Part Thirteen:

Nora left Larry’s office that afternoon more confused and unsure about what she was going to do than when she walked in. The only thing she was certain of was that she was having this baby, and that this was going to change things forever. She walked into the Palace restaurant, scanning the room for Renee. She’d thought about canceling their lunch date but they hadn’t spoken since that day in her office and they needed to discuss the vendor contracts she’d been working on.

She noticed Renee sitting in the middle of the restaurant. She adjusted her purse on her shoulder and started to make her way towards Renee’s table. She made it about halfway across the room when a wave of dizziness hit, causing her to brace herself against the table beside her.

Renee stood up and made her way over to where Nora was leaning against the table trying to regain her balance, “Nora, darling are you okay?”

 “I’m…I’m fine, Renee,” trying to catch her breath.

Renee pulled out an empty chair and helped Nora sit down. She bent down to pick up Nora’s purse that had fallen off her shoulder and opened up onto the floor. She picked up the small bottle and looked up at Nora. She sat down across from her and sighed, “I guess these answer my question,” she says holding up the bottle of prenatal vitamins.

She reaches out and takes the bottle from Renee, “Never thought I’d need these again,” she jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

Renee reaches out and takes Nora’s hand, picking up on her usual ‘make a joke’ diversion technique, “Nora, honey. You don’t have to put on a brave face for me. Tell me how you’re feeling.”

Nora looks down at her wedding rings, twisting them around her finger. She looked back up at Renee, fighting back the emotions that seem to so easily rise to the surface, “Umm…to be honest, my emotions and feelings are all over the place, Renee. I’m happy, sad, scared, overwhelmed, excited,” she bites her lower lip, “guilty.”

Renee takes Nora’s other hand in hers, “Why guilty, Nora? What do you have to feel guilty about?”

The tears that she had tried to keep at bay, finally spilled onto her cheeks, “Sarah,” she choked out, “What if I love this baby more than I love Sarah?”

“That’s impossible, Nora. A parent doesn’t love one child more than another. Your love grows with each child. Do you love Rachel more than you love Sarah, just because she isn’t physically with you?” Nora shakes her head, “See you have nothing to feel guilty about. Having this baby is not going to make you forget about Sarah and how much you miss her.” She pauses for a moment, “So how does Bo feel about this?”

Nora looks down at their hands, “I haven’t told him yet. I only found out for sure today, but I’ve been having symptoms for weeks now.”

“He has the right to know, Nora. You need to tell him.”

Nora nods, “I know he does Renee,” she answers quietly. “I just don’t know if I’m ready to tell him.”

“I don’t understand.”

Nora lets out a heavy sigh, ‘I don’t even know if I understand it, Renee.” She leans back in her chair and lays her hands across her stomach, “There’s a part of me that just wants to hop on the next plane to NY and tell him. Tell him about the baby; tell him how sorry I am for leaving…”

“Tell him how much you love him,” Renee adds for her.

Nora looks up at Renee, “I wish it was that simple.”

“Certainly seems simple enough to me, darling. You love him, he loves you.”

“I’m not so sure he does.”

Renee looks at Nora like she’s lost her mind, “How can you even doubt something like that. Bo loves you with all that he is, Nora. That’s never changed.”

Nora shakes her head and wipes a stray tear off her cheek, “I just don’t want him to come back just because of the baby.”

“Is that what you’re afraid of? That he won’t come back because he loves you; that it’ll only be for the baby?”

“I don’t want him to feel obligated, Renee.”

“He loves you Nora. You could never just be an obligation to him.”

“Maybe,” she shrugs, “He’s still holding on so tightly to the past. He’s so obsessed with his search and like I told Larry I can’t put myself in that place with him, and I’m afraid that, although this quest he’s on scares the hell out of me, he’ll give it up, but never be truly passed it. He’ll set it aside for me and I’m afraid he’ll resent me for it in the end.”

“No mater what, Nora, he deserves to know. And who knows, maybe this is just what he needs to let it all go.”

She smiled a small smile, “Larry said the same thing.”

“You won’t know unless you tell him.” Renee reached over and picked up Nora’s cell phone off the table, “Call him.”

Nora sighed and took the phone from Renee. She hesitated for a moment before dialing. Her heart began to beat faster with each ring until she heard his voice mail pick up. She waited for the beep and took a deep breath before leaving her message, “Bo, it’s me…Listen, call me as soon as you get this message. We really need to talk.” Nora hit the end button and set the phone down on the table.

At the same time up in Brooklyn, “Maybe you should answer that.”

Bo shakes his head, “No, whoever it is can leave a message. You had something you wanted to tell me?”

Michael motions back over to the chair that Bo just vacated. Bo walks over and sits down, “First you need to know something. I love my wife, Mr. Buchanan. I was a fool when I walked away, and I’ll do anything to get her back.”

“Well Mr. Coleman I love MY wife and I’ll stop at nothing, including blackmail, to find out who cost us our little girl.”

“I can’t imagine the pain you and your wife have been through, but you have to know that if I knew the circumstances behind the accident I never would’ve gone through with it. I was in such a horrible place in my life and I saw the money as my ticket out.”

“I appreciate your concern for my wife and my feelings but your motivations are really of no concern to me. I just want to know who this “Mr. Starr” is.”

“I don’t know his real name. I only saw him once. Everything else was done electronically.”

“Well, what did he look like? Hair color, stature, things like that. Did he have any distinguishable marks?”

“He was fairly tall, shoulder length brown hair. He had a scar running down the length of his right cheek.”

‘Mr. Starr’, Bo thought to himself, “Todd Manning,” he spat out.

Bo pulled his cell phone off his belt and dialed the LPD, ignoring the flashing message light, “Sophia, get me John Sykes, now.” He walked over to the corner of the room, “John, its Bo. I need you to get a subpoena for Todd Manning’s bank records. I should be back in town in a couple of hours. Have them on my desk by the time I get there.”

Nora walks through the door after spending time going over the contracts with Renee. She had thought about going back to the office but another wave of dizziness overcame her and she decided it was better if she came home and rested. She walks into the bathroom and splashes some cold water on her face before changing out of her suit and putting on the fluffy bathrobe Bo bought her so long ago. She turned on the radio beside her bed and let the sounds of their favorite songs lull her to sleep.

Two and a half hours later, Bo walks through the squad room and straight into his office, where John is waiting, “Do you have my financial reports?”

“They’re on your desk,” John sits down across from Bo, “Can I ask what you’re looking for?”

“Proof that Todd is the one that killed my daughter.”

Bo sat down behind his desk and started looking through the file on his desk. A smile broke out on his face a few minutes later when he found what he was looking for. Bo picks up his phone, “Hank it’s, Bo….Yeah, I’m back. Listen I need an arrest warrant for Todd Manning, now.”

A half hour later Hank was walking through Bo’s office door, arrest warrant in hand, “Here you go, buddy.”

Bo took the warrant from Hank and handed it to John, “Let’s go pick him up, John.”

An hour later Bo, John, and a few other officers returned to the station with Todd in handcuffs, “Put him in interrogation room one.” Bo and John walk in after Todd and the officer that was escorting him in. The officer pushed Todd down into the chair and Bo took the seat across from him. He turns and looks over at John and the other officer, “Give me a minute here alone with Mr. Manning, please, and remove his cuffs.”

John looked over at Bo, “Are you sure about that, Bo?”

“Yeah, John, I’m sure.” He looks over at Todd, “Mr. Manning and I have a few things to discuss.”

John removes Todd’s cuff and he and the other officer leave Todd and Bo alone. Todd stands up and walks over to the far wall, rubbing his wrists, “This is never going to stick you know that don’t you?”

Bo stands up and walks over to where Todd was standing, “That’s where you’re wrong, Manning. You’re finally going to pay for what you’ve done.”

Todd laughs his maniacal laugh, “You should know better than that Commissioner, I’ll never let you take me down. Besides why are you harassing me over a little car accident when your lush of a wife is probably out drinking herself into oblivion as we speak?”

The words were no sooner out of Todd’s mouth when Bo’s fist connected with Todd’s jaw, “Little accident! I wouldn’t call the death of my daughter a little accident! And don’t you dare speak about my wife like that again!” Bo shouts.

Todd rubbed his jaw, his eyes lit up in amusement, “You’re wife’s a drunk, Commish,” he says defiantly.

Before Bo knew what was happening he had Todd by the shirt and shoved him, causing them to both fall through the closed door. Glass shattered everywhere causing John and a half a dozen cops to come running from every direction. Todd’s head bounced off the tile floor, as Bo fell on top of him.

John rushed over, pulling Bo off of Todd, shouting for someone to call an ambulance. Bo looked around John, who now had him pressed against the wall, at Todd lying motionless on the floor. John stepped back a little and looked over at Todd, “Is he alive?” he asked one of the officers.

“Yes, sir, he’s hanging on so far.”

John slowly released the grip he had on Bo, pulling him into the interrogation room down the hall. He slammed the door, “What the hell was that all about? What were you thinking going after Manning like that?”

Bo stood there, shaking his head, “I…I just lost it. He was just so smug.” Bo turned around and looked at his friend, “You know what you have to do, John.”

John nodded his head and reluctantly walked over to Bo, “Bo Buchanan you’re under arrest for the assault of Todd Manning.” John leads Bo out the door as he finishes reading him his rights.

At the same time, Nora awakes with a start, an overwhelming feeling of dread washing over her. She looks over at the clock beside her bed. She had been asleep for almost four and a half hours. She walked over to her phone checking for messages that she may not have heard while she was asleep. She wondered why Bo hadn’t called her back yet. She was just about to pick up the phone when it rang, “Bo…”

John sat on the other end of the line, shaking his head, “No, Nora. I’m sorry, it’s John.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, John. What can I do for you?”

“Nora, you better get down here right now.”

Nora sat down on the couch, that same feeling of dread overwhelming her again, “What is it? What’s wrong with Bo?”

John sighs, “I’m sorry, Nora, but he’s been arrested.”

“Arrested, for what!?”

“For assaulting Todd Manning,” he sat down in Bo’s office chair, “Nora, I’ll fill you in on all the details when you get here.”

“I’m on my way.” Nora hung up the phone and rushed to get dressed.

A half hour later she was walking through the station and into Bo’s office. John filled her in on the details, letting her know that she could see Bo as soon as his injuries were taken care of. Ten minutes later she was walking down the long hallway heading towards the holding cells.

Bo looked up when he heard her talking to the guard. A moment later she was walking through the cell door. She turned and looked over at the officer, “We’ll be okay, James. You can go get yourself a cup of coffee.”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Buchanan.”

She walked over to where he was standing on the other side of the bars, “Its okay. I’m sure Detective Sykes won’t mind.”

The guard just nodded and walked away. She turned around and looked at Bo, taking in the bandage across his forehead and the small cuts on his arms and hands. She walked over and sat down beside him on the bed. They sat together in silence for what seemed like forever. Finally she looked over at him, taking in his profile, “So are you going to tell me what happened?”

“He killed Sarah.”

“I know, John told me,” she says quietly, “But that doesn’t explain why he’s at Llanview Hospital and you’re sitting in your own jail cell.”

He stands up and walks over to the opposite side of the cell, “He was…He was just so smug, Nora. When I looked into his smug face I saw every thing he’s ever done to those I love. Every thing he’s gotten away with for years. He never did his time for what he did to Marty or Luna. He got away with what he did to you. When I looked at him I saw the man that killed our daughter and I was suddenly overcome with rage. He didn’t care, Nora.” His voice begins to crack, “He didn’t care that he killed her, that he tore our lives apart.” He turned and looked out at the empty cell across from him, “I don’t know what happened, I just snapped.”

She stood up and walked over to where he was standing, “Do you realize that the least you’re looking at here is assault and the most you could be looking at is manslaughter?!” She reaches out and turns him around, making him look at her, “Your obsession with finding out who killed our daughter, the rage that you kept inside all of this time may very well cost you your freedom!” she yells.

He pulled away from her and walked over to the far wall. He stood there for a moment, the rage in him beginning to resurface. He balled his hands up into tight fists. Before Nora could reach him, his fist connected with the concrete wall. She ran over to him as he slowly sunk to the floor, holding his bleeding fist in his other hand. She kneeled down in front of him, grabbing his shoulders; shaking him, “Damnit, Bo. Look at me! You’ve got to get yourself under control. You can’t do this to me!” She shouts.

He looks up at her, “Do what?!” he shouts.

“You can’t throw your life away like this! You’re not going to leave me to raise our child alone!” The words were out of her mouth before she even realized it.

He looked up at her, the tears welling up in his eyes, “What…what baby?”

She reaches out and takes his uninjured hand and places it on her stomach, “This child, Bo. The one that is growing here inside of me, the one we conceived the night of our anniversary party.”

He looks down at his hand as it rests on her stomach, “I…” He reaches out and pulls her against him, both of them giving into the emotions that were overtaking them. He pulled out of their embrace, placing his hands on either side of her face, “A baby…”

She nods, as the tears continue to fall down his face, “Yes, Bo…our baby.”

TBC…