I'm soooooo sorry I kept you waiting for so long. But I really didn't know what to write.

*********************

"Bosco! Oh my god Bos!" When she reached him, she fell down on her knees beside a pool of blood. She couldn't see where he was hit, but the amount of blood that was flowing out of his body frightened her. His eyes were closed, but at the sound of his name they fluttered open.

"Faith, I… I'm so sorry…"

"No, no Bos, stay with me. Help! Someone help me! Call 911!" She screamed desperately.

Now her police senses kicked in and she checked him for wounds. When she raised his arm gently, he grabbed her hand and his face distorted with pain. Apparently the bullet had grazed his side and left a wound that was bleeding badly.

"Bos, stay with me. You hear me? Stay the hell with me. Someone will call a bus and we'll get you to Mercy. Okay?"

He didn't speak, but his grip tightened. In that moment Faith could hear the sound of footfalls that were approaching. Frantically she searched for the origin and almost cried out in relief when she saw Davis running towards her. He was shouting something into his radio, but she didn't listen to what he was saying.

"Davis! Call a bus! He's hurt. God, he's hurt. He was shot. Get help…"

Now that someone else was here, she allowed herself to be overwhelmed with her emotions. Tears spilled over and she was sobbing hysterically. She barely heard what Davis was saying.

"55-Charlie to Central. We need a bus on the rush on this location. An off-duty officer was shot."

"10-4 55-Charlie. ETA is 2 minutes."

Davis kneeled next to them. He saw the wound and without speaking, he ripped of a part of Bosco's shirt and pressed it on the wound. The shred was immediately soaked with blood.

Faith stared at her partner's blood. He was loosing so much, but he was still conscious, staring at her with blue eyes. She thought there was regret in them, but she wasn't sure, because her vision was blurry from her own tears. Davis pressed harder and Bosco flinched, he gripped her hand tighter.

"Faith, where is he? Did Bosco get him?"

Sully had followed Davis and was now trying to figure out what was happening. He was carefully avoiding looking down at his friend lying bleeding on the ground. Faith stared at him for a moment and then she turned her head to where the body lay. Sully followed her gaze and then proceeded with his gun drawn.

Faith turned back to Bosco.

"That bastard is not going to hurt anyone ever again. We took care of that."

They could hear the sirens of the ambulance now and shortly afterwards Carlos and Kim turned around the corner. They knelt beside Bosco and started to work on him. They hooked him up to an IV and rolled him onto a stretcher. Faith winced as she saw the size of the pool of blood that had formed under her partner, when Kim and Carlos lifted the stretcher. But she didn't have time to think about it, because all the time Bosco hadn't let go of her and she was now running alongside him to the bus. She had to let go of him for a moment, as he was positioned in the back, but she climbed in after him and again grabbed his hand. Carlos climbed in behind her and shut the door. On their way to the hospital, Faith thought about the last time she had sat next to him in a bus. Then, he'd jumped out of a second storey window. Then she'd sat in the bus talking to him, she'd been proud of him. But now everything was so different. She was different. Their relationship was different. And he was barely conscious. He had trouble keeping his eyes open, let a lone talk, but there was still so much she wanted to talk to him about.

At Mercy Bosco was rolled into a trauma room, Faith tried to follow, but Carlos yanked at her arm and before she could do anything the glass doors closed.

"Let go of me, Carlos. I got to be in there. I can't leave him" she shouted, but before Carlos could react Kim was by his side.

"Faith, come on. We'll wait in the lounge. They'll do everything they can and I don't think it's that bad…"

It was these last words that convinced her to stop resisting. She knew Kim was a good Paramedic and she trusted her judgment. Or maybe it was easier believing it wasn't anything serious.

In the lounge she sat down and for the first time she noticed that her hands were shaking, but she was too numb to care about that until she felt another hand reaching for hers. For a happy moment she thought it was Bosco, but then she noticed that it was too small. She looked up and stared directly in Kim's compassionate eyes. Then she heard the door closing and could just make out Carlos' form leaving. She heard Kim chuckle.

"He isn't the guy who can stand emotional stuff, you know."

"Yeah, Bosco has difficulty with that, too. He always…"

Her voice broke. Bosco. She felt Kim grab her other hand.

"He's gonna make it, you know. I mean he's Bosco and… I don't know him that well, but I know that he'd never give up."

"But there was so much blood…"

"I know I saw it. But I don't think that there are any internal injuries, so probably all he needs is a transfusion. You know I was surprised that he wasn't wearing a vest."

"We weren't supposed to be there. He took a day off, you know and I can't work, because of my hand."

Faith weakly raised her bandaged arm to prove her point. She hadn't thought about it since she'd seen Bosco lying on the ground, covered in blood…

"Yeah, what happened to you anyway? You're pretty roughed up, too."

She could tell that Kim was trying to distract her, but she didn't want to be distracted right now. All she wanted was for a doctor coming to tell her Bos was gonna be alright. So her answer was brief.

"I fell down some stairs."

She drew her hands from Kim's and buried her face in them, shutting herself off from the world. She forced herself not to think about anything and waited for news.

**********************

Some time later the door opened and Faith's head shot up. She saw Mary Procter enter the room. She stood up looking at her anxiously.

"He's gonna be fine."

She collapsed in Kim's arms. All tension that had been building up vanished. Bosco was going to be okay. She cried and smiled at the same time.

After she had calmed down a bit she looked at Procter.

"Can I go see him? When's he going to be able to leave? Is he awake?"

"He won't be here long I suppose. He hates hospitals, right?"

She nodded.

"Well, he lost a lot of blood, but the artery that was hit wasn't a major one and they had no trouble stitching it up. He needs transfusions but only for the night, so he could be out here by tomorrow. He's awake right now, but I don't think you can talk to him long, because he'll get some pain meds."

Faith was already on her way to the door, when she realized that he'd probably be somewhere upstairs. She turned and before she could say anything, Procter smiled and said:

"I'll show you to his room."

They took the elevator and when they were alone Procter turned to her.

"Are you okay? I mean, you know, yesterday…"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Nothing to worry about," Faith lied.

As soon as the doors opened she was out and waited impatiently for Procter to tell which room he was in.

"He's in room 506. It's the third on the right."

Faith entered the room, leaving Procter standing at the elevator. She wanted to be alone with him.

The room was dimly lit and the only noise was the annoying beeping of his heart monitor. His eyes were closed and he was breathing evenly as she approached the bed. She reached for his hand and when she touched it his eyes fluttered open.

"Faith, you're here. I was worried…"

"Shsh, I'm okay. You should worry about yourself…"

This was so ridiculous. He was the one who got shot and he was worrying about her.

"I'm really tired you know."

"Yeah, Procter said they'd give you some pain meds. You'll probably sleep the whole night."

Before she could say anything else a nurse entered the room.

"I'm sorry. You've got to leave now. Officer Boscorelli needs to rest."

Faith stared at her, dumbfounded. Was that nurse actually thinking she would leave?

"I'm staying."

"But ma'am, you…"

"I won't leave. Either you're gonna accept that or we'll be in real trouble here."

The nurse stared at her for a second and then backed out. Fait turned and saw a huge grin on Bosco's face.

"What?"

"Nothing. You're just so stubborn. That's what I love about you," he mumbled his eyes barely open.

"You do?"

"Yeah. Why don't you stay here?"

"I won't go. I just told that freaking nurse."

"Nah, I mean here. I mean… that bed's big enough…"

She couldn't believe it. Was he actually inviting her to lie in his hospital bed? She was stunned for a moment but then thought what the hell. She climbed on the bed, carefully avoiding any tubes. She lay on her side one arm under her head the other on Bosco's.

He sighed.

"That's nice."

She could see that he was exhausted and could barely keep awake. She kissed him on the forehead and mumbled:

"I'm glad you're here, Bos."

Then she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

*****************

After Sully and Davis had finished at the crime scene, they drove to the hospital to see how Bosco was doing. Procter told them that he was okay and where his room was and they took the elevator to the fifth floor. They had intended to visit him, but when they opened the door and took in the scenery they decided against that.

Faith and Bosco lay on the bed, her arm on his chest and his hand in hers. They were sleeping soundly in each others presence. I was a picture of deep love and trust.

Davis and Sully shut the door. They were not going to disturb that picture.

****************

You weren't really thinking I'd kill Bosco, were you? I just love seeing them together too much to do that.

hope you like it. Next chapter will be Bosco/Faith talk