A/N: Yes, here I am, back with another chapter. Sorry it took so long, and I'm so sorry you had to wait. I'm finally back from my trip to New York and fully recovered from it, and produced you a new chapter to the story. I hope it is worth your wait.

Chapter: Seven

Rating: PG-13, though there are some adult references and language, so read with caution.

Summary: Will events in one man's life send him over the edge?

Thanks for keeping interest in this, I really appreciate it! Special thanks to those who have replied at the end of this chapter.

Chapter Seven

Faith wanted to pull Bosco into a hug. She had never been so deep in a sea of emotions. She reached out and touched his hand, but he quickly pulled it away as if it hurt him. She then crossed her arms over her chest, frowning as she looked around the room.

"What do you mean, you are going to lose this case?"

Bosco shifted his weight. The sound of clanking metal echoed throughout their minds from the heavy artillery he was wearing to keep him "safe". He cleared his throat and quietly answered her question.

"They've got some evidence against me. Evidence that is unbeatable, and I have no clue how the fuck they got it. I just don't understand it." Another tear trickled down his cheek, and he couldn't look at Faith. He had to close his burning eyes.

All he could see was pictures of his dead brother's torso. Images then flashed in front of him of his mother sobbing her eyes out uncontrollably. His body broke out into a deep sweat as he sat there, and he had a sudden urge to just throw up. He opened his eyes again, seeing Faith staring at him with her motherly look.

"What evidence Bosco?"

He sniffed and then began to speak again. "They found my blood on Wayzynski's body. Now how the fuck does that happen?"

Faith's heart sank. "Bosco..." She knew she had an uneasy look on her face, and she didn't want to but it just happened. She moistened her lips before she spoke again. "I don't know what to tell you."

Bosco saw the look she gave him, and that was enough for him. "Get out of here Faith." He closed his eyes again as he felt the warmth from his tears touch his face.

"Bosco, what's wrong?" She knew he had caught glimpse of her glare. He was always quick to pick up on details like that.

"I saw how you looked at me. Just leave, the last thing I need is someone else looking down on me like that." He paused, looking her straight in the eyes for the first time since her visit. "You think I did it don't you?"

Faith shook her head no. "Of course not, Boz. I know you too well." She really wasn't sure though. He was capable of this. After all he'd been through anyone was capable of it, and quite frankly IF he did it she didn't blame him.

"I saw the hesitation, Yokas. Just go. I don't want you here." He gritted his teeth and shifted his weight yet again.

Yokas. He had called her Yokas instead of Faith. She knew she had hurt him, and she knew as of right now there was no helping, not when he was close-minded. She slowly stood up and touched his hand.

"Bosco, I'm here for you. Stay safe. I have a plan." She then turned and walked out, not even waiting on a reply from him.

When Faith got home she didn't even realize how quiet the house was without Fred and the kids there. In fact, she had totally forgotten he had left. The news about Bosco had left her so distraught that she lost all ties with reality, and now he was upset with her. She sat down at her dining room table and picked up her cordless phone, dialing Melcher's number.

"I'm sorry to call so late, but I need to talk to someone about this. Bosco wasn't really saying much, and he told me to leave."

Melcher didn't think it was late at all. He was used to late nights of staying up and reviewing cases. It's mainly what his life was made up of. "How did he look?"

A solitary tear trickled down her cheek. "They have him on suicide watch."

"What? What happened? I should've been informed immediately of that." Melcher leaned back in his chair, growing angrier at the way that jail worked by the minute.

"Someone beat him up. He ran into an inmate he had arrested and things turned ugly. Bosco said he didn't want to be here anymore, that he knew he was going to lose." She suddenly grew nauseous from the thought of Bosco behind bars as she spoke, probably in confinement from being watched but that was better than being caged in with suspects and perps Bosco had put behind bars.

Melcher took his glasses off and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. "I think the only thing we can do for Bosco right now, you in particular is be supportive. He's trying to find his way out of a dark tunnel, and you need to be a light at the end of it. Yes, it sounds corny but that's what needs to be done right now."

Faith sighed. "I don't think he wants to see me right now."

"Just keep showing up. He'll change his mind."

Faith laid in bed that night thinking about things. Fred did cross her mind from time to time. The more she thought about him the more her anger flared. How could he be so sorry to go and see someone else while they were still married? For some reason she knew their marriage was doomed from the beginning, she just tried to make it work for the sake of her kids. She rolled over on her side, wondering what Bosco was doing at this very moment.

She had to do something. Bosco was right, the evidence they had against him was almost unbeatable, so something had to be done. She wouldn't sleep until she thought up a rock solid plan to get her best friend back on the streets in uniform, where he belonged.

Wake up call for Bosco was around 5:30 that morning, when they put him in with the other inmates for showers and breakfast. The showers were just like on movies, and they did have to do it in front of each other.

Bosco walked in the bathroom like a kid on the first day of P.E. having to be in front of people he had never met. He edged along the walls, his heart beating from the situation. A huge white guy with tattoos all over his body bumped into him, and frowned.

Bosco grabbed a bar of soap and it fell out of his hands, hitting the tile below with a splash from the water going down the drain. The same white guy tapped him on the shoulder. "Remember what they say, don't bend over and pick up the soap." He then winked.

Bosco quickly moved away from him, his stomach feeling the urge to vomit what little he had in it. Guards called to them, telling them they had just a few more minutes to finish, and Bosco hadn't even started so he wet his body down with water and was satisfied with that. He'd rather go dirty than feel like all eyes were on him.

Today was going to be interesting. At least he was basically in solitary confinement, and the only time he was around other criminals was at shower time and that was over for the day.

When Faith got to work all eyes were on her as if she was the one being convicted of the crime. Davis and Sully's stares almost burned a hole right through her, and she did not like the way they were acting. She gave them a small smile as she walked to her locker, hoping the rest of the day would go smoother than this.

"You talk to your partner any?" Sully broke the silence with his raspy voice. His words echoed in her mind as well as throughout the room.

She nodded. "I talked to him yesterday."

"How's he doing?" Davis put on a caring act, and Faith knew he really meant it.

"Not so good. He got beat up." She hesitated, not sure if she wanted to tell them about the other news. They were going to find out anyway. "They put him on suicide watch which I guess could be a good thing."

Sully chimed in again. "A good thing? How is that a good thing? It makes him look suspicious!"

"Suspicious? It's good because he's away from everybody else. I mean, it's not like he's in prison right now, it's the city jail but still, people started to recognize him."

Sully rolled his eyes and it reminded Faith of Emily when they were arguing. "I don't know what to think about this right now."

"Then don't think about it at all. It's not your problem." She slammed her locker door shut and walked to role call, her anger already flaring at Sully. Usually he was the calmest, most understanding person she knew but today he was really wearing thin on her. She figured it must be because Sully never really thought too highly of Bosco in the first place.

Melcher decided to go in and talk to Bosco and get up to speed on all the incidents that were going on in the jail. Besides that, they were scheduled for another interrogation within the hour, and he wanted to be on time for that.

He walked up to the front desk, showing his I.D. immediately to the person working and walked through. Bosco was waiting for him in a small meeting room down the hall with two guards beside him. His arms and legs were once again bounded in cuffs "for his sake" for the circumstances. Melcher waved them away and sat down, opening his spiral notebook and reviewing his notes.

"Why did they put you on suicide watch?"

Bosco moved in his chair, making the chains clank together. Before he could speak Melcher stood up, motioning for a guard to enter.

"Get these chains off of him. He's in good hands right now." He waited until the guard left and averted his attention back to Bosco where he waited for an answer.

Bosco once again chewed on the inside of his cheek. It was a nervous habit he had developed over the years and he couldn't help but do it.

"I made a comment that got their attention."

Melcher took his glasses off. "What comment was that?"

"That I wanted for the guy that did this to me to kill me. They took it pretty serious."

Melcher sighed deeply. "Boscorelli, you do know that being on suicide watch puts in a bad word for you right? The jury is going to look at this piece of information and figure that you are guilty. They are going to say perhaps that you had a guilty conscience about the murder, therefore you wanted to take the easy way out."

Bosco shook his head no. "It doesn't matter, from the looks of this shit I'm going to be indicted anyway."

Melcher leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. "That's where you are going to lose right there. You are so damn negative and bitter about it."

Standing up, Bosco paced in front of Melcher. "Bitter and negative huh? Bitter and negative." He spoke under his breath, and then looked down at Melcher. "Okay, how the hell am I supposed to act? Here I am being framed for a fucking murder that I didn't commit! They have evidence against me that's practically unbeatable, and I just don't know how the fuck that happened! And then here you come in here; your fancy ass suit and your ego-trip and tell me this. I'm supposed to be Mr. Positive with a smile and a good attitude? Fuck that! FUCK YOU!"

He sat back down in his chair and closed his eyes. He had no reason for that outburst, and he wasn't going to think up an excuse for it either. He had said it, and it was done. His outbursts were un-called for, but at the moment he didn't care. After about 3 minutes of silence he finally looked up at Melcher, who was still there waiting.

"Diaz and Fillmore will be here in about 10 minutes to start the interrogation. I suggest you get it together before they come."

Bosco nodded, closing his eyes again. He'd apologize to Melcher, just now wasn't the time.

The interrogation went about the same as the day before. Diaz asking the questions, Fillmore standing in the corner as an intimidation device that wouldn't work, and Bosco staying silent, not answering much of anything because he had nothing to say.

Diaz left the room frustrated and pissed. She called Melcher out with her and Fillmore, pacing back and forth in the hallway beside the room where Bosco was located.

"Look Melcher, you gotta work with us. You've gotta talk to him. We talked with our boss man, and he said to start working deals with you guys to maybe speed this up."

Melcher waited to see what she had up her sleeve, knowing Bosco probably wouldn't go for any of it. "Go ahead."

"He pleads guilty and we give him 20 to 25 with a chance of parole in 10. If he doesn't plead guilty we are going for life, no chance of parole. With Boscorelli being a cop, he'll last a year, maybe less. If he cooperates we'll make sure he stays away from those that know about him, if not his ass is grass."

Melcher's stomach jolted. "Can you do that? Are you threatening him?"

She shook her head and gave a cocky grin. "I can do what I want, I'm the working detective on this case. Anything to speed this along so I can close this damn case."

"Give me a second, let me talk to him. I can already tell you he's not going to go for it, but I'll try."

Melcher walked back in the room and sat down, taking a deep breath. "Diaz just brought up a deal for me to propose to you. You might want to hear me out on this."

Bosco shook his head. "No deals."

"Just listen for a second." He rubbed his temples, and then began to speak again. "You plead guilty you'll get up to 25 years with a chance of parole in 10. You plead innocent they are going for life, no parole, and they are going to make sure you get put in with guys that will recognize you and eat you for lunch."

Bosco had the same expression on his face as before. "NO DEALS." He spoke slowly; making sure Melcher could understand him.

"You really should think about it. As your lawyer, I'm advising you to think about this."

"Why should I do time for shit I didn't do? I'm not going to plead guilty for someone else's crime and let them get off scott free. Where's the justice in that?" He looked to the side and back at Melcher. "Tell her no deal. I'm pleading innocent, like I am."

Faith stopped by the jail on her lunch break. She knew the chances of Bosco wanting to see her were slim, but she wanted to try anyway.

"I'm here to see Maurice Boscorelli, but when you go to get him, don't tell him who is here to see him. Could you do that for me?" Faith tried to be as nice to the girl at the front desk as possible, hoping she'd cooperate.

She came back after getting him, guiding Faith in. "He's in room one. The guards are with him so don't worry."

Faith nodded and opened the door. Bosco immediately got angry, wanting to leave. "I want to go back to my cell, right now."

The guards disregarded what he said and left, leaving Faith and Bosco alone in the quiet room. She ran her hands over her lips, smiling.

"What do you want Faith? I told you not to come back and see me."

She stayed silent for a moment. "I've got a plan. I'm going to get your ass out of here."

TBC...

Responses to reviewers:

LOTRGurl: I'm glad you are enjoying this story. My plan of course is to finish this and I'm sorry it has taken so long to update, I'll try to be more on top of it in the later chapters. Again, thanks!

Tombstone: Yeah, I updated that last chapter fast but this one took me some time from being out of town so much! I tend to write flash backs quite a bit in my stories because I get pretty good responses out of them, as you gave me! Thanks!

Dancinstace04: Cliffhangers are my tools! Glad you think it's intense, hopefully I'll make it a little bit more intense to come! Thanks for your review!

Faith, Love, and Penny Candy: Smiles You think I'm brilliant! I greatly appreciate you saying that! I'm really getting good responses about the flashbacks, yours included. The first season when they played pranks on each other (Bosco, Jimmy, and Sully) I loved it and missed it so thought I could bring it back. And the framing part is all about the angst! Thanks!! I hope this will calm you down, though I'm so angry at myself for taking so long to update!

Orison: YES! You don't hate me! That takes a burden off my shoulders!!! Haha! And about it getting better, I guess you are just going to have to keep reading to find out! Hope you keep enjoying it!

Magic101: Hope this chapter is interesting like that last! A poor Bosco is a fun one to write, as evil as that sounds! The chapters are gonna keep coming, hopefully quicker than this one did!!

Again, thanks to all the –wonderful- feedback!