Disclaimer: Once again, nothing in this chapter except for Samantha Boscorelli and Gordon Sharp are mine. Everything else belongs to NBC.

Author's Note: This one's a little longer than the others I think, so hopefully that's a good thing. Thanks again for all the reviews everyone:)

He raised his gun. The metal glinted in the bright sunshine as people moved around them, not knowing, not paying attention to what was about to happen.

Bosco couldn't move his feet, his legs, his mouth, anything. It was as if he was on the outside, watching a movie. The man aimed his gun at the small child a few yards away.

Finally Bosco was able to move his feet. But it was too late. The loud banging noise deafened his ears. The child was down. Gordon Sharp turned to Bosco, and smiled at him, almost as if he had done something Bosco had asked him to do.

Bosco sat up quickly and immediately regretted it as it sent a whole new wave of pain through his body. He couldn't remember what had happened to him. There were tubes sticking out of him everywhere and there was a faint, annoying beeping in the background.

"Maurice?" he heard a woman say. He turned and saw his mother, Rose, sitting at his bedside. He was in a hospital bed. Outside the window, he could see that it was late at night. "Are you alright? Are you in pain? Do you want me to get a nurse?" Rose asked worriedly.

"I'm alright, Ma," he said, easing himself back into the pillows. Why was he here? The images that had been going through his head right before he had woken up suddenly came rushing back to him. "Where's Sam? Is she alright?" he asked frantically.

"She's fine, sweetheart," Rose reassured him. "She wanted to stay with you, but Faith took her back to her apartment about 2 hours ago."

"How long have I been out?"

"About seven hours. Two of those were spent in surgery while they removed the bullet from your side. Thank heavens that it didn't hit anything important."

"Did Lieutenant Swersky or anyone from the department come by?"

"Yes, right after you were brought in. Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do with nothing to go on. After your surgery, Faith took the bullet from the surgeon and brought it by the station to be tested, but they won't know anything for a little while." She paused and looked at him. "Baby, I was so worried about you," Rose said, finally breaking down. She grabbed his hand and held it tight.

"Really Ma, I'm alright," he said, squeezing her hand back. "It's not me we need to worry about. It's Sammi. Sharp was aiming for her. If I hadn't taken that bullet…" He didn't finish the thought.

"How do we stop him from getting at my grandbaby?"

"I wish I knew, Ma. But that man is like a ghost. No one ever claims to see him anywhere. Everyone at the precinct is gonna think I'm crazy or somethin'. I know it's him. I saw him with my own eyes. But I gotta prove it somehow."

"Maybe they'll get something from the bullet," Rose offered.

"Yeah, possibly. It depends on how common the bullet is. But until something comes out of that, I need to figure out something."

"What's that, Maurice?"

"I gotta find out how he keeps finding us."

"Dad!" Sam came running into the room and nearly leaped onto the bed. "You're awake!" She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, as if she was never going to let go again. At this point, Bosco wouldn't be surprised if she didn't. It was early in the morning, but Sam had insisted on coming as soon as she heard that her father was awake and okay.

"Morning Bosco," said Faith, stepping into the room. "How are you feelin' this morning?"

"I'm doin' good, Faith, thanks. And thanks for taking her last night," he said, indicating Sam.

"No problem, Boz. I'm just glad you're okay. I'm gonna run downstairs and get some coffee. I didn't get a chance to grab some on the way out the door." With that, she turned and walked back out the door. Bosco turned his attention to the girl with the death grip on his neck.

"Hi baby," he said. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, dad. Are you getting out of here today?" she asked as she pulled away from him.

"I sure hope so, sweetie."

"And then do we get to go home? I mean, back to our house? 'Cause Uncle Fred's grouchy in the morning."

"Samantha Marie Boscorelli, what a thing to say," he said laughing. It was true though. He had seen Fred in the morning and it was not a pretty picture. "Sorry Sam, but we can't. We can't go back to Aunt Faith and Uncle Fred's either. We're gonna stay with Grandma for a little while."

He had talked it over with his mother the night before, and he had decided that he couldn't put Faith and her family in danger anymore. There was no doubt in Bosco's mind that Sharp knew about Faith and he was afraid that he would get her too. Since Bosco was pretty sure that Sharp didn't know about his mother, he figured that he could hide out with her for a little bit. Rose had fully agreed, naturally wanting to keep them both safe.

"But why, dad? Why can't we just go home?" He couldn't keep the truth from her anymore. But how did you describe someone like Gordon Sharp to a 9 year old?

"Sammi," he started. "We can't go home because a bad man is trying to hurt us and he knows where our house is."

"Is…is he the man who hurt you?" she asked slowly.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well, he doesn't like me very much. See, he thinks I did something wrong, and he's very angry about it."

"So he wants to hurt you?" He didn't see any point in telling her that she was the one he was trying to hurt, physically at least. It scared him to even think about that.

"Yeah, he does."

"That's not fair. He shouldn't get to hurt you just 'cause he's mad. He should use his words, like Ms. Helfgot tells us when we get mad at somebody." He couldn't help but smile at her simple solution. He wished it was that easy.

"I wish he would do that, sweetheart. But he doesn't like to do the right thing, like you do."

"Is he gonna hurt you again?" she asked, fearfully.

"No, he's not gonna hurt either of us. The police are gonna catch him and he's not gonna bother us ever again." He prayed that that was true. Just then, Faith came walking back into the room with her coffee, Ty Davis, Sully, and Lieutenant Swersky.

"Faith, how many times have I told you not to pick up hitchhikers?" he asked.

"Very funny Boscorelli," said Swersky.

"Yeah, smart-" Ty started. Faith shot him a look that said 'you say ass in front of the kid and I'll kick yours.' "-mouth," he finished "We could, just, not tell you the good news, you know."

"What is it, guys?" he asked eagerly.

"Welllllllll…" said Sully.

"Spit it out you guys!"

"The lieutenant on duty this morning received a phone call from a man who was at the zoo yesterday," started Swersky.

"The man on the phone said he saw the guy with the gun," Ty put in.

"Hey, who's the lieutenant, you or me," he asked Ty.

"You, sir. Sorry, sir," he said guiltily.

"Anyway, the man apologized for not calling right away. He said he was scared. So he gave us the description of the guy and it definitely matches the description of Gordon Sharp," he said, with a hint of almost excitement.

"And Emily told me last night that she saw someone too," said Faith. "I asked her what he looked like and she gave me the same description that the other guy gave the lieutenant. We've got two witnesses, Bosco!"

"So are you guys convinced now?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, I think you've got us, Bosco," said Sully.

"Hallelujah," he said. Everything was going to be okay now. He knew it. At least, he thought he did.