This wasn't happening. This seriously could NOT be happening.
He got shot by the one person he was trying to protect the most. The only reason he agreed to stay and fight so hard on this case; taking time away from his own kid and losing nights upon nights of sleep was to try and save Callum from irreparable brainwashing.
And he failed.
Adam had been in plenty of close quarter shoot outs before. Hell he'd taken two to the vest before.
Everything this time around was different: The gunshot seemed louder, time seemed to slow to a snail's pace and the pain was excruciating.
He'd seen plenty of people get shot; both on screen and in person. In both instances where he was hit in the vest he was able to either finish his shift or was back the next day. He always marveled at how gunshot victims always seemed to become frozen. They would always freeze, gasp and drop to their knees. He now understood why. The pain was enough to take the breath from your lungs, zap any coordination in your legs and short-circuit any coherent thought in your brain.
He stared at his hands in disbelief as he saw them quickly become stained in his own blood.
He fumbled around trying to reach out for the gun that was still in Callum's hands. The kid was in shock but Adam was still afraid that he would fire off another round. Despite everything, he didn't want the kid to hurt anyone else or himself. His attempts were futile and all he succeeded in doing was falling to the attic floor.
He was trying to reach for his phone when Sam came running up the stairs having heard the commotion. He wasn't surprised that her first thought was to protect her son. Wasn't that the whole point anyway? But as she herded Callum to the stairs and began to walk away she turned back and took his gun and the one avenue he had to call for help; his phone.
No this couldn't be happening. He couldn't go out like this; bleeding out in some white supremacists attic.
Somehow he heard the phone vibrating. Samantha either dropped it or just tossed it down the stairs. He had to make it to that phone. If only he could get his legs and brain on the same page. Despite his best efforts standing up wasn't going to happen. Even the act of trying to roll over nearly took all of his remaining energy. He used his feet to push himself along the floor to the stairs. There it was; his phone. It was ringing which meant someone on his team checking on him. He felt a small surge of adrenaline which reinvigorated the need to keep going. He pulled himself to the edge of the top stair and pushed on, sending himself down the first flight to the landing where his phone had been tossed aside. Landing with a thud and a groan he concluded that he may not have thought that one through. But he wasn't going to just lay up there waiting. He didn't get to where he was by waiting around. He made the most of his opportunities, worked hard, problem solved and learned early on not to rest on his laurels. Al would be furious with him had he just laid up there without putting up a fight. Then there was Kim…
Kim survived 2 gunshot wounds in a cold and dingy warehouse for nearly 24 hours. Dragging herself out to a car to get back to her daughter and to him. He owed it to her to do the same. He'd crawl through fire to get back to them; a small flight of stairs wasn't going to stand in his way.
As he reached for his phone he noticed his hands were coated in blood. It was becoming hard to feel his fingers and a bit harder to get them and his hands to cooperate. Also, when did it begin to get so cold?
He fumbled with the phone; each second he held it meant his hands weren't applying pressure to his gunshot wound. Voight was the reason behind his phone going off in the first place. If his Sergeant was calling him it meant that he already knew the whole operation had gone sideways. Adam wasn't sure if he intentionally ignored the call or if it was his less than nimble fingers but when the call disconnected he took the opportunity to call the one person who's voice he needed to hear. She had the ability to bring him back from whatever edge he had ever walked himself out to. Even when they were at their wits end with each other she had the power to calm him down. Was he worried that hers would be the last voice he'd listen to? Perhaps. But was there anything really wrong with that in his mind? Not really.
"Adam? Hold on a sec" Kim answered as they were wrangling their arrested suspects at the Beck's warehouse. Adam listened as she gave orders and ensured that none of them would have had the ability to communicate and line up any stories by placing them in separate rooms and cars. He loved all versions of Kim but found this side, her 'badass Burgess' side to be one of his favorites.
"Hey whatsup?" Kim got back to her call with Adam waiting to hear what update he had on moving Samantha and Callum to the safehouse.
"Kkkim, bn shot" He managed to get out followed by a breathless groan. Things were beginning to get more and more blurry; it was exceedingly harder to focus his vision. He had no choice but to put the phone down so he could return his hands to keeping pressure. He left the line open so he could continue to hear her talk
"Hold on Adam, I'm coming!"
He wanted to respond. Willed his tongue and mouth to form words but nothing came out. Aside from a garbled moan.
He wasn't sure how long his eyes had been closed; he'd only meant to blink in order to try and focus them once again but he felt like his eyelids had become heavier by the moment. When he opened them he was staring up at his Sergeant calling his name.
As he heard Voight on the phone and radio Adam tried his best to help himself. It was just really hard to keep pressure when your fingertips were caked in blood and your hands were shaking. Then there was the pain. Take your hands off the wound; less pain. Put them back to staunch the bleeding and it was agonizing. He was also exhausted and the temptation to just close his eyes was growing by the second.
That's when he heard her name. Voight said Kim was on her way and he'd do everything he could to stay with it for her. He couldn't let her down.
The moments from when the medics arrived to when he was placed in the back of the ambulance were an extremely painful whirlwind. For all of the moments where he was grateful that he managed to get to the landing to be able to use his phone now was a time where he wasn't. There wasn't much room to fit the backboard on the staircase or the landing and he felt like he was being shifted around like pizza dough. He was grateful once he was loaded in the back of the rig; in order to move as quickly as possible and get on the way to Med painkillers were withheld until they were ready to leave. He was even more grateful when he realized the person holding onto his left hand was Kim; she made it. He felt tears in his eyes: His mind was so foggy he wasn't sure if they were from pain, fear or relief that she was there. Perhaps it was a combination of all 3.
He was grateful for the rush of oxygen being fed through the mask as it surely made breathing a lot easier. Talking though? Not so much. He needed to talk to her about what happened if it was the last thing he did. She was being a rock right now; explaining why his body wouldn't stop shaking, constantly reminding him that he wasn't alone and passing along so much strength to him.
He needed to ask Kim to protect Callum. Things were a mess but would only be worse if Richard got a hold of him. He knew she was the only one he could trust with this ask; he knew she wouldn't pass it off to someone else. He also trusted that she would do everything in her power to complete it. Adam knew that she would be scared to leave the hospital but he also knew that if she stayed and just waited her anxiety would eat her alive. This would at least give her something to focus on.
As his breathing became labored once again Kim pleaded with him to put the mask back on. Gosh how he loved this woman. He wanted to give her the world; she definitely deserved it. But for now he'd settle on putting his oxygen mask back on and fixing his gaze on her as long as he could. His vision was getting more and more distorted as time went on and keeping his eyes open was becoming even more difficult. He knew Kim could tell as she leaned in closer to him and wrapped both of her arms on him best she could with all of the medical equipment in the way. He didn't want to risk not telling her how he felt and only hoped that she would be able to understand his words. Despite his mouth feeling like it was filled with cotton balls he managed to get the words "I love you" out to her twice. He knew by the way she looked back that she understood. She may not have said it back but he knew and felt it all the same. That would be good enough to get him through; for now.
