Let The Sun Shine Through

Part 8

*****

Still don't own Third Watch.

*****

JULY 5^th…Florida…Day 4

He lay on his side watching her sleep. She looked so sweet, so gentle. Bosco couldn't believe this was the same woman who was his partner with the NYPD. He always knew there was more to her than what he saw at work, but she had been married since the day they met, so he had never let his mind drift to thinking of her as anything other than a cop. But now, things were different.

 

Bosco carefully moved a strand of her strawberry blond hair and tucked it behind her ear. He put his hand on her waist. He needed some kind of contact to make sure this was still real. He just had this feeling that it was all in his mind, but touching her as she lay next to him reassured him.

 

Last night they had kissed. He had never felt that way before from kissing someone, but last night there was this indescribable energy.

 

Faith woke and found herself looking directly into Bosco's eyes. His eyes were smiling at her with a twinkle she had never seen before. "Hey. What's with you this morning?" she asked with a smile.

 

"We kissed last night." A grin made its way across his face.

 

She chuckled. "Bosco, we didn't just kiss. We made out like a couple of teenagers."

 

He rolled onto his back. "You sure know how to ruin the moment."

 

"Oh come on Bosco. I was just kidding." She put a hand on each side of him and lifted herself above him. She gazed down at him. "Snap out of it Bosco. It was a joke." Bosco reached up and tucked another strand of hair behind her ear. He loved how soft her hair was. "So, how long were you watching me sleep?"

 

He shrugged. "I don't know…a while."

 

"And what were you thinking about?"

 

"How great it felt to kiss you."

 

"It *was* pretty nice wasn't it?"

 

"Yeah." She leaned down to kiss him, but he stopped her by putting a finger to her lips. "So you don’t regret it?"

 

Faith took his hand and kissed it. Then she lowered herself down and placed a kiss on his lips. She broke the connection and looked deep into his eyes. "Does that answer your question?"

 

"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" When they pulled apart Bosco was grinning.

 

"I take it you understood that time."

 

"Roger that."

 

"We don't have any plans for today do we?"

 

"Nope. You got something you want to do?"

 

"Yeah. How about we just lay in bed and watch TV?" She rubbed his chest and lowered her hand to his stomach. "I just want to be close to you."

 

"Mmmm k," he replied as he initiated the next meeting of their lips.

 

Bosco sat up, leaning against the headboard. Faith laid in the bed, her head in his lap and her hand resting on his knee. He put his hand on her hip, and that's how they stayed for the majority of the morning as they watched TV and relished being so close to each other.

*****

It was afternoon by the time Faith and Bosco ventured into the kitchen to find something to eat. "After we eat do you want to go done to the beach?" Bosco asked as he grabbed the ice tea out of the fridge.

 

"That sounds like a good idea."

 

A short time later they were sitting on the beach once again taking in the sights and sounds of Florida. "I love this place," chirped Bosco. "When I retire I'm gonna move down here and buy a condo on the beach."

 

"It's so relaxing. So quiet. A lot different from home."

 

"Yeah, I'm really---" Bosco was interrupted by the sound of someone screaming. He looked around. "What was that?!"

 

"Sounded like a woman screaming." They both searched the beach with their eyes as the shouts continued. "Look," Faith pointed, "over there."

 

Not too far away was a woman sitting on the beach. She was topless and trying to cover herself, but a man was holding her arms and trying to kiss her. She was screaming for him to stop. Without another second passing Bosco and Faith were running toward them.

 

"Hey! Leave her alone!" yelled Bosco as he approached. The man looked up and loosened his grip on the woman. She was able to break free from him. Faith grabbed the blanket off the ground and covered the half naked woman.

 

The man glared at Bosco. "Tis none your bu'iness," he slurred as he staggered to a standing position.

 

"Great, he's drunk. I hate drunks," Bosco said under his breath.

 

Faith was consoling the hysterical woman. "Do you know this guy?"

 

She nodded. "He's my boyfriend. He got drunk and took off my top. I couldn't get him to stop. I didn't want to…you know, not here. Not when he's drunk."

 

Bosco looked from the woman to her boyfriend. "Hey buddy. No means no whether she's your girlfriend or not."

 

"Stay out it. No your bu'iness," he slurred angrily.

 

"Yeah? Well I'm a cop and you trying to force yourself on her and her screaming made it my business." Bosco took his eyes off the man. "Are you OK?" he asked the woman, not noticing what the man was doing.

 

"BOSCO LOOK OUT!" screamed Faith.

 

He turned his head and was met with a glass bottle. "Son of a bitch!" Bosco brought his hand to his head then collapsed to the ground.

 

When Bosco had turned his head the man picked up the 40 of beer that he had been drinking. He swung the bottle at Bosco and connected solidly. Then the man took off.

 

Faith ran to Bosco's side. She frantically pulled Bosco's hand away from his face. He had cuts stretching from the middle of his forehead diagonally to the middle of his cheek. There was so much blood she couldn't tell, but she thought there were cuts around his eye as well. Faith looked at the woman. "Call 9-1-1!"

 

Bosco was dazed for a moment, but then the pain hit him hard. He started thrashing around. Faith put a hand on his head and one on his chest. "Whoa Bosco. Stay still."

 

"It hurts," he hissed through clenched teeth.

 

"I know. I know. Someone's calling an ambulance."

 

"Faith my eye," he tried to touch his injured left eye, but Faith quickly grabbed his hand.

 

"Leave it alone."

 

He tried to open it. "It hurts. I can't see. Everything's red," he panicked and started thrashing his head from side to side.

 

"Bosco listen to me!" She grabbed his face in her hands. "Hold still OK?! You're only making it worse. Keep your eyes closed. Everything is red because of the blood, but you're going to be OK."

 

"B-b-blood?"

 

She leaned close to him. "It's OK. You're OK." She tried to calm him. "Do you remember what happened?"

 

"N-no."

 

"Well, the guy you were talking to decided to slam a beer bottle against your head." Faith told him as she smoothed his hair.

 

"Ouch," he said with a small chuckle as he was finally calming down.

 

Faith laid a comforting hand on his chest. "You're going to be all right."

 

"Excuse me," said the paramedic as he knelt down next to Faith.

 

She moved out of the way. "Bosco the paramedics are here. I need to move out of the way so they can take care of you." Bosco nodded.

 

"What happened here?"

 

"He got hit with a beer bottle," Faith answered.

 

The paramedic took out his penlight and looked into Bosco's right eye. "Can you tell me your name?"

 

"Maurice Boscorelli."

 

"Do you know where you are?"

 

"Florida…on the beach I think."

 

"Good. Good. Can you see anything out of this eye?"

 

Bosco shook his head. "All I see is red."

 

"OK, well there's some blood from the cut on your forehead dripping into it, so do me a favor and try to keep it closed OK?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"How about your left eye?"

 

"It hurts. I can't open it," Bosco replied. The panic starting to rise in his voice.

 

"OK. Don't worry about it. Looks like you might have some glass in your eye, so we're going to put some gauze pads over it." The paramedics made quick work of covering Bosco's left eye and bandaging the cuts on his face. Bosco hissed from the pain a few times, but stayed relatively still considering what was going on. "We're going to put you on the stretcher and take you to the hospital." The medic informed him.

 

Bosco opened his right eye and lifted his head. "Faith?!" He looked for her, but still couldn't see.

 

The second paramedic quickly and gently pushed him back down. "Easy pal. Keep that eye closed."

 

Bosco swallowed hard. "Faith?" he called again.

 

"I'm here Bosco." He lifted his hand into the air, and she moved forward and took it in hers.

 

Faith climbed into the back of the bus with the stretcher. She never let go of his hand. "How you doing?" she asked as she rubbed his chest gently.

 

"Gawd it hurts," he moaned.

 

"I'm sorry." She kissed his hand. "Maybe going to the beach wasn't such a good idea."

 

He moaned again. "I don't feel so hot."

 

At hearing this, the medic came back to Bosco's side. "What's wrong?"

 

"I think I’m going to throw up." The medic helped Bosco roll onto his side, and as if on cue Bosco emptied the contents of his stomach. He rolled back onto the stretcher, and passed out from the dizziness.

 

"Bosco?" Faith asked with concern.

 

"Don't worry. It's from the concussion. He'll be all right," the paramedic reassured her.

*****

When they got to the emergency room they wheeled a still unconscious Bosco into a trauma room. Faith was left standing outside the glassed in room. "Please let him be OK. Please let him be OK," she kept repeating to herself as she watched the doctors and nurses tend to him. She noticed he had regained consciousness shortly after arriving.

 

Bosco felt people touching him, but he couldn't open his eyes. He couldn't see who was touching him. "Faith?" He tried to fight the hands. "Faith?!" He kept trying to sit up.

 

A nurse came out of the room. "Are you Faith?"

 

"Yes."

 

"He's calling for you, and we can't settle him down. You think you could help?"

 

Faith nodded and followed the nurse into the room. Everyone turned to look at her as she approached Bosco. She took his hand and he flinched. She whispered in his ear. "Shhhh. Hey partner. It's Faith." She felt him relax. "I hear you're giving these nice people a hard time."

 

"What's happening?" he asked.

 

"They just need to stitch up your cuts and clean out your eyes. OK? Can you let them do that?"

 

He squeezed her hand. "Don't leave me."

 

"Wouldn't dream of it," she kissed his uninjured cheek. "But I need to move out of the way."

 

Bosco nodded, and Faith let go of his hand as she moved out of the way. The doctor stepped up to Bosco and carefully removed the bandage that was covering his left eye. "All right Maurice. You have a small piece of glass in your eye that I need to remove. This is going to hurt some, but I'm going to numb your eye with some drops. You ready to get started?"

 

He tensed up. "Faith?" he asked nervously.

 

She patted his leg. "I'm right here Bos. It's OK." She kept her hand on his leg so he would know she was there.

 

He nodded and took a deep breath. "Let's get this over with."

*****

A few hours later Bosco woke up in a hospital bed. The first thing he noticed was that he could see out of his right eye. Which was a great relief. He reached up and felt a heavy bandage covering his left eye. There were also bandages on his cheek and forehead.

 

Faith came into the room. "Hey look who's awake," she grinned. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she ran her fingers through his hair.

 

"Everything's kinda fuzzy."

 

"Well you have a pretty nasty concussion. Which, by the way, means you have to stay here tonight."

 

"What about my eye?"

 

"You were lucky. The doctor said the glass only scratched the cornea, so they're going to give you some medication and you'll have to wear an eye patch for a few days, but you'll be fine."

 

He let out the breath he was holding. "Good." Bosco reached for her other hand. "Thanks Faith."

 

"For what?"

 

"For helping me through that. I was pretty freaked."

 

She smiled at him then kissed him gently. He lifted his head off the pillow as they continued. "Mmm. Whoa…whoa. Hold on," he said as he lay back down. Faith noticed how exhausted he looked and was immediately concerned. "As much as I was enjoying that," he smiled. "I'm still nauseous, and my head is killing me."

 

Faith rubbed her hand across his chest. "How 'bout we finish this when you're feeling better?"

 

"I'd like that."

 

 

 

*******

You had to know I was going to work some kind of angst into this!! LOL!