TITLE: THE ONE CONSTANT
AUTHOR: MINN
DISCLAIMER: I STILL don't own nothin' - mores the pity - just playing. No character was really harmed during the typing of this nonsense. The creators of Third Watch are, of course, gods. And so are the actors who portray the characters!
I'M STILL foreign, so cut me some slack if I use a phrase or two that don't make no sense.
GREETINGS and huge thanx to Angie (Thought you might enjoy the bit where Faith smacked the Anti Cruz one...god, I know I did! And we Kiwis have only seen Bubblelips twice so far...), Helena, Juls (I'm not done with the tissues just yet, either...*ducks as empty tissue box comes flying*), DreamLoveBreathe, Winterwolf (*slaps Winterwolf about head*), Lifesaver55 (Aww, thank ya babe...), Kate Anderson, Ljae (glad you like!), Deliani (I couldn't believe it when he pulled a gun on her either! This thing has a life of its own - I'm not writing it, its controlling me!), Meeko (I'm looking forward to some sweet Bosco lurve too - but I'm betting you mean between him and Faith, not him and me...), mauriceboscorelli, AnnaDelAmico (Awwww, shucks, you sure know how to polish my ego! Cheers! Give my regards to your Thesaurus...), Lauren Metal (Cruz slapping should be an Olympic sport, don't you think?), Jazz (the fingers are a flyin'...), and phpa (*cackles evilly* Reader torture - as good as chocolate, if not wickedly better...) - for taking the time to review so kindly - please forgive me if I've missed anyone. And to everyone else who's enjoying this as much as I am writing it - Cheers!!
AND IF you're ever on line over at 3rdwatch.net and see the thread "TWINZ talk crap Tuesday" is active, drop on in and say 'hi' 'cos that's where you'll find me hanging out - and I would love to chat!
----
THE ONE CONSTANT
PART 21
The car was well alight by the time fire appliances arrived.
Diverted to attend, when they reached the scene 55 Charlie found little more than a sodden smouldering pile of blackened metal. The grim faces of their FDNY counterparts told them there was more to this than a simple fire.
Jimmy Doherty's face was ashen.
"What have you got?" Sully asked.
"Body in the front seat, drivers side," was the matter of fact reply.
Ty glanced around them at the barren piece of waste ground the vehicle stood on. "I take it it wasn't an accident."
Doherty shook his head. "This thing was torched deliberately," he answered grimly.
"Better get Crime Scene down here," Sully murmured, reaching for his radio. "Davis, run a check on the plates."
"There's not a lot left," Jimmy mused, watching as Ty ventured closer trying not to let his eyes linger on the charred form inside the car.
"Someone was out to cover their tracks," Sully frowned as he watched his partner call the number in.
Ty shuffled back to where they stood. "Poor bastard," he muttered.
"Let's hope someone had the courtesy to shoot him before they set a match to him,' Sully growled.
"Central to 55 Charlie."
"Go ahead Central," Ty responded.
"Can you please reconfirm the number of the vehicle concerned."
Ty frowned and repeated it.
"That doesn't sound good," Sully muttered.
When the dispatcher's voice came again they could all detect a small note of hesitation.
"55 Charlie be advised, the last registered owner for that vehicle was Maurice Louis Boscorelli."
----
"Just because the car was registered to him, doesn't necessarily mean it was Boscorelli."
Bartell's voice was as smooth as ever, but there was something in his tone that alerted Faith to the man's well-masked state of agitation.
She gazed at him steadily. "There's more to this than you're telling me."
Bartell's eyes flicked over to where Sgt Cruz and an FBI detective stood waiting. "You have good instincts, Officer Yokas," he said.
As Bartell began to rise wearily from the chair he slouched in, Lt Swerskey entered the room.
"Diz is here," he said simply.
Faith saw Bartell exchange a look with the others.
"Sgt, can you deal with that?" he said quietly, but Cruz was already on her way downstairs.
"Officer Yokas has been appraised of the situation with the incident,' Bartell told Swerskey as he and the FBI detective readied themselves to follow Cruz.
Swerskey nodded. "Faith, you OK?"
Her eyes drifted to the surveillance shots of Bosco that still hung on the wall. "I'm fine Lieu," she murmured.
"We don't know it's him yet."
Faith stared at the photos and said nothing.
----
As they had been briefed it would at role call all week the final stage of the operation began suddenly.
A sort of numb resignation settled over Faith as she carried out her assigned duties with unflinching detachment, watching almost from afar as the night's events unfolded around her. She witnessed colleagues bring in a steady stream of arrests. Box loads of evidence began to pile up awaiting processing and the paperwork mountain it all generated grew higher by the hour. Faith listened absently as word came through that things had gone particularly well.
The apparent success of the operation felt meaningless to Faith. She longed to have the shift over and done with so she could go home to be with her little girl and Isabelle, who had become the rock to which Faith could cling in her times of trouble.
Faith couldn't get to the locker room quickly enough after Swerskey ordered her home, an hour after her shift was supposed to have ended. But as she was about to exit, Ty Davis bowled in through the door looking for her.
"Glad I caught you Faith," he said. "Bartell's wanting to see you."
"Bartell? Why?"
Ty shrugged. "He wasn't sayin'. Just asked us to come get you. He was pretty insistent."
Faith frowned, reaching for her mobile to dial home.
"Did he tell you what it's about?" she asked, following as Ty led off. She heard Isabelle pick up. "Hey, Isabelle, it's me. Look, I'm gonna be a little later than I thought, OK? Somethin's come up. Give Gracie a big kiss for me will you? OK, gotta go."
"Like I said Faith, Bartell wasn't sayin'."
Sully watched them as they climbed into the waiting RMP. "What a night," he muttered. "You were lucky to be behind that desk Faith, 'cos some of the stuff that went down tonight was not pretty."
"I heard about the car fire," she said quietly as they drove away from the House.
Ty and Sully flicked a glance each other's way.
"Just 'cos his name's on the papers, doesn't mean he was in the car," Sully said quietly.
Faith stared out of the window and said nothing.
"Where are we goin'?" she asked eventually.
"Bartell's at Mercy," Ty replied. "Apparently there's a few casualties on both sides of this thing."
"I hear Cruz got another smack in the face," Sully chuckled. "I would have paid real money to see that."
"Watching Faith land one on her was waaaaay better," Ty murmured, turning to grin at their passenger. "I think she still has the imprint of your hand on her cheek Faith."
"She had no right to say what she did," Faith muttered.
As they pulled up they noticed there seemed to be more squad cars outside the hospital than there were outside the House. Faith thanked her colleagues as she exited the RMP and made her way inside.
"I'd kinda like to know what this is about too," Ty mused after he and Sully had watched her disappear from view.
"Wanna go in and check it out?" Sully rumbled.
"Why not? Everyone else we know seems to be here," Ty replied.
The admissions area was bustling as Faith made her way to the desk.
"I'm lookin' for Detective Bartell?" she said to a very harried looking Proctor.
"Exam 4 - along with the rest of the NYPD," came the tart reply.
As Faith made her way through the mob she saw Adrian Bartell exit a room just up ahead of her accompanied by two colleagues.
"Officer Yokas," he acknowledged her as he approached.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Not really," he said blithely, turning to one of the men with him. "Get Radnor on it, quick as you can, and if he can't do anything about it, put a bomb under Kolinsky instead."
"Not really?" Faith retorted, visibly annoyed as she watched Bartell sail past.
"See Cruz, Exam 4," the detective called over his shoulder. "And try not to rearrange her face for her this time."
Faith stood in the corridor, tired and irritated. Cruz had to be the last person in the world she wanted to see.
Ty and Sully watched as Bartell marched past them.
"What'd he want?" Ty asked Faith as they joined her.
"Nothing, apparently."
"Nothing?"
"What the hell?" Ty murmured.
"He told me to see Cruz," Faith murmured, indicating the room Bartell had exited.
"Maybe this is about Bosco," Ty said softly.
Faith nodded, her gaze dipping sharply to the floor. "I just don't know if I'm ready to hear..."
"We'll be right outside if you need anything Faith," Sully assured her.
She nodded, then slowly turned and headed for the room.
They watched as Faith stopped abruptly at the doorway, stepping back slightly to peer into the room from the corridor. As Ty and Sully stood exchanging puzzled looks one of their superior officers brushed past them and made his way towards the room, a highly distraught woman accompanying him.
"That's Rose," Sully murmured.
"Bosco's mom? That does not look good," Ty replied, slowly making his way forward.
Rose didn't seem to notice Faith standing there just beside the door. Faith watched as she made her way over to the bed upon which her son sat, his arm being attended to by one of the doctors. Sgt Cruz stood close by, her back to the doorway.
"You said you'd look after him!" Rose wailed as she confronted him.
His face a picture of utter desolation, Bosco could barely look his mother in the eye. "I tried ma..."
"You promised me!" she cried, stepping forward to shove him.
"Lady, you're outta here if you do that again!" the doctor snapped irritably.
"Ma, he wouldn't listen to me!" Bosco pleaded, his own distress clearly evident.
"Why should he listen to you, Maurice?" Rose demanded bitterly. "You rag on Mikey for years about bein' a user and then you go turn around and do exactly the same! You're nothing but a goddamn stinking little hypocrite!" She lunged forward again but Cruz stepped between them.
"I'm not usin' ma!" Bosco retorted sharply. "It was a front, all right? Part of the cover. Doc? Tell her."
The doctor nodded, indicating the clipboard of papers on the bed next to his patient. "Read it for yourself, ma'am," he said. "Tox screen came back negative. He's clean."
"Ma'am, your son was involved in a deep cover operation," Sgt Cruz said sharply. "That means he had to assume certain roles to fit into the community we were trying to infiltrate."
"Well he deserves an Oscar for his performance," Sully said softly. "And so does everyone else who knew about this."
"I couldn't tell Mikey what was goin' on ma," Bosco was saying, attempting to reason with his overwrought mother. "There was too much at stake."
Rose was having none of it. "In other words, you needed to be a goddamn hero instead of a good brother!" she shouted wildly. "Well congratulations Maurice, you're a hero!"
Rose turned away and paced the floor for a moment in a vein attempt to compose herself but her anguish would not be denied. "Does it make it all better, huh Maurice? Does finally provin' to the world what a hero you are solve all your problems? Has it changed the past? Has it?"
"C'mon ma..."
"You're useless!" she exploded.
Bosco's face crumpled. "Ma, I'm sorry," he begged her. "I couldn't protect him 'cos he wasn't listening to me!"
"Shut up Maurice!" Rose snapped bitterly. "Just shut the hell up! You couldn't protect your brother 'cos you couldn't do that and play hero too!"
"Oh man," Ty murmured. "The body in the car..."
Faith looked on in silent anguish as Bosco sat before his mother in obvious distress.
Rose began to make her way to the door, pausing momentarily to face Bosco once again.
"I hope whatever medal they give you keeps you warm at night, Maurice," she murmured bitterly, dissolving into tears as she walked out into the corridor.
Faith watched Rose disappear into the crowd before returning her attention to the room once more. She saw the superior officer who had accompanied Rose proffering his hand to Bosco, but Bosco's hands lay claw-like and trembling in his lap.
"You've done a fine job, the both of you," the superior said, offering the handshake to Cruz instead. "I understand the whole thing was your idea, Sgt."
"Yes sir," Cruz answered.
"Outstanding," he murmured. "Though a shame about your brother, Boscorelli."
The wounded, dangerous look Bosco gave him had the man quickly taking his leave of them.
Faith couldn't drag her eyes away from Bosco's trembling hands.
Cruz moved closer to him and placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder. "We got him, Bosco," she said quietly. "Ribero's never gonna hurt anyone again - thanks to you."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" he inquired sourly.
"Mikey made his choices, Bosco. Like you said, he wasn't listening..."
Bosco looked away. "When can I get outta here doc?"
"Soon as I've written you a prescription for some meds," the doctor replied as he dressed the wound that he'd been tending.
"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Cruz asked.
Bosco shrugged. "I'll find something..."
"You can crash at my place," she said, noticing Bosco's attention had drifted away from her. When she turned Cruz discovered Faith standing in the doorway.
Bosco's eyes were riveted to his former partner as he watched her slowly approach.
"Faith," he murmured.
"Hey Bos," she answered softly.
Cruz reluctantly stepped to one side but made no move to leave.
The doctor handed Bosco a slip of paper as he made his way out. "Get this filled and for godsake take the damn things will you?"
Bosco nodded.
The room lapsed into an awkward silence for a moment before Faith finally spoke again. "You were undercover?"
Bosco's eyes lifted to meet hers and Faith discovered they had lost none of their intensity, nor any of their ability to touch her deeply.
"Faith, I'm sorry about the gun thing," he said softly, his expression one of anxious contrition. "I didn't know how else to..." He shrugged.
"It's OK," Faith said. "I shouldn't have even been there..." She looked down at his quaking hands.
Bosco's gaze followed hers. "Been under a bit of stress just lately," he murmured.
Reaching forward, Faith gently enfolded them in hers. When their gazes met, the look of anguish in his eyes threatened to bring tears to hers.
"I'm so sorry about Mikey," Faith murmured.
The look of anguish intensified and he gripped her hands tightly. "He wouldn't listen to me Faith..."
A movement in the doorway caught Faith's attention.
"Sorry to have to interrupt."
Detective Bartell stood there, looking suitably apologetic as he surveyed the scene before him. "We need Boscorelli down at the House, now."
Bosco's gaze drifted slowly away from Faith to rest upon the detective. "What, it can't wait?"
"It's important, Bosco. I wouldn't be here otherwise." Bartell then looked squarely at Faith as he spoke. "Some loose ends need tying up now otherwise the likes of Dominic Masaro will eat us alive in court. We'll need you there too, Sgt."
Faith nodded, slowly released Bosco's hands and stepped back from him. She watched as he eased himself wearily off the bed.
Bosco looked up at her, a small smile of fondness teasing the corners of his mouth.
"Say hi to Fred and the kids for me," he mumbled.
Faith saw Bartell frown slightly.
"I'm sorry, I thought you would have had the chance to tell him by now," Bartell said quietly.
Faith exhaled heavily. "I guess it's just not the right time yet," she answered, gazing after Bosco as he walked away from her with Cruz by his side.
----
TBC!! *Backs up as The Troops come after Aunty Minn armed with blunt objects* Aww c'mon guys! I just can't HELP my silly damn self! Trust me - I think you might just get a warm fuzzy hit off the next one...maybe...
Now, Winterwolf dear. You're one of those people who spoils the end of a movie for everyone you know, aren't you? Grrrr!
AUTHOR: MINN
DISCLAIMER: I STILL don't own nothin' - mores the pity - just playing. No character was really harmed during the typing of this nonsense. The creators of Third Watch are, of course, gods. And so are the actors who portray the characters!
I'M STILL foreign, so cut me some slack if I use a phrase or two that don't make no sense.
GREETINGS and huge thanx to Angie (Thought you might enjoy the bit where Faith smacked the Anti Cruz one...god, I know I did! And we Kiwis have only seen Bubblelips twice so far...), Helena, Juls (I'm not done with the tissues just yet, either...*ducks as empty tissue box comes flying*), DreamLoveBreathe, Winterwolf (*slaps Winterwolf about head*), Lifesaver55 (Aww, thank ya babe...), Kate Anderson, Ljae (glad you like!), Deliani (I couldn't believe it when he pulled a gun on her either! This thing has a life of its own - I'm not writing it, its controlling me!), Meeko (I'm looking forward to some sweet Bosco lurve too - but I'm betting you mean between him and Faith, not him and me...), mauriceboscorelli, AnnaDelAmico (Awwww, shucks, you sure know how to polish my ego! Cheers! Give my regards to your Thesaurus...), Lauren Metal (Cruz slapping should be an Olympic sport, don't you think?), Jazz (the fingers are a flyin'...), and phpa (*cackles evilly* Reader torture - as good as chocolate, if not wickedly better...) - for taking the time to review so kindly - please forgive me if I've missed anyone. And to everyone else who's enjoying this as much as I am writing it - Cheers!!
AND IF you're ever on line over at 3rdwatch.net and see the thread "TWINZ talk crap Tuesday" is active, drop on in and say 'hi' 'cos that's where you'll find me hanging out - and I would love to chat!
----
THE ONE CONSTANT
PART 21
The car was well alight by the time fire appliances arrived.
Diverted to attend, when they reached the scene 55 Charlie found little more than a sodden smouldering pile of blackened metal. The grim faces of their FDNY counterparts told them there was more to this than a simple fire.
Jimmy Doherty's face was ashen.
"What have you got?" Sully asked.
"Body in the front seat, drivers side," was the matter of fact reply.
Ty glanced around them at the barren piece of waste ground the vehicle stood on. "I take it it wasn't an accident."
Doherty shook his head. "This thing was torched deliberately," he answered grimly.
"Better get Crime Scene down here," Sully murmured, reaching for his radio. "Davis, run a check on the plates."
"There's not a lot left," Jimmy mused, watching as Ty ventured closer trying not to let his eyes linger on the charred form inside the car.
"Someone was out to cover their tracks," Sully frowned as he watched his partner call the number in.
Ty shuffled back to where they stood. "Poor bastard," he muttered.
"Let's hope someone had the courtesy to shoot him before they set a match to him,' Sully growled.
"Central to 55 Charlie."
"Go ahead Central," Ty responded.
"Can you please reconfirm the number of the vehicle concerned."
Ty frowned and repeated it.
"That doesn't sound good," Sully muttered.
When the dispatcher's voice came again they could all detect a small note of hesitation.
"55 Charlie be advised, the last registered owner for that vehicle was Maurice Louis Boscorelli."
----
"Just because the car was registered to him, doesn't necessarily mean it was Boscorelli."
Bartell's voice was as smooth as ever, but there was something in his tone that alerted Faith to the man's well-masked state of agitation.
She gazed at him steadily. "There's more to this than you're telling me."
Bartell's eyes flicked over to where Sgt Cruz and an FBI detective stood waiting. "You have good instincts, Officer Yokas," he said.
As Bartell began to rise wearily from the chair he slouched in, Lt Swerskey entered the room.
"Diz is here," he said simply.
Faith saw Bartell exchange a look with the others.
"Sgt, can you deal with that?" he said quietly, but Cruz was already on her way downstairs.
"Officer Yokas has been appraised of the situation with the incident,' Bartell told Swerskey as he and the FBI detective readied themselves to follow Cruz.
Swerskey nodded. "Faith, you OK?"
Her eyes drifted to the surveillance shots of Bosco that still hung on the wall. "I'm fine Lieu," she murmured.
"We don't know it's him yet."
Faith stared at the photos and said nothing.
----
As they had been briefed it would at role call all week the final stage of the operation began suddenly.
A sort of numb resignation settled over Faith as she carried out her assigned duties with unflinching detachment, watching almost from afar as the night's events unfolded around her. She witnessed colleagues bring in a steady stream of arrests. Box loads of evidence began to pile up awaiting processing and the paperwork mountain it all generated grew higher by the hour. Faith listened absently as word came through that things had gone particularly well.
The apparent success of the operation felt meaningless to Faith. She longed to have the shift over and done with so she could go home to be with her little girl and Isabelle, who had become the rock to which Faith could cling in her times of trouble.
Faith couldn't get to the locker room quickly enough after Swerskey ordered her home, an hour after her shift was supposed to have ended. But as she was about to exit, Ty Davis bowled in through the door looking for her.
"Glad I caught you Faith," he said. "Bartell's wanting to see you."
"Bartell? Why?"
Ty shrugged. "He wasn't sayin'. Just asked us to come get you. He was pretty insistent."
Faith frowned, reaching for her mobile to dial home.
"Did he tell you what it's about?" she asked, following as Ty led off. She heard Isabelle pick up. "Hey, Isabelle, it's me. Look, I'm gonna be a little later than I thought, OK? Somethin's come up. Give Gracie a big kiss for me will you? OK, gotta go."
"Like I said Faith, Bartell wasn't sayin'."
Sully watched them as they climbed into the waiting RMP. "What a night," he muttered. "You were lucky to be behind that desk Faith, 'cos some of the stuff that went down tonight was not pretty."
"I heard about the car fire," she said quietly as they drove away from the House.
Ty and Sully flicked a glance each other's way.
"Just 'cos his name's on the papers, doesn't mean he was in the car," Sully said quietly.
Faith stared out of the window and said nothing.
"Where are we goin'?" she asked eventually.
"Bartell's at Mercy," Ty replied. "Apparently there's a few casualties on both sides of this thing."
"I hear Cruz got another smack in the face," Sully chuckled. "I would have paid real money to see that."
"Watching Faith land one on her was waaaaay better," Ty murmured, turning to grin at their passenger. "I think she still has the imprint of your hand on her cheek Faith."
"She had no right to say what she did," Faith muttered.
As they pulled up they noticed there seemed to be more squad cars outside the hospital than there were outside the House. Faith thanked her colleagues as she exited the RMP and made her way inside.
"I'd kinda like to know what this is about too," Ty mused after he and Sully had watched her disappear from view.
"Wanna go in and check it out?" Sully rumbled.
"Why not? Everyone else we know seems to be here," Ty replied.
The admissions area was bustling as Faith made her way to the desk.
"I'm lookin' for Detective Bartell?" she said to a very harried looking Proctor.
"Exam 4 - along with the rest of the NYPD," came the tart reply.
As Faith made her way through the mob she saw Adrian Bartell exit a room just up ahead of her accompanied by two colleagues.
"Officer Yokas," he acknowledged her as he approached.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Not really," he said blithely, turning to one of the men with him. "Get Radnor on it, quick as you can, and if he can't do anything about it, put a bomb under Kolinsky instead."
"Not really?" Faith retorted, visibly annoyed as she watched Bartell sail past.
"See Cruz, Exam 4," the detective called over his shoulder. "And try not to rearrange her face for her this time."
Faith stood in the corridor, tired and irritated. Cruz had to be the last person in the world she wanted to see.
Ty and Sully watched as Bartell marched past them.
"What'd he want?" Ty asked Faith as they joined her.
"Nothing, apparently."
"Nothing?"
"What the hell?" Ty murmured.
"He told me to see Cruz," Faith murmured, indicating the room Bartell had exited.
"Maybe this is about Bosco," Ty said softly.
Faith nodded, her gaze dipping sharply to the floor. "I just don't know if I'm ready to hear..."
"We'll be right outside if you need anything Faith," Sully assured her.
She nodded, then slowly turned and headed for the room.
They watched as Faith stopped abruptly at the doorway, stepping back slightly to peer into the room from the corridor. As Ty and Sully stood exchanging puzzled looks one of their superior officers brushed past them and made his way towards the room, a highly distraught woman accompanying him.
"That's Rose," Sully murmured.
"Bosco's mom? That does not look good," Ty replied, slowly making his way forward.
Rose didn't seem to notice Faith standing there just beside the door. Faith watched as she made her way over to the bed upon which her son sat, his arm being attended to by one of the doctors. Sgt Cruz stood close by, her back to the doorway.
"You said you'd look after him!" Rose wailed as she confronted him.
His face a picture of utter desolation, Bosco could barely look his mother in the eye. "I tried ma..."
"You promised me!" she cried, stepping forward to shove him.
"Lady, you're outta here if you do that again!" the doctor snapped irritably.
"Ma, he wouldn't listen to me!" Bosco pleaded, his own distress clearly evident.
"Why should he listen to you, Maurice?" Rose demanded bitterly. "You rag on Mikey for years about bein' a user and then you go turn around and do exactly the same! You're nothing but a goddamn stinking little hypocrite!" She lunged forward again but Cruz stepped between them.
"I'm not usin' ma!" Bosco retorted sharply. "It was a front, all right? Part of the cover. Doc? Tell her."
The doctor nodded, indicating the clipboard of papers on the bed next to his patient. "Read it for yourself, ma'am," he said. "Tox screen came back negative. He's clean."
"Ma'am, your son was involved in a deep cover operation," Sgt Cruz said sharply. "That means he had to assume certain roles to fit into the community we were trying to infiltrate."
"Well he deserves an Oscar for his performance," Sully said softly. "And so does everyone else who knew about this."
"I couldn't tell Mikey what was goin' on ma," Bosco was saying, attempting to reason with his overwrought mother. "There was too much at stake."
Rose was having none of it. "In other words, you needed to be a goddamn hero instead of a good brother!" she shouted wildly. "Well congratulations Maurice, you're a hero!"
Rose turned away and paced the floor for a moment in a vein attempt to compose herself but her anguish would not be denied. "Does it make it all better, huh Maurice? Does finally provin' to the world what a hero you are solve all your problems? Has it changed the past? Has it?"
"C'mon ma..."
"You're useless!" she exploded.
Bosco's face crumpled. "Ma, I'm sorry," he begged her. "I couldn't protect him 'cos he wasn't listening to me!"
"Shut up Maurice!" Rose snapped bitterly. "Just shut the hell up! You couldn't protect your brother 'cos you couldn't do that and play hero too!"
"Oh man," Ty murmured. "The body in the car..."
Faith looked on in silent anguish as Bosco sat before his mother in obvious distress.
Rose began to make her way to the door, pausing momentarily to face Bosco once again.
"I hope whatever medal they give you keeps you warm at night, Maurice," she murmured bitterly, dissolving into tears as she walked out into the corridor.
Faith watched Rose disappear into the crowd before returning her attention to the room once more. She saw the superior officer who had accompanied Rose proffering his hand to Bosco, but Bosco's hands lay claw-like and trembling in his lap.
"You've done a fine job, the both of you," the superior said, offering the handshake to Cruz instead. "I understand the whole thing was your idea, Sgt."
"Yes sir," Cruz answered.
"Outstanding," he murmured. "Though a shame about your brother, Boscorelli."
The wounded, dangerous look Bosco gave him had the man quickly taking his leave of them.
Faith couldn't drag her eyes away from Bosco's trembling hands.
Cruz moved closer to him and placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder. "We got him, Bosco," she said quietly. "Ribero's never gonna hurt anyone again - thanks to you."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" he inquired sourly.
"Mikey made his choices, Bosco. Like you said, he wasn't listening..."
Bosco looked away. "When can I get outta here doc?"
"Soon as I've written you a prescription for some meds," the doctor replied as he dressed the wound that he'd been tending.
"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Cruz asked.
Bosco shrugged. "I'll find something..."
"You can crash at my place," she said, noticing Bosco's attention had drifted away from her. When she turned Cruz discovered Faith standing in the doorway.
Bosco's eyes were riveted to his former partner as he watched her slowly approach.
"Faith," he murmured.
"Hey Bos," she answered softly.
Cruz reluctantly stepped to one side but made no move to leave.
The doctor handed Bosco a slip of paper as he made his way out. "Get this filled and for godsake take the damn things will you?"
Bosco nodded.
The room lapsed into an awkward silence for a moment before Faith finally spoke again. "You were undercover?"
Bosco's eyes lifted to meet hers and Faith discovered they had lost none of their intensity, nor any of their ability to touch her deeply.
"Faith, I'm sorry about the gun thing," he said softly, his expression one of anxious contrition. "I didn't know how else to..." He shrugged.
"It's OK," Faith said. "I shouldn't have even been there..." She looked down at his quaking hands.
Bosco's gaze followed hers. "Been under a bit of stress just lately," he murmured.
Reaching forward, Faith gently enfolded them in hers. When their gazes met, the look of anguish in his eyes threatened to bring tears to hers.
"I'm so sorry about Mikey," Faith murmured.
The look of anguish intensified and he gripped her hands tightly. "He wouldn't listen to me Faith..."
A movement in the doorway caught Faith's attention.
"Sorry to have to interrupt."
Detective Bartell stood there, looking suitably apologetic as he surveyed the scene before him. "We need Boscorelli down at the House, now."
Bosco's gaze drifted slowly away from Faith to rest upon the detective. "What, it can't wait?"
"It's important, Bosco. I wouldn't be here otherwise." Bartell then looked squarely at Faith as he spoke. "Some loose ends need tying up now otherwise the likes of Dominic Masaro will eat us alive in court. We'll need you there too, Sgt."
Faith nodded, slowly released Bosco's hands and stepped back from him. She watched as he eased himself wearily off the bed.
Bosco looked up at her, a small smile of fondness teasing the corners of his mouth.
"Say hi to Fred and the kids for me," he mumbled.
Faith saw Bartell frown slightly.
"I'm sorry, I thought you would have had the chance to tell him by now," Bartell said quietly.
Faith exhaled heavily. "I guess it's just not the right time yet," she answered, gazing after Bosco as he walked away from her with Cruz by his side.
----
TBC!! *Backs up as The Troops come after Aunty Minn armed with blunt objects* Aww c'mon guys! I just can't HELP my silly damn self! Trust me - I think you might just get a warm fuzzy hit off the next one...maybe...
Now, Winterwolf dear. You're one of those people who spoils the end of a movie for everyone you know, aren't you? Grrrr!