Great. Just Great.

Part 2

******

Characters aren't mine, but the idea is!

******

"Doesn't look like you'll be working for awhile."

Bosco sat back down on the bench. "Dammit!" He looked up at Faith. "How the hell did I get the chicken pox?!" Faith shrugged. "It's not like I spend time with kids or anything. DAMMIT!" 

"Oh Bosco. I'm so sorry," Faith apologized as she realized how Bosco must have caught the virus.

"What are you apologizing for? Did you give it to me or somethin'?"

She shook her head. "You remember last night when Charlie said his friend Seth had the chicken pox?"

He nodded. "Yeah. So."

"Seth was over at the apartment a couple weeks ago when you stopped by. Remember?"

"Oh man," he ran a hand through his hair. "That was Seth? Me and Charlie and that kid were goofin' around. We were wrestling and stuff."

Faith pursed her lips together and bobbed her head. "That'd be how you got it. He was contagious then, but no one knew."

"Great. Just great. Here I am an adult and some snot nosed little kid that I've seen *once* gives me the chicken pox!" He looked at Faith, and continued in a serious tone. "So is Charlie gonna get 'em too?"

"No. Charlie had them when he was six, and Emily had them all ready too."

Bosco rubbed his face. "Well I guess I better head home."

"Yeah. I'll tell Lieu for you. Take it easy. I'll call you later." Faith started to leave the locker room, and noticed out of the corner of her eye that Bosco was scratching his stomach. "And don't scratch or you'll have scars!"

"Yes mom." When she turned her back he stuck his tongue out at her and continued to scratch his stomach.

*****

Faith took her seat in the briefing room. "Yokas where is Boscorelli?!"

"He's sick Lieu. He went home, and it's going to be a while before he can come back to work."

"Really?" The lieutenant asked with concern. "What's wrong with him? Is he OK?"

She looked around the room, and noticed all eyes were on her, waiting for an explanation as to why her partner was absent. "He uh, he has the uh…" Bosco was going to die of embarrassment. "He's got the chicken pox." The room erupted in laughter, and Faith shook her head at how juvenile everyone was being.

"Hey! Hey! Pipe down everybody!" The lieutenant roared. "Sure it seems funny that a guy like Boscorelli has the chicken pox, but keep in mind it can be a very serious illness for an adult." The room quieted down. Lieu looked at Faith. "Keep checking up on him to make sure he's doing all right. We don't want this thing to get worse and go undetected."

"Yes sir."

*****

She'd called his apartment three times, but got his answering machine every time. Now that her shift was over she was going to go to Bosco's apartment, and see how he was doing.

Faith put the key in the lock, and unlocked the door. She figured it was pointless to knock because if he wasn't answering the phone he sure as hell wasn't going to answer the door. She made her way through his dark apartment, and toward the soft glow of the light coming from his bedroom.

He was lying on his side facing away from the door. The blankets were pulled up over his head. The bedside lamp was on. She tiptoed into the room. "Bos?" she called softly.

"Hmmm?" came the muffled sound from under the blankets.

She sat down behind him on the bed, and put her hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," he replied quietly without moving.

"Worse than this afternoon?" she asked with more concern.

"Yeah," was his raspy reply.

He still hadn't moved since she came in, and she was growing more and more concerned by the second. She got up and walked around to the other side of the bed. His face was the only thing she could see. His eyes were closed. "Oh Bos, you look terrible." His face was flushed and covered with spots.

"Gee thanks," he said softly as he finally opened his eyes to look at her.

"Bosco I think you should come stay with me so I can keep an eye on you."

"I'm a big boy Faith. I can take care of myself." He reached up to scratch his cheek.

Faith grabbed his hand, and stopped him. "I told you not to scratch. It'll scar." She put her hand on his cheek. "You're burning up. Have you taken anything for the fever?"

"No," he swallowed hard. His throat was extremely sore. "I've been in bed since I got home." He covered his mouth and coughed. "Don't want to move. My whole body hurts."

"Bosco you really should come stay with me." 

"No. I don't want your kids to see me like this."

"They don't care Bos. Besides it's the weekend, and I've all ready shipped them off to my parents. So they won't be there for a couple days." She put her hand on his shoulder. "After seeing you this afternoon I figured you'd need someone to take care of you, so I made the arrangements so I could."

"I can take care of myself," he said weakly.

"How can you say that Bosco? You just admitted that you haven't been able to get out of bed all day. I know chicken pox may not seem like a big deal, but when adults are infected it's much worse. So you've either got me or I'm calling an ambulance to take you to Mercy so they can take care of you!"

"OK. OK. You don't have to yell." He closed his eyes. "But can we stay here? I don't feel like getting out of bed."

Faith gently ran her hand over Bosco's hair. "Yeah, we can stay here," she said softly. She pushed herself off the bed.

Bosco lifted his head a little. "Where you goin'?" he asked in a small voice.

"I'm just gonna get you some aspirin or something." She gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll be right back." He nodded slightly, put his head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes.

A few minutes later she came back into the room with a glass of water, and two Advil carefully resting in the palm of her hand. "OK, sit up." He sat up slowly, and Faith handed him the pills, which he tossed in his mouth and then handed him the water to wash them down with. "You don't have any aspirin or anything. You're lucky I had a bottle of Advil in my purse."

He handed the glass back to her. "I don't get sick. I've never needed that stuff before." Bosco crawled back under the covers.

"Well I'm going to go to the drugstore and get some things to stock up your medicine cabinet." He reached up to scratch his cheek again, and once again Faith stopped him. "I'll get some calamine lotion. It should help with the itching." He closed his eyes, and scrunched up his face in an effort to scratch the itch without using his hand. "You gonna be OK here by yourself?"

"I'm not," he stopped to cough a few times, and Faith noticed the look of pain on his face. She could tell he really wasn't feeling well at all. "I'm not goin' anywhere," he said softly.

Faith placed her hand on his cheek and kissed the top of his head. She really hated seeing him like this. "I'll be back as soon as I can."