Happy Wednesday everyone!
Since there's no One Chicago today, here's a little something for you.
Hope you like it!
Thanks for reading and reviewing!!
Happy reading!
Xoxo,
Nina
"Wake up sleepy head."
Her voice was the sweetest alarm clock he could have ever asked for, but it wasn't enough to do the job and Kim knew it was time for back up. She began to pepper his neck and chest with soft kisses.
"Come on, babe. You're going to be late for work." A soft chuckle escaped her mouth when she heard his moaning.
"Five more minutes."
"Adam." She made the last A sound longer between her lips. "Your coffee is going to get cold."
"What?" He turned a bit and opened his eyes and quickly rubbed them to see her. His voice was full of sleep and his face was not hiding it either.
Kim found herself totally enamored by the sight before her and she knew how completely lost she was.
"You're such a teddy bear." The sparkle in her eyes and smile filled his chest with love.
"A teddy bear, huh?"
"Mm hmmm. You're this incredible bad ass cop and then you're also this lovable, cute, adorable being."
"Should I take that as a compliment?"
"That's one of the things that's got me falling in love with you. So yeah, you should."
He smiled at her words and grabbed her by the waist to pull her closer for a kiss.
"Good morning, Belle."
"Good morning, detective." She sighed. "As much as I would love to make this kiss last longer, I really don't want you to eat a cold breakfast." Kim shifted her body a little so that he could see the tray full of food she'd brought to bed for them to share.
"Breakfast in bed? What did I do to deserve that?"
"Everything. Babe, you've been my rock and I just wanted to pamper you a little. Hope you like it." She said the last part as she moved the tray and placed it on her bed between them.
"Are you kidding? I love it already. Thank you darlin'."
"You are very welcome."
They both enjoyed their time together before Adam had to leave for work.
He reluctantly climbed out of bed to get dressed while Kim stretched comfortably tangled in the white bedsheets. She observed him carefully, admiring every single one of his movements and smiled to herself when she saw him doing the same thing as he was listening to a message on his phone.
"You have to listen to this. It's hilarious." He went to sit next to her and played a voice note from Kit's chat.
"Hi Uncle Adam. It's me, Gracie. Um, daddy let me use his phone and I wanted to say hi to you. Also, I know mommy told me that you were spending some time with Aunt Kim, but maybe when you're free we can have a sleepover? I love you."
Her sweet message was interrupted by a more grown up voice.
"Grace? What are you doing with your dad's phone?" There were some background noises and Anne's voice came in louder this time. "Princess, give your uncle some space."
"But daddy told me I could talk to him."
"Kit? Did you tell Grace to call your brother? You're unbelievable!" A huge rant was about to start and that was probably when Anne realized they had never stopped recording. "Sorry Adam! I have to go scold your brother now. Talk to you later."
Kim and Adam looked at each other and bursted into laughter.
"I didn't see that ending coming."
"Neither did I. I need to call Gracie, I haven't given her much attention lately." He said after putting his phone back in his pocket.
"You know? I was actually thinking about calling Anne and maybe going for lunch or something with her and Gracie."
"I'm sure they'll both love that."
"Ok. I'll call her and let you know how it goes. Maybe after that you can pick us up and take Gracie to your place for that sleepover."
"You don't want to be part of that?"
"No, it's not that. I just think maybe she wants to spend some time with only you."
"Are you kidding me? She would absolutely flip out if you stay with us too." He looked at her and immediately understood that maybe this was one of those overwhelming moments. "I'll tell you what, talk to Anne, go have lunch, I'll take Grace at night and you can decide later whether you want to join the slumber party fun or not. Does that work?"
"Yes." She leant forward to kiss him. "You still need to pick me up as well though. I kind of like having a private chauffeur." She joked, making him laugh.
"Do you now? Of course, I'm happy to drive you around. You know that. But since you brought up the topic, I talked to you dad yesterday."
"You talked to my dad?" He just nodded at her question and she chuckled. "Is that something you do on the regular?"
"Oh yes. And not only with your dad. In fact we thought about having a group chat at some point." He teased her. "Anyway, he sent me the list you forwarded him with the options you had and all. And we narrowed it down a bit."
"Okay." She looked are him attentively as he, once again, pulled his phone out and looked through some emails to show her the file he was looking for.
"So, it comes down to these three. The first being my personal favorite."
"You made a spreadsheet?" Kim was very amused because the file was in fact super complete.
"Of course not, your dad did. This has Burgess written all over it. I Can totally see where you got it from. Anyway, we can go take a look at them and get a test drive any time you want. Just let us know and we'll be right there with you."
"I'd love that."
"Do you want me to tell you why I like this one so much?" Adam reminded her of her students' excitement just before show and tell.
"Please, enlighten me."
"Ok. It has a killer air bag system, antilock brakes, traction control, blind spot monitors and active cruise control. Plus, I've been reading the reviews and they are really good."
"Don't you think it's huge though? Where am I supposed to park it?"
"It's not that big. In fact I think it's smaller than my truck and you've driven my car before. Besides, I think the size is a plus. That way we'll have enough space for the booster chairs and stuff."
"The booster chairs?" Kim asked, surprised. Never in a million years she thought that this was going to be one of the factors Adam would consider important while picking a car.
"Yeah, Gracie and you know..." He trailed off a bit showing slight shyness. "Any other little Ruzek that may come along in the future."
Kim felt her insides melt right that second, but she tried to keep her cool. "Oh, so you're picturing me pregnant already?"
"Maybe I am." He looked down and let a shy chuckle escape. "Sometimes my head likes to fast forward and travel in time showing me a bunch of different scenarios. That's one of them." He shrugged and Kim held his hand.
"I love the fact that your head goes there, because I'd really like that future for us. But babe, I don't think I'm ready right now. I'm still figuring out a lot of things."
"I know Belle, this is not me presuring you into anything. But I also know that we belong together and that we have all the time in the world to create whatever future we want together."
"You're the sweetest." Her lips kissed his cheeks softly. "And believe me, I want that future that is right there." She touched his temple with her index finger. "I'm really enjoying this time together, the fact that we're finding ourselves and actually having the time to live our relationship." She played with his fingers as she kept speaking. "I'm really looking forward to our holidays. Maybe we can discuss the whole knocking me up thing after that."
Adam started laughing and surprised Kim with a kiss.
"That actually sounds like a kick ass plan."
"Yeah?"
"Totally."
"And just out of curiosity?" She captured his attention with just the beginning of the question. "Did you tell my dad exactly why that was your first choice?" They both chuckled.
"I might have left out some details." He replied with a charming smirk as he moved closer to her.
"Yeah. That's what I thought."
"Come here." He hugged her and kissed her again, only this time it was much more intense. "I have to go to the district." He said once he finally broke away from their embrace. "I'll call you as soon as I have a chance, ok?"
"Ok." She stood up, still in her underwear and an oversized t-shirt, to walk him to the door. "I love you."
"I love you too, Belle."
"Be safe."
He closed his eyes and smiled to the sound of those words coming out of her lips. "I will, baby. Talk to you in a little bit. Bye."
Adam left her apartment leaving his girlfriend beaming. Everything that she had experienced the last few days was beyond her wildest dreams. She was happy and excited for the future ahead of her. A future with Adam.
The rest of Kim's morning was pretty packed. She had finally called Anne, who was truly delighted to spend some time with her and Gracie, but they ended up arranging the small gathering for the following day. But another phone call was an important part of her day.
"Hello?"
"Hello Kim, this is Kathleen Quinn calling. How are you doing?"
"Oh, hi! I'm doing very well, thanks for asking."
"I'm so happy to hear that. So, apart from wanting to know how you were doing, I'm actually calling you to invite you to the first grade award ceremony. I know you're on your medical leave, but this is your group and I'm sure the kids would love to see you there, even if it's just as a guest. And we would love to have you there as well."
"Wow. I'm flattered by the invitation. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"I'm very glad to hear that, Kim. We know how hard you worked with these kids and how important they are to you. Having you there will be the cherry on the cake."
"Thank you so much for your words. You're totally right, they are super important to me."
"I know. I'll email you all the details."
"Great!"
The rest of the day she was dancing and singing around her apartment. She couldn't help but feel total happiness, of course there were things that still needed to be solved, issues to be dealt with, but she was on the right track or at least that's how she felt.
The chiming of her phone gently burst that bubble for just a few seconds.
"Hey."
"Hello, Belle. How's everything going?"
"Everything's good, but I miss you. You know, I'm getting too used to being around you all the time, you're spoiling me." She joked making him laugh from the other side of the line.
"Oh ok. I can stop if you want." He offered, pretending to be offended by her comment.
"Nah, I'm good. I think being a spoiled brat fits me for the time being." They both laughed. "How's your day going?"
"Busy, but good. Just stopped to have some lunch and call you. How about you? Any news?"
"Well, as opposed to yours, my day has not been busy at all. However, I talked to Anne and we're getting together tomorrow. So maybe you can arrange that sleep over too."
"Sounds good, I'll give her a call tonight."
"And Kathleen called me."
"That's nice of her. Bet she wants to make sure you won't leave her next year."
"She knows I won't. I love that school. She actually invited me to go to the first grade award ceremony."
"Oh wow, that's big."
"Yeah. I mean I'm thrilled to be there, like, I'm going to go. But I guess a part of me is a bit worried I might flip out with so many people and things I may or may not remember."
"I understand what you mean. If I remember correctly it's after Jay and Hailey's wedding, right?"
"Uh huh."
"Well, by then you are going to be much more used to being in contact with a lot of people and talking about things from before the accident. And you know I will be there. You just need to look at me and we leave."
"I know baby and I'm super grateful for your ongoing support, but I just feel like I need to get over this at some point. I have to man up."
"Kim, we're in no rush. You take your time and we'll get there. Together."
Kim sighed and let the next word come out as a whisper. "I love you, detective."
"Me too." She could hear him chewing his lunch in between sentences and smiled to herself. She found it cute how he would take every chance he had to contact her. "Listen. Are you free this afternoon?"
"I am."
"Wanna go check out those cars? Your dad told me he was free as well." She let go a little chuckle and Adam knew that he had made her smile.
"Yeah, sure."
"Ok then. I'll pick you up after work and we can meet your dad at the dealership."
"Sounds like a plan. And maybe since you're moving your slumber party with Gracie for tomorrow, I was wondering if you wanted to have one of those with me tonight."
"I do want to."
"Ok, good."
"Good." Now it was him chuckling over the phone.
"Go finish your lunch in peace. We'll talk later. Be safe."
"I will, Belle. Love you."