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Eddie coughs.
He can feel the worry radiating off of his team. Doesn’t need to look up from his soot covered hands to know that they’re all watching him.
Hen is most likely studying every minute twitch of his face and she’ll probably throw a personalised ‘wellness kit’ his way before the end of their shift today. Chim will be running through all the ways they could have avoided the situation again in future calls. Except it’s useless because, given the chance, Eddie wouldn’t change a thing.
And Buck-
Well, Buck is probably feeling more relieved right now than Eddie himself is.
The thought makes Eddie chuckle a little, which only brings on yet another retched coughing fit that has him buckled over on himself. His throat is scratched raw, every breath like ice. But at least he’s alive.
There’s a hand on his back – gentle, soothing. Eddie’s muscles relax instantly underneath the warm touch, and he allows himself to sit in the moment for just a second. Allows himself a slow, mindful breath.
In.
And back out again.
When he finally sits upright again, he ever so slightly presses his knee into the thigh next to his. A silent thank you.
Buck doesn’t say anything but he gives Eddie’s shoulder a squeeze before he pulls his hand away so Eddie knows he understands.
It’s Bobby’s reaction that Eddie should have been worried about.
He realises that all too late, as he’s standing in front of the Captain in his office after being pulled away from the rest of the team. They haven’t been back at the station for too long – only long enough for Eddie to jump in the showers, wash the dirt and stench off of himself and try to feel a little more alive again as the hot water ran over his body.
“You were reckless.” Bobby says, wasting absolutely no time and jumping straight to it.
The look on his face is stern, almost stoic. But there’s a pinch between his eyebrows.
Eddie glances down at his feet for just a second, fighting back the sudden wave of guilt that washes over him. “I knew what I was doing.”
“It was dangerous.” Bobby bites back, his anger ever so slightly seeping into his voice now. Eddie winces. “You disobeyed a direct order and put yourself in an unnecessary situation.”
“Unnecessary?” Eddie starts before he can think better of it, “That woman would have died if I didn’t go back in there!”
Bobby’s face remains expressionless but his words are weighted, “The building was minutes from collapsing. You almost died. Did you not think about that?”
Eddie shrugs. “I didn’t exactly have time to think about that. I knew the risks, Captain, and I acted fast enough to avoid them.”
Bobby scoffs. “You got lucky, Eddie. There was every chance that that whole building could have collapsed down on you the moment you stepped foot back in there. I specifically ordered you all out of there for a reason.” He sighs, pinches at the bridge of his nose. “I’m not saying that I’m not glad you saved her. Of course I’m proud, and I’m relieved that neither of you were seriously harmed. But what I’m worried about is your complete lack of awareness to the risks you put yourself in.”
Eddie swallows thickly but he holds eye contact.
“We can’t lose you, Eddie. I know you want to save everyone on the job but, sometimes, you have to put yourself first. You’ve already had so many close calls, I’d have thought you – out of everyone on this team – would understand that.”
“I do-”
“You have a son. Who’s already nearly lost you more times than any kid should.” Bobby’s voice rises now as he finally lets the anger in. “Think about what would happen to him if you died. I know you usually do everything in your power to get back home to him but what happens if your luck runs out? He loses his dad and gets shipped back to Texas to live with your parents? We all know that’s the last thing you want.”
Eddie watches as Bobby runs a hand through his hair. It’s ashy, and sticks up in all directions. He’s clearly not taken the time to clean himself up after the call yet and the realisation only adds to Eddie’s guilt.
“I just want you to be safe,” Bobby admits in a quieter voice and Eddie purses his lips, blinking back the burning in his eyes.
There’s a beat of silence as neither of them quite know what to say next.
In the end, and because he’s awful at the whole feelings stuff, Eddie decides to ignore that last statement. He clears his throat, wincing slightly at the lingering pain, and states matter-of-factly, “He’d go to Buck, actually.”
Bobby blinks. He tilts his head, analysing Eddie’s face.
Eddie holds himself with pride, meeting Bobby’s gaze head on.
“Oh?” Bobby squints, as if he’s looking to catch Eddie out on a lie. But Eddie just nods, and something else unidentifiable crosses his Captain’s face. He watches as Bobby presses his lips together, glances out of the office in the direction that the rest of the team is downstairs, and then nods. “Okay. Good.”
Eddie bites back a slight smile at that. He gestures over his shoulder, “Am I cool to go? I think Hen’s making some sort of herbal tea for me and she’ll be breaking down the door soon if I don’t go and get it.”
Bobby lets out a small chuckle and nods. “Sure.”
Eddie smiles and starts to head towards the door. As he opens it, he pauses and glances back at Bobby sitting at his desk. He’s running his hands through his hair again, and the bags under his eyes aren’t hard to spot. Eddie’s chest feels tight again and he swallows his pride just enough to let out a quiet, “Cap? Thank you… for caring. I’ll try to be a little less reckless in the future.”
-
Buck is weaving his way through everyone gathered out on the patio when he hears Chris’ voice somewhere to his left calling out, “Where’s my spare dad?” He can’t help the laughter that bursts out of him and he has to quickly put the platter of food he’d been carrying down onto the nearest table. It might have been a year now, since Eddie told him about the (absolutely insane) change to his will but even now the reminder sends butterflies through his entire body.
Not at the thought of Eddie dying, because that might actually be the worst thing that could ever happen to Buck. But at the implications behind the entire thing. At the clear, undisputable display of trust Eddie has in him.
And Christopher, bless his heart, has been milking this thing ever since they both decided to sit down a few nights after Eddie got out of the hospital and tell him.
Before Buck can get to Christopher, though, he hears Chim say, “Your spare dad?”
Buck can see them sat at the table further into the garden – Chim is leaning back, rocking Jee-Yun gently as she sleeps in his arms, whilst Chris sits across from him. “Yeah,” Chris confirms with a solid nod before turning around to look for Buck. He finds him pretty quickly, and Buck’s heart warms at the bright smile that breaks out across the kid’s face. “Bucky!” He waves him over, as if Buck wasn’t already walking straight towards them.
“Hey, kid,” Buck greets him with a ruffle to his hair that has Christopher groaning and dodging the touch. Buck laughs, taking the seat next to Chris.
Glancing up, he sees the questioning look on Chim’s face. “Spare dad? Buck?”
Buck shrugs, not really sure what Chimney’s expecting him to say.
Beside him, Chris hums in agreement before shoving a sausage roll in his mouth.
“Surely it’d be Uncle Buck, no?”
“Why would he be my uncle?” Chris asks plainly, flakes of pastry flying out of his mouth. Buck rolls his eyes fondly, passing him a napkin that – unsurprisingly – gets put straight down and ignored. “He’s not my dad’s brother, that would just be weird.” he says that last part with nothing short of disgust, his nose wrinkling up to push his point even further, and Buck snorts. The kid isn’t wrong.
Chim chuckles, shaking his head. “Well, obviously not his real brother but, y’know-” he gestures vaguely with his free hand, “They’re like brothers. So Buck’s sort of like your uncle.”
Chris slurps noisily at his juice, staring at Chim with eyes of judgement that only kids seem to accomplish. “Not really. That would still be weird.” He glances up at Buck then, and Buck smiles down at him instinctively. “And Buck is always doing dad things with me, like taking me out to the park, and coming to my school plays. And, it’s in my dad’s will that Buck becomes my new dad if he dies so he’s definitely my spare dad.” Christopher says it so deadpan that it’s almost impossible for Buck to not laugh. Somehow, he manages.
Chimney, however, is not quite so silent.
“He what?”
“What?” Christopher asks. “My dad hates going to my school events alone. He says the other kid’s mom’s scare him.”
Chimney sighs, runs a hand through his hair. “That’s not-… Never mind.” He looks over at Buck, almost as if to ask him to expand on the sudden drop of information further.
Buck simply shrugs, knowing full well that there’s a ridiculous smirk plastered over his face but being completely powerless to shift it. “Those PTA moms can be seriously terrifying.” he agrees, and then has to grab the nearest unopened beer to cover his laughter.
-
“Evan Buckley, I swear to God if you don’t put those cookies down right now I’ll- ”
Buck raises an eyebrow, mouth currently stuffed with an entire cookie. He could really use some milk right about now. “You’ll what?” he asks, cookie crumbs spilling out of his mouth and almost causing him to choke.
Eddie scoffs in disgust at him but Buck only laughs.
“You know I love those cookies, and you know damn well that I hid them from you for a reason.” Eddie states, reaching over to snatch the packet back from him but Buck’s quicker and raises it up in the air with a smug grin.
“What are you going to do, you big, scary man?” Buck asks in a whimpering voice, laughter filling his words. Eddie gives him a look of utter disdain and it only sets him off further.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Eddie straightens his face to his patented Unbothered Bitch™ expression, even though he knows Buck’s immune to it by now.
“I’ll disown you.”
Buck snorts, a completely unattractive sound that catches the attention of Hen who’s just wandered over to grab herself a drink from the fridge.
“You’ll disown me?!” he asks, cookies still held up in the air.
Eddie nods.
“How can you even do that? You’re not my dad!” Eddie opens his mouth but Buck holds a finger up, sparing a quick glance in Hen’s direction and noticing that she’s now lingering around to listen in. He shoots Eddie a warning look. “Don’t.”
Eddie smirks and Buck can’t decide whether he wants to throw the cookies at him or push him against the nearest flat surface.
“Fine.” There’s a spark in Eddie’s eyes now, “I’ll take you out of my will.”
Buck’s eyes narrow. He knows full well that Eddie’s joking; for about the past year now he’s been using this as his way to get Buck to do silly favours for him (things that he knows Buck would do for him anyway, but Eddie likes to be a little shit sometimes). So he replies with a simple, “You wouldn’t dare.”
To which Eddie raises a brow, cocking his head to the side. “You wanna test me?”
Before Buck can reply with anything that might get them written up (again) by Bobby for inappropriate language in the workplace, Hen pipes up from across the kitchen, “Buck’s in your will?”
Suddenly, the focus is on her. Which is probably for the best because Buck was starting to get a little hot under the collar.
“Yeah?” Eddie sounds unsure, “Karen isn’t in yours?”
And that question alone is enough to have Hen spitting her sip of water into the sink that is, thankfully, right next to her. “Well, yeah, obviously but that’s different.”
“Is it?” Eddie presses, and Buck can’t help the slight enjoyment he gets out of the way she looks between them questionably.
“I, uh… I suppose not.” she concedes, wiping at her mouth. “So, what does he get then? I didn’t know you had any hidden riches stashed away, Diaz.”
Eddie laughs, and it’s only now that Buck realises he’s made his way around the counter and is now stood a lot closer to him. “He gets my son.” Eddie states, matter-of-factly, and it doesn’t matter how many times Buck has heard it the words still get his heart fluttering in his chest.
In fact, they catch him so off guard that he doesn’t have the time to defend himself when Eddie reaches up and steals his cookies back out of Buck’s hands, a smug look plastered on his face. He throws Buck a wink as he starts to back away, “And I get my cookies.”
Buck watches him leave dumbfounded, only brought out of his head when Hen laughs and walks by him saying, “You guys are really weird.”
“Hey!” he calls after her, “We are so not weird!”
-
Ravi always gets dealt the short straw.
Today, it’s being left alone to man the stall at the local school’s community services fair whilst the rest of the team take a handful of students on a tour of the fire truck. Which, really, just seems unfair. Nobody’s coming to listen to him talk about being a firefighter when they have the chance to turn the truck’s sirens on, are they?
Well, nobody except for a few of the teachers here. He’s pretty sure one of them has come over for a leaflet three times now, but he’s not going to call her out on it. Not when she keeps laughing and accidentally-on-purpose touching his bicep.
Hey, a guy’s got to have fun at work somehow.
He actually thinks it’s her returning for a fourth time when someone touches his arm again, only to turn around and be greeted with a new face. A cute brunette with turquoise glasses who beams up at him with the cheeriness only an elementary school worker can possess.
“Hi!” she greets, leaning in a way she clearly hopes is casual against their rickety table. It wobbles and she bounces back, a blush spreading over her face almost instantly. “Woops! My bad.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he reassures her, automatically going to straighten up the leaflets she knocked out of place. So he’s a little OCD, everyone has their own quirks. “What can I help you with?”
“Oh, um…” she blushes an even deeper shade of pink now and Ravi battles with the thought that it makes her look ridiculously adorable. “Nothing in particular. You looked lonely. Not that-… Not that that’s a bad thing, or anything but-” she sighs, pushing her glasses back up her nose. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling. My name’s Angela.”
Ravi chuckles softly, taking the hand she offers him. “Ravi. Nice to meet you.”
The smile she sends his way is as warm as sunshine and, suddenly, Ravi doesn’t mind being left to man the table too much.
“You work with Christopher Diaz’s parents, right?”
“Yeah, Eddie’s on my team,” he says instinctively, before he fully registered what she actually said. “Wait. His parents?”
Her smile drops slightly, a hint of confusion creeping onto her face. “Well, yeah. I mean, I know the poor kid’s mother passed away a while ago but Christopher’s told us all about his two dads. Eddie and Buck, right? It’s funny, really, because I know Mr Buckley isn’t Christopher’s biological father but we all joke about how Chris has clearly taken after him for his accident proneness. I mean, we’ve lost count of the amount of times Mr Buckley’s shown up here in a cast for one limb or the other.”
Ravi is speechless, which is usually a surprisingly hard feat. “How often does Buck come here?” is the only thing he can think to ask because, sure, he knows Buck has come to pick Chris up from school on the odd occasion that Eddie isn’t able to do so himself but enough for the staff here to recognise him?
“Oh,” Angela shrugs, not at all seeing the importance of this revelation, “A couple times a week? He usually comes with Eddie, of course, but he’s often done the trip solo. Like any other parent, I suppose.”
Ravi nods. “Any other parent.” he repeats, “Sure.” He grabs another pile of leaflets out of the box propped up beside him. There isn’t really any space for them on the table but he just feels like he needs to do something with his hands. “And he’s just allowed to come and pick Chris up? I mean, I know he does it in emergencies but… He also does it just because?”
Angela gives him a weird look, and now Ravi can feel his own cheeks heating up. “Well, of course he does. Why wouldn’t he? He is Christopher’s legal guardian, after all.”
Ravi blames the fact that the handful of leaflets falls to the floor on the fact that they’re just laminated really, really well and not at all on the fact that his jaw is now dropped to the floor. “Yeah.” He nods, as if that makes him look any more casual. “Legal guardian. Duh. I just forgot, I’m sorry, it’s been a long day.” And, as if to prove his point, he goes and knocks his head on the table on his way back up from gathering the dropped leaflets from the floor.
Angela laughs, a musical sound that rings through Ravi’s ears. “Here,” she says, already reaching out to catch the leaflets now slipping off of the table, “let me help you.” They spend the next hour cleaning up Ravi’s mess and chatting enough to exchange numbers and Ravi doesn’t dare to question her any further on the crazy bombshell that she has no idea she’s even revealed.
But, as he glances over towards where he can see Buck helping Chris down from the fire truck – Eddie watching on with an unmistakably fond expression – Ravi wonders how he missed such an obvious development in their relationship.
-
Buck’s shaking, his mind is running in circles and he swears his vision is blacking out.
But he can’t break down. Not now. Not yet.
So he pushes forward, through the manic crowd that is to be expected in a hospital after they’ve responded to a major incident, and makes a beeline right for the front desk in the emergency room.
“Buck!” Bobby calls after him, “Buck where are you going?” And Buck knows that they’re still on the job, technically – but Hen and Chim are more than capable of getting the last few patients they transported over here out of the ambulance. They don’t need his help.
“I need to see him, Bobby.”
A hand lands on his shoulder and Buck turns, ready to argue with the older man if needed. Except Bobby doesn’t look disappointed with him; there’s an understanding on his face that almost has Buck in tears right there in the middle of the hospital.
“I know, kid. But they might not let you in.”
Buck frowns. Of course they will. He almost tells Bobby as much but, just as he goes to open his mouth, a nurse walks by and Buck isn’t wasting any more time. “Hi, excuse me- Hey!” He reaches out and taps the nurse on the shoulder just before she’s out of reach, and then pulls his hands straight back. “I-I’m sorry. So sorry, but I need to see somebody who’s just been admitted.”
She gives him a slow once over, clocking the uniform and tilting her head. “Were they involved in the bus accident?” she asks, and just hearing the words has a lump forming deep in Buck’s throat. He nods and she gives him a sympathetic smile. “Your kid?”
Buck sniffs, determined to hold himself together just a little while longer. He shakes his head, “No. No, uh-… He’s not mine but-”
“I’m sorry, sir, but we can only let family members into the rooms at this moment in time.” And then she’s off, disappearing into the sea of chaos before Buck can even finish explaining himself. Fuck.
“Hey,” Bobby squeezes his shoulder, “We’ll wait with you if you want? Visiting hours aren’t too long away.”
Buck takes a slow, deep breath as the rest of the team make their way over. They’re all sending him cautious looks and it’s just making Buck feel even worse. He closes his eyes, crouching down and placing his head in his hands as he tries to steady his breathing.
When he woke up this morning, the last thing he expected was to be here. Everything was fine. He got up as normal, made himself and Chris some breakfast before he had to rush off to work. Carla had come over to make sure Chris got on the bus for school, and she’d sent him a text to let him know the moment she waved him off – same as usual. Everything was fine.
And then, the next thing he knows they’re responding to a call on the freeway involving a school bus.
And Chris is being rushed to hospital alongside a group of other children with a suspected broken arm.
And Eddie isn’t here.
The first time Eddie goes out of town and leaves Buck in charge and this happens. Buck knows, logically, that it’s not his fault and Eddie would never in a million years blame him but that doesn’t make it any easier for Buck to deal with right now.
Distantly, Buck can hear Bobby explaining to the rest of the team above him what the nurse had said. But he’s not just going to sit here and wait around. He needs to see Christopher – now.
Pushing himself back to his feet, he places a hand on Bobby’s chest and gently moves him out of the way. The team give him a quizzical look but he’s focused now, filled with determination as he continues his walk towards the desk.
His hands come down a little too aggressively on the counter but he honestly can’t find it within himself to care much. “I need to see Christopher Diaz. Are there any updates on his condition?”
The nurse at the station looks over the rim of his glasses to check his name tag, eyebrow rising when he undoubtedly notices the name difference. “I’m sorry but visiti-”
“Visiting hours aren’t until later, yes, I know. But if you would just take a moment to check his file, you’d see that there’s an Evan Buckley – which would just so happen to be me – listed as his legal guardian. And, since his father is currently in a different state, I can’t think of a better time in which that title applies. So, I’m going to ask again. Can I please be taken to see him?”
The guy is silent as he types something into his computer, and then an apologetic look passes over his face. “Christopher is absolutely fine, no broken bones or other injuries. They’re just holding him with a few of the other children due to shock, but I can take you to see him.”
Buck’s knees almost give out on him with the crushing relief that follows the good news. He lets out a long sigh, running a hand over his face. “Thank you, Oh, God, thank you so much. Please, I need to see him.”
The nurse pushes himself out of his chair and Buck makes to start following him when a hand grabs his shoulder again. This time, it’s Hen, looking at him like he’s suddenly grown tusks or something.
“Legal guardian?” she asks and, as Buck casts a glance towards the rest of his team he notices that they’re all equally as confused.
Which, really, if Buck was feeling a little less frazzled he’d find it laughable.
But, as it is, he’s got much more important things to do. Like seeing with his own eyes that Christopher is absolutely, one-hundred percent unharmed and then calling Eddie so he can see for himself and stop stressing as much as he undoubtedly has been ever since Buck messaged him on their way over here.
So, instead, Buck settles for a simple, “What? Like we didn’t tell you.” and then turns to chase after the nurse before he disappears out of sight.