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Athena and May were in the Mall doing some shopping for May’s graduation. After a four-hour power shopping trip both women were famished and decided to go to the food court.
“There is a great vegan place that Buck told me about.” May said to her mom and pointed to the restaurant.
“Child, the day I eat vegan, is the day you put me six feet under.”
Athena saw a commotion ahead of her. There was a crowd around a man and a couple of officers trying to defuse a heated situation.
Athena and May shared a look and went over to the cops to investigate.
“He tried to touch my wife. I want him arrested!” A man shouted at the officers.
“Eric, are you out of your fucking mind? Did you see the way he was walking? You’re overreacting. As usual.” A woman shouted back.
“Being drunk doesn’t give him the right to touch you.”
“Yeah, because drunk people walk with a cane.”
Athena and May reached the officers and one of them turned to the duo.
“Hey, Sergeant Grant. How you doing? Graduation shopping?”
“I’m doing great, Kyle. And yes, we’re shopping. What’s going on here?”
May turned to the couple and the person who was sitting on the floor. Her eyes widened when she saw who was sitting there.
“Oh my god, Buck. Are you okay?” May gasped and went over to the disheveled man.
Athena gasped and whirled around to her pseudo-son.
“Uhhh…hey there, peanut. How’s it going?” Buck gave her a blinding smile.
“You didn’t answer my question.” She said and pinned him with a look.
“Fuck, you look scary. Just like your mo-, oh uh, hey ‘thena.” Buck tried and failed to look smaller.
“Buck what happened?” Athena asked.
“Uh, you see-“ But Buck couldn’t finish, because the guy, who obviously put him on the floor interrupted him.
“That retard-“ And the douchebag couldn’t finish either, as a hand shot out and slapped him hard across the face.
“Watch what you’re saying next, asshole. That man is not a retard, douchebag.” May was inches away from his face. The guy’s eyes widened and he tried to step back, only to be cornered by Athena.
“May.” Buck tried to get the girls attention. “It’s okay.”
May whirled around to him. “No! It’s certainly not okay. You are not a retard.” She turned back around to the douchebag and stabbed a sharp Fingernail in his chest. “Do you find it okay, to shove around a disabled person? A person who suffers from Multiple sclerosis? Do you find it okay to shove a highly decorated war veteran?” Douchebags eyes widened. The crowd let out angry gasps. “Do you get off on that? Maybe you should use the few brain cells you have left, to ask people before you shove them. Maybe you should’ve asked why he was walking with a cane. Are you blind too? Did you not see the leg brace he’s wearing?” Douchebag looked around wildly, trying to see if he had any allies who could back him up. Not even his wife backed him up in this.
Another hard slap landed on his cheek.
“May, you should stop it. You wouldn’t want to shake loose the few brain cells he has left.” Athena said to her daughter. Damn was she proud of her baby girl.
“I don’t think there are any to begin with. Besides, that was only a love tap.” May looked at the douchebag like he was dirt under her fingernails.
“Excuse me officers, why aren’t you arresting her? She assaulted me!” Douchebag pointed to May.
“Really? I didn’t see anything.” The officer, who talked to Athena earlier, replied. “Has anyone seen anything?” The officer said a little louder.
Everyone around them shook their heads. Douchebag’s head got even redder and not just from May’s slaps.
“Sir, would you like to press charges against this man?” The other officer, who took the statements, asked Buck politely.
Buck shook his head, still mortified, being the center of attention.
“No, I just want to go home.”
A couple of bystanders went to Buck and helped him to his feet gently. They gave him his cane and steadied him until he was steady on his own.
May went to Buck and hooked her arm through his.
“Damn, peanut, you would make a scary lawyer one day…or detective.” Buck’s eyes shone with pride.
“Don’t put any idea’s in her head, Buckaroo.” Athena admonished. She picked up their bags and moved through the crowd.
Douchebag and his wife were still getting lectures from the officers and the crowd slowly dispersed.
“What are you even doing here alone, Buck?” May asked. They made their way slowly to the parking garage. In the last two years, since they’ve known Buck, his MS had done a number on him. He wore the leg brace every day now and he also needed his cane or a crutch daily. They all knew that the wheelchair wasn’t that far off in the future anymore, but their sweet Buck fought that tooth and nail.
“I just wanted to buy Eddie a birthday present.” Buck replied, his voice small and timid. He couldn’t look either of them in the eyes.
“My walking wasn’t so bad this morning. I felt really good and I thought I could make it to the mall. But all that walking really tired me out, even though it wasn’t that much and next thing I know, I stumble and bumped into that woman. And then the guy shoved me and I fell down. I felt good this morning.” He whispered at the end.
Athena and May softened.
“Where’s your car, Evan.” Athena asked.
“I Uber’d.”
They reached Athena’s car and they helped Buck into the backseat. May went with him and took his hand in hers. Buck hissed in pain.
May looked sharply at Buck and when she noticed his trembling thigh was not more than usual, she turned his hand around. He had bloody abrasions on his palms. Buck silently pleaded with May not to say anything to her mother.
Athena went behind the wheel and started the car.
“Have you thought about a dog?” May asked.
“I can barely take care of myself and you want me to have a dog?” Buck answered, his eyebrows up in his hairline.
“Don’t be stupid, Buck. You can take care of yourself just fine. I’m talking about a service dog.” She said gently. She talked to him like she would with a spooked animal.
Buck was so distracted that he didn’t notice where they were headed.
“I can walk just fine. It’s just sometimes my nerves are playing catch up with my legs. The cane and brace are helping. Don’t tell Eddie I said that. Can’t have him getting a big head.” Buck whispered, while May giggled at him.
“I know you can walk. But a service dog will help you walk, when you stumble they get in front of you. And why am I even telling you this? I’ll bet you have researched it, when Eddie threatened you with a wheelchair after your bad fall earlier this year.”
She wasn’t wrong. Earlier in the year Buck fell at a Grant-Nash family BBQ. He stumbled and fell in the bathroom. He broke his wrist and had another concussion. It took the fire fam ten minutes until they noticed that Buck hadn’t returned. Eddie blamed himself and wanted Buck to use a wheelchair, which the younger man refused.
“Buck, you have MS. We don’t need to beat around the bush. You will need a wheelchair one day. And you can’t pimp that one, like you did with your multiple canes. Don’t think I didn’t notice that little button at the hilt.” She pinned Buck with a look. The younger man looked sheepishly at her. He got a couple of modified canes from his old SEAL Team. One was a cane gun and there even was a cane sword in his arsenal.
“Damn, has anyone ever told you, how scary you are?” He asked with wide eyes.
May was the only one who dared to talk to Buck like that. Since the day they met, they had a special bond. No one really understood why. Buck and May just clicked.
“Someone needs to put the fear of god in you. I’m not above to smack a disabled person upside the head, if he’s being stupid.” May looked imploringly at her pseudo brother. “Buck, I can say these things to you because I’m on the outside and that’s how we talk. Sometimes you need to hear things from an independent source and not from the fire fam and your husband, who loves you with all his heart. He just wants to help you. He wants to make your life easier. He wants to support you, share your burden with you, so you don’t have to carry it alone. That’s what it means to be married…or so I’ve been told.”
Buck let out a sniffle and a giggle.
“Do you think they make service horses?” Buck asked.
“I don’t think you’re that big, Buckaroo.” Athena answered and looked in the mirror at Buck. “But a great Dane would be big enough to help you walk.”
Athena could burst with pride. Not only was she proud of Buck, who seemed to finally warm up the idea of a service dog under May’s prodding, but of her daughter too.
She was growing up into an extraordinary and fierce woman right before her eyes. Not many people could talk to Buck like that and get away with it. Eddie was extremely protective of his husband. May was probably the only one, who could talk to Buck like that.
Athena turned into the firehouse entrance.
Buck looked up and groaned.
“I think I prefer jail over this.”
“Don’t be such a baby, take your punishment like a man.” May said to him and helped him out of the car.
“Oh believe me, I will, later tonight.” Buck waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“TMI, bro.”
Buck laughed. He and May made their way slowly into the station.
The crew was doing chores on the ground floor. Chimney and Hen were stocking the ambulance. Eddie was polishing the big rig and Bobby was walking around with this clipboard.
The captain saw them first.
“Well, this is a nice surprise.” He went to his wife and kissed her.
“I wish it was a social visit, boo. Our dear Buck needs medical help.”
Bobby looked at his wife in surprise. “And instead of calling for an ambulance you brought him here?”
“Well if Muhammad won’t come to the mountain.” She replied with a shrug.
“Baby, what happened?” Eddie came around the rig when he heard Athena mention his husband’s name. He went to him and kissed him.
“Uh, well, you see. Uhm. I had a good morning.” Buck said defensively.
May decided to rescue Buck and told Eddie what happened. When she finished he took Buck by the waist and dragged him to the ambulance, where Hen and Chimney were already waiting with supplies.
“It’s not bad.” Buck mumbled.
Hen took out the antiseptic spray and a swab and dabbed the abrasion on Bucks palm.
“What were you even doing at the mall…alone?” Eddie asked quietly. He really tried to reign his anger in. He wasn’t angry at his husband, but at the douchebag who touched him.
“I wanted to buy you a birthday present. I just wanted to feel like a normal, healthy person. Just for one day.” Buck answered dejectedly.
Eddie put his arms around Buck and hugged him hard. The older man kissed his husband’s temple. Right where the scar was from his fall two years ago.
Hen bandaged his hand and patted it when she was finished.
“Thank you, Hen.”
“Don’t mention it, Buck. We’re just glad you’re alright.”
Hen and Chim went to the loft, where Bobby was preparing lunch.
Eddie took a seat beside his husband. He interlocked their fingers. Buck put his head on Eddie’s shoulder and let out a deep sigh.
“I think it’s time.” Buck said quietly. Like he was testing out the words, how they sounded.
“Time for what?” Eddie asked.
“For a wheelchair.”
“Baby…”
“I was tired after ten minutes of walking. Ten, Eddie. I mean, there was a time I was wearing full combat gear and ran through the desert while people were shooting at me. I’m a 33 years old man trapped in a body of an 80 year-old.” Buck was angrily wiping away the tears.
“Stop it! You’re not trapped in an old body. I know I pushed for the wheelchair, but maybe we could talk to Dr. Shepperd. There are other options. More physiotherapy, maybe there are other meds. We could look into a service dog. And maybe we can buy a wheelchair and put it in the garage for now. And you only use it when you have a really bad day or go to the mall.” Eddie stood in front of Buck and cupped his cheeks. He lovingly wiped away his husbands tears with his thumbs. “And I will promise you here and now, Evan Diaz, that I will love you until the day I die and then I will love you eternally in the afterlife. And nothing will change that! I will love you when you’re tired. I will love you when you’re having a great day and I will still love you, when you’re old and wrinkly and fart all the time.”
Buck laughed at that and more tears fell down his cheeks.
“God I love you, Eddie.”
Eddie bent down and kissed Buck with all the love he had.
***
One month later the Diaz family welcomed a service dog into their family.
A jet black great Dane named Maddox.
There was also a brand new motorized wheelchair in the garage. No one needed to know that Buck’s old SEAL team modified the chair, so it was faster than was allowed for a wheelchair.