Too Soon

Chapter 13

Author's Note: Thanks for Melissa editing for me and for Jamie helping me with this chapter!

When Faith walked into Bosco's hospital room, she saw that the bed was empty. She had known that he wouldn't stay overnight. She was about to walk out of the room when she heard:

"If you are looking for Bosco, he's gone."

Faith turned around and saw Lieu standing in the doorway. "I figure he would check himself out. He never liked to stay in the hospital. Not that I blame him," Faith said, as she walked up to Lieu.

"So I guess he went home, I hope he is okay." Lieu stopped her before she could say anything.

"I mean he is really gone. He told me that he was quitting the force and leaving town."

"And you let him leave?" Faith yelled.

"He was through a lot the past few months."

Lieu looked at Faith. "There wasn't much I could do to stop him."

"You could have arrested him or something!" Faith said.

"For what, Faith?" Faith shook her head.

"I'll go find him myself, it's not like he has gone far," Faith said, as she rushed out of the hospital. As Faith was walking to her car, all she could think about was where Bosco had gone. She couldn't let him leave town, she just couldn't. If it took her all night she would find him.

8888

A few days later, Bosco had planned on leaving town, but then Rose has returned from Florida without him telling her that it was safe to come home. She told him that she was getting bored of Florida; she then found out that he was planning on leaving town, and being a mom, she wouldn't let him New York. He knew that he shouldn't have went over to her place before he left town, but he wanted to leave her note instead of the message that he left her. Even though he knew that the drug lord was in jail and was no danger to Rose, he still felt like he couldn't leave her alone. If anything happened to his mother because he left town, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

But he needed to leave town tonight... Tonight was the night that he was leaving town, no matter what. Faith had found him the night that he left the hospital at his Ma's place, and tried to talk out of leaving town, saying that it wasn't his fault that Ty was in a coma, but she didn't understand that this wasn't just about Ty. It was about everything, even since his shooting, he hasn't felt like himself. He needs to go somewhere nobody knows who he is or what happened to him in that hospital lounge.

Bosco stopped at the diner that he and Faith use to go to when they were partners. It was such a long time ago, he thought to himself, as he opened the door and walked inside.

"Boscorelli, long time no see. Where's your partner?" the waitress said. "Do you want your usual?"

"She's not my partner anymore," Bosco said, sadly.

The waitress looked at Bosco. "I'm sorry to hear that." Bosco could tell that she was staring at his bandage. He hated when people do this to him. He knew that there were thinking they were looking at a freak

"I got shot. If you are wondering why I have this on my face."

The waitress just looked at Bosco. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to stare."

"It's fine, everybody does that. I'm going to leave town and nobody ever has to deal with Maurice Boscorelli ever again."

"Your name's Maurice," the waitress said with a slight laugh.

"Don't laugh at me." he said, as he smiled at her.

She smiled. "I would never laugh at you."

"So did you say that you are leaving town?" the waitress asked.

Bosco nodded. "I have to get out of here. I'm not a good cop anymore. One of my friends is in a coma because of me." Bosco then realized that he was telling the waitress his problems, he'd never done that before, and he wasn't going to start now.

"How it is your fault that your friend is in a coma?"

Bosco looked at the pretty young waitress. "I shouldn't be talking to you about my problems."

She smiled. "Everybody tells me their problems."

"I thought only bartenders heard everybody's problems."

The waitress smiled at Bosco. "You always were funny."

"At least that hasn't change, because everything else in my life has," Bosco said, as he touched his bandage and sighed.

She smiled at him slightly. "So you were telling me that your friend is in a coma because of you... Did you hurt him?"

"Of course not, but I was the reason that he was in that building."

"This friend of yours, he is a cop too, right?" she asked. Bosco nodded.

"So if he thought it was dangerous, he wouldn't have gone in. So basically it's not your fault that he is hurt. These things happened, Maurice. But you can't run away from your problems."

"I don't have problems; I just need a fresh start," Bosco replied.

"If that is true, why did you stop here? There are many other diners on the road out of New York, but you choose this one. I think that is because you don't want to leave here. You think it would be best if you just leave here everybody would be better off without you, isn't that what you are thinking. What about your partner?"

"I don't have a partner anymore, remember."

The waitress shook her head. "I saw the way the two of you were together. You were more than partners; you were best friends and maybe more."

"We aren't partners; she will forget about me."

The waitress smiled. "I don't think anybody can't forget you, I know I haven't."

"Can I have a coffee? I didn't come here to just have a talk," Bosco said.

She smiled. "Sure thing, just think long and hard before you leave town," She said, as she walked away from Bosco. Bosco didn't care what the waitress said, it was the best thing for
everybody, if he just left town.

Suddenly his cell phone rang, he picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Mr. Boscorelli?" said a soft voice. Bosco recognized that voice from somewhere, but he didn't know where.

"This is Amanda's social worker. I'm sorry to call you so late, but something happened with Amanda,"

Bosco's face went white. So many things were going through his mind.

"What happened to her?" he asked, shaking. He knew that she shouldn't have left the hospital.

"She won't talk anymore; she won't say anything to us."

"So what did this have to do with me?" Bosco asked.

"She keeps on calling your name saying that you will help her." Bosco sighed. He wanted to leave town, but he couldn't leave this little girl like that.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Bosco said, as he hung up his cell phone. The waitress looked at Bosco; she could tell by the look on his face that something was bothering him.

"Are you okay, Maurice?" the waitress asked.

Bosco looked at the waitress. "Nobody calls me Maurice," Bosco said.

The waitress smiled. "Okay, I'll remember that."

"Do you have my coffee?" he asked. "I really need to get going." Bosco replied. He was so worried about Amanda; it doesn't look like he will be leaving New York just yet.

888

Sully was sitting by Ty's bedside; Sasha had just left to get something to eat. Sully looked at his old partner lying in the hospital bed helpless.

"Oh Ty. Why are you doing this? You need to wake up." Sully said, as a tear fell down his cheek.

Lieu then walked into the room. "How's he doing?"

"Still not awake," Sully said, wiping away his tears as he turned to face Lieu. Sully looked at Lieu; he could tell that something was wrong with Lieu.

"What's wrong, boss?" Sully asked, as he stood up and walked over to Lieu

"I think you need to sit down for this," Lieu told Sully.

Sully looked at him. "My best friend is in a coma, I don't know what else you can tell me that I'm going to need to sit down for."

Lieu looked at Sully, he could tell by the way Sully looked, that he didn't need any more to worry about, but Sully deserve to know.

"Jeffery Bank escapes from his jail cell three days ago, but I didn't tell you because you were dealing with everything that is going on with Ty, but I thought you deserved to know.."

Sully's face went pale. "You mean the same Jeffery Bank that blew up the warehouse that we were all in? You got to be kidding me! How the hell did that happen?"

"We don't know that yet, we think that he has a friend at the police station who helped him," Lieu explained, "I just thought that you need to know this."

Sully nodded. "Thanks Boss."

Lieu put his hand on Sully's shoulder. "Ty's going to wake up."
Sully smiled slightly. "Of course he is." Lieu then waved goodbye to Sully and walked out of the room. Sully then sat back next to Ty.

"I need to find him and make him pay for hurting you. That is exactly what I am going to do."

"What are you talking about?" Sasha asked, as she went into the room.

Sully stood up. "I was just talking to myself."

"You don't talk to yourself, Sully. Is there something that you need to tell me? Is this to do with Ty?" she asked, afraid. "Did the doctor tell you something about Ty's condition?"

"Sasha, it's nothing to do with Ty, there hasn't been any change in his condition," Sully said.
"I have to go for a while, I'll see you later. Call me if Ty wakes up."

Sasha nodded. "I will. Take care of yourself whereever you are doing."

Sully nodded, as he left the room. Sasha sighed. She knew that Sully was up to something, she just didn't know what.

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"Thanks for coming so quickly," the social worker said, standing from her chair as Bosco approached the desk. "I'm sorry to call you back so soon."

"Don't worry about it. How is she?"

"She's been quiet for the last couple days, I'm afraid." Motioning for him to follow, she started down the hallway, passing room after room.
"I've tried talking to her, some of the other kids have even tried…she just isn't
responding."

"You think I can help?"

"We don't know. She asked for you the other day, but when we tried to keep her in conversation, she drifted away again,"

Stopping outside a room, she motioned to the small window in the door. Bosco moved towards the door and looked through the window, his eyes falling on the familiar face inside. She was sitting in the middle of the rug in front of her bed, a coloring book open and crayons scattered around her. Her
brown hair, which was done in braided pig-tails, reflected the light coming in from the window as she colored, completely oblivious to who was outside her door. Turning back to the social worker, Bosco motioned to the door.

"Can I?"

She nodded. "Oh, please do."

Swallowing hard, he gently turned the knob on the door and entered Amanda's room. She didn't even look up at him as he closed the door and started towards her.

"Amanda?" She continued coloring as if she hadn't heard him. Feeling slightly sad, Bosco let out a breath and lowered himself down onto the rug, sitting directly in front of her. Crossing his legs, he leaned towards her and raised a hand up, placing it on her shoulder gently.

"Amanda." She stopped coloring and slowly raised her head, her eyes locking with his. He couldn't help but smile at her.

"Hey." She studied him for a moment before throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. He let out another breath and gently returned her embrace.
"
Are you ok?"

Amanda nodded against his chest and let out a little sigh. "Missed you."

"I missed you too, kid."

"Don't leave?" He smiled again, placing a gentle kiss in her hair. "I won't…not for a while, ok?"

She nodded against him and pulled away, moving to sit in front of him. She reached out, turning her coloring books around to face her.

"Wanna color with me?"

"Sure." Motioning to the crayons, she looked up at him. "What color?" His smile growing, he chuckled.

"Any color you want."

"How about pink?" Amanda said with a smile. He grabbed the crayon and handed Bosco and crayon and started then to color. He couldn't believe that he was coloring in a coloring book, but he would do anything for this little girl.

"So do you like staying here?" Bosco asked, trying as best as he could to keep her talking. She smiled at Bosco. "Stay."

"I can stay for a little bit longer." She then ripe the page out of her coloring book. "This is for you."

"For me?" Bosco said a smile on his face.

"Don't go," She said, as she wrapped her arms his neck, and hugging him. Bosco smiled.

"I'm not going anywhere, Amanda. I'm right here. What happened?"

"Read me a book," Amanda said, as she walked over to her bookcase and come back with a book. She then sat in Bosco's lap, as he read the book to her.

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A while later, Bosco was reading another story to Amanda when suddenly out of nowhere, she just stopped talking again. Bosco turned to Amanda.

"Amanda..." Bosco said. She just stares at him like she was in her own world that she hadn't heard what he was saying to her.

"Hey kid, don't do this to me. I'm not good at this kid thing. Something happened to you, didn't it?" Bosco asked, as he went into police mode. He had a feeling something happened, and it wasn't to doing with her losing her parents.

"Kill..." Amanda said.

Bosco looked at her. "Who said that?" She then went silence again and went back to coloring again.
Bosco placed his hand on her shoulder. "Amanda, talk to me." She just looked at Bosco and wrapped her arms around him.

"Amanda.." She just looked at him with this lost look in her eyes. He didn't know what happened to her, but he was going to make sure he found out. He called her name again, but she wasn't answering him. He just held her in his arms.

Amanda's social worker walked in. "How is she?"

"Amanda, honey, I'm going to be leaving now. But I'll be back later, okay?" he said, but there was no response. He placed Amanda on the bed.

Amanda's social worker walked up to them.

"Amanda, wasn't it nice to see your friend?" Amanda just stared at them like they weren't even there. Bosco walked over to where they were coloring.
"I'm going to take the picture that you gave me. You did a great job with it," he said, as he and the social worker walked outside of Amanda's room.

The social worker led Bosco to the lounge and they sat down. "So did she talk to you?"

Bosco nodded. "I got her to talk to me for a little while, but then she started talking again. When did this start?" he asked.

"A few days ago, it was time for dinner, I went to her room, and she was sitting in the corner not saying anything. So, I ask her if something upset her, but she wouldn't say anything to me. That's the last time she spoke to me. Like I said she did call your name once, but then she stopped talking very soon after it. We're really worried about her."

"Has she had any visitors?" Bosco asked.

The social worker shook her head. "Nobody been to see her. "

"Do you think I could come by and see Amanda again?" Bosco asked.

The social worker nodded. "Of course you can, it seems like you are the only one that can get her to talk."

Bosco stood up and walked towards Amanda's room and looked through the window. "I don't know about that, she stopped talking to me too."

The social worker stood beside Bosco. "She wouldn't say one word to me or any of the kids here for the last few days, but you were able to get her to talk, so you did a lot more than we can. You are more than welcome to come by again."

"I was planning on leaving town, but I can't do that now," Bosco replied. "If she needs me, just call me day or night."

"Mr. Boscorelli if you are leaving town, don't stay because of Amanda. She's going to be okay," Amanda's social worker replied.

"Ms.London, I can't leave now. Amanda is very special to me. I have to make sure that she is okay." And Find out what she meant about "kill" if someone threats her, I'm going to make them pay, Bosco thought to himself.

"Do you have any kids, Mr. Boscorelli?" Bosco shook his head.

"You wouldn't know that by the way that you are with Amanda," Ms. London said. "She has been through a lot, if it wasn't for you finding her.. I don't know how she would be."

"She helped me too… I'll come back tomorrow to see her." Bosco said. Then suddenly he heard a voice talking to the receptionist that he recognized. It was Sully.

"What are you doing here?" Bosco asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Sully said, as he walked up to Bosco.

Bosco looked at Sully. "I ask you first."

Sully looked at Bosco. "Could we sit down somewhere?"

Bosco turned around to Ms. London. "Thanks for calling me."

Ms. London nodded. "I'm just so glad that you were able to get her to talk for a while."

"Me too," Bosco said, as he and Sully walked over to the chair, so they could sit down.

"So what are you doing here?" Bosco asked.

"I was checking to make sure that your friend Amanda was safe," Sully replied.

"Why would you do that?" Bosco asked, confused.

"Because Jeffery Bank escaped from prison a few days."

Bosco's eyes flashed with this anger. "You're kidding me!"

"I wish I was, Bosco," Sully replied, with just as much anger in his voice. Bosco glanced at Sully.

"You said this happened a few days ago, right?"

Sully nodded. "I just found today as Lieu didn't want to tell me because I was so busy with Ty, being in a coma."

"That's bastard… I'm going to make him pay." Bosco said, as he stormed out of the shelter. Sully followed behind him. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing you need to know," Bosco said, as he walked towards his Mustang .

Sully grabbed his arm. "This guy is the reason that my best friend is in a coma. Don't tell me that it don't deserve to know. I'm going to find out, so tell me now."

Bosco turned around. "That bastard is the reason that Amanda won't talk anymore. I don't know what he did to her, but I'm going to find out.. and this time he's not going to win. He's going to pay."

"So where do we start?" Sully asked.

Bosco looked at Sully, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Did you really think that I'm just going to let the person that put Ty in a coma go free, I don't think so," Sully said.

"So what are you suggesting that we become partners and help each other?" Bosco asked.

"Well that's not what I was saying, but..." Sully replied. " But we could help each other."

"But don't I'm going to do this by the book, Lieu's not even going to know that I didn't leave town. So when I find him, I'm going to make him pay."

"Who said I would do this by the book either," Sully replied.

"Partners it is," Sully said, wondering what he just got himself into.

To be continued!