Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.

A/N: I know I haven't updated this story in a while and in a sense it's my bad because I have more than a few spare chapters written for this one.


She woke up the next morning with a grunt, her alarm blaring. "What the fuck Hales? It's too damn early." Adam pushed a pillow over his ears in objection.

"Sorry babe, gotta get ready for shift." She brushed her lips against his. "Go back to bed." She whispered as she kissed him again. It never usually took long for Haley to get ready for shift so the shower was short and she got changed in the bathroom before she tiptoed around the room to find her shirt. She had been using her short sleeve one the past two days but the weather was calling for a chillier day so she was trying to get her hands on her long sleeve.

"Hard to go back to sleep when you're making so much noise." Adam rolled on his side and grabbed her wrist gently.

"I don't have time Adam." She closed her eyes as he brushed his thumb against the skin of her wrist.

"It won't be long." He pulled her to him and kissed her.

"Matt won't." She started but she couldn't continue, Adam's lips now on her neck.

"Matt won't mind darling." He whispered as he found the skin behind her ear. "He'll understand." His hands were roaming her bare back and Haley couldn't think straight. She let him love her a little while longer and Adam found her lips again, leaving her breathless. "Be careful out there today." He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and released her hips.

"I always am." She smiled at him and gave him one last kiss before pushing herself off of him and finding her shirt.

Adam watched her as she moved around, a hand behind his head. She was always cute when she was pressed for time and looking for something she couldn't find. And even if she wouldn't admit it out loud, it happened to her more often than she argued.

"Crap." She cursed under her breath, remembering where the shirt in question was. She grabbed her short sleeve and slipped it over her head. "Enjoy your day off baby." She kissed him one last time before she padded downstairs, deciding that she'd get breakfast at the station. She ran inside and could hear Matt's voice in the conference room. "Shit." She tried to slip in un-noticed but she could hear Severide chuckle in the back and Casey release a huff of annoyance in the front of the room.

"And this is Captain Ruzek, who is late." He couldn't help the smirk that graced his lips as his best friend made her best attempt to go un-seen.

"Sorry Chief." She returned his smirk and found her spot next to Severide.

"Let me guess, Adam is back?" Severide nudged her with a smirk and a wiggle of his eyebrows, making Haley turn pink.

"Late last night yeah." She smirked.

"And that candidate, is what not to do." She hung her head down at the words. She had totally forgotten that they had a new candidate on truck today, Kidd having transferred to OFI a few weeks ago after an injury that sidelined her for good. "Welch, Ruzek, my office." The young man followed Matt out of the conference room and into his office, Haley not too far behind them both.

"Sorry." Haley mouthed as she closed the door behind them, Matt taking a seat at his desk.

"Now, despite your Captain's late arrival, she is the best on Truck this city has to offer so I have no doubt that she'll help you become the best firefighter you can be."

"And I know that firefighting is in your blood." Haley started. Welch and his wife had a kid shortly after Evan was born, making them close in age. "But I want you to stay at my hip at all times and you listen and do as I say, is that understood?"

"Yes Captain."

"And I hope your cooking skills are better than our last candidate's." Haley ribbed him.

"It's not bad actually." Welsh replied with a nervous smile.

"Alright now you can go start on that breakfast, I need to have a word with Ruzek."

"I won't let you down Chief, Captain." Andrew Welch promised. His father had been rewarded with his Lieutenant position after a particular dangerous rescue and had transferred out to another house to run Squad again.

"Good, now get out of here." Matt smirked and watched him go, closing the door behind him. "So, late, really Hales?" He chuckled as he leaned back into his chair.

"Sorry, Adam came home late last night after we got off shift." She said sheepishly.

"He ok?" He questioned her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, real good but I won't lie, when he rang that doorbell, I thought the worst had happened but it was a very nice surprise." She smiled. "Listen Matt, can I say something about last shift?" Her demeanor changed and she slipped into her Captain shoes.

"Hales." He knew they had left things tense the last time but where Matt was considered, it was water under the bridge.

"No Matt, I need to say this. I've had a lot of time to think about it in the last forty-eight hours and Adam has been putting things in perspective for me because he was not happy with me either but he got me thinking that my reaction was out of proportion."

"Hales." He sighed. "You don't have to explain anything to me." Casey assured her.

"I got to say it Chief." Matt nodded, knowing there was no talking out of saying it. "When you told me to stay back and let the younger ones take the lead, I didn't take it all too well. I saw it as a lack of confidence in me from your part and I was so pissed."

"Haley, that's not what it was about." He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned forward against his desk. "You are one of the best firefighters I know and I truly believe that under your guidance, they can become one hell of a next generation. You've proved that all those years ago already with Avery Scott. Did you now that she made Lieutenant at 103?"

"Get out!" She exclaimed out loud. "No, I didn't know that."

"Well that's all you. You should stop selling yourself short Hales." She simply nodded and smiled at him.

"There's something else that I need to talk to you about."

"Oh boy, what did I do now?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You're going to have to be more specific Hales."

"Shawn." She knew she didn't need to say more by the look on his face.

"I wanted to tell you Hales and I told him that you'd be proud of him no matter what career path he chose but he still wanted to keep it a secret so I figured that I'd give him some experience. He's been working with me on every job I've done and he's willing to get dirty and learn. He's a good kid Hales."

"I know Matt but I just wished that we'd have known about it."

"Did he talk with Adam? He was the one he was more scared to disappoint."

"He has and Adam told him that he didn't really know who he was if he thought he wouldn't be proud of him. Adam's been thinking of getting Shawn a truck to move around all his tools now that he's been taking his driving lesson classes."

"I think that would be great. I know he's almost done at school and I was thinking that I could let him do most of the work on the next jobs, let him make a name for himself if that's what he wants to do."

"Talk to him about it, see what he thinks." The rest of their conversation was interrupted by the bells blaring, calling them to a highway accident.

Adam finally woke up about an hour or so after Haley had left for shift. He knew that he had to go in to fill in the final paperwork on the case he had just worked on but he was in no particular hurry. He took his time under a hot shower, his muscles still tense from the job. When he got out of his room fully dressed, he came face to face with a frantic Shawn.

"Something wrong?"

"Damn it I'm going to be late for class."

"Language son." Adam only received a glare from him since he was no one to talk. The swear jar in the kitchen was a sure proof of that. Over the years on the job, it had somehow become worst every time he came back from an undercover job. Haley had started that tradition after the first time Evan had said the word bitch when he was about four and it had paid for a few extracurricular activities over the years. "Stop running, I'll drop you off on my way to the district."

"I thought you were still off today." He said as he made it to the lower level ahead of his dad.

"Nope, I have to go in for some paperwork and I'll be back home before dinner." His phone dinged in his pocket and when he saw the text message from Gabby, he was less then happy. "Son of a bitch."


A/N: Uh oh...cliffhanger? Felt right loll, evil, hell yeah. Please take a few seconds to review before you go, your thoughts mean the world to me. - Sarra