Title: Behind Bars 6/6
Characters: Faith, Cruz, Swersky, Sully
Summary: Swersky, Sully, and Faith discuss their plans to move against IAB Captain Finney while Cruz fights for her life while in a coma.
Disclaimer: They are not mine
Authors Note: Oh, this chapter is kinda brutal for Cruz.
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"Lieu! The son of a bitch had her beaten into a coma! Don't you dare tell me to calm down." Faith warned, glaring at the man in front of her as she stood at Cruz's bedside. Lieutenant Swersky calmly gestured for Faith to sit back down, saying nothing in the process.
"That lousy no good, murdering, son of a bit—."
"Sullivan, I didn't bring you with me so you could go off on him as well." Swersky said, throwing Sully a look that was enough to shut the veteran cop up.
"Of course, sorry boss." Sully apologized, his eyes still unable to leave Cruz's badly beaten face. He pulled his eyes away for a moment to look sadly down at the ground, "I just can't believe he'd stoop this low—to have them 'taken care of' in prison."
"Now, now. We don't know if it's even Captain Finney and throwing around accusations like this without any evidence—."
"Without any evidence!" Faith exclaimed, catching the eye of a few other patients in the Medical Wing. She quickly lowered her voice and leaned forward so that her face was closer to Swersky's before she angrily whispered, "sir—I heard her say his name, it was the last thing she said before ending up like this. Finney's behind it—I know he is. He's wanted to take her down from the beginning, that's why he sent Monroe to our House. He just didn't expect me to be here right along with her, and that's his fatal error. I'll be damned if I'm gonna let him get away with this."
"Detective Yokas," Swersky stopped, shaking his head and leaning closer to her, "Faith—I'm speaking to you as a friend now, not a superior. We're talking about the Captain of IAB here, going around making accusations—it's—dangerous."
"You remember what happened 15 years ago, Lieu." Sully spoke up, "you know what he's capable of."
"Rumors, John. Nothing but rumors—."
"Not this time—," Faith said, her eyes returning to Cruz's face, "when Cruz wakes up, she'll tell us all we need to know to nail the bastard."
An hour later, Swersky left to talk to the prison warden while Sully and Faith remained at Cruz's bedside.
"You okay, Faith? What happened to your hand?" Sully asked, finally noticing Faith's bandaged hand. Faith looked down, shrugging slightly.
"I cut it when I was trimming the hedges in the garden. It's nothing—I think it's stopped bleeding already," Faith sighed, shaking her head while running her fingers through her hair with her good hand, "I shouldn't have left her alone."
"Who? Cruz?"
"Yeah."
"Faith, this isn't your fault." He assured her.
"I know, but—."
"No buts. This wasn't you." Sully leaned back in his chair and studied Faith's slouched form while she sat across him. She just looked so tired, so not like the woman he knew. He cleared his throat before speaking, "I went to see Bosco yesterday."
Faith's head quickly snapped up, her eyes wide while looking back at her friend, "you did? How is he?"
"He's better—Faith, I told him you were here?"
"What? How—what did he say? How'd he react?"
Sully dropped his gaze from hers, "He's pissed—to say the least. Especially after I told him Monroe was behind getting you two locked up in the first place. It's just hard, Faith—on all of us—while that bastard Finney sips champagne with the rest of his IAB rats. The official story is that you're covering up for Cruz."
Faith's eyes widened slightly, "does he believe it?"
Sully shook his head, "I really—I don't know."
Faith could feel tears coming to her eyes as she spoke, "I just—I don't want this to touch him, Sul. I don't want Bosco dealing with this. Tell him that the only thing that should be on his mind right now is getting better—he doesn't need to be worrying about my problems. He should be thinking about himself first this time. He can worry about me later."
Sully smiled sadly, "you know I'm not gonna be able to convince him not to care. Faith, he's gonna worry whether he should or not. He just wouldn't be Bosco if he didn't worry about you. You know that."
Faith nodded. From the corner of her eye, Faith saw movement in Cruz's fingers. Her eyes quickly went to Cruz's face where her forehead started to crease, as if she were in pain.
"Is she waking up?" Sully asked, leaning forward to get a better look at Cruz.
Faith shook her head and moved her hand to rest on Cruz's, "she's having a nightmare."
"Nightmare?"
Faith nodded, "in here—we have them every night."
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"You Cruz?"
Cruz turned around to see three fairly larger women surrounding her.
"What's it to you?" Cruz snickered, not letting them see the fear that was now twisting her insides. She watched as the women neared her, all of them with wicked smiles on their faces.
"We got a message from the boss."
Cruz didn't even have time to react before the first hit came. The first blow came from the largest of the three, connecting fist to the side of Cruz's head. It was enough to send Cruz flying back into the hedges. But it didn't end there, one after another, they took turns kicking, punching, pulling, spitting on her. When one of them held her by the throat against the fence, Cruz took the time to look around, call for help, but no one was there. All the women who had been working the garden only minutes earlier, were no where in sight.
From the corner of her eye, standing on the balcony to her right, stood a darkened figure. She strained her eyes, calling for help while trying to see who it was. Her eyes widened when the person stepped out from the shadows of the building overhead.
"Finney—," Cruz hissed right before getting another painful blow to the stomach. She keeled over, gasping for air. Her eyes searched again for Finney's and this time she met his glare. A small smile crept over his lips, enjoying the scene before him. Then without a second glance back, he turned and disappeared back into the building.
"Had enough yet?" The leader taunted, grabbing Cruz up by her hair and slamming her against the fence once more. Cruz looked up to the Heaven's, praying for it to be over soon. The woman laughed at the fear so evident on Cruz's face as she pulled out a knife from her back pocket. "We've only just begun." She said before slashing Cruz's delicate skin on her shoulder and across her arms.
Cruz had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming out in pain. She could barely see them anymore, her eyes beginning to severely swell. After 10 minutes straight of an agonizing beating, the leader kicked her one last time in her ribs before leaving Cruz lying there, coughing up blood and wishing for death, anything to not feel the pain inflicted upon her.
"That'll teach you to cross the boss, Cruz." The leader spit at her again, "and don't try to make friends with the guards here either, they're all on the same side—your friend should know better than that. She'll be next if you don't keep your mouth shut." And as quickly as they arrived, they vanished back into the prison.
"Faith—," Cruz whispered when she was alone, "Faith—help me—."
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"Faith—," Cruz's voice was scratchy as she strained to open her eyes which were not swollen shut.
"I'm here—I'm right here, Cruz." Faith uttered, leaning in toward her friend, "hey, it's okay, you're safe now—Sul, go get the doctor."
With a nod of his head, Sully was off his chair and out of the room.
"They wouldn't stop—I couldn't even fight back." Cruz said, fighting back her own tears. Faith nodded, pain creasing her features as well. She really cared about the woman in front of her, genuinely cared. "I couldn't—."
"I know—I know, it's okay. They're not coming back." Faith assured her, "I'm not gonna let them."
Cruz shook her head, "you don't understand, Yokas."
Faith's attention diverted for a moment as she saw Scott walk into the room, his face a mask of concern as he looked at Faith then at Cruz. Faith smiled weakly at him before focusing back on Cruz, "what? What don't I understand? Tell me who did this to you, Cruz?"
"I—," Cruz hesitated looking at Scott who now had a dark look in his eyes. "It was—."
"Who? Who's responsible?" Faith urged Cruz on, but Cruz still hesitated her eyes never leaving Scott's as he shook his head at her. Cruz closed her eyes as the woman's warning rung once again in her ears—
"...and don't try to make friends with the guards here either, they're all on the same side—your friend should know better than that,. She'll be next if you don't keep your mouth shut..."
"Cruz? Tell me—who did this?"
Cruz finally looked back at Faith, her emotions conflicted and her eyes sad, "I—I don't know—."
"You said, Finney. Earlier, you said it was Finney." Faith tried to remind her.
Cruz shook her head, "no—I don't remember—it wasn't him. I don't know. Just drop it...it wasn't Finney." Cruz looked back at Scott who was still standing behind Faith. A smile was now on his face as he nodded at her, approvingly.
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When I first wrote this, I had no idea where to take the story, so I kinda just ended it with this chapter.However, I did do a follow up series entitled Turned Loose, which tells the story of Faith & Cruz's lives after prison. I pretty much wrote my own season 6 w/my Turned Loose series. I'll post it here if anyone's interested.