Disclaimer: I still don't own Third Watch or any of the characters from the show.
Author's Note: Man I was overwhelmed by your reviews. Thanks so much. Don't stop now...I love hearing what you think of the story.
"Understanding Steven"
~Chapter Nine~
[The next day. 55-David are on patrol.]
Faith and Gusler go right back searching the areas that fall within the circle. They are now searching the buildings. She starts feeling the hopelessness sinking in. They have reached an area of abandoned buildings, and there is no one around to question and so many places he could have been injured and dumped off...and Gusler made sure she started searching the wrong area, to ensure that by the time they find him, Bosco will be dead.
Then they get a call on the radio. '55-David respond.'
Faith answers. "This is 55-David."
The Lieutenant's voice comes back over the radio. 'Faith...we got a call reporting that someone just tried to use Bosco's credit card. I'm sending the closest unit. I thought you'd want to know.'
"What location?"
'Crest View Liquor store. 117 Crest Avenue.'
"We're only a few blocks from there...we'll take it."
She runs to the car and Gusler follows. As they drive there, he looks at her questionably. "How did the credit card company know to call?"
"I took a chance and reported his cards stolen. I told the card company if anyone tries to use the cards, to notify the 55 at once."
"Man...that's brilliant. Who ever has his cards must know where he is." He says, trying to ensure the guilt is placed on someone...and away from himself.
"Let's hope so."
They drive quickly to the liquor store, and inside they find a bum arguing with the clerk. After the clerk had learned the card was stolen, he stalled ringing the man up, to give the police time to arrive.
Faith asks the man where he got the card from. He tells her he found it. She frisks the man and finds Bosco's wallet.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it on the ground...in an alley."
"Where? Which alley?"
"A few blocks over. I didn't steal it. Honest."
"When did you find it?"
"This afternoon. It was just laying there in the middle of the alley."
"And instead of turning it in, you decide to use the credit cards." She says.
"Hey...what do I look like the lost and found?"
"Well...you look like the lost anyway." Gusler says. "You don't believe this guy, do you? We should take him in for more questioning."
"C'mon..." Faith says pulling the guy by his coat. "You're gonna show us where exactly you found this."
As they drive to the place where the wallet was found, Faith calls over the radio for help to canvas the area. Gusler is getting a bit nervous. They are getting too close, too quickly.
"Do you really trust this guy to be telling us the truth? We could be going on a wild goose chase."
"He don't know anything. If he had anything to do with it, he would have kept Bosco's car." Faith informs him.
The man directs them to the place, and Faith stops in the exact same spot that Bosco stopped two nights ago. They climb out and look around. The place is a haven of abandoned buildings. Bosco could be anywhere.
"Did you see this car or this guy out here last night?" she asks showing him the picture.
"I was out of sorts last night. I sleep a block over. I was passed out most of yesterday. I found the wallet this afternoon. That's all I know."
She lets the guy go, then scans the area. "Where the hell are you, Bosco?" she says sadly. "Gusler, lets split up and search the buildings."
"Ok...I'll search this one." He points to the building that Bosco is in.
Suddenly there's the sound of sirens approaching. It is four units from the 55 and soon after they arrive, two units from the 63rd arrive with the detectives that are on the case. The detective steps over to Faith.
"I got word from your Lieutenant that you found his wallet. We thought you could use some help."
"Yah...that's great...thank you. The wallet was found in this alley. He could be in any one of these buildings."
The detective takes over, and lays out a search plan. Gusler is told to search one of the buildings with Faith, and he sends one of his own units into the building where Bosco has been left for dead. Gusler can only hope now that the fall killed him.
Gusler follows Faith towards the building they were assigned to search, but he takes a peek at the building that he knows Bosco is in. It is possible that they may not look in the vat that Bosco fell into. If they don't find him today, Gusler knows that he still must be found eventually, or Faith will be forever waiting for the return of her missing partner. He needs her to have closure in order for her to accept him completely, as a partner.
He looks at her as they walk. She looks so worried and sad. Otherwise, riding with her has been such a pleasure. She is so easy to talk to, and protective, not just of him, but for both of them in any situation they enter, and also for the victim. She loves her job, and it's no wonder that Bosco loved working with her.
They enter the building and find it is dangerously run down. The door creaks loudly as they force it open. Shining her flashlight across the room, she lets out a deep disappointed sigh. The building has mountains of discarded junk strewn throughout haphazardly.
Faith walks up to a conveyor belt and climbs over the top. On the other side, she finds she is at an impasse with a pile of skids. As she looks for a way around them, Gusler works his way around the room to her left. He comes to a tow motor that has been stripped for parts, and climbing through it, reaches a doorway to a hall.
Faith gets around the skids, and ends up at a labyrinth of metal catwalk that has fallen from above. She shines her light to the ceiling, and finds there is a huge hole in the roof that has been letting the elements in, rusting the twisted metal. Climbing through it will be quite hazardous. But before she climbs in, the radio sends out a tone and the voice of an officer she doesn't recognize announces that he has found the victim.
The radio comes alive with conversation, but Faith just turns and heads back the way she came in. Steve also responds by heading back to the entrance, knowing that Faith will go straight to where they found Bosco. Over the radio, they are calling for a bus on a rush, suggesting that the victim is alive.
Steve can hear Faith scrambling through the rubble heading back out of the building, and he hurries to try and catch her. She reaches the door and as she enters the alley, she yells out to the detective in charge.
"Where is he? Did they find him? Where are they?"
The detective points to the building, and Faith runs over there, along with most of the other searchers, emerging from their search areas. She enters the building shining her flashlight and calling out to find where they are. She spots an officer in the far corner, trying to open a metal door to a large silo.
"He's in here. We can't get the door open."
Faith shines her light to the second floor, to where another officer is looking down into the huge vat. She calls to him, "Can you see him? Is he alright?"
"He isn't responding. But I think I heard him moan. I think he's alive."
*****
The building is full of officers now, and they are searching for something to pry the door open to the vat. Outside the sound of sirens approaching fills the air.
Sully runs out and meets the firemen as they pull up, calling to them that they have a victim trapped in a metal container. They will need something to cut it open.
Faith watches worriedly as they saw through the side of the metal container. The blade spits out sparks as it screams through the rusted container. It seems to take forever, and the sound is so loud it makes her cringe, but she can't walk away. She needs to be there the second they get it open.
Finally the saw cuts out and they pull open a metal flap that they cut into the side. Doc and Carlos rush in, and despite the suggestion that she wait and give them room, Faith follows them in. She calls his name as she kneels down beside him, but he doesn't respond.
The paramedics go to work immediately. "I've got a weak pulse. Someone get these cuffs off of him." Doc orders.
Faith reaches in with the key to the cuffs. "Be careful...don't move him." he warns. She unlocks the cuffs as Doc and Carlos hold his arms so there is no sudden movement when his wrists are released. They gently lay Bosco's arms to his side.
"Lets get a collar on him." Doc tells Carlos. Then he looks up and asks, "How did he get in here? Did he fall from the top?"
"Yah...he must have been pushed in. The door was rusted shut." Faith informs him.
"How long has he been in here?"
"He's been missing since the night before last. Almost forty eight hours. Help him Doc."
He gently clamps a collar around Bosco's neck. "Ok...I wanna roll him...let's get a board under him."
An orange board is passed in to the vat. "Ok...we're gonna roll him onto his back. Yokas, you slide the board under him." Doc instructs Faith.
The two paramedics gently roll him over. He has a bad bruise and swelling on his forehead above his left eye. Doc checks his pupils as Carlos takes his vital signs. "Bosco. Bosco...can you hear me?" Doc says leaning in close to his face. Faith calls to him too, but neither of them get a response.
Carlos calls out, "Breathing is twenty four and shallow."
Doc lifts his eye lids and flashes his pen light back and forth in his eyes. His steel blue eyes look blank, and Faith calls to him again. He gives no response, not even to blink from the light.
"Is he alright, Doc? Is he gonna be ok?" Faith asks desperately.
Doc does not answer her. He calls out to Carlos, "Pupils equal and responsive."
"B. P. is ninety over fifty. Looks like he may have internal bleeding." Carlos shoots back.
"His heart rate is only fifty two...could be hypothermia."
"Should I intubate him?"
"No...give him ten liters of oxygen, then start an I.V." Doc proceeds to run his hands along Bosco's arms and chest. "His left shoulder is dislocated, I felt it when we rolled him. He must have fallen on this side...I'm betting he has fractured ribs from the fall." He opens Bosco's shirt revealing a large dark bruise over his shoulder, and under his arm along his side. His shoulder is visibly swollen.
He runs his hands down Bosco's legs and finds his right leg is fractured. He tears his pant leg open, and his leg is swollen to twice it's size below the knee. "He has a broken tip-fib...but it's not an open fracture. Let's get an air splint on it and get him to the bus. We need to transport him fast."
Carlos quickly applies the splint. They carefully strap him to the board and pass him out to the firemen. He is placed on a gurney and hurried out to the bus. Faith climbs in behind them. Gusler calls to her, "I'll meet you at the hospital." but she doesn't answer him as the doors are slammed shut and the bus rushes off.
Emergency is fairly slow, and other than a few people in the waiting area, the place is mostly filled with cops and EMTs milling around, waiting for word on Bosco. One by one they are called away to other emergencies, and soon Faith is alone with Gusler and the Lieutenant.
Faith is sitting in a chair, slouched down with her hand to her face. She rubs her lips inadvertently with her finger as she stares distantly at the floor, replaying some memory in her mind. No doubt it involves Bosco and some episode the two of them went through together.
Gusler is beginning to feel insignificant as he watches her...pining over that arrogant, self centered, asshole. He wishes now that he had taken better care to insure Bosco's demise. But for some reason he isn't worried about Bosco waking to tell the world what had happened to him. He looked to be in pretty bad shape...and he is confident that it is only a matter of time before the doctor emerges to give Faith the heart breaking news.
Faith had suggested earlier that he could leave if he wanted to...there was no sense in him waiting around. She told him the Lieutenant could assign him another duty. But Gusler was just as anxious as her, to hear the prognosis. And more than that, he needs to be here for her when she gets the bad news. That's what partners do.
Feeling antsy, he gets up and stretches. Faith doesn't look up. In fact she doesn't even seem to be aware that he is still here for her, so he goes to the lounge and fixes her a cup of coffee. Surely she will notice this offering. It will be a while before she starts to treat him like the partner that he plans to be. But it will come.
He walks up to her and she is startled out of her thoughts. "I got this for you. I figured you'd need it. It's been a long day." She thanks him blankly and sets it down on the table next to her. "Are you hungry? I could get you something. A sandwich maybe?"
"No...thanks Steve. How long has it been? Shouldn't we have heard something by now?"
Just then a woman rushes into emergency and is frantically asking questions through tears at the desk. Faith says under her breath, "Rose" and slowly approaches her. The woman grabs Faith by her forearms and starts crying harder and spewing questions.
"Faith...my God what happened? Is he ok? Where is he...take me to him. I just got back. I was visiting my sister out of town...I just got the messages...I got a cab and..." Her words break off and become uncontrolled sobbing.
Faith guides her to a row of chairs and sits with her. She tells her that the doctor is still with him. It looks like it was a car jacking and that she thinks he'll be ok. She continues talking to her, and although Gusler can't hear what she is saying, it sounds very comforting and "Rose", who Gusler assumes is Bosco's mother, calms down and regains her composure.
Gusler is standing there watching her in awe. He is amazed at how quickly she reacts to a situation, takes control and calms it down. He will learn a lot from her. He pictures Steve, in any given situation, confused and rattled, waiting for someone else to take the lead. Never sure enough of himself to know what to do. But that is all changing now.
"Mrs. Boscorelli, right? Can I get you a cup of coffee?" Gusler offers handing her a tissue.
"Thank you." she says sniffing.
He runs off and fixes her a cup, feeling proud of himself for actually taking an action. When he returns with it, she is blowing her nose, so Faith takes it from him. The doctor comes walking in and calls out for the family of Maurice Boscorelli. Faith sets the cup down and helps Rose to her feet.
"I'm doctor Wezorick. We have him stabilized, but I'm afraid his condition is very serious. He fell from a pretty good height and landed on his left side and shoulder. He has a broken collar bone, and his shoulder was dislocated, tearing apart the tendons and muscles. He'll need surgery as soon as we have him stabilized, so we can put it all back together. He also suffered some chest trauma. The x-rays show that he has four broken ribs and also a broken leg. I'm concerned about how long he had been left in this condition...he may have developed an infection in his lungs from his rundown state and lack of immediate treatment, so I put him on antibiotics, and hopefully, if he starts to show the signs...fever...low oxygen level...we can get it cleared quickly. He will need surgery on the leg too, but we can't operate until we are sure there is no infection in his system. The good news is, there was no internal injuries. But the injury I'm most worried about is his head trauma. We don't know the severity of it yet. We did a CAT scan, and there is no swelling or bleeding, but right now he is in a coma."
Rose lets out a frightened whine, and the doctor quickly continues. "It's not uncommon for the body to shut down and go into a coma when it's been through this kind of trauma. What we need to determine, is whether the coma was caused by the head trauma or whether it is just a protective reaction. And that...we won't know for a few days."
"When do you think he will come out of it?" Faith asks.
"We don't know. He could wake up in a few days, or a few hours. We want to keep a close eye on him for the next forty eight hours. But all things considered, he's quite lucky."
"Can I go see him?" Rose asks.
"Of course. He just came out of X-ray and they are taking him up to the ICU. As soon as they get him settled in, you can go in for a few minutes. Why don't you go up to the fifth floor and wait. They'll come and get you when you can see him."
Gusler stands there in disbelief. This was not at all what he was expecting to hear. What will he do if this jerk recovers? What if he remembers who did this? Suddenly there is a hand on his shoulder and he turns, startled to see the Lieutenant standing there.
"Steve...why don't you drive me back to the house. There is nothing more we can do here."
Gusler looks around as he says, "Well...I got Faith...I can't leave her..." His words stop abruptly as he realizes that she and Rose have walked out and are stepping onto the open elevator. All that remains is the two full cups of coffee that he bought for the both of them, sitting side by side, yet untouched.
"C'mon...drive me back. I think Yokas will be here for a while. You may as well go home." The Lieutenant tells him kindly.
Gusler is gripped with anger. This is not how he wanted this night to end at all. He wants to hurry upstairs, to be with Faith, to find out if Bosco will wake up...but mostly, to hear what he has to say when he does. But for the moment...he needs to just stay cool. He takes one more glance at the two full cups of coffee on the table...his offering completely ignored.
*****
Author's Note: Man I was overwhelmed by your reviews. Thanks so much. Don't stop now...I love hearing what you think of the story.
"Understanding Steven"
~Chapter Nine~
[The next day. 55-David are on patrol.]
Faith and Gusler go right back searching the areas that fall within the circle. They are now searching the buildings. She starts feeling the hopelessness sinking in. They have reached an area of abandoned buildings, and there is no one around to question and so many places he could have been injured and dumped off...and Gusler made sure she started searching the wrong area, to ensure that by the time they find him, Bosco will be dead.
Then they get a call on the radio. '55-David respond.'
Faith answers. "This is 55-David."
The Lieutenant's voice comes back over the radio. 'Faith...we got a call reporting that someone just tried to use Bosco's credit card. I'm sending the closest unit. I thought you'd want to know.'
"What location?"
'Crest View Liquor store. 117 Crest Avenue.'
"We're only a few blocks from there...we'll take it."
She runs to the car and Gusler follows. As they drive there, he looks at her questionably. "How did the credit card company know to call?"
"I took a chance and reported his cards stolen. I told the card company if anyone tries to use the cards, to notify the 55 at once."
"Man...that's brilliant. Who ever has his cards must know where he is." He says, trying to ensure the guilt is placed on someone...and away from himself.
"Let's hope so."
They drive quickly to the liquor store, and inside they find a bum arguing with the clerk. After the clerk had learned the card was stolen, he stalled ringing the man up, to give the police time to arrive.
Faith asks the man where he got the card from. He tells her he found it. She frisks the man and finds Bosco's wallet.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it on the ground...in an alley."
"Where? Which alley?"
"A few blocks over. I didn't steal it. Honest."
"When did you find it?"
"This afternoon. It was just laying there in the middle of the alley."
"And instead of turning it in, you decide to use the credit cards." She says.
"Hey...what do I look like the lost and found?"
"Well...you look like the lost anyway." Gusler says. "You don't believe this guy, do you? We should take him in for more questioning."
"C'mon..." Faith says pulling the guy by his coat. "You're gonna show us where exactly you found this."
As they drive to the place where the wallet was found, Faith calls over the radio for help to canvas the area. Gusler is getting a bit nervous. They are getting too close, too quickly.
"Do you really trust this guy to be telling us the truth? We could be going on a wild goose chase."
"He don't know anything. If he had anything to do with it, he would have kept Bosco's car." Faith informs him.
The man directs them to the place, and Faith stops in the exact same spot that Bosco stopped two nights ago. They climb out and look around. The place is a haven of abandoned buildings. Bosco could be anywhere.
"Did you see this car or this guy out here last night?" she asks showing him the picture.
"I was out of sorts last night. I sleep a block over. I was passed out most of yesterday. I found the wallet this afternoon. That's all I know."
She lets the guy go, then scans the area. "Where the hell are you, Bosco?" she says sadly. "Gusler, lets split up and search the buildings."
"Ok...I'll search this one." He points to the building that Bosco is in.
Suddenly there's the sound of sirens approaching. It is four units from the 55 and soon after they arrive, two units from the 63rd arrive with the detectives that are on the case. The detective steps over to Faith.
"I got word from your Lieutenant that you found his wallet. We thought you could use some help."
"Yah...that's great...thank you. The wallet was found in this alley. He could be in any one of these buildings."
The detective takes over, and lays out a search plan. Gusler is told to search one of the buildings with Faith, and he sends one of his own units into the building where Bosco has been left for dead. Gusler can only hope now that the fall killed him.
Gusler follows Faith towards the building they were assigned to search, but he takes a peek at the building that he knows Bosco is in. It is possible that they may not look in the vat that Bosco fell into. If they don't find him today, Gusler knows that he still must be found eventually, or Faith will be forever waiting for the return of her missing partner. He needs her to have closure in order for her to accept him completely, as a partner.
He looks at her as they walk. She looks so worried and sad. Otherwise, riding with her has been such a pleasure. She is so easy to talk to, and protective, not just of him, but for both of them in any situation they enter, and also for the victim. She loves her job, and it's no wonder that Bosco loved working with her.
They enter the building and find it is dangerously run down. The door creaks loudly as they force it open. Shining her flashlight across the room, she lets out a deep disappointed sigh. The building has mountains of discarded junk strewn throughout haphazardly.
Faith walks up to a conveyor belt and climbs over the top. On the other side, she finds she is at an impasse with a pile of skids. As she looks for a way around them, Gusler works his way around the room to her left. He comes to a tow motor that has been stripped for parts, and climbing through it, reaches a doorway to a hall.
Faith gets around the skids, and ends up at a labyrinth of metal catwalk that has fallen from above. She shines her light to the ceiling, and finds there is a huge hole in the roof that has been letting the elements in, rusting the twisted metal. Climbing through it will be quite hazardous. But before she climbs in, the radio sends out a tone and the voice of an officer she doesn't recognize announces that he has found the victim.
The radio comes alive with conversation, but Faith just turns and heads back the way she came in. Steve also responds by heading back to the entrance, knowing that Faith will go straight to where they found Bosco. Over the radio, they are calling for a bus on a rush, suggesting that the victim is alive.
Steve can hear Faith scrambling through the rubble heading back out of the building, and he hurries to try and catch her. She reaches the door and as she enters the alley, she yells out to the detective in charge.
"Where is he? Did they find him? Where are they?"
The detective points to the building, and Faith runs over there, along with most of the other searchers, emerging from their search areas. She enters the building shining her flashlight and calling out to find where they are. She spots an officer in the far corner, trying to open a metal door to a large silo.
"He's in here. We can't get the door open."
Faith shines her light to the second floor, to where another officer is looking down into the huge vat. She calls to him, "Can you see him? Is he alright?"
"He isn't responding. But I think I heard him moan. I think he's alive."
*****
The building is full of officers now, and they are searching for something to pry the door open to the vat. Outside the sound of sirens approaching fills the air.
Sully runs out and meets the firemen as they pull up, calling to them that they have a victim trapped in a metal container. They will need something to cut it open.
Faith watches worriedly as they saw through the side of the metal container. The blade spits out sparks as it screams through the rusted container. It seems to take forever, and the sound is so loud it makes her cringe, but she can't walk away. She needs to be there the second they get it open.
Finally the saw cuts out and they pull open a metal flap that they cut into the side. Doc and Carlos rush in, and despite the suggestion that she wait and give them room, Faith follows them in. She calls his name as she kneels down beside him, but he doesn't respond.
The paramedics go to work immediately. "I've got a weak pulse. Someone get these cuffs off of him." Doc orders.
Faith reaches in with the key to the cuffs. "Be careful...don't move him." he warns. She unlocks the cuffs as Doc and Carlos hold his arms so there is no sudden movement when his wrists are released. They gently lay Bosco's arms to his side.
"Lets get a collar on him." Doc tells Carlos. Then he looks up and asks, "How did he get in here? Did he fall from the top?"
"Yah...he must have been pushed in. The door was rusted shut." Faith informs him.
"How long has he been in here?"
"He's been missing since the night before last. Almost forty eight hours. Help him Doc."
He gently clamps a collar around Bosco's neck. "Ok...I wanna roll him...let's get a board under him."
An orange board is passed in to the vat. "Ok...we're gonna roll him onto his back. Yokas, you slide the board under him." Doc instructs Faith.
The two paramedics gently roll him over. He has a bad bruise and swelling on his forehead above his left eye. Doc checks his pupils as Carlos takes his vital signs. "Bosco. Bosco...can you hear me?" Doc says leaning in close to his face. Faith calls to him too, but neither of them get a response.
Carlos calls out, "Breathing is twenty four and shallow."
Doc lifts his eye lids and flashes his pen light back and forth in his eyes. His steel blue eyes look blank, and Faith calls to him again. He gives no response, not even to blink from the light.
"Is he alright, Doc? Is he gonna be ok?" Faith asks desperately.
Doc does not answer her. He calls out to Carlos, "Pupils equal and responsive."
"B. P. is ninety over fifty. Looks like he may have internal bleeding." Carlos shoots back.
"His heart rate is only fifty two...could be hypothermia."
"Should I intubate him?"
"No...give him ten liters of oxygen, then start an I.V." Doc proceeds to run his hands along Bosco's arms and chest. "His left shoulder is dislocated, I felt it when we rolled him. He must have fallen on this side...I'm betting he has fractured ribs from the fall." He opens Bosco's shirt revealing a large dark bruise over his shoulder, and under his arm along his side. His shoulder is visibly swollen.
He runs his hands down Bosco's legs and finds his right leg is fractured. He tears his pant leg open, and his leg is swollen to twice it's size below the knee. "He has a broken tip-fib...but it's not an open fracture. Let's get an air splint on it and get him to the bus. We need to transport him fast."
Carlos quickly applies the splint. They carefully strap him to the board and pass him out to the firemen. He is placed on a gurney and hurried out to the bus. Faith climbs in behind them. Gusler calls to her, "I'll meet you at the hospital." but she doesn't answer him as the doors are slammed shut and the bus rushes off.
Emergency is fairly slow, and other than a few people in the waiting area, the place is mostly filled with cops and EMTs milling around, waiting for word on Bosco. One by one they are called away to other emergencies, and soon Faith is alone with Gusler and the Lieutenant.
Faith is sitting in a chair, slouched down with her hand to her face. She rubs her lips inadvertently with her finger as she stares distantly at the floor, replaying some memory in her mind. No doubt it involves Bosco and some episode the two of them went through together.
Gusler is beginning to feel insignificant as he watches her...pining over that arrogant, self centered, asshole. He wishes now that he had taken better care to insure Bosco's demise. But for some reason he isn't worried about Bosco waking to tell the world what had happened to him. He looked to be in pretty bad shape...and he is confident that it is only a matter of time before the doctor emerges to give Faith the heart breaking news.
Faith had suggested earlier that he could leave if he wanted to...there was no sense in him waiting around. She told him the Lieutenant could assign him another duty. But Gusler was just as anxious as her, to hear the prognosis. And more than that, he needs to be here for her when she gets the bad news. That's what partners do.
Feeling antsy, he gets up and stretches. Faith doesn't look up. In fact she doesn't even seem to be aware that he is still here for her, so he goes to the lounge and fixes her a cup of coffee. Surely she will notice this offering. It will be a while before she starts to treat him like the partner that he plans to be. But it will come.
He walks up to her and she is startled out of her thoughts. "I got this for you. I figured you'd need it. It's been a long day." She thanks him blankly and sets it down on the table next to her. "Are you hungry? I could get you something. A sandwich maybe?"
"No...thanks Steve. How long has it been? Shouldn't we have heard something by now?"
Just then a woman rushes into emergency and is frantically asking questions through tears at the desk. Faith says under her breath, "Rose" and slowly approaches her. The woman grabs Faith by her forearms and starts crying harder and spewing questions.
"Faith...my God what happened? Is he ok? Where is he...take me to him. I just got back. I was visiting my sister out of town...I just got the messages...I got a cab and..." Her words break off and become uncontrolled sobbing.
Faith guides her to a row of chairs and sits with her. She tells her that the doctor is still with him. It looks like it was a car jacking and that she thinks he'll be ok. She continues talking to her, and although Gusler can't hear what she is saying, it sounds very comforting and "Rose", who Gusler assumes is Bosco's mother, calms down and regains her composure.
Gusler is standing there watching her in awe. He is amazed at how quickly she reacts to a situation, takes control and calms it down. He will learn a lot from her. He pictures Steve, in any given situation, confused and rattled, waiting for someone else to take the lead. Never sure enough of himself to know what to do. But that is all changing now.
"Mrs. Boscorelli, right? Can I get you a cup of coffee?" Gusler offers handing her a tissue.
"Thank you." she says sniffing.
He runs off and fixes her a cup, feeling proud of himself for actually taking an action. When he returns with it, she is blowing her nose, so Faith takes it from him. The doctor comes walking in and calls out for the family of Maurice Boscorelli. Faith sets the cup down and helps Rose to her feet.
"I'm doctor Wezorick. We have him stabilized, but I'm afraid his condition is very serious. He fell from a pretty good height and landed on his left side and shoulder. He has a broken collar bone, and his shoulder was dislocated, tearing apart the tendons and muscles. He'll need surgery as soon as we have him stabilized, so we can put it all back together. He also suffered some chest trauma. The x-rays show that he has four broken ribs and also a broken leg. I'm concerned about how long he had been left in this condition...he may have developed an infection in his lungs from his rundown state and lack of immediate treatment, so I put him on antibiotics, and hopefully, if he starts to show the signs...fever...low oxygen level...we can get it cleared quickly. He will need surgery on the leg too, but we can't operate until we are sure there is no infection in his system. The good news is, there was no internal injuries. But the injury I'm most worried about is his head trauma. We don't know the severity of it yet. We did a CAT scan, and there is no swelling or bleeding, but right now he is in a coma."
Rose lets out a frightened whine, and the doctor quickly continues. "It's not uncommon for the body to shut down and go into a coma when it's been through this kind of trauma. What we need to determine, is whether the coma was caused by the head trauma or whether it is just a protective reaction. And that...we won't know for a few days."
"When do you think he will come out of it?" Faith asks.
"We don't know. He could wake up in a few days, or a few hours. We want to keep a close eye on him for the next forty eight hours. But all things considered, he's quite lucky."
"Can I go see him?" Rose asks.
"Of course. He just came out of X-ray and they are taking him up to the ICU. As soon as they get him settled in, you can go in for a few minutes. Why don't you go up to the fifth floor and wait. They'll come and get you when you can see him."
Gusler stands there in disbelief. This was not at all what he was expecting to hear. What will he do if this jerk recovers? What if he remembers who did this? Suddenly there is a hand on his shoulder and he turns, startled to see the Lieutenant standing there.
"Steve...why don't you drive me back to the house. There is nothing more we can do here."
Gusler looks around as he says, "Well...I got Faith...I can't leave her..." His words stop abruptly as he realizes that she and Rose have walked out and are stepping onto the open elevator. All that remains is the two full cups of coffee that he bought for the both of them, sitting side by side, yet untouched.
"C'mon...drive me back. I think Yokas will be here for a while. You may as well go home." The Lieutenant tells him kindly.
Gusler is gripped with anger. This is not how he wanted this night to end at all. He wants to hurry upstairs, to be with Faith, to find out if Bosco will wake up...but mostly, to hear what he has to say when he does. But for the moment...he needs to just stay cool. He takes one more glance at the two full cups of coffee on the table...his offering completely ignored.
*****
