It's All In the Family
By Ceramac24

CHAPTER ONE

Officers Boscorelli and Yokas were waiting in the RMP, just outside the corner market on 98th and Hampton, for their shift to end. It had been a pretty slow day; therefore it had been a long day. Bosco was looking forward to the end of the shift because tomorrow was his day off. Not planning on doing anything until going to dinner at his moms, he was excited about this mini-vacation.

"What are you going to do tomorrow?" he asked Faith.

"I'm picking up Gusler's shift tomorrow and he is going to take one of mine next week so I can go see Charlie's school play." Faith replied.

"You gonna be able to survive with out me?" he asked, turning his head towards her with that Boscorelli smile she saw so little of these days.

Faith was glad that Bosco would be working with her for the next week or so, instead of up in Anti-Crime with their new sergeant. Her name was Cruz and already Faith didn't trust her. Perhaps it's a woman's instinct, but she had a feeling Cruz was trouble. Bosco idolized her (for reasons Faith would never understand) and Faith knew that Bosco was going to end up getting hurt, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to stop it from happening.

"I think I'll manage." Faith said, returning the smile.

"Suit yourself," Bosco said. Glancing at his watch, "It's 10 after 11; let's head back to the station."

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The next night, Bosco checked his watch as he walked up the stairs to his mother's apartment. 5:45 pm. He was a little early, but she, of course, wouldn't care. Using his key, he entered his mother's apartment.

"Ma?" he called out.

"In the kitchen, Maurice!"

He walked back in the kitchen to find her taking the lasagna out of the oven.

"Looks like I'm just in time." Bosco said, giving his mom a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Not yet," Rose said. "We have to wait for Julie." Turning around, she looked at her son for the first time since he got there. "You could have dressed up a little," she said, referring to his jeans and sweatshirt.

Bosco gave his mother a confused look. "Who's Julie?" he asked, ignoring his mother's comment about his clothes.

"Julie. You're cousin Julie." she said, grabbing the plates from the cupboard.

"Julie from dad's side?" he asked, his mother nodding her head. "Oh no, ma, you didn't!"

She put the plates on the table and moved around Bosco to grab the glasses. "Maurice, I told you three weeks ago that your cousin Julie moved to New York and that when she was all settled she was coming over for dinner."

Bosco groaned. It's not that he didn't like his cousin; he hated her.

"Maurice, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I'm sure that she's grown up a little since you last saw her!" his mother said.

Bosco started setting the table for his mother. Great, he thought, now I am going to have to spend the whole night acting like that night at the park didn't happen, just to make Ma happy.

As if reading his mind, his mother said, "You don't have to change your feelings towards her for me. Just as long as you are polite and don't say anything stupid." She handed him the silverware. Rose noticed the tension in her son's eyes. This meeting wasn't going to be easy on anyone, especially Rose, who would have to mediate if things got ugly. "Maurice, you haven't seen your cousin since you both were 16 years old. My guess is that she's not the same girl you remember."

Bosco was beginning to doubt his mother's confidence in his cousin's maturity, since she lacked it the last time they saw one another. "So, what's she doing in New York?" he asked.

Just then the doorbell rang. "You can ask her that yourself!" Rose said, throwing her apron in the closet and walking over to let her niece in the apartment. Opening the door, Rose revealed a physically different girl than Bosco remembered. She was a little taller than he expected; she must have grown significantly in her late teens. Her once long, mousy brown hair was cut into a neat bob, the color a rich auburn with gold highlights. She carried herself well, he thought, as she stepped into the room. Always on her high horse, no doubt, Bosco said to himself.

"Hi Rose!" Julie said from the doorway.

"Julie!" Rose said, as she ushered her niece in and embracing her. Taking a step back, Rose exclaimed, "Oh my, you look fabulous! Doesn't she look fabulous Maurice?"

"Yeah, fabulous." he answered. He hated uncomfortable formalities.

Taking Julie by the arm, she brought her over to where Bosco was standing. "Julie, you remember your cousin Maurice, right?"

"Sure," Julie said. "How've you been?" she asked, looking at everything else in the room except her cousin.

"Fine." he said, doing the same.

Rose sensed that this uneasiness between the two cousins wasn't going to go away unless she helped them. "Why don't we sit down and eat, huh? I just pulled the lasagna out of the oven before you rang the bell."

Thankful for the interruption, Julie graciously followed her aunt into the dining room of the apartment. The conversation that flowed during dinner was mostly just formality. Rose asked Julie to explain her job at Bloomingdale's department store headquarters in the city.

"Well," Julie began. "Basically, my title is Senior Buyer. But, it involves much more that the actual purchasing of the clothes for Bloomingdale's. I also talk daily with the Associate Buyers underneath me and with our different clientele from around the world. I deal with the forecasting of trends and deciding on where certain styles are going in relation to what our consumers want. It's a very taxing job."

"That sounds very interesting." Rose said, taking a sip of her wine.

"You actually went to school for this?" Bosco asked, unimpressed. If anyone's job was taxing, it was his and not hers.

"Believe it or not, Maurice, but some idiot off the street couldn't just walk in to my office and do my job." she said, already annoyed with her cousin. She knew coming here was a mistake; there were still a lot of unresolved issues between the two of them. She didn't know why she deluded herself into thinking they would disappear with age. "You couldn't do it," she said, trying to push his buttons. If he was going to try to embarrass her in front of his mother, she thought, two can play that game.

Rose sensed that this was going to get ugly, so she broke in before it went any further. "What's your apartment look like Julie?"

"Well," she started. "It's a little two-bedroom on top of a Grocer on 110th Street. It's called Tallie's. It's very spacious and the rent is cheap." she finished. She was grateful for the change in subject, because she got the last word. And she knew that if there was one thing that would bother her cousin for the rest of the night, that would be it.

Bosco looked at his mother in shock. She hadn't even let him defend himself in what could have been a great argument between him and the bitch across from him. His mother had the nerve to change the subject! Bosco got up, threw his napkin down, and walked away from the table, muttering some request to be excused. Rose turned to watch her sons retreating form, while Julie stared at her food. They heard Bosco open the door to the apartment and slam it with such a force it's a wonder the pictures didn't fall off the wall.

"This was a bad idea, coming here." Julie said, after a few moments of silence, the door slam still ringing in their ears. "I should have known that all Boscorelli's are stubborn."

"And that trait he definitely gets from his father." Rose said, gathering the plates from the table. "And you from your father."

"It was a long time ago, Rose. I thought he would have been over it." Julie said, helping her aunt clear off the table. Julie had thought she was over it too, but being back here tonight, in her cousin's presence, she realized that everything that was said between the two of them, all those years ago, still hung over them like a little black rain cloud that refused to go away.

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STAY TUNED for Chapter 2. It's a flashback chapter of what exactly happened the night in the park (when they were 16 years old) that made the two cousins hate each other.