Chapter Text
A/N 'Mount May is about to erupt.' This was mentioned in a comment by AresDesciple. I loved it and asked to use it. They gave me permission.
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"Look, May, you don't understand what's going on. What Buck's been up to?" Bobby held out his hands to try to placate her.
Athena winced. She knew her daughter and Mount May was about to erupt. But she wasn't getting involved, not yet anyway.
"Buck, Buck's been up to things. He's the guy that would do anything to help anyone. You trusted people who wanted to see him hurt," May yelled as she walked closer. "You believed in them without giving someone you knew better a chance to explain."
"Chim and Maddie, they're–."
"Oh yes, let's talk about Chim and the horrible jokes he makes about Buck. If you say Maddie would know him better, I'm going to hit you. You not believing mom is disgusting. So either you don't believe in her, or you just hate Buck that much."
"You're young, and you don't understand. The Buckley's…" Bobby looked over at Athena.
"Yes, the Buckley's?" Her arms crossed over her chest, and she glared at her husband.
"Nothing."
"Nothing, so the facts are they abused Buck means nothing." She held up her hand to stop him from talking. "Actually, I don't want to hear from you, especially after that condescending tone you used on May. Don't think I've forgotten you never answered her question. Pack up a suitcase, and leave the house. When you find somewhere to live, I'll send the rest of your stuff."
"Athena, you can't mean this." His eyes were wide with disbelief.
"I don't want to be with a man who believes abusers, who would hurt their son and tried to hurt him to get money from him. No matter what happens, I will never forgive that."
"Neither will I," May walked over to her mother and took hold of her hand. "I thought you were a good guy, but you're not."
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Karen looked over at her wife. Something had clearly happened.
"Hen?"
"I've made a huge mistake. I betrayed a friend with no actual evidence. It's now come to light that the witnesses had lied." Hen buried her head in her hands.
"Who did you betray?"
"Buck." She whispered.
"What exactly happened?" Karen hoped it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Hen looked up. She knew Karen would be so angry with her.
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Helena and Ramon smiled as the lawyer sat with them.
"So I understand you want to get full custody of your grandson because you believe where he lives now is dangerous."
"Yes, and the company our son keeps," Ramon added. They hadn't heard from Ana, so they needed to start with the legal route.
Just then, the door opened and in walked their two daughters.
"These are our daughters Adriana and Sophia," Helena smiles.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Mr Sawyer. I'm your parent's lawyer. Thank you for being here, if you'll just write down your statements. We'll get it typed up, and then you can both sign them."
The two sisters look at each other.
"What statement?" Adriana asked.
"If you'll wait a moment and let us speak to them," Helena stood to take them into the next room.
"Uh, no, and what Statement?" Sophia repeated.
"The statement that your brother is an unfit parent to his son and Mr and Mrs Diaz would be better guardians."
Adriana and Sophia turned to their parents and glared at them.
"You're disgusting. You weren't great parents to the three kids you had. The last thing anyone should do is give you another one. Eddie is a fantastic father. Christopher is happy and healthy." Sophia spat out. "That's it; you've finally pushed things too far. I want nothing to do with either of you."
"What she said. You two trying to get hold of Christopher to control him, and you've now lost all of your children. As soon as Abuela and Tia Pepe hear, they are never going to want to talk to you again either," Adriana runs out to catch up with her sister.
"Mr and Mrs Diaz, do you have any actual evidence to support your claims? Do you have any family members that will support your claim?" Mr Sawyer asked.
"Not on us, and we'll talk to our family. But let's carry on–." Ramon answered.
"I think you should get those things together first. Please contact me as soon as you do."
Helena and Ramon watched as the lawyer left and grabbed his cell. He typed in a message to Ana. She would be a lovely daughter-in-law. She was the one who had come up with taking Christopher without Eddie's permission. They were his grandparents and knew what was best.
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"Athena, this just came through on Ana's phone," Simon handed over the transcript.
As Athena read, it confirmed the kidnapping, but it had been Ana's idea. It also mentioned they'd been in contact via email.
"Do we have these emails?" Athena couldn't believe it. Poor Evan and Eddie both had awful parents. The Buckley's were still number one among the people she hates most.
"Forensics is checking her phone. I'm in contact with the El Paso police as soon as I let them know they'll be arrested. We're just waiting on those emails. We'll wait until we have everything before we tell Mr Diaz that school did the right thing."
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"Hi Athena," Buck said as soon as he answered, "Karen's found out, Hen told her. Actually, I would like to talk to her. Give her my phone number and address. Hen wants... okay; I can hear what she has to say. Tell Karen that she can come too. Yeah, I'll talk to them at the same time. How are you doing? Wait, you kicked Bobby out? Are you... yes, you're fine. I adore May. I'll have to meet up with her. She can have my number too. My contact details are definitely getting out there. I'll talk to you soon
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Hen stood up as soon as Karen walked in.
"I still can't believe you did this to Buck. What are you going to do if Chim still believes Maddie and Bobby?"
"As much as it will hurt, I'll want nothing to do with him. If they stay at the 118, I don't think I can. I wish I could tell Buck how sorry I truly am."
"Well, Athena says he goes by Evan now, and he wants to talk to me. He's also willing to listen to what you have to say. This is going to be your only chance." Just then, Karen's cell beeped. She smiled as she read the message." It looks like Evan wants to meet us at a coffee shop. He just needs to know your shifts so he can work that around those."
"That's great, I'll tell confirm them with you," Hen knew she had to do her best to apologise, but there wasn't any excuse. She believed in those people who told her, and she had never even asked Evan. It was so upsetting that Bobby and Maddie lied. Chim, he agrees to anything his girlfriend says. Was this going to be the end of their friendship? If Chim didn't start seeing what was going on, there was no way they would be able to carry on as they were.
"Hen?" Karen watched as Hen seemed to be frozen.
"Sorry, I was wondering if Eddie knows any other stations that need a paramedic. I can't stay there if Bobby does. I can't trust him anymore. It's still going to be difficult going into work as it is."
"You can ask. We'll work it out."
"I'm sorry. I know I let you down too."
"Yes, you did Hen, but I love you, and I know you wouldn't do this intentionally. Now you're trying to rectify that mistake. Whether or not you're forgiven is up to Evan. But I'm here." Karen hugged her.
Hen knew if she had carried on like Chim, there would've been problems in their marriage. She just hoped Buck…Evan would forgive her.
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Eddie smiled as he brushed a hand through Evan's hair as the man he love's head was on his chest. Neither of them mentioned Eddie and Christopher leaving. At some point, they would need to discuss it
"I didn't mention this earlier because Christopher was with us. My sister called. It seems my parents invited them around."
"I assume it wasn't just to see them?"
"Nope."
"So why?" Evan mumbled.
"My parents had a lawyer. They wanted statements from Adriana and Sophia stating I'm a terrible father and they would be better guardians."
"I assume it didn't go the way your parents wanted?"
"Well, they yelled at them and said they want nothing to do with them ever again. Sophia's moving here because of a promotion. Adriana now also wants to move here."
"Adriana worked as an office manager, right?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, I need a receptionist and an office manager for my business. I would like her to know a little about physiotherapy. I'd like her to go on a couple of courses if she's interested. I'm willing to get a temp in if everything's not in place. There are still at least a couple of months of building and decorating that still needs to be done. I also have to try out another prosthetic. Hopefully, this one will work better for me."
"I'll ask her, thank you."
"If she's not interested, she can just say no," Evan moved and rested his head next to Eddie's. "I never thought I could have this."
"Neither did I. I'm glad we were given this chance."
They started to kiss softly. They were taking things slow. There was so much going on all around them. Now wasn't the time for either of them to rush. The comfort they gave each other now was helping them so much.
"Oh, there's something I need to ask," Evan muttered against Eddie's lips
He pulled away, a smile on his face. "What's that?"
"Athena told me Karen wanted to talk to me. There is something I want to discuss with her too. Anyway, Karen sent a text asking if Hen could talk to me and apologise. I agreed. She also asked if you knew if any station needed a paramedic. Karen says Hen can't stay at the 118 because of Bobby, and if Chim doesn't get his head out of his ass, their friendship is over."
"Do you believe her?"
"I'm willing to listen. I'll let you know after we talk."
"Well, we need one. I'll speak to my captain, but explain it depends on what happens with you. If not, I'll help her look for other stations. At least once she listened to Athena, Hen took notice."
"Ahh yes, Athena kicked Bobby out, and May had a go at him. He's still blaming me. I honestly don't know why:"
"How are they doing?"
"Well, Athena says she's doing 'fine'. May keeps sending memes to either say she loves me or funny ones to make me laugh."
"Your support system is growing. Chris and I are never going to leave you alone again."
"Thank you. I'm also here for anything you need. You and Christopher mean everything to me. My grandparents can't wait to meet you."
"I look forward to meeting them. Hopefully, they can give me tips on how to help a child grow up to be an exceptionally kind and loving man."
"I'm nothing–."
Eddie placed her finger against Evan's lips ''Shush, you are. Nothing you say is going to change that."
"I'm so thankful we got to this point."
"Me too." He groaned as he looked over at the clock. "I really need to get some sleep."
"So do I, so do I," Evan cuddled into Eddie and closed his eyes.
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Phillip and Margaret Buckley glared at their daughter.
"You pushed things too far."
"No, dad, I didn't?" Maddie needed them to know it was her brother's fault. It always was.
"Really, so how many people believe you?" Margaret asked.
"Well, Chim, of course, and Bobby." Everyone else seemed to doubt her.
"So just two? We wanted to make Evan feel so alone that he would be at his lowest point. So when we arrived, he would be happy to have anyone. Then we could build that relationship as disgusting as it would be for us. Eventually, we'd end up with the money, a lot of it so we could live the life we deserve" Phillip walked to the hotel window and stared out.
"I don t understand why Evan has money. He rarely uses it. He never shows people that he's wealthy. It's such a waste," Margaret pouted. They could do so much with all it.
"Madeline, you must keep Chim and Bobby on your side. I'm glad I thought ahead and sent him all those fake reports. You need to play the victim more. Cry a little. Perhaps you could imply that Evan was why you ran to Doug and why you stayed there. You could say some of the beatings were because your brother ignored your wishes, and Doug took it out on you."
"Yes, dad," Maddie felt sick at the very thought of her husband. It was Evan's fault. If he'd stayed with them, they would've had money, and she wouldn't have gone and married Doug, probably.
"Do not mess this up," Phillip ordered and smiled as his daughter nodded
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Evan walked past Taylor Kelly. He could see her look at him and quickly glance away.
"Do your colleagues know how vindictive you are? I said no because I didn't want you. But you had created this lie about me, how obsessed I was with you. It wasn't my fault you treated them like crap and repaid you after I said no."
Taylor turned to him. "They see what I want them to. They're nothing. I'll use whatever I can to get ahead. I've lied so many times, and they never knew. Take this cameraman; he'll do until I get a better one. If I have to have him fired to get better, I will." She smirked as she walked away.
Evan frowned as the cameraman came closer. It looked like he'd still been filming.
"Hi, I'm Sam. I didn't know how awful she really was."
"Hi, I'm Evan. Wait, how do you know?"
"It seems Ms Kelly forgot about something." He grinned.
"And can I ask what that is?"
"She's wearing a clip-on microphone. We're testing it out. I recorded at all. It will be such a shame when this is accidentally shown to everyone. After all, I'm clearly not good enough, and I just made a mistake, being new and all."
"I hope you end up working with someone decent."
"So do I."
"Sam," Taylor yelled.
"Coming, Ms Kelly." He handed Evan a business card. "Text me, and I can tell you what happened. I'll try and record it."
"Well, it would cheer me up." It seemed like those who had lied about him weren't being quite so lucky. Karma really was a bitch, and it couldn't happen to nicer people.
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Bobby sat and went through the reports and information that had been sent to him. This person was worried about him and didn't want Buck to cause problems for the 118.
He'd already been warned when Buck started to keep him under control. His own history wasn't perfect, and now because of Evan Buckley, everything was going wrong. Athena had left him. This was tempting him to drink.
"No," Bobby yelled as he hurled an empty glass at the wall and watched it shatter.
At least Maddie and Chim were on his side.
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"Hello Karen, Hen." Evan smiled at them both.
TBC