STILL DONT OWN A THING.

This chapter is short. I'm trying to get through the hospital parts so the real story can begin.

It was 4:30 in the morning and she knew that her alarm on her phone would be going off soon. She hurried out of bed and grabbed her purse and started rummaging around until she found her phone. She knew she couldn't leave Bosco here alone. She told him she would be there in the morning when he woke up. She slipped out into the hallway to make a call.

"Hey lieutenant, it's Faith Yokas."

"Hey Faith, What's going on?"

"I'm not going to be making it into work today… actually I need to put in for some lost time. I have a family emergency and I need to be home. I'm not sure how long I will be out for. I know I have some vacation time that I haven't taken. I was wondering if I could maybe switch it over to now."

"Yeah Faith, that's fine. Is everything alright?" he was concerned it wasn't like faith to ever miss work. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Oh. No but thank you very much. "

"Well faith you do know that you are going to have to come in and have a meeting. You will also have to sign some papers, either today or tomorrow. I have to know what's going on before I can officially approve it. The meeting can just be between me and you, so no one will know what's going on besides me, if you'd rather that?"

"Yes I would actually rather that. I'll be in later on today. Around 2 if that's okay?"

"That is absolutely fine. I'll see you then."

"Okay, thank you so much Lieu."

"Not a problem Faith. Just take it easy."

And with that, she hung up the phone and leaned back against the cold wall and let out a large sigh. She couldn't believe that is was actually happening. Then she remembered back to a few hours earlier when she heard Bosco on the phone with Charlie. He thought she was sleeping so he was trying to whisper. She couldn't help but smile. Bosco had called him son. She couldn't believe how truly close they were. She couldn't hear what Charlie was saying to him, but what Bosco was saying to him made her very happy. He told him that nothing bad would ever happen to him as long as he knew he had Emily and Charlie behind him. Charlie even has his own key to Bosco's house. Bosco has really grown up in the past five years. He treated her children like they were his own. She thought about that for a little bit longer and started to get sad. She wished that she could've been a part of their lives with him in it. Maybe now she can. She let out another great sigh

"I don't want to put too much on him right now. We basically have to start over. I don't want to push him away, I finally got to talk to him and see him after five years. Now there is so much at stake here, this is so much more than him and I. This is my children's lives too." she started to head back into the room but stopped at the door and just looked at him sleeping ever so peacefully. She opened up the door slowly trying not to wake him.

"I thought you were leaving me" he startled her. She thought she was quiet enough not to wake him.

"No Bos. I told you I wasn't going to leave you. I just had to call work."

"You called work at 5am?"

"Yeah I start at 6:30." She laughed a bit

"Oh yeah, I forgot. I'm sorry."

"No. It's alright. I just switched shifts about 6 months ago." She started to lie back down "So is Charlie coming in tomorrow?"

"Oh. Yeah he said he's leaving at 8 and should be here around 10:30. He's dropping his stuff off at my house before he comes here." Shaking his head and starting to laugh. "I guess spring break starts on Monday and he asked if he could stay there for a little while. This is, if it's okay with you?" He said quickly, not trying to offend her.

"Bos, that is fine with me. Emily told me that you got a house. A really big house, from what I hear it has four bedrooms too. She said that you go and pick her and Charlie up from school on the weekends if they don't feel like sticking around there." She smiled at him "That's really nice of you. I'm glad that they have someone so special in their lives."

"Ya know Faith; they are the ones that are special in my life." He looked up to meet her eyes "just like you will always be that someone special in my life." he stopped for a moment thinking that she probably wanted to laugh at how sappy he was being. "And Faith, You are so special to them as well. No one could ever take that away." He looked over at her and seen a tear roll down her face. All he wanted to do right now was get out of bed and hug her and wipe her tears away. But he couldn't. he couldn't even sit up.

"Bosco, that means so much to me. Thank you." She stood back up out of bed and walked over to him. His heart was beating so hard that he could hear it in his ears; it was drowning out all of the other sounds in the room. She gently leaned over and hugged him for what seemed like an eternity. He didn't mind at all. He felt safe in her arms he never wanted to let go. After a few more moments, she let go. She stood up and looked at him with a slight smile crossing her face.

"Do you mind if I sit with you for a little bit? I'm not too tired just yet." He just nodded in response as he watched her get comfortable next to him. She sat by his knees and faced towards him so they could continue to talk.

"Faith, I want to tell you something. I don't want you to be mad so I figure if you are, you will have time to cool off by the time Charlie gets here."

"Oh geez Bos. I don't like the sound of this." She shook her head "what did he do now?"

"Oh. No he didn't do anything really. It's just…uhh. Well its Complicated." He tried to look in her eyes to see if she believed him. But it was too dark to see much of anything.

"Okay Bos. Well if he didn't do anything, I don't see why I would be mad. So, what is it?" she asked lightly

"Alright well you know I spent time with the kids all the time after the station closed. Even when Fred was alive, I still hung out with them. But after he died they started to call me a lot more and wanted to hangout more. And I didn't mind at all. I loved being around them." He looked up at her again to check her expression. "When I started to look for a new house, they wanted to help. So I brought them along with me and we finally decided on this house. It was huge. Four bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, a huge yard. It's a beautiful neighborhood. There is a football field two blocks away. It's real nice. So the kids wanted to help me move in. They thought my old stuff didn't go well with my new house so we had to go shopping. That was Em's idea of course." They both laughed. "So we went out and picked up a whole bunch of new stuff for the house. But Emily and Charlie asked me if they could bring some of their stuff over to my house so they could stay over once and awhile. I obviously said yes. I have a four bedroom house. So I bought them both beds and stuff. So they each have their own room at my place. When we were moving everything in, Charlie and I were putting together his bed and he stopped and looked at me Faith, I'll never forget it. He had this sad look on his face and I thought I did something wrong. So I asked him what was wrong. I wasn't expecting his answer at all. He asked if it would be okay with me if he could call me Dad." He looked up at Faith who now had tears in her eyes. He gently wiped one away as it made its way down her cheek. "And I guess Emily was standing in the doorway, and she came up next to me and put her arm around me. She said that she would like to call me dad as well. I never felt that way before faith. I was so happy. I couldn't even talk. I just nodded my head and hugged them both. I've always loved them. But for them to want to call me dad… That's a whole other type of love I developed for them." He said as tears of his own started to roll down his face. "Charlie Calls me Dad all the time. Emily does most of the time too, but she also calls me Bosco. Faith I feel like they are my children. I really do. They made me grow up a hell of a lot. I'm not how I used to be. I don't just go out and meet random girls and sleep with them and never talk to them again. I tried the whole 'serious relationship' thing. And that lasted for about four months. The kids hated her. Hell, I think I hated her too after a week or two. But that has been it. I work and I go to the gym and I hangout with the kids when they are in town. Sometimes I will even head out to see Sully for a day or two. I hope you're not mad that I told them they could call me Dad. I mean, if you are, I will talk to them and tell them that they can't anymore."

"Oh Bosco!" she cried out with tears streaming down her face "I would never want you to do that." She hugged him again "That is so incredibly nice of you to do so much for them. I know I can't always be around for them. But now that I know you have been there for them all this time, it's a lot more comforting. You really didn't have to do all of that Bos. You know that right? I understand that you love them, but that is an awful lot."

"Yeah faith I know I didn't have to do it. But I wanted to."

"So you don't mind that they call you Dad?"

"No. I love it Faith. It makes me feel like I'm truly a part of something special."

"Bosco, You are something special." She turned around and laid beside him

He finally felt at peace. He knew he had a lot more explaining to do in the morning. But for now, he was right where he wanted to be. They both fell asleep holding each other close. Afraid that if one would let go just a little bit, they would both disappear.