Okay my friends, here's chapter 7. To those that are reading (LOL), enjoy!

~Joey~

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

-A Fine Balance-

Chapter 7

More than anything else, Bosco wanted to hear one tiny little piece of good news. In the past three days, every bit of information that was thrown his way consisted of bad news. It was frustrating and depressing, and he felt himself slipping into that 'nothing good can come of this' mode.

Simply put, everything hurt. The muscles in his chest ached with every expansion on his lungs, his head pounded behind his eyes, and his stomach burned with every new wave of nausea that ripped through his abdomen. He was just so tired and so unbelievably 'sore' - he wasn't sure he could even lift his head.

"Bosco, they're going to find her. Everything's going to be okay." Faith immediately shook her head at her own comment - realizing that saying nothing would probably have be better than empty promises.

There was no answer. No acknowledgment whatsoever, and Faith sighed a little, slipping back into her chair in defeat. She hated not being able to do anything, and wished she could be out there with the others, assisting in the search. She looked back to Bosco's frail form before realizing that though doing so might make her feel better, her best friend needed someone by his side right now - even if it was just a silent partner.

***********

Ty clutched his gun, every few seconds rearranging his grip to distract his mind from wandering into descriptive visions of dreaded findings.

He stepped into the darkened building, allowing his eyes several seconds to adjust to the significantly dimmer setting. Once his pupils had made the necessary modifications, he cautiously proceeded forward.

His heart sank when he saw just how demolished the interior of the building was. No table was left unturned and the floor was sporadically covered by a clear liquid, which Ty assumed was liquor. It looked like a pack of teenagers had all decided to throw a mass temper-tantrum, ensuring that nothing was left intact.

The three followers behind him had dispersed in all different directions, four sets of eyes scanning the mess for any sign of life.

Nothing.

Sometimes nothing was better than something. Sure, they didn't find his Mom, but did they really want to find her here?

Once he had reached the front end of the bar, Ty sighed, letting his gun fall to his side. Sully came out of the back room displaying similar posture.

"Nothing back there," he stated. A quick look to his other officers showed they had pretty much found the same thing.

"What do we do now?" Ty asked, already anticipating their next move.

Sully grumbled something under his breathe about discovering his new 'go-getter' partner before replying, "Call Swersky, tell him we found nothing. Then we'll decide what to do next."

Ty nodded while holstering his weapon. He vigilantly avoided the shards of glass and puddles of alcohol while venturing back towards the door through which he had entered.

Turning back one more time before exiting into the harsh-cold, he glanced across the wet floor.

'At least it's not blood,' he thought to himself.

**********

"What's taking so long?"

Faith nearly fell off her chair. The last thing she was expecting was an entire sentence out of her hurting partner.

"I, uh," she stammered, clearly unprepared for his line of questioning. "I don't know…" she conceded in defeat, resorting to honesty once realizing that she couldn't come up with another sufficient answer.

He almost seemed to appreciate her bluntness, and despite all the disheartening emotions soaring through his body, he couldn't help but show traces of a smile, amused by Faith's blunder.

Faith caught the look on Bosco's face and restrained herself from swatting him - deciding she would let this one slip, even if at was at her expense. Besides, she couldn't remember the last time she saw any expression on his face that even remotely resembled a smile.

The door cracked open and Lieutenant Swersky slipped into the room, greeting the officers with wide eyes before settling back into the worn chair.

"They checked out the bar. Besides being turned completely upside down, they didn't come across anything," he leaned forward while preparing his next statement. "Bosco."

Bosco responded by slowly lifting his eyes until they were level with Swersky's.

"Why don't you go back to your apartment," he rushed to continue, not allowing his most stubborn officer to interject, "Right now, there's nothing you can do here, and there's no point in you hanging around just waiting for information. Let Yokas take you home and I promise you, the second I hear even the most insignificant detail, I'll call you."

Bosco glared at the Lieutenant, trying to gage how adamant his boss was on the matter. Swersky responded with a 'don't test me' tilt of the head.

"Fine," Bosco whispered to the surprise of the two other people in the room.

Faith jumped up, not allowing any time for a sudden change of decision, while handing her partner his crutches.

As Bosco flimsily made his way out the door under the supervision of Faith, Swersky discretely tapped her on the shoulder.

Faith turned to face the Lieutenant, trying to keep one eye on Bosco.

"Why don't you take the day off and stay with Bosco," he whispered. "Besides, I'm not too sure how much longer he'll be awake, and if I hear something, I'll need someone there to answer the phone."

Faith gave an understanding smile at Swersky's suggestion, relaying with her eyes that they were on the same page. "That's probably a good idea," she responded, before turning to help guide their subject-of-concern out of the house.

************

Davis flipped his phone shut after conveying the lack of news to Lieutenant Swersky. With a sigh, he raised his hands to his head, slowly rubbing at his eyes and temples in an attempt to soothe away the tension headache that had taken up residence in his skull.

'This is not good,' he thought to himself. 'It's been three days since anyone has been in contact with Bosco's mom. By now, she could be on the other side of the planet, leaving little to no hope of ever recovering her.'

He winced at his choice of word… recover. He didn't want to think about 'recovering' anything. That always implied a body. A lifeless, empty body. How could he ever explain that to Bosco?

What bothered him even more was that it seemed he was the only one who gave a damn about finding this woman. If he had to listen to one more 'relax, Davis' comment from his complacent partner, he wasn't so sure he could refrain from using his nightstick in response.

He once again allowed his eyes to drift over to the run-down building. Something about it caught his eye, and he leaned down to try to get a better view through the driver's side window of the RMP. The window to the apartment above the bar was wide open, allowing a curtain to catch in the wind.

************

Faith helped Bosco settle onto the couch before wandering into the kitchen in search of the desperately needed pills. Relieved they were exactly where she had left them the night before, she extracted the necessary capsules, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and headed back into the living area.

His eyes were closed, but it was obvious he wasn't sleeping. Right now, she was almost positive that there wasn't a possibility Bosco could sleep unassisted by drugs.

He separated his heavy eyelids when she placed the pills in his one open palm while handing the bottle of water to his other. He unceremoniously dumped the entire handful of pills into his mouth before washing them down with the soothing, cold liquid.

"Thanks," he muttered once he had successfully taken the drugs.

"No problem," she replied, taking a seat on the chair opposite the television.

"Did you want to lie down in bed?" Faith asked before getting comfortable.

"No, it's fine here. I don't really want to sleep anyway."

She nodded, then reached for the remote control. It was obvious that there would be no stimulating conversation between the two of them, provoking her need for television to reduce the gaping void left by the silence.

After flipping through what seemed like endless re-runs of old sitcoms, Faith stole a glance over at Bosco. His eyes were half-opened and glazed over, staring in the direction of the television, but obviously not paying it any attention - if so, he would have commented on Faith's lack of taste in programs.

He simply looked uncomfortable, and Faith wondered what horrible thoughts he was allowing his mind to conjure up.

"How's your knee?" she asked, trying more to steal him from his thoughts than to obtain a medical update.

"Hmm?" he asked, looking mildly frustrated that she had disturbed him.

"I was just wondering how you knee is feeling."

Bosco looked down at his right leg as if asking it the same question. He stared long and hard at the badly injured limb before turning back to Faith.

"It's sore," he stated very matter-of-factly. He had been patiently waiting for the pills to kick in and do their work, but the aching in his leg seemed to be increasing in intensity - every heartbeat sending new shockwaves through his shin and knee that reverberated up into his hip.

Faith nodded and was slightly discouraged at the grimace that occupied Bosco's face shortly after he had spoken.

The ringing of the phone caused them both to jump as they were simultaneously roused form their respective thoughts.

Bosco made the motion to get up, but quickly forfeited after he saw Faith was already halfway across the room.

"Hello?" Faith answered, slightly out of breath from her short-distance sprint.

"WHAT?"

************

Davis' chest tightened, panic setting in for reasons he couldn't exactly identify.

"Shit," he mumbled to himself, reaching for the door handle without removing his eyes from the floundering curtain.

'I would have noticed that,' he thought, almost positive that when they were waiting for back-up, that window had been closed.

As if suddenly sprung from his contemplative trance, Davis shot out of the RMP, un-holstering his gun as he approached the building.

"Sully!" he called out before walking through the door.

"What?" Sully responded half-heartedly, but his eyes widened when he saw Davis clutching his gun - instincts prompting him to follow suit.

"The window," Davis nearly whispered, "it's open."

"What window?" Sully asked in confusion, noting that the other two officers were also nervously clutching their weapons.

"We gotta check out the upstairs," he responded, pointing his gun to the ceiling while mouthing the words.

Sully nodded, a little flustered and curious as to what kind of window would set Davis off in such a way.

Before Davis could set one foot on the stairs that lead to the upper-level apartment, the distinctive sound of metal blasting off metal caused all four officers to dive protectively to the floor.

"10-13! 10-13!"

TBC…