A Cold Winter's Night, Chapter 2

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

Bosco could hear his own screams battling with the screams of Madeline. The fall, terrifying as it was, was brief. The ice was thin, as expected and shattered as Madeline made contact, her outstretched hands shielding her head from the major impact.

Bosco felt his shoulder hit something that was semi-solid, but was then engulfed by the icy waters. Momentarily stunned, he struggled to get his bearings, his breath catching in his throat. After what seemed like an eternity to his shocked system, he finally broke the surface of the water. Gulping in the freezing night air, his lungs constricted. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh" he moaned, still unsure of what was happening. He struggled to stay afloat, frantically scanning the dark waters around him. It was Finney's voice that reoriented him.

"BOSCO! BOSCO! ARE YOU OK?" Finney shouted, then mumbled. "Holy crap." Fingering his radio, he called in a 10-13 and quickly explained the situation.

Bosco tried to find Finney in the darkness. Glancing up at the bridge towering overhead, he remembered the call, the jumper on the railing. 'Madeline!'

"Answer me, Boscorelli. Are you ok? Where's the lady?"

Bosco shuddered, partially from the freezing water and partially from fright. Scanning the waters again frantically, he saw no sign of Madeline. "I'm …o..kay." He studdered, startled at his own chattering voice. "Don't see her…Can you…..see…her?"

Finney shined his flashlight across the water. He could see Bosco bobbing like a cork, but no sign of the lady. "No, I can't." Fingering his radio again, he notified central that they would need a rescue crew and a bus, and seeing Bosco plunge back under the water, he added "and hurry."

Despite every nerve ending in his body screaming for him to get out of the water, Bosco's conscience had told him otherwise. So taking a deep breath, he dove back under the murky water, scanning the area as best he could, hoping against hope to find the missing woman. As his hands hit the soft sandy bottom, he moved along it, groping around almost aimlessly the visibility was so poor.

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Finney leaned over the bridge railing, shining his light at the huge hole in the ice while a frantic Steven paced and muttered in the background.

"You have to do something!" Steven cried, supporting himself on the railing and shaking his head in disbelief.

"What can I do, man? The rescue squad is on the way." Finney assured him. Turning back to the scene below, Brendan bit his lip. 'Come on Boscorelli. You've been down too long.'

Much to his relief, Bosco broke the surface, one arm flailing and the other holding Madeline against him.

"Good job, man!" Finney shouted in relief.

Bosco just grunted, trying to get to the edge of the ice. Madeline was dead weight added to the already cumbersome weight of his vest, gun belt, and shoes. His coat kept floating up, making it more difficult for him to swim. His relief at finally reaching the edge of the ice was short lived as the ice broke away when he grabbed it, causing Bosco and Madeline to plunge beneath the icy surface once again. He came up sputtering, but made sure that he kept Madeline's head above water. "FINNEY!" He shouted, between coughs. "Finney, help me!"

"Help's on the way man." Brendan called back to him.

"MADELINE! Madeline, sweetheart." Stephen called desperately.

Bosco maneuvered over to the ice again, and this time rested his hand on it more gently, floating on his back while still holding Madeline against him. "FINNEY! HOW….FAR….OUT?" Bosco called, his teeth chattering, breathing rapid. His whole body shook and his skin felt like it was on fire.

"Don't know." Finney called back. "Shouldn't be long." He assured Bosco, then called back into his radio to see how far out they actually were. Hearing sirens in the background, he was relieved. "Help's on the way, partner. Just hang on."

His relief was also short lived, when he realized that Carlos and Grace had arrived, but no rescue team.

"Where's rescue? We gotta get them out of there." Brendan questioned.

"There's a huge apartment fire over on Seventeenth Street. It has more than one precinct in the area tied up. What's going on?" Grace asked, following Brendan to the edge of the bridge.

"That's what's going on." Brendan pointed to Bosco and Madeline still floating in the middle of the water.

"Whoa! Dude, how'd they get down there?" Carlos asked.

"They just decided to take a Christmas Eve swim." Finney replied sarcastically. "They fell over. How do you think they got down there?"

"I was just asking, man. Relax." Carlos replied.

"How long have they been down there, Brendan?" Grace questioned seriously.

"I don't know. Five, maybe ten minutes. I don't know." Brendan answered.

Carlos and Grace exchanged looks.

"What?" Brendan asked. "What's wrong?"

"As cold as that water is, it's only a matter of time before they get hypothermic. They're not going to last long." Carlos replied, as Grace got on her radio to central to let them know how urgent the situation was.

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"Ahh" Bosco moaned, struggling to stay afloat. His hands and feet didn't burn as badly, but they felt numb and his movements felt sluggish. He had had some cold weather survival training in the Rangers and he knew that he was probably getting hypothermic. 'Think Boscorelli.' He knew he had to try to stay focused no matter what. "What better way to stay focused than to have a conversation with someone, right Madeline?"

Of course Madeline didn't respond, so he decided to try another option. "Finney." He called out, noting how faint his voice sounded. "Finney."

He could hear Finney talking to someone in the background, but couldn't make out the voices. "Finney, shut up you moron and talk to me!" His voice sounded stronger this time.

"What?" Brendan called back. "Are you ok?"

"I'm just peachy." Bosco replied with a little chuckle, although he couldn't figure out what was so funny. "Just keep talking to me." His chattering had decreased, which he knew was probably not a good sign.

"That's a good idea" Grace replied. "Keep him talking and try to keep him focused. Otherwise he may get confused and then eventually he'll loose consciousness."

"Madeline!" Steven, having been listening to the conversation, called out to his wife. "Madeline, I'm here, baby. Why doesn't she answer me? Madeline!" He cried, becoming more frantic. "We have to get her out! We can't wait!" And with that he was running towards the end of the bridge and then down the bank towards the ice covered water.

Brendan and Carlos managed to catch him among the rocks at the edge of the ice.

"Whoa! Stop. You can't go out there. The ice isn't thick enough. It'll never hold you. You're too big." Brendan argued.

"We have to do something! We can't just stand here!" Steven pleaded.

Bosco's call caught the group's attention. "Ff.f.finney. How…much……….."

Brendan recognizing the change in Bosco's voice, the slight slurring of his words, responded. "Hey, man. They're coming, ok. Just hang on. Talk to me, Bosco."

"Can't…hold…..not …much ..longer."

"Just hold on, Bosco, okay. I'm coming to help you." With that, Brendan started stripping off his coat, gun belt, uniform shirt, and vest.

"What are you doing?" Grace asked, grabbing him by the arm and making him face her. "You can't go out there."

"Look, I'm a small guy. I may be able to make it to them. I have to try." Finney replied, slipping his feet out of his shoes.

"You're crazy." Grace replied calmly, although her heart was beating out of her chest. "We'll just end up with three of you to resc…"

She was cut of by Brendan placing a finger to her lips. He stared into her eyes as if he were about to say something.

"What?"

"Nothing…..just…we're still on for tonight, ok." Brendan replied.

Moving to the edge of the ice, he got down on his knees and placed one hand out onto it testing it. Moving slowly and as lightly as possible, he crawled across. He avoided the few places where he could tell the ice was thinner, and was surprised that it was actually sturdier than he anticipated. As he approached the edge of the hole made by Madeline and Bosco's fall, he moved even more cautiously. Finally getting close enough, he reached out and placed his hand on Bosco's gloved hand that was still clinging to the ice. The movement startled Bosco who had his eyes closed and wasn't focusing on what was going on around him. "Easy, partner."

"What……."

"I'm trying to save your sorry butt. That's what. Now, I'm gonna try to pull Madeline towards me, ok."

"Yeah…..sure." Bosco mumbled.

Finney reached out, grabbing Madeline's arm and pulling her towards him and the ice. The weight of her body caused the thin edge of the ice to break off further, but Finney managed to get Madeline partially onto a sturdier area of ice. Moving backward cautiously, he pulled her fully onto the ice, then continued to creep back towards the shoreline. Once he had handed her off to Carlos at the shore, he turned back towards Bosco, ignoring his body's violent shivering.

Reaching the edge of the hole again, he reached out for Bosco. "Ok, man. Let's get you out of here."

But Bosco, confused as to what was happening, began to pull away.

"Whoa. Wait, man. What are you doing?"

"Stttop." Bosco mumbled, trying to push Brendan away. He instead managed to loose his grip on the ice and slipped below the water's surface.

Brendan, seeing Bosco going under, reached out to grab him. He managed to pull him up, but a struggle ensued causing Brendan to shift his weight forward onto a thinner edge of ice. "STOP! BOSCO!" He screamed, but it was too late. The ice under him collapsed and both men plunged into the water's depths.

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"BRENDAN!" Grace shouted in horror, as she watched Brendan fall into the water and disappear along with Bosco. After a few moments, the two surfaced again, with Brendan yelling at Bosco who was still fighting him. Twice more, the two submerged, before Brendan managed to get Bosco under control.

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"Bosco, take it easy, man. Just stop fighting. I've got you." Finney gasped, having finally managed to grab Bosco from behind.

"What…..what's going on?" Bosco muttered, slightly more coherent.

"We're taking a little swim, man. Don't you remember? The crazy lady…the bridge." Finney explained. His whole body shivered as the icy water cut through him like a knife.

"Bridge?"

"Yeah, the bridge." Brendan reiterated as he tried to grab hold of the ice that surrounded them.

"Don't …member. Just singing." Bosco mumbled. "Stupid song."

"It was not a stupid song. It was a Christmas song." Brendan argued.

"Stupd Chrisma Song…..sleepy."

"No, you can't go to sleep, Bosco. Stay awake." Brendan instructed as he pulled them along the ice trying to get closer to the shore.

Several times the ice broke and the two slipped under the icy waters. Bosco panicked each time and Brendan soon found himself struggling with him again. His hands were numb, making fighting Bosco that much harder. And the last time Bosco took him under, he thought that it was all over. His head felt light, his vision dim. He had all but decided to stop fighting it when a hand reached out and grabbed his arm pulling him to the surface and toward the land.

After gaining his footing, Finney was able to pull Bosco out with the help of his rescuer. Collapsing on the ground beside an unconscious Bosco, he looked up expecting to see a member of the rescue squad. His eyes widened as he looked at the sight before him, then around at the high snow covered banks that he didn't recognize. "What? How? You're ….you're…."

"An Elf" the little man snickered in a squeaky voice. Clicking his heals together, he did a happy little Elf dance. Then looking back at Finney's slack jawed expression he commented, "What? You've never seen an Elf before?"

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WHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

For those of you who thought this was going to be a serious Bosco angst fic, I'm sorry. I've had the tumbling over the bridge scene in my head for over a year, but I didn't want to get into a long and serious hurt Bosco fic. So this is the compromise that the muse came up with. I hope you enjoy.

Coming up on A Cold Winter's Night, Chapter 3….. Bosco and Finney visit Toyland and meet the man himself, Santa. Will Bosco find the Christmas spirit or will Santa be in for a rude awakening?