He couldn't sleep. Again. He hadn't been able to for a week. Not since she left. He wasn't sure how after only four nights he could have gotten so accustomed to having her sleep next to him, or rather intertwined with him. He had never been one for arms and legs around each other cuddling but Faith was. She had told him that she wasn't, but the first morning he woke up with his arms securely around her, her own arms were around his chest where her head was resting peacefully and their legs were tangled together. Both had denied being the one that started their little snuggle but neither were ready to move when they woke up and somehow that's how they spent the rest of Faith's time there.

Bosco rolled over on his side facing the bright red numbers of the clock that sat on small bedside table, crushing the pillow under his head into a ball with his arm in frustration. Nothing he did made him comfortable. Every time he moved he was more uncomfortable than before. He let out a few choice expletives when he saw the large two followed by a four and an eight.

Talking to Faith for hours before trying to go to bed wasn't exactly helpful either. Every time he started to doze off he would remember the sound of her voice when she told him a long, winding story about her kids or something funny that happened at work or when she laughed robustly at one of his many sarcastic remarks or cheesy jokes and he missed the warmth of her body lying next to his even more.

He sat up roughly pushing back the thin blanket and sheet that covered him. Rubbing his hands over his face he grumbled to himself and stood up unsteadily and shuffled out of his bedroom through the hall that was dimly lit by a small nightlight and into the living room. The curtains covering the large front room window were open wide, letting the night outside slightly brighten the room, bathing everything in the bluish white light of the moon that shone in full.

Bosco walked to the window and stared at the peaceful street that slept around him. Every house was cloaked in complete darkness, and the street lights were few and far between in the small town, giving just enough light without polluting the night sky. How could he have picked somewhere so different than New York City?

His brow furrowed as he looked up and down the short, level road, picturing everyone that lived around him. They were all so different from him. They were mostly young parents with young kids looking for the perfect place to raise their new families or they were the other extreme; older, retired couples looking for a place to settle down.

There was a severe lack of any other types of people.

For the longest time that had been the most charming part of it all. The whole town had this surreal quality to it that had pulled Bosco in. He was looking for perfection when he happened to pass through. Happy families spending their Sundays together, people making it to their last years still content and married; these had only ever been fantasies to him. He had never really known anyone who had this kind of life before.

Standing at the window, he remembered the first day that he arrived, stopping only for some coffee before his journey really began. He hadn't planned to stay so close to home but sitting in the café that soon became his regular haunt he loved the feeling of being surrounded by cheerfulness and family and love. It was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before. Sure he had seen happy families. He wasn't ithat/i jaded, he knew they existed in the city, but the bad far outweighed the good in his world and to be totally surrounded by what he had always dreamed of gave him the kind of peace that he had been searching for. Even after a good few hours sitting and watching the life around him he wasn't sure that this is where he should stay, but the voice screaming inside him told him that he wouldn't find a better place to fix himself.

For the first time in a long time he started to miss things about the city that he had needed to get away from; sound of people in the streets at all hours of night and day, the constant passing of cars, neighbours above, below and next to him making just enough noise so he knew that he wasn't alone, the incessant sirens that travelled all around the city twenty-four hours a day; all things that had started to drive him insane.

Backing away from the window, he turned around and walked over to the table where the picture Faith had held in her hands the day she arrived sat in the shadows. He picked it up and gazed at it through the dimness of the room. Rubbing his index finger across the smooth glass of the photo he let a smile touch his lips.

He laughed lightly to himself when we he realized that they were gazing at each other in pretty much the same way they had been the entire week she had been there. He was amazed at how oblivious not only they had been but everyone around them as well. Putting the photo down, he picked up another from early in their partnership. He couldn't determine if he was seeing something that wasn't there simply because he knew what they both felt now or if something had always been there, built in to their relationship from the start. Bosco shook his head realizing for the first time that Fred had had good reason to see something. He could possibly be the only one that iwasn't/i blind to the whole situation.

Letting himself fall into the sofa cushions after putting the picture back in its place, he laid back and stared at the ceiling above him. What the hell was he doing here? That question played over and over in his head, like it had so many times before. He had always been able to answer it, and the answer was always the same; he was making himself happy. He was living the simple life, with no worries, no stress.

But tonight he had no answer. As he searched the ceiling for kind of solution to his question he had to struggle to hold himself back from reaching for the phone and calling Faith. If it hadn't been the middle of the night he wouldn't have been able to stop his hand from dialling her number. He knew that she would be able to tell him what he needed, even if it was that she didn't have an answer either. Then he would at least know that he had to change something.

Frustrated that his once simple question was now unanswerable, he groaned loudly and pulled himself off the couch and practically ran to his bedroom, flipping on the bright overhead light as he entered. Opening the closet, he reached in and pulled out the dark blue duffle bag that sat on a shelf and tossed in on the bed before going to the dresser and pulling open the drawers. Taking piles of clothes, he threw them into the waiting open bag. He wasn't sure what exactly his plan was but he knew that he couldn't stay in the place where he wasn't sure what it was doing for him anymore.

Not even sure exactly what he had packed, he zipped up the bag before slipping on the pair of jeans that were draped over the chair in the corner. Pulling on a t-shirt he took the bag from his bed and made his way through the hall to the front door. Taking a quick look around, giving himself time to turn around and go back to bed and forget everything, he slid on his shoes and grabbed the keys and headed outside, locking the door behind him.

Sliding behind the wheel of the car that sat in his dark driveway, he smiled as he turned the key in the ignition. His stomach flipped in on itself as he started backing out of the driveway.

Off all of the times he had been tempted to jump in the car and go home, he had only ever felt fear and apprehension which had driven him back inside and had made him realize that he was far from ready to be anywhere near New York City. This time though, the flips of his stomach were much less of fear and so much more of excitement mixed with a touch of nervousness about how Faith and his mother would react to seeing him.

Exhaling heavily, blowing out all of his anxiety and inane worries he pressed his foot down on the accelerator smiling at the fact that in mere hours he would be back in the city he once thrived in.

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The loud ring of the phone pulled Faith's concentration from the wall that had been captivating her gaze since she had sat herself down with a cup of coffee and the newspaper that remained unopened. Smiling as she focused her attention on getting to the phone, she answered happily.

"Hello?"

"Hey mom," Charlie's voice came cheerfully.

"Hey sweetheart. You're up early," Faith answered, sitting back down at the table and sipping her coffee. "What's up?"

"Nothin'. I just wanted to call 'cause I'm not gonna be home until late tomorrow, and I wanted to talk to you about something."

Faith didn't know how to feel about the seriousness in her son's voice. She leaned back in her chair sighing into the phone. Up until now, all of Charlie's serious talks had been amusing; what he should do about the girl at school that wouldn't leave him alone, how he should tell Emily she looked bad in an outfit when she asked without her getting angry and starting a fight. This time though, he sounded really, truly serious.

"Okay, Charlie. Go for it," she said, knowing that her apprehension would be clearly evident in her voice, so much so that even Charlie would pick it up. He sighed on the other end of the line, preparing himself for the talk he had been waiting to have with his mother for sometime now.

"So do you…I mean, like, are you and Uncle B. like dating or whatever?" His voice was quiet and nervous, and it sounded to Faith that he was mildly scared of what her response would be.

Smiling at his question, she straightened up in her seat, not really sure of what to say. How weird would it be for your 'uncle' and your mom to be dating? She knew that Emily was happy about it; Emily had actually been convinced that they were carrying something on over the phone before Faith went to see him, so the day Faith got home and sat her daughter down to tell her the news, Emily smirked at her mother and shrugged asking how this qualified as news. But she wasn't sure how Charlie would react. He loved Bosco. And he missed him terribly since Fred had sent him away forbidding him from coming near their family anymore, but this was new territory.

"Would you be okay with that, if we were?" Faith's voice was quiet, fearing the answer that would follow. She held her breath waiting for Charlie's answer.

"Well, I guess. I don't really know. Emily said that it's good. And that you guys are happy. So, yeah I'd be okay with it." Faith smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, happy that she had both of her kids behind her.

"Well, we are Charlie," Faith started but was interrupted promptly by her son.

"Are you moving away?"

Opening her mouth to give him a quick no, Faith stopped herself. She realized suddenly that she didn't know the answer. Bosco hadn't asked her and she doubted that he would ask her to leave her family, friends, work…her life behind to be with him. Sitting there, listening to her son wait patiently for an answer, she realized that she would, in a heartbeat. If he asked her to, she would pack her bags and go to him. Knowing better than to tell Charlie that who would without a doubt tell Fred and Emily that she had told him that she was moving, she reassured him that she wasn't moving and that they had really only been together for a week.

Happy with his mother's answers Charlie told her about his plans for the day, the soccer game and the party and the sleepover that were consuming his weekend before they said their goodbyes.

Turning the phone off, Faith took her coffee in her hands and went to the sofa with the newspaper, resigned to actually reading it this time. Putting her cup on the table next to her, she turned open the first page of the paper. Three lines into her first article her concentration was broken by the light knock that came to the door. Annoyed, she looked to the door contemplating ignoring it completely and enjoying her day alone until there was another knock louder than the first.

Grumbling, she threw the newspaper on the coffee table and straightened her pyjama top as she shuffled her way to the door. Sliding back the chain lock, she pulled the door open, sucking in a harsh breath when she saw that it was Bosco standing on the other side.

"Hey," he said, a self-assured sexy grin plastered on his face. Bosco stood watching a million emotions pass over her face before she threw herself at him, burying her face in his neck. He laughed lightly and pulled her into him, his hands going up her back resting where the ends of her hair tickled his fingers.

"Hi," Faith said after a few moments of standing in his arms in her open door. The smell of freshly brewed coffee swirled out of the open door into the hallway reminding Bosco of just how tired he was. He pulled away eventually, just far enough to look at her.

"Surprised?" Bosco asked her as he moved his face closer to hers. He couldn't get over how inviting she looked in her pyjamas. He had never though of pink flannel as sexy before then, but he knew that he would never look at it the same again.

"Completely," she answered as their lips brushed against each other and she gripped him tighter. She smiled when he moaned against her mouth while she pulled him inside her apartment, never breaking apart from him. He kicked the door closed behind them as they entered the bright room.

"What are you doing here?" She asked quietly when they finally broke apart with their foreheads and noses pressed together. She sighed happily against him, loving the feel of his face in her hands as she rubbed her thumbs over his cheeks, holding his head in her hands. She slowly started to move her hands to the back of his head, feeling the light brown curls twist around her fingers.

"Not that I'm complaining," she added quickly and softly.

"What can I say? I missed ya too much," he said playfully, kissing her again. His hands moved slowly, teasingly down her back. Reaching the hem of her shirt, Bosco's fingers brushed against the warm, soft skin of the small of her back causing her to moan into him this time.

"Em's gone to Fred's, right?" he whispered slowly into her neck after kissing along her jaw line before reaching the spot behind her ear that caused her to press into him.

"Yeah," she started, moving to face him. "Until tomorrow night at least." Kissing his chin, she moved to his neck as her hands felt their way across his chest.

"Good." His face was leaning against the top her head, the smell of her hair wafting around him as he walked her down the hall towards her bedroom. Faith giggled, moving her mouth back to his as Bosco's fingers tickled up and down her sides under her shirt.

Making their way to the room he playfully threw them both on top of the recently made bed, forcing Bosco's name from Faith's mouth through her laugh as they landed tangled up in each other.

Hearing her laughter and her calling out his name made Bosco's stomach jump with excitement and from that one little feeling, that one lurch of happiness, he knew that he had made the right move in driving back to New York City, back to Faith and he could wait until later to figure out if he would be able to call this place home again.