Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to Third Watch, never will.
A/N: Please R&R, gives me more steam on late nights to get you all the next chapter!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Yokas, we need to talk in my office" Lieu greeted her as she walked in to the station, guiding the girl to plastic chairs. Bosco came in behind her with someone else.
"You take care of this for a minute?" Faith asked him, he nodded.
"How are things with the kids?" Lieu asked once she'd been seated.
"Fine" Faith replied, seeing an odd look to his face, "But that's not what you have me in here for, what's up Lieu?" she asked.
"You're husbands lawyer stopped by" he said, "He served the divorce papers, and let me know that your custody hearing has been moved up"
Faith swallowed. Fred was applying for full to shared custody of the kids. No matter how stupid he'd acted a month ago, he'd been fine before he lost it. His lawyer was going to claim it as mild depression, and Fred had been in a clinic for the past few weeks. That, and she had a full time job with city pay and no time for the kids.
"When is it set for?" she asked, hoping it was after Christmas, which was only a week or so away now. Today was the kids' last day of school before holidays.
"This weekend, tomorrow actually" he said, handing some papers across the desk. The first set were the divorce papers, the second were the trial papers.
Son of a bitch, Faith thought, temperature rising in her cheeks.
"Thanks Lieu" she said, getting up.
"You need the day to prepare?" Lieu asked her. Faith paused, "I'll let you know after I call my lawyer and see what's going on" Faith replied, leaving the office.
"Faith, meet Tierney Davis" Bosco said as she approached, nodding to the girl whom Faith had arrested.
"Tierney Davis, wanted for broken probation, three counts of assault, one on an arresting officer, vandilism" he noted. Faith studied the girl. "She's sixteen" Faith said to him.
"Yep" he replied, "and she's going in to youth custody"
"Davis huh?" Faith asked.
"Pretty popular last name in New York, no connection" Bosco finished her thought.
"Who's this guy?" she nodded, Bosco flipped the clip board.
"Anakin Davis, Tierney's little brother, fourteen, wanted for associating with a gang and breaking probation, and now assault, the two of them have been in foster care since they were two and four, respectivly. They skipped out and child services don't know where they'd disappeared to"
"We left that last bastard" Tierney spoke up, "We're tired of these assholes they keep stickin' us with, the three of us, we wanna be together"
"Well, I'm sure you can look forward to sharing a prison with them when you're older" Bosco replied. The girl glared.
"You don't know what we been through, don't talk down to us, we've been through more shit that your white ass" she shot back.
"My white ass" Bosco replied, "Well, I'm betting that I've been through a lot more than you think"
"Yea, poor damn rich kid prolly"
"Actually, I grew up in a poverty stricken family full of drug addicts and alcoholics, and an abusive father" he fixed his stance, his jaw jutting out.
Tierney shut up for a second, "Well then you should know how I feel, try taking a closer look at my file, and not just my criminal record"
Bosco shared a look with Faith. "What's wrong?" he asked her.
"The trial was moved up, for custody"
"To when?"
"Tomorrow" she replied, moving away from Tierney, Bosco followed.
"Faith, don't worry, he won't get the kids, he can't." he comforted.
She gave a half smile, "Thanks Boz, but there's always a risk"
"We'll overcome it, do you want me to come tomorrow?" he asked.
"Aren't you supposed to be working overtime?"
He nodded, feeling bad about lying.
"No, I'll be okay."
"Well I'll drive you guys in tomorrow"
"Okay"
"Is Lieu giving you the day off to prep?"
"He offered, but I don't want you riding alone"
"It's not too busy, I should be okay"
"It only takes one bullet Boz" she said, looking at him.
"I'll talk to Lieu, see if I can either get it off or do desk work"
"You're gonna do deskwork for me?" she laughed. "I've seen you whipped but-"
He held his finger to her lips, "Shush, or I might take it back"
She smiled softly. "I'm gonna go tell Lieu I'm takin' off to prep, I'll probably just sit at home but..I don't want to be here right now, I think I'll grab the kids from Tatiana's..just in case"
"Faith, he's not going to get them" he looked her in the eye. She didn't respond, but half smiled again and walked towards the Lieutenant's office.
It was on the subway when it occurred to her she must be coming out of one of those fogs again. It was right before holidays and people were still killing people. Kids were fighting on the streets. Kids were homeless, not able to get in to foster care again, and yet that wasn't what you saw everyday. Not what a normal person saw.
A normal person saw punk teenagers, who were stealing for fun. They saw improved statistics in the city, but still worried about being criminalized. They went to work, came home and sat with their families or girlfriends. They went to school and worried about finances.
She saw the underside of the city everyday. People killing people. Kids shooting kids. Stolen cars, car accidents. She faced and saw death almost every day. She saw carnage and wreckage. In a way, that kid was right. Tierney had a head on her shoulders. She was thinking. She hadn't heard about any of the jumpings or gang wars. Was it because it all happened in the run down places of the city. Because today they'd stopped it, but if it had been some where else, in an abandoned building or something, would they've stopped it. Responded to the call right away, or would they have waited for the fight to die down, literally.
Two cars had been towed from that strip mall. Inside there were bat, knives, guns. They'd all come prepared to kill anyone not on their side. Every day in the paper people read about the bad things, but it didn't affect them, because it wasn't about them. It was about a gang, or poverty or homeless people, if you could afford the paper and were able to read it, you probably weren't bad off.
Last month, if that had been a little black girl, would people have paid so much attention. Would the city have turned in to an unruly bunch going after emergency workers? Or if it were a black male who'd abducted her, would the city have taken a lash out on him, never mind that the man was innocent after all.
Faith missed the stop to pick up the kids. She got off two stops later and walked.
"Emily" Charlie whispered in the dark, "are you awake?"
"Yes" came the answer.
"Do you think we're going to have to leave mom and Bosco tomorrow?" he asked.
Emily lay in bed and thought about it. "Mom wouldn't let that happen. Dad turned bad, he almost killed us" she finally replied.
"I'm still worried"
"Don't be Charlie"
"I still am"
"Come over here" Emily said, moving to the side of her bed as Charlie crawled in beside her. She could see the outline of his face in the light coming through the window. He'd been crying because there were tear stains on his cheeks.
"What if Mom doesn't want us anymore"
"Of course she wants us!" Emily exclaimed, a little louder than she meant. "Look, if you're so worried, why don't we just tell the judge tomorrow" she suggested.
"Can we?"
"Sure we can.. we'll just.. we'll walk up to him and say that we want mom to take care of us"
"What do you think will happen to dad?"
Emily bit her lip, "He'll find someone else he loves, and have more kids probably, that's what people always do"
"You mean like mom and Bosco"
"Kind of, only, I don't think they're gonna have more kids"
"Will dad forget about us?"
"No, I don't think he'll forget about us" she whispered, "Now go to sleep Charlie, and stop worrying so much"
"You were worrying too" he shot back.
"Was not"
"Were too, I heard you sniffing!"
"I have a cold!"
"You didn't before bedtime"
Emily didn't bother with a response. She had been crying.
Faith shot up in bed, tears running down her face. She felt Bosco get up beside her.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediatly.
"Just a dream" she breathed, staring at the wall.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
"I'm fine"
"You sure?" he pushed.
Faith turn to him, "Boz I can't lose the kids.. I don't know what I'd do. I was talking with Ryerson today and he said that they actually have a strong case, and that he's gonna be prepping for it as best as possible, but... not to just think of it as a given that I would get them"
"Faith, everything's gonna be fine" he put his arm around her waist. "Fred won't get them, what ever he says bad, we can defend and shoot something back."
"My job, Boz"
"What about it?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"Ryerson said.. he said that Fred might try and use that against me. Because of my job I won't be around the kids except on weekends, where as if they lived with him.. he works when they're in school so he'd always be there for them"
"Faith, I promise you that we will get the kids, okay? I promise"
"You can't promise that" she replied.
"Faith, look at me" he waited until she turned her head. "I will not let anything happen to those kids, they're like my own. I won't give them up to a drunken asshole" he finished, "Now get some sleep, you're gonna need it for the trial" he kissed her gently on her lips and lay back down with her. She moved her arms until they were around him and cuddled to his chest.
Nothing would happen to the kids he told himself. But he began to worry.
A/N: Please R&R, gives me more steam on late nights to get you all the next chapter!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Yokas, we need to talk in my office" Lieu greeted her as she walked in to the station, guiding the girl to plastic chairs. Bosco came in behind her with someone else.
"You take care of this for a minute?" Faith asked him, he nodded.
"How are things with the kids?" Lieu asked once she'd been seated.
"Fine" Faith replied, seeing an odd look to his face, "But that's not what you have me in here for, what's up Lieu?" she asked.
"You're husbands lawyer stopped by" he said, "He served the divorce papers, and let me know that your custody hearing has been moved up"
Faith swallowed. Fred was applying for full to shared custody of the kids. No matter how stupid he'd acted a month ago, he'd been fine before he lost it. His lawyer was going to claim it as mild depression, and Fred had been in a clinic for the past few weeks. That, and she had a full time job with city pay and no time for the kids.
"When is it set for?" she asked, hoping it was after Christmas, which was only a week or so away now. Today was the kids' last day of school before holidays.
"This weekend, tomorrow actually" he said, handing some papers across the desk. The first set were the divorce papers, the second were the trial papers.
Son of a bitch, Faith thought, temperature rising in her cheeks.
"Thanks Lieu" she said, getting up.
"You need the day to prepare?" Lieu asked her. Faith paused, "I'll let you know after I call my lawyer and see what's going on" Faith replied, leaving the office.
"Faith, meet Tierney Davis" Bosco said as she approached, nodding to the girl whom Faith had arrested.
"Tierney Davis, wanted for broken probation, three counts of assault, one on an arresting officer, vandilism" he noted. Faith studied the girl. "She's sixteen" Faith said to him.
"Yep" he replied, "and she's going in to youth custody"
"Davis huh?" Faith asked.
"Pretty popular last name in New York, no connection" Bosco finished her thought.
"Who's this guy?" she nodded, Bosco flipped the clip board.
"Anakin Davis, Tierney's little brother, fourteen, wanted for associating with a gang and breaking probation, and now assault, the two of them have been in foster care since they were two and four, respectivly. They skipped out and child services don't know where they'd disappeared to"
"We left that last bastard" Tierney spoke up, "We're tired of these assholes they keep stickin' us with, the three of us, we wanna be together"
"Well, I'm sure you can look forward to sharing a prison with them when you're older" Bosco replied. The girl glared.
"You don't know what we been through, don't talk down to us, we've been through more shit that your white ass" she shot back.
"My white ass" Bosco replied, "Well, I'm betting that I've been through a lot more than you think"
"Yea, poor damn rich kid prolly"
"Actually, I grew up in a poverty stricken family full of drug addicts and alcoholics, and an abusive father" he fixed his stance, his jaw jutting out.
Tierney shut up for a second, "Well then you should know how I feel, try taking a closer look at my file, and not just my criminal record"
Bosco shared a look with Faith. "What's wrong?" he asked her.
"The trial was moved up, for custody"
"To when?"
"Tomorrow" she replied, moving away from Tierney, Bosco followed.
"Faith, don't worry, he won't get the kids, he can't." he comforted.
She gave a half smile, "Thanks Boz, but there's always a risk"
"We'll overcome it, do you want me to come tomorrow?" he asked.
"Aren't you supposed to be working overtime?"
He nodded, feeling bad about lying.
"No, I'll be okay."
"Well I'll drive you guys in tomorrow"
"Okay"
"Is Lieu giving you the day off to prep?"
"He offered, but I don't want you riding alone"
"It's not too busy, I should be okay"
"It only takes one bullet Boz" she said, looking at him.
"I'll talk to Lieu, see if I can either get it off or do desk work"
"You're gonna do deskwork for me?" she laughed. "I've seen you whipped but-"
He held his finger to her lips, "Shush, or I might take it back"
She smiled softly. "I'm gonna go tell Lieu I'm takin' off to prep, I'll probably just sit at home but..I don't want to be here right now, I think I'll grab the kids from Tatiana's..just in case"
"Faith, he's not going to get them" he looked her in the eye. She didn't respond, but half smiled again and walked towards the Lieutenant's office.
It was on the subway when it occurred to her she must be coming out of one of those fogs again. It was right before holidays and people were still killing people. Kids were fighting on the streets. Kids were homeless, not able to get in to foster care again, and yet that wasn't what you saw everyday. Not what a normal person saw.
A normal person saw punk teenagers, who were stealing for fun. They saw improved statistics in the city, but still worried about being criminalized. They went to work, came home and sat with their families or girlfriends. They went to school and worried about finances.
She saw the underside of the city everyday. People killing people. Kids shooting kids. Stolen cars, car accidents. She faced and saw death almost every day. She saw carnage and wreckage. In a way, that kid was right. Tierney had a head on her shoulders. She was thinking. She hadn't heard about any of the jumpings or gang wars. Was it because it all happened in the run down places of the city. Because today they'd stopped it, but if it had been some where else, in an abandoned building or something, would they've stopped it. Responded to the call right away, or would they have waited for the fight to die down, literally.
Two cars had been towed from that strip mall. Inside there were bat, knives, guns. They'd all come prepared to kill anyone not on their side. Every day in the paper people read about the bad things, but it didn't affect them, because it wasn't about them. It was about a gang, or poverty or homeless people, if you could afford the paper and were able to read it, you probably weren't bad off.
Last month, if that had been a little black girl, would people have paid so much attention. Would the city have turned in to an unruly bunch going after emergency workers? Or if it were a black male who'd abducted her, would the city have taken a lash out on him, never mind that the man was innocent after all.
Faith missed the stop to pick up the kids. She got off two stops later and walked.
"Emily" Charlie whispered in the dark, "are you awake?"
"Yes" came the answer.
"Do you think we're going to have to leave mom and Bosco tomorrow?" he asked.
Emily lay in bed and thought about it. "Mom wouldn't let that happen. Dad turned bad, he almost killed us" she finally replied.
"I'm still worried"
"Don't be Charlie"
"I still am"
"Come over here" Emily said, moving to the side of her bed as Charlie crawled in beside her. She could see the outline of his face in the light coming through the window. He'd been crying because there were tear stains on his cheeks.
"What if Mom doesn't want us anymore"
"Of course she wants us!" Emily exclaimed, a little louder than she meant. "Look, if you're so worried, why don't we just tell the judge tomorrow" she suggested.
"Can we?"
"Sure we can.. we'll just.. we'll walk up to him and say that we want mom to take care of us"
"What do you think will happen to dad?"
Emily bit her lip, "He'll find someone else he loves, and have more kids probably, that's what people always do"
"You mean like mom and Bosco"
"Kind of, only, I don't think they're gonna have more kids"
"Will dad forget about us?"
"No, I don't think he'll forget about us" she whispered, "Now go to sleep Charlie, and stop worrying so much"
"You were worrying too" he shot back.
"Was not"
"Were too, I heard you sniffing!"
"I have a cold!"
"You didn't before bedtime"
Emily didn't bother with a response. She had been crying.
Faith shot up in bed, tears running down her face. She felt Bosco get up beside her.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediatly.
"Just a dream" she breathed, staring at the wall.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
"I'm fine"
"You sure?" he pushed.
Faith turn to him, "Boz I can't lose the kids.. I don't know what I'd do. I was talking with Ryerson today and he said that they actually have a strong case, and that he's gonna be prepping for it as best as possible, but... not to just think of it as a given that I would get them"
"Faith, everything's gonna be fine" he put his arm around her waist. "Fred won't get them, what ever he says bad, we can defend and shoot something back."
"My job, Boz"
"What about it?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"Ryerson said.. he said that Fred might try and use that against me. Because of my job I won't be around the kids except on weekends, where as if they lived with him.. he works when they're in school so he'd always be there for them"
"Faith, I promise you that we will get the kids, okay? I promise"
"You can't promise that" she replied.
"Faith, look at me" he waited until she turned her head. "I will not let anything happen to those kids, they're like my own. I won't give them up to a drunken asshole" he finished, "Now get some sleep, you're gonna need it for the trial" he kissed her gently on her lips and lay back down with her. She moved her arms until they were around him and cuddled to his chest.
Nothing would happen to the kids he told himself. But he began to worry.