I do apologise for the tardiness... it's been a little hectic and I was struggling with a little bit of writer's block (oh & another story idea popped into my head which did not help.)

"And then Macie dropped her pot on the floor and it got all squished and she just took it up to the teacher and the teacher laughed." Makayla was regaling Adam with the results of her pottery class at school. She wouldn't tell him what she made as it was a surprise. "It was so funny."

"Poor Macie."

"Oh no, it's so cute." She assured him. "Everyone wanted to squish theirs."

"So yours is squished too?" Adam glanced at her in the rear vision mirror and smiled.

He loved her little giggle as she shook her head. "I'm not telling." She was way too smart for them.

She was still talking as Adam pulled up at home and she climbed out of his Jeep, leaving him to carry her bag as she skipped up the front steps. "Is Mom home?"

"Nope, still at work, so what should we cook for dinner?"

"Lasagne."

He was pretty sure they didn't have the ingredients for Lasagne but he could probably whip up a pasta sauce and some garlic bread. "Go get changed." He nudged her towards the stairs. First thing she did when she got home was change out of her uniform and then she had to unpack her school bag and lunch box.

Adam headed for the kitchen and put his gun in the safe in the high cupboard. He was curious about the apple with a knife sticking out of it on the table but tossed it in the compost bin and put the knife back in the knife block. Mack had done a class at school about composting and worm farming and they now had both and she was like a demon with it.

He opened the fridge and found another apple on the top shelf. It was strange but Kim had told him that they were in a rush that morning as both her and Makayla had slept in. He had been called in just after 4am and Kim hadn't set her alarm because Adam had set his when they went to bed, so when he left she just went back to sleep.

Makayla came thumping down the stairs like carrying and apple by the stalk. She dropped it on the table. Makayla ate most foods but had a weird dislike for apples. If it was peeled and stewed in a pie she loved it but a fresh apple that she had to bite into. Not in a million years. "Where'd that come from?"

"It was in my room. Mom must've put it on my pillow." She screwed up her nose. "I'm not eating that."

Adam pointed to fruit bowl and she picked it up and dropped it in the bowl, the likelihood that it wasn't bruised to the shithouse was remote. He was starting to wonder if this was some kind of message from Kim, that they didn't eat enough fruit or was she trying to make it fun for Makayla in the hope she took a bite and liked it? This was just bizarre though considering her hate of apples, any other fruit she would eat so why not just put a banana on her pillow? It was every stranger that the he had one on his pillow as well when he went to get changed out of his jeans into sweatpants.

Bringing the apple out he showed it to Mack. "Your Mom is weird."

He got Makayla to sit up at the table to do her reading while he started on dinner. Her reading was really coming on now and she enjoyed reading chapter stories with one of them before bed. They got her to write out the shopping lists from the recipes they were using that week and often let her go off and find the products in the supermarket and it was definitely helping. Adam didn't seem like a reader to most people but he was more into it than Kim was. He always had a book on the go.

Wiping his hands on the towel he reached for his phone when it rang. "Hey Baby, what's up?"

He nodded his head, it wasn't unexpected that Kim would have to stay longer. It had been a full on day and she wouldn't leave until it was wrapped up as much as it could be for the day. Kim briefly explained that they got a late warrant to serve and she and Kevin wanted to do it before he had the chance to do a runner.

Adam handed Makayla his phone so she could chat to her Mom while he got on with dinner and she got the same story about Macie's pottery disaster. He loved listening to them chatting, even if it was one-sided because the joy on either of their faces was worth it.

Parenting was hard, they had busy jobs, and wanted to give Makayla every opportunity they could but it was relentless and some days they were barely hanging on. It gave him the stability he craved though so despite the never-ending planning, organising, cooking, cleaning, driving, and schedules he wouldn't change a thing.

Now that things had settled down with his sister a little it felt like they had a little more room to breathe. Kate had gone down to Miami for a few weeks to get out of Chicago after it all happened, Sam enjoyed the holiday and Kate had a chance to deal with the tidal wave of emotions. She was angry at Adam because he kept pushing her for details which she didn't have and Adam was angry at his sister for leaving just days after she came home. His father had bought her a ticket which had pissed Adam off as well.

It didn't stop him though and the fact that weeks later they still hadn't been able to work out who took her and why annoyed him and if he had a spare moment he was working on it even if Kate wanted to put it behind her and move on.

He couldn't let it go. It wasn't random, even if Kate was the random victim, it was highly organised and planned. Someone knew what they were doing and that bothered him. Kim saw the toll it was taking on him but couldn't blame him for not letting it go. That had happened to them before and it had been a struggle to put it behind them and seeing Kim's panic attacks up close had rattled him and he didn't want Kate to go through that.

Kim had tried to talk to her about it and it had fallen on deaf ears. Kate insisted she wasn't Kim, this wasn't the same and refused Kim's offer to help.

By the time Kim finally got home and found Adam asleep on the couch he had forgotten all about the apples. He woke with a start when she touched his shoulder. "Hey." Sitting bolt upright and looked around quickly. "What time is it?"

"Late. Sorry." Kim offered her hand to pull him up off the couch. Every evening, give Adam ten minutes on the couch and he was asleep. He rarely made it through a TV show or movie without nodding off. "Warrant didn't quite go to plan. "Had to drop Kev off at Med for a few stitches."

"He would've loved that."

"Might actually be worse than you."

He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "He always has been."

"Shall we revisit the whole peeing in a bottle debacle?" Adam laughed as he turned off the lamps and followed Kim into the bedroom. He would never get sick of this night time routine now. In times past he didn't want to go to bed because that meant they were apart. From that first night they reconnected there was never any discussion about where he was sleeping. They were both all in from that moment they agreed this was 'different'.

"I think you liked holding it for me." He grabbed her around the waist playfully and pulled her back against him, kissing her neck. "I'd like you to hold it now."

"Would you just? Kim turned quickly and cupped his groin in her hands gave it a quick squeeze before turning away again. "There you go, feel better now?"

"Hardly." Adam scoffed. "Pfft. Just so you know, because you did that I am coming to bed completely naked."

"Please don't. It won't work."

Adam tossed his t-shirt on the chair. They were like chalk and cheese, Kim hung up her clothes, folded those she'd wear again, took her jewellery off and had her PJ's folded under her pillow. Adam was chaotic, he tossed things on the chair and worried about them the next morning. "It will work, it always does."

It worked, Kim couldn't resist and within minutes of turning out the light he felt her hand start to twitch and the gentle stroke of her fingers on his bare torso. It didn't work every time, but it worked more often than not and she kissed the smile off his face. He frustrated her when he was right but they couldn't get enough of each other. The years wallowing in the weeds had given way to an appetite that was insatiable. They were each other's battery packs, and they were still diligent at re-charging them.

Mornings were chaos in their house, even moreso if something jumped off and one of them had to leave early. Yet despite the chaos they managed most days to get Makayla to school and into work on time. Voight gave them some grace, although not both at the same time. If one was doing the school run the other was expected to be on time and it worked.

Except today. Kim left with Makayla early as she had band practice before school. Adam jumped in the shower as soon as they left and had planned to pick up their coffees and be in the District by the time Kim arrived.

He was running a little behind schedule but still had plenty of time and jumped in his car quickly. He barely got a minute down the road and the car started feeling a little shaky and he had to pull over quickly when it became hard to steer. Jumping out he noticed he had a flat front tire. Kicking it in frustration he turned to grab his phone as he headed for the trunk to get his jack and spare tire.

"What the hell?" His back tire was also deflated. "Fan-fucking-tastic." He muttered to himself. One flat tire he could change, two meant a tow if they couldn't be re-inflated. The thought of replacing them wasn't making him happy.

Reaching for his jacket, which he had thrown hastily on the front seat he first called the Roadside Assistance before sending a message to Voight. While he was waiting he checked the other two tires which seemed fine. He called Kim who was already pulling into the District and surprised he wasn't already there. "What's up?"

"Two flat tires."

"How?"

"No idea, anyway I'm waiting for Roadside Assist. Mack get to school okay?" There was nothing else he could do, he wasn't going to leave his car to the gods. That was taking too big a risk and Voight didn't mention they had anything urgent on, he did offer to send someone to pick him up but he was hoping that they would at least get his tires re-inflated so he could get moving. It wouldn't be the first time kids let the air out of a car's tires, hell he'd even been guilty of it himself in his misspent youth.

He leant on the front of his car, crossing one foot over the other and listened to Kim give him a quick run-down of the morning and how they had bought tickets to her upcoming band concert. Having never done any band when he was at school this was a whole new world. "Sounds like a hoot."

"Mack's excited."

"As am I."

By the time the Roadside assistance arrived he was grumpy and un-caffeinated. Fortunately the mechanic, Jerry was way to cheery to notice Adam's bad mood. "Hooley Dooley." He whistled when he ran his hands around under the wheel rim of the back tire. Checking the front tire he his whistled again. "Got some serious nails in both tires. Can't be fixed, need to be replaced." Jerry pulled one out and showed him the 4 inch nail.

"How'd that happen?"

"All sorts of crap on the roads. Two on the one side is shit luck though." He wiped his hands on his pants. "I can call a tow or we can lock her up and arrange to get new tires and come back later." Jerry saw the look on Adam's face and snorted. "Yeah, right. The chances on it being here with any of its bits still on it is slim. Tow it is then."

Agreeing to have it towed he got a lift with the driver to the yard and got Kim to meet him there to pick him up. She handed him a large coffee as he got in her car. "Love of my life." He inhaled the aroma.

"Me or the coffee?"

"Both. I love you both equally." Adam took a mouthful and sighed. "You both excel in different situations, overall though…" he turned to Kim and winked. "… and in a head to head analysis you do things to me that coffee never could."

"Long morning huh?" Kim laughed. "You missed nothing by the way."

"Except a road full of nails that's wrecked two tires." Adam sipped on his coffee, enjoying the moment as he waited for the buzz to kick in. Kim had clearly bought him a double shot and he appreciated that she knew he'd need it. "Did we run over a black cat or walk under a ladder or something. We are like a flypaper for drama."

She rubbed his head playfully as she mocked him. "Oh poor Baby."

"Seriously. The past year has been hectic."

"And it wasn't hectic before?"

"Oh yeah, we just keep adding more though. Speaking of hectic, I'm not going to be able to pick Mack up tonight and get her to hockey training. I doubt I'll get my car back in time. Let's just say the tire shop was unenthusiastic about my need for my car."

"Already organised Lucy's Mom to take her and we should be home in time to pick her up. I said we'd bring Lucy home as well. So you can take my car."

Before they got the chance to get back to the District a job came over the radio and Adam took the details while Kim turned the car around. He flicked on the lights and reached for his vest that he had thrown on the back seat when Kim arrived and grabbed hers as well so she could put it on as soon as they pulled up.

Someone had been a little over dramatic in their 911 call and when they arrived Patrol had sorted it out, everyone was given a move on notice and had complied and there was nothing for them to do.

"You didn't happen to bring me an apple did you?" Adam hopped back into the car.

"No, Huh, why would I?