2x01 "Call it Macaroni" - Because Al checking on Ruzek was too cute an opportunity to miss. Also, I like Trudy Platt.

Disclaimer: Chicago P.D. belongs to Dick Wolf, the procedural genius himself.

"Yo, what're we thinkin' for lunch? Mexican, Chinese, burgers? I'm good with anything but sushi, alright, I had a bad experience once and let's just leave it at that."

"What happened, did you get sick eating it or something?"

"Yeah, you know what, anytime somebody says they had a bad experience with sushi it's safe to assume they got sick from it. All in sick, you know what I'm saying?"

"Maybe you choked on it."

A sudden crashing sound had everyone in the armored van turning to look out the rear windows, Ruzek included. He frowned slightly to see the SUV Voight and Antonio had been following him in pinned against several parked cars and partially bent inwards from the impact of a tricked out pickup truck. He tried to keep his expression neutral. Upfront, the van's driver reached for his radio.

"Better call it in."

"Yep." Before Adam could register what was happening, the guard in the passenger seat pulled his weapon and fired once at the driver, knocking him back and sending blood splattering against the window from the new hole in his head.

"Shit!" Ruzek ducked down and yanked on the heavy van door before throwing himself out onto the cement. A bullet pierced the ground inches from his hand. "Popcorn, popcorn, popcorn!"

Ruzek could hear the screeching of tires in his earpiece as the rest of his team sped towards him, but then a red SUV pulled up and his heart thudded sharply in his chest, adrenaline pumping. He let off a couple of shots, one at the van he'd escaped from and another two at the red SUV before scrambling around a parked car for cover. He'd almost made it safely around the grey sedan when he felt a punching sensation in the lower back of his vest. Grunting from the impact, Ruzek threw himself further behind the cover of the sedan and landed hard in the street on his stomach.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ruzek could see the rest of his team materializing, Olinksy and Atwater screeching to a halt and immediately engaging, Halstead deadly with one of the long guns. Despite the spasming in his back from the impact, Ruzek himself was still able to get off another series of shots, clipping one of the masked gunmen in the chest. The man went down hard and Atwater moved in to secure him.

"Ruzek!"

Adam could barely hear Olinsky's call over the screeching of tires as the perps took off and Jay continued to engage until they were out of range. The scruffy detective emerged at Ruzek's side and hovered momentarily, as if assessing whether or not it was a good idea to move him. "You get hit?"

Rolling himself over with a low groan, Adam held out his hand. "Just get me up, will ya? I gotta get this plate number down before I forget."

"So, second car came rollin' up, guns blazin'. I took cover, returned fire. The van was clear in about 30 seconds. They took off." Adam informed Voight and Commander Perry, walking them through the scene. "I got the plate numbers but they came back bogus."

"We're real close on getting an ID on this guy," Voight added once they came to a halt over the gunmen Ruzek had managed to take out. The sergeant then gave Ruzek a quick once over. "You okay kid?"

Ruzek shrugged. His back throbbed rhythmically, the sensation increasing from discomfort to actual pain with his fading adrenaline, but he didn't mention getting clipped. It was bad enough he'd been caught off guard. "Yeah, that was a little close."

Voight nodded in understanding, but the hint of a smile he gave the younger man felt like the equivalent of a gold star. As Voight and Perry moved to another party of the scene, Olinksy came closer. "How're you doing?"

Ruzek sighed. If there was anyone he felt he could be straight with, it was Olinksy. Without Ruzek even knowing it, the older man had become a father figure to Adam. "I feel a little stupid. They got the jump on me, Al."

Olinksy shook his head slightly, opting to examine his young partner rather than answer. "You sure you're okay, man?"

Alvin was actually looking at Ruzek's clothes, and Adam realized it would be fruitless to try and hide it from the other man. "I may have caught one in the vest, somewhere in the back. I don't think it did any real damage, though."

"Yeah, how 'bout I get to be the judge of that?" Olinksy replied shortly, forcing himself to refrain from smacking Ruzek upside the head. Seriously, the young man was like a walking danger magnet. It had only taken Olinksy one up close look at Adam and the paleness of his face to figure out that the officer hadn't escaped his close call as unscathed as he would like everyone else to think.

And there it was, a single bullet hole in the back of Adam's uniform shirt. Moving the fabric out of the way, Alvin gently fingered the small puncture towards the bottom of Adam's vest. He didn't even need it to move the vest to confirm the damage; the growing stain on red in Adam's white undershirt was evidence enough.

"Okay, I'm gonna need you to stay calm, but you have a bullet in your back." Olinksy commented, keeping his voice as calm and normal as he could.

Adam stiffened slightly, his face tensing into a frown. "What? But I don't-"

"Easy now, no sudden movements. Trust me, you'll feel it when all that adrenaline finally wears off. It looks like it penetrated your vest right above your kidney." Alvin knelt down, pulling the vest away from Ruzek's back slightly to get a better look. "Yeah, there it is."

Olinksy could feel Adam tensing beneath his hands, a slight tremor in his frame the only indicator that the pain was starting to win out over the rush of the previous events. The older detective stood and gripped Adam's shoulders to both give some level of comfort and also to steer him towards the ambulance they'd called for the now deceased perp.

"Hey, Adam, you okay?" Lindsay asked, materializing out of seemingly nowhere with a look of concern on her face. When Adam failed to respond beyond blinking at her, the female detective turned to Olinksy. "Al?"

"He's hit and he might be going into shock, but he's gonna be alright," Olinksy replied in his trademark soft voice. "Tell Voight we're gonna commandeer the bus and the dead body can wait for the coroner."

Now Lindsay looked really concerned, but she nodded. "You're going with him to the hospital?"

"I'll call as soon as I know anything."

"How's Ruzek?"

Alvin sighed, shifting uncomfortably in the hard, plastic waiting room chair. "He's still in surgery. They said he got lucky. The vest took the most of it, slowed down the bullet enough that the damage isn't too serious."

Voight sighed in relief on the other end of the call. "Good. Look, I need you to go shake down Bembenek. See if you can spook him."

"Alright." Olinksy stood and stretched slightly. "I'll see if Platt can send someone down to wait on Ruzek."

When Ruzek finally came around, he laid still for a few minutes, taking stock. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth and the world in general felt a little hazy. He blinked at the dull white of the ceiling; hospital. That's right, he'd been shot, he was at the hospital.

"You gonna lay there blinking all day, or do you want some ice chips?"

That voice got Adam's attention. Trying to shift around in the bed, Adam's face furrowed in confusion. "Sarge?"

Sure enough, Sergeant Trudy Platt sat at Adam's bedside, candy bar and tv remote in one hand, a cup of ice chips in the other. Despite her sarcastic tone, Platt's expression betrayed her relief at seeing her officer awake. "Hey there, pretty boy. How're you feeling?"

"I-" Adam blinked again, still trying to figure out what his desk sergeant was doing there. "I think they have me on morphine."

Platt snorted. "I think they do. Not gonna lie to you, you had me a little worried."

"Aw, Sarge, you do care." Adam quipped, starting to feel a little more with it.

"You were brought in with a bullet lodged in your back, just above your kidney. They said the surgery was routine but just because you like to be difficult and put a cramp in my day, you developed an infection." Platt glared at Adam. "So hell yeah, I care."

Adam allowed himself a small smile before ducking his head in apologetic embarrassment. "If it helps at all, I didn't wake up this morning intending to get shot."

"That actually doesn't help at all," Platt informed him. But she too was feeling a bit embarrassed about her unusual disclosure of concern and took the opportunity to change the subject. "So, is there a reason old man Olinksy is your emergency contact and not Burgess?"

Adam groaned, covering his face with one hand. There were so many reasons he didn't want to be having this conversation right now. "Oh man, Kim is going to kill me."

Platt nodded in agreement before offering up the cup again. "Ice chips?"