Work Text:
Evan "Buck" Buckley was tired. So tired of trying to convince his captain that he was fit enough to return to duty as a firefighter. It had been weeks since the embolism and the tsunami in which Buck had thought he had shown that he could do the job, even while on blood thinners as he had done it, without backup or even good equipment as a lot of the things on the 136's ladder had been waterlogged and therefore unusable.
Bobby had tried to get him to work as a fire marshal in the meantime, but all of Buck's doctors had said that it would not be a good idea for him as it would increase the risk of clots instead of minimizing it. When Buck had told Bobby as much, the older man had not liked that reasoning, thinking that Buck was just making things up and also not accepting that there might be another reason for Buck getting the clots in the first place other than him overdoing things.
As Bobby's okay was needed for anything to do with Buck's further career at the LAFD and the Union had told him that they would back his captain, Buck was at his wit's end. He knew he could have sued, as he was being effectively terminated since his captain wouldn't let him work despite being medically and psychologically cleared even with the added trauma of the tsunami, but he knew that suing would destroy his team's trust in him as well as most likely any further career he might have had before Bobby started this bullshit.
Add in the fact that he had the feeling that his team, his family, was glad that he was no longer there and Buck was just done. He loved his job as a firefighter, being able to help people and make a difference in the world. Having that taken from him left him depressed which Eddie had tried to heal by sicking Chris on him with nearly disastrous consequences.
Maybe it was for the better if he no longer worked as a firefighter, maybe in his next job he would find the acceptance he craved and thought he had found with the 118, only to have it snatched away in the blink of an eye.
As Buck was contemplating his future and past, he heard a sound coming from the alley he had just passed. He stopped and listened to see if it would come again, and it did. It was quiet, nearly inaudible and a feeling in his gut grew that something was very wrong in that passage. He quickly turned and went into the alley, straining his ears to find where the sound was coming from.
There was nothing, however, for a long minute, and he nearly convinced himself that he had imagined it, when the sound came again and this time Buck could discern that it was a feeble meow. His heart broke at the sound, but it enabled him to locate the source. It was a plastic box, taped shut with tons of tape, with only a few holes drilled in the lid. He pulled out his pocket knife and carefully slit through the tape, before prying the box open.
In it was a mother cat with half a dozen little ones. The mother's fur was matted and somehow a deep indigo color as if someone had poured ink over her. The kittens were the same, the reason for it quickly becoming obvious as there was still a puddle of the deep blue color on the bottom of the box.
Buck swallowed heavily as the mother meowed again at him, looking at him with wide and pleading eyes. Maybe he could do that. If he could no longer help people, he could help animals, or at least these seven poor souls. He quickly shut the box again so that neither mother nor children could get out, making the mother cry out in distress again and breaking his heart some more, as he tried to find a vet that was close to where he was on his phone. He found one three streets over and quickly called them to ask what he should do and if he could come over with his find. The assistant told him that inks were normally not too dangerous for cats, agreed for him to come by and Buck breathed a sigh of relief, hefting up the box and getting another meow from the mother, this time somehow sounding more questioning than anything else.
Buck started to talk in a calm and soothing voice, one he had used dozens of times when talking to frightened animals, mostly cats trapped in trees or on roofs, or also small children who were afraid. He pitched his voice just right so that the mother, who had started to cry out in distress as her prison started to move with her and her kittens in it would calm down.
The whole way, Buck continued to make soothing sounds and soon the mother quieted. Buck breathed a sigh of relief as she fell silent, glad that he had been able to calm her enough. He made it to the vet in record time, his long legs eating up the ground quickly despite him not running and his precious cargo.
Once inside, the assistant took his information, as well as information about where he had found the seven souls in the box before she opened it to take a look.
"Oh poor dears!" she exclaimed when she caught sight of them. She carefully reached into the box and ran her hand along the back of one of the kittens. When she pulled her hand back, it was indigo as well, the skin glistening with the color. "Follow me."
Buck did, hefting the box again and following the assistant into one of the back rooms.
"We're going to have to wash them down," the assistant said. "And I'll take a sample of whatever this is to find out what was used here. If it doesn't contain alcohol, it's safe for them and even if it does, it shouldn't harm them too much as long as they haven't ingested it. We need to keep an eye on them, however, because if they have ingested it, we need to treat them."
Buck nodded his understanding. It was best to get whatever it was off the mother and the little ones.
"When I flick this switch," the assistant went on, "it'll light up a light above the door so that people outside know not to come in as at least the mom most likely won't be happy when we start bathing them and there's every chance that she will try to escape."
Buck nodded again, remembering a cat they had saved once on a call that had fallen into the pool while her owners had not been at home. One of the neighbors had called 9-1-1 and they had arrived to pull the poor dear to safety. While she had not liked being wet one bit, she had also scratched up everyone who had tried to get her until Buck had gone, even though he should not have as it had been one of his first shifts where he had been supposed to watch and learn, and calmed her down first. The rest of the crew had called him the cat whisperer for months afterward, a name that had been reinforced each and every time they were called to cats in trees and on roofs that refused to be rescued by anyone but Buck.
"Alright," he said. "Let's get them clean."
He smiled slightly at the vet assistant as she reached into the box to pull out the mother, who promptly hissed and scratched at her.
"Okay, you're a difficult one, huh?" she asked even as she was smiling back at Buck.
"May I?" Buck asked. "Maybe she's more okay with me? If not we can still make another plan."
"Well, either way, we need to get both her and her kittens out of that box and into another so that they don't ingest more as well as a clean one to put them once they're done so that they don't get each other dirty again. I'll get them while you negotiate with Mama," the woman said. When she came back two minutes later with two more boxes, the mother cat was in Buck's arms, purring up a storm as he ran his hands along her body. His shirt and arms were totally wrecked due to the color, but he had written the shirt off either way as there was no way that it would have survived the bathing they needed to do now even though it was dark already. The stains were even darker an there was every chance they wouldn't come out easily.
"Okay. You do her and I'll do her kittens," the assistant said. "I'm Natalie, by the way."
She held out her hand, which Buck shook quickly, introducing himself as well.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Natalie said, as she scooped out the kittens into the first box, all of them meowing in protest at being moved. She kept a hold of the last one and moved over so that she was at one of the sinks, Buck moving to the one right next to her with the mother cat. "We'll first try to shampoo it out. That should help with both ink and dye. If it doesn't, we'll try with milk. The last resort is to cut it off, alright?"
Buck nodded and Natalie turned on the water for his sink as well, since he had both hands full, while waiting for the water in hers to warm up.
"It's better to use running water to get the worst off as the ink or dye or whatever it is, is really dark. That way we'll see when the water runs clear and we can start with the shampoo."
Buck removed one hand from underneath the cat in his arms and checked the water. Deeming it warm enough he carefully set the cat down and scooped a bit of water over her rear end, causing her to hiss in displeasure. He chuckled slightly before he started to talk to her soothingly again, praising her when she stayed where she was despite not liking being wet one bit more than that first cat he had rescued as a firefighter. He totally forgot the world around him, as he carefully cleaned her, first with water, then shampoo, and when that didn't work with milk, which helped get rid of the ink. While most of it was gone after half an hour, there was still a slight indigo sheen to the cat which he was pretty sure had not been there before as she was more black naturally with some normally white spots that looked as if she was wearing small socks on her front paws and knee-length boots on her back paws as well as a cute white spot around her mouth that was asymmetrical giving her a crooked look. She was utterly adorable and Buck just fell in love.
"There, all done," he said, half an hour after he started. She was as clean as he could get her for the moment. The rest would need to grow out he guessed, which Natalie agreed with. She had laid out a towel for him to dry her. Which he used once he was done and then he carefully lowered her into the box where all her clean kittens were. Natalie was busy with the second to last kitten, so once the mother was settled, Buck reached into the other box, pulled out the last little one, and cleaned it up, too.
"You're really good with them," Natalie said as she finished up with the kitten in her hand. She was clearly impressed by how Buck handled the cats. "We have an animal shelter and rescue attached to our clinic and could use more people who are good with animals. You're not looking for a job by any chance?"
Buck was startled at the question, not having expected it in the slightest.
"Yeah," he said after a moment of consideration before sighing. "Yeah, I guess I am looking for a new job. I was a firefighter until six months ago. There was an incident at work that left me hurt through no fault of my own, and now my captain won't let me come back. The goalposts have been moved four times already in when I can come back and I'm sick of it and sick of waiting, especially as he's made it clear that he will make sure that every captain that might take me will know that my old one considers me a threat to the team, to any team, as I am too stubborn and reckless for anyone's good. He threatened to tell any new captain that I'd put my team in danger and that I am not fit to do the job despite half a dozen doctors agreeing that I am. The worst is that my old team seems to agree with him and despite them claiming that we are a family for two years, I haven't heard from most of them for weeks. "
Buck hung his head, not wanting to see Natalie's reaction. It would hurt if a stranger agreed with his captain because that would mean that Bobby was right in holding him back despite his doctors saying he was okay to return to active duty.
"Wait a moment," Natalie gasped, looking at Buck more closely, searching his face. "Were you in the tsunami?"
"Yeah?" Buck answered, even though it sounded more like a question. He was confused by the question as he had no idea how she knew that. He had never seen her before in his life. "I was. What has that to do with anything?"
A moment later, he had a sobbing woman clinging to him that was thanking him over and over, making Buck's brows furrow as he had no idea why she was doing that.
"What?" he asked, totally bewildered as she pulled back nearly five minutes later after a moment of silence in which she collected herself.
"You saved my little sister. Sarah was in Santa Monica that day and was swept away by the wave. She'll be so happy to know that you survived!" Natalie said and Buck's eyes widened. He remembered a woman named Sarah and that she had tried to keep a hold of Chris, nearly falling in again herself when the water went back out. She had screamed after him when he had jumped back in to go after Chris.
"I'm glad she's alright, too," Buck said. "Do you know if the others on the truck made it back home safe?"
Natalie nodded through her tears.
"They did. They all did and even managed to get a few more people to safety before they were rescued. They're still in contact with each other, too."
Buck breathed a sigh of relief. While had hadn't wanted to search out any of those he had pulled from the water, they had been on his mind a lot. Having another man and Chris fall back in had been a blow and Buck had not known if the others had made it to safety as Bobby refused to find out, saying that Buck needed to let it go while Buck didn't know who he could have asked as he had first names at best of those he had saved.
"I'm glad," he said and Natalie smiled at him.
"So, how about that job offer? You wanna come to work for us? It might not be as exciting as working as a firefighter would be and we might not save people unless it's from their own stupidity, but you could still do a lot of good."
"Yeah," Buck decided after a moment of consideration. His career as a firefighter was done after all with Bobby doing his absolute best to destroy it. "Yeah, I'm in. Animals deserve our help just as much as the few people I have been helping over the years who were not the cause of the trouble they were in. The only thing that I regret is not being able to have my partner's back like I promised."
"Well, if he's worth it, you can still have it off the job," Natalie replied, grinning. "And you can have half a dozen cuties to help you."
With that, she held up one of the kittens that had just finished drinking from its mom. Buck broke into laughter at her words, before groaning.
"Eddie's going to kill me if I bring them home because once they're there, Chris won't ever let them go again."
"But they're worth it," Natalie said, handing the little one to Buck who had sat down next to the box and was running his hand over the mother cat's back, the little one settling in his lap.
"Totally worth it," Buck agreed, resuming his petting and turning to the mother. "How about it, Indigo, wanna come home with me? And bring your kittens?"
The newly named Indigo just purred which Buck took as a yes. Natalie was quick to call in the vet after that so that both the mother and the little ones could be checked over and they could make sure that they were fine after their dye job. They were all declared healthy and soon Buck was on the way home with a new work contract as well as half a dozen kittens and their mom. To say that Eddie was not amused, was an understatement, but the little balls of fur quickly won him over.
He agreed with Buck that it would be better to leave the LAFD and since Buck could no longer have his back at work, Eddie left the 118, moving to the 217 to be Tommy Kinard's partner as Buck trusted the other man to have Eddie's back and make sure that his partner would come home to them when he didn't trust anyone at their old house with it.
Sarah and the other survivors that Buck had rescued, however, started a campaign against the LAFD, the union, and Bobby to make their displeasure known about the fact that their savior had been wrongfully terminated by his captain, kicking over a hornets' nest for all involved as soon the press caught wind of the situation, helped along by Kent, a reporter whose wife Buck had saved.
When the LAFD tried to get Buck back, they bit on granite as by then Buck had totally fallen in love with his new job and refused to leave his charges behind, never mind that they had shown just where their priorities were and in Buck's eyes, it was not with the firefighters working for them, especially when they tried to pay him millions of dollars in compensation for their behavior that would have resulted in several stations either closing down due to the lost funding or not getting the equipment they needed to be safe on the job. He told them as much, making several people's eyes widen at the implications they had not thought about for a minute.
When asked what the LAFD could do to compensate him, he told them to make sure that what happened to him, would not happen to anyone else, and that no captain could abuse his power the way Bobby had. They agreed and changes were implemented, even though it was too late for one Evan Buckley, it set a precedent that helped others after him.