"You've been quiet," Bosco said, as they headed back to the precinct. "You still feeling sick?"

She shook her head. "No," she murmured.

He looked across at her, but her eyes stayed focused on the road. "Then what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" she repeated. "How about the fact that you nearly got killed today?" she asked.

"Faith"

She shook her head. "No, don't. I know it wasn't your fault this time. It just scared me, that's all."

"I'm sorry," he replied.

She sighed and pulled over, stopping the car before turning to look at him. "I think I've made my decision," she told him.

He didn't have to ask what she was talking about. He felt his heart stop momentarily, before it took off at a gallop. "And?"

She caught his eyes with hers and held his gaze. "I want this baby, Bos."

"You sure?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

She blinked quickly and he could see she was trying not to cry. "Ever since I found out, I've been trying to find excuses to have an abortion. But each one I came up with just didn't seem good enough. Then when you were in that store, I was so scared you weren't gonna make it out and I wondered how I was gonna raise this baby without you. It was then I realized that I'd already made my decision. I just didn't want to admit it."

"Why not?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Because I'm scared."

He was surprised at that. Fear wasn't an emotion he normally associated with his partner. "Of what?"

She shook her head. "Of so many things. I'm not exactly getting any younger and I know you said you were gonna be there for me, but what happens when you find someone and you want to start a family of your own?"

He looked at her, as a tear made its way down her cheek. He reached out and wiped it away, before tilting her chin up so he could look in her eyes. "I already have a family, Faith. They're right here with me."

She shook her head. "Bosco"

"That night, when you asked me to love you, I wasn't pretending." He hoped she understood what he meant. He wasn't sure he was ready to come out and say those three little words yet.

The tears multiplied and she smiled tremulously. "I feel the same," she said.

He smiled at her admission, trying to put everything he was feeling into the expression on his face. Her own smile softened and more tears escaped down her cheeks. Bosco reached out and traced the path of one. "So what now?" he asked, his voice soft.

She shrugged, leaning into his caress. "I guess we just take one day at a time. I need to tell Charlie about the baby. Emily knows, she even figured out you were the father."

Bosco grimaced. "How'd that go down?"

Faith shrugged. "She's changed these last few weeks. Since that night with Fred... my little girl's grown up. She told me she'd support me, no matter what I decided to do."

"You sure she hasn't been swapped?" he asked, chuckling.

Faith shot him a disapproving look, but the edge was taken off by the smile in her eyes. "I wish it didn't take seeing her parents fighting to snap her out of whatever was going on with her," she admitted.

"You think Charlie's gonna have a problem with it?" he asked. He'd always gotten on well with Faith's son, but he guessed he was always seen as the cool uncle and the cool uncle wasn't supposed to get the mom pregnant.

"He loves you, Bos," she assured him. "It'll take us all some time to get used to the changes, but I think he'll be okay with it. I think the hardest thing will be what we tell people at work." She looked across at him. "You know when they find out, everyone's gonna say you broke up my marriage."

Bosco shrugged. "I don't care what people say, Faith. You should know that by now."

"But I care," she rebuked. "I don't want them thinking you did anything wrong." She fixed him with an intense gaze. "You saved me that night, Bosco. Physically, you gave me somewhere safe to stay and emotionally, you saved my sanity. If anything, I took advantage of you that night, because I knew you would never deny me anything."

Bosco grinned, feeling the need to lighten the mood. "What are you talking about? I'm always denying you things. Just last week, I wouldn't let you finish my fries..."

She laughed and playfully smacked him across the chest.

"Ow," he groaned. "Easy on the injured guy."

"Oh, God, I'm sorry, Bos. Are you okay?"

He grinned as she leaned toward him, stealing a quick kiss from her concerned face. "Let's get back to the house so we can call it a night," he suggested.

She smiled and nodded, looking at his lips for a long moment before leaning in for another, longer kiss. "Okay, let's go," she said, once she pulled away from him.

Bosco sat back in his seat, realizing that his back had started throbbing again from the angle he'd been sitting at during their talk. He sighed and closed his eyes as Faith started the car.

"There's one thing, Bos."

He opened one eye to look at her. "What's that?" he asked.

She smiled and pulled back onto the road. "There's no way in hell your putting any kind of tracking device in our baby's ass."

THE END