Derek scanned the numbers on the doors as he walked the long corridor, stopping at the end when he found the one listed on his schedule.

He chuckled as he stepped inside, it was vastly different from the last classroom he had sat in at the university. This one was small, he figured less than twenty five desks and only a handful had been occupied.

He took one in the back, he wanted as little contact with those in his class as possible a complete 180 from the social butterfly he was before the accident. He opened his lap top and started a file for this class, he would graduate this time.

Annie found the room her biology class would take place in, she scanned the faces hoping to see a familiar one. She always hated the first day of classes and hoped she would see a familiar face, it helped to have a friend or at least a recognizable face. Her eyes found him, his head down, lost in whatever was on the computer screen in front of him.

"That desk taken?" She asked pointing to the desk to his left, his eyes still on the screen, "hey?"

"Uh, what?" He asked his eyes still on the screen.

"That desk is it taken?" Annie asked again, this time catching his gaze.

He smiled at her, "it is now" he closed the laptop, this was serendipitous, "Annie, right?" He asked. He couldn't believe his luck, this would make things that much easier.

She smiled, "that's me, Annie Ruzek" she put the books down.

"Derek" he said pausing briefly, he couldn't tell her his last name not that she would recognize it because he didn't think she knew. If she told her brother it would ruin every thing "Fletcher" he lied.

"Hey" Adam walked up behind Kim who was folding laundry, he wrapped his arms around her, "I missed you today"

She leaned back into his embrace, "careful, my husband will be home soon, and he carries a gun" she smiled.

"Yea? Is it a big gun?" He whispered.

"Oh, yea. The biggest I've ever seen" she turned and kissed him

Once parted he spoke, "I have bad news" he sat down grabbing a handful of clothes and helped her fold it, "I gotta work the next few nights"

Kim groaned, "that sucks, a new case?" She asked, unsure if he would even tell her.

"No, well kind of I suppose. A guy I put away a few years ago his brother his picking up where he left off, we're working on locking him up too. Atwater and I will be watching his place the next couple of nights"

"Promise me you'll be careful, Adam, really careful" she hated when he worked nights for some reason it scared her shitless, she could only assume it was the fact that the worst of the worst came out when they had the cover of night. Plus, he no longer had Al to save him from  himself.

"I'm always careful" he stood from the couch, "hey Anthony!" He called out, "Kevin is waiting for me at the park, I'm gonna take Anthony for a little bit, that ok?"

"Of course, he'll love it" she told him.

"You wanna grab an early dinner?" Derek asked her as they filed out of the classroom.

"Sure, sounds good" she quickly sent Trey a text, "could you drive me though?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "sure"

"This is boring Kevin, are you sure we are at the right place?" Adam asked, his patience wearing thin "it's almost three and nothing has happened. No one has left and no one has showed up" his feet propped on the dashboard, a twizzler dangling from his lips.

Kevin glanced at him sideways, "I'm not a fool, Ruzek this is his place" he checked his watch, "I don't know what's up but we're at the right place. You are worse than a little kid, you know that right?"

"That seems to be a pretty popular opinion, my wife's constantly telling me that" he tossed the remaining piece of the twizzler in a garbage bag, "honestly I don't see it"

Kevin laughed, "you wouldn't"

Their phones ringing simultaneously, "yes, this shit is over" Adam said as he read the text, "my legs are killing me"

Kevin huffed, "Ruzek, you think I've been comfortable in this small ass car?"

Adam dimmed the hall light as he checked on his sleeping children, he was startled when he found Harper sitting up in her crib.

"Dada?" She said softly, a smile spreading across her face as he lifted her and sat in the rocking chair with her. Her head immediately resting on his shoulder, her hands drawn up to her chest.

"I missed you baby girl" he whispered into her ear, "you need to go back to sleep".

Kim rolled over and swatted at the alarm, shocked to find Adam's side of the bed empty.  "Adam?" She called out, hoping he was in the bathroom, her stomach uneasy when she found the bathroom empty. 

She went to check on the kids, Anthony was still sleeping. As she made her way down the hall she found the door to Harper's room open and spotted Adam out cold in the rocking chair, Harper asleep in his arms.

She smiled, and carefully tried to pry Harper from his arms, "hey" Adam said softly, "what time is it?"

Kim held a still sleeping Harper in her arms and transferred her to the crib, "a little after six, when did you get home?" she sat in his lap, placing a kiss on his forehead.

He rubbed his eyes, "about four, I think. Talk about a waste of time, nothing happened at all"

"Don't sound so disappointed, I'm pleased nothing happened." She stood up, and left the room.

"What the hell?" Adam muttered, her sudden shift in demeanor left him confused.

He followed her, "Kim what's up? Are you mad at me or something?" He opened the fridge and grabbed the milk drinking it straight from the carton.

She handed him a glass, "no, I'm not mad at you. I was just a nervous wreck last night, I guess hearing you complain about being bored hit a nerve" she told him, "you know me I worry about worrying, forget I said anything"

"Hey, don't worry about me, I will always come home to you" he told her as he pulled her into his arms, "I love you and those kids, nothing will keep me from you"

She inhaled his cologne, "I know, nights are just  hard for me"she told him, "Annie is still coming over tonight, gonna have a movie marathon" she changed the subject.

"Good, I will feel better knowing you aren't alone, she spending the night?"

"Of course, we have a lot of catching up to do" Kim told him "Trey said she has her eye on some guy at school"

Adam sat down, "does she now?" He scanned the newspaper "what's his name? How old is he?" He placed the paper down, "what does Trey think of him?"

"Jesus Adam, relax." She laughed, "I will get all the details tonight, but you need to take it down a notch if you expect me to tell you anything"

"Fine, but as soon as you get a name I want it" he stood up, "I'm going back to bed, you care to join me?"

"I can't, the kids will be up before you know it"

"Come on, please?"

"Fine twist my arm" she followed him, her hands on his waist.

Derek waited in the pavilion for Annie to show up, he had really enjoyed having lunch with her, he was pretty sure she did too. He watched as the tables filled up, everyone seemed so self involved they were the lucky ones, the ones tragedy hadn't struck yet.

Their laughter filled the area, he was envious of them he hadn't laughed in years. The time he spent volunteering had helped, but he still couldn't escape the guilt he felt.

"Derek?" She called out a few feet from the table he sat at, he looked up and smiled when he saw who the voice belonged to "you're here early, class doesn't start for another hour"

He smiled, a smile that made her knees buckle, "I could say the same thing about you, couldn't I?" He moved his backpack to the ground so she could sit, "listen, I had a great time yesterday"

She looked at her hand, playing with the bracelet on her wrist "I did too, it was nice"

"You're the first friendly face I've met Annie Ruzek" he smiled, "I think we should grab some lunch after class, what do you say?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Though we can't stay quite as long" she remembered how they stayed for nearly three hours, the wait staff had given them dirty looks for taking the table up for so long "I have to be at my brother's house later this afternoon, but yea it sounds good"

He hoped she didn't notice his reaction when she spoke of her brother, "you close with your brother?"

"I am" she told him, "he's great, so is his wife and they have the cutest kids" she beamed, she grabbed her phone from her back pocket and scrolled through the camera roll "this little guy is Anthony and this is the Ruzek family princess,Harper" the two perched on Adam's lap it was taken at Harper's first birthday party "and that's my brother Adam"

"She's cute that baby, though that bow is huge" he laughed at the giant bow Harper was wearing.

Annie smiled, "yea the bows can get crazy, I think my sister in law picks out the biggest bows because people are always thinking Harper is a boy"

Kevin checked the file again, he wrote the number of the CI down and made a mental note to call and confirm the location.

Javier laughed as he remembered watching the cops sitting in front of his place, it was nice having an 'in' with the CPD.

"Thanks for that tip" Javier told him, "and you're sure that they don't know you're playing them?"

He laughed, "not a clue, Javy, not a fucking clue" Darnell smiled, Domenico would be so proud of how Javier had risen to the occasion.

"Quit calling me Javy" he kicked at the desk, "I mean it"

Kevin agreed to meet with his CI at a diner in Harvey, he checked the other patrons out as he walked in.

He spotted his CI in the back of the diner in a booth, he was wearing headphones his head bobbing up and down to what Kevin could only assume was the beat of the song.

Kevin knocked on the table as he approached, the other man slipped his headphones off the music blaring.

"Atwater, it's about time man. I've been here for an hour" he told me, "that bitch waitress was getting pissed, you best leave a big tip man"

Kevin arched his eyebrow, "we'll see about that" he grabbed the menu, "you need to be upfront with me, you know that right?"

"Of course" he loosened the top to the salt shaker, and slid it back against the wall.

Kevin was aggravated, "you need to stop playing fool, what are you eleven?" He asked as he screwed the lid back on the salt shaker, "last night was a complete waste of time, that address you gave me, was it the right one?"

"Yeah, but you see sometimes he changes things up last minute, you know?" He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, "this is another place Sanchez likes to stay at" he handed it to him.

Kevin folded it up and put in his wallet, he dropped two twenties on the table, "thanks Darnell"

Darnell waited for him to pull away, as the car left his line of vision he made the call, "it's done Javier, I'm pretty sure you'll have some fun tonight"

Javier leaned back in the chair a cigar hanging from his lips, "I'm not sure, don't want to move too quickly, maybe lull them into a fall sense of security before we hit him"

"Alright, I'm headed out" Adam holstered his weapon, "be a good boy Anthony"

"Okay dad" Anthony replied racing towards the door when he heard the doorbell, "Aunt Annie is here"

"Hey pal!" She said as she lifted him up, "you ready for some fun"

"Yep!"

Adam kissed Annie's forehead, "hey sis, how's dad?"

"He's good, still working when I left" she put Anthony down, "be careful tonight, please?"

Adam smiled "of course" he thought for a minute "so, who is this guy you have your eye on?"

"Trey told you?"

"I won't give up my sources, what's his name" Adam asked as he sat on the arm of the couch, Harper sitting on his knee.

"His name is Derek and it's not a big deal" she told him, though she really liked him, they had spent a lot of time together lately, "please don't make a big deal of this Adam and don't say anything to dad"

Adam handed Harper to Kim, kissing them both, "I won't but I want to meet him Annie, and soon"

He walked to the door, Kim at his heels "be careful baby, tell Kevin I said hi. I love you" her hand on his chest, "I mean it Adam, be careful" she had felt uneasy ever since this case started, each night he left the house she felt as if she couldn't breathe and she only felt better when she felt him climb into their bed.

He put his hands on her face, "I'm going to be fine, you need to stop worrying" he kissed her forehead, "find out all you can about this Derek guy for me, please?"

She smiled, "poor Harper if this is how you handle your sister dating I can't imagine how it will be for our daughter" she hugged him, "I love you"

He released her from his arms, "I love you too"

The unit assembled at the roll up, "look at this picture Ruzek, he's finally sitting up" Jay said showing off the picture of Tyler, for what seemed like the thousandth time.

Adam smiled "I wasn't this bad, was I?" He joked, "I'm kidding Halstead he's a good looking kid, he must get that from his mom"

"You're an ass Ruzek" Jay put his phone in his pocket and put on his vest, "Mouse, you have everything ready to go?"

"Of course" he handed them each an earpiece, "Atwater, here's yours" Kevin took it and placed it in his ear, "and this phone has the bug in it, if you get inside just turn it on" he explained "they'll never find the bug if they check the phone"

Once the kids went to bed, Kim started asking questions "alright start talking, tell me about Derek" she noticed the pink rush to Annie's cheek with just mentioning him.

Annie covered her face with her hands, "my god Kim, he's beautiful! His eyes are amazing the bluest I have ever seen"

Kim laughed, "how old is he?"

Annie knew Adam would take issue with this, "he's 24 but you can't tell Adam, you know he will have something to say. I'm 19 in just a few months, so it's really not that big of an age difference"

Kim agreed "no it isn't, so you've spent some time with him?"

"He's in my bio class, and we've gone out to eat a few times. He's a good guy Kim, I know he is" she knew it had to of been Trey who told them "Trey tell you?"

"Don't be upset with him, he just worries about you" Kim knew Annie's abduction had hit Trey hard and he was still dealing with it, "he loves you"

"I'm not upset with him" she had the biggest crush on him for the longest time, but now it was a distant memory and she wondered if that bothered Trey on some level.

"You know Adam isn't going to drop wanting  to meet him, right?"

Annie stood to grab a drink, "I'm not marrying the guy, we've just been on a few dates, that's all" she sat back on the couch.

"What's his last name?"

"Not you too, Kim. I thought you would be on my side" Annie told her.

"I am, but I love you and want you to be happy and safe. Give me a last name, please"

Annie groaned she knew Kim wouldn't drop it until she had a last name, "fine his name is Derek Fletcher, I'm assuming you'll run a background check?" She was only half joking.

"I won't but Adam may"