Work Text:
13th April
Prompt: "I'm not letting you go."
Buck wasn't sure how his day ended up like this, because it was seemingly a calm and uneventful day up until twenty minutes ago.
Work was q- easy. All calls were small medical emergencies that ended in no casualties, and with Buck and Eddie hardly being needed to help, a lot of chores in the firehouse were done and the team found themselves with a lot of downtime.
Buck loved the thrill and excitement that came with being a firefighter. He knew it was dangerous and his thorough enjoyment of the job probably had some underlying issues behind it that he needed therapy for, but overall, he loved saving people and doing it with the people he loved.
But saying that, calm shifts were rare and he was not going to jinx them now and ruin the perfectly good day they were all having.
Chimney was talking to Bobby about his last date with Maddie, whom Buck had heard the story from last night, while Hen shook her head fondly at him, her medical textbook abandoned next to her. Eddie was sat on the couch pressed up against Buck while he read an article on his phone about starfish with a furrowed brow. Buck and Christopher had fallen down a deep ocean rabbit hole the other night after watching a documentary on underwater plants and Eddie was trying to catch up.
"You couldn't have picked an easier topic to get Chris into. I can't even pronounce half of these words!"
"Sorry! The heart wants what the heart wants, and Chris' heart wants unlimited facts on the deep, dark ocean." Eddie rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to make a snarky response when the alarm went off, saving Buck from whatever insult he was about to throw his way.
The call was simple enough, a hiker had fallen and sprained his ankle on a cliffside. He had taken an unlicensed route and after the rain storm LA had been graciously gifted last week, the grounds were unsteady and he had lost his footing. They had parked the engine and ambulance at the bottom of a slop, Ravi waiting with the gurney.
"Okay sir, we're going to help you down to the path where the gurney is waiting and then we can get you transported to the hospital, okay?" Hen said, she and Chimney helping the man to his feet, Eddie and Buck standing nearby in case they needed assistance.
"I feel so stupid, I am never going off the trails again. So much for being adventurous." He muttered to himself, Chimney smirking over his shoulder towards Bobby who just shook his head.
Everything was on track and they were about to follow Hen and Chimney when suddenly the ground shifted beneath them and they were falling. Everything happened in a flurry of movements and Buck is pretty sure something hit his head because he blacks out for a minute, groaning back to consciousness.
"Buck, you with me?" Eddie's voice sounded weird, almost strained. He could feel something dripping into his eye and went to move his hand to wipe it away but something was holding onto his wrist tightly, painfully. "Buck don't move, I've got you okay?"
"Huh?" Buck blinked sluggishly, looking around which in retrospect, he really wished he hadn't have done because the world was spinning but he wasn't on solid ground, he was floating. Floating on the side of a cliff, his best friend holding onto him as if his life depended on it, which if he thought about it, it kind of did. The cliffside had caved, most likely due to the recent weather and the sudden movement on it, and now Eddie was hanging onto a branch sticking out of the ground while Buck hung like dead weight below him.
"Eddie, how is he?" Bobby's voice sounded further away than he would have liked, and Buck looked up to see a dot hanging over the edge of the cliffside that looked awfully like the man.
"Think he is coming to, could really do with a hand though." His eyes flickered to Eddie whose face was beet red, veins in his neck bulging as he held both his own and Buck's weight up. "Buck, how we doing?"
"Hanging in there." He knew the joke wasn't funny the second it left his mouth, but Eddie still laughed anyway, albeit a bit more off-kilter than usual.
"There he is. You had me worried for a minute, a flying rock took you out and you're bleeding, but Bobby and Ravi are going to get harnessed up and get us back on solid ground. Just try not to move or look down, okay?" Buck was trying not to look down, he really was, but he thinks it's an automatic reaction when someone tells you not to do something, that you immediately want to do it. His eyes go wide when he realises just high up they are hanging, knowing not even the luckiest person alive could survive that fall. "I told you not to look" Eddie's voice was coming out more and more in pants, Buck feeling the clamminess of his hand.
If Bobby and Ravi didn't reach them soon, they were both going to fall and that would be it.
No. Buck was not about to let that happen.
"Eddie, let me go." The way Eddie's eyes bulged would have been comical if not for the circumstances, and he would have genuinely laughed if not for the nausea creeping its way up his throat. He felt like any sudden movements of his throat would have him face-to-face with his dinner. "You can't hold on like this for much longer, and I won't let us both fall."
"Bobby and Ravi are coming, stop being stupid."
"They need to find a spot to secure the ropes, and then get harnessed up before even considering breaching the cliffside. Eddie please, it's okay, it'll be okay." Buck felt like his words were slurring, unsure if the knock to his head was the reason his head was spinning or the adrenaline. How hard did that rock hit him?
"I swear to God if you even try and get yourself out of my hold I will never forgive you Buck. I will never forgive you so you stay still and you hang on, okay?"
"Eds-"
"No! You don't get to do this, just shut up, shut up, shut up." Eddie was yelling now, flinching when soil fell from above, the two looking up just as Bobby and Ravi started abseiling down before Eddie looked back, levelling Buck with his dad stare that he always teases him about. "I'm not letting you go, you hear me? I am not losing you today, I've got you." Buck couldn't bring himself to speak, just nodding at the stern look Eddie was throwing him, his grip tightening even more.
It felt like time was moving at a snail's pace, but Buck blamed the concussion for that. Suddenly, Bobby was at his side, wrapping a harness around him, coaxing Eddie into letting go of his hand. It took a few seconds before the man reluctantly let go, Ravi harnessing him up next.
Buck's eyes slid shut in content as he allowed Bobby to do all the work, and he thinks he lost consciousness again because the next thing he knows is the feeling of a gurney beneath him, Hen prying open his eyelid.
"Come on Buck, let's see those baby blues."
"Edd-" He croaked out, but slid his eyes closed again, the sunlight hurting his brain. Why was the sun so bright anyway?
"I'm right here Buck, I'm not going anywhere."
"You didn't let go." He mumbled, letting Eddie grab his hand which Buck squeezed tightly.
"No, I told you I wouldn't let you go. Not now, not ever."