Hey everyone, happy Wednesday!

This week and the following will be crazy and packed with work, so here's a little something while I slowly work on this and the rest of my stories.

Thank you so much for all your comments! They definitely keep me motivated.

Hope you enjoy this update.

Happy reading!

Xoxo,

Nina

They tried to get themselves together but the emotions running through them were too strong to control, let alone try to stop.

They didn't want to put on a show in front of everyone, and even though the idea of leaving Jay and Hailey's party wasn't the best, they thought it would be better if they had some time alone. They weren't going to fake what had just happened. I mean they couldn't even if they wanted to try, they had been apart for way too long already, and Kim wasn't ready to face all the attention that would bring. She also refused to steal Hailey's thunder tonight, so when Adam offered to take her somewhere else, she was quick to nod.

He held out his hand and she immediately clasped her fingers around it.

"Where to?" He asked as they walked to his truck. He didn't bother to ask if she needed a ride, because he knew she hadn't driven ever since the accident. In fact she didn't even get a new car with the insurance money after hers was ruined, there were more important things she needed to focus on.

"Home. Do you mind?"

"Not at all." He took her hand to his mouth to kiss her knuckles.

The ride to her place was quiet, but they did share a few glances and smiled at each other, and as Kim started to loosen up, she placed her hand on his knee trying to get some of that contact she was yearning for.

He parked in front of her building and killed the engine before looking at her, she could tell he was nervous. Neither of them knew exactly what to do. "We're here."

"We are."

"Listen, Kim, I don't have the words to tell you exactly what I'm feeling right now, but it's like I'm touching heaven with my own hands. I really want to stay with you, talk, listen to whatever you want to say and answer as many questions as I can or just hold you in silence until you fall asleep. However, I do understand that this might be too much for you to handle right now and if you need space or just want me to leave, I understand. I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you or that you have to do anything that you don't feel you're ready for."

Kim listened to him attentively and smiled at his kind words. This felt more like the type of relationship she wanted to be in and the type of man she wanted in her life, and not that horrible trick Ian tried to play on her.

Her hand cupped his left cheek and he absentmindedly leant into it closing his eyes, trying to absorb her warmth. He was surprised to feel her soft lips on his, but happy to know that Kim still wanted him. "Thank you for that. For taking care of me now and all this time I wasn't sure who I was. I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm still a bit confused because I don't remember every single thing yet, so yeah I still have many questions." They both chuckled. "But the one thing I'm sure about is that I don't want you to leave me."

"I'm not doing that."

"Good." She said with a sweet smile. "Let's go inside then."

He got out of his car and walked quickly around it to open the door for her; he was going to pamper her and treat her exactly how she deserved to be treated. It wasn't long before Kim's arm snaked around his waist pulling him closer to her, and he did the same wrapping her shoulders.

She opened the door to her place and turned on the light, before leaving her purse on the counter. When she looked over her shoulder, all that she saw was Adam standing there not sure what to do, causing her to smile sweetly.

"You can come in, you know?" He smiled shyly and took a step forward, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry. I've dreamed about this moment ever since I saw you on that hospital bed. I thought about a million things to tell you and now that we're finally here, it's like I'm blacked out."

"It must have been pretty hard for you." She threw the comment out there and walked to the kitchen to get them something to drink. To be honest, she was a bit scared to hear his answer to that. "Beer?"

"Yeah."

Kim grabbed two bottles out of the fridge and went to meet him, leading him to the couch where they both sat down. "And yes, it was hard for me. Although I'm sure it doesn't compare to what you went through."

"It totally sucked. At one point I was afraid I wouldn't remember anything."

"I was afraid you wouldn't remember me." He confessed, totally heartbroken and looking down at his feet, crashing Kim's soul.

"Adam." His name in his lips sounded different, sweet and loving. "Adam, look at me." He did as he was told and locked eyes with her. "It didn't really matter if I remembered you or not." The puzzled look on his face told her that she needed to expand on that idea. "You were all I thought about. Day and night. Awake and asleep. My brain was messed up, but my heart wasn't. I felt like I was falling in love with you with each second that went by and I kind of felt stupid because I didn't know you, you didn't know me and in my head you were dating some chick named Grace." They both laughed at that. "Until I finally connected the dots. Now I understand why I felt that. Even when I didn't remember you, when I didn't remember us, my heart was in your hands. Adam I'm head over heels for you and if this whole situation isn't proof of that I don't know what it is."

"I love you, Belle."

"I love you too, detective." Her voice was almost a whisper. Kim leant closer and captured his mouth with her lips. What started out slow and sweet was beginning to heat up quickly. Their tongues were thrilled to meet each other again, exploring every inch of each others' mouth. They slowly moved closer to each other, allowing Adam to place a firm grip on her waist while her hands raked the hair in the back of his head.

They were completely lost in their own universe, but Adam's chiming phone pulled them both down from their cloud. He did his best to ignore it, but the sound wouldn't stop.

"Get it. It might be important." She sighed.

"There's nothing more important than this right now."

"In that case, it might be a good idea to answer and get it out of the way."

"Ok." Adam scoffed his answer and reluctantly moved away from Kim to grab the phone out of his pocket. He checked the screen and looked back at Kim. "It's my brother. Do you mind if I get it? It could be about my niece?"

"Go ahead."

"Hey Kit, what's up?" He stood from the couch and walked over to her window.

"Sorry bro, I know that you're out, but Gracie had a really bad dream. We calmed her down already, but she's still calling out your name. Think you have a minute to talk to her?"

"Of course, put her on the phone."

"Uncle Adam?" Her voice was still a bit shaky and she sniffled a little giving away the fact that she had been crying.

"Yeah muffin, it's me. What happened?"

"I had an ugly dream."

"Do you want to tell me what it was about?"

"Some bad guys hurt you and I couldn't see you anymore."

"Well, nobody hurt me and you can see me anytime you want."

"It was scary."

"I know kiddo, bad dreams stink. But do you know what's the good thing about them?"

"No."

"They are not real. Do you think you can go back to sleep now?"

"Maybe. I don't want to have another ugly dream."

Adam laughed to his insides every time Gracie called them that.

"How about you think about something super happy? That might help."

"Like the day we went to the zoo with Aunt Kim?"

"Yes, like that day."

"Or the other day, when I saw her and she hugged me. That was super happy, too."

"You saw her?" He turned around to look at Kim who was still sitting on the couch listening to his conversation in complete awe.

"Mm hmm. She was wearing the bracelet I gave her for her birthday. Do you think that might help her remember?" She asked innocently and he couldn't help but to smile.

"I think it just might, muffin. Let's do something, you'll try to go back to sleep and I'll be there tomorrow to spend some time with you. How does that sound?"

"Hmmm. Ok."

"Only ok?"

"But what happens if I have another ugly dream?"

"Your dad can call me again and I'll go over there to read you a story. Deal?"

"Deal." She agreed with a much better tone of voice.

"Great! Sweet dreams, muffin. I love you."

"I love you too, Uncle Adam."

He hung up the phone and moved towards Kim, joining her on the couch.

"That chick named Grace was having bad dreams." He joked, earning a playful slap on his knee.

"How is she?"

"Right now or in general?"

"Both."

Adam sighed before answering Kim's question. "She seemed more relaxed now and is going to try to go back to bed. In general, she's doing better, but it's been one hell of a long road and we're still working hard for her to adapt to everything."

"It's a lot for a little girl to handle."

"Adjusting to everything was hard. She's living with her parents but still spends some nights with me either at my place or I go over. We are down to two nights a week now." He shared with a weak smile. "I guess being undercover and not being able to speak to her the past few days was a bit of a setback." He grabbed his beer and took a sip from it, while Kim couldn't take her eyes off him. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just the bond you and Gracie have, it's adorable."

"Yeah, we're close. Especially after everything we lived together. She's a very special kid. You would always say that."

"I remember."

He looked at her with a broad smile and shining eyes.

"And what's that about you seeing her?"

"Well, to be fair she was the one who saw me. We were at the farmers market and both her and Anne came over."

"Really? Funny no one mentioned that to me. I wonder how many other things they did behind my back." He said half joking half serious.

"I'm guessing Hailey inviting me to the party is also something you didn't know about. You seemed surprised to see me."

"I did not know, but I'm glad she did that." He sighed and unconsciously placed one hand on her knee before taking another pull from his beer. "Dr. Walker was super strict about not telling you anything and protecting you from the outside world, I didn't want to risk it. So yeah, maybe I was a little over the top with not letting anyone get close to you if I wasn't there to measure just how much was being said."

"Thank you again. That is super sweet." She said with a kind smile. "But let me tell you, if we are here right now it is thanks to Gracie." Adam looked at her with big surprised eyes. "Yeah. Seeing her helped me remember."

"Do you want to tell me about that moment? What exactly did you remember?"

"When she gave me the bracelet for my birthday." The glow in her face was almost impossible to cloud, until she said the next part. "And the moment right before the accident."

Adam sat up straight and paid more attention to her than he thought possible. She knew that he needed all the details she could give him about the crash, so she started to speak, not waiting for a question from him. "I don't remember much about it. The only thing I can see clearly is when Hailey took Grace, and then my fingers gripping the steering wheel as hard as I could, my hands sweating. And then everything went black." She chuckled lightly before sharing another short memory. "I also remember telling Hailey to tell you not to be pissed."

Now it was Addam the one who laughed softly. "I was pissed."

"At me?"

"No. How could I be pissed at you? You did nothing wrong. I was furious at me, at Hailey for letting you do that, at everyone. Those minutes where I didn't know what had happened to you, they seemed like hours and they were hell. I thought I had lost you forever."

"That will never happen." Kim leant into him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Can we not talk about the accident now, though?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know. Anything."

"Ok." He put his arm around her and lightly brushed her arm up and down with his fingers. "How did you remember me? Us?"

Kim sighed and smiled, although he didn't see her face right now, he knew her lips were curled up.

"I'm not really sure now. I had these dreams about you pretty frequently and I thought it was the way my subconscious mind was coping with the crush I had on you. I mean you can ask Sylvie, I talked about you a lot."

"I know, she told me." He chuckled. "I guess she was trying to keep my hopes up." He kissed the top of her head and continued talking. "Those dreams you had… Are they shareable?" He teased her, trying to flirt a little and getting a slap on his chest and a sweet giggle.

"I think you spent way too much time with Sylvie." They both laughed. "Everything was PG rated and just random things and I think some of them actually happened. So I guess you were the first memory I actually had and I didn't know it." She sighed and sunk further into his body. "At moments I thought I was going to go crazy because a part of me was kind of hoping you and I had a strong connection, and then some things happened that shook that up." She wasn't sure how much he knew, and didn't want to ruin this moment by bringing up the Ian subject. "That's when Sylvie had to tell me that I was dating someone and all I wanted was for her to tell me that it was you."

"That moment where everything turned sideways for you, it was probably one of the darkest times for me as well. Kim, when I saw you with Ian it felt as if my heart was being ripped right out of my chest."

"I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault."

"I know, but I'm still sorry for causing that much pain to both of us."

"Well, hopefully he got a little of what he deserved."

Kim pulled away from his body to look him in the eyes.

"So, it was you." She asked him.

"What are you talking about?" He wasn't about to tint that moment with everything that happened with Ian. Tonight was only about them.

"Don't play dumb."

Adam just shrugged and smiled. "Still don't know what you're talking about." He flexed his arm a little to get a better hold of her and move her right to his chest. "The good thing is, it was me, the one who you were dating. I think we should just focus on that."

"I guess you're right."

"Tell me more. I like listening to you." He asked, sounding like a little kid begging for a bedtime story.

"After I saw Gracie, I went to Sylvie and she gave me some of my things back. And when I saw the pictures Grace had made for me, our pictures and that lovely letter you wrote for my birthday, things started to slowly come back."

"Was that when you called me?"

She blushed at his question, wondering just how desperate she probably looked.

"Yeah. I'm kind of glad you didn't pick up because I have no idea what I would have said to you."

"Whatever it was, I would have dropped everything to see you."

"I know. I really wanted to see you, too. But I think this worked out pretty well also."

"Any scenario would have worked out if it ended like this."

"This is not even close to ending." She finished her statement by wrapping her arms around him, desperately needing to be in contact with him.

"You've got that right." He kissed the top of her head taking in her perfume. God he missed that. "I think I'm gonna get going and let you rest. You seem tired." He added after he heard her yawn.

"No. I'm fine." Her answer came together with another yawn which she tried to cover with her hand with little success, making him laugh.

"Sure you are. It was an eventful day, you're entitled to be tired. It's ok Kim, we have all the time we want now."

Kim shifted her body and looked at him with honest eyes. "I don't want you to go."

He didn't want to leave either, but he still didn't know what was the right move regarding their relationship and their proximity at this point. He wanted her to take the reins of the situation.

Kim stared at his eyes and then at his lips, silently begging him to kiss her. He cupped her right cheek and dipped his head down to tenderly press his lips on hers. "Stay with me?" The words were soft as her mouth barely parted his.

Adam felt how his heart was beating faster and a part of him melted when he remembered those exact same words slipping out of her mouth, the night of Andrew's birthday. "Of course."