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If Buck keeps changing his shirt, he’s going to be late. And he cannot be late for his and Eddie’s first date.
There’s an embarrassingly large pile of dress shirts on his bed, each one tried on and discarded almost instantly. Which is ridiculous because Eddie’s seen him in everything from a flimsy hospital gown to fancy suits. He even caved and called Maddie to beg for help – which she sort of provided once she was finished laughing at him. She told him that he could show up naked and Eddie wouldn’t care.
(Buck had to bite back the fact that Eddie would very much care, if the heated looks he’s been sending Buck for days since they finally scheduled their date are any indication.)
Finally, Buck settles on a dark pink dress shirt that he knows will drive Eddie crazy because it will compliment his lips. Eddie’s been annoyingly modest since they made their dinner reservations, teasing Buck with chaste kisses to his cheek and forehead and birthmark, always dodging Buck when he tries to go for Eddie’s mouth, saying that he wanted to save their first kiss for their first date. Last first date, last first kiss. It’s sickeningly romantic but Buck’s also going to start climbing the walls if he doesn’t get to make out with Eddie soon. Hence, drawing attention to his lips with his shirt choice in the hopes that Eddie will jump him as soon as they get back to Buck’s loft after dinner, if all goes according to plan.
Once he’s dressed, Buck checks the time and swears. He needs to get a move-on if he doesn’t want to be late, and he’s already cutting it close if traffic is worse than usual. In his haste to get out of his apartment he nearly forgets his phone, but he does an about face at the door and runs back inside to snatch it off the counter. He sends Eddie a quick text that he’s on his way and grins the entire journey to his Jeep.
By some miracle, L.A. traffic decides to cut him some slack and Buck finds a parking spot just around the corner from the restaurant. He nearly forgets to lock his Jeep in his excited scramble out of the vehicle, but he fumbles with his keys shoved into his pocket until it beeps. Then he pulls out his phone and checks his notifications.
He has a few texts wishing him luck – from Maddie, Chim, Hen and Bobby. He can’t help but smile to himself, absurdly pleased at their encouragement and well wishes. While he and Eddie had tried to keep things quiet until after their official first date, apparently the heart eyes they’d been shooting each other at work had increased to such glaringly obvious levels that Bobby had called them into his office not even halfway through their shift to ask them if there was anything they needed to disclose to him as their boss.
Buck’s sure he’d gone immediately beet red, and he’d tried his best to stammer through some sort of non-committal answer since Eddie hadn’t explicitly told him if he was okay with them being public yet. But Eddie had just laughed gently, cutting him off, and reached out to take his hand as he calmly explained to Cap that they weren’t trying to keep anything from him and had been planning on telling him at the start of their shift after their date. Nodding, Bobby handed them the relevant HR forms and told them to fill them out before their next shift, and then he smiled in that tender, fatherly way that always makes Buck feel like he’s won a prize when he can get Bobby to look like that, before hugging them both.
It means more than Buck can ever articulate to have his family’s support behind him. They’re wishing him luck not because they think he needs it or he’s going to screw it up – he and Eddie have seen each other at their lowest and loved each other through it – because they know how important his relationship is with Eddie. And while Buck isn’t nervous about the date exactly, he appreciates his family’s steadfast reassurance and excitement that helps calm the somewhat anxious buzzing in the back of his mind.
Taking one deep, calming breath, Buck sets off in the direction of the restaurant’s entrance. He’ll respond to everyone after dinner’s done – or maybe tomorrow morning, depending how well this night goes.
“Hey!”
Instinct has Buck turning in the direction of the shout. Is he double-parked or something? Before he can figure out where the call came from or if he was the intended target of it, somebody knocks into him from behind. There’s a sharp pain in the side of his neck and then an arm around his waist, pulling him flush against a solid body.
“Whoa, buddy,” says a man’s voice.
“What are you –” Buck tries to shove the person holding him away, but suddenly it’s like his arms are made of lead. He can barely lift them above his waist. A bolt of panic hits him. Something isn’t right. What’s happening to him?
The arm around his waist tightens. “Looks like you’ve had a little too much to drink.”
“M’not…” Buck slurs, struggling weakly against the arms holding him. His phone slips out of his slack grip and clatters against the pavement. A foot kicks it into the gutter.
One of his arms is pulled over someone’s shoulder and he sags into the man holding him against his will. It’s impossible to keep his eyes open but he tries as best he can, hoping he can make eye contact with someone and telegraph his distress.
“Don’t worry,” says the mockingly soothing voice, “I’m gonna get you home.”
No, Buck tries to say, but his mouth has stopped working now too. He feels himself being lowered down until he sits on something – a seat in a car?
He’s unconscious before the car door closes.
Buck’s late, and Eddie’s trying not to freak out.
He checks his phone again, hoping he’s somehow missed a message from Buck explaining where he is, even though Eddie knows damn well his phone has been still and silent for the last twenty minutes. Buck texted him forty-five minutes ago, just a little on my way :) that had Eddie’s heart fluttering excitedly. He knows it would have taken Buck just under half an hour to drive here from the loft, barring any unforeseen traffic issues. He also knows Buck would have called him to let him know if he was running late.
Hence, attempting not to freak out. He’s trying to convince himself that Buck isn’t trapped in his crumpled Jeep after getting t-boned on the way here, but the longer he goes without hearing from Buck, the harder it gets to push the slowly building panic back down.
(There’s a small, nasty voice in the back of his head whispering that Buck isn’t coming at all – that he’s decided this is a mistake and they’re better off pretending they never made plans in the first place. It’s the insecurity that will probably always be there, but Eddie’s getting better at not listening to that voice. He thinks back to his phone call with Buck earlier in the day, how breathlessly excited he sounded, how he joked about moving the date up because he couldn’t wait until dinner. That Buck wouldn’t just stand him up with no explanation.)
So. Back to the worrying. Finally giving in to temptation, Eddie grabs his phone and types out a quick text.
Eddie
Please tell me you’re just caught in traffic and didn’t get into an accident
He stares at his phone but gets nothing. Not even the typing bubbles. Eddie waits another thirty seconds before he thinks fuck it and taps on Buck’s contact to check his location. He and Buck have been sharing their locations with each other since the tsunami, but Eddie rarely feels the need to keep tabs on him. Now, though… he just wants to know where Buck is to settle his nerves. Eddie blinks in surprise when he sees that Buck’s dot is only a few metres away from him – outside the restaurant.
Chuckling to himself, Eddie looks up to see if he can see Buck out the front windows. He’s definitely giving Buck shit for being late and making Eddie catastrophize. But as Eddie waits and watches, Buck doesn’t move any closer – in fact, Buck doesn’t seem to be moving at all. The smile slips off Eddie’s face. He checks the windows again but there’s still no sign of Buck.
Something’s wrong. Eddie tightens his grip on his phone and stands up. Ignoring the annoyed looks from the waitstaff, he heads for the front door. Once he’s outside, he looks around a little frantically, still clinging to the faint hope that he’ll see Buck standing somewhere on the pavement, psyching himself up to come inside.
But Buck is nowhere to be seen.
Cursing quietly, Eddie looks at his phone again. He should be right on top of Buck. But unless Buck has somehow turned into The Invisible Man, he’s not out here, despite what the app says. Eddie hits the call button under Buck’s name and brings the phone up to his ear.
After one ring, Eddie hears TEXAS HOLD ‘EM start playing faintly nearby. His stomach drops. That’s Buck’s latest ringtone for him, changed from Cowboy Casanova because Buck is nothing if not a little shit sometimes. Eddie follows the sound for a few feet until he sees Buck’s phone lying face up in the gutter. He crouches down to pick it up, his heart clenching when he sees that the caller ID reads Eddie ❤️🔥
He ends the call and forces himself to stand up again, even as he feels the beginnings of a panic attack prickling in his chest. Buck’s phone is here, meaning Buck was here – recently. But he’s not here now, and Eddie can’t think of any reasonable explanation for Buck’s phone being abandoned on the sidewalk.
Buck, where the hell are you?
With a heavy rock of dread in his stomach, Eddie calls Athena.
She answers on the second ring. “Eddie? I thought you and Buck had your big date tonight?”
“We did.” He forces himself to swallow down the sudden lump in his throat. “But, um, I think something might have happened to him.”
Buck’s neck is killing him.
It’s a familiar kind of ache, when he’s so exhausted after a call that he’ll fall asleep sitting upright in the engine on the way back to the station, and then wake up with a stiff neck from his head hanging forward. Was he at work? He can’t remember – everything’s fuzzy, like his head’s been stuff full of cotton. But work doesn’t feel right to him. He’s not in his heavy turnouts, for one thing, and whatever he’s sitting on is way harder than the engine’s seats or the couch at the firehouse.
The disorientation he’s experiencing reminds him of the times he’s come out of surgery and still been feeling the effects of anesthesia. Oh shit, was he in another accident? Is he in the hospital? But no, he’s sitting upright… in a chair? He wouldn’t be in a chair if he’d been admitted to the hospital…
More feeling slowly filters back into his body. He’s definitely sitting in a chair of some sort, with his head tipped forward. His arms are pulled behind the back of the chair, and he can feel something thick and scratchy wrapped around his wrists. That’s… not good. Buck struggles to get his eyes open. It takes a few blinks until his vision focuses, and then he sees that his ankles are bound with thick hemp rope to the legs of the chair.
And then suddenly the rope around his wrists moves, and someone’s fingers brush against his skin. Cold fear slides down Buck’s spine. He’s not alone.
The rope cinches tightly, and Buck can’t help but let out a pained gasp.
“So you’re awake,” comes a gruff male voice behind him. “Looks like I finished just in time.”
“Where –” Buck’s voice cracks, and he swallows. “Where am I?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Uh, Buck will very much worry about that, thanks. He finally lifts his head up and catalogues his surroundings. He’s in a basement of some sort, clearly in the house of someone who’s lived here and collected things for decades. There are multiple shelves lining the walls, crammed full of tools, paints, bits of wood and leather. He can’t see any windows in his line of sight, but holds on to a little bit of hope that one might be behind him, large enough for him to squeeze through. Otherwise the only way out of the basement seems to be a set of wooden stairs a few feet in front of him, leading up to presumably the main level.
With one final tightening of the rope, the man behind him gets to his feet and claps him amiably on the shoulder. He saunters around to the front of the chair with a casualness that makes Buck’s skin crawl, but Buck does his best to keep himself from reacting outwardly. As his captor’s eyes rake over him – seemingly admiring his handiwork – Buck tests the give on the rope as subtly as he can. It’s tight; his fingertips are starting to tingle from lack of circulation. But that doesn’t mean that Buck won’t be able to wriggle free if he’s given the opportunity.
His abductor is vaguely familiar. Buck definitely knows him from… somewhere, but his head is still swimming from whatever was used to knock him out and he can’t place him definitively. As he blinks in confusion, the man’s face hardens.
“You don’t even remember me, do you?” he snarls.
Buck’s stomach drops. Apparently that’s not what he wanted to hear. “I – I do, I just –” Buck stammers.
“Don’t lie to me!” The man explodes, and Buck flinches back. Despite his disorientation, he’s keenly aware of what a precarious situation he’s in. He’s completely at this man’s mercy; the last thing he needs to do is enrage him further.
The man stares at him intensely for a few seconds, seemingly gathering his composure. Then he turns his back on Buck and walks over to one of the shelves. “Doesn’t matter,” he mutters to himself as he rummages around. “You’ll remember me just fine after this.”
Buck squirms uneasily in the chair, tugging on the ropes with a little more force. He has no idea what he’s done to piss this guy off but he’s not planning on sticking around to find out.
When the man turns back around, he’s holding something that makes Buck’s heart stutter in terror: a black leather muzzle gag with a blindfold attached to the head harness.
“What– what are you –?” Buck pulls uselessly on his bindings as the man stalks back over to him. “No, wait –!”
He tosses his head back and forth but the man grabs a handful of his hair and yanks harshly to still him. Buck can’t help but cry out at the pain, continuing to struggle as best he’s able against the ropes and the man’s fist in his hair. He’s helpless enough as it is – the last thing he needs is to be muzzled and blindfolded in this basement as well.
“Quit struggling,” the man grunts, fitting the straps around Buck’s head.
“Please,” Buck pleads. “You don’t need t–mmph!”
The man forces the muzzle over Buck’s mouth and chin, pulling the straps tightly to secure it in place and clamp his jaw shut. His captor yanks cruelly on the straps as he tightens the head harness, causing the various buckles to dig into Buck’s skull. Buck starts to hyperventilate, his breath whistling in and out of his nose as his fear climbs higher and higher. His jaw is completely immobilized, leaving him unable to make any sounds other than muffled whimpers.
The blindfold is slightly askew from Buck’s thrashing, only covering one of his eyes, but it doesn’t stay that way for long. Circling around in front of Buck, the man tuts, annoyed, and reaches out to adjust the blindfold. Buck rears back, nearly toppling his chair over in the process, but desperate to keep what little sight he has left. There’s nowhere for him to go, though; the man just rolls his eyes before tugging the blindfold into place and plunging Buck into darkness.
The grip on his hair loosens, and then his head is roughly shoved to the side. He tenses, waiting for a punch or a slap, but nothing else comes. Instead, he hears footsteps receding and then the wooden stairs creaking as the man ascends the staircase. Buck breathes out unsteadily through his nose and starts twisting his wrists, trying to slip out of the rope.
The door at the top of the stairs closes, and Buck is alone.
When Athena’s squad car finally pulls up in front of the restaurant, Eddie has worked himself up into an anxious frenzy. He’d half-hoped that Buck would come loping around the corner while Eddie was waiting and offer some ridiculous explanation as to his whereabouts, and they’d both laugh at Eddie’s paranoia. But with each passing minute that Buck is still missing, Eddie can’t stop his imagination from running more and more wild.
Athena gets out of the car, her face contorting into a grimace as she takes in Eddie’s agitated state. “Eddie, I need you to calm down and tell me what happened.”
Well, Eddie can do one of those things. “Buck was late, I couldn’t get in touch with him, and I found his phone out here in the gutter. I took a walk around the block while I was waiting for you and found his Jeep, but I can’t find him.”
Sighing, Athena folds her arms across her chest. “Normally I’d say not to jump to worst-case scenarios, but this is Buck we’re talking about. There’s no way he’d miss your date.”
“So what are we going to do?”
Athena doesn’t answer immediately, instead surveying their surroundings with a critical eye. She tilts her chin towards the restaurant’s exterior. “We’re in luck. They have security cameras.”
She sets off towards the restaurant’s main entrance and Eddie scrambles after her. “Can you see the tapes without a warrant?”
“Let’s try asking nicely first.”
Luck seems to be on their side for once. All Athena has to do is flash her badge and politely explain the situation and the hostess calls the manager, who agrees to take them to the back to look at the security footage. The manager leads them through the restaurant and Eddie can’t help but glance over at the table where he was sitting earlier. It’s occupied now, by two women smiling at each other. They could be on a date or just two friends having a night out, but Eddie finds himself irrationally jealous of them nonetheless. That should be him and Buck sitting at that table, grinning and laughing and blushing as they try to discreetly play footsie under the table. He tears his eyes away from the table and focuses on Athena’s back again, blinking furiously.
Once they arrive in the security room, the manager takes a seat in front of the computer and starts searching for the right video feed. While they wait, Eddie cuts a glance to Athena. She appears her usual stoic self – calm, cool and collected – but Eddie can see the tension lurking in her pursed lips. For his part, Eddie feels like he’s going to fall to pieces any second. It’s almost comical, really. Eddie’s anxiety has been the focus of his last few sessions with Frank and it felt like they were making progress, but after today it feels like all that progress has been obliterated. He wasted so much time sitting at that damn table trying to convince himself that nothing was wrong, that it was just his anxiety, except something terrible actually has happened to Buck.
The manager finally locates the right file. “What time do you need to see?” he asks.
“We were supposed to meet at 7:30,” Eddie says, his voice only trembling slightly.
“Try 7:20,” Athena suggests.
Nodding, the manager skips back through the footage. At 7:20, Eddie sees himself walking along the sidewalk. The giddy smile on his past self’s face makes him want to vomit. He should have waited for Buck outside instead of going in to sit at the table. Five minutes later, Buck’s Jeep pulls into frame. Eddie’s heart leaps into his throat as he watches the recording of Buck practically bounce out of his Jeep, that adorable little hop in his step he gets when he’s excited. Buck pauses on the sidewalk, looking down at his phone for a few moments, before he strides in the direction of the restaurant’s entrance.
Eddie’s pulse skyrockets. Whatever happened to Buck, it must happen in the next couple seconds. He was so close to the front doors…
The recording of Buck stops mid-step and looks around, something clearly having caught his attention. A man appears from off-screen and walks deliberately into Buck from behind, his hand coming up as if he’s sticking something into Buck’s neck. Then the man’s arm winds around Buck’s waist and pulls Buck in close, and Eddie’s hands curl into fists at his side. He watches, horrified, as Buck attempts to wriggle out of the man’s arms, but it seems like Buck’s drugged or something, his movements sluggish and weak. The man pulls one of Buck’s arms over his shoulders, like he’s taking care of a drunk friend, and walks him out of the camera’s field of view.
On some level Eddie knew he’d see something like this – only something terrible would have kept Buck from him – but being confronted with the reality of Buck being abducted – while Eddie himself was only metres away, blissfully unaware – is worse than he could have imagined. Guilt churns angrily in his stomach.
“Rewind the video a bit,” Athena says. “I want a clear image of his face to run through facial recognition.”
The manager complies, reversing the footage until it stops on a decent image of the man’s face just before he’d knocked into Buck. Eddie stares at him, committing the face to memory – and then realizes that he’s seen this man before.
“Wait,” Eddie says, leaning forward. “I recognize that guy.”
Athena turns to him. “You know him?”
“It was a call a couple weeks ago, I think…” Eddie racks his brain, trying to remember the details. It was a call to a fourplex that had caught fire. Barely five feet into the building and it was obvious to even Eddie’s untrained eye that the place was a rundown deathtrap. Thankfully no one had died, but the result was still four displaced, vulnerable families who had only rented the place because they had no other options. The landlord had shown up just as the flames were extinguished, and Eddie hadn’t been able to grab Buck before he got in the guy’s face, swearing to report him to the city. Eddie would have loved nothing more than to deck the guy himself, but it was a fantasy he could play out in his mind. It had been beyond unprofessional. Bobby had given Buck a half-hearted dressing down and forced him to apologize before they left the scene.
And now apparently the landlord has abducted Buck – as, what, some sort of revenge plot? Eddie has no idea what this psycho could possibly think he’ll get out of kidnapping a firefighter but he’s not about to waste time trying to puzzle out a potential motive.
“Sanford,” Eddie says. “His name is William Sanford.”
Buck slumps back into the chair with a muffled grunt, breathing heavily through his nose. His muscles are burning from how hard he’s been straining against his bindings, but the knots are sturdy and there’s no give on the rope. The skin on his wrists has been rubbed raw from his struggling and feels slightly wet, like he’s cut himself open from the repeated rope burn. But any amount of pain will be more than worth it if he can just get free.
Heavy footsteps tromp upstairs and Buck freezes. Blinded as he is, he’s hyper aware of any sounds in the house. His captor hasn’t come back to check on him since leaving the basement, which is a weird blessing because Buck isn’t immediately concerned about his own safety – but at the same time, the longer he’s left alone, the more he wonders about what the man has planned for him. Clearly he wasn’t just grabbed to sit in this guy’s basement like some kind of trophy. Or maybe he was. He doesn’t know which option scares him more.
There’s no way to tell how long he’s been here, and he has no idea how long he was unconscious, but he’s definitely missed his date with Eddie at this point. His heart clenches as he thinks of Eddie sitting alone in the restaurant, wondering why Buck’s running late. What if Eddie thinks Buck stood him up? No, Eddie knows him better than that – he has to know something’s wrong. He definitely would have tried texting or calling Buck to check on him, and when he didn’t get an answer, surely that would have worried him.
He holds on to that tiny bit of hope in his chest, weak and fragile as an ember. Eddie’s out there trying to find him – he knows it.
The footsteps move away and the door at the top of the stairs remains closed. Buck exhales slowly, trying to release some of the tension in his body. If he can just slip one of his hands free…
He starts tugging on his wrists again, biting back a whimper as it tears open his skin even more. Tears of frustration build behind his eyes, trapped by the blindfold with nowhere to go. He trusts Eddie with his life, has no doubt that Eddie will find him, but that doesn’t mean he’s just going to sit here patiently and hope that his captor doesn’t decide to come down and inflict something else on him.
Eddie paces like a caged animal while Athena calls the precinct to get Sanford’s address and a warrant.
He’d called Maddie as soon as they left the restaurant, and that had been the worst conversation of his life short of telling Christopher about Shannon. Hearing Maddie choke back tears as she made him promise to keep her updated had settled more of the heavy weight of responsibility on his shoulders. He told her that he wasn’t going to leave Athena’s side until they found Buck – and ignored the exasperated look Athena shot him at that declaration.
After what seems like hours, Athena’s radio crackles. “Sergeant Grant, your search warrant has been approved, and we have an address for you. 3955 West 64th Street.”
“Copy that,” Athena replies. “Requesting backup at that address, but show me as responding.” She turns to Eddie and puts her hands on her hips. “What are the chances you’ll listen to me if I tell you to go wait at the precinct?”
Eddie scoffs. “If you wanted me to do that, you shouldn’t have let me hear his address.” With Athena’s permission or not, he’s going to that house.
“Fine. But you will listen to everything I say or I will handcuff you to the car door. Got it?”
“Deal. Let’s go.”
They climb into Athena’s squad car. Athena immediately flicks on the sirens and floors it, speeding down the road as cars scramble to get out of her way. The city lights blur outside of the car and Eddie’s leg starts to bounce, his restless energy catching up to him. Buck hasn’t been gone that long – not even two hours – but Eddie’s painfully aware that that’s more than enough time for Sanford to have done unspeakable things to him.
“Buck’s okay,” Athena says, as if sensing his train of thought.
Eddie swallows thickly. “You can’t know that.”
“Maybe not, but until I find out otherwise, I’ll believe it.” Athena quickly glances at him. “Don’t count him out yet. You need to keep a clear head.”
She’s right; imagining worst-case scenarios isn’t going to do him or Buck any good. He nods once, then lets his gaze drift out the window again. As a first responder, he’s normally pretty good with orienting himself in the city, but right now they could be in Beverly Hills for all knows. Nothing matters – not the cars they whiz past, the blurred images of buildings, the chatter on Athena’s radio – nothing except for Buck. Eddie’s entire body aches with the need to touch Buck, to see him alive and unharmed. He tries to follow Athena’s advice, but his mind betrays him, continually conjuring up nightmarish images of what they’re going to find when they get to Sanford’s house.
Please, God. Please let him be okay.
Finally, mercifully, Athena pulls up in front of a somewhat rundown bungalow. There’s a car in the driveway – Eddie tries to remember if he’d seen it near the restaurant earlier, but then Athena parks and gets out of the car, and Eddie scrambles to follow her.
When his car door slams closed, Athena turns to him and pins him with an intense look. “Stay out here,” she orders, her tone brokering no argument. “I’ll get Buck, okay?”
Eddie purses his lips together, and says nothing. Seemingly realizing that’s the best she’s going to get out of him, Athena sighs, and then stomps up the cracked pavement to the front door. She hammers on the door with her fist, loud enough that a couple neighbours’ blinds open to see what the fuss is all about.
“LAPD, open up!”
Holding his breath, Eddie can’t help but lean forward slightly as he waits. Seconds pass with no movement from the house, but just as Athena raises her fist to pound on the door again, it opens inwards slightly. Through the tiny gap, Eddie can just make out the familiar image of the man from the tape peering at Athena. Eddie’s hands curl into fists and he shifts his weight.
“William Joseph Sanford?” Athena demands.
“Yes…” he answers warily.
“I have a search warr–”
Sanford tries to slam the door in Athena’s face, but she’s quicker. She blocks the door from closing with one of her feet and then shoulders her way into the house when Sanford makes a run for it. Eddie’s heart gallops as he watches Athena tackle Sanford to the floor and wrestle his arms behind his back.
That’s the opening he needs. Eddie charges forward, rushing into the house with barely a glance at Athena or Sanford swearing violently as he writhes beneath her.
“Eddie!” Athena shouts, sounding annoyed but not entirely surprised.
But Eddie doesn’t pay her any mind, sprinting further inside. “Buck?” he calls. “Buck?!”
With each room he passes, he comes up empty. Hysteria threatens to overwhelm him, but Eddie forces himself to stay focused. It’s a single-level house; if he can’t find Buck in any of these rooms, there must be a basement or a cellar somewhere. He doubles back, frantically looking for a door that might lead downstairs.
“Buck! Buck, call out!”
And then he hears it: a faint, muffled cry.
Eddie whirls around, looking for where the noise came from. At the end of the hallway he sees a door that he wrote off as a closet, but now he sprints towards it at full speed. He throws the door open so forcefully that it bounces off the wall, and is met with a set of stairs descending into a dark basement. His hand shoots out to fumble around the doorframe and he finds a lightswitch, flicking it on immediately. A dim yellow glow lights up the darkness but it’s enough to see the figure sitting in a chair at the bottom of the stairs.
The tight clutch of anxiety in Eddie’s chest releases, and he heaves out one shuddering, relieved breath before the rage kicks in. Because Buck isn’t just sitting in the chair – he’s tied to it, blindfolded and gagged with some sort of horrific leather muzzle.
Eddie stumbles forward like he’s been physically pushed and thunders down the old wooden stairs. Buck makes a muffled noise of distress behind the gag and shrinks back, trying to make himself smaller, and Eddie’s stomach twists into knots at having inadvertently frightened him.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Eddie soothes, hurrying over. “It’s just me, I’m right here.”
At the sound of Eddie’s voice, Buck jerks frantically against the ropes, nearly tipping the chair over in the process. As soon as Eddie reaches him, he straddles Buck so that his legs are on either side of the chair and his hands land on Buck’s shoulders to keep him steady. Eddie has to choke back a sob as he touches Buck, feeling the soft material of his dress shirt and the heat of him underneath the fabric. He’d half-convinced himself that he’d be too late and by the time they got here – but no, Buck’s alive and whole.
“I got him!” Eddie calls over his shoulder.
He doesn’t wait for acknowledgement from Athena. He slides his hands up Buck’s neck, cupping his head carefully before getting to work undoing the buckles on the harness. Buck whines, more a sound of impatience than alarm, but it’s still a shard of glass to Eddie’s heart. The moment the last buckle is undone, he carefully guides the harness off Buck’s head before throwing it viciously to the side.
Buck blinks up at him, looking at Eddie like he’s a miracle. His eyelashes are wet and clumped together. “Eddie,” he breathes, ragged but relieved.
The fact that Buck appears unharmed is Eddie’s own personal miracle. He wants nothing more than to fold forward and press his mouth to Buck’s, to taste him and reassure himself that Buck truly is okay, but he’s not having their first kiss while Buck is still tied up in some psychopath’s basement. Instead, he kisses the crown of Buck’s head before pulling Buck flush against his chest.
“Are you okay?” he asks desperately. He’s breathing heavily, like he just ran a mile instead of running down a flight of stairs.
“I am now,” Buck says, burrowing closer.
“Thank God.” Eddie exhales shakily. “Jesus, Buck, I thought –” His throat constricts and he cuts himself off, swallowing harshly. “Let’s get you out of this chair, huh?”
Buck nods against Eddie’s chest. Eddie reluctantly lets him go, but keeps a hand on Buck’s shoulder as he circles around the chair to get better access to the rope binding his wrists. When he crouches down and sees the lines of dried blood running over the rope, he sucks in a sharp breath.
“Jesus Christ,” Eddie curses. Athena better have that piece of shit handcuffed in the back of her police cruiser when Eddie gets Buck out of the house, or he won’t be held responsible for his actions if he gets within swinging distance.
“I was trying to get free,” Buck explains, twisting his wrists.
Eddie grabs Buck’s fingers and squeezes briefly. “Don’t move; I don’t want you to hurt yourself more.”
Reaching into his slacks, he pulls out his utility knife. He felt a little ridiculous earlier, bringing it on his date, but if the military drilled anything into him it was preparedness. Carefully, he cuts through the rough rope, hissing in sympathy when he has to peel it away from the ruined skin of Buck’s wrists. The cuffs of Buck’s shirt are stained red with his blood and another fresh wave of anger crashes over Eddie.
“Ah,” Buck gasps, flinching.
“Sorry,” Eddie says softly, removing the last of the rope.
Buck moves his arms in front of him, grimacing as he rotates his wrists to work out the soreness. Eddie quickly slices through the rope binding Buck’s ankles to the legs of the chair. Once Buck is finally free, Eddie gets back to his feet and hurries to the front of the chair again to help Buck stand, and pulls him into a crushing hug. They stay like that for a few seconds, holding each other tightly, revelling in being back in each other’s arms.
“Come on,” Eddie says eventually, wrapping an arm around Buck’s shoulders. His heart rate is slowly returning to normal, and the anxious buzzing in his ribcage settles at the feeling of Buck tucked nice and close. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
When he and Buck exit the house, they find two squad cars on the road. The second car belongs to Detective Romero, who apparently has arrived as backup while Eddie was inside. Sanford is already locked away in the back of Romero’s car, but Buck still falters when he lays eyes on him through the car windows. He shrinks back a bit; Eddie tightens his arm around him protectively.
“He’s not going to hurt you anymore,” Eddie murmurs, brushing a kiss across his jaw for good measure.
Buck exhales unevenly, but some of the tension bleeds out of his body. Eddie steers him over to Athena’s car, where she and Romero are conferring, and positions Buck so that Sanford is out of his line of sight.
Romero looks up at their approach. “Glad to see this all worked out,” he says.
“Thanks for the assist,” Athena says. “I’ll see you back at the station?”
“You bet. I’ll get him processed.”
“Thanks, Rick.”
Romero nods at them and then heads off to his car. Once he’s gone, Athena turns to them. She glowers at Eddie, but Eddie can’t find it in himself to be intimidated when he’s got Buck back.
“Hard to believe you were ever in the military with the way you don’t follow orders,” Athena snarks.
Buck looks at him questioningly, but Eddie just shrugs. “I’ll buy you some apology donuts.”
Athena scoffs goodnaturedly, and then shifts her attention to Buck. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she says, and pulls him in for a quick hug.
“Thank you,” Buck says when she releases him. “Thank you for finding me.”
“Thank your man here,” Athena says. “He’s the one who called me to sound the alarm.”
Buck beams at Eddie. “My hero,” he says, not an ounce of teasing in his tone.
In response, Eddie slides an arm around Buck’s back and pulls him in close again. Having Buck out of his arms for just a few seconds had been intolerable; Eddie hopes the hypervigilance will fade over the next few days, otherwise their next shift together is going to be a little complicated.
“I’ll need to get your statement,” Athena says. “But we can always do that later.” Her gaze travels down Buck’s arms, and she frowns. “Is that blood?”
Eddie’s elation is snuffed out in an instant as he remembers that Buck’s fucking bleeding. He instantly grabs one of Buck’s hands and lifts it up so he can inspect the wound on his wrist, but the light from the streetlamp isn’t much better than the dim light in the basement.
“It’s not that bad,” Buck says, half-heartedly trying to tug his hand out of Eddie’s.
Eddie just tightens his grip, bringing Buck’s wrist up higher to get a better look. “We should go to a hospital. Who knows where that rope had been? You could have an infection.”
Buck groans. “Come on, man. I just need to clean and bandage them, and I’ve got stuff at home to do that.”
Hesitating, Eddie looks to Athena. He can see Buck roll his eyes so hard that his head moves with the motion, but Eddie ignores him. Logically he knows he’s probably overreacting, but he also thought he was overreacting when Buck was late to dinner and look how that turned out.
“I think you’re fine to go home for the night,” Athena says eventually, as if she has any medical training. “I’ll come over tomorrow to take your statement. I’m sure Bobby will want to see you as well.”
Buck smiles gratefully and Eddie’s hit with a realization. “Buck,” he gasps, turning back to him. “You need to call your sister!”
Athena offers to drive them to the loft, but Eddie has her drop them off back at the restaurant so they can pick up his truck. When they get back to the restaurant, Buck makes some noise about driving the Jeep back to his place as well, but Eddie looks at him with such alarm at the prospect of being separated that Buck feels awful for such a practical suggestion. Thankfully, Athena saves him from overpriced L.A. parking by offering to take his keys and have her and Bobby get his car and drop it off tomorrow.
They won’t be the only ones dropping by in the morning. Buck had barely convinced Maddie over the phone that he was fine and she didn’t need to drop everything to come over and check on him. So it’ll be Maddie, Bobby and Athena, probably Chim and Jee-Yun, Hen and Karen… Buck hopes at least someone is planning on bringing breakfast because he definitely doesn’t have enough in his kitchen to feed everyone.
When they arrive at Buck’s building, Eddie sticks close to him all the way up to the apartment. It’s almost hilarious how averse Eddie is to any amount of distance between them, but Buck isn’t feeling particularly inclined to move away either. He knows he wasn’t held hostage for that long, but the thought of whatever Sanford was planning on doing with him if Eddie and Athena hadn’t found him first is more than enough to have Buck stuck to Eddie’s side.
Eddie unlocks the door with his set of Buck’s keys and ushers Buck inside with a hand on his lower back. He quickly closes the door behind them and locks it again, and Buck finally feels like he can breathe properly.
“Come on,” Eddie says. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
He takes Buck’s hand and leads him into the downstairs bathroom, flicking on the light. When it becomes apparent that Eddie is planning on doing everything himself and not merely supervising, Buck protests. “I can do it –”
“Buck,” Eddie interrupts softly. “Just… just let me do it, okay?”
The fight drains out of Buck at Eddie’s somewhat devastated expression. “Ye-yeah. Yeah, okay.”
With a grateful smile, Eddie works open the buttons on Buck’s shirt. Once the front of his shirt is hanging loose and open, Eddie moves on to the buttons on the cuffs. He carefully helps Buck slide his arms out of his shirtsleeves so that he doesn’t hurt his wrists anymore, and then tugs the shirt off Buck’s shoulders and lets it fall to the floor.
“Gotta say,” Buck murmurs, “this isn’t exactly how I hoped you’d be taking my shirt off tonight.”
The corner of Eddie’s mouth twitches, but he doesn’t rise to Buck’s bait. Eddie turns on the sink to let the water warm up. He washes his hands thoroughly first, and then guides Buck’s wrists under the flowing water to start cleaning him up. The water stings a bit on his cuts and Buck grimaces, but he holds himself dutifully still while Eddie cleans the dried blood off his skin. When the warm water doesn’t quite cut it, Eddie gets a lather going with some soap and gently washes off the blood and some fibres from the rope that are stuck to it. Once he’s done, Eddie grabs a clean towel and pats Buck’s skin dry with a tenderness that has Buck suddenly feeling all choked up.
“Where’s your first aid kit?” Eddie asks after he’s finished.
“Under the sink.”
Eddie maneuvers Buck to sit on the closed toilet seat, and then crouches down to dig the kit out from underneath the bathroom sink. He grabs gauze, ointment and scissors, and then drops to his knees between Buck’s open legs. Buck’s eyebrows fly up; Eddie rolls his eyes.
“Give me your hands,” Eddie says.
Buck smirks. “So bossy.” But he obediently holds out his arms.
Eddie slathers the ointment over the worst of his cuts before he starts winding the gauze around Buck’s wrists. As Eddie works, Buck’s eyes travel disinterestedly around the bathroom, and then he catches sight of his ruined shirt on the floor where it had been abandoned. His stomach sours as he recalls picking that shirt out only a few hours ago, full of giddy excitement for the evening. Now the cuffs of his shirt are stained crimson, and he knows from experience what a bitch it is to try and wash blood out of fabric.
Buck sighs mournfully. “Do you think it’s salvageable?”
Eddie’s gaze flicks to the bloodstained shirt before skittering away, like he can’t stand to look at Buck’s blood for more than a few seconds. “I’ll buy you a new one if you like that colour so much.”
“You know, the only reason I picked this shirt tonight was because I know you like this colour.”
“What?”
“I was kind of banking on that shirt highlighting my lips so you’d finally kiss me.”
Eddie finishes winding the gauze around Buck’s other wrist and looks up at him. “You could have walked into that restaurant wearing pyjamas and I still would have been struggling not to kiss you right then and there.”
Buck feels a pleased blush heat his cheeks. “Eddie?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you kiss me now?”
A breath of a laugh escapes Eddie’s lips. For a second Buck fears he’s going to deflect again, say they shouldn’t have their first kiss after a day like today, but then Eddie slowly rises to his feet. He takes Buck’s hands and pulls him up too, careful of his bandaged wrists, before sliding his palms up along Buck’s arms until he’s cradling Buck’s face. Eddie leans in, and Buck’s eyes flutter closed.
Their lips slot together. It’s gentle, tender. Chaste, too, but Buck finds he doesn’t mind at all. Nor does he mind the whisper of Eddie’s day-end stubble against his chin. Buck’s hands land on Eddie’s waist and he makes tight fists in the fabric of his shirt.
Too soon, Eddie’s mouth lifts from his and Buck can’t help but let out a tiny whimper. Eddie shushes him gently, brushing a thumb across Buck’s lower lip. They stare at each other for a few moments, chests heaving slightly despite the relatively tame kiss. Buck’s heart flips in anticipation.
He doesn’t know who moves first but suddenly they’re both reaching for each other. The next kiss isn’t chaste at all. Eddie’s mouth is hot and open over his, Eddie’s tongue slipping inside without any preamble. Buck welcomes it. He wraps his arms around Eddie’s shoulders and holds him close, Buck’s bare chest pressed up against Eddie’s shirt. It’s unfair that Eddie’s still clothed, but Buck can fix that. Without disconnecting their lips, Buck tugs Eddie’s shirt out of where it’s tucked into his pants and starts blindly fumbling with the buttons.
Eddie chuckles into his mouth but doesn’t stop him. He doesn’t help, either, though. In fact, he seems intent on distracting Buck. Eddie kisses along Buck’s jaw, nipping playfully, then down his neck and back up, over where Buck’s pulse is fluttering wildly just beneath his skin. Buck groans, then brings one of his hands up to twist in the back of Eddie’s hair and pull him back up to Buck’s mouth.
It’s fucking perfect. Everything Buck’s been dreaming of for years (even if he could have done without the whole kidnapping thing beforehand). He finally gets Eddie’s shirt open, and wastes no time in smoothing his hands along the warm, soft skin of Eddie’s sides until he can clutch at Eddie’s ridiculously muscled back.
There’s a knock at the door. Eddie stills, but Buck isn’t about to be interrupted.
“Mm, ignore it” Buck murmurs against Eddie’s lips. “M’not expecting anyone.”
“I am.” Eddie pulls away, but not before pressing one last, sweet kiss to Buck’s mouth. “Go upstairs and change into something comfortable. I’ll be up in a sec.”
Heaving out a put-upon sigh, Buck begrudgingly unwinds his arms from around Eddie and lets him go. Buck glances over his shoulder as he trudges up the stairs, smiling to himself as he watches Eddie frantically try and button his shirt back up before he answers the door. As Buck digs around in his closet for his most comfortable hoodie, he wonders who it is that Eddie’s apparently expecting. Not Maddie or Bobby, since they already have plans to come over tomorrow.
He finally finds his sweater and pulls it on over his head, and then swaps his slacks for gym shorts. Figuring Eddie doesn’t want to spend the rest of the night in his date clothes, he grabs a second hoodie and a pair of sweatpants and lays them out on the bed. Just in time, too, as he hears Eddie coming up the stairs, bringing with him a deliciously familiar smell.
Buck’s stomach rumbles, and he turns around. Sure enough, he sees Eddie holding very familiar takeout containers.
“You ordered Dirt Dog?” Buck asks, trying to figure out when Eddie had the time. It must have been while Buck was spacing out on the drive back, because it certainly wasn’t anytime after they got to the loft.
Eddie smiles a little nervously, his cheeks turning faintly pink. “Uh, yeah. Since our date got ruined, I figured we could have a do-over.”
Touched, Buck reaches into the bag and pulls out a handful of garlic fries, immediately shoving them in his face. “Well,” he says with a full mouth, “you did rescue me from a crazy kidnapper. Objectively, that’s pretty romantic.”
“Is this the kind of charming behaviour I could have witnessed at the restaurant?” Eddie teases, putting the bags down on the bed so he can change.
Buck swallows and shakes his head. “Nuh-uh. I would’ve been on my best behaviour to try and get you into bed.”
“Oh? So now you’re not trying to do that?”
Instead of answering, Buck clambers onto the mattress, careful not to knock over the food. He settles back against his pillows and meaningfully raises his eyebrows at Eddie. Shaking his head fondly, Eddie grabs the takeout containers and sits down beside Buck. He hands Buck his bag, and Buck is delighted to find the dirty chili dog inside – his favourite guilty pleasure.
Buck snuggles in close to Eddie, throwing one of his legs across Eddie’s lap. “Now,” he says, and then takes a massive bite out of his hot dog, “I’ve already got you in my bed.”
Eddie wrinkles his nose playfully at Buck talking with his mouth full again, but he still leans in and kisses the sauce off the corner of his mouth.