Chapter Text
It’s been 3 years since the tragic passing of Evan “Buck” Buckley and Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz who died in a pile-up on the 405 in Los Angeles, California and life has not been easy for the members of the 118. They all constantly yearned for their Golden Retriever Boy and Eddie. While Hen, Chim, and Athena have moved on, both Bobby and Christopher have not and still have a tough time. Bobby has taken to drinking, albeit not as heavily as in his past while Christopher continues to lash out. Maddie still has her moments due to her brothers passing but she’s taking it one day at time with Chim by her side. Both Chris and Bobby often end up at the graves of Buck and Eddie and just sit and chat away. One day, Athena sits down to talk with both of them
“Look, I get losing Buck and Eddie has been hard, but it’s been over a year. You two need to go to counseling and work through this grief.” Athena said, keeping her voice as soft as possible. Bobby was the first to speak
“Athena, it’s not that easy. When I lost Marcy and both my kids I was devastated. I nearly drank myself to death. When Buck first started at the station, he was some rebellious, sex driven kid but over time he changed and matured and, in all reality, became like another son to me. Do you know how hard it is to feel the loss of not one, not two, but three children?”
“While I don’t Bobby, I know losing someone very close to you hurts. When I lost Emmit, it was the hardest day of my life and even many months thereafter. But I learned that I can’t change what happened, but I can use it as strength and motivation in knowing that it’s what he would have wanted.” Athena then turned to Chris, who had been quite the whole time and was just starring off into space. She asked him what he thought and what was on his mind. He spoke softly
“I don’t want to go to therapy. I’ve been going all my life for one reason or another. I don’t want the therapist to make me slowly forget about them. I lost both my dad's in that accident.” A tear slips down his cheek “I lost everything that day.” He then looks up at Athena, a questioning look in his eye. “What exactly caused the accident that day?”
Both Athena and Bobby paused, an unreadable expression on their faces. They had known this was coming, but the question still caught them off guard. There was a silent conversation happening between them. Finally, Athena took a breathe and excused herself. She returned a few mins later with a brown police box, on the top of the box was Buck and Eddie, Car Crash 2018. Athena sat the box down as Bobby and Chris gathered around.
“Chris” Athena began “This is all the reports, photos, logs, and everything else needed when a car crash happens. I do want to warn you that there are some disturbing things in here as each victim, for whatever reason, was photographed. I only kept the one’s of Buck and Eddie. Your dads died due to an unstable man. He purposefully caused an accident, and your dads just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
They sat and looked at each induvial piece of contents in the box. An envelope was pulled out by Athena along with a small flash drive. She took a sharp breath as did bobby. Both of them knew what was on the flash drive as well as in the envelope. They both turned to look at Chris.
“Chris, what your about to see are the photos taken of your dad and Buck right before each of them was dealt with accordingly. Your Father died at the scene while buck died an hour later at the hospital. This flash drive in my hand contains the 9-1-1 call that buck had. When you're ready, we’ll play it.”
Chris took a moment, pausing to study the envelope in his hands. With shaky hands he opened the envelop and took out the first photo. It was his dad, lying upside down, pale and motionless in the remains of buck’s jeep. His once brown eyes now lay close while his once tanned skin now looked as pale as the moonlight at night. His once bright personality, now nothing but a pale, motionless ghost. Chris just laid the photo down and pulled out the next one. Without a second thought he broke down crying.