Notes: Thanks to Angie for all of her support. Feedback is greatly appreciated. Any sent my way will find a good home.
Notes 2: If anyone would like to tell me how I did with Emily I would really appreciate it. I don't really know how 12 year old girls act so I would like to know if I'm way off base with her.
****Warning Ahead*****
**Nice Fred Alert ** **Be Kind to Fred** **Nice Fred Alert **
Everyone has been warned, I have resisted the urge to turn poor Fred into a horrible guy in my story. This takes place before Fred became obnoxious on the show so I'm giving him and Faith a break. I'm just warning the large masses of Fred haters that I have an attack dog sitting beside my computer (okay actually it's an attack cat, sleeping on top of my keyboard). But I'm not afraid of hate mail so bring it on. :)
Part Seven
Faith had come home hours ago. She had dinner with her family, talked about Fred and Charlie's camping trip the next day and then curled up beside Fred and fell asleep early. But somehow she now found herself wide awake and sitting in front of the TV at three in the morning.
She had learned many years ago that when it came to dealing with Maurice Boscorelli, nothing was ever very easy. Of course the main reason dealing with Bosco was such a difficult thing was that Bosco made it difficult. On an average day he was infuriating, opinionated and sometimes just plain mean. But she had learned that under all of that crap, he really did have a kind heart that he kept deeply buried under his loud-mouthed attitude and that was why she had come to care very deeply about him.
Faith had been horrified when she looked up from the blast and saw her partner lying on the sidewalk, but the nightmare had not ended there. As if suffering from blindness wasn't a bad enough sentence to get for trying to save an innocent girl's life, Bosco had to relive some of his most terrifying memories.
Instead of listening to Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain, she was staring at the channel 13 logo and remembering the silent sobs of her best friend.
She jumped slightly when Fred placed his hand on her shoulder and bent down to kiss her lightly on the top of her head. She smiled half-heartedly at him then watched as he moved quietly around the couch and sat down beside her.
"You want to talk about it?" he asked quietly.
What would she say? She couldn't just tell Fred all of the horrible things Bosco had talked to her about. If she did she felt like she would be betraying him and she could never do that to him. Faith shook her head then looked down at her hands that were clenched in her lap. Fred leaned over, took one of her hands, and squeezed it. She looked up into his concerned eyes and felt the tears begin to make their way down her face.
He pulled her into an embrace and she gave herself over to all the tears that she had refused to let flow in front of Bosco. Fred stroked her hair as she buried her face in his chest, they sat there for a long time, and the only sound was the low music from the TV and Faith's sobs.
When she knew that she was all cried out, she took at deep breath and sniffed. "How can this be happening? It's not fair!"
"It's going to be okay, Faith," Fred said softly.
"He saved my life, Fred, if he hadn't pulled me out of there I probably would have died."
Faith felt Fred's grip on her tighten, then she realized that her words had probably already been running through his mind. What would have happened to her family if she had died? She pushed that thought out of her mind, she didn't want to think that way and she had enough to worry about with-out playing the 'what if' game.
"It's going to be okay," he repeated. "You have to keep thinking that."
"You don't know that, I want to believe that but what if it's not?" She began to tremble in his arms. "What if he's blind for the rest of his life, Fred?"
"I don't know, Faith, I don't know."
Faith buried herself deeper in his arms and forced the trembling to slow and then stop. She was exhausted. She knew she needed to sleep so when her eyes started to close she didn't fight it. As Fred continued to rub her back softly, she quickly fell asleep. Just as she drifted off to sleep she couldn't escape the nagging feeling that they hadn't seen the last of Bosco's troubles.
~~
"Mommy, get up."
Faith slowly opened her eyes to see Charlie's wide eyes staring at her. She brought her hand to her face and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"What is it, Charlie?"
"If you don't move, Daddy can't take me camping," he said with a giggle.
"What?" she asked sleepily.
Then Faith felt light tapping on her shoulder and she turned to look up at Fred. Then she remembered falling asleep in his arms the night before. He was smiling down at her with a lopsided grin on his face while he waved a finger at her.
"I'm sorry. Why didn't you just get up after I fell asleep?"
"You were really tired, I didn't want to wake you."
"You fell asleep too, didn't you?" she asked with a grin as she sat up and let him stand.
"Well, yeah," he said quickly as he cleared his throat. She watched him take a step and wince.
"You okay?"
"My legs fell asleep, you putting on weight?" he asked then quickly ducked as she threw the pillow at his head. He then escaped down the hall to the bedroom.
She turned her attention back to her son and watched him bounce around the room looking through the binoculars his grandma had given him for his birthday.
"Charlie, you ready to go?"
He turned back and grinned at her. "Yes, I even packed my toothbrush!"
"I'm impressed." She laughed and got up to go to the kitchen.
Emily was standing in front of the sink balancing a bowl on the edge of the sink while she poured milk over the top of her cereal. When Faith walked into the room, a huge smile spread across her face. She quickly pushed the bowl onto the counter, set the milk down, and turned to grab Faith around the waist in a tight bear hug.
"I was worried about you," she said into Faith's stomach as she squeezed.
Faith bent down and encircled her daughter tightly, she kissed the top of her head and after a few seconds pulled her away to look at her. Emily smiled at her but her eyes still had a touch of fear in them. Faith reached up, stroked Emily's cheek, and pushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "Hey, I'm okay. See I'm fine, nothing happened," she said trying to convince her that she really was okay and Emily had nothing to worry about.
Emily gave her a small smile and then lowered her head and whispered. "But, you could have died, the lady on the news said that the car blew up. I don't want you to die, I was so scared."
Faith closed her eyes for a moment and tried to come up with something that would calm her. But what could she say? With her job she couldn't lie to her and promise that she was never going to die. Faith reached out, took Emily's chin, and raised her daughter's face until she could look in her eyes. "I know sweetie, you know what? I was scared too." She leaned forward and kissed Emily on the nose. "But everything's okay so you don't have to worry about it anymore okay?"
"Bosco's not okay, is he?"
Faith was startled by her words and felt the frown as it formed on her face. When did her little girl become so smart?
"No, he was hurt. But the doctor said he's getting better."
"Dad said he couldn't see," Emily persisted.
Faith sighed and wished Fred hadn't told her about Bosco. "He can't right now, he has bandages on his face covering his eyes, his eyes need to heal and then we hope he will be able to see again when they take the bandages off."
Emily nodded slowly and was about to ask another question when Fred walked into the room and rapped his knuckles on the counter.
"Em, go help your brother find his raincoat."
Emily looked up at her dad then back at Faith then she turned and squeezed out of the small kitchen toward her room to help her brother.
Faith grabbed the edge of the counter, pulled herself up, and stared at him.
He pursed his lips and raised his hands in the air briefly, then let them fall to his side. "I had to tell her something, Faith. She was over Lisa's when it happened. It was all over the news. They had Bosco's picture up with some stupid red-flaming ring around it, like he was dead. The newscasters didn't know anything, I didn't know anything and when you didn't come home that night I had to tell her something. We both told Charlie that you were staying at the hospital because Bosco was sick."
Faith nodded and lowered her head, trying to force back the tears that threatened to fall. Fred stepped toward her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close to him. They stood that way for several minutes until they heard the phone ring and the sound of loud feet rushing down the hall to answer it. She heard a brief scuffle as her two phone crazed kids struggled for the phone. Then Emily appeared in the doorway with the phone in her hand.
"It's for you, Mom. It's the FBI," she whispered.
Faith took the phone and stiffed a giggle as she watched Fred's eyebrows creep up his forehead. She turned slightly from them and glanced down at Emily's now soggy cereal.
"Hello," she said into the phone.
"Officer Yokas, this is Agent Wilkerson, I hope you remember me. I'm sorry to call you at home but I needed to speak with you."
"That's okay, when did you want to get together?"
"I wanted to stop by in a couple of hours to speak to your partner, I was hoping that I would be able to speak with you at the same time."
"You still want to talk to Bosco?"
"Yes, I need to find out exactly what if anything he saw. We think we have been able to piece all the pieces together but I just need to cover all my bases."
"Sure of course, but Bosco doesn't really remember much, I don't know how much help he is going to be able to give you."
"I understand, but I need to hear that for myself. Will you be there."
"Yes, I was planning on stopping in after I went to the house to file my report."
"Can I meet you there around eleven?"
"Eleven is fine, I'll meet you in Bosco's room."
"Thank-you, Officer. Goodbye."
Faith listened to the phone click and turned to look at Fred and Emily. Fred looked curious; Emily however looked scared again.
"They just need to ask us some questions," she said quickly.
Fred nodded but she could tell he wasn't satisfied with her answer. Emily smiled and then leaned around her and took her cereal and headed for the table to eat.
Faith raised her hands and ran them through her hair. She needed to take a long hot shower and clear some of the cobwebs out. She motioned for Fred to move then started toward the opening and their bedroom. When she passed him he touched her arm and she turned to look at him.
"You want me to stay home?" Fred asked. "I can always take Charlie another time."
"No, why would you want to do that? Besides Charlie would probably kill you."
Fred released her arm and shrugged his shoulders. She smiled at him again and then turned and headed for that much needed hot shower.
*********************************
Bosco brought the bottle he held to his lips and blew into the hole. He listened to the low moan the bottle made before he brought it to his lips and blew again. Somewhere in the back of his head, his mind was telling him that he had truly hit an all time low in the boredom scale. But there had been nothing else to do for the last twenty minutes.
When the nurse had brought him back to his room after his CAT Scan she had taken his blood and promised to scrounge around for a radio that he could listen to but she hadn't come back yet. Before he had been taken away for testing he had tried to listen to the TV but without being able to see exactly what was happening to the coyote and roadrunner, he had become frustrated and refused to try again. So that brought him to blowing in his orange juice bottle and praying for a visitor.
When he heard his door open he automatically looked toward the door then cursed himself for doing such a stupid thing. Because even looking at the door gave him absolutely no clue to who was there.
"Who is it?"
"Hey, Bosco, it's Sully."
"How you feeling? The doc said you took a lump on the head."
He heard Sully chuckle. "I got a hard head. Shouldn't I be asking you that question though?"
Bosco shrugged his shoulders and fumbled with the table in front of him until he was able to sit the bottle down and push it out of his way. "You know doctors, they all keep saying it's going to take time."
"Yeah, yeah."
Bosco shifted in his bed not sure what Sully wanted to hear or really what to say to him. Neither of them said anything for a minute or so. Bosco was staring to feel uncomfortable. But he could understand Sully's silence; he had no clue what he would say if their positions were reversed.
"Well, I just came by to see how you were doing, Oh yeah Davis told me to give you this."
"What?"
"Dammit, I'm sorry, Bosco. I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay, Sully, it's weird, I know. Don't worry about it." He told him hoping he didn't sound as helpless as he felt.
Bosco heard Sully's shoes squeak as he took a couple of steps closer to his bed. Sully put something on his lap and then squeezed his shoulder. "This is all going to work out fine Bosco. You'll be back giving the bad guys hell in no time."
Bosco nodded his head and then dropped his hand to his lap and felt a small flat object attached to a wire. He ran his hands up the wire and felt the foam covers on what had to be earphones for the CD player he now possessed. He smiled. All right Davis!
"Tell Davis thanks for the CD player."
"Sure, but he wanted to make sure I told you it was only on loan to you."
"What's on loan?" Came Faith's voice form the doorway.
"Davis told me to bring by his CD player for Bosco to listen to while he was cooped up here."
"Hey, I think I saw the new Faith Hill CD down in the gift shop. Should I run down and get it?"
Bosco groaned and Sully laughed.
"I'm not getting involved in this. See you later, Bosco."
Bosco waved his hand in Sully's direction as Sully crossed the floor and whispered something to Faith and she answered him. Then he opened the door and left. Faith walked up to his bedside and touched his hand before she pulled the chair up and sat down.
"I wish people wouldn't do that."
"What?" She sounded confused.
"Whisper about me when I'm sitting right here. I can still hear, you know."
"For your information, we weren't whispering about you."
Bosco blew a breath out and let his head fall back into his pillow. "Right."
"We weren't, he asked me how the bump on my head was."
Guilt flooded through him. She had been hurt and he had never asked how she was. He sat up quickly and reached out toward her. "Faith, oh my God, you didn't tell me you were hurt. Are you okay?"
Bosco felt her hand on his arm and he relaxed a little.
"Bosco, calm down. I'm fine. I just hit my head on the ground. It doesn't even hurt anymore."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"I don't know, Bosco, I mean you really didn't have anything else to worry about, did you?"
"Come on, Faith, it's hard enough trying to keep myself from jumping every time the AC comes on, I don't need you keeping things from me, too."
Bosco felt Faith's light touch for a second on his head then she pulled it away and said. "Okay, Bosco from now I don't hold back anything, happy?"
Bosco nodded his head. "Yes, I can handle it Faith, I really can."
"I know you can, Bosco. So you want me to tell you all about how I stubbed my toe getting into the shower? Or maybe I can give you all the gory details on the nasty leg shaving incident this morning?"
Bosco groaned. "Faith, I'm serious."
Bosco listened to Faith laugh as she went to sit down in her normal chair. He then heard a knock at the door and then Faith tried to stop laughing as she cleared her throat.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Bosco didn't recognize the voice but it seemed vaguely familiar.
"No, we were just discussing my morning. Nice to see you again, Agent Wilkerson," Faith answered.
Bosco vaguely remembered the stiff agent that they had talked to briefly in front of the hotel. But what interested Bosco more was the slightly formal way Faith answered him. Bosco had worked with Faith long enough to know that something was up. What had happened between the two of them? He pushed that question back into his mind so he could grill her about it later.
"Yes, you too, Officer Yokas. How are you feeling, Officer Boscorelli?"
Bosco shrugged his shoulders and answered. "I'm doing just fine."
"Good, that's really good to hear."
Bosco heard Faith stand and step toward his bed as Wilkerson stepped across the room.
"I called your partner earlier and asked if I could stop by and ask the two of you some questions. I hoped I could ask you these questions yesterday but you were sleeping when we came by."
Bosco nodded, "Yeah, Faith told me you guys stopped by. I was pretty wasted yesterday."
"That's fine. I just wanted to ask you a few questions. I don't know if Officer Yokas told you or
not but one of my agents was found dead after the bombing incident at the hotel. He was a kid, first assignment. I want to be able to tell his parents something." Wilkerson paused and cleared his throat then continued. "Anyway, we located him in the alley behind the hotel with a gunshot wound to the head."
Wilkerson had stopped again and cleared his throat then finished. "What I need to know from you is if either of you saw anything that might help?"
"I don't remembering seeing anyone except the teenagers that were protesting out front. Then the
kids on the bikes started racing by, I really couldn't tell you about anyone other than them, and I really didn't even get a good look at them." Faith answered.
Bosco searched his memory for anything that might help. He couldn't really remember a whole lot. Faith had told him what had happened. He really hadn't tried to remember much of it on his own but now he forced himself to think back to before the accident. He remembered joking around with Faith and Sully about the kids. Slowly details of the conversation with the teenagers came back to him, something about them wanting a better world or something.
"Do you remember anything, Officer Boscorelli?"
Bosco managed to keep from jumping as Wilkerson's words interrupted his thoughts. He shook his head slightly in frustration. "Not a whole lot."
"Anything you remember will help."
"Well, I remember the teenagers protesting. They were typical tree hugger types." Bosco stopped when he thought he heard Faith make a weird little noise, then he smiled because he knew she was annoyed by his description of the kids as tree huggers. "Anyway, I went down into the parking garage and then..."
Bosco paused trying to remember what else had happened he knew there was something else, but he couldn't remember what. Bosco must have been silent to long because he heard Wilkerson clear his throat and say.
"I know you have been through a lot if you can't..."
"Hang on," Bosco stopped him. Then memories of the parking garage came flooding back to him. "The garage was loaded with guards so I decided to take a look at the alley behind the hotel."
"Bosco, what were you thinking?" Faith asked him.
"You mean you were in the alley before the explosion?" Wilkerson asked quietly.
Bosco tried to force his brain to remember what happened next. He remembered a tall man standing in the shadows then the radio had come to life and he heard Faith calling for help. He remembered running around the edge of the building and watching Faith push the young girl in the car, then Davis shouting at him.
"Bosco, hey, Bosco." Faith was shaking him.
"What?" he asked, breathing deeply.
"You kind of zoned on us there for a minute." Faith was leaning over him talking softly into his ear.
"I remember the explosion, Davis yelled at me but I was trying to get to the squad."
"Bosco, relax. Agent Wilkerson, maybe you should come back..."
"No, Faith, let me try and help," he interrupted her.
She was trying to protect him. He felt helpless enough in the dark. He wasn't going to hide behind her anymore, if he could he help he wanted to, he needed to. He took at deep breath and forced himself to calm down. They were only memories, he told himself, they couldn't hurt him. He had been frightened enough in the past couple of days by memories and things he had no control over, he was tired of it and he was going to make it stop here and now.
"I need to do this," he told her.
He felt her hand resting lightly on his shoulder; she squeezed his shoulder then she mumbled okay so low that only he could hear her.
"I saw a man in the alley, but I didn't see any FBI agents around."
"Do you remember what he looked like?" Wilkerson's voice was closer now and he felt the pressure on his shoulder tighten just a little.
He was crowding her and she didn't like it. He reached up and covered her hand with his before he continued. "Tall, probably around six feet, slender and a little graying. He was pretty average looking. He did have a accent though European, I think."
"Is that all you remember?" he sounded a little disappointed.
"Yeah, pretty much he was just some guy smoking a cigarette I really didn't get a chance before... Is any of this helping?" Bosco felt a rush of anger at not being able to remember anything else.
"Actually, yes it is. We think the killer was a paid assassin sent over to kill one of deputies of the
Serbian Assembly. The Deputy was detained and never made it to the hotel and after the explosion he decided that he had been in the US long enough and was ready to return home. He left that night."
"Leaving you with a dead agent and a mystery," Faith said somberly.
"Unfortunately, yes."
The three sat in silence for a second then Wilkerson said, "Thank-you very much for your help, Officer Boscorelli, I'm going to try and match your descriptions with some people we suspect. I'll let you know if we turn anything up."
"Sure."
Agent Wilkerson turned and walked quickly out of the room. Bosco was trying to remember anything else but once Wilkerson had left his mind kept pulling him back to the explosion and Faith calling his name on the radio.
********************************
Faith turned to watch Agent Wilkerson leave the room and when she turned back she saw that he was chewing on his thumb. Bosco had enough bad memories to think about, he didn't need more piled on top of those. She sighed and then sat back down in her chair resting a hand on the bed next to his elbow.
"Penny for your thoughts," she said to him.
He jerked his head up and then smiled at her. "I just wanted to be able to help that's all. I need to be able to get control of this." He sighed loudly and then said, "I'm tired of being afraid."
Before she could answer him there was another knock at the door. Faith recognized Doctor Zimmerman as he stepped into the room.
"Mr. Boscorelli, it's Doctor Zimmerman. How are you feeling today?"
"A whole lot better if I could get out of here," Bosco said flatly.
Faith watched Doctor Zimmerman's eyebrows raise. "Well I see Doctor Foster wasn't exaggerating when he told me that you were determined to get out of here."
"Yes, I am."
Faith saw Zimmerman ignore that comment as he glanced over the chart he held in his hand. Then he looked back up at Bosco. "Well the CAT Scan came back and it looks good. There's no sign of swelling. The nurse said that when she changed your bandages this morning there was no sign of infection either so that's good news. It looks like everything is healing nicely."
"Does that mean you'll spring me?" Bosco persisted.
Doctor Zimmerman looked at Faith, who just shrugged her shoulders. He was not going to drag her into this fight. She knew from experience that once Bosco got something in his head, he wasn't about to let it go and she didn't want Bosco to feel like she would desert him for any reason--especially not now.
Doctor Zimmerman sighed and said. "I would really like for you to stay."
"Why?" Bosco demanded. "You said yourself that I'm healing nicely."
Doctor Zimmerman closed his eyes, brought his hand to the bridge of his nose, and squeezed it for a few seconds before he opened his eyes again. When he did open them, he turned and looked directly at Faith. An uneasy feeling flooded through her and that moment she was relieved that Bosco couldn't see the serious look on the doctor's face. She turned away from the doctor and watched Bosco as the doctor forced himself to answer his question.
"Mr. Boscorelli, I would like you to stay here a couple more days. I would like to introduce you to some counselors and set up some rehabilitation sessions for you before you leave."
Faith jerked her head back to look at Doctor Zimmerman; she instantly regretted it because all she
saw in his face was disappointment and resolve. What she saw in his face was that he thought Bosco's sight wasn't coming back.
"No," Bosco said quietly.
She turned back to look at him. His jaw was set and he looked like the hardheaded partner she knew. She was happy to see the old Bosco had finally appeared. She decided that she had to stand behind whatever he decided.
"I really think it's best if you take advantage of what the hospital has to offer."
"I'm not going to see some counselor and I'm not going to sign up for your blind man classes."
"Very well, but I will not send you home without someone there to look after you, like it or not you need someone to help you."
Before Bosco could say answer, Faith realized this was her chance. She turned to look at Doctor Zimmerman and instantly made up her mind.
"He can come home with me."
Notes 2: If anyone would like to tell me how I did with Emily I would really appreciate it. I don't really know how 12 year old girls act so I would like to know if I'm way off base with her.
****Warning Ahead*****
**Nice Fred Alert ** **Be Kind to Fred** **Nice Fred Alert **
Everyone has been warned, I have resisted the urge to turn poor Fred into a horrible guy in my story. This takes place before Fred became obnoxious on the show so I'm giving him and Faith a break. I'm just warning the large masses of Fred haters that I have an attack dog sitting beside my computer (okay actually it's an attack cat, sleeping on top of my keyboard). But I'm not afraid of hate mail so bring it on. :)
Part Seven
Faith had come home hours ago. She had dinner with her family, talked about Fred and Charlie's camping trip the next day and then curled up beside Fred and fell asleep early. But somehow she now found herself wide awake and sitting in front of the TV at three in the morning.
She had learned many years ago that when it came to dealing with Maurice Boscorelli, nothing was ever very easy. Of course the main reason dealing with Bosco was such a difficult thing was that Bosco made it difficult. On an average day he was infuriating, opinionated and sometimes just plain mean. But she had learned that under all of that crap, he really did have a kind heart that he kept deeply buried under his loud-mouthed attitude and that was why she had come to care very deeply about him.
Faith had been horrified when she looked up from the blast and saw her partner lying on the sidewalk, but the nightmare had not ended there. As if suffering from blindness wasn't a bad enough sentence to get for trying to save an innocent girl's life, Bosco had to relive some of his most terrifying memories.
Instead of listening to Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain, she was staring at the channel 13 logo and remembering the silent sobs of her best friend.
She jumped slightly when Fred placed his hand on her shoulder and bent down to kiss her lightly on the top of her head. She smiled half-heartedly at him then watched as he moved quietly around the couch and sat down beside her.
"You want to talk about it?" he asked quietly.
What would she say? She couldn't just tell Fred all of the horrible things Bosco had talked to her about. If she did she felt like she would be betraying him and she could never do that to him. Faith shook her head then looked down at her hands that were clenched in her lap. Fred leaned over, took one of her hands, and squeezed it. She looked up into his concerned eyes and felt the tears begin to make their way down her face.
He pulled her into an embrace and she gave herself over to all the tears that she had refused to let flow in front of Bosco. Fred stroked her hair as she buried her face in his chest, they sat there for a long time, and the only sound was the low music from the TV and Faith's sobs.
When she knew that she was all cried out, she took at deep breath and sniffed. "How can this be happening? It's not fair!"
"It's going to be okay, Faith," Fred said softly.
"He saved my life, Fred, if he hadn't pulled me out of there I probably would have died."
Faith felt Fred's grip on her tighten, then she realized that her words had probably already been running through his mind. What would have happened to her family if she had died? She pushed that thought out of her mind, she didn't want to think that way and she had enough to worry about with-out playing the 'what if' game.
"It's going to be okay," he repeated. "You have to keep thinking that."
"You don't know that, I want to believe that but what if it's not?" She began to tremble in his arms. "What if he's blind for the rest of his life, Fred?"
"I don't know, Faith, I don't know."
Faith buried herself deeper in his arms and forced the trembling to slow and then stop. She was exhausted. She knew she needed to sleep so when her eyes started to close she didn't fight it. As Fred continued to rub her back softly, she quickly fell asleep. Just as she drifted off to sleep she couldn't escape the nagging feeling that they hadn't seen the last of Bosco's troubles.
~~
"Mommy, get up."
Faith slowly opened her eyes to see Charlie's wide eyes staring at her. She brought her hand to her face and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"What is it, Charlie?"
"If you don't move, Daddy can't take me camping," he said with a giggle.
"What?" she asked sleepily.
Then Faith felt light tapping on her shoulder and she turned to look up at Fred. Then she remembered falling asleep in his arms the night before. He was smiling down at her with a lopsided grin on his face while he waved a finger at her.
"I'm sorry. Why didn't you just get up after I fell asleep?"
"You were really tired, I didn't want to wake you."
"You fell asleep too, didn't you?" she asked with a grin as she sat up and let him stand.
"Well, yeah," he said quickly as he cleared his throat. She watched him take a step and wince.
"You okay?"
"My legs fell asleep, you putting on weight?" he asked then quickly ducked as she threw the pillow at his head. He then escaped down the hall to the bedroom.
She turned her attention back to her son and watched him bounce around the room looking through the binoculars his grandma had given him for his birthday.
"Charlie, you ready to go?"
He turned back and grinned at her. "Yes, I even packed my toothbrush!"
"I'm impressed." She laughed and got up to go to the kitchen.
Emily was standing in front of the sink balancing a bowl on the edge of the sink while she poured milk over the top of her cereal. When Faith walked into the room, a huge smile spread across her face. She quickly pushed the bowl onto the counter, set the milk down, and turned to grab Faith around the waist in a tight bear hug.
"I was worried about you," she said into Faith's stomach as she squeezed.
Faith bent down and encircled her daughter tightly, she kissed the top of her head and after a few seconds pulled her away to look at her. Emily smiled at her but her eyes still had a touch of fear in them. Faith reached up, stroked Emily's cheek, and pushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "Hey, I'm okay. See I'm fine, nothing happened," she said trying to convince her that she really was okay and Emily had nothing to worry about.
Emily gave her a small smile and then lowered her head and whispered. "But, you could have died, the lady on the news said that the car blew up. I don't want you to die, I was so scared."
Faith closed her eyes for a moment and tried to come up with something that would calm her. But what could she say? With her job she couldn't lie to her and promise that she was never going to die. Faith reached out, took Emily's chin, and raised her daughter's face until she could look in her eyes. "I know sweetie, you know what? I was scared too." She leaned forward and kissed Emily on the nose. "But everything's okay so you don't have to worry about it anymore okay?"
"Bosco's not okay, is he?"
Faith was startled by her words and felt the frown as it formed on her face. When did her little girl become so smart?
"No, he was hurt. But the doctor said he's getting better."
"Dad said he couldn't see," Emily persisted.
Faith sighed and wished Fred hadn't told her about Bosco. "He can't right now, he has bandages on his face covering his eyes, his eyes need to heal and then we hope he will be able to see again when they take the bandages off."
Emily nodded slowly and was about to ask another question when Fred walked into the room and rapped his knuckles on the counter.
"Em, go help your brother find his raincoat."
Emily looked up at her dad then back at Faith then she turned and squeezed out of the small kitchen toward her room to help her brother.
Faith grabbed the edge of the counter, pulled herself up, and stared at him.
He pursed his lips and raised his hands in the air briefly, then let them fall to his side. "I had to tell her something, Faith. She was over Lisa's when it happened. It was all over the news. They had Bosco's picture up with some stupid red-flaming ring around it, like he was dead. The newscasters didn't know anything, I didn't know anything and when you didn't come home that night I had to tell her something. We both told Charlie that you were staying at the hospital because Bosco was sick."
Faith nodded and lowered her head, trying to force back the tears that threatened to fall. Fred stepped toward her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close to him. They stood that way for several minutes until they heard the phone ring and the sound of loud feet rushing down the hall to answer it. She heard a brief scuffle as her two phone crazed kids struggled for the phone. Then Emily appeared in the doorway with the phone in her hand.
"It's for you, Mom. It's the FBI," she whispered.
Faith took the phone and stiffed a giggle as she watched Fred's eyebrows creep up his forehead. She turned slightly from them and glanced down at Emily's now soggy cereal.
"Hello," she said into the phone.
"Officer Yokas, this is Agent Wilkerson, I hope you remember me. I'm sorry to call you at home but I needed to speak with you."
"That's okay, when did you want to get together?"
"I wanted to stop by in a couple of hours to speak to your partner, I was hoping that I would be able to speak with you at the same time."
"You still want to talk to Bosco?"
"Yes, I need to find out exactly what if anything he saw. We think we have been able to piece all the pieces together but I just need to cover all my bases."
"Sure of course, but Bosco doesn't really remember much, I don't know how much help he is going to be able to give you."
"I understand, but I need to hear that for myself. Will you be there."
"Yes, I was planning on stopping in after I went to the house to file my report."
"Can I meet you there around eleven?"
"Eleven is fine, I'll meet you in Bosco's room."
"Thank-you, Officer. Goodbye."
Faith listened to the phone click and turned to look at Fred and Emily. Fred looked curious; Emily however looked scared again.
"They just need to ask us some questions," she said quickly.
Fred nodded but she could tell he wasn't satisfied with her answer. Emily smiled and then leaned around her and took her cereal and headed for the table to eat.
Faith raised her hands and ran them through her hair. She needed to take a long hot shower and clear some of the cobwebs out. She motioned for Fred to move then started toward the opening and their bedroom. When she passed him he touched her arm and she turned to look at him.
"You want me to stay home?" Fred asked. "I can always take Charlie another time."
"No, why would you want to do that? Besides Charlie would probably kill you."
Fred released her arm and shrugged his shoulders. She smiled at him again and then turned and headed for that much needed hot shower.
*********************************
Bosco brought the bottle he held to his lips and blew into the hole. He listened to the low moan the bottle made before he brought it to his lips and blew again. Somewhere in the back of his head, his mind was telling him that he had truly hit an all time low in the boredom scale. But there had been nothing else to do for the last twenty minutes.
When the nurse had brought him back to his room after his CAT Scan she had taken his blood and promised to scrounge around for a radio that he could listen to but she hadn't come back yet. Before he had been taken away for testing he had tried to listen to the TV but without being able to see exactly what was happening to the coyote and roadrunner, he had become frustrated and refused to try again. So that brought him to blowing in his orange juice bottle and praying for a visitor.
When he heard his door open he automatically looked toward the door then cursed himself for doing such a stupid thing. Because even looking at the door gave him absolutely no clue to who was there.
"Who is it?"
"Hey, Bosco, it's Sully."
"How you feeling? The doc said you took a lump on the head."
He heard Sully chuckle. "I got a hard head. Shouldn't I be asking you that question though?"
Bosco shrugged his shoulders and fumbled with the table in front of him until he was able to sit the bottle down and push it out of his way. "You know doctors, they all keep saying it's going to take time."
"Yeah, yeah."
Bosco shifted in his bed not sure what Sully wanted to hear or really what to say to him. Neither of them said anything for a minute or so. Bosco was staring to feel uncomfortable. But he could understand Sully's silence; he had no clue what he would say if their positions were reversed.
"Well, I just came by to see how you were doing, Oh yeah Davis told me to give you this."
"What?"
"Dammit, I'm sorry, Bosco. I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay, Sully, it's weird, I know. Don't worry about it." He told him hoping he didn't sound as helpless as he felt.
Bosco heard Sully's shoes squeak as he took a couple of steps closer to his bed. Sully put something on his lap and then squeezed his shoulder. "This is all going to work out fine Bosco. You'll be back giving the bad guys hell in no time."
Bosco nodded his head and then dropped his hand to his lap and felt a small flat object attached to a wire. He ran his hands up the wire and felt the foam covers on what had to be earphones for the CD player he now possessed. He smiled. All right Davis!
"Tell Davis thanks for the CD player."
"Sure, but he wanted to make sure I told you it was only on loan to you."
"What's on loan?" Came Faith's voice form the doorway.
"Davis told me to bring by his CD player for Bosco to listen to while he was cooped up here."
"Hey, I think I saw the new Faith Hill CD down in the gift shop. Should I run down and get it?"
Bosco groaned and Sully laughed.
"I'm not getting involved in this. See you later, Bosco."
Bosco waved his hand in Sully's direction as Sully crossed the floor and whispered something to Faith and she answered him. Then he opened the door and left. Faith walked up to his bedside and touched his hand before she pulled the chair up and sat down.
"I wish people wouldn't do that."
"What?" She sounded confused.
"Whisper about me when I'm sitting right here. I can still hear, you know."
"For your information, we weren't whispering about you."
Bosco blew a breath out and let his head fall back into his pillow. "Right."
"We weren't, he asked me how the bump on my head was."
Guilt flooded through him. She had been hurt and he had never asked how she was. He sat up quickly and reached out toward her. "Faith, oh my God, you didn't tell me you were hurt. Are you okay?"
Bosco felt her hand on his arm and he relaxed a little.
"Bosco, calm down. I'm fine. I just hit my head on the ground. It doesn't even hurt anymore."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"I don't know, Bosco, I mean you really didn't have anything else to worry about, did you?"
"Come on, Faith, it's hard enough trying to keep myself from jumping every time the AC comes on, I don't need you keeping things from me, too."
Bosco felt Faith's light touch for a second on his head then she pulled it away and said. "Okay, Bosco from now I don't hold back anything, happy?"
Bosco nodded his head. "Yes, I can handle it Faith, I really can."
"I know you can, Bosco. So you want me to tell you all about how I stubbed my toe getting into the shower? Or maybe I can give you all the gory details on the nasty leg shaving incident this morning?"
Bosco groaned. "Faith, I'm serious."
Bosco listened to Faith laugh as she went to sit down in her normal chair. He then heard a knock at the door and then Faith tried to stop laughing as she cleared her throat.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Bosco didn't recognize the voice but it seemed vaguely familiar.
"No, we were just discussing my morning. Nice to see you again, Agent Wilkerson," Faith answered.
Bosco vaguely remembered the stiff agent that they had talked to briefly in front of the hotel. But what interested Bosco more was the slightly formal way Faith answered him. Bosco had worked with Faith long enough to know that something was up. What had happened between the two of them? He pushed that question back into his mind so he could grill her about it later.
"Yes, you too, Officer Yokas. How are you feeling, Officer Boscorelli?"
Bosco shrugged his shoulders and answered. "I'm doing just fine."
"Good, that's really good to hear."
Bosco heard Faith stand and step toward his bed as Wilkerson stepped across the room.
"I called your partner earlier and asked if I could stop by and ask the two of you some questions. I hoped I could ask you these questions yesterday but you were sleeping when we came by."
Bosco nodded, "Yeah, Faith told me you guys stopped by. I was pretty wasted yesterday."
"That's fine. I just wanted to ask you a few questions. I don't know if Officer Yokas told you or
not but one of my agents was found dead after the bombing incident at the hotel. He was a kid, first assignment. I want to be able to tell his parents something." Wilkerson paused and cleared his throat then continued. "Anyway, we located him in the alley behind the hotel with a gunshot wound to the head."
Wilkerson had stopped again and cleared his throat then finished. "What I need to know from you is if either of you saw anything that might help?"
"I don't remembering seeing anyone except the teenagers that were protesting out front. Then the
kids on the bikes started racing by, I really couldn't tell you about anyone other than them, and I really didn't even get a good look at them." Faith answered.
Bosco searched his memory for anything that might help. He couldn't really remember a whole lot. Faith had told him what had happened. He really hadn't tried to remember much of it on his own but now he forced himself to think back to before the accident. He remembered joking around with Faith and Sully about the kids. Slowly details of the conversation with the teenagers came back to him, something about them wanting a better world or something.
"Do you remember anything, Officer Boscorelli?"
Bosco managed to keep from jumping as Wilkerson's words interrupted his thoughts. He shook his head slightly in frustration. "Not a whole lot."
"Anything you remember will help."
"Well, I remember the teenagers protesting. They were typical tree hugger types." Bosco stopped when he thought he heard Faith make a weird little noise, then he smiled because he knew she was annoyed by his description of the kids as tree huggers. "Anyway, I went down into the parking garage and then..."
Bosco paused trying to remember what else had happened he knew there was something else, but he couldn't remember what. Bosco must have been silent to long because he heard Wilkerson clear his throat and say.
"I know you have been through a lot if you can't..."
"Hang on," Bosco stopped him. Then memories of the parking garage came flooding back to him. "The garage was loaded with guards so I decided to take a look at the alley behind the hotel."
"Bosco, what were you thinking?" Faith asked him.
"You mean you were in the alley before the explosion?" Wilkerson asked quietly.
Bosco tried to force his brain to remember what happened next. He remembered a tall man standing in the shadows then the radio had come to life and he heard Faith calling for help. He remembered running around the edge of the building and watching Faith push the young girl in the car, then Davis shouting at him.
"Bosco, hey, Bosco." Faith was shaking him.
"What?" he asked, breathing deeply.
"You kind of zoned on us there for a minute." Faith was leaning over him talking softly into his ear.
"I remember the explosion, Davis yelled at me but I was trying to get to the squad."
"Bosco, relax. Agent Wilkerson, maybe you should come back..."
"No, Faith, let me try and help," he interrupted her.
She was trying to protect him. He felt helpless enough in the dark. He wasn't going to hide behind her anymore, if he could he help he wanted to, he needed to. He took at deep breath and forced himself to calm down. They were only memories, he told himself, they couldn't hurt him. He had been frightened enough in the past couple of days by memories and things he had no control over, he was tired of it and he was going to make it stop here and now.
"I need to do this," he told her.
He felt her hand resting lightly on his shoulder; she squeezed his shoulder then she mumbled okay so low that only he could hear her.
"I saw a man in the alley, but I didn't see any FBI agents around."
"Do you remember what he looked like?" Wilkerson's voice was closer now and he felt the pressure on his shoulder tighten just a little.
He was crowding her and she didn't like it. He reached up and covered her hand with his before he continued. "Tall, probably around six feet, slender and a little graying. He was pretty average looking. He did have a accent though European, I think."
"Is that all you remember?" he sounded a little disappointed.
"Yeah, pretty much he was just some guy smoking a cigarette I really didn't get a chance before... Is any of this helping?" Bosco felt a rush of anger at not being able to remember anything else.
"Actually, yes it is. We think the killer was a paid assassin sent over to kill one of deputies of the
Serbian Assembly. The Deputy was detained and never made it to the hotel and after the explosion he decided that he had been in the US long enough and was ready to return home. He left that night."
"Leaving you with a dead agent and a mystery," Faith said somberly.
"Unfortunately, yes."
The three sat in silence for a second then Wilkerson said, "Thank-you very much for your help, Officer Boscorelli, I'm going to try and match your descriptions with some people we suspect. I'll let you know if we turn anything up."
"Sure."
Agent Wilkerson turned and walked quickly out of the room. Bosco was trying to remember anything else but once Wilkerson had left his mind kept pulling him back to the explosion and Faith calling his name on the radio.
********************************
Faith turned to watch Agent Wilkerson leave the room and when she turned back she saw that he was chewing on his thumb. Bosco had enough bad memories to think about, he didn't need more piled on top of those. She sighed and then sat back down in her chair resting a hand on the bed next to his elbow.
"Penny for your thoughts," she said to him.
He jerked his head up and then smiled at her. "I just wanted to be able to help that's all. I need to be able to get control of this." He sighed loudly and then said, "I'm tired of being afraid."
Before she could answer him there was another knock at the door. Faith recognized Doctor Zimmerman as he stepped into the room.
"Mr. Boscorelli, it's Doctor Zimmerman. How are you feeling today?"
"A whole lot better if I could get out of here," Bosco said flatly.
Faith watched Doctor Zimmerman's eyebrows raise. "Well I see Doctor Foster wasn't exaggerating when he told me that you were determined to get out of here."
"Yes, I am."
Faith saw Zimmerman ignore that comment as he glanced over the chart he held in his hand. Then he looked back up at Bosco. "Well the CAT Scan came back and it looks good. There's no sign of swelling. The nurse said that when she changed your bandages this morning there was no sign of infection either so that's good news. It looks like everything is healing nicely."
"Does that mean you'll spring me?" Bosco persisted.
Doctor Zimmerman looked at Faith, who just shrugged her shoulders. He was not going to drag her into this fight. She knew from experience that once Bosco got something in his head, he wasn't about to let it go and she didn't want Bosco to feel like she would desert him for any reason--especially not now.
Doctor Zimmerman sighed and said. "I would really like for you to stay."
"Why?" Bosco demanded. "You said yourself that I'm healing nicely."
Doctor Zimmerman closed his eyes, brought his hand to the bridge of his nose, and squeezed it for a few seconds before he opened his eyes again. When he did open them, he turned and looked directly at Faith. An uneasy feeling flooded through her and that moment she was relieved that Bosco couldn't see the serious look on the doctor's face. She turned away from the doctor and watched Bosco as the doctor forced himself to answer his question.
"Mr. Boscorelli, I would like you to stay here a couple more days. I would like to introduce you to some counselors and set up some rehabilitation sessions for you before you leave."
Faith jerked her head back to look at Doctor Zimmerman; she instantly regretted it because all she
saw in his face was disappointment and resolve. What she saw in his face was that he thought Bosco's sight wasn't coming back.
"No," Bosco said quietly.
She turned back to look at him. His jaw was set and he looked like the hardheaded partner she knew. She was happy to see the old Bosco had finally appeared. She decided that she had to stand behind whatever he decided.
"I really think it's best if you take advantage of what the hospital has to offer."
"I'm not going to see some counselor and I'm not going to sign up for your blind man classes."
"Very well, but I will not send you home without someone there to look after you, like it or not you need someone to help you."
Before Bosco could say answer, Faith realized this was her chance. She turned to look at Doctor Zimmerman and instantly made up her mind.
"He can come home with me."