Knights Reunited
Authors: Jamie552 (writes Bosco POV) and Starbright (writes Faith POV)
Summary: At Lieu's birthday party, the firefighters, paramedics, and police officers from the old 55 are reunited for the first time since the fire. As they get to know each other again, their lives change forever… Co-Written with Jamie552
Disclaimer:
We don't own Third Watch or it's characters
Author's Note: Here's the first chapter of our story. Hope you all like
it
I'd gotten the invitation the day before, the small card outlining the time and place of Lieu's 56th birthday party…and I still couldn't bring myself to call.
It had been almost a year and a half since the old 55 burnt down. We made a pact that day to keep in touch and get together regularly…but we hadn't really kept it. Naturally, I'd tried to keep in touch with Faith, but with her working Major Cases and me working my new beat at the 79, we rarely saw each other. However, there was the occasional nod or smile in the hallway, or we'd sometimes see each other at the Bed-Stuy crimes scenes…hardly the nicest place to see an old friend.
Old friend. In truth, as much as I hated to admit it, my relationship with Faith was different. When we did see each other for our monthly coffee, yeah, we talked…but it wasn't the same. Things seemed almost tense between us…uncomfortable. As hard as I tried, I couldn't remember a time during my partnership with Faith where I didn't know what to say to her, where I didn't know how she would react to my words, my feelings. But now every time I looked at her, stood with her, or spoke to her…my mind drew a blank.
It was my fault that our relationship was rocky. The conversation I had with Faith where I asked her to shoot for me, still rang in my ears…whether I was sitting in the RMP, lying in bed, or filling out reports. When she'd refused to help me, I'd never felt so betrayed and angry in all my life. She'd been the only person that I trusted to ask, the only person that I knew I could count on…and she let me down.
I know now that I was wrong to ask her that, wrong to put her in that position…but at the time, I felt I had no other options. My work and my beat was, at that time, the only good thing in my life. I'd lost my one true partner to a promotion, and the thought of never making it back on the force scared the hell outta me.
I'm not the type of guy that could spend the rest of my career sitting behind a desk at headquarters, pushing paper and answering phones. I'm not the type of guy who could ignore the sound of a siren. I need to be out in a radio car, answering calls, and as Sully used to say …solving problems. A cop. That's who I was and that's who I am. That's who I'll always be, no matter what.
Did I miss the 55? More than anything. I missed the people, the sounds…hell, even the smells. Even though I liked it in Bed-Stuy, liked the roughness of it…it could never measure up to Camelot, never in a million years. Even though I'd been at the 79 for over a year, I still referred to Kyle Mathison as my "new partner"...or on some occasions, I referred to him as "the guy I'm stuck with". I couldn't bring myself to call him partner, couldn't bring myself to replace Faith. He took it in stride, never saying anything when I told him stories from my old partnership, never saying anything when I said 55-David into the radio rather than 79-Eddie. He knew about my partner…knew about how much she meant to me, and how much I missed her. The first time he saw her, he said he didn't blame me for missing "a piece of ass like that". I almost took his head off, and told him to never talk about Faith like that again. He'd apologized, and as time passed…I got over it.
I sat on the couch, reading the invitation for the fourth time since I woke up. My eyes focused on where it said the entire squad that had worked at King and Arthur were invited…the heading on the front of the card read "Knights Reunited - For A Birthday Celebration". I couldn't help but smile at the nick-name "Knights". I remember the first time I heard Lieu say that…at first I thought it was stupid, but it eventually grew on me.
Not even realizing what I was doing, I reached up and gently ran my fingers along the almost invisible scar that resided on my right cheek. The doctors at Mercy had done miracles, and I no longer felt the need to wear the coverings. I was almost back to my old self in terms of appearance, and how I preformed at work. But the one thing that I almost died for, the one thing that would make me whole again was still missing…
I'd been thinking a lot lately about the fun times that Faith and I had in 55-David…I missed that. I remember when she had to make the yellow feather boa for Emily's chicken costume…I remember the sound of her laugh when Sully put flour in 55-David's vents and it blew in my face…I remember how she teased me when I slipped in the liquid soap at that MVA. Even though our relationship had all but fallen apart since we were reassigned, I realized that the good times far outweighed the bad.
After hours of arguing with myself, I grabbed the phone and called Mrs. Swersky to tell her that I was gonna be at the party. I was terrified and excited all at the same time about seeing my old friends. Maybe this party was exactly what I needed to try and find the missing piece in my life…maybe this party would help me get back the one person that would make my life whole…
