Reflections - Chapter 6 - CONCLUSION
Bosco was standing at the edge of a large room, dimly lit, with small trees decorated with white lights. There were tables, with long tablecloths that reached the ground and candles in the center of the tables scattered around a wooden dance floor. Music played softly. He could see a couple on the dance floor. They were dressed formally, she in a long black gown with a plunging back that showed off a perfect back, hair upswept with dangling pearl earrings to match her pearl necklace. The man was dressed in a tuxedo. He couldn't see the woman's face. He felt himself become the man in the tuxedo and could now feel the woman in his embrace. She seemed a perfect fit. He was trying to see who the woman was. There was something familiar about her scent. He felt relaxed and happy. He hadn't felt this way for a long time. The music ended and the two were about to part. He was just about to look his companion in the face....
Bosco could feel someone touching his arm. He ached everywhere and he was cold. Finally he stirred and was able to open his eyes. He looked around and saw that there was a nurse alongside him. "What's going on?" he thought to himself. Then he remembered someone telling him that he was in the hospital. Something about surgery. It was Faith, he now recalled. "But, why?" he said trying so hard to remember and reaching up to try to remove the oxygen tubing from his nose.
The nurse noticed that he was awake and said, "Mr. Boscorelli, my name is Andrea. You're in Mercy Hospital, in the ICU. You had surgery for a ruptured appendix so you are going to have some discomfort. You have an incision on your abdomen so please don't try to move around. The best thing you can do is lie still and let your body heal. Do you understand?" Bosco nodded his head slightly. "Is there anything I can get for you?" she asked, adjusting his blankets and removing the oxygen tubing.
"Faith?" he whispered, his throat sore from the breathing tube and anesthesia during his surgery. "Yes, your partner is just outside. Would you like me to get her for you?" she asked. Bosco just nodded and said, "Cold." The nurse noticed he was shivering slightly.
"You've developed a fever that we have to keep an eye on," she said as she took another blanket and placed it over him and left to get Faith. Bosco thought back, running the night through in his mind, trying to remember all that Faith had told him.
Faith was curled up on one of the couches in the waiting room with her jacket over her. She felt someone gently shake her and looked up to see the nurse standing over her. She glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was 4:00 a.m. It had now been 24 hours since she received the phone call from Nick at the bar. It seemed like it had been a week ago.
"Officer Yokas, your partner is awake and asking for you. But, please don't be too long. He's still pretty weak and his temperature is spiking so I'm going to put a call in for the doctor on call to take a look at him," Andrea said, leading Faith to Bosco's room.
Faith walked into his room and up to the bed, looking around at the monitors keeping track of his temperature, oxygen level, blood pressure and heart rate. He appeared to be asleep again and she whispered, "Bosco? Are you awake?"
Bosco slowly opened his eyes and looked at Faith. "Hey," he said hoarsely, trying to smile. "Hey yourself. How do you feel?" Faith said, relieved to hear his voice.
"Not good," he replied, grimacing at the soreness of his throat. Faith reached over to the stand alongside his bed and poured some of the water from the pitcher onto a washcloth and wet his lips. He licked his lips and said, "Thanks. So what happened?"
"You don't remember? I talked to you down in the ER before they brought you to surgery," she said, dabbing at his lips again with the water.
"I remember feeling like shit at home, and you being there, and then something about my appendix and needing surgery, but that's pretty much it," he said. "Well, you apparently developed appendicitis during the time you were trashed," she said, giving him a motherly look. "I thought it was just from the alcohol until you grabbed your side and passed out again. You were burning up so Doc and Kim brought you here. Your appendix ruptured and you had to have surgery to clean everything out. You need to stay here for a while to make sure you don't get an infection from it," she finished.
"So, everything went okay, right?" he asked. "Yeah," she answered, wondering if he remembered her telling him that she loved him. "Do you remember me telling you anything else?" she asked tentatively.
Bosco looked over at her, his features softening. "Yeah, Faith, I think I do," he said. "But, I'm not sure if I was dreaming or what," he added, looking at her worried face.
Just then, the nurse came in with the doctor and said, "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to step out. The doctor wants to check his incision and see about that fever."
"Oh, okay," said Faith, looking at Bosco and not wanting to leave him. She paused for a moment and then reached down to take his hand and when he looked back at her, she quietly repeated, "I said 'I love you.'" She thought to herself, "There, I said it. Now it's out there," and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Bosco squeezed her hand and smiled, relieved that he hadn't dreamed it and said back to her, "Me too." Faith immediately broke into a big smile and leaned over to kiss him and she felt him kiss her back. The nurse shifted uneasily on her feet and the doctor cleared his throat and they were brought back to the moment.
"Oh, uh, sorry. Bos, I'll be just outside," she said turning to leave with a smile on her face. She stopped at the door and turned to look back at him, and held his gaze for a moment before she left the room.
She was waiting outside his room, with a smile she couldn't get rid of, when she heard someone speak her name. She looked up to see Angela Boscorelli standing there looking at her with a strange look. She suddenly realized that Angela must have asked her a question and was waiting for an answer. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Faith said.
"I said, 'How's Maurice?' I've been waiting for you to call me. I closed up the bar for the night and I wanted to check before I went home to sleep," she repeated.
"Oh, he just woke up. I was just gonna call you. The doctor is in with him right now because his temperature is up," she informed her.
"Oh, well I'll wait for a few minutes, but I'm really beat," Angela said. "Yeah, well, I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you'd wait to see him," Faith replied, disgusted at her lack of concern. Finally, she couldn't hold her tongue anymore and said, "You do realize that he could very easily have died from this, right Angela? He's still pretty sick because of the infection."
Angela looked surprised and said, "What? Why didn't you tell me that when you talked to me earlier?"
"I did, but apparently you were too busy being 'put-out' by the interruption of your son possibly needing you," she stated matter-of-factly.
Angela gave Faith an icy stare and then went to sit down until the doctor came out. About 10 minutes later, the doctor came out looking for Faith.
"Doctor, how is he?" Faith asked as Angela quickly stood up, now ready to assert herself as Bosco's only relative. She elbowed her way between Faith and the doctor and introduced herself, "Hello Doctor. My name is Angela Boscorelli, Maurice's mother."
Faith took a step back, rolling her eyes as the doctor looked at her. "Well, Mrs. Boscorelli..."
"Ms.," she interrupted him.
"Ms. Boscorelli," the doctor corrected himself. "As you know, your son suffered a rupture of his appendix yesterday and underwent surgery to clean out any infection that we could find and remove the remaining damaged organ," he explained as Angela nodded her understanding.
"Right now, he is spiking a pretty high fever, about 103 degrees. Now, we're giving him very strong antibiotics through his intravenous line and this should take care of it, barring any complications," he finished, looking at Faith to make sure that she also understood the information.
"What kind of complications, Doctor," Faith asked. "Well, there are the normal risks from any surgery, no matter how routine. But, we have to worry about keeping the fever down and preventing the infection from spreading systemically and doing damage to other organs, etc.," he explained.
"Oh my poor baby," said Angela. "Can I go see him, please, Doctor?"
"Well, he's still very weak and tired, but for a moment you can, just to let him know you're here," the doctor replied.
"Thanks, Doctor," said Faith, shaking the doctor's hand. "I'll show her which room and make sure she doesn't stay too long."
The doctor nodded and left the two women in the hallway. "Well," said Faith. "Bosco's room is down here," she said, gesturing down the hall and starting down toward his room.
Faith stopped at the door and let Angela go in by herself - although she stayed close to the door so she could make sure that she wasn't upsetting him.
Angela tentatively walked up to the bed and looked at her son, who appeared to be sleeping, "Maurice," she said. "It's Mom," she said gently, taking her son's hand in her own. The nurse was in the room, putting some medicine into the IV tubing. Bosco stirred and opened his eyes, expecting to see Faith. He was surprised to see his Mother standing there with a look of concern on her face. She had tears in her eyes. "Ma, it's okay. I'm okay," he assured her.
"Oh, Maurice. I didn't know when Faith called me that you were this sick. I thought it was just another one of your police work injuries. I would have come over sooner," she said as she touched his cheek.
"It's okay Ma. I guess I was pretty much out of it anyway. Thanks for coming," he said, trying to keep his eyes open. The pain medicine the nurse had given him was too strong and he was losing the fight to stay awake. His eyes drifted shut and the grip on his mother's hand loosened. Angela leaned over to give her son a kiss and walked out of the room.
Faith was standing just outside the door and heard the whole conversation. "Maybe I was a little hard on her," she thought to herself. "I'll have to make sure I apologize."
Angela came out of the room and saw Faith. "He fell asleep again," Angela told her, still standing in the doorway and looking back at her son. Faith nodded. "Look, Angela, I'm sorry I snapped at you before. I'm just tired and worried," she explained.
"No Faith, it's okay. You were right. I should have come right over. It's just that Maurice and I don't always see eye-to-eye on things and I wasn't sure that he'd want me here. I haven't really been there for him a lot when he was younger and I think he doesn't trust me to be there for him. It's something I need to work on with him," she said sadly.
"The nurse said that she gave him some medicine to help him sleep for a pretty long stretch. I'm gonna go home and try to get some sleep. But, I'll be back early," she said. "Why don't you go home and get some rest too, Faith. He's gonna need you when he wakes up. He trusts you," Angela said, almost jealous of the closeness between her son and Faith.
Faith nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm just gonna hang around for a little while more. Kim and Alex are gonna stop over before they go to work so that he isn't by himself. He doesn't like that," she said looking in at Bosco, sleeping peacefully. The nurse had finished getting him his medications and straightening his IV tube and monitor wires. She was reaching up to the light and Angela and Faith said, in unison, "Please, leave that light on for him. He doesn't like the dark."
The two women looked at each other and smiled. Angela moved closer to Faith and gave her a hug. "He loves you Faith. I hope you know that. He doesn't say it, but I see it in his eyes, the way he looks at you, the way he talks about you."
"I know, Angela," Faith said with a smile. "And I love him too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End. Sequel?
Bosco was standing at the edge of a large room, dimly lit, with small trees decorated with white lights. There were tables, with long tablecloths that reached the ground and candles in the center of the tables scattered around a wooden dance floor. Music played softly. He could see a couple on the dance floor. They were dressed formally, she in a long black gown with a plunging back that showed off a perfect back, hair upswept with dangling pearl earrings to match her pearl necklace. The man was dressed in a tuxedo. He couldn't see the woman's face. He felt himself become the man in the tuxedo and could now feel the woman in his embrace. She seemed a perfect fit. He was trying to see who the woman was. There was something familiar about her scent. He felt relaxed and happy. He hadn't felt this way for a long time. The music ended and the two were about to part. He was just about to look his companion in the face....
Bosco could feel someone touching his arm. He ached everywhere and he was cold. Finally he stirred and was able to open his eyes. He looked around and saw that there was a nurse alongside him. "What's going on?" he thought to himself. Then he remembered someone telling him that he was in the hospital. Something about surgery. It was Faith, he now recalled. "But, why?" he said trying so hard to remember and reaching up to try to remove the oxygen tubing from his nose.
The nurse noticed that he was awake and said, "Mr. Boscorelli, my name is Andrea. You're in Mercy Hospital, in the ICU. You had surgery for a ruptured appendix so you are going to have some discomfort. You have an incision on your abdomen so please don't try to move around. The best thing you can do is lie still and let your body heal. Do you understand?" Bosco nodded his head slightly. "Is there anything I can get for you?" she asked, adjusting his blankets and removing the oxygen tubing.
"Faith?" he whispered, his throat sore from the breathing tube and anesthesia during his surgery. "Yes, your partner is just outside. Would you like me to get her for you?" she asked. Bosco just nodded and said, "Cold." The nurse noticed he was shivering slightly.
"You've developed a fever that we have to keep an eye on," she said as she took another blanket and placed it over him and left to get Faith. Bosco thought back, running the night through in his mind, trying to remember all that Faith had told him.
Faith was curled up on one of the couches in the waiting room with her jacket over her. She felt someone gently shake her and looked up to see the nurse standing over her. She glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was 4:00 a.m. It had now been 24 hours since she received the phone call from Nick at the bar. It seemed like it had been a week ago.
"Officer Yokas, your partner is awake and asking for you. But, please don't be too long. He's still pretty weak and his temperature is spiking so I'm going to put a call in for the doctor on call to take a look at him," Andrea said, leading Faith to Bosco's room.
Faith walked into his room and up to the bed, looking around at the monitors keeping track of his temperature, oxygen level, blood pressure and heart rate. He appeared to be asleep again and she whispered, "Bosco? Are you awake?"
Bosco slowly opened his eyes and looked at Faith. "Hey," he said hoarsely, trying to smile. "Hey yourself. How do you feel?" Faith said, relieved to hear his voice.
"Not good," he replied, grimacing at the soreness of his throat. Faith reached over to the stand alongside his bed and poured some of the water from the pitcher onto a washcloth and wet his lips. He licked his lips and said, "Thanks. So what happened?"
"You don't remember? I talked to you down in the ER before they brought you to surgery," she said, dabbing at his lips again with the water.
"I remember feeling like shit at home, and you being there, and then something about my appendix and needing surgery, but that's pretty much it," he said. "Well, you apparently developed appendicitis during the time you were trashed," she said, giving him a motherly look. "I thought it was just from the alcohol until you grabbed your side and passed out again. You were burning up so Doc and Kim brought you here. Your appendix ruptured and you had to have surgery to clean everything out. You need to stay here for a while to make sure you don't get an infection from it," she finished.
"So, everything went okay, right?" he asked. "Yeah," she answered, wondering if he remembered her telling him that she loved him. "Do you remember me telling you anything else?" she asked tentatively.
Bosco looked over at her, his features softening. "Yeah, Faith, I think I do," he said. "But, I'm not sure if I was dreaming or what," he added, looking at her worried face.
Just then, the nurse came in with the doctor and said, "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to step out. The doctor wants to check his incision and see about that fever."
"Oh, okay," said Faith, looking at Bosco and not wanting to leave him. She paused for a moment and then reached down to take his hand and when he looked back at her, she quietly repeated, "I said 'I love you.'" She thought to herself, "There, I said it. Now it's out there," and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Bosco squeezed her hand and smiled, relieved that he hadn't dreamed it and said back to her, "Me too." Faith immediately broke into a big smile and leaned over to kiss him and she felt him kiss her back. The nurse shifted uneasily on her feet and the doctor cleared his throat and they were brought back to the moment.
"Oh, uh, sorry. Bos, I'll be just outside," she said turning to leave with a smile on her face. She stopped at the door and turned to look back at him, and held his gaze for a moment before she left the room.
She was waiting outside his room, with a smile she couldn't get rid of, when she heard someone speak her name. She looked up to see Angela Boscorelli standing there looking at her with a strange look. She suddenly realized that Angela must have asked her a question and was waiting for an answer. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Faith said.
"I said, 'How's Maurice?' I've been waiting for you to call me. I closed up the bar for the night and I wanted to check before I went home to sleep," she repeated.
"Oh, he just woke up. I was just gonna call you. The doctor is in with him right now because his temperature is up," she informed her.
"Oh, well I'll wait for a few minutes, but I'm really beat," Angela said. "Yeah, well, I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you'd wait to see him," Faith replied, disgusted at her lack of concern. Finally, she couldn't hold her tongue anymore and said, "You do realize that he could very easily have died from this, right Angela? He's still pretty sick because of the infection."
Angela looked surprised and said, "What? Why didn't you tell me that when you talked to me earlier?"
"I did, but apparently you were too busy being 'put-out' by the interruption of your son possibly needing you," she stated matter-of-factly.
Angela gave Faith an icy stare and then went to sit down until the doctor came out. About 10 minutes later, the doctor came out looking for Faith.
"Doctor, how is he?" Faith asked as Angela quickly stood up, now ready to assert herself as Bosco's only relative. She elbowed her way between Faith and the doctor and introduced herself, "Hello Doctor. My name is Angela Boscorelli, Maurice's mother."
Faith took a step back, rolling her eyes as the doctor looked at her. "Well, Mrs. Boscorelli..."
"Ms.," she interrupted him.
"Ms. Boscorelli," the doctor corrected himself. "As you know, your son suffered a rupture of his appendix yesterday and underwent surgery to clean out any infection that we could find and remove the remaining damaged organ," he explained as Angela nodded her understanding.
"Right now, he is spiking a pretty high fever, about 103 degrees. Now, we're giving him very strong antibiotics through his intravenous line and this should take care of it, barring any complications," he finished, looking at Faith to make sure that she also understood the information.
"What kind of complications, Doctor," Faith asked. "Well, there are the normal risks from any surgery, no matter how routine. But, we have to worry about keeping the fever down and preventing the infection from spreading systemically and doing damage to other organs, etc.," he explained.
"Oh my poor baby," said Angela. "Can I go see him, please, Doctor?"
"Well, he's still very weak and tired, but for a moment you can, just to let him know you're here," the doctor replied.
"Thanks, Doctor," said Faith, shaking the doctor's hand. "I'll show her which room and make sure she doesn't stay too long."
The doctor nodded and left the two women in the hallway. "Well," said Faith. "Bosco's room is down here," she said, gesturing down the hall and starting down toward his room.
Faith stopped at the door and let Angela go in by herself - although she stayed close to the door so she could make sure that she wasn't upsetting him.
Angela tentatively walked up to the bed and looked at her son, who appeared to be sleeping, "Maurice," she said. "It's Mom," she said gently, taking her son's hand in her own. The nurse was in the room, putting some medicine into the IV tubing. Bosco stirred and opened his eyes, expecting to see Faith. He was surprised to see his Mother standing there with a look of concern on her face. She had tears in her eyes. "Ma, it's okay. I'm okay," he assured her.
"Oh, Maurice. I didn't know when Faith called me that you were this sick. I thought it was just another one of your police work injuries. I would have come over sooner," she said as she touched his cheek.
"It's okay Ma. I guess I was pretty much out of it anyway. Thanks for coming," he said, trying to keep his eyes open. The pain medicine the nurse had given him was too strong and he was losing the fight to stay awake. His eyes drifted shut and the grip on his mother's hand loosened. Angela leaned over to give her son a kiss and walked out of the room.
Faith was standing just outside the door and heard the whole conversation. "Maybe I was a little hard on her," she thought to herself. "I'll have to make sure I apologize."
Angela came out of the room and saw Faith. "He fell asleep again," Angela told her, still standing in the doorway and looking back at her son. Faith nodded. "Look, Angela, I'm sorry I snapped at you before. I'm just tired and worried," she explained.
"No Faith, it's okay. You were right. I should have come right over. It's just that Maurice and I don't always see eye-to-eye on things and I wasn't sure that he'd want me here. I haven't really been there for him a lot when he was younger and I think he doesn't trust me to be there for him. It's something I need to work on with him," she said sadly.
"The nurse said that she gave him some medicine to help him sleep for a pretty long stretch. I'm gonna go home and try to get some sleep. But, I'll be back early," she said. "Why don't you go home and get some rest too, Faith. He's gonna need you when he wakes up. He trusts you," Angela said, almost jealous of the closeness between her son and Faith.
Faith nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm just gonna hang around for a little while more. Kim and Alex are gonna stop over before they go to work so that he isn't by himself. He doesn't like that," she said looking in at Bosco, sleeping peacefully. The nurse had finished getting him his medications and straightening his IV tube and monitor wires. She was reaching up to the light and Angela and Faith said, in unison, "Please, leave that light on for him. He doesn't like the dark."
The two women looked at each other and smiled. Angela moved closer to Faith and gave her a hug. "He loves you Faith. I hope you know that. He doesn't say it, but I see it in his eyes, the way he looks at you, the way he talks about you."
"I know, Angela," Faith said with a smile. "And I love him too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End. Sequel?