Truth or Lies

by M

Chapter 11

Endings

Several months have passed since Bosco returned to work at the 55, he still has an occasional nightmare but overall is doing ok, but he and Faith have not spoken other than when forced to by the job. Emily has returned to school after extensive counseling, despite her protests that she needed it to begin with. The Yokas Family is still in group family counseling, its going slow, but its going..

XXXX

"So," Fred speaking in a friendly tone leaned back against his truck as Bosco walked up to him a serious expression on his face and a bit of hesitation in his eyes, Fred's eyes spoke of his own reluctance for this meeting, "you came, I wasn't sure you would."

Nodding slowly, Bosco paused in front of Fred, shoving his hands down into his leather jacket he looked up and then down the street before bringing his gaze upward to Fred's, "I said I would."

"Yea," Fred's smile breaking as he wondered if this was such a good idea after all, "but I wasn't sure you would after everything..."

A small slow grin on his face born of his own uncertainty, Bosco quickly cut him off, "Honestly Fred, I almost turned around twice, but I told you I'd come, so, I'm here." He waited quietly, the years of knowing one another, of being friends who didn't have to explain much to understand one another, until the past year or so slowly slipping back into place as they stood in silence for those few long moments.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't turn around," Fred nodded quickly, then swallowed his nervousness before he began, "Bosco, Bos," Fred wanted to look anywhere just then but at him , biting the proverbial bullet, "I asked you to come because I wanted to tell you in person, I'm so sorry for what I did, for what Emily did, I don't expect you to forgive me, us, but I wanted to tell you how truly sorry I am." Bosco's mouth opened as if he were going to speak but Fred quickly continued, "I should have waited until we knew for sure, until," he seemed lost for a moment, then before lowering his eyes to stare at the ground in shame, "but she's my little girl, Bosco, if you'd have seen her, how upset she was and..."

"I'd have shot you in the head," Bosco speaking quietly stared straight into Fred's eyes as Fred, startled, raised his gaze quickly, "you did what you thought was right Fred, you believed your daughter, I'd have done the same thing, its what a 'good' parent does. They believe their children and they protect them, you don't have anything to be sorry for, if it had been my daughter, I'd have killed you."

The two men, once friends stood for long seconds gauging one another in sincerity, trying to find a path back, if not to what they once enjoyed, then at least to peace. Bosco slowly pulled his right hand out of his pocket, then extended it offering Fred his hand, seeking that peace. Fred swallowed his emotions, nearly overcome, nodding slowly, then reached out and accepted Bosco's offered hand.

In seconds, they put behind them all the misery that had occurred over the past few years, forgiveness unspoken but accepted on both sides.

"So," Bosco nodded to the truck as they ended the handshake, "it still looks like new."

Turning to glance back over his shoulder, Fred as they dropped the handshake grinned, "Yea, she's still a beauty isn't she?"

"You know you never did tell me what you named her," Bosco moved to look appreciatively in the passenger window, then glanced up at Fred again.

"Pamela Anderson," smirked Fred as Bosco laughed out loud, Fred adding quickly, "but don't you dare tell Faith I said that."

"Why that name," Bosco grinned back at Fred, ignoring the comment about Faith, "cause of the big lights on top?"

"Yea," Fred leaned over conspiratorially, "that and Faith hates her."

Both men cracked up laughing, then Fred became more sober as he studied Bosco, "Want to go for a beer? I'm buying."

Glancing up at him with a shrug, his smile in place again, Bosco nodded, "Sure, sounds good to me."

Fred reached into his pocket and took out the keys to his Truck, hitting the open door button, "I'll drive, I'm only going to be drinking coke anyway." Bosco shrugged again in agreement and opened up the passenger door to climb inside as Fred asked, "Haggerty's ok with you, shouldn't be too crowded this time of day, plus we can get some of those wings of theirs."

XXXX

The interior of the bar was as usual darkened slightly and somewhat smoky even for early afternoon, the juke box in the back corner was stilled for once, the TV in the upper rear over the bar was on but the sound was muted. Coolness greeted Bosco and Fred as they walked along the bar calling out their order of a beer and a coke and continued on to a booth somewhere in the middle of the few patrons already there.

Sliding into the seats the men both looked up at the screen on the TV watching the ballgame that was re-airing on ESPN for a few moments before returning their attentions to one another again, and another attempt at conversation now that they were out of the truck and talking about all 'Pam's' great features was no longer the buffer between them.

"How's Charlie doing," Bosco breaking the ice first this time asked lightly as the bartender came over to the table with their drinks, the man while doing so eyed up Fred with suspicion as he set the drinks down in front of them, "thanks Joe," Bosco nodded to him as Fred waited until the man scowling at him walked off.

"He's good," Fred answered wryly then nodded to the bartender, "guess Joe thinks I'm scum huh?"

"Don't worry about him, you know how he is, he thinks everyone who's not a cop is scum," Bosco smirked as he lifted his beer to take a swallow.

"True," Fred laughed as he drank his coke, suddenly his mouth was feeling dry, "after what happened I guess I deserve it. Look, there's something you need to know, it was Faith who told the DA that she didn't think Em was telling the truth." He looked down with a smirk, "She told her that you weren't lying because you were chewing on your cheek, or something like that." At Bosco's confused look, he added, "Faith says that when you're worried about something you want to be believed on, you chew your cheek, and before you deny it, everyone knows its true you do it all the time, so, anyway, she saw you were and decided you were telling the truth. She's the one that got them to trick Em like they did. I just figured you should know that."

Bosco gave him a sharp look, his face pinking up some,then shook his head and asked again about Charlie, "He's playing football yet or is he still into that soccer crap?"

Accepting that Bosco was going to keep avoiding any talk of Faith as far as what had happened went, Fred began telling him about Charlie's latest plea to his mother about playing Football vs. Soccer, "You know how she is," he commented wryly a few minutes into the discussion, "she's worried he'll get hurt, Charlie told her, 'Mom, that's a good thing, then the girls will see I'm not a dork!'"

Nearly choking on his beer, Bosco laughed along with Fred, finally the two of them settling into familiar ease just as an irritated voice sounded out next to Bosco's seat, having only heard the last few lines of Fred's story, she didn't realize it was Bosco sitting with his back to her until she groused, "What the hell is so funny about Charlie getting hurt, or cool about it Fred? I have no idea why you two think its ok or why he'd think girls would like him busted up!"

Bosco looked up startled as Fred suddenly looked somewhat guilty, Faith finally noticing it was Bosco in the booth turned red, first with her own guilt showing then sudden understanding dawning on her face it turned to mild anger, which threatened to grow into a full blown Faith attack.

Looking straight at Fred, she scowled as she'd not seen Bosco's car in the front of the bar when she'd driven up, "Fred, did you set me up?" She didn't add that she didn't believe it was a coincidence that Bosco was here, or that they were together drinking, it was obvious in her tone and expression.

The expression on his face showing some small amount of fear although he sat straighter and held his ground, Fred shrugged lightly as he commented, "No, not really, I set both of you up," giving Bosco an apologetic look, "kind of."

Moving to the edge of the booth's seat, Bosco began to rise, "Look, I appreciate the attempt, but no thanks Fred, thanks for the beer, and..." the men locked eyes for a moment as Bosco nodded, then he was up and moving to the door, Fred calling out for him to wait a moment. Pausing Bosco stood head down with his hands shoved deep again in his pockets as Faith whispered something to Fred which he couldn't overhear.

The reaction Fred had wasn't what Bosco or Faith expected, instead of doing as she wanted, he told her to "Woman, shut up and sit the hell down," glaring at her until she slowly slid into the booth, stunned that he would ever speak to her like that she had nothing to say, yet as they were in public then he turned to Bosco, "And you, get your skinny ass over here and park it, I've got something to say to both of you and you're going to hear me out," his voice softening as he saw Bosco stiffen, "Please?"

Watching the inner struggle Bosco was having with himself, Fred waited somewhat impatiently as well as with fear that he'd be left alone with Faith, at least if Bosco stayed, he stood a chance of survival for having tricked her, he breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief when Bosco nodded and turned back to him. Passing him on his way back into his seat he gave Fred a glare, but it only seemed half hearted. Fred was aware who was the easier to deal with here, he'd always known Bosco was a soft touch compared to Faith, that he sought more in his relationships than he admitted, even to himself. Fred was counting on that now, if only to keep him alive when this was over, maybe if Faith threw him out, Bosco would let him sleep on his couch.

Sliding into the booth alongside Faith, Fred nodded briskly, "Ok, now this is more like it," trying not to look directly at Faith's glaring eyes, he felt their heat nevertheless, his voice showing more bravado than he felt just now, "Faith, Bosco and I kind of cleared the air earlier, I asked him to forgive me for what I did, and we talked it out and we're good now," he smiled at Bosco hoping for some backup here, "right Bosco?"

Staring out of the booth, Bosco gave a shrug as he answered, "Yea, Fred, we're good," only barely glancing at Fred as he spoke, before staring off again and taking a swig of his beer.

"See," Fred smiled down at Faith as he tried to show her how he'd done it, trying to once again encourage her to make the first move, "I told you, Bosco's a forgiving person Faith, he even said he understood why I acted like I did, didn't you, Bos?"

Turning her head to her husband, Faith stared in disbelief at him, before taking a quick glance at Bosco, who for his part still wasn't looking at anything but the opposite wall of booths, cutting her eyes back to Fred she muttered before Bosco could speak, "Fred, stop this, you don' t understand..."

"Oh I understand just fine," Fred cut her off briskly, "I understand you just fine, what you don't understand is I'm not letting this go until you two talk it out..."

"Ok enough," Faith spoke again, "let me out," she started to push on Fred slightly, halfheartedly as she saw Bosco turn red in the face, "Bosco doesn't want to do this, and I can't believe you tricked us into coming here of all places..." Fred wasn't moving, instead he frowned at her.

"You're not going anywhere," he grinned suddenly, "and neither are you," he took a look at Bosco who was inching to the edge again, "and in case either of you think you are, I've got back up." He nodded to the booths opposite, where they followed his gaze to see Sully and Ty waving at them. Grinning still like a cat who got the canary, Fred added, "Now, I'm going to get up, and move to join the fellas there," he pointed to Faith and Bosco, "You two are going to stay here, talk, yell, I don't care, um, oh and give me your guns," when both glared at him, he changed his mind, "Ok, so keep your guns, but hands on the table where we can see them," Bosco couldn't help but smirk as Fred put his hands up as if to ward off Faith's death glare while backing away from the table leaving them alone, he called out softly, "play nice Faith, Sully's got cuffs you know." Then he was gone, leaving them alone for the first time since before Emily had accused Bosco of raping her.

Several minutes passed as Sully, Ty and Fred sat nervously drinking coffee and sodas, Ty finally asked, "Are they talking yet?"

"Nope," Sully remarked as Fred dared a quick glance over his shoulder, "but they've not drawn weapons so I guess its going well enough so far."

Glancing back at Sully, Fred asked seriously as Ty tried not to laugh outloud at Sully's comment, "Do you think this stands a chance in hell?"

"Nope," Sully replied as he stirred more sugar into his coffee, "But if I have to watch them mope around the station house or ride with Boscorelli one more time cause he doesn't have a partner, I'll shoot myself."

Fred turned to Ty as he spoke in quiet laughter, "Sully's just aggravated because he has to follow Bosco in the RMP when Bosco's chasing some perp."

"No," Sully quickly interjected, "I don't like doing all the damn paperwork, that's why, and how in the hell can he run for so damn long, we went all over up and down Amsterdam the other day chasing that gangbanger Morpheus, for what turned out to be possession of one frigging joint! Two hours before Bosco finally tagged his ass with the stun gun in the back of an alley, and I got to do the paperwork, another two hours because the computer was down, I had to type it on that raggedy old thing upstairs! And he wasn't even in lockup or court that long before he was back on the streets!"

xxxx

"Why," Bosco suddenly broke the strained and painful silence that had been sitting between them, his one word question hanging in the air, its small quiet sound filled with so much he just have soon hit her with his fist, Faith in fact wished he had instead of asking her that. He was staring at her now, the pain and hurt in his eyes looming large and raw, accusing her of betrayal, making her breathing seize.

"Because," Faith tried to speak, knowing nothing she said would ever repair what had been broken between them, "she's my daughter." She knew what he was asking, and had no answer that would make it better.

"No," Bosco shook his head, frustrated that she didn't get it, "not that, that I understand, why, why didn't you come to me, even once and ask me, why did you, after all these years, after knowing me for all these years, after what I went through as a kid, what I stand for, what I've done to bastards who do shit like that, why, how, could," he paused, swallowing hard to keep control, his voice gruff as he continued, "how could you believe I could hurt Em like that? Hurt any woman like that Faith?"

She felt hot tears break and flow down her cheeks as she tried to meet his eyes and failed, "I, Bos, I don't know, I was torn, I wanted to believe you could never do something like that, but, Emily was so distraut. You and I have seen a lot of...victims, you know? How could I not believe her, I tried, I really tried to...but, she just didn't back off of it, not until the court house." Her fingers locked in a death grip, Faith was still torn, part of her wanting to ask for him to forgive her, but part of her knowing that she did the right thing for her child, how could she apologize for that? Looking up at him with despair in her eyes, she quietly asked, knowing the answer before she did so, "This can't be fixed between us, can it?"

"No," Bosco saw her tears, but although he could forgive Fred, he couldn't forgive Faith, not for believing Emily, that he understood perfectly, but for her denial of who he was, for what he stood for all these years as her partner, for her lack of trust in him, "it can't. Fred told me about you getting them to believe me, and I get why you had to believe your daughter Faith, but you didn't even try to trust me enough to ask 'me' if..." he shook his head slowly, "I'm sorry, but if this was to get me to say I forgive you for that, I can't, and I don't want to be partners anymore, ever, in case that's where this is leading. I have to have someone who believes in me a hundred percent, no matter what, and you don't, you never really have." He saw the truth in her eyes as her gaze flickered away before returning to him, "You remember me telling you that I'd always be there for you, after..." he stopped, knowing she remembered Caesar, "well, I've had a lot of time to think about my life, while I was in the hospital, in jail, and I realized something, we've done a lot to hurt each other over the years, but throughout it all, I've had your back a hundred percent, or I've tried to, I've always been there for you Faith." He paused, taking in a shaky breath, knowing what he was about to say would end a twelve year relationship, "You never in all this time said the same to me. You called me a child, a little boy, and you know what, you were right, I was, but, I tried to grow up after you got shot, after I screwed things up so bad and I think I did a good job of taking care of business, of having your back when it came to getting Cruz to back off."

"Bosco," Faith started quickly, "please..."

"No," he cut her off, "let me finish. You don't trust me, you never really have, I can't be partners with someone who would for one second believe I was capable of doing what Emily claimed. I admit to being confused too, I should be ok with you trusting your daughter over me, but I'm not, I can't get past that you should know me better, that you should trust me as much. I'm sorry." He stood up now, slowly giving Fred and the others a look that told them to stay put, then returned his gaze to her, "I wish we could go back, but I can't, I'll always have this over my head Faith, in my head, I can't go into a situation out there and be worried my partner won't back me up, because there is some doubt in her head about me, I can't."

Faith sat silent, tears flowing as Bosco walked off, the bell over the door ringing out as he exited the bar, then Fred was sliding into the seat, instead of being angry with him, suddenly she was leaning into him as he wrapped his arms around her, his softly whispered, "I'm sorry Faith, I really thought...I'm so sorry, I should have..."

xxxx

Ty rushing out of the bar, stopped Bosco as he was hailing a cab, "That's it? You're just going to let twelve years of partnership go down the tubes? I mean yea, I understand you're still pissed, hell, I'd be too, but come on, isn't there some way you guys can come to an understanding Bosco?"

"I'm not mad, but what the hell do you expect of me?" Bosco rounded on him, "You know what happened, you were there remember? I'm not the one who threw away twelve years of anything, no that's not true, hell we both did, a long time ago Davis, its been over a long time, way before this, now its time to move on."

He turned to the street where he saw the yellow cab moving down the street toward him and threw his arm out to catch the attention of the driver, the cab pulled up alongside him and Bosco began to get into the backseat, Davis calling out to him, "Man, this isn't like you..."

"It is now," Bosco returned as he shut the door and told the cabby to take him back to where Fred had picked him up, muttering as the driver acknowledged the directions, "time to move on."

The End

Writers Note:

I know its not the ending most would like to see, many of you want them to run into each others arms asking for and giving forgiveness, but that wouldn't be realistic, you can't go through what he went through, knowing what his partner thought, believed, the mistrust was so enormous, and just let it go. I don't write like that, never have and never will. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Don't think I'm completely happy with how my muse ended it, because I'm not, but as always, he's honest to a fault in how he has them react, although I think Faith would have actually torn Fred a new one, I didn't let him go that way, someone has to be somewhat happy in this fic, I decided it would be them, together.

Thank you so very muchto all those who read and reviewed, and prodded me to finish this,for reading and reviewing and prodding, lol, as always,

M