Chapter Text
It should have been a normal accident scene, but nothing could prepare the 118 for what they were about to see. To understand, let us rewind to back to seven this morning.
It was early in the morning of June 28th, and everyone at the 118 was waiting for the first call of the day. Chim and Hen were preparing the ambulance, checking all necessary supplies. Ravi was checking all the equipment in the truck and Bobby was sitting in his office, filling out paperwork. Soon after finishing his paperwork, he headed out with his clipboard in tow for the morning brief. As he gathered everyone up, he noticed he was missing two vital members of his team. Buck and Eddie were still not there. But something was off about it, something was bothering Bobby. A feeling of dread. Nevertheless, he went on with the morning brief. After that he retired back to his office to check his phone, nothing. Time went on and it was getting to be 9:30 in the morning with no sign from the two. Bobby tried to push the feeling of dread away, by lying to himself. They had overslept, they just forgot to text. If only that was the case. Shortly after 9:30 the alarm went off. Everyone piled into their gear and headed out to the call, a 10-car pile-up on the I-405. Deep down, Bobby knew something was off about this call. He sensed a personal connection to it.
“Cap, you, ok? You have hardly spoken this entire ride.”
Chim asked. Chim and Hen had ended up in the truck together since Buck and Eddie had not showed up.
“Yeah cap, normally you are going on about your night or something, but you seem bothered by today, hell by this call.”
“I don’t know, something about this call is making me feel uneasy inside, like I know it’s going to be painful to see.”
By this point, the crew had arrived on the scene.
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“911 What is your emergency”
“Pl-Please, you have to se-, send help”
“Ok My name is Josh; can you tell me the nature of your emergency and your name?”
“Ther-, there’s been a pi-, pil-, pile up on the 405.”
“Ok, are you able to tell me your name as well.”
“Ev-, Evan Bu-, Bu-, Buckley”
By now josh is in pure horror as the name sets off alarm bells in his head. It cannot be, it cannot be Maddie’s brother, who is just behind him. Josh makes a motion for sue to come over.
“Is everything all right josh, you rarely need assistance especially from me.”
“Actually, it is not, can you come a little closer I do not think others need to hear this.”
He then glances over towards an unsuspecting Maddie. Sue nods and comes closer.
“This caller on the line is a part of the 405 pile-up but it is not just any caller. It is Buck, Maddie’s sister.”
“I see, let me get someone else to finish this call, I will need you to help her cope with this. Just hang on a second”
Sue goes over another dispatcher asking for them to take over the call. The dispatcher agrees. Sue goes over to Josh and Maddie both
“Can I have you both of you come with me please?”
Maddie is confused as Josh steps away from an active call and someone else takes over. In the safety of the meeting room, sue has Maddie take a seat and has josh next to her.
“Maddie, I don’t know how to say this, but it’s about buck again.”
Suddenly, the realization hits her and both Sue and Josh see the onset of Panic set in.
“Your brother is unfortunately directly involved in the accident.” Maddie can only sit and sob uncontrollably at the thought of losing her brother. _____________________________________________________________________________________
“Hen, Chim I need you all to start checking people for serious injuries.”
“Ravi, you are with me.”
Cap gives other people their assignments. By now Athena is on scene helping direct traffic and looking for survivors. As she surveys the cars, she one stands against all the rest. It is a grayish colored jeep with tinted windows. Athena’s heart sinks. She gets on the radio.
“Bobby, I have sight of a car. Dispatch said there was someone inside of it, but it is wedged between several piles wrecked cars”
“Copy that, where is your location?”
“Dead middle of the wreckage”
“Hen, Ravi come with me. Saws and Jaws”
As they approach Athena, she stops all of them.
“This one’s going to sting a little bobby. Quite Frankly it hurts me to know who is getting ready to come out of that vehicle.”
Bobby looks at Athena, pleading for it to not be true but the look backs confirm that feeling he had the whole way over here. Hen and Ravi catch a glimpse of the Exchanged looks and know it is not well. After a quick embrace between Bobby and Athena, they procced to the vehicle and bobby’s heart sinks as soon as he sees it. Without a second thought he begins crawling to get to the vehicle, not caring about the world around him, he has one focus right now and that is to save the son he never had the chance to raise. But what bobby does not know is that it is not only buck in the car, but who is also barely clinging to life.
“Hen, Ravi come over here and help me pry this door loose.”
Hen and Ravi do as they are told and as soon as the door opens, all three of their hearts drop. Not only is Buck there Infront of them, but Seated in the Passenger seat is Eddie. Who’s Lifeless and Motionless? At that moment, everything else seems to fade from existence. The only thing he sees is Buck and Eddie, one lifeless body and one barely clinging on. In Buck’s hand is the phone still on with the 911 Dispatcher. In Eddie’s is his phone, with a text message ready to send to cap. Slowly they extract the two from the vehicle. Buck is put on a gurney and wheeled away. Hen meanwhile has yelled for chim who is in utter dis-belief at what he is seeing. Together the pair of them work together to try and get Eddie breathing again, but after 15 minutes of no luck, Hen looks at cap with Tears in her eyes.
“He is gone cap.”
He's gone cap. the words slice through bobby like a knife. He had one job and he failed. He was to protect them at all costs. Hen calls for Athena who comes over and is relayed the message. By this point Bobby is an emotional wreck and Athena does her best to comfort him. It hurts her, seeing Bobby like this. The rest of the team gathers around bobby to offer support. At the Hospital, Buck is barely clinging onto life. Maddie runs in franticly searching for her brother. A nurse appears and guides her towards him. She completely breaks down to see her brother in a hospital bed again. The sight is all too familiar to her. Buck awakes long enough to look at Maddie and say
“I love you, keep being you.”
It is now 11:10 AM PST when the heart machine on buck begins to Flatline. Maddie steps back, by now bobby is in the room with her. Both watch as everything can be done to save him, but it ends up being of no use and buck passes away on his hospital bed. Bobby and Maddie both go back to the waiting area. Everyone now is waiting to hear good news, but the look on their faces tells everyone it is not good.
“He’s gone, He’s really gone.”
Maddie says before she breaks down crying. Everyone rushes to comfort her, even Bobby who is barely holding it together as is. Athena pulls bobby aside, away from everyone and before she can even say a word he is already crying over her shoulder. She just lets it happen. The rest of the 118 teams come over to offer support for Cap, whom they have never seen shed a tear like this. Slowly, everyone begins to fizzle out of the waiting room. Leaving only Josh, Maddie, Athena, and Bobby.
Local time is 10:15 AM PST, Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz is pronounced dead on scene. Cause of death is not only shock to the heart, but the hard chest impact sustained in the crash.
Local time is 11:15 AM when Evan “Buck” Buckly is pronounced dead on his hospital bed. Cause of death is ruled as stress on the heart.