xtremeroswellia

Title: An Angel Brings Good News
Authors: NYPDBosco & Xtremeroswellian
Rating: Okay for everyone
Storyline: Faith learns what she means to others existance.

Faith sat alone on a bench in Central Park, staring blankly at the setting sun that was half-hidden by clouds. A few snowflakes began to tumble from the gray clouds above and she sighed, closing her eyes. Everything lately had gone wrong. From her marriage to Fred to problems with Emily, to....Bosco. Her heart ached and she swallowed hard, trying to push away the thoughts flooding her mind. He'd come so close to dying. Because of her. And it still wasn't certain he'd ever be able to be a cop again. It would destroy him. And it was her fault.

When she opened her eyes again, they were filled with tears and she blinked, ignoring the tears as a couple stained her cheeks. "I should be the one who got shot," she whispered to the sky. "It shoulda been me."

"No," came a soft voice from behind her. "It wasn't meant to be you."

She jumped, startled by the vaguely familiar voice, and quickly looked over her shoulder. Her jaw dropped a little and she blinked a couple of times in an attempt to clear her vision. There was no way she could be seeing who she thought she was seeing.

She smiled sweetly. "Hello, Faith."

Stunned, she slowly rose to her feet, glancing around as if to see if she was still in the park. "Taylor?" she whispered.

Alex nodded her head. "Yeah. It's me, and don't worry, there's no one else around. I wouldn't make you look like a fool in public."

Faith stared at her for a long moment, then lifted a hand to her head. "Am I going crazy?"

"Not yet," Alex smirked. "But those of us upstairs have a feeling you might be driving yourself there."

She opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't find the words.

"We've been watching you from up there." She looked up toward the sky then back to Faith. "You're startin' to scare us," she whispered. "We're worried about you."

Faith slowly sank down to sit on the bench once again, closing her eyes briefly, then opening them again. Alex was still there. "What...what are you doing here, what...what's going on?"

For a moment Taylor was silent then she moved to sit next to Faith on the bench. "I've heard you, Faith," she said quietly. "Every time you say it should have been you. Every time you wish you were the one who'd taken those bullets."

She was silent for a moment. "I do wish that."

Alex shook her head. "This may sound harsh, but...if those bullets were truly meant for you...they would have hit you."

"He shouldn't have jumped in front of me."

"But he did, and that was his role. It was his fate. Things happen for a reason. You didn't get shot for a reason. You've gotta trust me on that and stop beating yourself up for what happened."

Faith shook her head, closing her eyes. "I just keep thinkin'...how much better off everyone would be if..."

"If what? If you'd been shot?"

"If I'd never existed in the first place," she whispered.

Turning to face her Alex raised an eyebrow, and chuckled. "Oh, that's funny."

"I'm glad you think my life is a joke," she said harshly.

"You misunderstand." She shook her head. "I don't think your life's a joke. In fact, it's far from it. I just think that you..."

"Are being overdramatic?"

"Totally underestimate your worth."

"If it wasn't for me, Bosco wouldn't be in the hospital wondering if he'll ever be able to work again, not to mention live a halfway normal life."

"Faith, if it wasn't for you Bosco wouldn't even--"

"He wouldn't even what? Be miserable?"

Letting out a frustrated sigh Alex stood up. "Come on. It'll be easier to show you."

"Show me what?" She shook her head.

"You're so sure that everyone would better off without you, so I'm gonna prove you wrong."

"And how are you gonna do that?" Faith asked dubiously.

"You're standing here talking to a ghost," Alex reminded her. "I've got a feeling I can show you a thing or two."

"Preferably the way to the nearest bottle of Prozac," she mumbled.

"I heard that."
***
"Where are we?" Faith frowned as she and Alex stood in the middle of a crowded room in some mansion Taylor had insisted they go to. Apparently they were in the midst of a very expensive Christmas party.

Alex bit her lip for a moment knowing that this part of their journey would probably only add more fuel to Faith's inner turmoil fire. "This is...the Yokas residence."

Her jaw dropped and she turned to face Taylor. "This is Fred's house?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "Since you never existed the two of you were never high school sweethearts. You never had Emily...or Charlie for that matter, and Fred went to college, got a good job and eventually took over the company."

She was silent for a moment, feeling the weight of Taylor's words. She watched as a young woman, probably a little younger than Emily, walked over to Fred. "Daddddy," she whined. "Kate and I want to go out. Do we really have to stay here?"

Fred smiled at her, and touched her cheek. "Come on, Sweetie. You know this is important to me, and how much I love showing off my two beautiful girls."

Missy sighed, looked bored, but kissed his cheek and disappeared back into the crowd.

It was only seconds later when Fred's wife came up behind him, snaking her arms around his waist. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Whadda you think, Victoria? 30 more minutes then we give the girls the keys to the car?"

His wife smiled, showing off her perfectly white teeth. "Whatever you say, Dear."

Faith made a face. "Oh please. I might vomit."

"No kidding, huh?" Alex looked over at her. "These two are so wealthy and so sickeningly in love."

"And this is supposed to make me feel better?"

"Unfortunately this stop was just SOP. Standard Operating Procedure. I tried to get them to let me skip this stop and just go straight to the next one, but He wouldn't let me. Said I had to stop and show you Fred's life and the fact that Emily and Charlie are no where to be found."

Faith let out a breath, closing her eyes.

"So now that you've seen this I guess we can head to the last stop," Alex told her somewhat reluctantly.

"What's the last stop?" she asked glumly.

"There's one other person whose life you affect in a very, very big way. It's time to go see him."

She had to mean Bosco. Sucking in a breath, she wound her arms around herself, wondering what kind of a great life Bosco was bound to have.

Alex waved her hand, and the sound of wind chimes filled the air as they were transported to a small, dingy, dark apartment.

She frowned a little, looking around the unfamiliar surroundings. "Is this...?"

"Bosco's apartment," Taylor answered with a nod.

She swallowed hard, taking a few steps into the room. Her gaze fell upon Bosco slumped in a recliner, a beer in his hand. He was disheveled and looked like hell. "Bosco?" she whispered.

Closing her eyes Alex let out a breath before moving over to stand beside the recliner. "He's passed out...again."

"What do you mean again?" she asked, alarmed as she shook her head.

"I mean he's drunk himself into a stupor and passed out again. It happens on a regular basis." She looked down at Bosco whose face had at least a week’s worth of facial hair growth. "Got fired from his most recent job about a week ago. Who knows when he's gonna get back on his feet this time." Alex looked at the clock on the VCR. "He's supposed to have a job interview in fifteen minutes."

"Wait." Faith held up a hand, looking baffled. "His most recent job? What happened, why isn't he a cop?"

"He was working as an auto mechanic," Taylor explained. "And he was never a cop cause he got kicked out of the Academy."

She stared at Taylor. "Kicked out?"

"You know better than anyone else that Bosco was never book smart, Faith." She shrugged. "You weren't there to help him with his studies and he didn't feel comfortable asking anyone in the class so...He got caught looking at someone else's answer sheet."

Feeling overwhelmed, she slowly sat down on the sofa, staring at Bosco. She was right, of course. She had helped Bosco study for all of the tests, and he'd taught her how to shoot. "But he'll be okay...right?"

"If you call not being able to hold down a job and being an alcoholic okay. Then...yeah."

She swallowed hard. "Can he hear us?"

Taylor shook her head. "Unfortunately no. I wish he could though. I'd definitely give him a piece of my mind."

Faith gazed at Bosco, watching as he slowly came around to consciousness.

He blinked rapidly and rubbed at his eyes to try and clear his vision. Sitting up in the recliner he squinted at the VCR to read the time then looked down at a crumbled piece of paper on the coffee table that was the information for his interview. "Well, shit. Never gonna make that in time." Shrugging he pushed out of the recliner and staggered toward the kitchen, looking for a bottle of something stronger than beer.

Despite the fact he couldn't see or hear her, she followed him, drawn like a magnet. "Bosco," she whispered. "What are you doin' to yourself?"

His eyebrows furrowed slightly and he shivered, though he wasn't cold.

"Faith, he can't hear you. Trying to talk to him like this isn't going to fix his problem."

She ignored Taylor, her entire concentration focused on Bosco. "You deserve better than this. You *are* better than this."

Reaching into the cupboard Bosco grabbed a bottle of bourbon and twisted off the cap. Forgoing a glass he took a long drink straight from the bottle then wiped at his mouth with the back of his wrist before heading back into the living room.

She closed her eyes, feeling sad and defeated.

"Without you Faith there are -hundreds- of people throughout this city who you weren't there to affect. There's kids who didn't get to the hospital in time. There's a little girl who didn't get her heart transplant. There's drug dealers still on the street. There's...this Maurice Boscorelli."

"So what do I do?" she whispered, shaking her head.

"You go back to Central Park. You do your best to accept the fact that Bosco was the one who got shot, and you help him in whatever way you can with his new life. And you do your best to be there for your kids when they need you, because you know they will. You just...you just keep living and being Faith," Alex told her softly.

"And that's really enough?" she murmured.

"Yeah." Nodding her head, the other woman smiled. "That's enough."

She drew in a breath and let it out slowly, glancing over to where Bosco was sitting once more, hunched over a bottle. "Take me back."

"Absolutely." Waving her hand there was once again the sound of wind chimes as they vanished.

* * *
Faith found herself sitting on the same bench in Central Park she'd been sitting on before. She looked up at Taylor silently.

"So here we are, and it looks like it's time for me to go."

She swallowed hard, then slowly stood up. "Thank you for..."

Alex nodded. "None of us up there were gonna let you keep doing this to yourself. We care about you."

She nodded a little, looked up at the sky. "What's it like?"

"Heaven?"

"Yeah."

"It's great actually. Lots of good people up there, but..." She looked up at the sky then back at her friend. "We're not goin' anywhere, so no need to hurry."

A very faint smile touched her lips. "I get the point."

"Well...I better get going."

She nodded a little, not sure what to say.

"Take care of yourself, Faith. I really don't wanna have to make another trip like this," she told her with a smile.

"I'll do my best. Goodbye," she whispered.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered back as she waved then vanished.

She blinked back tears, then closed her eyes for a moment. She knew now what she had to do.

* * *
Faith knocked very softly on the hospital room door, holding her breath.

"Yeah?"

She poked her head into his room. "It's just me," she said softly.

He shifted in bed, trying to sit up more. "Hey."

"You up to some company?" she asked.

Resting a hand on his stomach he nodded slightly. "Sure."

Faith hesitantly stepped into the room and moved over to his bedside, sitting in the chair. "I kinda figured your ma would be here."

"She uh..." He shifted uncomfortably. "I kept fallin' asleep and every time I woke up she said I was ornery, so she took off for a little while."

A smile tugged at her lips. "You, ornery?"

"I know. Never in a million years," he said softly.

She smiled a little and looked down at the floor. "I wasn't sure you'd wanna see me."

His eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head in confusion. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I wasn't sure I even wanted to see me." Her voice was barely audible. "But then..."

There was concern in his eyes as he waited for her to continue.

"I know this is gonna sound crazy and..." She shook her head a little, biting her lip. "I saw Taylor."

Bosco stared at her for a moment. "Taylor? Like...Alex Taylor?"

"Yeah," she whispered, tears sparkling in her eyes as she looked up. "And she showed me things that..." She let out a breath, reaching up to wipe a tear off her cheek. "I guess I've been...feelin' sorry for myself because of Fred and...you've been here and I felt guilty and like it shoulda been me, and..."

"No." He shook his head, slowly shifting in bed so he was closer to her. "This...this isn't your fault."

"No, but it feels like it," she admitted in a soft whisper.

"I know, but it's not," he whispered back. "I've been...Faith, I've been layin' here long enough to think about it and I know it's not your fault. You aren't the reason I'm here."

She gazed at him silently.

"If--if you think I blame you or somethin'..."

"Do you?" she asked quietly. "Because I wouldn't blame you if you did."

He would have joked about her being crazy, or maybe having stolen some of his pain pills if she didn't look so serious. "You didn't pull me in front of you as a shield," he told her softly. "And I just...reacted."

She smiled, but it was a watery smile and she quickly looked down. "I miss you," she whispered.

Her hand was resting on the edge of his bed and he looked at it for a second before reaching over and hooking his index finger with hers. "You wouldn't miss me if you'd visit more."

Wordlessly, she leaned her head down and rested it on their hands, kissing the back of his hand lightly and closing her eyes.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm glad you come tonight," he whispered. "I was kinda...lonely."

"Me too," she said softly.

"Hey, I've got some energy right now. How 'bout we see what kinda trouble we can get into around here?"

A smile tugged at her lips. "That sounds like the best plan I've heard in awhile."

Grinning he very carefully and slowly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Where should we go?"

"Cafeteria? We could see what kind of Christmas goodies they have left."

He nodded his head. "I could go for some Christmas cookies, and maybe some eggnog."

Faith grinned and moved the wheelchair over to his bed so he could sit in it. "I could always race you down the halls too. That could be fun."

"You'd probably kick my ass," he said with a chuckle as he transferred himself into the chair. "I'm not my gazelle-like self right now."

"Well we could always race the other people in chairs," she said with a grin, gripping onto the handles.

"As long as we win." He tilted his head back and looked up at her.

Faith smiled down at him. "We always win if we're together."

His expression turned serious as he gazed up at her. "That's why I need you, Faith," he whispered. "It's why I need you to keep visiting me."

Without thinking twice about it, she kissed his forehead. "It's all gonna be okay, Bosco."

"I don't doubt that." Nodding his head he looked forward once again.

A smile on her face, she wheeled him toward the door. She didn't doubt it anymore, either.