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It happens so fast that Eddie’s not sure what’s happened.
One minute he’s trying to help Christopher who has decided he doesn’t want to go down the slide after all and it’s too muddy to walk down the slope without his crutches in case he slips and gets his pants dirty. He doesn’t want Denny to laugh at him, Eddie thinks, as he rolls his eyes at Karen and walks over to help.
He’s off duty, he’s wearing the sneakers Buck took one look at when he moved in and tried to burn. Maybe that’s why. Or he’s distracted by the way Christopher wriggles a little as he picks him up. Or he’s just got really bad footing and he’s not really concentrating on where he’s going.
But he feels his foot start to slide as he makes his way down the muddy slope and he’s falling and Christopher is in his arms and he can’t let him get hurt. He manages to rotate as he’s falling so Christopher is on his chest when he lands and he hears the snap rather than feels anything. At least to start off with.
Maybe that’s because his world has tinted black, and it takes him a few seconds to try to reorientate where he is and what’s going on. He comes back a sense at a time.
He can smell the newly cut grass that he must be lying on. He can hear Christopher, who is screaming, is he hurt? Is he in pain? He blinks his eyes open and he can see he’s lying on the ground at the most awkward angle, Christopher is half on his chest and half on the ground and he’s crying, he can see Karen running in the distance towards them both, her phone already to her ear.
He tries to sit up, because he needs to get his arms around Christopher, needs to comfort him and then he feels it, the pain radiating all the way up his leg. He grits his teeth against the pain because screaming himself won’t help Christopher who is in bits. “Baby, baby, it’s ok, it’s ok,” he manages to say and he opens his arms and pulls Christopher to his chest, holding him tight.
And then he can see it. His ankle. It’s definitely broken. He can see more than he wanted to see of his own body. He hides his head in Christopher’s hair and tries to just breathe and not pass out.
Karen’s called 911, they’re on the way. Denny is hugging Christopher on the bench nearby, because Eddie’s so cold, so numb he can’t even feel his arms right now. At least the pain in his leg is going, even if the medic in him knows that’s a bad thing. Karen has covered him with her coat and his own jacket and she’s holding his hand and talking to him. He can hear sirens in the distance, knows help is coming. “Buck?” he manages to say, “Buck, Chris…”
“It’s ok, honey, it’s ok, it’s all sorted,” Karen tells him.
He passes out when the paramedics get there and move him a millimetre to look at his ankle.
Buck’s at work when he gets the phonecall. It’s Karen’s name that flashes up on the screen and he’s immediately concerned. Why would Karen be ringing him and not Hen? He looks over to where Hen is sitting at the kitchen table, next to Bobby and makes his way over as he answers the phone. “Hello?”
“Don’t panic,” Karen says and Buck feels his world tilt on its axis. “He’s ok, he’s ok, he’s fine. He’s just hurt a little bit.”
“Who?” Buck gets out as he collapses into a chair at the table, seeing the way both Hen and Bobby jerk their heads up at his tone of voice.
“Eddie.”
Athena takes him to the hospital, because Bobby and Hen are still mid shift. Maddie’s going to come too, she says and gives him no room to complain, leaving Jee with Chim. He’s a mess, shaking and trembling in the car. Karen hadn’t said much, just that Eddie had broken his ankle, badly, and he was going to be in surgery for a few hours but Christopher needed him and he’d want to be there when Eddie got out and he doesn’t know anything else. How did Eddie break his ankle at the park? Bad enough to be in surgery for a few hours? Did Christopher see it all?
Athena rests a hand on his arm as he twitches in the car, desperate to get there as fast as he can. She understands, he knows, but it doesn’t help the overwhelming need to be there. “He’ll be ok,” she says, “he’s in the best place.”
“He has to be ok,” Buck whispers. He knows it’s just a broken ankle, painful but not life threatening, but Eddie is in surgery and he’s going insane because he wasn’t there to help.
He runs out of Athena’s car practically before it stops and races to the waiting room where he sees Karen, sitting with Denny and a pale Christopher in between them both. When he sees Buck, Christopher struggles to his feet, leaving his crutches behind and holds his arms out. “Buck, Bucky,” he sobs and he’s crying and Buck’s got him in his arms before he can even think of anything else.
He presses Christopher’s head to his neck, holding him close and trying to soothe the shaking body he’s holding, his lips lingering in kisses against the curly mop of hair.
Looking up, he’s aware of the others now too. Karen moves closer, nods at Athena who rests a hand on Buck’s back to help keep him steady. “What happened?” he asks her, keeping his voice low to not disturb the sobbing boy in his arms any more than he can.
“He saved me, Dad saved me,” Christopher must hear them because he lifts his blotchy face from Buck’s neck to tell him, his fingers clutching Buck’s shirt tightly. Buck sucks in a breath and kisses Christopher’s cheek, trying to comfort him.
“He’s a hero,” he says simply and Christopher nods and lies back against Buck’s shoulder.
When he turns back to her, Karen has tears in her eyes too. “He was helping Christopher off the slide and he slipped over. Saved Christopher from being hurt but broke his ankle, badly, Buck, there was bone. Christopher saw it all, he was really shook up, he’s been asking for you ever since. Eddie is in surgery, they’re pining him up.”
Buck’s head is spinning, of course Eddie would save Christopher from being hurt, he can’t be angry at all, but he’s scared, so scared. He can’t let Christopher know, he has to be brave for his boy.
“Dad will be fine,” Buck whispers into Christopher’s hair, sitting down and pulling him into his lap, his arms tight around the little body he loves as much as the man in surgery. “He’ll match me, now, we’ll both have scars on our legs.”
Christopher sniffles as he clings to Buck, calming down now he’s here. Buck sweeps a hand up his spine, looking up and seeing how fondly Athena is looking at him. “Can you find out how long he’ll be in surgery? Please?”
She nods once, touches his arm and then Christopher’s head and then goes to find out and Buck settles in for a long wait.
Eddie blinks awake, the memories of what happened flooding back to him. He’s aware of a hand clasping his and turning his head he sees Buck, in a chair next to the bed, fast asleep. He has Christopher in his arms, both of them snoring lightly, Christopher’s face pale and his hand clutched tightly into Buck’s shirt. His heart aches for them, for the worry they must have gone through.
He twitches the blanket and sees the large cast on his ankle. He’d guessed it would be surgery, months of rehabilitation, but it’s there and he can feel his toes again and he heaves a sigh of relief.
He must disturb Buck because when he looks back, he sees beautiful blue eyes staring at him. “Hi,” he whispers and Buck’s face breaks into a smile.
“Hi,” he whispers back and he juggles Christopher in his arms so he doesn’t wake him when he leans over and presses a dry kiss to Eddie’s lips. “How are you?”
“I feel like I was hit by a bus,” Eddie admits, knowing Buck so well that if he’d said he was fine he'd have been told off for lying. “How is he, though? Buck, he screamed so much and I couldn’t help him. He wanted you, I heard him. Is he ok?”
Buck smiles at Christopher, one hand smoothing down his back and the other hanging onto Eddie, like he’s scared to let go. “He’s ok. He was upset, but he’s better now. He thinks you’re a hero.”
“M’no hero, I’m a dad,” Eddie says, slurring a little because he’s so tired.
Buck smiles again and kisses him once more. “You are a hero, to me and to our son. I love you, so much baby. Go to sleep, we’ll be here when you wake up properly.”
Eddie wants to tell Buck how much he appreciates him, how much the fact that he’s looked after Christopher means so much, but he can’t get much more out. He’s slipping into darkness again, but he manages to squeeze Buck’s hand. “Love you,” he murmurs and he feels the press of lips against his forehead as he drifts off.
He’s safe, he’s going to be fine. He has his boys next to him, after all.