Chapter Text
“Mr. and Mrs. Nash? I’m Dr. Milden. You’re listed as the secondary emergency contacts for a Mr. Buckley here”, says Dr. Milden as he steps into Buck’s hospital room. “How is he, doc?”, asks Athena. Bobby and Athena had been in Buck’s hospital room, one on each side of Buck’s bed, for maybe 20 minutes but it had been a good six hours since Buck got t-boned by a drunk driver. They both rushed to the hospital as soon as Bobby got the call. Buck was listed as “John Doe” by the hospital when he was brought in until he woke up after being triaged and was able to give his nurse his name and date of birth. The hospital probably couldn’t reach Maddie so they called Bobby instead.
“Mr. Buckley is doing well, all things considered. It could have been a lot worse”, says the doctor. “Please call him Buck, doctor, it’s what he prefers. And just Bobby and Athena for us”, says Bobby shakily. Bobby’s nerves have been on overdrive since getting the call - between his experiences with car accidents on the job and what little information the nurse gave him over the phone, his mind has been going on non-stop with all the possible injuries Buck could have gotten after getting hit.
“Buck has a mild concussion - his CT scan didn’t show anything to be concerned about but he’ll still need a few weeks to recover from the bump to his head and other injuries. He has three cracked ribs, bruises all over his body from the impact and a few surface wounds from the glass but again, nothing to be concerned about. He’s woken up a few times and was clear headed when we checked on him which is a great sign.”
“He had issues with blood clots from when he had a crush injury a few years back. Are there any concerns for them coming back or affecting his recovery?”, asks Bobby. “Nothing that showed from the scans so far, Mr. Nash. Once he gave us his name, we pulled his file and double checked any concerns from his previous injuries. It helps that this was the hospital that admitted him for that incident as well so our files are complete.”
“This boy has nine lives, Bobby”, says Athena with a deep sigh as she reaches for Bobby’s hand across Buck’s chest.. “Yeah, but how many has he used up now?”, replies Bobby, “He’s fine though, just a bit banged up. We’ll probably have to fight Eddie over who’s keeping Buck during the recovery”, he chuckles weakly.
“I’d like to keep him overnight and run some more scans once we get approval from his husband.” replies Dr. Milden. Athena whips her head towards the doctor, “His what now? Confused, Bobby says “Buck’s not married, Dr. Milden. What makes you think that?”.
Dr. Milden looks at them confused. “When he woke up, he nearly drove himself into a panic attack looking for his husband and son. He even tried to get up to look for them. He only calmed down once we reassured him that he was the only one in his car during the time of the accident. Plus the husband he named matches his primary emergency contact and Power of Attorney on file… Are you sure he isn’t married? Could they have gotten married and just not informed you?”
Bobby and Athena exchange glances. Athena scoffs, “If he did, he’s taking after you, Bobby.” Bobby sputters, “Us! You mean us! After us! You and me. I didn’t get married alone!” Dazed, Bobby looks back and forth between Buck’s sleeping face, Athena and the doctor. “He said he was married?”, he finally asked the doctor. Athena asks, “Like, he actually said he was married. Wasn’t just confused about it or rambling?”. “Do not give me that look, Bobby, the boy was in a car accident! He could just be confused because there is no way in hell those boys got married without me! Are they even dating?”, she huffs.
Clearing his throat, Dr. Milden chimes in, “Can I ask who you are referring to? Due to HIPPA, I’m not allowed to mention who he named but the hospital was able to contact him shortly after they got a hold of you Mr. Nash. He said he was on his way…?”
“It’ll be Eddie. Edmundo Diaz - we’re firefighters. I’m his captain and the two of them are partners”, says Bobby confusedly. “And husbands, apparently”, scoffs Athena, “Their son is named Christopher.”
Dr. Milden nods, “He was calling for Eddie and Christopher earlier. He was pretty desperate; we were on the verge of sedating him until he managed to calm himself down. The pain meds made him sleep shortly after that.”
“Married or not married, the important thing is that Buck is gonna be fine. He’ll be sore and we’ll figure this whole marriage thing out later.”, says Athena calmly. “If those boys got married without me though, I’mma whoops their asses Bobby!” she continues, this time not as calm as she was before.
Bobby just looks at her, bewildered. Between Buck in a car accident and now possibly married, he’s rendered speechless. All Bobby can do is hold Buck’s hand and Athena’s while they wait for Eddie.
Athena hears a noise by the hallway and glances over. She can see Eddie’s and Christopher’s worried faces as they walk toward the room; Eddie clearly torn between picking up his son and running to the room versus letting Chris walk by himself. Not that Chris is walking slow either, they’re both clearly rushing.
“Eddie”, she calls out as they reach the doorway. “Hey baby”, she says to Christopher as she makes her way over to the door. She crouches down as she says gently, “Your Buck’s gonna be ok, baby. Don’t you worry. He just might look a little rough right now but doctors say he’s gonna be ok”. Over her shoulder, she see’s Bobby put a hand over Eddie’s shoulder, grounding him and echoing the same thing she says to Christopher.
“Mr. Diaz, I’m Dr. Milden. I’m the primary doctor in-charge of your hus-Buck. Buck - I’m in charge of Buck’s care”, he stutters. “Call me Eddie, doctor, and this is my son, Christopher”, replies Eddie. Chris waves from where he’s leaning on Athena. “It’s nice to meet you both. Christopher, do you think you can watch your da-Buck while us grown ups talk outside real quick?” Eddie glances at the doctor puzzled as he says, “What’s going on, is Buck ok?”.
“You two go ahead with the doctor, I’ll get Christopher set up next to Buck”, says Athena as she guides Christopher to the chair she was using. “Do you want me to stay, baby?”, she asks Christopher. He shakes his head as he reaches out to hold Buck’s hand. “We’ll be right outside, ok? Call out if you need us.”
Athena starts heading towards the door when she hears Eddie exclaim, “What do you mean Buck and I are married?!? We’re not married!” Christopher jerks his head towards his dad in surprise - “You and Buck are married? You got married without me?”, he asks, big crocodile tears forming in his eyes.
“Wait, what? No, mijo, we didn’t get married!”, Eddie says in a rush while coming inside to hug Chris as Bobby and the doctor follow. “Mijo, I promise, if we ever get married, you’ll be there with us.”, he says.
“If we get married?”, asks Bobby. “So you are dating??”, continues Athena, eyebrows out in full force.
“No! We’re not dating, why does this matter right now??”, yells Eddie.
“You and Buck aren’t dating? I thought you guys were together?”, exclaims Christopher.
“Ok! Everyone stop and take a deep breath. Let’s all calm down and use inside voices so we don’t wake Mr. Buckley up.”, says Dr. Milden. “I’ll ask the questions and Mr. Diaz, if you could answer them, calmly please. Are you and Mr. Buckley married?”
“No, we’re best friends and partners, that’s all!”, Eddie replies. “Work partners! Not partner-partners, we’re best friends”, he sputters as he looks back and forth between Athena, Bobby and Christopher.
“In that case, I’ll need your permission as Mr. Buckley’s - “Buck!” interrupts Christopher - “Buck’s Power of Attorney to run more tests. He may have just been confused or the initial CT missed something. As of right now, initial scans show a mild concussion, three cracked ribs, bruises and surface wounds in-line with the type of crash he was in.”, says Dr. Milden.
“Confused how? What does any of this have to do with our marriage status??”, asks Eddie. “Not that we’re married… or dating”, he says glancing at Christopher again then at Bobby and Athena then back to the doctor.
“When Buck initially woke up earlier, he was panicking over his husband, Eddie and son, Christopher thinking that they were in the car with him at the time of the accident. Once we assured him that he was alone in the car, he calmed down enough to be able to give us his name, date of birth and confirm his emergency contacts before he fell asleep again…”
“Oh....Oh...”, says Eddie while looking at Buck.
“Yep, that about sums it up…”, says Dr. Milden