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Everything hurt.
His chest was aching. His lungs were screaming. His body felt like one big bruise. But at the same time, he just couldn’t get his eyes open. Something in his mind told him to keep them clenched shut.
The need for air suddenly became the paramount issue. His eyes snapped open.
Water. He was in the water.
Just as the thought registered in his head, a hand closed around his upper arm, tugging him upwards, or what he assumed was upwards. Everything was hazy, he couldn’t make out who was pulling him along.
His rescuer broke through the surface, pulling him up as well. The moment he registered the air, he let out a gasp, choking in as much air as possible. Another gulp of air helped steady him a bit. The oxygen helped.
The person who brought him to the surface pulled him along. All he could make out was the uniform - the same that he wore. Did he work with this person?
Close to shore, there was movement, but his vision was dimming. Too long underwater, too little air. The rescuer helped lift him up - wait, Eddie lifted him up - wait, Eddie saved him?
He was unconscious before he was fully out of the water.
Waking up in the back of an ambulance was not something he enjoyed, especially after the past year. Waking up coughing up half the Pacific ocean made it worse, especially as he was fighting off flashbacks of the tsunami and Christopher and -
“He’s back!” Hen’s voice, muffled but firm, brough through his rambling thoughts. He coughed again, more water coming up. As soon as he was done, she was wiping the last drops from his face, though her own tears were making it a difficult task. “Buck, can you hear me?”
He quickly nodded. His throat felt torn up so he didn’t bother trying to stutter out an answer. He followed up with a shaky thumbs up.
“You took a major swan dive, thanks to some dumbass who was drunker than half of LA on New Years Eve,” Eddie’s voice joined Hen’s from somewhere down near his feet. “Your leg looks good, but I’m not liking the look of your ribs.”
Don’t insult my ribs, Diaz, he tried to say with his eyes. Eddie, for his part, just rolled his own before turning away.
“We’re here!”
And away into the chaos of the hospital Buck went. Again.