The ringing of bullets still echoes in my ears as I slowly lift my head from the floor.. Bosco is covering me with his body... acting like a shield.. he managed to dive out of the way in time.. I breath a sigh of relief when he asks me if I was allright.. if he was talkin to me that meant he was o.k.... I just needed to know that he was allright.. that him and I escaped from what just happened.. this latest attach on us from Mann has left us shaken.. we never expected him to send people to a hospital crawlin with cops and try to kill us..

I feel Bosco shift from me and helps me to my feet as we survey the damage.. Ty crawls out from behind the vending machine that took most of the hits.. there was candy everywhere... Cruz was still lying on the floor, not moving.. I bend over to look at her and she is still breathing.. but she's been hit.. we have to get her help.. as much as I hate the bitch I don't think I would want to let her die..

"Bosco we have to get her help..."

He nods and bolts out of the room to get a doctor.. beside me Ty is checking himself over for any wounds.. we all have cuts and scraps from diving to the floor and then by the flying glass...

"What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know Ty.. but I think that Mann just heard that we survived the bomb that was in the car..."

"But I didn't have anything to do with Joey Mann's death.. why me?"

"Because you were unfortunate enough to be in here with the three of us..."

I look at Ty and pat him on the back as Bosco comes back with a Doctor and a barrage of nurses that whisk us into treatment rooms to make sure that we are allright... I never let my eyes leave Bosco for a second.. not even to check where I was walking.. I nearly met a doorframe on a personal level but I didn't care.. as long as I could convince myself that he was allright that was all that mattered to me..

a few hours later

Bosco finds me and we leave the hospital together.. both of us feeling rather lucky to have survived a murder attempt by a powerful drug lord with a hard on for killing Bosco and myself.. Rose wasn't so fortunate however.. she was still in a coma.. I told Bosco that he should go and get a shower and get a change of clothes.. if she changed then they would contact him... reluctantly he agreed.. only with the condition that I come with him... he would lend me a pair of sweats....justifying it by telling me that he would never forgive himself if something happened to me.. again.. and it was him saying that to me that changed my mind.. I mean I had no Fred or Kids to come home to..

We climb into the RMP that Swersky told us to take back to the house.. from there we could walk back to his place.. it wasn't that far.. only a few blocks.. He gets the door for me and I climb wearily into the seat..

I watch Faith get into the car and I go to close the door.. I feel soo damn lucky to have her.. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost her too.. I lost my brother.. my Mother is in a coma.. I have lost almost everything that has ever mattered to me.. but I still had Faith.. as long as I have her.. I can still live.. she is the only thing that keeps me hanging on..

I close the door to the RMP and head around the front to get into the drivers seat.. I just reach the handle and opened the door when I hear a gunshot.. instantly I feel the bullet rip though my back and though my stomach as I slide to the floor.. on the way down I hear Faith screamin out my name.. as she ducks to the floor.. A second shot has her cowering on the floor.. I hear more shots.. but I realize as the world grow fuzzy that they are from the cops that were posted at the door..

"BOSCO!!! BOSCO ANSWER ME!! BOSCO!!"

"I'm allright Faith.. I will be allright" I want to answer back to her but I cant make my mouth form the words.. nor do I have the voice to say them...

Faith has crawled over on the floor to my side as she cradles my head in her hands and I feel her tears fall on my cheeks as she begs me to hang on.. I have to hang on.. I love her too much.. I cant loose her when I just got her back again... the world fades to a hazy shade of grey as I hear Faith's voice ring in my ears....

The Haze is starting to clear.. I sit up and realize that I am in the Trauma room.. but wait a sec.. I am standing beside the gurney.. and I am still lying on it.. around me they are working to stop the bleeding that the bullet caused, and they are sayin all that medical mumbo jumbo to each other.. this sounds serious.. but I am still alive... I think.. but if I am still alive what the hell am I doing here?

I look outside the room to see Faith being supported by Sully as she bawls into his shoulder.. once and a while she will look over her shoulder at me and then bawl again.. I want to hold her.. I want to let her know that I am allright.. I watch the doctors work on me.

"We have a stable rhythm, hand 2 units of O-Neg on the rapid infuser, we have to get him up to surgery.."

I turn away from it all and head towards Faith.. I just want to hold her.. but as I draw near the doors I notice that they arnt opening.. what the hell?? I get closer and still they don't open.. I take a running leap at them.. I hear the doctors say something about getting me upstairs and I hear them wheel the gurney past me.. I squeak out the doors as they open.. I reach out to Faith to caress her cheek and my hand passes though her face.. WHAT THE HELL?? I look at my hand in disbelief, that is when the voice behind me catches my attention..

"Its no use Mo.. you can do that all you want the same thing will happen.."

I turn around and there is Mikey standing where my body had been.. what the hell?

"Mikey? Am I dead?"

He laughs and hugs me.. he feels as real as Faith did when I was covering her earlier today.. I feel a tear slip past my eye as I feel my Brother's embrace.. I thought that I would never see him again... even though he has been a drug addict and a dealer for a good part of his adult life.. we were still kids together and we had each other to lean on when things got rough, especially when we saw dad beat the crap outta ma..

"You aren't dead Mo.. you are just in a space in between the worlds.. this isn't heaven and it isn't hell.. you are in a kind of limbo.. while your body still lives you stay here.. and I am here with you.. you need to make peace with what has happened..."

"Bull shit Mikey.. I don't need to make peace with what happened.. I need to find out where that son of a bitch is and how the hell I can get to him.. I need to make him pay for what he did to you.."

I look at Faith again.. she is holding my tie.. she has her face buried in it and her tears soak into the fabric.. staining it a deeper blue.. I have never wanted to go over and wrap my arms around her more than I did at that moment.. instead I just walk over to her and whisper into her ear..

"Faith.. I'll be allright.. don't worry about me.. they'll take good care of me.. I love you Faith..."

I see her stop crying and look at me.. she must have heard what I said to her.. because she had a small smile play about her lips before her face crumbles again and she dissolves into tears again..

Mikey puts a hand on my shoulder and leads me to the door.. I get an odd sensation as I pass right though it..

"Don't worry you get used to it.."

"Mikey I am soo sorry I didn't protect you... God man I miss you already.. Its all my fault.. I should have made Cruz back off of you.."

"Mo it isn't your fault,.. I should have never made the deal with that bitch anyhow.. trust me I have something saved for her..."

He looks over at me with a wry smile on his face as he says that.. I hope that it is something good. Knowing him if he is a ghost.. or of you wanna call it that.. he'll probably milk it and haunt the bitch...

Mikey takes my hand and we pass though the wall to face the street.. the lines blur together and I am standing in the House.. how the hell did I get here?? In front of me is my locker and I can see inside it the picture that I had plastered to the back of it.. it is the picture of Faith and I at graduation.. we looked so happy together.. at that point I didn't know her very well but I did know that she was going to be my partner.. I treasured that picture..

My heart aches to return back to the days where we were tighter than ever.. the days before I decided to mess everything up... the days before Cruz... the days before I damn near got her killed.. I still hear the gunshot ringing in my ears..

"It wasn't your fault you know Mo.. she wanted to be there for you... even after you went to Cruz.. she still wanted to be there for you.."

"I know.. I had to mess it all up.. I had to become part of Anti-Crime.. I was only thinking of myself.. I wasn't thinking about her...on how she would feel.."

I walk over to Faith's locker.. and inside on top of the shelf is her patrol hat.. inside I take a peek and see that she has a picture of the family.. they are all smiling.. and beside the picture of the kids and Fred is one of me.. I feel my heart catch in my throat as I realize that I had a place in her cap beside her family..

"She has had that there since your first year anniversary.. one year since you became partners...even when you went with Cruz she still kept that picture.."

I feel Mikey take my hand and whisk me to my next destination.. I don't know where that will be.. I just have to trust in him to lead the way.. I arrive in her apartment.. at least I think that its her apartment.. I walk though it taking it all in.. the furniture is gone.. there is no TV.. the kids rooms are empty.. the only things left in the whole apartment belong to Faith.. something wasn't right.. where was everything else.. where were the kids.. where was Fred??

"He left her... he left her in the middle of her shift so she came home to this empty apartment with only a note to say that it was over... giving her a place to meet with Fred to talk about why he left her... it isn't fair Mo... not to her.. you know that.."

I shake my head in disbelief... "why didn't she tell me?"

"Because you were mourning me.. he left the day after you found me Mo... she didn't want to burden you with another problem when you already had so much to deal with.."

Again Mikey took my hand and lead me off to another unknown destination.... And left me to figure out what I had to make peace with.....