Third Watch Fic: Tying Up Loose Ends (5/9)

[xtremeroswellia]

Title: Tying Up Loose Ends
Authors: X_tremeroswellian and NYPDBosco
Rating: Cool for fans of all ages
Summary: When he asked for her help one last time he swore he'd transfer if she wanted him to. When she found out she was paralyzed after having been shot while helping him she told him to go away.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Bosco slowed down and turned into the driveway. "This is it," he told her softly, parking the car in the driveway instead of in the garage so she could look at the house.

She gazed up at the two story home, more than a little surprised at the size. "Wow, this is...huge," she murmured, her eyes slightly wide.

"When we moved in...I think I was in shock for about a month." He turned to look at her. "There's actually an intercom system hooked up."

She turned her head to look at him. "Are you serious?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah. Isn't that insane?"

"Just a little."

"You ready to go inside?"

Drawing in a breath, she nodded. "Yeah."

Bosco got out of the car and walked around to the passenger's side. He opened her door and offered her his hand.

Faith managed a small smile before sliding her hand into his.

Holding her hand he led her to the front door and unlocked it with his house key. "Jeffrey musta picked up all my papers," he commented as they stepped inside.

"Who's Jeffrey?"

"Oh, he's uh...he's the little boy who lives next door," he told her softly.

"Oh." She nodded slightly and followed him inside.

"He's not quite seven yet."

"You guys friends?"

He chuckled softly. "You could say that."

"You've always been good with kids."

"I put up a basketball hoop not long after we moved in and he kinda latched on to me. He used to come over and ask Renee if Maurice could come out and play."

Faith couldn't help but laugh.

"He's a cute kid." He motioned toward the living room as they entered. "I don't have enough furniture to fill the place," he informed her. "Basically just the stuff in here and the family room. The master bedroom and a small table in the kitchen. She wanted the furniture but not the house."

She gazed at him for a moment, then nodded. "So you gonna give me a tour or what?"

"Of course. Wanna start upstairs?"

"Whatever you want." She smiled.

"Upstairs it is." He smiled at her and led her up the stairs.

Faith followed him, taking in the spaciousness of the house. Leading off the upstairs hallway, there were several rooms. All the doors were open but one.

"Let's uh...we'll start down here." He pointed toward the room at the end of the hall. "We used it as a guest room. Not that we had guests over very often, but I think it was mostly the idea of being able to say that we had a guest room, ya know?"

A smile tugged at her lips. "Yeah." She followed him down the hall and glanced around the room.

"The room used to have a bed and dresser and stuff in it." He looked at Faith. "She had money," he said softly.

She turned to look at him, her eyes sad.

"She didn't flaunt it or anything. She wasn't like that, but...well," he chuckled. "She was loaded."

"Her family rich?"

He nodded. "It was kinda like Nicole all over again, except for the fact that Renee was more down to earth and she wasn't super model material." His eyes widened, and he immediately tried to correct himself, not wanting to speak poorly of his ex. "I mean, she was but..."

A faint chuckle escaped her lips.

"It's weird. She broke my heart, but I still don't like to say anything negative about her."

"Well, then you're a better person than I am."

He looked at her. "Well, Renee didn't cheat on me...she just...left."

She let out a breath, looking down at the floor for a moment.

"And her leaving...that made me realize what a shitty thing I'd done when I left you," he told her softly before moving to the next room.

Swallowing hard, she closed her eyes for a few seconds before following him. "But you know it's not the same thing. Right?"

"Cause we weren't married?" He flipped on the light.

"Yeah."

"I know it doesn't make what I did right, but Faith...I really thought you had other people you could count on," he told her very softly. "And I thought it was best..."

"I know that." She gazed at him.

He held her gaze for a moment and nodded his head before getting back to the tour. "We used to use this as an office."

She glanced around, raising her eyebrows as she spotted the desk in the corner. "You got a computer."

"Yeah." He grinned. "I can't live without my internet."

Shaking her head slightly, she smiled. "Never pictured you as a Web Junkie."

"I have to tear myself away sometimes so I can concentrate on getting my course work done. It's crazy."

Faith chuckled.

"If you ever wanna use it to email Emily or whatever you're more than welcome."

"Thanks...that'd shock her."

"Yeah, but I'm sure she'd love it." He turned off the light and gently took her hand, leading her to the master bedroom.

His hand felt warm against her own and she rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand without thinking about it. "Wow. This is nice." She gazed, wide-eyed at the large room.

"Check this out." He took her over to the window which overlooked a small lake.

"Damn, Boz. That's...awesome." She stared out the window.

"Yeah. I seriously got the better end of the divorce," he told her with a soft chuckle.

She smiled and turned her head to look at the bathroom connected to his bedroom. "Is that...is that a -jacuzzi-?"

"You like it?" He asked with a grin.

"Oh, I -always- wanted a jacuzzi." She moved to the bathroom, staring at the large tub.

"Any time you wanna use it, it's all yours," he told her softly.

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely. Make yourself at home."

She turned to look at him, her eyes bright. "Thanks."

Happy to see the light in her eyes he smiled softly. "You're welcome, Faith."

"What's next?" She smiled.

He swallowed hard. "Uh...downstairs I guess," he whispered.

She immediately sensed that something was wrong, but could tell by his expression he didn't want to talk about whatever it was right then, either.

Leading her out of the room he motioned toward down the hall. "There's uh...another bathroom down there and a uh...linen closet."

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

Bosco paused in his steps and closed his eyes. "There's...one more room," he whispered.

She hesitantly touched his arm.

His bottom lip trembled slightly and he took a shaky breath. "I haven't...it's been..."

"It's a nursery," she whispered, realizing that was why he was upset.

He nodded his head. "I never finished it," he whispered back.

Swallowing hard, she slipped her arms around his waist.

He quickly wrapped his arms around her, his hands clutching her shirt.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"I wanted a baby so bad."

"I know." She rubbed his back, placing a soft kiss against his cheek.

"I woulda been a good dad," he told her softly.

"The best."

"I wrote you a letter when we found out we were having a baby, but I never sent it."

She closed her eyes. "Boz? What happened?"

He held her a little tighter. "She uh...I was at work and she was doin' laundry. I forgot...forgot to carry the basket downstairs and she..."

"Oh, Bosco," she whispered.

"It was my fault." His voice broke.

"No. No, it wasn't."

"I forgot, and she-she fell when she was tryin' to..." He shook his head.

"No, Bosco." She pulled away to look at him, cupping his face in both her hands. "It wasn't your fault. Accidents happen all the time."

"Why'd I forget, Faith?"

"Because you're human," she whispered. "You're not perfect."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before wiping at his eyes.

"Bosco, I know what you're going through. I know what it's like to lose a child and blame yourself." Her voice was very soft. "But this wasn't your fault."

"I uh..." He looked over at the closed door. "Renee's parents were with her at the hospital after it happened," he told her quietly. "I came home to get her some clothes and I musta sat in there and cried for like...three hours. When I left, I shut the door on the room and my feelings."

Her eyes were full of sadness and she touched his cheek again.

He shifted his gaze to her. "Do you wanna see it?" He asked in a whisper.

"If you wanna show me," she whispered back.

Bosco nodded his head.

"Then, yes, I wanna see it." She slid her hand down his arm and slid her fingers through his.

Managing a small smile, they walked slowly toward the room. Bosco paused for a moment, his hand on the knob before turning it and pushing the door open. Reaching inside he flipped on the light, finding the room exactly like he'd left it so many months ago.

Drawing in a breath, she slowly followed him into the room, looking around at the pretty yellow wallpaper with little ducks carrying umbrellas for a border. A large crib sat in the corner of the room, a duck mobile hanging above it. Tears prickled at her eyes.

Once he was inside the room he took a deep breath and blew it out. "I never got the changing table put together," he commented. "We'd just picked it up from the store a couple days before."

She squeezed his hand lightly. "This is a beautiful room," she whispered.

"Thanks." A smile tugged at his lips. "When we found out we were having a girl Renee immediately wanted to paint the room pink. I refused and she challenged me to come up with something better," he told her as he ran his hand over the fur of a stuffed animal that was in the crib.

"Yeah, I can't imagine you agreeing to a pink room." She smiled.

"She kept thinking I was gonna give in."

Faith couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"She never knew me like you do," he told her.

Gazing at him, she squeezed his hand lightly once more. "And Fred never knew me like you do."

He held her hand tighter and nodded toward a framed picture on the wall. "That's the closest thing to a family photo we'd ever have."

Faith moved over to examine the picture, her eyes sad though there was a small smile on her face as she gazed at it. It was taken outside, by the lake he'd pointed out to her. He was standing behind Renee, his arms wound around her, resting on her pregnant belly.

He leaned against the crib and was silent for a moment as he watched her. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah, of course." Her voice was soft and she turned to look at him.

"This may sound really awful, but...I don't really miss Renee."

She gazed at him for a moment. "Because you're mad at her for leaving you, or...?"

"I guess that's part of it, but..." He shrugged. "I love her. I mean...I care about her a great deal, but there wasn't this...this gut wrenching pain that I thought there'd be."

She nodded slightly. "When Fred...the hardest part to face was the betrayal. It wasn't that I was so in love with him that I couldn't stand to be without him. I think it actually hurt more that Holly was willing to give up our friendship for Fred and that he was willing to give up our marriage and our family for sex."

"I'm really sorry," he told her softly.

"It's not your fault."

"Everybody you trusted let you down."

She sighed softly, looked away for a moment. "I pushed you away. That's my fault."

"I let you, and that's mine."

"We're both at fault. But that's the past."

"You're right," he whispered. "We're here now and we're both gonna help each other."

"That's right," she said softly, moving over so she was standing in front of him again.

"I'm glad you came here with me. I hope you'll stay for a while."

"I'd like that. I think...I really needed a break from the city. From everything there."

"Yeah." He nodded his head. "Look, I really am sorry about taking control of things. If you still wanna keep that apartment--"

"No." She cut him off. "I don't. The truth is...I hate that building. I've hated living there for the past two years."

"Thank God." He chuckled softly.

A smile tugged at her lips.

"Come on. I still gotta show you the rest of the house."

She smiled faintly and followed him down the hall, then down the steps.

"Well, here's the living room which you've kinda already seen," he told her as he motioned toward the sofa. "There's no TV in here so I just use this room for reading." He took her across the small hallway to an empty room. "This is the dining room...minus a dining room table."

"So if you don't have a table...where do you eat?"

He pointed toward the adjoining kitchen. "I've got a really small table in here. Seats two."

"Wow. A kitchen -and- a dining room. You're livin' in luxury, Boz." She grinned.

"Yeah, no kiddin'. This house is way too big for one person though." He shrugged before leading her through the large kitchen and down two stairs into the family room where there was another sofa, a recliner and a large entertainment center. "This is my favorite room."

"I can see why." She looked around the room, impressed with the big screen TV and stereo system.

Biting his lip he looked down at the floor for a moment. He couldn't help but feel bad now that he'd shown Faith the house. Here he was living in a luxurious two story home when she'd been living in a rundown apartment.

"Oh, my God. Is that a pool?" Her eyes widened as she moved to look out the patio doors.

"Yeah," he whispered. "We uh...well, Renee was a swimmer so..."

"Well, that settles it. I'm moving in," she announced with a grin as she turned to face him.

He managed a small smile.

Her smile faded a little. "What is it?"

"I don't know, I just..." He sighed and walked over to her. "Look at this place. Look what I escaped to compared to..."

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what? Feel like an ass for leaving and coming here, marrying a woman with way more money than I'll ever make and living like a king? How can I not, Faith?"

"Do you honestly think I begrudge you this..." She motioned around with her hands. "Because of my life?"

He let out a breath. "I feel guilty," he whispered.

"You shouldn't."

"I'm glad though...that I can share this with you. There were so many times that I wanted to get a hold of you, and have you come out here. But every time I chickened out...I wasn't sure."

"Somehow I doubt your wife would've approved anyway." She managed a wry smile.

"She did tend to get upset when I didn't pay enough attention to her." He pushed open the patio door and paused before leading her out on the deck. "Thanks, Faith."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "For what?"

"Being who you are, and for not being upset with me."

She was quiet for a moment. "Don't make me out to be a saint. When you left...I was upset with you. Really upset."

Bosco nodded his head slightly and took her outside. He motioned for her to sit in one of the padded deck chairs. "I didn't wanna leave, Faith. But I swear, if I'd thought I had another choice I woulda taken it."

"I know that now." Her voice was quiet and she slowly lowered herself down to sit in the seat, stretching her legs out in front of her and gazing at the large pool.

He chose the chair that was next to her, separated only by a small table. "Maybe tomorrow I'll drive you past the dump I used to live in before I met the ex."

"Your ex must be a better person than me, cause...I don't think I would've left you the house," she joked.

He chuckled. "I wouldn't say better person. I'd say more impatient. It was a quick divorce and I actually remember her saying 'just give him the house. I can buy another'."

A small, sad smile touched her lips when she turned to look at him. "At least it wasn't messy and drawn out...that's a good thing."

"Was yours?" He asked softly as he turned to look at her.

She nodded a little, shifting her gaze back to the pool once more. "Very."

"Because of custody?"

"That too," she murmured.

"Is he still in New York?"

"Yeah." She nodded slightly.

"Wish I woulda had time to go kick his ass while I was there," he told her, his voice serious.

"He's not worth it anyway."

"Maybe not. But causing him some serious pain would have at least felt good."

"Or got you thrown in jail."

"Yeah, but you'da come visit me." He said, a grin on his face as he tried to lighten the mood.

A smile tugged at her lips. "Maybe."

"Maybe? Just maybe?"

"Well, you didn't come visit me when -I- was in jail."

His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her.

"Assault."

He turned on his chair so his feet were on the deck and he was facing her. "Explain."

She sighed softly. "During the divorce and custody hearings...Fred made sure to point out just how much of a horrible mother and wife I'd been...one afternoon after a particularly bad court session, we got into a fight. I smacked him. He had me arrested."

Bosco tried not to smile, but it was a losing battle. "You hit him?"

She chuckled faintly at his expression. "Yeah."

"Bastard deserved so much more than that." He sat back in his chair. "So how long before you were sprung from the slammer?"

"Three days."

"Damn. Who bailed you out?"

"No one. Holly convinced him to drop the charges against me."

"Yeah, I suppose the -least- she could do would get the charges dropped," he grumbled.

"She actually had the nerve to show up on my doorstep and -apologize-."

"You shoulda smacked her, too," he told her with a grin.

"You have no idea how much I wanted to."

He nodded his head. Letting out a breath he leaned back against the chair and held his hand out to her. He wasn't sure what it was, but now that he and Faith were reunited he liked having physical contact with her. Maybe it was because this way he knew it was real and not just one of the many dreams he'd had over the years.

She glanced over at him, then reached out and slid her fingers through his.

"I don't feel like cooking. You wanna go out to dinner or order in?"

"Let's just order in."

"Food preference?"

"Pizza?"

"Is that what you want?"

"You can never go wrong with pizza."

"True." He slowly rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "You want me to order it now?"

"I'm not too hungry right now, unless you are."

"No, I'm good." Bosco glanced down at their hands and smiled softly.

"You still like pizza right?"

Lost in thought he looked up at her. "Huh?"

"Pizza. You still like it?"

"Are you nuts? Of course I still like pizza."

She smiled. "Good."

"Pepperoni, sausage and half olive like always?"

"Some things never change."

"You know..." He chuckled. "The first time Renee and I ordered a pizza, that's the way I ordered it."

She turned her head to look at him, a little surprised. "Yeah?"

"I quickly learned that she hates pepperoni and sausage."

"Who hates pepperoni and sausage?" She shook her head in disbelief.

"I know! It's a total crime. I almost ended the relationship right then."

She chuckled, then looked back at the pool. "I gotta admit...the few times I ordered pizza in the last couple years...I ordered it that way too."

"It's habit...we used to order pizza a -lot-."

"Yeah, I know." She squeezed his hand lightly.

He looked at their hands once more. It had been far too long since he'd had contact like this that he felt comfortable with. Leading up to the divorce things with Renee had been tense and holding hands sometimes just didn't feel right. "I still can't believe you're here," he whispered.

Faith held his gaze for a long moment. "Me either."

"I uh...I hope you'll be comfortable here." He glanced over his shoulder at the house.

"I adapt pretty well," she said softly.

"Good. That's good."

They were both silent for a few minutes. "So when are you gonna show me the basement?"

"Oh, you wanted the full tour, huh?"

She smiled. "That and permission to use your exercise equipment that's down there."

His eyes widened slightly. "How'd you..."

Turning her head to look at him once more, she raised her eyebrows. "I just knew."

"Cause I'm all buff and stuff?" He asked with a grin.

A faint chuckle escaped her. "Yeah, Boz. That's it."

"I knew it." Still holding her hand he stood up.

"Now what?"

"Well, I thought I'd walk you through the basement then maybe you'd wanna test out that jacuzzi while I unload our stuff from the car."

"Oh, now that's an offer I cannot refuse."

"That's what I figured."

Grinning, she slowly stood up. "You know me too well."

"Well...you're hard to forget," he whispered.

Swallowing hard, she gazed at him. "That makes two of us then," she whispered back.

He reached for her other hand.

She slid her fingers through his, holding onto both of his hands.

Bosco looked down at their hands, and took a deep breath before looking up at her again. "At the reunion I was so nervous."

"Yeah. You and me both."

"I didn't expect us to be able to do something like this." He lifted their hands a little.

Faith was quiet for a moment. "It's strange, but...it's not."

"It's like...now, I feel closer to you than I did before. Maybe it's cause...cause we've got some really shitty things in common now."

Nodding slightly, she squeezed his hand lightly.

"Come on. I'll show you the home gym then you can go take a relaxing soak in that big tub," he told her with a soft smile.

She followed him back into the house and toward the door that led to the basement.

"You know, I don't know if Renee ever came down here," he commented as he turned on the lights. He looked at her and grinned. "I disconnected the intercom down here, and she'd stand at the top of the steps and holler for me."

A smile tugged at her lips as she looked around the nicely finished basement that she knew instinctively he'd not only done himself, but decorated himself, as well. He had made this space his. "I like it."

There was a look of surprise on his face. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's you."

He puffed up his chest a little involuntarily as he was filled with a sense of pride. Faith had taken an interest in this part of the house even though the woman he'd married never had.

"You finished the basement yourself." She moved around the room, smiling when she spotted the large dart board on the wall.

Bosco nodded his head. "I spent every minute I could spare down here. I wasn't about to pay somebody else to do it wrong."

Nodding slightly, she turned to look at him from where she stood across the room. "You did a really nice job."

"Thanks. That means a lot."

"You're welcome." Her voice was soft.

"Did you see that?" He asked softly, pointing at the wall.

She turned to look and see where he was pointing. Her gaze landed upon a framed picture of the two of them from their academy days. Her eyes widening a little, she moved over to get a better look, staring at the photo. He had his arm draped around her shoulders, a cocky grin on his face while she smiled at him. "I can't believe you still have this," she murmured.

"It's the picture I found while cleaning out the garage," he told her softly. "The one that got me to hop on that plane a few days ago."

Swallowing hard, she felt tears prickle at her eyelids.

"I hung it up in here that day. I kept looking at it and wondering what I'd say to you."

She reached up and quickly wiped a tear off her cheek. "I had no idea you still had this picture."

"I got a whole box of pictures you gave me," he told her softly.

"You kept them all?"

"Yeah." He nodded his head. "They're important to me."

"I guess I just didn't think..."

"Didn't think what?" He questioned softly, moving over to her.

"That it mattered to you."

"It did." Bosco smiled softly. "I just never let you know."

She lifted her head to look up at him.

He was smiling at her until he noticed the tears, and then he frowned. "Oh, Faith." He reached up and carefully brushed one off her cheek.

"It's stupid," she muttered, pulling away from him.

"Hey, hey. Come on," he whispered.

"I didn't cry for almost two years...since after Charlie..." She drew in a breath. "Now it seems like all I do is cry."

"It's okay to cry, Faith," he told her softly.

"But there's no reason to."

He smiled at her. "What? You're saying you and me reuniting after three years is no reason to cry?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Well...sometimes things get to us that we don't expect to, ya know?"

"Yeah." She wiped her eyes quickly.

"Do you uh...do you think that there's...something wrong?" He asked in a whisper.

"What do you mean?"

"Like..." He bit his lip for a moment. "Maybe you need to talk to someone."

She shook her head slightly. "Talk to someone...about what?"

"Maybe about how you're feeling." He swallowed hard. "The anxiety."

"No." She shook her head.

"It could help."

"I don't wanna talk about this."

"Okay." He nodded his head, and gently brushed his thumb over her cheek. "I'm sorry."

She swallowed hard at the light touch. It had been a very long time since anyone had touched her like that.

"Just let me know what you need me to do for you, and I'll try not to push."

"Thanks," she whispered.

Bosco nodded his head then hesitated a moment before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "Come on. I'll show you how to work the jacuzzi."

Biting her lower lip, she followed him back up the stairs and then up the second set of stairs to the master bedroom. "I can't believe how huge this room is."

"This room is almost as big as the apartment I rented when I first got here."

"I can believe it." She glanced around before moving into the large bathroom.

He sat down on the edge of the tub, and turned on the water. "Okay. Water. Temperature. Jets," he informed her as he pointed at each control. "Pretty simple."

Nodding slightly, she managed a faint smile. "I think I can manage it."

"There's some towels in that cabinet over there and you can help yourself to clothes outta my dresser."

"Thanks, Boz." Her voice was soft and she looked up at him.

"You're welcome," he whispered. "I'm gonna bring in our stuff and order dinner."

"Sounds good." She watched him head for the door. "Bosco?"

He turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Thank you...for bringing me here...for letting me come back with you."

Bosco nodded his head. "You bet."

She smiled faintly, then waited until he stepped out of the room and pulled the door shut behind him before reaching over and turning the water on.

He made his way downstairs, feeling better about how things were working out. Maybe he really did have a chance of helping her.