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The first day back at the 118 was…awkward to say the least. But having Eddie at his side made up for it all. Even if Bobby was being a little standoffish that first day, Buck only had to look over at Eddie and he’d feel like everything was alright.
Well…sort of.
There was still something niggling at the back of Buck’s mind that bothered him. And it was about Eddie’s recent behavior. For the most part, their relationship—friendship—was back on track and they were as close as they’d always been. Buck spends multiple nights staying over at the Diaz house, hanging out with his two favorite people in the world. But the few nights he spent at his own place he noticed that Eddie always looked a little more tired and walked a little more stiff the next time he saw the man.
But Buck didn’t want to pry. As back to “normal” as they were, he was still cautious. He could still hear an echo of Eddie’s words from the market confrontation filter through his head.
Exhausting.
He sighs and shakes his head.
Not the time for these thoughts.
They were currently pulling into the intersection of Wilshire and Fairfax for a fairly routine MVA. A teenager who was driving while texting took a turn a little too soon and crashed into the pole of a pedestrian crossing light. Luckily she wasn’t driving that fast and there was no one standing at the signal at the time of the collision. She was, however, unable to open the doors and get out of her car without help.
While nearly everyone else headed towards the car and its driver, Buck hung back to grab the Jaws.
He was just opening the door of the side compartment when a voice calling his name caught his attention.
“Buck! You’re Buck!”
Buck turned and saw a vaguely familiar looking woman waving her hands as she made her way over. He had a momentarily panicked thought that this may be another catfishing victim out to attack him, but the woman hardly looked angry at all. Rather, she looked more relieved and happy to see him. So definitely not a victim of the catfisher then.
“Um…hi. Do I know you?” Buck asked as gently as possible, not wanting to accidentally offend the woman.
However she hardly looked like she cared what he said, just that he said something. She had a beaming smile on her face as she stopped to stand not too far in front of him. There was a moment where neither of them said anything and Buck made a move to step around her when the woman suddenly reached out towards him. That made Buck take a step back on autopilot, not certain of the woman’s intentions despite her not giving off any negative vibes.
“Oh god!” The woman gasped, taking a step back herself. She looked genuinely sorry that her actions seemed to have scared Buck. “I didn’t mean to—God, that must have looked so bad! I just saw you and then I had to come over and say: Thank you.”
Now Buck was confused…
Why was a random woman thanking him?
“Why are you thanking me?”
Before the woman could answer, Buck felt, more than saw, Eddie come to stand beside him and a warm tingly feeling flared up inside, the same one he gets whenever Eddie was anywhere near his proximity nowadays.
“Everything okay?” Eddie’s tone was soft, but there was a wariness to it.
“I think so?” Buck was still confused about the woman’s behavior and can’t help but wonder if maybe she’d also been caught in the accident and was feeling disoriented. “She was just thanking me?”
“For saving my life!” Finally the woman burst out.
“Uh, were you also in the car? We were told there was only one victim; the driver.” Buck smiled and was about ready to ask Eddie to check if the woman was maybe concussed when she continued talking.
“Not today.” She shook her head. Then she seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing, “My name’s Valerie and you saved me during the tsunami a few months ago.”
“The—” tsunami.
Buck felt dizzy, like he was drowning again. Even after all this time, after knowing that Christopher is perfectly safe and healthy, just the mention of the tsunami brought back all the pain and emotional turmoil he’d endured during those very harrowing twenty-something hours. God. He’d lost Chris; had nearly lost him forever.
A warm hand against his lower back stopped him from spiraling further. And Buck was never more grateful to have Eddie there to steady him.
“Buck.” The whisper of his name was barely audible, but he heard it loud and clear. It made him smile, thankful for the presence of his best friend.
He turned back to the woman—Valerie—again.
“I’m glad you’re doing okay.” He tried to come off as reassuring, hoping his second of panic didn’t leak through too much.
Though it must have, seeing as the smile the woman returned was just a touch sympathetic. She didn’t comment on it though, for which Buck was glad.
“Sorry. I just got excited! I remember you mentioning something about firefighting, but LA is so big and there are so many firefighters. I honestly didn’t think I’d ever see you again. But never have I been more glad to have spontaneously decided to get lunch across the street today.” Valerie rambled.
“Well it was nice to see you again, Valerie, but I have to—” Buck turned to point at the crashed car only to see Hen and Chim wheeling the gurney back towards the parked ambulance, MVA victim sitting on top, and Bobby only a few steps behind them.
Right.
Routine accident that was apparently easily taken care of. Even the victim looked okay, a few scratches and white airbag powder aside.
And now everyone’s attention was on Buck. On Buck and a clearly still very excited Valerie.
“Everything good, boys?” Bobby asked, looking between Buck and Eddie, and then Valerie.
Buck opened his mouth, maybe to apologize, not wanting Bobby to think he was slacking off by not actually doing anything to help with the MVA. Bobby and him have only just gotten back on semi-even footing after the lawsuit debacle. Buck did not want anything to rock that boat again. But, before he could, Eddie was already talking.
“Valerie here was just saying how much of a hero Buck was during the tsunami.”
Buck’s throat constricted just a little at Eddie’s words. They came out in an almost flippant and teasing manner, but there was pride lurking just behind.
“Buck saved my life when that tsunami hit the Santa Monica pier not that long ago.” Valerie explained. “Not just me, but so many others too. There must have been at least 15 of us on the back of that fire truck that day.”
Buck ducked his head as Valerie continued talking, mentioning how there’s even some sort of online group (Facebook maybe) where there were even more people sharing their own experience during the tsunami and how they were all saved by none other than Buck. He barely remembered that day, to be honest. He was aware he had stopped here and there to help people who needed it, but the only thing on his mind had been finding Christopher—or the fear that Christopher may have been dead because of his neglect and how was he going to explain that to Eddie, who had trusted Buck with his son!?
“Oh, Buck.” This time, the voice calling out his name was one he was very familiar with: Hen. With it came a soft hand on his cheek, gently lifting his head and cradling his cheek.
Her eyes were wet, he noticed.
Then he looked around at the rest of his team and noticed similar expressions on all of their faces.
“We…uh…you should take the victim to the hospital.” Buck said lamely, wanting to shift the attention off himself as much as possible. It wasn’t like he did anything the rest of them wouldn’t have done had they been caught in the same situation.
Helping people was his job.
“It was nice to see you again, Valerie.” He said quickly, not wanting to be rude, before quickly side-stepping Eddie to close the still opened compartment door, before heading back into the truck.
Eddie followed closely behind (because that hand never left the small of his back even for a second—grounding him).
In his rush, he didn’t see the looks exchanged between Bobby, Chimney, Hen, and Eddie. Didn’t hear Bobby asking Valerie for more information about the apparent Facebook group, despite barely knowing how to operate any form of social media.
Inside the cab, Buck wedged himself into a corner.
“Hey,” Eddie’s voice pulled his attention away from his own…self-loathing? Embarrassment?
“I’m sorry I lost Chris that day.” Buck mumbled, not trusting his voice to not crack if he spoke any louder.
There was a loud sigh and then a rush of warm air right beside his ear. If this was any other circumstance, Buck would have blushed at feeling Eddie’s breath on him, in his ear.
“Evan,” Eddie spoke softly. “You didn’t lose Chris. You saved him.”
A finger against his lips stopped Buck’s protests from seeing the light of day.
“You were his hero; you are his hero. You are my hero.”
Then there were slightly chapped lips softly caressing his birthmark.
Not even a second later, the truck’s engine roared to life as the rest of the crew, minus Hen and Chimney, all climbed back in and they were off again, back to the firehouse. If anyone had noticed Eddie’s kiss, no one mentioned it. And no one mentioned that Buck and Eddie spent the entire duration of the ride back, tucked against each other in the corner.
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Bobby noticed.
He just smiled, glad that he had made the right decision in stealing Eddie from under Station 6.