Work Text:
Tommy looked down as his phone buzzed again with an incoming text message. He looked down, as he did so, Lucy looked over from where she was sitting from him across the table.
“Who is it? Buck again?” she asked.
Tommy waved her away. “I didn’t even unlock my phone,” he said. “Let me see what he said before you interrogate me.”
“So he did text you?” Lucy asked.
Tommy ignored the question, and read the message.
Evan: How many calls with X-mas trees do you bet we’ll get?
Tommy chuckled reading the message. They had been dating for a little over eight months, and Buck never ceased to surprise him. He typed a message back and hit send.
Tommy: What are you talking about?
“So,” Lucy leant forward in the seat she was sitting in. “What’s he talking about that has you laughing?”
Tommy held his phone to his chest. “What’s got you wanting to know?” he asked.
Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh come on,” she said. “I know it’s Buck, but he wouldn’t be sending you anything you need to hide from someone while you’re at work.”
Tommy chose not to follow up on whatever that statement meant, and instead tried redirecting. “What’s got you so interested?” he asked. “I’ve texted him a lot before here.”
She leant back a little then, resting her chin on her hand and studied him. “Maybe I’ve been wanting to question you about what you talk about for months now…”
Tommy’s phone buzzed again, and Lucy lifted an eyebrow as she heard the slight vibration. Tommy quickly looked down to read the message on the lock screen.
Evan: Chimney saw a x-mas tree stand this morning and wants… (unlock for more)
Before he could unlock his phone to read the actual message, Lucy came around him to look over his shoulder. “So what’s he talking about?” she asked.
Tommy knew there would be know winning with her for now, so just unlocked his phone and let him read the texts as he did.
Evan: Chimney saw a x-mas tree stand this morning and wants to make a bet on how many x-mas tree calls well get this year
“Oh,” so Lucy hummed. “They’re still making bets over there.”
“They never stopped,” Tommy said as he began typing a question.
Tommy: are we talking just A-shift or all the 118?
It took a couple minutes for Buck to respond, but he did after a couple minutes.
Evan: just a-shift
“I say six calls,” Lucy’s voice popped into his ear to say.
“What?” Tommy asked.
“I just read the message,” Lucy said as she walked back around the table to sit in the chair she had vacated. “How many Christmas tree calls are they going to get? I say six.”
Tommy rolled his eyes as he texted Buck back.
Tommy: I say 8, Lucy says 6
An hour later, Buck texted him again.
Evan: +1 - a guy fell carrying a tree into his house and hit his head
Tommy knew he shouldn’t laugh at someone’s misfortune, especially when it was bad enough that they needed to call 911, but he let out a little chuckle. No one was around to see or hear it, so if asked, he would deny it. Tommy gave Buck’s message a thumbs up right as their own alarm started sounding.
Later that evening, right before the sun started to go down, Buck texted him again.
Evan: 2 - another guy fell trying to get his fake tree down from his attic
Tommy’s eyebrow lifted at reading that. Two in one day? It was only the first week of December. At this rate Lucy was going to lose big time, so was he. This time he actually wrote Buck a message.
Tommy: 2 in one day? How many calls did you bet on?
Evan: I took your advice and bet 8
Evan : Eddie only bet 3, I think he’s going to lose
That was the last call, Christmas Tree or otherwise, that the 118 had received that shift, so Tommy didn’t get any more texts. Their next shift, the 118 hadn’t received any Christmas tree related calls at all, but Tommy’s team did.
Shortly after 10 a.m. the alarm rang and they were called out for a medevac at a Christmas Tree farm just east of the LA city limits. Dispatch didn’t provide them many details about what was happening on scene, something about one of the workers cutting down a tree and getting hurt by a chainsaw. There were already EMTs on scene providing treatment, but they would need a helicopter transport to get the patient to the hospital if they wanted him treated in time.
Tommy wondered if this could be included in the bet. Maybe they would have to start a new one, how many calls involving Christmas Trees will the Harbor team receive this year? That would be a good one, they could make it a competition.
“Over there’s the clearing they mentioned,” Lucy pointed at a small grassy clearing about a hundred yards outside of the group of evergreens. Tommy could see the ambulance that had arrived ahead of them. He set the helicopter down, and within ten minutes the patient was loaded and they were on their way to take him to the hospital.
When they finally returned to Harbor Station an hour later, Tommy fished his phone out of his pocket to text Buck.
Tommy: Do you want to make a bet on how many Christmas tree calls we’re going to get?
Buck texted back less than a minute later.
Evan: we’re still ahead of you 😉
Maybe this could just be a thing between him and Buck, Tommy thought. No need to get the others’ opinions on it.
Their last shift of the bet was the day before Christmas Eve, they had both gotten lucky this year, that way. So far, the 118 had made 7 calls involving Christmas Trees, none of them had life threatening injuries, thank God, while Harbor had only had that first one.
Evan: One more day to get to 8 calls!
Tommy rolled his eyes as he read Buck’s text message as he typed a response.
Tommy: Aren’t we not supposed to be wishing for people’s misfortune?
Buck: 🙄 we’ll get at least one call today. I just want only one to involve a Christmas tree.
Tommy: Be careful what you wish for
Be careful what you wish for was right.
It was halfway past 11 p.m. when Tommy got another text from Buck.
Evan: Can we talk?
The notification from the text message made the screen and bunk Tommy had been trying to get a quick nap in light up. He hummed as he picked the phone up to read it.
At this hour, with a message like that, Tommy figured Buck most likely wanted to actually talk, as in on the phone, not through texts.
He rolled over and planted his feet on the floor as he got out of the bunk and walked out of the room, not wanting to disturb the others trying to get some rest. Then he brought the phone up to his ear as he listened to it dial Buck’s number.
“T- Tommy?” Buck;s voice sounded from the phone speaker.
“Hey,” Tommy greeted him. “What’s up? Why’d you want to talk?”
Buck was silent for a minute, and Tommy listened to the sound of his breaths, slow and slightly deep.
“We… We had a bad call,” Buck finally said. And Tommy waited him out, figuring out the reason Buck wanted to call him. It wasn’t so much he wanted to have a conversation but, he just needed to put the words out there.
“It was a house fire…” Buck said. “We got there not even five minutes after the call came in, but the place was fully blazing. It started from the lights on the Christmas Tree,” Buck sucked in a deep breath. “The only good thing was that no one was home. No one was hurt… But they lost their house, Tommy! You should have seen the looks on their faces when they drove down the street to find their place up in flames.”
Tommy was silent for a moment, thinking over what he should say. “No one was hurt though, right?” he asked. Buck hummed in confirmation. “Then that’s one good thing. Yes, they lost their house, right before Christmas, but at least no one was inside right?”
“Yeah,” Buck repeated.
The following morning, no one brought up the results of the bet and who won. It was never mentioned again.