Work Text:
"Why are you so pissed at me?"
"Because you're exhausting. We all have our own problems, but you don't see us whining about it. No, somehow, we just manage to suck it up. Why can't you?"
Buck stared at his best friend as the man stood there and told him that he should just accept anything that happened without knowing all of the facts about Buck's situation.
"Why should I?"
Chim and Hen stared as Buck got into Eddie's face while Lena and Bobby stood back and watched in shock. None of them had expected Buck to say anything against Eddie.
"You can stand there and act like you would be okay with a boss telling you that only they get to decide when you come back to work. Not the doctors or psychologists. Not the upper management. Just your direct boss. But that is a lie. You would be the first one to fight that kind of decision. And despite what you said, this isn't the military. I don't have to stand there and take it when I'm being put in a bad position by anyone over me."
Eddie stared at Buck stubbornly. Nothing that he could say would change how he felt about Buck dragging the team into a legal proceeding.
"I'm pretty sure that you don't even know why I sued Bobby along with the department. Because Bobby has been lying about this since the beginning. I don't believe he would stop now."
Hen stepped forward. "What do you mean?"
"Originally, Bobby told me that the brass were the ones that said I couldn't come back to the 118. But the night that I filed the lawsuit, he told me that he was the one who decided to keep me off of the job."
Everyone glanced at Bobby who kept his face as neutral as possible. He had told his team the bare minimum about the lawsuit but definitely not what had caused Buck to go in that direction.
"He kept me from coming back to work and recommended the fire marshal position. But because I am cleared to come back to work, I don't get disability anymore. And the pay I am getting isn't nearly enough to cover all of my bills. I still have medical bills from the tsunami. I have rent that I can barely afford. Bills that are stacking up because I have to decide what to pay and what to put off. All because he decided he knew better than medical professionals who have already cleared me to get back to my job."
Buck turned back to Eddie, who was looking a little unsure now. What Buck had said reminded him of working multiple jobs in Texas to make sure Christopher was taken care of. He had hated having to work so much just to support his son. And Buck was right that Eddie had changed his situation as quickly as he could. It is why he was in California to start with.
"I am sorry that all of that information about all of you was pulled up like it was. But not a single thing shared was things that were not also in your employment record. So my lawyer was going to get that information one way or another. If you don't like what you heard, that says more about you than it does about me. Because you all know that Bobby treats all of you differently than he does me."
Buck laid his basket down before walking out the door.
The team stared as the easiest-going member of their team walked away from them. They didn't move until they heard a loud crash from the parking lot and turned to see a car accident and fight going on. They quickly moved to go help out with that situation while thinking about what Buck had said.
And what Buck had said was all true. They hadn't liked hearing that their captain was in the wrong. Bobby had brought a lot of stability to the 118 and it felt disloyal to stand on the opposite side of such a major issue from the man. But where did they draw the line?