Chapter Text
It was just a normal weekday in the City of Angels. Buck was out with his girlfriend Natalia, and they were couch shopping for his apartment. “You know, you asked me to help you pick out a couch a few weeks ago,” Natalia commented as they were walking around the furniture store. “Well, to be fair,” Buck said, flashing her a smirk, “We haven’t really needed a couch, have we?” “No,” Natalia blushes, “no, we have not.” The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, smiling to themselves as they continued browsing the selection.
They had been looking at couches for almost an hour now, and none that they'd tried had felt right. There was this running joke in his head about the right couch and the right partner. See, that's another thing that hasn't felt quite right for him lately. Ever since the lightning strike, he's been questioning a lot of things. Like how maybe the right person for him may not have to be female... He doesn't know where this came from, honestly. All he knows is that after he awoke from his coma, he started viewing things a lot differently, and now he thinks he may not be entirely straight. He still likes women; he just now has been sometimes thinking of men as an option, too.
Now, don't get him wrong. Things with Natalia have been great; really, they have been. He's happy that she's his girlfriend; she makes him happy. Except… He thought things with Taylor, Ali, and Abby had been great, too. He likes Natalia like he really likes her, but… he doesn’t love her. Yes, he knows it’s early, but ever since he held that baby in his hands just a few weeks ago… The very baby that he helped his former college buddy and his wife bring into this world… Well, Buck hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it.
He wants a family. He wants kids. He’s known this since he was a child. He’s known this, but he’s never wanted it as badly as he does right now. He wants to be a dad, and Natalia would be a great mom. At least, he thinks she would be… They haven’t talked about anything like that yet. They’ve mostly talked about their jobs and their pasts, you know, just getting to know each other. Buck just can’t stop this nagging feeling that something is missing.
“What about this one?” Natalia asks, standing in front of a couch, drawing Buck out of his thoughts. Buck looks at the couch, and he just doesn’t like it. “No, I’m not really feeling it,” he said quirking his mouth to one side while he looked at it a little more. “You’ve said that about the last several couches,” Natalia jokes, poking Buck in the stomach. “I just want to make sure that I’m picking the right,” Buck’s mind drifts as he catches sight of a newsreel on a nearby tv, “…couch.”
BREAKING NEWS: Shots fired at local school.
Natalia turned around and caught what he was looking at. “Oh my gosh,” she says, her hand rising to her mouth, “That’s horrible.” The newsreel doesn’t say much else, saying that they’d just received news of the shooting occurring, and they don’t have much in the way of details just yet. “Yeah,” Buck says, still looking at the screen occasionally that has changed newsreels now as he and Natalia begin looking at another couch set, “I don’t know how I’d be if that was Chris’s school.” Buck doesn’t know why he singled out Christopher, but as the words leave his mouth, they’re the absolute truth.
If that was Chris’s school, Buck would be an absolute wreck most likely, and Eddie probably would be, too. “That’s Eddie’s son, right?” Natalia asks, bending over as she inspects the details on this nice leather couch that sits in front of them. “Yeah,” Buck smiles at the thought of Chris and Eddie now. The two most important people in his life right next to his sister and niece. “Hmm,” Natalia says, but Buck doesn’t see the look that crosses Natalia’s face as she thinks about Buck, Eddie, and Chris.
Natalia has only met Eddie and Chris once or twice, but she’s also had plans with Buck canceled or rescheduled on account of the father-son-duo. She likes Buck, and she doesn’t dislike his friendship with Eddie or the relationship he has with Christopher. She just doesn’t like feeling like she’s not a priority to him. Not like they are. “Hey, what do you-,” she’s stopped mid-sentence when she turns to look at Buck.
He’s pale, like paper-white pale. “What’s wrong?” She asks. “Chris goes to Durand school,” Buck barely mutters at a volume where she almost doesn’t hear him. He’s too busy staring wide-eyed at something behind her. She doesn’t understand why where Chris goes to school would be an important tidbit to talk about right now. That is until she looks at where Buck is looking. The TV is showing coverage of the school shooting, and the name of the school is now being released.
The school shooting was currently in progress still, at Durand School. At Christopher’s school. “We’ve got to go,” Buck says walking out to the parking lot and taking out his phone. “Wait-” Natalia tries to start to say something, but it dies in her throat as she follows Buck out. Buck doesn’t even acknowledge that she was saying something as he finally dials Eddie’s number and starts his Jeep. He’s already speeding down the street before Eddie even picks up on the second ring.