Hey guys!

I've been reading your reviews and I totally agree with you KaVo29, we need something to cheer us up after last night's episode. So as per your request, here's another update.

Hope this does the trick and lifts up our Burzek spirits.

I still have hope!

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, you're all amazing!

Happy reading!

Xoxo,

Nina

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my imagination.

"Good morning." He tried his best not to laugh at Kim's sleepy face as she opened the door to his truck. "Grace, seems like you're not the only one who had trouble waking up today." He said to his niece while looking at her through the rearview mirror. The little girl chuckled and greeted Kim.

"Good morning, Miss B."

"Good morning sunshine, good morning Adam." She smiled at home and reached back to rub Gracie's knee. "Are you excited for the zoo?"

"I am!" She moved her head up and down and held on tight to her stuffed bear.

"Getting her to sleep was a challenge last night. She was so hyped." Adam added. "She already told me which animals she wants to see first, and she demanded we take pictures for the scrapbook."

"So we have a pretty packed day today. I can't wait."

"Mm hmmm, but we have to eat first. Uncle Adam says that breakfast is very important."

"He's totally right. Plus I'm starving, so grabbing a bite will be much appreciated."

"Well, let's get going then." He said before turning on the ignition and driving away from Kim's place. "You're gonna love this place. The food is amazing."

He was right, the food was amazing and both Gracie and Kim were enjoying every single bite. Adam was also enjoying his food, but what he loved the most was to watch the delight in the girls' faces as they ate and talked about some storybook character that they read about in school.

Although she was paying attention to Grace, Kim could see him from the corner of her eye. He was smiling and took his phone to snap a picture of them. When he realized her brown eyes were fixed on him, he spoke.

"It's for your scrapbook." He slightly moved the phone in his hand.

"I'm not in it." She said before taking a sip of her orange juice and placing it back on the table.

"Why not? You're part of this too." He shifted his sight and directed it to Gracie. "What do you say, muffin? Don't you think you should include Kim in your book?"

"Yef!" She was so excited that she answered with her mouth full of pancakes. Adam laughed and then reminded her that she needed to swallow before she could speak.

"Good. In that case we need more photos of the both of you together. I'm really going to like keeping track of that." He said with an irresistible smile, and Kim blushed when she felt his hand on her leg under the table. They were both craving physical contact. Even if all they got was a brush of their fingers, he was willing to go for it and so was her. She placed her hand over his and laced her fingers around his, squeezing his hand a little.

"It's going to be the best scrapbook ever!" Gracie said overly excited and went to grab her chocolate milk. Her chirpy and loud voice almost made both of them jump and lose the focus they had on each other to shift their attention to Grace, but they never let go of their hands.

It was a weird Sunday. Adam didn't want to use the word weird to describe it, he liked the terms special or different much better.

This had nothing to do with what he would usually do on a Sunday when he was off work before Kit and Anne had to go under protective custody, before he had to take care of Gracie.

When he first faced this new reality a myriad of thoughts and emotions fell over him. He was scared, guilty, sad, frustrated and angry. He knew his life was going to change and that he was going to need to leave a whole bunch of things he was used to doing behind him. He never expected this, though.

Sure he was still scared and every day, when he heard Gracie talking about her parents, he had to fight off the guilt he felt about this whole situation. But he also discovered a new part of him, he realized there was much more to the life he was living, he gave new meaning to the love he always felt for his niece and right now he couldn't picture his life any other way, even if he needed a moment for himself now and then.

Kim? Kim was the missing piece to the puzzle. She completed him in ways neither of them were able to realize yet. She was everything he always dreamed of in a woman and was an amazing role model for Gracie.

She was the support his niece needed, but she was also the best support for him.

Adam looked at the joy in Grace's face as she walked around the zoo hand in hand with Kim and felt happy. Not only because Grace was ecstatic, but because he finally felt like everything was somehow falling into place and he had no idea how that happened. This was probably the happiest he had been in a long while.

They were going to see the elephants next. Grace was walking next to Adam grabbing his hand and observing all the other kids around her, when finally a question popped in her head.

"Why do grownups hold kids by the hand?" She asked, making both Adam and Kim look down at her.

"Because we don't want you to get lost. There's a lot of people here and I want to make sure you stay right next to me. You're so important to me, what would I do if I can't find you?" He tried to be clear, but he wasn't sure his answer was satisfying her. The little girl furrowed her brow and thought about her uncle's answer.

"So, you don't care if another grownup gets lost?" She cocked her head to the side and scratched her head looking absolutely adorable. Kim just listened, she loved it when kids started questioning the word around them to make sense of it.

"Of course we do." He answered quickly.

"Then why aren't you grabbing Ms. B's hand? I don't want her to get lost." Adam looked at Grace and then at Kim, smiling at both of them.

"You know what? Us grownups sometimes forget that we should look after and take care of other grownups too. You're right, I don't want to lose her either." Adam fixed his eyes on Kim as he said that last statement. He intentionally played with the words, trying to show her a glimpse of his feelings. "I'm gonna hold her hand too." That was the last thing he said before entwining his fingers with hers. He was finally getting that contact he was longing for since the morning, he was doing what he wanted to do in front of everyone who was watching and it felt so damn good.

When Kim started to lightly rub her thumb against the side of his hand, he knew she felt it too.

She was also happy.

There was a moment in her life where she thought that she was never going to feel like this again, that her life was not going to be the same and that it wasn't going to make as much sense as it did before. One thing she was right about, her life was not going to be the same, but that didn't mean that it had to be bad.

What she had with Andrew was beautiful, and the part of her heart that held those memories was not going to fade away, because everything she lived with him made her who she is today and if she's ready to face everything that is happening right now it's also thanks to her past.

Much to her surprise, her life was making sense once more. She had something to look forward to, someone who she genuinely wanted to spend time with and who she really cared for. As the days went by she could see how her feelings towards him were evolving and invading every inch of her body and soul.

Was she scared? Terrified.

Did she have everything figured out? Not a chance in hell. But for the first time since Andrew passed away she was willing to try. Adam inspired her to do that. She felt comfortable and confident around him and even though she sometimes found it hard to be open about her feelings, she knew that she could talk to him and that he would always listen and do his best to understand.

Kim had no idea how she ended up where she was right now, and even less had a clear perspective of what her future could look like. But if life had taught her anything it was that she had to live her present and right now this was the best present she could have.

Gracie was having the Sunday of a lifetime. Both Kim and Adam could see how much fun she was having and they tried their best to keep her entertained and hopefully to keep her mind off her parents not being there to share this day with them and apparently it was working. She was smiling, playing and super excited about seeing all the animals.

When they got tired of walking, they went to a little playground and were surprised by a little girl who walked over and invited Garcie to go to the see-saw with her. She asked her uncle for permission and he agreed, but asked her to stay close and where he could see her.

They were both sitting on the grass enjoying the company and keeping an eye on Grace.

"Would you stop that?" Kim asked blushing.

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything."

"You're looking at me with that face."

"This is the only face I have, Miss." He gave her a charming and seductive look. That's exactly what she was talking about.

"No, that's the face that you have when you…" She was a little embarrassed to finish the sentence.

"When I what?" He knew what she was going to say and he was totally going to enjoy playing with her, that's why he asked with a lopsided smile.

"When you're about to kiss me." She said so low it almost sounded like a whisper.

"That's because I'm dying to do that."

"Well, you're gonna have to wait."

"I know. It sucks though." She looked at him waiting for him to continue. " Being around you and not being able to touch you or kiss you." She giggled and he looked at her with a mischievous smile, he really wanted to know what thoughts were running through her head at that moment.

"We touched a little today. Held hands and everything." She commented, looking as innocent as one of her six year old students.

"And was that enough for you?" He loved that cute and good girl vibe that she had going on, but he also liked it when she told him what she really wanted out of them.

"Nuh-huh." She shook her head. "In fact I would kiss you right now if I could."

"Don't do this to me Miss B. I'm a weak man and you're playing with my feelings." They both laughed. "I feel like a crappy uncle for wanting her not to be here only for like five minutes so I can make out with her sexy teacher."

"You're not a crappy uncle, you're only human. I kind of want to make out with my student's uncle too. I guess life's unfair to both of us."

"Or we could just do it. She probably knows already." Kim looked at him with big eyes. She really hoped Grace hadn't seen them or heard them. "Did I tell you she told me I should ask you to be my girlfriend?" Kim just laughed. "It's not funny. She was dead serious. Apparently I need a girl in my life and you are perfect because you and her can both share me." Now the brunette was laughing harder.

"Well, I don't like to share, but maybe I could make an exception with her. And it is funny because she asked me if you were my boyfriend." He opened his eyes and raised his brows when he heard Kim.

"That sneaky little muffin of mine. She has the whole thing figured out, and here we are trying to decide what step to take next." For the first time the issue of what they were doing was being approached and deep inside both of them knew this was a big deal.

Kim sighed before she spoke. "Adam we can't be all touchy and affectionate around her, when we don't even know what to tell her if she asks. I know we're adults and these things just happen, but we haven't even talked about any of this." She wasn't complaining, she just didn't want to rush things and shift the focus off Gracie.

"Agreed. Do you want to talk about it now? I'm ready if you are." He was confident with his words reassuring Kim and just when she was about to answer they were interrupted.

"Uncle Adam!" She called as she ran towards them, making their heads stand up in alert. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"I'll take her." Kim said as she stood up and took Gracie's hand. She was ready to talk about what they had, but this time out was the air that she needed to clear up her thoughts.

The way to the bathroom and back was all about Grace telling Kim how much fun she was having and that she really liked to spend the day with her and her uncle. When she got back she ran towards her new friend under Kim's watchful eye.

"She's having a great time." Kim told him as she sat on the grass next to him again. This time she was a bit closer. "You're winning major cool uncle points."

"That was my plan all along." He brushed her hand with his fingers. "What I don't think I'll win is our bet. You're right, I kind of want the professor and his guys to get away with it."

"See?! I told you!" Her smile was bright and contagious.

"At least I'll earn some more cool uncle points because Grace is dying to bring Bugs home." He chuckled.

"You know? I love winning, I really do and I need some help with Bugs, but going on a date with you was also beginning to sound like a prize." She said looking down.

"I'm guessing this is you telling me that you're also ready to talk about us?"

"This is me already talking about us."

"Ok. So, are we dating?"

"Listen, I obviously like you and I like what we have going on. But I don't want to jump into things so fast, we have a lot going on and I don't want any of this to go downhill. And I really don't know what to do about telling Grace or not. I mean it would make things easier for us, but I'm not sure if it's the best for her right now. Besides, even though it's frustrating not being able to do whatever it is I want to do with you, it can also be a little exciting." She scrunched up her nose and her eyes sparkled.

"What things are those? Please expand." He asked, beginning to show some hunger in his eyes.

"Don't make me go there."

"Come on, it's exciting." He mocked her and she only shook her head, finally moving into him and whispering in his ear, making the short hairs at the nape of his neck stand up.

"Something along the lines of what went on the last time you were over at my house."

He remembered exactly what happened that day and he wanted to repeat that too. Looking over at Grace he made sure the little was concentrated doing something else and took the opportunity to peck Kim's lips. She said nothing, she only smiled.

"So? Just to make sure. We are dating."

"I guess you could say that. Yes." She said with that permanent smile on her lips.

"Good. Then if you want, tonight you're having dinner with us, I'm putting Gracie to bed and you and I can have a glass of wine on the balcony."

"I'd like that very much."

And that was exactly what they did.

Gracie was bouncing off the walls when she learned that Kim was having dinner with them. As soon as they stepped into the apartment, Adam asked the little girl to take a shower and she went singing all the way to the shower while both adults heated up the food.

When he came back to the kitchen after leaving Gracie's fresh clothes ready, he found Kim moving naturally around his place trying to get everything they needed for dinner. "I'm sorry I started to do this without asking you first." She apologized when she sensed his presence right behind her.

"Nothing to be sorry for. I've told you before, I like the fact that you feel comfortable here." He walked closer to her and she turned around leaving both her hands on his strong and built shoulders.

"I do. I feel comfortable around you." She said softly.

"Is that so?" He placed his hands on her hips and in one quick motion, he sat her on the kitchen counter.

Kim nodded in response and her arms slowly enveloped his neck. He used his knee to spread her legs a little and stood between them running his hands so delicately up and down her thighs. "Well that's good then, because I feel amazing when I'm around you." His lips gently brushing hers. That soft contact was driving her crazy, he waited just enough until he desperately attacked her mouth savouring her tongue and pulling on that lower lip.

His hands went back to the top of her bum and pushed her towards him the most he could, the contact making her grind her hips against his. Kim's hands were now exploring his chest, but she wanted more than just the contact of her hands against the fabric. She needed to feel his skin and nothing was going to stop that desire. She slid her hand under his shirt and felt like she was in heaven when she started to discover every inch of his torso. They both felt the heat and they really liked it.

"Uncle Adam, where is my pink towel?" Gracie's cute but loud voice calling from the bathroom interrupted the action.

"Fuck." He said under his breath and completely frustrated as he rested his forehead on Kim's chest and one of her hands tried to comfort him by playing with his hair. "I'll look for it, muffin!" He said back loud enough for her to hear him. "I'm gonna go find the pink towel." He told Kim completely defeated and gave her one hot last kiss before stepping away.