Chapter twelve

Author's note: Okay guys, here we go, this is the last one. I'm not sure this is what I wanted, and I'm not even sure it's good (though I left it kind of open, and any suggestion is greatly appreciated) but hey, here's what happens when english is not your first language, you just don't know how to write what you want to... :)

I want to take a second to thank you all for the great feedback on this story, you really are the best! I don't know when you're going to hear from me again, but I promise as soon as I have a new idea I'll start writing.

***

Lieutenant Swersky was called back to his office about half and hour later. On his desk, he found a statement signed by Michael Boscorelli with dates, names and information about Bruce De Marco and a few other dealers the young man had apparently been in contact with.

He sat in his chair and glanced over at Faith, noticing the exhausted look on both her and Mikey's face.

"Boss," Faith started "I think we have enough on these men to put them away for a long time."

He nodded his head. "I'm glad you decided to help, son." he said, turning to Mikey. "Assaulting a police officer is a serious crime, not to mention drug dealing. But thanks to you we're going to make sure they won't hurt anyone else now." he smiled, still not knowing about his *real* involvement in the situation.

"De Marco's not within our jurisdiction, but I'll make a few phone calls and arrange a meeting so we can figure things out and get these bastards off the street." he continued. "Yokas, I'll probably need you to stay a little while."

"No problem, Lieu." she replied. "I'd like to help."

"Good. Any chance they can go after him? Realize he was the one?"

Faith frowned. "Oh, yes sir. I think he might be in danger."

Swersky nodded again. "Okay then, we'll place him under protective custody. I'll also have someone outside Boscorelli's room at the hospital."

Mikey immediately rose from his chair. "Hey, I wanna be there! You need me to set them up!"

"Don't worry, Michael. We're gonna have a warrant so there's no need to set them up. Our guys will bring them in as soon as the meeting is over."

The old man leaned back in his chair, still making eye contact with him. "I'll have someone drive you someplace safe for at least the next 24 hours, and then you'll probably have to give another statement and testify at the hearing when the time comes. That's all."

Mikey tried to say something, anything to make them understand that he didn't care about his own life as long as his brother was safe and De Marco and his men paid for what they'd done. "Wait, I..." he tried, his gaze dropping to his hands.

Faith sensed that there was more that he wanted to say and stepped in. "Lieu, why don't we drop him at the hospital on our way to De Marco's location." she suggested. "He's gonna be safe in there."

Swersky thought about it for a second. "Yeah, you're probably right. Wait here, son. We'll be back."

Faith shoved her chair back and rose to her feet. "Everything's gonna be okay, Mikey." she reassured him as she followed her superior out of the office.

Mikey closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. Hope this is the right thing to do, he sighed.

***

The ride to the hospital was silent, and soon Mikey found himself back at Angel of Mercy. Faith had requested to join the team and was riding in the passenger side of the RMP, even though Swersky had made it clear that she was only there as a witness and should not be involved in the arrest.

She wanted to check on Bosco, but the other units were already waiting for them, so the car pulled back out into the traffic as soon as the officer assigned to Mikey and Bosco showed up.

Mikey led the way as they stepped into the elevator and headed for Bosco's room. He opened the door and stared in horror at the empty bed in front of him. "What the hell?" he said as he quickly turned around and walked toward the nurse's station.

"Boscorelli... Maurice Boscorelli, where is he?" he asked in a shaky voice, fear trembling through his body.

A young nurse looked up from her chart, obviously startled. "We moved him into a private room an hour ago." she replied. "Third door to the right."

"Thanks." Mikey muttered as he rushed to the room and threw the door open, causing Bosco to wake up.

He opened his eyes, squinting against the soft light that flickered into the room, and noticed the panicked expression on his brother's face. "Mikey? What happened?"

Mikey breathed a sigh of relief. "Nothing. You just scared the crap out of me, man."

"You okay?"

"I am now."

"Who's the guy?" Bosco asked, nodding towards the officer that was standing a few feet behind.

"He... he's here to keep an eye on us." he half-smiled.

"Why?" he insisted, giving Mikey a questioning look.

"Oh you know, nothing to worry about, man. Just routine."

Bosco looked at the young cop again. "Would you... excuse us for a moment?"

"Sure. I'll be right outside." he said as he left the room.

"Mikey, what's going on?" he asked, trying to sit up. "Why is there a guard outside my door?"

Mikey looked at him, unable to answer at first. "Well, Faith came to see me, you know," he started, shifting his gaze to the wall in front of him. "Helped me figure out what to do. It was... hard at first, but she was right."

Bosco smiled at the thought of his partner having to deal with his brother other than himself. Thanks, Faith. He said to himself. Thanks for keeping him out of trouble.

"She's a great woman, you know..." Mikey added, a smile stretching across his face.

"Yeah, I know." he whispered.

"So we... she took me to the precinct, and I told them everything I knew."

Bosco's eyes widened.

"They said they were gonna bring them in." he continued as he sat down on the chair. "It's over, man. They're gonna pay for it."

"Mikey, I..." Bosco wasn't sure how to respond to that. "You okay with that? I mean, they could come after you..."

He shrugged off his concern. "I know. That's why that cop is standing outside your door."

Bosco still couldn't believe it. Is this really my brother? He wondered as he stared at him. I guess they really put a good scare into him this time.

"I... I'm sorry I'm such a loser, Mo." Mikey said under his breath as he looked away, the tension of the previous days starting to be felt again.

"Oh come on, it's not like I'm perfect either." he replied, trying to lighten the mood. "You know I'm not good at this sort of thing, but... this really means a lot to me, bro."

"I'm... glad that that you didn't turn your back on me like I feared you would. I was scared you'd hate me.." he admitted, lowering his gaze.

"I'm your brother, man. It takes more than a bullet to get me out of your life! ...I'm proud of you." he finally whispered.

Mikey leaned his head forward and rested it between his hands. "Geez, our old man would love this..."

"Yeah, no kidding." Bosco smiled as he reached out his hand and stroked his brother's hair.

Mikey wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and straightened himself back. "So, you up to watching some tv?"

"Sure. I missed the latest sports results."

***

A few hours flew by, but the scene in the small hospital room remained the same. The two brothers were still enjoying each other's company. Two people that had walked different roads in life, but who'd now realized they belonged together.

"It feels good, you know, being together." Bosco said as he looked over at his brother. "I missed it."

"Yeah, me too." Mikey smiled, leaning on the bed rail. "Now what?"

"Well, I guess we just take it one day at the time and go from there." he answered back. "And if you ever need someone to turn to I'm your man, alright?"

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

At that moment, the door of the room opened and Faith stepped in.

"Hey," she smiled as she approached Bosco's bed. "I came to see if you needed some company, but I see you're all set." she joked.

"Yeah well, what can I say? Little brother here decided I was worth his time." He shrugged, glancing sideways at Mikey who nodded his head at Faith.

"How're you doing, Boz?" she asked, lightly touching his arm.

"I'm fine. Doctor said the wound's healing nicely."

"Good. Look, I'm sorry I couldn't come here sooner..."

"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to baby-sit me, Faith. They're taking good care of me."

"Yeah," she chuckled. "So I heard."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" he asked in his best 'hurt' look.

"Nothing. You do look tired though."

She walked closer and put a hand on Mikey's shoulder. He'd been expectantly looking at her since she'd entered the room, desperately wanting to know about the arrest. Please, Faith. Say something. I need to know.

As if he'd read his mind, Bosco glanced at the uniformed cop still standing outside his open door and thought back about his conversation with Mikey.

"Faith, what happened out there?" he asked, his tone dead serious.

"Oh, we... we locked them up. All of them. De Marco put up one hell of a fight, but we brought him down anyway." she said, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Jackson, from the 35th was shot in the leg, but other than that it went all pretty smoothly. Thanks to you, Mikey." she added, squeezing his hand. "You did good."

"You... think so?" he whispered.

"Absolutely. Lieu said he's trying to work out a deal to keep you out of jail for cooperating. The DA's hopefully going to be okay with that as long as you promise to check yourself into a rehab program."

"Thanks, Faith." he said, with an apologetic look in his eyes. "Thanks for helping me realize I could do something good with my life."

"Glad I could actually help." she smiled. "You know Boz, maybe I picked the wrong brother. Mikey would've been a good partner after all..." she laughed, winking at Mikey.

"What? Hey, that hurt!" he exclaimed as he put a hand on his stomach and tried not to laugh.

"Want me to call a nurse, Mo?" Mikey smirked as the sound of their laughter filled the room.

THE END