Chapter: Silence!
Summery: Finally the group gets some answers, and a surprise visitor. Bosco keeps his mouth shut. For once.
Disclaimer: I don't own TW, or any of its characters. If I did, well, things would be different, and it would still be on the air!
Author's Notes: I am sorry that I took so long to keep going with this. I had a mental block the size of Russia. But, here goes my best effort.
When Bosco and Cruz entered the room, Faith noticed that they were holding hands. Bosco perched on a desk, and Maritza took a seat on the chair beside him. Brendan Finney entered the room, and leaned back against a wall. Manny hovered around the doorway.
Bosco took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly.
"So," He began, "What do you want to know?"
Nearly everyone in the room started to speak at once. Bosco's eyes widened, and he looked over at Maritza. She grimaced sympathetically and patted his knee.
"One at a time!" Bosco held up his hands to catch their attention, "One at a time!"
Brendan stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply. Silence fell over the room.
Bosco glanced over his shoulder at him, "Thanks kid."
"No problem Boz," Brendan leaned back against the wall.
"One at a time," Bosco admonished again, "One at a time."
Nobody said a word. Bosco heaved a large sigh, "Somebody has to say something, or we'll be here all day."
Manny, feeling put out over the altercation in the hallway just moments ago, decided to throw in a question he knew would start something. "Why don't you tell us how you became a Lieutenant all of the sudden?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Bosco leveled his best 'you idiot' stare at him. A collective gasp went up from the room. Maritza turned wide eyes to stare at Bosco in wonder. Brendan nearly lost his balance, and Ty rubbed his ears, thinking perhaps he hadn't heard right. Sully, who had just taken a drink of his coffee, spit his mouthful out, nearly splattering Miller. Miller shifted on the desk he sat on, trying to avoid the spray, and then the spreading spill. Sully grabbed a handful of Kleenex from the box behind him, and tried to blot the spill. Faith and Sasha looked at each other with both eyes and mouths wide. Bosco rubbed his temples, and groaned softly. This was going to be wonderful.
"Bosco! How could you not tell us?" Faith demanded.
"I just found out," He rubbed the back of his neck, "And I just threw it at Santiago there to get him to shut his face."
Maritza shot Manny a look that said what did you do? He gave her a look of feigned innocence, but Bosco intercepted the look, and gave him a look that clearly said, oh, come on man!
"What did he say Boss?" Brendan asked curiously.
"Nothing a second grader couldn't have come up with Brendan," Bosco replied.
Maritza nudged his leg, "So? How'd you find out?"
Before Bosco could answer, a knock at the door interrupted them, and a dark haired woman with blue eyes entered the room.
"I don't mean to interrupt your little reunion," She dangled a set of keys on her index finger," But, here's your keys Moe."
Bosco reached forward, took the keys from the woman, and tossed them in his hand, "You didn't scratch her did you?"
The woman pretended to be insulted, and narrowed blue eyes at him, "Do you really think that I would scratch your baby?"
Bosco shrugged, "Don't get all flustered Tessy, I know you'd never scratch my car."
Practically everyone in the room traded glances. Tessy? Who was this woman, and why did she have Bosco's car? He must like her, thought Maritza, or he never would have given her a nickname, or trusted her with his car.
"Oh, yeah," Bosco dug into his back pocket. Maritza watched as he leaned forward, his stomach becoming flatter inside his shirt, "Here's your keys." He tossed them gently to her.
A playful tint came to 'Tessy's' eyes, "Did you scratch it?" She mimicked Bosco's tone and look perfectly.
He looked pointedly at her, "Do you really think I would do that?"
She shrugged, "You break it, you bought it."
The rest of the people in the room watched the exchange curiously. One question was made the most crucial. Who was this woman?
Finally, Faith put voice to the question that was burning in everyone's minds. "Uh, Bosco?"
He turned slightly to look at her, "Yeah?"
"Are you going to introduce your friend, or are we supposed to read your mind?"
"Right!" Bosco nearly smacked himself in the forehead, "Everybody, this is Tess. Tess, this is everybody."
Tess snorted, "Oh, I'm loving your introduction skills Moe."
Bosco made an 'harrumph' sounding noise in his throat," Have it your way Tiny." He pointed to each one as he said their name, "The blonde and the old guy are Faith and Miller. I'm pretty sure you can tell which one of them is which. The one holding up the wall is Brendan Finney. The big guy with the spraying problem is Sully. The one hovering like a scavenger is Santiago. The one who isn't sure if he's seeing and/or hearing right is Ty Davis. The girl next to him is Sasha Munroe, soon to be Davis, and this," His hand rested on Maritza's shoulder, "Is the girl I was telling you about, Maritza."
Tess smiled, and all three of Bosco's at-one-time partners gaped, thinking how it looked a lot like Bosco's.
Sasha spoke up, recovering from Bosco's introduction of her as soon to be Davis, "So, how do you know Bosco?"
"We grew up together," Tess replied, "I've known him and Mike and Ma since the first day of school."
As she said Mike, a sad look entered her eyes. Bosco nudged her with his elbow, "Don't get all teary eyes nene, or I'll have to too."
Tess closed her eyes for a second then opened them again, "I'm fine. Really."
Santiago still hadn't learned to shut his mouth, "Did you just call her baby?" He asked incredulously.
"Omigod," Tess said in an amazed voice," Eago?"
Santiago turned bright red, and the look on his face turned stricken.
Maritza looked from him to Tess, "Eago?" She asked in a voice that was strangled with laughter.
Tess chortled, "Yep. I thought that was you."
Bosco laughed aloud, "This is the guy you were talking about?"
"Uh-huh," Tess nodded, "He's the one."
"You guys have got to hear this story," Bosco turned his glare at Santiago, an 'I've gotcha now buddy' gleam in his blues.
Tess began a tale about how Santiago had worked with her and her people for a while. One of her team members brought in their kid one day, and the kid had called him 'Eago', after the parrot on the Disney movie Aladdin, that couldn't keep its beak shut.
"So, you're a cop then too?" Ty asked, after hearing her talk about Santiago assisting her team with a case.
"Not exactly a cop," Tess sighed, "I'm, um," She shot a nervous glance at Bosco, who reached over, and squeezed her shoulder.
"She's the senior investigator for the Counter-Terrorism Unit," He announced, proud as you please.
"Counter Terrorism huh?" Ty asked, "Sounds prestigious."
"Sounds like FBI," Sully muttered, "There's some treacherous SOBs right there."
"Sully," Bosco's voice was aggravated, "Just cause she's FBI doesn't make her evil. I owe her my life, many times over."
"Were you working before or after, um, ah, you know," Sasha asked, not wanting to say the words.
Tess reached over, and gently rubbed Bosco's shoulder when his breathing caught in his throat, "I was promoted to CTU not long ago. I was leading a surveillance team before that."
Many heads nodded, Bosco still bore the proud smile. After a few moments of silence, Tess hiked a thumb towards the door, "Well, I've got to get back. It was nice meeting you all."
The rest of the group expressed similar sentiments, while Bosco stood and pulled Tess into a quick hug. As he released her, he whispered, "I'll call you," Into her ear. She nodded, and with a finial smile and wave, she departed.
It took over two hours before Bosco finally managed to satisfy everyone curiosity. Even Maritza had questions, though she had heard the story before. They all left the roll call room with hugs, saying things like, "I can't wait to get back on the streets." "It's good to have you back." "Good luck with being a Lieutenant."
Faith and Miller headed back for their office, Ty, Sully, Finney, and Sasha were headed out to the streets, Santiago to the Anti-Crime office. Before Finney and Sasha could head out, Bosco asked to see Sasha alone for a moment. He pulled her into the now empty roll call room, and after closing the door, perched on a desk, just looking at her.
Sasha's stomach was in knots. She was certain now that Bosco knew. What else could explain why he was pulling her into an empty room, why he wanted to see her alone?
"So," He began, "Congrats Detective."
Sasha swallowed, "Bosco, I'm sorry. When I was in the academy, they said that I could make detective, and," She was rambling on and on and on about her excuses for joining IAB.
He finally held up a hand to get her attention, "Sasha. Sasha!"
She stopped talking and looked at him, " I'm sorry Bosco. It seemed like it was a good idea at the time, and I just wanted to make it so bad. I had my sister, and Drew, and I need the job."
She was in tears. He watched them trail down her face for as long as he could stand, then stood, and pulled her into a hug.
"Sasha, it's okay. Shhh…" Bosco held her, rocking back and forth slightly. A strange thought fluttered through his mind, she was the fourth crying woman he had held in the last two days. He felt so loved. They all just wanted to cry on his shoulder.
"When did you find out?" She asked when her tears had slowed to a small trickle.
"The FBI knew," Bosco twisted, and pulled a Kleenex from the box on the desk, "They got me your file. I don't know how. And then they bugged your date with Faith."
"My date with Faith?" She asked in surprise, using the Kleenex he had offered.
"When you took her out after her promotion ceremony. You had her bugged, and I had you bugged." Bosco explained, " I think they even had a listening device in the IAB van. The FBI is very sneaky."
She nodded, "And I thought I was good."
"What are you going to do?" He asked tentatively, "Stick with IAB? Because if you do, it's going to get out. And, if that happens, it's going to get ugly."
Sasha sighed, "I can't lie to everybody anymore. I'm not a rat!"
"You did send Ritza to jail," Bosco pointed out, his tone harsher than before, as he remembered how he had found Cruz, how she had been beat up, unable to fight back. He couldn't bear seeing her like that
Sasha looked down, "I didn't send her to jail Boz."
"You gathered the evidence, you gave it to Finney, you-"
She cut him off, "Okay, yeah, so I did that! But, I also begged for more time. I was trying to clear Cruz! You of all people should know that I would never do that to her! And I don't want to be a rat Bosco! I'm not a rat!"
She stopped shouting at him when she saw the grin spread across his face, "Why you little," The rest of that sentence was said under her breath.
"I was waiting to hear that." He smiled, "My lips are sealed."
Sasha scoffed, "That'll be the day."
"Hey!" He pretended to be insulted.
"Besides," She exhaled hard, "People are getting suspicious after Cruz told them about the call."
"Makes sense. A tip about a rat in the house usually doesn't go unheeded," He said.
Yep," She agreed, then, realization kicked in, "Wait, I never said what the call was about."
"Umm," Bosco licked his lips nervously, "Ritza told me."
"Sure she did," Sasha replied, then accused, "You were the one who made that call, weren't you?"
He didn't even bother denying it, "You can bet your ass I did it. I wanted to make sure they didn't get sent off for something they didn't do."
"Do the feds know you called her?"
"Tess does, nobody else," He shrugged, "Except you."
"Did you ever think that Tess would tell someone else?" Sasha asked.
"Nope. I can't keep secrets from her very well, but she can keep them from everybody else." Bosco grinned, "It might be a girl thing, keeping secrets."
"Or she knows you too well, and that's why she can tell when you are keeping something from her," Sasha teased, happy the heat was off her, happy finally someone knew about the IAB, happy he was going to keep his trap shut. For once.