Title: Between Time (1 /?)
Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: X_tremeroswellian@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, but I wish they did.
Rating: PG-13 for language, violence and sexual content
Spoilers: Up through and including "233 Days"
Summary: A serious accident forces Faith and Bosco to re-evaluate their lives as well as their relationship with each other.
Distribution: My site, Only Time, http://www.geocities.com/angel_roswell/onlytime.html
Category: Story
Subcategories: drama/angst/romance/friendship
Feedback: Have you hugged your author today? *grin*
Author's Note: I'm aware there's a similar story being written about this idea, but I've already talked to the author of that story and she encouraged me to go ahead and write mine. I'm pretty sure we're going in different directions with the fics anyway. Any similarities are only coincidental of great minds thinking alike, not of plagarism.
Dedication: For Bree, Dem and CCA, who all encouraged me to write this months ago.
Special thanks to CCA, who gave me the idea for the beginning part of this story. :)
Between Time (Part One)
"Why are you making such a big deal about this?" Faith Yokas asked her husband as she looked at him with inquiring blue eyes.
Fred turned his head and shot a glare at her before he focused his eyes on the road again, his hands clenching tightly around the steering wheel. "Because, dammit, it's a family dinner!"
"Bosco is family, Fred."
"No, he's not!" he argued angrily, shaking his head. "And I'm sick of him interfering in our lives all the time."
She rolled her eyes, counted to ten in her mind to keep from saying something she'd regret later. "Look, Bosco is my friend, and he doesn't have anywhere else to go for Thanksgiving."
"That's his problem."
"Fred--"
"No, Faith!" He slammed his fist against the wheel, causing her to jump. "It's not my problem, or yours for that matter! I don't care if Maurice Boscorelli is a god-damn stray, I don't want him at my house for Thanksgiving!"
Her eyes narrowed. "Your house? Since when did you become the dictator for our family?"
"At least I'm *there* for our family. You sure as hell aren't," Fred snapped.
"That's not fair, Fred," Faith said quietly, hurt.
"So? Is it fair to Emily that you miss all of her gymnastic meets and school plays? Is it fair to Charlie that you never go to any of his soccer practices like the other moms? Or to me that you care more about what your partner needs than what I want?"
She looked away, tears stinging her eyes at the harshness of his words.
"That's right, Faith. Life's not fair. And unlike you, my life doesn't revolve around Bosco!"
"No, it revolves around yourself," she muttered under her breath.
"Excuse me?"
"What are you, jealous?" Faith asked, shoving aside her hurt as anger took its place.
"Jealous of Bosco?" Fred snorted. "Yeah, I'm jealous of a loud-mouthed, good for nothing, know-it-all smart ass that everyone hates."
"You don't know the first thing about Bosco," she said angrily.
"Oh, that's right. I forgot to add pathetic loser to that list of adjectives, didn't I?"
Faith glared at him. "You want to know what's pathetic, Fred? The fact that you're so threatened by a guy you seem to think is beneath your self-assumed God-like persona."
He turned his head to glare at her. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm saying that Bosco isn't the problem here. You are!"
"Yeah? Well, you know something, Faith? I think it's you who's the problem. All you care about is your god-damned job. You couldn't care less about me or the kids!"
"That's not true and you know it."
"The problem is that you can't face the fact that you're a lousy wife and a terrible mother! You're worthless, Faith! You hear me? Worthless!"
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Faith finally broke the gaze, tears in her eyes. She glanced out the windshield, her eyes widening in horror as a pedestrian crossed the street right in front of their car. "Fred!" she screamed.
He jerked his attention back to the road, cursing loudly as he swerved to the right without looking to see if the lane was clear.
The screeching of metal against metal reverberated in her eardrums, mixing with the sound of breaking glass as the car to their right rammed them, spinning the truck sideways in the lane. She heard screaming in the distance as sudden, sharp pain shot up her arm.
She was thrown forward in her seat as another vehicle rammed them on the back of the passenger side. The last thing she felt was an intense pain in her head as she cracked it against the windshield. Then everything grew dark.
"You guys seen Faith?" Bosco asked as Sully and Davis walked into the locker room that afternoon.
"Wasn't my turn to watch her," Sully said dryly as he spun the combination on his locker.
Davis grinned.
"That's funny. You should quit your job and become a stand-up," Bosco retorted, closing his locker.
Davis glanced at him. "Maybe she took the day off."
"Yeah. Maybe," he echoed. "See you in roll call." Without another word, he turned and left the room.
Davis looked at his partner. "Sul, you okay?"
"Yep," he responded shortly.
"You sure?"
"Davis, I'm fine!" Sully snapped, not looking at him.
He was taken aback by the anger in his friend's tone. "All right. But if you want to talk about it..."
"You'll be the first to know."
Davis frowned slightly. "Okay."
Bosco sat in the roll call room, slouched down in his chair, his arms folded across his chest as he listened to Swersky give them the run down on the various suspects they were supposed to keep an eye out for.
"Boscorelli, you heard from Yokas today?"
He blinked a few times and glanced around the room, realizing that his partner still hadn't shown up. He looked at the lieutenant. "She hasn't called in?"
Swersky frowned. "No. So unless she shows up, you're riding by yourself today."
Bosco nodded, a slight feeling of unease edging its way into her stomach. He did his best to ignore it. She was probably just stuck in traffic or something. No big deal.
Lt. Swersky dismissed them a few minutes later. "Eyes and ears open out there."
The officers all stood up.
Davis looked at him. "That's kinda weird, isn't it?"
"What is?" Bosco asked as the younger officer followed him to the desk to get their radios.
"It's not like Yokas not to call in."
He shrugged, trying not to let that uneasy feeling surface again. "I'm sure she's fine."
"Right."
Bosco looked at him. "You don't think she's fine?" he asked tensely.
Davis frowned. "That's not what I said."
"She's just stuck in traffic or something. Nothing's wrong with her, Davis."
The younger officer held up his hands. "Whoa, Bosco. I didn't mean to imply that anything was wrong with Yokas. I'm sure she's fine."
"Of course she is. Why wouldn't she be?" Bosco asked before turning and walking away with his radio.
Davis stared after him, shaking his head. "What the hell is wrong with everyone today?" he wondered aloud.
"What a way to start the day," Carlos muttered as he climbed out of Adam 55-3 carrying one of the medical packs.
Doc glanced around the scene, then quickly pressed the button on his radio. "Adam 55-3 to Central. We're gonna need another bus and some officers at this location."
"10-4, Adam 55-3."
He glanced sideways at his partner and headed toward the closest vehicle--a white van--while Carlos moved toward the red cougar.
Doc tapped on the driver's side window. "Sir, are you hurt?"
The man grimaced and turned his head to look at him. "No, but I'm sure as hell late for work now."
"You didn't hit your head or anything?"
"Nope."
"Is there anyone in there with you?"
"No, it's just me."
He nodded. "All right, I'll be back." He started away from the van when he heard Carlos shout. "Carlos!"
"The car engine's on fire!" he yelled, backing away from the vehicle.
"Radio for FDNY! I'll get the fire extinguisher!" He ran for the bus and grabbed the device from the back, glancing up just as Boyd 55-3 pulled up.
"Doc, where do you need us?" Alex shouted, climbing out of the driver's side.
"Check the people in the green car and in that truck!" He hurried over to the car that was still on fire and quickly extinguished the flames.
"I'll check the truck, you get the car," Alex said to Kim, who nodded and hurried away. She jogged over to the driver's side and peered in the window. A man sat there, looking slightly dazed as he gripped tightly onto the steering wheel. "Sir?"
He looked at her, but he didn't appear to have any physical injuries that she could see.
"Don't move, okay?" She glanced past him to the passenger seat and saw a woman slumped foward onto the dashboard, blood trickling down her arm. The woman wasn't moving.
Alex quickly rounded the truck and squeezed through the tiny space between it and the red car next to it, where Doc and Carlos were treating the passengers.
She reached forward and grabbed the door handle, but the door wouldn't budge. "Dammit," she muttered. She reached up carefully through the partially shattered window and unlocked the door. She tried to pull it open again, but it was still stuck. "Sir, can you open your door?" she asked loudly to the driver.
The man granted and pushed on the door, but it wouldn't open either.
Alex straightened up. "Where the hell's fire?"
"On their way," Doc shouted back.
She glanced around, then carefully reached inside the truck again. She very gently brushed back some of the woman's strawberry blond hair and pressed her fingers against the woman's throat, searching for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak.
"Hold on, help's on the way," Alex murmured, her gaze dropping to the woman's pale face. Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Doc! Doc! It's Yokas!"
"What?" He jerked his head up from where he was taking the vitals of the driver of the red cougar.
"It's Faith Yokas! She's trapped in the truck unconscious! It looks pretty bad!" Alex quickly shrugged out of her jacket and wrapped it around her hands. She carefully wedged her hands inside the window and shoved against the glass from the inside out, shattering the rest of it.
"Come on, just hold on," she whispered, grimacing at the huge bruise on the officer's forehead. She'd hit the windshield pretty hard, and blood was trickling down her face.
Just then the wail of sirens pierced the air as FDNY pulled up. "Guys! Over here! Hurry!" she shouted, waving her arms.
"What've we got?" Jimmy asked as he jogged over.
"Faith Yokas. She's hurt pretty badly. Both doors are stuck!"
"I'll get the jaws," he said instantly.
"Jimmy, hurry," Alex urged.
"Great. Just my day," Bosco muttered in disgust as he and 55-Charlie arrived on the scene of a multiple MVA. "I get to direct traffic." He shut the car off and crawled out of the seat with a sigh.
"Damn," he heard Sully say as he surveyed the scene.
He glanced around, grimacing himself at the sight. Four vehicles--two cars, one van and a truck-- which he could only see part of because it was turned sideways and the back of the passenger side was blocked by the van, the front of the passenger side blocked by the red car, both apparently having rammed the truck.
The fire department was using the jaws to pry open the passenger side door.
"I feel sorry for whoever was in that truck," Davis said, gazing at all the broken glass and the huge dent in the side of it.
"Jag-off's probably the one who caused the whole accident in the first place," Bosco replied, shaking his head.
Sully gave him a dirty look and headed off to direct traffic.
"What?" he demanded, staring after him. When he got no response, he folded his arms across his chest and watched as the firefighters removed the truck door. Or what was left of it. He saw Doc and Taylor and Carlos working to extract the passenger.
Kim approached him, her face grim and pale. She stopped and stood in front of him, blocking his view.
He shifted, feeling self-conscious. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
He raised his eyebrows, annoyed. "What's your problem?"
Before she had a chance to respond this time, he heard voices from behind her.
"I told you I'm fine, I'm not hurt," a familiar male voice snapped.
"We need to make sure, Sir. Sometimes injuries can occur and you don't even know about them til later. Especially not if you blacked out," Carlos said, his voice calm.
"I didn't black out!"
Bosco frowned deeply and peered around Kim. "Fred?"
His partner's husband looked over at him.
"Bosco..." Kim said softly.
His gaze drifted back to her face. Her eyes were full of tears. He stared at her for a moment, then looked past her to where Doc and Taylor were carrying a woman on a stretcher as Jimmy and some of the other firefighters watched solemnly. He suddenly felt his blood run cold, dread rising up within him. "No," he whispered.
"What's going on?" Davis asked as he walked over.
Wordlessly, Bosco stepped around Kim, walking slowly toward the medics, the breath catching in his throat.
"Bosco, don't," Kim pleaded, grabbing his arm tightly. "Stay back and let them work."
"I have to see her..." he said numbly, but found himself unable to move forward.
"It's better if you stay here," she urged gently.
"What's going on?" Davis asked again, frowning in confusion.
Bosco turned and stared at Kim, his heart pounding. "Is she--"
"No," she answered immediately. "But it's pretty bad."
He felt like someone had knocked all the wind out of him and for a second, he was certain he was going to be sick. Then he felt a cold numbness settle over him as he watched them load his partner into the back of the bus.
"Jimmy, we need you to drive!" he heard Doc shout.
"Kim?" Davis said.
She looked at him briefly. "It's Yokas. She's hurt."
He stared at her in disbelief. "What?"
Kim didn't reply as she turned her gaze back to Bosco.
"Faith," he whispered. Tears stung his eyes as he watched the bus drive off with the lights flashing, the wail from the sirens echoing in his head.
