Moving on Up

The Itsy Bitsy Spider Better Be Itsy Bitsy Dead

It had been balls to the wall since the Feds had shown up at the district, the bullpen was littered with maps and various case files. It had become all hands on deck, even Antonio  and his new partner had come over to help.

She clutched the letter from Adam in her hands, she was terrified. She had found comfort in those words when she first read it. Sure, she felt a bit confused by it all but when it came right down to it...that letter was her hope.

Hope that was short lived when she spotted a pregnant Candice in the grocery store...she knew Adam wouldn't walk away from his child and she would never want him to; she just didn't know where she fit in.

Erin had calmed her fears..concerns..she wasn't sure what to call it now...because now she was scared. She had never felt so scared in her life.

There was a lot going on in the bullpen, phones were ringing incessantly and she could hear the sound of the fax machines as they received new information. She could feel everyone's eyes on her she found it unnerving. She wasn't some fragile flower that would wilt under the pressure of it all.

She'd proved that a thousand times over...why didn't they see that?

Adam saw it.

How could she not see how much he loved her?

He had stopped shivering long ago, he wasn't cold anymore he was numb. He could feel things crawling on him, spiders...roaches and various other insects that he didn't want to think about. He was deathly afraid of spiders, it didn't matter how big or how small..he hated them all.

"Kim!" He screeched, he had just put his feet on the floor when he spotted the black spider creeping across the rug, "Kim! I need you! Hurry!" He quickly pulled his feet back up from the floor.

Kim was cooking breakfast, she turned down the griddle and quickly washed her hands, a little worried about what she was about to find. Was he sick? She knew he wasn't hung over, he had taken it easy the night before.

She stopped on a dime when she made it to the door of her bedroom, she had to bite back the giggles she felt brewing in the pit of her stomach.

Adam stood clad in nothing but his boxers on the bed his hands on his head, a look of pure terror on his face, "Get it! Kill it!" He pointed to a spot on the rug.

"What on earth are you talking about, Adam?" She went around the bed and found nothing on the floor, he dropped to his knees and then moved to lay on his stomach on the bed.

He reached across the bed and grabbed her wrist, "See it! It's a spider. It's nasty...you gotta kill it darlin', please?"

Kim didn't bother trying not laugh, after getting down on her hands and knees she finally spotted the spider in question, she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Did you kill it?" He asked, he was now sitting on his knees.

She wasn't about to pass this up, she carefully lifted the tiny spider in her hand, laughing as it walked across her palm, tickling it a bit. She closed her hand over it, "Adam, babe. It's just the itsy bitsy spider, he's a friend. He won't hurt you." As she moved closer to him she opened her hand and Adam had never moved so fast in his life.

He tore out of the bedroom, he could hear Kim laughing as he fled.

Finally she found him in the living room, he was sitting hunched over on the couch, still trying to calm his racing heart.

"You're afraid of spiders?" She asked, "I have never seen you move quite so fast..."

He rolled his eyes at her, "That wasn't cool Kim..not cool at all. You gave me a heart attack...you picked it up...I hope you washed your hands..and that itsy bitsy spider better be itsy bitsy dead."

She grabbed his face in her hands and kissed his lips softly, "My big strong man is afraid of a teeny tiny little bug"

He pulled her down into his lap, "You owe me. That was cruel."

Kim draped her arm around his shoulder, "I thought it was hilarious..and a bit cute.."

"You better not tell anyone..." Adam warned her.

What the fuck had happened? As the sun began to rise he had been able to get a better idea of where he was. He had spent a long time trying to work the hood off his head and when he had finally succeeded he felt immense relief. Only for that to quickly dissipate when he realized how fucked he actually was.

He was in the ground, thankfully not buried as he initially thought. Above his head he could make out wooden slats, the light was just beginning to trickle in the spaces between the slats.

He wasn't sure he was all that happy about that, the light meant he could see exactly what had been crawling all over him.

His ears were still ringing and he was certain he had at the very least a concussion. His head throbbed as did his entire torso. They'd definitely kicked his ass. He knew he needed to free his hands, he shuffled around in the small room. He had found a jagged plank that must've been through in the pit. He positioned himself so he could rub the rope against the wood. He could feel the pain of the rope digging into his wrists, they were quickly become raw from the friction.

He felt the snap of the rope and pulled his arms in front of him, his shoulders ached. He ran his hands over his face, and felt the dried blood. He had been seriously worked over, he pushed at the wooden slats above him.

They didn't budge.

He bent his knees and kicked at the floor above him, and was met with the same result.

He was fucked.

"Got something!" Jay screamed, "The GPS that the Feds gave Ruzek finally pinged, its a few hours south of here...the local authorities are already en route. They're going to call us once they find something."

Voight shook his head. "Nope, we're taking a ride down there." He grabbed his coat, "We move out in ten."

Kim was furious, she was seething. She couldn't believe he had told her no, that she wasn't going to go with them. It was absolute bullshit, she wasn't even allowed to leave the 21st.

Trudy Platt was left to 'babysit' her and that only added insult to injury.

"How come they haven't called us? It's been hours. They should've arrived already..." Kim rambled as she paced the length of the bullpen.

"Burgess. Sit down. You're seriously working my nerves...they'll call as soon as they can. You worrying about why they haven't called isn't helping and it certainly won't make them call.."

Al rubbed his hand over his goatee, "Ok." He felt sick to his stomach, "Call us when you know more...we're about thirty minutes out." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking.

He could feel all eyes on him and he wasn't looking forward to relaying what he had just been told.

"Well?" Kevin asked, "They found Ruzek? Is he okay?"

Al shook his head, "They found a body..they're unable to identify it. It's a male..that's all they know. The GPS was stashed with the body...they're cover was blown." He was doing all he could to keep the contents of his stomach in his stomach.

They all felt the car accelerate, they couldn't get there fast enough.

--NOTE--

Just a few more chapters and then this is done.