Author: Kate Anderson
Email: sam_loves_jack@yahoo.ca
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine! They belong to Edward Allen Bernero and John Wells and um, some other people. No money is being made from this work. Don't sue, I have nothing you'd want.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Faith develops a rather unusual ability.
A shot rang out, shattering the silence. Faith whirled around, a scream caught in her throat.
He fell, clutching his chest with his hands. Crimson blood poured over him, staining his shirt and hands. She tried to move, but couldn't.
He looked over at her, his eyes silently pleading for help. But she couldn't go to him. The eyes closed and his hands fell to his side.
The scream that had been caught dislodged itself and issued from her mouth. Primal and gut wrenching. "Bosco!!!"
Faith woke up in a cold sweat, her heart pounding. Her face was wet and she was dimly aware that she'd been crying. Fred lay beside her, mouth open, snoring loudly. At least she hadn't woken him up.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Faith found herself hoping that she wasn't suddenly psychic as well as telepathic. She eased herself out of bed, careful not to disturb Fred. A cup of tea was sounding good right about now.
Faith padded down the hall and into the kitchen. As she filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove, her mind kept replaying her dream. She could almost hear a commentator's voice as Bosco fell, clutching his chest. "He's taken one in the chest! Look at him! He's going down. He's going down! Oooh, that's gotta hurt!"
Her gaze fell on the phone, still laying on the coffee table. Part of her wanted desperately to call Bosco, make sure that he wasn't lying dead somewhere with a hole in his chest. It was 3:30. Bosco probably wouldn't be too happy to be woken up at that hour just because Faith wanted to chat.
Faith exhaled through her nose in a dim approximation of a laugh. She could just hear Bosco's sleepy voice answering the phone and her asking him how he was. He'd probably hang up on her and kick her ass at work.
The kettle began pumping out a bit of steam and Faith grabbed it from the burner before it started to scream. Ix-nay on the phone call, Faith thought to herself and grabbed a mug from the cupboard above her head.
______________
Faith had just arrived at the precinct when a cab skidded to a halt behind her. A door opened and she immediately heard Bosco's angry thought. "Why don't you learn how to drive asshole!"
Faith winced. Bosco definitely wasn't having a good day. A door slammed and the cab went careening down the street, narrowly missing Carlos Nieto who was arriving at work. Carlos made an appropriately rude gesture at the driver.
"Faith! Hey Faith! Wait up!" Bosco called out to her. Faith heard his feet pounding on the pavement and knew he was running to catch up. She didn't slow down. Bosco finally caught up and fell into step beside her.
"Hmm, looks like Faith's day as been almost as good as mine."
"Hey Bos." Faith said, trying to sound at least a bit cheerful. "Having a good day?"
"Hardly." Bosco replied. "First I find out that it's gonna cost me almost $6000 to fix my car, then my toilet gets clogged and finally I had to get a ride to work with the cab driver from hell!"
"You could have just taken the train in." Faith said and pulled open the station house doors.
"I would have been late if I'd done that. I was up to my elbows in toilet water until 2:00."
Faith chuckled at the mental image she got of Bosco with his hands in a toilet. Then she recalled what Bosco's toilet usually looked like and shuddered. There was no way that she was gonna let him touch her today.
"What about you?" Bosco asked. "You look like you're having a bad day too."
Faith sighed. They entered the locker room and she put her bag down on the bench. "No, I'm not really. I didn't sleep well again, that's all." she said and this time it was the truth. "Did you ever fix your toilet?"
Bosco threw his shirt off over his head and appeared with ruffled hair. Faith resisted the absurd urge she had to reach out and smooth it. "No, I'm going to have to call a plumber."
"And now I need new shoes, new engine and a new toilet!" he added to himself.
Faith unbuttoned her shirt and took it off. She had on a dark tank top underneath. She'd purposefully chosen one that covered up a lot and wasn't see-through. Bosco's disappointment was evident. "Damn, that could have been the highlight of my day." He frowned again.
Faith almost felt bad for robbing him of his one joy. Almost.
______________
The streets were quiet today. Bosco drove along bitching to himself about lack of money, among other things. Faith was pondering her situation. Again. It was becoming standard procedure.
The books that she'd read that morning had been remarkably unhelpful, not to mention boring. She'd figured out that what she had was known as 'spontaneous selective telepathy' but there didn't seem to be any causes or cures listed. As if she could just take a pill and this would all end.
Bosco was now pondering what he could possibly get Charlie for his birthday. His list seemed to be comprised of: an old sock, a used baseball cap, and a fifth grade math textbook that Bosco had never returned. Faith highly doubted that her son would want any of those items. Especially the old sock.
"Hey Bos." Faith said, an idea suddenly forming in her mind. "I've been meaning to tell you, it's Charlie's birthday next week and we're having a small party for him."
Bosco nodded. "Yeah, I know it's his birthday. I've been thinking about what to get him."
Faith shook her head. "You don't have to get him anything. I know you're little short on cash right now, but you could do me a huge favour though. I'm sure Charlie would really appreciate it."
Bosco looked a bit frightened. "She'd better not want me to dress up like a chicken and dance."
"What is it?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice even.
"Charlie's been going through this phase," Faith said, "A cop phase. He keeps begging me to bring him down to the station so he can hang out with the guys. Anyway, Fred and I were thinking of having a cop theme for his party."
"Uh huh..." Bosco still looked frightened.
Faith continued, "Now you wouldn't have to do much, just come to the party in your uniform. You could maybe show the kids a few moves with your nightstick, pretend to arrest Charlie or somethin'. You know, that kinda thing."
"Sounds almost kinky. I wonder if I can bring my gun."
Faith very nearly choked. "You'd have to leave the gun at home of course." she said quickly. "I'm not trying to scare his friends."
Bosco sighed. "Why don't you wear your uniform?" he asked. "It looks the same as mine."
"Because I'm his mother. It would be weird. Besides, Charlie adores you Bos. He'd love to have you there."
"Oh the things I do for her..."
Faith smiled. Bosco finally nodded. "Yeah okay fine. I'll do it. Just tell me when."
_____________
"But I can't help, falling in love with you..."
Faith tried to hide her smirk. Who knew that Bosco was big on Elvis? He'd been singing to himself for about ten minutes now. It wasn't like there was much else for him to be doing. They had been sitting in the car, staking out a porn shop for over an hour now and nothing was happening.
"I think they have us at the wrong place or somethin'." Bosco complained. The serenade stopped.
"We're off in an hour. Just be patient."
Bosco exhaled noisily and went back to lightly tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and singing. "Wise men say, only fools rush in..." Apparently Bosco only knew one song.
"Bosco?" Faith patted him on the arm.
"What?"
"Look." Faith gestured towards the porn shop. Two men had just exited and were looking down the street.
"Think those are our guys?" Bosco had one hand on the door handle, ready to leap out.
Faith nodded. "They match the description."
"Think they've made us?"
The men appeared quite unconcerned. They had their hands stuffed in their pockets and appeared to be conversing with one another. Faith shook her head. "Doesn't look like it. You ready?"
Bosco nodded and taking another look at Faith, he opened his door. Faith was out of the car a second after him. They drew their weapons and approached the men from behind.
"Don't move!" Bosco called. "NYPD!"
The two guys whirled around and one pulled a gun from his jacket pocket. "Drop the gun!" Faith yelled, pointing her weapon directly at the man. "Drop the gun now or I will fire!"
The man swore and dropped the gun. The other man looked scared shitless. "Kick it over to me!" Faith yelled and the man kicked the gun in her direction.
"Up against the wall, now!" Bosco yelled and as the men moved to comply, he roughly threw the one who had held the gun against the brick wall. Faith took the other one and patted him down.
Soon both men were handcuffed and thrown into the back of the squad. Bosco slammed the door shut and wiped his hands off. "Now that's excitement!" he said happily. Faith could see his eyes glinting in the streetlight. His cheeks appeared to be flushed.
On the way to the station, Bosco resumed his internal concert and was now unknowingly serenading Faith with the selected works of Billy Idol. The men cuffed in the back were muttering to each other and occasionally swearing at Faith and making questionable remarks about Bosco's mother.
______________
"Why don't you two knock off early today."
Faith looked at Swersky as though he'd suddenly sprouted a head on his shoulder. "He can't be serious." Faith couldn't agree more with Bosco.
"You serious?" Bosco asked aloud.
The lieutenant shrugged. "Your shift's over in 45 anyway and you brought in Huey and Duey over there. Not much else out there for tonight."
"Great thanks." Faith said. Her head was hurting. Not as much as the previous days but enough for her to be in discomfort.
"You wanna hit the bar?" Bosco asked Faith as they made their way to the locker room to change.
Faith shook her head. "I thought I'd just go home. Maybe surprise Fred."
"Why does she never want to hang out with me?" Bosco looked a bit hurt.
"Fine." Bosco said. "Good job out there tonight by the way. Getting that guy to drop his gun."
"I've always got your back Bos, you know that."
"Good job anyway." Bosco said. He opened his locker and took out his civvies. "You sure you don't want to hit the bar?"
He sounded almost desperate. Faith realized that he was lonely and she could never resist it when he looked so pitiful. She sighed. Maybe she needed to take a course on how to resist your partner when he makes puppy dog eyes.
"You know what?" Faith said. "I changed my mind. The bar does sound like a good idea."
"Yay!" Bosco cheered to himself. For a bizarre moment, Faith pictured Bosco in a cheerleader's uniform, waving around pink pom-poms.
They quickly changed into their civvies and soon they were headed out of the station and down the street to the bar. Bosco kept looking at Faith from the corner of his eyes and Faith pretended not to notice. His mind was racing with thoughts about how nice she looked and how happy he was to have some company that wasn't Sully.
"Bos, if you don't want to go to the bar with Sully because he's a chick deterrent, how come you'll go with me? Aren't I an even bigger chick deterrent?" Faith asked. She knew it was mean, but she wanted to know what his response would be.
"I like hanging out with you." was Bosco's verbal reply. Inside he rambled on about how she was the only chick he really wanted anyway.
_____________
"I wonder if she'd dance with me if I asked her."
Faith looked over at Bosco. His head was bent over his beer. She found herself wondering what she'd say if Bosco ever asked her to dance.
"She'd probably say no."
Faith decided that he was probably right. She had to say no, even if she wanted to say yes. Bosco took a swig from his mug and set it back down on the table. There were several couples out on the dance floor, dancing to music from an old jukebox. Faith vaguely wondered if it played any Elvis tunes.
"Should I ask her?"
Bosco debated with himself for several minutes and Faith listened closely. She was beginning to realize that Bosco was seriously in love with her. That scared her. That scared her a lot.
"Faith?"
"Hmmm?"
"Do you want to dance?"
Faith coughed. "Dance?"
"Way to go stupid!" Bosco berated himself. "Now she looks scared. Why would she ever want to dance with you anyway?"
Faith shrugged. Bosco looked embarrassed. "I could dance." she said finally.
"You could?" Bosco looked confused.
"Sure, let's dance." Faith clarified. It must have been the beer that made her say that.
The song that had been playing ended and someone moved to jukebox and made another selection. Faith almost died when she heard the music begin. Bosco had stood up and was looking nervously at her.
Faith joined him and they moved to the dance floor. Bosco awkwardly put a hand on her back and Faith put a hand on his shoulder. They moved from side to side.
"She's dancing like I have the plague or something."
Faith tried to contain the laughter. She moved closer to him, resting her other hand on his back. She could feel the heat radiating from his body.
"That's better. Much better."
Faith smiled as she heard Bosco humming along with the song. He was singing along in his head. She was tempted to rest her head on his shoulder, but resisted. She didn't want to get too close.
"I can't help...falling in love with you..."
Faith couldn't help but wonder if Bosco was indeed just singing along with the song, or if he was silently talking about her. Either way, she was enjoying herself way too much for a married mother of two.