Thanks for the reviews, guys. Keep 'em coming! Sorry for the delay, been busy.

"I'm not saying you can't do your job, Faith," Bosco argued, as he drove them towards the precinct for the start of their next shift. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't be taking risks like that until you decide what it is you want to do. You remember what happened last time you were pregnant?"

"Bosco, you can quit arguing because there's no way in hell I'm going on a desk," Faith returned.

"Well what about your head?" he asked. "Surely you shouldn't be on the streets after having a concussion yesterday?"

"Would you stop already?"

"What did the doctor say?" he asked.

"That as long as I didn't have any headaches or dizzy spells then I was fine."

"Fields said you were fine to work out on the streets when you'd had a head injury and you're pregnant?" he checked, incredulous.

"I swear to God, Bosco, if you don't shut up right now I'll make sure this is the only baby you ever father. Got me?"

He was pretty sure she was bluffing, but he wasn't about to risk his fatherhood to find out. Was this the dreaded pregnancy hormones he'd heard so much about? He hoped she wasn't going to be like this for the whole pregnancy. He caught himself mid-thought and sighed. If there was a pregnancy. He couldn't help but think that she was humoring him by saying she was still considering it.

Bosco pulled up outside the precinct and Faith hopped out of the car without a word. Bosco sighed and followed her, hoping she wasn't going to be in a grouchy mood for the whole shift. As much as he loved her - and he meant that in the friend way, despite his revelation at the bar - he hated it when she was in a bitchy mood.

They headed into the locker room and met Davis and Sully, who were already changing for shift. They looked up, surprise evident on their faces at seeing Faith. "Are you on the desk tonight?" Sully asked.

Bosco made a cutting motion across his throat, trying to warn them, but they were too intent on his partner.

"No, I'm working 55-David tonight. Do you two gentlemen have a problem with that?" Faith retorted, her voice testy.

"Should you really be on the streets in your condition?" Sully asked.

"Don't start with me, Sullivan, I've had enough of that from Bosco," she growled.

Sully chuckled. "Yeah, well God forbid I agree with Boscorelli, but the man has a point."

"Careful," Bosco warned. "I was threatened with castration when I said that."

"Enough," Faith growled. "I am going to go out there and do my job. If any of you have a problem with that, then that's just too bad." She stormed out of the locker room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Sully raised an eyebrow. "Was it something I said?"

Bosco chuckled. "Hormones," he simply replied, closing his locker and heading out after his partner.

Faith was cranky and she knew it. After last time, she should have expected Bosco to go all protective on her. Hell, she was surprised that he hadn't started as soon as she'd told him, but maybe that was because he'd been too busy being pissed at her. He was being quiet now and she wasn't sure if he was sulking or just wary of her mood. She didn't care what his reasons were, she was just pleased with the blessed silence. Now, if only her stomach would cooperate and stop doing back flips, she'd be a happy camper.

Bosco turned the car into another street and her stomach protested at the movement. "God, Bosco, do you think you could maybe slow down before you go around a corner?" she grumped, swallowing hard.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, glancing across at her.

"Morning sickness doesn't restrict itself to the mornings," she informed him.

"Isn't it a little early for that sort of thing?" he asked.

"And just how many kids have you had?" she snapped. She sighed. "Sorry, I'm just feeling like crap."

"Hang on, I'll stop and get you something," he told her, pulling up outside a small convenience store.

"Bos, you don't have to do..." she trailed off, as the driver's door slammed shut and her partner hurried toward the front door of the store. She couldn't help but smile a little. He'd been so attentive since she'd been hurt the previous night and she really was enjoying this new side of her partner. But what happened when the novelty wore off? Could she really rely on him to be there in the long-term?

Faith frowned as she watched Bosco pause at the door. Then, to her horror, she saw the door fly open and a sawn-off shotgun was shoved in her partner's face. Bosco immediately put his hands out in a show of compliance, just as Faith was reaching for the door.

The perp must have seen her and the next thing she knew, she was ducking down as her window exploded. She stayed down for what felt like forever, but what was only a minute, before cautiously raising her head and looking toward the store. Both the shooter and her partner were nowhere to be seen. She reached for her radio, her hands shaking as she depressed the button. "Central this is 55-David. We have a 10-13 at the corner of third and Arthur. I repeat, we have a 10-13, my partner has been taken by gunpoint."

Bosco sighed with relief as he heard his partner's voice over the radio. He'd seen the gunman shoot toward the RMP and heard the glass shatter. He'd been scared that Faith had been hit. He looked at the three other people in the shop. The owner, an elderly Asian man, looked shaken but unhurt. The other hostage was a heavily pregnant white woman. She only appeared to be around thirty and looked scared out of her mind. The third person was the man waving the shotgun in his face. He was a tall, skinny guy, with dirty blonde hair and had almost as dirty blue jeans and a sweatshirt on.

"Give me your gun," he demanded, pressing the shotgun's shortened barrel into his chest. Bosco knew that if he pulled the trigger then it was all over for him. Their vests weren't made to stop shots this close and they certainly weren't capable of stopping a pointblank shotgun blast.

"Take it easy, man," Bosco tried to placate.

"I said give me your gun!" the man shouted.

"Okay, okay." Bosco slowly reached for his weapon, pulling it out of the holster and laying it on the counter by his right side. "There it is. You can relax now."

"Put your hands against the counter," the man demanded. "And if you move you're getting a new hole, got it?"

Bosco nodded and turned. He'd been hoping that the man would have been stupid enough to assume he only had one weapon, but it seemed this guy had watched enough TV to know that some cops carried a back-up gun. He was patted down, the gun pulled unceremoniously from its holster on his ankle and his utility belt taken from around his hips.

"This gun's much better," the man said, and Bosco turned to see him holding his back-up weapon in his hand. "Lighter than the shotty, that's for sure." He shoved the gun in his face. "Now get over there and sit down next to them." He pointed towards the other hostages. "And if you try anything, then I'll kill the lot of you, got it?"

Bosco nodded and did as he was told, moving to sit next to the pregnant woman. He watched their captor closely as he paced before him, seeing something in his behavior that set off warning bells. "You a junky?" he asked.

"Shut up!"

"Hey, I can see your hands are shaking. When was your last hit?"

"That bastard cut me off! All I wanted was one lousy hit, but he didn't think I was good for it. I could have paid him tomorrow!"

"Listen man, all you've done right now is hold up a convenience store. Why don't you give this up before you make things worse?"

"I can't go back to jail!" he cried. "I can't go through that again!"

"Okay, okay," Bosco placated, thinking fast. "What if I make you a deal, huh?"

The man looked suspicious. "What kind of deal?"

"We stop this now and you tell me who your dealer is. We get him and I'll go in to bat for you." He raised an eyebrow. "After all, isn't he the reason you're in this mess?"

The guy didn't jump down his throat, like he'd been worried he would do. Instead he seemed to be considering his offer. "You're not setting me up?" he asked.

Bosco shook his head. "I'm just trying to get everyone out of here in one piece."

The man started to lower the gun. "Okay, maybe you're"

"This is Sergeant Walters of ESU," a voice boomed from outside. "I want to talk to the man in the convenience store. We're going to call the phone in there. I'd like you to pick up." The phone started ringing.

Bosco cursed ESU's timing as he saw the man tense and then raise his weapon. "What the hell are they doing here!" he raged.

"It's standard procedure," Bosco placated. "This doesn't change anything. We can just walk out of here and "

"Shut up!"

"Please let us out," the pregnant woman cried. "I think I'm in labor."

"I said shut up!" The gunman stormed over to the counter and grabbed the phone. "What!" he screamed into the receiver.

Bosco turned to the woman beside him. "Are you really in labor?" he asked.

She nodded, trying to stifle her sobs. "Yes."

"Shit," he cursed. "Did you just start?"

She shrugged. "I had a few contractions at lunchtime, but nothing like this."

"What in the hell are you doing going out when you're in labor?" he whispered harshly.

"I didn't know I was," she sobbed.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I just... I have no idea how to help you."

She looked at him with teary green eyes. "Can I hold your hand?"

Bosco's first instinct was to say no, but then he looked at her and saw the fear in his eyes. She was rubbing her belly with her other hand and he immediately thought of Faith and the baby she was carrying. "Sure." He held out his hand. "You squeeze as hard as you need to," he told her.

"Thank you," she replied, taking his hand tightly in hers.

"I told you people to shut up!" the gunman yelled.

tbc