Chapter Text
The meeting finally rolls around and Buck is ready, actually, no not really, he’s shaking like a leaf. He walks into the building, it's one of the fancy ones with one way glass windows and over 10 floors.
He checks in and sits in the hard plastic chairs with a little bit of cushion that they think will help with the fact that they are uncomfortable.
News flash: it does not.
How can you own this big law office downtown and not afford nice chairs? Buck will never know.
Buck's name is finally called letting him know that his lawyer is ready for him. He heads to the front desk to figure out which floor his lawyer is on. It's been changing day to day. Why? He also doesn't have an answer for that either .
“It will be on the 8th floor, conference room 317.” The front desk lady says like she does this millions of times. Which she probably has.
Buck heads to the elevator and presses the button to floor 8. He still feels like he chugged about 7 different types of Red Bulls.
The elevator dings signaling that he has made it to his floor. He makes his way way over to 317 and knocks twice before his lawyer finally opens the door.
“Mr. Buckley, so nice to see you again. My question is why you scheduled a meeting that needed to be taken care of so urgently.” Mackey says looking at Buck, and he has really grown to hate that name.
“Look I don't want you to ask questions but I need to drop the lawsuit.” Buck says almost breathless.
“Mr. Buckley I had just got a call from the city and they wanted to settle, and you want to drop it?” Mackey says while standing up to face him.
“Mackey I didn’t want to settle, I told you I just wanted to get my job back. That's the only reason I did this, You know that!” Buck says the voice is a little louder than necessary.
Mackey, seemingly annoyed now, says “Fine we can drop the lawsuit but when you get your job back I wouldn't expect a warm welcome back.”
“Yes I'm aware.” Buck says just wanting to disappear into the floor.
Buck is finally done with the meeting when he decides to go to the store. His fridge is practically empty. But today is Sunday, aka Shopping Sunday, as Bobby called it. And the only store by the law office was the exact one that the 118 went to.
Today is gonna be a long day.
________
He pulls his truck into the parking lot, and thankfully he does not see the 118 there, so he heads inside.
He only gets the most important items, like milk, eggs, stuff for sandwiches, toothpaste because he was running low, some fruit, and some ice cream to sit on his couch by himself and watch really bad reality TV.
When he hears it. It’s Hen’s laugh. He learned to recognize it anywhere. He turns around and sees them. They haven’t seemed to see him yet, which is good.
He makes his way to the checkout carefully to avoid any interactions with his fellow coworkers when Bobby spots him first.
“What are you doin’ here?”
Buck honestly feels like a deer in headlights. “I’m just—just here to do some a—” He picks up the closest item next to him, which happens to be cat laxatives. “—shopping. Just doing some good ol’ shopping.”
“Eight miles from your apartment,” Chim says with a following eye roll, and Buck can’t help but flinch at that.
“Well, this is the only place with, uh… Happy Cat laxative powder,” Buck says, immediately regretting the words.
“You’re buying cat laxatives,” Hen says with clear sarcasm, which makes him hate this interaction even more.
Buck tries to save the conversation. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking of, uh… of getting a cat.”
“And you’re expecting your cat to be, um, irregular,” Chim says, looking him up and down.
“Look, guys, I was just trying to do some shopping. But now that you’re all here, I would like to apologize. I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand with the lawsuit and the—”
Before he can finish, he gets cut off.
“Yeah, what did you think was gonna happen? You think the lawsuit wasn’t bad enough? You told your lawyer everything about us, personal things,” Eddie scoffs, and Buck can’t help but wince.
“You’re supposed to be truthful with your lawyer. Why are you so pissed at me?” Buck says, waving his arm toward Eddie.
“Because you’re exhausting. We all have our own problems, and you don’t see us whining about it. Somehow we just manage to suck it up. Why can’t you?” Eddie snaps. Buck doesn’t say anything.
“That’s a little harsh. It’s not like the guy asked to be crushed by a ladder truck,” Chim says, letting out a puff of air.
“No, but he filed a stupid lawsuit. Now I can’t even talk to you because of it. You know how much Christopher misses you. How could you? You’re not around.” Eddie pauses for a moment. Buck tries to answer but gets cut off.
“You know what your problem is, Buck? You don’t ever think about the fallout,” Eddie adds.
“You know I always think about Christopher,” Buck says, defending himself.
Eddie lets out a sharp laugh. “Yeah, from where I’m standing, you can barely handle being a friend.”
Eddie hesitates for a moment before adding, “God help any kid that has to rely on you.”
Buck breathes in a sharp breath. Nobody's moving and nobody is saying anything which makes it worse
“You know what Eddie, you might be right.” Buck says hands shaking slightly and Eddie sucks in a sharp breath
“And while you're all here you should probably know I dropped the lawsuit, I just thought you should know. You’ll probably get a call from your lawyer in a couple of hours. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go.” Buck says, blinking back tears. Leaving his cart behind in the middle of the aisle.
Everyone is staring at Eddie, not knowing what to do or say, when he finally turns and walks away toward the engine he came in on.
The rest of the 118 finish their shopping in silence, no one daring to break it. No jokes. No side comments. Just the heavy knowledge that something and someone had crossed a line.
Eddie is still somewhere outside, or maybe already gone, and no one is entirely sure which is worse.