He's sleeping finally and looking all of five years old as he does. His face is contorted, as though he were in pain. But he shouldn't be, the doctors gave him enough to medication to knock out a horse. He must be dreaming.

I touch his head gently. He's sweating and his lips move in a silent voice. I keep my hand on him until morning comes.

________________

"Bosco?" It's Sully's voice, from the doorway. He's standing there, out of uniform.

Bosco's head drifts in the direction of Sully's voice. He looks at him blankly and doesn't say anything.

"I just thought I should come by, see how you were doin'." Sully says. He looks uncomfortable. "Thought maybe I should give you heads up. Some detectives are gonna drop by and see you later today."

"They gonna charge me for wrecking my car?" Bosco asks.

"No, but the other drive is dead Bosco. They just want to talk to you."

Sully shifts his weight to his other foot and clears his throat. Bosco continues to simply stare at him, and I think it's making Sully nervous. "Thanks for coming by." Bosco says. He doesn't look as though he really means it.

Sully nods. "If you ever need to, you know, talk about anything..."

Bosco picks at his sheets. "Yeah, thanks."

Sully shoves his hands into his pockets and leaves the doorway. Bosco closes his eyes, relieved that he's gone.

"No one ever cared before." Bosco says quietly. "And then you crash your car and suddenly they want to be your best friend."

That's not true, they all cared before Bos. You were just such a pompous ass that you couldn't have noticed it.

Bosco lays his head down and winces at the pressure of the pillow. He runs a hand over his face, lightly touching the stitches on his forehead. "I didn't do this on purpose Faith. I didn't try and kill myself."

Never said that you did Bos. I was there, remember? You were driving too fast, too careless, but the accident wasn't your fault.

"I have thought about it." Bosco continues to talk. His eyes are still closed. "But you'd probably kick my ass if you found out I'd done that. I've really fucked everything up now, haven't I."

Bosco opens his eyes. His blue eyes are dead. They used to sparkle, but now there's nothing. I took that sparkle with me when I died.

"I wish I had died in that accident Faith. Because then I'd be with you."

_______________

"Uncle B?"

Bosco jerks upright, very nearly tearing his heart monitor off his chest. My son is standing in the doorway, looking scared and tentative.

"Charlie?" Bosco's voice is hoarse.

"Yeah, it's me." Charlie steps into the room and hovers beside Bosco's bedside. "I heard what happened to you."

"Thought you never wanted to see me again." Bosco says.

"I didn't, and my dad wanted me to stay away from you. He doesn't know I'm here though. I took a cab over here."

Charlie's grown up so much since my death. He used to be a little boy, watching cartoons and now he's turned into a young man. "That wasn't very smart." Bosco replies. I have to agree.

"I wanted to see you. The guy that called our house said that you'd been hurt pretty bad. And I wanted to find out if you were still here."

"Who called you?" Bosco looks surprised that anyone would think to call my house.

"One of the officers." Charlie says. "He didn't give a name. Just said that you'd been in an accident."

Charlie looks Bosco up and down, as though inspecting him for damage. Bosco keeps his eyes on him. "When I told Emily what happened," Charlie says and then pauses for a brief moment. "She said that she hoped you had died."

"Don't blame her." Bosco says, his voice tinged with sadness.

"Dad said that you've quit your job. That you're not a police officer anymore."

Bosco nods and then winces at the moment. "He's right. I did quit."

"Did you quit because of my mom? Because she left, so you didn't want work there anymore?"

Charlie asks the question as if I've simply quit as well. Moved onto another job.

"Yeah buddy, I quit 'cause your mom left." Bosco replies.

A nurse bursts into the room and she looks surprised to see Charlie standing beside Bosco. "Is this your son?" the nurse asks and smiles at Charlie.

"No, Bosco's my friend." Charlie answers for Bosco. "I just wanted to make sure he was alright."

The nurse smiles again. "He's going to be just fine. I'm going to have to ask you to leave now though. Visiting hours are over. You can come back later this afternoon if you like though."

Charlie's backing out of the room, nodding his head as he goes. "Sure, thanks." he says and waves to Bosco. "I'll see you later."

The nurse bends over Bosco and starts to say something to him, but I'm more interested in my son at the moment. I follow him out of the room and down the hospital corridor.

______________

Charlie walks out of the hospital through the glass sliding doors. He looks so small, surrounded by the buildings and the other people milling about. One woman smiles at him and looks around, searching for a parent. When she doesn't see one, she makes her way over to him. "Hey there little boy." she says in a voice that should have been reserved for babies.

Charlie eyes her warily. "Hi." he says and tries to keep walking.

"Where's your momma?" the woman asks and tries to ruffle his hair. Charlie backs away from her.

"She's inside." Charlie says. "She told me to wait out here."

"Oh?" the woman looks behind her. "She's in the hospital?"

"Yes." Charlie states. "Paying the bill."

The woman smiles at Charlie. Her teeth are crooked and slightly stained. Most likely a smoker. I will Charlie to run away from her, I know she's up to no good. The woman touches Charlie's cheek and Charlie's eyes widen.

"If your momma's inside, then she won't hear you scream." the woman says and puts her hand over Charlie's mouth.

The people walking by ignore what's going on. I want to yell at them to help him, help my son. All they see is a disobedient little boy being punished by his mother. Or they don't see anything at all.

"Your momma shouldn't have left a pretty little boy like you all alone." she says and looks around cautiously before roughly grabbing Charlie's arm and hauling him down the sidewalk.

I try and stop her. Touch her arm, touch her face. If she can feel me like I know Bosco can, she's ignoring me. Charlie's eyes are frantic and he tries to wriggle out from her grasp. "Bosco!" he calls out.

She puts my son in a car and pulls out into the busy street. An ambulances passes us by. No one knows that this woman has just stolen my child.