"Charlie" Faith said, handing off a present from beneath the tree. Charlie jumped forward immediately, grabbing the midsized package and taking a seat on the floor. "Emily" she handed one to her daughter, smiling, then grabbed another, "Maurice" she smiled, handing Bosco his present. She grabbed one for herself and looked around, purely content. She grabbed a seat, sitting in front of Bosco and the fireplace she unwrapped her gift. The process was repeated until there was an immense amount of wrapping paper flying around the living room and at least ten colored bows stuck on Bosco.
"There's another one mom!" Charlie said, diving under the tree.
"Careful Charlie" Faith warned as she watched the tree sway. Charlie backed out, clutching a small gift. He looked at it.
"Who's it for?" Faith asked.
"You" Charlie said, somewhat disappointed, he handed it over.
Faith took the small gift, looking at the gift tag and leaned against Bosco.
"You got me a present?" she asked.
"Of course" he replied, wrapping his arms around her stomach.
Faith looked at the small wrapped box, that was a bit bigger that her hand. She unwrapped it slowly, sticking the silver bow on Bosco's nose as he flared his nostrils. She laughed and paused.
"Come on man, you sure know how to keep people in suspense" Bosco urged.
Faith found her hands unwrapping the gift to find a jewellery box from Kay Jewellers. She opened it slowly, "Oh Boz" she whispered, touching the small pendant. It was a small heart, but was engraved with picture made of fine scratches. A small diamone was on the tip of the heart. She stared at it, realizing it was an angel. She fingered it softly, turning it over when she felt indents on the back. There was a small handwritten inscription.
'An angel for my angel'
Faith immediately turned around, kissing Bosco on the lips. Words couldn't even describe how she felt about him right now. Nothing could, not even the kiss felt like enough.
"They were right then" Bosco whispered, smiling once she'd pulled away.
"About what?" she asked.
"Every kiss begins with Kay" he said to a tune, Faith snorted with laughter and kissed him again on the lips.
"What is it mom?" Emily asked, leaning over her in to the box.
"Wow" Emily breathed, "It's so pretty.. put it on mom" she said.
Faith took the necklack from the box, lifting the fine gold chain and undoing the clasp. Bosco's fingers enclosed hers and he took the necklace, lifting up her hair and doing up the small clasp. He finished just as the phone rang, and before either could move Emily had grabbed the cordless. She soon handed it to Bosco, "It's for you" she said, sitting down and grabbing a candycane from the floor.
Bosco got up, taking the phone and walked out of the room. He was back a short while later, smiling to himself.
"What are you up to?" Faith asked.
"Nothing" he grinned, "Sully and Tatiana say Merry Christmas, and they want to meet us at Central Park in half hour or so"
Faith looked at him, "Why, what's going on?"
Bosco shrugged, "He just said there were some Christmas things the kids would enjoy, skating and hay rides and such"
"Can we go mom?" Charlie asked.
Faith looked around at the anticipation, then outside, "You guys better dress warm, it looks cold out there"
"Yes!" Charlie exclaimed, running off to his room.
"Hey, hold on a second, get your things to your rooms first!" she told them, and began grabbing wrapping paper to stuff in a garbage bag.
She stood staring at the tree for a moment, and thought of the woman who didn't have any of this. She would be at the party this afternoon, which was why there were gifts at the station for her and her children. There'd also been a collection fund for the woman until she could find a place. She'd had no insurance on her house or belongings, it'd been cut off merely a week prior to the fire. She shivered, then smiled, thinking of how Emily was alright. That was probably the best gift the woman could ever ask for.
"Hey" Bosco whispered in to her ear, resting his hands on her hips. Faith leaned back in to him, feeling his warmth.
"Boz, I'm sorry" she said quietly.
"About what?" he asked, struck.
"That I didn't go and.. I didn't get you anything really expensive"
"Well, I hardly wear necklaces" he teased. Faith didn't react, meaning she was honestly upset. "It's okay Faith. I got the best gift this year from you"
"Would that be the lip boxers or the watch?" she teased back.
"Neither. I got a real Christmas. I got you and Emily and Charlie. And I get turkey tonight" he added.
Faith laughed, then turned as the kids came in to the room, they were already decked out in their winter coats and mittens.
"Come on" Emily whined, "We're gonna be late"
"Of course Boscorelli has to be fashionable late" Sully commented as the group approached.
"Hi Tatiana!" Emily said.
"Hello Emily. Hello Charlie" she replied.
"Merry Christmas Faith, Bosco" Sully smiled, hugging Faith.
"What, I don't get a hug?" Bosco asked, mocking anger and shock.
Sully looked at him, and Tatiana moved forward to give him a hug as everyone laughed.
Bosco looked around the park. There were tons of people just milling around, checking out ice sculptures and snowmen. People skating and buying hot chocolate for family. For a moment he felt left out, until he felt the pressure of Faith's hand in his own. He was here with his own family.
"Yokas, Boscorelli and Sullivan, what are you guys doin' here?" a voice asked from behind. They all turned to find Jason and Greg, two cops from their precinct and shift.
"Hay ride" Bosco replied, "You two on business?" he asked. They were in uniform.
"We're on shift, they stuck us here because of all the people"
"Least you're not directing traffic" Faith commented.
"So what's with this?" Greg asked, nodding towards Faith and Bosco, "You two a couple now?"
Faith smiled, "We like to think so"
"It's bout damn time, congrats Boscorelli" Jason said.
"On what?"
"Figuring out the obvious" Greg laughed.
"Yeah, it only took you what.. seven years now?" Jason teased.
Bosco was bright red by the time Jason and Greg moved on for their foot patrol, and it wasn't because of the cold.
"You actually said that?" Faith teased, Bosco nodded, almost sullen.
"Alright lovebirds, rides gonna be here in five minutes or so, maybe we should head over?" Sullivan put in.
They pulled apart, still holding hands, and began to walk towards the pickup area.
"Stop the ride! He stole my purse!" a woman screamed, pointing.
Bosco immediately snapped his head towards the sound, and to where the woman was pointing. Nearly ten metres away was a man running off with a purse. Bosco jumped over the side of the wagon before anyone else had a chance to move, and began running.
Faith froze as soon as she heard the words, but quickly followed Bosco from the ride, handing Charlie, who'd been on her lap, to Tatiana. She raced across the snow and through the people, Bosco nearly twenty feet in front of her.
Bosco was sure he could reach out and touch the man now. GIving it a few seconds he finally launched himself at the slower runner, rolling him across the snow. The purse was let go, and the man seemed to fumble for a moment.
"Bosco, he's got a knife!" Faith yelled as she drew closer. She could see the man fumbling in the snow where he'd dropped it. At the sudden distraction, Bosco found himself rolling until he was underneath the suspect, who was reaching for the knife.
"Freeze, right there" Faith yelled, voice coarse and out of breath. She aimed her police gun at the suspect who looked over and froze. People began gathering to watch the scene unfold. "Now, throw the knife towards me" she said, calmer now.
Bosco saw the man throw the knife towards Faith, and he rolled over, throwing the man in to the snow and restraining him. The crowd wasn't sure whether to cheer or leave quietly. What was a woman doing in the middle of Central Park with a gun if she didn't have a uniform on?
"Drop the gun" A voice commanded from behind Faith. Fear ran through her body, and Bosco looked up, meeting her eyes. She dropped the gun beside her, then turned.
"Yokas?" Greg asked, dropping his gun from her.
"Jesus Greg, you scared the shit out of me" Faith caught her breath.
"And here I thought we were getting some action" Greg shook his head, unclipping his cuffs and tossing them to Bosco.
"You're too slow to grab the action" Bosco laughed, once the thief was cuffed and left lying in the snow.
Jason came running up, out of breath. "What are you guys doing here?"
"They did our job" Greg commented, nodding to the petty thief.
"Course, our only hint of action and it's already taken care of" he snorted.
"You guys wanna come to the station and report this?"
Bosco shared a look with Faith, and they shook their heads, "Naw, nice collar guys" she commented, grabbing her gun from the snow and wiping it off with her jacket.
"You guys gonna be at the party tonight?" Greg asked as they started to leave.
"Yeah, you workin' or what?"
"Naw, we're off soon. You wanna return this to the owner?" he asked, holding out the purse. Bosco took it and began walking back to the Hay Ride, which had stopped in the midst of Central Park, the horses looking a bit antsy.
"You got my purse back!" the woman smiled, as he purse was returned to her. Bosco helped Faith back on to the ride, where Sully and Tatiana were sitting with the kids.
"Told ya Bosco'd get 'im" Sully commented. "Like a dog after a jackrabbit"
"Thank you so much!" the woman was still going on.
"It's okay" Bosco gave a modest nod. The woman seated herself across from them now, and Bosco and Faith shared a look.
"You guys caught the bad guy!" Charlie couldn't sit still, "Is that what you do at work too? I wanna be a cop mom!" Charlie kept bounding around.
Faith laughed, squeezing Bosco's hand. "Lets hope that's a stage he grows out of" Bosco whispered in her ear.
"You're a police officer?" The woman asked Bosco.
Bosco nodded, "We both are, fifty-fifth precinct"
"Oh well.. well.." the woman seemed flustered. "I don't know how to thank you, my purse is invaluable right now. See I'm a lawyer, or a street lawyer you might say. I get clients who can't afford costly bills and fight for them. Actually..it seems funny that I'd run in to you and all.." the woman went on.
Faith stared at the woman, truly wondering whether she was actually a nutcase. She seemed to ramble.
"If I'm right, Bosco is Boscorelli, am I right?" the woman finally asked.
Bosco paused, kind of shocked, then nodded. "Yeah, Maurice Boscorelli" he confirmed.
"Then you are.." she fumbled with a piece of paper from her purse and looked at it, "officer Faith Yokas, right?"
Faith nodded slowly.
"Oh, wow this is kind of embarassing to meet this way, but as I said before my purse is invaluable. It's because I'm carrying some documents I'm supposed to serve to two officers, you two in fact."
Serve? Faith wondered. The first thought was Fred and her breath caught.
"Oh no, it's nothing bad" the woman exclaimed, seeing Faith's face fall. "It's good, I think. I represent a man who died recently, Rupert Grimsby, you heard of him?"
Faith looked over at Bosco, "No, sorry" Faith shrugged.
"It's okay, well Rupert was one of my clients, he's a popular non-fiction writer and recently decided to write up a book on homelessness, to do this he actually went out on to the streets, took notes and everything. He got to know the people and the land. It wasn't a happy thing most of the time, but he stuck by it. He just recently finished one book, and wrote a chapter by chapter summary of another, both actually involve you two... Now I know he never requested permission, and I hope this is okay with you guys, but these two books are already being planned for publishing and marketing. Rupert wrote in his will that he'd like to see some of the profits go to you two, because he strongly believes you are unpaid and under appreciated. I'm supposed to get the papers signed tomorrow, but with meeting you two here... it just seems like it was meant to be huh?"
Faith stared at the woman. "A man that we don't even know.. wrote a book about us?" she asked.
The woman simply nodded.
"And you want to publish it, and give us some of the profit?"
She nodded again.
"What's this book about?" Faith asked.
"Well, see, I can't exactly tell you. Not only do I not particularly know the details, but also because the second book isn't finished quite yet"
"Can we think about it?" Bosco finally intervened.
"Y..Yes of course, no problem. I uh.. I set up a meeting between us tomorrow, just after your shift begins. I set it up through your lieutenant, is that convenient for both of you?"
They nodded.
"What was she, a reporter wanting the story?" Sully asked, once they'd taken a seat with the group again.
"Ah.. a lawyer actually, and a publicist"
"really, what's she want?"
"To let us know we're in a book?"
Sully laughed, "Because you caught a purse snatcher?"
"Uh no.. because some dead guy wrote about us" Bosco replied, sitting back.
"A dead guy wrote about you?"
"Some author or something"
"Yeah.. uh.. Rupert Gridley or something" Faith put in.
"Rupert Grimsby?" Sully asked.
"Yeah, that's the one"
"He does good stuff, I read him. He always researches the story first, gets himself right in to what he's writing about.. he died?"
"Yeah, before that house fire, the homeless man? He was doing a story on homelessness and such..."
"Shame" Sully remarked.
"Yea. Shame for his family"
"Didn't have any family" Sully remarked, "He lived alone, he's moved around a lot. Parents died when he was young, he was put in foster care. It inspired him to write about his life"
"Wonder if my life would sell" Bosco thought out loud.
"Sure it would, anything sells" Faith said.
"Well that doesn't make me very special, does it?"
"You're special to me" she teased.
"Aw, come on, there's kids around" Sully laughed as the kissed.
"We're used to it, every time we come in the kitchen they're-"
"Charlie!" Faith exclaimed.
Sully kind of looked struck, and amused. Tatiana had a grin on her face and Bosco looked as though he'd swallowed his own tongue.
"There's another one mom!" Charlie said, diving under the tree.
"Careful Charlie" Faith warned as she watched the tree sway. Charlie backed out, clutching a small gift. He looked at it.
"Who's it for?" Faith asked.
"You" Charlie said, somewhat disappointed, he handed it over.
Faith took the small gift, looking at the gift tag and leaned against Bosco.
"You got me a present?" she asked.
"Of course" he replied, wrapping his arms around her stomach.
Faith looked at the small wrapped box, that was a bit bigger that her hand. She unwrapped it slowly, sticking the silver bow on Bosco's nose as he flared his nostrils. She laughed and paused.
"Come on man, you sure know how to keep people in suspense" Bosco urged.
Faith found her hands unwrapping the gift to find a jewellery box from Kay Jewellers. She opened it slowly, "Oh Boz" she whispered, touching the small pendant. It was a small heart, but was engraved with picture made of fine scratches. A small diamone was on the tip of the heart. She stared at it, realizing it was an angel. She fingered it softly, turning it over when she felt indents on the back. There was a small handwritten inscription.
'An angel for my angel'
Faith immediately turned around, kissing Bosco on the lips. Words couldn't even describe how she felt about him right now. Nothing could, not even the kiss felt like enough.
"They were right then" Bosco whispered, smiling once she'd pulled away.
"About what?" she asked.
"Every kiss begins with Kay" he said to a tune, Faith snorted with laughter and kissed him again on the lips.
"What is it mom?" Emily asked, leaning over her in to the box.
"Wow" Emily breathed, "It's so pretty.. put it on mom" she said.
Faith took the necklack from the box, lifting the fine gold chain and undoing the clasp. Bosco's fingers enclosed hers and he took the necklace, lifting up her hair and doing up the small clasp. He finished just as the phone rang, and before either could move Emily had grabbed the cordless. She soon handed it to Bosco, "It's for you" she said, sitting down and grabbing a candycane from the floor.
Bosco got up, taking the phone and walked out of the room. He was back a short while later, smiling to himself.
"What are you up to?" Faith asked.
"Nothing" he grinned, "Sully and Tatiana say Merry Christmas, and they want to meet us at Central Park in half hour or so"
Faith looked at him, "Why, what's going on?"
Bosco shrugged, "He just said there were some Christmas things the kids would enjoy, skating and hay rides and such"
"Can we go mom?" Charlie asked.
Faith looked around at the anticipation, then outside, "You guys better dress warm, it looks cold out there"
"Yes!" Charlie exclaimed, running off to his room.
"Hey, hold on a second, get your things to your rooms first!" she told them, and began grabbing wrapping paper to stuff in a garbage bag.
She stood staring at the tree for a moment, and thought of the woman who didn't have any of this. She would be at the party this afternoon, which was why there were gifts at the station for her and her children. There'd also been a collection fund for the woman until she could find a place. She'd had no insurance on her house or belongings, it'd been cut off merely a week prior to the fire. She shivered, then smiled, thinking of how Emily was alright. That was probably the best gift the woman could ever ask for.
"Hey" Bosco whispered in to her ear, resting his hands on her hips. Faith leaned back in to him, feeling his warmth.
"Boz, I'm sorry" she said quietly.
"About what?" he asked, struck.
"That I didn't go and.. I didn't get you anything really expensive"
"Well, I hardly wear necklaces" he teased. Faith didn't react, meaning she was honestly upset. "It's okay Faith. I got the best gift this year from you"
"Would that be the lip boxers or the watch?" she teased back.
"Neither. I got a real Christmas. I got you and Emily and Charlie. And I get turkey tonight" he added.
Faith laughed, then turned as the kids came in to the room, they were already decked out in their winter coats and mittens.
"Come on" Emily whined, "We're gonna be late"
"Of course Boscorelli has to be fashionable late" Sully commented as the group approached.
"Hi Tatiana!" Emily said.
"Hello Emily. Hello Charlie" she replied.
"Merry Christmas Faith, Bosco" Sully smiled, hugging Faith.
"What, I don't get a hug?" Bosco asked, mocking anger and shock.
Sully looked at him, and Tatiana moved forward to give him a hug as everyone laughed.
Bosco looked around the park. There were tons of people just milling around, checking out ice sculptures and snowmen. People skating and buying hot chocolate for family. For a moment he felt left out, until he felt the pressure of Faith's hand in his own. He was here with his own family.
"Yokas, Boscorelli and Sullivan, what are you guys doin' here?" a voice asked from behind. They all turned to find Jason and Greg, two cops from their precinct and shift.
"Hay ride" Bosco replied, "You two on business?" he asked. They were in uniform.
"We're on shift, they stuck us here because of all the people"
"Least you're not directing traffic" Faith commented.
"So what's with this?" Greg asked, nodding towards Faith and Bosco, "You two a couple now?"
Faith smiled, "We like to think so"
"It's bout damn time, congrats Boscorelli" Jason said.
"On what?"
"Figuring out the obvious" Greg laughed.
"Yeah, it only took you what.. seven years now?" Jason teased.
Bosco was bright red by the time Jason and Greg moved on for their foot patrol, and it wasn't because of the cold.
"You actually said that?" Faith teased, Bosco nodded, almost sullen.
"Alright lovebirds, rides gonna be here in five minutes or so, maybe we should head over?" Sullivan put in.
They pulled apart, still holding hands, and began to walk towards the pickup area.
"Stop the ride! He stole my purse!" a woman screamed, pointing.
Bosco immediately snapped his head towards the sound, and to where the woman was pointing. Nearly ten metres away was a man running off with a purse. Bosco jumped over the side of the wagon before anyone else had a chance to move, and began running.
Faith froze as soon as she heard the words, but quickly followed Bosco from the ride, handing Charlie, who'd been on her lap, to Tatiana. She raced across the snow and through the people, Bosco nearly twenty feet in front of her.
Bosco was sure he could reach out and touch the man now. GIving it a few seconds he finally launched himself at the slower runner, rolling him across the snow. The purse was let go, and the man seemed to fumble for a moment.
"Bosco, he's got a knife!" Faith yelled as she drew closer. She could see the man fumbling in the snow where he'd dropped it. At the sudden distraction, Bosco found himself rolling until he was underneath the suspect, who was reaching for the knife.
"Freeze, right there" Faith yelled, voice coarse and out of breath. She aimed her police gun at the suspect who looked over and froze. People began gathering to watch the scene unfold. "Now, throw the knife towards me" she said, calmer now.
Bosco saw the man throw the knife towards Faith, and he rolled over, throwing the man in to the snow and restraining him. The crowd wasn't sure whether to cheer or leave quietly. What was a woman doing in the middle of Central Park with a gun if she didn't have a uniform on?
"Drop the gun" A voice commanded from behind Faith. Fear ran through her body, and Bosco looked up, meeting her eyes. She dropped the gun beside her, then turned.
"Yokas?" Greg asked, dropping his gun from her.
"Jesus Greg, you scared the shit out of me" Faith caught her breath.
"And here I thought we were getting some action" Greg shook his head, unclipping his cuffs and tossing them to Bosco.
"You're too slow to grab the action" Bosco laughed, once the thief was cuffed and left lying in the snow.
Jason came running up, out of breath. "What are you guys doing here?"
"They did our job" Greg commented, nodding to the petty thief.
"Course, our only hint of action and it's already taken care of" he snorted.
"You guys wanna come to the station and report this?"
Bosco shared a look with Faith, and they shook their heads, "Naw, nice collar guys" she commented, grabbing her gun from the snow and wiping it off with her jacket.
"You guys gonna be at the party tonight?" Greg asked as they started to leave.
"Yeah, you workin' or what?"
"Naw, we're off soon. You wanna return this to the owner?" he asked, holding out the purse. Bosco took it and began walking back to the Hay Ride, which had stopped in the midst of Central Park, the horses looking a bit antsy.
"You got my purse back!" the woman smiled, as he purse was returned to her. Bosco helped Faith back on to the ride, where Sully and Tatiana were sitting with the kids.
"Told ya Bosco'd get 'im" Sully commented. "Like a dog after a jackrabbit"
"Thank you so much!" the woman was still going on.
"It's okay" Bosco gave a modest nod. The woman seated herself across from them now, and Bosco and Faith shared a look.
"You guys caught the bad guy!" Charlie couldn't sit still, "Is that what you do at work too? I wanna be a cop mom!" Charlie kept bounding around.
Faith laughed, squeezing Bosco's hand. "Lets hope that's a stage he grows out of" Bosco whispered in her ear.
"You're a police officer?" The woman asked Bosco.
Bosco nodded, "We both are, fifty-fifth precinct"
"Oh well.. well.." the woman seemed flustered. "I don't know how to thank you, my purse is invaluable right now. See I'm a lawyer, or a street lawyer you might say. I get clients who can't afford costly bills and fight for them. Actually..it seems funny that I'd run in to you and all.." the woman went on.
Faith stared at the woman, truly wondering whether she was actually a nutcase. She seemed to ramble.
"If I'm right, Bosco is Boscorelli, am I right?" the woman finally asked.
Bosco paused, kind of shocked, then nodded. "Yeah, Maurice Boscorelli" he confirmed.
"Then you are.." she fumbled with a piece of paper from her purse and looked at it, "officer Faith Yokas, right?"
Faith nodded slowly.
"Oh, wow this is kind of embarassing to meet this way, but as I said before my purse is invaluable. It's because I'm carrying some documents I'm supposed to serve to two officers, you two in fact."
Serve? Faith wondered. The first thought was Fred and her breath caught.
"Oh no, it's nothing bad" the woman exclaimed, seeing Faith's face fall. "It's good, I think. I represent a man who died recently, Rupert Grimsby, you heard of him?"
Faith looked over at Bosco, "No, sorry" Faith shrugged.
"It's okay, well Rupert was one of my clients, he's a popular non-fiction writer and recently decided to write up a book on homelessness, to do this he actually went out on to the streets, took notes and everything. He got to know the people and the land. It wasn't a happy thing most of the time, but he stuck by it. He just recently finished one book, and wrote a chapter by chapter summary of another, both actually involve you two... Now I know he never requested permission, and I hope this is okay with you guys, but these two books are already being planned for publishing and marketing. Rupert wrote in his will that he'd like to see some of the profits go to you two, because he strongly believes you are unpaid and under appreciated. I'm supposed to get the papers signed tomorrow, but with meeting you two here... it just seems like it was meant to be huh?"
Faith stared at the woman. "A man that we don't even know.. wrote a book about us?" she asked.
The woman simply nodded.
"And you want to publish it, and give us some of the profit?"
She nodded again.
"What's this book about?" Faith asked.
"Well, see, I can't exactly tell you. Not only do I not particularly know the details, but also because the second book isn't finished quite yet"
"Can we think about it?" Bosco finally intervened.
"Y..Yes of course, no problem. I uh.. I set up a meeting between us tomorrow, just after your shift begins. I set it up through your lieutenant, is that convenient for both of you?"
They nodded.
"What was she, a reporter wanting the story?" Sully asked, once they'd taken a seat with the group again.
"Ah.. a lawyer actually, and a publicist"
"really, what's she want?"
"To let us know we're in a book?"
Sully laughed, "Because you caught a purse snatcher?"
"Uh no.. because some dead guy wrote about us" Bosco replied, sitting back.
"A dead guy wrote about you?"
"Some author or something"
"Yeah.. uh.. Rupert Gridley or something" Faith put in.
"Rupert Grimsby?" Sully asked.
"Yeah, that's the one"
"He does good stuff, I read him. He always researches the story first, gets himself right in to what he's writing about.. he died?"
"Yeah, before that house fire, the homeless man? He was doing a story on homelessness and such..."
"Shame" Sully remarked.
"Yea. Shame for his family"
"Didn't have any family" Sully remarked, "He lived alone, he's moved around a lot. Parents died when he was young, he was put in foster care. It inspired him to write about his life"
"Wonder if my life would sell" Bosco thought out loud.
"Sure it would, anything sells" Faith said.
"Well that doesn't make me very special, does it?"
"You're special to me" she teased.
"Aw, come on, there's kids around" Sully laughed as the kissed.
"We're used to it, every time we come in the kitchen they're-"
"Charlie!" Faith exclaimed.
Sully kind of looked struck, and amused. Tatiana had a grin on her face and Bosco looked as though he'd swallowed his own tongue.