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The hospital is bustling with people when Bobby and the rest of his team arrives, which is hardly much of a surprise. It is a hospital, after all.
The kid, probably barely even six, that they’ve brought in reaches out and squeezes Bobby’s hand. “Mr Firefighter?” he asks, in a small voice that just about breaks Bobby’s heart, “Are my mommy and daddy coming?”
Bobby nods, offering him a small, reassuring smile and squeezes the young boy’s hand right back. “Of course, kiddo. They should be here soon.” The school had called it in. There’d been an accident during recess, a few kids ended up with minor bumps and scrapes but little Timothy here got the worse of it – his CP probably didn’t help with the fall. Hen has already reassured him that the boy will be fine, a sprained ankle at most, but that doesn’t stop Bobby from worrying.
The fact that both of his parents are at work, on the other side of the city, doesn’t help things either.
“Be here soon.” Timothy repeats in a quiet whisper, probably meant to reassure himself. He nods his head so seriously, oozing maturity for a kid so young, and Bobby realises that hospital visits probably aren’t that unusual to him.
“The doctors will take good care of you until they arrive.” Hen adds from the other side of the hospital bed he’s been transferred onto, moving out of the way for said doctors.
One of them turns, eyes scanning the sea of people walking by them, and then calls out a rather loud, “Diaz!” that startles Bobby. Not because the shout was unexpected; hospitals and loud noises usually go hand in hand. No, it’s the name that takes Bobby by surprise.
He turns just in time to see Chimney mouth, “Buck?” at Hen, who shrugs her shoulders in a ‘your guess is as good as mine’ kind of way.
There’s no way, though.
Sure, Buck left them just over a year ago and, sure, he’s dabbled in more than his fair share of careers. But working in a hospital? Bobby would’ve never seen that coming.
A moment later, Bobby finds that his speculation is all for nothing because an unfamiliar man pops up at the side of Timothy’s bed, dressed in pale pink scrubs, a stethoscope slung around his neck. There’s a slight furrow in his brows that quickly melts into a soft, comforting smile the minute he lays eyes on Timothy.
“Tim-Tam!” the guy says, the nickname eliciting a pleased giggle out of the young boy. “What are you doing back here? I told you, I don’t have any more cookies!” And, really, it’s miraculous. Bobby watches, in silent awe, as the boy’s nerves practically melt away with each word. He’s good with kids. Like, really, really good.
“I had a fall.” Timothy tells the guy, pouting for effect. The guy lets out an exaggerated sigh, hands on his hips as he shakes his head at the kid.
“Well that’s just no good, is it?”
Timothy shakes his head. But then stops. “I got a lollipop from the school nurse!”
“Blue?”
Timothy pouts again. “No. Green. Bleh!”
The nurse smiles, rolling his eyes in good nature. “Well, don’t tell anybody,” he leans in, lowering his voice to a stage whisper, “but I might have a few blue ones left somewhere.”
Timothy gasps. Bobby is only mildly jealous of children’s ability to be excited by even the smallest pleasures in life. “Can I have one?!”
“If you promise to be good while we make sure you’re not seriously hurt.” the nurse bargains, and it works because Timothy nods his head vigorously and holds out his pinkie without being prompted, as if this is something they’ve done countless times before. The nurse chuckles, linking their fingers together. “Come on, then. Let’s go find you a room.”
“With a TV?” Timothy asks as they begin to wheel him away. The nurse’s laughter echoes down the corridor.
“Gosh, lollipops and TV! You don’t want much, do you?”
One of the doctors pats Bobby on the arm, nodding her head in thanks to him, before taking off after them.
Behind him, Chimney claps his hands together. “I guess that’s our cue to leave.” He smiles at Bobby when he turns around.
Bobby nods, landing a hand on Chimney’s shoulder as he guides his team back out of the hospital. Hen is chattering about some fancy new coffee shop she wants to stop at on their way back to the station, Chimney bickering about their unnecessary use of hazelnut syrup in everything, and Bobby is just trying to tune them out. Or tune everyone else out. He can’t think straight with so many different conversations surrounding him at once.
Which is probably why he doesn’t see the group of people rushing into the building until it’s almost too late.
“Woah!” Chimney holds a hand out, stopping him and Hen from taking a step further and ending up trampled. “They outta get some sort of traffic light system going in here.”
Jill, next to Chimney, rolls her eyes. “That would never work. It’s a hospital.”
Chimney elbows her and says something back but, honestly, Bobby isn’t paying them any mind right now because there’s a paramedic sat on the gurney, giving a woman CPR as a group of firefighters wheel her into the hospital shouting out for a doctor. The paramedic is listing off the patients symptoms and medication administered, which is all par the course in a hospital.
That’s not what has stolen Bobby’s attention.
There’s another firefighter, standing just off to the side, giving one of the doctors a rundown of the situation. His back is turned to Bobby, which means he can’t see his face.
But he can read his jacket.
Diaz.
Honestly. Sometimes Bobby thinks the universe likes to play cruel tricks on him.
“Hey,” as if reading his mind, Hen leans in, “is that who I think it is?”
Chimney swivels around, fixing them both with a strange look before following their gazes. “What are you guys looking at? Am I missing something?”
Hen swats him upside the head. “Yes, you idiot.” She points over at the guy facing away from them, making a waving sort of gesture to get him to read the guy’s jacket. It takes a moment but, eventually, Chimney’s mouth drops open with a gasp.
“Oh my God!” He hits Hen’s arm repeatedly. “Oh my God!”
Hen glares at him but he doesn’t stop. She huffs, turning back to Bobby. “When was the last time we saw him?”
Bobby shrugs, counting back in his head. “About ten months ago?”
Hen frowns. “That’s weird. How have we not run into him before now?”
“Different zones.” Chimney pipes up, seemingly managing to get over the initial shock of seeing their old co-worker. “He probably transferred out of our zone.”
“That makes sense.”
“I am honestly so confused right now.” Jill adds, and Bobby chuckles.
Chimney steps closer to her, leaning in to explain, “Buck is the guy you replaced. He sort of just…dropped off the grid after he quit.”
“Well,” Hen cuts in, “I doubt he ‘dropped off the grid’. He’s just, y’know, not part of the family anymore. I guess.” And it’s funny, Bobby thinks, how even after a year it still hurts them all to think that. Because there had been a time, no matter how long ago, when Buck had been a key member of their little family.
His focus is brought back to the other team, to Buck’s new family, he supposes, when there’s a loud cheer from the paramedic on the gurney. “We have a heart beat!” she says, grinning widely and holding a hand out to receive a high five from one of the other firefighters.
“Knew you could do it!” someone calls out.
“What’d I tell you? Top dog, Sasha, to the rescue!” another shouts, and Bobby can’t help but smile as the team celebrate together because there’s nothing more glorious than the feeling that comes with saving a life.
He then watches as the guy they all suspect to be Buck turns around, his sandy hair a mess atop his head and soot covering most of his face. But, yeah.
It’s Buck alright.
“Holy shit.” Chimney whispers in front of him and Bobby can’t even bring himself to scold him for bad language in public because holy shit indeed.
Buck hasn’t spotted them yet, stepping over towards where the paramedic has hopped down from the gurney and is dusting her hands off on her trousers. He claps her on the back, offering her that killer smile he has, and says, “Great job, Sash.” And, sure, it’s only three words. But they feel heavy, full of an appreciation that brings a lump to one’s throat when directed at you.
Which is made evident in the way the woman, Sasha, swallows thickly and directs a huge, warm smile up at Buck. She balls her hand up into a fist, thumping it gently against Buck’s chest, and nods her head once, before saying the two words that have Bobby feeling like the entire floor has just opened up underneath him. “Thanks, Cap.”
Buck doesn’t even blink at that (but why would he?), only squeezes her shoulder and then steps back towards the rest of his team. And, wow….it’s not just his team. It’s his team.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Chimney says, perhaps a little too loudly since Buck swivels around fast enough to get whiplash. Chimney clamps a hand over his mouth, eyes wide, and Hen groans, digging her elbow into his ribs.
Recognition crosses Buck’s face the moment he lands eyes on them, a small frown appearing between his brows. He turns back to say something to his team and then he’s making his way over towards them.
“Uh- Hi, guys.” isn’t exactly the greeting Bobby had expected, all these months since last seeing Buck, but he supposes he shouldn’t be all that surprised. Buck shuffles his feet, eyes sweeping the floor, and he rubs at the back of his neck. “I, uh- I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Never one to dance around things, Chimney crosses his arms over his chest and lifts a challenging brow at Buck. “You’re captain?”
Buck bites at his lip. There’s a deeper frown on his face now, though, and a fire in his eyes that Bobby hasn’t seen very often. “Yeah, I am.” he says, sounding more than sure of himself. It’s so unlike Buck that Bobby has to glance down at his name badge just to double check. “Why? Is that really so hard for you to believe?”
Chimney splutters. “N-No! Just- You! Captain. I didn’t even know you wanted to be a captain!”
Buck shrugs. “Neither did I, not really. Not until I was offered the chance to move up the ranks, at least. The 217 needed a captain and I had the experience they wanted.”
Hen whistles lowly. “You’re with the 217? I’ve heard of some of the calls they’ve done lately. Some wild stuff.” She offers Buck a small, unsure smile and, because Buck is still Buck (captain or not), he returns it twice as bright.
“Oh yeah, we get some crazy stuff!” He gets this excited gleam in his eyes and Bobby can’t help but smile; the kid’s enthusiasm is contagious. “Like, last week we-”
“Fancy seeing you here.” a vaguely familiar voice interrupts and Bobby shifts his gaze to find the nurse from earlier stood beside Buck, a hand settled rather comfortably on the small of Buck’s back.
“Oh, please. Don’t pretend like you didn’t come rushing out here the moment you heard all the chaos.” Buck practically purrs, smirking down at the nurse and leaning into his touch with unmistakable familiarity.
And, suddenly, the pieces of a puzzle he didn’t even know he was doing click into place.
“You’re married.” Bobby deadpans. He physically feels Hen and Chim tense up beside him.
Buck freezes too, but he gives Bobby a questioning look. Sharing a glance with the nurse – his husband – he nods. “Yeah. I was when I was with you guys. Did- did you not know?”
“You’re married?” Chimney asks incredulously and, this time, Bobby is tempted to elbow him himself.
Next to Buck, the guy lets out a dramatic gasp and hits Buck’s arm. “Älskling! Did you not tell them about me?!”
Buck grips his husband’s wrist, holding it to his chest, and rolls his eyes light-heartedly. “And have to battle for your attention? Baby, please. You know I have to keep you all to myself.” Which, as odd as Bobby is finding this entire situation, would be an understandable excuse (blending your real-life family with your work family can get messy and stressful for some; Bobby hasn’t met half of his team’s families) except one of Buck’s firefighters chooses this exact moment to step up to the small group.
“Hey, Eddie!” he says, and okay Bobby is just about ready to call this a day. Because that’s Tommy Kinard.
As in ‘used to work at the 118’ Tommy Kinard.
Who is currently laying a hand on Buck’s husband’s shoulder and grinning at him. “You come here often?” he teases and the guy – Eddie, apparently – laughs.
“Only when I hear the hot firefighters are dropping by.” Eddie jokes back, leaning a little into Tommy in a way you only do with those you’re close with.
Which completely scraps the whole idea of keeping your husband away from your team, really, doesn’t it?
Buck, seemingly oblivious to his excuse being blown apart, rolls his eyes at Tommy. “What have I told you about flirting with my husband?”
“To not do it when you’re around?” Tommy quips and Eddie laughs again, louder this time. “Don’t worry, Cap, I ain’t trying to steal him from you. We all know he’s only got eyes for you.”
Eddie huffs, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m standing right here, you know?”
Buck chuckles, bumping their shoulders together. “Yeah, why are you standing right here? Do you ever actually do any work? Or are they just paying you to look pretty?”
Eddie waggles his eyebrows at Buck. “Both.” He smirks. “No, but I did actually come here for a reason.”
“What, to work? To pay for our new bathroom, I hope!” Buck jokes and Eddie groans.
“Timothy is back.” Eddie says simply, and that wipes the smile off of Buck’s face instantly. Eddie lays a gentle hand on his shoulder, soothing him. “Don’t worry, he’s fine. Just a sprained ankle.” Hen makes a little triumphant sound at that and Bobby tries hard not to laugh. “He was asking after you, though.”
Buck’s face lights up again. “He was? Where is he?” Eddie jerks his head towards the corridor that they wheeled Timothy down earlier. Glancing back at Tommy, Buck says, “Tell the team I’ll be five minutes. Make sure they’ve got everything ready to go.”
Tommy salutes Buck. “Yes, sir.” he says, only half joking and that is really going to take some getting used to, before disappearing back towards the rest of the 217.
Buck turns his gaze back to Bobby and the others, a mildly apologetic look in his eyes. “Sorry to cut this short, I’ve got an old patient to visit.” As he begins to walk away, he calls out, “We should definitely catch up properly some time!”
Something tells Bobby that he doesn’t actually mean that.
Eddie lingers, regarding the lot of them with an almost protective stance, as if he’s sizing them up individually. Eventually, though, he seems to find whatever he was searching for because he nods. With a polite smile, he goes to follow after Buck.
“Well,” Hen starts after they’ve stood there for a while, “that was certainly…something.”
Chimney scoffs. “You’re telling me!” He shakes his head in disbelief, already beginning to head out of the hospital for the second time today. “Captain Evan Diaz. I definitely didn’t see that coming.”
Bobby huffs out a weak laugh, following his team. “I don’t think any of us did.” he admits and, privately, he suspects that that may be part of the reason why Buck left them to begin with.
He seems happier, though. Confident in himself in a way Bobby never quite got to see whilst he was with the 118.
He’s glad.
Even if it does sting a little bit.