Walk the Distance Part 9
Note: Wow. I found that I had this just sitting around all typed up. So, I thought, hey why not post this to give ya'll something new while I battle the real world for some much needed fanfic writing time. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter.
Thanks so much to CCA for helping me with this and all my stories.
Feedback: Please. I know I can't say it makes me write faster because we all know I'm a slacker in updating, but it does make me feel like there are actually people enjoying this and that there is a reason to me writing. Feedback makes me happy!!
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Sadie sat in the small room. Her belt was sitting on the counter as was her vest. Her dress shirt was somewhere in the ER, so the doctor gave her a blue doctor shirt to wear. Her head was pounding from the fall, but the area on her head that received the four stitches wasn't sore. She loved that stuff they used to numb it up before stitching up the cut. Alex and the doctor had left. Maurice was were he should be even though she wanted nothing more than to be with him.
"Sadie?" Alex poked her head in. "Sully wanted to see ya."
"Come in. The doctor isn't back yet."
"Hey, Logan. Bosco didn't want you to be alone." He sighed. "How ya doing?"
"A little scared. Dr. says there is nothing to be worried about. Just precaution. How's Mikey?"
"Not sure yet. No word on Gusler either."
"Officer Logan," the doctor stepped in.
"My baby ok?"
"Sweetie, I told you after I examined you, that your baby was fine. I want you to take it easy though. You need to be careful."
"I just didn't think I'd need to get a desk job so soon." Sadie looked to her hands.
"You have a dangerous job. That fall you took could have been worse for your baby. I'm not trying to scare you, but I think you should take it easy and get a desk job. Stay off the streets. I know you care for this baby, so you'll do what's best."
"Yeah, I know. I will. Thank you, doctor."
"One last thing. I want you to take a few days off. I called your doctor and she agreed with me. Take it easy kid." The older man smiled then left.
"Everything's cool," Sadie sighed.
"That's great." Sully shifted his feet. "Listen, I gotta take Ty back to the house. He messed up his knee so he's probably off now too. Why don't I give you a ride."
Sadie agreed. Sully and Alex waited while she got her stuff together. She did not want to go home to an empty apartment. Not when Maurice needed her and not when her partner was injured. Unfortunately, her body was saying otherwise. Waves of nausea and dizziness began to hit. They reached Ty when the sickness made her sway.
"You need the doctor again?" Sully steadied her.
"I'm good. Just need a second." She took a deep breath. "I just want to see Maurice."
"Of course." Sully wrapped on arm around her shoulder to help.
The foursome made their way to the lounge where Bosco, Faith, and Kim were. Doc, Carlos, and Jimmy were gone. Sadie slowly walked to Bosco. His head was down but as soon as Sadie touched his shoulder he perked up. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Everything is ok? I was worried. I should've been with you. Mikey . . . I
didn't . . .," he trailed off.
"First off, we are fine. Secondly, Mikey needs you more. Do you need me to call Angela?"
"Already did. You're going home to rest. No worrying. Got it?" Bosco said seriously.
"Yeah. Ty and I both get to go home. Christopher is gonna flip when he realizes Sully's the only one out of the six of us who is coming back. I swear, he hates us all."
"He hates everyone." Bosco smiled softly.
"Alex, we gotta get going," Kim spoke up.
"Meet me outside."
"I'll pray for your brother . . . and Gusler," Kim said as she walked away.
"Sadie, you need me to call you every hour?" Alex asked.
"Huh?" Bosco looked between Sadie and Alex.
"She has a mild concussion," Alex said.
"I'll be fine. I'm coming back anyway."
"Can I talk to you?" Faith didn't wait for Sadie's reply as she pulled her to the side. "Bosco's my best friend. I know he's got a lot on his mind. You and Mikey. Let him just focus on one person. Go home and rest." Faith sighed. "I'm not trying to be mean. I think of you as a friend as well."
"You'll stay with him? And call me?"
"Yes. I'll even check in with Gusler."
"Ok then."
Sadie and Faith returned to the group. She said good bye to Bosco then followed Sully and Davis to their squad car. Davis had to practically push Alex away. Sadie couldn't help but smile at her friend's concern.
Once at the station she and Davis made their way to the locker room to change. They left Sully to be the one to tell Christopher the doctors wanted them to finish their shifts at home.
"What do you say you and I go get some food and I take you home? It's not late yet, and if I were in your place I wouldn't want to be alone." Ty walked up to Sadie once they were ready to leave.
"I don't want to impose on you. Unless, of course you plan on getting Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice-Cream and a large pineapple pizza."
"That some wierd pregnant thing?"
"No."
"Ok, then. Ice-cream and pineapple pizza. Sure sounds like and odd combination to me, Murielle." Ty chuckled as he walked down the hallway.
"There's a reason I go by Sadie, Ty! I hate my first name!" Sadie grumbled as she followed.
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Bosco looked at his watch. It was 10:30. He and Faith had just returned to the hospital. Some how while Mikey was in surgery Faith had convinced Bosco to go with her to change clothes. Christopher was upset Faith took her time coming back, but was then quickly shut up by Lieutenant Swersky who gave Faith the rest of the night off.
"Is Michael Boscorelli out surgery yet?" Bosco approached a nurse.
"He's in ICU now. I'll show you." The young nurse walked down the long hall and stopped in front of a room with windows. "Only one visitor at a time." She pointed to the woman in a chair besides Mikey's bed. "You'll have to wait. Sorry," she said as she walked away.
"Ma." Bosco slightly knocked on the window. His mom looked up then walked to the door. "How is he?"
"Dr. says he'll be fine. He woke up awhile ago. He asked for you." Angela Boscorelli looked up at her son with tears in her eyes.
"I'll get who did this. I promise."
"I know, baby." She reached out to embrace. "Where's Sadie?"
"Home. Her partner was shot and she got a concussion."
"Oh, no. The baby?" Worry was etched on her face.
"Fine, Ma," he reassured her. "Why don't you go back in there."
"I will." She turned to Faith. "It's nice to see you, Faith."
"I wish it were under better circumstances."
"Before Sadie, I always thought you'd have been a good wife for my boy. Perfect daughter-in-law. I'm just glad he's got a friend like you."
"Ma!" Bosco moaned.
"What?" She smiled before walking back to Mikey's room.
"Sorry about her. It's the stress. That or she's lost her mind."
"No, it's ok. Fred thought we had something going awhile back. People don't understand that we're just friends."
"Best friends," Bosco added. "I'm gonna call Sadie."
"You tell her Gusler will be fine. I'm going to see him real quick." Faith squeezed his hand then left.
"Can I use the phone?" he asked the nurse. She nodded and handed him the phone. He dialed Sadie's number immediately.
"Hello?" a man's voice answered.
"Who is this?" Bosco demanded.
"Who is this?"
"I asked first, jag off."
"Bosco?" he laughed. "It's Ty."
"Ty? Where's Sadie?"
"Bathroom. Thought I'd keep her company. Alex will be here soon." Ty paused. "Man, your girl is a pig. I don't know how she stays so thin."
"What was it? The three slices of cheesecake or the two pints of cookie dough ice cream?" Bosco laughed remembering the sweet tooth Sadie had.
"Neither. Girl ate a whole large pizza on her own. Alex said her stomach was an endless pit, but . . . ," he trailed off.
"Better watch it, Ty. You can't run so fast gimping like that. I'm sure I could kick your ass," Sadie's voice drifted into Bosco's ear from the background.
"Bosco's on the phone."
"Maurice? Is something wrong?" She now had the telephone.
Yes, something was wrong, he wanted to say. Someone had tried to kill his brother and it just reeked of DiPaulo. That could only mean that Sadie could be in danger. Bosco couldn't help but wonder if she even suspected what happened to Micheal had anything to do with DiPaulo and some sort of payback. Then again, he could just be paranoid. Quickly, he squashed down the 'paranoia theory' and grew worried for Sadie's safety.
"I just wanted to check on you," Bosco finally answered Sadie.
"You and everyone else," she sighed. "How's Mikey?"
"Doctor say's he'll pull through. I haven't seen him yet. He'll have a long hospital stay." Bosco stopped for a few moments. "Faith went to check on Gusler."
"You do know he probably saved my life, right? I could be in his place right now or worse."
"I know."
"Go see him, please. He looks up to you. Tell him I'll be by tomorrow. Ty wants to talk to you," she said. "Call me back if you need me. Love you."
"Love you, too," Bosco said.
"I didn't know you felt that way," Ty joked.
"Funny, Davis," Bosco growled. "What's up?"
"First off, Alex and I are staying with Sadie tonight. She's feeling sick. I'm also worried about her."
"Why?"
"She thinks what happened to Mikey was her fault." Ty took a deep breath. "She thinks it was DiPaulo."
"It was. It had to be. Don't let her know that, though. She'd never forgive herself. For now, just do your best to make her think something different." Bosco didn't really care what they had to make up for her to believe she wasn't responsible. "I'll be by as soon as I can see my brother."
"Stay as long as you need. Sully told me not to leave her until you or him come here. He's worried and if Sully's worried, I'm worried."
"Sully?" Bosco closed his eyes for a moment. "Call me if anything happens."
"Of course."
"I gotta go," Bosco paused. "Thanks. I won't forget it," he said before hanging up.
Bosco handed the phone back to the nurse and headed for his brother's room. He was told only one visitor, but when did he follow the rules? His mother had fallen asleep at the bedside, so he grabbed a blanket to cover her. Once that was done, he pulled up an extra chair and plopped down to watch over his brother.
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Faith slowly opened the door to Gusler's room. The nurse had said he was sleeping, so she wanted to be quiet. She jumped back when there was movement in the bed. Then he was still. Quietly, she pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. He looked so much like a boy with the hospital sheets pulled up to him and his face was so angelic. She felt a tug at her heart thinking of how none of his family had showed up to see him. How could someone not want to be there for him?
"You did good today," she whispered.
"No need to whisper," Gusler whispered back. "I'm awake," he said this time with more power.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I got shot."
"Smart ass," Faith joked. "When did you become a smart ass?"
"Don't know," he laughed back.
Faith watched as his smiled faded. He looked millions of miles away, yet he seemed calm. Not at all how he had been after his first shoot out. She had actually expected him to be in shock or something. But not calm. Not this calm.
"Are you ok?" Faith questioned. "You seem to be somewhere else."
"I was just thinking of what my mom said to me today."
"Your mom? The nurse said no one . . .," she trailed off thinking of how rude that was about to come out to sound.
"No one came to visit me besides the Lt.? Yeah, that's true. My mom and dad live in South Dakota with my little sister, Renee. Lieu called them and they are on there way, even though Renee has a big horse riding competition. She had a chance to win first place and now I blew that for her." Gusler shook his head. "It will be good to see her though."
"You know, this is the first you've ever mentioned your family."
"I know."
Faith noticed how his seemed sad all of a sudden. Deep down she hoped that he came from a happy family because out of all the people close to her no one had had that, and she wanted more than anything for someone as kind as Gulser to have that. She never really thought about his upbringing before. It never seemed to matter much. After his actions though, he proved to be part of the '55 family'. He deserved to have everyone's respect and admiration.
"Bosco would have come with me, but he wanted to see Mikey first."
"Family is important. Sometimes, nothing else matters but family. Renee always says that." His smiled returned.
"How old is your sister?"
"Sixteen. My parents moved to South Dakota after I graduated high school. They didn't want Renee to grow up in New York City anymore, not after we almost lost her." Gusler took a deep breath. "Renee had Leukemia. We thought for sure there was no chance any of us would be a match for a bone marrow transplant, but by some miracle, I was. I still can't believe I could have lost my baby sister."
"You must be her hero."
"I don't know about that. She's my hero. Renee is the reason I'm still a cop. You remember that shootout? Ross?"
"How could I forget?" Faith shuddered.
"After that I called home. I mean I was so scared. I thought for sure I had picked the wrong career. That I had made the wrong decision when I stayed behind while my family moved away. Renee told me how I never quit anything in my life. I never quit on her and I saved her life. She yelled at me and said I couldn't quit helping people because I could one day save someone else's life."
"Your sister is very smart. She was right."
"She's one of the few people who believe I can do this job. Sadie is the other. No one else, not even you thought I really could."
"That's not . . .," she started.
"Yes it is," Gusler interrupted. "Sadie never doubted my ability. I couldn't let her down. When I heard the shots all I could think about was protecting my partner. I didn't freak out. I wasn't even thinking really. All I knew was that I had to cover Sadie. I had to keep her safe, and for once I actually succeeded."
"When you see your partner vulnerable it puts you in protect mode. You and Bosco are alike. You see Sadie vulnerable because she's female. Same as Bosco with me."
"You can't really think that. That's not it. Sadie's more than a partner to me."
"She's a friend?" Faith asked.
"Yeah." Gusler smiled. "Trust me, Bosco isn't protective of you because you are a woman. It's because you are his friend."