Chapter Text
“Exhausting”
Buck stood there stunned in the middle of the grocery store as soon as Eddie and the rest of the 118 had left to help with the car incident in the parking lot. All he wanted to do was explain to them why he did what he did, he just wanted to be back with his family. None of them wanted to hear him out though, especially Eddie. He practically bit his head off when he was trying to apologize and explain himself. He is starting to think that maybe there is nothing left for him here. “Enough of that,” he thought to himself. He actually did have some groceries to get. As he was staring at the vegetables in the aisle, a voice caught his attention.
“Evan?” a voice said.
He whipped his head around to see who it was and was shocked at who he saw. Excitingly he said, “Amber! It’s so good to see you, how have you been? I haven’t seen you since we were at Virginia Beach.”
“I’m doing good! I’m living in San Diego now, but I’m in LA for a few weeks helping the LAPD with a case. Are you doing okay? I saw that argument you were having with your friends, it looked bad.” Amber said concerned.
Buck sighed and said “I’ll manage, it’s a lot to tell you in the middle of a grocery store aisle. Maybe we can meet up sometime this week for dinner? I can tell you all about what happened and we can catch up.”
Amber smiled and said, “I’’d like that! Here, give me your number and we can plan to meet up.” as she’s giving him her phone. He gives it back to her, “Thanks! I have to go, but it was good to see you!” She gives him a hug goodbye.
As she walks out of the store, Buck thinks to himself, “It’s good to know someone is still on my side.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
As Amber was walking into the police precinct, she couldn’t help but still think about Buck. They grew up together, but then lost touch after high school. Then reconnected in Virginia Beach and then lost touch again. She was still slightly concerned about that argument she witnessed between him and his friends, but she had to put that aside for now. As she walked through the door, she was greeted by a detective.
“Hi, I am Detective Lou Ransone. You must be Detective Amber Brooks with the SDPD to help us with our case, correct?” He said warmly.
She smiled and said, “Yes, that is me. We had a case very similar to yours within the past few months, but we were unable to catch him. I’m here to help you all shut him down.”
“Great,” Det. Ransone said, “ I’ll show you to the briefing room and you can catch us up to speed.”
~~~~~
In the Briefing Room…
“For the past few months, we have been looking into a man named Vincent Delgado.” Amber said, “He is believed to be organizing illegal underground cage fighting rings all along the West Coast as well as money laundering. We almost got him in San Diego, but he somehow managed to shut the whole thing down by the time we got to his location and he escaped. We suspect he might be here in LA, if he is moving up along the West Coast to all the major cities in California. We will need y’all’s help in catching him because we won’t let him slide out from under us again.”
~~~~~
Later that week, Buck was excited to finally be able to spend time with Amber again, since he hasn’t seen her in so long. They decided to meet at his place for dinner, and he decided he was going to make Bobby’s famous lasagna for her. As he was finishing up cooking it, there was a knock at the door.
“It’s good to see you, Evan! How are you?” Amber said as she was walking through the door.
“I’m doing alright. I thought I would explain what happened at the grocery store the other day.” he said as they were sitting down for lasagna. “What happened was, my leg got crushed by a fire truck after it exploded while I was in it. I spent months recovering from it and trying to get back to work. Finally when I passed my LAFD recertification, there were complications and I had a pulmonary embolism and had more blood clots in my leg. That set me back again and I wasn’t allowed to return to work. My Captain, Bobby Nash, said that the department said I wasn’t ready to return to work, but maybe return to light duty. I later found out that it was him who told the department I wasn’t ready and that I was a liability. It felt like he stabbed me in the back, so I decided to sue the department for wrongful termination. All I wanted was to get back to my job and my family.”
“I’m so sorry all that happened to you Evan.” Amber said.
“It was the only job I ever had that was important to me and now everybody hates me.” Buck said sadly. “There’s nothing left for me here in LA. When you leave to go back to San Diego, can I go with you? You’re the only person left that is still on my side.”
Amber smiled warmly, “From what you told me it sounds like you have been struggling, so I’ll say okay. Though, maybe think on it for the next couple of weeks since I’m here for that case that I’m working on. Maybe your team will have a change of heart or something and will finally want to listen to your side of it.”
“Maybe…” is all Buck can say.