Chapter Text
"Woah," Buck quickly pulled the cups of steaming coffee towards himself as someone dashed by. He sighed in relief, seeing as none of the cups spilled over. It was the hospital after all, it was bound to be crowded and busy.
Narrowly avoiding the people rushing by, Buck walked into the waiting room, making eye contact with Athena who smiled tiredly at him.
"Thanks, Buckaroo. God knows we need it." Buck handed out the other cup to Maddie, who didn't even seem to notice his presence. He followed her gaze up to the small waiting room television, the news report of the bridge collapse flashing across the screen. Buck's expression softened, feeling sympathy for his sister, Chimney had just proposed and this happened.
"Hey, earth to Maddie!" Maddie startled, thanking him for the coffee and taking it into her hands.
"Worried about Chimney? The doctors said the surgery went well right?" Buck sat down, a twinge of worry springing up at the idea that there were complications.
"Yeah," Maddie breathed out, "Just worried." Her face seemed to be stuck in a frown these few days, dark eyebags shadowing her face.
Athena placed her hand on Maddie's arm, offering comfort. Meeting Buck's eyes, she answered the impending question: "Bobby's okay, the doctors just want to run a few more tests."
"That's good," Buck replied with a smile, everyone was okay.
Hen had been discharged a while ago, with a warning to stick with light thinking and physical activities due to the concussion. (Though Buck wasn't sure Hen could restrict herself to just light thinking.)
Eddie had needed more time, with his broken ribs and many wounds but he was too discharged with warnings to take it easy. Buck was sure that Chris and Carla were forcing him to bedrest if the phone call he had with Chris was any indication. Chris is the sweetest kid.
It had been a few days since the bridge collapse and he couldn't help but think that they were so lucky. Everything could've gone wrong but they all made it out alive, and that was what mattered.
Buck leaned back into the hard plastic chair, trying to make himself comfortable. He failed to hide the wince when his side flared up with pain.
"You okay there, Buck?" Athena asked worriedly, moving to get up from her seat. Maddie's head turned around so fast Buck thought she might get whiplash!
"I, I'm fine. Just some bruising, nothing to worry about." Buck reassured, hands held out to placate them. He eased into the chair, more careful this time.
"You're sure?" Maddie questioned, the furrow in her brow only growing deeper. Athena still hovered unsurely beside her.
"Yeah, see? All okay." Buck gestured vaguely to himself. He felt fine, a little sore here and there but that was to be expected.
He wasn't surprised when he woke up the day after the bridge collapse to find his body marred with bruises of purples and blues. Those were going to take a while to fade, that's all. He'd been dutifully applying ointment on it every night since then so really he was fine. "Really! It's nothi-"
"Sergant Grant? Captain Nash is ready to be discharged, his tests all came back clear." Said a nurse coming up to them, the nurses in this hospital were well-aquainted with the 118. The hospital was in their district.
They all stood up from their seats and Maddie can't help but look expectantly at the nurse. "Oh, and Firefighter Han should be done with his tests soon but we'd like to keep him for one more day of observation before discharging him."
"Thanks Elena," "Thank you," they said in unison before Athena and Buck made to go and see Bobby.
"I think I'm going to stay here to wait for Chim," Buck nodded, saying his goodbye before catching up to Athena who had already gone off.
"Hey Cap! Ready to go?" Bobby sat at the edge of the bed while Athena helped with the buttons on his button-up.
Bobby glanced up at him from watching Athena fiddle with the buttons, "Yeah, ready. Thanks, Buck."
"No problem Cap!" Buck replied grabbing the bags that Athena had brought for Bobby's hospital stay.
Careful about Bobby's arm cast, Athena guided Bobby to the lift lobby and Buck trailed behind. The lift door opened, revealing the awfully cramped lift with just enough space for 2 people.
"That's okay, I'll take the stairs." Buck said quickly, rushing towards the stairs before any of them had a chance to protest.
Turning the corner into the stairwell, Buck rammed into a table causing him to buckle over, dropping the bags to the floor. He kneeled on the floor, clutching his abdomen as searing pain rocketed through his body.
Bile coated his mouth as he struggled to regain composure. Gulping, Buck took loud, harsh breaths before he unscrewed his eyes. The offending table came into view, who put a table at the stairwell?! Staggering to his feet, Buck clamped his hand over his mouth as he gagged. His other hand grabbing tightly on the table to keep his balance.
It took a while for him to steady himself before he slowly collected the bags strewn across the floor, and made his way down the stairs. He felt a bit off, hints of nausea and dizziness threatening to surface, but he chalked it up to ramming himself into the table. The bruises hadn't healed much yet and his side was tender, so it wasn't unusual for it to hurt like hell when the corner of the table had digged into it.
Taking another moment to steady himself after the slow climb down, Buck headed to the carpark only to find Athena and Bobby already at their car.
"Growing slow on us, Buck?" Bobby teased and Athena grinned beside him. Buck was happy that Bobby was well enough to joke around, he had given Buck quite a scare.
"No Cap!" Buck replied, giving a smile of his own as he loaded the bags into the trunk. Athena slapped Bobby's hands away when he tried to help, and Bobby feigned an offended look while she and Buck finished loading the trunk.
Buck chuckled, the sound accompanied by the sound of the closing trunk. Out of nowhere, white hot pain ate into Buck's side forcing him to keel over. Gasping for breath as he laid on his side, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his teeth.
The pain was unbearable, there was loud noises around him. Voices. And hands, that tried to pry his arms away from his aching side. Someone tried to turn him to lay him on his back but Buck stubbornly curled on his good side, the sharp pain in the other and in his abdomen was overwhelming.
The familiar sourness of bile crept up his throat and this time, he was helpless to stop it when vomit spewed from his mouth. His mouth hang open, gasping for air after vomitting for a while.
Blearily, Buck felt himself being rolled onto his back, without resistance from him this time. The pain had subsided somewhat, but pain still gnawed at his side and abdomen.
All too quickly, pain shot up his spine as he felt someone press against his abdomen. The intense pain sent him arching off the floor before his vision went white and he blacked out.
Bobby was relived to go home, having been kept at the hospital for longer than he felt necessary. He never expected to be back in the hospital so soon. But then Buck had suddenly buckled over in the parking lot and Bobby could only stare stunned as he started spewing vomit.
Athena... Athena was good. Calm. She'd kneeled down beside Buck before he even started vomitting. But Buck wasn't listening or answering her no matter how much she tried, stubbornly curled on his side.
Bobby's muddled tired brain seemed to finally catch up with him as he frantically kneeled down beside Athena, grabbing her arm to get her attention.
"Athena, look! Coffee grounds." Athena tore away her attention from Buck who was writhing on the floor, looking at the pool of vomit her husband was pointing at.
Coffee grounds... Small brown specs floating amidst the bits of food. Dried blood. Internal bleeding.
"We need some help over here! Call the doctors!" Athena distantly heard Bobby yell. Seeing that Buck seemed to have stopped writhing so much, she gently grabbed his shoulder and eased him onto his back.
People came rushing, kneeling down by Buck's head as people guided them aside to attend to Buck. They pulled up his shirt and Athena cannot help but gasp when she saw blacks, purples and blues mottled across his skin. She knew he had bruises but she didn't expect them to be this bad. The bruises trailed from his lower ribs, tapering down his hip. It made Athena wonder how badly Buck had been hurt when he climbed and scuttled around that day trying to save everyone else.
Athena chalked it up to the adrenaline, he was trying to save his family after all. Speaking of family, Athena reached out for Bobby's good hand beside her. Holding on tightly as Buck grunted loudly, a strangled sound leaving his throat when someone put pressure around his abdomen.
"...skin's tight!" Athena heard one of the nurses shout, but she could only look at Buck. Her grip on Bobby's arm tightened when Buck went limp and unconscious.
Athena felt Bobby stiffen beside her, undoubtedly feeling the same or even worse as they watched Buck's pliant form being moved onto a gurney.
"-nt Grant? Athena?" Athena didn't respond. "Thanks, I've got this..." She heard Bobby murmur, then Bobby was in front of her, cradling her hand in his.
"Athena?" He questioned softly, and when her teary eyes met his, realisation finally dawned on her.
"H-He was fine, Bobby... He promised it was just bruising." Bobby pulled her close to his chest, rubbing her back soothingly.
"I know, I know... He's going to be okay. He's going to be okay." Bobby didn't know if he was trying to comfort himself or Athena, maybe both at this point.
Buck had been fine, Buck was fine up till just now. He'd seen it for himself when Buck cheerily came to visit him a few times, even bearing gifts.
And Buck would be fine, Bobby told himself. Even if Bobby watched Buck being rolled on the gurney into the hospital, even as the thought lingered: "Oh Buck... How many times could Buck escape death? Every time he seems to just escape by a hair's breath."
But Bobby could only hope that this time isn't the time that death grabs Buck away, and pulls.