Part Fourteen:

They sit together on the floor of the jail cell, their intertwined hands still resting on her stomach. They sit there in silence, their new reality crashing down on them. Bo shifts to stand up, lifting her off the floor, “Let’s go sit over here, you shouldn’t be sitting on a hard cement floor.” He sits down beside her on the bed, “So how are you feeling? Is every thing okay with the baby?”

She looks over at him and smiles, “Every thing’s fine with the baby, Bo. I don’t want you to worry about me or the baby,” she pauses for a moment, “You’re in a lot of trouble here.”

Bo nods and looks up at her, reaching out with his other hand to wipe the tears off her cheek, “I’m so sorry.”

She takes his hand off her cheek, looking down at the cuts his contact with the cinderblock wall caused. She looks up at him as more tears begin to fall, “Well I have a lot to be sorry for too, Bo. I just can’t shake the feeling that this,” waving her arms around the jail cell, “that this is all my fault.”

Bo looks at her in shock, shaking his head, “How can you say that?”

“If we hadn’t lost Sarah, or if I hadn’t pulled back and used alcohol to hide in, something I had promised myself after RJ, I would never do again.” She looks down at the ground, “If I hadn’t walked out,” she adds quietly.

Bo places his hands on her shoulders; turning her so that she’s facing him, “You’re not at fault; do you hear me?” she looks down and begins to shake her head. He places his hands on either side of her face, “Look at me Nora.” She continues to look down at her lap. He places his finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him, “It wasn’t your fault that Sarah died. It was Todd’s. You have to stop blaming yourself.” He leans in and kisses a tear off her cheek, “Now as for the rest. I’ll admit you scared the hell out of me with your drinking. I felt so helpless against the alcohol. I couldn’t reach you, and that scared me.”

She continues to cry, “I was hurting so much that I couldn’t see beyond the pain. I just wanted to escape it, to find a way to get away from every thing,” she looks up at him, “and every one that reminded me of the pain. When I drank I could do that.” She reaches up and wipes the tears off her face, “I ran away from the pain…and from you.”

“I wasn’t doing much to keep you there, Red. You weren’t the only one hiding. I can see now that I was hiding behind this investigation. You tried to tell me that, Renee and Viki, and even John tried to tell me what I was doing, but I wouldn’t listen. I felt like if I didn’t find the person responsible than she died in vain.” He looks away for a moment and back over at Nora, “It was just like before, like when we first met. I became obsessed, and this time the price for that obsession is going to hurt more than just me; it’s going to hurt you and our baby.”

“The baby and I are going to be fine,” she takes his hand in hers; “He’s our second chance, Bo. I know now he’s the one that will help heal us and bring us through the mess we’ve made out of our lives since Sarah died. I’m not going to do anything that’s going to hurt the baby.”

Bo nods, reaching out to take her face in his hands, “I don’t know if I deserve this second chance, but I’ll take it.” He leans in and kisses her. He breaks their kiss and looks deep in her eyes, “We’re going to make it, Red. No matter what the outcome is, you, me and our baby; we’re going to make it.”

She nods through her tears, “No more running away.”

He reaches out and lays a hand on her cheek, “No more running away,” Bo removes his hand from her cheek and picks up her left hand, slowly running his fingers over the rings he had placed on them all those years ago.

Nora looks down at their hands for a moment, running her fingers over his cut and bruised knuckles. She looks up at him, “You know it’s not going to be an easy road that lays a head of us, Bo. It’s going to take a lot to get you out of this, that’s for sure, but certainly not impossible. I can argue mitigating circumstances, your past with Todd, and your grief over losing Sarah…”

He brings her hand up to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on her rings. He settles their hands between them on the cot. He looks up at her, gently stroking his thumb across the top of her hand before he spoke again, “I want you to do me a favor, Nora. I want you to go home now. I want you to go home and get some rest. I’ll call Pa and I’ll have him find me an attorney to handle this case…”

“No way in hell, Buchanan,” she interrupts. “No way in hell!”

Bo stands up and walks over to the bench lining the one side of the cell. He sits, dropping his face in his hands for a moment, before running his hands down his face. He stands back up and crouches down in front of her, laying his hands on her knees “Listen, I can’t let you do this…”

She looks at him, her eyes boring right through him, “Let me! Since when have you ever LET me do anything? I decide what clients I take on, always have always will.”

“But I’m not just any client, Nora. This is not what you need right now. You need to be taking care of yourself and the baby, not bailing me out of this mess that I created.”

She shakes her head, pushing him away from her, knocking him off balance and onto his backside. She walks around the cell, pacing back and forth, for a few moments before turning around and facing him, now seated on the cot. She raises her left hand, “Do you see these, Bo. When you placed these rings on my finger I vowed to love you, to cherish you, and above all stick by you. Now we both lost sight of that for awhile, losing ourselves in our pain, but now we’ve been given a second chance to be what we were meant to be. Don’t you dare ask me to walk away from that now!”

He stands up, quickly walking over to where she stood, her back turned as she tries to hide her tears. He places his hands on her shoulders turning her around. She looks down at the ground, avoiding his gaze, wiping the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. He reaches out and tilts her chin up, “I’m sorry,” she looks at him and nods her head, “I just want to protect you from all of this.”

She steps away from him, pausing for a moment before turning back around to face him, “You can’t protect me from this, Bo. I’m in it, no matter what. I’m your wife, first and foremost, but I’m also one of the best defense attorneys out there, or so I’ve been told.”

“You are the best, honey, but…”

She shakes her head, “No buts, Bo. Don’t you see, it doesn’t matter whether I’m the one sitting beside you at the defense table, or I’m sitting behind you in the gallery, I’m in this,” She walks over to him and lays her hand on his arm, “Please let me be the one to defend you. No one knows you better than I do, and no one can defend you better than I can.”

“Nora…,” he protests.

She raises her hand to stop him, “Let me finish, please. You see Bo this case is more than just Todd Manning, the suspect vs. you the Police Commissioner. This case also involves a convicted rapist vs. the husband of one of his intended victims, it’s about a hit and run driver vs. a grieving father,” She walks over and sits down on the bench. She looks over at him, her eyes pleading with him to hear her, “So you see this is Todd Manning vs. Bo Buchanan, the man just as much as it’s Todd Manning vs. the LPD and its Commissioner. And there isn’t a soul on this earth who knows you, the man, better than me.”

He walks over to where she was sitting and sat down beside her, taking her hand, resting it together with his on his lap. They sit together in silence, her words playing over and over in his mind. Bo’s just about to say something when they both hear the outer cell door slide open.

John walks over and leans against the cell door. Nora stands up and walks over to the other side of the cell, “What’s up, John?”

“I just wanted to come down here and let you two know that Todd’s regained consciousness and his vitals are strong. Larry’s positive he’s going to make a full recovery.”

Bo walks up and leans against the other side of the bars, his head resting against the cold steel, “Thanks for letting us know, John.”

“No problem. I’m going to go over to the hospital and talk to Todd. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

They all turn when the outer door slides open again. Hank walks up and takes in the sight before him, something he never expected to see again after the whole Georgie Phillips mess. He steps closer to the bars and leans his head in, “Hey there, buddy.” He looks over at Nora, “Nora. How are you both holding up?”

“I’m fine Hank. Now if I could just convince my wife to go home and rest.”

Nora rolls her eyes and looks over at Hank, “I’m fine but convincing my husband seems like its going to be a bigger challenge than clearing him of these charges.”

Hank looks between his two best friends, shaking his head, but happy to see that no matter what they’d been through or what they’ve done to each other over the past year, when the chips were down they were there for each other. He starts to laugh. They both look over at him, “What are you laughing at,” she asks.

“The two of you, right back at it, without missing a beat,” he shakes his head, “Anyway I came down here to let you know that I spoke with Judge Fitzwater and she’s agreed that bail wouldn’t be necessary and you are released until your preliminary hearing which has been scheduled for next Monday at 9 a.m.”    

Nora looks over at Bo and then back at Hank, “Commissioner Buchanan and his lawyer will be there 9 a.m. sharp.”

Bo reaches between them and takes her hand, giving it a squeeze. He looks at her and nods, “Yes, my lawyer and I will be there.” She looks up at him smiles.

Hank motions for the officer to unlock the cell door. Bo places his hand on the small of her back and follows her out of the cell. He shakes hands with Hank, thanking him for talking to the Judge on his behalf. Hank hugs Nora and then leaves the holding cell area.

Bo reaches down and takes her hand, bringing it up to his lips. He places a kiss on the top of her hand and smiles ‘her’ smile, the one that makes her feel like a million bucks. She lays her hand lovingly on his cheek, “Let’s go home,” she says with a smile.

TBC…