Hicken15

Paybacks

Chapter 4

Don't own anything.

No one's proofreading.

The door to Bosco's hospital room swung open, and Faith was startled out of a light sleep. For a brief second she wasn't sure exactly where she was, but then it all came back to her.

"Sorry ma'am. Didn't mean to wake you. I'm just here to check on Mr. Boscorelli."

Faith smiled at the young nurse as she tried to regain her composure. She checked her watch and was surprised to see that it was 7p.m. "How long have I been asleep?" Faith quietly asked herself, not realizing she had said it loud enough for the nurse to hear.

"My guess is about three hours. When I last checked on him you were asleep, and that was around 4 o'clock."

Faith nodded. "So, how is he?"

"He is doing well. His vitals are good. Now we just need to wake him up, and get him talking. Can't have him sleeping the entire day away," the nurse replied. She pointed at Bosco, "Would you like the honors?"

"Oh no," Faith smiled. "He's one angry man when he wakes up. He's all yours."

The nurse chuckled and returned Faith's smile; she then began to gently shake Bosco's shoulder. "Mr. Boscorelli? I need you to wake up now." When she got no response she spoke a little louder. "Sir, you need to open your eyes for me."

Faith began to worry as her mind brought her back to when she had first found Bosco in his apartment, and couldn't wake him. Finally the young nurse made a fist, and ran it across Bosco's sternum causing him to groan, and his eyes to shoot open.

"Owwww! What was that for?"

"Well, if you would have opened your eyes when I asked politely I wouldn't have had to take such drastic measures." She turned to Faith, "Try to keep him talking for a couple minutes, but don't worry if he falls asleep he's still going to be pretty worn out," and with that she headed out the door.

Yokas looked at her partner who was looking rather confused. "Faith?"

"Yeah Bos."

"What am I doing here?" He was frantically looking around the room.

"Relax, Bos. It's OK. Everything's fine." She instinctively began to move the hair off his forehead to try to comfort him. "You were attacked at your apartment remember? I told you earlier."

He thought for a moment. "Oh...yeah. Concussion. Broken wrist. I remember." Bosco took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

"You OK Bosco?"

He glared at his partner. "That's a dumb question Faith. You think I'd be here if I was?" He growled at her. As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. "Faith, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Honest I didn't. It just feels like someone's trying to pry my head open to get to my brain."

"What brain Bos?"

"That hurts Yokas. Here I am in the hospital, and you're cracking jokes," he tried to give her his best puppy dog look, but it didn't help his cause.

"Oh come on Bosco. You set yourself up for that one." She laughed.

He yawned, "Yeah...guess I did."

"Getting tired?"

"Yeah, I'm beat." He closed his eyes.

"I'll let you get some rest. I'm just going to the nurses' lounge to call work to let them know we won't be in tomorrow. Then I'll be right back."

"Hey Faith. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Ruining your day off."

"Bos. You ruin everyday we work together. Why should my days off be different?"

He smiled, "Bite me."

*****

"Hi. Sgt. Christopher? It's Officer Yokas."

"Whaddaya want Yokas?"

"Uh, well, Officer Boscorelli was attacked last night and he is in the hospital. He's got a broken wrist and a concussion. So, I was calling to let you know he won't be in for a while," she paused, "and I won't be in for a couple days either."

"Why? What's your problem?"

"Nothing, but someone has to look after him."

"Boscorelli's a big boy Yokas. He can take care of himself," Christopher snarled.

She didn't like the tone of his voice, and she was beginning to get angry. "Actually SIR, his head injury is pretty serious, and he needs someone to keep an eye on him."

"Then call his mother! I expect YOU in roll call tomorrow," he shouted into the phone. "There's no reason for you to miss your shift."

Now Faith was ticked. "Sgt. Christopher. I'm really not feeling very well. As a matter of fact I don't think I'm going to be able to work for the next couple of days. I'll call you when I feel better." Then she hung up on him. "AUGH! What an asshole!"

*****

Faith entered Bosco's room as quietly as possible. She didn't want to wake her sleeping partner. He had been through enough the last couple of days, and she didn't want to disturb him. So, she sat in silence beside her partner's hospital bed and tried to figure out who could be after him.

Bosco was right when he had said it would be a long list of people who could be out to get him; ex-girlfriends, past arrests, one of his mom's ex-s; there were a lot of possibilities. As she sat there Bosco occasionally moaned and tried shifting positions in bed. Faith figured he was still in pain, and was just trying to get more comfortable, but then he began to talk in his sleep.

"No...no...I'm sorry...I opened the window," he whimpered.

Faith leaned in closer to better hear what he was saying. "No...the window." Then he started thrashing around. "NO!"

Yokas tried to calm him down. "Relax Bos. You're safe. No one is going to hurt you." She reached out to him, and tried to hold him still.

"No! Leave me alone!" and as he tried to get out of Faith's hold he slammed his left arm on the railing of the bed.

"Shit!" he screamed as he woke up and cradled his throbbing arm against his body. It was only lightly wrapped in an ace bandage, which didn't absorb much of the impact. Tears were streaming down his face.

"Bosco? Are you OK? Do you want me to get the doctor?" she was leaning over him now; running her fingers through his hair hoping it would helps ease some of the pain.

"Oh, God that hurt," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Give me a minute. I'll be OK." He laid there very still, then let out the breath he was holding.

"Bos?"

"Yeah," his voice was like a whisper.

"Do you want me to get the doctor?"

"Yeah."