1 Promises
******
The only characters I own are Dominique Adams, and Rylee O'Neill.
This is an idea I came up with the other day. The story includes everything up to the episode "Thicker Than Water" which aired on April 1st, and this story also hints at SOME things that I am ASSUMING will take place next week (if they don't take place it still works in my land of make believe!).
OH, and I make up the history as I go along!
Please read and review!
*****
2 Present Day
3 Thursday
Officer Maurice "Bosco" Boscorelli hurried into the locker room almost knocking over Officer Ty Davis. "Whoa man. Slow down. You got plenty of time."
Boscorelli looked at his watch. "Huh. Whaddya know. I'm actually early." Bosco looked around the room with a grin on his face. He was so accustomed to being late that he didn't even realize it when he was early.
His partner Faith Yokas walked over to his locker. She leaned against the metal structure. "Bos. We need to talk."
He looked up from his seat on the bench. Bosco didn't like the look on her face. Something was wrong. He hadn't seen her look like this since that awful night when she told him she had cancer.
Bosco stood up and leaned against the locker so he was close enough to her that no one else would be able to hear them. "You OK? You're—you're not sick again are you?"
"No Bos. I'm fine."
He nodded. That was a relief.
"Why don't you finish getting dressed, and then meet me in the conference room before roll call."
"Yeah. Be there in a minute."
Bosco entered the conference room to find Faith standing with her back to the door. She was looking out the window. She heard him come in and turned around. "Shut the door."
He shut the door, and looked back at Faith. "What's going on?"
"Bos I passed the sergeant's test," she said softly.
"You what?" A look of shock crossed his face. "I mean…that's great." He tried to smile, but was too empty inside to give it a good attempt.
Faith pulled out a chair from the table, and sat down. She pointed to the chair across from her indicating she wanted him to sit as well.
He sat down, glanced at her quickly, and then looked down at the table. He didn't know what to say.
"They offered me a position." She paused. "I accepted."
Bosco's head shot up. "What?!"
"I'm gonna take it. I'm going to be a sergeant."
Bosco ran his hand through his hair, and exhaled. He had no idea what to say. He was completely numb. "Why?" he asked. His voice barely audible.
"We talked about it before Bos. I wanna be around as my kids grow up. There's less risk. Besides with you going ESU I was gonna be without a partner."
He was wringing his hands together. "I'm not going ESU."
"What do you mean? I thought you were pretty much through the test. Didn't you get in?"
"I never finished testing. Decided I didn't want it."
"But Bosco you've been talking about ESU, well, forever."
He just shrugged his shoulders.
They sat in silence for a couple minutes. Neither officer knowing what to say to the other. Bosco finally broke the awkward tension. "So when do you start?"
"Monday."
"Monday? So that means---"
"Today's our last shift together," she finished for him.
He shook his head, and looked at her with sad eyes. "So what happens to me?"
"Well, you've got a couple days off so they're going to be finding someone to partner you up with."
"I never thought this day would come Faith."
"What? You didn't think I could make sergeant!" She took offense to his words.
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"I never thought I'd have to work with someone other than you. Kinda thought we'd always be together. We were a team."
"Bos we may not be partners, but we'll always be a team. We'll always be together. It's not like I'm going to take this job, and never talk to you again."
The serious, emotional side of him was showing. It was the side of him that only Faith, his partner knew. "Promise?"
"I promise." Faith stood up. "We better get to roll call."
As Faith walked past Bosco he reached up and grabbed her arm to stop her. He stood up next to her. "Are you gonna be transferred?"
"No," she smiled. "But Christopher is."
Bosco threw his arm around Faith's shoulders and smiled. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all. I get preferential treatment right?" He winked.
"Keep dreaming Boscorelli. You're already on my shit list!"
"You aren't going to make me call you Sergeant Yokas are you?"
"You bet I am! What good is the title if you don't use it? Now come on."
*****
Their final shift together flew by. It was a busy night for the two officers, which didn't give them time to dwell on the partnership that was coming to an end.
Bosco finished changing into his civvies. He looked at Faith who was putting on her jacket. Reality hit him like a ton of bricks as he realized that this was the last time they would walk out of this locker room as partners. On Monday when he came back to work he would have a new partner, and Faith would be his sergeant.
Faith felt him looking at her. She knew what he was thinking because she was thinking the same thing. "Bosco? You OK?"
"Fine."
But she could see it in his eyes. The sadness. The hurt. The disappointment. The fear. The confusion. She knew this would be hard on him. For years they had worked together; side-by-side. They knew each other's families, deepest secrets and fears. Now she was leaving him, and he would have to learn to trust someone else; it wasn't going to be easy for him.
She walked over to him. "Come on. I'll buy you a drink."
He nodded and put on his jacket.
*****
They didn't say much to each other as they sat at the bar. Faith was still working on her first drink, and Bosco was finishing his second beer. He ordered a third.
"Bosco I didn't bring you here to get you drunk."
"No," he looked at her. "Then why'd you bring me here?"
"To talk."
"Talk if you want, but I'm drinking."
"Bos I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"Springing this on you today."
He turned his attention away from her, and started in on his beer.
"I didn't do this to hurt you. It's just better for me and Fred and the kids." He didn't say anything. "Besides, I really thought you were going ESU. You still can you know. Why don't you finish testing?"
"I can't."
"Sure you can."
Bosco looked at Faith. "With everything that's happened lately. I *can't*." He looked down at the bar. "I can't handle it. I'm not ready, and I don't think I ever will be." He shook his head. "Some cop I turned out to be."
"Bosco you're an excellent cop! Don't doubt yourself."
"Tell me something Faith. Be honest. You taking the sergeants position. Does it have anything to do with me? Were you, are you, afraid I can't do my job anymore?"
"No Bosco. How could you even think that! You just had some pretty low times. I know you're going to bounce back. You just have to give it time." She put her hand on his. "Bosco this is what I had to do for my family."
"What am I going to do without you Faith?" He mentally kicked himself. Even though he had only had a couple beers the alcohol was already loosening his tongue. When he drank he had trouble keeping his mouth shut.
"You'll get a new partner, and you'll move on. Hell, you'll probably forget all about me."
"That's not possible." There was a short lull in their conversation. "Faith."
"Yeah."
"Remember what you promised me today? About always being a team. Always being together."
"Of course I remember."
He stood up to leave. "Don't break it. Seems like everyone I know breaks their promises."
Faith watched as he walked out of the bar.
*****
When Bosco got home he threw his keys, and wallet on the coffee table. He grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and sat down on the couch. He reached for the remote control, but stopped when he noticed the picture that was sticking out of his wallet. Bosco set down his beer, and pulled out the picture.
The picture was old and worn. The corners were bent, and there was a crease down the center of the picture from having been in his wallet so long. It was a picture of him when he was little. He wasn't quite ten in the picture, and he had his arm around his best friend, Dominique Adams. At the time he never thought he could be best friends with a girl, but the day he met her that had all changed. To this day he thought that she was a big reason why he was able to get along so well with Faith.
"What the hell happened to you Dom?!" He stood, and put the picture in the junk drawer in the kitchen.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Dad stop! You're hurting her!" Yelled Maurice as he stood in the doorway of the living room and watched his father slap his mother repeatedly.
"You're next if you don't shut up you little brat!" spat his father.
"I'm OK Maurice," his mother whimpered.
He couldn't watch this anymore. He had to get out. Maurice ran out the front door crying. The little boy ran down the street and ended up at the playground. He went straight for his favorite spot. The cement tube in the corner of the lot. No one ever went there. That was the one place in the world where he could be alone, and dream of a better life. But today someone was in his place.
"Hey this is my spot!"
"I don't see your name on it!" The little girl stood up, and walked over to Maurice.
"This is where I hang out. You can't be here!"
"I was here first."
"Leave!"
"Make me."
He was so mad. Mad at his dad for hitting his mom. Mad at his mom for taking the abuse. And now he was mad at this girl.
Maurice pushed her. She pushed him back. This girl wasn't backing down, which angered him even more. The next thing he knew they were wrestling on the ground. After a long struggle the girl got Maurice on his back, and then sat on him. A girl had beaten him.
She looked down at him. "I'm pretty sure I won."
"You fight pretty good for a girl."
"Yeah, well, you're not bad for a momma's boy."
"Will you get off me now?"
She stood up, and offered him a hand. "I'm Dominique Adams."
"Maurice Boscorelli."
"Maurice?" she laughed.
"Yeah. What of it?"
"You just don't look like a Maurice."
"And you don't fight like a Dominique."
She grinned. "I think I'll call you---"
"Don't say Moe. My little brother calls me Moe, and it makes me think of the Three Stooges."
"How 'bout Reese?"
"Sure. Nobody calls me that. I'll call you Dom."
"OK."
The two new friends sat together in the cement tube. "So, how old are you?" she asked.
"Eight and a half."
"Me too. When's your birthday?"
"April 25th. When's yours?"
"April 26th."
"No way!"
"Way."
Reese and Dom talked for a long time about typical eight-year-old things. They found out that they lived only ten blocks apart, and that the playground was five blocks from each of their houses. Neither of them had seen each other before though, and they figured that was because they went to different schools.
"So, how come you like this place?" he asked. "I thought I was the only one who came here."
"You promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I promise."
"I come here to get away from my dad. He hits my mom."
Reese looked at her with a horrified expression.
"What?" she asked a bit annoyed.
"My dad hits my mom too," he said sadly.
"Sucks don't it?"
"Yeah."
Dom stood up. "It's getting really dark Reese. I better head home."
"Me too. See you later Dom."
For almost two years Dom and Reese met up at the playground whenever they could. Sometimes they talked about what went on between their parents and how their dad had started to beat them as well. But mostly they talked about the future. About growing up and getting away.
One night, when they were about ten, Reese met Dom in their favorite spot. "What's wrong Reese?"
"My parents are splitting up."
"That's good isn't it? He can't hurt her anymore."
He looked at her with sad eyes. "I'm moving Dom."
"Where? When?"
"Ma won't say where. We leave tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!"
"Yeah."
"You can't move! There's too much stuff we have to do together!"
"I can't help it."
"You'll write to me right?"
Reese looked away. "You'll write to me?"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Ma says we have to start over. She said we have to say goodbye for good. She's afraid dad will find us if I write."
"But I won't say anything!"
"Dom I'm sorry. Look, I'll never forget you."
"Me either."
They stood staring at their feet for a long time. Just thinking.
"Promise me something Reese."
"Anything."
"If we don't run into each other again sometime; promise me that when the clock strikes midnight ending your 30th birthday and beginning mine you'll meet me here. So we can celebrate together like we always do."
"Why when we're 30?"
"I don't know. Just seems like a good number. Promise me."
"I promise."
She held up her hand. "Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear." They interlocked their little fingers.
"I gotta go Dom."
"Bye Reese."
"Bye," he turned to go home, but stopped. "Hey! What if this place isn't here when we turn 30?"
"Then we'll, uh, meet on the sidewalk outside of whatever is here."
"OK." Once again he turned, and this time he ran home.
"Goodbye Maurice," she whispered as she watched her friend disappear into the night.
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11:59PM April 25th, 2000 Bosco's 30th Birthday
He couldn't believe the playground was still here. It looked exactly the same as the day he had left. Bosco looked at his watch as it changed to midnight. "Where are you Dom?"
He sat down on one of the swings, and thought back to the last time he had seen her. Sure it was almost twenty years ago, but they had made a promise to meet each other here. No matter how dumb or strange it seemed he always intended on keeping that promise.
"I wonder if something happened to her? Her dad used to beat her pretty bad," he thought.
Bosco sat there until 12:15. He stood up to leave. "Happy Birthday Dom," he said into the night. "So much for keeping promises."
************
So, what do you think so far???
10 year olds can think of some pretty corny promises eh?
******
The only characters I own are Dominique Adams, and Rylee O'Neill.
This is an idea I came up with the other day. The story includes everything up to the episode "Thicker Than Water" which aired on April 1st, and this story also hints at SOME things that I am ASSUMING will take place next week (if they don't take place it still works in my land of make believe!).
OH, and I make up the history as I go along!
Please read and review!
*****
2 Present Day
3 Thursday
Officer Maurice "Bosco" Boscorelli hurried into the locker room almost knocking over Officer Ty Davis. "Whoa man. Slow down. You got plenty of time."
Boscorelli looked at his watch. "Huh. Whaddya know. I'm actually early." Bosco looked around the room with a grin on his face. He was so accustomed to being late that he didn't even realize it when he was early.
His partner Faith Yokas walked over to his locker. She leaned against the metal structure. "Bos. We need to talk."
He looked up from his seat on the bench. Bosco didn't like the look on her face. Something was wrong. He hadn't seen her look like this since that awful night when she told him she had cancer.
Bosco stood up and leaned against the locker so he was close enough to her that no one else would be able to hear them. "You OK? You're—you're not sick again are you?"
"No Bos. I'm fine."
He nodded. That was a relief.
"Why don't you finish getting dressed, and then meet me in the conference room before roll call."
"Yeah. Be there in a minute."
Bosco entered the conference room to find Faith standing with her back to the door. She was looking out the window. She heard him come in and turned around. "Shut the door."
He shut the door, and looked back at Faith. "What's going on?"
"Bos I passed the sergeant's test," she said softly.
"You what?" A look of shock crossed his face. "I mean…that's great." He tried to smile, but was too empty inside to give it a good attempt.
Faith pulled out a chair from the table, and sat down. She pointed to the chair across from her indicating she wanted him to sit as well.
He sat down, glanced at her quickly, and then looked down at the table. He didn't know what to say.
"They offered me a position." She paused. "I accepted."
Bosco's head shot up. "What?!"
"I'm gonna take it. I'm going to be a sergeant."
Bosco ran his hand through his hair, and exhaled. He had no idea what to say. He was completely numb. "Why?" he asked. His voice barely audible.
"We talked about it before Bos. I wanna be around as my kids grow up. There's less risk. Besides with you going ESU I was gonna be without a partner."
He was wringing his hands together. "I'm not going ESU."
"What do you mean? I thought you were pretty much through the test. Didn't you get in?"
"I never finished testing. Decided I didn't want it."
"But Bosco you've been talking about ESU, well, forever."
He just shrugged his shoulders.
They sat in silence for a couple minutes. Neither officer knowing what to say to the other. Bosco finally broke the awkward tension. "So when do you start?"
"Monday."
"Monday? So that means---"
"Today's our last shift together," she finished for him.
He shook his head, and looked at her with sad eyes. "So what happens to me?"
"Well, you've got a couple days off so they're going to be finding someone to partner you up with."
"I never thought this day would come Faith."
"What? You didn't think I could make sergeant!" She took offense to his words.
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"I never thought I'd have to work with someone other than you. Kinda thought we'd always be together. We were a team."
"Bos we may not be partners, but we'll always be a team. We'll always be together. It's not like I'm going to take this job, and never talk to you again."
The serious, emotional side of him was showing. It was the side of him that only Faith, his partner knew. "Promise?"
"I promise." Faith stood up. "We better get to roll call."
As Faith walked past Bosco he reached up and grabbed her arm to stop her. He stood up next to her. "Are you gonna be transferred?"
"No," she smiled. "But Christopher is."
Bosco threw his arm around Faith's shoulders and smiled. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all. I get preferential treatment right?" He winked.
"Keep dreaming Boscorelli. You're already on my shit list!"
"You aren't going to make me call you Sergeant Yokas are you?"
"You bet I am! What good is the title if you don't use it? Now come on."
*****
Their final shift together flew by. It was a busy night for the two officers, which didn't give them time to dwell on the partnership that was coming to an end.
Bosco finished changing into his civvies. He looked at Faith who was putting on her jacket. Reality hit him like a ton of bricks as he realized that this was the last time they would walk out of this locker room as partners. On Monday when he came back to work he would have a new partner, and Faith would be his sergeant.
Faith felt him looking at her. She knew what he was thinking because she was thinking the same thing. "Bosco? You OK?"
"Fine."
But she could see it in his eyes. The sadness. The hurt. The disappointment. The fear. The confusion. She knew this would be hard on him. For years they had worked together; side-by-side. They knew each other's families, deepest secrets and fears. Now she was leaving him, and he would have to learn to trust someone else; it wasn't going to be easy for him.
She walked over to him. "Come on. I'll buy you a drink."
He nodded and put on his jacket.
*****
They didn't say much to each other as they sat at the bar. Faith was still working on her first drink, and Bosco was finishing his second beer. He ordered a third.
"Bosco I didn't bring you here to get you drunk."
"No," he looked at her. "Then why'd you bring me here?"
"To talk."
"Talk if you want, but I'm drinking."
"Bos I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"Springing this on you today."
He turned his attention away from her, and started in on his beer.
"I didn't do this to hurt you. It's just better for me and Fred and the kids." He didn't say anything. "Besides, I really thought you were going ESU. You still can you know. Why don't you finish testing?"
"I can't."
"Sure you can."
Bosco looked at Faith. "With everything that's happened lately. I *can't*." He looked down at the bar. "I can't handle it. I'm not ready, and I don't think I ever will be." He shook his head. "Some cop I turned out to be."
"Bosco you're an excellent cop! Don't doubt yourself."
"Tell me something Faith. Be honest. You taking the sergeants position. Does it have anything to do with me? Were you, are you, afraid I can't do my job anymore?"
"No Bosco. How could you even think that! You just had some pretty low times. I know you're going to bounce back. You just have to give it time." She put her hand on his. "Bosco this is what I had to do for my family."
"What am I going to do without you Faith?" He mentally kicked himself. Even though he had only had a couple beers the alcohol was already loosening his tongue. When he drank he had trouble keeping his mouth shut.
"You'll get a new partner, and you'll move on. Hell, you'll probably forget all about me."
"That's not possible." There was a short lull in their conversation. "Faith."
"Yeah."
"Remember what you promised me today? About always being a team. Always being together."
"Of course I remember."
He stood up to leave. "Don't break it. Seems like everyone I know breaks their promises."
Faith watched as he walked out of the bar.
*****
When Bosco got home he threw his keys, and wallet on the coffee table. He grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and sat down on the couch. He reached for the remote control, but stopped when he noticed the picture that was sticking out of his wallet. Bosco set down his beer, and pulled out the picture.
The picture was old and worn. The corners were bent, and there was a crease down the center of the picture from having been in his wallet so long. It was a picture of him when he was little. He wasn't quite ten in the picture, and he had his arm around his best friend, Dominique Adams. At the time he never thought he could be best friends with a girl, but the day he met her that had all changed. To this day he thought that she was a big reason why he was able to get along so well with Faith.
"What the hell happened to you Dom?!" He stood, and put the picture in the junk drawer in the kitchen.
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"Dad stop! You're hurting her!" Yelled Maurice as he stood in the doorway of the living room and watched his father slap his mother repeatedly.
"You're next if you don't shut up you little brat!" spat his father.
"I'm OK Maurice," his mother whimpered.
He couldn't watch this anymore. He had to get out. Maurice ran out the front door crying. The little boy ran down the street and ended up at the playground. He went straight for his favorite spot. The cement tube in the corner of the lot. No one ever went there. That was the one place in the world where he could be alone, and dream of a better life. But today someone was in his place.
"Hey this is my spot!"
"I don't see your name on it!" The little girl stood up, and walked over to Maurice.
"This is where I hang out. You can't be here!"
"I was here first."
"Leave!"
"Make me."
He was so mad. Mad at his dad for hitting his mom. Mad at his mom for taking the abuse. And now he was mad at this girl.
Maurice pushed her. She pushed him back. This girl wasn't backing down, which angered him even more. The next thing he knew they were wrestling on the ground. After a long struggle the girl got Maurice on his back, and then sat on him. A girl had beaten him.
She looked down at him. "I'm pretty sure I won."
"You fight pretty good for a girl."
"Yeah, well, you're not bad for a momma's boy."
"Will you get off me now?"
She stood up, and offered him a hand. "I'm Dominique Adams."
"Maurice Boscorelli."
"Maurice?" she laughed.
"Yeah. What of it?"
"You just don't look like a Maurice."
"And you don't fight like a Dominique."
She grinned. "I think I'll call you---"
"Don't say Moe. My little brother calls me Moe, and it makes me think of the Three Stooges."
"How 'bout Reese?"
"Sure. Nobody calls me that. I'll call you Dom."
"OK."
The two new friends sat together in the cement tube. "So, how old are you?" she asked.
"Eight and a half."
"Me too. When's your birthday?"
"April 25th. When's yours?"
"April 26th."
"No way!"
"Way."
Reese and Dom talked for a long time about typical eight-year-old things. They found out that they lived only ten blocks apart, and that the playground was five blocks from each of their houses. Neither of them had seen each other before though, and they figured that was because they went to different schools.
"So, how come you like this place?" he asked. "I thought I was the only one who came here."
"You promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I promise."
"I come here to get away from my dad. He hits my mom."
Reese looked at her with a horrified expression.
"What?" she asked a bit annoyed.
"My dad hits my mom too," he said sadly.
"Sucks don't it?"
"Yeah."
Dom stood up. "It's getting really dark Reese. I better head home."
"Me too. See you later Dom."
For almost two years Dom and Reese met up at the playground whenever they could. Sometimes they talked about what went on between their parents and how their dad had started to beat them as well. But mostly they talked about the future. About growing up and getting away.
One night, when they were about ten, Reese met Dom in their favorite spot. "What's wrong Reese?"
"My parents are splitting up."
"That's good isn't it? He can't hurt her anymore."
He looked at her with sad eyes. "I'm moving Dom."
"Where? When?"
"Ma won't say where. We leave tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!"
"Yeah."
"You can't move! There's too much stuff we have to do together!"
"I can't help it."
"You'll write to me right?"
Reese looked away. "You'll write to me?"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Ma says we have to start over. She said we have to say goodbye for good. She's afraid dad will find us if I write."
"But I won't say anything!"
"Dom I'm sorry. Look, I'll never forget you."
"Me either."
They stood staring at their feet for a long time. Just thinking.
"Promise me something Reese."
"Anything."
"If we don't run into each other again sometime; promise me that when the clock strikes midnight ending your 30th birthday and beginning mine you'll meet me here. So we can celebrate together like we always do."
"Why when we're 30?"
"I don't know. Just seems like a good number. Promise me."
"I promise."
She held up her hand. "Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear." They interlocked their little fingers.
"I gotta go Dom."
"Bye Reese."
"Bye," he turned to go home, but stopped. "Hey! What if this place isn't here when we turn 30?"
"Then we'll, uh, meet on the sidewalk outside of whatever is here."
"OK." Once again he turned, and this time he ran home.
"Goodbye Maurice," she whispered as she watched her friend disappear into the night.
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11:59PM April 25th, 2000 Bosco's 30th Birthday
He couldn't believe the playground was still here. It looked exactly the same as the day he had left. Bosco looked at his watch as it changed to midnight. "Where are you Dom?"
He sat down on one of the swings, and thought back to the last time he had seen her. Sure it was almost twenty years ago, but they had made a promise to meet each other here. No matter how dumb or strange it seemed he always intended on keeping that promise.
"I wonder if something happened to her? Her dad used to beat her pretty bad," he thought.
Bosco sat there until 12:15. He stood up to leave. "Happy Birthday Dom," he said into the night. "So much for keeping promises."
************
So, what do you think so far???
10 year olds can think of some pretty corny promises eh?