"How was Adam this morning?" Trudy asked when she saw Kim come through the front door. He'd been given the day off after his drug overdose. She had been on shift last night, filling in for the usual afternoon desk sergeant who had a child sick in hospital and didn't get the chance to check in on him.
"I haven't heard from him. I sent him a message earlier and he didn't respond. He said he was pretty tired last night." Honestly she was a little concerned that Adam hadn't checked in with her but the morning had been a little hectic. Mack slept late and they'd been in a rush to get to school on time. She'd sent him a message and he hadn't responded and she had planned to call him but as soon as she got in her car after dropping Mack off they were called to a crime scene and being one man down it was all hands on deck.
Mack hadn't been happy either when she asked if Adam would be home today. Kim told her that she could see him on the weekend and that he was going to be staying in his own place for a while. She kept it short and with as little explanation as possible.
"Why? This is his home? He lives here."
Kim had spent all night trying to work out how to tell Mack that Adam had moved out. She was a little annoyed at him that he'd told her that she needed to do it 'because it's your idea'. It was hardly fair, he'd agreed to it but then wasn't interested in the actual logistics of how it was going to work or how they were going to tell Makayla. He left it up to her and made a snide comment about perhaps she could put it on her schedule.
"You know, I thought I was going to die today, so honestly, right now I can't do this." He had packed his bag and left as soon as he could get out of there. Whether Kim meant it or not, and deep down he knew that wasn't what she meant but all he heard was 'she was better when you weren't here'
"I'll talk to you tomorrow." Kim closed the door behind him.
Everything just kept piling up, it had been a long hard year and every time felt like they were getting somewhere something came in to knock them off their axis. Mack being angry at her for Adam not being home wasn't on her bingo card and by the time she got to the district and with Platt getting on her case she'd had enough and it took all her energy not to just snap.
"Where is he? He's not still in the hospital is he?"
"No. He went back to the UC apartment."
"Why?"
"We thought it was best for Mack. She's been being doing really well the past few days."
Trudy furrowed her brow. She didn't like it, at all. Understanding that they were having some issues with Mack it still didn't make sense that Adam wasn't there last night after the day he'd had. If she'd known things were that bad she would've had him stay at her place.
"You left him alone?" Trudy almost shrieked as she reached for her own phone. "Why would you do that?"
"….because…" Kim stuttered "…it was best for Mack." Even she was starting to doubt herself. The way Trudy looked at her and then waved her off settled uneasy on her. As uneasy as she'd felt all morning. "…because of her new schedule."
"Kim." Platt sighed.
"Don't put this all on me, he chose to leave last night." Kim finally snapped.
"Thank you Officer Burgess." Trudy dismissed her. Kim turned to leave but heard Trudy's terse message. "Officer Ruzek, you better damn well pick up your phone and call me back or I will come down there." She hung up. "Pig headed mules." She muttered as she shuffled some papers in front of her.
"Hey Kev." Kim pulled her chair out and sat at her desk, she glanced across the bullpen to the empty desk and checked her phone again. Sending him another message she tossed her phone aside. "You heard from Ruzek today?"
"Nope. Called him earlier, no answer. Probably sleeping it off." He replied without really paying much attention. He was typing in some details so they could identify their potential offender. "Wait? Where is he? At home?"
Fortunately Voight emerged from his office. "So, what we got?" He folded his arms across his chest and waited for his team to start placing the pieces together. The case wasn't going to take them long. It seemed quite cut and dried. It was just a matter of tracking down the offender and he didn't seem particularly bright. He'd left his fingerprints, figuratively and literally all over the crime scene.
It was one of those annoying little cases that were easy to solve but the paperwork required to ensure that it didn't fall over in court took more time and effort than catching the actual offender. With all of them it would take less than a day to sort it out but kept them all busy enough.
Stopping by Kim's desk he knocked on it lightly as she was hunched over her keyboard. "Hey, how is he?"
"You know Adam, stubborn and probably bitching about not being allowed to work today." Kim offered lightly. It was easier to just tell him what he wanted to hear. She had checked her phone several times and there was still nothing.
Voight frowned a little though. Kim sounded off and he really didn't want to know what was going on as long as it wasn't affecting work and to this point it hadn't. Neither of them had let the work side slip but he did think she would show a little more concern about him considering the last few days. The OD had worried him and kept him up late last night.
It was a risky job, however having anyone deliberately ingest drugs wasn't something that sat well with him. He'd checked up with him when he first got to the hospital then got caught up with Anna, who was having a rare night away from Escano and wanted a check in. He assumed his team would take care of one of their own.
Kim grabbed her phone again and disappeared into the hallway for some privacy. She was oscillating between anger and concern. She was angry that he was being petty and childish and that would give way to fear and concern about why he wasn't answering. 'Adam, come on. Pick up please, call me back. I am worried about you. Mack misses you, she asked about you this morning.' She begged.
She stared at the phone in her hand and jumped a little when she turned around and Kevin was behind her. "Whassup?"
"Nothing."
"Kim Burgess, you cannot lie to me."
If that wasn't the truth, Kim had never been able to lie to Kevin from their very first day on Patrol together he had her worked out. She had always appreciated that Kevin tried to stay neutral in his friendship with both her and Adam. She'd known Kevin for longer but Adam and him had a deep brotherly connection that was pretty unshakable.
Adam had told her that he and Kev had thrown hands when she was missing over how best to handle the search for her. Kim wasn't surprised, they had different ways of approaching policing and Adam struggled to stay rational when it was close to home and for Adam nothing was closer than Kim. He'd lost contact with his Dad at that stage and was drifting a little. Kim and Mack kept him grounded.
Kevin, while more level headed had also strayed over the line when protecting someone he loved, He'd done things for Jordan that he wasn't proud of and they gnawed away at him. That's where he differed from Adam, he was conflicted about crossing the line, Adam saw it as a viable option when it was someone he cared about.
By the end of the day, once Kim had been rescued Kevin had called Adam and stayed on the phone the entire four hours she was in surgery. It didn't need some long winded apology, they understood each other better than anyone.
"Have you heard from Adam?"
"No, have you?" he titled his head. "You saw him this morning right? He's okay?"
Kim ran her hands over her face wearily. "I don't know Kevin, he left last night, went back to the UC apartment. We kinda decided it was best for Mack if we weren't around each other for a while. It's been… difficult."
It was starting to feel like the walls were closing in around her.
"What you mean he went back to the UC apartment? Kim he OD'd, he's never done drugs before in his life. Why didn't you call me? He coulda stayed with me."
"Adam didn't want to bother anyone. He was in one of his moods."
And they did know what his 'moods' were like. Self-pity wasn't his most attractive trait.
Kevin narrowed his eyes a little. "I get that, but you shoulda called me." He pointed at Kim. "You could've called me. You and I both know what he's like, how stubborn he is and how in his own head he gets. You shoulda called me."
He pulled his own phone out of his pocket and hit number 3 on his speed dial and listened to it ring out. "Hey Ruze, I hope you are up for a few cold beverages tonight. I will not be taking no for an answer."
"He's really sulking hey?" Kev spun his phone in his hand. "How's my Queen doing?"
"It was pretty ugly this morning, she wasn't happy when I told her that Adam had moved out for a while. She was pretty angry at me but that's par for the course lately. It's been pretty rough but the last few days she'd started to settle a little better."
It was obvious how much Adam and Mack had bonded. They adored each other and he'd spent a lot of time with her when Kim was recovering and hadn't really left since. It was bound to be a big upheaval for her to have him suddenly not around anymore and didn't make any sense to Kevin whatsoever.
Even when Adam had told him he was going undercover Kevin had queried if it was the best timing considering what they'd been through lately. He offered to do the job but Adam was stubbornly determined that it was his case, his connection and his promise to Mr P. He had mentioned that he keeps letting people down and he wasn't going to let Mr P down.
Kim had done an amazing job with Mack, she was thriving in her role as Mack's mother and clearly Mack had responded well but it had been a long time since it was just to two of them, if it ever really had been. Adam had been in her life since Kim took her in. From his vantage point he couldn't see how taking Adam out of her life right now was a positive.
They needed to get out of their own way and stop hiding behind a seven year old child. He got the feeling this was more about them than Mack and that was bullshit.
As the day wore on Kim started to worry. Adam wasn't returning any calls and that was unlike him. No matter how shitty he was with her he always returned her calls. If she was worried about him for any reason he always let her know that he was okay. Kev had heard nothing either.
All she had to do was tell Voight she was worried and he'd let her go but every time she looked up either he was on the phone or something popped up that needed attention. In all honesty she was a little annoyed at how obstinate he was being.
Voight hung up his phone, he sat at his desk and couldn't quite describe the feeling. Glancing up he saw Trudy's head coming up the stairs and he pushed himself out of his seat and stood in the doorway of his office. His hands were shoved in his pockets so that no one saw them shaking.
Trudy stopped and stared and then faced Kim, who stood up quickly. "Kim…" she started. "… Patrol did a welfare check this afternoon on Adam…."
The look on Trudy's face was utter devastation. It had nagged at her all day, she'd called him several times and got no answer so she had sent Patrol to the apartment but she honestly didn't expect the call she got. She was waiting to rip him to shreds for ignoring her and also for walking out on Kim and Makayla. He needed to get his shit together before it was too late. "Ad…. Adam… I'm sorry Kim, they found him unresponsive." She inhaled sharply. "Adam had a reaction to the overdose, his asthma inhaler was on the floor beside him. He didn't make it."
"What? Where is he? I need to go…." She reached for her desk.
"Kim, Adam's dead."
The air was suddenly sucked out of the room. It was silent, nobody moved, nobody breathed.
Time literally stopped.
Yes, I know...sorry.
