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“EDDIE”. Buck yelled as he tried to break free from Bobby’s grip. “LET ME GO I HAVE TO GO GET HIM”.
The house in front of them swiftly began to engulf itself in flames. The fire had already been burning for minutes before the 118 had arrived, and the anonymous caller had little to no hope of there being any survivors left. Eddie went in anyways. As he always did. Leaving the rest of the 118 behind frantically throwing their gear on to go assist their friend in an almost impossible rescue mission.
The house was unrecognizable. The flames had turned most of the walls to ash, and it was almost impossible to distinguish any sense of direction once entering the house.
Finally he breaks free from Bobby, leaving most of his gear behind besides that of which he applied at the fire station when the bell rang. Buck sprints into the house, without thinking. He had no time to think. Not now. The only thing that mattered to him was getting his best friend out of there alive. He was determined to never have to be the one to break the news to Christopher if one day, something were to happen to his dad. To his best friend. To…
Without thinking any further, Buck crosses into what used to be the living room of the home, but was now only recognizable by the fireplace that was covered in ash.
“EDDIE….EDDIE”. He shouted helplessly through the house. Tearing through any debris that was blocking his path to advancing further. He couldn’t even feel the burning sensation that was present in his hands through the gloves, and honestly he wouldn't have cared even if he could. The only thing that mattered was getting to Eddie, and getting them out of there, alive.
“In Here..”. A faint voice could be heard along with dry coughing sounds from behind what seemed to be a door down a hallway that had now been riddled with smoke.
“I’M COMING EDDIE. HOLD ON I'M COMING”. After sifting through rubble and black dark smoke, he finally arrived at the door that could be faintly seen from before. Buck was throwing himself into the door in hopes of it springing open, and sure enough it did.
The door flung open, breaking off its hinges. Behind the door was Eddie, passed out on the floor while holding a little girl in his arms. She was wearing his helmet. He was protecting her from the smoke.
“EDDIE. EDDIE COME ON WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME”.
Buck felt a hand on his shoulder, and he swiftly turned around to see a concerned Bobby and Chimney.
“HERE TAKE HER”. Buck yelled over the raging flames. He picked up the young girl and handed her to Bobby and proceeded to take his own helmet off and put it on Eddie’s head.
The little girl wrapped her arms around Bobby’s neck, and was safely carried out to the rest of her family to be checked out by paramedics. She was going to be just fine, thanks to Eddie.
“Are you crazy, what are you doing Buck” Chimney said.
“It’s fine, he needs it more than me, I’ll be fine. Help me with him please, we don't have much time” Buck said between coughs.
“You’ll be fine, everything will be fine” Buck exclaimed under his breath as Chimney and himself dragged Eddie out of the house and rushed him to the hospital.
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They had discharged Eddie fairly quickly and allowed him to go home for the night instead of spending it in the hospital. He wasn’t without his helmet for long and he was told by the doctor that there was no significant damage to his lungs. The only catch was that he would have to do biweekly scans for 2 months to ensure nothing serious appears in the scans after the initial check.
Buck carefully opened the door in hopes of not waking a possibly sleeping Christopher and was greeted with Karen and a very tired looking Denny. “You’re a few minutes too late. Christopher passed out about 15 minutes ago. The boys had a lot of fun, as you can see,” Karen said with a light laugh gesturing towards the immense piles of legos, coloring books, and board games scattered across the floor. “Sorry I didn’t have time to clean, I expected the hospital to keep you overnight” Karen exclaimed with a sympathetic smile.
“No worries, Christopher would have just gotten everything back out tomorrow anyways” Eddie said weakly. “Thanks for watching him again, I feel like I should start paying you or something” Eddie said with a light laugh.
“Don’t worry about it! I didn’t have work today anyways and Denny has been begging me to set up a playdate with Christopher for the past few days anyways.” Karen grabbed her bag off the sofa and started heading towards the door.
“Make sure to keep him on bed rest tomorrow Buck, you know how he is more than anyone with not being able to sit still” Karen said, while coaxing Denny out the door and towards the car. “Bye guys, thanks again” Buck yelled out the door as Karen opened the door for Denny to climb in. He closed the door, locked it, and turned to look at Eddie. Comfortable silence welled over them.
“Thought we lost you today” Buck said cautiously, avoiding direct eye contact with Eddie. “Not that easily” Eddie said with a light smile. Eddie always knew the right thing to say in order to lighten the mood without completely dismissing the situation. It was one of the things Buck loved most about him.
He starts slowly walking towards his room, motioning for Buck to follow. He opened the door and sat on the edge of the bed. “When I heard the parents saying their little girl was still inside, I wasn’t thinking. I just ran in. I forgot some of my gear” he chuckled lightly. “I didn’t know how long she had been inhaling smoke for, so I put my helmet on her head.” He was tearing up now. “I just thought about it being Christopher inside. What if it was him? So I just ran in.”
Buck inched closer to Eddie, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder. “You saved her, Eddie. Because of you, she gets to live the rest of her life, and enjoy more time with her parents” he said while lightly tracing circles on Eddie’s back. “Thanks Buck,” Eddie said with a light smile, quickly placing his head on Buck’s shoulder and removing it soon after.
Cases involving kids always pulled on Eddie’s heartstrings a bit more than the others. He would always picture Christopher in these situations, and sometimes that would cloud his judgment, but he’d always save the kid and get them back to their parents. He imagined not being a firefighter. Having to watch as someone else put their life on the line to save his kid, and he wanted to be sure others knew he’d do that to save their child. We’re always told to not make promises we can’t keep, but somehow Eddie always kept his.
“I’ll go make up the couch so you can get some rest. You must be exhausted” Buck announced while slowly getting up from the bed, hand drifting away from Eddie’s back where it had been resting for the past few minutes.
Buck felt a hand lightly grab his wrist, coaxing him to sit back down as he was previously. “Stay here. With me”, Eddie said looking up at Buck. Buck’s eyes softened. “Gladly” he said with a bright smile.
This isn’t the first time they’d shared a bed. In fact, Buck would often sleep in Eddie’s bed after long shifts. He felt more relaxed that way. They both did. Eddie also always insisted that his sofa was uncomfortable, so instead Buck settled for the bed every time. One reason was to stop Eddie from his constant pestering, and the other reason was because…
They both laid down, while Buck pulled the covers over Eddie. Buck was tired the second he hit the bed. Slowly drifting into a deep peaceful sleep. Before dozing off completely, he felt arms wrap around his waist, that slowly pulled him closer. “Thank you,” Eddie whispered. “Thank you for everything.” Buck let his hand rest over Eddie’s that was draped across his waist. Using his thumb to lightly caress Eddie’s arm. “Anything for you, you know I’ll always be here” Buck managed to get out, before succumbing to a deep sleep.