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There was something about being on a cruise away from home that just… didn’t sit well with him.
Bobby leaned against the railing of the cruise ship he had brought Athena to. The very much postponed honeymoon was well worth it, as they’d had six days of very little distractions. Only one a day did they allow themselves to check in with Los Angeles, mostly to make sure that no one burned down the house or station.
Then again, he left Buck in charge of cooking, so the station would probably be okay, he decided.
Barring his suspension several years prior, this was the longest he’d gone from being away from the 118 since arriving in Los Angeles. Even when he was recovering from being shot, he would go to the station and help with the paperwork that needed to be done. The acting captain - a floater who had just earned her captaincy a few months prior - had been very appreciative of the extra hand and guidance.
That captain, Dana Maddox, was once again acting captain at the 118 during his two week vacation. There had been some grumblings about having her return, but she’d more than proven herself over the past year and he was happy to give her the opportunity again.
From the messages he’d received from Hen (the only one to actually give him the station gossip when he asked for it), Maddox was doing well. But not everyone was, apparently.
He’d noticed that the few scarce messages he’d received from Buck were… vague, to say the least. That alone worried him. Buck had been happy to practically push him out of the station on his last shift, proclaiming that he’d email him every day so he knew what was happening. Instead of receiving that, he was only getting tiny details, like “Chim burned your favorite skillet, but I already replaced it” and “Eddie rescued a puppy today. Christopher now has a dog named Biscuits.” There wasn’t any embellishment or retelling of what happened, or the promise of such.
Athena had reached out to Hen, but she kept saying that Buck seemed like himself. He and Eddie were attached at the hip, he had a working relationship with Lucy that seemed to be getting better by the day, he and Chim were still talking and were finally on the same page. Nothing seemed to be completely out of sorts for him.
It unsettled Bobby enough that he’d already decided to swing by the station once they arrived back on dry land, before they even headed back home. Athena had readily agreed; she had practically adopted the boy at one point, and he was still Harry’s favorite confidant if Lou wasn’t available.
“Your head still up in the clouds?”
As always, Athena’s voice brought him back down to Earth. He turned to see her dressed to the nines, as they were set to have a five star dinner in just a few moments. He himself was dressed sharply in a new suit that she had picked out to match and compliment her stunning dress.
“Not anymore, ‘Thena,” he said, pulling her close and into a long kiss.
As it broke, they both looked out into the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean. The sun was just setting in the horizon, painting the sky a beautiful array of colors. They let the silence settle over them, letting the time pass by until their reservation.
“I heard from Hen again,” Athena said, carefully breaking the silence. “The Buckley parents are in town. That’s what has Buck all down in the dumps.”
Bobby blinked, startled. “I thought they buried the hatchet. Maybe they wouldn’t be close, but they could at least be in the same city.” At least, that was his takeaway from what Buck told him after the perfume factory fire. The way Buck phrased it was that his parents would acknowledge his existence but not butt into his life, and he would be pleasant when they saw each other for holidays and celebrations around Jee-Yun. But if they were still having problems…
Athena caught his eye. “Captain Maddox banned them from the station yesterday,” she said bluntly. “That boy is keeping his emotions buried again.”
Her husband cursed under his breath. “Maddox wouldn’t do that unless she didn’t have a choice,” he said. “Athena-”
“I already pushed back the reservation for a half hour. Go talk to your boy.” She gave him one of her perfect smiles that never failed to make his bones melt.
There was a damn good reason why he loved her.
And when they arrived back to the mainland, there was May and Harry waiting to bring them home, with a sheepish Buck holding a little Beagle puppy in his arms, waving a tiny paw in welcome.