TITLE: One heartbeat for every lost day.
AUTHOR: faith_in_Faith
E-MAIL: faith_in_Faith@hotmail.com
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Don't owe a thing.
AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks goes as usual to Wine-into-Water, Carina and Jenny who encourage me and helping me correct this and of course to all of you who reads this1 PLEASE continue to R&R!
CHAPTER EIGHT
Two months later:
Faith closed the door to the locker, glanced over at Bosco who was ready to leave and said:
"See you tomorrow then?"
He looked at her, then away for a moment and then at her again, and said almost reluctantly:
"No actually I've taken the day off tomorrow."
"Yeah?" she said, slightly surprised.
They usually had the same days off and if he would do something special, she usually heard about it for days before it was supposed to happen.
He nodded: "Yeah, Anna has to start working tomorrow, and I promised to look after the boys for her."
"You?" Faith said and did everything to suppress her laughter.
"Yeah me! What's so damned funny Faith?" He said angrily with a hurt look on his face.
"Sorry Bos," she said, "I guess I'm not used to seeing you as a family man." Once again she tried not to laugh.
"Stop it Faith!" He almost shouted. "Do you always have to make fun of me when I do something that YOU didn't expect me to? You don't know everything about me. You don't know what I can and can't do."
Faith's face and voice immediately grew serious. "You're right, " she said regretfully. "I'm sorry."
He just shrugged.
"See you day after tomorrow then. Have fun with the boys," she said in a penitent voice, really regretting making fun of him.
He just nodded and left the room.
Two days later:
Bosco and Faith sat in the RMP out side an old apartment building, looking for a drug dealer they were supposed to bring in.
Faith looked over at Bosco, who hummed a little and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He seemed to be in a good mood, so she guessed yesterday had gone well. She decided to try to get him to talk about his and Anna's relationship. He had hardly said a word about it since the day they nailed Thomas, only told her that Anna and the boys were doing fine the few times she dared to ask him about it. He seemed to be OK though, the haunted and guilty look he had had then was gone, but she still wanted to know more about this, simply because she was curious as hell.
"So Anna and you're seeing each other again?" she said and tried not to sound nosy.
He turned his head to look at her. "What do you mean with again?" he asked, his guard up.
"Come on Bosco!" she said impatiently. "I know she was your girlfriend in the past and that you two still love each other."
"How do you know that?" he said, a slight hint of anger in his voice.
"I saw you- at the hospital, remember?"
He remained silent for a moment and then he said quietly:
"How can you be so sure she loves me?"
"Bos, " Faith said softly. "You only have to look at her when she looks at you to tell that she worships the ground you walk on. Must be the famous Boscorelli charm," she tried to joke, because she could tell from the look on his face that he wasn't happy about it.
"Well she shouldn't, " he said, his voice still quiet.
" Why? Don't you love her?" she said and tried to read his face.
"Yes I do, and that's a part of the problem."
"How can that be a problem?"
"Because I'm not good enough for her!" he said, suddenly sounding angry.
"How can you be so sure about that?" Faith asked carefully, feeling like she was walking on a minefield, one wrong move and she would spoil the moment.
"I just know, OK?"
"Why don't you let her be the judge about that?"
"Because she has a bad judgment when it comes to me, you heard Steven." His voice was strained with suppressed anger.
Although Faith knew better, she couldn't stop herself from speaking again.
"She loves you very much. I'm sure sh."
"Can you just SHUT UP Faith?" he shouted furiously. "You don't understand this. You don't know what happened. You don't know a damned thing about this!"
Faith suddenly lost the little patience she had and shouted back:
"You're right, I don't know a damned thing about this, because you're not telling me a damned thing about it!"
"It's none of your business!" he said a little calmer.
Faith sighed and said, still angry:
"Well excuse me for caring. Excuse me for having this stupid wish for you to be happy. Excuse me for noticing that you're human!"
A very threatening silence filled the car and almost made it hard to breath. After a few minutes Bosco said:
"I let her down, OK. In the worst possible way."
Faith remained silent, not knowing if she was supposed to say something, or if she was going to make him mad again, if she did.
"She got pregnant," he said.
"And?" Faith dared to ask.
"I took a hike," he said almost inaudible.
"You did WHAT?" Faith couldn't believe what she heard.
"You heard me," he said, the anger back in his voice.
"So you really just left? You let her deal with it all by herself? Alone?" she asked in disbelief.
He didn't answer.
"My God Bosco, how could you?"
He still didn't answer.
"My God," she said again, "no wonder her brother doesn't like you that much. He must have been furious!"
"Tell me about it," Bosco murmured.
"But why?" was all that Faith managed to say. She still couldn't believe what she'd heard.
He shrugged. "I don't really know. I was afraid, cowards, a jerk, a looser, choose for yourself."
"Honestly Bosco," she said and tried to look at him but he turned away.
"I was afraid OK. I couldn't take care of a family, hell Faith, I can hardly take care of myself sometimes, and you of all people should know that! She was better off without me, believe me. Who knows, if I'd stayed, I could've been the one who put her on that kitchen floor." He said, his voice thick with emotions.
"No, you couldn't, " Faith said firmly, and for some reason she almost felt like crying.
"How can you be so sure?" He murmured.
"I just am, OK?"
They sat in silence for a while and then Faith looked at him and said in a confused voice:
"I don't get it. She only has the twins. Did she put the baby away for adoption?"
"No," he said quietly. "He died."
Faith felt as if someone had slapped her, of all the things she had expected him to say this wasn't it.
"I'm sorry Bos. I'm very sorry." No wonder he was pissed with me for aborting that child, she thought.
He just nodded. They sat in silence again for a while and then he said:
"She wrote to me, you know, begged me to come back. She said she needed me to get through the whole thing. I didn't even answer."
No wonder he felt guilty. No wonder he thought he owed her to make her hell go away this time, she thought but remained silent.
"She was my best friend you know. She always stood up for me, helped me when I needed it. No matter what it was about, she covered for me. She used to meet me at a special place before school and if my old man had beaten me too bad she used to cover it up for me, with make up stuff, you know? And I couldn't even come back and help her through something that I was responsible for in the first place. So can't you see that she's better off without me?"
His voice sounded almost like he was crying and it took Faith all she had to not do so herself.
"She doesn't seem to think so," she said quietly.
"Like Steven said, she has a bad judgment when it comes to me." Again silence filled the car, but this time it wasn't a silence of anger, it was a silence of grief.
"So what are you gonna do?" Faith finally asked.
He shrugged.
"But you still love her, right?"
He nodded.
"Maybe this time you should listen to your heart, " she said gently.
He turned and looked at her in disbelief.
"You know what Yokas, sometimes you really are full of shit!"
"Maybe, " she said and smiled.
She knew the moment had past. He wasn't going to tell her any more or let her see any more of his soul. She knew better than to push it, besides she felt like she had had enough for a year or so. She still couldn't believe that he really left a pregnant woman that he loved. The Bosco she knew didn't do things like that, or did he? Maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought? Anyway she had a feeling this was far from over, and she wasn't sure there was going to be a happy end, and that scared her.
None of them said much the rest of the shift. It was as if all the words already had been used. One thing kept bothering Faith though, and finally she decided to just get it over with. They stood outside the precinct and she had just turned down his offer to give her a ride home. He had turned away from her, his hand on the door handle of the car as she said:
"Bosco wait!" The nervousness in her voice was evident to him and he turned to look at her.
"What?" he said, slightly worried.
"I have to ask you one more question about Anna, OK?"
He just sighed and looked at her.
Faith licked her lips and swallowed. How an earth was she going to say this, after all she was going to talk about the unthinkable.
"Have you put her phone number in your file?" she blurted out, unable to think of another way to say it. He looked at her like she had lost her mind.
"Why would I do that?" he asked impatiently.
Faith looked him right in the eyes and said:
"*If* and I say *if* something would happen to you out there, don't you want someone to call her, to let her know?"
"Nothing's gonna happen, " he said and tried to avoid her gaze.
"Bosco, please! " she said pleadingly.
Their eyes met, and for a moment they could see each other's fear, and then he said:
"Of course I want someone to tell her, but I'd prefer if you did it."
She nodded. "I will," she said," but then I have to have her phone number."
He nodded. "Do you have anything to write on?" he said.
Faith dug around in her purse and found an old shopping list and a pen and handed it to him. He took it, scribbled down some numbers and gave it back to her and she put it back in her purse.
"Thanks," she said quietly, "for trusting me with this."
He gave her a half smile and said:
"No big deal, nothing's gonna happen, you worry too much," and then he got into his car and drove off.
Faith stood and looked after him. She was thankful that he had wanted her to be the one to tell Anna if anything would happen to him, because she had promised her to look after him for her, and * if *- God forbid - she would fail to do so, then she at least wanted to tell her in person.
Bosco sat in his car and almost hated Faith for bringing up the issue. For the first time since he became a cop he had something to live for, someone he wanted to come home to and that made him feel uneasy. He had always thought that those who had that were more likely to get killed because they were afraid to, and now he was one of them and he didn't like it.
Two weeks later:
Anna woke up by the sound of the phone ringing and gazed over at the clock at the nightstand. The red numbers showed 3:02 am. She had been a police wife long enough to know that a phone call at this hour could only mean something bad. She picked it up on the third ring and said:
"Anna Lewis."
"Hi Anna, its Faith," Faith said in the other end and Anna could her the worry in her voice.
"Hi Faith, what's wrong? she said and tried to keep the fear out of her voice.
"Is Bosco with you?" Faith asked hopefully.
"No." Anna said slightly confused. "I haven't heard from him for a week."
"Really?" Faith said in utter surprise.
"Really," She answered, "but there's nothing strange about that, it's just the way he is. Faith, what's wrong? Is he in some kind of trouble?"
Faith sighed: "It looks that way, yeah."
"What's happened?"
"We had a case a couple of days ago that we kind of screw up. He thought it was his fault and now other things have happened that makes it all worse. Internal affairs want to talk to him but he's gone. No one can find him, so I kind of hoped he had gone to you. He was pretty upset yesterday. I was really hoping that he would be with you."
"I really wish he was Faith, but he isn't here. Exactly how upset was he?"
"It's hard to tell with him, but he had that hunted look in his eyes if you know what I mean," Faith said and hoped that Anna knew Bosco well enough to know what she meant, and she didn't get disappointed.
"Was it worse than his usual one?" Anna asked.
"Yeah."
"Faith?"
"Yeah?"
"Is there any chance that he could have done what they think he has?"
"No," Faith said firmly. "There's no chance in hell, don't you worry about that! I'll try to sort it out, but it would help a lot if he showed up."
"OK," Anna said. "Please call me when you find him."
"Of course, call me if he shows up, OK?"
"I will," Anna said reassuringly. "Bye Faith."
"Bye."
Anna slowly hung up the phone and stared out in the darkness. Oh Bosco what've you gotten yourself into this time? she thought tiredly. This wasn't new to her, not at all. She couldn't even count the times he had come to her when something went wrong or he'd messed something up, but this time he didn't turned to her for help, and that bothered her. What bothered her even more was that he didn't turn to Faith either, because for all she knew Faith was the one he trusted nowadays.
"Bosco were are you?" she said out loud. Her stomach tightened and her heart beat faster when she thought about all the things that could have happen to him, but she put the thoughts aside and went out in the kitchen. There was no way she could go back to sleep so she could just as well get up. She put some coffee on and let her mind drift away to the first time he kissed her.
*****
They both had become turned sixteen that spring and Bosco kept getting in trouble all the time. It was like he was drawn to it, and Steven had told Anna that he didn't think Maurice was the best friend a girl could have. "He's gonna get you in trouble too," he said.
She had just shaken her head and told him not to worry. Bosco would never get her in trouble; it was the other way around. He did everything to keep her out of trouble and besides; he needed a place to feel safe. Steven had just sighed, knowing she was right. The truth was he too was fond of Bosco and really wanted to be there for him and help him, but Bosco never let him in completely. The only one he really trusted was Anna.
That night she was sitting in her bed, writing in her diary, when she heard his steps on the sidewalk outside her window. She knew the sound of those steps so well and it always made her heart jump with a mix of joy and worry. Tonight they sounded tired and she got up from her bed and went to the door to open it for him before he needed to knock. She had a feeling it was better if Steven didn't talk to him tonight, at least not right away.
She gasped when she saw him; someone had beaten him up, and beaten him up badly. His face was almost covered with blood and cuts, and bruises were already forming. She could tell by the way he breathed and by the way he leaned heavily against the doorframe that he probably had other injuries too.
"OH Maurice!" she breathed. "What's happened?"
"I finally did it," he said tiredly. "I finally kicked his ass."
She immediately understood that he talked about his father and she got scared.
"What did you do to him?" she asked in a trembling voice. "You didn't kill him, right?"
He looked at her, a little weary smile playing in the corner of his mouth as he said:
"Don't worry, I would never give him a chance to get me that easily."
She breathed a sigh in relief and gently took his hand and guided lead him to the toilet to help him to get cleaned up and take care of his wounds. She gently cleaned cut after cut and suddenly their eyes met and she drowned. She knew in that moment that she loved him, really loved him. She was in love with her best friend. She remembered how he touched her cheek and than leaned forward and kissed her. She couldn't count the times she had been listening to the other girls talking about what a great kisser he was and now she knew they'd been telling the truth. After a moment he leaned back, out of breath, and closed his eyes and she knew he was in a great deal of pain. She gently ran her hand over his hair and said:
"Maurice?"
"Bosco," he said, breathing heavily. "Never call me Maurice again, call me Bosco."
She just nodded and kept running her hand over his hair. He caught her hand, held it to his cheek, and gave her one of his wonderful smiles and said:
"I love you Anna."
"I love you too," she said, fighting back tears of joy, she knew he didn't like when she cried.
Steven took him to the hospital the same night; he had to stay for a week.
That was the night when he kissed her the for the first time, the night Bosco and Anna became lovers instead of friends, the night Maurice finally fought back, and became Bosco instead of Maurice, but also the night his eyes received the haunted look that no one had managed to take away ever since.
Anna jumped by the sound of the phone ringing and prayed to God that this time it was Faith or Bosco. She hadn't heard from either of them the whole day and now it was almost 11:00 pm and she was sick with worry.
"Anna Lewis."
"Anna, its Faith." Anna could hear how tired she sounded.
"Have you found him? Is he OK? Have things worked out?"
Faith had to smile when she heard Anna ask all the questions almost in one breath.
"He showed up here at the precinct about half an hour ago. I have sorted out the problem. He's off the hook, but I don't know if he's OK. He didn't look so great, but I'm gonna talk to him now. I just wanted you to know where he was."
"Tell him I want him to come home," Anna said.
"I will," Faith said and smiled.
AUTHOR: faith_in_Faith
E-MAIL: faith_in_Faith@hotmail.com
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Don't owe a thing.
AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks goes as usual to Wine-into-Water, Carina and Jenny who encourage me and helping me correct this and of course to all of you who reads this1 PLEASE continue to R&R!
CHAPTER EIGHT
Two months later:
Faith closed the door to the locker, glanced over at Bosco who was ready to leave and said:
"See you tomorrow then?"
He looked at her, then away for a moment and then at her again, and said almost reluctantly:
"No actually I've taken the day off tomorrow."
"Yeah?" she said, slightly surprised.
They usually had the same days off and if he would do something special, she usually heard about it for days before it was supposed to happen.
He nodded: "Yeah, Anna has to start working tomorrow, and I promised to look after the boys for her."
"You?" Faith said and did everything to suppress her laughter.
"Yeah me! What's so damned funny Faith?" He said angrily with a hurt look on his face.
"Sorry Bos," she said, "I guess I'm not used to seeing you as a family man." Once again she tried not to laugh.
"Stop it Faith!" He almost shouted. "Do you always have to make fun of me when I do something that YOU didn't expect me to? You don't know everything about me. You don't know what I can and can't do."
Faith's face and voice immediately grew serious. "You're right, " she said regretfully. "I'm sorry."
He just shrugged.
"See you day after tomorrow then. Have fun with the boys," she said in a penitent voice, really regretting making fun of him.
He just nodded and left the room.
Two days later:
Bosco and Faith sat in the RMP out side an old apartment building, looking for a drug dealer they were supposed to bring in.
Faith looked over at Bosco, who hummed a little and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He seemed to be in a good mood, so she guessed yesterday had gone well. She decided to try to get him to talk about his and Anna's relationship. He had hardly said a word about it since the day they nailed Thomas, only told her that Anna and the boys were doing fine the few times she dared to ask him about it. He seemed to be OK though, the haunted and guilty look he had had then was gone, but she still wanted to know more about this, simply because she was curious as hell.
"So Anna and you're seeing each other again?" she said and tried not to sound nosy.
He turned his head to look at her. "What do you mean with again?" he asked, his guard up.
"Come on Bosco!" she said impatiently. "I know she was your girlfriend in the past and that you two still love each other."
"How do you know that?" he said, a slight hint of anger in his voice.
"I saw you- at the hospital, remember?"
He remained silent for a moment and then he said quietly:
"How can you be so sure she loves me?"
"Bos, " Faith said softly. "You only have to look at her when she looks at you to tell that she worships the ground you walk on. Must be the famous Boscorelli charm," she tried to joke, because she could tell from the look on his face that he wasn't happy about it.
"Well she shouldn't, " he said, his voice still quiet.
" Why? Don't you love her?" she said and tried to read his face.
"Yes I do, and that's a part of the problem."
"How can that be a problem?"
"Because I'm not good enough for her!" he said, suddenly sounding angry.
"How can you be so sure about that?" Faith asked carefully, feeling like she was walking on a minefield, one wrong move and she would spoil the moment.
"I just know, OK?"
"Why don't you let her be the judge about that?"
"Because she has a bad judgment when it comes to me, you heard Steven." His voice was strained with suppressed anger.
Although Faith knew better, she couldn't stop herself from speaking again.
"She loves you very much. I'm sure sh."
"Can you just SHUT UP Faith?" he shouted furiously. "You don't understand this. You don't know what happened. You don't know a damned thing about this!"
Faith suddenly lost the little patience she had and shouted back:
"You're right, I don't know a damned thing about this, because you're not telling me a damned thing about it!"
"It's none of your business!" he said a little calmer.
Faith sighed and said, still angry:
"Well excuse me for caring. Excuse me for having this stupid wish for you to be happy. Excuse me for noticing that you're human!"
A very threatening silence filled the car and almost made it hard to breath. After a few minutes Bosco said:
"I let her down, OK. In the worst possible way."
Faith remained silent, not knowing if she was supposed to say something, or if she was going to make him mad again, if she did.
"She got pregnant," he said.
"And?" Faith dared to ask.
"I took a hike," he said almost inaudible.
"You did WHAT?" Faith couldn't believe what she heard.
"You heard me," he said, the anger back in his voice.
"So you really just left? You let her deal with it all by herself? Alone?" she asked in disbelief.
He didn't answer.
"My God Bosco, how could you?"
He still didn't answer.
"My God," she said again, "no wonder her brother doesn't like you that much. He must have been furious!"
"Tell me about it," Bosco murmured.
"But why?" was all that Faith managed to say. She still couldn't believe what she'd heard.
He shrugged. "I don't really know. I was afraid, cowards, a jerk, a looser, choose for yourself."
"Honestly Bosco," she said and tried to look at him but he turned away.
"I was afraid OK. I couldn't take care of a family, hell Faith, I can hardly take care of myself sometimes, and you of all people should know that! She was better off without me, believe me. Who knows, if I'd stayed, I could've been the one who put her on that kitchen floor." He said, his voice thick with emotions.
"No, you couldn't, " Faith said firmly, and for some reason she almost felt like crying.
"How can you be so sure?" He murmured.
"I just am, OK?"
They sat in silence for a while and then Faith looked at him and said in a confused voice:
"I don't get it. She only has the twins. Did she put the baby away for adoption?"
"No," he said quietly. "He died."
Faith felt as if someone had slapped her, of all the things she had expected him to say this wasn't it.
"I'm sorry Bos. I'm very sorry." No wonder he was pissed with me for aborting that child, she thought.
He just nodded. They sat in silence again for a while and then he said:
"She wrote to me, you know, begged me to come back. She said she needed me to get through the whole thing. I didn't even answer."
No wonder he felt guilty. No wonder he thought he owed her to make her hell go away this time, she thought but remained silent.
"She was my best friend you know. She always stood up for me, helped me when I needed it. No matter what it was about, she covered for me. She used to meet me at a special place before school and if my old man had beaten me too bad she used to cover it up for me, with make up stuff, you know? And I couldn't even come back and help her through something that I was responsible for in the first place. So can't you see that she's better off without me?"
His voice sounded almost like he was crying and it took Faith all she had to not do so herself.
"She doesn't seem to think so," she said quietly.
"Like Steven said, she has a bad judgment when it comes to me." Again silence filled the car, but this time it wasn't a silence of anger, it was a silence of grief.
"So what are you gonna do?" Faith finally asked.
He shrugged.
"But you still love her, right?"
He nodded.
"Maybe this time you should listen to your heart, " she said gently.
He turned and looked at her in disbelief.
"You know what Yokas, sometimes you really are full of shit!"
"Maybe, " she said and smiled.
She knew the moment had past. He wasn't going to tell her any more or let her see any more of his soul. She knew better than to push it, besides she felt like she had had enough for a year or so. She still couldn't believe that he really left a pregnant woman that he loved. The Bosco she knew didn't do things like that, or did he? Maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought? Anyway she had a feeling this was far from over, and she wasn't sure there was going to be a happy end, and that scared her.
None of them said much the rest of the shift. It was as if all the words already had been used. One thing kept bothering Faith though, and finally she decided to just get it over with. They stood outside the precinct and she had just turned down his offer to give her a ride home. He had turned away from her, his hand on the door handle of the car as she said:
"Bosco wait!" The nervousness in her voice was evident to him and he turned to look at her.
"What?" he said, slightly worried.
"I have to ask you one more question about Anna, OK?"
He just sighed and looked at her.
Faith licked her lips and swallowed. How an earth was she going to say this, after all she was going to talk about the unthinkable.
"Have you put her phone number in your file?" she blurted out, unable to think of another way to say it. He looked at her like she had lost her mind.
"Why would I do that?" he asked impatiently.
Faith looked him right in the eyes and said:
"*If* and I say *if* something would happen to you out there, don't you want someone to call her, to let her know?"
"Nothing's gonna happen, " he said and tried to avoid her gaze.
"Bosco, please! " she said pleadingly.
Their eyes met, and for a moment they could see each other's fear, and then he said:
"Of course I want someone to tell her, but I'd prefer if you did it."
She nodded. "I will," she said," but then I have to have her phone number."
He nodded. "Do you have anything to write on?" he said.
Faith dug around in her purse and found an old shopping list and a pen and handed it to him. He took it, scribbled down some numbers and gave it back to her and she put it back in her purse.
"Thanks," she said quietly, "for trusting me with this."
He gave her a half smile and said:
"No big deal, nothing's gonna happen, you worry too much," and then he got into his car and drove off.
Faith stood and looked after him. She was thankful that he had wanted her to be the one to tell Anna if anything would happen to him, because she had promised her to look after him for her, and * if *- God forbid - she would fail to do so, then she at least wanted to tell her in person.
Bosco sat in his car and almost hated Faith for bringing up the issue. For the first time since he became a cop he had something to live for, someone he wanted to come home to and that made him feel uneasy. He had always thought that those who had that were more likely to get killed because they were afraid to, and now he was one of them and he didn't like it.
Two weeks later:
Anna woke up by the sound of the phone ringing and gazed over at the clock at the nightstand. The red numbers showed 3:02 am. She had been a police wife long enough to know that a phone call at this hour could only mean something bad. She picked it up on the third ring and said:
"Anna Lewis."
"Hi Anna, its Faith," Faith said in the other end and Anna could her the worry in her voice.
"Hi Faith, what's wrong? she said and tried to keep the fear out of her voice.
"Is Bosco with you?" Faith asked hopefully.
"No." Anna said slightly confused. "I haven't heard from him for a week."
"Really?" Faith said in utter surprise.
"Really," She answered, "but there's nothing strange about that, it's just the way he is. Faith, what's wrong? Is he in some kind of trouble?"
Faith sighed: "It looks that way, yeah."
"What's happened?"
"We had a case a couple of days ago that we kind of screw up. He thought it was his fault and now other things have happened that makes it all worse. Internal affairs want to talk to him but he's gone. No one can find him, so I kind of hoped he had gone to you. He was pretty upset yesterday. I was really hoping that he would be with you."
"I really wish he was Faith, but he isn't here. Exactly how upset was he?"
"It's hard to tell with him, but he had that hunted look in his eyes if you know what I mean," Faith said and hoped that Anna knew Bosco well enough to know what she meant, and she didn't get disappointed.
"Was it worse than his usual one?" Anna asked.
"Yeah."
"Faith?"
"Yeah?"
"Is there any chance that he could have done what they think he has?"
"No," Faith said firmly. "There's no chance in hell, don't you worry about that! I'll try to sort it out, but it would help a lot if he showed up."
"OK," Anna said. "Please call me when you find him."
"Of course, call me if he shows up, OK?"
"I will," Anna said reassuringly. "Bye Faith."
"Bye."
Anna slowly hung up the phone and stared out in the darkness. Oh Bosco what've you gotten yourself into this time? she thought tiredly. This wasn't new to her, not at all. She couldn't even count the times he had come to her when something went wrong or he'd messed something up, but this time he didn't turned to her for help, and that bothered her. What bothered her even more was that he didn't turn to Faith either, because for all she knew Faith was the one he trusted nowadays.
"Bosco were are you?" she said out loud. Her stomach tightened and her heart beat faster when she thought about all the things that could have happen to him, but she put the thoughts aside and went out in the kitchen. There was no way she could go back to sleep so she could just as well get up. She put some coffee on and let her mind drift away to the first time he kissed her.
*****
They both had become turned sixteen that spring and Bosco kept getting in trouble all the time. It was like he was drawn to it, and Steven had told Anna that he didn't think Maurice was the best friend a girl could have. "He's gonna get you in trouble too," he said.
She had just shaken her head and told him not to worry. Bosco would never get her in trouble; it was the other way around. He did everything to keep her out of trouble and besides; he needed a place to feel safe. Steven had just sighed, knowing she was right. The truth was he too was fond of Bosco and really wanted to be there for him and help him, but Bosco never let him in completely. The only one he really trusted was Anna.
That night she was sitting in her bed, writing in her diary, when she heard his steps on the sidewalk outside her window. She knew the sound of those steps so well and it always made her heart jump with a mix of joy and worry. Tonight they sounded tired and she got up from her bed and went to the door to open it for him before he needed to knock. She had a feeling it was better if Steven didn't talk to him tonight, at least not right away.
She gasped when she saw him; someone had beaten him up, and beaten him up badly. His face was almost covered with blood and cuts, and bruises were already forming. She could tell by the way he breathed and by the way he leaned heavily against the doorframe that he probably had other injuries too.
"OH Maurice!" she breathed. "What's happened?"
"I finally did it," he said tiredly. "I finally kicked his ass."
She immediately understood that he talked about his father and she got scared.
"What did you do to him?" she asked in a trembling voice. "You didn't kill him, right?"
He looked at her, a little weary smile playing in the corner of his mouth as he said:
"Don't worry, I would never give him a chance to get me that easily."
She breathed a sigh in relief and gently took his hand and guided lead him to the toilet to help him to get cleaned up and take care of his wounds. She gently cleaned cut after cut and suddenly their eyes met and she drowned. She knew in that moment that she loved him, really loved him. She was in love with her best friend. She remembered how he touched her cheek and than leaned forward and kissed her. She couldn't count the times she had been listening to the other girls talking about what a great kisser he was and now she knew they'd been telling the truth. After a moment he leaned back, out of breath, and closed his eyes and she knew he was in a great deal of pain. She gently ran her hand over his hair and said:
"Maurice?"
"Bosco," he said, breathing heavily. "Never call me Maurice again, call me Bosco."
She just nodded and kept running her hand over his hair. He caught her hand, held it to his cheek, and gave her one of his wonderful smiles and said:
"I love you Anna."
"I love you too," she said, fighting back tears of joy, she knew he didn't like when she cried.
Steven took him to the hospital the same night; he had to stay for a week.
That was the night when he kissed her the for the first time, the night Bosco and Anna became lovers instead of friends, the night Maurice finally fought back, and became Bosco instead of Maurice, but also the night his eyes received the haunted look that no one had managed to take away ever since.
Anna jumped by the sound of the phone ringing and prayed to God that this time it was Faith or Bosco. She hadn't heard from either of them the whole day and now it was almost 11:00 pm and she was sick with worry.
"Anna Lewis."
"Anna, its Faith." Anna could hear how tired she sounded.
"Have you found him? Is he OK? Have things worked out?"
Faith had to smile when she heard Anna ask all the questions almost in one breath.
"He showed up here at the precinct about half an hour ago. I have sorted out the problem. He's off the hook, but I don't know if he's OK. He didn't look so great, but I'm gonna talk to him now. I just wanted you to know where he was."
"Tell him I want him to come home," Anna said.
"I will," Faith said and smiled.