Title: Sleepless Nights and Tang

Pairing: I really think you get it by now.

Disclaimer: I am making nothing off this fic. Not a red cent. So you can't sue me for all I'm worth, 'cause there's nothing to win.

Author's Notes: Ta-da! I'm back. Perhaps I'll stay awhile this time. Sorry each chapter is taking so long to get posted. I'm having a bit of a writer's block, or what I like to call a brain fart. Hopefully, I'll be able to get posting more, and finish. Now, on with the story!

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On the way back to Bosco's apartment, they stopped by Maritza's, so she could pick up a few things. Bosco had insisted that she stay with him while she recuperated. She knew he only wanted to keep an eye on her, and if she was being truly honest, she didn't want to be by herself right now.

They spent fifteen minutes arguing over who was going to sleep where. Bosco wouldn't hear of her sleeping on the couch, especially with her ribs. And she protested she didn't want to kick him out of his bed. He said he didn't mind. Then he said, "I'd let you stay in the spare room, but the bed doesn't have a mattress yet. I keep putting off getting one." This ended with her teasing him about procrastinating, and both of them laughing.

The rest of the evening was spent eating Chinese take-out and talking. Talking like they had never done before. They talked about his mom and about the reactions at the hospital and the precinct. They talked about meeting young Finney. They talked about Santiago. They talked about Tess. Bosco even fessed up to calling Maritza with the snitch warning. From there the Tess topic picked up again, and eventually ran into Mikey. Then the topic segued into Lettie, which ended with both of them become tearful.

At about ten-thirty, Maritza swallowed on of her pain pills, and crawled into Bosco's bed. Bosco had made himself comfortable in the living room, proudly showing off how his sofa pulled out into a hide-a-bed. Sighing contentedly, Maritza snuggled down under the covers, and fell asleep.

When she awoke sometime later, the room was saturated in darkness. Except for two gleaming green eyes that glared at her from the edge of the bed.

"Omigod," Maritza murmured, pulling her legs up. But whatever the eyes belonged to jumped forward, and grabbed her foot.

She yelled, she wasn't sure what, and tried to shake her foot free. The form with candescent green eyes and sharp, needle like claws let out a hissing sound and leapt for the floor.

Suddenly the overhead light flicked on. A shirtless, groggy Bosco with mussy hair and half closed eyes, stood in the doorway, his hand on the light switch.

"Ritza?" He blinked rapidly, as did she, their eyes adjusting to the sudden light, "What's wrong?"

"Something attacked me," She turned wide eyes to him, "Something with these huge green eyes and claws! And it hissed at me-"

She stopped when she noticed the amusement creeping into his sleep flecked eyes.

"Bosco!" She exclaimed, "This isn't funny!"

"Are you sure something attacked you?" He asked skeptically.

"Yes!" She looped her arms around her knees, "I am not making this up!"

"Okay, okay," He patted the air with his hands, motioning for her to calm down, "I believe you."

Bosco took a seat beside her on the bed. She felt a quick, almost sharp pang of realization. She was clad in an oversized NYPD t-shirt, its hem ending at mid-thigh. She nearly anchored her arms around herself to keep the blankets in place, but then shoved those thoughts aside. This was Bosco. And besides, she thought demurely, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. Hmmm…her mind began to slip back in time.

Bosco noticed the dreamy look on her face, "Ritza? You okay?" He thought that maybe he had misjudged how frightened she was by the mysterious "attacker" with green eyes and claws.

"Fine," She gulped, "I'm fine."

He didn't look convinced but let the topic rest. Instead, he lifted her mane of hair from her neck and began to massage the tense muscles there.

"It's okay," He murmured, "You probably just scared my cat."

"Your cat?" She repeated incredulously.

Removing his hand, Bosco got up and went over to the closet. He opened the door a bit more, and then crouched down in front of it. He flicked his fingers like he was going to snap them, but didn't make the sound, then began to calling, " Here, kitty, kitty."

Maritza's mind wasn't quite wrapping around the fact that it was Bosco, her Bosco kneeling by the closet. The don't mess with me, or I'll get you jag-off, Bosco, calling "here, kitty, kitty", in a baby voice.

After he stood there, calling for about five minutes, a large, orange fluff ball waddled out to him. He scooped up the fluff, and straightened. As he approached the bed, she scooted over to make room for him, and his furry parcel.

Retaking his seat, Bosco settled the cat in his lap, "This is Tang," He proclaimed, a proud papa.

"Tang?" Maritza asked, keeping a safe distance from the claws.

"You know, like the juice."

"You named your cat after juice?"

"Just after I got him, I left him alone in the kitchen with a glass of juice on the table," He replied, methodically stroking the cat's fur, "When I came back into the room a few minutes later, he had his head stuck as far as it could go into the glass, and was sucking the juice back as fast as he could." He started chuckling at the memory.

Maritza soon joined him, the mental image of a furry orange cat, his large head stuck in a glass, purple juice crystals sticking to his whiskers too much for her to think about and keep quiet.

"Where did you get him?" As she spoke, Maritza inched her hand closer to Tang.

"I found him," Bosco scratched the cat behind the ears, and a loud, rumbling purr emitted from the cat, "The poor kitty was wandering around alone, outside in the cold."

Cautiously, Maritza snuck in a stroke of the cat's fur. Tang raised his large head, and looked up at her with such huge trusting eyes, before returning his head to the crook of Bosco's elbow.

"When I first got him," Bosco paused in stroking his cat to hold his hands a few inches apart, "He was only this big."

"He's not that big now?" Maritza observed, "What did you feed him? Miracle grow?" She yawned, and rested her head against Bosco's shoulder.

Bosco adjusted himself, her, and the cat so that he was leaning back against the headboard, and she was stretched out beside him, her head on his chest, hand on his stomach. Tang curled into a tight ball on Bosco's other side.

"You'll see what I feed him when we go to the grocery store today."

"Grocery store?" Maritza mumbled sleepily.

"Yep," Bosco brushed her hair back off her face. He dragged the blanket over them, settled his arm around her back, resting his hand lightly on her hip, and drifted off to sleep.