Title: No Mercy (14/?)

Author: X_tremeroswellian

Email: X_tremeroswellian@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to John Wells, Edward Allen Bernero, NBC and a bunch of other people I've never met before in my life.

Rating: R for language, violence and content: deals with the issues of rape

Warning: This chapter contains a lot of bad language. Be advised.

Spoilers: Up through and including "Act Brave."

Summary: When one of their own is attacked by a serial rapist, the third watch crew sets out to find him before he strikes again.

Distribution: If you want it, take it. Just let me know the link. Otherwise, its permanent home is at my site, Only Time: www.geocities.com/angel_roswell/onlytime.html.

Category: Story

Subcategories: Angst, angst, angst, drama, angst, friendship and did I mention angst?

Feedback: I crave it. And it tends to make me write faster.

No Mercy (Part 14)

Davis sat down next to Sully at roll call and glanced around. "Something's up."

Sully nodded in agreement, folded his arms across his chest and stared at Lt. Stick and Sgt. Christopher, waiting.

"All right, everyone, listen up," Lt. Stick began. "At 2 a.m. this morning, Officer Yokas came down to the station and met with Detectives Flannigan and Masters. Thanks to her, we now have a composite sketch of the rapist."

Davis's eyes widened and he turned to look at Sully, who appeared equally as surprised.

"Sgt. Christopher is handing out the photos now. I want everyone to study them carefully and be on the lookout for this man. This case takes top priority," Lt. Stick continued.

Davis accepted the photograph Sgt. Christopher handed him and he stared down at it. Next to him, Sully did the same.

Lt. Stick went on to tell them about two suspects wanted in connection to a bank robbery from the previous shift. Then he dismissed the meeting with his standard, "Keep your eyes and ears open out there."

The officers around them stood up and began to get ready for their shift.

Davis glanced at Sully. "If Bosco catches this guy, he'll probably kill him." He wasn't sure how he knew it, he just did.

Sully didn't disagree. "Hell, if I catch the guy, *I* might kill him."

He stared at his partner. "You serious?" Sully didn't reply. "You are serious."

Sully glanced at him sideways as they walked outside to their squad car. "What if the bastard had attacked Taylor instead of Faith? What would you do?"

He grew quiet as he slid into the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt.

Sully started the engine and pulled the car out onto the road. Instead of driving toward the little cafe where they usually stopped for coffee, he turned down Grand and headed East.

"What are you doing?" Davis asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Going to Bosco's."

"You think Yokas is okay?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know. I hope so."

Bosco was awakened to the sound of distant knocking. He squinted his eyes at the alarm clock on his beside table. 3:30 p.m. He groaned inwardly and laid his head back down.

The knocking began again.

If he didn't get up, whoever was at the door was going to wake up Faith, who was still curled up beside him, sleeping. He carefully lifted his arm from her waist and rolled off his side of the bed. He winced as he got to his feet. His neck and arms were sore from remaining in the same position for so long. But he hadn't wanted to wake her after it took her so long to fall asleep that morning.

Bosco rubbed his eyes and walked down the hallway to his door. He unlocked it and pulled ito open. Sully and Davis were standing in front of him.

"You look like hell," Sully remarked.

"Thanks a lot," he answered wryly.

"We heard about what happened." Davis looked at him, his face full of concern. "She all right?"

He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "It was a rough night." That's the understatement of the century, he thought. He'd lain awake for hours, holding Faith and trying to comfort her each time she'd been plagued by nightmares. She hadn't even woken up--just cried in her sleep. He'd done his best through whispered words to soothe her and convince her she was safe, and after awhile, her breathing would become calm and even again.

Bosco raked a hand through his hair and nodded to Sully and Davis. "You guys can come in. Faith's still asleep."

Sully and Davis exchanged a look. "Nah, we don't wanna risk waking her," Sully said, shaking his head. "We just wanted to make sure she was okay."

"Yeah, sorry we woke you, man," Davis added.

Bosco shrugged. "It's all right," he said tiredly.

"We're gonna catch this guy, Bosco," Sully said quietly.

His eyes darkened. "I know."

Davis shifted uncomfortably. "Sul, we should go."

Sully nodded in agreement. "Tell her we said hi."

"I will." Bosco closed the door behind them and locked it. He took a deep breath and walked back to his bedroom. He sat down slowly on the edge of the bed.

Faith turned over and squinted at him. "Boz?"

"Hey, sorry. Didn't mean to wake you."

She shook her head. "You didn't. What time is it?"

"Almost four."

"In the afternoon?" she asked, shocked.

He smiled. "Yeah."

"I can't believe I've been asleep so long."

"I was asleep, too, until Sullivan and Davis woke my ass up."

"They were here?" Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah. Wanted to see how you were."

"Sorry, Bosco."

"Not your fault."

"I'll just get out of here and let you sleep," Faith said, yawning as she started to sit up.

"You don't have to."

"What? Let you sleep?"

"No. Go. You don't have to go." Bosco shrugged and looked at her. "Unless you want to."

She studied him for a minute, and yawned again. "Actually, weird as it sounds, I'm still kind of tired myself."

Bosco laid down on his back and held his arm out. She hesitated momentarily, then laid her head down on his shoulder. He folded his arm around her, pulling her closer and resting his chin on the top of her head. "Night, Faith." He closed his eyes and within moments, they were both asleep again.

"Mrs. Richards, are you in any pain?" Alex asked as she cleaned the wound on the woman's arm.

"No, is my son all right?" Mrs. Richards asked anxiously, looking past her.

Alex glanced over her shoulder to where Carlos was checking the young boy over. "Carlos!"

He looked up.

"How is he?"

"Not a scratch on him," he called back.

Alex looked at the woman again and smiled. "He's just fine."

"I don't fucking believe this! You hit my fucking car, you stupid bitch!"

She turned to see the driver of the other car stalking toward them, glaring at Mrs. Richards. "Easy," Alex warned him.

"She ran right into me!" he accused.

"You ran a stoplight!"

The man walked closer.

Alex moved so she was standing in between Mrs. Richards and the man.

"Move," he commanded.

"Sir, you need to calm down," she said firmly.

"You need to get the hell outta my way," he replied, his eyes narrowed.

"Hey, Taylor! Police are on the way," Carlos shouted.

Her gaze flickered over to her partner, then back to the man. "Did you hear that? Cops are on the way. You don't want to start any trouble here."

"It's whores like you that ruin the world," he said darkly. Then he stormed off.

"What a creep," Alex muttered. She shook her head and turned her attention back to Mrs. Richards.

A few minutes later, a police car pulled up to the curb. She glanced over to see Davis and Sully climbing out of the car. Her heart skipped a beat.

"What happened here?" Davis asked as he immediately headed in her direction.

"The guy ran a red light. I tried to stop--I did--but I couldn't," Mrs. Richards said, clearly shaken by the whole incident.

"It's gonna be okay," Alex assured her.

Davis nodded in agreement. "Where's the other driver?"

She turned and started to gesture to the guy's car, which though not totaled, had the front end smashed up on the side. She frowned. "He was here a minute ago. And he was a real jerk."

Sully and Davis both looked around. "I don't see anyone else," Sully commented.

"That's weird."

"She gonna be okay?" Davis asked, nodding towards Mrs. Richards.

"Yeah. But you are gonna need a few stitches for this cut. We'll take you to the hospital," Alex told her.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

"I need to talk to you," Davis said quietly, standing beside her.

She looked up at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes. "Okay." She turned back to Mrs. Richards. "I'll be back in just a minute, okay?"

Mrs. Richards nodded.

Alex walked a few feet away and turned to look at him. "What's going on."

"Yokas remembered what the guy looked like."

Her eyes widened. "She all right?"

He shrugged and looked away.

"Ty? What is it?"

He gazed at her. "I'm just...worried, that's all."

"About Faith?"

"No. About you," he admitted.

She reached out and touched his arm. "Thank you. For worrying about me. But I'm fine. I'm being careful."

"It's just...if anything happened to you--" He shook his head and looked away again. "I don't know what I would do."

"Hey. Nothing's going to happen to me. Anytime I'm not with you, I'm with Carlos."

Davis gave her a look.

"All right, admittedly, he's no Superman. But I don't think some guy would attack me with him around, either," Alex pointed out.

He nodded. His gaze traveled to Sully, who was waving him over. "I gotta get back to work."

"Okay." She watched as he started to turn away.

"Oh. I almost forgot." Davis took a piece of folded paper out of his jacket and handed it to her. "That's a picture of the guy's face. Just in case."

"Thanks." Alex tucked it into her pocket.

"Be careful out there," he said quietly.

"You too," she answered.

"See ya tonight?"

"You bet." Alex took a deep breath and walked over to Mrs. Richards. "Let's get you to the hospital."

"He's a cute kid," Alex commented, glancing over her shoulder to where Mrs. Richards and her five year old son Daniel were sitting in the back of the ambulance.

"His mom's not too bad, either," Carlos replied.

She rolled her eyes. "She's already married, and even if she wasn't, she seems to have some class."

"Meaning?"

"You wouldn't have a chance."

Carlos shot a glare in her direction.

Alex smiled and turned to look out the window. She suddenly remembered the paper Ty had given her and she reached into her pocket, pulled it out and unfolded it. "Oh, my God."

"What?"

She stared down at the picture. "It's him! Carlos, go back to the accident site," she said immediately.

He looked at her like she was nuts. "What? Why?"

"Because I have to talk to Ty and Sully right now."

"Can't it wait?"

"No. Go back now."

"We need to get Mrs. Richards to the hospital," he pointed out.

"Damn it, Carlos. The other driver is the rapist!"

His eyebrows shot up. "How the hell do you know that?"

Alex held the up the picture.

Carlos stared at it for two seconds, snapped on the lights and sirens and did a U-turn in the middle of the road.

Ring, ring!

Bosco groaned, but reached his arm over to his bedside stand and grabbed the telephone receiver. "Hello?" he mumbled.

"Officer Boscorelli?"

"Yeah?"

"This is Detective Masters."

He opened his eyes and looked over at the clock. The glowing red digits said 8:07.

"Officer Boscorelli? Are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here." He glanced at Faith, who was yawning and sitting up.

"We caught him."

Bosco sat up straight, instantly awake. "What?"

"The guy ran a red light and some woman hit his car. He left the scene before the police arrived, but not before the paramedics got there. One of them recognized him and talked to the officers on the scene. They ran a trace on his license plate. We picked him up an hour ago."

"You sure it's the guy?" Bosco could feel Faith staring at him.

"Positive. He signed a full confession."

For a moment, Bosco remained silent. "Do you need us to come down?"

"There's no rush. If you want to wait til tomorrow, that's fine. He's not going anywhere."

"All right. Thanks for calling." Bosco hung up the phone and took a deep breath.

"Boz?"

He turned to look at his partner, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "They caught him."

Faith's eyes filled with tears and one slid down her cheek. "They're sure?"

"He signed a confession," Bosco told her.

She nodded and looked down at the bed, trying to maintain her composure.

He shifted so he was sitting next to her. "Hey. Everything's going to be all right now. It's over." Bosco wrapped his arms around her.

Faith swallowed hard and buried her face in his shoulder. She exhaled slowly and let her eyes drift shut. It's over, she thought, allowing relief to take hold. It's over.

"They caught him," Alex announced as soon as she and Carlos arrived back at the firehouse for a late dinner.

"Who?" Jimmy asked, frowning as he bit into an apple.

"The rapist," Carlos supplied.

Kim stared at them. "They caught him?"

Alex nodded.

"How?" Doc questioned.

"The guy ran a red light. A patient of ours hit him. Taylor and I recognized him from the photo the police released this morning," Carlos answered, grinning broadly.

Doc's gaze flickered to Alex. "So what happened?"

She sat down at the table across from him. "The guy took off when he heard the cops were coming. Sully and Davis ran a trace on his license plate. The detectives working the case arrested him and brought him in awhile ago."

"Yokas and Bosco know yet?" Jimmy asked, leaning back against the counter.

"I don't know," she replied.

"I wonder how Faith's doing," Kim said quietly, tracing the circular pattern on the tabletop with her index finger.

"You know, I was gonna go over to Bosco's tomorrow and check on her. You want to come with me?" Alex asked.

Kim looked surprised. "Yeah, thanks, Alex."

"Sure."

"Will she even still be at Bosco's tomorrow?" Jimmy wondered aloud.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Kim asked, not looking up.

"Well, I mean the whole reason she's been staying with him is because they hadn't caught the guy, right? She doesn't really have a reason to stay there now," he pointed out.

"Unless she does," Carlos replied, joining Doc, Alex and Kim at the table with a plate of spaghetti.

"You're not still on that, are you?" Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Boscorelli and Yokas? Together? Come on, Nieto. Get a life."

"Think what you want, but there's more going on than what they're letting on." Carlos shrugged and started eating his dinner.

Doc shook his head and stood up. "I think I'm gonna go outside and get some air." He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and walked down the stairs. When he made it outside, he drew in a deep breath and looked up at the sky.

"Doc?"

He turned, surprised to see Fred Yokas standing a few feet away. "Hey." He'd only met Faith's husband on a couple of occasions, and he found himself a bit surprised that the man had remembered him.

Fred walked over. He motioned across the street to the police station. "I've been trying to get a hold of Faith. The guy at the desk said she was off today and tomorrow. I tried calling the apartment, but she didn't answer there, either."

Doc nodded slightly, feeling uncertain all of a sudden. Obviously Fred had no clue what had been happening with his wife.

"Have you seen her?"

"A couple days ago," Doc admitted.

"Well, do you know where she might be? Or how I can get a hold of her?"

Doc hesitated, then recalled what Bosco had told him. Fred had been out of town with the kids visiting family and Faith hadn't been able to reach him by phone. He nodded. "She's staying at Bosco's."

Fred stared at him for a moment. "Thanks," he said flatly. He turned and walked away.

Doc frowned and wondered if maybe--just maybe--Carlos might be right for a change.

Davis stared out the passenger window of his and Sully's squad car. "How do you think they took the news?"

"Faith and Bosco?"

"Yeah."

Sully shook his head. "I don't know."

"Maybe we should go over there."

"Nah. We should give them awhile to process."

"Yeah."

Sully glanced over at him. "You're quiet tonight."

"What you asked me earlier? About what I would do if some guy did to Alex what that guy did to Yokas?"

"Yeah?"

Davis turned and looked at Sully. "I'd kill him."

"Davis--"

"No, you were right. I'd kill him. If I had the chance," he admitted quietly. He looked away and stared out the window again. "Does that make me a bad cop?"

"No," Sully replied. "It makes you human."

Bosco had considered ordering out for Chinese or pizza, but decided against it. Faith was taking a shower and he needed to do something to occupy his mind so he wasn't so tempted to go down to the station and commit murder. So he found himself in the kitchen cooking lasagna. His stomach growled as he mixed together the ingredients.

A loud knocking at the door pulled him out of his concentration and with a sigh, he walked over to answer it. When he opened the door, he found himself face-to-face with Fred. He immediately felt a rush of anger flood through him and he folded his arms over his chest. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to see Faith," Fred replied, glaring at him.

Bosco stared at him coolly. "She's not here."

"That paramedic--Doc--said she'd been staying with you."

"Yeah? Well, he was mistaken."

"She's my wife. I have the right to see her," Fred said angrily.

"Your rights ended the day you walked out on her. Now get the hell out of my apartment. And stay the hell away from Faith. She doesn't want to see you."

"Bosco?"

He turned to see Faith emerging from the bathroom, her white terrycloth robe wrapped around her and her wet hair dangling down in tangles.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Fred said, disgusted.

Faith walked to the door, a shocked expression on her face. "Fred? What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he retorted. Before Faith even had the chance to respond, Fred cut her off. "We have one fight and you can't even stay at our apartment? You have to go running to Boscorelli?"

"Fred--"

"I should have seen it coming. He's all you ever fucking talk about. It's like your whole damned life revolves around him!"

"Shut up before you say something you're gonna regret," Bosco warned, clenching his hands into fists.

"Stay out of it!" Fred snapped. "This is between me and my wife!" He turned to Faith again. "How long have you been screwing him, huh, Faith?"

She stared at him, her face drained of all color.

"You son of a bitch," Bosco snarled.

"Is he the only one? Or are you whoring around with all the guys you work with?" Fred demanded.

Before she had a chance to stop him, Bosco threw Fred up against the door. "Don't you ever--EVER--talk about her that way again! Do you hear me?" He grabbed Fred's jacket collar and held him in place.

"Bosco, stop!" Faith grabbed his arm and pulled him back away from Fred. Then she looked at her husband. "What are you doing here, Fred? What do you want?"

"I was looking for you. Guess I found you, huh?" he said sarcastically. He glared at Bosco, then turned his attention to her again. "Dr. Case called me at work. He said you missed your last two appointments. He wants you to call and reschedule as soon as possible," Fred told her bitterly. "So now you know. And by the way, Charlie misses his mother." Without another word, he turned and walked out the door.

There was a long moment of dead silence. Faith swallowed hard, and with dread, turned to see Bosco staring at her.

"What appointments?" he asked quietly.

"Bosco--"

"What appointments, Faith?"

"Appointments for radiation therapy," she whispered.

"Radiation therapy?" he repeated, stunned.

She drew in a shaky breath. "I've been getting treatments because awhile back they found a tumor in my breast. They removed it, but the radiation is a precaution so it doesn't come back."

"A tumor?" His voice was barely audible. "So all those times you took off from work..."

"My oncologist is in Jersey," she said quietly.

"And radiation can cause low platelet and red and white blood cell counts," Bosco said slowly. He lifted his gaze to meet her eyes. "Are you all right?"

Faith nodded. "The doctor said it looks good."

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you known?"

She looked away, unable to face the look of betrayal in his eyes. "A few months."

There was another moment of silence.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Faith could hear the anger in his voice, and she bit her lip, unable to answer.

"Why didn't you tell me, Faith?" Bosco demanded, his voice rising. "After everything we've been through, why the hell didn't you tell me?"

She tried to respond, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out.

"It's because you didn't think I could handle it, wasn't it? Just like you didn't think Fred could handle knowing what happened to you." He shook his head, furious. "It's not your place to decide what people can handle or not. I'm not one of your kids, Faith!"

"Boz--"

"Leave me the hell alone!" Bosco stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Faith slid down against the living room wall and sank down to the floor. She pulled her knees to her chest and put her head in her hands and began to cry.