Just a short little Christmas treat...This chapter wasn't in the original plans but a comment in a review made me think...So hope it makes sense.

Hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas with your family and friends. X

Voight and Al had been surprised at the small media scrum outside the house. They ignored all the questions as the pushed through the crowd and mounted the steps that led to the front door. One glare from Voight and the congregated media soon realised that they weren't getting anything from two surly old cops.

"I said no." A tall darked haired man answered their persistent knock on the door, he was clearly annoyed with the interruption. It obviously wasn't the first one of the day and nor would it be the last.

"I'm Sergeant Voight and this is Detective Olinsky from Chicago PD. We'd love to talk to Marianne for a few minutes, please. Officer Ruzek is part of my team."

"We've been through all this already today."

"We know, this isn't about the hostage situation, we need to talk to you about Officer Adam Ruzek. The man who helped with your wife's release." Voight could sense he was relenting and then he stepped back and let them in introducing himself as Geoff Buckley, Marianne's husband. "We are so happy that both your wife and daughter are safe and home with you." Voight shook his hand.

"Thanks to your Officer." Geoff led them through to the lounge. His whole demeanour had changed once he realised they were here about the man who saved his wife and daughter. He owed him everything and would do whatever to repay that favour. He wasn't sure what his wife could add that would help but they were better at understanding these things than he was.

"How's your wife doing?"

"Shaken obviously and that outside isn't helping." He waved his hand back towards the growing crowd outside. "They are like vultures."

"They are, we won't take up too much more of your time." Voight agreed. "I can organise some patrol to come and move them along?" It was the least they could do and Voight couldn't blame them for being pissed off with the crowd outside. The media were a necessarily evil some days but most of the time they did more harm than good and for the general public when they were caught up in the vortex they turned into scavengers all trying to outdo each other to get the scoop.

"Can you stop the phone calls too? We don't want to talk; we've been told not to talk to the media or anyone just yet."

"Good. While it's still a hostage situation the less people know the better. We don't know if the perpetrators have access to phones or the media or anything and if it gets out that there is a cop in there Adam is in very real danger." Voight really wanted to re-iterate that, who knew what would happen if they found out who Adam really was. "Not even family."

"They made that very clear." It had been made abundantly clear to them on more than one occasion. "We got that."

"Sorry." Voight offered. "We just really want everyone out safely, Adam included. We are worried about him; he means a lot to us."

Marianne eventually joined them and both Voight and Olinksy were surprised when she hugged them both. "Thank you, how's Adam? Is he okay? I didn't know he was a cop until after I got out and read the card. He was amazing." Her voice was shaking and they did feel bad for putting Marianne through this again but they needed to talk to her and try and get some idea on Adam's state of mind and what he was thinking. She had already been interviewed but not by people who understood Adam's mind as well as they did.

"He's a good cop." Voight nodded and helped Marianne sit down, taking the seat opposite her. "So he never said he was a cop? They don't know?"

"I don't think so. He never said and initially I thought he was pretty mean." Marianne smiled a little painfully. At the time she had been terrified of him but it was the way that he kept looking at her and smiling whenever they weren't being watched that made her start to wonder what his game was. "He kept nagging them to let me go because my 'screaming kid was doing his fucking head in and annoying everyone else.' I thought he was awful; everyone was being so nice and trying to help keep Bella quiet so not to upset anyone, particularly the two guys and he was there telling me to shut my kid up."

"Did they say why they were there, what they wanted?"

"No, no idea. They just came in and started waving their guns around." She gripped her husband's hand. They had been over this so many times already.

"Okay." Voight could sense that she'd had enough of reliving that and they'd got all that information from Wettering about their captors and their number one focus was getting Ruzek out alive. "Tell me about Ruzek… I mean Adam."

"He just sat and watched for a while. He didn't say anything but when Bella started crying he started."

"Doing what?"

"Complaining, getting in their ears, telling them to get me out of there, that Bella was annoying and was going to drive them nuts, that we didn't need a screaming kid. I thought maybe he was one of them but then they hit him, they smashed his face with their gun but he didn't stop. He demanded I give him Bella and I didn't want too."

"What made you change your mind?" Al hadn't said much to date.

"I thought he was going to hurt her but he managed to whisper to me that he was going to get me out of there and I had to trust him."

"And you did?"

"What choice did I have? I wanted to get out and I'd do anything. Bella is pretty wary of strangers right now and with all the stuff going on she just screamed louder and louder and they were getting annoyed. He handed her back to me. I felt the card under her shirt and he just shook his head slightly. I knew I had to pretend it wasn't there, I don't know why but I just did. Then he started back on them to let me go."

"He has a way about him, he can be monumentally annoying most of the time but there is just something in him that makes people trust him and believe in him." Al had seen it the very first day he dragged him out of the Academy. He'd spent far too much time on stake-outs with him and knew exactly how annoying he could be. Yet he'd trust him with his life.

"Is Adam badly hurt? Is anyone else hurt?"

"No." Marianne sobbed. "It's just him they are beating up on. He's taking it all. If they start in on someone else he kinda bugs them until they turn and take it out on him. I'm scared they are going to kill him. Can you get him out?"

"That's our plan."

"Adam saved us; you need to get him out. I want to hug him and thank him." Marianne pleaded with them both.

"And cook him a meal." Geoff teased her and Marianne smiled slightly.

"I'd cook him a meal every week for the rest of his life if that's what he wants."

Al scoffed. "Don't tell him that, you'll never get rid of him. He's a leech like that."

"I don't mind." Marianne slapped her husband's leg playfully. "I might even leave you for him."

Al shook his head. "Again, don't tell him that."

"When we get him out safely, along with everyone else I promise we'll bring him around for you to thank." Voight reached over and squeezed her hand. "He'll want to know you are okay too."

"You have to save him."