A/N: Sorry for the big delay in chapters! I sort of forgot about this fic... looks around This is the last chapter. Thank you all for all the amazing reviews! I hope this last chapter wraps things up for you! Enjoy!
Chapter 6
"Faith, are you okay?" I tried to ask, my speech severely slurred from the blow to my jaw.
"Shut up, Bos." She replied, helping me to my feet. She brought me over to the couch and we both sat down. My hand was protectively covering the right side of my face, feeling around to make sure nothing was out of place or bleeding. Son of a bitch really nailed me.
Faith put her hand up to my face and delicately touched my swelling jaw. I immediately winced at her touch, feeling the pain shoot through my entire face again. "God, Bos, it's already starting to bruise." She said with concern, gently cupping my chin in her hand, slightly turning my head so she could see better. I didn't understand how she could tell there was a bruise underneath my already disfigured, discolored scar, but she managed. "Let me go get you some ice." She posed to stand up, but I reflexively shot out my hand, grabbing her arm so she couldn't go anywhere.
"I'm okay." I said, trying to cease her worrying. She reluctantly sat back down next to me, knowing that I was going to be stubborn about this.
Not believing that I was okay, she looked sternly at me, quickly lowering her eyes in anger. "Fred, you son of a bitch." She said angrily to herself. I hated seeing her like this. Torn between hating Fred and keeping things neutral for the sake of her kids. If it were me, I would just kill the bastard…
"You should probably get a new lock." I said, trying to get the focus of concern off of me.
"Yeah," She replied, looking over at the door. I was surprised she hadn't done so already. It wasn't all that uncharacteristic of Fred to barge in like that… I figured Faith would have foreseen that.
"Bosco…" She turned back facing me, "What was he talking about?"
The lump in my throat reformed as she spoke the words. The last thing I wanted to get into was what had happened that night with Fred, but I knew Faith wasn't going to let it go.
"It's nothing, Faith. He was just over-exaggerating." I said, hoping, but knowing that it wouldn't answer her question well enough for her to drop the subject.
"What happened that day, Bos?" She persisted. "What did he do?"
I gazed at her for a moment, wondering if maybe I should tell her, but quickly deciding otherwise. I slowly picked myself up off the couch and stood unmoving in front of Faith. I kept my stare on her, still sitting down in defeat. She looked so broken… but so beautiful.
"I should go." I said softly.
"Bosco, please." Faith raised herself up, meeting my stare. We were so close… Her eyes were intense, almost burning holes in mine as she pleaded with me not to leave. Not yet.
I leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek, taking in her sweet scent, and quickly disappeared.
I shut the door behind me, leaving Faith in morbid confusion. I started to walk away, towards the doors to the apartment building, but the guilt kept pressing down on me. How could I just leave her there? She deserved to know what happened, I just didn't want to tell her. That wasn't fair, and I knew it.
I immediately turned around and headed right back up to her door. I knew I couldn't just leave things the way they were. I had done that one too many times before.
I got up to her door, and raised my hand to knock, when I heard a familiar voice coming from inside the apartment.
"He wanted to see you."
Emily.
"He was so worried about you and just wanted to know if you were alright, and Dad went nuts." She explained. I hadn't realized that Emily had been there, 'sleeping'. I should have known that she would tell Faith what happened. She had been there, watching the whole thing.
"What did he do?" Faith's voice faintly spoke out.
"He grabbed Bosco and threw him up against a window… I thought either Dad was going to throw him out the window, or Bosco was going to take a good punch at him, and easily get away. I know that Bosco could take out Dad any time of day… but he didn't. He didn't even struggle, Mom." There was a slight pause, and I waited for Faith to say something; anything, but nothing came, so Emily continued. "I kept yelling at Dad to stop it, but he didn't. He threw Bosco to the ground and punched him hard in the face… and Bosco just took it. He even got up from off the ground, holding his face, and told Dad that he was sorry…"
"Sorry for what?" Faith asked in confusion.
"For hurting you."
I walked into the room, watching as Fred and Emily held each other in grievance of Faith. The pain that image caused was more than anything I had ever felt… I had caused this family to break; I had caused all this pain, and knowing that hurt me deeply.
"Fred?" I softly cut in. I saw the harsh look on Fred's face as he slowly let go of Emily and turned his head to look at me, the man who has done this to his wife. "Have you heard anything?" I said with the only intention of getting a straight answer. I needed to know. "Is she still in surgery?" I asked. I had to know how she was. I had to know if Faith was alright; it was all I cared about, but Fred didn't budge. "Is she alright?" I kept going as Fred just continued to stand, glaring at me, having no intention of answering. "Emi?" I shifted my sight over to a scared Emily, standing behind her father. I was pleading by then. Pleading to Emily, the only one who knew how much Faith meant to me.
Fred instinctively shifted his weight, stepping in front of his daughter and turned completely facing me. "What happened to her?" He asked, accusingly.
"Look, Fred," I started, reluctant to have to explain things this way, "It's best I don't say too much right now. Not until I talk to her."
Fred's glare intensified as he was unsatisfied with my answer. "How did my wife get shot with you when she was supposed to be workin' inside?" He asked as he started moving closer to me, becoming more and more impatient with my un-informing answers.
"I'm taking care of it, Fred," I met his glare, almost pleading with him just to trust me in saying that I had everything under control. "Don't worry about it." I said with a slight change in my voice. He needed to know that I was serious. I was going to fix all of this, whatever that meant.
Fred shifted uncomfortably, "Don't worry about it?" He nearly whispered, "What about my daughter, Bosco?" He moved aside, placing Emily in plain view. She looked so scared and so confused. He was right, and I knew it. I knew that they wouldn't just take me saying 'I'll take care of it' without a second thought. "She's pretty worried about it. What am I supposed to tell her?"
I took a second, knowing that I couldn't do that to Emily. They needed to know. "Look, Fred, alright?" I started, reluctant to have to tell them this, "I was in a jam, and she was helpin' me - "
Before I could even finish, Fred lunged at me, grabbing at my collar. "You son of a bitch." Fred flung me around, and I heard Emily scream in terror.
"Daddy!"
He violently shoved me up against the window, breaking the glass. I kept hearing Emily's screams for Fred to stop, and Sully's protests, but he kept on, and I didn't bother to fight back. I deserved it.
"It's always you!" Fred yelled, throwing me to the floor. "Always!" With that, he took all the strength he had left into slamming his fist into the left side of my face, sending himself tumbling over along with me at the force of the blow.
"Daddy, stop it!" Emily kept yelling, but it took Sully to peel him off of me.
"Let go of me!" Fred yelled, struggling to get away from Sully's grasp to get another shot at me. I stayed on the ground, feeling the throbbing sensation take over my entire left side as the scene continued on around me.
"You're done!" Sully was now yelling at Fred, who was still fighting to get away. Regardless to Fred's incessant struggling and screaming, Sully managed to push Fred stomach first into the wall, much like one would do to a perp on the streets.
"Let go of me!" Fred continued to protest as Emily kept pleading with her father to stop.
Sully grabbed at Fred's right arm, twisting it behind him. "Hand behind your back."
Fred would have none of it, and turned as well as Sully would let him, looking at me. "You leave my family alone!" He screamed. Sully took him by the collar and slammed him back against the wall, fed up with his resisting.
"Shut up!" He yelled, finally getting Fred's attention. "Now if you wanna be here to see Faith when she gets out of surgery, you are gunna take a deep breath, and you are gunna back off!"
Fred continued to just stand still, letting Sully push him against the wall every couple seconds as he finished his threats. Grabbing Fred, and turning him around to face himself, Sully forced Fred's back against the wall, pointing an accusing finger in his face, "Because if you don't, you're gunna spend the rest of tonight in lockup!"
Fred continued to remain silent, starting to understand the severity of what he had just done, and listened to Sully as he yelled. "You hear me!"
Fred simply nodded, and Sully lowered his finger, both of them taking deep breaths.
I started to pull myself together and pick myself up from the ground, my face still throbbing. Sully, now having Fred somewhat under control, turned around to look at me. "You okay, Bosco?" he asked. I just continued to pull myself up, and taking a couple needed deep breaths, I dismissed the question, and looked once again at Fred.
"I'm sorry, Fred." I turned around, knowing my place wasn't there, and started to walk away, when I heard his sadistic voice call out one last time.
"You come near my family again, Bosco, I'll kill you." His tone was calm, almost that of someone who had a murder plan already mapped out. He was serious, and I knew that one hundred percent.
"Hey," Sully pushed him, once again, "Fred, You're done."
I turned around, this time, and looked straight into his eyes, showing him that I wasn't afraid of him. All I cared about was Faith, and he knew that. He knew it damn well.
"You hear me? I'll kill you."
By that time, I was still standing in front of the door, but with no intention of going in. My head was bowed in humiliation, and I was blankly staring at my feet. Emily had said it. She had hit the nail on the head… something that even I couldn't do.
Still standing stationary right outside of her apartment, I heard the door handle turning, and before I could do anything about it, Faith was standing in front of me, staring at my unmoving form.
I slowly looked up from my ground stare, seeing Faith's teary eyes.
"I… I was coming to get you." She said, wiping quickly at her eyes. "Emily told me everything." She continued, waiting for a response from me. I simply nodded, indicating that I had heard everything, and Faith nodded back, telling me she knew that I knew. I didn't know what to do at that point. I was humiliated and disappointed in myself for just leaving like I had… so I just stood there, waiting for Faith to make the next move. It was either that, or leave again, and I wasn't about to make a fool of myself and storm off a second time.
And she did make the next move.
Stepping in closer to me, she stared intensely into my eyes, our faces not an inch away… and she kissed me. I felt her soft lips meet mine, and gently, yet passionately, she kissed me. It was the last thing I had ever expected Faith to ever do… I was the one wanting so desperately wanting to kiss her, I was the one who had all these hidden feelings stored up inside me… I was the one who loved Faith… Yet… She kissed me.
Bringing my hand up to her neck, I ran my fingers through her silky hair as I kissed her back. I had never kissed anyone with so much meaning; so much passion before. Faith was the only one. At that moment, all the fears and confusion and doubt I had been having were completely diminished. Faith was it. She was the one… and I loved her more than any man could ever love a woman… and I told her that through my kiss.
She gently pulled away, and looked me straight in the eyes, with a light smile creeping up her face. "Me too."
God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you
The End
