Weathering the Storm
Chapter 10
*****
Still don't own 'em.

Still denying the title of "shipper".

Still don't have any real medical knowledge, but I did do some research.

*****
33 pills/17 days
*****
The phone rang a few minutes before Bosco's alarm was set to go off. He groaned, and rolled to the other side of the bed. The cordless was laying somewhere on the floor. He fished around with his right hand while he held onto the mattress for dear life with his left hand as he tried to balance his body on the edge of the bed. He found the phone under a t-shirt.

"'llo," he said into the phone. His voice partially muffled because he still had his head resting on his pillow.

"Good morning," came Faith's cheery voice. "Did I wake you?"

"Uh huh," he mumbled before yawning into the phone.

"I was just wondering how you were feeling, and if you were gonna make it to work?"

He rolled onto his back, and ran his left hand over his face. "I'm not awake enough to know how I feel." He yawned again.

"Sorry I called so early. I was worried about you all night, and so the first thing I did this morning was call you."

He grinned. "Have I told you how much I love you Faith?"

She smiled. "No, not in a while."

"Oh OK. Just checkin'."

"You think you're funny don't you?" she chuckled.

"No. I know I am. I'll see you at work OK?"

"OK, bye."

"Bye." He hung up, and brought the phone down to his chest. Bosco closed his eyes hoping to catch a few more z's when his alarm went off.
*****
When he got to the station Faith was all ready dressed. "So you feeling better today?"

He sat down in front of his locker. "A little," he shrugged. "I still don't feel that great though."

She walked over to him, and leaned against the side of his locker as he started to change. "Maybe you should see if you could stay indoors today."

"What, like desk duty?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. I mean the last few days haven't been that great for you out on patrol. Maybe you should just take it easy. Plus this way if you get sick…"

"I don't know Faith. I think I've had my share of desk duty for the rest of my life."

"It's just a thought."
*****
Bosco sauntered over to the desk that he was assigned to for the day. He didn't feel like working inside, but he figured he'd humor Faith. She was worried about him, so he might as well try to ease her mind a little. If that meant doing paperwork and answering phone calls all day, so be it.

Faith walked over to the desk where Bosco was now sitting with a stack of files in front of him. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered as she bent down and placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

He tilted his head back to look at her, and smiled. "No problem."

"How about I come get you when I take my lunch break?"

"Sounds good. Now get outta here I got a shit load of paperwork to do."

"OK," she smiled, and started to walk away.

Bosco stood up, and grabbed her arm then pulled her back to him. They stood face to face. "Be careful out there."

She put a hand on his cheek, and kissed his forehead. "Of course."
******
Around 11:30 Faith wrapped her arms around Bosco. He was still working on the pile of paperwork. "Boy am I glad to see you," he smiled as he reached his arms behind him and placed his hands on the back of Faith's legs. "I have got to get out of here."

"Well I thought you might need some rescuing. You hungry?"

He nodded. "Yeah actually I am."

"All right. Grab your jacket, and let's go."

They walked a few blocks to a small diner. Bosco held the door open for Faith. "After you." Faith headed for the counter where they normally sat when they came to this particular restaurant. "Faith, how 'bout we sit in a booth today? I need to kinda stretch out a little bit."

She nodded. "Yeah sure. That's fine." They walked over to the corner booth. Bosco scooted over toward the wall, and then stretched his legs out on the bench seat. Faith sat across from him. "You doing OK?"

He nodded. "Yup." He buried his face in the menu trying to figure out what he could order that would taste good, but wouldn't upset his stomach. "Hmmm," he rubbed his chin.

The waitress came to take their order. Faith ordered her usual salad, and Bosco put his menu down. "You know what? A salad sounds pretty good. Make that two."

Faith looked at him. "You're gonna have a salad?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I never said I didn't like salad."

It didn't take long for their orders to arrive, and Bosco dug into his salad with a vengeance. "Gee Reese. You a little hungry?"

He looked up at her with a mouthful of lettuce. Bosco held up a hand, and finished chewing. "Faith I'll be honest with you. I can't remember the last time I ate…I mean like the last time I ate and was actually able to hold it down. I'm so hungry."

"OK, but take it slow. You don't wanna get sick."
*****
An hour later Faith was getting ready to go back out on patrol, and Bosco was back at his desk. "Thanks for coming to get me for lunch."

"Well," she smiled. "I thought about leaving you here, but then I decided the consequences of that would probably be much worse than spending an hour with you."

"Oh don't make me hurt you," he chuckled.

"All right I better get back out there. I'll see you later."

Bosco looked at the stack of papers on his desk. "I'm pretty sure I'll be right here." He eyed the papers. "Did this stack get bigger while I was gone?"
*****
He put the file on the completed pile, which was much smaller than the to-do pile, and wiped his brow before picking up another file. He set the file on the desk, and took a deep cleansing breath before opening the file. Bosco sat and stared at the words and numbers on the page. His stomach felt queasy, and the room felt like it was closing in on him. He recognized the signs…he was gonna puke.

Knowing he wasn't going to make it to the bathroom in time Bosco grabbed the wastebasket next to his desk. Immediately he heaved into the wastebasket. Right in the middle of the precinct he sat and threw up his lunch.

When he was sure the bout had passed he set the wastebasket down on the floor, and leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed. Lieutenant Anderson who had unfortunately witnessed the whole thing approached Bosco. "Boscorelli."

Bosco slowly lifted his head. "Yeah?"

"I think maybe you should go home. Take the rest of the day off."

"No I'm OK."

The lieutenant pointed at the wastebasket. "That's telling me you aren't. Dump that in the dumpster, change, and get your ass home. If you're sick you don't belong here. No point in making yourself worse or getting someone else sick."

"But Lieu I'm not sick."

"No buts Boscorelli." He turned to walk away. "And if you feel like this tomorrow don't bother coming in. You got me?!"

"Yes sir."
*****
Faith of course had found out Bosco had been sent home sick, and had called him that evening. She wanted to know if he felt better, and how his doctor's appointment went. Rather than tell her that he had figured out why he was feeling so awful he decided to just make something up. He wasn't about to tell her that all the sleeping pills he was taking were causing his problems.

"Stomach virus. Nothin' I can do, but let it run its course," he had told her, and he was pretty sure she bought it.

As he headed to bed that night he stopped in the bathroom. Bosco pulled down the bottle of sleeping pills, and shook the last two into his hand. "This will all be over tomorrow," he thought to himself as he swallowed the last of the prescription pills, and threw the bottle into the bathroom garbage can.