Hey guys! How's everyone doing?

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Here's the next chapter of this story, hope you like it.

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Xoxo,

Nina

Kim was ready to hit the road. Her suitcase was standing next to the door, she was showered, her hair up in a messy bun, ripped jeans, white tank top and white sneakers. Her sunglasses were resting on the top of her head, and her phone was on her hand, waiting for Adam's message so that she could go downstairs and get going. Instead of a text message, what she got was a soft knock on her door.

"Before you say anything, I know I was supposed to text you, but I wasn't going to let you carry your stuff on your own." He pleaded his case with both his hands up as soon as she opened the door. "And now that I see you, I'm glad I did because I really want to kiss you properly."

"Shut up." She said, cocking her head to the side and chuckled lightly. When his strong arms wrapped her body, all the tension she lived earlier vanished and she clung onto him as if he was her life line. "Are you ready to go?" She asked after kissing his lips.

"I am. Do you have everything?" He asked back.

"I hope I do. Worst case scenario, I don't have my things and I have to stay locked in the room. It doesn't sound that bad considering I get to share the room with you."

"Hmmm. So that's the mood we're driving there with? If this is a preview of what the weekend will look like, let me tell you that I'm loving it already." He winked at her and headed over to grab her suitcase. "You look great by the way."

"Wait until you see what I'm wearing under this." She said seductively, making him stop on his tracks.

"Don't do this to me. I'm weak and we have a long drive to go." He played with her as he started to walk out of her apartment and Kim followed behind him, making sure everything was secured and locked.

The drive was long, but she didn't mind. They spent the whole way there talking and listening to music, so it was a pretty enjoyable ride. Halfway through, she offered to drive but he firmly declined. This was part of her birthday celebration and he was more than happy to be her chauffeur for the weekend, that among other things he had in mind doing for her.

"How was your day?" He asked, briefly looking at her and paying attention to the road ahead. She enjoyed all of his looks, but right now, with the summer vibe he had on, those Ray Ban sunglasses and the golden hour perfectly shining on his face, she couldn't take her eyes off of him, as if he was a magnet drawing her to him.

"It was ok."

"That doesn't sound very enthusiastic."

"Well… remember when I talked to Cathleen?" He nodded to her question. "That she said something about being ready to embrace the rumors?"

"I do. What happened?" He was beginning to sound worried.

"I came across the first one. I mean, I know it's been out there, in everyone's mouths for a while, but this was the first time it slapped me directly in the face." He turned to look at her, the worry in his voice was also portrayed in his face.

"Jacqueline?" He furrowed his brow, as the name escaped his lips.

"No. It was more of a, what do you call it? Internal affair?" She laughed trying to release some tension from the topic.

"Hmm, ok. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"It seems to the outside world that we are having an affair." Adam laughed at that. "And that I was stupid enough to jump into your bed, when apparently it's obvious to anyone with eyes that you will do the same with Gracie's next teacher." She looked down trying to avoid his gaze. It sucked to hear Ian say that, but it was fifty times worse to repeat it.

"Who said that?" The worry that had tinted his tone of voice was now replaced with pure anger.

"Ian."

"Ian? The P.E. teacher?"

"Mm-hmmm."

"That ass. I told you he was a moron, didn't I? I can't believe he talked to you like that." He was furious. "He has no business talking about our private life, even less to make up ridiculous crap. He's lucky I'm in this car with you right now, because I have no problem in sharing a piece of my mind with him."

"It's not even worth it, babe. I already sent him to hell." He was proud of her, but he still realized that to some extent this was affecting her.

"How did that make you feel?"

"Like shit. I hate the fact that people are talking about us. What do they care?"

"We knew that this was going to happen, darlin'."

"Yeah, I know. It still Audis, though." She sighed and looked out the window for a second and then looked back at him, one of his hands firmly on the steering wheel and the other was gently pulling on his lower lip while that elbow was leaning against the window. "What's going through your mind in regards to this?" He took a deep breath before answering.

"I don't really care what people think, Kim; but I understand that my situation is different from yours. I don't work with these people, I don't have to see them everyday and if I do it's for a total of five minutes at dismissal. I know what this is, I know what I feel and I know that people are always gonna talk." He pulled over and stopped the truck, so that he could pay full attention to his girlfriend. Kim was a little surprised by his action, it was a small gesture but it had a deep meaning. To her, it meant that he was committed and that he truly cared. "There's one thing that worries me, though."

"What's that?"

"Do you think that?"

"What?"

"What Ian said. Do you believe what people are saying about us? More specifically, what they are saying about my intentions." She looked at him completely puzzled, because she had no idea where this question was coming from. "I guess what I'm trying to figure out is if you are only upset about the gossip, or if you are upset because deep down, there's a part of you that is afraid of what people are saying is true."

"Whoa. That's deep."

"What can I say? I'm a deep guy." He tried to joke about it, because the situation got too tense in the blink of an eye.

"I never thought about it like that. I mean, that thought never crossed my mind. I know it took me a while to see it Adam, but what I feel for you is so real and strong. I have complete faith in us, but most importantly, I trust you. I totally trust you. What you do and what you say, I don't have any doubts about any of that." She shrugged. There was so much confidence in her words, and Adam loved hearing that.

"That's a good thing, because I feel the same way you do." He leant in and kissed her. "I do feel bad that you have to face these things at work, though."

"Mehh." She scrunched up her face making him laugh. "The downside is that it was pretty uncomfortable, to be honest, but the bright side was being able to send Ian to hell and the brightest side of them all is being with you. So that works out perfectly." Kim smiled and grabbed his face between her hands pressing her lips against his.

"I'm glad to hear that." He squeezed her knee with his hand. "Let's get going."

They needed to deal with what happened today and that little conversation they had was all it took for Kim to feel better, for both of them to put this behind and enjoy the weekend ahead of them.

The sky was dark and full of stars when they finally got to the resort. Adam took care of the check in, and once he was handed the keys he guided his girlfriend to their room.

"Holy shit! Is this real?" Kim was astonished by the room, it truly was amazing. "Is that? Do we really have a private pool on our balcony?"

"I don't doubt we do. That is such a Kit Ruzek move." He said half smiling. By now, Kim knew that when the topic of his brother would come up it was a bittersweet kind of moment for Adam and all she wanted to do was help him feel better. She padded towards him and tugged on his hands trying to pull him closer to her, which he did as he leant his head back a bit. She wrapped her hands around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

"Is it just me, or is it kind of hot out?" She asked with a seducing tone.

"It is."

"Would you like to come for a swim with me?" Her face cocked to the side and her bright, sexy smile was doing its best to convince him.

"If you ask me nicely like that, it's going to be impossible for me to deny it." He placed his hands on her hips and kissed her cheek sweetly. "Let me find my bathing suit." She bit her lower lip and looked at him over the top of her eyes.

"No one can see us there." She pointed back to the little pool that was part of their outer deck. "Do you really need your bathing suit? Because I was thinking about wearing my alternate option." He smirked and tried to hold back a chuckle. Everytime Kim showed her wild side to him was pure delight. "Do you wanna see what that other option is?" Her voice was gradually turning into a soft purr and he was doing his best to control his body, so the only thing he could do was nod his head. "You're gonna have to join me then." Kim kicked off her shoes and turned around as she headed to the pool, taking off her clothes with every step she took. Adam's hand went involuntarily to his chest and his mouth was halfway open, as he carefully observed her swaying hips as she walked away from him, revealing the tiny underwear she was wearing.

He wanted to follow her, but he also wanted to have that picture neat and clear in his mind forever. He watched her attentively until the sound of splashing water brought him back to the present. Adam took off his clothes, only leaving his boxers on and ran to the pool with Kim. "Took you long enough."

"I was enjoying the view. Now I understand what you said in your apartment." Kim cocked her head, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "About what you were wearing underneath your clothes."

"Oh that."

"Yes, that." He gave her a lopsided smile. "You're a fucking bomb, darlin'."

"Thank you." She got closer to him and hooked her arms around his neck. "This was a tough week, and I missed you."

"I missed you too." His voice was almost whisper, he bunched her hair with one of his hands and slightly moved her head to his and left a soft and delicate kiss on her forehead. When he felt Kim's lips reaching for his mouth he pulled away and just stared into her eyes. She was scared, he never backed away from a kiss before and on top of that, there was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite decipher.

"Are you ok?" She asked, trying to brush a strand of hair away from his forehead using her index finger. Adam nodded and took her hand to kiss her knuckles.

"I need to tell you something."

"Is it about our conversation earlier? Adam, I promise what I said was true. I trust you, I trust this." He could feel a hint of panic in her voice and that was killing him.

"I know, baby. It's not about that. I trust you too, I believe in you and have faith in our relationship."

"Ok." She nodded and entwined the fingers of the right hand with his left one. "What do you want to tell me then?"

"I was actually going to wait until after this weekend, because this is for you and I want you to enjoy and rest and just be happy. But after everything you said about our relationship being honest and real, I felt like I couldn't keep this from you until Monday."

"Adam what happened? You're scaring me." Kim's mind was going a thousand miles an hour, every single scenario was playing in her head. She even contemplated the possibility of Ian's words being true and that maybe there was some other woman in Adam's life, and she felt like her world was about to collapse.

"We have them. We finally have them." The puzzled look on Kim's face told him that she had no idea what he meant. "Kit's case. We have everything we need, addresses, phone records, bank transactions, everything. The only thing left"

"Is to catch them." Kim interrupted him and finished his sentence.

"Exactly."

"Baby, that's great news. Isn't it?"

"Yeah. Yes, it is."

"But…"

"But in order to get this over with, I need to get involved in the case."

"Ok."

"Really involved. I need to go deep undercover for this." He saw how Kim swallowed hard, but he needed to tell her everything. "I'm not gonna stand here and tell you that I was forced to do this, because I would be lying to you if I did that. I volunteered to go, because I need to do this for Kit, for Anne, for Gracie. I have to do this for my family." He looked down but he never let go of her hand and neither did she. "I'm sorry for not talking to you about it first, but Voight called me into his office today and informed me of what was going on and I had to make a decision. I understand this is hard for you too, but I really need to do this Kim. I couldn't forgive myself if I don't even try to get them back." He was genuinely upset about this situation, his voice sounded distraught and his eyes were watery, but he was doing his best to hold the tears back. "I really hope you can understand that."

She moved slowly, taking her free hand and gently placing it on his cheek while her tumb moved slowly in an attempt to soothe him. The sound of the water between them was serving as a relaxing balm for both of them and she was grateful she had that right now.

"Do you know why I love you?" Her question was soft and mellow and his eyes, that resembled the ones of a scared little baby, were linked to hers waiting for her to continue. "I fell in love with you because you are kind, caring, honest, protective. You are a good man Adam Ruzek. Your heart is in the right place and you would do anything it takes for you to protect and look after the people you love." She paused, because she wanted him to absorb and really understand her words. "You are right, I'm scared shitless. But only because I love you and I care about you. I guess after everything I said earlier about trust and faith, this is a perfect opportunity for me to really trust. To trust that what life has in store for is amazing, and that everything will be alright. Because I trust you detective, you're an incredible cop, and you have one hell of a team. You're gonna kick ass out there and you're bringing your brother and his wife back. I know that." She gently moved closer to him to press her lips to his and just stayed there for a few seconds. "Baby, I do understand. I get that you have to do this, you wouldn't be you if you didn't and I'm so fucking proud of you for that and for the man you are." Kim took a deep breath and kept going. She needed him to understand that her words were genuine and sincere. "Once, I told you that I was ready to hold your hand and walk with you through this, remember?" Adam just nodded. "Well, I'm right here, ready to do this with you." Now it was his hands holding her face and his lips capturing her mouth in an intense embrace.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" He asked as he held on tight to her.

"What you do every single day. That's what you do. I love you."

"I love you too." Neither one of them wanted to let go. They wanted to stay there, enjoying the present and trying to put all the worries and concerns behind them, and that's just what they intended to do right after they got every detail straight.

"What are you telling Gracie?"

"I think it's best if I just tell her that I have to go away for work. I don't even want to mention her parents' name. I don't want to get her hopes up, you know? Plus she still thinks they're away on a business trip, so…" He trailed off shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, I agree."

"I have to talk to pops so that he can stay with her and maybe you can be his back up?"

"Yes, of course. But Adam, your dad is going to have a million things to worry about. I can stay with her if you want."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"For you two? I'd do anything baby." She looked at him with her signature kind eyes. "Do you remember when we told Gracie about us?"

"How could I forget that?"

"That night she said something that really got to me. She told me that we were family, and that's exactly what I want to be for her right now and for as long as she allows it."

"You are family, and the fact that Gracie can see right through that speaks for itself." Kim smiled at him and hugged him tightly, resting her cheek on his chest.

"I can't believe you were going to keep all that right here during the whole weekend." She said as she gently rubbed his chest.

"I didn't want to ruin this. We're here for you."

"I appreciate that, but please remember that I'm with you. I want to share these things with you, I want you to feel and to know that I've got you. I don't want you to carry all this mess on your own. You don't have to." He let go a faint chuckle.

"You're the most incredible woman in the world and I'm so damn lucky. I love you, Belle."

"I love you too, detective."

It was funny how those little nicknames had stuck to them. Every time Adam would call her Belle, her stomach would flip a little, and when Kim referred to him as Detective he knew just how much complicity, intimacy and fun was in their relationship. What he had said to her earlier was true, he really had no idea how he got so lucky as to deserve her. To deserve that much happiness. But now that he knew what that felt like, he was determined never to let go.