The Brotherhood, Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or places.

Faith Mitchell watched anxiously as the wounded were removed from one of the choppers. Glancing down as the two men were carried past her towards the hospital, she was relieved to see that Bosco was not one of them. Glancing up again, she saw Bosco helping two women from one of the choppers. She assumed that they were her new volunteers. She watched them approach, noticing that Bosco stayed behind talking to Jimmy Doherty and two younger soldiers she had not seen before.

"Are you Taylor and Levine?" She asked.

"Yes" the shorter of the blonds replied. The taller just nodded, her eyes huge.

Faith could only imagine what they had witnessed. Bosco shared some things with her, but she also knew that he held back some of the more gruesome details.

"Ok, well, you can go inside and let Mary Proctor check you over. Then we'll get you settled in." Faith replied, pointing to the hospital building.

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"Doherty, can you introduce these two to Christopher? I need to report to Swersky."

"No problem, Sarge." Jimmy replied with a smile, knowing Christopher would eat these two alive.

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Bosco turned away from Jimmy, running directly into John Sullivan, the supply sergeant, as he did.

"I don't guess you managed to salvage any of my nails, huh?" Sully grumbled.

"Nope. Sorry, Sul." Bosco answered and made his way towards Faith.

"You're bleeding." Sully called over his shoulder.

Bosco just wave him off.

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Faith stood with her arms crossed as Bosco approached her. She was waiting to give him a hard time for the terrified looks on the new girls' faces. But her expression softened as she saw the gash above his left eye. "You're bleeding." She commented as she turned his head gently to get a better look at the cut. Most of the blood was dry, but it was still oozing.

"It's not that bad." He replied softly.

"It's gonna need stitches. At least three or four, maybe more." She informed him. Releasing his face, she teased him. "That's what you get for scaring my new girls."

"They're just a little shell shocked. They'll be ok. You should thank me for breaking them in for you." He replied with a smile.

"Uh huh." She said, unconvinced. "Come on, let's get that cleaned up."

"I have to talk to Swersky first." "I'll be back later." He added quickly as he saw that she was about to protest.

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Sasha Monroe looked up from her desk as the door opened and Bosco came in. Standing, she craned her neck to see the gash over Bosco's left eye. "That's a nasty cut, Bosco."

"It's not as bad as it looks. Is Swersky in?" Bosco replied.

"Yes. Let me see if he's available." Sasha answered. Sitting back down, she dialed the phone. "Major Swersky, Sergeant Boscorelli is here to see you. Sure. I'll send him in." Looking back at Bosco, she nodded towards Swersky's office.

"Thanks, Monroe."

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"Boscorelli" Swersky greeted, looking up from the papers he was working on.

Bosco saluted and stood at attention.

"At ease." Swersky instructed.

Bosco reached inside his flack jacket and pulled the brown envelope out, handing it to Swersky.

Swersky studied the contents of the envelope for several minutes, before looking back up at Bosco. "Are you sure we can trust her?"

"Has she failed us yet?" Bosco questioned.

"No, but men's lives are depending on this, Bosco. How do we know she's not working both sides?"

"Her husband was killed by the Viet Cong, Sir. Besides, she hasn't asked us for anything. If she was playing both sides, why would she give us information for free?" Bosco answered. "I trust her, Sir."

"And I'm trusting you, Bosco. I'll discuss this information with the higher ups. You're dismissed." Swersky replied.

Bosco saluted again and turned to leave.

"Oh....and Bosco, get somebody to look at that cut." Swersky called.

"Yes, Sir."

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"Owww!" Bosco whined as Faith cleaned his cut vigorously. "Take it easy."

"You know Proctor likes her cuts clean before she sutures them." Faith retorted.

"Proctor? Why Proctor? What about Dr. Thomas?"

"Dr. Thomas is still in the OR with O'Reilly. Proctor's the only one available." Faith answered with a smirk.

"But she's not even a doctor. She's just a nurse." Bosco argued.

"Uh huh." Faith continued to probe at the wound to make sure there were no foreign materials in it.

"Well, she's not. And she's too rough." Bosco crossed his arms over his chest, a frown on his face.

Faith chuckled. Bosco looked like a little boy when he pouted. "Suck it up, tough guy."

"Yeah, suck it up, tough guy." Mary Proctor bellowed at Bosco, a syringe and needle in her hand and a glint in her eye.

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"Some friend you are." Bosco commented to Faith as they moved along the food line.

"Hey, what could I do? Besides, Proctor is at least good at what she does. You'd probably have a bigger scar if Dr. Thomas sutured it up in a hurry." Faith replied.

"Uh huh." Bosco mumbled, watching as Fred Yokas placed a small portion of banana pudding on his plate. Looking up, he saw the smirk on Fred's face. "That's only half a spoon full." He protested. Shaking his head, he moved on down the line. He didn't understand what Fred had against him.

Fred smiled as he heaped the banana pudding on Faith's plate. "How are you doing tonight, Faith?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Faith answered, looking over and seeing the irritation on Bosco's face.

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"How are you doing tonight, Faith?" Bosco whined, mocking Fred, and causing Faith to roll her eyes. "What?" Bosco asked. "He intentionally gave me a smaller helping of banana pudding because he knows I like it. And then he gives you two spoons. What did I ever do to the guy?"

"Oh, I don't know, Bos. Maybe it's your charming personality." Faith snickered.

"It's not funny, Yokas. I've never done anything to make Fred dislike me." Bosco argued.

"I think maybe he's jealous." Faith answered.

"Jealous of what?" Bosco asked.

"Jealous of us. He, like a lot of others, seems to thing that the two of us have something going on." Faith replied, pointing between herself and Bosco.

"Us? You mean, we don't?" Bosco questioned, looking astonished, then cracking a grin.

"We might as well." Faith answered. "Every guy around here is hands off, because they don't want to move in on your territory."

Bosco chuckled. "That's ridiculous. But even so, you can do a lot better than Freddy boy."

"He's not that bad, Bosco. He can be really sweet when he wants to be." Faith argued.

"Fred....sweet. You've been out in the jungle heat too long, Faith. Besides he gypped me on my banana pudding." Bosco reminded her.

"Here." Faith responded, dumping half of her banana pudding on Bosco's plate. "Enough about the banana pudding."

Bosco looked down at the blob of pudding on his plate. "I didn't want your pudding. That's not the point. The point is he did it to spite me."

Faith rolled her eyes again. "Well I'll take it back then."

Bosco pulled his plate away as Faith reached out with her spoon. "Uh uh, it's mine now."

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Ty and Carlos sat quietly at a table by themselves, neither of them eating very much.

"You're not eating?" Carlos questioned.

"No appetite." Ty answered. "I can't get that gunfight off of my mind. I killed a kid, Carlos. Blew a hole in his chest the size of a football."

"Yeah....well, at least you did something. I just froze. Cowering on the ground like an idiot right next to Boscorrelli." Carlos replied.

"What did he say?" Ty asked.

"He didn't say anything, but he had to have noticed." Carlos answered.

"Doherty patted me on the back and said I'd done good." Ty reported. "Makes me feel sick to my stomach."

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"What about the new guys?" Faith asked Bosco, looking over at Ty and Carlos.

"I think they both freaked out a little when the shooting started. But they'll be ok in a few weeks, if I can keep them alive that long." Bosco answered solemnly.