Adam walked up the stairs to the district exhausted. He didn't sleep much that night. Even thought Kim wasn't in the apartment he still slept on the couch out of respect. He thought of her and their fight all night. He thought they could fix things but she just ran away again. Leaving him was what she did best. Adam walked in and was headed to the locker room to change into his patrol uniform when Platt called him over to the desk.
"Looks like you beat Atwater's record for returning to Intelligence." Platt said to him.
"What?" Adam asked confused.
"Voight wants you back upstairs today. Head up before you are late." Platt told him as she buzzed the gate for him.
Adam was certainly confused now. But he headed up to the bullpen anyway. He got up and to the bullpen and everyone was there already, except for Kim. Maybe she was coming in late since she was coming from her sisters. What really confused Adam was that Rixton was still there. Why I am here if he is still here?
"Thanks for joining us, Ruzek." Voight said as everyone turned to see Adam entering the bullpen. "This is temporary while Burgess is on furlough." Voight told the team.
"What?" Adam asked.
"Burgess asked for furlough for the week so you are here to fill her spot for the mean time." Voight explained a little annoyed he had to at all.
"What do you mean she asked for furlough? Burgess has never requested furlough her whole career. She is always forced to take it." Atwater now chimed in. He then shot a look to Adam who looked equally as shocked.
"Would have been nice for her to let her partner know." Olinksy muttered.
"Well she called and requested and I approved. Any other issues can be taken up with her. Can we move on to the case now?" Voight asked everyone.
They all nodded and he gave them the basic facts he had. Once they were given their assignments Adam headed to the locker room to put his bag away. Atwater and Lindsay followed him.
Once they were in and the door closed Lindsay asked, "What did you do?"
"What?" Adam asked confused.
"Burgess doesn't take furlough. You come back and five days later she takes a week of furlough. You did something." Atwater told him. Him and Lindsay had exchanged looks earlier and knew they needed to find out what was going on. Hence them cornering Adam in the locker room. Atwater was best friends with the both Kim and Adam but he wasn't going to stand for Kim affecting her career for him. He knew Olinksy wouldn't like this and it would cause more tension in their partnership. Cops take furlough. But cops new to Hank Voight's unit don't take furlough until they are told they have to.
"She has been working too hard here just to take a week off." Lindsay added. She hated to think Kim was making career decisions again because of Adam.
"Its not because of me." Adam told them. He was going to tell them about Maddie but then they would ask how he knew and he wasn't going to open that can of worms with them.
"I texted her. She said Mark was out of town and Maddie was sick and needed help with Zoe." Atwater told him. "But I think that's a load of BS." That was similar to the story she told him but she didn't says Maddie was sick. Kim was lying. He wasn't going to tell them but he was going to call her out on it later. He was going to call her and tell her to stop hiding from him.
"I really don't know what you want me to say." Adam said but this was a lie. He knew. He knew Atwater wanted the truth. That him and Kim kissed and he had been staying with her and they got in a fight but he wasn't ready to share that information. They all knew where Kim was, she was safe, that's all that mattered. Adam would give her a bit of space but he wasn't walking away as easily as he did last time. That was for sure. He was going to fight for her.
Erin finally stepped up. "I guess we were wrong Kev, lets just go check out those CIs."
"Wrong about what?" Adam asked as the two of them were headed for the door.
"That you grew up a bit while undercover and did the smart thing and went after Kim when you got back."
Adam thought about Erin's words for the rest of the day. He was back working with Al since Atwater was not partnered with Rixton. That was probably for the best. Al wasn't going to ask him any questions. Whereas Atwater wouldn't stop the whole day. But Erin's words, they hurt. Even though they shouldn't have because it was exactly what he did. But the fact that everyone was expecting him to grow up means they thought he was immature before he left. And that he was dumb earlier for not going after Kim. He agreed with that one. He was dumb. But he didn't think he was immature. Yeah he was always down for a good time, and maybe he farmed out some of the tech stuff he was given before Mouse joined the team but he took his job seriously.
"Do you think I am immature?" Adam finally asked Al as they were sitting in the car staking out a house.
Al just gave Adam the seriously you want to talk about this while we are at work look.
"Seriously. I do good work. And work hard. Sure I like to have a good time and crack a few jokes but I do what is needed of me first."
"Where is this coming from?" Al finally asked. Al finally looked away from the house they were sitting on and looked at Adam as he said this.
"Lindsay said something that has me thinking." Adam confessed.
"Are you sure she was referring to you as cop?" Al asked.
"You think I am immature as a person?" Adam asked offended a bit.
"I'm not saying anything." Al started but then Adam interrupted.
"What about when you told me not the chase tail and to focus on work? Did you think I was being immature then? I just wanted Kim back." Adam rambled out.
"Kid, you are in your head too much. Let's focus on the job for now. This is more of a conversation to have over drinks later." Al told him.
"Yeah, yeah." Adam said nodding his head and going back to looking at the house through the camera he had in his hands.
After his shift Adam walked to his truck and pulled out his phone. He's not sure why but he was expecting a message from Kim. But he had nothing. He decided to text her. It felt juvenile to do this over a text but he wasn't sure if she was going to answer his phone call.
So were you going to tell me you were going on furlough or just wait for me to figure it out when you didn't come home?
It was weird typing home at first but under the weirdness it felt right to him. A place he shared with Kim should be his home. He thought about this on the drive to her place. When he parked his car he looked back at his phone and was relieved to have a message from her.
Sorry. Things just jumped off. Taking care of a 10 year old is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Adam had a snippy response but held it in. Why did he feel like a high school girl right now?
Okay. Everything okay? We need to talk when you get back.
Adam felt satisfied with the response he crafted to send to her. But it made him feel dumb that he had to put so much thought into it. He wanted it to go back to when it was easy between them and he could say whatever he wanted without thinking and know she would be there and love him no matter what.
Yeah. Nothing to worry about. We will talk. I don't like how we left things.
Adam let out the breath he was holding after he read that. Good. She didn't like it either. That was good, right?
Me either. Let me know if you need anything. Its cool if I keep staying at your place while you are gone? I will start the apartment hunt this weekend.
Adam sent this as he was pulling the key to her apartment out of his pocket. As he rounded the corner to her door he saw her neighbor Dina balancing her toddler and grocery bags while trying to open the door.
"Hey. Can I help?" Adam said walking over to her.
"Oh. Adam. Yes that would be amazing. Thank you so much." Dina said in a hushed voice as she shifted to give him the groceries in her hand and the key. Adam then noticed the little girl in her arms was sleeping.
"She has gotten big." Adam said as he took the bags and opened the door.
"Yeah she is about a year and a half now." Dina replied. "I didn't have the heart to wake her after she fell asleep in the car. Or I didn't have the energy. She is easier to deal with when she is asleep."
"I can imagine." Adam said as he walked in and turn the apartment lights on. It was the same set up as Kim's but with baby toys everywhere. Kim and Dina were friendly so Adam got to know her a bit when him and Kim were together. Her husband worked a job that had him traveling often and she was an elementary school teacher. He didn't see her husband too often but Kim always said he was a nice guy.
"Its good to see you around again." Dina said as she placed her daughter on the couch delicately so she did not wake up as Adam placed the grocery bags on the kitchen table. "I could tell Kim was unhappy and then realized I didn't see you around anymore and put two and two together. I'm glad you guys worked things out. She deserves to be happy."
"We are working on them. But I'm glad to be back around. If you need anything let me know." Adam said as he walked to the door.
"Good. Thanks again." She replied.
"No problem." Adam responded as he walked out the door. He walked over to Kim's door and let himself in before he pulled out his phone.
Of course you can stay. Maybe hold off on the apartment search until we talk.
A/N: This chapter is courtesy of 6 cups of coffee. Not sure if it makes sense to a normal person. Please let me know what you think!