Chapter 12 – Together

Adam stood in his apartment, staring at his closed door. It was as if he was willing the door to open again and for Kim to still be on the other side in the hallway. He knew she wasn't. He had pushed her away and he didn't know why. He had been waiting months for her to want to talk to him. In all that time he dreamed that she would admit that she was still in love with him. He had even suffered through Kim dating Roman, always holding on to hope that she would come around. She finally had and he had basically slammed the door in her face. Adam clenched and unclenched his fists. He had no one to blame for his unhappiness but himself. In that moment, he made a decision. He just hoped he wasn't too late.

Adam yanked his apartment door open and ran out into the hallway, his feet bare. He raced outside, practically knocking over an older woman who lived down the hall. She yelled at him, but Adam didn't even stop to say he was sorry. He had to catch Kim before she left. As he burst outside, he scanned the street, hoping to see her car. He spotted her, standing outside her car, desperately trying to find her keys in her purse.

"Kim!" Adam shouted.

She looked up at the sound of his voice. She immediately looked away, afraid of what he was going to say. She found her keys and tried using the remote to unlock the car. She wanted to get out of there. Adam jogged over to her.

"I don't want to fight," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She didn't want him to know that she had been crying.

"Neither do I."

"Look, Adam, I am sorry that I waited so long to tell you how I felt. And I'm sorry that I wasn't willing to talk before. I should have…"

"I want to be with you," Adam blurted out.
Kim's eyes widened. "But you said…"

"I know what I said."

"I don't understand. I…"

Adam could think of only one thing to do to make her understand how he felt. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a long, fierce kiss. She practically melted in his arms, reveling in the familiar feel and taste of him. It wasn't until they were in need of air that they pulled apart. Even then, Adam kept his arms around her waist. He never wanted to let her go.

"I'm sorry," Kim said. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize that I made a mistake. I should never have broken the engagement."

"No. This isn't your fault, Kim. We both made mistakes. I wasn't ready to get married. I should have realized that."

"But if I had been willing to talk to you and if I didn't jump into things with Roman. If…"

Adam silenced her with another kiss.

"I don't want to talk about Roman," he said when the kiss ended. "I'd be happy to never hear his name again."

"I'm sorry."

"You've got to stop apologizing."

She was about to apologize for all of her apologies, but she bit her tongue.

"Ok," she said. They fell into silence. Adam cupped her face with her hands.

"Something's going on in that beautiful brain of yours. What is it?"

She sighed. "I know I have no right to ask, but…have you…has there been anyone else? Did you sleep with Julia?"

Adam shook his head. "There hasn't been anyone."

Kim couldn't believe the relief that flooded through her. Even though she knew she wasn't being fair. She could only imagine how hard it must have been for Adam to see her with Roman when just thinking about seeing him with another woman was devastating.

"Why?" She choked out, near tears again.

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked. Kim shook her head, not understanding what he meant. "I didn't hook up with Julia or anyone else because they weren't you."

"Oh Adam," Kim whispered.
"And it's funny because on the surface, Julia was perfect. She's smart, pretty, driven in her career. But she wasn't you and you're all I want." Adam paused. "I don't know when I'll be ready or a wedding, Kim, but I can promise you that you're it for me. You're the one I want."

"Maybe we can just put the wedding talk on hold for now until we're both ready," Kim suggested.

"This isn't another test, is it?" Adam asked.

"No. I think we need time to just be us for a while. Forget engagements and weddings. Let's just go back to us the way we were before."

"I like the sound of that."

As Adam leaned in to kiss her once more, the neighbor he had practically run into in the hallway, walked by them. The woman cleared her throat as if not approving of their public displays of affection.

"I guess we should go inside," Kim said sheepishly.

"Or we could give the old lady a show."
Adam moved his hand down to Kim's butt and crushed his lips against hers. She played along, running her hands threw his hair. They both heard the woman scowl, but they didn't separate.

"We really should go in," Kim whispered as Adam trapped her earlobe between his teeth. She gasped. If they didn't make their way into Adam's apartment soon, there was a really good chance they'd both be naked on the sidewalk.

"You're no fun," Adam teased.

Adam took hold of her hand and led her back into the apartment building. He made sure to give a large grin to the woman who had interrupted them. When they made it back to Adam's apartment and shut the door, neither of them wasted any time. Their hands and lips were all over each other. Clothes were discarded haphazardly as they made their way into the bedroom. They both flopped down onto the bed, laughing. Adam hovered over her, staring into her brown eyes.

"What is it?" Kim asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I've waited for this moment for so damn long. I just want to relish in it for a minute."

"I'd prefer it if you would just kiss me."
"Yes ma'am."
He did as he was told.

The next morning, Adam woke up with Kim beside him. He smiled, knowing this time it wasn't a dream. She was really there. She was curled into his chest, using his forearm as a pillow. She looked incredibly content in her sleep. He couldn't stop staring at her. He wanted to burn the image of her into his mind. He never wanted to forget what it was like to be with her. It was the happiest he had ever been.

Unfortunately Adam knew that as much as he wanted to lay in the bed with her forever, he had to get up. He glanced over at the clock. He was supposed to be into work in a little over an hour. Adam debated whether he should leave Kim sleeping and not disturb her, but he didn't want to leave her without saying something. He didn't want her to think he was running away when that was the furthest thing from his mind. He wanted her to know how sure he was about their rekindled relationship.

Adam leaned over and kissed Kim lightly on the cheek. He brushed strands of hair back away from her face, trailing his thumb over her light skin. She sighed and slowly opened her eyes.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Morning."
Adam gave her a proper good morning kiss.

"What time is it?" Kim asked, fully awake from his kiss.

"7:43. I have to go into work."

"Me too," she said. "Although I would much rather stay in bed with you."

Kim rolled on top of him, kissing him hard. He reciprocated, wrapping his arms around her naked body. They were interrupted when Kim's alarm on her phone started going off.

"Guess that means we really need to get up," Adam said as Kim rolled off of him to stop her phone from annoyingly buzzing. When the phone was silent, she flopped back onto the bed on her back. She stared straight up at the ceiling.

"What are we going to do?" Kim asked.
"About what?"

She rolled onto her side so she was facing him. She placed her hand on his chest, loving the feeling of his warmth.

"About work. About us. What are we going to tell everybody?"
Adam shrugged. "What do you want to tell everybody?"
"I don't know."

"Oh, come on, I know you too well for that. You always have some idea cooking that brain of yours."
Kim smiled. She loved that he knew her so well.

"Maybe we should keep this to ourselves for right now," Kim suggested. "Just until we have more time to talk."

"I'm not changing my mind about us, Kim," Adam said, almost in a panic. He hoped she wasn't going to take back what was said the night before.

"I'm not either," she replied quickly. "But considering what's been going on in Intelligence with Voight and losing his son and my trial and Roman leaving…there's a lot going on."

Adam nodded. "You're right. We'll keep this between us."

She smiled. "Ok."

"But I'm not keeping us a secret forever."

"Just for now," Kim assured him.

"For now," he repeated. He leaned in and kissed her. "So, I guess we should go get dressed, huh?"
"Well, maybe we could both use a shower first," Kim suggested. "After all, we did get pretty sweaty last night."

"I guess we did."

Adam hopped off the bed, a devious look in his eye. He grabbed Kim by the arms and as gently as possible, threw her over his shoulder. She squealed. He carried her off into the bathroom. As he went to turn the water on in the shower to heat up, Kim noticed something on his bathroom sink.

"My toothbrush," she said quietly.

"What?"

"You kept my toothbrush."

Adam glanced over at his sink. There were two toothbrushes in a plastic cup on the counter. One was blue and one was pink. He had stared at that toothbrush every morning since Kim had left. No matter what he told himself, he could never bring himself to throw it away. He was glad he didn't.

"I couldn't get rid of it," he said.

"I love you," Kim replied, still slung over his shoulder.

Adam stepped into the shower, the warm water soaking them both. He placed her back down on her feet.

"I love you, too."

An hour later, Adam walked up the steps to Intelligence. He tried to wipe the goofy smile off his face, but the truth was, he hadn't been that happy in a long time and his smile wasn't going to just go away. He knew, though, that the guys would know something was up if he didn't control himself and as he and Kim had agreed, they were keeping their relationship a secret. He had to act normal.

Adam felt like they were back to the beginning of their relationship. They were a secret then, too, but for different reasons. Adam had somehow managed to hide his happiness from everyone when they first started dating. He wasn't so sure if he could do it a second time around.

"Hey, have you seen Burgess?" Dawson asked as Adam walked over to his desk.

"What?" He immediately wondered how Dawson could know about his and Kim's new relationship status. Did he have it written on his forehead?

"Burgess? Have you seen her?"

"Why would I have seen her?" Adam replied, acting suspiciously, but trying not to.

"Because you just passed the desk downstairs. Platt said her shift started at 9:00. Platt was supposed to tell Burgess to come upstairs."

"No, I didn't see her downstairs. I haven't seen her."

"You ok?" Dawson wondered.

"Yeah, fine."
Adam sat down at his desk, hoping Dawson was buying his story.

"So, how was your night?" Halstead asked, wheeling his chair over to Adam's desk.

"What do you mean?"
"What happened with Julia? You guys left Molly's together."

"Oh. Ah…"

"You scored last night, didn't you?"

"Wait, Adam finally got laid last night?" Atwater asked, walking over and perching on the edge of Adam's desk.

"Yeah," Halstead responded. "That friend of Gabby Dawson's. Julia."

"Oooh. The hot realtor," Atwater added. "Good for you, man." He patted Adam on the back.

"I didn't say…" Adam began. He was interrupted when he saw Kim come up the steps. She glanced over at him, but didn't smile. Clearly she was trying to hide how she was feeling just as much as he was.

"I'm glad you finally got some man," Atwater continued. "You were looking pretty down for a while there."

"So, you think this is a one night stand thing or you going to see her again?" Halstead asked.

"I…ah…I don't know," Adam answered. He didn't know what else to say. He looked over at Kim. She could clearly hear their conversation.

"I'd see her again," Atwater stated. "If I were you."

"Atwater's right," Halstead agreed. "I mean, a man can't live without taking the edge off once in a while, you know."

"And if you're going to take the edge off, it mine as well be with someone who looks like Julia," Atwater added. "How was she in bed?"

"I…" Adam began, not sure how to respond. Thankfully, though, he didn't have. Kim stormed over to where they were sitting around Adam's desk. She had heard enough. She was not going to stand by and listen to them talk about how good Adam felt after sleeping with a woman he didn't even sleep with. She made up her mind before she even knew what was doing. Kim sat right down on Adam's lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and planted a long, sensuous kiss on his lips.

Atwater and Halstead simply stared at each other, their mouths open. They were not expecting that.

"I don't think it was Julia that's got Adam grinning like a fool," Halstead said.

"I think you're right," Atwater agreed.

They backed off, heading to their own desks.

"What happened to keeping this between us?" Adam whispered to Kim after their kiss ended. She got off his lap, realizing how ridiculous they probably looked. She had temporarily forgotten that they were in the middle of the Intelligence office.

"I just didn't want the boys thinking there was somebody else making you this happy."

"So…"

"So I guess we're going public," Kim said.

"I'd say we already went public."

Kim laughed.

"Alright everyone, we've got something," Dawson said, holding up a case file. "So you two lovebirds are going to have to put your PDA on hold."

Kim's cheeks turned pink. As Dawson began clipping pictures to their whiteboard, Adam squeezed Kim's hand. She squeezed his back. Together, they knew they could survive anything.

Author's Note: A big thank you to everyone who read this story and a special thank you to those who took the time to review! This story was hard for me at times (mostly because of the breakup) and I have to admit, I'm glad it's over! I'm looking forward to possibly a third "Memories" story when the new season starts. I'm also working on a few multi-chapter Burzek ideas, but this time of year is always really busy for me so it might be a while before I can start posting anything. Thanks again and keep an eye out for more Burzek in the future!