Chapter Text
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Eddie was silent during his shift at the 118, he had been contacted by a Military representative about repatriating to Texas with his family, which he had immediately accepted. California was no longer a safe place to remain if you were of Hispanic nationally, as he and his family had discovered over the past month since the Federal Government’s collapse and the break-up of the United States. Texas, Hawaii and Alaska were the most stable states remaining; since each maintained their own power and water grids and did not have to rely on the national power and water grids. There was only one downside in the Diaz’ expected departure, Buck.
“Worried about Buck?” Chimney questioned as he collapsed next to him on the couch.
“The doctors said he should be fine,” Eddie replied as he struggled to hide the fact that this would be the last time that he would see any of them; that by this time tomorrow, he, Abuela, Pepa and Chris would all be safely in Texas, “Did Maddie hear something?” he asked as worry built in his chest, after Buck’s accident, he had tried to delay their departure, but was prevented even though he informed them that he was the emergency contact for Buck. Major Sanchez had asked some questions, but had ultimately denied the request.
“The doctors have to go back in,” Chimney revealed quietly as he tighten his grip on his phone, “Maddie is going to come stay at the station tonight,” he paused as he thought of Buck, alone in the hospital and no one was allowed to visit. Many things had changed since the collapse, starting with the hospitals refusing all visitors and getting information about your loved ones was next to impossible.
Eddie frowned at that news as he glanced down at his silent phone, that was news to him, he and Buck held each other’s Medical Power of Attorney and even though Maddie was his sister, they still should have contacted Eddie as well. What was going on at the hospital, he wondered just as his phone went off, “Excuse me,” he got up and headed toward Bobby’s office, he had designated his office to be used for any calls for privacy reasons. Bobby didn’t want people breaking down in front of the others when they received notification of denial of travel visas and news of families being permanently separated by the new policies being put out by the state governments.
“Hello.”
“Sergeant Edmundo Diaz?”
“Yes,” Eddie replied as he instantly recognized the voice of his military representative on the line, “Is there…”
“Don’t speak,” interrupted Major Sanchez, “just listen.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your family has been transported to the base this morning,” he revealed, “a van should be arriving at your location now, use any excuse you have to and get into the vehicle. Verification code is: 1-2-Alpha-Zula-Niner, Counter Code Niner-Niner-7-3-Golf-Juliet.”
“Yes, sir,” Eddie headed toward the door of the office, “Their safe?” he asked hesitantly.
“All four family members are accounted for,” the Major confirmed as he hung up.
“Four?” Eddie frowned at that, he only had three family members in California; Abuela, Pepa and Chris? He forced himself to not worry about the news as he headed toward the stairs, and yelled over to Chimney and Hen as he headed down the stairs at a run, “I got a call about Chris, let Bobby know!”
“Oh, god,” Hen’s gaze followed Eddie as he left the loft, “what else is going to happen?” as her thoughts were drawn to her own family, Karen had been laid off and Denny and Nia were being homeschooled after an altercation at their school.
“Buck, Chris,” Chimney lowered his head in defeat, “any luck in getting a travel visa?” the genuine hope was evident to Hen by the tone of her best friend’s voice.
“No, you?”
“Absolutely no luck,” Chimney groaned as pulled up the rejection email that Maddie had received from Pennsylvania that morning and showed Hen in silence.
“Damn it,” Hen sighed, “there has to be a way to get out of California.”
“There’s no way out,” Bobby interrupted with ease as he sank down in the chair across from them, “Shifts over,” he stated as he glanced around the fire station in defeat, most of them remained at the house when not on shift, “Eddie?”
“He got a call about Chris,” Hen supplied watching as Bobby lowered his head as he moaned.
“God,” he whispered softly, “we need to get out of here.”
“Agreed,” Chimney replied as none of them made any attempt to leave the relative safety of the station.
Eddie glanced around the outside of the firehouse and his attention was quickly drawn to the black SUV with tinted windows parked across the street,
“Verification code is: 1-2-Alpha-Zula-Niner,” the male driver stated bluntly as Eddie came to the driver’s side.
“Counter Code Niner-Niner-7-3-Golf-Juliet,” Eddie replied as the doors unlocked.
“In the back,” the driver ordered, as soon as Eddie was buckled in the took of toward the military airport were his family and their flight to freedom was waiting for them, “Power off your phone, and keep it off until your told otherwise.”
“Understood,” Eddie felt a flash of dread as he watched his cell blacken as he powered it off, he knew at that very moment that he would have no more information on Buck’s condition until he arrived safely in Texas. He just hoped that Maddie and the others wouldn’t hold this against him and that they wouldn’t refuse him information on Buck out of spite.
The journey to Los Alamitos Army Airfield took just under 30 minutes and Eddie was quickly hurried through the terminal and toward the tarmac and the waiting C-130 along with a dozen other people. He recognized Firefighter Aaron Paxton, from the 192nd and he quickly moved in order to join him in their nearly silent walk to the plane, “Diaz, 118,” he whispered.
Pax’s eyes widen slightly at the site of Eddie walking next to him, “Paxton, 192,” he countered as he nodded his head in greeting as they paused in line as people started walking up the stairs in order to board the aircraft, “I never thought it would come to this,” he stated as they started up the stairs, “Galveston, you?”
“Austin,” Eddie replied, “I managed to get hired by the 126,” he revealed, “you?”
“147,” he responded as they were separated when they boarded the plane and were directed to their assigned seating.
Eddie kept his eyes open as he searched the aircraft for his family and he quickly spotted a familiar face, “Mijo,” he sighed as he took the empty seat next to his son and tugged him into his arms, “Abuela, Pepa,” he looked over at the pair before he leaned down in order to kiss Chris’s forehead, “did you have any problems getting to the airfield?”
“No, Edditio,” Abuela quickly assured him as her attention was drawn toward the gurney in the back of the plane, they were sitting in the closet seats available to the medical staff, “look,” she nodded toward the gurney.
“What?” Eddie frowned as he twisted around in his seat and gazed at the gurney in confusion, “who…?” he trailed off as he spotted a medic taking the patient’s pulse and checking their connection to the ventilator before returning his attention to his aunt and grandmother.
Pepa looked down Chris, before she mouthed the name “Buck.”
“What? How?” he took her que and didn’t say Buck’s name in front of Christopher, there would be no way to stop him from causing a scene on the aircraft and they knew that they couldn’t afford one at the moment.
“The Medical proxy,” Pepa offered as she glanced up as the flight crew instructed everyone to prepare for take-off.
“But Maddie…”
“Don’t question it, hijo,” Abuela countered swiftly as she reached across in order to clasp hands with Pepa and Christopher.
As soon as Christopher went to sleep, Eddie questioned his Grandmother and Aunt on what was going on with Buck and he was shocked at the information that they provided to him. Apparently, when Eddie had revealed to Major Sanchez that he held Buck’s Medical Proxy, he had lumped him in as Eddie’s dependent who required to be transported along with Eddie’s family members, so Buck had been medevac’d from the hospital to the airfield that morning where a medic has assumed control over Buck’s medical condition until he could be turned over to Austin Medical for care. When Pepa had spoken to the Medic when he had approached her when they had arrived earlier, he had revealed that as long as Buck remained in his medically induced coma, then they could transport him across state lines as Eddie’s adult dependent. According to the medic, it was a very grey area, but as long as Buck was unconscious, then both California and Texas acknowledged Buck as Eddie’s responsibility, and where he went, Buck went. The medical staff at the hospital had ‘taken’ Buck into surgery that morning as an excuse to place him into a medically induced coma, since they couldn’t risk Buck waking up before they landed in Texas.
“When we finally arrive in Texas Eddie, you will have to explain it,” Abuela stated as she and Pepa pawned off that responsibility to him, “to his sister and the 118.”
“Fine,” Eddie agreed as he glanced back at the sleeping Buck in stunned disbelief, “Maddie’s going to kill me,” he moaned as he realized that he would also have to explain this to Buck when he awoke from his coma.
It was dawn by the time they landed in Austin, and Eddie cradled a sleeping Christopher in his arms as Abuela and Pepa had their arms wrapped around each other as they cried in relief at successfully escaping California and walking on Texas ground once again.
“Eddie!” TK yelled as he spotted the familiar firefighter in the crowd of departing refugees, “you made it out!”
“TK,” Eddie shifted his hold of his son in order to clasped hands with TK and his Captain, “Captain Vega?” Eddie questioned as he shook hands with the female Paramedic.
“That’s right,” Tommy pointed them toward their ambulance, as she and TK moved to grab their empty gurney, “when we heard that they needed an ambulance to meet your flight, I requested to take the job,” she revealed, even though the airfield was out of their operating area, no one had questioned their desire to meet up with the flight.
“It’s Buck,” Eddie revealed as he grabbed TK’s shoulder, keeping his voice low in order to prevent Christopher from overhearing and causing a scene on the tarmac.
“What?” TK was stunned as he spun around and spotted the familiar firefighter being carried off of the plane, “how?”
“Long story,” Eddie replied as he glanced around in concern, still weary that something was going to happen and jeopardize their arrival there.
“We’ll talk more when we get back to the house,” Tommy ordered as she and TK moved forward to accept their patient from the Military medical staff.
“Carlos,” TK called over his shoulder and pointed to the police cruiser that was parked next to the ambulance.
“Eddie,” Carlos acknowledged as he helped them get into his vehicle, “Captain Strand said to bring you to the firehouse first and then someone will take you to where you all will be staying for the time being as we get you situated.”
“Right.” Eddie glanced toward ambulance where TK and Captain Vega were loading Buck into the back in order to transport him to the hospital.
“He’ll be fine,” Carlos promised as he pulled out in front of the ambulance and led the way to the awaiting hospital.
“Dad?” a tired voice called form the backseat.
“It’s ok mijo,” Eddie assured as he caught his son’s gaze in the rear-view mirror, “we’re safe.”
Chris sniffled as he countered, “we left Buck,” he twisted to go back to sleep against his grandmother.
“He doesn’t know?” questioned Carlos hesitantly after checking that Christopher was back asleep.
“No,” Pepa replied as she glanced toward the officer, “we didn’t want to risk him saying anything and jeopardizing everyone.”
“Many people would have been put at risk if anyone discovered what was done,” Abuela offered quietly and she turned her attention toward the scenery outside the window.
“I only found out after I boarded the plane,” Eddie revealed as he defended their stance in not telling Chris about Buck being on the flight, “Chris never would’ve been able to hold it in, he loved Buck too much.”
“He’ll be surprised when he finds out then,” Carlos stated as he brought the car to an idle outside of the hospital as they watched Tommy and TK offload Buck and handed him over to the awaiting hospital staff, “He’ll be fine,” Carlos promised, “they’ll check him in and someone will bring you over to see him as soon as visiting hours start in the morning.”
“Visiting hours?” Eddie sounded unsure if he trusted the officer’s promise.
“Yes, visiting hours,” Carlos promised as pulled out as he followed the ambulance toward the 126.
Captain Strand was standing outside the fire station as they pulled in, he quickly motioned to his men to take Eddie’s family to the meal waiting for them in the kitchen area, “Eddie?” Owen smiled as he shook hands for the first time, “we’re glad that you and your family was able to make it out,” he gestured for him to follow him toward his office, “I have some documents for you and then we’ll get you on the schedule for next shift.”
“Thank you,” Eddie replied as he followed his new Captain to his office and accepted the file of papers that required his signature, he quickly moved through the familiar papers as he answered the questions his new Captain asked.
“Captain Vega said you have another family member that was taken to the hospital?”
“Yeah,” Eddie nodded as he thought about his best friend, “Carlos said that someone will take us to the hospital during visiting hours.”
They were interrupted by the arrival of Captain Vega and TK, “Sorry to interrupt, the food is getting cold,” Tommy revealed as Owen gestured for him to head out toward the kitchen area and the waiting breakfast.
“When…”
“Visiting hours are from 1000 to 1600,” TK stated having expected Eddie’s question, “How?” he frowned at the newest member of the 126.
“Dumb luck,” Eddie shook his head at TK’s frown, “I’m Buck’s Medical Proxy, the military in their infinite wisdom listed him down as my adult dependent,” he expanded when TK and Captain Strand frowned at his comment.
“So, they basically listed Buck as your KID?” Judd exclaimed in stunned disbelief and he and Marjan looked at each other in complete confusion.
“Not exactly,” Eddie rejected as soon as he spotted the questions forming on their faces, “an adult dependent is when a person over the age of 18, has a valid reason, like a disability or a valid medical reason…”
“Like a coma,” Paul realized.
“Like a coma,” Eddie nodded his head in agreement, “basically as long as Buck remained out, then the military could get him out of California under the dependent guideline, similarly like they did for Abuela and Pepa.”
“But he’s not related to you,” Mateo countered.
“I hold Buck’s medical power of attorney,” Eddie replied, “that was enough for the military to get him out with my family.”
“A medical proxy…”
“California and Texas both agreed that as long as the military member had the proper documentation, then they were allowed to move between states with no visa being required.”
“And a proxy…”
“Is a valid form,” Pepa replied.
“Damn,” Owen was in disbelief, “he didn’t have any family in California who contested the move?”
Eddie frowned as he glanced over at Chris who was talking to Abuela on the other side of the room, “He has a sister,” he revealed quietly, “it’s why…” he trailed off as understanding dawned on his fellow firefighters faces. If Chris had said something then Buck would have been taken off of the plane, since a family member won over a power of attorney.
“She would of…” TK couldn’t believe that Maddie would jeopardize Buck getting out.
“It would’ve prevented Buck from leaving, this all went down in less then twelve hours,” Eddie replied as he glanced toward his still silent phone, “from when they found out about the medical proxy and getting Buck medevac’d to the base.”
“That’s…” Paul gazed toward the television that was running reports about the final military flights that had brought in the last groups of Texans back to the state.
“Amazing,” Mateo sank back into his chair, “they risked a lot to get him out of there.”
“They did,” Pepa reached over to grip Eddie’s hand in her’s, “that is why we protected the information until we got off of the plane here, in Texas.”
“I found out as the door was closing,” Eddie revealed as he reached to grab his phone, “I need to call the 118.”
“You can use my office,” Owen offered well aware that the firefighter wouldn’t want anybody overhearing the coming conversation with his former firehouse.
Eddie nodded his thanks as he headed into the Captain’s office and powered on his phone, and was flooded with dozens of missed calls and text messages from the 118. He sighed as he punched in Bobby’s phone number and waited for the Captain to pick-up his call.
“Eddie,” Bobby exclaimed in relief as soon as he answered, “we have been trying to contact you since the end of shift yesterday.”
“I know,” Eddie replied as he sank down in the nearby chair, “I couldn’t tell you…”
“Tell us what?” Bobby questioned.
“I’m in Texas.”
“The military flight,” Bobby realized.
“Yeah,” Eddie replied, “we’re all fine.”
“Christopher?”
“Yeah, and Abuela and Pepa,” he hesitated slightly.
“You’re all safe,” Bobby interrupted, the relief was highly evident in his voice as he called out for Athena to come over, “they got out.”
“They did?” Athena’s voice came over the phone lightly.
“Hey, ‘thena,” Eddie smiled at the police Sergeant’s voice, “we’re all safe at the 126.”
“Thank god,” Athena replied as Bobby placed the phone on speaker so both of them could talk at the same time.
“Listen Eddie,” Bobby stated as he decided to just push through with the news, “Buck’s…missing.”
“Uh…”
“Now, don’t worry,” Athena interrupted Eddie before he could get a word out, “I’m going to the hospital and talking to his doctor with Maddie.”
“Buck’s…fine.”
“What?”
“How could you possibly know that Eddie?”
“Buck’s here, with me,” Eddie revealed.
“How?”
“Long story,” Eddie replied, “you need to tell Maddie, that he’s fine and not to worry.”
“Not to worry?” Athena sounded stunned, “how did he get to Texas??” she demanded as they were interrupted by the doorbell going off.
“I’ll get it,” Bobby stated as he moved away from the phone.
“Eddie…”
“It’s a long story,” Eddie sighed as he heard Maddie and Chimney in the background talking with Bobby, “listen, we got Buck out, and he’s safe, alright?”
“What?!” Maddie exclaimed in shocked disbelief as Chimney echoed her denial.
“How?” Chimney demanded, the worry for Maddie and their unborn child was very evident in the tone of his voice.
“It doesn’t matter,” Eddie countered, “all you need to know is that Buck is in Austin with Christopher and me.”
“No,” Athena interrupted Eddie’s refusal to explain, “there’s no way in hell that Buck just walked out of the hospital by himself, someone had to have helped him.”
“I think that’s who Eddie is protecting,” Bobby realized, as he gazed at the people around him, “Buck’s out, and he’s safe. We know where he is and where we need to get too.”
“Right,” Maddie nodded in agreement, “we need to start applying for visas to Texas.”
“Agreed.”
“How did you and Buck manage to come up with this plan?” Chimney questioned.
Eddie stuttered over the phone, causing Athena to realize, “Buck doesn’t know…does he?”
“No,” Eddie sighed out loud, “I didn’t even know until I was on the plane.”
“They just removed him from the hospital and placed him on the plane, WITHOUT verifying?” Chimney was stunned.
“That’s right,” Eddie replied as he was interrupted by a knock on the door, “Look, I got to go, their going to take us to where we’re going to be staying and then to the hospital in order to see Buck.”
“Good luck telling Buck,” Maddie joked lightly, the relief for her brother was highly evident in her voice.
“I’m bringing Chris with me,” Eddie countered, “he can’t get mad at me with him there.”
“You can’t keep Christopher with you all the time,” Athena replied.
“I can try,” Eddie raised his hand in acknowledgement as TK gestured for him to hurry up with his call, “I’ll call later, ok?”
“Bye.”
“Bye,” Eddie replied as he hung up the call, and headed toward the door, “Ready?”
“Ready,” TK replied as he led the way to the waiting vehicles, “we got you a place near my dad’s,” he supplied as he led the way to the SUV parked outside the station.
“Nice, yours?” Eddie questioned.
“No,” TK denied as he pulled out the keys in his pocket, “I borrowed it.”
“Nice friends,” Eddie replied as he spotted Chris, Abuela and Pepa already in the back seat.
“So, are you all planning to remain in Austin?” he questioned as he pulled out.
“Pepa and myself are planning to travel on to El Paso in order to visit family,” Abuela offered as she gently squeezed Christopher’s arm in acknowledgement.
“Understandable,” TK nodded in understanding as he glanced over toward Eddie in order to check his response to the news.
“I’m just thankful that we’re all out and that we’re safe,” Eddie offered as he glanced in the mirror to check on his son, “we’ll figure everything else out in time. Right, mijo?”
“Right dad,” Christopher tried to infuse happiness into his voice but Eddie could tell that he was still upset about leaving LA and all of their friends behind.
It was just after 10 in the morning when Eddie, TK and Christopher walked into the hospital on a mission to locate Buck.
“Hello,” TK smiled as he approached the information desk, “I am trying to find a patient that was brought in this morning…”
“Name?”
“Evan Buckley,” TK replied as he glanced over at Christopher who immediately popped up in his father’s arms at Buck’s name.
“He’s in room 321,” the charge nurse replied as he pointed toward the elevators.
“Thank you,” TK called over his shoulder as he led the way to the elevator and caught the slew of questions emitting from suddenly aminated Christopher.
“Buck’s here!” Christopher exclaimed; the joy was apparent in his voice.
“Yes, mijo.”
“Did you know Buck was here?” the hurt was obvious by the tone of his question.
“Yes, mijo,” his amusement at the betrayal in his son’s behavior was highly apparent to TK who was struggling to cover the smile that was threatening to form on his face.
“Why didn’t you say anything?!”
“We needed it be kept a secret until we arrived in Texas,” Eddie revealed to his son as they rode the elevator up to the third floor of the hospital and headed toward Buck’s room, 321.
“Ok,” Chris sighed in annoyance at having been kept away from his best friend, “no more secrets, right dad?”
“Right,” Eddie smiled as they stopped in front of Buck’s room and ran into his doctor.
“Hello,” Doctor Preston greeted them as they nearly crashed into each other, “I’m Doctor Preston, I’m Mr. Buckley’s doctor.
“Hi,” Eddie’s hand squeezed on Chris’s shoulder lightly, “I’m Eddie, and this is Christopher.”
TK followed the group inside of the hospital room where a now awake Buck was frowning at them in confusion, he could tell that he was still groggy from the medication that had been used in order to knock him out for the transport flight and that it would still take a few hours before he was more aware of what was going on around him.
“Superman,” the injured firefighter whispered as he reached out for Chris as well as a questioning look at TK’s appearance in his hospital room, “TK? Wha…? How are you here?” he frowned as Chris burrowed his face into his side, pleading with his father to place him on the bed next to his Bucky.
“What do you remember?” Eddie questioned as he moved forward in order to lift Chris onto the bed next to Buck.
“The fire,” Buck’s gaze shot down to Chris as he glanced between the two firefighters, “I remember everything, but how are you inside the hospital? They don’t allow visitors…” his voice trailed off; the confusion was evident in his voice.
“We’re not in California,” Eddie stated evenly as he took a seat in the chair that TK had pulled over to the bed’s side.
“What?” Buck frowned as he pushed himself up into a half-sitting position, slightly dislodging Chris from his position at his side, “where are we?”
“Texas!” Chris provided the answer with a smile on his face, “we brought you home with us,” he continued as Buck’s confusion grew more apparent at the information that was being provided to him, “but not El Paso though,” he frowned in deep thought.
“Chris, let’s go get some hot chocolate?” offered TK as he helped Chris down from the bed and handed him his crutches, “you two need to talk,” he stressed as he led Chris out of the room and towards the nurse’s station.
“Eddie?”
“Don’t…”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t be mad,” Eddie sighed as he leaned forward in order to rest his arms on the edge of the hospital bed as he started to explain the entire situation to a completely stunned Buck who’s face contorted as though he was struggling to hold back his laughter.
“Your joking?” he interrupted when Eddie finally finished telling him the about their arrival in Austin, “how did they…WHY did they?”
“I don’t know,” Eddie groaned as he lowered his head to rest in his hands, “it’s the military, and when Abuela and Pepa realized that you were included on my dependent list, they just kept quiet since they didn’t want to risk you being removed from the transport flight.”
“That explains my forced nap, then.”
“The medic said they didn’t want to risk you waking up before the plane landed,” Eddie offered as he forced himself to look at Buck directly in the eyes, “he said that it was a grey area and they didn’t want to risk you coming too and saying something mid transport.”
“As long as I was out, then I was considered an invalid,” Buck broke down simply as the realization slowly dawned, “I didn’t have a voice or a choice in the matter, I had to go where ever my guardian was going.”
“Right.”
“Maddie?”
“Oh, she’s mad,” Eddie revealed as he handed over his cell that had a string of text messages from her already pulled up in order for Buck to read through.
Buck was silent as he read the messages from his sister and her side of the story about what had happened when he was transported out of the hospital and flown out of the city, once he had read through the string of texts he messaged her directly in order to let her know that he was awake and wasn’t mad at her for what had happened while he had been at the hospital, “they’re going to apply for a visa in order to come to Texas,” he revealed as he passed the phone back to Eddie, “she said that their going to keep reapplying until it gets approved. No matter how long that it will take them”
“Good,” Eddie sighed in relief, “I’ll check to see if there is anything that can be done at this end in order to help them in the application process.”
Nearly eight months later the 126 was returning to the firehouse after responding to a hotel fire were Eddie and Buck had to fast rope down the side of the twenty-story building with two trapped victims. The pair had quickly fallen back into the easy rhythm they had formed when they had started working together at the 118 in LA.
“That was insane,” Mateo called out as they piled out of the fire truck, “Can you teach me how to do that?”
Marjan looked offended at his request, “Probie!”
Eddie bumped shoulders with Buck as the pair exchanged considering looks before they returned their attention on the junior member of the station, “We’ll see,” he countered as his attention was drawn to a gray sedan pulling up in front of the firehouse, “guests,” he gestured toward the open entrance into the vehicle bay.
“I’ll check it out,” Judd stated as he and Owen headed forward in order to intercept the unknown male approaching the group.
“Why do you think they’re here?” Paul questioned as both Eddie and Buck slipped out of sight behind the fire truck, even though the pair had been there for just under a year, they still had been ingrained into fearing the unknown and authority figures. For the longest time they only trusted Carlos on the Austin Police Department and his father, Gabriel who was a member of the Texas Rangers.
“I don’t know,” Marjan frowned as Own lead one of the men into the firehouse while the other remained with their vehicle.
“Eddie, Buck, it’s fine,” Owen called out in assurance.
“Yes, Cap?” Buck asked as he and Eddie emerged from where they had been blocked from view by the fire truck.
“My name is Michael Slone and I work with Child Services,” he introduced himself as he handed over a file in his hands, “Four unaccompanied minors will be arriving at the Texas border late this week, and they all have both of your names in a letter in their files.”
Eddie frowned as he opened the folder and he could hear Buck’s stunned inhalation of air as they instantly recognized Denny and Nia Wilson in addition to the names of the two other children May and Harry Wilson, “What…? he trailed off in confusion as he passed the file back over to Michael.
“They are being brought here by a Child’s Immigration group called Angels Beyond Borders,” he paused momentarily as he reopened the file in order to check the information about their arrival at the Texas’ border, “they were brought into the organization by a LAPD Sergeant Athena Nash, who reported that the children’s guardians were located in Austin, Texas.”
Buck and Eddie had an entire conversation in the next moment when they locked eyes, and came to the realization that Athena and the 118 had figured out how to get the kids out of the remains of California without going through the visa process for them.
Buck opened his mouth and closed it a few times in order to act his part before making it appear that he was being forced to ask the next question, “When…?” he trailed off questioning.
Michael flipped to the back page and nodded in understanding, “The representative reported that the kids have no biological relatives remaining in California and that according to the custody paperwork proving to us they will be released to you as soon as we finish processing them all after their arrival here in Austin.”
“Will they all be sent here together?” Eddie questioned hesitantly; the worry was evident in his voice.
“Yes, they will all be transported here together on the same flight,” they were quickly assured.
“Alright,” Buck nodded his head in agreement, unable to believe that soon he and Eddie would have May, Harry, Denny and Nia with them here, safe in Texas along with Christopher.
“Thank you,” Eddie uttered as he watched the CPS representative walk out of the station in silence.
“What’s going on?” TK questioned as he emerged from the locker room.
“We got four more kids coming in,” Buck stated blankly as he and Eddie shared stunned gazes.
“What?” TK frowned slightly at the comment, “kids?”
“The 118 managed to get their kids out of California by claiming that their families are deceased.”
“How do you know they’re not?”
“The officer who brought them to the organization’s attention is the mother of two of them,” Eddie revealed, “and they have fake birth certificates.”
“Yeah,” Buck frowned in thought, “May’s been listed as being younger than she actually is.”
“Why?” Paul questioned.
“To get her out,” Marjan replied, “minor children are being transported to relatives as long as they’re under the age of 18.”
“Cool,” Mateo smiled, “I love kids.”
“We’re going to make it,” Buck whispered as he wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist and tugged him into a hug.
“Yeah,” Eddie replied quietly as the rest of the 126 started arguing about who was going to take in the incoming kids, “are we going to stop them?” he muttered as he tucked his head into Buck’s neck.
“Nah,” Buck replied, “families fight.”
“Buck,” Eddie said almost to quietly, “why didn’t Maddie and Chimney send the baby?”
“I don’t know,” the worry was evident in Buck’s voice as they glanced over toward their Governmental issued cell phones that every citizen in the state had received not long after the cell towers had gone down over six months prior along with the internet. They hadn’t heard from anyone at the 118 since their last frantic messages as the lines were permanently cut in order to prevent any form all rebellion from their citizens, “hopefully May will know why.”
“Ok,” Eddie nodded in agreement as they headed toward the firetruck as the alarms went off again.
***