Title: Wherever You Will Go series, fic #2: Here With Me (1/2)

Authors: Demelza and X_tremeroswellian

Email(s): demelza81@yahoo.co.nz and X_tremeroswellian@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to us. They belong to Edward Allen Bernero and John Wells and a bunch of other people that we've never met before. Please don't sue. Song is "Here With Me" by Dido.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Up through and including "The Unforgiven."

Summary: While trapped in an elevator together, Bosco and Faith have a serious talk and end up revealing more about their lives than they'd planned.

Author's Note: This is the second story in a series of Third Watch fics we're writing titled "Wherever You Will Go." The first one is "Confessions." You may want to read that one first before continuing.

Author's Note #2: In this series we are going with the premise that Jimmy has custody of Joey, but Kim is appealing the judge's decision.

Here With Me (Part One)

Previously:

*mustang_mo3379: What's your squad code?
dependable1: 55-David
mustang_mo3379: oh my god. Faith?
dependable1: No way. Bosco?

*dependable1: you wanted to move on to bigger and better things, Bosco, I get that. I do.
mustang_mo3379: Faith...
dependable1: Look, Bosco, I gotta go, okay? I'm really tired. I'll see you at work.
mustang_mo3379: no wait, Faith, don't go...... we gotta talk this through.
dependable1: it's okay. it's late. we'll talk later.
dependable1 has signed off.
mustang_mo3379: damn it

Oh, I am what I am
I'll do what I want
But I can't hide
And I won't go
I won't sleep
And I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me...

The next day, Bosco pushed the locker-room door open and stepped inside, almost freezing in his steps as he saw Faith over by her own locker.

"Hey," she said, not turning around to face him.

"Hey," he replied quietly, walking over to his locker. He stopped, turning back to Faith. She didn't look back at him, but continued to stare into her locker, pretending to be interested in something. He turned his attention back to his locker for a moment, before letting out a low breath in frustration. "I tried to call you this morning."

"I wasout," Faith replied, vaguely.

Bosco shook his head as he opened his locker. "Then why didn't the machine pick up?"

"I must've forgot to turn it on."

"Sure," he mumbled. "So are we going to talk about it?" he asked, his voice slightly louder.

Faith turned to look at him for a very brief moment, then shut her locker. "We're gonna be late for roll call."

He reached into his locker and pulled out his vest. "We need to talk about it."

She paused for a moment. "There's nothing to talk about," she said, and without another word she left the locker room.

Bosco removed his jacket and angrily strapped on his vest. "Damn!" he said aloud, then removed his uniform shirt from his locker.

Once he was fully dressed in uniform, Bosco headed straight to roll-call. When he entered the room, his first instinct was to find where his partner was, and take the seat beside her. Except this time when he looked in her direction, he could see her sitting between two officer's already. No room for him.

Sergeant Christopher glared at him. "Boscorelli, you're late. Again."

Bosco looked toward Sgt. Christopher for a split second before turning his attention back to Faith. Every other officer was looking at him, but her. It hurt him, but he walked toward the back of the room to the only available seat.

Davis leaned over in his chair and looked at Sully. "What's up with them this time?"

Sully frowned, shaking his head. "Who knows?"

Bosco paid no attention to the two officers as they talked, but painfully kept his attention on Sgt. Christopher. Every now and then, he would look toward Faith.

Sgt. Christopher grinned at everyone. "What's up, my people?"

Lieu cleared his throat, shaking his head at the Sergeant. "Christopher," he warned.

A small smirk appeared on Bosco's face.

Sgt. Christopher immediately straightened and the smile left his face. "All right, we've got four suspects to keep an eye out for today. Three unidentified perps robbed Center Bank on Water Street, all three wearing masks. One of them is named Jamie."

Officer Matthews called out, "Hey, isn't that your mother?"

Several of the other officers in the room laughed at the question.

Christopher glared at him. "Thanks for volunteering to serve one of the two arrest warrents we have today, Matthews. You and Wilkins can track down Mark Lester and arrest him for missing a court date."

Sully glanced at his partner. "Glad that's not you and me," he said in a low voice.

"Me too."

"The other suspect, one Matt Harrison has been making a wicked homeade ecstacy/heroin combination and selling it to a bunch of junior high and high school kids. Boscorelli, you were late, so you and Yokas may have the pleasure of finding and arresting him." Christopher smirked at Bosco.

He merely smirked back, rolling his eyes at the sergeant.

"All right, you're dismissed. Eyes and ears open people." Christopher looked at Faith and smirked for a moment, then turned and left.

Bosco glared at Sgt. Christopher as he stood up from his seat, hating the smirk he gave Faith.

Davis stood up, glanced at Faith, then Bosco, then to Sully. "I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting first day back."

Faith stood up and looked over at Bosco. "I'll get the radios," she said, without giving him a chance to respond before she left the room.

Sully put his hand on Davis' shoulder. "And a long one."

Davis nodded in agreement and sighed.

Bosco went to call out after her, but seeing the looks he was getting from a few of the other officers, he merely followed.

Faith exited the station house and headed for their squad car, walking quickly.

Bosco was following behind, racing to keep up. "Faith..."

She didn't slow down or respond.

He ran right up to her, and grabbed her by the arm, turning her to face him. "Faith, just, stop."

She finally did and looked at him. "What?"

Bosco took in a breath, letting go of her arm. "Are you ever going to talk to me again?"

She stared at him for a moment, cringing slightly at the hurt look on his face. "I'm sorry..it's just been a long couple of days, Bosco."

Bosco restrained himself from grabbing her by the shoulders, and telling her that that was no excuse. "I know."

"You driving? Or should I?"

Bosco sighed. "I will."

Faith closed her eyes momentarily as Bosco walked away from her. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath.

"So how does it feel to be back in the saddle?" Sully asked his partner, glancing at him sideways.

"Good. I was sick of being in that apartment." Davis turned to glance at Sully, grinning broadly. "Although I did have a couple of nice visits from Nurse Alex."

Sully looked back at the young officer, hiding a grin, then turned his eyes back toward the road. "So you and Alex are seeing a lot of each other now?"

"Yep." His voice turned serious. "Have you heard from Tatiana?"

Sully shifted on the seat in discomfort. "Yeah, last night. We talked in a chat room."

Davis did a doubletake, startled. "*You* were in a *chat* room last night?" He tried to cover up a snicker but couldn't quite do it.

Sully shot him a glare. Then, sounding disgruntled, he answered, "Yes. You know, you meet some real characters in there."

He nodded in agreement, thinking of his own experience in a chat room the previous night. "Yeah, no kidding. So how'd it go? With Tatiana?"

"There was this one guy, he kept being rude to all the ladies in the room."

Davis frowned. "Really."

"Yeah. Tatiana and I left though, it was real bad in there. I'm surprised many of the others stayed as long as they did, I couldn't stand it."

Davis was starting to feel impatient but he tried to hide it by looking out the window. "So...you and Tatiana talked then? "

Sully finally gave in. "Yeah. Not for long, but after I got offline, she called. We've agreed to meet for coffee tomorrow since I have the day off."

"Hey, that's great." Davis paused, then glanced at Sully again. "That is great, right?"

"Yeah, it's great." Sully let out a breath, but by the sound of his partner's voice, Davis knew he had doubts.

Doc walked up the stairs of the firehouse and into the room with the beds and lockers. He spins the combination on his locker and pulled it open, looking inside for his uniform.

Behind him, Kim entered the firehouse. She followed him up stairs and headed straight to her locker.

Doc turned around and saw her. He smiled. "Hey, Kim."

Kim was trying to recall the combination of her locker, when frustrated, she stopped and turned to Doc. "Hey, Doc," she replied, with a short, fake smile.

"How's it going?" he asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

Kim shrugged as she turned back to the stupid combination. "Alright."

He gazed at her for a minute, then walked over to her locker, unlocked it and opened it for her.

She let out a sigh, with another short smile. "Thanks."

"Sure." He paused. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Well, have you got a few hours?"

"I don't know about a few hours, but we've got some time before the others get here."

Kim sat down on the bed beside her locker. "It's Jimmy... he's..." She took a deep breath, trying not to let any tears flow. "He's trying to fight my appeal for custody of Joey."

Doc sat down next to her on the bed. "Trying doesn't mean he's going to succeed."

She laughed, but it was a painful one. "After what I... did." She sighed lightly. "He probably will."

"Not necessarily. Jimmy's no angel himself."

"I'm the one who tried to kill myself, the judge will see that, and just..." She paused for a moment, meeting Doc's gaze. "I can't let him take Joey away from me for good, Doc. I can't."

Doc put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't know that they will. You're a good mother, Kim. I'm sure the judge is gonna see that."

Kim smiled up at him faintly, before looking away. "I hope he does," she said in a soft voice.

Alex Taylor came into the room at that moment. "Man, the weather this year really sucks." She glanced over to Doc and Kim, sensing she interupted something private. "Oops, sorry." She started to back out of the room.

Kim stood up. "No, it's okay." She turned to Doc again. "Thank you, for listening."

"Sure. Anytime."

Alex looked concerned. "Are you sure? Cause I'm early. I can go back outside."

Kim turned to Alex again, forcing a smile. "I'm sure."

Alex nodded uncertainly. "Okay." She walked over to her locker and quickly opened it. She yawned loudly.

Just then, Carlos came 'bouncing' into the room. He walked directly over to his locker, a smile stretched over his face.

"Long night, Alex?" Kim asked, pulling her uniform out of her locker.

"Very." Alex looked over at Carlos. "What are you so happy about?"

Carlos opened his locker easily and began to remove his uniform. "Kylie."

Doc glanced over at him. "She sleep through the night?"

"Uh, not really. But, she's just so full of life. And when she smiles..."

Alex shook her head slightly. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"What, what?"

Alex supressed a grin. "When you were so happy about spending time with someone other than yourself."

"Hey, when you grow up with the childhood I did, you grow up with only one important person in your life. You." He removed his jacket, and slipped on his uniform shirt. "But anyway, Kylie, she's... she's part of me."

Alex's smile turned into a slight frown. "Sorry...I didn't mean...I think it's great," she said sincerely.

"No, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said it like that."

Doc glanced from Alex to Carlos, then shook his head, surprised they were being nice to each other for a change. He remained silent.

Carlos reached into his jacket pocket and removed a yellow envelope. He turned to Alex. "I have some new pictures, if you want to see them."

Alex walked over and took the envelope from him. She grinned as she flipped through them. "These are great!"

He grinned back. "I just picked them up before work. I can't believe Davis' crappy camera actually worked."

"Hey, watch what you say about my boyfriend!" she joked. Then she froze, turning to look at Doc, realizing he didn't know she was dating Davis.

Doc raised an eyebrow. "You and Davis?"

She nodded slightly. "Sorry I didn't say something before."

He shrugged. "It's okay."

"Secrets..." Carlos said, shaking his head with a wide grin as he continued to look at a few of the pictures of Kylie.

Alex gave him a look, then walked back over to her locker, closed it and sat down on one of the beds to tie her shoes.

Carlos and Kim both turned back to their respective lockers and continued dressing into their uniforms. Kim's mind filled with worry about the hearing.

Alex glanced over at Kim. "You're awfully quiet this afternoon."

Kim retrieved her work boots from the locker before closing it. She took a seat on the side of her bed, facing Alex. "Court hearing this morning," she admitted reluctantly.

Alex frowned deeply. "How'd it go?"

"Not so great. Jimmy's really trying to keep custody of Joey."

"What a jerk," she said, shaking her head in disgust.

"That's not half as bad as what I feel like screaming at him everytime I see his face."

"Yeah, you just got the pg version from me," Alex told her.

Kim changed the subject. "So how's Davis doing?"

"Better. He's back at work today, actually," she said, frowning slightly.

"Why the frown? Are you worried for him?" Kim asked, concerned.

"Yeah, kind of. I'm just afraid he'll push himself too hard."

"Well, he's not as hard-headed as... well he's not hard-headed. I'm sure he knows the limits of what he can do."

"I hope so."

"And if not, I'm sure Sully will make sure he doesn't over-do it."

Alex nodded, looking a bit relieved, but still feeling nervous. "I'm sure you're right."

Carlos, at this point had already gotten fully dressed into his work gear. "Doc, you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Kim stood up and walked over to Alex, placing a reassuring arm on her shoulder. "You can always ring him on your break, see how he's doing."

"Yeah. Thanks, Kim." Alex stood up. "You ready?"

She nodded. "Ready."

"All right. Let's go save some lives," Alex said.

Bosco was driving down a seedy looking neighborhood while Faith looked out the window. "There." She nodded toward a guy leaning against a building.

Bosco saw the guy, and brought the car to a stop at the sidewalk just out in front of him. "Let's do this..." He climbed out of the car, grabbing his baton and sliding it into his belt.

She climbed out the passenger side and closed the door behind her, walking next to Bosco as they approached Aaron.

Bosco began his walk toward the man, noticing his partner at his side as they approached. "Azzer?"

The guy looked back at Bosco with a distinct glare in his eyes. He nodded.

"Officer Sullivan said we'd find you here. Mind if we ask you some questions?"

Aaron looked between the two officers, smirking at Faith, before setting his eyes back on Bosco. "Sure, I got nothing to hide."

Bosco scoffed a bit and under his breath, and muttered, "Yeah, we'll see about that."

Aaron shook his head a little, pushing himself away from the wall with his foot. "So ask your questions."

He looked at Faith for a moment, then turned his attention back to Aaron. "We're looking for someone. Matt Harris. Heard you knew him."

Aaron nodded a little, looking down the street to the left. He brought his gaze around to meet Faith's eyes, winking once, before looking back at Bosco. "Who?"

Bosco glared at him. "Matt Harris. Seen him around lately?"

Aaron tossed a bit of white paper he was playing with down to the ground. "Look, I don't know who he is." He looked toward Faith, scanning his eyes over her from head to foot, before turning his attention back to Bosco. "What you want him for, anyways?"

He really didn't like the way the jerk kept eyeing his partner. "Really? You don't know him, huh?" He looked at Faith, who seemed a bit distracted, then took a small step closer to Aaron. "Because Officer Sullivan said you were good buddies."

Aaron hid a smirk. He nodded toward Faith. "Bet I can guess your favorite number." He winked again, completely ignoring Bosco.

She rolled her eyes but didn't bother with a reply.

"69. That's you and me, baby."

Bosco grabbed Aaron by his coat and shoved him back into the wall. "You son of a bitch!"

Faith stepped forward quickly, grabbing Bosco by the arm. "Bosco!"

Aaron laughed, grinning at the officer."Don't tell me you never thought of doing her in the back of that squad car."

"You're just asking for a beating, you know that, right?"

"Boz," she warned.

"You better stay focused and tell me what I need to know right now," Bosco said angrily, totally ignoring Faith.

Aaron grinned slyly. "You answer my question, I'll answer yours."

He took a step back from him and watched Aaron visibly relax. "You want me to answer your question?" His tone exhibited complete calmness.

Aaron shrugged slightly, his grin growing. "Seems only fair. You want info from me... call it a trade."

He nodded. "A trade, huh? Trade this!" Bosco punched him in the jaw once, hard.

"Bosco!"

Aaron dropped to the ground, laughing his ass off. He leaned his head back against the wall, looking up at the towering officer. "All you cops are the fucking same."

Bosco grabbed him by his coat and slammed him up against the wall. "Don't you ever talk about her like that again, you hear me, jack-off?"

"Bosco! Stop it!"

He turned to Faith, surprised at the anger in her tone. "What? I was defending you!"

"I don't need you to defend me!" she snapped, glaring at him.

"What the hell is with you today?"

Aaron found his way to his feet and began running down the footpath away from them both.

"This isn't what we're here for. We're here for information, not to beat the crap out of some guy that--hey!"

Bosco turned and saw Aaron running off. "Sonofabitch!"

Aaron looked over his shoulder at Faith's shout, seeing them both looking at him now. He turned his head around and continued running, faster now.

Bosco chased Aaron down to the end of the block, where Aaron turned right on a corner. He cursed under his breath, but continued after the son of a bitch.

Faith appeared from an alley way and tackled Aaron just as he was running by.

Aaron went flying to the ground, his face hitting the ground.

Bosco stopped right behind them, looking toward her in surprise for a moment, before taking over for her, grabbing hold of Aaron and holding him down to the ground. "Where is your buddy Matt Harris!?" he demanded, pushing Aaron's face hard into the concrete again.

Aaron spat blood, coughing out the last bit of laughter left in him. He held his mouth shut, not saying anything.

"You better answer him. He's really pissed now," Faith warned.

Bosco pushed his head into the ground again, this time holding him down. "Tell me!"

"Alright! alright! I give in!"

"Where's he been dealing lately?" she questioned.

Aaron's voice was shaky as he spat more blood, a piece of chipped tooth amongst it. "St. Elizabeth's Elementary... I swear, he goes there every day at quarter to ten, and just after three."

Faith turned visibly pale. "What?"

Instantly, Bosco jerked his head in Faith's direction. That was Emily's school. He turned back to Aaron, shoving his face into the ground harder. "Tell me you're fucking with us!"

"I swear, I fucking swear! He goes there twice a day. Sells the kids drugs and shit. I swear I'm not lying man."

"It's too late to find him there today. It's after five," she said, her but barely hiding her emotional upset.

Bosco heard his partner's voice, but kept his attention on Aaron. "Where can we find him?"

"I dunno man, I heard he does a lotta work up Center Street, 764 North... there's this abandoned building, he'll be there..." Aaron said, his voice trembling.

Bosco clenched his teeth, feeling like pressing the guy's face further into the ground, when he let go, and stood up. He took a step backward toward Faith, watching Aaron scurry off. He looked over toward Faith, seeing the look on her face. "Are you okay?"

There was a long moment of silence. "Let's go," she replied, turning and walking back toward the car.

Kim was driving the bus a few blocks up from the station house. It had been pretty quiet with nothing having been said between either of them since they left the station. She decided to break the silence. "You and Ty getting ready for another anniversary soon?"

"Yeah, three months tomorrow," Alex said, distracted, gazing out the window.

"Well, I'd say that's great news. Something you want to talk about, though?" she asked, concerned.

Alex glanced over at her and sighed. "We almost didn't make it to this anniversary."

She nodded. "Well you did, and he's fine... but that's not what's bothering you, is it?"

"He's been kind of...distant," Alex confessed.

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"No! It's just..." She took a deep breath. "When he was in the hospital and I was visiting him, we were talking and I was holding his hand and his mom came in. And he pulled away really quick. I think he's...ashamed of me or something."

"Maybe his mother didn't know about you two?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being stupid."

"Alex, I don't know Ty that well, but... I doubt he's ashamed of you, or anything else."

"I hope not. That'd be a pretty hard one to overcome, huh?"

Just then, the dispatcher came on over the radio. "All units respond to MVA on Main and Lexington."

Alex picked up the radio. "Boy 55-3, in route to Main and Lexington." She turned to glance at Kim. "Here we go."

"MVA... damn I hate those." Kim quickly flicked on the sirens and lights, bringing the bus to a screaming halt as she turned it around and sped off in the opposite direction.

Faith climbed out of the passenger side as Bosco parked the car on Center Street in front of the building Azzer had told them about. She took a deep breath, glancing up at the tall building and then released the breath with a sigh. She glanced over to see Bosco rounding to her side of the car and they walked together toward the building's entrance. Rain suddenly started pouring down on them before they made it to the door.

Bosco brushed the rain off his jacket, disgusted. "Aw, what? This is gonna ruin my jacket!" He turned to look at his partner for a moment, slight scowl on his face at the sudden downpour, catching her rolling her eyes at him. He brushed the rain off once more, and continued walking.

She hurried toward the front door and flung it open, stepping inside.

Bosco hurried in behind Faith, letting out a breath of relief at being out of the rain.

"You take this floor, I'll check the next one," she commanded, wanting nothing more than to catch the bastard that had been selling drugs to kids at Emily's school.

Bosco nodded slightly, heading off down the hall. Didn't she realize that he wanted to catch the guy, too?

Faith quickly headed for the stairs. When she hit the second one, her foot crashed right through the step and she fell against the wall. "Shit!" She looked down at her leg, wincing as she tried to remove her foot from the hole.

Bosco swung around immediately, seeing Faith against the wall. He ran back over to her, putting his hand on her arm as she tried to move her foot. "Here, let me help..."

She grabbed onto Bosco's shoulder for support as she pulled her foot out. "Damn it." She fell against him as she stumbled off the steps.

He put his arm around her, helping her away from the broken steps. "We need to call it in."

"What? No, I'm fine," she protested, glancing down at her foot. It had torn the material of her pants and she could see a bit of blood seeping through.

He looked at her. "Faith, you know the regs, we have to call this in."

"Later. We need to catch this guy first," she said, determined.

Bosco nodded, reluctantly. "Fine, but we're not using those stairs. There's an elevator just over there." He walked over to the elevator, slamming the palm of his hand against the call button and waiting for the doors to slide open.

Faith glanced up the stairs, realizing he was right. There was no way they could use the stairs. She followed him to the elevator, and hesitated when the door opened.

He turned to her again. "We can call it in, Faith, not go up there. We'll call in back up. They'll be here in five minutes."

She shook her head, took a deep breath and stepped inside the elevator. "Let's do this."

He walked in behind her, shaking his head a little. He stepped in and pressed the first level button.

She backed up into the corner of the elevator, gripping tightly onto the support bar.

Bosco watched her move away, grabbing the support bar. She hates elevators, he remembered. He stepped back in the opposite corner, feeling the elevator rise up.

The elevator shook slightly and then stopped without warning.

Faith froze, waiting for the doors to open.

They didn't.

Bosco looked over at Faith, then quickly toward the doors, just waiting for that familiar noise of the doors sliding open. "Oh, don't tell me!"

"Son of a bitch," she muttered quietly.

Bosco headed directly over to the buttons and pressed a whole lot of them in no particular order. "Damn it!"

Faith took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. "I'll just radio Central and tell them we're stuck." She reached down and pressed the button on her radio, but nothing happened.

Bosco nodded, then waited for the static. When nothing happened, he shook his head. "What the hell!?"

"This has got to be a joke." She pressed the button again, and still nothing. "Shit! The damn battery's dead!"

He went to reach for his radio when he realized he'd left the damn thing in the car. "Shit!" He kicked the panel beneath the button panel.

Faith took another deep breath. "Bosco?"

Bosco looked at her. "I left my damn radio in the car. Why on a day like today?" he said, keeping his voice calm.

"Oh, yeah, like today's any worse to get stuck in an elevator in an abandoned building than any other day would be."

He let out a low breath. "I was just... never mind, just forget it."

"No, what were you gonna say?"

Bosco looking up at the ceiling, turning around where he stood to get in a full view. "There's got to be a way out," he said, ignoring what she'd asked.

A look of horrible realization crossed her face. "Oh, shit. Bosco, we didn't radio Central to tell them where we were going. They don't know where we are!"

He lowered his eyesight back to Faith. "What? Oh damn!" He ran his hands through his hair, beginning to pace the elevator. "They'll come after us... they'll send out a patrol for our car when we don't call in..."

"Yeah, who knows how long *that* will be."

Bosco's heart started pounding in his chest, his hands getting sweaty. "They'll find us," he said, his voice shaky, yet trying to remain calm.

Faith looked over at him, the tone of his voice catching her attention. "Boz, you okay?"

Bosco nervously nodded, pacing the elevator once again. This time he stopped, facing the opposite wall of Faith and kicking it hard. He turned back to her, sweat rolling down his forehead. "I hate this!"

She was startled by his sudden outburst, but more so by the look of panic that was becoming clear on his face. She took a step toward him. "We'll get out of here, Bosco. Just calm down, okay?"

"How do you expect me to be calm? We're trapped in an elevator!" He quickly regretted shouting, giving her an apologetic look. But it only made him feel worse inside, he wanted out. And he wanted out now.

Faith looked at the floor for a moment, trying to think of some way to get out of the elevator, but not coming up with anything. She shook her head, feeling frustrated. "I can't even believe this," she muttered.

Bosco looked directly at her. "What?"

"I said, 'I can't believe this!'"

"Well, you don't have to yell!"

"I didn't yell, Bosco, you did."

Bosco nervously folded his arms across his chest. "I know, I'm sorry. I just... I hate this...being in here..."

"You and me both."

End Part 1