I drove back to the house and went into the locker room for a shower. I still had three hours left on the shift but I had stopped and talked to Lieu and told him I was sick and he told me to go home.

Faith had called Sully and Ty and told them that I had personal business to take care of. She hadn't said a word to me when she saw me in the hallway after I'd left her at the diner.

She had walked by me without so much as a second glance. I was still really angry at her for degrading herself and going back to Jimmy again. I was so mad at him that I wanted to go to Camelot and punch his lights out. He'd almost convinced me that he was a decent guy with his 'go get her' speech he'd made the night before. He obviously hadn't kept his word when he'd invited Faith into his apartment a few hours earlier.

I stepped into the shower stall and turned the water on full force. The hot water felt good against my clammy skin. I was definitely coming down with something. I just felt like I couldn't deal with anything else today.

"You think you're the only one who can play?" I mimicked Faith's excuse for words. I knew I was being childish but it made me so mad to hear her talk like that. Faith was a classy woman; not one who needed to do those things. It made her image seemed a bit smeared to me, but I had done the same thing many times and I couldn't say much. But I didn't have to like it.

I dried off and wrapped myself in a towel and went to grab my civies out of my locker. I felt myself stiffen as I saw her standing there, brushing her long blond hair back. She stiffened too as she saw me approach. She cleared her throat and turned away from me and threw the brush into her locker and slammed the door shut. She grabbed her jacket and sat down on the bench to tie up her boots.

I glanced at her from behind. She wasn't going home. She had her hair down and not in the bun she usually put it in after work. She had on a nice pair of jeans and a cashmere sweater and was now in the process of putting on a pair of dressy boots.

I felt the jealousy spread through my body as if it were on fire. She was definitely movin' on and not wastin' any time. My stomach tightened into a big knot.

"Racking up another one tonight?" I muttered, as I grabbed my clothes.

She turned to me, her eyes ablaze. "Don't talk to me like that you jerk! You do the same thing night after night. At least I'm not sleeping with half of New York City!"

"I thought you were better than that!" I half yelled at her as I turned around.

She started stuffing her dirty uniform into her locker. " I'm a grown woman and I can do what ever I want. You're getting a new partner tomorrow so you don't have to worry about it anyway!" She yelled back.

We stood facing each other, both angry as hell. Both hurting at the unkind words we'd spoken. I was the first to turn away. I was always the one who couldn't stand to have her mad at me, even when I was mad at her in the first place.

"Do whatever you want. I don't care what you do anymore." I snapped as meanly as I could.

She looked away for a second and even I could tell how much I'd hurt her with that comment. When she turned back her eyes were filled with tears. "I didn't think you ever did". She said, her lip quivering.

She grabbed her stuff and walked out the door, letting it slam shut behind her. I always ended up hurting her and feeling hurt myself. We had a way of being angry one second and sad the next. I think that the anger was a secondary emotion. Hurt being the first and neither of us was good at letting the other see how hurt we were.

I got dressed as quickly as I could, knowing that if I hurried, I'd probably catch her on the way to the subway.

Sure enough, I caught up with her just about four blocks over from the precinct. She was walking quickly with her head down. I beeped my horn. She didn't look up. I beeped it again. This time she looked my way. I pulled over and motioned for her to get in. She shook her head and continued to walk. I put the car in park and grabbed the keys and jumped out.

I ran down the sidewalk and tugged on her arm. She pulled away from me as I touched her.

"Faith, please stop. I'm sorry for what I said back there."

She turned to face me, her eyes still very angry. "Now you're sorry? What about at the diner? Are you sorry for that? What's wrong with you anyway?" She yelled, her arms held out.

I sighed and looked down at my shoes. This was the moment I had waited for.

"I was mad."

"You were mad? Why? What did I ever do to you?"

"You shouldn't be with Jimmy. He doesn't care about you."

She shook her head, and narrowed her eyes at me. " What do you know about it? What do you care? You're not my father, so why all the attitude about who I date?"

"I just don't want to see you hurt".

She turned away from me and started walking again. "Lay off, Bos. I can look after myself. I can do whatever I want with Jimmy. It's better than being alone." She added.

I ran to catch up with her. I hated hearing her talk that way.

"Faith, stop!"

"Bosco! Leave me alone!"

I turned her around to face me. I cupped her face with my hands and leaned in and kissed her softly on the mouth. Immediately she responded and put her hands around my neck.

We must have stood there for a good five minutes, but I couldn't let her go. I had found a little piece of heaven and I wasn't about to let it go.

TBC