Chapter Text
Buck Buckley hated the emergency room.
Hated that it was always kept cold enough for him to feel the chill seeping into his bones, hated that the noise was constant and loud enough for him to feel the ebb of a headache behind his eyes every time he was unlucky enough to find himself in an emergency room bed.
Now, situated on a bed with an ice pack pressed to his shoulder and a sprained wrist resting at his side as he waited for a doctor to wrap it, it was safe to say that he was pondering his recent life choices.
The emergency the 118 had been called to earlier that afternoon wasn’t even remotely important enough to be deemed a high priority call. Nobody at risk of imminent death or life altering injury, no flames to extinguish, no passengers trapped in twisted metal, just a minor fender bender that required their attention. The traffic collision had taken place in the middle of a three-way intersection, the only notable damage being to the front bumper of the smaller vehicle involved in the crash, said bumper now sitting rather sadly on the floor in front of the car. The driver was immediately checked for injury and concussion by Hen and was sent on their way to provide the officers on scene with their statement once given the all clear.
The incident had not been significant enough for dispatch to deem it high priority, instead wisely choosing to divert any available fire companies to a multiple vehicle pile up on the freeway. The 118 had picked up the call on the way back from a local medical call, only a few minutes away from the Firehouse when Maddie’s voice came through their headsets.
“Engine 118 we have a traffic collision on the intersection of South Le Brea and San Vicente, no reported injuries or casualties, are you able to re-route?"
There had been a collective sigh from the 118, but Bobby signalled the affirmative to dispatch and they began the short journey over, it was just clean-up and crowd control. Buck hadn’t expected to risk his life that afternoon. He hadn’t expected to be sitting on a hospital bed afterwards.
And he certainly hadn’t expected to meet someone like Lucy Chen.
The traffic had been backing up for at least forty minutes before the 118 had arrived on scene, and that coupled with the fact the temperature had hit the 90s that afternoon, it was only a matter of time before the irritability bubbled over. The crash itself was barely noteworthy, a fender bender that would probably get resolved with insurance paperwork and passive-aggressive phone calls.
Buck recognised the officers on scene from previous calls. It was common for firehouses and police divisions to fall into a pattern of repeated calls, something done by dispatchers to keep track of police and fire resources and reduce response time.
Athena was on scene, she had gotten there before the 118 had even arrived. There were two other officers on scene also, mostly for crowd control and to keep the stagnant drivers level headed and assure everybody that they would be on their way as soon as possible whilst the 118 cleared the collision site.
One driver had clearly not taken the word of the male sergeant very seriously. The man in question drove a mid-level silver sedan and had honked his horn and yelled out of his window the entire time that Buck, with the assistance of Eddie, had moved the stranded cars out of the intersection and to the side of the road. One lane of traffic would remain closed until the vehicles were removed, but at least the traffic wouldn’t be at a complete standstill anymore.
Buck had just finished shifting the fallen front bumper when he heard a name yelled from across the street.
“Lucy!”
Buck’s eyes flashed from the sergeant that had yelled the name, to the female officer that was still standing on the side of the intersection making notes for her incident report. In an instant her eyes moved from the sergeant to the car that was coming straight for her. Silver mid-level sedan. Before he registered that his feet were moving, Buck was darting across the asphalt towards her. He vaguely heard Eddie yell his name, Bobby’s deeper voice echoing the same command — but none of it registered. All he saw was the car bearing down on her and the sickening certainty that he was going to be too late.
It was nothing short of a miracle that Buck reached her in time, snatching her by the waist and rolling them out of harms way just as the car sped by, missing them by only inches. Buck held the officer tightly, his shoulder and wrist taking the brunt of the fall as his other hand cradled the back of her head.
Within moments, the pair were being swarmed by others as Buck began to understand the severity of the situation he had just put himself in.
Hen was by their side in an instant, Chimney following with a medical bag slung over his shoulder. The sergeant, Bradford according to the badge attached to his uniform, was next to arrive, falling to a knee on Lucy’s left side and quickly examining her for any visible injuries.
Buck looked away from Lucy and looked up, catching sight of Eddie for the first time. From the outside Eddie looked perfectly normal, displaying just the expected amount of worry and panic. Buck, however, knew differently and could see the deep fear in Eddie’s eyes as he crouched at his side to assess him. As Eddie’s assessment concluded and it was deemed that both Buck and Lucy were fine for the most part but would need to go to the emergency room regardless, Eddie’s fear dampened and a stormy expression now shone in his eyes instead. It was at that moment that Buck knew he was in trouble.
Upon their arrival at the hospital, Buck and Lucy were taken to hospital beds in the emergency room that were situated next to each other. The sergeant, Bradford, had spoken to Lucy in hushed murmurs we’ll take the day, need to rest, give them to Angela she’s upstairs before picking up Lucy’s discarded duty belt and taking off in the direction of the elevators. The 118 had been called out on another call as soon as they had arrived at the hospital, Buck not even having a moment to speak with Eddie before they were being pulled in different directions.
Buck’s watched Lucy out of the corner of his eye, there was something about her. Not just the near-death experience. Not just the fact that they’d survived it together. There was a steadiness to her, even through the pain. A composure he admired.
“Don’t you hate how cold it always is in here?”
Buck’s head turned to Lucy fully as she spoke. She was holding an ice pack to her side, her left hip bearing the brunt of her injuries. Her hip would bruise severely after the force they hit the ground with and she will likely be on mandatory medical leave for at least a few days whilst it healed somewhat, she had also picked up some scuffs on her hands when she rolled but for the most part she was unscathed.
Buck was not so lucky. When running to her he had not thought of the safest way to grab her to minimise injury, he just acted as quickly as possible. His shoulder had taken the brunt of their fall, and Buck was already dreading the pain that was sure to come in the next few hours as a repercussion of that. Buck’s largest problem was his left wrist, which had been x-rayed upon n their arrival and it was determined that he had sustained a moderately sprained wrist injury in the fall, earning him a week medical leave before he could return to work. Lucky him.
“I was literally just thinking the same thing. I think the cold might have settled in my bones and made itself at home by now.” Buck absentmindedly rubbed his good hand down his face, regretting his decision to not snatch his turnout coat from the seat in the engine. Of course, he would have needed to remove it for the x-ray, but he could have been toasty warm in the meantime.
Lucy turned to look at him fully, smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You’re Buck, right?”
He nodded, his eyes darting to the badge pinned on her chest even though he already knew her first name. He was sure he would be hearing Bradford yell her name in fear in his nightmares for many months to come. Buck shook his head, what was one more traumatic event to add to his daily terrifying dream cycle.
“Yeah, it's Buck. Well, actually its Evan, but all of my friends just call me Buck.” Buck turned on the bed to face her more fully, wincing slightly as the movement pulled on his shoulder.
Lucy smiled wide, her eyes sparkling with mirth, “I mean, I think that the fact we are now bonded for life by a traumatic near death experience definitely puts us in the friend column right? I’m Lucy.”
Buck laughed, “Absolutely, although at this point with the amount of friends I have had near death experiences with I might need to get a longer column.”
“You find yourself in the hospital emergency room often then?” Lucy asked, her eyes moving to the left as a doctor walked through to the reception, a group of interns on his tail.
“More than I would like, my Captain joked that I should have time-shared my condo because I spent half of my life in the ER. Theres a record made in the 118 group chat of how many days its been without me requiring some form of medical intervention, I think my sister suggested it at a team dinner years ago and its just something that stuck.”
“They care for you a lot though, it was clear to see after…” Lucy indicated between the two of them, “Like family, right?”
“A highly dysfunctional one, yes.” Buck laughed, opening his mouth to ask about Lucy’s police work when the curtain was very rudely pulled aside and Chimney burst inside with all the grace of a freight train.
“Chim?” Buck questioned, his good hand raising to scratch his brow.
Chimney took a step closer to Buck’s bed, jumping up until he was sitting next to the patient, “Just got back from the medical call,” Buck opened his mouth to ask how the patient was, but Chim saw his question coming from a mile away, “They’re completely fine, was an allergic reaction to sesame, which I don’t really know what kind of person with a sesame allergy goes to a Chinese restaurant and orders the sesame fried noodles but,” Buck attempted to cut off Chimney’s rambling, his eyes flicking to Lucy who sat with a humoured smile on her face as she watched Chim speak, “Ah, not done yet, Buckaroo. I bring news. Your daring heroics are the talk of the team. And Eddie? Not thrilled, buddy.” Chimney finished with a grin.
Buck threw his head back. He had hoped that the time away at the call would give Eddie some time to simmer down and gain the understanding that Buck had to do something and he wasn’t just going to sit by and watch someone get hurt when he could do something about it. Clearly that wasn’t the case.
“Eddie?” Lucy enquired, looking between the firefighters.
“Firefighter Diaz.” Chimney said as the same time as Buck said “My Fiancé.”
A look of realisation quickly took over Lucy’s features as she understood. She had been unable to decipher the expression the firefighter, Diaz, had worn at the scene, now she knew. It was the same look she had seen on Tim’s face many times previously when it came to her own safety.
“Ohh, that’s what that look on his face was for.”
Buck looked back up, nodding at Lucy with a small smile as he unconsciously reached to fidget with the black silicone band on his ring finger. Lucy followed his movement and kicked herself for not noticing it before, some officer you are, Chen.
“You could try not to be so happy about this, Chim.” Buck turned to his brother-in-law, who had yet to remove the wide grin from his face, “You sometimes forget that we were basically brothers before you even married my sister.”
Lucy furrowed her brow, using her hand to rub at her bicep in a hope to warm up a bit, why is this ward so cold.
“You’re brothers-in-law? And you work with your fiancé in the same firehouse?”
“A-Shift at the 118 is basically every human resource department’s nightmare.” Chimney stated, nodding his head.
“He exaggerates,” Buck grinned at Lucy, “None of this was even that much of an issue. Eddie and I are in the same chain of command, ergo no issues. I’m sure you can tell by now that Chim just thrives on gossip and drama.”
Lucy laughed, “If you weren’t a firefighter I am sure you would thrive in the environment at Mid-Wilshire. We also live in a very blood doesn’t make family kind of mind frame and boy do they love gossip. I do have a leg up on the whole workplace relationship thing though if you can believe, because mine was when I was in his chain of command.”
Buck thinks back to earlier, Bradford calling out Lucy’s name as the car sped towards where she stood, the absolute fear that consumed him as he ran in her direction knowing he wasn’t going to make it in time to pull her out of harms way. The tender way he had checked her for injuries and the way the panic seemed to seep from his body once Hen had confirmed that she would be absolutely fine and hadn’t sustained a concussion.
Buck’s mouth opened as he pointed towards the door Bradford had left through not fifteen minutes earlier, “The sergeant from earlier?”
A smile overtook Lucy’s face and the twinkly eyes returned as she nodded, “Nothing actually happened until I completed my rookie year, but yeah, the gossip circulated for a while. Lets just say that not many at Mid-Wilshire were very reticent to gossip once that secret came out.”
“Never mind those busybodies, you got your man who cares.” Chimney remarked, turning his head in the direction of where he had left Hen, wondering if she would be joining them anytime soon.
The trio spoke for a little while longer, Lucy meeting Chim with the same warmth and wit she’d shown Buck, before Athena walked through the door, Sergeant Bradford right behind her, his own duty belt now absent.
Athena looked between Buck and Lucy for a moment, taking note of both of their injuries before sighing and stepping forward.
“I’m going to need statements from the two of you. Given that the idiot of that car thought it a good idea to speed through a police cordon and almost critically wound an officer and a firefighter in the process he’s looking at some serious jail time. Although, I am glad to report that said idiot was apprehended when he abandoned his car in front of the building where he was having what I’m sure was a very important business meeting and his ass is now in jail,” Athena rested her hand on her duty belt and took a step towards Buck, “How we doing Buckaroo?”
Buck smiled softly, “I’m alright, ‘Thena. A weeks medical leave to give my wrist time to rest, but otherwise mostly fine.”
“Good to hear, you still coming to dinner tonight? Bobby said he was thinking of cooking chicken cacciatore, I can take your statement there if thats alright with you.”
Buck nodded his confirmation and Athena smiled, reaching up to scruff his hair. After a few moments, Athena bid goodbye to the others, murmuring something to Bradford regarding getting Buck’s statement to him and Grey by the next afternoon.
“How’s the hip coming along, going to bruise you think?” Buck asked Lucy, who still held the hospital provided ice pack to her side. Eddie had done wonders when it came to Buck and his displaced guilt, but Buck couldn’t help but feel he could have done more to prevent any injury coming to Lucy at all.
“Oh, yeah absolutely. I’m hoping Grey will put me on medical for just a few days maybe?” Lucy looked up at Bradford hopefully, her eyes wide and a playful smile on her face. Bradford stood firm with his arms crossed across his chest, but a crack of a grin did appear as he addressed his girlfriend.
“You’re off for the rest of the week, Luce. I know you don’t want to hear it but just think, you can take the next three days and just cuddle with the dog and watch trashy television.” He took another step towards her and she scooted forward on the bed so her legs were hanging over the edge, she leant into his side automatically.
Buck perked up at the mention of a dog, his eyes lighting up, “You have a dog? You can’t just mention that and then not show me any photos.”
Lucy laughed and pulled her phone, thankfully unscathed from the accident, from her pocket and pulled up her gallery. Skimming the hundreds of photos there, many of them of the dog, she settled on one from a few weeks back that was taken on a hike with Tim, Tamara and Kojo.
Lucy turned her phone towards Buck, “This is our baby Kojo, look at that face.”
Buck hummed happily as he looked at the photograph. The group looked so happy. The sun was shining and they had clearly had the photo taken by a passerby at the the top of the trail. Lucy stood in front of Tim, a faded cap from a sports team Buck couldn’t make out resting on her head, he had his arm draped across her collarbone, securing her to his chest. Besides them stood a teenager with dark brunette hair falling around her shoulders and a leash in her hand, and the pup was situated at her feet.
“He’s so adorable, I must spend at least ten percent of my waking hours trying to to convince Eddie to let us have a dog.”
“And another five percent of his time trying to convince Bobby to get a Dalmatian for the firehouse.” Chimney interjects.
“Which I don’t understand why he keeps saying no by the way.” Buck huffs.
“Keep asking him, Buckaroo, he won’t be able to say no to his favoured child forever.”
Lucy was enjoying the banter between the pair, but her attention was piqued by the last sentence thrown in by Chimney, “Child? Your captain is your dad?”
Buck let out a laugh and shook his head, “No, well not really. What was it you said before about your division? Blood doesn’t make family is the kind of relationship have at the 118 too.”
“We are going to be fast friends, you and me, I just know it.” Lucy grinned at Buck. The pair were too similar to not want to form an immediate friendship.
Buck’s smile turned bashful, “Well, we’re already joined forever by a near death experience… you two should come for dinner at the firehouse this week. It’s been said that Bobby missed his calling when he became a firefighter and should have pursued cheffing instead, so I promise you’ll get a good meal out of it. What do you think?” Buck asked with a hopeful expression.
Lucy exchanged a quick look with Bradford, the pair coming to a nonverbal agreement, “We would love to, Buck, put your number in.” Lucy tossed the phone that rested in her hand onto the bed opposite hers.
It was a while longer before they were discharged. Buck got his wrist bandaged and Lucy’s hip was checked again before they were allowed to leave, each with a prescription for pain medication to collect. Chimney had waited with Buck the whole time, letting them know that he had sworn on his life to Eddie that he would not allow Buck to jump out in front of any more moving vehicles before the end of shift. Like Chimney, Bradford had stayed at Lucy’s side the whole time. He had returned his duty belt to a colleague and would be taking the next few days off with Lucy, they learned. Buck also learned his name, Tim, so was no longer referring to him as simply Bradford in his head.
Before they went their separate ways, it was arranged for Tim and Lucy to attend dinner at the firehouse the next evening when A-Shift was back on shift. Buck was buzzing with excitement to introduce them to his family and friends. Lucy was right, he thought, they were going to be fast friends indeed.