Reactions from home...
Enjoy
M.
VACATION
BY M
Chapter 7
Yesterday Morning New York:
Jamie woke up with a start, sitting straight up in bed, her heart pounding, she looked around and seeing that everything was normal tried to relax. Raising her hand, she wiped her face and realized she was sweating. Looking out the window of her bedroom she saw that the sun was up, glancing over at the bedside clock she saw that it was only 9:00am. She had only been asleep for a few hours, having pulled a double shift filling in for a friend at the hospital last night. Groaning and laying back down she tried to go back to sleep, but, something was nagging at her. She didn't know what but, oh well, must have just been a bad dream. Turning away from the window she closed her eyes and after a few minutes went back to sleep.
Jamie was walking toward Maurice who was standing his back facing her but he turned his head toward her as he tried to look at CJ who was standing by a car. Jamie saw the car catch fire and she began to hurry as she reached her hand out to him to and tried to warn him but as he reached out to her he disappeared behind the flames and as the car exploded she was shocked into stillness as tears began to fall from the sky and everything faded away.
Waking again, Jamie this time immediately rose from the bed holding her head which was pounding as was her heart, she sat for a moment as she realized she was crying and thought, 'What the hell was that!' as even then the details of the dream began to fade. She got up looking at the clock as she passed it and saw that it was almost 1:00pm now. Shaking the last of the dream out of her mind she went into the kitchen and fixed a pot of coffee.
She was meeting Faith at 3:00pm. They were going to take Charlie and Alex, Faiths son and her little grandson to a movie. She was surprised that Charlie wanted to go but Faith said he had seen Finding Nemo I a few years ago and wanted to see Finding Nemo's Son, so, go figure. She was glad in a way that he was coming because when Alex decided he was bored with the women, Charlie could entertain him. Her daughter had gotten married almost as young as she had and now at 22 she had two children and was almost ready to graduate from college to be a teacher.
Pouring a cup of Java she went and grabbed the paper off the stoop and reading the headlines she was suddenly again overcome with a sense of dread. "Geesh, I've really got to stop eating such spicy food before I go to bed!" she said as she turned and closing the door put the paper on the foyer table and went to shower.
Driving to meet Faith after she picked up her grandson she still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Jamie was not the kind of person who ignored 'feelings' but surely if something was not right with Maurice or CJ she would have heard by now, right? Then it occurred to her that depending on where they were if something had happened no one might know about it yet. Then laughing at herself she told herself to stop being so melodramatic and put in a CD for Alex and sang nursery rhymes with him, trying to get rid of this 'feeling' she was having. Maurice and CJ didn't need mothering and she would be darn if she would start.
XXXX
After the movie which had blown both Faith and Jamie away with its realism: Faith hadn't watched the first one so she was as awed by it as Jamie and the kids; they took the kids for hamburgers.
While Charlie took Alex out to play on the gym equipment, Jamie approached Faith with a question, "Do you ever get 'feelings' that something is wrong and they turn out to be right, the feelings I mean?"
Faith watching Alex climb into the balls with Charlie right behind him to 'help', was laughing at their antics and replied, "Sure, all the time," and then glancing at Jamie, "especially when I used to work with Bosco! Why?" She was looking at the kids again, and then deciding that they would be ok in there turned, as Jamie at first didn't say anything, and asked, "Jamie?" as she saw the furrowed brows of her friend. "Is everything ok?" she questioned.
"Yeah, I guess so, I mean..." she paused suddenly feeling silly, "nothing. I just had a bad night I guess, too much spicy food for dinner 'this morning'." she laughed.
Faith searched her friends face, then nodding her head said, "Been there, done that!"
"Heck I had the weirdest dream last night, or rather this morning myself. I dreamed that I had a desk for a pet! And Bosco was teasing it! It was really strange!" she was rolling her eyes and laughing now.
"A DESK for a PET! OK now that's strange!" Jamie cracked up. "I dreamed one time that a crashcart followed me home and I couldn't shake it but a PET!"
"Yeah, tell me about it." then Faith grew a little more serious, "but then it got really strange cause in this dream, and its not real clear, there was an exploding car, I think, it could have been, no, its gone, faded away you know? I can't rememb..." she stopped mid-word, "Jamie?! What? Are you ok?!" and leaning forward she reached out and placed her hand on Jamies' arm.
Jamies' face had gone white and her mouth had dropped open a little, "I had..." she paused looking up straight into Faiths eyes, then continued quietly, "I had the same dream Faith! THIS MORNING!!! Not the desk part but the exploding car...was CJ in this dream?"
"Wow that's weird!" Faith said quietly, then, "and now that I think about it, yeah, yeah he was he was writing a ticket and then yelling Bosco's name as..."
Jamie interrupted her with, "Faith, should we call them, I mean maybe it silly but, I don't believe in coincidences, I have Bosco and CJ's cell numbers and I know you do...no, I guess I'm just being silly..." she was still trying to figure out why she was so upset and didn't want to overstep her bounds with Maurice at the same time.
Faith was biting her lip and looking at the boys, said, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt if we just called to see if they've caught anything yet?", she had had a bad feeling nagging at her, but, with Bosco, well, that kind of came with the territory sometimes. But now that this 'dream thing' had come up, well..."That way we get peace of mind and they can't laugh at us for worrying about them" she added ruefully.
Jamie grinned, "Yeah if they knew we were sitting here discussing this we would never hear the end of it!"
She and Faith got out their cell phones and checked for signal, Faiths was the strongest so she called Bosco. After seven rings the answering service picked up and Faith left a funny "Got FISH?" message and hanging up she shook her head at Jamie. Then she tried CJ's and got a 'cell user unavailable' message, hanging up they looked at each other and were overcome even more strongly with a feeling of unease.
"Call Rose?" Faith asked.
"NO, I mean, we don't want to spread this!" Jamie laughed.
"Yeah, if we worry her with this nonsense Bos will kill us!" Faith laughed trying to shake the feeling of dread she was now feeling.
"Hell of a thing, feeling worried, helpless and stupid all at once, HUH!" Jamie laughed nervously.
Faith looked at her and cracking up said, "You do get to the point don't you!"
"Enough of this! Tell me about how Em is doing in college. How does she like her first dorm room!" Jamie asked changing the subject, having decided to call Bosco when she got home; just to ask if he had caught any fish of course.
"Oh my god, she was insane when we moved her in! Couldn't wait for Fred and me to leave!
Kept saying, "MOM, no boys are going to talk to me if they see you here!" like there weren't a thousand other parents of 'boys' there!" she was giggling, "just like I was when my mom and dad moved me in!"
"Yeah I remember! I was the same way and so was my daughter! I can't wait to see what my son does!" she laughed.
Later after she had dropped Alex off and chatted with her daughter Jamie arrived home, pulling into the drive and parking she was yawning. Walking into her kitchen to see what was for dinner she saw her message light blinking on her answering machine. Listening to the message she laughed; it was from Maurice; Jamie laughed at herself for worrying because obviously he was fine; he was all excited.
"JAMIE you should see the size of the fish we caught this morning and when we got back here there was a fifty foot snake on the porch I swear!; she could hear CJ in the background exclaiming "Don't believe him, it was only five feet!"
Jamie was imagining the look on his face right now and she was grinning, happy that he had thought to call her and share. And she was beginning to feel foolish about the worrying.
"Shut up CJ! Jamie I swear it was at least ten feet if it was an inch!" he exclaimed.
"FIVE FEET!" CJ called out, laughing.
"ANYWAYS", Bosco continued, "You should see this place! Its beautiful! WATER EVERYWHERE! And everything is so GREEN it hurts your eyes to look at it! I'm bringing you some of this moss back, it grows all OVER the trees here and this camp even has air-conditioning! We saw some deer on the way here and a few alligators. Man! If I had to leave New York I would love it here! Oh and wait till you hear about CJ's Mom!" he paused laughing as she heard CJ yelling at him, "She's a..." and then she heard him yell as she heard a crash, "HEY you almost hit me with that damit!"
"THEN shut up about 'THAT' Moe!" she could hear Maurice laughing as CJ yelled that out.
Jamie was rolling her eyes at the two of them, they never quit!
"Hey, I got to go now, got to go kick CJ's butt! Anyway, its Tuesday morning about 5:00am and we're going fishing in a little while, yeah I know, these fishermen types are crazy! So see you when I get back? Um," hesitating here and lowering his voice, "we need to talk." lowering it further still, "I miss you."
"AHA, I heard that, aww!" CJ was cracking up as Maurice called out "Bye" to her and hung up.
The message ended and Jamie was smiling all over herself. She guessed she just hadn't noticed the message light earlier, she called Faith and told her she had heard from him and Faith said that Fred said he had called but Faith had not noticed the note; a bad habit of hers; she hadn't heard anything except that he was already trying to talk Fred into a fishing trip.
"Who knew! The city boy goes country!" Faith was chuckling as Jamie filled her in about the snake, "Fifty feet, huh? Can't you just see his face!" Then, "Guess we were being silly after all, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Jamie was feeling better as she told Faith good-bye and went to eat her supper, she had the night off and was looking forward to going to bed early. She didn't sleep well, kept waking up from dreams that wouldn't stay in her memory but made her feel frightened. She couldn't help but feel they must be related to her and Faiths dreams from last night. So she tried to dismiss them.
The next night,
Jamie was at work at Mercy when her cell phone rang, answering it she heard Faith's voice. She was crying, "Jamie, its Faith. Um, is Ty there?"
"TY? No Faith he isn't, why would Ty be...Faith what's wrong?!" as she suddenly had a cold chill run over her.
"It's Bosco and CJ, Jamie. Something's happen..." Faith couldn't finish she was breaking down.
Jamie froze as she felt the blood drain from her face, one of her coworkers heard her gasp and seeing her face, quickly got a chair for her to sit down, but Jamie waved him off, "Faith, calm down." she quietly stated, "what do you mean something's happened?"
"Rose just called me," Faith was trying to regain her composure, "something about an explosion and drug dealers, but it wasn't real clear, SHE was but the information isn't."
"EXPLOS..." Jamie started to say as she gripped the counter at the nurses station, but Faith cut her off.
"Jamie" she sobbed as she broke down, "they think they're dead."
Jamie's mind was whirling and suddenly she sat down closing her eyes and as tears began to fall, quietly cried out, "Maurice?! Faith, no!" then louder, "NO, Faith! NO! He's not DEAD! He CAN'T be..."
Then she heard Fred's voice as he took the phone from his sobbing wife, "Jamie, honey, someone's coming to pick you up and bring you over here. I think you know Ty right?"
"Yes, yes, I know Ty..." she was trying to think and breath and get herself together but the initial shock was just beginning to set in, "I have to go Fred, I have to..." she started then stopped as looking down the hall as she stood up she saw Ty coming towards her.
He saw the look on her face and knew that someone had beat him to her. Walking up he gently took the phone from her and putting his arm around her and pulling her to him spoke into it, "Who's this?"
"Fred? Man, you couldn't wait for me?" as Jamie who knew Ty well now bent her head forward and putting her forehead on his chest began to sob, "Oh! Well, anyway, I got to go, we'll be there soon." and he hung up. "Hey! Hey, Jamie look at me." his hands were on her shoulders and he was bending to look into her downturned face, "He's not dead until they find a body, OK!" he stated, Jamie reached up and taking his hands in hers looked him in the eye and nodded. "I mean it! Don't you give up on him. OR CJ, they're both tough guys remember!" he smiled at her to reassure her but he was trying to reassure himself as well.
"We...we need to go to Rose." Jamie stepped away to get her things, her coworker told her to go as she went to call for a replacement, he would take care of it.
Ty thanked the man for Jamie and as they walked down the hallway said, "Rose is already on her way to the airport, seems that CJ's mom is some big politician down there in Louisiana and she chartered a plane for you guys to go down there if you want to."
As Jamie hesitated looking in surprise at Ty he said, "Yeah that was the look on Faith's face too! Could have knocked me over with a feather and you should have seen how livid the boss was!" He shook his head as he recalled "The Capt. was yelling at Lieu that he should have known that CJ was a 'DAMN SENATORS SON!' That has nothing to do with their situation but the Boss was pissed anyway. Yelling how could no one have known, didn't they do background checks at the academy anymore; and why was he out on the street in danger anyway! THAT was some scene, heads are going to roll on this one that's for sure, just hope its not CJ's. He's a good cop."
Jamie wasn't really paying attention to Ty but she knew he was trying to keep her together. She did get the Senators son bit though and now she knew what Maurice started to tell her before CJ stopped him. Just one stunning bit of news after another.
XXXX
Jamie was quiet on the ride over to the airport. They had gone straight to her house to pack a few things and she called Fred and asked if Faith was going. She was and Jamie offered them to pick her up but Fred said it would be quicker if he brought her and so they were meeting there. Ty had tried to keep her spirits up but he soon realized that she was not hearing him as she stared out the window of his SUV so after awhile he quit talking and let her be in peace. At the airport, Jamie and Faith quickly hooked up. After exchanging hugs they said good-bye to the guys and went to find Rose.
"WHAT happened?! Has anyone heard anymore?" Jamie had just gotten off the phone with her daughter to let her know where she was going and to ask her to pick up her younger brother when he came back from his dads and take him to her house.
"Mikey called while we were waiting for you. Seems that he called and talked to the cops down there cause whoever called Rose didn't realize that she would freak like she did, can you believe that! Idiot!" Faith seemed in complete control now but being a cop she was used to putting on a false front.
Jamie looked at her with disgust on her face, "What, how stupid! No, a mothers going to stay in complete control hearing that her son might be dead!"
"Yeah exactly!" Faith was pissed now as was Jamie, being mothers themselves, "Anyway, seems that someone overheard someone last night bragging about killing two guys in a bassboat yesterday morning who had come up on them when they were unloading a plane full of drugs," Faith relayed the info to her, "No one took it seriously except a waitress I guess. It kept bothering her and this morning she went to the cops down there and they took the registration numbers off the vehicles in the parking lot and called to check on the owners. They were able to contact all except CJ." she paused, then after they went through security she stopped right inside as she wanted this conversation to be over when they reached Rose, and continued with, "They went to the camp but didn't find anything, so, I guess they started asking around and someone else had heard the same as the waitress, and he told the cops who it was that was bragging.
Seems that the bragger is a known drug smuggler and they went to get him." she paused and taking a deep breath, hesitated a bit too long for Jamie.
When Jamie saw tears again in Faiths eyes she exclaimed, "Faith, just say it!"
"He had Bosco's cell phone, and CJ's wallet." her voice was low and trembling and she was looking away from Jamie.
Jamie stepped back from Faith as if Faith had slapped her. Her eyes huge. She started to shake her head the way people do when they don't want to hear the truth and her mouth began to tremble. "HE'S NOT DEAD!" she cried out, "DO YOU HEAR ME FAITH! THEY'RE NOT..THEY'RE JUST NOT" and as people started to pay attention, "HE CAN'T BE..." and as a guard started over to them she began to cry, Faith stepped up to her crying also and put her arms around Jamie who held her back. "Oh my god, Maurice, CJ!" she sobbed.
Mikey had seen them from across the concourse and he waved the guard off as he walked up to them. "It's ok, sir. They just got some upsetting news." The guard stopped and looking at the two women and then back at Mikey who he could see was also upset he nodded and walked off.
"Faith, Jamie, we have to go now." Mikey had placed his hands on their shoulders and when they realized who it was they pulled away from each other and wiping their faces, they asked him how Rose was. "About the same as you two. But, you can ask her yourself, the plane is arriving and they're gonna take off as soon as we get onboard. So lets go, ok." Mikey was never much on small talk and he was too worried about his brother to start now. Faith and Jamie followed him to the boarding gate.
When Rose saw them she started crying again. "AW, Ma, stop already! You don't even know if he's really dead yet! At least wait until you know for sure, ok!" Mikey, the man of compassion strikes again.
"MIKEY!" Faith and Jamie both yelled at him and pushing him to the side folded Rose into their embrace.
Rose couldn't speak, she truly believed that her baby might be dead, and it was killing her.
Right about now Faith and Jamie could have easily done Michael in. Glaring at him they tried to comfort her as best they could.
"Sheesh! Women! Always bawling about something, before you even know if you have something to bawl about," he said in exasperation.
Faith looked at him in shock for a moment and then stepped away from Rose and in her best don't mess with this cop/woman voice commanded him, "MICHAEL BOSCORELLI, YOUR BROTHER COULD BE DEAD OR AT THE VERY LEAST SERIOUSLY HURT AND YOU'RE ACTING LIKE AN ASS! SHOW SOME COMPASSION OR GET THE HELL OVER THERE AND SIT DOWN! AND DON'T MAKE ME COME HELP YOU DO IT!!"
His mouth dropped open and he started to speak but changed his mind when Jamie said in her best Nurse/mom voice, "MIKEY, I'LL HELP HER!! NOW GO!!"
Shaking his head and scowling he hesitated and then thought better of it and sat down in a huff. He was upset about his brother but as usual put his ass where his heart should have been. He regretted what he had said but wasn't about to take it back in front of Faith and Jamie.
After a few minutes Rose calmed down and they went to sit to wait for boarding, Mikey sat there a minute more watching his mother and then got up and walking over to them he squatted down in front of Rose. "Ma," he started softly taking her hands, and glancing at Jamie and Faith who looked like they would take him out if he said anything stupid, said, "I'm sorry Ma, for what I said. You know I love you and Moe, I just can't stand to see you cry. I was just upset and as usual I let the first stupid thing fly out of my mouth," and looking at Jamie and Faith he added, "that goes for you guys too, sorry."
"Runs in the family, Mikey," this from Faith as she acknowledged his apology, "your brother has the same disease."
Rose looked at Faith in astonishment and claimed, "They get it from their fathers side the family, not mine!" she was smiling a little at Faiths 'joke'.
Jamie was looking at Mikey, 'he has the same eyes' she was thinking, not the same color but still, then as he looked up at her and smiled his apology, her breath caught in her throat as her heart constricted in pain as she compared his similarities to Maurice, and as the Flight attendant came for them to personally escort them to the plane she wondered if she would ever be able to compare them side by side again to be sure if the sideways little smile he had flashed was indeed the same as Maurices.
TBC...
