackenzie have fun in the sand until they parted, Adam enjoying the rest of the day just being with his daughter.

A/N: So they bump into each other again, the ploit thickens. I hope you guys liked it and please take a few seconds to review, I always love reading your thoughts. - Sarra