It was the very next day. The couple heading into the district with their dog in tow. "Wonder what today will bring?" Kim chuckled as they entered the district. "Lord knows." Adam just shook his head. As they hit the stairs to the bullpen they both heard his name being called. He sighed heavily turning to see his ex walking towards them. Neither were surprised when Gunner started growling standing in front of them. "What do you want this time?" He snapped looking less than thrilled. "I really need to talk to you and since you blocked my number I came here." Wendy looked Kim up and down. "You can look all you like Wendy. You are no threat to me. You two are over and he doesn't give two shits about you." Kim had no issue speaking up. "You don't know that sweetie." Wendy tried to look sweet as pie. "Oh sweetie you have no fucking clue. Let's just cut to the chase. You want him back, you want him to father your child. Let me guess you saw him somewhere with my kids and flipped your shit?" Kim looked amused. "Cat got your tongue?" Kim laughed.
"Alright my darling. Shift is starting and I have no interest in finishing this conversation." He kissed her madly before leading her up the stairs. As they got to the top of the stairs they let Gunner run free. He greeted everyone before taking his place on his bed. Kim headed to grab a tea. Adam followed behind her knowing they needed to talk. "We okay?" He asked settling next to her. "Yeah we are fine. That was just petty shit. I don't care about it. I know where your heart lies. I know we are solid. I promise we are good." She saw the tension leave his shoulders. "God thank you!" He hugged her tight kissing the top of her head. "I wonder where she saw us." She was curious but wasn't going to lose sleep over it. "Who knows. I really don't care either. All I care about is my family I created with you and our kids." He kissed her softly before they separated.
Her phone was beeping letting her know she had several new messages. She was very confused to see a message from her old hair dresser. They rarely talked. Kim looked at the messages right away. She sighed heading to the couch to sit with her thoughts. Adam knew she was upset and deep in thought. "What did it say?" He asked cautiously. "Oh just my old hair dresser. She does my mom's hair too. Apparently she feels like my mom's not helping my dad enough. No sense of urgency. Not taking it serious enough. She thinks I need to call Adult Protective Services." She closed her eyes leaning back on the couch. "Well I know when we were there that was all true. What are you thinking?" He moved her so she was in his arms. "I don't know. I really don't. Other than wanting to throw up thinking about it." She smirked a bit. "Well just think about it. Though I'm not sure it's the first thing you should do. You should reach out first. I know you have no interest in doing that right now but that would be the thing to do first." He watched her nod along. She was listening and processing what he was saying.
"Let's start the day. We can talk more later." Kim got up moving to the bullpen setting her tea down on her desk. "Good morning! How did we all feel about working in two teams yesterday?" Voight asked looking around the room. Kim watched wondering how others felt. "I liked it. I think Kim provided good direction and knew what we all needed to do to not only stay productive but working smart. Her memory is also insane." Erin looked over towards her knowing they had that conversation the day before. "I'm not gonna lie I was concerned losing three extra people as we headed in for a bust but it worked out well. Having both snipers made me feel better about it." Antonio explained. "I agree with Antonio." Kevin added. "Well I could have worked it with one less. So next time y'all take the extra person." Kim offered trying to make things work for everyone.
"We can revisit it next time. But I was happy either way with how things worked out yesterday. I was beyond impressed with how you all made it work. This is why you are here. Now we have a case. Two dead truck drivers coming from Texas. Apparently close to the border. We all know what that means. So let's go. Figure out if they were smuggling drugs or people into the country." Voight sent everyone the address as they headed out. Adam rode with Voight as they were partners. "Burgess okay?" Voight asked looking towards Adam. "Um not sure yet. She got a couple of texts letting her know that the sender thought she should call APS to get help for her dad. He's still not doing well and her mother is not taking it seriously and showing no sense of urgency. She's conflicted." Adam shrugged explaining the issue. "Well I hate to say it but she might need to but that will definitely sever all ties with them. She needs to know if she can handle that or not." Voight knew it could go bad very quickly. "She knows. That's part of why she's so conflicted. I suggested she reach out first. Then decide from there." He knew it was a better plan in the long run.
They all arrived to see a truck with tons of 5 gallon paint buckets everywhere. Kim looked around at the scene, this was new to her. She saw Antonio popping a bucket open tipping it over. "What's in it?" Kim asked seeing something red spilling out. "It's preserved fruit. Throws off drug sniffing dogs and throws off amateur drug dealers." He moved the bucket showing her the drugs. "Okay so they killed two people and walked away without the drugs?" Kim looked confused. She decided to jump in the truck to look around. The trailer had lots of buckets still in it. "Hey boss! This is more than drug." She watched him jump in walking towards her. "What did you find?" He asked getting closer. "Well those are bottles of urine. And dehydrated urine at that. Claw marks on the walls, blood drops. I think this was two fold drugs and people." Kim shook her head looking around. "Okay let's get CSU in here to get blood samples and collect evidence. We can at least figure out if they are males or females." He knew this could either way.
The team worked the scene trying to get any leads on who did it. They at least had IDs on the two victims which was helpful. As they headed back to their cars Kim noticed a new email. She briefly read it before throwing her phone to Adam. He watched her get in the car leaving the scene with Jay. Adam read the email shaking his head. "Kim what's going now?" Jay asked watching her. "Oh my mother reached out. Which is strange since I got several messages this morning telling me to call APS on my mother to get my dad better help. She actually stated how many days since I left her house last. She seems to forget the conversation at the coffee shop where I poured out my heart and soul for her to say 'I'm sorry you felt that way.' Like seriously how narcissistic is that shit. She at least said she would look into therapy so we can repair the relationship. Or at least try. I don't know. I'm not ready to forgive her. And I'm happier without all their drama. It's nice not being the adult in the relationship." Kim explained but kept it lite.
"Wow insane. Makes sense why you have kept the distance. We heard it was bad but this is a little extra crazy. Not sure how to handle any of that. But know we support you. No matter what you decide. I can't imagine how hard this must be for you to decide." He reached out to squeeze her hand. "I'm just not sure how to make this decision. And honestly I only think about them when they reach out. I feel like I have such a great life without them. And with her admitting that she leaned on me to be her support and sounding block is one of the reasons I needed space. She asked me once how I felt about her maybe divorcing my dad. Like not at all appropriate. When she's mad at my dad she called me. When she's mad at my sister she called me. When she was mad at my nephew she called me. I haven't felt like the child in years. Me moving away from home was the best thing for me then and now. I just wish she actually heard me and I have been left unheard, unvalidated, made to be the drama queen, the black sheep. It's exhausting. I'm so literally chronically tired all the fucking time." She sighed closing her eyes just focusing on her breathing in the moment.
Jay let her have the moment she needed to breathe and relax. He knew the stress was wearing on her. When they arrived at the district he called Adam over so the couple could have a moment. "We talked a bit about what's going on and I think she's shut down a bit." Jay watched Adam nod. "Thanks for the heads up. She just needs a few moments to calm but I can handle it." He moved to her side opening the door. "Hey darling. You ready to head in or do you want to just hug for a minute?" He watched her get up falling into his embrace. He could feel her body calming as she breathed in his scent. He never rushed her just let her calm down. When she pulled back she looked more ready to face the case. They headed in his hand never leaving her back. It grounded her allowing her to feel more calm and connected.
They entered the bullpen heading right to the break room to get her a tea. Their dog was in her lap as soon as she sat down. Like he knew she needed it. "So we obviously know they were smuggling drugs and people. Let's figure out how often they made this trip. And let's figure out how many people they have smuggled in." Voight ordered as he headed into his office. "Where exactly is this town and Texas? Is it by the boarder wall or an area that has no wall. Not that the wall changes much." Kim looked annoyed. "Um it looks like it's not by the wall. Which makes it slightly easier." Antonio explained. "Well two ladders and the wall means nothing. Plus the gaps in between the wall slates you can still hand drugs through the wall." They laughed knowing it was true. And knowing she had very strong opinions on things that have happened in the world.
"So crime scene techs say the blood was all females." Erin looked around seeing the concerned faces. "Well several reasons to smuggle woman in. So they could be used as hookers. Sex slaves, forced labor. Either way it's trafficking. I wonder if this trucking company has any other people who make those same run. Maybe they know something." Kim thought out loud. "Calling them now." Kevin stated knowing if there were they could be targets too. Kevin hung up looking concerned. "Okay so they have 4 other drivers that take this same route once a month. He gave me all their contact information so we need to contact them asap." Kevin handed out the numbers so they could all be called quickly. Kim and Adam worked with Mouse trying to figure out where the perps came from and went to. It was extremely frustrating coming up against nothing but dead ends.
Lunch was ordered as they all sat around working hard. Everyone was getting frustrated for sure. "Okay so completely unrelated side note. I just got word that there is a lovely new drug combo on the streets. Old school PCP mixed with Fentanyl. So we need to keep an eye out for it." Kim stated. "Lovely! Just what we need more shit to take off the streets. But thank you for the heads up. Where did you find this out from?" Al asked overly curious. "From a friend in Bucks County PA." Kim shrugged a bit. "Huh. Good to know." Al smirked as they got back to work. The team eventually got a lead heading out armed ready for a gun fight. Plus it was a warehouse so that was never easy nor fun. Adam and Kim shared one last hug as they headed out with their partners.
The teams all arrived at the warehouse with a plan in place for how to move through the warehouse. With the plan in place they entered guns up ready to fire if need be. Unfortunately the team took fire as soon as they entered moving quickly to take cover. Returning fire from a safe location before giving chase. Thankfully there were places to duck and hide while taking chase. Kim took down one offender checking for a pulse while Jay covered her back. Everyone else kept moving forward. More gun fire rang out as the partners started to move again. They found another body down with no pulse as they moved. They heard lots of arguing but it sounded like Voight trying to get an offender to come out. They both looked at each other moving closer to the rest of the team.
They found Voight and the team but no sight of Adam. "Where's Adam?" Kim asked shaking with fear. "He's in the room with the offender. We will get him out. Jay I need you to head into the room next door see if you can see in to the room where Adam is. We may need to shoot through the wall. Al is going to try the window on the back side of the room." Voight knew this needed to end quickly without Adam getting hurt. "Voight I got a shot. Should I take it?" Al asked knowing he had the only good shot. "Yes aim for the heart so if it goes through it hits Adam's vest." Voight and the team waited as they heard the gun shot. Adam groaned out. The team ran towards the room hoping for a good result. The dead body lying on top of Adam. They checked for a pulse before moving the dead body off Adam.
Kim right there lying on the ground looking at Adam. "Adam are you okay?" Kim asked her voice shaking. "Yeah I'm okay. Sore as hell but okay." He pushed up a bit groaning. "Babe lay back down. The bullet is in your vest. Just rest for a bit longer." She watched him nod and lay flat again. Neither noticed the flurry of activity around them. Calling for crime scene techs but also calling for the ME and an ambo. They also called for more back up to help look for the missing women and drugs. The team had found a few bricks already but they knew there was more. Kim stayed with Adam the entire time. "I'm going to move your vest." Kim undid the Velcro moving the back piece up seeing the bullet didn't get through. However it was close to his spine so she understood why he was in pain. "Okay so it didn't go through but I'm gonna move your shirt now." He nodded knowing it would hurt like hell. She lifted it slowly seeing the huge bruise on his back already forming. Her fingers touching his back over the bruise. He hissed in pain but knew she was being gentle.
"Doesn't feel broken. Do you think you can sit up a bit?" She asked not sure how he felt. "Yeah just need to go slow." She helped him roll over and sit up. She stayed behind him helping him stay upright. Voight had stayed close in case things got worse. But they all clearly heard that the team found the woman. "Boss go I got this." Voight nodded heading out to join the team. Patrol officers led the paramedics towards them. "Ruzek we need to get you checked out okay." Violet watched him nod. They helped him up and onto the gurney. "It's his back. Can we strap him on his side?" Kim asked not wanting him to be in pain. "Yeah that's fine. We can support him so he can rest on his side." Violet offered knowing it would hurt like hell. Kim let the team knew they were headed out to get checked out. She stayed by his side the entire time never breaking the connection.
"Guys what do we have?" Will asked seeing them coming in. "Adam gun shot to the vest. The bullet didn't hit his skin but he's bruised and it's by his spine." Kim explained. "Okay you have to wait outside for just a few. It won't be long." Will patted her shoulder as she sank into a seat burying her face in her hands. Her hands shaking with the adrenaline dropping. Kevin was next to her in a flash. "Hey girl! How are you holding up?" He asked sitting next to her. "He seems okay. The pain was getting to him. I get why this happened but it still sucks." She shrugged a bit. "Before the door closed the gun was on his head. This was for the best to get him free without the perp being able to take a shot." He tried to calm her so she wasn't angry at Al. "I do get it. I really do. Just absolutely sucks." Kim sighed heavily.
They both just rested watching the doors. "Adam how's the pain?" Will asked helping to move him. "Not great but I can manage." Adam groaned as they moved him to the bed. "Okay let's get you something for the pain and an x-ray. If that's clear you should be out of here quickly." He watched Adam nod as they gave him some fluids and the pain meds. They worked to move him without causing too much pain. He hissed a bit but wasn't too phased. The x-ray was taken showing no broken ribs and no broken vertebrae. "Okay good news. Nothings broken. You are going to need to rest some but you will be fine. Let's get you dressed again and out to see Kim. I'm sure she's freaking out." Both Will and Adam laughed. "Yeah she was strong during it but now I'm sure she's going nuts." Adam sat up grabbing the shirt they gave him to wear. His clothes were soaked in blood. He couldn't care a less though.
He left the room, discharge papers in hand. He walked through the doors seeing Kim jumping up running towards him. "I'm good. Nothing broken. Just rest some it's a good outcome." He pulled her in for a hug. He felt a few small tears on his chest. He let her have her feelings he just rubbed her back and kissed her head. Kevin watched the two knowing they would be fine. "You guys ready to head out?" He asked watched them pull apart. "Yeah I need out of these clothes. I plan on trashing them." He looked at Kim who didn't really argue. "I can wash the blood out if you want." She wasn't really sure how he felt. "Nah it's fine. I'm just ready to wash it all off and finish this day." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders leading her out of the hospital. "Who took the shot?" He asked as they entered the car. "Al. We all knew there was a chance for a through and through but Voight told him to aim for the guys heart so it would hit your vest." Kevin explained. "Better there than my head. I hope he's not blaming himself." Adam knew that could happen.
"He was upset but thankful the bullet didn't get through the vest. He will be fine when he sees you walk into the bullpen." Kevin knew they were close and so this wasn't a surprise. "I'm glad. Let's just get this shift over. I'm ready to see the kids." He knew that would help ease the stress for them both. The trio headed into the district Adam walking slower than the rest. He was sore and he was told to rest some so he did just that. As he entered the bullpen he saw everyone looking over but he headed straight to Al. "It's all good man. I'm here, alive with my family. That's all that matters." The men exchanged a hug before they continued the shift. As the shift came to an end everyone headed out for drinks at Mollys but Kim and Adam really just wanted to go home. The kids were all they needed in this moment. The couple made it to the parking lot before he pulled her in for a very passionate kiss. "Ready to go see our kids?" He asked with his forehead pressed against hers. "Absolutely. Think you need some loving tonight." Kim winked knowing that would get him moving.
"Let's go!" He rushed them into the car so they could go. Once in the car he looked over seeing her smiling but he really needed to ask about the email. "How are you feeling about your mother's email?" He wondered all day. "Um not sure. The fact that she counted the days is crazy to me. Not remembering or acknowledging the conversation we had on August 13, 2022. I'm thrilled she's seriously looking into therapy. But I'm hesitant that it will help since she doesn't see who she really is. The fact she called herself broken maybe that's progress. I don't know." Kim rambled a bit but it really was hard to explain. "You have every right to feel all those things. To feel conflicted about her real intentions. You are guarded and that is completely understandable. Your heart and trust has been broken by those who should have protected you. So whatever you decide I support but you will need to respond to her. Just take a few days and think before you send something half cocked." He knew she could go off on an epic rant in an email but he wanted her to think before she sent it.
"That I know. I'm just not sure how to deal with all. Especially since she told people that I don't care. Which I know isn't true. But it's all part of having healthy boundaries which she doesn't understand. I told Jay today that it's been nice not having to be the parent in the relationship. Only having to parent my kids who need it and deserve it. Otherwise I just want to be the kid in the relationship. She stated how she leaned on me and how she maybe took it for granted but it should have never been my job. Moving away at 18 was the best thing for me. While I'm sure it looked like I made bad choices in Delaware I made really did make some really smart moves." She shrugged. "What did they think was a bad choice?" He was curious as she hadn't mentioned it before. "They thought I would slutty living with Michael and not being married. But in reality by us buying the house together we had a better living situation and with owning our home we were able to get in state residency after 9 months that saved us each 10 grand a semester on school. It was quite frankly brilliant." Kim smiled a bit thinking about it.
"That is actually very smart. You saved 160,000 over 4 years on your education. And I assume the house cost less than that?" He wasn't sure but proud she had thought so far ahead. "Oh yeah. It was 225,000. So we split the monthly mortgage payments so it was 780 a month plus utilities. And we each had our own rooms with our own bathrooms. We had a finished basement and a loft. A garage, a fireplace, a deck and patio. Plus it was an end unit so we had yard space. It really was great." Kim smiled thinking of their home there. "And you mentioned on day one that it was between two Caps right?" He watched her laugh. Oh yeah! I loved that house. Cried when we sold it in January 2019. We rented it out till the market improved." She kept smiling. "The margarita colored walls were the first thing to go. Besides all the curry residue in the house." They both laughed. "You have to show me photos." He really wanted to see it. "They are on Facebook. I know I don't use it anymore but my account is still active. You can see the kitchen before we remodeled it. God the counter tops were so fugly! Robins egg blue! So nasty!" Kim cringed thinking about them.
"What the hell is fugly?" He was laughing but had no clue. "Fucking ugly!" She cracked up as he got it. "That's too much but great!" He kept laughing. "Oh you love it! And you love my craziness!" He swatted his arm laughing with him. "You are so very right! I love seeing you laughing and carefree. Though I am thrilled you don't torture me like you do Michael. You know making me watch My 600 lbs life. And laughing as he freaks out during the surgery parts. I think you play that on purpose just to freak him out." He watched her crack up so he knew he had her dead to rights. "He hates all the blurred out sections where you can tell where the fat roll ends and the privates start. He alway freaks so I do play it on purpose. But to be fair he always makes me watch Step Brothers knowing full well I can't stand that movie." Kim cringed thinking about that movie.
"You two are literally like children! I can't imagine being around you two all the time. Would drive me nuts that's for sure." He watched her try to be offended but it didn't work. She cracked up knowing it was true. Luckily he didn't have to handle them together to often. He may stay at Kevin's next time since they are too much to handle. "Whatever you still love me!" She winked laughing a long. "Never a question about that! Love you always even when you act like a kid. You deserve to act like a child sometimes." He did love seeing her acting like that especially after how terrible her marriage was and the aftermath. "Well I love you too! Especially because you allow me to act like a child sometimes and that you don't care that I like to do things outside our home. It's not all about cooking and cleaning and being the perfect wife or partner." He gave her a lop sided grin when she said wife. "You do realize you said wife?" He watched the shock come over her face for a brief second. "You know what I meant!" She brushed it off quickly.
"Kim. I know you aren't there yet. We aren't there yet. I just hope we get there. I'm never leaving you but I hope someday you will want to get married again. I would love to call you my wife. But only when you are ready." He watched her take a few deep breaths as they pulled into the drive way. "I'm definitely not ready for that. Not ready to even think about it. But it's a nice thought. I just don't know." She couldn't give him a real answer. "All things I knew. And I promise you it's fine. No rushing. We literally have all the time in the world." He leaned in to kiss her right before the exited the car. They headed inside to see the kids on the couch waiting for them. They were excited but exhausted since it was almost their bed time. "Hey my babies!" Kim called them as they walked in the house. "Mommy! Adam!" Both kids yelled running towards them. "Hey kiddos!" They each picked up a kids hugging them tight before switching kids.
The sitter left the family be for the night telling the kids she would see them the next day. The kids were taken upstairs to get ready first bed. After they were dressed they all snuggled in Kim's bed for story time till they fell asleep. The couple needed it after the day they had had. Adam read the story giving each character its own different voice which the kids loved. Once the kids were asleep they were taken to their beds for the night. Adam headed downstairs first to let the dog out and feed him before he made something for them to eat. They were both hungry and really needed something to calm the hunger. He found Kim crashed on the couch lost in her own mind. They ate in silence but it was comfortable. "I'm not opposed to it. Just too soon to think about." Kim whispered. "I completely understand. It makes complete sense given the life you had. But just that's where I would like for us to end up. But always know married or not we will be together. I'm never leaving you unless that's what you want someday. But I hope and pray that day never comes." He watched as she moved into his lap. "I never want you to leave. I love you way too much." She kissed him softly but it was full of passion, full of fire.
"I know you said it was all about me tonight but I'm not sure my back can handle that. So how about on our sides arms wrapped around each other?" She smiled helping him up and leading him to their room. They made love slowly several times that night. Neither wanting to be far from each other after the close call earlier. Also their shared confessions left them feeling closer than they had been. But it was only further proof that they were meant to be always.