A Little "Family" Fun, Chapter 2

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

XXXX

'Here kitty kitty. Come and get it….I've got a snack for you. Better bring a friend or two, he's a big one….wouldn't want you to die from donut poisoning. What are you waiting for? Huh? Show me those teeth…grrrrrrrrr…that's on now….Rack of Sully….Sully on a stick….'

Bosco watched through the glass partition as the big Bengal tiger lay licking his paws then yawning lazily. 'Wild beast…hmph…you're just a big lazy kitten.'

"He's beautiful, isn't he Maurice?" Rose muttered from behind Bosco, placing one hand on each of Bosco's shoulders.

Bosco wet his lips and opened his mouth to reply, but hesitated. Whenever he tried to speak, the words wouldn't come out, just meaningless sounds that drew everyone's attention. He hated everyone staring at him trying to interpret what he was saying and Rose's look of anticipation that always turned to disappointment. 'Yeah, Ma. He's beautiful' came his silent reply.

"You always did love the tigers." Rose added quietly, stroking Bosco's right cheek with the back of her fingers. She paused, feeling him flinch as her fingers passed over his scar, the same reaction he had when Rose washed his face each day. "Sorry." She muttered, moving her hand back to his shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Everything ok, Rose?" Sully asked, seeing the gloomy look on Rose's face.

"Hmmm…oh, yes, John. Everything's fine." Rose replied with a reassuring smile.

XXXX

Bosco watched on as one of the younger chimpanzees jumped up and down chattering and banging on the glass in front of Sully and Rose. 'Yeah, buddy, that horrifies me even more than it does you.' Bosco thought, seeing Sully holding his mother's hand and talking to her quietly.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Sully asked the chimp, tapping the glass between them himself.

"Maybe he doesn't like spectators." Rose commented.

'Can't blame him for that.' Bosco replied silently, glancing in the direction of the little boy that had been staring at him curiously. He was embarrassed yet relieved when the boy's mother whispered something in his ear and led him away.

XXXX

"Here you go, my lady." Sully placed a tray down on the picnic table in front of Rose. "Two hot dogs, two colas, and one banana strawberry smoothie. And I remembered the spoon."

"Thank you, John. Look, Maurice. You like strawberry, don't you?" Rose commented, pushing a spoon full of the smoothie towards Bosco.

'Oh yeah, that's just peachy, Ma.' Bosco scowled, watching Sully devour his hotdog.

"What are you frowning at, Maurice? This is good for you. And it will hold you over until we get home and I can feed you. Now, open wide." Rose instructed.

XXXX

Rose crumpled her napkin after finishing the last bite of her hotdog. "John, can you watch Maurice for a minute while I go to the ladies room?"

"Sure, Rose. I don't think we can get into too much trouble while you're gone."

"See if you can get him to take a little more of that smoothie, will you?" Rose added as she walked away.

"Um…sure…ok." Sully replied quietly, looking hesitantly over at Bosco.

'Oh great, like I'm going to take it for you. Give me a break.' Bosco clamped his mouth shut. 'I'm sick of this little family outing. Just take me home.'

"Hey, Bosco…um…how about a little more of this?" Sully asked, as he scooted to the end of the bench closest to Bosco and picked up the smoothie, holding a spoonful up to Bosco's closed mouth. "Here….. No?" Sully asked. Seeing that Bosco didn't budge, Sully plopped the spoon back into the fruity drink and sat it back on the table.

Leaning back he drummed his fingers on the picnic table. "Nice day, huh?" He looked around and then back at Bosco. Letting out a sigh, he leaned on his elbows, studying Bosco's face as Bosco stared at him intently. "Look..." Sully said more seriously, "I don't know if you can understand me or not, Bosco. I mean…I'd like to think that you're in there…somewhere….and can understand at least some of what's going on….I really don't know. But I…well, I'm pretty sure I know what you'd probably say if you were at yourself and knew that I was seeing Rose…" Sully looked down at the table, suddenly unable hold Bosco's gaze.

'Oh, you have no idea, fat boy.'

Sully steeled his nerve, finally managing to look Bosco in the eye again. "I'm gonna just come out and say this Bosco, whether you understand me or not. I care about Rose, a lot. In fact….I ….I think I love her." Sully laughed quietly, his cheeks turning red. Looking back down at the table, he nervously picked up the smoothie again and without really thinking pushed a spoonful towards Bosco's mouth.

Bosco sat slack jawed at Sully's revelation and couldn't react quickly enough to keep Sully from shoveling the smoothie into his mouth. 'This….this….this can't be happening….can't….no way…Sully…in love with….this is worse than I thought….'

"I bet that's the last thing you expected to hear from me, huh?" Sully commented, still chuckling nervously.

'This is insane…This is not happening….not happening…'

"Me, John Sullivan, in love with Rose Boscorelli. Do you know what that means, Bosco?"

'NOOOOO! STOP! Don't say it….don't you dare!'

Sully spooned more smoothie into Bosco's mouth.

Bosco knew one thing…that he wanted this conversation to end…NOW. He wanted to shout at Sully, scream at him to shut up and stay away from his mother. But he knew he couldn't and that infuriated him that much more. So he did the only thing he could think of to do to distract the conversation as Sully spooned even more smoothie towards him.

"I sure wish that I knew what you were thinking, Bosco. How much of this you can understand." Sully commented, looking up at Bosco again. He got no answer, except Bosco's blank stare as he drooled smoothie mixed with saliva out the corner of his mouth and onto his shirt.

Sully sighed, placing the smoothie cup on the edge of the table and wiping Bosco's mouth and shirt with a napkin. "Well, I guess there's my answer. Huh?"

XXXX

The two men sat in silence, both lost in their own thoughts until Rose Boscorelli returned.

"What are you two doing?" She asked curiously, placing one hand on each of Sully's shoulders.

"Just waiting on you, Rosie." Sully commented. Turning, he moved one leg so that he was strattling the bench, his back towards Bosco. Then reaching up, he took Rose's hand and guide her to sit on the bench in front of him. "We were just having a little heart to heart." Sully added, causing Rose to glance up at him curiously. "It was sort of a one sided conversation."

"I see." Rose commented. "And what did you talk about?"

Sully held Rose's tiny hand in his large hand, as he rubbed her back gently with his free hand, then he grinned. "Women."

"Women?" Rose smirked. "Well, I'm surprised Maurice didn't find a way to comment on that. Any women in particular?"

"Just this cute little lady I've been seeing." Sully replied, his hand drifting farther down Rose's back.

It was all Bosco could do to keep from vomiting as he watched Sully flirt with his Ma. And when Sully's hand drifted down to Rose's waist, he nearly came unglued. 'HEY! HEY! UH UHHH, DONUT BOY! THAT'S FAR ENOUGH! ENOUGH!' Seeing Rose flirting right back, he suddenly realized how nicely she was dressed for a trip to the zoo. 'MA! FOR THE LOVE OF MARY! YOU'RE IN PUBLIC HERE!'

Bosco watched as the two giggled and talked quietly, their faces getting closer together with each word. 'OH NO! UH UHHH! THAT AIN'T HAPPENING!' Bosco shuddered involuntarily at the thought, looking frantically around trying to figure out how to stop this insanity. When his eyes spotted the smoothie sitting on the edge of the table, just behind Sully, he grinned wickedly. 'You want to play games, Sullivan. Ok, GAME ON!'

He tried to reach forward to the smoothie, moving his right hand what little he could, but it was not enough. 'Have to get closer.' He looked down at the hand control to the wheelchair. 'You can do this Boscorelli. You can do this.' He coached himself, reaching forward slowly and pushing the control harshly causing the wheelchair to jolt forward and toward the right. His knees hit the metal posts holding up the picnic table, but the two love birds failed to notice it. Leaning forward again, he lifted his right arm heavily onto the table and pushed it toward the smoothie.

XXXX

Sully leaned forward closing his eyes as Rose's lips gently brushed his, but he abruptly jerked back at the sensation of something cold and wet saturating the back of his shirt and seat of his pants. "Ahhhhhhhh…"

"What's wrong, John?" Rose asked worriedly.

"Co...Cold…" Sully muttered, jumping up from the bench, feeling the seat of his pants with both hands and trying to twist around to see what was on them. As he turned, he and Rose both saw the smoothie cup and the remainder of the spilled beverage on the picnic bench. Sully suddenly looked up at Bosco in surprise and found him staring off at something in the distance, seemingly oblivious to Sully and Rose. "Did he do that?" a confused Sully asked.

"I don't think so, John. I mean, I don't know how he could have unless he bumped the control to the wheelchair or something. I thought I felt something jar the table earlier." Rose explained.

"Strange" Sully mumbled, grabbing a handful of napkins from the dispenser on the picnic table and turning his attention to his soaked pants.

"Here, let me help you with that." Rose offered. Taking a wad of napkins, she moved behind Sully and began to dab at the seat of his pants.

"ROSE!" Sully jumped, suddenly turning red in the face. "That's fine…I …I can do it. Thanks."

Bosco had been trying to keep a straight face, but seeing the look on Sully's reddening face as his Ma tried to help in her motherly way, he began to laugh. Luckily for him, his laughter sounded more like hiccups and he soon attracted Rose's concern instead of their suspicions.

"Are you ok, Maurice?" Rose questioned, quickly abandoning Sully and moving to her son's side. Holding up his arm, she patted him on the back.

Bosco couldn't help but feel a small sense of triumph at capturing Rose's attention away from Sully.

"I'm just gonna go into the restroom and try to clean up." Sully grumbled, holding a handful of soaked napkins up for no one in particular to see.

"Ok, John. We'll be right here." Rose answered, not looking back at him as she continued to try to get Bosco settled down.

XXXX

"Oh, there you are." Rose noted when Sully finally came out of the men's room. "Any luck?"

"Well, I dried it the best I could." Sully grumped, turning around to show Rose the large wet stain on his shirt and pants.

Rose reached forward almost reflexively and plucked a tiny piece of paper off of his pants. "Sorry." She mumbled, seeing the brief glare on his face. "I'm sorry this happened, John. We can call it a day and head home if you want to."

'YES!' Bosco thought triumphantly.

Detecting the disappointment in Rose's voice, Sully sighed. "No, Rose. There's no need for that. It will dry out soon enough. Besides, there's still a lot more to see."

'Oh, come on, Sullivan. Be a man. You know you're as sick of this little day trip as I am. Take us home, moron. She'll get over it.'

Rose smiled, knowing that John was making concessions for her. "Thank you, John. Thank you for everything. You're such a sweetheart."

'Thank you, John. You're such a sweetheart, John. Come, let me kiss you darling.' Bosco mocked them mentally. 'Somebody shoot me, please.'

XXXX

After touring the bird sanctuary, the three moved on to the reptile exhibits, although Rose made sure they avoided the snakes because Bosco had always been terrified of them. They stopped now beside an outdoor turtle habitat where a short brick wall surrounded a sunken grassy area with a small pond in the middle.

"There's supposed to be a three foot turtle in here." Sully informed Rose. He pushed Bosco's wheelchair up along side the wall, then stepped in front of him to try to spot the turtle.

Rose walked along the wall behind Bosco searching for the giant turtle. "I don't see it, do you?"

"Nope. Not yet." Sully replied, bracing his hands on the top of the wall and leaning over for a closer look.

Bosco was becoming more and more frustrated as he realized he couldn't see very much from his current position. Reaching slowly for the hand control, he pushed it forward slightly causing the wheelchair to jump forward a few inches, but backed off quickly when he realized that he was headed directly towards Sully. Then, as he watched Sully leaning over the wall, oblivious to everything else around him, a wry smile crept across his face. 'This is gonna be too easy.' Shoving the hand control forward again, he charged Sully, slamming into him and causing him to stumble forward over the wall.

Sully, not knowing what was happening but feeling a collision and then himself falling, clung to the wall desperately but to no avail. He fell over the side landing on his hands and knees in a large muddy area.

"JOHN! WHAT? What happened? Are you ok?" Rose shouted, looking over the wall at the shocked look on Sully's face.

"Um…ok, I think." Sully mumbled.

Looking back, Rose saw Bosco going around in circles in his wheelchair. "MAURICE!"

Bosco had slammed into Sully then jerked back on the hand control quickly. In doing so, he turned the wheelchair into a circular path and between his laughing and the dizziness caused by the sudden movement, his mind failed to communicate with his hand to let go of the control. 'WHOA! Whoa! I think I'm gonna be sick.'

"Maurice! Maurice, what are you doing?" Rose shouted, chasing Bosco's wheelchair around in circles. She finally got close enough to pull his hand from the hand control causing the wheelchair to stop. "Maurice? What?" Rose stopped, as she lifted Bosco's head with her hands and saw how pale his face was. "Are you ok, baby?"

'Sick…sick...that was not fun.'

"CRAP!" Sully grumbled from inside the turtle pit, wiping the mud off of his hands on to his thighs as he contemplated how he was going to climb back out since the inside of the pit was lower than the asphalt outside.

"Oh, John. Are you ok?" Rose asked glancing back over her shoulder at him. She chuckled lightly at the disgusted look on his face. "You're not hurt are you?"

"NO…no, I'm not hurt…nothing but my pride. How'd he do that?" Sully questioned, pointing to Bosco.

"I don't know. I think he must have been playing with the control again and it got out of control. He was going around and round in circles." Rose answered.

"SIR, you're going to have to get out of there!"

Sully looked to his right and saw one of the zoo's security guards standing just outside the pit with his arms crossed, an impatient look on his face.

"Civilians are not supposed to be inside the exhibits. These animals can be dangerous. You should know better than that." The guard admonished him.

"I do know better than that. I fell in." Sully replied gruffly. "Can you give me a hand?"

With much effort and a few choice words, the guard finally managed to hall Sully out of the turtle pit while Bosco and Rose looked on. Bosco, having recovered from his nausea, was trying desperately to contain his laughter, knowing that if Sully or Rose noticed him laughing his cover would be blown.

"Have you been drinking, Sir?" The guard questioned seriously.

"What? Of course not." Sully answered incredulously. "I was looking over the wall, trying to find the turtle and something…" Sully glared at Bosco briefly, but Bosco avoided his gaze. "Something hit me from behind and I stumbled over."

The guard glanced at Rose who was shaking her head in agreement, then eyed Sully suspiciously. "Close your eyes, Sir, and touch your finger to your nose."

"Excuse me? You can't be serious?" Sully scoffed, thinking that this was a joke.

"I am absolutely serious, Sir. Now do as I say or I'll have to call for the NYPD."

"NYPD! NYPD! I am the NYPD, you moron!" Sully half shouted.

"John, calm down. I don't think that's going to help." Rose said quietly, seeing the guard's shoulders straighten, his hand reaching for his radio.

"SIR.."

"Sul?"

Rose, Sully and the guard all turned to see Ty Davis looking on curiously, three small boys standing beside him.

"Officer Davis, do you know this man?" The guard inquired.

"Well that depends on what he's done, Max?" Ty answered with a slight grin.

"Funny, Davis." Sully grumbled.

"I found him in the turtle pit and I suspect he's been drinking, but he won't cooperate with the sobriety testing." Max explained, getting a laugh from Ty. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know what he was doing in the turtle pit, but I'm relatively sure he's not drunk, Max. This is my partner, John Sullivan." Ty answered.

"This….this is your partner?" Max asked, looking Sully up and down.

"Yep." Ty replied.

"Well…since he's YOUR partner, I'm going to let this little incident slide. BUT…make sure it doesn't happen again, Mr. Sullivan." Max instructed, causing Sully's mouth to drop open and Ty to laugh again. "You have a nice day, Officer Davis."

"Thanks, Max." Ty chuckled.

"Moron." Sully muttered as Max walked away.

Ty looked at Sully and motioned towards his muddy pants legs. "How?" was all he could get out amidst his laughs. His nephews looked at Sully like he was crazy.

"Don't ask." Sully answered.

"I'm terribly sorry, John." Rose apologized, trying to control her own urge to laugh.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ty asked while trying to corral one of his nephews.

"We just wanted to get Maurice out of the house, Ty." Rose answered, smoothing out Bosco's hair as she spoke.

"Yeah, how's he doing?" Ty asked, stepping closer to Bosco and leaning down in front of him. "H.E.Y..B.O.S.C.O" He said very loudly and distinctively. "How are you doing?"

'I'm paralyzed, Ty. Not deaf or stupid.' Bosco thought.

"He looks great." Ty commented to Rose, as he stood upright.

'Oh yeah, great…wheelchair, catheter and all.'

"Well, I think getting him out and around people is good for him." Rose replied. "He's making some slow progress."

"Are you guys just getting started?" Sully asked, motioning to Ty's nephews.

"Oh no. We've been here since they opened…just finished up at the petting zoo. We're actually about to head out. They've worn Uncle Ty out."

"THE PETTING ZOO ….Maurice always did love the petting zoo!" Rose chirped, the excitement obvious in her voice.

'Mikey always loved the petting zoo, Ma. I just went along with it to make him laugh.'

"The petting zoo?" Sully questioned, obviously less than excited.

"Well, then, maybe you guys should try it." Ty suggested, ignoring the glare Sully cast his way. "It should be fun."

"I think you're right Ty. It will be fun. What do you say, John?" Rose asked.

"Great….that's just great, Rose." Sully answered, giving Ty a look that said he'd deal with him later.

'Great…just great…' Bosco sighed. 'This day is never going to end.'