Chapter 160

"Are you coming with me?" Bosco asked Kim as he gathered up his duffle bag and keys.

"Um..., no," Kim said, looking around at the three kids that were nowhere near ready.

"You okay?" he asked her, noticing that she seemed pretty distracted this morning.

"Yeah, why?" she responded as she chased Johnny from the living room, through the kitchen and back out to the living room again, where he ran behind Bosco, giggling the entire time. Johnny didn't go from crawling to walking - he went straight to running and hadn't slowed down since! Jumping around to Bosco's left, she managed to fake out Johnny and he ran right into her arms, the giggle becoming infectious now as Bosco and Kim both started laughing.

"I don't know..., you're usually more... organized than this," he said, expecting and receiving a sharp poke in the ribs from Kim as she turned to head down the hallway to Johnny's room to get him ready.

Grabbing his side, he said "Hey! Don't hurt me. I need to be at my best to beat those Bucket Boys."

"Yeah, yeah. In your dreams, Boscorelli," she called over her shoulder. "Play nice. We'll be there in a little while. Hey, wait a minute!" she called out to him as he had his hand on the doorknob.

"Joey! Are you ready to go? 'Cause Bosco can bring you with him," she called across the hallway to her eldest.

"Yeah, Mom. Comin' Dad!" he yelled out.

"Yeah, yeah, so's Christmas!" Bosco responded, getting a groan from Kim. That seemed to be his favorite saying lately.

"Bye, Mom!" Joey called out as he ran up the hallway to join Bosco.

"Behave!" she called after him.

"Aw, Mom!" he called back.

Reaching the front door, Joey ran through the door that Bosco held open. "Hang on," he said to Joey, holding up one finger. He walked back toward Johnny's room, thinking how Kim had kind of been up and down lately since Doc shot Captain Steeper. He reached the doorway and looked in to see Kim sitting on the edge of the rocker, staring at Johnny while he played with his toys.

"Kim," he called softly. She looked up at him, startled. "You sure you're alright?" he asked her again, walking over and kneeling down next to her.

She put her hand on the side of his face and leaned over and kissed him, receiving a response back from Bosco. "I'm okay. Just a little down today. I'll be fine. See you in a little bit," she assured him.

"Okay," Bosco said, standing up. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "I'll see you there."

"Yup," she said, nodding. "Oh, make sure Joey has his bag, 'cause he's going to Jimmy's tonight," she reminded him.

"Will do," he said and headed up the hallway to the front door. He took a look at Joey and saw that he had everything. He pulled the door closed behind him and they headed off to the basketball court for the Camelot Cup.


Everyone was at the court warming up. Faith had even decided to play. She was trying to get back into shape and thought any activity would help with that. Bosco noticed her look at the door every time it opened, as if she were looking for someone.

"Fred and the kids coming?" Bosco asked as he walked up alongside her, dribbling the basketball.

"No. Emily said she and Charlie were coming though. They should be here by now though," Faith said, looking at the clock on the gymnasium wall.

"You want me to help you find them?" Bosco offered, tossing the ball over toward Ty Davis.

Just then the door opened and he saw Faith's face relax as they walked in. They waved to them as they caught sight of them. "Thanks," Faith said to Bosco for his offer to help her find them. Emily and Charlie found Joey sitting up in the bleachers and climbed up to join him.

The referees were here and the two opposing teams readied themselves to get down to business. Just as they were setting up for the jump to start the game, the door swung open and Maritza Cruz rushed in.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Faith said to herself under her breath.

Bosco looked over at Faith and saw the tense look on her face. He followed her gaze and was surprised himself to see Sgt. Cruz on the sideline, taking off her sweats and getting ready to play. He looked back at Faith and saw the look she was giving him, as if he was supposed to know that she was coming and had kept it from Faith.

He gave her his most sincere look and shrugged, indicating he was just as shocked as she was, as he walked over to her.

"She better stay the hell out of my way," Faith said as the whistle blew and the jump ball was recovered by NYPD.

Bosco looked at the clock and then at the door, noticing that Kim and the kids weren't there yet. He'd told Joey to use his cell phone and give her a call and was told that she was on her way.

Just as he was about to go back to the game, he noticed the door to the gym open and was relieved to see Kim, Amanda and Johnny walk in. He made eye contact with Kim and noticed that she looked a little better than earlier. He was glad of that. He'd been worried about her lately.

Bosco's attention was brought back to the game by shouts from both sides of the game and the referee's whistle indicating a foul was committed. He looked over to see the group of players standing around a figure lying on the floor. Not spotting Faith right away, he was afraid that she'd done something to her back again. As he hurried over, he caught sight of Faith standing off to the side of the group, wiping some sweat from her forehead with a towel. Getting a closer look, he saw that Martiza Cruz was lying on the ground. She started to sit up and Bosco saw the blood pouring from her nose.

Kim noticed the blood and immediately handed off Johnny to Emily and told Amanda to stay with Joey. She climbed down the bleachers and grabbed the first aid kit from the sideline as Cruz was helped to a chair on the side of the court.

As Kim began cleaning up the blood so she could see exactly where it was coming from, Bosco followed Cruz's cold-blooded stare over to Faith who was staring back just as intently.

"Feel better?" Bosco asked Faith as he walked over to stand alongside her.

"About what?" Faith replied, her voice thick with innocence.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She got a little too close. I guess I caught her in the nose with my elbow. Too bad, she almost got the ball away from me. She should be more careful," Faith said, walking away. Bosco noticed the look of satisfaction on her face.

"Oh, man," he said, looking from Faith to Cruz and back again. Shaking his head, he walked back onto the court to resume the game as Kim continued to tend to Cruz's bloody nose.