Title: Tears From a Star (1/4)

Author: X_tremeroswellian

Email: X_tremeroswellian@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to John Wells, Edward Allen Bernero, NBC and a bunch of other people I have no affiliation with whatsoever. No money is being made; please don't sue.

Rating: R for language, violence and content.

Spoilers: Everything up to and including "The Long Guns."

Summary: It's all about the choices we make.

Distribution: My site Only Time, 55-HQ, fanfiction.net, anywhere else that TW fics are archived.

Category: Alternate ending for "The Long Guns."

Subcategories: Angst, angst and more angst

Feedback: Please

Author's Note: All during the last 20 minutes of "Long Guns" I tried to figure out how it was going to end. This is one of the ending ideas I had. Oh, and originally this was going to be a one parter, but now I've come to the conclusion that there will be four all together.

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently."

-Agnes de Mille

Tears From a Star (Part One: Denouement)

"Leave her outta this. Leave her outta this," Bosco kept repeating, shaking his head.

A sick smile twisted Hobart's lips and he pressed the button on Bosco's police radio. "Boscorelli, you're a dead man. I'm gonna kill you with your own gun." He aimed and fired the gun towards the window, then threw the police radio across the room where it smashed into a mirror, shattering both machine and glass. "That oughta get her juices flowing." Hobart aimed the gun at Bosco's head again.

Faith's eyes widened as she heard the voice over her radio and a gunshot a second later. "Oh, God! Bosco!" She quickly radioed for backup and raced into the apartment building as one of the tenants left the building.

She pulled the gun from its holster and took the steps two at a time, her heart pounding like the beat of a drum. Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead as she deliberated whether to go right or left when she reached the third floor hallway. She wasn't sure why, but her instincts were urging her to the right.

At the end of the corridor, a door was a crack. Every muscle in her body tense for a confrontation, she moved forward and pushed the door open. Faith pointed her gun at Hobart, who had a gun to Bosco's head. Relief washed over her. He didn't appear to be injured.

Yet.

"Get outta here, Faith!" Bosco snapped without looking at her.

"If you leave, I'll blow his head off," Hobart said calmly.

"I've got it under control. Just go!"

"I'm not going anywhewre," she said firmly. "We all just need to take a deep breath and stay calm, all right?" Faith could hear the wail of sirens off in the distance.

"Do you always play by the rules, Officer Yokas?" Hobart asked, his voice tinged with curiosity.

"No. The rules aren't always right," she responded, keeping her gun steadily trained on him just as he kept his trained on Bosco.

"And who are you to decide if the rules are right or wrong?" he challenged.

"I just go with my gut," Faith answered easily.

"And what's your gut telling you now?"

"That you don't want to do this." There was a moment of silence and she could hear the sound of her own heart pounding. "Come on, Sergeant. Put the gun down and we can all walk away from this like it never happened."

"She's right, man. Come on. You don't wanna hurt me," Bosco said, looking at Hobart.

Faith glanced at her partner, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. "Okay, look. I'm gonna put my gun down very slowly, all right?" She fought against every instinct in her body as she slowly lowered her weapon. An internal battle waged within her; she wanted to gain Hobart's trust so she could get him to put down his gun, but at the same time, she was terrified that if she put her own gun down, Hobart may very well go ahead and kill Bosco and her both. She swallowed hard and set her weapon on the floor in front of her. She stood up again.

"Sergeant, put your gun down and we can all walk away from this all right," Bosco said.

"You think things can be all right after this? Come on, Boscorelli, you're not that much of an idiot."

"No, he's right. This doesn't have to end badly," Faith said quietly.

Hobart paused, squinted at her. "You're right about that, Officer Yokas. This doesn't have to end badly."

For a split second she felt a surge of relief.

Hobart turned the gun on her. "But it's going to."

Faith heard a loud explosion and she was suddenly propelled backwards and slammed into the wall. Her body, unable to stand any longer, slid down to the floor.

The room was dark and blurry. But for a split second, she saw Bosco's horrifed expression and she thought she could hear him shouting. Then her eyes lost focus on his face as she plunged into unconsciousness.

"Faith!" Bosco shouted, overwhelming fear washing over him. He tried to see if his partner was still breathing, but he couldn't tell from where he was sitting on the floor. "Faith!"

"She can't hear you. She's unconscious," Hobart pointed out.

"You shot her," Bosco said in horrified disbelief.

"That's right, I did. You see, Boscorelli, life is all about choices. If you hadn't decided to come up here to play hero, your partner here wouldn't have followed you up. If she hadn't chosen to put her weapon down, I would've shot you instead of her. See how this works?" Hobart questioned.

"You didn't have to shoot anybody! This could have been fine!"

"You're right. I didn't *have* to shoot your partner. But the fact is I did. Either you choose to sit around and cry about a past that can't be changed or you choose to do something to change the future."

"What's the future?" Bosco demanded.

"That's up to you." Hobart shrugged and pointed his gun at Faith. "She could be dead already."

He shook his head furiously in denial. "She's wearin' a vest."

"Even kevlar has weak spots, Boscorelli," Hobart said pointedly.

He swallowed hard and looked over at the very still form of his partner. Then he looked back at the man who until that day, he'd looked up to as a mentor. "What the hell do you want from me?"

"Do you suppose she'll live long if that bullet went through her vest? Or do you think she might be bleeding to death as we stand here talking?"

"Let me call an ambulance," Bosco said, his heart racing.

"Nope. 'Fraid not." Hobart looked over at Faith. "It's fair payback, though, don't you think? Poetic justice? I mean, after all, she let you get shot, right? It's only fair that you let her get shot, too."

"She didn't let me get shot! It was an accident!"

Hobart chuckled. "Some partners you two are. While she's lying there bleeding to death on my floor, you're sitting there because you can't make a simple choice."

"What choice? What fucking choice?" Bosco demanded, close to losing complete control over his emotions.

Hobart aimed his gun at Faith again. "The choice of who lives and who dies."

His stomach dropped as it suddenly dawned on him what this was about. "No way! No fucking way! You are not doing this to me!"

"It's your choice, Boscorelli. Kill me and you have a shot of getting your partner out of here alive. Don't kill me and I'll make sure she dies real quick."

"Why are you doing this?" Bosco whispered.

"This is a gift I'm giving you, Bosocrelli. This is what you have to do if you want to be like me." Hobart sighed. "Time's running out. Three, two..."

Without thinking about what he was doing, Bosco reached down and grabbed the gun that was strapped to his ankle.

"One--"

He didn't even hear the sound of his own gun going off when he pulled the trigger. Blood splattered on his face and Bosco felt the sudden urge to throw up. He shuddered as he saw Hobart's motionless body on the floor, his face pressed down in the carpet.

He forced himself to look away and he quickly crawled over to his partner's side. "Faith? Faith, can you hear me?" His hands fumbled with the buttons on her shirt, which he quickly tore off, revealing the vest beneath it. He saw the spot where the bullet had entered and he swallowed hard. He quickly pulled the velcro apart and removed the vest. "Oh, God, no," he whispered as he saw blood soaking through the undershirt she was wearing from a wound below her right ribcage. "No, no, no."

Bosco pressed his left hand onto the wound, praying the pressure would help stop the blood flow. With his free hand, he grabbed Faith's radio. "This is 55-David to Central. I need an ambulance to 2557 Grunsworth right now! Officer down!" He dropped the radio to the floor and pressed his fingers against Faith's wrist, feeling for a pulse. "Stay with me, Faith. Do you hear me? Stay with me," he said urgently.

Seconds ticked by, seeming to turn into an eternity. He picked up the radio again. "55-David to Central. Where the hell is that ambulance?"

"Bus is on the way, 55-David. ETA is two minutes."

Bosco pressed his other hand against Faith's wound to double the pressure. "Don't you die on me, Yokas."

Davis and Sully rushed into the apartment, guns drawn.

"She breathing?" Davis asked, putting his gun in its holster and kneeling down next to Bosco.

"Yeah, barely."

"Hobart's dead," Sully said from behind him.

Bosco didn't reply. His gaze was locked on Faith's face. "Stay with me, Faith," he pleaded, his voice just above a whisper, tears pooling in his eyes. "Stay with me."

"I'll go down and wait for the bus," Davis said quickly, hearing the siren in the distance. He stood up and rushed out the door.

"I'm sorry," Bosco said softly to his partner as two tears rolled down his cheeks. "I am so sorry."

"In here," Davis said as he returned with Kim and Doc right behind him.

"Oh, man," Doc muttered. "Bosco, are you hurt?"

"No...it's not my blood...just help her," he said, removing his hands from Faith's wound and backing away to allow Doc and Kim to work on her. "Is she gonna be all right?"

"We're doing our best," Doc assured him.

"Give 'em room to work, Bosco," Davis said, pulling him farther back.

He stood frozen, watching as Kim and Doc tried to save his partner's life.

"Let's move her. On my count," Doc said. "One, two, three." They carefully moved Faith onto the stretcher and lifted her.

"Angel of Mercy?" Davis asked.

"Yeah," Kim agreed.

"We'll meet you there," he said, glancing at Bosco.

After Doc and Kim had carried Faith out of the apartment, Sully placed a hand on Bosco's shoulder. "What happened here?"

Bosco looked down at his hands, still slippery with Faith's blood. Tears blurred his eyes and he made no move to either banish or hide them. "I made a choice," he whispered.