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“Hey, man, did you hear from Buck this morning? He’s late, quite late, more than usually.”
Eddie frowned at Hen’s words, the first thing welcoming him as he entered the firehouse: “Nope,” he said, popping the P, “I heard from him last night because Chris wanted to invite him to the next Take-your-dad-at-School day instead of me, he said it would be happy to attend, but this morning we were late so… I thought he would be already here. He had the early morning shift.”
Chim and Hen exchanged concerned looks, and then they turned their backs, looking towards Bobby at the threshold: “Cap, he’s not with Eddie.”
Bobby frowned as Eddie put the work bag down: “Are you sure? No texts? No calls?”
“No, Cap, nothing at all. Is… there something I need to know?”
Hen and Chim shook their heads: “I’m sure he will be here any minute, maybe he slept in and he forgot to charge his phone. You know how our Buckaroo is these days, especially since he began to take the neighborhood’s kids around the firehouse for their school projects and help them with their student orientations. I’m sure he’s buying us coffee to make up for his lateness.” Hen was cautious, but she smiled nonetheless.
“And you don’t agree with the whole golden retriever’s soul in a man’s body thing!” joked Chim as he smacked her playfully on the shoulder.
“Yeah, Buck is a puppy who doesn’t understand when he needs to stop and rest. Tonight, I’m gonna take him home with me and I’ll force him to sleep a bit more after a good meal, Abuela will be happy to cook something good for us.”
“That’s because you usually have Buck to cook for you and Christopher. What a dedicated boyfriend he is.”
“Riiiiiight, Cap, they bully me!”
Bobby, still at the threshold, smiled but they could see the worry on his face, worry that became fear as Daniel, a fresh rookie from the Academy, entered the firehouse with a bag in hand: “Guys, I’ve found it near the coffee shop down the street, Francesca from the shop called me when he recognized it, it’s Buckley’s, right?”
The young kid had the dirty and… Eddie’s heart stopped in the chest, bloody bag who was surely Buck’s; he strived towards their collegue and snatched the bag from his hand: “Cap… it’s his, I’m sure!” he shouted.
In a moment, Hen and Chim were at his side: “Calm down, Diaz.” The woman touched his back in a comforting manner, “Are you totally sure?”
Chim nodded: “It’s his, I recognized this.” He pointed to the long and colorful scoobie, a gift from a kid they rescued the year before: “He loved this thing to the point he attached it to the bag.”
Eddie was sure he was going to puke.
“Cap, he’s in trouble!” Eddie shouted.
“Calm down, son.” Bobby was behind them: “We’ll find him, I promise you. Let me call Athena and…”
He had just the time to fish the phone out from the pocket when they heard a commotion near the entrance, where a bloody and battered Buck was standing while their colleagues were trying to help him.
“Help… They’re following me…” he whispered, before collapsing.
“TAKE HIM HERE! AND CLOSE EVERYTHING, DAMMIT! LOWER THE SHUTTERS!”
The alarm went off as the whole house went in lockdown; Chim and Hen ran to pick up some first aid supplies while Bobby and Eddie reached the small group who was protecting their injured friend: “Call 9-1-1, now. Possible Code 77, 118 in lockdown.”
Cautiously, Bobby took the young man he thought as a son in his arms: “Hey, Buck, kid… We’re here… It’s okay, you can open your eyes. You’re home, they can’t touch you.”
The young man’s face was pale and the bruises were extensive pretty much everywhere, Eddie was holding his boyfriend’s hand but he knew it was painful: “They ambushed him for sure.” Hen said as Chim started an IV: “They broke him some fingers and a rib, I’m afraid.” She pulled the shirt up and gasped.
A long and angry red gash on Buck’ side was swollen and oozed pus: “It’s a knife wound, it’s infected… We need to take him to the hospital, Bobby, right now.”
“Athena is coming with enough men to start a war, I’m sure of it. Right now, it’s not safe going outside. I’m going to take him upstairs, Eddie, come with me. Greengrass, Hamilton, Taylor! Take cover and don’t be reckless!”
“Copy that, Captain.”
“We don’t want to steal Buckley’s role.”
“We’ll be careful.”
Eddie kept holding Buck’s hand as they went up the stairs and he didn’t leave it even when Bobby laid him down on the couch: “Give me that afghan.” he ordered Eddie, “I want to exclude shock from the symptoms to treat.”
While they fussed around him, Buck’s eyes opened a little but Eddie quickly kissed him on the forehead to calm him: “Be still, cariño. You’re safe. We’re waiting for Momma Athena to send us help.”
Buck was shaking and he covered himself with the duvet he had on his body: “Eddie… I was on my way here, I stopped to take some coffee for Bobby… And a cupcake for Hen’s birthday… But they ambushed me, they… they were four…”
“Don’t worry, son. Breathe with me… In… Out…” Bobby learned how to deal with Buck’s panic attacks long ago, since his youngest was prone to them: “They can’t touch you anymore…”
“THEY’RE COMING!”
Greengrass’s voice was the last thing they heard of before something slammed on the lowered shutter of the main entrance, a car, or maybe a van.
“UP HERE, RIGHT NOW!”
The others rushed upstairs and took cover near the threshold: “What are we gonna do?” Hamilton asked, a young woman from San Francisco, “Where is the police?”
“I can hear them, they’re coming-“
A moment later, something crashed back into the shutter and screams and curses were heard.
Eddie covered Buck’s body with his body: “They won’t take him.” He swore as Hen was crawling toward the nearest cabinet where she knew Bobby stored a gun.
With the gun in hand, Hen focused on hearing if anyone was coming in.
But after the last crash, nothing could be heard outside.
Nothing at all.
“Bobby! It’s me!”
They heard Athena’s voice as she called their names: “It’s safe, we have caught them and the ambulance is on its way, open up!”
The rookies cheered, Hen and Chim smiled as Buck tried to move; Eddie shook the head but he stayed by his boyfriend: “Cap, is there a way…?”
“There’s a control panel near the kitchen, you can control the shutters with it, Greengrass, you’re on.”
He stood up in a flash and, a minute later, Athena was entering the house, gun in hand: “Where are you?”
“Upstairs!” Bobby shouted, “We had to relocate!”
Athena holstered the weapon before running upstairs: “Those fuckers jumped Buck on his way here, they confessed it as soon as we handcuffed them. He saw their faces so they wanted to get rid of our boy. How is he?” she asked.
When she arrived upstairs, Athena saw Buck on the couch, injured and battered, and felt blood boiling in the veins: “Now I’m gonna punch them more.”
“He said he stopped at the shop to take a coffee for me and a cupcake for Hen.” Bobby was on his knees near the couch: “Bet he saw them doing something fishy and tried to intervene.”
“Typical Buck… This kid needs to be more careful.”
“He’s a golden retriever puppy, loyal and good.” Eddie kissed Buck's forehead again: “And I’m so proud of him.”