Chapter Text
Buck let out a sigh of relief. It had only been a little over 48 hours since he woke up after the ladder truck was bombed and he had barely had any time alone. Most of that had been his sister.
While he was grateful for Maddie's support, it was starting to get overwhelming. His doctor had apparently been getting irritated with her because he had strongly suggested that Maddie went home to rest and had said that he was restricting visitors for the night.
Buck barely held in a groan when his door opened. His current nurse walked in followed by a woman in a business suit. He figured that she was here about his finances and insurance.
"Buck, this is Katie Graham. She's with the Fire Department's union and has been trying to get in to see you for the last day."
Buck watched his nurse check the machines before turning back to him.
"If you're okay with it, we're going to let her visit with you for a little while."
Buck hadn't realized how stressed he was about his job until someone from the department showed up. "She can stay."
Katie waited until the nurse had left before sitting next to Buck's bed.
"I'm very sorry about the delay in reaching out to you. I called a few times but a woman named Maddie answered each time and said that you were resting. I felt a conversation was too important to put off so I came by hoping to speak with you."
"I appreciate it. I have had some concerns about my job and how all of this is going to work that no one has been able to answer."
Katie pulled out a thick folder and spread it out on the little table so that Buck could look through it with her.
"I have spoken with some of my co-workers who have dealt with crush injuries in the past. Obviously, yours is much more severe than what we have dealt with. But I feel confident that most of what we have dealt with will apply to you as well."
Buck flipped through a few pages talking about disability and his rights.
"When you get home, you will have some responsibilities that we insist that you take seriously. One of which is whatever clot prevention your doctor prescribes for you. We've had people that slacked on it in the past and that kind of behavior could impact your chances of returning to work."
Buck glanced up at that. "Clot prevention? I've not heard anything about that yet."
Katie's eyebrows disappeared under her bangs. "Then you need to have a very serious conversation with your doctor. He should already be working on getting what you need for that set up with your insurance."
Buck grabbed a pen and paper and started taking notes.
"Is there a possibility that I can return to work as a firefighter?"
Katie waved her hand from side to side. "There is a chance but it will depend on your doctors. Right now we are going to work under the assumption that you will be returning until we hear differently. So you need to follow their instructions to the letter."
Buck agreed and listened to Katie explain what the union was going to do to help him. With every word, he felt a little more weight lift off of his shoulders.
Every time he tried to speak to his friends or Maddie about firefighting, they just told him to take it a day at a time.
Katie explained how the department was already preparing to work with him and what services he could expect from the department rather than his insurance. He made a note to have Carla speak with the union one day.
Some of the things that Katie mentioned were things that he hadn't even thought about and no one had mentioned. The biggest one was where he was going to sleep. Maybe Carla would work with the department to get that figured out.
For the first time since he had woken up, Buck didn't feel like his whole life was ending. While Katie hadn't promised that he would be a firefighter again, she had reassured him that his job would be waiting on him until the doctors made the final decision. And that was the best that he could hope for in this mess.