Oh, you guys are great, seriously! Yes, there are three chapters, including this one, so...Faith has to live, right? Oh, come on, I'm not that cruel!
Well, you didn't think I'd keep you waiting long with an ending like that did you? Here's the next chapter, enjoy!
---------------
Part 8:
*
You realize some things in the twilight of life, like a switch has been flicked, only -- the bulb blows out before the darkness can ever really wash away. That's how he feels, suddenly; he realizes the depth of his feelings for Faith and now, it seems, that revelation doesn't matter. Little else does.
The idea that their entire existence together has suddenly flickered out like the short fuse of a light bulb nauseates him, haunts him, seeps into his mind and wraps around his heart, tightens in his chest until he can scarcely breathe.
No comfort comes to him, no brief thought that perhaps she hadn't suffered, in fact, just the opposite strikes him.
A blind array of emotions washes over him: sadness, regret, guilt, anger, longing, and the last bit of hope he's had in something worthwhile remaining permanently in the flawed life he's grown used to over the years.
So when he stands here, waiting for them to pull back the sheet and identify her, no one questions why it takes him five minutes to simply turn his head halfway to the gurney.
They pull it back, his chest draws breath, his head throbs and his hand grabs the metal slab for support.
The face, he thinks, is familiar, the hair bears a certain resemblance to strands he's often longed to run his fingers through. So he looks at the face, the face that once drew breath, and stares for a moment, expecting an agony like no other to wash over him.
It doesn't come.
And he smiles.
*
"It wasn't her."
"No, thank God."
He leans back against the side of the ambulance as Alex sits next to him with Kim, Davis and Sullivan staring at him from their place on the sidewalk.
"Who found her?"
"Lambert."
"Didn't he know it wasn't her?"
"He's only seen her in pictures, and, at first glance, she does look like Faith. But it's not her."
"How do you know that for sure?"
His head whips around to look at Kim, as though the question itself is an abomination.
"Because I know, alright? She's my partner."
He sits on his hands and swings his legs out.
"Plus, she's got this little birthmark on her shoulder. It's so tiny you almost can't see it -- but I know it's there."
Some eyebrows raise at just how and why he knows this, how close he actually is to his partner, but the question dies on their lips.
"All right, well, we better get in touch with Lambert, let him know we still got a missing person on our hands, " Sully speaks over his empty cup of coffee, tossing the trash in the nearest bin.
"I'll tell him, " Bosco answers, standing up from his position and leaving without another word.
So she is still out there, somewhere, and suddenly, he has a purpose once again.
*
Shoving someone up against a wall, he thinks, tends to be a very effective way to get just what you want. Especially when you happen to have a loaded gun noticeably clipped to the side of your pants.
"Something doesn't add up here, Lambert, and you're gonna be straight with me for once."
"What do you want me to say, Boscorelli?"
"Whatever the hell you've been hiding, and I want to know now. My partner is out there somewhere, alone, and I think you know something."
"Will you let me go, huh? I don't like being pinned against a wall."
Bosco relinquishes his hold and lets Lambert slide to a standing position, turning his back to lean against a wall himself, prepared to listen to this explanation.
Lambert paces for a moment, collects his thoughts.
"God, Boscorelli, this whole damn thing got out of control. I don't know where to start."
"The beginning."
"Right, well --"
He runs a shaky, unsure hand through his hair, turns away for a moment as he pauses.
"I don't know what to do anymore, " he says shakily as he turns back to Bosco in the darkness. Bosco's head shoots up and jerks back in surprise as he finds himself staring down the barrel of a gun.
*
TBC...
Well, you didn't think I'd keep you waiting long with an ending like that did you? Here's the next chapter, enjoy!
---------------
Part 8:
*
You realize some things in the twilight of life, like a switch has been flicked, only -- the bulb blows out before the darkness can ever really wash away. That's how he feels, suddenly; he realizes the depth of his feelings for Faith and now, it seems, that revelation doesn't matter. Little else does.
The idea that their entire existence together has suddenly flickered out like the short fuse of a light bulb nauseates him, haunts him, seeps into his mind and wraps around his heart, tightens in his chest until he can scarcely breathe.
No comfort comes to him, no brief thought that perhaps she hadn't suffered, in fact, just the opposite strikes him.
A blind array of emotions washes over him: sadness, regret, guilt, anger, longing, and the last bit of hope he's had in something worthwhile remaining permanently in the flawed life he's grown used to over the years.
So when he stands here, waiting for them to pull back the sheet and identify her, no one questions why it takes him five minutes to simply turn his head halfway to the gurney.
They pull it back, his chest draws breath, his head throbs and his hand grabs the metal slab for support.
The face, he thinks, is familiar, the hair bears a certain resemblance to strands he's often longed to run his fingers through. So he looks at the face, the face that once drew breath, and stares for a moment, expecting an agony like no other to wash over him.
It doesn't come.
And he smiles.
*
"It wasn't her."
"No, thank God."
He leans back against the side of the ambulance as Alex sits next to him with Kim, Davis and Sullivan staring at him from their place on the sidewalk.
"Who found her?"
"Lambert."
"Didn't he know it wasn't her?"
"He's only seen her in pictures, and, at first glance, she does look like Faith. But it's not her."
"How do you know that for sure?"
His head whips around to look at Kim, as though the question itself is an abomination.
"Because I know, alright? She's my partner."
He sits on his hands and swings his legs out.
"Plus, she's got this little birthmark on her shoulder. It's so tiny you almost can't see it -- but I know it's there."
Some eyebrows raise at just how and why he knows this, how close he actually is to his partner, but the question dies on their lips.
"All right, well, we better get in touch with Lambert, let him know we still got a missing person on our hands, " Sully speaks over his empty cup of coffee, tossing the trash in the nearest bin.
"I'll tell him, " Bosco answers, standing up from his position and leaving without another word.
So she is still out there, somewhere, and suddenly, he has a purpose once again.
*
Shoving someone up against a wall, he thinks, tends to be a very effective way to get just what you want. Especially when you happen to have a loaded gun noticeably clipped to the side of your pants.
"Something doesn't add up here, Lambert, and you're gonna be straight with me for once."
"What do you want me to say, Boscorelli?"
"Whatever the hell you've been hiding, and I want to know now. My partner is out there somewhere, alone, and I think you know something."
"Will you let me go, huh? I don't like being pinned against a wall."
Bosco relinquishes his hold and lets Lambert slide to a standing position, turning his back to lean against a wall himself, prepared to listen to this explanation.
Lambert paces for a moment, collects his thoughts.
"God, Boscorelli, this whole damn thing got out of control. I don't know where to start."
"The beginning."
"Right, well --"
He runs a shaky, unsure hand through his hair, turns away for a moment as he pauses.
"I don't know what to do anymore, " he says shakily as he turns back to Bosco in the darkness. Bosco's head shoots up and jerks back in surprise as he finds himself staring down the barrel of a gun.
*
TBC...