Summary: My take on why Bosco and Sully don't get along. Takes place shortly after Bosco graduates from the Police Academy

Disclaimer: I don't own Third Watch or any of its characters.

A/N: This story was previously posted on another Third Watch site but no longer available there. I was encouraged to post it here by Joey and Orison.

Thanks for your wonderful reviews.

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"Great...just great," I mumble angrily as I see Mikey standing in front of my door. He's been waiting for me to get home. I check my watch; it's 12:30 a.m. He stares at me apologetically. Hell, I haven't even spoken to him and he's already sorry. I'll give him something to be sorry about.

I tramp angrily to the door not even trying to conceal my scowl. I jam the key into the lock. "What the hell do you want?" I ask meanly.

"Mo, I just wanted to talk. Do you think we could talk for a minute?" He fidgets nervously shoving his hands deeper into his pockets and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He looks at everything but me.

"Whatever," I huff as I push the door open and make my way inside the apartment. I drop my keys noisily on the table and throw my jacket over the chair. I basically ignore him as I grab a beer from the fridge and make my way over to the couch. I search for the remote and then turn on the TV, taking a swig of beer as I flip to ESPN.

"Mo?"

Just hearing him calling me grates on my nerves. It bothers me that Mikey's here. It bothers me that I know Ma sent him. It bothers me that Stevie probably spilled his guts to both of them. And it bothers me that all of a sudden they're all interested in me again. "What the f-ck do you want?" I sound incredibly cold, but I don't give a shit anymore.

"I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing," he says tentatively.

"Well, I'd be doing a hell of a lot better if you and Ma and Stevie would just leave me alone and stop clogging my answering machine with messages."

Mikey looks down uncomfortably as I get up and make my way to the answering machine. I press on the play button and watch him as we listen to the new messages, all from them. This has been going on for a week, ever since I spoke to Stevie after that stupid fight.

"Ma's worried about you...we're all worried about you," he says softly.

I approach him and stand in front of him not letting him look away. I can feel my jaw clenching as the anger rises in me. "What the hell did Stevie tell you?"

Mikey looks a little frightened at the tone of my voice. He opens his mouth to speak but pauses. "He didn't tell us anything," he says with a hint of confusion. "He said he promised that he would never tell anyone. He – he just said you remembered something but he doesn't know what and...he's worried, he just wants to make sure you're okay. We all do."

"Well, do I look like I'm not doing okay?" I spit back at him. "You guys are incredible," I snort as I shake my head, "Ma practically tells me not to show up at her place again and now you want to make sure I'm okay. You had your chance to worry about me and now you lost it. You don't need to worry about me; I've got a partner who looks out for me now. So, just go back and tell Ma I'm fine."

" Mo, we never stopped caring...you know that," Mikey says softly.

I see the hurt in his eyes. I think of all the times I tried to protect him from that hurt and now I'm the cause of it. I don't know what the hell I'm thinking taking this out on him. And the worst part of all, is my realization that Ma sent him instead of coming herself because she knows I'd relent if Mikey showed up.

But she's wrong this time. There's too much at stake and I won't give in to their demands. I feel like I'm swimming upstream and never getting anywhere. I don't know how to make them understand that it's not that easy, that I can't do what they want me to do, that they can't help me. I don't want their help. I don't want to remember. I don't want to work through this. I want every memory of that day to be obliterated from my mind. "Mikey, what do you want from me?"

He stares at his shoe as he shuffles it across the carpet in a circular motion. He hesitates before speaking and looks up at me momentarily. I see the nervousness in the way he bites his lip. He looks off in another direction not wanting me to see the emotion in his eyes. The small shake of his head alerts me that he's lost his nerve. He remains silent.

"Tell Ma not to worry...okay?" I tell him.

He nods his head slowly, unconvincingly and turns to leave. He opens the door but stops before exiting. "Promise you'll call me if you need anything." He half turns and waits for my response.

I know this isn't coming from Ma. This is all Mikey and it saddens me that I won't take him up on his offer, and I won't even pretend. When I don't answer he turns and closes the door softly as he exits my apartment.

I guzzle the rest of my beer before getting another one from the fridge and settling uncomfortably on the couch. I flip through the channels but all I see is their faces, haunting me, staring back at me, trying to tell me something. Something I don't want to know. How do I turn it off? How do I make it go away? How do I make them all go away?

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"Bosco, hold up."

I turn to see Faith walking towards me. The shift has barely begun and she's already on my case. I pretend to be adjusting something on my gun belt.

"Bosco?"

"Yeah," I say casually, not looking up at her. When she doesn't answer, I'm forced to look up. She's studying me with that motherly look that I hate so much. I almost feel like telling her 'I've got a mother already and even she doesn't speak to me anymore so maybe you could play mommy to someone else.'

"How's it going?"

She stopped me to ask me 'how's it going?' I can feel my irritation growing; I need to get rid of her.

"Fine," I answer tersely, the annoyance in my voice evident to both of us. "Sully's waiting for me. I gotta go." And with that I move away from her.

"Bosco."

God, why is she doing this to me? I stop and feel my shoulders slump down in exasperation as my hands move to my hips. I turn slowly, my eyes downcast to avoid her gaze. "What?"

"If you ever need to talk...you know...you can call me, or come on by, I know Fred and the kids would love to see you again."

"Ok," I lie. I have no intention of talking to her or anyone else for that matter.

But, she seems to be appeased by my lame response and she nods and walks in the opposite direction as I breathe a sigh of relief.

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"Hey Sul," Grady waves at me from across the bar and weaves his way to the stool beside me. "What's your poison," he says sniffing at my drink.

"Whiskey."

"Since when are you hitting the hard stuff?" He asks perplexed.

"Since my partner started buying me drinks," I say as I jerk my head back towards Bosco.

Grady narrows his eyes as he tries to pick him out from across the room.

I rub my eyes and then rake my hand through my hair. It's only my third drink but I'm feeling the effects of a hectic day and the booze.

"Seems like he recovered from last week. I heard he was running you ragged, Sul." Grady smirks at me.

"I don't know if I can keep this up. He wants to answer every damn call, and if we don't have a call he goes looking for trouble. I've never arrested so many perps, chased as many idiots and intervened in as many petty incidents as I've done in the last week or so."

Grady looks at me sympathetically. "Don't worry Sul, he'll slow down in a couple of...years." He chuckles softly at the look on my face.

"Well, I won't live to tell about it, that's for sure." I sip at my drink hoping it will ease the muscle pain in my shoulders and legs from the non-stop chasing I've been doing.

"Well at least you're keeping in shape." Grady grins slyly.

"Trust me, I'd rather be getting my exercise at the gym, but Bosco isn't interested now that you know who is back in there every day."

Grady nods solemnly as I continue sipping on my drink.

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I watch the colours in the room as they move and fuse together into a kaleidoscope. I sway slightly at the effect these movements have on me. I grab for my drink and take a big gulp. I'm not where I need to be, yet.

I laugh because I need two things simultaneously. I need to keep moving, keep my brain in a swirl of activity to avoid thinking, remembering, caring. And at the same time I need to shut it down, to drop from consciousness and into sleep with nothing in between. I need to make everything stop on a dime. Not even Einstein could have figured this one out.

My drink spills all over me as I bumped from behind. I turn around and it actually feels like I'm spinning incredibly fast as I come face to face with Michaels. He sneers at me menacingly.

I think he's talking to me. His mouth is moving, his face contorts and he gives me a gap tooth grin.

I can feel my arms reaching out for him and my hands wrapping around his throat. I can't hear him but somehow I understand every single word he's saying. He wants me to see...he wants me to watch...he wants me to suffer.

I feel my grip weakening as my vision blurs and my breathing hitches.

I'm pulled back fairly harshly causing me to stumble and almost fall. I latch on to the bar to keep from sliding to the floor. Why did they let me live...why?

I feel an intense pressure on my chest forcing me to suck in air at an alarming rate and I feel like I'm caught in an endless, freefall spiral.

The fall ends as I feel someone shaking me until I open my eyes.

"S-Sul...?" I stutter.

"Let's get outta of here?" He says from a place far, far away.

I look around and find Michaels being tended to by Giambetti as he tries to stem the bleeding from a split lip.

I stare up at Sully as he practically drags me outta there. I doubt he even heard me mutter my thanks to him. My thanks for keeping his promise to me to keep that gap tooth bastard from hurting me. He pulls me along and at this point I don't really care what happens, or where I go, or how I get there. I feel myself blanking out, and my brain turning off as I follow Sully blindly.

TBC...