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The phone ringing in her pocket caused Officer Yokas to jump slightly in her seat.
Bosco looked across the seat at his partner as she fumbled for the phone. They'd been in the middle of a discussion about his love life when her cell went off. He hadn't seen Yokas jump like that before. "Faith?"
"Hello?"
"Faith?"
"Yeah, this is Faith Yokas. Who's this?" A soft chuckle came across the phone. Yokas turned to Bosco and shrugged. When she heard 'Jane Doe' in her ear softly whispered she turned around again. She knew that she should know this… but it wasn't coming to her. "Answer me, who is this?"
"Aw Faith, you never did let me have any fun. Let me guess, you're in the RMP with Bosco behind the wheel, probably discussing his sex life."
Faith blinked and started looking around the car, searching for a hidden camera or mic. Bosco pulled over and looked at his partner like she was going insane. "And how would you know that?" Faith stopped and looked at Bosco, then mouthed 'We're being watched.'
Bosco blinked and shrugged, then started searching the dashboard for some means of surveillance. This was freaking him out a bit.
Soft laughter came over Faith's cell phone. "Aw Faith, stop it and tell Bosco to stop copping a feel of the dash. You're not under surveillance and there's no equipment to find. I just know you two too well. You still don't know who this is, do you?"
"I know the voice," Faith said simply, putting a hand on Bosco's arm to stop him in his search. "But we're in the middle of-"
"Your patrol, yes, yes, I know. How's Fred and the kids?"
Faith's mouth dropped and she looked at Bosco, who was beginning to get pissed off at whoever was on the other end of the phone. "Fred's fine, so are the kids."
'Who is it?!' Bosco mouthed. Faith waved him off.
"I suppose I've had enough fun jerking your chain. Faith, tell Bosco his favorite pair of legs is on the phone."
Faith's eyebrows shot up and she turned to Bosco. "His favorite pair of legs huh? You sure he's only got one? I mean, with as many women as he's banged in the last few years I think he's got more." She immediately had to fend off Bosco's hands as he tried to snatch the phone from her.
"Gimme the phone Faith!" Bosco growled. His favorite pair of legs - also known as Aja Cage - was on the phone. He'd had it bad for her since they first met three years ago. Then out of nowhere, she vanishes without a word. He knew she was an undercover cop and that Laura something-or-other wasn't her real name, but she'd never told him anything beyond her real name.
"Yeah, well, Fred suffered a heart attack a few months ago. Oh, he's fine." Faith grinned evilly and held Bosco back with her free hand. "Nope, I don't think he's interested in talking to you at all. OK, I'll give him the message." She turned the phone away from her mouth and faced Bosco - who had settled down and was waiting expectantly. "She said she's wearing a badge, a pair of lace hotpants and her holster."
Aja jerked the phone away from her ear as she heard shouting and very loud laughter on the phone. It was all she could do to keep from bursting out laughing herself. The outfit she'd asked Faith to tell Bosco she was wearing was something he'd told her he'd fantasized about her wearing for him and him only. Cautiously she put the phone back to her ear and listened to the ruckus in the unit. She had to ignore the strange looks that Frank and Monica kept giving her. Especially Frank. He seemed to be a bit bothered by the mention of the outfit and another man.
"Gimme that phone Faith!!" Bosco shouted as he finally jerked it out of her hands. Settling down and glaring indignantly at Faith - who was now laughing near hysterically - he cleared his throat and put the phone to his ear. "Aja?"
"Hey handsome," she purred into the phone. "Having problems this morning?"
"Nothing that dinner tonight wouldn't fix." He loved listening to Aja purr. He felt cheated that he'd never been able to make her purr for him in person the way she purred at him over the phone. She'd always held him away from her, like she was keeping something from him.
"Settle for lunch instead?"
Bosco's head snapped up. "You're in New York?" He looked at Faith who had stopped laughing. If some of the other cops in the Precinct knew she was back in town, there might be an all out war on their hands. A few of the veterans remembered her and the fact that one of their own died because of her.
Faith and Bosco of course knew better. They were with her when it happened and it was an accident that 'Laura' could not prevent. What puzzled them even more is that no one ever saw the officer's body. It was supposedly lost in the building fire, but nothing was ever found. Not even a badge.
"Yes. Look, all teasing aside Maurice," she knew that he'd listen now because the only time she'd called him that was when it was dead serious. "I need to meet with Faith. There's something going on that I need to let you guys in on."
Bosco straightened up and Faith watched as his face turned dead serious. Aja must have hauled out 'Maurice'. She heard him give the name of a restaurant and a time, then hang up and hand the phone back to her. "What's going on Bosco?"
"Aja needs to meet with you. She said there's something going on that we need to know about."
"Wonder what that could be." Faith chewed her lower lip as Bosco pulled back out into traffic. If Aja called and said something was going on, then it was serious. Aja was a Fed, she'd known this since the beginning. Aja had pulled her aside one night before she went home from work and took her out for a drink. Over drinks, the two women became friends and Aja confided in Faith who she was, why she was there and some other little details - like the fact that she was doing double duty as an undercover agent posing as an undercover Narc in a drug ring. Faith had to admire the woman. She herself would have been confused from the start about which role she was playing. Deep down she thought Aja had the same doubts about herself. The only problem was Bosco. He didn't know she was Federal. He was still under the impression that she was IAB. It'd been tough the last three years to keep him from finding out she was FBI. It might crush him to find out he'd been lied to all along and she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him the ultimate truth. Hell, it nearly crushed him to figure out she'd left without a word after Sully discovered her in the hospital under a Jane Doe. Aja had up and split without so much as a good-bye. Two days later she called Faith to let her know that she was OK and she would be in touch later on.
Faith looked over at Bosco as he drove. It was silent in the car between them. Somewhere deep down Faith knew that Bosco resented her for the friendship she had with Aja. Either that or he felt like she was holding out on him. In truth she hadn't. Faith had only heard from Aja once more after the first phone call. She had called in the middle of the night after 9-11 to see if she and everyone else were OK. Faith could hear the relief in Aja's voice when she answered the phone. It was then that she gave Aja her cell phone number and made her promise to call more often. But Faith was bothered by something. Aja sounded different and troubled… haunted even. It was as if someone had dampened the spirit she had seen in her when she first met the woman. For that she was glad that Bosco hadn't heard from Aja at all. He wouldn't understand. The doctor had told Faith that she hadn't been raped, but Faith felt differently. What could have happened to Aja those few days that she was missing that had had such a profound effect on her if it wasn't sexual assault?
Bosco drove in silence, his jaw torqued up tightly. After three years, she calls out of the blue. And not him - she called Faith first. There were so many questions that he needed answered, questions that built up over three years of silence from Aja. He remembered the night she'd disappeared. He and Faith responded to a call from a local nightclub that had a reputation for being a narcotics distribution haven. What troubled him the most that night was that she kept running. He'd called out to her to stop and let him go with her. But she kept going. He'd followed her as far as he could on foot, but in the end he lost her after a mile and the second alley. Word came back later over dispatch that Detective Laura Kylie had turned up missing. He and Faith spent the next three days on their patrol looking for her in every alley, under every rock and behind every dope dealer they could roust. No one knew anything about a missing detective.
Bosco sighed heavily as he rounded the corner. Then the call came over the radio that Detective 'Kylie' had been found at the hospital in a patient's bed with the chart name of 'Jane Doe'. The look in her eyes when he came into the room… He shuddered involuntarily at the memory. She looked lost, haunted… broken even. All he could do was stand there as Faith tried to talk to her. Aja kept turning her head to the side away from Faith. In the end, he had to pull Faith out of the hospital room. Seeing Aja like that was more than either one of them were prepared to handle. He'd gone back later that night after shift was over to see her, to try and get some response out of her other than turning away. But she was gone when he got there. The nurse couldn't tell him anything, none of them seemed to remember her.
He walked home that night, instead of driving. As much as he wanted to hate Aja for splitting, he couldn't. All he could do was hope that she was all right wherever she was… that and pray she'd come back and at least tell him where she was, how she was. Now she was here, in New York, three years later… and she needed to talk to Faith about some operation. There wasn't even anything personal said between them on the phone. He felt… he couldn't put words to how he felt really.
"It's not like we ever truly expected her to call us every day." Faith finally said.
"Yeah. But more than once in three years would be good." Bosco retorted.
yeah, you have created a rift with me
there've been several complications
and i'm left with feeling nothing
i might say you were wrong to take it from me
left me feeling nothing
--
Excerpt from the lyrics to "Numb" by Disturbed. CD titled "The Sickness" all rights reserved.
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