"So, how did it go?" Kim asked him, glancing at the clock as he came through the front door and hung up his jacket.

"Pretty good," he replied, letting out a big sigh. He walked over and sat down next to Kim on the couch and took Johnny from her. As usual, he got a big smile with a giggle. "Really good, actually," he added, making faces at his son and getting him excited.

"You look tired," she told him as she handed him the baby's pacifier and favorite blanket. "He needs to take a nap so don't get him all excited. You want something to eat?"

"No, thanks. You want me to put him down for a nap?" Bosco asked her.

"Sure, if you want. You had a pretty long session today. Everything okay?" she asked him looking for signs of trouble. He'd been better and better after each session and she knew that it was only a matter of time before he went back to work. She knew that he was getting anxious to return, but she'd talked him into not pushing it and he had agreed.

"Yeah. I stopped by work on the way home," he told her standing up and. He was talking softly so that the baby would calm down. "I'm cleared to go back."

Kim turned around to face him. "Really? When?"

"Whenever. I told the Lieu I'd be back tomorrow," he said looking back at her.

"That's good. I know you've wanted to go back. You're sure you're ready, right?" she asked him walking over and cupping Johnny's head with her hand and gently rubbing it.

"Yeah, I am," he said. "I'm good, Kim. Better than I've been in a really long time."

"Well okay then. Did you tell Faith?" Kim said, kissing her husband as he started down the hallway to put the baby down.

"I'll call her later on. She wasn't in the station yet. Joey due home after school?" Bosco asked turning into the baby's room.

"He'll be with Jimmy after school today. He has a basketball game at school and then Jimmy's gonna take him for dinner. He'll drop him off around 8:00, so it's just you and Johnny for the evening. I've gotta get ready for work," she said, rushing past the room and into their bedroom.

Bosco placed Johnny into his crib and turned on his favorite music. He watched him for a minute while he fell asleep as he listened to Kim moving around the bedroom getting ready. Suddenly, it was all he could do to get from the baby's room to their room. He was suddenly so tired.

"You okay?" Kim asked him as he sat down on the bed.

"Yeah. I'm just beat all of a sudden. I guess I was pretty tensed up today worrying about whether I'd be going back to work soon. Now, that it's all settled, I guess I can finally relax," he told her as he lay back on the bed. He didn't even feel her throw the blanket over him, kiss him on the cheek and head off to work because he was asleep before he was even totally on the bed.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Bosco woke up just shy of two hours later to the sound of Johnny babbling to himself over the baby monitor. He looked at his alarm clock and saw that it was almost 4:00. He smiled as listened to his son talk for a few minutes and then got up to get him up. He felt refreshed after his nap and was glad that things would be getting back to normal tomorrow when he went back to work. He just hoped that Faith would be okay with him coming back - trust him to be there if she needed him.

Bosco had changed Johnny and was playing with him on the floor in the living room while he watched the game on television when the phone rang.

"Hello," he answered.

"Hey. How are you?" came Faith's voice from the other end.

"I'm good. How are you? I was gonna call you later," he said.

"Yeah, well I was gonna stop over for my dinner break if that's okay," she said to him.

"Yeah. Great. It's just Johnny and me tonight. Jimmy's got Joey till about 8:00," he told her.

"I'm picking up some Chinese. You want anything?" she asked him.

"Yeah. You know what I like. Thanks," he said hanging up.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Faith arrived about 15 minutes later and they sat at the kitchen table eating with Johnny in the high chair next to Bosco munching on a fortune cookie.

"So, I don't know if you've heard, but I'm cleared to come back to work," he said, looking up to see her reaction.

"Yeah. Swersky mentioned it to me after roll call today. That's great news," she said, leaving an awkward silence between them. But, of course Johnny voiced his opinion that he wanted more cookie so that broke the tension.

"So, are we okay? I'll understand if you want a new partner," he said to her, not looking at her.

"What?!" she said, a little too loud and scaring the baby.

"I mean. I'd understand if you didn't trust me anymore. Although I'm fine, but I'd understand," he said.

"Bosco. I've been waiting for you to come back. Why wouldn't I trust you anymore? After all we've been through together, why would you even think that? I mean, after what I did to you when I was sick. I'm the one who should be afraid of being trusted," she said to him, not taking her eyes off him and silently willing him to look at her.

He looked up at her with the familiar, smart-assed grin on his face. "I never 'not trusted you', Faith," he said looking at her. He continued, "Well, good. Because I was afraid that I'd get stuck with Gusler and then I'd need therapy all over again." They both laughed, as there was a knock on the front door.

Bosco got up and walked over and opened the door to find Jimmy and Joey there. "Hey, Joey. C'mon in guys," he said, standing to the side so both of them could get in.

"Hey Bosco, Faith. How's it going?" Jimmy asked.

"Good," Faith answered. "I've gotta get back out there though before Sully and Davis think I'm ducking calls," she said, putting her jacket back on and heading for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bos."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," he said as he saw her to the door.

After she'd gone, Jimmy said, "You're going back to work?'

"Yeah, tomorrow," he answered.

"That's great. I'm glad you're doing better, Bos. I never said anything before because, well, I didn't really know what to say, but I'm glad you're doing better," Jimmy said, reaching out to shake Bosco's hand.

"Thanks, Jimmy. So, how'd the game go?" Bosco said, looking from Jimmy to Joey.

"We won!" Joey yelled, jumping up and down which, in turn, made Johnny screech with delight.

"Joey did awesome. He made like six points," Jimmy reported proudly.

"Great job!" Bosco said, giving him a high-five. "And, at the risk of being the ogre, is your homework all done?"

"Yup. Dad helped me do it after dinner," he told Bosco.

"Good, 'cause you know your Mom's gonna call later and ask. Why don't you grab your shower and then we can watch the rest of the game until it's time for bed," he suggested.

"Okay. G'night, Dad," Joey said, giving Jimmy a hug.

"G'night, Champ. Good job today," he answered.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

True to predictions, about ten minutes after Jimmy left the phone rang. "That'll be your Mom. Why don't you get it," Bosco suggested.

"Hello?" Joey said into the phone. "Yes, Mom. It's all done. Dad checked it. We won today," he added quickly at the end. Bosco watched Joey's facial expressions while he was listening to Kim and tried not to laugh.

"Okay. I'm going. G'night, Mom. Do you want to talk to Bosco?" he handed the phone to Bosco, said goodnight, and headed off to brush his teeth and get into bed.

"Hey you. Keeping the City safe?" Bosco said to Kim.

"Trying, despite the efforts of all the morons out here," she answered. "I saw Faith a little while ago. She said she had dinner with you. She's really happy that you're coming back tomorrow."

"Yeah. That makes two of us, but I'm gonna miss the kids," he said.

"Well, that never goes away, unfortunately," she said. "I'll see you in a couple of hours. Did you have a nice nap?"

"Yeah, thanks. You should have woken me up though," he told her.

"Nah. You looked like you needed it and I knew that Johnny'd wake you up in a little while anyway. Love you," she said before hanging up.

Bosco hung up and headed down the hall to make sure Joey was all set and to check on Johnny.

"All set, Sport?" he said as he stood in the doorway of Joey's room.

"Yup. G'night," Joey said and Bosco gave him a wink. As he started off to Johnny's room, Joey called to him and he returned.

"I'm glad you're better, Bosco," Joey said, looking at his second father.

"Me too, Sport. Me too. Sleep well," he said and watched as Joey turned over and closed his eyes.