I dial Jelly's number on my phone and press it to my ear. I decided to let Bosco drive for a while. He seemed to be getting a bit bored and I thought it best to keep him preoccupied despite the fact I lose car duties. My window is rolled down, the air breezing over me. I hold my face up thankful for the slight drop in temperature.

"What's up Yokas?" Jelly's voice says, startling me.

"Yeah. Hey Jelly, you're gonna love me and Bosco for the info we just got," I say grinning. The intrigued silence on the other end urges me to continue. "Bosco got a name and address out of Combs. A kid called James Brent."

"Well whoop-die-doo, and here's me thinkin' you were callin' to ask what type of doughnut to bring back," he responds. I roll my eyes. We both know he's impressed.

"Yeah well we're on our way to check him out now, I just thought I'd let you know," I tell him glancing towards Bosco. He catches my eye and smiles. One of his gorgeous, innocent and yet totally sexy smiles.

"Nice of you to check in on your recently-made-redundant-fellow-detective," he says, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Jelly, what age are you?" I snap still looking at Bosco. He however keeps his concentration on the road, manoeuvring the vehicle with ease.

"I'm followin' a few leads here too Faith, I'll call you if anything stands out," he says. I hear rustling as he looks for something on his desk.

"Hey do me a favour Jelly, run Brent's name on the computer, see if anything comes up," I ask, "There might be a ring doughnut in it for ya."

"Make it iced and you got yourself a deal."

"Iced it is. See ya later," I say, snapping down my mobile. I sigh fading into silence as I gaze out my window. Bosco doesn't need to say anything and neither do I. It feels good to just sit with him. His own window's open now, fanning my hair across my face, my sunglass preventing the wild strands from wandering into my eyes.

"I got myself a date tonight," Bosco announces. It hits me quick, catching me off guard.

"Oh," is all I can muster in reply. He has a date? When in the hell did he start dating again? He told me he wasn't ready after what had happened at the hospital.

"Yeah," he says indicating right, "Her name's Nina."

"Nina?" I repeat eyeing him. He turns sideways and smirks.

"She's hot Yokas," he informs me, "I mean Cameron Diaz/Gwen Stefani hot."

"Blonde then?" I say, frowning. He shakes his head.

"Red head."

I laugh, a little louder than intended. He looks a bit unnerved by my reaction. "What's so funny?"

"Nothin'….so what kinda treatment is this girl gonna get tonight?" I ask, holding my hair back from my face. He wags his eyebrows and I shake my head, unwittingly falling back into our usual line of conversation that we used to have before…well before everything basically.

"The first class to Bosco good lovin' treatment," he says divulging a little too much information. I cringe, scrunching my face up.

"Well you're just a regular modern day Romeo aren't you?"

"I swear Yokas. When I'm finished with this girl she'll never forget my name. She'll be screaming it most of the night."

"Well aren't you the super stud? This Nina is one lucky woman."

"She is. What most women wouldn't give to be her…"

"And you're so humble too."

"Always."

"I think I should warn this girl," I say, switching my gaze to the passing cars, "I mean what if her poor little innocent heart gets broken and I just didn't say a word? I'd feel awfully guilty."

He grins, his hands gripping the steering wheel. "Trust me. No way her heart can break. This girl is made of steel…a bit like me…"

"Ewww! Bosco!" I cry covering my ears with my hands in a pathetic attempt to block out sound.

"What Yokas? I thought you liked to talk about our sex lives? You told me about Fred often enough!" he laughs, his eyes glistening in the sunlight.

"So this is payback?" I ask.

"Damn straight. I tell you when I get doing I can really rattle a headboard…"

"No! No! No!" I repeat slapping my hands against my ears a tad over-dramatically, "Bosco I'm begging you!"

"Begging!" he says, "That's another thing I like to see women do. It's a real turn on…"

"Dear God, what have I done to deserve this?" I ask, whimpering against the window.

"I can't help it if I got skills Yokas," he chuckles, turning his head towards me. "I suppose I could show you sometime if you like."

I stop, his last comment getting to me a bit too much. He realises we're still a bit raw from our earlier…incident…and corrects himself by constricting his jaw shut and turning his head towards the windscreen. If he had said something like that some other time before I wouldn't have thought twice about it. I guess I'm still a little sensitive about what happened between us.

I sit up clearing my throat. "Radio?" I offer, my hand already making the journey to the switch. He shrugs and I flip it on, relieved that something else will break the silence.

I turn my head out the window, resting my chin in my right hand. Maybe we won't ever get passed this now. Maybe that fight will define the rest of our relationship. I really hope not.

Despite everything that's happened he's still my best friend and that means more to me than my pride. I'd rather take all the responsibility for what happened these past few months' back than continue like this. I steal a glimpse of him out the corner of my eye. His head hangs to the left in that dejected way of his. I trace the outline of his face with my eyes – his jaw contracted as he grinds down on his teeth, his eyes dilated like he's not even concentrating on the here and now. He probably isn't. He can't understand all this and I can't blame him. Every muscle in his body is flexed like he's ready to snap at any moment.

"Fred is givin' me Charlie for the weekend," I announce. He manages a nod.

"Oh yeah?" he chokes out.

"Yeah. And I was wondering. Maybe you could come over and we could go to the zoo or something. Charlie misses his Uncle Bosco," I offer. His eyes scan the road as if he's going to find the answer to my proposal out there on the street.

"We'll see yeah Faith? Things might go well with Nina," he replies. There's a constricting pain in my chest like someone's stabbing me repeatedly with a knife and because there is no one doing that, or any need for the pain, I ignore it simply putting it down to a bad hotdog from yesterday.

"Oh. Ok. Sure."

"It's not that I don't want to it's just…"

"No I understand Bosco. You don't want a family crampin' your style. I get it," I chuckle. He shakes his head, his fingers twisting around the wheel.

"That's not it at all Faith," he says, barely in a whisper, "I just think maybe since we're workin' together and all we might need a bit of time to ourselves. It's not that I don't wanna spend time with you and the kids, hell I miss 'em like crazy, but you understand where I'm coming from right?"

Silence.

"Faith?"

"Bosco, you've just passed the school," I say gulping.

He stares at me blankly. "Huh?"

"The school Bosco," I point out as he sails past.

"Fuckin' hell!" he curses, sighing.

That's exactly what I was thinking.