TITLE: One heart beat for every lost day...
AUTHOR: faith_in_Faith
E-MAIL: faith_in_Faith@hotmail.com
DISCLAIMER: Don't owe a thing.
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: Up to and including season four.
AUTHORS NOTE: Well I'm REALLY sorry! I know there's a long time since I last updated, but my beta-readers have taken a VERY long vacation and without them I'm lost. : ( Finally a VERY good and faithful friend decided to help us out, so ladies and gentlemen let me introduce: BEE! If you're happy that a new chapter is up, don't thank me, thank Bee :) and of course THANKS for the kind reviews!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
"Are you sure you're gonna be OK here by yourself today? I'll stay at home if you want me to," Bosco offered and looked worriedly at Anna.
She gave him a faint smile. "I'm sure. Try not to worry so much."
He reached out and tried to touch her cheek, but Anna turned away. Bosco's heart ached from her actions. His behavior towards her lately had hurt her so much that she didn't want him to touch her. It was hard for him to deal with. It made him feel even guiltier than he already did. Sometimes he even thought she knew, but that was just not possible. He hesitantly reached out his hand again and said:
"Please let me just make sure you're not running a fever again."
"I'm not. I told you," Anna said impatiently, but she let him touch her cheek.
Bosco felt relieved when it was cool to his touch. She had been very ill the past four days. She had been a really high fever and been in a terrible pain. The antibiotics hadn't done the trick, so he had to take her back to the doctor to get a different sort. Bosco had a permanent knot in his stomach out of worry for her, but now she was finally getting better. She had woken up this morning without a fever, and the pain seemed to be much better too. She was still very pale though and looked thinner. He hadn't managed to make her eat anything the whole time, and that worried him. Not to mention the fact that the sparkle in her eyes was gone, but he was painfully aware of that he was the one who was responsible for that. Not the illness.
He hadn't been at work since the night he found out that she was ill but now, when she was better, he really needed to go. Cruz had already called him twice, pissed as hell, because he stayed at home and "played the loving, caring husband" as she called it. He almost hated her for those words. He didn't want to leave Anna because he was so afraid that she would get worse again, but he really needed to go to work.
"Are you really sure you're gonna be OK here on your own?" he asked again. Anna sighed.
"Stop it Bosco. I'm gonna be fine. Now just go!"
"OK, I'll go and get the boys and drop them off here. Now please promise me that you're gonna use your crutches, and that you'll order some pizza or something for dinner. No cooking! Promise me!" Anna sighed again.
"Stop fussing around Bosco and get out of here! You're gonna be late!"
"Promise me," he said stubbornly.
"I'll promise, if you promise me something too."
"Anything," he said firmly.
"It's your day off tomorrow. Swear you gonna be here. Swear you're not gonna take an extra shift, no matter what the lovely Cruz says."
"I swear," he said firmly.
"Good," Anna said and smiled.
****************
Anna put Samuel and Adam to bed and went into the bathroom. She took her antibiotics and the painkillers, and then she went and lay down on the bed. Her hip had started to hurt pretty bad again, but she didn't run a fever so she knew it was going to be OK. She waited until she was sure about that the boys were asleep, before she picked up the phone and dialed Faith's number.
"Yokas," a male voice said.
"Hi Fred, it's Anna. Is Faith there?"
"Oh hi Anna. How are you today?" Fred asked politely.
"I'm fine, but I really need to talk to Faith."
"OK, she'll be right with you." Anna could hear him put the phone down and only moments later she heard Faith's worried voice.
"Anna is everything alright?"
"No," Anna said simply.
"What's wrong? Is Bosco OK? I haven't seen him around lately."
"He's fine. He's been at home to take care of me. I haven't been feeling very well lately."
"What's wrong?" Faith felt very worried. Something had to be seriously wrong with Anna for Bosco to skip work.
"It's just an infection in my hip. Don't worry about it. I'm feeling much better now. I need to ask you a favor though."
"Anything, just name it," Faith said sincerely. She really wanted to help Anna, because she had been a good and faithful friend through this whole Bosco-Cruz mess.
"Will you please take care of Samuel and Adam for me tomorrow? I need them to stay the night. Bosco and I need to have a conversation that I don't want them to witness."
Faith closed her eyes. OK, so this is it, she thought. Anna had found out. She was sure about that. She took a deep breath and said:
"You know."
"Yes I do, and obviously so do you," Anna said calmly.
"Yeah. I'm so sorry Anna. I know I should have told you, but I really didn't know how," Faith said unhappily.
"It's OK Faith. It really isn't your call."
"So how did you find out? Did he tell you?"
"Hardly Faith, but I'm not blind you know," Anna said dryly.
There was a moment of silence and then Faith said slowly, disbelief in her voice:
"He has done this to you before, hasn't he?"
"Yes."
"God! He really is an asshole!" Faith said angrily. Anna remained silent.
"Why Anna? Why do you stay with him?"
"Because I love him. Always have and always will," Anna said simply.
"Why Anna? He treats you like crap."
"No Faith he doesn't. Most of the time he's the best man a girl can have. Besides this has nothing to do with things as logic, or common sense. In that case I'd left him long ago. My brain knows what all of you, even Bosco, keeps telling me is true. I'm better of without him. My heart on the other hand counts every second he's not around. I can't live without him. No matter how sad and pathetic that might sound, that's the truth. I can't change that. What I can change is the rules of the game, and that's what I'm gonna do."
"What rules? What game?" Faith asked bewildered.
"The "I'll take care of you and forgive you no matter what you do" game. The rules are that I love him unconditionally. He does as he please because he has never promised me differently."
"And the new rules?" Faith said, almost holding her breath.
"I love him. I'll do my best to forgive him, again. He stays the hell away from other women and starts to take responsibility for his actions," Anna said coldly, and Faith knew that Bosco should be more than happy that she even gave him another chance. She really hoped he would be able to understand that this was the last one he would ever get.
"OK," Faith said quietly. "Good luck tomorrow, and don't worry about the boys. I'll take care of them for you."
"Thank you very much! You can't imagine what this means to me. I can't ask Steven to take them, because he would rip Bosco's head off if he knew."
"I'm not so sure that would be a loss," Faith said under her breath. She couldn't remember being this angry with Bosco ever before, except for the time when he told her that she was a bad mother. That was more hurt than anger though and she didn't want to think about that now. She would only start to cry, and that was the last thing she needed to do.
"What?" Anna asked.
"Nothing. When do you want me to pick them up?"
"Around ten, when he's out running."
"OK, see you tomorrow."
"Yeah tomorrow," Anna said and hung up the phone. She closed her eyes tightly. She knew that if she would be able to get through with this she had to get some sleep.
**********
Bosco stepped out from the shower, dried himself and put on a pair of blue jeans and a green T-shit. The apartment was unusually silent and he briefly wondered what the boys were doing. He stepped into the living room and found Anna sitting on the couch.
"Hi," he said and smiled kindly at her. "It's very quiet here. Where are the boys?"
"They're not at home. I've sent them away to a friend over night," she said quietly.
Bosco took a closer look at her. She was very pale and looked tired already, although it was only 11:00 am. He immediately got worried.
"Why? You're OK?" he asked and stepped closer to her.
"I'm fine, but we need to talk. Why don't you sit down?" she said gravely.
Bosco swallowed hard. Something was very wrong. That's for sure, and he was scared. She had only been alone for about an hour and she seemed OK when he left. So what had happened?
"Anna?"
"Please Bosco just sit down, will you?"
He sat down on the couch beside her and took her hands between his.
"Anna what's wrong?"
Anna took her hands away, rested them in her lap and said calmly:
"We need to talk about what have happened between us lately."
Bosco swallowed hard again. This was not good. Not good at all. Something told him she knew. The question was; how could she know? Maybe it was just his guilty conscious that played tricks on him. He decided to play it cool for the time being.
"You know I'm sorry that I've ignored both you and the boys lately, but it's just because I've had so much to do at work and."
He looked up and met her eyes. The disappointment and hurt he saw there made him speechless.
"Bos," she said softly. "Don't lie to me. I think I deserve better than that, don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah you do," he said unhappily. "How did you find out? Did Faith tell you?"
"No she didn't. She's a much more faithful friend than you deserve, but I'm not blind Bosco. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to see it? Did you really think that I didn't learn a thing the last time?"
Bosco swallowed hard. He felt sick when he thought about the last time, about the fact that this wasn't the first time he had behaved like an ass. He was a lot younger then though. Only seventeen, but that probably wasn't an excuse. He didn't answer, because there wasn't really anything to say.
"So it's true then. You really betrayed me in every way you could think of, didn't you?"
Bosco closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again as he said:
"Please Anna, it wasn't like that. This wasn't anything I planed to do. It just happened OK?"
"How did it just happen? Did you slip and fall into her? Did you just wake up one day and think: This would be a great day to cheat on Anna? Did she hold a gun to your head and make you do it? Huh? Tell me Bosco. I wanna know!" Anna said angrily.
Bosco ran his hand over his hair desperately. This was worse than he ever thought it would be. He had never thought that Anna would be angry, hurt and devastated yes, but angry no. Anna hardly ever got angry. This time he was in real trouble. He knew it.
"I don't know. I really don't, I'm so sorry," Bosco said regretfully.
"So what did I do wrong? Please Bosco tell me. I have to know, because I don't understand. I do everything for you. I'm always here for you. I always help you in any way I can, with everything. I cover for you when you screw up. I pick up the pieces of you when you can't handle your life. I hold you when you wake up after your nightmares. I try to do damage control when you screw up things with your best friend. I listen when you wanna talk. I love you more than anything, probably more than my own life. Damn it Bosco, I practically breathe only to be with you. So please tell me, what did I do wrong? Tell me what I did to deserve this? TELL ME!" she shouted desperately, and wiped away the tears she hadn't been able to hold back.
Bosco's feeling of guilt increased for every word she uttered, and when she shouted the last part he wanted nothing more than to shoot himself. Oh God what have I done? he thought. What have I done? He knew this was it. He was about to lose her. This was beyond repair. It had to be. There was no way she was going to forgive him this time, not until hell froze over. He felt his chest tighten. How could he be so stupid? He knew he couldn't survive without her, but that probably was what he had to do. He was going to lose the best thing he had ever had, all because he never thought before he acted.
"It's not you Anna. It's me. It's all me. I'm an idiot that never understood what I had. You have never done anything do deserve this, never. Please Anna don't cry," he said softly with a touch of despair in his voice.
"You don't want me to cry, huh? Why, because Bosco's girls don't cry? You sure knew what you did when you invented that phrase, didn't you? Because you're sure as hell give us a lot of reasons to cry, don't you?"
"I'm sorry Anna, I really am. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to leave? Because I will, I'll do anything you ask me to. Anything."
Anna ran her hand over her face tiredly.
"Yes and no. Against better judgment I'm gonna give you one more chance, but like Steven says: I have a bad judgment when it comes to you. The thing is that I love you, really love you. Always have and always will. No matter how hard my brain try to convince me that I'm better of without you, my heart tells me different. I can't live without you. No matter how much I hate myself for being this pathetic, you're the reason for me to breath. When I met you the first time, the day you saved me from the idiots in school. I promised myself that I would always love you and care for you, unconditionally, and that's what I've done all these years, but no more Bosco, no more. This is how it's gonna be. If you love me, if you wanna have one more chance, you have to choose, and this time you choose for good. The new rules are: No more screwing around because you can't help it! No more stupid screw ups, because you had such a lousy childhood! That's no longer an excuse. You have to start dealing with your problems like a grown up, and no more Cruz. If you wanna stay with me you stay the hell away from her. You quit Anticrime and go back on patrol again. I don't wanna hear her name ever again, and you fix things with Faith. Once and for all! She doesn't deserve the way you treat her anymore than I do! You have no idea how much you've hurt her. It's probably even harder for her to take all this shit from you than it is for me, because she isn't used to it, like I am! Do I make myself clear?" Anna said furiously, her whole body shaking in anger.
"Yes," Bosco said quietly and wished that he could die right there and then, because he obviously didn't deserve to live. He knew that now. Nowhere in the whole world you could find a bigger jerk than him. He knew that for sure.
" Anna, please forgive me. I really want that chance. I'll promise you anything you want," he said and tried to touch her cheek
"Don't touch me," she said coldly, " and you're not gonna promise me anything right know. I want you to get out of here and think. I want you to think long and hard about what I've said, because this time Bosco; it's for real. This time you have to keep your promises and I want you to be sure about this. I want you to be sure about that you can keep that promise, because I'm not gonna forgive you one more time. I can't live without you, but if you can't promise me this I have to, because I can't stand this much pain. It's gonna kill me for sure. You have one week. I don't wanna see you around before that." Her voice had become very shaky, and Bosco could tell that she tried hard not to cry.
"I'm so sorry, please believe me," Bosco said with anguish in his voice.
"Aren't you always?" Anna said quietly.
"Anna please," Bosco whispered desperately.
"Bosco please just go," Anna whispered wearily. "Please just go."
Bosco nodded slowly and left. Anna watched him leave with tears in her eyes. When she heard the door close, she picked up the vase with roses that he bought her when she was ill and threw it against the wall. It shattered in a million pieces.
"I hate you Maurice Boscorelli! I hate you," she whispered, buried her face in her hands and started to cry.
AUTHOR: faith_in_Faith
E-MAIL: faith_in_Faith@hotmail.com
DISCLAIMER: Don't owe a thing.
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: Up to and including season four.
AUTHORS NOTE: Well I'm REALLY sorry! I know there's a long time since I last updated, but my beta-readers have taken a VERY long vacation and without them I'm lost. : ( Finally a VERY good and faithful friend decided to help us out, so ladies and gentlemen let me introduce: BEE! If you're happy that a new chapter is up, don't thank me, thank Bee :) and of course THANKS for the kind reviews!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
"Are you sure you're gonna be OK here by yourself today? I'll stay at home if you want me to," Bosco offered and looked worriedly at Anna.
She gave him a faint smile. "I'm sure. Try not to worry so much."
He reached out and tried to touch her cheek, but Anna turned away. Bosco's heart ached from her actions. His behavior towards her lately had hurt her so much that she didn't want him to touch her. It was hard for him to deal with. It made him feel even guiltier than he already did. Sometimes he even thought she knew, but that was just not possible. He hesitantly reached out his hand again and said:
"Please let me just make sure you're not running a fever again."
"I'm not. I told you," Anna said impatiently, but she let him touch her cheek.
Bosco felt relieved when it was cool to his touch. She had been very ill the past four days. She had been a really high fever and been in a terrible pain. The antibiotics hadn't done the trick, so he had to take her back to the doctor to get a different sort. Bosco had a permanent knot in his stomach out of worry for her, but now she was finally getting better. She had woken up this morning without a fever, and the pain seemed to be much better too. She was still very pale though and looked thinner. He hadn't managed to make her eat anything the whole time, and that worried him. Not to mention the fact that the sparkle in her eyes was gone, but he was painfully aware of that he was the one who was responsible for that. Not the illness.
He hadn't been at work since the night he found out that she was ill but now, when she was better, he really needed to go. Cruz had already called him twice, pissed as hell, because he stayed at home and "played the loving, caring husband" as she called it. He almost hated her for those words. He didn't want to leave Anna because he was so afraid that she would get worse again, but he really needed to go to work.
"Are you really sure you're gonna be OK here on your own?" he asked again. Anna sighed.
"Stop it Bosco. I'm gonna be fine. Now just go!"
"OK, I'll go and get the boys and drop them off here. Now please promise me that you're gonna use your crutches, and that you'll order some pizza or something for dinner. No cooking! Promise me!" Anna sighed again.
"Stop fussing around Bosco and get out of here! You're gonna be late!"
"Promise me," he said stubbornly.
"I'll promise, if you promise me something too."
"Anything," he said firmly.
"It's your day off tomorrow. Swear you gonna be here. Swear you're not gonna take an extra shift, no matter what the lovely Cruz says."
"I swear," he said firmly.
"Good," Anna said and smiled.
****************
Anna put Samuel and Adam to bed and went into the bathroom. She took her antibiotics and the painkillers, and then she went and lay down on the bed. Her hip had started to hurt pretty bad again, but she didn't run a fever so she knew it was going to be OK. She waited until she was sure about that the boys were asleep, before she picked up the phone and dialed Faith's number.
"Yokas," a male voice said.
"Hi Fred, it's Anna. Is Faith there?"
"Oh hi Anna. How are you today?" Fred asked politely.
"I'm fine, but I really need to talk to Faith."
"OK, she'll be right with you." Anna could hear him put the phone down and only moments later she heard Faith's worried voice.
"Anna is everything alright?"
"No," Anna said simply.
"What's wrong? Is Bosco OK? I haven't seen him around lately."
"He's fine. He's been at home to take care of me. I haven't been feeling very well lately."
"What's wrong?" Faith felt very worried. Something had to be seriously wrong with Anna for Bosco to skip work.
"It's just an infection in my hip. Don't worry about it. I'm feeling much better now. I need to ask you a favor though."
"Anything, just name it," Faith said sincerely. She really wanted to help Anna, because she had been a good and faithful friend through this whole Bosco-Cruz mess.
"Will you please take care of Samuel and Adam for me tomorrow? I need them to stay the night. Bosco and I need to have a conversation that I don't want them to witness."
Faith closed her eyes. OK, so this is it, she thought. Anna had found out. She was sure about that. She took a deep breath and said:
"You know."
"Yes I do, and obviously so do you," Anna said calmly.
"Yeah. I'm so sorry Anna. I know I should have told you, but I really didn't know how," Faith said unhappily.
"It's OK Faith. It really isn't your call."
"So how did you find out? Did he tell you?"
"Hardly Faith, but I'm not blind you know," Anna said dryly.
There was a moment of silence and then Faith said slowly, disbelief in her voice:
"He has done this to you before, hasn't he?"
"Yes."
"God! He really is an asshole!" Faith said angrily. Anna remained silent.
"Why Anna? Why do you stay with him?"
"Because I love him. Always have and always will," Anna said simply.
"Why Anna? He treats you like crap."
"No Faith he doesn't. Most of the time he's the best man a girl can have. Besides this has nothing to do with things as logic, or common sense. In that case I'd left him long ago. My brain knows what all of you, even Bosco, keeps telling me is true. I'm better of without him. My heart on the other hand counts every second he's not around. I can't live without him. No matter how sad and pathetic that might sound, that's the truth. I can't change that. What I can change is the rules of the game, and that's what I'm gonna do."
"What rules? What game?" Faith asked bewildered.
"The "I'll take care of you and forgive you no matter what you do" game. The rules are that I love him unconditionally. He does as he please because he has never promised me differently."
"And the new rules?" Faith said, almost holding her breath.
"I love him. I'll do my best to forgive him, again. He stays the hell away from other women and starts to take responsibility for his actions," Anna said coldly, and Faith knew that Bosco should be more than happy that she even gave him another chance. She really hoped he would be able to understand that this was the last one he would ever get.
"OK," Faith said quietly. "Good luck tomorrow, and don't worry about the boys. I'll take care of them for you."
"Thank you very much! You can't imagine what this means to me. I can't ask Steven to take them, because he would rip Bosco's head off if he knew."
"I'm not so sure that would be a loss," Faith said under her breath. She couldn't remember being this angry with Bosco ever before, except for the time when he told her that she was a bad mother. That was more hurt than anger though and she didn't want to think about that now. She would only start to cry, and that was the last thing she needed to do.
"What?" Anna asked.
"Nothing. When do you want me to pick them up?"
"Around ten, when he's out running."
"OK, see you tomorrow."
"Yeah tomorrow," Anna said and hung up the phone. She closed her eyes tightly. She knew that if she would be able to get through with this she had to get some sleep.
**********
Bosco stepped out from the shower, dried himself and put on a pair of blue jeans and a green T-shit. The apartment was unusually silent and he briefly wondered what the boys were doing. He stepped into the living room and found Anna sitting on the couch.
"Hi," he said and smiled kindly at her. "It's very quiet here. Where are the boys?"
"They're not at home. I've sent them away to a friend over night," she said quietly.
Bosco took a closer look at her. She was very pale and looked tired already, although it was only 11:00 am. He immediately got worried.
"Why? You're OK?" he asked and stepped closer to her.
"I'm fine, but we need to talk. Why don't you sit down?" she said gravely.
Bosco swallowed hard. Something was very wrong. That's for sure, and he was scared. She had only been alone for about an hour and she seemed OK when he left. So what had happened?
"Anna?"
"Please Bosco just sit down, will you?"
He sat down on the couch beside her and took her hands between his.
"Anna what's wrong?"
Anna took her hands away, rested them in her lap and said calmly:
"We need to talk about what have happened between us lately."
Bosco swallowed hard again. This was not good. Not good at all. Something told him she knew. The question was; how could she know? Maybe it was just his guilty conscious that played tricks on him. He decided to play it cool for the time being.
"You know I'm sorry that I've ignored both you and the boys lately, but it's just because I've had so much to do at work and."
He looked up and met her eyes. The disappointment and hurt he saw there made him speechless.
"Bos," she said softly. "Don't lie to me. I think I deserve better than that, don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah you do," he said unhappily. "How did you find out? Did Faith tell you?"
"No she didn't. She's a much more faithful friend than you deserve, but I'm not blind Bosco. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to see it? Did you really think that I didn't learn a thing the last time?"
Bosco swallowed hard. He felt sick when he thought about the last time, about the fact that this wasn't the first time he had behaved like an ass. He was a lot younger then though. Only seventeen, but that probably wasn't an excuse. He didn't answer, because there wasn't really anything to say.
"So it's true then. You really betrayed me in every way you could think of, didn't you?"
Bosco closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again as he said:
"Please Anna, it wasn't like that. This wasn't anything I planed to do. It just happened OK?"
"How did it just happen? Did you slip and fall into her? Did you just wake up one day and think: This would be a great day to cheat on Anna? Did she hold a gun to your head and make you do it? Huh? Tell me Bosco. I wanna know!" Anna said angrily.
Bosco ran his hand over his hair desperately. This was worse than he ever thought it would be. He had never thought that Anna would be angry, hurt and devastated yes, but angry no. Anna hardly ever got angry. This time he was in real trouble. He knew it.
"I don't know. I really don't, I'm so sorry," Bosco said regretfully.
"So what did I do wrong? Please Bosco tell me. I have to know, because I don't understand. I do everything for you. I'm always here for you. I always help you in any way I can, with everything. I cover for you when you screw up. I pick up the pieces of you when you can't handle your life. I hold you when you wake up after your nightmares. I try to do damage control when you screw up things with your best friend. I listen when you wanna talk. I love you more than anything, probably more than my own life. Damn it Bosco, I practically breathe only to be with you. So please tell me, what did I do wrong? Tell me what I did to deserve this? TELL ME!" she shouted desperately, and wiped away the tears she hadn't been able to hold back.
Bosco's feeling of guilt increased for every word she uttered, and when she shouted the last part he wanted nothing more than to shoot himself. Oh God what have I done? he thought. What have I done? He knew this was it. He was about to lose her. This was beyond repair. It had to be. There was no way she was going to forgive him this time, not until hell froze over. He felt his chest tighten. How could he be so stupid? He knew he couldn't survive without her, but that probably was what he had to do. He was going to lose the best thing he had ever had, all because he never thought before he acted.
"It's not you Anna. It's me. It's all me. I'm an idiot that never understood what I had. You have never done anything do deserve this, never. Please Anna don't cry," he said softly with a touch of despair in his voice.
"You don't want me to cry, huh? Why, because Bosco's girls don't cry? You sure knew what you did when you invented that phrase, didn't you? Because you're sure as hell give us a lot of reasons to cry, don't you?"
"I'm sorry Anna, I really am. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to leave? Because I will, I'll do anything you ask me to. Anything."
Anna ran her hand over her face tiredly.
"Yes and no. Against better judgment I'm gonna give you one more chance, but like Steven says: I have a bad judgment when it comes to you. The thing is that I love you, really love you. Always have and always will. No matter how hard my brain try to convince me that I'm better of without you, my heart tells me different. I can't live without you. No matter how much I hate myself for being this pathetic, you're the reason for me to breath. When I met you the first time, the day you saved me from the idiots in school. I promised myself that I would always love you and care for you, unconditionally, and that's what I've done all these years, but no more Bosco, no more. This is how it's gonna be. If you love me, if you wanna have one more chance, you have to choose, and this time you choose for good. The new rules are: No more screwing around because you can't help it! No more stupid screw ups, because you had such a lousy childhood! That's no longer an excuse. You have to start dealing with your problems like a grown up, and no more Cruz. If you wanna stay with me you stay the hell away from her. You quit Anticrime and go back on patrol again. I don't wanna hear her name ever again, and you fix things with Faith. Once and for all! She doesn't deserve the way you treat her anymore than I do! You have no idea how much you've hurt her. It's probably even harder for her to take all this shit from you than it is for me, because she isn't used to it, like I am! Do I make myself clear?" Anna said furiously, her whole body shaking in anger.
"Yes," Bosco said quietly and wished that he could die right there and then, because he obviously didn't deserve to live. He knew that now. Nowhere in the whole world you could find a bigger jerk than him. He knew that for sure.
" Anna, please forgive me. I really want that chance. I'll promise you anything you want," he said and tried to touch her cheek
"Don't touch me," she said coldly, " and you're not gonna promise me anything right know. I want you to get out of here and think. I want you to think long and hard about what I've said, because this time Bosco; it's for real. This time you have to keep your promises and I want you to be sure about this. I want you to be sure about that you can keep that promise, because I'm not gonna forgive you one more time. I can't live without you, but if you can't promise me this I have to, because I can't stand this much pain. It's gonna kill me for sure. You have one week. I don't wanna see you around before that." Her voice had become very shaky, and Bosco could tell that she tried hard not to cry.
"I'm so sorry, please believe me," Bosco said with anguish in his voice.
"Aren't you always?" Anna said quietly.
"Anna please," Bosco whispered desperately.
"Bosco please just go," Anna whispered wearily. "Please just go."
Bosco nodded slowly and left. Anna watched him leave with tears in her eyes. When she heard the door close, she picked up the vase with roses that he bought her when she was ill and threw it against the wall. It shattered in a million pieces.
"I hate you Maurice Boscorelli! I hate you," she whispered, buried her face in her hands and started to cry.