"What does this word say mama?" Jamie points to the cover of one of my novels. A cover that features a man holding a woman in his muscular arms. The woman's dress is ripped open slightly in the front.

"That says passionate sweetie." I tell him and hope that he won't ask what the word means.

"What does passionate mean?" Jamie cocks his head and looks up at me. I shift slightly on the couch, unsure of what to say. Thankfully a soft knocking on the door saves me from having to explain passion to my son.

"Maybe it's Maurice!" Jamie exclaims and jumps up. He runs over to the door and pulls it open. He was disappointed when he woke up from his nap yesterday and Maurice was gone. When I told him that Maurice might stop by another time, he was somewhat mollified.

"Hey big guy!" Maurice greets my son and picks him up for a hug. I smile, watching the two of them together. "Hi Faith." Maurice looks over at me and smiles. "I told you that I'd come by soon."

Jamie starts wriggling so Maurice sets him back down on the floor. "Do you want to play cars with me?" Jamie looks up at Maurice hopefully. "Mama tried to play with me, but she's no fun."

"No fun huh?" Maurice looks over at me and shakes his head with mock disapproval. "I brought you something Jamie."

"Something for me?" Jamie fairly quivers with excitement as Maurice digs around in his jacket pocket. He pulls out a small toy and holds it out to him. "Wow!" Jamie says with awe and takes the toy from Maurice.

"Jamie, what do you say?" I have to remind him to thank Maurice. It was a really nice and unexpected gesture.

"Thank you Maurice." Jamie says dutifully. "What is it?"

Maurice frowns slightly and shrugs his shoulders. "Some kind of car I think. Do the letters FDNY mean anything to you Faith?"

A slight fluttery feeling starts in my chest. Not as strong as other times, but it's there. "No." I say and shake my head. "Nothing."

Jamie tugs on Maurice's pant leg. "Let's go to my room and play."

"Okay, but only for a little while." Maurice says. "I want to talk to your mom too."

I draw in a shaking breath and watch the two of them head down the hall together. I want to ask Maurice what his last name is. I need to know if it's possible that he's the man from my dreams.

________________

"He fell asleep again." Maurice says and sits down beside me on the couch. "Does he ever sleep at night?"

I laugh. "Believe it or not, he does."

"If you say so." Maurice smiles and leans back against the cushions. "This is a really comfortable couch." he says and pats his hands on the arm rest.

"It's not bad, makes a nice bed." I reply. He's making small talk again and that annoys me for some reason. "What's your last name?"

Maurice tilts his head and looks over at me. "That's a bit personal, don't you think?"

"You know where I live and you've bought my son a toy, I don't think it's too personal. I'm just curious. I know nothing about you besides your first name and you know a lot more about me."

Maurice raises his eyebrows slightly. "True." he says and nods his head. "My last name is Boscorelli, happy?"

My heart stops beating, or at least I think it does. I blink a few times before saying, "Pardon?"

"Boscorelli. Do you want me to spell it out for you? B-O-S-C-O.."

"No, that's fine. I heard you the first time." I look at him and feel all the muscles in my body begin to tremble. He is Bosco, there is almost no doubt in my mind. Whoever told me that there was no other Boscorelli in this city was mistaken.

"Is there something wrong?" Maurice asks and puts a hand on my shoulder. I hope that he doesn't feel me trembling. "Are you okay? Faith?"

I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "I'm fine." I say. I know that I sound uncertain and Maurice is looking at me with concern in his eyes.

"I didn't realize that my last name could be so upsetting." Maurice says and chuckles. He doesn't realize.

"It's nothing." I reply and lick my lips. Maurice draws in a deep breath through his nose.

"Did you want to go out somewhere Faith?" he asks and looks at me hopefully. It's the same expression that I've seen on Jamie's face hundreds of times. "We could take a walk over to the memorial. It would be nice to look at it with someone that isn't afraid of Before."

I want to say that I think I'm afraid of Before now but I don't. Instead I find myself nodding. "I'll ask Emily to watch Jamie." I say and stand up.

"Emily?" Maurice looks confused and I realize he doesn't know who Emily is.

"Charlie's sister. She babysits Jamie when I go out. Not that I go out often. I mean I have a few friends and we sometimes go out but not often." I know that I'm babbling and shut myself up.

Maurice puts his shoes on and waits for me by the door. I rush into the tiny bathroom and brush my hair. When I look at my reflection in the mirror, I see that my cheeks are flushed and my eyes are bright. That's what Maurice does to me.

"Let's go." I say and throw my jacket over my arm. "We'll just stop next door and hopefully Emily will be home."

We approach Fred's apartment and I knock on the door. Heavy footsteps pound on the floor and the door swings open. Fred stands there and looks at me, then Maurice and back to me. "Is Emily home?" I ask.

Fred frowns. "Yeah she's home."

"Can I talk to her?"

Fred turns around and bellows, "Emily!" He didn't need to yell, the apartment is small enough, but I think he likes yelling.

Emily appears at the door. "Hi Faith!" she says brightly and smiles at me. Then she looks up at Maurice and blushes slightly.

"Hi Em," I say to her. She's still staring at Maurice. "Can you go over to my place and watch Jamie for me? I'm going out."

Emily nods. "Yeah sure, that's no problem. How long will you be gone?"

I look at Maurice and he shrugs. "I'm not sure Em, but if I'm not back before he's ready for bed, just put him down and tell him that mama will give him a kiss when she gets home."

"Okay, are you leaving now?" Emily asks.

"Yes, Jamie's taking a nap so when he wakes up, you can tell him that I went out with Maurice."

Emily nods and looks at her father. "I'll go over there right now!" she says and steps out into the hallway. Fred gives me a look that could be either lust or anger and closes the door behind Emily.

______________

Maurice and I stand at the memorial that is situated in the heart of downtown New York. "It must have been nice to have a blue sky." Maurice says. He's looking at my favourite picture from Before.

"According to the few records that weren't destroyed when it happened, there used to be eight million people living in this city." I'm not trying to impress Maurice with my knowledge of Before, I just want to tell him that.

Maurice looks up at the distorted sky. "And now there's only one billion on the entire planet." he says softly. "All those people, lost."

I nod and silently mourn for the loss of the people I've never known and the life I can't remember. "Did they ever tell you where you were found?"

Maurice stops looking at the sky and looks at me instead. He shakes his head. "No, they didn't tell me and I didn't ask."

"I was found in a collapsed building not far from here." I say, recalling what they had told me when I opened my eyes in the shelter. "They said I was lucky to be alive and that it was a miracle that my baby was still alive."

"How long After was Jamie born?"

"A few weeks. Not long."

Maurice brings his hand to his face and rubs his cheek. "I was wearing a ring when they found me," he says. "A simple gold ring. It has writing on the inside of it that says 'all my faith and love' I kept it."

"They never told me if I had a ring. I just assumed that I didn't." I say and can't help but wonder if I should have a ring.

"I must have been married." Maurice says and sighs. "But she must have been lost. It's probably best that I can't remember her."

I step closer to Maurice. "Do you remember anything?"

Maurice shakes his head. "You already asked me that and I already said that I don't."

"I have dreams sometimes." I admit to him and feel the now familiar flutter in my chest. "I don't know if they're just dreams or if they're memories."

"What do you dream about?" Maurice looks at me, his gaze seems to pierce right through my soul.

"A man that I must have cared very much for. He'd been hurt and I couldn't help him." I say and swallow nervously.

Maurice nods. "One of my friends, his name is John, he has dreams sometimes too. About people yelling and loud noises. He doesn't believe in Before though."

I furrow my brow and look at Maurice for clarification. "How can you not believe in Before? It's not something that you either believe in or don't. It happened!"

"He told me that life is probably better now, so why even think about the past?"

"How could life be better now? Hasn't he seen these pictures?" I wave my hand towards the memorial and the pictures printed on it. "Blue sky, animals, knowledge of who we are and where we came from..." My voice trails off and I realize that I'm close to tears. "This isn't better. How could it be?"

Maurice bites down on his lower lip and looks at me with sadness in his eyes. He shakes his head and says, "I can't answer that Faith."

I wipe a hand across my face, angry with myself for letting myself cry in front of Maurice. Maurice wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to him. I let myself rest my head on his shoulder and he moves his hands across my back and through my hair. "Do you want come over to my place?" Maurice whispers into my ear and lets his hands rest on my shoulder blades.

His breath tickles my ear and I nod. "Yes." I say and pull away from him. Maurice takes my hand and leads me away from the memorial. Away from the pain of Before.

_______________

"Tell me more about your dreams." Maurice says. We're sitting on the couch in his apartment which isn't much larger than my own.

"There's not much else to tell." I say, wanting to avoid the subject.

"Can you see what's around you?" he asks. "Is there anyone else with you?"

I nod my head slowly. "There's a few other people there with me. I'm wearing a uniform of some kind and so are they."

Maurice looks thoughtful for a moment and says, "Is that it?"

"No. Do you remember that car that Jamie has? The one with NYPD written on the side of it?"

"The one that I asked you about."

I nod my head. "There's a big version of that car in my dreams."

Maurice looks at me so intensely that I have to turn my eyes away from him. My gaze settles on a patch of wall across the room. I feel him put a hand on my shoulder and I flinch slightly. "I knew the car too Faith. I could feel it."

I find myself biting my bottom lip. Maurice is making me feel nervous, but not in a bad way. The warmth of his hand radiates through my shoulder and down into the depths of my body. He moves his fingers slightly. "It's probably nothing." I say and know that Maurice will know it's a lie.

"Your dreams?"

I nod my head and my hair falls forward into my face. Maurice gets up from the couch and crouches down in front of me, he gently pushes the hair back behind my ear. His fingers linger on my cheek and I shiver. "They're just dreams." I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

Maurice sweeps his fingers across my cheek and onto my lips. "Don't talk." he says and I feel myself begin to tremble again. His moves his fingers and replaces them with his lips. "I know you." he says and then presses his lips against mine again.

I put my hands on the back of his neck and run my hands over the small hairs there. He breaks off the kiss and lowers his head, resting it on my chest. "I don't know how," he murmurs. "But I know you. I know this."

I run my hands across his back and he begins to press small kisses on my collarbone. I close my eyes and allow my hands to continue stroking his back. "Will you come to bed with me?" Maurice lifts his head and looks directly into my eyes.

I should say no. I should say no and leave this apartment and never look back. "Yes." I whisper and I'm not surprised that I said that. Maurice takes my hand in his and leads me down the short hallway and into his bedroom. We stand at the foot of his bed and he kisses me again, this time gently probing my mouth with his tongue. His hands move up under my shirt, tracing small patterns on my back. I moan softly and press myself closer to him.

"You're beautiful." Maurice says, looking me directly in the eye. I blush and begin to unbutton the front of his shirt. He watches me as I push open the shirt and run my hands across his chest. My finger finds his scar again and I trace the raised outline of it. My mind flashes back to my dream. The big man said that he was shot in the chest.

I pull my hands away and slip off my own shirt. Maurice is still watching me as he places his hands on my now bare breasts. He gently teases my nipples and then pulls me close for another kiss. "I need you." he says, barely taking his mouth away from mine. I can feel him pressing against my groin.

Together we fall onto the bed and soon our pants join the shirts on the floor. He's on top of me, his breathing is heavy. I close my eyes as he pushes himself into me and then open them again once he begins to move.

I rake my fingernails across his back but Maurice doesn't even notice. He moves slightly and thrusts deeper inside. I groan and feel myself moving with him. "Faith..." he murmurs my name and I know he's almost there. We climax together, he cries out my name and I hold him and cry out, "Bosco!"

Maurice stops moving and looks down at me. "What did you say?"

My hands are trembling and I touch his face. "I said Bosco." My finger traces his cheekbones.

He lays his head down on my chest. I can feel his warm breath on my skin. "I know you." he says again.

"I know you too." I whisper and run my hands over his hair. "You're the man in my dreams."

"His name was Bosco?"

"Yes, and he was shot in the chest. Do you know what my last name is Maurice?"

Maurice shakes his head no. His hair tickles my breasts. "No, you haven't told me."

"Boscorelli." I say. "My last name is Boscorelli."