Uncle B
Bosco. He's been a household name ever since I can remember. He was much more than Mom's partner to me and Charlie. He was Uncle B.
When I was younger, he and Mom would sometimes stop by the apartment for a few minutes during their shift. Seeing Bosco was always just as cool as seeing Mom. He was the cool uncle we never had. I mean, Mom's real brother? Can you say ass? But Bosco was the exact opposite, he was fun to be around, and Charlie and I loved him.
Back then, he would come over for dinner, and Mom would usually insist on him spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with us. I didn't understand why he was never with his own family during the holidays, but I was happy because we had Uncle B. He always seemed to be able to get down to our level better than Mom and Dad—especially when he'd be just as excited when Charlie got a new toy.
I matured, started the path to becoming the young woman I am now. Plenty of my friends thought that Bosco was handsome, and that I was so lucky to be on such close terms with him. I shook them off—nah, that's just Bosco. Just Bosco. Just Uncle B.
As I got older, I became aware of certain tensions between Bosco and my family, especially my dad. Suddenly Bosco was no longer the great guy that helped my dad win his prized truck, but a name uttered with disdain. I didn't know what exactly was going on. It seemed to happen really gradually at the time, but in hindsight, all I see is this big blow-up. What I've managed to piece together since then, is that it involved Sergeant Cruz, Bosco and my mom splitting up as partners, him coming to my mom for help, and then suddenly my mom is shot and in a wheelchair. When it first started, I didn't care—Mom and I were having problems, and I'd gotten mixed up in some things that I shouldn't have.
During this difficult time for my family, it became clear to me that Mom and Bosco's relationship was more than the simple platonic partnership. I don't know to this day if anything happened between them romantically—I've always been inclined to think that my mom possesses some of the morality and integrity that my dad lacks. I know they used to talk though, about personal things too, things that I was even aware about.
After a long time, everything settled and my mom went back to work. Bosco and my Mom started riding together again, and I thought things would go back to the way there were five years before. Bosco started having a hard time with his brother and the rest of his family, and then was shot as a crazed father put out hits on several members of the 55. I thought that my Uncle B, my hero, was done.
Bosco recovered, and against the odds went back to his job. The 55 precinct disbanded not long afterwards, and while my mom took her promotion and moved away with me (and a certain Captain Miller), Bosco stayed on the street, doing what he did best, to be the next Uncle B to someone else.