Chapter Text
As an Uber driver, Eddie’s gotten used to tuning out the conversations that passengers have in the back of his car.
Once he hears the words L.A firefighters trapped in a lab that’s on fire, he can no longer ignore it. Eddie speeds up, getting his passengers to their destination in record time. They thank him and rate him five stars as they leave, and Eddie pulls into a parking spot and grabs his phone.
He’s overreacting, right? There are so many firefighters in L.A, there’s no way that it’s them.
Eddie goes through article after article, looking for anything that will identify the firefighters, until his phone starts ringing and Christopher’s contact appears on the screen. He quickly accepts the call, knowing that his son is in the middle of his school day. “Chris, is everything okay?” He asks.
“Have you seen the news about L.A?” Chris asks him, sounding very worried.
“I did, just now. But we don’t know that it’s the 118,” Eddie says, hoping to comfort him. He used to be rather good at that.
“No, Dad, it is! My friend saw a press conference that the LAPD was holding. They said the lab deals with lethal viruses. They said that it’s Captain Nash and his team!” Chris says, getting himself worked up.
Eddie squeezes the steering wheel, bracing himself with a deep breath. Cap, Hen, Chimney, Ravi . . . Buck . Buck is trapped there. They could all die— he could die . . . His best friend, the only person he’d trust with his son’s life . . . “You’re—you’re sure about this?” He asks, feeling like he’s gonna be sick.
“Yes,” Chris states firmly. “We watched it.”
“Okay, I’ll try to get in contact with Athena,” Eddie tells him, thinking that she must be as freaked out as he is right now. Though, her husband is trapped there, so maybe it’s not the same . . .
“Lunch is almost over, Dad. Can you pick me up? I looked up flights to L.A, prices aren’t that bad,” Chris says.
Eddie blinks, not expecting that. It’s gonna be a logistical nightmare seeing as they don’t have a car, nor a house, in L.A anymore but . . . Fuck it, he wants to go. He has to go. “I’ll be there in 20 minutes,” he says.
It takes the father and son duo nearly an hour and a half to get to the airport. They probably would’ve been there sooner had Helena not started a fight with Eddie when he told her that he and Chris were leaving. Neither Eddie nor Chris really cared about her opinion, so it felt a little good to be able to ignore her.
They end up waiting another 30 minutes for the next scheduled flight to board, and the flight itself takes two more hours. The whole day, Eddie checks his phone and the news. The only updates worth noting are that they confirm that someone has contracted a virus, and they’re tracking down the person who has the cure. Thank god there’s a cure. Athena doesn’t reply to his texts, and even though he really wishes that she would, he gives her a pass because he can’t imagine how chaotic it is down there.
During the plane ride, with Chris taking the window seat and Eddie in the middle, Chris quietly tells his dad how much he misses Buck, and L.A. He also says that he’s glad that Eddie gave their house to Buck, because he wouldn’t have wanted a stranger living in his home. Eddie has so much to say to him about that, to explain to him, but it’ll have to wait until they know that Buck and their family are safe. So, he wraps his arm around his son’s shoulders, and kisses the top of his head.
After the plane lands and they pick up their bags, Chris asks, “What do we do now?”
Eddie turns his phone around so that Chris can see who’s calling him. “Now, I talk to Athena,” he says, heading over a bench with Chris and sitting down. He accepts the call, immediately saying, “Please tell me that whoever got infected has the cure. Chris and I are in LAX right now, ready to Uber to the hospital if we need to.”
Athena takes a break. “Chimney got the antidote, yes. He’s the only one who got infected and he’s going to be okay,” she tells him.
“Thank god,” Eddie says, the tension immediately easing his body as he smiles at his son. He can’t help but feel relieved that Buck wasn’t the one who got infected—and then he’s immediately guilty for having that thought.
“Everyone’s being decontaminated now but, um, Buck wasn’t trapped in the lab. He was taking one of the microbiologist’s out of there when the explosion happened, and they got out before the lab went into lockdown,” Athena informs him.
“He wasn’t—? He didn’t text or call me at all?” Eddie says, now more relieved but also confused. Buck must’ve been absolutely devastated, he thinks. He wishes he could’ve been there to help him through it.
“That’s because he was with me. We tracked Moira Blake — the woman who set fire to the lab, and who had the cure — down to this makeshift lab of hers. She was trying to get all her research and things together before fleeing to who-knows-where. Our negotiations weren’t working, so I asked Buck to take a try at it, since it was his team who was trapped. He got her to agree to hand the cure over . . . In exchange for him standing himself over. I didn’t want him to do it, but he said he’d walk over there anyway, and the military really wanted their hands on the cure . . .” Athena explains.
“Where is he now?” Eddie interrupts, his voice dark but desperate. He needs to know and he needs to know now. He turns his head to the other side, trying to keep Chris from seeing the worry on his face. He’s so proud of Buck but also so mad at the same time.
“In the hospital. He’s going to recover. I had to leave after we got the cure. Another cop, a buddy of mine, was tasked with taking it over to where the FBI and military had set up their ‘base’. I got him to give the cure to me so that I could get it to Chimney. From what I was told, there was a moment where Buck tried to take Moira’s gun from her. She hit him with a taser and drugged him to make him pass out. She tied him up, but loose enough so that he could free himself, and put duct tape over his eyes. Once he woke up, she set fire to the whole place. There was an explosion . . . And she got away,” Athena says.
“What happened to Buck?” Eddie nearly snaps, his heart racing. He leans forward, his elbows on his knees. He thinks Chris might be asking him something but he doesn’t hear it.
“LAFD was already on the scene. They suited up in hazmat suits because they didn’t know what Moira had in there. They were able to get him out and he’s being treated for burns, a concussion, smoke inhalation, and a broken arm. They’re monitoring his heart due to the taser, with his past history, and are flushing the drug out of its system. I don’t know what the drug was, or if he inhaled any other chemicals or gases. I believe that they’re running tests but he’s not showing symptoms of anything, which is good,” Athens assures him.
“Okay,” Eddie says, his head spinning like a basketball on the tip of someone’s finger. “Text me the name of the hospital? Chris and I will Uber there.”
When he gets off the phone with Athena, he relays the situation to Chris. The teen’s frightened, but he puts on a brave face. They get an Uber to the hospital and soon, they find Buck’s room, with Maddie sitting at his bedside.
“Hi,” she says warmly, walking over and hugging them both. Eddie can’t help but at stare at Buck, who’s lying in the hospital bed, with a bandage wrapped around his eyes. Eddie’s stomach does a flip. Buck’s vision—what if his vision—?
“Who’s here?” Buck asks. He’s quieter than he normally is, likely due to the trauma and inhaling the smoke.
Chris looks at Eddie, asking a silent question, and he nods. Chris goes right up to Buck’s bed, a big smile on his face. “Just the guy you’ve ghosted for months. And his dad,” he says.
Buck gasps. “Chris?” He says excitedly. “Eddie?”
“Right on the money,” Eddie says, following his son. Buck reaches his hand out a bit and Eddie doesn’t hesitate to take hold and squeeze it. He knows Buck needs the touch if he can’t see right now and Eddie certainly needs it after today. ”Athena didn’t say anything about your eyes—?”
“They said my vision should be alright,” Buck says. “The heat from the duct tape caused minor burns and I probably inhaled some not-so-good fumes so fortunately I am spared from seeing your face, Diaz.”
Eddie rolls his eyes in amusement. Behind him, the door opens again. Chimney’s there, lying in a bed that’s being rolled in by a few nurses. Athena, Bobby, Hen, Karen, and Ravi follow behind them.
“The hospital insists I stay overnight so we get to be roomies, Buck!” Chimney calls out, rather cheerful for a man who spent the day thinking he was going to die. Once the nurses have him settled, Maddie rushes to his side, throwing her arms around him.
“Oh, so you get to be the one to help me to the bathroom when I gotta pee?” Buck asks him, smirking.
Chimney groans dramatically while everyone else laughs. They all sit down in chairs, with Eddie, Chris, Athena, and Bobby surrounding Buck’s bed and Maddie, Hen, Karen, and Ravi surrounding Chimney’s bed.
“‘Thena,” Buck says. “Did they catch Moira?”
“Not yet, but they’ve got all of the LAPD, the military, and the FBI looking for her. It’s only a matter of time . . . Buck, if I had known what she was going to do, I would’ve never let you go in there. We would have found some other way,” Athena answers, speaking softly.
Buck sighs deeply, thinking about what to say. “It’s okay . . . I wasn’t scared,” he replies. “Well, I mean, I was scared when she poked me with a needle, and then when I realized that there was a fire and there was duct tape over my eyes . . . But when I was walking in there, and taking the case from her, I wasn’t scared, ‘cause I knew you guys were gonna be alright,” he replies.
They talk for a while, about anything and everything but the events of today. The conversation eventually turns to baby name ideas for Maddie and Chimney, to which Buck declares that the name should be ‘Buck Buckley-Han’. He’s offended that no one else agrees.
As it gets later and later, they start to leave, one by one, until only Eddie and Chris remain. Buck insists that they sleep over at his house, since he hadn’t touched Chris’s room (which Eddie definitely does not tear up at).
“Hey, Chris, why don’t you go say goodbye to Chim?” Eddie suggests. When his done complies, he turns to Buck, clearly wanting a moment between the two of them. “Buck . . . I wish I was here for you today. I was terrified when Athena told me what happened. If you’d been in the lab, if you’d been exposed—I mean, the fact that you were held hostage today—”
“I’m alright, Eddie. I’ve got you and Chris here. You can take my keys for the house, just don’t fly back to El Paso with ‘em,” he says, wanting to make a joke out of the situation.
“I’m . . . I’m gonna talk to Chris about that, actually. See if he wants to come home after his school year is over. Being away today was torture. I want to be in L.A. I love being here, I love—I love being with you and the team and I miss you,” Eddie reveals.
Buck’s heart pounds with anticipation — the heart monitor betrays him by showing the rise in his heart rate. “I’m hoping that means that you’re excited,” Eddie says, chuckling. It’s a little . . . Cute, actually.
“Of course I’m excited. I’d much rather room with you than with Chimney,” Buck says, grinning.
“I’m sorry I have to leave you with him tonight,” Eddie murmurs, squeezing Buck’s hand again. He realizes that they never stopped holding hands. It just felt natural. “Get some rest, okay?” He hopes to see Buck’s eyes soon, but he doesn’t say that out loud.
“I will,” Buck promises him. “Hey, Superman—sneak me in some chocolate tomorrow, will you? I don’t wanna eat hospital jello.”
“You got it!” Chris says.
They bid each other goodbye, and Buck settles in for the night. As he and Chimney decide to go to bed, quietness takes over them.
Until . . .
“Wow, he really flew here from Texas for you.”
“He flew here for the team.”
“And yet he only sat with you, only stared at you, only held your hand.”
“So? I don’t see what you’re trying to say.”
“Mhm, sure.”
“Goodnight.”
“Night.”
…
“Uh, Chim?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you help me to the bathroom?”
“Oh my god.”