Work Text:
***
Buck died once before in an isolated village in the country of Peru, where upon his reawakening he discovered the existence of an ancient bloodline called the Immortalis, or as modern man called them: the Immortals. A quark of an ancient line that claimed to have been cursed by a witch to right the wrongs of their fellow man. Of course, as soon as he heard the story from the village elder, he ran. Evan Buckley, bartender vanished into the night and in his place Buck Buckley, LAFD firefighter was born.
But as his luck would have it, he couldn’t outrun his fate.
Evan gasped as he came awake in the funeral parlor wearing a form fitting suit, “What?” he gazed around in utter confusion as the memories of his last and final call had ended, “I died,” he closed his eyes as a wave of sorrow flooded through his mind for if he had been brought to the funeral home then he had been declared deceased some time ago and there was no way that he could go back to his old life. He felt heartbroken that he had just reunited with his parents only to lose them such a sort time later, his thoughts drifted to his sister and baby niece and the grief threaten to boil over at the realization that his sister would be forced to endure the death of a second brother.
As his thoughts drifted over the people that he would be forced to leave behind, he jolted mid-step at the sudden realization that he had not only lost his family and friends but he had lost Eddie and Christopher, and that Christopher would be forced to deal with another death in his young life.
“Buck…” a very familiar voice called out hesitantly.
Buck froze at the sound of Eddie’s voice, “Eddie,” he whispered as he swung around completely in instinct, “how…” how long have you been there, he wondered silently to himself.
“Bucky?” Christopher frowned as he emerged from behind his father, his eyes widen in stunned disbelief at the completely unsuspected appearance of a breathing and walking around Buck.
“Christopher,” Buck sighed as he glanced between the pair in fear, would they turn him in? Were there scientists coming to take him away in order to perform experiments on him?
“Buck,” Eddie raised his hands in surrender since he could see the fear dancing across his formerly deceased friend’s face, “it’s only us,” he gestured toward a confused Christopher who had tilted his head slightly as he studied Buck in mild confusion.
“Bucky,” Chris dropped his crutches and stumbled into Buck’s waiting arms with tears finally falling as the stress of the past week finally broke through the dam he had placed on his emotions, “missed you,” he mumbled as he tucked his head into Buck’s neck and fall into a deep slumber with the hands clutching at Buck’s shirt.
“How?” Eddie shook his head as he heard the director of the funeral homecoming down the hall toward them, “go to the truck,” he ordered harshly as he pressed his car keys into Buck’s hand as Eddie grabbed the lid of the now empty coffin and closed it, in order to disguise the fact that it was now empty, “go,” he ordered as he gently lifted Christopher back into his arms and gently pushed Buck toward the back entrance, “we’ll meet you at the truck in five minutes,” he promised as he watched as Buck walked quickly down the nearby corridor and toward the back entrance.
“Mr. Diaz?” the director called out as he entered the parlor, he lowered his voice when he spotted the child asleep within the firefighter’s arms, “are you ready?” he questioned as he moved toward the coffin and moved to lock the lid into place.
“Yes,” Eddie nodded as he watched as the director secured the empty coffin, but Eddie’s mind was swirling into a thousand directions as he struggled to force himself to keep his face blank, just how in the world was Buck alive, he wondered to himself?
True to his promise to Buck, he was walking out of the funeral home in less then five minutes, Eddie spotted a silent Buck sitting in the back seat as he watched as Eddie gently buckle in the finally sleeping Christopher into his car seat. This was the first time since the child had learned of Buck’s death that he was sleeping peacefully and not jerking awake from nightmares every few seconds.
“Eddie….”
Eddie jerked up at the sound of his name, “how?” he whispered even as he forced himself to close the door and move around the truck toward the driver’s seat, “just how?”
Buck kept his attention on the peacefully sleeping Christopher as he told his friend the truth of hi situation as Eddie made his way back to his house.
“That’s just…” Eddie shook his head in disbelief as he placed the truck into park as he twisted around in his seat in order to gaze at his fellow firefighter in stunned amazement.
“Freak of nature?”
“Amazing,” Eddie countered, “I thought that we lost you, we both did,” he glanced over at the still slumbering Christopher whose hand was clutched in Buck’s own, “thank god that we didn’t.”
“I can’t come back,” Buck blurted out as he ducked down in order to avoid anyone from accidently spotting him inside Eddie’s truck, “I can’t…. I’m DEAD,” he lowered his voice in order to prevent Christopher from overhearing them speaking, “Evan Buckley died in that fire, there was a funeral and even an…autopsy!”
“I figured that out already,” Eddie replied as he waited for Buck to calm down before proposing what they should do next, “so where do we go next?” he asked hesitantly.
Buck jerked up at his proposal, “Eddie!” he exclaimed loudly before lowering his voice at Christopher’s quiet mumbling, “I can’t ask you to give up your life, your job, your family!”
“You weren’t asking,” Eddie interjected with an ease that he hadn’t felt since right before that final call, “I already put in notice with Bobby that I couldn’t remain at the 118 after what had happened…that I couldn’t bring myself to continue to work for him after…after what had happened.”
“Eddie…”
“And as for my family,” he paused before revealing the heartbreaking news, “they said that maybe what was happened was a good thing,” at Buck’s confused look he explained further, “that Chris was too attached to you and that he needed to be with his blood family members, since that was who would be taking care of him if something did happen to me as well,” at Buck’s look of dawning horror, “Abuela and Pepa both said it to Chris’ face, that it was a good thing,” he spat out as he struggled to contain his out of control emotions.
“Eddie, they were WRONG,” Buck stressed as he ran his hands through Chris’ wayward curls, “family isn’t always those who are blood related, and sometimes family is by choice and is not made by a biological connection.”
Eddie smiled at his response, “and that’s what Chris told them afterwards he demanded that we leave abuela’s house and go home.”
“You’re our family,” Christopher mumbled as he slowly came awake and grinned over at Buck, “I told dad that you wouldn’t leave us,” he revealed as he involuntary tighten his grip on Buck’s hand.
Buck smiled at the father and son as tears streamed down his face at the sacrifice that the pair was willing to make in order to follow him on his next journey, “are you absolutely positive?” he questioned as he glanced between the pair only to be greeted by matching smiles as Chris started to offer ideas on where the trio could move to, “thank you,” he whispered softly as they remained in the truck as they discussed some possible plans for them well into the night.
***