A/N: A little note, I kinda sorta rant about Nintendo...a little

Disclaimer: What makes you think I own Third Watch or its characters?

What if?
Chapter 8: Renewing Faith

"Hey, Davis, good call on Candy yesterday," Hope said in the locker room.

"Well, he gives rap a bad name," Ty replied.

"No," Bosco closed his locker, "Rap gives rap a bad name."

"Watch your mouth," Monroe advised.

"And who else would know that than Maurice Boscorelli?" Ty laughed.

Thunder clashed outside, "Doesn't look like that storm's letting up," Sully said, "Sergeant, can I work the desk today?"

"Request denied Sullivan, we need as many people as we can manage," Hope explained.

"What? Can't handle a little rain Sully?" Bosco joked.

"That's more than a little rain Bosco," Faith said, coming in.

"You don't look too bad."

"I had an umbrella," she held up an umbrella and walked over to her locker.

"Hey, look what blew in with the storm," Bosco pointed to a sopping wet Cruz.

"What happened Cruz? Trying to get a dying declaration from someone who drowned?" Faith laughed.

"Alright, get you asses into gear, roll call's in five and Cruz," Hope said, leaving "Dry yourself off."


"Why were we called in today?" Carlos complained.

"Carlos, it's rain, it isn't a hurricane," Doc explained.

"Yet."

"It's not hurricane season, it's only July," Ken informed Carlos.

"If we get a call related to the weather, don't say I didn't warn you."

Kim came upstairs, "Sorry I'm late, the weather slowed me down."

"Kim, this is becoming a habit," Doc told her.

"It won't happen again Doc."

"It better not."


"She just loves ordering me around," Cruz told Monroe.

"Why do you say that?" Monroe asked.

"I've been her boss for three years and I ordered her around a lot."

"That sounds like an understatement."

"Okay, let's put it this way, she was my bitch."

"Ooh, that bad huh?"

"She had the guts to defy my order and then she got me to transfer here."

"What was the order?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter, she must've had a good reason."

Cruz sighed, "Planting evidence."

"Ooh."

"She told me 'For the last three years, you've ordered me around but this, this is wrong. I won't stoop down to your level, transfer, transfer far away and I promise, I will be there for your next major slip-up.' And she kept that promise."

"You memorized all that?"

"It's been haunting me for the past week."


Bosco and Faith walked up to the apartment door and heard yelling of two people and two children crying. "Faith you might," Bosco started.

"Bosco, open the door," she ordered.

He sighed and knocked on the door, "Police."

The fighting stopped, and a woman answered the door, "I'm sorry, we'll keep quiet," she apologized.

"Why are your children crying?" Faith asked,

"They're sick, you see, we're fighting over how bad it is."

"They don't need to know Lisa," a man inside called.

"They could help them Patrick!"

"Can I see the kids?" Faith asked.

"Please," the woman let her in.

"I'll be out here," Bosco said, he knew, when it came to kids, Faith wouldn't waste any time.


Hope was working the desk, for her it was a slow shift, she figured the storm stopped most crimes. No one was watching her, so she thought it would be okay to play with a Game Boy. It was perfectly mature for a 30-year-old to be playing Nintendo, right? She pulled out an Indigo Game Boy Advance with a blue, semi-transparent cartridge inside. She had gotten her copy of Pokemon: Sapphire Version about a week ago and she was already up to the second gym leader. Brawly's Makuitha kept taking down her entire team of Grovyle, Mightyena Wingull, Whismur, Dustox and Ralts. It's perfectly normal that an adult would memorize the names of Pokemon.

"Can I see Sergeant Hope…?"

Instantly, Hope quickly shouted "I wasn't playing Pokemon!" she put the Game Boy away as quickly as she shouted. She took a good look at the speaker, it was her date from the other night, "Oh, it's you, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"Okay."

"So what do you want?"

"I just wanna know, what's my name?"

"What? You wanna know your name?"

"No, I wanna know if you know it."

"I might not remember it, I usually don't."

"Yeah, you told me."

"Okay, I'll take one shot at this…Mar…no…Mike…B…Bar…no…Bosco…relli, Mike Boscorelli."

"You remember it!"

"Yeah, I do."

"Don't you get it? You see, I can't stop thinking about you and…you remember my name so that has to count for something!"

"What are you saying?"

"I wanna be serious."

"Are you serious? We've only been on one date!"

"Please? This, this is hurting me, so…"

Hope looked into his pleading eyes, his messy, dripping, hair fell in front of his face, she brushed it away and continued looking. She sighed, "I'm off from work on Thursday, maybe we can do something."

"So it's a date?"

"Yeah, you can say that."

He grinned, "Thank you!" He ran out not before thanking her again.

Swersky turned to look at the sergeant, "Was that Bosco's brother?"

She looked at him, "Probably, unless it's a coincidence that they have the same last name."

"I think he is, he sounds a little like him."

"Don't tell him."

"Who? Bosco?"

"Yeah, Mike came to see me, not Bosco."

"True."

"What would he think of me dating his brother anyway?" she went back to her game. This time, she was definitely defeating Brawly. She caught the look Swersky was giving her, "An adult can play Nintendo games."


"So you're okay?" Carlos asked Kim.

"If you mean about the Noble thing, yeah," she responded.

"Good, because, I dunno, things wouldn't be the same without you."

"Are you saying that you'd miss me if I left?"

"When you put it that way, yeah."

"Aw, you do care."

"I didn't say that Kim."

"Maybe you aren't that much of a jerk."

"What?"

"The way you've been trying to help though my situation, it's got me thinking. You're not so self-centered after all."

"Coming from you, that means a lot."

"You're welcome."


Jimmy looked out the window at everyone in the storm, he couldn't help but feel sorry for them. At least he didn't need to go out, "Hey Jimmy," DK was doing a crossword, "What's a seven-letter word for describing a fox?"

"I dunno," Jimmy answered.

"Vulpine," Walsh told him.

"Oh, it fits," he filled in the letters.

"I guess this is what the entire day will be," Jimmy concluded.

"What makes you say that?" Walsh asked.

"It's raining too hard for there to be a fire." At these words, the squad got a call about for an accident.

"That doesn't rule out car accidents Jimmy," DK said, getting up.

"Great."


"I can't believe those people didn't know when to take their children to the hospital!" Faith complained.

"Faith," Bosco tried to interrupt for the fifth time.

"I mean, their daughter was burning up in a matter of eight hours!"

"Faith."

"They think that she caught it from their son, no one gets that sick that fast!"

"Faith!"

"What Bosco?"

"They were new parents, give them a break."

"New? Those kids were two!"

"The parents were Hispanic, the kids were white, they were adopted."

She thought back, he was right, the kids didn't resemble their parents in any way. "You think we could go back to the hospital?"

"What?"

"How do you know those kids weren't kidnapped?"

"Whoa, Faith, don't you think that's going too far?"

"They didn't know what to do with their kids!"

"If they were kidnapped, you think they would let you into their apartment?" Faith sighed, he was right, "Let's lay low for a little while."

"Okay," she did need a little break.


Ty and Sully arrived at the scene of an accident, the firefighters were getting the victims out of the cars while EMS was working on them. "Now we have to direct traffic for the bucket boys?" Sully asked sarcastically, "Yay."

"Be a good sport about this Sul," Ty said, getting out of the RMP, "It could be worse."

"How worse?"

"It could be a hurricane."

"Point taken."


Bosco parked under the bridge. The two of them didn't do anything but listen to the rain pour outside. Faith looked at Bosco, he has never looked so…so attractive before. She stared at him for what seemed like half an hour, the she snapped back to Earth. She convinced herself that she was staring at her partner because he was a handsome man.

"So how are things at home?" Bosco asked.

"What?" Faith responded.

"How are things, with Fred and the kids?"

"Things are good."

"Good."

There was about a minute of silence between them before Faith decided to speak up again, "Fred doesn't know we're working together again."

His eyes widened, "He doesn't?"

"No."

"Why?"

"He made me promise that I wouldn't have anything to do with you anymore. I'm telling him that I'm partnered with Hope."

"And you're breaking that promise."

"Yeah, it's just…he's worried about me."

"I still think he's jealous."

"Bosco…"

"Just…don't spend too much time at work, okay? When he finds out you've been lying to him, nothing good will come out of it, alright?"

"You don't need to be my babysitter."

"I'm just warning you, if I were Fred I'd get really mad about the time you're spending with your partner."

"You don't think…you think he thinks I've been…"

"I'm not saying that, just make sure he doesn't find out."

"How?"

"Hope has your back, right?"

"Right."

"She's willing to cover up for you, right?"

"Right."

"Problem solved."


"Tell me about your ex-fiancé," Doc said to Ken in the hospital lounge.

"What's there to tell? She's a bitch," Ken said, not looking up from his paperwork.

"Why?"

"Why? She comes from a dirt-poor family, my family is somewhat rich."

"Did you just assume this?"

"I heard her talk to her sister on the phone, she said that I was stupid for thinking that she actually loved me."

"How did you hear this?"

"I was standing outside her bedroom door."

"That must've hurt."

"It did, now, I'm not looking for a relationship."

Carlos opened the door, "Doc, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Doc left the room, "What's the problem?"

"You know the patient you brought in from the accident?"

"Did he die?"

"No, the doctors think you might've done something wrong."

"What?"

"It's what they think, I thought I should give you a heads-up."

"Okay, thanks Carlos."


"I think Bosco and Yokas is ducking calls," Cruz said out of the blue.

"What makes you say that?" Monroe asked.

"They didn't answer any calls for the past forty-five minutes, I wanna call it in…"

"All units, we have a 10-13 on 28th and Madison," a voice on the radio said.

"5-5 David responding," Bosco's voice responded.

"You were saying?" Monroe told her in a know-it-all voice.

"Keep driving," Cruz growled.