"Bosco!" Faith called after him as he walked out of the locker room. Bosco heard the pain in her voice, the sob escape from deep within her, as he opened the door and walked out. He knew she was hurting, but he just couldn't be there right now. She had betrayed him as his partner. She withheld information from him - information that nearly got him killed tonight. But, more importantly, she had betrayed him as a friend- best friend he'd thought up until tonight. Now he wasn't so sure.

He still heard the echo of his words in his ear - "It's me, Faith. It's me. I'm not anybody."

"Oh God. Please don't let her die," he thought to himself as the fear of her illness began to settle on him. The pain from the broken rib and the beating he took from the door hurt, but it was nothing compared to the thought of her not beating this disease. He'd never lost anyone that was this close to him.

He walked down the hallway and saw his wife standing at the end. She was watching him, concern on her face. He remembered the look on her face when she'd come into the emergency room. Not even Proctor could hold her back. He thought back to the events of tonight.

------- It wasn't until they were in route to the hospital that Faith pulled the cell phone out of her pocket as she rode in silence alongside him in the ambulance. He watched as Faith dialed Kim's number and remembered how terrified she was about him not calling her - hearing about him being shot from someone else. He knew she'd freak out if it weren't him that told her.

"Faith," he whispered. He was still out of breath. "Let me talk to her," he said, reaching for the phone.

"Bos, you really shouldn't," Doc said as he checked his vital signs again.

"No. I need to call her so she doesn't get scared," he said, looking at Faith and seeing the lost look in her eyes. She was taking this pretty hard, he thought to himself.

He took the phone from her and held it up to his ear and heard her answer. "Hello?"

He made an effort to sound as normal as possible despite the pain. "Kim, it's me. I had a little mishap at work and I have to get checked out," he started only to be interrupted.

"What? What happened? Bosco, I'm on my way down there. I love you," Kim said, only to be interrupted by Bosco.

"No. I'm okay. Don't bring the baby out this late. I'll be home in a little while and you'll see I'm fine," he urged her.

"No. You don't sound fine. You sound terrible. I'll have my Mom come over to stay with the kids and I'll meet you there. What happened, Bos?"

He knew he wasn't going to change her mind about coming down to the hospital. "It's nothing. I just think I broke a rib and I'll probably have a black eye," he said, rolling his eyes at Doc, knowing that he'd catch hell for lying to her but he didn't want her to kill herself trying to get to the hospital. It'd be bad enough when she got to the hospital and found out that he'd been shot at.

He handed the phone back to Faith and their fingers touched for a moment. He thought he felt her draw back from him - almost like she was afraid to touch him. He couldn't make eye contact with her.

Doc had noticed too and thought that maybe she was in shock from seeing her partner almost get killed. "Faith?" Doc asked her. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you?" he asked her.

"What? Oh. No. I'm fine," she said, a tear welling up in her eye. Doc noticed, but decided not to push it right now. He'd make sure that someone checked her over at Mercy when they got there.

"She's sick," Bosco whispered.

"What?" Doc asked him.

"She threw up before," he said. "I shouldn't have pushed it. I knew she wasn't feeling good. I should have waited for back-up," he said, knowing that she probably felt guilty for not being there to back him up. He had himself to blame - he knew she was sick and he pushed her anyway. Forced her to follow him in. -------------

He reached the end of the Precinct hallway and Kim. "You look like crap," she said simply.

"Thanks. I feel like crap," he said, trying to make light of it. But Kim saw the look on his face. It was different than a look of pain from an injury. It was something else. They walked outside together, Kim's arm around Bosco's waist as he leaned on her a little.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. He just shrugged, but she wouldn't let up. "What's wrong?" she asked him again. She watched his face as he looked off ahead and saw his eyes get watery. He didn't actually cry, but it looked like he wanted to. She stopped walking and stepped in front of him. "Baby? What's wrong? Are you okay? Do you need to go back to the hospital?" she asked and he looked at her.

He shook his head no at her question about going back to the hospital and looked at her. "Faith's sick."

"What? What's wrong?" Kim said, sensing that it was something serious.

"She has cancer," he said, the word catching in his throat.

"Oh no," Kim said. "Where?"

"In her breast. She said that they think they got it all, and the doctor told her everything looks really good," he told her. "She had a radiation treatment today and she had to take some medicine for the pain. That made her sick and she couldn't back me up. That's what happened tonight, Kim," he said, the pain now clearly on his face.

Kim looked at him for a moment and let him catch his breath sensing that there was more. "Bos?"

"She didn't tell me, Kim. I thought I was her best friend and she didn't tell me. If I had known I would have waited for back-up. I thought she was right behind me - until it was too late," he said, the tears starting to fall now. "I thought I'd never see you or Johnny or Joey again when that guy pointed my own gun at me and shot me," he finished leaning on Kim.

Kim got Bosco to his car and put him in the passenger seat. She would drive home tonight. "I have to go grab my stuff from the firehouse," she told him. "I'll be right back."

He watched her cross the street and then stared out the front window of his mustang. After a few minutes, he caught sight of Faith coming out of the station out of the corner of his eye. He made eye contact with her and then looked away, giving her the message that he didn't want to talk to her right now. Faith stood there for a moment and noticed Kim walking back across the street.

"Kim," she called out to her and Bosco watched as Kim hesitated for a moment and then walked over to Faith. He could see the tenseness in Kim's stance and hoped that she wasn't going to 'go off' on Faith, but he just didn't have the energy or desire to intervene right now.

--------

"Kim. I'm sorry," Faith started only to be interrupted by Kim.

"How dare you, Faith. I trust you with Bosco's life every day that you go out there and he does too. Just like Fred and you trust Bosco with your life. How dare you hold something like this back from him? He could have been killed tonight if that bullet had hit at a different angle or higher. My God! What were you thinking?" Kim lashed out. Faith stood there accepting her beratement. "More than that, you told him that you don't trust him. If he'd known, he wouldn't have gone ahead without you. Knowing that you trust him is everything to him. You've hurt him, Faith," Kim finished.

"I know. I'm sorry Kim. I thought I could handle it and I did up until tonight. It was the pain medication that I took this time. I just didn't want anyone to know. I didn't want to be treated differently at work. I should have taken some time off and I'm sorry. Please tell Bosco that for me and ask him to call me," Faith said looking over at her partner who was watching them.

"I'll ask him, but I wouldn't expect a call in the next couple of days," Kim said softening a little. "So, how are you? What did the doctors say?"

"I'm good. They feel they got it all and I'm just finishing up the radiation treatments. I won't feel sure until I'm cancer-free for a couple of years though. I'm gonna take a few days off, Kim. So, if he feels like calling, I'll be home. Again, I'm sorry. I was wrong."

"Okay, I'll tell him," Kim said, putting an arm on Faith's. "Take care of yourself and call me if you need anything."

"Thanks, Kim. G'night," Faith said and looked over at Bosco. She gave him a tentative wave and he just nodded his head slightly. He watched as Faith turned and walked toward the train platform, the look of defeat showing in her steps.

Kim came over to the car and got in. "You okay?"

"Great," he said sarcastically. "What was that all about?"

"Tell you later. I called my Mom and she's gonna take the kids to her house for the night. Joey doesn't have school tomorrow so getting to sleep late won't bother them. Mom sends her love and says to call if we need anything," she finished, trying to gauge his mood. "You need to call your Mom," she advised him.

He reached over and put Kim's hand to his lips and kissed it. "Let's go home," he said quietly.