xtremeroswellia

Emily sat down on the sofa next to Bosco a few nights later. Her brother had gone to bed over an hour ago, and technically she was supposed to be in bed, too. But she hadn't been able to sleep. She stared at the television screen for a long moment before glancing at him sideways.

He looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, young lady?"

"Did Mommy kill Daddy because of me?"

Bosco swallowed hard. "No," he whispered. "It wasn't because of you."

"Was it because Daddy hurt me?"

"Yeah," he told her very softly. "It was because he hurt you."

She was silent for a long moment as she stared at the TV again. "She's in jail, isn't she?"

"I'm sorry, Emily."

"But...if she did it because of me...can't I tell the judge that it's my fault and not hers?"

Bosco turned off the television and shifted on the sofa so he was facing her. "Your mom doesn't want you to have to go through that. She wants to protect you."

"But...she already did."

"Right, but...Em, your mom is going to have a trial. She'll have to go to court, and you know how on TV people have to testify in front of everyone?"

She nodded.

"That's what you'd have to do. You'd have to tell everyone in the room what your dad did to you," he whispered.

"But...it could help Mommy, right?"

"Yes." He nodded. "It could, but she doesn't want to hurt you any more by having you do that."

"But I want to help."

"Even if it means telling everyone what happened?"

Emily nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

"It's gonna be really hard, Em," he informed her as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"But it'll be okay because Daddy can't hurt me anymore."

"That's right." He smiled softly. "And we're gonna make sure no one hurts you ever again."

"So...if I tell the judge what happened...Mommy will get out of jail?"

"There's a lot more to it than that. When you testify, there'll be this jury of people and they'll listen to you and to your mom and everybody else and then they'll decide what happens. So it's not a definite that she'd get out of jail, and if she does get out of jail it might not be for a while...a few years maybe," he told her softly, his smile fading. "It's really hard to say what will happen."

She was quiet. "Will I be in any trouble?"

"No. Of course not. None of this was your fault."

"Then I wanna do it," she whispered.

"I'll talk to your mom and her lawyer, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

"You really are a brave little girl," he told her softly.

"Mommy helped me," she said just as softly. "I wanna help her too."

Bosco opened his arms to her. "Can you give Uncle B a hug?"

Nodding, she slid her arms around his waist and hugged him.

He kissed the side of her head as he held her tight. "Your mom loves you very much, Emily. And she's sorry she didn't know sooner...that she didn't help you sooner."

"She didn't even know."

"But she's mad at herself that she didn't figure it out."

Her eyes were sad as she pulled away to look at him. "When you talk to her again...will you tell her I'm not mad at her? And that I miss her a lot?"

Bosco smiled at her. "You bet I will."

"Thanks," she whispered. "I'm gonna go to bed now."

"That sounds like a really good idea." He touched her cheek. "Goodnight, Em."

"Night, Bosco." She offered him a small smile before disappearing down the hallway.

He bit his lip as he watched her go, and nodded his head slightly. Though he probably should have been surprised by how brave Emily was being he wasn't because after all she was Faith's daughter. It lifted his spirits to know that Emily wanted to help her mother no matter what. Now he just had to get Faith to agree.

***

Faith couldn't contain her surprise when she found that Bosco had actually managed to arrange a conjugal visit for them. Shaking her head as the guards led her into a room with a bed, she almost chuckled.

Bosco grinned at her from where he sat on the bed, and patted the mattress. "Come on over."

Amusement glimmering in her eyes, she glanced over her shoulder and watched as the guards grinned at each other and left the room. "I don't know -how- on earth you managed to arrange this." She shook her head a little and moved to sit beside him.

"Let's just say I have friends in high places." He reached into his pocket. "I even brought condoms," he said lightly. "Had to make it as real as possible."

Faith couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Well, if I'd known you just wanted to get lucky, I woulda let my blonde cellmate meet you."

Feeling better than he had on his last few visits with her Bosco elbows her gently.

A smile tugged at her lips and she leaned back on the bed, closing her eyes. "How are you?"

"Surprisingly well. You?"

"Tired...sleep doesn't come easy in this place," she murmured, yawning. "How are the kids?"

"The kids are doing good," he told her nodding slightly. "They've both been to see the counselor twice now."

"How's Emily dealing with...everything?"

"Faith, she's an amazing little kid. She's so strong. She has a little trouble sleeping sometimes, and she'll get kinda quiet once in a while, but it's like...like I can see that this weight has been lifted off her shoulders, ya know?"

She relaxed a little. "That's so good to hear."

"There is something I need to talk to you about though," he told her softly.

"What is it?"

"Emily came to me the other night...she wants to testify."

"No."

"Faith, I know you don't want her to, but I never said a word to her. Not a thing. She came to me and she wants to help you like you helped her."

She rubbed her forehead. "It's a bad idea, Bosco."

"I know you wanna protect her," he whispered. "I understand that and I don't blame you, but Faith...if she wants to do this and it could help get you outta here..."

She sat forward, resting her head in her hands for a long moment.
Bosco placed his hand on her back. "She realizes what you did for her," he told her softly. "Now she wants to do something for you."

Swallowing hard, she shook her head. "It's not the same thing."

He rubbed her back gently. "Emily wants to do this. I explained what would happen...how she'd have to tell everyone, and she knows how hard it could be but she really misses you and she feels like doing this for you. How's she gonna react when we tell her no?"

"Bosco." She lifted her head to look at him. "I know she thinks she understands what it means to testify...but she's only eleven. How can I let her walk into that court room, go on the witness stand and tell a court full of strangers that her mom married a child molester?"

"But how can you let her grow up thinking that it's her fault you're in here?"

"Is that what she thinks?"

"Not right now." He shook his head. "I've told her that it's Fred's fault that all of this happened, and that she's not to blame at all, but if you don't let her testify and you get sentenced to..." He swallowed hard. "She's always gonna think that because she didn't testify you didn't get out of jail."

Swallowing hard, she looked away.

"I really think we need to let her do this," he whispered.

"I'll think about it."

"Guess that's the best I'm gonna get outta you today, huh?"

"Probably," she whispered.

He nodded his head and moved his hand to her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Letting out a breath, she looked over at him once more, her eyes weary.

"I'm sorry about all this," he told her softly. "I can't even imagine how hard this is for you."

"I know my kids are safe. Thanks to you. That takes a lot of the burden off me right there."

"I like takin' care of them," he told her softly, a small smile on his face.

"I'm so glad." She hesitated a moment, then slid her arms around his waist.

He put his arms around her, returning the embrace. "Ma finally has some grandkids," he said lightly.

"I take it she's okay with that."

"Very," he chuckled.

"Glad to hear it." She smiled faintly.

"So...we've still got quite a bit of time left in our conjugal visit."

"Yes, we do. Do you have ideas?" she teased.

"Oh of course I do." With his arms still wrapped around her he pulled her down onto the bed, chuckling.

She chuckled, as well, smiling at him in amusement. "Whatever would Nicole say?"

"It could be our little secret," he whispered, winking at her.

Her eyes were full of warmth. "I think that would be more than a -little- secret."

"Yeah, it'd be a big one, huh?"

"Mmhmm."

He rested his head on the pillow and gazed at her, his arms still wrapped around her. "It's not the same out there without you," he told her softly.

"I'm sorry, Boz," she whispered.

"It's okay."

"It's just...I've dumped so much on you...and I have nothing to give you in return."

"Just...let me help you get outta here," he told her, touching her cheek.

She closed her eyes, instinctively leaning into his touch. "How?"

He let out a breath. "I'll talk to your lawyer...maybe now that we know why you did it it'll give us a better case."

"He'll want Em to testify."

"Just let me talk to him," he whispered.

Faith was silent for a long time. Then she nodded slowly. "Okay. You can talk to him. But I want Emily left out of it."

Pressing his lips together he nodded his head.

"So how is Nicole?" she asked softly. When he didn't answer, she lifted her gaze to his face. "Is it because of me?"

"No." He shook his head. "No, it's not...we just..."

She let out a breath, closing her eyes.

"I haven't had a chance to really see her lately. I mean...I've talked to her, but..." He shrugged.

"I'm sorry, Boz."

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault."

"No? So it's not because I dumped my kids onto you?"

"Does it matter?" He asked softly.

"I need to focus on torturing myself about something else for a change."

"You shouldn't be torturing yourself about anything."

She didn't answer, turning over on her back so she was staring up at the ceiling.

He propped himself up on an elbow. "If Nicole and I wanted to see each other we could. There's nothing stopping her from coming over to my apartment except herself."

Sighing softly, she glanced over at him. "Yeah. I guess so."

"It's the truth, besides...I think she and I mighta been on the outs anyway."

"I'm sorry...I know you liked her."

"Yeah. I did, but life goes on, ya know?"

"Yeah," she murmured. "Yeah, it does."

"This is gonna sound dumb given the circumstances, but..." He touched her chin with his index finger. "I wish I could do something to help you not be so sad."

She managed a faint smile as she gazed at him.

"So...you don't get much sleep here, huh?"

"Understatement. You always gotta watch your back."

"Yeah." He laid back down beside here. "You wanna take a nap?"

"We only have like forty five minutes. I don't wanna waste it sleeping."

"You got something else in mind," he teased.

A short chuckle escaped her. "Funny."

"Oh, so a conjugal visit with me is just a big joke?"

"That's not what I said."

"Good cause I don't know if I could handle the rejection," he told her with a soft smile.

Faith couldn't help but smile back. Then she kissed his cheek lightly.

"I gotta go back to work in a coupla days," he told her quietly. "I managed to swing a shift change."

"What'd you change to?"

"Days. There was a guy workin' first shift who need to change shifts so it worked out for both of us. When school starts up again my mother's gonna take them in the mornings and then they'll stay at this after school program thing I looked into until I can pick them up," he explained.

Nodding slightly, she swallowed hard. "Thank you. For being willing to make those kind of sacrifices for my kids."

"It's not a problem," he whispered. "You know I'd do anything I could to help."

"I do know that." She leaned her forehead against his, closing her eyes.

"Good." He took a deep breath. "Is there anything else I can do to help you?"

She shook her head. "No. You're already doing everything."

"Promise you'll let me know if there is?"

"I will." She gazed at him.

"I'm holdin' you to that," he told her softly, meeting her gaze.

Faith hesitated a moment, then kissed him softly.

Though he was surprised, his eyes drifted shut as he kissed her back.

It was a soft, gentle kiss. She touched his cheek. "I'm so lucky to have you for a best friend."

"I'm pretty lucky myself," he told her, his voice soft.

"How so?"

"Having a friend who trusts you to raise her kids...I guess it kinda makes me realize that I'm not such a bad guy, ya know?"

"I coulda told you that a long time ago," she whispered.

"And I wouldn't have believed you."

"You're the only one I trust."

"Thank you."

"No...thank -you.-"

Leaning forward he kissed her once more.

"You are a good man, Bosco. Don't ever let anyone tell you differently."

He nodded slightly and put his arm around her.

She curled up against him, resting her head in the crook of his neck.

"Try to relax for a bit, okay?"

Nodding against him, she closed her eyes again, relaxing as their breathing fell into sync.

Bosco rubbed her back gently as they lay together. It was strange how they'd never been very affectionate before, but now it was as if they both knew they needed each other this way. Now that he barely got to see her, their time together was that much more precious.

The scent of his cologne was familiar and comforting and if she kept her eyes closed, she could pretend they were together in the squad car. Pretend that life hadn't changed drastically...and that the past few weeks had only been a nightmare.