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Xoxo,

Nina

Hey! Got my phone back and it's alive! Lol

Listen, how about I meet you at Molly's? Sylvie's going too and I figured I'd go with her and I'll see you there.

She texted him and in less than a minute he replied.

Glad you have your phone back!

Yeah, sure. I'm about to drop off Grace and then I'll go to Molly's.

See you in a little while.

She was excited to see him and apart from that, they had a lot to talk about and things to work out. What they were supposed to do, what things she was expected to cover, what they were going to say in school and most importantly how they were going to tell this whole thing to Grace.

"So, where does this leave you two?" Sylvie asked as she went through her friend's fridge looking for a quick snack. Kim had just filled her in on everything that went on at the district and just like her friend, Sylvie was full of questions but she was happy that Kim's life was beginning to shake up a little. This was going to be good.

"Umm, I'm not sure. I guess we're trying to figure that out. We have so much to deal with first, I think the focus is not there right now."

"So you're just gonna stop whatever it was that you had going on?"

"Oh, no. I was thinking more like taking the time to see where this goes." She threw herself on the couch and sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"We'll, you know. This is much bigger than just Adam. I have a lot of sorting out to do and I don't want to get overwhelmed and back away. I really want to give it a shot." She looked at Sylvie as if she would magically give her the answer she was looking for. "I'm really trying."

"I know. And you're doing great, boo. Now what do you say we get ready and head over to Molly's? Our guys are waiting for us."

And they were, at least Casey was. Kim saw Kevin standing there with a group of people but no sign of Adam, so she decided to go with Matt and Sylvie. It didn't take long for both of the girls to be holding a beer in their hands and sharing a few laughs with some of the guys from house 51. Kim jumped a little when she felt a hand on her waist.

"Hey, what's up?" Kim's muscles relaxed as she heard his voice greeting everyone in the small circle.

"Ruzek, about time you made it. Your friends over there looked lonely." Matt said as he leaned in to half hug him.

"They'll survive. Hi Sylvie, how's this one treating you?" He asked, nodding his head towards Matt.

"Adam! Nice to see you again." She went directly for the hug, that was such a Brett move. Outgoing and spontaneous. "Perfectly. No complaints at all."

"That's good to hear. You let me know if he starts to slack off, I know a couple of cops that could give him a scare." They all laughed and Kim watched attentively enjoying how well they were getting along but couldn't quite understand when they had made that bond.

"Hey you." He finally greeted her, saving the best for last as he would say it. He steadied the grip on her hip and left a sweet kiss on her cheek. He really just wanted to full on kiss her, but wasn't sure if that was the right move right now. He didn't know how they were going to handle the PDA. It was all too soon and quick and he didn't want to mess it up.

"Hey." She smiled and leant a little closer into him. "You two seem super comfortable around each other." To anyone else listening to her, she would probably come off as the jealous type and maybe she was a little. Right now though, it was all about figuring out what her friend was trying to cover up. The mischievous sparkle in the blonde's eyes was totally giving her away.

"Yeah. We've hung out here once." Adam said.

"That day I invited you but you had plans." Brett added quickly, trying to stop Adam from saying anything about the 'date'.

"That's cool." Kim answered with a smile. She loves the fact that they got along well.

"Yeah. Listen, wanna come with me and I'll introduce you to the guys? You guys too, so Sylvie can meet everyone." He said the last part looks at Casey who nodded in agreement.

"Sure." Both girls agreed at the same time and chuckled as they heard each other.

Adam and Matt walked the girls over to where Kevin, Jay and Hailey were.

"This is Kevin, Hailey and Jay."

Kevin went straight to hugging Kim and greeting Sylvie and Matt, whereas Jay and Hailey just greeted raising their drinks with a smile on their faces.

"Funny, it's the first time I see you but I feel like I've known you since forever." Kim said and everyone was looking funny at her, she immediately blushed feeling so stupid for what she had just said. "I sounded like one of my kids, didn't I?" Kevin, Jay and Hailey laughed. "What I tried to say is that you have no idea how many stories I've heard about uncle Kev, uncle Jay and aunt Hailey."

"It's true. I've even heard them." Sylvie said something to help her friend feel more relaxed, especially after seeing what she was sure Kim had already seen, the military dog tag hanging around Jay's neck. He didn't use it often, but this was a special week for him and wearing his dog tag he felt like he was honoring the ones who didn't make it back home, especially his friends.

"I'm glad little Ruzek talks about us, as long as they're good stories." Jay said with a smile.

"Yeah, they are." Kim answered, and her friend picked up the look on her face, and the slight change in her tone of voice. She got it, she knew what Kim was feeling because sometimes she would feel it too. She just hoped that time would help heal it all, or at least mostly all. "Army?" The brunette asked Jay with her eyes fixed on his tag tag.

"Yes. Ranger. Did a couple of tours in Afghanistan." Kim nodded as she felt a knot tying in her throat.

"Thank you for your service." She said quickly and moved her face to find Sylvie, who just looked at her and smiled.

"My pleasure." He smiled and took that opportunity to tease his friends. "See? You should all learn from her. That's how you treat a veteran."

"Shut up Jay." Hailey said and nudged his shoulder.

Adam continued with all necessary introductions and the group clicked almost instantly. Funny stories, laughs and drinks were shared, they were all having a blast.

When Jay was about to get up to get a drink Adam stopped him.

"No, wait. Drinks on me tonight, because we're celebrating something massive."

"Did you finally realize the Cubs suck?" Hailey and Jay laughed, everyone in the 21st knew just how obsessed he was with that team.

"No Kevin." He rolled his eyes at his friends. "We're celebrating that the issue with child services is not an issue anymore. I'm keeping Gracie until Kit and Anne come back." He said with the biggest smile and Kim just looked at him, trying to make this moment push down all the memories that the stupid dog tag had brought to her.

"For real bro?" Kev was ecstatic. "That's such good news!"

"Yeah, for real!"

"Ruzek that's great!" Jay commented, he was also happy, but he wasn't one to be super communicative with his feelings, especially around his male friends.

"Oh my god Adam. That's amazing." Hailey almost jumped out of her seat and into Adam's arms hugging him. "How did you do it?"

"Well, this actually wouldn't be happening right now if it weren't for Kim. She agreed to take Pop's place and since she knows Grace and all, DCFS thought it was a good fit. We just need to talk with the school now, but Ludwin told me it shouldn't be a problem."

"You were totally right. This deserves a toast! Let's go I'll help you bring the drinks." Jay got up and squeezed Adam's shoulder. Kevin volunteered to go and help them and Sylvie left with Matt because Cruz was calling him, but both of them promised to come back for the toast. Kim and Hailey were let alone, they both looked at each other and smiled but it was clear to anyone watching that the whole thing was uncomfortable and awkward as fuck.

"That was really nice what you did to help Adam and Grace." Hailey decided to break the ice, someone had to do it and the blonde felt it was the perfect opportunity to get to know the girl her friend was losing his mind over.

"I just wanted to help." Kim nodded with a shy smile. "Grace is a great girl and she's going through a lot and if there's something I can do to make things a little better, then I'm all in."

"You sure gave them a hand. Gracie is wonderful and Adam seems happy."

"I'm glad." The brunette smiled without thinking about it. "He's working so hard for Gracie to be happy and loved. He seems like a really good guy."

"He is. I'm so lucky to have him around."

"He told me you've been working together for a while. That the unit is almost like a family."

"We are." Hailey saw this as her chance and she wasn't gonna miss it. She knew Adam was worried because he wasn't sure what Kim's feelings towards him were, and to be honest she was worried too. She wasn't ready to see her best friend go crashing down again and she was going to do everything possible to look out for him, she was convinced that that was the right move to make. "We are all there for each other always, not only out there but also in our personal lives. We've lived and a lot of things together. In fact Adam and I used to date." There. She just threw it out there hoping to get a reaction from Kim.

"Oh." The brunette wasn't expecting that comment at all. In fact she didn't even know what Hailey was trying to say with it. Was it random information or was that her way of saying that her and Adam had history and that she intended for the ashes of that relationship to rekindle?

Kim was confused, this was the least that she needed tonight. Her head started spinning and her thoughts were literally going wild. She even started to give another meaning to the whole aunt Hailey thing. There was only one thing she was sure about though, and that was that she needed to leave.

"That's cool." Yeah, she knew that was probably the stupidest thing to say especially because that was the last thing she thought, but that's all she could come up with as her eyes were desperately on the hunt for Sylvie, whom of course she did not find.

Kim had to come up with another alternative, that clearly was the lamest one. She took out her phone from her pocket and looked at the screen for a couple of seconds. "Look at that. It's kind of late and I have a ton of things to grade and forms to fill out. Could you please tell Adam I'm sorry I couldn't stay?"

"Yeah, sure." Bingo. That gave her all the answers she needed. "Are you sure you don't wanna wait and tell him yourself?"

"No, don't worry. I don't want to interrupt." She looked over to where the boys were laughing and joking with Hermann.

"Ok. See you around then."

"See you around." Kim smiled politely and left. She didn't bother looking for Sykvie, she would text her later and tell her that she was home.

The only thing she wanted right now was a warm shower and sleep. Turn off her brain for a while.

A few minutes later the boys were back at the table and found Hailey alone scrolling through her Instagram feed.

"Hey." He left the drinks on the table as he looked around. "Where's Kim?" Adam finally looked at Upton when he asked.

"Well, I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?"

"Good I guess."

"Ok. Ok." Hailey seemed super excited about what she was going to tell her friend."

"She totally likes you." The grin on her face made the three boys smile too.

"And you know that, how?" Adam asked again.

"The answer to that question brings me to the bad news. I might have told her that we used to date and then she left. Something about having papers to grade or something. Which we all know it's not the real reason as to why she left." Hailey answered proudly and none of the guys were following her line of thought. Especially Jay.

"Why would you say that?" Jay wasn't an insecure guy. He was sure of himself and of his relationship with Hailey, particularly after the chat they had, but that didn't mean that he understood his fiancée's behavior around Kim.

"Because a few days ago Adam told me he wasn't sure where he was standing regarding this girl. I just wanted to give my friend a hand." She was still smiling and Adam just ran his hand through his face as Kevin watched and laughed about the whole situation.

"That's nice of you Hails, but I kind of sorted that out with Kim a little."

"What do you mean?" Now Hailey was confused.

"We haven't talked about it in depth, but we established that we both liked each other. So as far as that goes we are alright." Adam explained calmly and Upton started to feel totally guilty about what she just had said. No woman on the surface of the planet likes to be confronted by the ex of the guy you're seeing.

"Oh god. Why didn't you tell me that?" She punched his arm and covered her face with both hands. "Don't worry. I will fix this." Adam chuckled and Jay just shook his head.

"Thanks Hailey, but I've got this. You did enough already."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, I am not. It was nice of you to try to help. Maybe next time just check in with me for the details." He wrapped her shoulders with one arm and kissed the top of her head. "I'm gonna go talk to Sylvie. I'll be right back."

As soon as Adam was a few steps away from them Jay spoke. "I told you to let it play out. Didn't I?" Hailey pouted and Jay smiled and kissed her cheek.

Sylvie spotted Adam coming over to her and beat him to the conversation.

"Hey, where's my friend? Are you taking her away from me already?"

"I was hoping you would tell me that. Hailey over there told me that Kim had to go, some school things she needed to do or something like that. Maybe you know something I don't." She tried the lopsided smile with her but it didn't work. She did know, but there was no way she was just gonna spit everything out like that. No matter how charming his smile was.

"Oh. Um, yeah we had some rubrics to complete." They did, but not due for another week, Kim leaving had nothing to do with her work responsibilities, it had to do with the overwhelmed state in which she was sure her friend was.

"Do you think I should go over? Call her? Help me out. Please." Sylvie smiled and cocked her head. She thought that was the sweetest thing and that he truly did care about Kim.

"I think it'll be better if you just text her today. She'll like that."

"Ok."

"Let me know if you need further advice." She joked and squeezed his arm. "Never say this to Kim, but I'm rooting for you!" And with that she went back to Matt.

Hey you, Hails told me you had to go. That's a shame for two reasons

1 I was really looking forward to celebrating this with you. You are what's making this happen.

2 I would have killed to kiss you good night.

Take care.

Her phone dinged and she picked it up from her bed. Hails? That's what he called her? She felt like a jealous teenager and couldn't quite control it. Kim wasn't sure as to what she should answer. She couldn't think of anything, so she left him on read for the moment being. She knew that Hailey's comment wasn't that bad, but it had been the cherry on the cake after all the emotions that dog tag triggered inside her. She got out of bed to get a glass of water, hoping that the familiar actions would help her shift her mind away from so much pain.

Right after getting into bed she grabbed her phone. She wasn't going to leave him on read forever. That wasn't her.

Sorry about that. I had to run. Talk to you tomorrow.

Enjoy the night!

That was not the answer he was expecting.