Title:
Blame it on the Rainman
Author:
Demelza
Disclaimer:
Third Watch is the property
of NBC. I do not own the show, or any of its characters, and are used here without
permission… I do not make any money from writing this fic... it is for entertainment
purposes. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
Warnings:
Low use offensive language
Spoilers: The parts in Season 3 with Faith having
cancer (which, regrettably, I haven't seen yet), and 'After Hours' from Season
2.
Rating: PG
Category: Faith & Bosco, angst, Bobby &
Kim UST.
Author's Notes: After '55-David…A Part of his Heart', and before 'Falling
Down', a WIP. In this story, I write under the premise that Bobby never killed
his old teacher, and that his childhood friend never killed him, so he's still
in my stories. :)
Summary: Faith tells Bosco about her cancer … Bobby and Kim rekindle
the love neither would sooner admit to … a forbidden kiss in the rain.
Dedication: First up, to Kich for being the
first to beta test this story for me, big HUG, thank you! Second, this fic
is dedicated to ALL Bosco and Faith fans in the Third Watch fandom… this fic
was written for all of you. :) Thanks also to everyone who reviewed the prior
two fics! I thank you all so much for your wonderful comments!
Bosco and Faith had just finished another double shift, working sixteen straight hours. It was the third time this week, Bosco didn't mind, he needed the extra money. And Faith? Though she didn't tell her partner, used the extra hours as a way to escape her home for a few more hours. She couldn't face Fred, not right now. She knew he was trying to be supportive, that he was upset. But she was upset too, why didn't he see that?
"—Faith, Earth to Yokas!" Her partner Maurice Boscorelli's voice breaking down the barriers of her thoughts. A blank gaze on her face, she blinked and turned to him, "You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice a near whisper as she turned away. It was bad enough she had cancer, but she felt so guilty in not telling him. She should tell him, she _should have_ told him. Why did deciding not to tell her partner something that had nothing to do with him feel so bad? She tried thinking of reasons every day in what to tell him, if he ever found out. Excuses, each and every one of them. 'Because it was too personal to me to tell you.' That was the one that was more to the truth than the others, but still only an excuse.
"Faith?"
Again his voice broke her away from her thoughts, she turned to him, "What?" She demanded.
"Want me to drive?" He asked, nodding outside the front window to the street lights that emanated down on the streets against the dark backlit night sky.
Faith felt her face burn in embarrassment; she gripped the steering wheel, applying pressure to the gas pedal. The car moved on, tires screaming behind them. She had to be thankful it was only them at the lights, and no one else.
As they drove along, their eyes scanning the streets, they were on the lookout for an African American man, in his mid to late thirties, shaved head, goatee, wearing an orange parker and auburn pants, wanted in relation to four break-ins over the last two weeks. Faith had small niggling pains in her breast where the incision had been made, she wanted to rub the area, pull over and take something for it. But, she pushed the pain aside, or at least tried.
"Faith…"
"What damnit!?" She turned to him in frustration, the pain growing in intensity, why did this have to be such a pain in the ass? "What Boz?"
"What's wrong with you, you keep rubbing your chest."
"No I'm not!" Faith growled, realising at that moment that the urge to rub the sore area was in fact a reality that she imagined she wasn't doing. She pulled her hand away and gripped the steering wheel tight, clenching her teeth ever slightly at the pain. Why was it hurting so damn much? It didn't even hurt this much after the op, okay, it hurt worse, but after the first few days it stopped hurting as badly. At least nothing compared to this.
Bosco let out an angered groan, "If you don't tell me what's wrong with you right now…" His words were a threat, but he didn't mean for them to come out sounding that way. He was worried, really worried. She hadn't been herself in a while now. Not since the doctor's visit the day of the shooting at that High School some time back.
Faith slammed her foot on the brakes, luckily for Bosco they were only travelling at about 20 anyway. The squad car was stopped in the middle of the road. Faith slowly turned to him, his eyebrows raised in wait for the reply he demanded of her. "Faith?" He asked her, his voice calmer, more caring.
She looked away from him; she couldn't face him when she told him. "I…" How do I tell him? How do I tell him I lied? That I pushed aside our friendship, putting in my mind the fact we were partners, that was all, and he needn't deserve to know. "They found a lump."
Instantly, Bosco felt his heart sink, "A lump?" He asked, keeping his own feelings of the situation at bay, this was Faith's time to talk. Not his, and he couldn't stop her, not when she was telling him what was wrong. Then the realisation hit him, several times he had caught her rubbing her chest, discomfort strewn across her entire face. "Cancer?"
Faith nodded, turning to him, "Yeah, it is."
Damn, he swallowed. "What are they doing about it? The doctors?"
"They removed it." Faith told him.
"Oh gawd Faith." He shook his head, his elbow resting against the bottom of the passenger window; he played with his nose, taking in a deep breath. She'd kept this from him, all this time. "What about Fred?"
"He's been there for me." Even from her tone Bosco knew that Faith was sad when it came to Fred, and the cancer. Her cancer.
It got his attention and he turned to her, something inside of him wishing she had of told him, so that it could have been her that was there for her. Supporting her. It's what friends did. What partners did. It's what he would have done. "How come you never told me, Faith?"
Why isn't he angry? Why is he being so cool about it? "I didn't know how. I didn't want…"
"Didn't want me knowing." He finished for her.
"I didn't want you to think I wasn't capable of doing my job."
"I never would have thought that. I don't think that, not even now. You know me better than that, Faith."
"I know Boz, I'm sorry." Faith said, shaking her head at herself.
Bosco let out a low sigh of relief; he looked back at her, into her eyes, seeing that she really meant it. "What happens next?"
She turned around, sitting back in her seat, "We wait."
We. As in, her and Bosco. That's how he took her answer. "How long?"
"A year. They'll do some tests. Make sure it doesn't come back."
Silence fell between the pair, the silence suddenly broken with a thunderous downpour of rain. A grey mist appeared down the street ahead of them as the steam from the heat in the roads rose because of the sudden cold against them. It hadn't been expected to rain, but the weather was always unpredictable anyway.
Bosco chuckled; Faith faced him, a confused look on her face. "Dance in the rain?" He asked, the confusion grew more, "Ma taught me when I was four, that if you dance when it's pouring down with rain with someone you care about, or a close friend, and make a wish… it comes true."
"You have got to be kidding me."
"No, I'm serious. Come on." He said, motioning with his head for her to follow him as he climbed out of the squad car and walked to the front of the car. Arms stretched out at his sides, he spun around, his head back, "Come on Faith!" He hollered to her, spinning more.
Faith rolled her eyes, shaking her head, but she put the car in park and climbed out. Walking to the front with Bosco, he stopped spinning now, and was facing him. Wide grin on his face, "Come on, let's dance." He said, grabbing both her hands and walking backwards with her until both the headlights were on them.
Their hands clasped, Bosco stepped up to Faith, and he unlinked one of his hands from hers, placing it around her waist. She slipped her hand up to his shoulder and soon they were slow dancing in the rain. It poured down, both were laughing, just moving together like they didn't know they could.
Just up the road was one of the paramedic buses. It slowly approached, pulling up beside the squad car. Kim was first to exit the vehicle on the driver's side, while Bobby climbed out of the cab from the passenger side. Kim chuckled at the sight of the two officers. She turned back to Bobby, motioning for him to follow, which he did, smile on his face.
Bosco and Faith both noticed the paramedics, for a moment they stopped, but when Bobby and Kim begun dancing too, they continued too. Bosco led the dance, pulling Faith closer to him. A warm sensation went through his veins at being so close to her. Then, Faith released their interlocked fingers, and wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling. Bosco smiled back, holding her tight with both his arms around her now.
"I had no idea you were such a great dancer." Faith mused.
"I had no idea you were either." Bosco admitted, chuckling. All those Police Ball's they attended, and neither knew the other could dance. How ironic was that? The rain seemed to ease up slightly as the four of them danced round in circles, left and right. The dancing continued even as a handful or two of passers by stopped and watched—a few of them joining in—and even though the back of Bosco's skull started to itch. Discomfort appeared on his face, which was soon soothed by the gentle touch on the back of his neck by his partner. "Don't they have anything better to do?"
"Obviously not." Kim mused to his left, planting a gentle kiss on Bobby's lips, much to Bobby's surprise.
"Wow, Kim!" Faith cheered, Kim smiled back before returning her full attention to Bobby, both wore mile wide smiles. Faith set her eyes on Bosco's, "Wow." She mouthed again with a laugh.
He looked in their direction for a moment, he once thought maybe he might be jealous if he saw Kim with anyone, since their make out fest in his car those months ago on the night of the accident that killed those teenagers. He took his eyes off them, turning back to his partner, why would he be jealous, when there was someone more important in his life than her, and than that silly night they almost had. "Made your wish yet?" He asked. Beside them, Bobby laughed at what he said. Bosco ignored him, "Faith?"
Faith smiled, closing her eyes, after a few moments, she opened them again, "Done."
"What did you wish for?"
"That everything will work out fine." She replied, knowing only Bosco would know what it meant. He nodded, and she let out a sigh, smiling, "What about you?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, what?"
"It's a secret." He grinned, leading her in a swirl, the water splashing beneath their feet, rain falling harder again. Faith screamed, telling Bosco they should get undercover, but he laughed and swirled her around once again. "I feel so… alive!" He shouted to her.
Faith laughed, letting go of him, allowing him to go about his own swirling, which was beginning to make her dizzy. Bosco spun around and around several times, finally stopping, hunched over with his hands on his knees as he tried to settle his head from the dizzy spell that hit him. He was still laughing, even when Faith walked up to him, helping him get steady on his feet.
"I think we've had enough for one night. It's late…" She gazed toward the sky, it was nearing sunrise. She glanced back to Bosco, smiling as he smiled back to her, "And it's time to go home soon."
The smile on Bosco's face partly faded, "Not yet Faith." He asked her, wanting her to promise him the night wouldn't end here.
But unfortunately, it did, when a call came in over the ambulance. Bobby rushed to answer the call. Moments later, he walked to the end of the bus, motioning for Kim, "Hit and run, four blocks over. Davis and Sully called it in."
Kim nodded, giving a short wave to Bosco and Faith as she walked away. Within minutes, her and Bobby were several metres down the road.
Bosco watched as they left, turning to Faith and looking around to see that everyone had either gone already, or were metres away, walking back home, or to wherever they were headed in the first place. "Come on, time to call it a night." Faith nodded toward the squad car.
He nodded; she had just stepped past him when he took her by the hand. Faith turned to him, "Boz?" She asked, questioning. There was a distinct look in his eyes, she didn't know however if it was tiredness, or something else. "Bosco?" She repeated.
He let go of her hand, apologising. Faith nodded slightly, and continued walking when he pulled her around again, only this time he brought his hands to cup her face, drawing his lips to hers and kissing her. She pressed his hands against his chest, and could feel herself pushing him back, but her arms were trembling with the power behind that kiss that she just fell into his embrace. As a second round of the kiss progressed, she found herself kissing him back, much to even Bosco's surprise.
Soon, and slowly, Bosco parted his lips from hers, looking at Faith just as she opened her eyes. "…" He opened his mouth to speak, to say something, anything… but no words came.
"Oh god Bosco, I…" Faith then said, silence again. "What are we going to do?"
"I didn't mean to…" He tried to say, but what was the point in lying now? He did mean to, he did want to… and it was more than he had thought it could be, and then she kissed him back. "How I feel…" He stammered on the words, "It's wrong, I know… but, Faith, I care for you… a lot more than I should."
"I know." Faith said. She released the grip on his jacket she didn't even know she had and stepped back. "I know."
TBC… in 'Falling Down' ~~ Fred knows Faith is keeping something from him when she returns home from work and refuses to talk to him … Kim and Bobby revisit their past … Bosco admits to Sully over coffee that he's fallen for a married woman.
