Wrote an entire 1 part fic today. Don't know what's up with that. I never used to be able to write one parters. Hmm...anyway. Here it is:
Title: Kansas
Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: faithboscorelli1@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, but I haven’t given up hope that one day they will be. I’m delusional that way.
Rating: PG-13 for some language
Category: Story
Subcategories: Humor/Alternate Universe
Spoilers: Up to and including “The Price of Nobility.”
Author’s Note: No, I was -not- on drugs when I wrote this. At least not any illegal ones.
* * *
Kansas
Her head hurt like hell. And everything was completely dark. She wondered if she was dead.
Do you feel pain when you’re dead?
She wasn’t sure since she’d never been dead before.
There were muffled sounds all around her and her eyebrows furrowed.
“I think she’s wakin’ up!” The voice nearest to her sounded excited. She felt a soft pressure on her hand. “Faith. Baby, can you hear me?”
“Fred?” she murmured, her throat dry.
“Who’s Fred?” Another voice asked. It was a girl’s voice and she sounded young.
“I don’t know,” the voice beside her answered. His tone tinged with worry. “Sweetheart, can you open your eyes?”
It was a struggle, but she managed to open her eyes, though her eyelids felt very heavy. She found herself gazing at a very worried Bosco.
He touched her cheek gently. “Thank God. We’ve been so worried. How ya feelin’?” He kissed her forehead.
“Confused, mostly.”
Bosco pulled away, looking at her in concern. Then he shifted his gaze to the other side of her bed.
“Mom?” a small voice asked.
She turned her head slowly to see Emily and Charlie standing there. She smiled softly. “Hi, babies,” she whispered.
Emily smiled and gave her hand a light squeeze. Charlie sat down on the bed beside her.
“Careful, Chuck.”
“Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t hurt her,” the young boy promised.
Faith’s eyebrows furrowed at her son’s words. The only man in the room was Bosco and Charlie had just referred to him as ‘Dad.’ What the hell is going on? She wondered.
“Baby, do you remember what happened?” Bosco’s words were gentle, his eyes full of warmth.
She stared at him. “Yeah, your girlfriend shot me!”
There was a moment of silence as he stared back at her. “Emmy, why don’t you and Charlie see if you can find Dr. Thomas?”
“Is she gonna be all right?” Emily asked worriedly.
“Your mom’s gonna be fine, honey. She’s just a little confused, that’s all.”
Emily nodded and took Charlie’s hand, leading them out the door of the hospital room.
“Bosco, what the hell is going on? Where’s Fred? Why are you actin’ like you’re the father of my kids?” she demanded, struggling to sit up.
“Uh, I don’t know anyone named Fred and I -am- the father of your kids.”
Now she knew he’d lost his mind. She should have known it was only a matter of time. One too many head injuries over the years had finally resulted in serious damage to her partner’s brain. “Fred is my husband, Bosco. -He’s- the father of my children, not you. I don’t know what’s going on here. Where’s Cruz? Is she dead?”
Bosco looked quite disturbed by her words. “Maritza Cruz?”
“Yeah, of course. I don’t know any other Cruz’s!” She shook her head in exasperation.
He was silent for a moment. “Faith, she’s been dead for five years,” he said gently.
“That’s impossible. She just shot me!”
“Baby, listen to me. She’s long gone. You shot her that night she was holdin’ me hostage. Remember?”
“What the hell are you talking about now?”
“She was stalking me. You don’t remember?”
Faith stared at him, unable to speak.
“Is it true? She’s awake?” Sully was grinning as he stepped into the room.
“Sully, thank God. Would you tell Bosco he’s crazy? He thinks we’re married.”
The smile on his face slipped a little and he glanced at Bosco, who still looked worried.
“I don’t think she remembers what happened.”
She glared at her partner. “I remember -exactly- what happened! We were in Aaron Noble’s hotel room and Cruz had a gun pointed at me, so I shot her and she shot me!”
“Aaron Noble?” Sully repeated, a baffled expression on his face. “That writer guy who just won the Pulitzer?”
“No, that -drug addict- who murdered a man!”
Sully and Bosco exchanged a look.
“That bitch shot me and she’s the reason Taylor’s dead!”
“Alex Taylor?” Bosco questioned, frowning. “The paramedic?”
“No, Bosco. Alex Taylor, the pilot.” She rolled her eyes.
“Faith, I just saw Taylor. She’s fine,” Sully said worriedly.
She stared at him.
“Hey, she’s awake.” Davis stepped into the room, smiling. “How you doin’, partner?”
“Partner?” she repeated, her eyebrows furrowing.
Davis glanced at Bosco and Sully, who both shrugged. “You know who I am right?”
“Of course. You’re Ty Davis.”
“And you know I’m a cop.”
“Yeah, you work with Sully.”
“No…Sully is Bosco’s partner.”
Faith smirked. “Oh, -right-. Sully and Bosco are partners. Can someone open the windows? I’d like to see the pigs flying outside.”
There was a moment of silence.
The door opened again and Dr. Thomas stepped inside. “How are you feeling, Officer Boscorelli?”
She glanced at Bosco. “Are you hurt?” she asked, suddenly feeling worried.
“No, Sweetheart. You were.” His voice was very soft.
“Yeah, I know. Cruz shot me.”
“No, Faith. We got called to a fire-an apartment building. There were kids trapped on the third floor and we went inside to get them. The stairs collapsed and you fell through the floor.” Davis gazed at her worriedly. “Hit your head pretty hard. You’ve been unconscious for two days.”
“Does any of that sound familiar at all?” Bosco asked softly.
Faith shook her head wordlessly, her mouth agape in disbelief.
“Doc, is she gonna be all right?” Sully asked, looking at Dr. Thomas.
“Well, her latest MRI scans were fine. The swelling in her brain has decreased considerably.” Dr. Thomas smiled gently. “Patients often awake confused and disoriented after an extended period of unconsciousness. She should be just fine.”
“So why can’t she remember what happened?” Davis asked in confusion.
“Well, the concussion may have caused her to receive misinformation while she slept.”
“Wait a minute.” Faith held up a hand. “Are you tellin’ me I was dreaming?”
He smiled. “The mind is a very deceptive device at times. Sometimes we have dreams that are incredibly realistic. So realistic that we’re not sure if they happened or not. Given your condition, I’m not surprised that your mind played tricks on you while you were sleeping.”
Faith was silent for a moment. Then she turned her head to look at Bosco. “So…we’re not partners?”
He smiled softly. “Oh, we are. Just not at work.” He tapped the gold wedding band on her finger.
“We’re married?”
“Almost thirteen years.”
She turned to look at Davis. “And you and me are…”
“Work partners.”
“And I’m Bosco’s work partner,” Sully told her quickly.
“And Taylor-“
“Is very much alive,” Bosco assured her.
“And Cruz is dead?”
“Very, very dead. Six feet under, rottin’ in her grave and hopefully in hell,” Sully replied.
“This is way too weird,” she murmured. “I dreamt that Bosco and I worked together and the two of you were partners. And Bosco was tryin’ to join Anti-Crime and Cruz was the Anti-Crime sergeant, but she was corrupt. And I was married to this guy named Fred and he hated Bosco. Emily overdosed on Special K and Bobby…” She stopped. “Is Bobby alive?”
“Bobby Caffey?” Davis asked.
She nodded.
“Yeah, he and Kim Zambrano are getting’ married next week,” Sully told her.
“Well, he got shot and died. And Carlos had a daughter he didn’t know about.”
“Kylie?”
She looked at Davis. “Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Because he and Taylor have a two year old daughter named Kylie.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
She shook her head slightly. Then looked at Sully. “What about your wife?”
“Tatiana?” His eyebrows furrowed. “She’s fine. I just talked to her on the phone.”
“What about Chevchinko? And Gusler?”
“I don’t know anyone named Chevchinko, Faith,” Sully told her.
“Gusler? The rookie?” Bosco asked.
“Yeah, what happened to him? He just disappeared one day.”
“Relax, Sweetie. He’s just on first shift now.” He touched her face gently and she laid back against the pillows.
Davis and Sully took their cues, said their goodbyes and left the room.
“Musta been some dream,” Bosco murmured, tracing his fingers lightly over her hand.
“Guess I’m not in Oz anymore,” she said softly.
“Welcome back to Kansas,” he said with a small smile. He kissed her softly on the lips.
Her eyes drifted shut as they kissed. Welcome back indeed.
She’d take Kansas any day.