Chapter Text
It was almost the end of shift for one Evan Buckley, and he was ready to leave. Hearing the uncontrollable teasing from his friends about Eddie and Ana's recent date was killing his already low mood. Luckily he knew precisely the thing to raise his spirit. It was about midday, and Maddie was still home on maternity leave, so he decided to visit his sister and baby mango. As soon as he looked at his watch to check the time, Hen chose to call him to play along with the teasing.
Buck looked over at Eddie and said, "Edmundo… I know it's been a while, but really? You're on a date, and you guys are doing math?"
"Is this the same man that had his date ending up dating his roommate?"
"Aw, he got you there, Buck," Chim laughed.
"You know what," he looked at his watch, "I don't have to be here for this attack because my shift just ended. Have fun for the rest of your 24-hour shift, guys," Buck laughed.
"Wait, Buck, you know we're just joking with you, right?" Chim started.
"Of course I know; please, Chim, if I felt offended, you would be having a very nice talk with my sister." Buck shrugged. And funnily enough, Chim's phone started ringing.
"Wait, what," Chim said as he leaned over the railing of the stairs and his eyes widened, "Buck come back; what did you do?"
As Buck walked down, he said, "answer your phone, Chim, bye guys." he waved.
Buck walked out of the fire station lockers walked to the parking lot where his Jeep was. He put his duffle bag in the passenger seat and his phone in the phone holder on his ac vent. Buck gently placed his face on the steering wheel as he thought about being left behind once again. He took five minutes to himself before calling his sister and carefully pulled out of the parking lot into LA traffic. As he was waiting for her to pick up, he thought more about the fact that he hadn't seen Christoper in so long. He also thought about how, since Ana had been around, he hadn't seen the Diaz boys in a while. It hurt, but in true Buck fashion, he pushed his feelings down and wished the best for the couple.
"Hello?"
"Hey Maddie, you're home, right?" Buck asked.
"Yeah, Jee and I are here watching a Christmas movie."
"Maddie, it isn't even close to Christmas."
"I have to start her early, you know; it's never too early to watch Christmas movies."
"Sure, Maddie," he smiled, "Anyways, I was calling to see if I could call a Buckley Night today."
"Yes, you can," she started. "Jee is going to love her first Buckley Night."
"Duh, you know she will, I'll stop and get some-" All Maddie could hear was the sound of cars hitting one another and then silence.
She called out, "Buck?"
"Buck, are you okay? Oh my." Maddie started tearing up and watched her hands begin to tremble. She put Jee-Yun down on her playmat and got up to grab the house phone to call 911. As the phone rang, she continued to call out to Buck.
"911. What's your emergency?" a familiar voice asked.
"Josh, Josh, oh my god!!" Maddie started to hyperventilate.
"Maddie, breathe. What happened?"
"It's Buck, he was." she took a deep breath, "He was driving, and then I heard a crash."
"He was in the pile-up?"
"The pile-up?"
"Turn on the Tv." Maddie got up and walked to the tv to turn it on. "Oh my god."
"We've already had multiple calls about it and the 118 and the 217, and they have already been called and are on route."
"Okay, okay."
"I'll alert the team, okay?"
"Yes, please do." Maddie breathed out.
"He's gonna be okay, Maddie."
"I hope he is."
~15 minutes before at the fire station.~
As Buck walked down, he said, "answer your phone, Chim, bye guys." he waved. Chim answered his phone and walked away to the bunk room to take the call.
"Eddie?"
"Yeah, Bobby?"
"Come over here, help me cook lunch."
"Bobby, I know Buck's already told you, but I can burn water."
Bobby chuckled, "Luckily, we're making omelets; you can cut up vegetables, right?"
"Yes, that's the one thing I can do. Haha." Eddie grabs the cutting board and knife and starts to chop the peppers, tomatoes, and onions.
"So, you and Ana."
"Please, Cap," Eddie points the knife slightly, "I just got Hen and Chim off my case."
"No, I know. I just want to know how you feel about it all."
"I- I don't know, I'm trying to move slowly for Chris, but I don't think that he likes me dating. Did you know that he ran away to Buck's house?" Eddie scoffs.
"I did."
"You did?"
"Yeah, I did, you know Buck. He thought he overstepped, so I told him that it was okay and that you weren't upset. Which you aren't right?"
"You are right; I'm glad that Buck was there."
"Eddie… I'm going to ask you to be brutally honest with me right now."
"Um, okay."
"Do you see you and Ana being together for the rest of your life?"
"Man, you're not pulling any punches, are you?"
"Answer the question, Eddie."
"I honestly don't know. My parents would love her."
"But do you love her?"
"Bobby…" Eddie trailed off
"Edmundo? Are you here?" Ana called out
"We'll finish this later."
"Okay. Hi Ana." Eddie walked over and kissed her cheek.
"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go to Lunch during your break."
"Uh, sure, if it's okay with you, Cap?"
"30 minutes, Eddie. Have fun." Bobby answered.
"Alright, let's go, I just have to-" Eddie stopped as the alarm went off. "Nevermind."
"It's fine, Edmundo. I can wait here."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I just heard over the radio that we're going to a multiple car pile-up." Hen said as she ran down the stairs to the lockers to get on her gear.
"Oh."
"I got to go." Eddie started jogging down the stairs.
"Be careful," Ana said.
Eddie and the rest of the team separated Eddie, Chim, Hen, and Bobby in the engine, Probie in the ambulance, and the rest in the ladder truck. They all put on their headphones and got ready to listen to Bobby.
"Okay people, we have a multi-car pile up over on West and 4th street. A truck lost control and well you can guess the damage. Eddie and Hen, you guys will work in the middle and work your way to the end. Chim and John, you'll work on just the bottom cars. The 217 has the truck driver and the cars next to the truck. The Captain from the 217 and I will be working at the command center to connect with the dispatch center. Tag people that are dead and tag people that have small injuries. If and when you find anyone that has life-threatening injuries radio to base and then take care of it. Do you guys understand?" Bobby explained.
"Yes, Cap"
"Yup!"
"Yeah, but guys, does anyone else feel weird?"
"Weird like what Hen," Eddie asked.
"I don't know; something just isn't right." Hen explained.
"Well, Hen, I hope that your gut is wrong, no offense."
"None taken Chim."
They pulled up to the scene and saw how bad the pile-up was. There were cars flipped over, crashed into each other; it was overall a horrible scene that was going to stick with them for a while.