Work Text:
12th April
Prompt: Replacement Prompt Amnesia
If someone had asked Eddie where he would have ended up after his shift today, sitting next to a hospital bed with his son lying unconscious in it was not on his list.
The full-body shiver that ran down his spine as he thought of the phone call he had received a few hours before sat at the bottom of his spine, the chill settled on his bones.
Buck had the day off, so he had offered to pick Christopher up from school and take him for ice cream. He was feeling down after coming third in the science fair last week despite spending a month working on his project with Buck, day in and day out, so Buck wanted to do something to lift his spirits.
"He's mourning the loss of that blue Ribbon Eddie. Let me treat him." Buck had pouted from still under the covers while Eddie got ready for work.
"Fine, but you can deal with his sugar high when he doesn't want to eat his dinner. I am holding my hands up and having nothing to do with it."
Buck had texted Eddie when he had acquired his son and then sent him a selfie of the two from the park, before updating him again when they were headed home. Eddie had waited for the next message to come through saying they were home safe but it never came, and at first, he just brushed it off that they got distracted during dinner prep or had gotten started on Christopher's homework, but when his phone started ringing with an unknown number, he knew immediately something was wrong.
"Your son and fiance have been in an accident."
A drunk driver had run a red light, smashing into the side of Buck's jeep. Buck had managed to swerve the car so that Christopher's side didn't get the brunt of the hit, according to Athena who had gone to the scene the second she got wind of the licence plate, but the hit to the front of the jeep still sent the car flying across the road.
Christopher had hit his head on the window in the back and was unconscious when the paramedics arrived, but luckily only seemed to have a mild concussion. Buck had insisted on an industrial-built seat for him after reading a case of a teenager with CP in Miami who had died in a car accident due to a malfunction with her car seat. Eddie argued with him for weeks that the one that had for Christopher was fine, not wanting Buck to spend half a paycheck on getting one made to suit Chris and then delivered. He is so grateful Buck ignored him and did it anyway, not wanting to think of the state Christopher could have been in. He had been out for almost five hours but all of his scans had come back clear so the doctors were just waiting for him to wake up. They said they would run a neurological exam on him, do another scan, and then he should be good to go home. Until then, it was a waiting game, and Eddie was not about to leave his son's side for a second, which was on the other hand, killing a part of him deep inside knowing that his fiance was in another room in the building in a worse state.
Buck had hit his head off the wheel, causing a small brain bleed, and also had a puncture to his liver, causing some severe internal bleeding that both needed surgery. According to Bobby and Maddie, who were sat with Buck while Eddie was with Christopher, Buck was also still out and would probably be for the rest of the night and probably tomorrow as well. The doctors at the moment were worried about the bleed they cleared on the brain considering he was still on blood thinners. There was a high chance of a rebleed, so they were doing scans more regularly than they usually would to keep an eye on it.
The rest of the team were split between the waiting rooms, Chimney upstairs with Athena, who had come straight to the hospital after assuring the drunk driver would be properly charged once he was released from the hospital, having only sustained superficial cuts and a broken rib; while Karen and Hen were just down the hall. They were all keeping each other up to date on the group chat, but nobody seemed ready to leave until either of the two had at least woken up.
So lost in his thoughts, Eddie didn't notice Christopher's face scrunch up at first, only snapping his head towards his son when the small hand he was holding squeezed hard.
"Chris? Can you hear me?"
"Mm- dad?" He blinked his eyes open sluggishly, frowning up at his dad. "What happened?"
“You were in an accident buddy but you’re going to be just fine.” Chris frowned, reaching up to rub at the small white bandage that was just above his eyebrow. He luckily only needed a few stitches but the cut was still quite bad and would probably leave a nasty bruise, but no scarring. “You hit your head but all your scans came back clear. You’ll probably have a bit of a headache for a few days.”
“An accident? Like a car accident?” Eddie nodded, trying not to worry about the fact that Christopher didn’t have any recollection of being in the car beforehand.
“You were in the car with Buck. He picked you up after school, and took you for ice cream, remember?” Chris frowned, tilting his head in that adorable way Buck does when he is confused.
Christopher's next question was like a cold bucket of ice down his back.
“Who’s Buck?”