Title: To Protect, and Ultimately Love (2/4)
Author: Demelza
Email: demelza81@yahoo.co.nz
Disclaimer: The usual, Third Watch and Gargs don't belong to me, they belong to their respective owners (Disney/Warner Bros/NBC/Buena Vista, etc,.)
Rating: R - for violence, language and content

Wow, took me a while, but chapter 2 is FINALLY here! Thanks you guys for all your wonderful feedback, I'll try get the next 2 parts out ASAP.

Special dedication to Angie, for waiting so patiently, and reminding me the other day to write more! I hadn't forgotten, just went through some writers block, damned depressed days! GRRR to them all!!! Anyway, thanks again, Angie!

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CHAPTER TWO
* * * * * * * *

Faith had been running for what felt like hours, but what had only been maybe ten or fifteen minutes at the most. Her throat was aching, aching with that severe cramp that made swallowing that much harder to do. Her back was also throbbing, increasing in pain with ever stride she took. As the part of her mind allowed her to not be as afraid any more, knowing she was away from Fred, away from what hell he'd put her through, her running begun to slow down to a fast walk. Her entire body shivering in the coldness of the night, she still kept on walking, her heart pounding fast in her chest with every step on the cold and uneven footpath.

There was a long moment when the crying stopped, when there wasn't a single thought in her mind about what happened, but the memories struck her all over again. A sadistic reminder that she wasn't going to forget and that she was never allowed freedom to move beyond the point of fear. And that's when her eyes lifted from the patterned cement at her feet and she saw a woman lying on the ground several meters ahead.

With her heart pounding deeply in her chest, Faith ran over to the woman and crouched down at her side, quickly checking her pulse as she examined the sole blow to the head she had suffered. She was still alive, thankfully, she exhaled after a moment. "Ma'am can you hear me?" she called to the olive skinned woman, gently shaking her. She stirred, and another sigh of relief came from Faith. "My name's Faith, can you tell me your name, ma'am?" she asked.

The woman opened her eyes, and looked back at her, "Elisa..." she softly replied, blinking.

"Good, Elisa, can you tell me what happened?" Faith then asked, that police instinct taking over.

"I..." Elisa begun, pausing as she tried to let everything register. Where she was. What was going on. That's when realization suddenly hit her and her eyes were wide open, "My sister...and mom...god, no..." she cried, tears flowing from her eyes. "He...no, not them...he killed them...he killed my family..."

"Who did, ma'am?" Faith asked, but the woman just stared at her. "Was it the same man that attacked you?"

"I don't..." she stammered, her memory flashing with images of Michael's sadistic grin as he told her it was his mom and sister's blood on his shirt. "Yes..." she whispered in a barely audible voice, "We have...have to call, nine-one-one."

"I know, we will..." Faith assured her.

* * *

Mercy, A Short Time Later

Faith sat on the bed in exam cubicle three, in the room on the other side of the one where she was, Elisa sat with her arms wrapped around herself, lying in the bed in one of the hospital's white gowns. She watched as the woman talked to the Officer's John Sullivan and Ty Davis. Faith's own colleagues. She swallowed hard, watching as Sully placed his hand over Elisa's, said something, before heading out of the room with his partner in tow.

"Okay, time to get those cuts seen to," Nurse Proctor said as she walked into the cubicle, and Faith instantly turned to look at her, watching as the senior nurse of the hospital winced in seeing how badly Faith looked. "That's a nasty bump you've got there," she said, stepping up in front of Faith so she could take a better look at the damage done. She didn't say anything else as she then reached for the curtain and pulled it closed, all view of the other room suddenly gone.

"This gonna take long?" Faith quietly asked, swallowing hard as she looked up at Proctor from where she sat.

"As long as it needs to," the nurse replied, "How about you tell me how many times he hit you?"

"He didn't..." she flatly lied, "Fred didn't hit me. He wouldn't hit me. He's not violent."

"I see..." Proctor murmured, taking the penlight out of her pocket and examining Faith's left eye first, then her right eye. "I was under the assumption that the same man who attacked the woman you brought in, attacked you too."

Faith stared at her.

Silence.

"So how many times did he hit you?" Proctor pressed, turning to the tray that was at the end of the bed, she then wheeled it over so that it was right beside her. She took a swab with some thing or another on it so she could clean the wounds, before applying some ointment that would help with the swelling. She turned to look at Faith, swabs in hand, "Faith?"

More silence.

This time Faith stared down at the floor, "A couple times," she soon said.

"A couple times doesn't do this much damage..."

"He didn't mean it."

"I'm sure he told you he loved you when he was finished, too..." Proctor said, shaking her head. "Look, hun, even if he hit you once, he meant it. He hits you more than once, he needs to be locked up. You're a cop, you should know all of this."

Faith flinched at the other woman's tone and looked away. Every part of her wanted to cry, wanted to just beg that she wasn't here in the hospital, that no one had ever found out about Fred hitting her. But there was no turning back the clock now. There was nothing she could do, nothing to change what happened. Just as quickly as those thoughts entered her mind, so did that final moment before she was knocked unconscious.

"I...I gave you everything you ever asked for!" he screamed again, this time tears of rage fuelling his voice as he crouched down in front of her, a dark, dangerous leer in his eyes. She begged to God that He'd give her the strength to get away from Fred, but every part of her was too weak, too much in pain to process a single thought much less make her arms and legs move. "And what did I get!?" he continued, jerking her out of her own thoughts as she stared back at him, body shaking. "Nothing! But I'm going to take...take what I deserve! What you *owe* me!"

That same memory played over and over in her mind as Proctor treated the wounds to her head, and the doctor came in and examined the bruising to her stomach and back. He ordered head and chest x-rays, and still that was all that was in her mind. She didn't reply when the doctors asked if he'd hurt her in any other way, what could she tell them? My husband raped me? How would it look, a police officer who was beaten and raped by her spouse? Then came the second line of questioning, this time it wasn't from the doctor, the nurses, or her own self-state of mind, but a friend. The one person she'd hidden all of this violence from.

Bosco.

"Geez, Yokas, what the hell happened!?" he exclaimed, standing at the foot end of her bed where she lay, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't reply, only wished he hadn't seen her like this. He walked around the side of the bed, looking down at her, waiting still for her to say something. But she didn't. "Faith?"

"Go home, Boz..." her raspy voice ordered him. She turned and looked away. She couldn't bare to have him look at her, to see the damage she'd just *let* happen herself have happen.

"I'm not leaving til I get a straight answer," he stated.

Feeling frustrated, Faith slowly turned her head to look at him, he stood in that 'I care and this is how I'm showing it' stance. The one where he had his right hand sitting perched on his weapon holster, the thumb of his left hand hooked on his belt as he looked down at her, leaning on his left foot. "It's nothing, Bosco...nothing happened."

"Mm-hmm, yeah I'll believe that when pigs fly, come on, tell me..."

She shook her head, forcing a faint smile, "I'm fine, okay? Just, go home, go...hassle some druggies..."

"Ouch, Yokas..." Bosco shook his head, unhooking his thumb from his belt at the same time as he moved forward and sat down on the bed beside her. "I'm staying until you tell me exactly what happened...who hit you?"

"I fell, okay? I feel like an idiot enough as it is, I don't need you here, trying to rub it in..." she replied, laughing slightly. But she had to realize her partner wasn't some stupid rookie who believed every word his partner uttered, and she knew he didn't when let out a sigh. "Please, Bosco...I fell..." she pleaded with him, desperate for him to believe her.

He stared down at her, "Was it Fred?" he asked, but she shook her head, staring up at him. "Don't lie Faith, was it Fred? Did he beat you!?"

"What? God, no, Boz...no! He didn't hit me!" she screamed at him, tears flooding her eyes.

Still he stared down at her, feeling his chest rise as he set his jaw. "I know he hurt you!" he shouted, rage in his every being. "All these weeks, hiding the bruises with that damn make up...saying you fell, walked into a door..."

"If you knew, why didn't you do anything!?" Faith shouted back, so surprised by the pleading in her own voice, the demand to know why he hadn't been there to protect to her. She knew, looking back at him, that he had to ask himself that same question. Ask himself why, if he knew that Fred was hurting her, why he just let it happen, why he kept quiet, making out he didn't know something wasn't right.

Bosco cast his eyes down at the floor, ashamed to such a degree because he hadn't kept by his oath to her that first shift they worked together that he'd always be there to protect her, that he'd never let any bastard lay a single hand on her.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Faith pleaded, tears streaming down her face. "Why didn't you stop him, Boz?!"

He slowly lifted his head to look back at her. There was another long silence.

"Why didn't you stop him!" She shouted again, this time it made Bosco flinch. All he could think to do was reach a hand up and touch her left cheek, to let her know how sorry he was, how he wish he had of stopped Fred. Wished he hadn't kept hoping beyond hope that he wasn't seeing the abuse all over again, that he wasn't seeing it happen to another person he loved. He had to shield himself from it, couldn't let himself believe in a single moment that her bastard husband was hurting her, just like his dad had hurt his mom, and he and Mikey, all those years when he was growing up. He was jolted out of his memory when Faith let out a sob, asking, "Why weren't you there when I needed you?"

He swallowed hard, feeling tears well up in his eyes, "I couldn't let myself believe that it was happening..." he replied, his voice low and scratchy. He caressed her cheek, feeling his chest rise as a sob crept up on him. "I couldn't believe that it was happening again...happening to someone I cared for...but, I should have saw the signs, I should have protected you!"

Faith looked back at him, "No," she whispered back. "I wish..." she begun, "I wish I'd told you...and now, it's too late...and it's all my fault."

Bosco placed his other hand over hers, "No, it is *not* your fault! It's his, and I'm going to make sure he never hurts you again."

"Bosco, please, don't hurt him..." she pleaded, seeing the anger in his eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt him," he promised, "I'm going to fucking kill him!"

* * *

Her arms wrapped around her, Elisa felt a shudder of fear come over her when Officer Sullivan came back in her room, his young rookie partner at his side, grim expressions on both their faces. "My mom, Beth..." she begun, her voice low, catching, and the officers exchanged looks, before Sullivan turned back to her, sorrow on his face. "They're dead?" she grimly asked, wanting to believe they were fine, but after seeing the blood on Michael's shirt, hearing his menacing voice, she let all hopes fade in that moment.

"Your mom, she was already gone by the time the ambulance got to the apartment," Sullivan said, his voice scratching itself. He looked sideways at his partner, who merely glanced down at the ground, and he turned back to Elisa. "Beth's in a serious condition at Central, they're not sure she's going to make it."

"No..." Elisa cried, shaking her head. Then it dawned on her, the one person she'd forgotten about in this whole situation. "Jarod! What about Jarod!?"

"Jarod?" Sullivan asked, looking back at her, confusion written across his face.

"My nephew...he's nine months old...he took him, that's why he killed my mom, attacked my sister...he wanted his son..."

"There was no baby there," Officer Davis said at Sullivan's side, "I'll put the call through," he said, heading out of the room, while calling into his radio at the same time.

Elisa looked up at Sullivan, "We have to find him...we can't let Michael away with what he did to my mom and sister..."

"We won't," Sullivan promised, "We'll catch this bastard. We have a city wide search out for him," he said, pausing for a moment, he went to say something else when he noticed Elisa's eyes shift from him, to the door behind him. He turned around quickly, expecting to see his partner, when he saw a ruggedly dressed man with red hair standing there, he was unshaven and there was a strong odor of alcohol about him. "Matt Bluestone?" Sullivan asked, getting a nod from the man, who kept his eyes fixed on Elisa. He turned back to Elisa, "We'll let you know as soon as we find your nephew," he said, his voice calm, before then walking out of the room.

He was a few feet away from the door, when Davis approached, nodding toward the room with his chin, "Who was that?"

"Boyfriend," Sullivan stated, turning to look just in time to see the couple hugging tightly. He turned back to his partner, "Anything yet?"

"Nothing," Davis replied. "Though, Bosco and Chou are here."

"Did you call them?"

He shook his head, "They came in with a drunk who cut himself trying to rob some homeless guys of their money."

Sullivan nodded, "He in there with Yokas?"

"Yeah."

"She was beaten pretty badly," he said, his voice fading as he saw the matched grim expression on his partner's face. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Check out the home residence?"

He nodded. "Come on, let's go."

Davis nodded, saying nothing as he followed his partner down the corridor.