Happy Friday guys! My little shipper heart is very happy this week! Loved seeing Paddy back on my screen. Also, congrats to Marina on her lovely news. I hope you enjoy this next instalment.

Chapter 6

The first thing Adam was aware of when he woke up was that his nose tickled. Semi-conscious, he brushed his hand in front of his face a few times, but to no avail. He finally forced his eyes open and saw that it was the light brown pony tail belonging to his daughter that was the cause. He looked down at her. She had crawled onto the couch with him in the night and was curled in a ball on his chest, her thumb was in her mouth and she was sleeping soundly. For the moment. She held one corner of his blanket in her tight little fist and the rest of it trailed onto the floor.

It was a testament to how tired he had been that he hadn't noticed her arrival in the night. That night's sleep was just what he had needed but now he was itching to get back to work and throw himself into their investigation once again. He reached for his phone on the side table, careful not to let Izzy fall.

It was 7:25am. Adam groaned. He had wanted to be at work by now. He sat up slowly and carefully lifted Izzy, placing her back down on the couch in the same curled up position. He took a moment to marvel at his daughter and smiled, before making his way to his bedroom.

Kim was already awake. She was standing in front of the full-length mirror brushing her hair. She saw Adam's reflection approach and grinned, Adam snaked his arms around her body and nuzzled his face into her hair, breathing in her scent before she turned her head for a kiss. "Good morning" Adam greeted quietly. "How long have you been up?"

Kim put down the brush on the dresser and turned so she was facing Adam, her own arms wrapped around his waist. "Not too long."

"You didn't wake me."

"You and Izzy looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you."

"I have to get back to work" Adam said, reluctantly. "And I think Izzy should go back to school." He felt Kim stiffen in his arms and rubbed her back soothingly. "Yesterday was tough for her, I think a familiar routine would be good for her. There are still officers at the school, she'll be safe." Kim hesitated, still not saying anything. "But if you're not comfortable with that, she can stay home."

Kim looked at the floor a moment then back at Adam. "No, you're right. I think I'm going to feel just as worried no matter where she is."

"We've got several leads now, we're getting closer, it will be over soon."

Kim smiled at her husband, looking deep into his eyes, trying her best to convey to him that she was ok. Kim knew he would worry about her anyway, but she wanted to do her best to save him from that. Adam searched her face, unsure if she was being truthful, but he didn't say anything.

"I love you" she said, reaching up to kiss him on his lips. A kiss which he gladly returned.

"I love you too darling" Adam replied, but then released her from his grip. "I need to take a shower."

Minutes later, Kim heard the shower switch on as she walked into the living room and crouched down in front of her daughter. She brushed the little girl's soft hair out of her eyes then gently shook her.

"Wake up sweetie" she said, and Izzy let out a sleepy groan. "It's time to get ready for school."

Izzy squirmed and tried to pull the blanket over her face to hide. Kim laughed, and shook her again. "Come on."

Izzy shook her head, still not opening her eyes. There was only one thing for it. Kim lifted up the blanket and started tickling Izzy. Pretty soon the girl was definitely awake, and shrieking with laughter, miffed at being woken up at all but unable to stay mad for long. Kim lifted her into her arms, blanket, rabbit and all. She was getting too big to carry easily now, but Kim was going to keep trying for as long as she possibly could. She wasn't ready to accept that her baby was no longer a baby.

Izzy rubbed her eyes. "I'm going to school?"

"Yeah kiddo" Kim said. "Mommy and Daddy have things to do today. You better go pick out an outfit to wear."

Kim put Izzy down on the floor and she scampered into her bedroom. Kim picked up the fallen blanket from the floor. The truth was, Kim had nothing to do today. Nothing to do but sit at home and worry about her husband and her child and her own future. The thoughts in her head at this moment alternated between imagining what Izzy was going through and picturing Keisha Lawrence's face the evening before. Kim began folding the blanket, staring out the window in a daze.

She must have been standing there a while because the next thing she noticed was Izzy tugging on the sleeve of her sweater. Kim blinked and looked down at her daughter. "I'm sorry baby. What's up?"

"Daddy says we're going to be late" she said. She had on her coat and hat and little back pack. Adam was standing by the front door also dressed to leave, a take-out mug of coffee in one hand and his car keys in the other.

"You go" Kim said, smiling at him.

Adam looked concerned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes" Kim said brightly, bending down to give Izzy a kiss. "Have a good day at school sweetie."

Adam blew Kim a kiss across the room and Izzy ran passed him out the door. "I'll call you later" he said. "Are you sure you'll be ok?"

Kim nodded. "Absolutely. I think I'll go for a run."

"Be good Sweetpea." Adam crouched down on the tarmac of the playground so he was eye level with Izzy. He kissed her on the nose which made her giggle.

Miss Martinez smiled. "Don't worry" she said. "We'll not let the kids out of our sight, trust me."

Adam nodded, standing up. "There are uniformed police posted outside the gates and down the street. But if anything happens, if you see anyone, call right away."

The stern tone to Adam's voice startled Izzy. She chewed on her glove nervously. Adam looked down at his little girl again, at her concern over his words and his heart melted. Perhaps he should have kept her home after all. Truth was, he didn't know what was best. "It's ok baby" he said, lifting Izzy into his arms. "Me or Mommy will be back to pick you up when school ends. You can tell us all about what you do today." Izzy nodded, still unsure but evidently calmer. She felt safe in her Daddy's arms, as long as he was there everything would be alright. "Hey, it's Thursday" he said, grinning. "That's reading day right? You better tell me a story later!"

Izzy brightened. Stories were what she loved more than almost anything. More than colouring or Lucky Charms or jumping in puddles. "I will Daddy" she promised.

"Excellent." Adam set her down and gave her one pat on her head. She hugged his leg quickly, then ran inside. "It better have dragons!" Adam called after her, but she was already out of sight. The teacher nodded at him and followed Izzy out of the cold.

At the school gates, Roman and Blake stood on the sidewalk, their arms wrapped tightly around themselves to keep out the cold.

"Adam" Sean said by way of greeting. "How's Izzy?"

Adam sighed. "She's doing okay."

Roman paused. "How's Kim?"

Adam didn't answer right away. This question he was less sure of the answer to. He could tell she was fragile, a word she would hate to know he was using to describe her, even if it was only in his head. She had fought her whole career to be seen as tough and capable and not the petite delicate woman that so many old timer cops thought she was. Adam wanted so badly to tell her that she didn't have to try to be anything around him, that he loved her no matter what version of herself she was that day.

"Kim's worried" was his reply to Roman. "We're both worried. But there's no point panicking." He shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded slowly. "You spot anyone hanging around?"

Blake shook his head. "No, we'll call if we do. That's if our whole bodies don't freeze and leave us unable to operate that radio."

Adam shrugged as if to say 'what are you gonna do?' but took pity when he glanced down the street and spotted the café. "Sit tight, I'll grab you some coffee."

Down the street, barely in sight of the school, a non-descript innocent looking car was parked on the curb. The driver watched Adam jog across the road and enter the café. He grabbed his phone from the front seat. "Hey" he said when the call was answered, "you're gonna wanna hear this."

Kim's frosty breath bloomed in a cloud before her as she ran. She concentrated on nothing but the rhythm of her feet on the path. The park was almost empty, keeping out everyone but the most intrepid dog walkers. The cold wind ripped through her sweater but Kim didn't care. Staying in her apartment alone without Izzy to concentrate on would drive her crazy. Kim blocked all sounds out of her mind but her own breathing.

She really didn't know what to do about any of this. Her world was slowly but surely slipping away from her and she felt utterly lost over how to stop it. 6 months ago she would have thrown herself into her work as a distraction, because when she was on the job she knew what she was doing, she could work the problem and find a solution, but right now she couldn't even do that. Throwing herself into her job was what caused half her troubles in the first place.

She didn't want to let Izzy go to school this morning, but Adam seemed so sure that it was the right thing to do that she didn't question him. She hadn't trusted her judgement much over the past few months, not even when it came down to what was best for her daughter. But she did trust Adam, and more than anything she knew that he wouldn't do anything if he thought Izzy would be in danger. If she didn't trust anything else, she trusted that.

She came to a stop at a bench by the lake, breathing hard. It was only then that she realised her cell phone was buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out just as the call went to voice mail and saw a total of three missed calls from her lawyer. She stared at the voicemail notification for so long that the phone screen started to fog with her breath.

She didn't listen to the message. She didn't want a recording telling her bad news, because she knew her lawyer wouldn't be calling her so insistently if it wasn't bad news. She'd rather hear it straight from his mouth. She returned the call and paced back and forth as it rang.

When the call was answered, Kim could hear the background sound of a train station. "Will" she said, doing her best to sound nonchalant. "What's up?"

"Kim" said William Foster, the attorney who had been assigned her case. When Kim first met him, she thought him a rookie, but quickly realised that the bright eyed fresh face appearance of this man was deceptive, and that many an opposing team had been equally fooled by his apparent youth. The guy was good. She hoped so, anyway. "I've been trying to get hold of you. There's been a change, Keisha Lawrence is testifying after all."

"What?" Kim felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. She believed the girl the night before when she had told Kim she was sorry for all that was happening and how she wished things were different. Was that all a lie? What had happened to make her change her mind.

"I got word from the office this morning, I need to…"

"I saw her" Kim said. Perhaps it wasn't wise to admit, but she was trying to make sense of this turn of events and that's always how she'd done it, but talking out loud through events. "Keisha came to my home. She apologised to me, Will. And now what, she wants me to be found guilty after all?" Kim's head was reeling but her lawyer's firm but tern voice calling her name made her stop talking and stop pacing.

"Kim. You don't understand. She's not testifying for the prosecution, she's decided to testify in your defence."

"Here's what we know." Voight slapped a photo of a young man on the board and faced his team. Usually he stood back and let one of them take the lead on case updates, only jumping in when he felt it necessary, but this was different. This was a missing child. He wasn't going to take any chances. "Forensics pulled prints off the steering wheel of the van, they belong to Jerome Grant, 22. If he's involved in this gang, he's low level, but he's the only lead we've got." Hank pulled a sheet of paper from the file "We found an address" he said, holding it out to Antonio. "You and Ruzek check it out."

As the two detectives drove across town, Antonio was weighing up the best way to get Adam to open up. The younger man was on edge, understandably so, and Antonio wanted to help, without pushing him all the way over the edge.

The came to a stop light and Antonio took the opportunity to speak. He decided the best way was to come right out with it. "I'm not going to ask if you're ok, because I know you're not. I know what it's like to have a child in danger and I know there is no worse feeling in the world." Adam didn't respond but Antonio knew he was listening. As the traffic light turned green and he pulled away, Antonio continued. "When Diego was taken, I was so concerned about him and Eva and Laura that my own feelings were the last thing on my mind. It wasn't until it was all over that everything hit me. It took me a while to get over it. I bet you everyone's asked after Kim and Izzy all day long, but has anyone asked how you are?"

Adam played with his wedding ring as he let Antonio's words sink in. He twirled it around his finger and smiled. "Only Kim. She tells me all the time I need to think about myself more often, even before this all went down, but how can I? My girls are my life. If I take even a minute to really consider how I'm feeling I'll break down and I can't afford to do that. Who knows what kind of danger Izzy might be in, how can I protect her if I'm a sobbing wreck? And Kim's going to be put through the ringer in court in less than a week, she need's me to be strong.

Antonio took his eyes off the road for a second to look at Adam. "I'm here for you man" was all he said. "We all are."

Adam nodded. "I know. In a couple of weeks this will all be over and I will let myself fall apart, if that's what happens. But right now, I just need to focus on work."

Kim walked through the main doors of the station in her own world and literally walked straight into Erin. The whole time she'd been at home while she showered and changed from her run, it was like she was on autopilot and apparently she still hadn't snapped out of her daze.

"I'm sorry."

Erin smiled. "Not a problem." She swung her coat onto her shoulders and fished her hat out of one of the pockets while she waited for Kim to speak. It was getting colder, snow was coming. The younger woman didn't say a word. "Kim, are you ok?" Erin was concerned.

"I'm looking for Adam."

"He's not here" Erin said, "he's gone with Antonio to pick up a suspect." At the shell-shocked look on Kim's face, she asked "has something happened? Is it Izzy?"

"Izzy's fine" Kim was quick to answer the second part of Erin's question and was touched anew by the love that her colleagues had for her daughter. The fact that she and Adam could love her so much was mind-blowing enough, but the last couple of days she had found a new level of respect for the people she worked with, that they could love her child as much as they did. Kim looked around the room and lowered her voice. "I got a call from my lawyer."

Erin put a comforting hand on Kim's arm. "I'm starving, I was going to run to the diner for some breakfast and come right back, but I can just as easily eat my porridge over there. Do you want to talk?" Kim nodded. "I'll be right back, I'll leave a message at the front desk for someone to call us when Adam gets back."

Down the street, the two women slid into a booth opposite each other and took off their heavy coats. The warmth of the diner was a welcome contrast to the bitter cold outside, and the fogged up window did an effective job of blocking out the world outside.

"Keisha Lawrence wants to testify for my defence" Kim said finally when they had ordered breakfast and their coffees were in front of them. She took a sip. "I don't know what to think about that."

Erin took this in. "It's a good thing surely. Do you trust her?"

Kim thought about this. She did. She thought she did. But when people are grieving they can be unpredictable. Who's to say Keisha would even go through with it, she still had 6 days to change her mind. "That family have been through enough" she said finally instead of directly answering Erin's question. "I told her before, she should be there for her parents, she shouldn't be worrying about me. She's only a kid, she had a rocky relationship with her parents even before, I don't want her to make it worse on my account."

Erin took a long gulp of her own coffee. She'd met Keisha, she'd watched her get her life together with Kim's help, and her heart had broken all the while, as she thought of Nadia and her own parallel experience. Sometimes you met someone in trouble and they got under your skin, and you couldn't sleep at night unless you at least tried to help them. Nadia had been that person for Erin and she could tell that Keisha was that person for Kim.

"I just wanted to help her" Kim continued. "That night, I went because Keisha asked for my help. And instead of helping her, I got her little brother killed." Kim was visibly upset, and Erin reached across and squeezed Kim's hand. "I don't understand why she even wants to see me again, let alone help me. I don't deserve it."

"You do" Erin said, but immediately knew how futile her words were.

Kim waved them away. "A 12 year old died because I got too involved. I became a cop to help people but at the moment it seems that I'm only hurting people,"

Jay turned around from talking to Platt at the front desk when he felt a draft from outside. He smiled when he saw Antonio's girlfriend Libby walk through the door. She pushed the hood of her coat off her head and ran her hands through her long dark hair. "Hey" he said, looking back to the papers in front of him long enough to sign his name on a form. He passed it back to Platt. "I'm sorry, Antonio's not here."

"Hi Jay" she said. "It's alright, I can wait. We had a coffee date, but I'm in no hurry. The class I'm teaching isn't until 3."

Jay remembered Antonio telling him she was a gym instructor. The more he learnt about this woman the more he wished he'd met her first, but he shook that thought from his head. He was happy for Antonio that he had met someone who made him happy.

Behind the desk, Trudy Platt coughed.

"Oh, sorry" Jay said, coming back to himself. "Sergeant Platt, this is Libby…" he stopped, realising he didn't know her last name.

"Libby Webster. I'm Antonio's girlfriend. Pleased to meet you." Libby stuck out her hand to Platt and the sergeant shook it, raising her eyebrow at Jay in admiration.

"Nice to meet you" Platt said.

But she wasn't allowed to say any more. The doors flew open again, more forcefully this time, and the whole room filled with icy air. Mr Robinson stood in the reception area breathing heavily. "Please" he said, trying to catch his breath. "Trent snuck out of the house this morning. My son is missing."

This was the moment Voight and Attwater descended the stairs. "Mr Robinson" Voight said. "What happened?"

"Trent's gone" was the reply he got from the distraught father. "He went to find Maria on his own. He's going to get himself killed."