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When Buck finally pulled up outside the Diaz house, he almost didn’t have the energy to pull himself out of his Jeep.
He’d ended up pulling an extra 24 hour shift on top of the 48 he’d already worked after one of C shift’s rope specialists was in a car accident just four hours before their shift. With the other already out on maternity leave, Buck had been asked if he would stay and split the shift with one of the B-shift specialists. Of course, he’d said yes, even if it meant that going to the zoo with Christopher would have to be postponed for another week.
And it was just his luck that he ended up doing three different aerial rescues over the course of that extra shift, with the last one actually being the worst. The probie running the winch got confused on how to bring him back up after sending the victim up. He’d ended up dropping ten feet and hitting the rough cliffside with his bad leg before the kid (and wow, when did he start thinking of probies as kids, they were only a few years younger than him) finally got him going in the right direction.
Once back topside, the paramedics were so focused on helping the victim that they hadn’t noticed him limping around, which worked for him because he did not want to deal with people worrying about it. Instead, he took out his annoyance on the probie that was denying any involvement in him dropping and “nearly” hitting the wall, saying that anything that had gone wrong was on Buck's head, not his.
Two hours later, he finally was leaving, hiding his bruised leg from sight by some sort of luck. The C-shift captain caught him right as he was leaving and flat out ordered him to go and rest until his shift the next day, which meant that he saw the hit and knew Buck was covering for the probie. Which meant that Bobby would hear about it. Which meant that he’d be getting a worried phone and probably at least one paramedic knocking at his door.
Instead of dealing with everyone, he just made his way over to the Diaz house. That would satisfy Bobby at least when he called to worry about him.
Of course, Buck hadn’t thought that Bobby would have known to call Eddie first.
He parked the Jeep in his normal spot, on the street right out front of the house and looked towards the small porch. There was Eddie, arms crossed and looking both annoyed and worried. Yep, Bobby got to him first.
This was the entire reason why he hated pulling shifts without his team. They always worried about him.
“I’m fine,” Buck called out, forcing himself out of the Jeep. He grabbed his bag and started walking towards the door, doing his very best to mask every pained step. “There’s no need to worry about me, everything is-”
“Shut up and go sit on the bed. I can see that limp from here.” Eddie was trying to sound annoyed, but Buck could clearly hear the worry that was being poorly disguised.
Buck rolled his eyes and stopped hiding his limp. It hurt too much to hide anyway. “Who called you. Was it Bobby? Or Captain Newall?”
“Both of them actually. Newall because they were worried you’d been hurt and you were probably going to hide and ignore it-”
“Which is why I’m here, so everyone can stop wor-”
“And Bobby because he figured you’d come here to avoid Chim and Hen barging into your loft. Which he was right about. And you yelled at the probie?” Buck could feel the glare at his back.
Buck didn’t bother to answer until he made his way into Eddie’s room and all but collapsed on the edge of the bed. He knew the drill. It was something they’d profected when he would come over after PT and the surgeries on his leg. “I only yelled because he denied dropping me and sending me into the wall. Which I also covered for him. Trust me, he got off easy.”
Eddie didn’t bother to answer, just pointed at Buck’s leg. “Let me see.” With a few quick moves, Buck’s pants were carefully pulled down and off. They both swore.
Dark bruises covered a good part of the outside of his leg. They hurt to be touched, which of course meant that Eddie had to, to make sure there wasn’t anything strained or broken that he couldn’t feel. Buck leaned back against the bed, clenching his teeth while Eddie probed his leg.
“Ow, ow, ow, fuck that hurts,” Buck whimpered. Okay, maybe he should have said something.
Eddie covered his leg with ice packs before sitting back. “Nothing broken. But there is no way you’re working tomorrow.”
Buck held up a thumbs up. “I’m not fighting you on that.”
Eddie joined him sitting on his bed, glancing at his phone to make note of the time. “You wanna let Bobby know, or should I?”
Buck held his hand out for the phone. “If you do it, he’ll think it’s worse than it is, and I don’t want to worry him like that. Gimme.” Eddie held over his phone, watching as Buck easily put in the passcode before calling Bobby.
Their captain answered on the second ring. “How is he?”
“I’m fine. Just sore and bruised. But I’m probably not going to be able to make it tomorrow Bobby. Sorry.”
Eddie leaned over and switched it to speakerphone. “He just needs the day Bobby. Some of the bruises are pretty deep. Keeping off his leg will help.”
“Should I send over Hen or Chim, or do you have him handled, Eddie?” Bobby’s voice was a mix of worry and the need to keep one of his family members safe.
Chuckling, Eddie tugged his phone from Buck’s grip and ignored the younger man’s sputtering out complaints. “I’ll keep an eye on him. It’s honestly nothing worse than what I’ve dealt with before. If he’s having real trouble tomorrow, I’ll just ask Tia Pepa or Abuela to pop by.”
“I can handle myself! I’m an adult!”
“And who ignored a mandatory health check after getting injured in the field? You could’ve been benched, kid, if I didn’t talk down Newall. Luckily, he’s more pissed at that probie who lied than at you.”
Buck audibly shut his mouth.
“Take our help for today, Evan,” Eddie said quietly. Probably just loud enough for Bobby to hear. And probably confirming to Bobby about their relationship change that they still hadn’t gotten around to telling him about, going on two months.
“Fine. But I want good food if I have to be laid up.”
Bobby full on laughed, mostly in relief that he didn’t have to deal with stubborn Buck anymore. “I’ll make something for you guys. Three rope rescues without loss of life deserves something.”
Eddie gave their goodbyes before tossing his phone on his bedside table. “You know you scared me, Evan. Stop being so cavalier with your health.”
Buck didn’t immediately answer. He just looked up at the ceiling, contemplating. “I’m sorry, Eds. I just… I’m still getting used to people caring. Promise I’ll do better.”
Eddie poked him, before carefully hulling him up onto the pillows. “You’d better. You’re worth so much to us.”