Chapter Text
"Oh Eddito. Thank you for coming." Abuela ushers them in quickly, shooing Buck and Christopher to the couch with kisses and pinched, pink cheeks. "Sorry for leaving the house but i figure you wouldn't want a stange women there and we couldn't exactly leave her alone eh."
Eddie rubs her shoulder comfortingly "Of course. Not a problem." He forces himself to stand still, trying not to look too worried as he gazes into her face "So what did you need us to come over so urgently for?"
Abuela stares at him, shaking her head slowly "Veronica wants to talk about what happened to her." Eddie flinches minutely, lips pressed together in a hard line.
He glances toward Chris and Buck, worry creasing his brow. “It’s alright Eddito. Maybe you should te—”
“No” he backs away pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes “no. No. It’s too dangerous.” desperation twists his face “I can’t I can’t after what dad did to mom I—” Abuela cuts him off sharply with with a look.
“Do not. Evanito is not like your father. Or Shannon.” Abuela takes his face in her hands, pressing their foreheads together almost like she is speaking to his soul.
“I am afraid for you Edmundo. You have been alone so long and…” she places her palm flat against his heart “I’m afraid it’s eating you up inside. You need a mate.”
He tilts his head into her hands, feeling pressure building behind his eyes “Someone to share your nest— your life with.” A tear slips down his cheek, a soft smile playing across her face.
“Someone to share the love for your pup with.” An ugly sob breaks out of Eddie and he collapses into her arms, she strokes her fingers through his hair, humming softly over Eddie’s sobs.
"We’ll be ok. It’ll be ok” Eddie shakes apart in her arms, the stress of a skinner walking around taking its toll on him, but slowly he pulls himself together, with the hums of Abuela one ear and Chris and Buck chattering together in the other.
The sobs dissipate slowly and he steps out of abuela’s arms after one more indulgent squeeze “I won’t tell Buck not yet, I dont want to put him in danger.” Abuelas frowns, crossing her arms.
“I’ll tell him after this is over ok” he placates, rubbing his hands over his face and blowing out a breath “Suminare help me” he mutters, following Abuela into Veronica’s room— converted from a guest room to make her more comfortable.
Veronica sits silently on the edge of her bed, clutching her pelt close to her chest. She doesn’t look up when they enter, vacantly staring straight ahead, and Eddie is struck again with deep sympathy for her.
The way she’s hunched over herself, fingers digging into her pelt like it’s the only thing holding her together. The haggard look on her face, the pale skin and the sunken in eyes.
“He sang. He’d just walk along the shore and sing.” She sways and Eddie can feel his heart clench that much more “He’d weave tales of sirens and mermaids and saving orca pups and I…”
She chuckles a dry and humorless thing, ringing hollow in Eddie’s ears “I thought he was amazing so I sang back.” She whispers the words but they strike like a physical blow. Eddie sucks in a sharp breath, watching Abuela sit next to Veronica with a sad crinkle to her eyes.
“It went on for weeks, I would tell him about my life and he would respond in kind. I thought he was special.” She scoffs, bitter reminding Eddie oh his mother when his father would be gone for weeks on end “I thought I was special.”
A sense of foreboding wrings through the room, Eddie can feel it starting to crawl up his spin and the tension in Abuela’s shoulders says she can feel it too.
“I started showing myself. Little by little. Never human, always covered but he still sang to me,” her shoulders come up to her ears, and she hunches forward.
“One day I was dumb enough to get out of the water. Show him my face I thought.” She shakes her head dissaproval evident— for her past thought process or the situation Eddie isn’t sure— “But no instead he showed me his,”
She bares her teeth, fury written into her eyes “We spent hours together, it all felt so real” she stresses the word, her knuckles turning white as she clutches her pelt “his attention, his laughs… his interest.” she huffs a shallow laugh “Or at least I thought it was real.”
She shudders body locking up “I got comfortable.” She looks up, directly into Eddie’s eyes and a chill passes through him, something uncomfortable settling on his chest “Somewhere along the way I stopped watching my pelt as closely,”
She bites her lip, teeth digging in so harshly blood starts rushing to the pale area turning it pink but, Eddie can’t look away from her eyes. Away from the fury manifesting itself as a fire that burns in a direct path from her eyes to his “I was watching him but I was blinded by those rose colored glasses.I looked away from my pelt for a second.”
Her hands start to tremble “A second was all it took.” Her eyes pierce through Eddie’s, and his breath leaves him “And he had me by the throat.” Her gaze drops to her pelt and the weight lifts from his chest, letting him suck in air.
“He left and I followed him like a loyal dog to that cabin.” She closes her eyes and he knows she’s reliving it by the way her breath stutters and her voice trembles slightly “I spent weeks, maybe months there and he was exactly the same.”
She blinks and breathes out a laugh, although tension locks her frame up further “He still sang to me, expecting me to sing back and I was so confused,” Her brows scrunch up in sorrow for her past naivety.
“I mean he couldn’t be all bad right, I know he took my pelt but…” a harsh chuckle jolts her thin frame “I was dumb and the reality hit me like a riptide when I realized he was making me sing for water and food.”
She clutches her pelt to her chest and brushes a hand across her throat “But it wasn’t enough. I tried asking for more” another laugh cutting and jagged “I still thought I could. But he said no and demanded I sing more.”
The rhythm of the story breaks “So I did.” She whispers, the anger bleeding into something softer. Sadder. “The harder I sang the more the lack of food and water got to me but he didn't care,”
Her voice shakes consistently now with each word, her eyes watering “He started giving me ultimatums but I couldn’t keep up, my voice was giving out and fast so…” a tear slides free and she doesn’t so much as twitch to wipe it away “I had to run away, but I was too weak.”
She shivers, pressing her pelt into her chest “He caught me and sheared my pelt to pieces right in front of me,” A small smile works its way onto her face, tinged with pride.
“So I bit him, made him wail. Loudly. We were outside so I guess he attracted some attention.” She takes a shuddering breath and slowly relaxes into Abuela’s side.
“He ran with a bite mark the size of a melon on his forearm and then you guys got to me.” Her lips tremble and a sob breaks from behind them.
“And I really can’t thank you enough. I—” she stutters, breath caught and Eddie can feel it shoot through him “I was going to give up and you saved me,”
Eddie shakes his head “You saved yourself.” His voice is gruff and he clearly startled her because she looks up with wide eyes, rimmed with red.
He shifts closer to her, sitting on the bed and bumping her shoulder in solidarity “You saved yourself.” He whispers, solid and sure, bringing an arm up to tug her closer when she bursts into heavy sobs.
Eddie slips out of the room with a heavy sigh shutting the door behind himself, leaning against it to pull himself together before he sees Buck and Chris.
So the guy their looking for is not only a skinner but also a fucking lurer. What are the odds of one of those existing here in LA of all places.
He scrubs a hand over his face, trying not to focus on Abuela singing softly to Veronica. If he dwells on the soothing melody for too long it’ll remind him of the discussion they had earlier that could change everything between him and Buck.
He shakes his head in an attempt to leave the thought behind, stepping away from the door and walking into the living room where he can hear Buck speaking loudly on the phone.
“Yeah…” Buck’s face pinches and he shakes his head “No I’m not sure if—” he cuts himself off, tilting his head in the way he does when he’s completely focused on listening and processing.
“I’ll try,” a moment passes before he hums agreement in his tone “Mhmm I’ll ask Eddie.” He shakes his head, a small smile forming “Ok bye ‘thena,”
Eddie worries his lip as steps into Bucks eyeline “Hey everything ok?” Buck winces, gaze darting to the bedroom door behind him before refocusing on Eddie.
“No its—” he sighs, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet “Athena wants our statement.” He pauses his brows drawing together “She also wants to to know if we know where the victim is,”
He presses his lips together and stares into Eddie’s eyes “Seeing as she escaped from the hospital,” he emphasizes the word escaped with a shake of his phone, making Eddie grimace.
Buck brushes Chris’s hair behind his ear, wiggling his glasses off gently and placing them on the night stand beside the bed. He backs out of the room, trying not to stumble and wake Chris.
As he turns to walk out he steers away from the door Eddie and Abuela disappeared into, a steady whisper of words tempting him but he resists, walking into the living room instead.
He paces, trying to keep himself busy now that Chris’s hearty breakfast had returned him to dreamland and Eddie is in there with whoever she is, until his phone rings, rooting him in place as he answers.
“Buck,”
Her serious tone catches him off guard, although it really shouldn’t be a considering the past few hours “Hey, is something wrong?”
“No honey everyone’s ok. I just need to know if you recall the girl from you and Eddie’s last shift?”
Buck scowls at the mention of her, “Yeah…” he doesn't volunteer any information, unsure what he should say without Eddie there to fill in the gaps of his knowledge.
“Ok that’s good… do you or Eddie know why she was in that cabin or where she is now…she escaped the hospital.”
Buck resists the urge to glance in the direction he could hear the whispers from and focuses on Athena’s question “No, I’m not sure if—” She cuts him off kindly, clearly having anticipated the end of his sentence.
“Alright that’s ok— hmm— well if you remember anything let me know,”
He rocks on the balls of his feet trying to dispel the energy building up in his body from lying to Athena, especially for something like this “I’ll try,”
He can hear the patented hum of approval form her over the phone, making him feel just a little worse about the whole thing.
“… Thank you sweetheart but I do need to know when you and Eddie can come down to the station so we can get your statements… and hopefully find this girl.”
She mutters the last part to herself but the phone still picks it up, leaving Buck with the choice to ignore it and focus on the part he was meant to hear “Mhmm I’ll ask Eddie,”
“Thank you baby,— i’ll see you around.”
Buck nods, warmth filling him at the familiar nickname, a smile stretching his lips “Ok bye ‘thena,” his gaze shifts to Eddie as he enters the living room.
Eddie’s clearly worried and he can't help but spare a thought to the fact that he could have overheard his call with Athena but Eddie’s asking him a question and he has to pay attention “Hey everything ok?”
He can’t help the wince, no everything is clearly not ok— there’s an escaped hospital patient in your abuela’s spare room. Not to mention the fact that you don’t even know the girl but he forces himself to focus ok his answer.
“No— it’s…” he rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet to try and diffuse the accusation on his tongue “Athena wants our statements,” he pauses trying for subtly with the way things are spanning out now “She also wants to know where the girl is,”
Eddie doesn’t really react so he decides fuck subtle “Seeing as she escaped,” he shakes his phone because he knows Eddie listened in on his conversation “from the hospital.”
Eddie grimaces clearly trying to find an explanation and coming up blank. Buck huffs a frustrated breath starting to rant at the lack of answers “Eddie seriously, you said you don’t know her and I guess I can get behind you being a good Samaritan. Fuck abuela taking her in and Pepa being nice great even, but she escaped from the hospital.”
He starts to pace, “Eddie nobody signed her out and based on what we saw she clearly has something to run from.” He stops and looks into Eddie’s eyes, pleading— no begging him to explain.
“Eddie god what is she hiding and how much do you know?”