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A cup of coffee hits the table with a gentle thunk, snapping Eddie out of his thoughts.
"Ravi's right," Buck admits softly, sitting down across from him with his own cup of coffee. "I'm usually the one bringing in strays." He tilts his head to the side, leaning forward, like he would if Eddie were a scared little kid they'd found on a call. "You doing okay?"
Eddie starts to reach forward for the cup of coffee but pulls back, running his hands through his hair instead. "Yeah, Buck," he starts, like a liar, "I'm fine."
But Buck just smiles gently, mouth quirked up to the side, seeing through all of Eddie's bullshit like he's always able to do, even after all this time. "You wanna talk about it?"
Eddie finally wraps his hands around the coffee mug, smelling the cinnamon Buck sprinkled on top, just like Pepa taught him, and he sighs. "I'm so worried about her."
"Yeah," Buck says, "I know. We all are, but it's hitting you differently."
Eddie's nodding, mostly to his cup of coffee, which is perfectly sweet and spiced as he brings it to his lips. "She's so young. And her parents, her community were so cruel to her but they thought they were being kind and supportive and good. And we just broke into her life and, yeah, she's not in that place anymore, but she's alone and she's terrified and it's like the only one she'll listen to is me."
Buck's nodding from across the table, hands wrapped around his own coffee mug.
"And she's spiraling and trying to cling to the one positive thing that's come out of all of this, even if it's temporary, and I just—"
Eddie sighs a deep breath out when he feels Buck's hand on his arm from across the table, as he pulls up to meet Buck's big blue eyes head on. "Yeah, but you didn't have to do it alone."
For a moment, Eddie's face is pinched together, eyebrows together in question. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Buck clarifies, "do you see yourself in Abigail? In her situation?"
Eddie huffs softly, moving his coffee to his other hand to not disturb Buck's as it lays across his arm.
"No, Buck."
The hand on his arm squeezes, the bubble around them growing, separate but not isolating.
"Then—"
"Shannon." Eddie's glance drops down towards his coffee, unable to face the thought that just slithered from the recesses of his mind. "She reminds me so much of Shannon."
Buck's thumb starts to move across the skin of Eddie's arm, catching the hair as it moves.
"She's scared," Eddie admits, "and every time she looks at me with those big eyes, I just see Shan, asking me Eddie, what am I supposed to do? And I won't run away this time."
Buck pulls his hand from Eddie's arm and he's caught off guard at how unnaturally cold it feels, distracted by the sting of it until he hears the chair next to him scrape across the floor, feels Buck's solid frame move in next to him.
"You aren't running away, Eddie. You got her out of that situation, you defended her in court, you brought Alex in to help take care of things that you didn't have the expertise to handle. You have gone above and beyond the call of duty here, Eddie."
Eddie hasn't looked up from his coffee, but is warmed all the way through when Buck wraps his arm around the back of Eddie's shoulders.
"I won't let you run away," Buck says confidently. "Not from me, not from us, and not from yourself, okay? You trust me?"
He finally chances a look up from under his eyelashes and meets Buck's eyes, much closer than they were the last time.
"Yeah, Buck," Eddie whispers. "I trust you."
Buck's hand squeezes the meat of Eddie's arm and he leans in, resting his forehead against Eddie's temple.
"I've got you. We're gonna figure this out."
Yeah. Yeah, we are.