AN: Alright. This chapter is a different view of Adam and Rachel's relationship as well as a snippet of what Kim and Adam's relationship is becoming. I start to time jump quite a bit, but I think you will appreciate that. Now for my opinions since I guess this is a hot topic on twitter and I've seen it in some people's reviews. AMomentofClarity I totally agree with you. It is both of their faults. I think this is true in most relationships that fail, but the combination of Kim's insecurities and Adam's assumptions or go with the flow/don't rock the relationship boat mentality doomed them. I'm honestly not mad at either of them on the show. They are both young and are still trying to learn how to deal with those faults. I do believe, however, that Adam did try to talk to Kim. TV shows only have so many minutes to spend on each character and some things get lost in the cutting room floor. I truly believe that the writers thought that we would all remember the fact that Adam gets very attentive when he thinks someone is mad at him. I take this from the episode "What would you do" when Kim wasn't answering her phone and he kept calling her and leaving her messages. This trait actually saved her life, but knowing Kim and what we saw of her...she just ignored them...because she couldn't deal. I think that deep down, Kim knew that Adam loved her and that he wanted to be with her, but she had made a decision and she knew if she talked with him that she would back down. I understand both points of view of fans that are upset, but I've gone back lately for my stories and watched some of the episodes from the first season. I am going to deal with some of my realizations about Adam later in the story so I won't discuss that now, but realize that he and Kim are more similar than people want to remember. All I will say.

Just a quick note: Thank you so much for all the reviews over the last few chapters. It was much needed encouragement.

Noise
Yeah we scream, yeah we shout 'til we don't have a voice
In the streets, in the crowds, it ain't nothing but noise
Drowning out all the dreams of this Tennessee boy
Just tryna be heard in all this noise

"Noise" – Kenny Chesney

The past

Shared heart ache only gets a couple so far. If I've made you think that is all Rachel and I had then I am sorry for that. It wasn't. It was the fact that it went so much further than that. It was looking out for each other. It was being there when the other had the worst of days. It was knowing each other. It was knowing that when I found Rachel sitting on her chaise lounge in her condo without any music on or a sound in the place that she had lost a patient or that she had a case that had rocked her to the core. It was her knowing that when I got quiet that it meant something was wrong and that if I didn't want to talk about it at that time that just her presence was enough.

It was the good stuff, too. It was being curled up on the couch watching a movie and walking the city on sunny afternoons. It was the way she fit into my side when we walked or how she could run just as fast as me on the rare occasion we could do that together. And I may never be a fan of country music, but I will always be thankful for the way it made her hips move when she didn't think I was watching.

It was her intuitively knowing what I needed even if I didn't. Like when the department made me take time off since I was in a use/lose situation. Yeah. I became that guy that never took time off. I loved my job. Why take time off? She knew I needed the reset and made me take a trip with her. She somehow convinced me that going back to her home state was a good idea. Said something about how riding four wheelers and shooting guns had a way of centering yourself. I didn't understand what she meant till we landed in South Carolina. Her friend Steve picked us up and we headed straight for the woods. Steve was the size of a mountain, but he turned out to be a teddy bear. Her high school friends were already waiting for us and the excitement just radiated off of all of them when they saw her. Her friends reminded me so much of the bond that was felt in the unit. It was kidding around and the smart ass comments that just hid all the love that was felt between all of them.

"You still know how to drive that thing after being in the city so long? Sure you even remember the way to the camp?"

"Shut up, Steve. I probably know better than you do."

Rachel was already straddling one of the four wheelers and firing the ignition before I had been able to take the whole scene in. Steve finished strapping our backpacks on the back for us and then looked to me.

"Sure you trust her to drive that thing? Hold tight. She'll probably try to lose you on the way."

Rachel just turned around and rolled her eyes.

"Don't listen to him. He's the only one I know to ever lose a passenger on the way there."

"I will deny that to the day I die. She jumped."

"That doesn't sound any better."

Steve's laugh echoed off the trees and he made his way over to his own vehicle which I noted no one was volunteering to ride on. Rachel patted the seat behind her and then turned around. She was giving me the option to back out. Not that I would have had any where to go. I climbed on and she took off. I quickly figured out that she was right. This was a good way to reset. The laughter of her friends as they all went tearing through the woods to this campsite that they had gone to since they were kids was infectious. It turned out to be on one of their family's properties so they knew that no one would be around. They had an old shooting range set up and cheap beer cans would be placed on logs for target practice. Apparently, she hadn't told them that I was a cop. Steve thought it would be fun to watch the city boy try and shoot a gun. I just took what he held out to me and did what I normally did. The shock on his face caused Rachel to fall over laughing.

"Thank you for that. He needs to be put in his place occasionally."

"What did you even tell them about me?"

"That you were my boyfriend and that you worked for the city."

"The city, huh?"

"Yeah."

They built a bonfire that night and drank whiskey while telling stories and roasting marshmallows. It was good to see her in this atmosphere. It was nice to see where she came from. What I wasn't prepared for was when we came out of the woods the next day. An older man was waiting for us and he was leaning against an old Ford pickup. Rachel got off the four wheeler and made her way up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. I knew in an instance that it was her father. She had his eyes and hair color, even if his was now peppered with white. He was as tall as I was and burly, but his eyes were gentle as he held his only daughter. When she pulled back, he turned those eyes on me.

"This must be Adam."

Rachel stepped to the side as she nodded the confirmation. I was caught. Nowhere to go and no way to avoid this meeting. I stuck my hand out to shake his and part of me was surprised at how easily the man met me half way. I guess in the back of my mind I just always assumed that any father would immediately dislike me on sight. It's what they show in the movies all the time and I had heard enough stories from friends to believe it was just a given. Rachel's Dad was not that cliché. He was warm and genuinely interested in who his daughter had decided to spend time with. At dinner that night when Rachel had gotten up to head to the rest room, I felt accepted, but still nervous around him. Strange state to be in.

"Rachel tells me you are a cop in Chicago. Dangerous work in that city I would imagine."

I nodded. I felt that I probably knew what he was getting at.

"True. But so is living, sir. At least I can say that I'm trying to make the city a better place."

I think he respected that. Heading back to Chicago, I can remember feeling sad that we had to leave so soon.

The Present

So people think that being a cop is all about catching the bad guys, throwing them in jail, and saving the day. Ha! Dream on. It's sitting in a car with a guy that hasn't showered since the beginning of his shift as you watch a building for any activity while eating drug store food. And by the way, no one has gone near that building for the last eight hours and you have to pee like a racehorse. It's then running at full speed trying to catch the asshole that you were staking out after the jerk takes shots at you. That's on a good day. Most days it's really dealing with paperwork, phone calls, and setting up meetings with shady people you normally would never associate with.

The worst of those for me is paperwork. I would take everything else and never complain a day in my life, if I could give up the paperwork. No such luck. It's city work after all. Gotta have paperwork to justify all this fun. Which just makes me shake my head at the situation I am currently in. Getting called in on my day off about some expense reports and needing to sign some witness statements, because the legal office has their panties in a bunch is just the icing on the cake.

So here I am carrying a now 8 month old Isabelle into the precinct on my hip to sign all this crap. Yeah. I said eight months. Time flies when you are just putting one foot in front of the other. She's grown so much that I can't stand it. She needs to slow down. She's been babbling like crazy and even though I know that the first time she said da-da she had no idea what she was doing. It was amazing. I've noticed that she is actually now responding to her name and that nickname. She knows that I'm Dada and I can see that personality starting to really blossom. I'm just hoping that she will keep some of that spunk under wraps for the time it takes me to get this done. Platt promised to have it all ready for me at the front. If I take Belle upstairs, I'll be here for hours and she is already going to be running late for her nap.

I get to the front desk and Platt is as good as her word. She sets a stack of papers the size of a yearbook in front of me and hands me a pen.

"What were they doing? Just holding onto it till it got to this size. Jesus. That had to have been sitting on someone's desk for a while."

"What did you expect, Pretty boy?"

I just shook my head and began signing. I could feel Belle in my arms taking the whole precinct in. She had been there several times before, but I had always tried to make those trips short. Never knew what could go down and I just didn't like the idea of her being there. Might be stupid, but it was how I was feeling. I was breezing through until I felt Isabelle begin to squirm.

"Hey darling. Calm down. Dada's almost done."

"M!"

Ok. That is a new one. I kept signing, but Isabelle was not stopping and I see out of the corner of my eye that she was reaching behind us and that her gaze was focused in that direction.

"What is it, girl?"

Isabelle's light eyes were pleading with me to understand and then she rubbed them.

"M!"

Oh, this is not good. I knew this was not good. Sleepy baby combined with wanting something that she couldn't tell me she wanted. Crap.

"M!"

This time she emphasized her request with ducking her head down into my neck and then going back to her reaching behind me.

"Belle. I have no idea what you want."

I heard Platt clear her throat and I looked to her.

"I'm no baby expert, but I'm guessing she is wanting Burgess. She's in the commander's office. Kim….M."

Isabelle then turned around in my arms and repeated the letter to Platt. Great. Now, Platt knew what my daughter wanted more than I did. I guess I should have seen this coming. Kim had become a regular baby sitter since the unit had become quite busy over the last four months. Always seemed to be at night that I was having to find someone, and Kim always seemed to be available. I signed another paper and tried to sooth Isabelle as best as I could.

Hearing her sniffle made me groan. She was going to start crying if she didn't get what she wanted soon. I finally turned around to look through the commander's window. Kim looked like she was in about as good of a mood as Isabelle. Guess the commander was not happy about something. I could see Kim trying to explain something. I knew this because I knew those hand gestures and facial expressions when she is trying to stand her ground.

This is when my beautiful daughter decided she had enough. The wail stopped just about everything in the front and I could feel my face turn bright red as I saw Kim and the commander stop mid conversation. Yeah, my daughter has got a set of lungs on her. I will claim they come from Rachel till the day I die. I watch as the commander opens her door to step out into the entrance hall. Kim is right behind her. The commander is approaching me as I am rocking Isabelle and I really wish in that moment that transporters actually existed. Beam me up, Scotty.

"Officer, why are you here with a screaming baby?"

"Sorry, Commander. SGT Platt just needed me to sign some forms. I was hoping to be out of here…."

"M!"

Isabelle just about propelled herself out of my arms in Kim's direction. I actually felt a sense of relief when Kim immediately scooped her up. Isabelle curled into Kim's neck and immediately began to calm down. The commander was looking back and forth between me and Kim.

"Ok, Officer. Since it looks like Officer Burgess has calmed your daughter, why don't you finish what you came here to do so we can end this circus. Burgess, we'll talk later."

The commander left and I immediately went back to the stack of papers. Kim came up to stand next to me as I signed.

"What was the commander all upset with you about?"

"How do you know that she was upset? Maybe I was actually being praised about something."

I looked over to Kim and shook my head.

"Yeah, try again. I know you too well."

Kim huffed, but nodded her head.

"The rookie wrecked our patrol car yesterday. I was getting reamed for letting him drive. Since this would make his third accident."

I just started laughing. Kim had decided to become a training officer and Platt had eagerly assisted in making this happen. Apparently, her first rookie was making quite the name for himself. Wreck it Ralph.

"Why in the world did you let him drive?"

"I'm too nice."

I just smiled as I finished signing the last page. Platt scooped all the pages up and turned away from the desk. I looked to Kim and Isabelle was fast asleep. I just shook my head. Lesson learned. Never push back nap time.

"Thanks for taking her. I should get her home."

"No, thank you. Got me out of the lecture. You guys have a good day."

Kim handed her over and luckily Isabelle was none the wiser. I left and continued to just ignore what was beginning to happen.

Post AN: The next chapter is when things start to get interesting...if they have not gotten there for you already. :)