Part 4

Faith jerked herself awake. Something had startled her but she couldn't figure out what. She realized that she was still in Bosco's room, but she didn't know what had woken her up.

Then she felt his hand move under her cheek.

Faith's shoulder protested but she raised her head up and was surprised to be looking into her partner's eyes. They were cloudy from the pain he was in, but that didn't matter to her. They were open and they were looking at her that was all that mattered.

"Bosco?"

"Faith," he whispered back.

She grinned at him.

He glanced at her shoulder and looked confused.

"Bosco, you were stabbed. Do you remember?"

Bosco shook his head then groaned. "My back..."

"Yeah, partner. It's okay. I'm going to get someone to help you."

Faith reached up to push the call button near the head of the bed.

Bosco weakly grabbed at her hand. "Don't leave...," he said as he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

"I'm not going anywhere, Boz, don't worry. You can't get rid of me that easy."

She thought she saw him smile but it was probably her imagination.

Faith stayed until Bosco's doctor arrived and sent for a nurse. He told her that Bosco would be fine and that she needed her rest. The nurse arrived and Faith reached up and touched Bosco's chest, felt the reassuring rise and fall for a moment then let the nurse take her back to her room to get some sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THREE DAYS LATER

Bosco had been moved into a regular room. Faith sat in the chair beside him with her arm in a sling and trying to read the paper while Bosco went on about the stupidity of newscaster on TV.

She had been released that morning but had refused to go home before she visited Bosco. Therefore, Fred had told her to stay until he got off work and then he would pick her up.

Bosco still didn't recall every thing that had happened in that apartment. He remembered her getting shot but pretty much everything after that was blank. The doctor couldn't tell him when or if he would ever

be able to remember what happened.

The night before at his insistence, Faith had told him everything that had gone on. He had remained quiet through the story, which had really surprised Faith. When she was finished he just nodded and didn't say anything to her. She had realized that he needed time to process how close they had both come to dying.

"Hey, Faith, look."

Faith glanced up at Bosco as he tipped his chin toward the TV on the wall. Faith craned her head to see the newscaster. Behind his head was a picture of her.

"I hate that picture, where did they get that one?" she groaned.

Bosco snickered and then shushed her.

"Police officials have just announced that Police Officer Faith Yokas was released from the hospital earlier today. Officer Yokas was one of the two officers that were involved in a hostage situation four days ago."

The picture behind his head disappeared and one of Bosco replaced it.

Faith giggled. "Jeez, Boz I thought mine was bad."

"Ha Ha."

"The other officer injured in the incident, Officer Maurice Boscorelli, is in stable condition. The injuries to the two police officers occurred when they went to serve a warrant for probation violations to an Ethan Hobbs."

Hobbs' picture replaced Bosco's.

"Ethan Hobbs was shot and killed at the scene..."

"Thank-you," Bosco said quietly.

Faith turned from the TV to look at Bosco. He was staring at a place on the blanket in front of him.

"What?" Faith asked.

Bosco turned to look at her. "You saved my life Faith." He paused, then took a deep shuddering breath.

" I don't know what…"

Faith stood and placed her hand on his lips to stop his next words. His eyes searched hers. She could see unshed tears in his eyes just as she could feel them in hers. Something passed between them. Something that words could not convey.

"You saved mine first," she told him. Then she bent down and gave him a kiss on his forehead. She felt him smile under her hand.

Faith heard the door behind her open and turned to see Fred standing in the doorway. "You ready to go Faith? How you feeling, Bosco?" he asked.

Faith turned back to look at her partner and removed her hand.

He blinked his eyes a couple of times and then nodded to Fred. "Fine."

Faith patted him on the shoulder then turned to leave with Fred.

"Tell the kids hi for me."

She glanced back over her shoulder at him and chuckled. "Sure, maybe I'll bring them in tomorrow. They love the candy machines in this place."

Faith followed Fred out of the room. As she was leaving, she heard Bosco say, "Bye, Partner."



The End