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"I don't suppose there's any point in checking the windows."

"Nope – they nailed them shut from the outside; Davis went down the fire escape…"

"Of course he did"

She slid down the wall, settling into a crouch against it. As she lowered her head onto her arms, crossed over her knees, something on the floor caught her eye. "Hunh"

"What?"

"There's a note here." She reached for it, stuck underneath the edge of a mat.

"A note? What do you mean, a note?"

"I mean a note, Bosco. You know, a form of written communication? It's addressed to us…" Faith unfolded the piece of white paper and read it, and read it again, her stomach clenching nervously as she read the message.

"What's it say?"

Faith continued to stare at the paper, not sure how to proceed. "Uhhh, it just says…uh we need to talk and work this out"

"No it doesn't Faith. I can see through the back – there's more writing than that on that there"

"No, that's it, really…"

"Come on, Faith – I'm stuck over here and you're over there and I can't come over, so just read what it says already!"

She took a deep breath, not knowing how he was going to react, not sure if she wanted to find out. "Okay, it says; "You guys need help. This has obviously gone beyond your usual "spats", so please deal with the real issues you have." That would be Davis "Make up, break up, kill each other, whatever. Screw each others brains out if that's what it takes. Just get over it and quit crapping on our lives." Ummm, that's signed Sully"

"'Scuse me? He said what? - and what issues? We don't have "issues"! What, Davis thinks he's Dr. Phil now?"

She just stared at him over the note, raising her eyebrows at him do you want me to continue? He rolled his eyes in response fine.

"It also says "Mom – Sully told me what he wrote. Personally I'd prefer if the two of you did not take the killing route. But you guys have to work this out. You're driving everyone nuts. Please, just kiss and make up" Bosco snorted. "Oh, and Sully adds "Faith, I didn't read the part about screwing to Emily" Well, how thoughtful…"

"What the hell is that about?"

Ah, anger. Well, that was in keeping with his reaction to the situation so far. And it was starting to rub off on her.

"How the hell should I know? You were the one stupid enough to get yourself cuffed to my rad."

"Stupid enough? Thanks a lot, Faith. I thought we were coming to your rescue - "

Rescue? Oh, right…

"What did Emily say was wrong, anyway?"

"Huh? Oh…uh, I don't remember…"

"Pardon? It was like what, an hour ago, how can you not remember? What else have you had to do but sit here and think, reviewing the events leading up to your stupidity in getting yourself tricked into this mess? It's not like you've been working out quantum physics calculations and ran out of room for anything else in your tiny little brain" Yeah, she was getting mad

"She said you smelled gas…"

"What"

"She said you thought you had a gas leak…"

"Bos, for cripes sake, I have electric!"

"Oh – well, how are you supposed to tell the difference. It's a friggin' stove!"

She turned her head away, hiding the smile that had crept up in spite of her sincere desire to stay really, really mad at Bosco. That had to be the lamest excuse that could have possible been invented to get him up here. Emily, Emily I am disappointed in you. Really, I mean come on - gas?

"So what do you think they mean?"

"About what?" Her amusement had momentarily distracted her from the thread of their conversation.

"About the note and stuff, what they say, you know…"

No, she didn't know! Okay, well, actually, to be honest, she guessed she did. There had always been rumours and gossip about the two of them, waxing and waning as new cops came on the job, questioned their relationship, assumed they were a couple, were dissuaded of their illusion and then left to make their own peace with it.

The fact that she was married always served as somewhat of a deflector to the knowing looks that would be exchanged between the other offices in the locker room when they walked in together, the occasional smirk shot their way in roll call. She knew that the way they fought didn't help – the way they could get mad at each other over the littlest things (the biggest things, too), blow up at each other, quit talking and then make up with a tentative smile and a meaningless exchange of trite words (the words never really mattered, anyway) – well, even to her, they sometimes resembled lover's quarrels. She guessed recent events – her appearance with his family at his brother's wake, him putting his body between her and death, her subsequent hunting down and murder of the instigator of that death - had sent the locker room rumour mill into overdrive, raising questions of the true nature of their relationship all over again. Her being a detective now and him having been away for so long had left the gossip about them free to run unfettered, stories being expanding and elaborated on, without the benefit of either of their presences to provide some control.

She would have been pretty sure that Sully and Davis would have made an effort to quash the gossip, but based on the current state of affairs, she was thinking they had jumped on that bandwagon.

On good days, when she had the strength to face it, she also questioned their relationship to herself, wondered what made each of them do the things they did for and to each other. She questioned from what part of her soul the suffocating, primal need she had felt to destroy the man who had destroyed her partner had its origin. What it was that had drawn her to help him, to need him, right from the beginning, at the academy. What led her back to his side in that apartment, two years ago.

She didn't often dare look too deep or too long into the brilliantly lit abyss that had opened up in the hospital that day, the one that threatened to engulf her in flames as she watched them working on his lifeless body, the one that she entered willingly on the rooftop of that building, the one that she was ready to fall into forever and that only the knowledge that he was alive and fighting had had the strength to draw her back from, the abyss that still lived behind her. While they were fighting she could ignore it, she could deny to herself how much she wanted to go back to that abyss, crawl across it's heat and discover what lie on the other side, maybe to become finally whole, finally complete, finally with him..

She stood up quickly, snapping herself back from the edge, furious at letting herself be lured close, even just for a moment, furious with Sully and Ty for forcing, with her daughter for trying, with Bosco for existing…

"Bosco, you know what? Right now, I don't care what they meant. Nor do I really care how you got here. I'm not going to play any stupid games. I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Bosco"

"Hey, hey wait a second – you can't leave me out here"

"Yeah, actually I can."

She turned off the lights, walked into her room and closed the door, which wasn't nearly thick enough to drown out Bosco breathing, much less Bosco hollering for her at the top of his lungs. And the walls sure weren't thick enough to keep the neighbours from hearing.

"Knock it off, you idiot. The whole building can hear you". She flung the door open, yelling as loud as he was and stormed back into the living room. Bosco jumped up, and was immediately yanked off his feet, the handcuffs jerking him back down.

"Shit! Jesus, that hurts"

"Sit still then, stupid"

"I'm not going to be quiet, Faith. You've gotta help me here, get these off." Faith walked closer to take a look. The moonlight through the window glinted on the cuffs, showing how they had tightened uncomfortably when Bosco had yanked on them.

"Gosh, that looks like it hurts"

"It does"

"Good – you're an ass, you deserve it. Good night"