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Adrenaline is running through Adam. He had just been moving towards the back of the apartment, when the offender turned the corner and started shooting. The feeling of being shot at, that’s something he never gets used to. The fact that these guys were using assault rifles, he shakes his head to himself, was even worse.
He stands up from behind the couch and his first thought is of Kim in the unit next door. He hustles over and peers through the holes in the wall.
"Kim?" He hollers.
"Call out! Are you okay?" He's thankful that he can hide his terror for Kim and their baby’s welfare in concern for the old lady next door. “Call out!!”
When she doesn't respond however, his calls turn frantic.
“Kim?! Fucking call out!” His tone is increasingly high pitched and he knows that the rest of the team, now having secured the scene, are looking at him confused.
Despite his calls for her to call out, Kim's voice doesn't respond. Fear races through his veins.
Adam slams his hand into the wall before taking off running towards the other side of the duplex.
Outside on the porch, he doesn't think before kicking open the door. It splinters and he races back inside.
At first all he sees is the dining room table. Riddled with bullet holes. Playing cards littering the floor.
"Kim!?" He advances, his gun drawn. He nears the table, ready to clear behind it. Adam startles as a wrinkled hand grabs his attention.
On the floor, behind the tipped over kitchen table, Kim is lying on the floor, eyes closed, covered in blood. He’s not sure if she’s conscious or even still alive.
He grabs for his radio. “5021 Charlie. 11-99! Officer down!”
Two old women sit vigil beside Kim. One holds her hand, while the other, the owner of the hand who’d grabbed Adam, shouts instructions.
"Hattie, get me them towels.” He hears another woman in the distance, grousing. He’s sure she’s saying words, but it’s all he can do to focus and not lose his shit right now. Somehow he does nearly chuckle at the reply though. “Y’know, I don't give a shit if they're your good towels."
He crouches down in front of the trio just as Kim slowly opens her eyes.
“Adam,” she groans.
The vise on his heart loosens just a little.
He jerks at a noise in the kitchen. A third lady, clearly Hattie, is still rummaging through the drawers, looking for towels.
"Fifty twenty one ida. Code 30. I've got an officer shot."
"Copy that, 5021 Charlie. 10-45?"
Kim's left shoulder is bleeding, but not as much as he’d originally thought. She stares at the wound on her own arm, in obvious shock, as the three of them ease her into a sitting position. Adam carefully pulls at her navy jacket, looking for the entry wound, praying there’s an exit one too. Miraculously, there’s not even an entry. She was just grazed by one of the bullets.
“10-45 Alpha. There’s a good deal of blood, but it looks like she just got nicked by it.”
The woman from the kitchen arrives and the towel, a pretty gingham one, is pressed against Kim. She hisses at the intrusion, but it quells the bleeding.
"Your sweetheart saved us, young man. She burst right in the door and made us get down." His focus turns to her, trying to process what she said.
"She pushed me right over and she...she shielded me with her body. That's how she got shot."
The woman holding the towel tells him. Her hands are covered in Kim's blood.
He motions that he'll take her place, and she shifts over, leaving room for him to sit down. Her hands shake as she hands the towel to Adam. The woman on the other side pats Kim's hand, then his, before standing up and giving them space.
He pulls Kim into his side, arranging them so that he can put his arm around her shoulders to put pressure on her wound. It frees up his right hand, which he immediately places on her barely swollen stomach.
They still hadn't told the teams yet, though Atwater clearly suspects something is up. He knows somebody, if not the whole team, will be racing in here pretty much now, a result of his radio call. This is not how he and Kim planned on announcing her pregnancy, but, right now, he couldn't bring himself to care.
Closing his eyes, Adam leans towards Kim and places his forehead on the top of her head. He tries to take a deep breath. Kim was, mostly, okay, and chances are their baby was too. He feels Kim interlace her fingers with his, placing them on top of her belly.
"Adam," she breathes.
"I know, baby. I got you." He tells her.
Intelligence rushes in. An ambulance sounds far in the distance. But Adam only has eyes for them.
////////////////////
It's not until much much later that Adam pulls himself from Kim's side long enough to allow for questions from someone else. They're in the hospital - Ambo 61 had responded and insisted that Kim get checked out - and everyone waits for word from the doctor.
Thankfully they quickly get news, and it’s positive. The bullet didn’t hit any arteries, just nicked her delt pretty badly. She was sewn up and outfitted with a sling, and she’ll have to do physical therapy to regain full motion, but, all told, she got out pretty unscathed. The nurses, along with Platt, are keeping a close eye on her. The baby is totally fine, but they want Kim to stay overnight just for observation. All of Intelligence is visibly relieved.
“...I still can’t believe you had to arrest him. He was really trying to bring his cat into The Admiral? The strip club?” Kevin stares at Platt, his mouth gaping open.
Since hearing the good news, they’ve all been sitting around Kim’s hospital room, sharing stories and cracking jokes. Platt’s tales from her patrol days, including this one, have them nearly rolling on the floor.
“I don’t know what to tell you kids. The 17th back in the late 90s? Things around the rest of the city aren’t all fun and games like you’ve got here at the 21st.”
Jay stands up, his back cracking.
“You alright there, old man?” Adam teases him.
"You think you’re so funny, huh? Give it five more years on the job and two tours and see how much your joints start creaking. Anyway, we're gonna go home, man," Jay tells him, gesturing between him and Upton. "You guys need anything, you call us, okay?"
“Yeah, man. We will.” Adam tells him. He turns back to the room. “I’m gonna go get an RC. I thought I saw them in the pop machine. Anyone want anything?” Everyone shakes their heads and he slips out the door.
He pauses and watches Jay and Hailey walk down the hall towards the elevator. He's not sure who they think they're kidding. Their body language clearly indicates that they're interested in one another, even if they haven't admitted it to each other yet. He rolls his eyes at the thought - more of their team ending up together in couples - as he feels someone else approach him from the side. A quick glance up tells him it's Atwater. He sighs.
"Hey, brother," his friend says, leaning up against the wall next to Adam. Both of their eyes turn back in the direction of Kim's room.
Adam isn't sure whether to expect rage or disappointment. He knows his friend doesn't like being left out, especially of big stuff like this.
"You two, again, man?" The bigger man doesn't sound angry, just curious.
"I don't know what to tell you, Kev."
"Are you happy?"
"Yeah. Scared shitless, obviously, but I'm pretty damn happy too."
“When'd you guys get back together? I gotta say I'm surprised you kept it under wraps, bro.”
“We're not. We're just…” He scrubs a hand across his face. “We're taking it slow.”
“I’m not so sure if I would call her being knocked up with your baby slow.”
He shrugs in response. It sure as hell wasn't slow, and they were doing it backwards of how he'd planned to get back in Kim's good graces, but he was thankful they were something to each other again.
“It happened…” He turns, looked through the glass and sighed. “I'm just working on getting her to trust me again, man.”
His friend claps him on the shoulder. “You'll get there Ruz. You know she loves you. I'm gonna say goodnight to our girl, and then I'm gonna give Rojas a ride home.”
Adam nods, watching as his friend gave Kim a kiss on the cheek, saying something that elicited a laugh. He waits as Rojas stands and Kevin follows her out of the room before heading back inside himself.
Platt and Voight are the only ones left. She hasn’t moved from Kim’s bedside since she got admitted, and he is perched in the corner by the window.
“Sarge, you’re giving Mouch a run for his money with that chair.” Kim ribs.
“Make all the jokes you want now, Officer, but when you get back to the 21st, I’m gonna work you so hard you’ll wish you were back on leave.” Platt says sternly. Adam doesn’t believe her act for a second - he knew she has the biggest soft spot for the brown haired officer. The empty threat does the perfect job, though: it makes Kim smile.
"You got it, Sarge." Kim smiles at her. "I look forward to it."
Platt rises from her chair and gathers Kim into her arms gently.
“I’m real glad you’re okay, kid.” She smiles at her ruefully. “After all, I certainly need help keeping this idiot in line.” Platt smacks the back of Adam’s head.
“Ouch, Sarge. Kick a man when he’s down.”
“You’re not down. Your baby mama is.” She rolls her eyes at Adam. Slipping her arms into her jacket, she looks between the both of them. “I’m really happy for you both.”
Kim smiles at her. “Thanks, Sarge. That means a lot.”
Platt leaves, and then it’s just them and Voight. Adam’s not sure what to expect, but he certainly doesn’t expect what comes out of his Sergeant’s mouth next.
“I’m proud of you both. I mean, it doesn’t mean I’m giving you special treatment. But take a few days, and when you’re back, we’ll sit down and figure out what this looks like for you, okay, Kim?”
“Yes, sir. Thanks, Sarge.” Voight nods once and then it’s just Adam alone in the room with Kim.
Kim’s face contorts into a huge yawn before easing into a sleepy smile. She pats the bed next to her and Adam climbs up into the space she’s made for him. He’s on the same side he was sitting on at the scene, and he can’t help but flash back to being there, to the terror he felt when he thought they weren’t okay. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, concentrating on the beeping of two heart rate monitors, the quiet steady one of Kim’s and the fluttering one of the baby. He lets the sounds calm him.
“You tired?” He asks quietly. She leans her head on his shoulder.
“Yeah. Getting shot and growing a baby at the same time really takes it out of you.”
He chuckles darkly. “So I’ve heard.”
The moment turns serious. “Kim, I…” He begins, and looks down. Kim has fallen asleep.
Adam smiles to himself and leans his head against the top of hers. He thanks God or whatever deity brought Kim back into his life and decided today that she should stay there. He can’t imagine life without her, without this baby that he hasn’t met yet, but who he knows he loves more than life itself.
He closes his eyes. He’ll just rest his eyes while Kim’s asleep. He may not know where they’re going from here, but at least they’ll be together.
///////////////////////////////////
Seven and a half odd months later, Adam found himself back in the hospital, in, thank God, an entirely different ward, staring down at his new favorite person.
Alice Elizabeth Ruzek weighed just over 7 pounds and had a tuft of dark brown hair that was all her momma. Kim slept soundly in her hospital bed, exhausted after 20 hours of labor. Wrapped tight in a soft blanket, Alice stayed awake, staring straight at Adam as if she knew his thoughts. He knew from the baby books that she wasn’t really focusing on him, but still.
He'd pulled his chair closer to her bassinet and smiled softly down at her.
“Your momma, baby girl. She's so fucking badass. Protected you before you were even born. You're gonna grow up to be just like her.”
A soft voice from the bed tore his attention away from the baby. “Adam, stop swearing at the baby.”
“I wasn’t swearing at Al. I was swearing to her. Total difference.” He argued softly, lifting Alice and carrying her to Kim's side. He didn’t need to look at Kim to know she was rolling her eyes at him. Over the past months, since that terrifying day that he almost lost them both, they’d come to something of detente. They weren’t just friends, they weren’t dating and they hadn’t promised each other anything. But Adam knew that Kim was it for him, and she’d be in his life always.
Adam settled the baby in Kim’s arms before climbing onto the bed next to her. He grasped her knee through the scratchy sheets and leaned just a bit to kiss the side of her head.
She leaned against his shoulder and stroked Alice’s cheek as the baby nodded off.
“He’d be proud of you, y’know?” She paused. “He is proud of you. I know it.”
“Thank you, Kim.”