Chapter Text
***
Buck watched as the police cruisers came to a screeching stop in front of the station, he knew that this day was going to come but he just wished that it wouldn’t have been this day he thought as he glanced over his shoulder at Christopher who was being held back by Eddie whose face was dawning in realization as to what this meant.
“Evan Buckley?” Ranger Kilraven demanded as he approached with a silent Athena and Gabriel standing next to him.
“Yes.”
“Firefighter Buckley you are under arrest for impeding a police investigation,” Kilraven motioned for Athena to cuff the silent firefighter, “You have the right to remain silent…”
Buck tuned out the Ranger as he stated his rights as he glanced over his shoulder at Eddie and Chris who were watching in silence, Eddie was already pulling out his cell phone and making the call to the lawyer that the pair had placed on retainer after the Rangers last visit. Buck would be out on bail by the end of the night.
“What is going on?” Hen asked as she came to a stop next to Eddie as she watched in stunned disbelief as Athena placed a handcuffed Buck into the back of her police car.
“Buck got arrested?” Chimney was stunned as he came up to stand next to Hen, already grabbing his cell phone in order to call Maddie in order to let her know what had just gone down with her brother.
“Alright, people, get back to work,” Bobby ordered as he had been given a heads up by Athena about the arrest warrant for Buck, “Eddie, who’s picking up Christopher?”
Eddie glanced over at the Captain in stunned disbelief, “Buck,” the firefighter stated bluntly, referring to the fact that Buck was actually getting off early.
Bobby’s eyes widen slightly at the reply, “Buck was…”
“Buck was going to watch me since Dad’s on shift,” Chris supplied, referring to the fact that Eddie was only half the way through his 24-hour shift, “Tia Pepa had to take Abuela to the doctors.”
“Carla…”
“Out of town,” Eddie countered before Bobby could finish the question.
“Emergency contact?”
“Buck,” Chris piped up.
***
Meanwhile, Buck was sitting in an interrogation room, he was drawn out of his internal musing when the door opened and two Marshalls entered along with Athena, “Hey ‘thena,” he waved slightly as he glanced over the two unknowns.
“Buck,” Athena nodded her head in greeting as she went to introduce the two Marshalls with her, “this is US Marshall Bixby and US Marshall Quincy.”
“Hello,” Buck smiled as he leaned back slightly in his chair, “lawyer.”
“Buck!” Athena was frustrated at the firefighter.
“Lawyer,” he repeated as the Marshalls were interrupted in their response as someone started to knocked on the window drawing their attention, causing Athena to leave the room in order to find out what was going on outside the interview room.
“Firefighter Buckley,” Bixby started, “you know that you are impeding a Federal investigation?”
“Lawyer,” he repeated, damn it he wondered, the lawyer should’ve been there already if Eddie had called at the station like they had planned.
“Buck, your lawyer is here,” Athena came in with a silent figure following closely behind her.
“You weren’t interviewing my client without me, were you?” she demanded, as she sat down in the offered chair.
“We were just informing Firefighter Buckley that he was impeding a Federal investigation,” Bixby stated simply, as he held up his hands in defeat, “we have a missing police officer and Firefighter Buckley here is refusing to tell us what he knows.”
“Is that so,” the lawyer countered with a hidden ease, “it is my understanding that the officer in question, is listed as being deceased?”
“Officer Reyes was placed into Witness Protection in order to help save his life,” Quincy countered swiftly, “there were multiple attempts made on his life, we had to move quickly in order to prevent his death.”
“Be that is it maybe,” the lawyer countered, “how was Firefighter Buckley suppose to know anything about that? He attended the funeral service for his friend, and then said friend appeared on his doorstep. I think that anyone would be mildly shocked at a deceased person reappearing to them.”
“That…”
“Firefighter had no cause to report to the Marshall Service, he didn’t know anyone was looking for Officer Reyes,” the lawyer continued as though they hadn’t just been interrupted, “and it is my understanding that when questioned Firefighter Buckley reported that Officer Reyes had appeared at the 118, and…”
“Firefighter Buckley mislead us by diverting attention to New York…”
“No, he stated that Officer Reyes had mentioned New York in his presence, how was he to know where he was planning to go?” the lawyer continued as they pulled out a copy of the police report in question, “it sure sounds like the Rangers and the LAPD assumed that Officer Reyes was planning to GO-TO New York not that he had just arrived from New York.”
“Be that as it may be…”
“That may be so,” the lawyer interrupted hotly, “Firefighter Buckley was not aware of any investigation into the status of Officer Reyes. In fact, the only communication he had received about the situation was officers asking if he had heard from former Austin Paramedic TK Strand.”
“You’re correct,” Athena replied as she realized that Buck had no way of knowing what was happening with Reyes unless someone had informed him of the situation. Which no one had.
Bixby frowned at Athena’s statement, “where is Officer Reyes?” he demanded yet again.
“Why are you so obsessed with Carlos?” Buck frowned, “and why the repeated visits asking about TK?”
“Without Officer Reyes testimony, a seriously bad man is going to walk,” Quincy revealed, ignoring his partners demand for him to stop, “without Reyes our entire case is non-existent.”
“That’s why you were looking for TK,” Buck realized as he exchanged stunned looks with his lawyer, “Carlos won’t testify without TK and you don’t know where he is, THAT’S why Carlos left and why you’re looking for him.”
“Yes,” Bixby acknowledged finally to the shock of the people in the interview room.
“Be that as it may be,” Buck replied, “at this moment I have no idea where Carlos is.”
“Damn it,” Quincy cursed as he pushed his seat back and stormed out of the interview room with his partner following closely behind him.
“Can my client leave?”
“Yes,” Athena nodded as she motioned for the pair to proceed her out of the room and then lead them out of the police station, “Buck, stay out of trouble, you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Buck waved goodbye as he and his lawyer headed down toward the waiting car, “thanks for the help.”
“It’s the least I could do,” he replied as he glanced behind them back toward the silently watching Athena, “after all you saved my life when my car went off that cliff.”
“Right,” Buck shook hands again as he got into the nearby taxi, “hopefully I won’t need your help again anytime soon.”
“Good luck.”
By the time Buck arrived back at the 118, Eddie’s shift was just finishing, “Eddie! Christopher!” he called out as he emerged from the taxi.
“Buck!”
“Bucky!”
“Superman,” Buck lifted Chris up in his arms with ease as he gave Eddie a quick rundown of what had occurred at the police station.
“Dang,” Eddie muttered as he glanced toward the approaching police car, “Athena,” he gestured toward the police Sergeant who had just gotten out of her vehicle and was currently walking toward them in a single-minded purpose on her face.
“Athena,” Eddie nodded his head in greeting.
“Eddie, Christopher,” she turned slightly in order to glare at Buck, “where is he?” she demanded.
“What?”
“Reyes,” she countered, “you and that fancy lawyer of your side-stepped the questions, Buckley.”
“So?”
“Where is Reyes?” she demanded as she reached back toward her cuffs.
“I don’t know,” Buck countered as he shifted Chris over to Eddie’s arms, “what is with you guys, why are you so obsessed with me? I have told you everything that I know.”
“Not everything,” she countered.
“Yes, I have,” he replied as he spotted Bobby storming toward them, “leave me alone before I get a restraining order.”
“What is going on here?” demanded Bobby.
“Ask your wife Cap,” Eddie commented as he gave the 118 Captain a quick rundown of what was going on, “she refuses to believe us when we tell her we don’t know where Carlos is.”
“You know where he is!” she twirled around in order to face Eddie who jerked back slightly in order to prevent her from accidently hitting Christopher.
“Back off!” Eddie ordered as he moved his body in order to shield Chris from the enraged officer.
“Athena, back off now!” yelled Bobby as he moved between his men and his wife, “I don’t know what your problem is here Athena, but you need to back off and leave before I have you forceable removed from my station.”
“Bobby…” she trailed off in disbelief.
“Stay away from the 118,” he ordered harshly, “until this situation with Reyes is done, you can’t come back here.”
“Bobby…”
“No, I can’t have you attacking my men in some misbelief that they know something more then what they have already reported everything that they know to the LAPD, LAFD, APD, AFD and the US Marshalls!”
“They did?”
“Yes,” Bobby countered as he recalled the heated argument that the Chief had with Athena’s boss about them arresting Buck on trumped up charges, “what you guys are doing is called harassment, and it ends today.”
“Bobby…”
“Cap….”
“No one in law enforcement is allowed to question any member of the 118 about Officer Reyes or Paramedic Strand again,” Bobby revealed, “today was the final straw, this is over!”
“No…”
“Yes, stalking, staking out the station, our homes, accident scenes, our children’s schools!” Bobby paused as he watched as stunned disbelief appear on both Eddie and Buck’s faces, apparently neither had been aware of what exactly had been going on over the past year, “repeatedly questioning my people, this is over Athena.”
“You can’t…”
“This is coming down straight from the Chief,” Bobby sighed in defeat, “go talk to your boss if you don’t believe me.”
“I will,” she interjected, “and I’ll be back!”
“No, you won’t,” Bobby sighed as he watched his wife storm away from the station and peal out of her parking space.
“Cap, is it true?”
“Yes,” he glanced at Buck in concern, “it’s over. No more questions.”
***