Chapter Text
Buck was driving to his first day back at work after everything. He ended up taking to what Amber said, he thought there might be a little hope in that his team might have a change of heart. He figured it was highly unlikely though since they all seemed pretty mad at him in the grocery store, especially Eddie. He was finally allowed to come back to work after the LAFD threw every form at him saying he couldn’t sue the department again if something happened. Honestly he didn’t know how to feel about his first day back. He parked his car, grabbed his bag, and finally started to make his way into the station. As he figured, all he got walking in was people ignoring him, giving him side eyes, and the cherry on top of the cake was that there was no welcome back party for him. With all that, he couldn’t get to San Diego fast enough. As he was finishing changing in the locker room, Hen provided that spark of hope that he needed.
“Welcome back!” Hen said as she walked into the room.
Buck smiles and says, “You know, you're the first person to say that to me. I felt like I needed to bring a sweater because I can definitely feel that chill in here.” He then says jokingly as he’s turning to her.
Hen smiles and says, “You have friends here Buck. They just feel like they need to follow Cap’s lead.” She sits down on the bench with him and hands him a cupcake. “Here, it’s a red velvet cupcake. It bleeds when you cut it.”
Buck laughs and says, “Thanks, I’ve missed you guys!”
Catching up with Hen about everything going on was good, and it gave him some hope to what Amber had told him. He still wanted to try to patch things up with Eddie and try to talk to him during shift. Once he saw him, that was going to be harder than he thought. Eddie walked into the station looking like he got hit by a bus, maybe two buses.
Buck whistles and says, “Dude, you okay? That looks like a monster.” Looking at the massive bruise on his elbow.
Eddie sighs frustratingly and says, “Just roughhousing with my kid.”
“Were you playing with hammers?” Buck says jokingly trying to lighten the mood.
Eddie snappingly says, “Nothing you should be concerned with.”
That right there is what broke his heart right in two he thought to himself. He wanted to try to talk to Eddie, but it sounds like he wants nothing to do with him. His next perfect luck was that Bobby made him man behind for the shift because it was the whole “My House, My Rules.” As the team was racing off to a call without him. He sighed and thought to himself, “It’s going to be a long day.”
~~~~~~
Amber was driving to the police precinct while listening to Taylor Swift’s newest album, “1989” (Taylor’s Version). Listening to Taylor Swift always got her pumped up for the day. They were making good headway on the Delgado case, she was hoping they could stay two steps ahead of him and catch him before he escapes again. As she parked and was heading into the precinct into the briefing room she couldn’t help but think of Evan. She knew today was his first day back at work and was hoping it would go well. They were planning on having dinner at his place again tonight and hopefully he would tell her how everything went.
She was greeted again by Detective Ransone, “Good to see you again Amber! I wanted to introduce you to someone,” as he waves someone over to him, ”This is Sergeant Athena Grant. She will be assisting us with the case. I have been recruiting more manpower to help us because I know we will need it.”
Amber smiles and says, “Sounds good to me, and it’s nice to meet you Sergeant Grant.” As she shakes her hand.
“It’s good to meet you too,” Athena says, “I have heard a lot about you.”
Amber smiles and says, “I hope good things, shall we get started?”
They all move around to sit down around the bulletin board where all the information about the case is put up. They are joined along with some other detectives who are assisting with the case.
Detective Ransone starts the meeting off, “So, what is Delgado’s MO? What kind of buildings are we looking for?” He asks Amber.
She gets up near the board and says, “We are looking for abandoned warehouses or factories. He is looking for places that have large enough room for him to conduct his business, most importantly his cage fighting business.”
Detective Ransone gets up and goes to the board too and says, “Right. We have 3 possible locations that fits the description.” He starts putting pins on the map on the board. “Number one is on S Santa Fe and E 15th St., number two is on Long Beach Ave. and E 41st St., and number 3 is along S Alameda St. near E 107th Pl.” He then turns and looks at the group and says, “We will be doing stake outs tonight at these locations in groups of two to see if we can get any information. Amber and Athena, you two will be going to location number one. Myself and Detective Romero will be going to location number 2. Detective Markley and Detective Harris, you two will be going to location number 3. We are going to try and get ahead of this guy.” He says sternly. “It’s only 6pm now, so you all go ahead and do what you need to do. We will regroup back here at 10pm and get out there. So brace yourself, it’s going to be a long night.”
~~~
On the way over to Buck’s place, Amber had picked up Chinese food for their dinner. She figured getting take out was fast and good enough considering she had to go back to work later that evening. She made her way to his apartment and knocked, to which Buck answered and happily smiled at her and greeted her. They sat down at the dining table and started eating.
“So, how was your first day back at work?” Amber said, “I was anxious to hear all about it. “
Buck sighs while poking at his chicken and says, “Not good, Hen was the only person that actually welcomed me back. Bobby made me man behind for the whole shift. The only time Eddie talked to me he said everything snappily, but I think he has some issues going on. He looked like a trainwreck walking into work and he had a massive bruise on his arm.”
Amber smiles sadly then says, “I’m so sorry, Evan.” Then she says worryingly, “What’s going on with Eddie? Did he say how he got hurt?”
“He claimed that he was roughhousing with his kid, Christopher.” Buck says, “Unless his son turned into the Incredible Hulk, he’s eight by the way, I don’t think that’s how it happened.”
“Huh, that’s interesting.” Amber says as she’s thinking.
Buck then changes the subject and says, “Anyway, how’s the case going? Are you all making any headway?
“We are getting there.” Amber says, “I have to go back to work in about an hour. We are doing stakeouts at different locations to try and gather some information. I’m partnered up with Sergeant Athena Grant to go to one of the locations.”
Buck smiles and says, “Oh I love Athena, you’ll love her! She is a wonderful Sergeant. She is also Bobby’s wife.”
Amber smiles and says, “Great! I’m excited to work with her.”
They end up talking for another hour before Amber has to go back to the police precinct.
~~~
Back at the police precinct, they all regroup and determine their plan of action before going off to their assigned locations. From there, Amber and Athena park at the edge of the block from their location. That way they are not super close to blow their cover, but far enough away that their camera can get clear shots of any suspicious activity. As they're waiting, Athena decides to start a conversation.
“So, how are you liking LA?” Athena asks.
Amber smiles and says, “It has been good this past week, I like LA a lot. I have gotten to see an old friend, we grew up together. I think you might know him, Evan Buckley?”
“Oh yeah, I know Buck.” Athena says, “How’s he doing? I know today was his first day back, Bobby was talking about it yesterday.”
Amber sighs and says, “He is doing as to be expected, he thinks everybody hates him because of the lawsuit. He’s trying to talk to everybody to explain himself to them, but everyone keeps blowing him off.”
Athena sighs and says, “I thought that might happen, Bobby was talking about it yesterday. I know Bobby cares about him, but I just wish they would talk it all out.”
Before Amber can respond, there is activity outside the warehouse. They see their suspect, Vincent Delgado, come walking out of the building with another person.
“Looks like we got our guy.” Amber says as she gets the camera in position to begin taking pictures. From there she continues taking them as the two men stop and Delgado hands the other man a wad of cash. What she didn’t expect to see was a very familiar man accepting it. “Is that who I think it is?” she says with a shocked expression. “Athena, look.” as she’s showing her the photos.
Athena has an equally shocked look as well and says, “What the hell is Eddie Diaz doing here.”
“I don’t know, but this all makes sense now.” Amber says as Athena turns to give her a questioning look. “Buck was telling me tonight that Eddie came into work this morning looking like a wreck and that he had a massive bruise along his elbow. He was very adamant to Buck that he was roughhousing with his kid, but Buck didn’t seem convinced by that. I honestly don’t either.”
“It looks like we need to pay Buck a visit.” Athena says. “If Eddie is involved in this, he could be in serious trouble. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
“It looks like we are done here anyway for now.” Amber says. “Let’s head over to Bucks.”
~~~
It was another lonely late night for Buck, although he has gotten used to it. He had been binge watching Chicago Fire since Amber left to go back to work, critiquing everything they were doing wrong on the show. It was nearing 1am so he was surprised to hear a knock on his door at that hour. As he went to open it, he was surprised to see Amber and Athena standing in his doorway.
“You two are always welcome to come over, but out of curiosity why are you all here this late?” Buck asks while letting them in.
“I wish we weren’t, but unfortunately we are here on official business.” Athena says, turning to Amber. “Show him the photos.”
Amber sighs as she lets him see the photos. She finally says, “We have reason to believe that Eddie might be involved in illegal underground cage fighting.”
Too stunned for words, Buck finally all but practically yells, “WHAT?!”