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On Buck’s first day back, the 118 gets called to an occult shop. On the floor, there are so many crystals, gems, cards, and other things that you would see in a Harry Potter film.
They were called because the shop had been robbed and a couple of people were injured in the process, including the owner.
She was a middle-aged woman with long wavy black hair with a couple of grey strands. She had so much jewelry on she sounded like a janitor whenever she moved.
The robbers did get her fairly good, though. When the 118 arrived, she was lying on the ground, and she had a couple bruises on her arm.
Buck quickly pulled her into a sitting position, looking over her bruises, the rest of the 118 tending to the other victims.
Buck calls Eddie over to tend to her bruises while he goes to check out the other victims in the shop.
“Who is he?” The lady said as Eddie came over to examine her bruisings.
“Oh, that’s Buck.” Eddie looks up at him for a long moment, then remembers that he has a job to do. The lady hums in response. “Who is he to you?”
“He’s…my best friend, my partner, well, not my partner, not anymore, but I still like to think of him that way.”
“You love him.”
“I—yes, of course I love him. He is my best friend.”
“But you would like it to be more, yes?”
“I’m not sure what you mean. I—I’m straight, our relationship is strictly platonic, and he would never love me like that.”
She hums again, “Excuse me, Buck?” Buck turns around and walks towards them.
“Are you okay, ma’am?”
“Yes, I just wanted to thank you. I wanted to thank you both for helping me.” She grabs his and Eddie’s hands and gives them a firm squeeze.
She mumbles something under her breath that neither of them catches. “It’s really no problem, ma’am. We’re just doing our job.”
On the ride back to the station, Buck asked Eddie if he heard what the lady had said, but he just shook his head.
After their shift Buck goes over to Eddie’s for a little while. They drink a couple of beers and watch a movie until they get tired.
“Hey, I think it’s about time I head home.” Buck gets up.
“You could stay. It’s late, and we’re off tomorrow.”
“I kind of want to sleep in my own bed. I’m really tired.” Buck is already putting on his shoes.
“Right, okay, I’ll see you when I see you then.”
They say bye and Buck leaves in his Jeep. When he gets home, he lies in his bed for hours thinking about the way Eddie looked at him earlier in the occult shop.
He had caught him staring in his peripheral vision. He found himself thinking, could Eddie love him romantically? How good his life would be if Eddie Diaz could be the person he came home to every day. His person.
He quickly shut that thought out. It was dumb. That would never happen because Eddie is straight and because no one ever stayed around for Evan Buckley.
Buck woke up to a warmth throughout his back, and he looked down to find an arm draped over his stomach, holding him in place, like the person was scared he was going to disappear.
Buck was fairly certain that he went home alone yesterday. He carefully turned over, trying his best not to wake up the mystery person next to him.
He looks at the man, who has already begun to wake up himself. “Eddie, what the hell are you doing in my bed?”
“What? What are you doing in my bed?”
“I’m not in your—” Buck cuts himself off as he looks around the room. This room is unfamiliar to him.
“Buck, where the hell are we?” Eddie says, looking around with the same expression that Buck has.
Buck is just about to get up when he realizes something. “Uh, Eddie?”
“Yeah?” He mumbled, still barely awake.
“Are you wearing clothes?”
Eddie’s face contorts as he realizes that he is in fact not wearing clothes. “Um, no, just boxers.”
“Yeah, um, me too.” Eddie looks down because something feels heavier on his chest.
He looks down to see two other medallions. St. Alena and Adela.
“Buck, I have two more medallions, not just St. Christopher.” Buck looks over to inspect his medallions while Eddie looks at Buck’s chest.
“You do too.” Eddie scoots closer to Buck to examine his medallions as well. “We have all the same ones.”
Eddie doesn’t know when Buck got a St. Christopher medallion, but it warms his heart.
“Huh,” Buck fiddles with the medallions, “I wonder who the other ones are for.” Buck whispers, looking into Eddie’s eyes.
“Yeah, me too.” Eddie stares right back. He reluctantly turns away to check his phone and notices the changed lock screen.
Huh, it used to be a picture with him, Buck, and Chris. Now it’s still them, but with two girls, two girls who kind of look like Eddie.
In the picture Chris looks way older than he used to, and the girls look like they’re in their early teens.
While inspecting the image, he realizes the date on his phone. “Buck, the date, it—it says it’s 2030.”
“What? What do you mean it’s 2030?”
“That’s the date on my phone, and my wallpaper is different. There's a picture with us, Chris, and two girls.”
Buck goes to pick up his phone, and surely enough, the date says 2030. His wallpaper also has them and the same little girls but they're younger in this photo.
“Eddie, I know this might sound crazy but, I think we time traveled.”
Eddie looks over at him, “Buck, time travel isn’t real.”
“Yeah, okay, how do you explain our dates then?” Buck eyeballs Eddie.
“Technology malfunction?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“Telling you?”
“Right, okay. What about Chris? He looks older in your picture.”
Eddie takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I don’t have an explanation for that.”
“Because there is no other explanation, we time traveled.”
As Buck goes to open his phone, he catches a glint on his left hand. He brings it closer to his face. It’s a ring, it’s a wedding ring.
He doesn’t know if it’s logical to ask Eddie or if he just wants it to be Eddie that he’s married to, either way he asks. “Um, Eddie, can I see your left hand please.”
Eddie complies instantly, not bothering to ask why. “I—I think we’re married.”
Eddie turns his head in a swift movement. “Married? That- that’s not possible.”
Buck takes the ring off his own finger. “Wait, what are you doing?” Eddie says in a not so calm tone.
Buck inspects the ring without responding. He whispers, “I have your back.”
“What?” Eddie responds, still thrown off by Buck taking off his wedding ring.
“Eddie, take off your ring, let me see something.” Buck goes to take off the ring himself, but Eddie snatches his hand back.
“Eddie, come on, I’ll give it back, I just want to see something.” Eddie obeys, taking off his ring himself and giving it to Buck.
Buck examines the ring and reads the same engraving before he grabs Eddie’s hand and puts the ring back on.
Eddie’s face heats up at the action as Buck gets up from the bed.
“This has to be a dream, right? I— I’m straight, why would I be married to you?” Eddie says with a hint of panic in his voice.
“You think that we’re both having the same dream where we’re married… with three kids?”
“Yes, Buck, that’s exactly what I think.”
“Well, I say, time travel.” Eddie rolls his eyes to that and goes back to scanning the room.
“Where do you keep your important documents?” Buck asks, searching around the room.
Eddie tries to divert his eyes, given that Buck is in his underwear, he fails entirely. “Uhh… my underwear drawer.”
Buck finds the drawer and looks through it, finding a couple of papers. Eddie gets up to take a look at the documents too.
“Marriage certificate, Evan Buckley and Edmundo Diaz, Eddie, the year is 2026.”
“What the hell is happening.” He mumbled picking up the marriage certificate.
“Adoption papers.” Buck whispers, “Three, I—I adopted Chris.” The paper reads that Chris’ name is now Christopher Buckley-Diaz. “I guess we hyphenated.”
“You adopted Alena and Adela.” Buck says as he hands the papers to Eddie.
“I don’t understand, why did only you adopt them?” Buck looks hurt by this realization.
“St. Alena and Adela.” Eddie whispers and notices Buck looking over at him. “Their names are the names of the people on our medallions.”
“Oh, that’s who they’re for.” Buck finds birth certificates for Adela and Alena. “Eddie, birth certificates, May 10th, 2015.”
“They’re twins, and they’re about to be 15, so they’re freshman in high school.” Eddie goes to read the birth certificates.
“You’re already on the birth certificates, Evan Buckley and Daniela Mendoza.” He looks at Buck to see if he recognizes the name.
“Daniela, yeah, I met her while I was traveling, she grew up catholic, like you, she practiced. Probably where she got the names from. I didn’t know she was pregnant, she—uh, never told me.” Buck takes a second to gather his thoughts.
“So, they’re mine, biologically, that’s why I didn’t adopt them too.” Eddie can hear the pain in his voice.
“Maybe something happened and she couldn’t take care of them by herself anymore.” Eddie replies.
“Yeah, maybe, I just—I wish I knew, I—” Buck clears his throat. “I didn’t get to see my babies grow up.” Eddie watches as tears start pouring from Buck’s eyes.
“Hey.” Eddie wraps his arms around Buck. “They’re here now, and you have all the time in the world. Let’s not focus on the past okay.”
They hold each other in silence for a moment till the ringing of a phone disrupts them.
Eddie walks over to the bed to retrieve his phone. “It’s Chris, Buck I don’t know what to do.”
“Answer it?”
“I’m scared to answer. He’s a grown man now.”
“Okay, I’ll talk.” Buck takes his phone, answers it and puts it on speaker. “Hey, Chris what’s up?”
“Hey, dad, I was just calling to see if you decided on what you were going to cook for dinner tonight?” His voice is a lot deeper than when he last heard it.
“Your dad is still sleeping Chris, this is Buck.” He lies.
“Yeah, I’m aware of that.” Buck eyes go big, he mouths to Eddie ‘He called me dad.’ Eddie is all smiles. He knows that Chris has thought of Buck as a father for years, and so did he honestly.
“Right, um I haven’t decided yet. Who all is going to be at the dinner again?”
“The usual? Aunt Maddie, Uncle Chim, Jee, Nash, Hen, Karen, Denny, Mara, Aunt May, Uncle Ravi-” Buck shares a confused look at ‘Uncle Ravi,’ Buck mouths ‘what the hell’ to Eddie, to which Eddie responds with a smirk and a shrug.
“Harry—” “Wait, why not call Harry, Uncle Harry?” Buck asks, interrupting Chris.
“Dad, Harry is basically the same age as me, I know he’s your brother, but I am not calling him uncle, we’ve been over this.” There’s a joking annoyance in his tone that makes both his dads smile.
“Right, sorry, is that everyone?”
“Oh, and my grandparents.” Buck’s heart drops and he looks to Eddie and the look on his face is mirroring Bucks.
‘Ask which grandparents.’ Eddie mouths. ‘I really don’t want to know.’ Buck replies. ‘Just ask, please?’ And who is Buck to say no to his hus—, his Eddie. No, just Eddie.
“Chris, whose parents are you talking about?” Eddie is hoping that it isn’t his and he knows Buck is doing the same.
“Yours? Did something happen? You sound… off.”
“No, yeah I’m fine, sorry just… thinking about what to make tonight.” Buck tries to say as casually as possible, it doesn’t work.
“Do you not want Nana Thena and Grandpa Bobby to come?” Buck looks at Eddie with a confused expression.
Oh…oh, his chosen parents, the weight on his shoulders just vanished. Wait, but Bobby…” Chris, what do you mean? Bob- Bobby died.”
Am I going crazy? What is happening? What is happening? What is happening?
“Yeah, everyone thought he did but then Nana found him in that government lab in 2026, just a little after Ela and Ale came. Don’t you remember? Are you sure you’re okay?”
Buck makes sure to take a mental note of their nicknames and that they had come into their lives in 2026, when they were about 10 or 11.
Buck is choked up. “Yeah, sorry, how could I forget that.” Buck feels Eddie’s thumb wiping away tears he didn’t even know were falling.
“Okay, well I’ll be over there in a little bit to take Ale and Ela to the bookstore.”
“Chris, quick question, how do you tell Ela and Ale apart?” Buck winces at his own question.
“Alena has a mole above her lips and Adela has one on below hers, they also have different personalities and Ale’s voice is a little higher than Ela’s. How do you tell them apart?”
“Well as a father I just know, you know? …Anyway, um, I’ll see you later bye, love you.”
“Love you too, dad.” After the dial tone Buck sits on the bed dumbfounded with the information that he just learned.
“Hey, you okay?” Eddie asks, sitting next to Buck on the bed.
“Yeah, I am actually.” Bobby is alive. His dad is alive.
“DAD!” Two synchronized voices say. Eddie and Buck turn, look at each other, and quickly move to put their clothes on to see what their daughters need.
Eddie comes out the door first and strolls towards the kitchen where he can hear movement. “Hey, what’s wrong? What happened?” He looks down at these little girls, his little girls.
“Is Dad still going to make breakfast, well, lunch I guess?” He sees that it’s Ale who asks with pleading eyes as Buck comes out of the room, their room.
“Yes ma’am, I’ll get right on that, sorry to keep my girls waiting, we woke up a little late and then got…distracted.” He looks down at his daughters. They really do look like Eddie even though they’re biologically his.
Buck kind of likes that, Chris is often mistaken for being biologically his because they look alike, now Eddie has his own little mini me’s.
“Um, ew? Definitely did not need to know that.” Alena walks away very quickly.
“Wha—, no— that is not what I meant.” He and Eddie walk towards the kitchen too. Eddie smirks at his daughter’s humor and the way Buck reacted to it.
“Hey Buck, I’m going to go take a quick shower, I’ll be right back.” He gives both his daughters a quick kiss on the head as he walks out.
Was that…weird? It felt oddly natural to kiss them on the head. Eddie somehow already feels a deep love for these children that he barely knows.
As soon as Eddie closes the door to their bedroom. “Dad are you and dad...like, okay?” Buck hears someone ask, probably Alena, her voice is a bit higher pitched. He looks over to see the mole above her lips.
He smiles to himself knowing he was right on which daughter was talking. That smile quickly fades as he remembers what it was that she asked.
“What do you mean baby?” Ale and Ela both look at each other like they’re communicating with their thoughts. “Hey, no, what’s wrong? What happened?”
He moves over to the table. “You both seem kind of… off… It's weird. Did something happen?” Adela is the one to speak this time.
“No, nothing happened, we just had a very weird morning, everything’s fine, I promise.” They both hold out their pinkies. Buck smiles.
He wonders if it was him who told them the importance of a pinky promise or maybe it was their Aunt Maddie. Aunt Maddie, Maddie has always talked about being an aunt. The title feels so natural.
He reaches out both pinkies and hooks them around his daughters.’ That seemed to calm them down because they didn’t ask anymore questions.
Buck enlists in his daughters’ help to make breakfast. After they finished, His daughters make their plates, while he made Eddie’s, then himself.
Buck walks into their room. “Hey, breakfast is re—” Buck looks up and sees Eddie in nothing but a towel.
“Oh, I’m sorry—I didn’t mea—” Eddie cuts him off. “Buck it’s fine, it’s not like we haven’t changed in front of each other before.”
This is definitely not the same as changing in a locker room at work. The setting and them being married makes it so much more different.
“Right, I just wanted to tell you that breakfast, well lunch is ready.” He says while watching Eddie get dressed. Is this weird? This is weird.
When Eddie looks up at him Buck tries to look away. Just because they’re married doesn’t mean that he can just stare, Eddie’s straight for goodness' sake.
“Buck, it’s fine you can look, it's not hurting anyone, and you, just so happen to be my husband, so if anyone is looking then it should be you.”
‘My Husband. My Husband. My Husband.’ Repeats over and over in Buck’s head. Eddie doesn’t know what he’s doing to him.
Buck doesn't mean to say this. It just kind of came out. Maybe the nonchalance of Eddie caused this reaction, he’s acting like this is nothing, like it’s normal.
“Yeah, well you think this is all a dream… there’s no way you could believe that you would be married to me, right?” Buck says in a sarcastic tone.
Why did he say that? Eddie looks so hurt by his words. Why would he be hurt though? Eddie is the one who said it was a dream in the first place.
Eddie comes to a halt after putting on the rest of his clothes. “Buck, stop, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Right, actually, I don’t know. How did you mean it, Edmundo Buckley-Diaz?”
For some reason hearing that name made Eddie feel good, hearing Buck say that name, his name, it felt…right. Why does it feel real right?
Buck continues, pulling Eddie out of his own head. “Please, enlighten me, because what I heard is that the idea of us being married is so crazy that you can’t fathom that it’s true.” His voice grew louder.
Eddie is cautious of this, their daughters are in the house right now. “Buck, lower your voice, I don’t want the girls to hear. I just meant that I—” There’s a knock at the door.
Buck closes his eyes for a moment before he turns and opens the door. “Um, are you and dad coming to eat?” Ale says softly, she looks so scared.
“Dios.” Eddie whispers, running his fingers through his hair. He never wanted his kids to grow up in a house where they had to hear their parents arguing.
Eddie answers before Buck can, as he walks to the door. “Yeah, mija, we’re coming.” He brushes past Buck. Buck stills for a second before he goes to follow him towards the kitchen.
Buck and Eddie notice the look on their faces, they definitely heard them arguing. They sit in silence while they eat and then their front door opens.
“Dads? Girls?” Chris, perfect timing.
Chris walks in the kitchen to see his parents and sister sitting quietly and awkwardly at the table.
“Hey, you girls wanna go and get ready?” Alena and Adela get up, put their plates in the sink and head towards their rooms.
Eddie looks at Chris dumbfounded. His little boy is a grown man. He’s about the same height as Eddie now. It feels like when Christopher went to El Paso, like he missed so much of his life.
“Hey, did something happen. It feels like there's a weird tension in the room.” Chris moves to sit down at the table.
“No, we’re fine… just tired.” Buck says again, Buck lies again.
“Sure.” Chris says. Their kids' intuition is good, too good. A little while later they hear both of the girls’ doors open and close.
They both come into the kitchen and tell their brother that they’re ready to go.
“Bye dads, love you.” All their kids speak at the same time. “Bye, love you guys.” “Bye, we love you too.” Buck and Eddie reply.
As soon as the door shuts Buck gets up and goes to their room. Eddie sits by himself for a couple of minutes. What is he waiting for? Hell, if he knows.
Obviously, Buck is mad at him, he doesn’t really want to talk about it right now, so he busies himself. He explores their house.
He can see the dining room and living room from the kitchen, open floor plan, he likes that.
He goes down the hall and opens a room that he believes is Alena’s room, its colors are orange, brown, beige and a hint of green. Her walls have pictures of her their family, family gatherings that he doesn’t remember, and people who he believes are her friends.
The next room down is Adela’s, her room colors are red, brown, grey and black, she has a lot of different animal prints for decor blankets and pillows, and her walls are barely visible with how many posters and pictures she has up.
Her and Alena share a Jack and Jill bathroom that connects their rooms.
Across the hall are three other rooms, one is a guest bedroom and the next door down is a bathroom.
The other is Chris’ room. Eddie’s glad that Christopher still has a space here even though he’s in college.
Chris’ room color is blue. He has so many shelves filled with so many books. His walls are filled with pictures of Alena, Adela, his dads, and their found family, and, Christopher has his own bathroom for his needs.
They bought a five-bedroom house with four bathrooms together. Eddie drops his head in his hands for a couple of seconds before going to talk to Buck in their room.
When he walks in Buck is sitting up against the headboard scrolling on his phone. “Buck, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Eddie tries to resume their conversation from earlier before they got interrupted.
Buck still sat on the bed, looking and scrolling on his phone, not paying any attention to Eddie.
Eddie lets out a breath and goes to sit on the bed next to Buck. “Look at this.” Buck shows Eddie a picture of the 5 of them at Disneyland.
“Looks like we had fun.” Eddie smiles while looking at the picture.
“Yeah, I was— I’m going through my photos, there’s so many pictures, so many memories.” Buck is deflecting and Eddie notices, he always notices.
“Buck, can you look at me for a second?” Buck still has his eyes fixed on his phone. So, Eddie grabs it and puts it on his nightstand.
“Eddie, hey, give me my phone.”
“I’m talking to you.” There’s a pause then, “I’m sorry I said it was a dream, I didn’t mean it like that, you have to know that I would never mean it like that. And, I can’t believe I’m saying this but I kind of believe you. I think we time traveled.”
“Yeah?” Buck looks up.
“Like you said, there isn’t any other explanation.”
“I could pinch you to make sure?” There’s a smirk on Buck's lips.
“Nice try Buckley, I think I’m good.”
“Mmm, no, actually it’s Buckley-Diaz.” Buck’s smiles.
Eddie joins in on smiling as he retrieves Buck’s phone and hands it back to him.
“You remember that witch lady from that shop?” Eddie asks, looking at Buck. “I think she did this, I think she sent us to the future.”
“Before she called you over, we were talking for a little bit, about um, love. Do you remember when she called you over?”
“Yeah, she grabbed both of our hands and said something in a whisper. You think she did a spell or something that sent us to the future?”
“Or something?” Eddie replies.
“Eddie, do you think we’re stuck here? In the future?”
“I really don’t know, maybe there’s something the witch lady or the universe or something wants us to see, or do?”
“You? Talking about the universe? Okay you were right, this is all a dream.” He hears Eddie scoff at that.
“I don’t know, maybe there’s something we need to figure out or something that we need to—” They hear the sound of their front door opening. “Guess our kids are home.”
Buck smiles at that. He’s always wanted a family. He’s always wanted kids, if this is his real future, then he hopes, if and when they go back, he can have all of this eventually. He wants to remember every moment with his family.
They hear Chris talking to his sisters, then seconds later hear their feet heading towards their doors. A noise gets closer to their room. “Dads?” Chris says knocking on their door.
“Come in Chris.” Chris walks in. He looks…distraught? He paces for a couple of seconds, then ultimately decides to sit at the foot of their bed.
He sits in silence for a moment before asking. “Are you getting a divorce?” Without wasting another breath, he says. “You both promised that if you got together then you’d stay together and now you—”
“Chris, what are you talking about? We’re not getting a divorce.” Buck interrupts him. Buck looks over to ask Eddie. “We’re not, right?”
“No, that’s not even a question.” Eddie notices Buck seems slightly surprised at his answer. That wounds him.
“Right, okay, um Chris, why do you think we’re getting a divorce?”
“Well, when I first got here you both were acting weird, usually you’re like all over each other, but today you were being so awkward around each other.”
“And when I got in the car, Ale, said you,” pointing at Eddie, “called him, Buck, and usually you would say baby, or some endearment in Spanish, like amor or cariño or something.”
Buck’s heart rate picks up at the thought of Eddie calling him any of those names.
“And well, they also asked me if you were getting a divorce. I didn’t know anything about that, so I told them I didn’t know.”
Eddie feels terrible, his kids are worrying about adult problems, just like he did. He promised himself that he would be different from his parents. How is he already messing up this badly?
He wonders how they feel about him being married to a man. Do they know? Did he tell them? Are they… supportive? All great questions. All questions he’s not sure if he actually wants answered.
“They said that you guys were arguing loudly, and they didn’t know what to do.”
“Yeah, we had a little disagreement, but we’re fine, nobody is getting divorced, understand?” Eddie says, looking Chris in his eyes.
“Okay, good, um… I got to go, me and Denny have an exam coming up and we’re supposed to be studying for it.”
“Ok, we’ll see you at dinner tonight, love you.”
“Love, you.” Buck adds on.
“Love you both too, see you later.”
Chris walks out of their room and when the door shuts. “Hmm, apparently you usually can’t keep your hands off me.” Buck says playfully.
“He said, us both, don’t try and put that on just me.”
“Mhm, okay baby.”
Eddie pushes his shoulder, “Oh shut up.” Buck giggles, like actually giggles. That sound makes Eddie feel like he’s on top of the world.
“Hey, Eddie, I’m sorry about going off on you earlier, this is probably so weird for you to be married to a guy while being straight and I went and made it all about me… again.”
‘Trials and Tribulations of Evan Buckley’ flashes through Buck’s mind.
“You’re still on that, Buck, it’s okay, we’re okay. I understand how you felt at that moment. And… if I were to be married to a man then it would definitely be you.”
“Oh, definitely?” Buck has a smirk playing on his lips.
“Mhm, definitely.” Eddie says so seductively and Buck gets a little flushed.
This is flirting. Buck's straight best friend, husband, is flirting with him, and he likes it, so so much, maybe too much. This is going to be a problem.
Did…Buck trap Eddie in a marriage? How are they married? Why are they married? This doesn’t make sense. Not that Buck is complaining, but why would a straight man marry him?
“Um, I’m gonna go to the grocery, gonna get the stuff that I need for dinner. I’ll be right back.” Buck gets up and heads to the door.
“Um, okay.” And he's gone. Odd. So very odd.
Now Eddie is left alone in their bed. Just him and his thoughts. Not a good combination.
Eddie has had a lot of time to think clearly with Chris back where he belongs. He’s known that he was gay for a while. He’s known that the wants Buck for a while.
He realized that wanting to be around Buck all the time maybe wasn’t that platonic. His son already thought of him as the second father.
Eddie always feels the urge to be close to him and to touch him, even if it's just a brush of the shoulder, maybe that doesn’t mean he’s gay. But he sometimes wonders what his lips taste like, and that’s definitely not a straight thought.
“I am a…gay man, who is married to his bisexual best friend, who I am in love with.” Eddie lets out a long sigh.
When Buck gets in the jeep, he starts the engine but doesn't move.
He was just flirting with his straight male best friend. His straight male best friend flirted with him…and he flirted back.
Reluctantly he changes gears and starts driving out of their driveway. He remembers to write down their address in his notes. This is so weird. How does he not know his own address?
Buck drives and drives but he doesn’t end up at the grocery store, he’s at Maddie’s house.
When he knocks on the door Chimney answers. “Scuse me.” Buck walks past Chim and finds his sister in the kitchen.
Chimney shuts the door and follows him. “Hi dearest brother-in-law, so nice to see you, how have you been?” Chim says sarcastically. “Oh yeah sorry, hey Chim. Maddie, I need to talk to you.”
Maddie looks over at Chimney, a silent agreement. “I’m gonna go do that thing in our room with the— yeah, bye.”
As Chimney flees, Buck says, “Ew, I don’t want to hear about the things you do in your room.” Chimney rolls his eyes while walking out of the kitchen.
Maddie does respond though. “Oh, shut up, all the things that I’ve heard about you and your extracurricular activities. So, what happened, what’s wrong?”
“Um, Do you remember when you asked me if I was in love with Eddie?”
”I do. You denied it but look at you now.”
”Wh—Why did you think that?”
“Do you remember Eddie’s first day with the 118? That night after your shift, you could not stop talking about him. I kind of thought you were gonna tell me that you liked him a couple days later.”
”Anyway, after that, he and Chris were all you would talk about. I thought your crush had always been pretty adamant.”
”I—I think you were right. I think I’m in love with Eddie.”
“Well, I sure would hope so, you’re married and have three children.” Maddie states matter of factly.
“Do you think he’s in love with me too?”
“Again, you have three kids together and you’re married, I’m pretty sure he’s in love with you too.”
“I know that’s how it’s supposed to work but, I just—don’t know if he does.”
Maddie straightens in her chair, “Evan, that man has been in love with you for years. Neither one of you noticed for a while but eventually you both got there. Now, I have a nephew and two nieces, about damn time.” She smiles. “Buck, you have a beautiful family.”
“Wait, what do you mean for years?”
“Buck, the number of times you talked about Eddie when he was first starting at the 118 was insane and during our family gatherings, I would always catch him staring at you with a little too much love.”
“You two were made for each other, don’t start to get in your head about something I know and everybody else knows to be true, you both are so in love with each other, have been for years.”
“Okay, thanks Maddie, you always know what to say to help me feel better.” Buck gets up to hug his sister. The notification on his phone interrupts their moment.
Eddie. He’s asking if he’s okay because he has his location. Of course they have each other’s location.
“Sorry, Maddie, I have to go. I was supposed to be grocery shopping for dinner tonight but then I got in my head a little and came here instead.” He walks toward the front door.
Maddie gets up to walk him out. “That’s fine, and you know you can always talk to me. I love you.”
Love you too Maddie.”
After Buck gets back from the grocery store, he focuses on cooking. Buck puts on some music and calls his daughters to help him cook.
Alena and Adela come out, wash their hands and Buck puts them to work. They don’t mind though, they seem relaxed, singing along to the music while following their dad’s instructions.
Buck is trying so hard not to think about what Maddie said. ‘You both are so in love with each other, have been for years.’
There’s no way that Eddie Diaz could love him. Eddie is straight and Buck, he doesn’t deserve Eddie, there’s no way he could love him.
Buck’s phone rings, interrupting his thoughts and the music. The contact’s name ‘May Day 🩷’, appears on the screen. He answers the phone on speaker.
“Buck!” His daughters hear. “Hi, Aunt May,” His kids say simultaneously.
“Hi Ela and Ale, are you guys cooking right now?”
“Yeah May.” Buck replies.
“Please tell me he made a side of meatballs?” He hears Harry say in the background.
“I’m making meatballs too, specifically for you two, I remember how you both would scarf down all the meatballs at every get together.”
“Ok, what the hell, first, I did not scarf down the meatballs, second, thank you, I love you so much.” May says.
“Stop kissing ass, I’m already making the food.” May gasps, jokingly. “I love you too, Mayflower.”
“Ok, we’ll see you later byeee.”
“Bye bye May.”
Seconds later Eddie can hear the laughter and the music from their bedroom. He’s tempted to go out there, be a family, but he’s scared that he’ll do something wrong.
They’re married, so he and Buck need to act like they’re in love with each other, which won’t be very hard for Eddie. Given that he just realized that he’s in love with Buck.
Eddie reluctantly gets up and strolls into the kitchen. He leans on the door frame. This view is beautiful.
His husband and his daughters, spending time together, having fun, and bonding. He really wishes Chris were here right now, then it would be perfect.
Eddie decided to get out of his own head to do something that he probably would never have done in the present.
He moves behind Buck at the counter, puts his hands on Buck’s waist, and rests his chin on Buck’s shoulder.
Buck tenses for a second then melts into it. “Hey amor, how’s dinner going?” It feels like a sentence Eddie has said a million times.
“Uh, good! Really good!” Buck blurts out. He knows what Eddie’s doing. He’s pretending, for their daughters’ sake. But for Buck this feels real.
“Mmm, smells good, and what about our little sous chefs?” Eddie turns around to Alena and Adela.
“Little? We’re almost 15, dad.” Alena rolls her eyes. “Good, we’re almost done,” Adela tells her dad.
Eddie goes to sit at the island to watch his husband work around the kitchen. The domesticity is making Eddie feel like he’s been missing out on something he could’ve had for years.
The first to arrive is May, Harry and Ravi. They definitely came early for the meatballs, which warms Buck’s heart.
Now, he needs clarity on the May and Ravi situation. When did that happen? Why did that happen? Buck is feeling an odd sense of Deja vu.
Buck pulls Eddie to the side. “May and Ravi?” He sees Eddie smirk.
“What do you know, tell me.”
“Well, during the auction, May bet on Ravi and they went on a date, then he ghosted her, but I think they started talking again during your withdrawal.”
“Wait, back up, the probie ghosted my little sister, after she spent… He pauses to let Eddie fill in the gap. “$1,600.”
“Sh—she spent $1,600 dollars on the probie and he ghosted her? I’ll be right back.” Eddie grabs Buck’s wrist.
“Buck, first off he hasn’t been a probie in a while. Second, you can’t strong arm him over something that happened 4 years ago. Third, obviously they worked it out because they’ve been together this long.”
Buck calms down after a few minutes and Bobby and Athena arrive next. Buck is frozen in place. A man who he thought to be dead is standing right in front of him.
Without thinking he walks into him, wrapping his arms around him. “I love you.” Bobby hugs him back. “I love you too, kid. You okay?”
“Great actually, just needed to say that.” A little while later Maddie, Chim, Jee and Nash turn up at the same time as Hen, Karen and Mara.
A couple of more minutes later Chris and Denny come in. Everyone’s grabbing their plates and sitting around the table to eat.
Bobby talks about what he’s been doing since he retired, he’s been trying out new recipes. He makes sure to tell Buck that he’ll be sharing them with him.
Athena and May talk about May’s nursing career and how she feels like she’s found her calling.
Chim and Hen argue about whether Hen should take a chance at being captain.
During the whole dinner Eddie has his hand on Buck’s thigh. Now this, he doesn’t know if he can pass off as pretending because nobody can see it.
While Buck takes a bite of his food Eddie moves his hand up further. Buck chokes on his food reaching for his water.
“You okay Buck?” Maddie asks.
“Yeah baby, are you okay?” Eddie says smirking at Buck. He’s doing this on purpose.
“Yeah fine, went down the wrong pipe.”
Eddie tightens his grip on his thigh. “You sure you’re alright.” Eddie whispers and leans into Buck’s space.
“What are you doing to me?” Buck turns to look at Eddie. He still has that smirk on his face.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Asshole” Eddie laughs and plants a kiss on Buck’s lips. It was so quick that he thinks he might’ve imagined it.
“My children are here Edmundo, you and Buckley get a room.” Hen says jokingly, covering Mara’s eyes.
“It’s Buckley-Diaz, and I’m pretty sure we have a room just down the hall, Henrietta.” Eddie leans into Buck’s space again.
So, Buck definitely didn’t imagine the kiss.
“Please stop, I can’t cover my ears and eyes at the same time. Harry says.
The table erupts in laughter as they let another conversation flow. Thank God, Buck was literally on his deathbed for a second.
After everyone leaves for the night Buck heads to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
The house is empty except for him and Eddie. Adela and Alena decided to go over to their Aunt Maddie’s house for a sleepover. Maddie had invited them and Mara over to have a sleepover.
As he washes the dishes Eddie walks in. “Buck, you cooked the dinner, it’s only fair for me to wash the dishes.”
“I know but I really don’t mind.”
“Will you at least let me help then?”
“I guess.”
After they finish cleaning, Buck hops in the shower while Eddie tries to find something to watch on the TV.
Buck comes out their bathroom door in nothing but sweatpants that hang low on his hips.
Eddie pauses the movie, his eyes scan Buck, examining every inch of his body, until he lands on his face.
“Mmm, my eyes are definitely not down there.” Buck walks over and sits on the bed.
“Right, sorry.”
“For what, for grabbing me from behind? For calling me amor? For gripping my thigh, for calling me baby, for kissing me?
“No.” Eddie’s not making eye contact at all.
“No?”
“I’m not sorry for any of that.”
“Eddie, I know that this is just pretend for you but that’s not what it feels like to me. Every single thing that you’ve done or said today was real to me. You—I love you. I’m in love with you and this, you, You’re just playing with me.”
This makes Eddie look up. “Who said I was pretending?”
“What?”
“Buck, I—I’m in love with you too...It um, took me a while to realize but, I think I loved you since the first day I met you.”
“I was a dick to you when we first met.”
“Yeah, but I knew it wasn’t real. I kind of had a couple realizations throughout the years. One, I —I’m…” Eddie pauses and takes a deep breath. “Sorry I’ve never told anyone this before, I’m…gay, and two, I’m in love with you.”
“You’re in love with me?”
“I am in love with you Evan Buckley.”
“And you’re gay?”
”And I’m gay.”
“Oh, okay, that’s—that’s good.”
“Good?”
“Great! That’s great I—uh. Can I kiss you? Please?”
“Please do.”
Buck reaches over, pulling Eddie by his shirt until their lips connect. Buck’s hands find their way under Eddie’s shirt, while Eddie has one hand on Buck’s waist and the other in the curls on the back of Buck’s head.
Eddie’s hand moves to fiddle with Buck’s waistband, pulling it down a little.
Buck breaks the kiss. “Eddie, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” Buck whispers.
Eddie looks deep into Buck’s eyes. “I want to, I really want to.”
“Okay.”
Eddie is awoken by the sunlight shining through his curtains. He reaches to the other side of the bed. It’s cold and empty.
He looks around, he’s in his room.
Eddie reaches for his phone on the nightstand. It says 2026, the picture is him, Buck and Chris again.
Was it a dream? Eddie clicks on his phone searching for Buck’s contact. Before he can call, an incoming call from Buck appears on his screen. He answers reluctantly.
“Eddie?”
“Good morning, Buck.”
“Did you—was that—”
“It was real, Buck.”
“Okay. You—you love me?”
“I do. I love you.”
“Okay…okay.”
“Buck.”
“Yeah?”
“Come over.”
“Eddie, I'm already in the jeep.”
“Okay, don’t break any traffic laws.”
“I’ll try…I love you too by the way.”
“I know, Buck.”