Bosco is still standing by the door, he tries to look away but he can't.
Hyu: It's always hard to watch something and not be able to stop it.
Bosco: Mom, get out off here, please!
He watches his mother slowly trying to get up but his father approaches her and kicks her in the face. She falls back to the ground groaning.
Bosco: Son of a bitch! ... Why I can't move?
Hyu: You must only see.
His father hits Angela in the head with the beer bottle, laughing drunkenly. Rose remains on the floor, unmoving. There's blood all over the floor, on her face, and in her hair.
Bosco: He's gonna leave! That asshole is gonna go out, leaving mom here!!! … Why I'm here, Hyu?
Hyu: You asked if you could have changed your past, what would have become of your life if you had of come home earlier this day?
Bosco: What are you doing here, Hyu?
Hyu: I'm only here to help you.
Bosco: Help me understand why my mother had to suffered this much? Why I had to see this shit?
Hyu: In part
Bosco: To help me choose between life and die?
***
Sully: Put your hands on your head!
The man does not respond.
Ty: Are you Chinese deaf?
He waves a hand in front of Hyu's eyes, he doesn't move.
Faith runs to Bosco's side, while the Capitan and Swersky look at Bosco's condition with horror.
Faith: Bosco?
She places her hand on his chest. He is cold. There is no movement. He isn't breathing.
Faith: Stay with me Bosco. Hang on, please. Forgive me for breaking our promise. Bosco, please, breathe.
Doc and Carlos enter the room. They stop and look fearfully at one another.
Faith: Doc, he isn't breathing!
Doc rushes over to Bosco, Carlos is right behind him. They drop their bags and immediately start CPR. Carlos doesn't take the time to set up oxygen; he starts blowing directly into Bosco's mouth. Never he had imagined that he would need to do this to save the life of one of his friends. He had taken care of all sorts of people, even police officers; but never someone so close to him. Except for Jimmy, but his condition was not as serious.
Doc: Go and find me the defibrillator! NOW!
Faith: Breathe Bosco, please. My God, bring him back to us.
Carlos: Breathe!
Why isn't he breathing? Bosco, come on, come back to us! It's not your time! Faith needs you; we all need you. Do you remember that family story we talked about one time? You told me that you would always be there for anyone who needed help. You told me you would always be there for Faith. Don't break your promise. Don't walk away from us. Don't go, not now!
***
Bosco watches his father stagger outside. He can't stop his tears, seeing his mother like this. Not understanding, he slowly approaches her; kneels besides her and runs his hand through her hair. Suddenly he sees the door open and a child slowly enters, a backpack on his back. The child stops when he sees his mother's body.
Bosco: My God!
Hyu: Who is he?
Bosco: Me…it's me… I was 10.
The younger Bosco approaches his mother. He's in front of Bosco. He slowly shakes Angela but she doesn't response.
Young Bosco: Mom, wake up! Mom, it's not bedtime!
No reaction.
Young Bosco: Mommy? Are you hurt somewhere?
He looks around him then he walks to the phone and call an ambulance.
Bosco: At the time, I didn't understand why she wouldn't wake up.
Hyu: You were too young.
Bosco: When I saw the blood, I was petrified.
The child remains standing, looking at his mom. He doesn't move.
Bosco: It's when I noticed the glare from the bottle that I understood my father had started drinking again. He was clean for almost two years; but sometimes he was very violent. And when he was drunk, it was worst. Of course I had seen mom with some bruises on her face, but it was this day that I really understood what was really happened. It's when they arrived that I understood.
The doorbell rings. Young Bosco opens the door; EMS and police officers are on the other side.
Paramedic: Did you call us?
Young Bosco: Yes, my mom's here, he beat her.
Paramedics rush to Angela's side, while the police officers start asking Young Bosco questions.
Officer1: Who beat her?
Young Bosco: My dad!
Officer2: Your dad hurt you too?
Young Bosco: No. Not physically, but he yells at me.
Officer1: Did he yell at your mother too?
Young Bosco: She gets hurt badly sometimes.
Bosco looks at himself as a child, responding to questions and watching the paramedics work on his mother.
Officer1: We'll find your dad, ok? And we'll take him someplace where he won't hurt anyone, not your mother, not your brother and not you.
Hyu leaves Bosco with his thoughts.
Hyu: Do you understand why?
Bosco: So I'll be a cop, that I'll become a police officer. It's this day that I make the decision to do something useful with my life, to help people.
Paramedics: Let's take her to Mercy.
***
Doc: He's breathing! Yes! Carlos, give me the stretcher.
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.
Carlos: Let's take him to Mercy.
Forming a chain, all the cops walk and support the stretcher where their friend lays until they reach the ambulance. Faith climbs into the back and Carlos starts driving. Capitan and Lieu take a head count, then everybody gets into their patrol cars and head towards Mercy.
Faith: Hey Bosco, do you know that tonight there were more people here to help you than the night there was a striptease at Haggerty's?
Doc offers a small laugh, muffled by bitter tears. He remembers that night, all the cops, even the Capitan, gathered together to go to the strip club. The firefighters were there too. Doc had not stayed to the end, but he had noticed Carlos, Jimmy, Bosco and Ty at the head of the stage, salivating. Looking around him, Doc had noticed that the bar was full, firefighters and cops alike.
Tonight all the cops from the precinct were worried about the life of one of them. Extended family, but Doc knew that the true family, their family; Jimmy, Alex, Kim, Carlos, Jo, Faith, Ty, Sully, himself and Bosco were shaken. They worked together all day, talked, went drinking together… There were united, when one member of the family is hurt, it becomes the concern of everybody. Doc knows that he'll have to tell the others the bad news. They were probably aware of the upheaval at the precinct.
Faith asks him how Bosco is; the truth is he doesn't know if his friend will survive. Doc has never had to wonder before. He knows the job is dangerous, but he hadn't imagined that one of his friends would be hurt, especially under these circumstances. Looking at Bosco's lifeless body, Doc feels himself begin to panic. He feels his heart pounding, tears form in his eyes, his stomach knots. Faith is in front of him, he can't let her see his panic; he must remain calm, strong in front of her, strong for her. He doesn't know how to react. He can't die; Bosco can't die.
Carlos drives as fast as he can, he can't look in the rear-view mirror, afraid of the vision of Bosco's body. He has the impression that this is a nightmare. Faith still holds Bosco's hand in hers, but he doesn't react. She's afraid, frightened for her best friend; she didn't protect him. She remembers when she found him in the corridor, she had called to him but he hadn't responded. She was begged the man in bedroom to let her see her partner, he didn't want her to. She remembered her panic, her fear when Bosco didn't respond to her, and the relief when she hadn't noticed any blood. She had thanked God for giving her strength today, because she had failed. Again today, she hadn't been there for him, for her best friend.
Carlos: We're here!
The ambulance stops in the parking lot. Doc and Faith lift Bosco out of the bus. Doctors rush him inside. Doc and Faith follow, afraid that if they aren't there, something worst will happen to their friend. They proceed down the hallway, everything passing without them realizing it. Bosco is taken into the OR. Nurses prevent Doc and Faith from following. They watch through the windows while the doctors work on Bosco. Voices are becoming more and more distant, noises too. Their gaze is fixed.
Others officers arrived but neither Faith nor Doc notice them, or hear them. The officers watch and listen, each one absorbing what has happened in their own way. Doc doesn't even notice that Carlos is still in the ambulance.
****
Some of the cops return to the precinct. Ronnie door is opened; a cop grabs him by his collar and drags him behind the precinct. Ten or so cops wait in the back. Ronnie stares at them in horror.
****
Bosco: What must I do, Hyu?
Hyu: It's up to you to choose.
Bosco: Do you believe I've succeeded in doing something good with my life?
Hyu: It's not what I believe that is important, but that you think.
Bosco: I'm afraid.
Hyu: Of what?
Bosco: When I decided to become a cop, it was so I could arrest people like my father. All I've succeeded in doing is arresting my brother and pissing off my mother.
Hyu: You've made amends.
Bosco: Everything I've done up until now has been a failure.
Bosco sees himself as a child, following the stretcher where his mother is lying. The paramedics take her to intensive care.
Bosco: Do I have to go on?
Hyu: It's your choice.
Bosco: I didn't ask for this.
The young Bosco passes out, falling to the ground.
***
Ronnie falls to the pavement, blood over his face, cops around him.
***
Faith and Doc are still watching the doctors. It's only been two minutes since they arrived, but it seems like hours. A loud noise is heard.
Nurse: Clear! He's flatlined!