Title: Journey to Nowhere - Chapter Six
Author: Lynne Facella
Rating: PG-13
Category: Drama/Angst
Email: lynne1919@aol.com
Spoilers: Through current season 4
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero. I wish they were mine but unfortunately they're not.
Summary: A trip takes a deadly turn for Bosco, Faith, Sully and Ty.

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It had never been like this before...never. Faith lay with her head resting on Bosco's chest, his arms cradled around her. His fingers brushed through her hair and she sighed contentedly.

"You okay?" he whispered as he heard her sigh.

"I'm more than okay, Bos." She turned her head to smile at him, lightly stroking the stubble on his chin. "I...that was perfect."

"Yeah...it really was perfect." He returned her smile, still somewhat in awe of what had just transpired between them. "As many times as I've dreamed of makin' love to you, and there have been plenty...none of those dreams even began to measure up to the reality."

"I know what you mean," she murmured. She thought briefly of Fred and she knew she should feel guilty, but the sad truth of the matter was that she didn't. Maybe all the troubles and heartache she'd gone through over the years had finally taken their toll. All she knew was that she was drawn to Bosco and it wasn't just a one-time thing. After what they'd just experienced together, she didn't think she would ever be able to let him go. "I love you, Bos..."

"I love you too, Faith...so much..." He kissed the top of her hair and smiled again. None of the other women he'd been with in his life could begin to compare with Faith. He knew without a doubt that this was true love. He just hoped and prayed that it was the same for Faith...that this hadn't just happened because she was away from her family, frightened and alone... Just the thought of being without her broke his heart.

"Sully?"

Sully grinned as his partner's voice broke the relative silence inside the shelter. He'd heard almost all of what had transpired between Faith and Bosco and was now totally uncomfortable, both physically and mentally. In any case, at least he could sit up without being self-conscious about it.

"Hey, Ty. How are you doing?" He placed his hand over Ty's forehead and was relieved to find that it was somewhat cooler than it had been earlier.

"I'm hanging in. How about you? Did you manage to get some sleep?"

"Yeah, slept like a log," Sully stated loudly, more for the ears of Bosco and Faith than for Ty.

The moment they heard Ty's voice, Bosco and Faith began frantically tugging their clothes back on from beneath the blankets. When they finally did so, they both emerged red-faced and embarrassed, unsure what, if anything, the other two officers had witnessed going on between them.

"Everything okay over there?" Sully couldn't resist asking, a sly smile on his face.

Bosco just glared back at him whereas Faith managed to stammer a reply, the crimson in her cheeks deepening as she spoke. "Yeah...sure Sul, everything's fine."

"What's funny?" Ty asked curiously, unable to see anything even remotely amusing in their present situation.

"I'll tell you when you're feeling better, okay?" Sully said softy.

Ty nodded, not even caring to pursue the matter.

"You feel like eating anything?" Sully asked.

"No...not really." He really had no desire to eat. He saw the look on Sully's face though and knew he was worried. "Maybe in a little while," he added.

"Okay." Sully didn't think pushing was the best response right now, but a little bit of nudging wouldn't hurt. "You've got to try to keep up your strength though."

"I know...I will..." He seemed to be deep in thought for a short time and then looked up at Sully again. "Hey Sul?" he asked, a serious expression on his face.

"What is it?"

"You know how I used to give you a hard time about my mom?"

"Yeah..." Sully looked at his partner warily, wondering where he was going with this.

"Well...I want you to know that I was wrong when I did that. I mean...I think it might be a good idea for you and my mom to, you know...date."

"Huh? Ty, that was resolved a long time ago. Your mom and I are friends. Where is this coming from?" The minute he asked the question though he knew. He thought he was going to die. Ty was worrying about what was going to happen to his mother and his partner if he wasn't around anymore. "Come on, Ty..." He took the younger man's hand and squeezed it encouragingly. "You're going to get through this. You can't give up, please..."

"I...I'm not, Sully...its just..." He closed his eyes for a few moments, having a hard time keeping his emotions in check. "I want my mom to be okay. I...I want you to be okay."

"I will be okay, Ty. You'll be okay too. You've gotta believe me." There was an undertone of desperation in Sully's voice as he spoke. He knew that mental attitude was a large part of the battle. If Ty didn't believe he would pull through, there was a very good chance that he wouldn't.

"Promise me something?"

Sully nodded even as he felt the huge knot developing in his throat. "Of course...anything..."

"Promise that if anything happens to me that...that you'll take care of my mom and...and that you'll let her take care of you too..."

Sully took a deep breath as he nodded, feeling himself coming very close to losing it. "I'll promise you that, Ty," he said earnestly, "but you've got to promise me something in return. You can't give up...you've got to fight. If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for your mom, for your sisters...do it for me, okay?"

"Okay..." Ty nodded slowly, knowing he would do everything in his power for this man who was so much more than just a partner. He was his best friend. "I promise, Sully."

"Thank you." Sully's voice was gruff with emotion as he spoke. "You try to get some sleep now, okay?

"Okay..." Ty nodded and offered a faint smile before he obediently closed his eyes. It wasn't long before he was asleep once more.

During the conversation between Sully and Ty, Faith had been clasping Bosco's hand tightly in her own. Once Ty dropped off to sleep, she hastily used her other hand to brush away the tears that were flowing freely down her cheeks.

Bosco released Faith's hand and instead, put his arm around her, holding her closely. Everyone's emotions were running rampant. One minute there was laughter, the next, tears. "I'm here, Faith..." he murmured as he gently rubbed her shoulder. "I'm right here with you."

Faith managed a faint smile as she snuggled into Bosco's embrace. "This is just all so crazy, ya know?" she said. "I mean, you've got to admit, this whole situation is pretty unbelievable."

Bosco nodded. "I know what you mean, Faith, but...as horrible as this is...I guess one good thing has come out of it..."

"You're right, Bos..." Good. Good didn't even begin to describe it. Out of this world was more accurate. In any case, she now understood why Bosco had his pick of the ladies. Of course she'd always known what a great-looking guy he was, but what she had felt when he made love to her mere words couldn't begin to describe.

"We need to do something." Faith's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Sully's voice. She and Bosco both looked up to see Sully staring at them. "I'm not going to just sit here and wait for him to die."

"But...what can we do?" Faith asked.

"Maybe...maybe I should just try to hike out of here. Maybe I can find help."

"What?" Bosco gave Sully an incredulous look. "Are you crazy or somethin', man? You really think there's anything within miles and miles of where we are? And even if there is, how would you ever find your way back here? There's no way."

"You're not getting it," Sully kept his voice low, not wanting Ty to overhear him as he walked over to where Bosco and Faith sat. "I cannot let him die. It's not an option."

Bosco shared a long look with Faith before he spoke again. "I know what you're feelin' but..."

"You don't know what I'm feeling, Bosco," Sully interrupted. "You haven't got a clue."

Faith got to her feet and went to Sully, not wanting another argument to escalate out of control. "We know how much you care about him, Sully. We do too, but...going off by yourself like that...all you're going to do is end up gettin' yourself into trouble."

"So we just wait?" Sully asked with a hopeless look in his eyes. "We wait here with no doctors, no medicine...just wait for help that's never going to come?"

"You don't know that. Someone might find us," Faith said, putting her arms around the older man to try to comfort him. "It's night now, but maybe tomorrow...."

"Always tomorrow," Sully mumbled, his expression darkening, "but tomorrow never comes." He forced a smile as he backed out of Faith's arms. "I'm going to go take a walk."

Bosco looked up at Sully, alarmed. "Man, don't do it."

Sully shook his head. "Calm down, Bosco. I won't go far. I just need to get some air." He glanced over at Ty, once more struck by the strong resemblance he had to his father. "If he needs me..." He trailed off, knowing they would get him if they needed to. He then took a shuddering breath and quickly walked out of the shelter into the cold night air.

Faith met Bosco's gaze once more and dropped back down onto the ground, burying her face against his chest as she allowed more tears to fall. She wondered if maybe Sully was right. Maybe help was never going to come...

******

As the sun started to rise, Faith could make out the orange and red hues in the sky through the opening at the top of the shelter. All three men were asleep. She had finally managed to convince Bosco that he needed to get some rest. The man was so damn stubborn. She knew he could get by on very little sleep. She'd seen him do it numerous times in the past. This wasn't the time for it though. She didn't want him to get sick, especially not in their present circumstances. Things were already bad enough. They surely didn't need to tempt fate.

Sully groaned softly as he began to stretch out the muscles in his body before stiffly sitting up. "Oh man," he said with a grimace. "What I would give for a nice comfortable bed, a hot bath and a meal."

"You and me both," Faith said softly, not wanting to wake Bosco.

Sully turned his attention to Ty. "How is he?"

"No change really," Faith replied. "He's just been sleepin'."

"And how are?" Sully asked.

"Me? I'm fine."

Sully nodded. "That's good." He looked back at his partner who was lying very still. "You sure he's okay?" he asked nervously.

"He needs his rest," Faith said quietly. "It's the best thing for him, Sully."

"I know, but..." Unable to resist, he gently shook Ty's uninjured arm in an attempt to rouse him. "Ty? Come on, Ty wake up."

Ty's only response was to moan softly and pull away from Sully. "Go 'way," he murmured.

Sully was about to prod him again, but Faith's voice stopped him. "Sully, what are you doin?" she asked. "Let him sleep for God's sake."

"At least he can sleep." Bosco slowly sat up and cast an annoyed look in Sully's direction. "What are you tryin' to wake him up for?"

"I...I don't know..." Sully bowed his head and absently started to rub his temples. "I just...I don't know...I guess I just keep hoping he's better...I wasn't thinking."

"Bos, you want some breakfast?" Faith looked at him imploring, wanting the day to get off to a pleasant start. She wasn't up for another day of arguing.

"Yeah, some waffles and bacon or a nice omelet would suit me just fine," he replied with a grin. "Why don't you get right on that?"

"I think you're going to have to settle for some beef jerky and crackers or just somethin' in a can," Faith said, giving him a soft smile.

"Oh yum...think I'll pass on those for now. We should try to cook up some of that bear meat today though."

"Do you even know how to cook it?" Faith asked dubiously. Maybe it wouldn't be bad, but the thought of it wasn't all that appealing to her.

"I'll figure somethin' out," Bosco stated with a confident smile. The smile began to fade though when he noted that Ty was awake and staring at him with a glazed look in his eyes. "You okay, man?"

Ty stared back at him for a few long moments then suddenly through the blankets away from his body. "I gotta get out of here," he said as he struggled to sit up.

"Whoa...come on, Ty, you've got to lay down and keep warm." Sully gently pushed the younger man back into a prone position.

"I am warm. I'm hot. Let me go. Ty struggled to get away from Sully, but he was weak and Sully had little trouble in holding him down. "Let go of me, Sul."

"Sorry buddy. You need to stay put until you're feeling better. Just close your eyes. Go back to sleep."

"Thought you wanted him awake?" Bosco quipped, avoiding Faith's eyes as she glared at him.

"Shut up," Sully snarled as he turned an angry glare in Bosco's direction. "Do you really think this is funny?"

"God, can't the two of you have one day where you're not at each other's throats?" Faith asked. "Does it really make you feel better? 'Cause if it does, I'll back off, but if you're both acting like imbeciles for no reason other than to be imbeciles, then I think you'd better just cut the crap."

"Yeah...cut the crap," Ty repeated as he closed his eyes.

Sully sighed deeply. Bosco got on his last nerve, but Faith was right. Their constant bickering really wasn't helping matters any. "Sorry Faith," he said quietly.

"Yeah...me too," Bosco mumbled. An uncomfortable silence filled the shelter and he finally got to his feet, eager to escape the stifling atmosphere. "I'm goin' outside."

Faith's eyes were on him as he exited the shelter and she turned to Sully. "I'm going to go out for a little bit too. You okay here?"

"Sure. Go ahead," Sully replied with a forced smile.

Faith smiled back at him and quickly got up and followed after Bosco. She saw him standing by the water, staring out into the distance. "Hey, how are you doin?" she asked as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"What's gonna happen?" he asked.

"What...you mean to us?" Faith released her grip on him and positioned herself in front of him so she could meet his eyes. "I...I hope we get rescued ...I mean, we can't give up hope, right?"

He shook his head. "That's not what I'm talkin' about, Faith. I mean after...after we get rescued...what happens?"

"After? I...we go back home...back to our jobs...and everything, you know..."

Bosco had no idea why he was bringing this up. Obviously it was making Faith uncomfortable, but he somehow just felt compelled to push the issue. "What are you gonna tell Fred?"

"Fred?" She looked back at him, a crestfallen expression on her face. "Come on, Bos...we don't even know if we're going to be found. Why are we talkin' about all this stuff now for?"

"What else do we have to talk about?"

"I don't know, but I don't feel like talkin' about this right now." She could feel the anger slowly beginning to build inside her. Why was he pushing her like this?

"I do feel like it."

"Well that's too damn bad." She turned her back and started to walk away from him, but he grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"You're not plannin' to tell him, are you?"

"I don't know what the hell I'm plannin' to do," Faith shouted, turning to face him once again. "God, Bosco, why are you doing this right now? Are you just tryin' to ruin everything?"

"Ruin everything? So you're planning on just forgettin' what happened, aren't you? You're just gonna fucking forget it and go runnin' back to that deadbeat husband of yours?"

"What?" Faith looked at him incredulously. "Where are you gettin' this from, Bos? Grow up, will ya? Why you bringing this up now anyhow? For all we know, we're never going to get rescued."

"Don't tell me to grow..." The expression on his face changed abruptly as he cocked his head, listening intently. "Faith, listen."

She stood silently for a few seconds and then her eyes widened as she heard what Bosco was referring to...the sound of a helicopter...

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