Officer Kim Burgess hated waiting. All her life she had hated waiting for things: an answer to a question, the grade for an exam, Christmas Eve, for her to be old enough to go to the Academy, for the day Adam Ruzek would come knocking at her door, telling her he wants her. Most of the time, the waiting was worth the while. Especially the Adam part. But now, there was no way the time she spent waiting would get her to some sort of reward. There was no positive side to this – except that he was alive and well – and she was mad, really mad. She knew that she couldn't change Adam for what he was. His constant drive to prove himself to Olinsky and Voight, a young officer in pursuit of his career goal. But more than often his improvisation and affinity to pull stunts like today put him in danger. The kind of danger that got you killed. She couldn't tell him to stop, either. Of course, he'd promise her that he'd never do it again, like the million times he had before, but in the end his destructive compulsion got the better of him. All she could do was to trust his team to get him out of situations like these alive, or prevent them. And she had to trust Adam not to get himself killed.

Kim had heard Voight talking about how Adam had gotten shot in the line of duty. Her heart had stopped beating for a moment and she had closed her eyes, hoping that he'd be okay and not bleeding out on an operation table. But then she had heard him saying that Adam was alright, his kevlar vest had stopped the bullet and how lucky he had been that the perp shot him from a distance. Burgess had noticed herself breathe again and had felt relieved that Adam was okay. Just a few seconds later that relief had been replaced by anger. Once again, he had done it again. Voluntarily taking down a dangerous man by himself without any back-up. Putting himself in the line of fire, of danger, with one foot in Hell (no, he wouldn't go to Heaven, Kim was sure).

She heard someone knock on the door of her appartment. She sighed and got up from the couch, not bothering to turn off the TV. She already knew who it was before she checked the peep hole and opened the door.

"Hi" was the only thing she said, but she wasn't looking at him while saying it.

Walking back into the living room, she heard Adam close the door without a word. She hadn't even looked at him before walking away. He should suffer from her giving him the cold shoulder, burn in the fires of her anger before he got any excuses out. He hadn't even bothered to call her to tell her he was okay!

They didn't say anything for what seemed like hours, but only a couple of minutes after Adam had entered Kim's appartment, he closed the gap between them and touched her arm.

She looked at him and he realized that the lecture he was dreading would be starting now. But strangely enough, it didn't and she turned away to turn off the TV.

Adam cleared his throat. "Say something."

"I just did."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he asked, "You mad at me?"

"Mad at you? No! What for? You didn't go all John McClane on your team and tried to save the day on your own. You didn't get shot. You didn't take any unnecessary risks today. At. All." She was ranting away before she could stop herself. She had sworn to herself that she'd ignore him as long as she could until he'd squirm in front of her, his explanations and excuses filling the room. Oh yes, she was mad.

"It's my job, Burgess. You of all people should know that."

"Of course I do!", she replied louder than anticipated and stabbed the air with her finger, "I'm a cop, too. But that doesn't mean that I run around chasing after dangerous suspects single-handedly."

"I didn't know he was armed."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's your excuse?"

"I don't need excuses for doing my job."

"You almost got yourself killed. That's NOT your job. If at all, it's mine, because I really wanna kill you right now."

If this situation wouldn't be so damn serious, he'd throw in a laugh right now and tell her that she didn't, but that wouldn't help him right now, not in the slightest.

He watched her face closely and was amazed when the flames of anger in her eyes turned into flashes of something else. She narrowed her eyes when she noticed him looking at her, afraid of showing the change in her emotions. Adam knew she was stubborn, it's what made her so successful in doing her job, and the sudden change of heart was something she'd never admit freely. He saw it as a chance to get closer to her and once again reduced the space between them to a comfortable minimum. Comfortable enough for her not to step away from him again.

Kim looked at her boyfriend. This time, he was sure what he saw in her eyes: concern, pain and fear.

"You almost got yourself killed", she repeated herself.

The tone in her voice mirrored the emotions shown in her eyes. It made his gut clench and his heart hurt. He had been prepared for a lecture, for rage, for anger, but not for this. He was torn between taking the first step and just pull her into a kiss or waiting for her to take the first step.

He sat down on the back rest of the couch. "I'm sorry", he whispered, barely audible for her to hear.

And that was what broke her facade. She sighed before walking up to him, taking his face into her hands and kissing him.

"You're an idiot", she said when she broke the kiss, "I can't loose you, Adam, I need you here."

He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. "I know."

"I know you have to do your job but does it hurt you to just play it a little more safe? For your own sake? For me?"

"You know I can't promise you anything, but I promise you this", he said and drew her closer to him by wrapping his arm around her waist, "in a couple of years, John McClane will look pale compared to what I have achieved."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

When he pulled her down for another kiss, it made her forget completely why she was mad at him. Hell, it made her forget everything but him.

She had to pull herself together before she said, "I'm still mad at you, you know?"

A soft growl out of his throat made her stomach flutter, "Oh yeah, you are."

Standing, he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him. "Let's see what we can do about that."

And with that, he walked towards the bedroom, his lips never leaving hers as he navigated them through the hall by memory, trying not to bump into anything. She had given him the reasons why she was mad at him, now it was his turn to rethink her position. No, scratch that, he was going to make it impossible for her to think.