You came / You called

Chris showed up knowing he was meant to be in class. Knowing that’s where everyone assumed he was. But he needed to talk to a counselor and his grandparents weren’t doing anything to get him in anywhere. They just said to talk to them. Yeah, hard pass. He already had to deal with hearing them talk shit about his dad and dead mom, he was not talking to them only for them to say he needed to forget it all and just enjoy where he was. Or pray. Because they believed prayer and religion fixed everything. So he’d gone online and scheduled his own appointment, it was actually pretty easy, and was now in the waiting room. He’d had to watch Buck make appointments enough times that he knew how to do it. Plus Denny, Harry, AND May all said to go for it.

Or.

Chris is tired of his grandparents trying to gaslight him into staying with them. He's also tired of his dad sticking to his word to let Chris decide what happens next. He wants his dad to be his dad. So he goes to therapy, loudly and repeatedly threatens to run away, calls Buck, and somehow manages to get through it all with his family more complete than it ever had been before.

Notes:

As the parent of a 14 year old boy, I felt like I could write this from Chris' perspective in a somewhat believable fashion. My son is my mini me in a lot of ways, and we share a lot, so I almost never have to guess what he's feeling. Unfortunately he is not always that way with his dad. Maybe it's because he's the oldest by 4 1/2 years, maybe it's because he was my first, I honestly don't know and do not care. I will always cherish that he comes to me for anything an everything, even if it's embarrassing (like the time he asked me how to shave even though his dad was downstairs).

Hope you enjoy it!

Work Text:

Chris showed up knowing he was meant to be in class. Knowing that’s where everyone assumed he was. But he needed to talk to a counselor and his grandparents weren’t doing anything to get him in anywhere. They just said to talk to them. Yeah, hard pass. He already had to deal with hearing them talk shit about his dad and dead mom, he was not talking to them only for them to say he needed to forget it all and just enjoy where he was. Or pray. Because they believed prayer and religion fixed everything. So he’d gone online and scheduled his own appointment, it was actually pretty easy, and was now in the waiting room. He’d had to watch Buck make appointments enough times that he knew how to do it. Plus Denny, Harry, AND May all said to go for it.

“Christopher Diaz?”

“Here.” Chris said, getting to his feet.

“How are you today, Christopher?” The woman asked kindly as Chris approached and led him into her office.

“That depends.” Chris said with a sigh as he sat in the chair opposite the docs.

“Oh? Want to elaborate?”

“No one actually knows I scheduled this appointment.” Chris admitted. “I know dad’s insurance information because I have a copy but he’s in LA and my grandparents refused to set me up with anything even though I said I needed it.”

“I’m sorry to hear you were having trouble.”

“I’m having a lot of trouble and I’m hoping you can help me figure out how to get through it.” Chris agreed. “Ok. So my story is kinda long, but I’d like to get through a lot of it before you call whoever you need to call.”

“Alright. Start where you’re comfortable starting.” She nodded encouragingly.

“So my dad can be an idiot sometimes, but all parents are. We moved to LA when I was six, I turned seven while he was going through the fire academy. We’d just been the two of us for about two and a half years at that point. When dad got back from the Army, mom left. So we stayed here in El Paso so my grandparents could help my dad take care of me before he decided to move us. Which was great. I loved LA. I still love LA. Dad got a job with a firehouse, the 118. And they became this whole, big, extended family. Dad had a partner there. Buck. I’ve known Buck for half my life at this point. Maybe four months after I met Buck, dad brought mom back into our lives. I didn’t even know she was in LA. She was back, though, and we got about four months with her before she died in a car-meets-pedestrian accident. She was the pedestrian.”

“I’m so sorry you went through that.”

“It was half my life ago.” Chris shrugged. “The thing about that is that I dealt with mom’s death. Do things still creep up on me sometimes? Remind me of her? Sure. But dad never did. He never dealt with her dying, he never got the chance to. During her funeral my grandparents, dad’s parents, spent the entire time trying to convince him to leave LA or let them take me. So this summer, dad had a sort of breakdown. Some woman showed up at our house, looking exactly like my dead mom. Like my dad’s dead wife. I called my grandparents because I was mad that dad got caught in whatever it was somehow. That he held in all his grief for so long and I thought coming down here to visit my grandparents, to give him some space, would help. I couldn’t talk to dad about it because seeing that woman sent me right back into my own grief for a little while. When I asked to come see a therapist, my grandparents actively kept me from it. They said I just needed church or that I could talk to them. Only they never talk nicely about my mom. They never liked her and that’s whatever. She was my mom, and I loved her. I tried talking to my dad a few times, but the signal at the house here sucks, so the calls were spotty and the video calls were almost worse because the screen would freeze so much. Dad looks awful. He looks tired and stressed and just … he looks sad. Even if Buck was there with him, hovering in the background, he still looked sad. And I know it’s because I’m not there and we can’t talk.”

“Why do you think you can’t talk to him?”

“My grandparents.” Chris said certainly. He pulled his phone out and set it on the table. “They got me this new phone trying to basically bribe me into wanting to stay. Except they blocked a lot of things on it, including limiting how often certain people are allowed to reach me. Buck wouldn’t stop texting me. He wouldn’t. He’s basically my other dad, and I can’t talk to him. They go into my phone every night and block everyone that isn’t here in El Paso. I'm not getting his messages because I know he would never stop sending them. I wanted to go home when summer was over, but they enrolled me in school and since I’m only 14 I can’t exactly just say no. I’m at the point where I’m ready to demand they allow me to go visit my dad and just stay with him, refusing to come back, or I’m running away. This is not my home, they are not my parents no matter what they tell the school. I want my dad, I want Buck. I want my family again.”

“This is a lot to take in.” She said with a curious look on her face. “How about we try something, ok?”

“Like what?” Chris asked tiredly. He said everything he wanted, he just needed to get an objective person on his side.

“Pull up your dad or Buck’s numbers and we will call them from my office. We will talk to them and get you some answers. And if that doesn’t work, we will look at what else is possible. Your grandparents are family and the police won’t see it as a kidnapping even though I know you already went there in your head.”

“It IS a kidnapping, because I want to go home and they are keeping me from being able to go.” Chris argued before taking a breath and letting it go. “But yes, please call Buck.”

“Ok.” She nodded. Chris opened his contacts and angled his phone so she could see the number and dialed it on speaker on her phone. It rang a few times before there was a very confused answer.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Buck?” The doc asked.

“Evan Buckley.” Chris whispered.

“Evan Buckley?” She nodded.

“Ye- yes.” Buck stuttered. “Can I ask who’s calling and how you got this number?”

“My name is Doctor Amira Garcia, I’m a family and relationship counselor in El Paso and I have someone here who wants to speak with you.” She held the phone toward Chris.

“Hey Buck.” Chris said, smiling as he heard Buck drop something.

“Chris?” Buck sounded out of breath. “Oh my- oh fu- uh, I mean, hey. Hi. Ho- how are you?”

“Better than you since you forgot how words work.” Chris chuckled. Buck barked out a laugh and Chris could imagine his face all squished up as he tried not to be too loud.

“I kinda did, didn’t I? I miss you like crazy, kid. What do you need from me? I know you’re calling with something in mind, so lay it on me.” Buck stated.

“I need you and dad to come get me or I’m running away.” Chris said plainly. “I’ve been trying to call and text for months, but my grandparents keep blocking you when I’m not paying attention so the messages never go anywhere. I want to come home and I’m tired of waiting for dad to get his head out of his ass to realize it.”

“What the fuck?” Buck said irritatedly. “Shit- sorry. Sorry. Um. Don’t dime me out for swearing, I think the situation calls for it. Ok. Ok. Um. Give me, like, two seconds,” Buck must have put the phone against his shirt or something because it was kind of muffled, “Cap, you got a sec?”

“Sure.” Chris heard Bobby’s voice and could imagine he was confused because Buck probably herded him into his office.

“Can you go without me and Eddie for the next 72 hours? I know it’s late notice, I get that, but something came up.” Buck said certainly.

“Gonna need a reason why I’m calling in relief for two shifts for two firefighters last minute.” Bobby stated.

“Family emergency.” Buck answered. “Literally a family emergency. Chris called me, he wants us to come get him. I know Eddie’s at an appointment right now, but as soon as he gets back, and as soon as you give me the green light, I’m taking us to pack and hitting the road.”

“I’ll handle it.” Bobby said certainly. “Go get your kid, and bring him over for dinner as soon as you’re home. If you don’t, we’ll show up at your place, don’t think we won’t.”

“Yeah, of course. Thanks, Pops.” Buck said, and it sounded like they were hugging before a door was opening and Chris could hear Buck practically running down stairs.

“What’s going-”

“Get your things, we’ve gotta hit the road.” Buck cut off Chris’ dad.

“Hit the road? What’s going on?”

“Um-”

“Put me on speaker, Buck.” Chris called out.

“Alright,” Buck said, “you’re on speaker. Wanna say what you said to me?”

“You’re coming to get me or I’m running away.” Chris restated.

“Chris?” His dad whispered his name.

“I gave you all summer- you were supposed to be through all this by now and I was supposed to be home. But I’m still in Texas and I’m being monitored by grandma and abuelo more than I’ve been monitored in years. If you can’t get here, I’m serious about running away. I don’t want to be here anymore, dad.”

“We’re coming.” Dad said decisively. “We’re on our way, do NOT run away. I wish you’d have told me sooner, you know I’d have picked you up after a week if that’s what you wanted.”

“Except my grandparents,” (Chris called them that because they hadn’t been acting like his dad’s parents in a long time, if ever), “have been purposely keeping you blocked out of my life as much as they can. I thought they could be helpful, but they’re just making me more and more angry. I’d rather be angry with you, where we can work past it because at least you still treat me like a teenager and not an invalid.”

“You know how I feel about that word, Christopher.” Dad said irritatedly. “You’re not an invalid. If they’ve said anything like that to you-”

“Ok!” Buck said, definitely stealing the phone back and probably taking it off speaker before dad could swear in Spanish or English or both. “Ok, we’re in the jeep and we are going to pack our bags, but you are going to have to go back to the house, bud. You can’t stay overnight with the therapist you somehow got to call me. If you aren’t comfortable going back to them, go to Isabel’s. She still calls me once a week, so if your phone is blocked, use hers to call me.”

“You’re-” Chris swallowed and blinked rapidly. It was stupid that he was getting emotional. It’s what he wanted, what he’d been waiting for. “You’re really gonna come?”

“If the jeep could move through time and space we’d be there in a heartbeat, baby.” Buck assured him. “I love you, your dad loves you, we’re coming to get you. Twelve hours, ok? Twelve hours, maybe 14 if we hit traffic anywhere, but we’ll be there. Pack what you want to pack if you go back to your grandparents house. You’re not gonna like it, but we’re going to have to tell the police before we get there so they don’t try to say we’re kidnapping you.”

“They kidnapped me first!” Chris exclaimed irritatedly.

“Breathe, sweetheart. Take a deep breath in and let it go slowly. Just like we’ve practiced.” Buck said gently and Chris nodded and took a breath. “Good job. We have to call ahead of time to try to prevent it from being an issue, ok? Just a precaution. We’ll talk to Athena so LAPD is covered, and she will let law enforcement along the route know what we’re doing. You’ve only been down there five months, and they don’t have any legal documentation from your dad saying he wanted them taking care of you for any length of time beyond the summer we all anticipated. I need you to think about something else though, ok?”

“What?” Chris asked worriedly.

“How much of your appointment did you use on this phone call or before?” Buck asked.

“He booked an hour slot.” The doc said. “He’s still got plenty of time.”

“Ok, good. You need to talk about what you think you’ll be feeling when you see us again and talk through how you can handle all the different emotions. Because I know you’re going to be happy we’re there. But you’re also going to remember the anger and hurt and sadness that led to us being separated to begin with. I’m gonna talk through different scenarios and coping mechanisms with your dad while we drive, but while you have the doc there, talk it all out. It’s gonna take us all a while to work through this, so we’ll sign up for family counseling once you’re home. Probably do weekly appointments for a while until we get to a better place.”

“I’ll give Christopher some recommendations of people I know in LA so he can give them to you.” The doc agreed.

“Saving me from spiral researching. Much appreciated.” Buck chuckled. “Chris?”

“I love you, Buck. Get here fast, but get here safe.” Chris sniffled.

“Love you too. Be as good as you can and we’ll see you soon.” Buck ended the call and Chris leaned back against the chair he was in.

“You’ve got a very smart bonus dad.” The doc said with a smile.

“Yeah, he’s the best.” Chris agreed, unable not to smile about Buck being thought of as one of his dads. He’d thought of him that way for years already.

Chris knew he’d have to talk through his different emotional reactions. And he wanted to. Saying it all out loud felt amazing. It felt like a weight was partially lifted off of him. Having the doc either validate or talk him through different things was just … it was awesome. It was exactly what he needed and had been trying to get for months. She also briefly discussed ways to deal with his grandparents, because he would have to do that. He’d have to have a conversation with them and either hope they understood or just listened (which he didn’t anticipate), or he’d be hiding away from them for the next 12 to 14 hours until Buck and his dad could get there. He made sure the doc had both Buck and his dad’s numbers, because she wanted to call them later to go over a few things, before he was done and catching a ride back to the school.

Classes felt a lot easier to get through, actually. He was able to relax and just focus on the source material for the first time since he’d been forced to start there. He stopped after each class and told the teachers that he would be going back to LA soon, but if they had anything they knew could sort of help him stay on course until his transfer was worked, he’d appreciate copies. He had a nice stack of extra help, not just extra work, as each of them wished him luck back in the big city. Granted, there were a few teachers that definitely looked at him like they didn’t believe him. The front office staff was that way, too. Whatever. His dad or Buck could deal with them while reading them the riot act for enrolling him without parental consent.

He didn’t go to chess practice because he was not interested in chess, never had been. So it wasn’t really a surprise that he got home and no one was there. It gave him time to pack up what he wanted discreetly, though. Once he was done and heard the front door open and frantic conversations, he knew it was time to have a word with his grandparents. So he left his room and found them having a hushed argument that stopped as soon as they saw him.

“Christopher! What are you doing here, we’ve been so worried!” Grandma said as she rushed over to him.

“We need to talk.” Chris stated, walking toward the dining table. It wasn’t going to be a comfortable conversation, so sitting in comfortable chairs in the living room didn’t make sense.

“You need to answer where you’ve been.” Abuelo said sternly. “We waited for you to come out of chess only to find out you weren’t even there!”

“So are you going to sit so I can tell you or are you going to stand and yell at me some more?” Chris asked stubbornly.

“Fine. Fine,” Grandma gave abuelo a look and they both sat down, “we’re sitting. Now explain why you weren’t where you were supposed to be when you were supposed to be there or you’re grounded.”

“I’m SUPPOSED to be in LA.” Chris said firmly. “I don’t like chess, which I’ve told you. I’m not against playing here at the house, and just because I’m good at it doesn’t mean that’s what I want to focus on.”

“You have a phone, why didn’t you call?” Grandma asked irritatedly.

“No reason, really.” Chris shrugged. “I went to a therapy appointment this morning-”

“What? When?!” They both shouted.

“We did not approve of you being absent from school.” Abuelo stated. “This is very irresponsible of you, mijo.”

“I’m not your son!” Chris exclaimed. “I’m not your son but you both have been acting like I am since I got here. I was only supposed to be here for the summer, but neither of you would listen to me or talk to my dad. You know, the man who is actually your son?”

“Do not get an attitude Christopher Diaz.” Grandma said firmly. “You are here because he was irresponsible. You are not him, you are not making the same mistakes he did.”

“So I’m a mistake?” Chris asked.

“That is not what I said and you know it.” She argued.

“Dad has made mistakes, I won’t say he hasn’t. But so have I. So have you. Pretending otherwise is negating our human experiences.” Chris said certainly. “I went to therapy this morning, paid for with dad’s insurance since I have his information, booked online because neither of you would listen to me when I said I needed to go. I’ve been in therapy for years in LA, so I know what I’m talking about. I didn’t want to talk to either of you because all you’ve done since I’ve gotten here is bad mouth my mom and dad.”

“Your mother left you, sweetheart. She abandoned her family.” Grandma said unhappily. “You need to stop idolizing her.”

“It’s not idolization.” Chris argued. “My mother was not the same person with me as she was with you. Or did Abuelita treat you the same way you treated my mom? Did she bad mouth you and tell you everything you were doing wrong at every opportunity? She didn’t.” Chris said firmly before his grandparents could argue or defend themselves. “You’re not just talking bad about my mom, though. You’re talking bad about my dad. You know? Your SON? My dad has issues, sure, but we always work through them together. You have been cutting him out of my life without my input and I’m angry about it. How would you feel if dad had been doing that to you with me in LA?”

“You are clearly not thinking if you are going to sit here and accuse us of being bad parents.” Grandma stated, standing up. “Go to your room, we’ll talk when you’ve calmed down.”

“It’s only my room for another few hours.” Chris stood up. “I’m going home. If you stop me or try to, I’ll tell anyone who will listen that you kidnapped me and are keeping me against my will.”

“Room. Now.” Abuelo said firmly, pointing down the hall.

Chris headed toward his room, but only opened and closed the door to make them think he’d gone inside. Instead, he snuck out the back with his backpack and started walking to Abuelita’s house. It was only a block away, even if he hadn’t been over since he’d been in El Paso. He smiled when she opened her front door, arms spread wide for a hug as he stepped on her porch. She didn’t ask him anything, just ushered him inside and sat him down in the kitchen to feed him.

They called dad and Buck and found out they were still a ways away. They would be getting in really early in the morning because they were just going to take shifts driving. Which meant they’d probably end up sleeping at Abuelita’s for a few hours before Chris got out of school and they could start the trip back. His dad had to answer his phone and let them talk to Buck for a bit because apparently Chris’ grandparents were calling him in a panic that Chris wasn’t there. Dad told them where he was, though, and Chris snickered when he told them they were welcome to come tell Abuelita that Christopher was in trouble and had to come back to their house but dad refused to. He even said they sure had decent signal to call him when they apparently didn’t the majority of the time Chris had been staying with them. Buck laughed so loud that Chris and Abuelita were laughing.

Chris was able to stay the night, getting time to calm down and just be away from his grandparents for the first time in months. He’d felt so smothered by them the whole time he was with them that the break for even a night felt like a vacation. He didn’t even go back into his grandparents’ house before school, he just texted his dad and Buck before getting a ride with the neighbor kid, Alejandro.

Except when he got to school his dad and Buck were already there and in the front office, picking up his transcripts and giving disappointed looks and talks with the staff for accepting his enrollment without parental verification (just a guess since he couldn’t actually see what they were doing or hear them) since his birth certificate clearly stated Edmundo Diaz as his father and Shannon Diaz as his mother. Buck turned first and saw him, his face doing this whole complicated emotional thing that Chris didn’t want to think about.

“Buck!” Chris shouted, hurrying toward him.

“Chris.” Buck said and caught him as Chris threw his arms around him.

“You came.” Chris whispered, still a little in shock that they actually came. That his parents actually came for him.

“You called.” Buck said a little sniffly. “Of course we came. Sorry I couldn’t talk your dad around sooner.”

“What matters is we’re here.” Dad said, wrapping his arms around both Chris and Buck. He kissed Chris’ head, which would normally be embarrassing, but Chris honestly didn’t care at the moment. “What do you say we head over and pick up your stuff from your grandparents’ house? Or you can stay for class and Buck and I can get whatever you packed before going to crash at Abuela’s until you’re out of school?”

“I’d rather go, but I know you both need to sleep at some point.” Chris mumbled against Buck’s shoulder.

“Your dad slept most of the way here, so we could head out and stop in Phoenix for the night.” Buck stated. “Your choice, bud.”

“Then let’s get out of here.” Chris said certainly, finally backing up a bit. “I want to go home already.”

“Got all your records and the teachers all left notes about the work they gave you to do while getting re-enrolled in LA.” Dad cleared his throat meaning he was trying not to cry or get emotional.

“And Buck can help me fix my phone so I can call or text the others to let them know I’ll be home soon.” Chris nodded. “Tell me the jeep doesn’t smell like stale ass?”

“I have good air fresheners.” Buck chuckled. “But I should air it out when we get home. We hadn’t done anything, not really, when we got in and headed this way. Your dad also made me take my gym bag out so it wasn’t taking up space and so that there wasn’t a random sock stinking up the back.”

“Your socks are always the worst.” Dad stated, smirking at Buck. Buck only rolled his eyes. “Ok, let’s head over and get your things and then Buck can help you fix your phone while I have a long overdue conversation with my parents.”

“Eds-”

“Buck.” Dad shared a weirdly significant look with Buck. “I need to do this. You can’t protect me from it. Just like I can’t protect you from your parents or how they make you feel. Same thing. And you did a good job preparing me for anything. While I was awake, anyway.”

“I don’t have to like it.” Buck grumbled, making dad laugh and shake his head.

Chris climbed in the back of the jeep and felt another step closer to losing the weight he was carrying. Hearing his dad and Buck bicker as dad directed Buck around was … awesome. It was awesome and Chris only kind of pitched in to throw Buck off once or twice. Dad would sigh and give him a look, but he was smiling, so Chris obviously wasn’t going to take him seriously. He also noticed that dad had shaved his mustache. He looked younger again, not like he belonged to a 70s rock band or was trying to be Freddie Mercury’s stunt double or something.

When they pulled up to the house, they all paused to take a breath. Buck put his hand on the consul and dad put his hand on Buck’s so Chris added his. Reminding each other they were there, that they were a family, that they could do this together. As a team. Buck and dad’s fingers squeezed Chris’ and then they got out to go inside the house.

“What’s going on here?” Grandma asked before focusing on Chris. “You’re supposed to be in school, Christopher.”

“I told you I was going home.” Chris shook his head. “Dad and Buck signed me out of school and already got my records to enroll me at home.”

“Christopher, go to your room. Your father and grandfather and I need to have a conversation.” Grandma said firmly.

“Let’s go get your stuff, kiddo.” Buck said gently.

“You are not coming in our house.” Grandma argued.

“Then neither am I.” Chris said irritatedly. “I’m not getting my stuff if Buck and dad aren’t coming. I’ll just leave it here and they’ll replace what I need when we get home.”

“Let’s all calm down.” Abuelo stated, putting a hand on grandma’s arm. “What exactly is going on right now? What are you wanting to do, Eddie?”

“Right now we are going to have a conversation while Buck helps Chris get his things. And then we’re leaving.” Dad said certainly. “That’s not up for debate, either. So. We can all come inside and get this taken care of, or we can leave and Buck and I will replace whatever Christopher needs that you are not allowing him to retrieve.”

“You and Christopher are always welcome in our home. That man is not.” Grandma said irritatedly. Chris watched her for a second before dad sighed and, together, they turned and headed back to the jeep, herding Buck who looked like he wanted to argue or say something else. “Stop! Where are you going?”

“I already answered that.” Dad said without turning around. “I’ll let you know when we get back to LA and when Chris and I are ready to have a conversation.”

“All because we don’t want a random stranger in our house for a family discussion?” Abeulo asked. Dad actually stopped and looked back at them, confusion clear on his face.

“What are you talking about? I have been talking about Evan Buckley since I met him, over seven years ago. He has been mentioned at least once in every conversation we’ve had for the past seven years. He is mine and Christopher’s family. He knows more about me and Christopher than either of you do. So if you are calling him a stranger, you are calling our family strangers. I can accept that you don’t want to have a discussion with him nearby. Fine. That’s your choice and we will accept that boundary. But we will not let you tell Buck he is not our family. Thank you for looking out for Christopher.” Dad said politely before turning and opening the driver side door to push Buck inside.

“Bye!” Chris called over his shoulder before climbing in the back seat. Dad finally got in, but Buck just looked at him.

“You came to have a conversation with them.” Buck said, not starting the jeep.

“And I will.” Dad nodded, looking completely unbothered. “But apparently not today. They’re both retired, they know where I live. They can absolutely come visit or call any time. Seriously, Buck, it’s not a big deal. Chris wants to go home, so let’s get him home.”

“Alright.” Buck sighed and wobbled his head a bit before starting the jeep and pulling out of the drive. Dad winked back at him before facing forward and waited. Chris smirked. He knew Buck wouldn’t be able to hold his tongue for long.

“Thank you.” Buck said quietly.

“For what?” Chris and dad both asked. Because that wasn’t what either of them expected him to say when he broke the silence.

“You called me family.” Buck shrugged, taking them through town. “I just … I’ve never had anyone stick by me like that.”

“Do not get emotional again Buck.” Dad whined. Buck chuckled, sounding close to crying.

“I can’t help it, shut up.” Buck shoved dad’s shoulder playfully. “It’s the first time we’ve been together in months, and you called me family. I’m going to express my emotions, which you know full well at this point.”

“Kinda sucks I can’t get the stuff I actually packed.” Chris admitted. “Not that there was much, but I would have liked my clothes that Abuelita gave me.”

“We’ll have to stop on the way and get a bunch of crap.” Dad sighed. “Let’s at least get out of Texas before that, though. Maybe just get it all in Phoenix.”

“At least I have my backpack.” Chris agreed. “Oh, here.” He opened his bag and dug out the therapist recommendations he had and passed them up to his dad.

“So doc Garcia called again when you went back to school.” Dad admitted.

“I honestly expected she’d have to call you and maybe the cops.” Chris snorted.

“She called the police, had a long conversation with them and us.” Dad agreed. “So long as we actually got you picked up she wasn’t going to call family services on your grandparents. She had a lot of concerns about your mental health and the environment you were in.”

“Same. That’s why I set the appointment.” Chris rolled his eyes.

“This is serious, Christopher.” Dad said, turning a bit to look at him. “She was ready to call the LA offices and set up home visits once you were home just to make sure you were actually getting help. If we don’t stick to the plan we make, to the therapy and everything, there’s every chance they will come and tell us that we can’t be together. You’ll end up in foster care or some place that will keep us away from each other.”

“That won’t happen because we’re ALL going to take this seriously.” Chris pointedly looked at Buck. Dad looked confused and looked between him and Buck for a bit, but when Buck realized they were looking at him, he took his eyes off the road for a second and looked at each of them.

“What?” Buck asked. Like a dummy. Because he couldn’t be that obtuse. “Why are you looking at me? I already agreed that family therapy was a good idea and talked-”

“You’re coming.” Chris cut in, leaning back comfortably in his seat once he got his switch out. “Dad and I are doing it, obviously, but you’re my other dad. You’ve been a huge part of my life for half of it. Just accept it.”

“Wait, what?” Buck’s voice cracked.

“What part of us telling you you’re our family are you not getting, bruh?” Chris snorted.

“Fuck you.” Buck grumbled, grunting when dad punched his arm. Chris couldn’t help laughing, though. He knew it’d get a reaction by calling him that. “Fine, I’ll go. You ever call me ‘bruh’ again and I’m ruining every meal for us for a month.”

“Had to do it. You weren’t listening to what we were actually saying.” Chris shrugged. “I do feel better, though. After talking with the doc, I mean. Like, I actually felt like a weight was lifted a little. I was able to talk about mom, about how you never dealt with her death, how we pretty much avoided any real conversations about her when it came to you epically failing at dating because you had too many people telling you you had to move on.”

“I was doing that for you.” Dad admitted, sounding slightly ashamed.

“Um, I’m gonna stop for gas.” Buck cut in. “I’m also going to run into the gas station for an unspecified amount of time and take my phone in case you’re still talking.”

“Even if we’ll tell you at some point?” Dad arched an eyebrow at him.

“Even so.” Buck nodded. “You both need to talk and you need time without me around since we’ll be stuck in a car together for the next day. Take a couple minutes and text me your snack requests.”

“You already know what we want.” Chris argued. “But fine.” As soon as Buck pulled off to a gas station, he shared another one of his and dad’s weirdly intimate and prolonged eye contact looks, before getting out. “Ok, now. Explain what you meant about dating for me. Because that doesn’t make a lick of sense.”

“The more time that passed, the more people worried about me. About us. It always came down to not letting things pass me by, to not missing out, to just … not being alone. Tia Pepa was setting me up on dates because she said it made her sad to see me alone. To see both of us without a companion or secondary parent.”

“So you dated because someone said I needed a new mom?” Chris asked incredulously.

“That … that was part of it. I don’t feel alone, though. I haven’t for years. I don’t like dating, I don’t like performing, showing the responsible and strong man that I can be, constantly. I’ve missed our family dinners and movie nights. I’ve missed just the three of us spending time together. But with so many outside opinions I didn’t know what to do other than just accept it. To go out and find someone that might fit in with us.”

“But you never did that.” Chris argued.

“I tried, but it never really worked.” Dad frowned.

“No, I mean, dad, you never tried to find anyone to FIT IN with us. You took our normal family time and turned it into date nights. You took movie nights and had Buck come babysit me instead of the three of us and whoever you were pushed at spending time with getting to know each other. You have never introduced anyone you were dating to Buck. And in the spirit of complete honesty, it’s really confusing. Why did you give me another dad if you were just going to replace him with some rando?”

“I’m not replacing Buck.” Dad argued, but he clamped his mouth shut.

“So what’s wrong with keeping our family as it is?” Chris demanded. “What’s so wrong with three guys making a family? Why are you so afraid of it?”

“Because I can’t!” Dad exclaimed, covering his face and taking a breath before running his hands through his hair. “I can’t, Chris. I’m not like Buck. I can’t just suddenly accept dating a guy and just jump into things.”

“I’m not saying that, you’re not listening.” Chris said irritatedly. “I don’t care if you’re gay or straight, if you’re bi or demi or whatever! But you need to look at why our family is complete already and why the hell you’re trying to fit an extra person in that isn’t another kid. You never say anything about Hen and Karen’s relationship, and it’s just them, Denny, and Mara. You think they never had doubts? Karen didn’t even know she was a lesbian until she was in college. She kissed a girl, just like Buck kissed a guy, and they realized they were looking for the wrong things. You’re not actually looking for anything, so why try fitting in a random piece that we don’t need?”

“You don’t want another person? Maybe someone who could-”

“No.” Chris said firmly. “You really suck with women, dad.”

“Thanks.” Dad said defeatedly.

“Look, I know I’m pretty terrible at dating too.” Chris said more kindly. “Mom left us a long while ago and it affected both of our outlooks on women. She was gone before I could really remember her properly. Even now most of my memories of her are after she found us in LA again. Everything from when we actually lived in El Paso is hazy.”

“It is?” Dad asked sadly.

“I was barely five when she left, if that.” Chris snorted. “I remember bits and pieces, when she sang to me, but she was always passing me off to you back then, too. Because she said we needed to get used to each other. Which we did, but it also cut into the time mom and I got to spend together, time to hang out, not just her taking care of me. I’m sure I wasn’t an easy kid, and I’m really sure grandma and abuelo made it a hundred times worse. You need to be able to accept that I already had a mom. I had one. Ok? And you know what? Denny’s never had a dad. He’s always only had two moms until he figured out who his dad was because it was in stuff his moms had hidden away. Not because they didn’t want him to know but because they wanted to wait until he was older to talk to him about it. I’m glad you didn’t start trying to date until I was old enough to understand it. Even if I reacted really poorly.”

“Except … except you went to Buck. When you were freaking out, you ran to him.” Dad said quietly.

“He’s a good guy, dad. You know that. Otherwise you wouldn’t have made him my other dad.”

“That wasn’t exactly what I did.” Dad said uncertainly. “But I guess that’s how you probably saw it; how I treat it.”

“What other way could legally binding Buck to us be taken?” Chris asked in confusion. “You made him my dad if you didn’t make it home some day. Ergo, bonus dad.”

“Usually doing what I did is perceived as more assigning a godfather or godmother.” Dad said, though he sounded unsure. “But that feels weird to say. He’s … he’s your other dad.”

“Safe to come back?” Buck asked cautiously as he opened the door.

“Yeah, get in.” Dad smiled at him. Buck let out a breath of relief and climbed in. He handed dad a drink and set his own down before passing a bag to Chris and tossing one in dad’s lap.

“Can I set my podcast up again?” Buck asked hopefully.

“You better.” Dad chuckled. “I’m weirdly, reluctantly, and annoyingly invested.”

“Awesome.” Buck cheered to himself before hooking his phone up and turning it on. Almost as soon as it was playing and they were on the road, his phone rang. Buck groaned and glanced at dad for a second. He looked nervous. Chris made sure his headphones weren’t on so he could hear it. “Hey, Athena.”

“Buckeroo.” Athena’s voice sounded exasperated. “Boy, every time I think you can’t surprise me, you do.”

“I did call and warn you in advance at least.” Buck offered tentatively.

“You did perfectly, baby. I’m real proud of you for making those calls.” Buck flushed and shoved dad when he chuckled and smirked at him. “The school confirmed several things, namely that they accepted Helena and Ramon’s word that Christopher was allowed to be enrolled there. They’re gonna be very busy over the next few days while they verify with the school board that every kid in attendance actually has a legal parent or guardian signature for their enrollment. The local police had already been informed of what was happening so when the Diazes called them there wasn’t anything they could do since they didn’t have any affidavits, notarized statements, or custody agreements with Eddie. You did really well, but you better be home soon. Your Pops is going a bit crazy with you not in the city where he can keep you out of trouble himself.”

“We’re stopping in Phoenix here in a few hours. Gonna have to swing into Target or Walmart or something to get Chris a bunch of stuff since they refused to let us in the house to get his things.” Buck said.

“They what?” Athena asked, sounding irritated.

“Technically they refused to let Buck in.” Dad cut in. “But refusing him meant they were refusing our family. I wasn’t going to go in and let my parents divide themselves between me and Chris and somehow cause more issues.”

“Which would lead to Buck barging in and having to answer questions from local police because your parents would undoubtedly file some sort of charges. Disturbing the peace, trespassing on private property, pretty much anything. How’s your boy doin’?”

“I’m good.” Chris called out. “Ready to be away from Texas.”

“Can’t say I blame you.” Athena chuckled. “Ok, Buckley Diaz boys, drive safe and I better get an update when you stop in Phoenix and Buckeroo finally crashes out.”

“I’m switching with Eddie in about an hour.” Buck snorted. “We’ll text you in a while. Tell Pops to relax. Or don’t and I’ll text him later.”

“Bye boys.”

“Bye.” Buck ended the call.

“I’ll call her once you’re asleep and fill her in on everything that happened.” Dad said with a sigh. “Which will definitely end in a massive group call so that all our friends and family are informed.”

“Let’s not talk about me taking a nap right now or it’ll make me tired already.” Buck argued, yawning as he shook his head.

“You let me sleep most of the way here, I can drive if I need to.” Dad offered.

“You only slept half of the way because you were too anxious to sleep while we were getting out of LA and even worse once we crossed into Texas.” Buck gave dad an unimpressed look.

“Buck’s the better driver in traffic because he’s driven so many places, dad. You always get too angry. Your road rage is impressive, don’t get me wrong, but it just affects you, not other drivers.” Chris stated certainly. “I’m putting my headphones on so I can play a few games.”

“Need internet?” Dad asked, waving his phone.

“Absolutely.” Chris agreed, already navigating to his settings to connect as soon as his dad’s hotspot showed up.

Playing his games was honestly just a distraction. He just wanted to let his mind rest a bit from everything that had happened. Everything that he caused. He was glad he caused it, though. He needed his family again, and dad was too miserable and stuck in self pity to do anything about it. Buck couldn’t actually do anything about it, though. Not legally, and not on his own. Actually, that gave him an idea. He started searching about how step parent adoptions worked. No, his dad and Buck weren’t married, but Buck had been with them for most of a decade already. He didn’t even realize they’d pulled into Phoenix when he noticed the car was stopped and Buck was tapping his knee to get his attention.

They got checked into a hotel and Buck flopped on the bed and pretty much passed out right away. Dad was watching him with a smile that Chris probably shouldn’t have witnessed. It was all gooey and sappy. Dad just chuckled when he shifted the blankets and actually, literally, tucked Buck into bed. They left Buck asleep and headed for a store to get some necessities. Chris didn’t want to get too much because he didn’t want his dad spending money they didn’t have, but when he tried to say no to something his dad just pulled his phone out and showed him the money app showing that pretty much the entire 118 had sent them a little something to get him what he couldn’t take with him. It was enough to make him feel warm all over and maybe a little emotional. They called everyone while they were sitting in the parking lot of the hotel after getting what he needed.

“Hey guys, is it too early to ask how you’re feeling about everything?” Hen asked kindly.

“No.” Chris snorted while his dad chuckled. The phone was in the phone holder and set so the video showed both of them. “We know it’s weird and probably confusing. So ask or say whatever you want. Also, thanks for helping me get some new clothes.”

“Don’t even worry about it, kid.” Bobby said with a smile. “You’re family. Family looks out for each other.”

“Why Buck?” Chimney asked, frowning when Maddie smacked his arm. “What? It’s a legitimate question. He didn’t know his dad was at an appointment, but he still just called your brother.”

“I had that same question.” Hen agreed, her hand up like she was in school or something. “After you guys left, Eddie, we couldn’t really come up with a good reason. I mean, we know that Buck used to babysit once in a while, and you guys are obviously friends, but we couldn’t figure out why Chris would call your best friend over you.”

“He’s MY best friend.” Chris cut in. “He’s dad’s codependent situationship.”

“Christopher.” Dad said disappointedly, but everyone else was laughing or trying not to.

“He is.” Chris shrugged. “I called Buck because he hasn’t been just a babysitter for me. Ever. He was never that. Before everything got so messed up we had dinner together like three times a week, at the least; he helped with my homework or we bickered before dad interrupted and actually made me work on it while Buck cooked. We play board games, we play video games, go to the zoo, the arcade; basically everything a step parent does with their kids, Buck does with me. He’s my bonus dad, not a coworker or weird friend. You guys just never get to see all of our domestic moments.”

“You make it sound like we’re in a relationship and have been without knowing it for years.” Dad said with a frown.

“You are.” Chris and pretty much everyone on the call said at the same time. Dad gave the phone a disappointed look.

“So why did each and every one of you pressure me to date?” Dad asked in annoyance. “Why did you all tell me I needed to move on, that I needed to find my person? Huh? Not a single one of you have ever accepted that I was happy and content with Chris and Buck.”

“Excuse you, not all of us have done that.” Maddie cut in. “I told Buck multiple times that I thought what he had with both of you was great and that I was happy he had a family. But you are both generally idiots when it comes to talking, let alone about feelings, with each other. You’ve gotten better, you have. But also maybe never take dating advice from people who have been in long term relationships. Relationships that are either the same length of time you’ve lived in LA or longer.”

“Good advice.” Chris agreed. “Buck just doesn’t know how to accept being happy. So he’d never say anything. You do realize that every time you started dating he did, right?” Chris was looking at his dad and watching him frown thoughtfully. “You took away our time together because you let people who aren’t in our bubble tell you you needed something else. It’s like I said earlier. Our family is already complete as it is. Both you and Buck just don’t show anyone else that we’re good how we are. That you both have a companion. He’s my other dad. I don’t need anyone else.”

“Amen to that.” Maddie said with a proud smile on her face.

“How’s the rest of the trip looking?” Bobby asked, changing the subject.

“Buck’s sleeping right now, though he’s gonna be up soon so we can feed him before we’re all going to bed.” Dad cleared his throat. “He let me sleep most of the drive out here and we stopped a few times for fuel and just to get out of the car for a bit.”

“Tell me what happened when you went to get Christopher’s things.” Athena cut in.

“Dad asked what our plan was, so I told him that me, him, and mom were going to go have a conversation while Christopher and Buck got his things from his room. Only then mom said Buck wasn’t allowed in the house. She said me and Chris could come in but he could not. So we turned to leave because I already knew Christopher wouldn’t go inside without Buck. Buck was confused, obviously. He’d helped me talk through some things I wanted to discuss with them, but I wasn’t doing that if Buck wasn’t able to be there for Chris. They tried arguing about us leaving, told us to come back, but, again, without Buck.”

“Buck’s our family.” Chris said firmly. “They don’t get to say he isn’t.”

“Exactly.” Dad agreed. “They tried saying Buck was a stranger, but, to me, that meant they hadn’t actually listened to a single conversation we had for the past seven years. Buck was in pretty much all of our calls in some way. They either purposely ignored what hearing about him meant, or they decided he was the problem between us and them. They did the same exact thing with Shannon. The truth is that they feel guilty about how they treated me growing up but are too stubborn to apologize and try moving forward, making amends and getting to know anything about me. They care about Chris and I was willing to put up with whatever they said about me so he could have his grandparents.”

“Ouch. Shots fired.” Maddie said dramatically, leaning against Chimney.

“Buck won’t listen to me when I tell him he needs to cut them out of his life.” Dad grumbled. “I heard the voicemails they’ve left him, but he-”

“What voicemails?” Maddie frowned. “He never said anything about them even calling him.”

“He’ll never tell you about it.” Dad argued. “You’re his sister and you accepted them, invited them, even, back into your life. You didn’t ask Buck what they were like with him when they were alone under the same roof for a decade. You didn’t ask what he did between postcards after he left Pennsylvania. Those people do not care about your brother. They never have. Besides, you already had a picture perfect family at one point. You ran from it because of what happened behind the pictures. I deluded myself into thinking I had picture perfect, but the whole thing was a clusterfuck.”

“Ope, bringing out the Army words.” Chris whooped.

“The hard truth is that Shannon and I never should have gotten married. We could have both been Chris’ parents without all the excess drama and she wouldn’t have felt so stressed, exhausted, and belittled by my parents. Chris was right that I never really grieved her. I think I finally have, but I also don’t think it’ll stop. She was my first best friend and there was a lot left unsaid between us. But with all the counseling and therapy the three of us are about to be in I’ll probably be more functional sooner than later.” Dad admitted.

“What do you mean the three of you?” Chimney asked in confusion. “Did Buck invite himself or did you invite him?”

“Neither.” Chris and dad said at the same time, sharing a small smile.

“I said he was coming.” Chris stated. “He keeps taking care of us and we keep sort of abusing that we can each talk to him when we’re stressed or frustrated before eventually talking to each other. We put him in the middle. Buck’s the one who gave me the sex talk, not dad. Buck’s the one dad calls when he doesn’t know how to help me through something, and Buck’s usually who I call when I need a pick-me-up.”

“He also-” dad snickered, “he called Buck ‘bruh’ when he said he was coming.”

“He what?” Chimney, Ravi, and Hen were cracking up, but Bobby just sighed disappointedly and shook his head. Athena rolled her eyes and Maddie snorted.

“He wasn’t listening.” Chris shrugged. “We just had this big sappy moment of getting him to accept being part of our family and then he looked at us like we were being dumb by saying he was coming with us to family therapy. So yeah. I asked what part of us calling him family was he not getting. Then he said if I ever called him that again he would make crappy meals for a month.”

“Which he’ll never do.” Dad chuckled. “You should have seen his face. As soon as Chris called him that Buck just- he looked like he’d been poked in the forehead.”

“Dad punched him in the arm.” Chris chuckled.

“He knows not to swear in front of you, let alone at you, even if it was done with love.” Dad shrugged. “Anyway, that’s pretty much everything. We’ll be back tomorrow some time. We’ll have to go by the school and drop off records so Chris can start as soon as possible and we’ll somehow already have family therapy set up because I’m sure Buck will have found a random moment to book us somewhere.”

“Thanks for helping me get home, everyone.” Chris said gratefully.

“No problem.” Everyone said. There was a chorus of goodbyes before they got their shopping and the bag of take-out they’d picked up and headed back inside. Only as soon as they reached their floor, they saw a few cops banging on their room door.

“What’s going on?” Dad asked as he approached.

“Nothing to worry you with, sir, but we’re going to have to ask you to get to your room.” One of the officers said.

“Sure. But you’re in front of it.” Dad stated. “So what’s going on to have you banging on our door while my partner is resting since he drove us here?”

“Is your partner Evan Buckley?” The officer asked in confusion.

“He is, and if you wake him up when he needs rest, I’m not gonna be very happy.” Dad agreed. “What do you need from him?”

“We got calls about a potential kidnapping of Christopher Diaz.” The officer said carefully. “He was named as the accused.”

“Except I’m Eddie Diaz and Christopher,” dad gestured to him, “is my son and perfectly fine. We called LAPD, who spoke with several offices before we left LA about my parents trying to put in false police reports of kidnapping. They got a warning from El Paso PD because they called to report it before we left the city. My son was staying with them, they kept him from me for months, and yesterday morning my son called my partner and asked us to come get him and bring him home because his grandparents weren’t letting him leave.”

“And you have proof of your identities and that this isn’t a kidnapping?” One officer asked, obviously not believing them. Chris got his phone out and dialed Athena’s number on speaker. “What are you doing?”

“Hey baby, what’s goin’ on?” Athena asked politely.

“Sergeant Grant of LAPD, there are some officers at our hotel room saying that Buck kidnapped me from my grandparents. Dad is getting my birth certificate and other stuff, but we’re still being harassed.” Chris said while dad tried not to smile as he pulled the birth certificate and his ID out of his wallet where he’d stashed them for quick access.

“Pass the phone, honey.” Athena stated and Chris held his phone out to the officers who looked hesitant to take it.

“This is Sergeant-”

“I do not care.” Athena cut him off. “I spoke with Phoenix Chief of Police not 12 hours ago about my boys passing through with the potential threat of Helena and Ramon Diaz calling about their grandson being kidnapped. I provided verification of what the situation is and he informed me his people would be briefed. So you wanna tell me how and why you are harassing my boys?”

“Just clarifying details, Sergeant Grant. When the call came in the Chief said it was potentially false but that we had to follow up anyway. We’re here to insure this is a false claim so it can be reported appropriately. Falsifying a police report is a felony.” The officer said more kindly than he looked. “The boy’s father verified his relationship and identity, so we can close this out. How is it you got involved so early in all this?”

“Eddie’s partner is my husband’s oldest child.” Athena said simply. “Buck is our boy, so of course he called me as soon as his and Eddie’s son called and asked them to come get him. Buck could not legally collect Christopher on his own, not until they have an approved step parent adoption which I know Christopher has already started on.” Dad looked at Chris and Chris just smiled and shrugged. Because yes. He had already started working on it. “Thank you for filing this as the false claim it is.”

“No problem. Here’s your grandson back.” The officer handed the phone back and Chris slid into the room while dad bid them goodnight and made sure they left before following him inside. Where they heard Buck singing badly in the shower, somehow having managed to miss the entire thing.

“Sorry that happened, boys, but thank you for calling me.” Athena said softly. “Try to keep my boy out of more trouble if you can.”

“Will do.” Chris chuckled. “See you when we’re home!”

“Night, baby.” Athena agreed, ending the call.

“Want to change? I’ll bug Buck to bring the volume down so he doesn’t scare off the other residents or get a noise complaint.” Dad said, setting the shopping bags on the bed that hadn’t been slept in.

“Just tell Buck to hurry so I can shower before putting on the pajamas we got so I’m clean at least.” Chris argued, leaning his crutches against the wall. “I’ll eat when I’m done in the bathroom because we both know Buck is going to be ready to fall asleep again as soon as he’s fed.”

“Very true.” Dad chuckled. “Be right back.” Chris dug through the bags and pulled some tags off while dad disappeared into the bathroom.

He smiled and shook his head when he heard Buck yelp and could imagine him trying to cover himself up, especially when he heard his dad laugh pretty loudly. He wasn’t surprised that when dad came back he had water spots on his shirt and in his hair. Meaning Buck definitely splashed him a little. But he was smiling bigger than Chris had seen him do in a while. Buck’s hair was still dripping a little when he joined them. He ruffled Chris’ hair before going to sit with dad and get some food in his stomach. Chris took his clothes into the bathroom and just enjoyed knowing his dad and Buck were in the next room. He even stole the little travel soaps Buck brought with him. That stuff worked better for curly hair and his grandparents never understood that there were different soaps for that kind of thing.

Buck had a tablet and his phone in his hands when Chris made it out, with dad paying some attention but mostly just watching Buck talk. He was being weird because Chris didn’t remember his dad ever just looking at Buck like that. All gooey and love sick. Ah. That must be it, actually. With all of their talks in the less than 12 hours they’d been back together his dad must have lost that filter he kept in place when Buck did things for their family. Whatever. Them getting together would actually help the step parent adoption process a lot more.

“So the earliest I can get us in is three days from now.” Buck said as Chris joined them and snagged his sandwich. “We can either all go in at the same time or we can go one by one and then get all three of us in toward the end. I think that’s the better option so the therapist at least knows where to go with us. So basically half the session is individual and half is the whole family.”

“Good call.” Chris nodded.

“After that session, when we’re all together, is where we will set a plan moving forward as far as how much individual time we need along with how much time we need together.” Buck nodded. “We’re set up for the next three months, so if we’ll need or want longer, we can adjust from there. We’re doing weekly for the first two months, though. The last month will be every other week. As long as the doc agrees that cutting down is acceptable at that point in time.”

“I think we should keep going until we’re down to only once a month.” Chris said. “So if that’s in six months or a year, we’re still going. I haven’t been able to go in five months and I have a lot to unpack.”

“We all do.” Dad agreed. He was looking at Buck though, daring him to disagree.

“You won’t convince them I have ADHD by sheer willpower and stubbornness, that’s not how it works.” Buck snorted without missing a beat. “And I already agreed to talk about my parental relationships since this is family and relationship counseling. It is focused on families, not individual struggles. So yes, Maddie, Bobby, Athena, they will all come up. But you need to be prepared to talk about Adriana and Sophia just as much as your parents, Shannon, and what the three of us do.”

“Guess we’ll be in therapy for the rest of my life.” Dad groaned.

“I forgot how dramatic you could be.” Chris snorted, rolling his eyes when his dad arched an eyebrow at him and Buck snickered.

“What we’re going to need to figure out, pretty much as fast as we can, is how well you two can adjust to being in the house together again. Without feeling crowded in, or walking on eggshells until one of you blows up, whatever scenario it is. I can be there a lot, sure, that isn’t a problem, but I don’t actually live there. So if you want to set up a rotation for now and do a few nights at the loft with me, a few with your dad, go back and forth until we’re comfortable and you can be under the same roof as your dad permanently again without wanting to throttle each other, whichever way works, we need to figure it out. And probably before we pull into LA.” Buck added.

“I think switching every few days could work.” Chris said reluctantly. “But I think it would be better if we were just all at home for a while. The therapy thing is going to be ongoing for the next two months, consistently. I’m not saying move in for the next two months, but you should at least plan to stay with us for the first month. We’ll all be kind of on edge for that long at least.”

“Alright.” Buck shrugged, as if he didn’t care that he wouldn’t be sleeping in his own place for a month. Like it wasn’t a big deal. Like he wasn’t giving up his free time to just focus on them. Even dad was staring at Buck like he was a little crazy and dad never looked at Buck like he was even slightly crazy.

“You sure about that?” Dad asked hesitantly. “You need to think about what that means, Buck-”

“I have.” Buck cut dad off. “I have thought about it. Look, just to lay it all out there before we get into therapy, so we’re all on the same page, the loft is the first place I’ve had as mine. Ever. And I’ve had so many injuries and bad days since I moved in that it’s not a big deal to me to not be there. My leg still locks up some days, I get migraines and can’t move from the couch, or I’m at the firehouse. Before I was in the loft, before I met you guys, I was temporarily living in Abby’s place. I lived there for around six months before giving up and moving out and couch surfing. Before Abby’s, I lived in a house with five other guys. Hen called it a frat house all the time. So did Bobby after the one time he had to come check on me when I got the flu really bad. Before that I was in Peru. I had staff lodging that I rented that came directly out of my paycheck. Otherwise, for like six years, I lived out of a car or cheap ass motels. Staying with you, being able to go to sleep knowing and hearing that we’re all under the same roof, will be fine.”

“You were homeless?” Chris asked sadly.

“I didn’t have anywhere to go when I left home.” Buck nodded. “I only had a little bit of money and I usually spent that on gas and protein bars or shit that I needed to function for whatever job I could get when I got to a new town. I know everyone sees my loft as fancy. As too much. But I lived a lot of years without anything. So I splurge a little for fancy things for myself. I treat myself when I can because I spent so long only being able to look at things I wanted. Like window shopping in a sense. I would see something and put it on a list in my head of things I would have one day. One of those things, as corny and sappy as it sounds, was a family who wanted me. Who would choose me. And I have that. With you and your dad. You already said so, and now I get to convince myself that it’s true. Staying with you guys, even if it’s just for a month before going back to my fancy space, will tell my brain that it’s real and that I do have a family. You might be lucky if I ever leave once I’m there all the time.”

“You had to make it both extremely sad and uplifting at the same time.” Dad sniffled and shifted around, trying not to cry. “We’d love if you stayed, Buck. Even if that ends up being forever.”

“Ok.” Buck smiled at dad and went back to looking at his tablet and phone.

“You never … talk about it.” Chris said carefully. “You never talk about anything before LA unless you’re explaining that you know something because of a weird story.”

“Never felt important enough to talk about.” Buck said easily. As if him being homeless for over half a decade wasn’t a big deal. As if it were normal. “I was 18 when Maddie gave me her keys so I could leave. Legally an adult. I hadn’t seen Maddie in maybe four or five years at that point, not since her and Doug got married. I’m pretty sure I just surprised her when I showed up looking like I’d been run over or something.”

“What happened?” Chris asked interestedly. He never got to know much about Buck’s life and Buck was actually answering questions and talking about it willingly. Finally. He was going to blast it to Harry, May, and Denny later.

“I DID get run over.” Buck answered, setting his phone and tablet aside. “I was on my motorcycle and was pissed off about … well about everything. An SUV pulled out of their driveway a little fast, and neither of us had time to stop so I was scratched up and sprained my wrist and had a near dislocation on my shoulder. But with my motorcycle dead, I didn’t have any other transportation. I went to Maddie to either ask if I could stay with her or ask if she’d run away with me. She didn’t end up coming with me, obviously, but she did give me a home for a while. Even if she doesn’t exactly know that I lived out of her car for so long. Actually, I don’t know what she thinks I did. I … should probably talk to her about that.”

“Would you want a motorcycle again?” Chris asked, smirking a bit.

“Hell yeah I would.” Buck said emphatically, smiling back, but giving dad a somewhat apologetic look for swearing again. “I miss having a bike. Having a bigger car was more … responsible, though. Allowed me to have room to give people rides when they needed it. So sure, I’d love to have one again. Take cruises along the coast, feel that salty ocean air on my face and … anyway. Maybe one day.”

“You’ll have to work through Bobby’s ‘dad talks’ about the safety of it all.” Dad poked Buck’s arm.

“He knows I’m licensed for motorcycles.” Buck shrugged. “He also knows that I wear all the necessary protective gear. Oh, actually, when Athena landed that plane on the highway he basically told me to steal one. I mean, that isn’t what he said, but he said we needed to clear the road and he had to stay with the engine since he took it from set. There was this real nice sport bike a guy was riding and I borrowed it to get to the other side of the bridge to stop traffic. When I passed it back, the guy seemed surprised that there wasn’t a scratch on it.”

“He probably thought you didn’t know how to ride.” Dad said, watching Buck weirdly again. Almost like he was picturing him on a motorcycle.

“Too bad I couldn’t ride with you.” Chris said disappointedly.

“Why couldn’t you?” Buck frowned. “I’d just get a cruising bike, not a sport bike. They have back and arm rests so you don’t have to worry about holding onto me the whole time. We’d be able to get side compartments to put our gear and your crutches in, too. I would have to help you on and off, but you could ride on it with me. Easily.”

“Let’s table the idea of you two running off and coming home with a bike some day.” Dad cut in looking a little anxious.

“I’ll find us all a safety class for riding when we get back.” Buck said, smirking at dad. “Maybe get you a license too, and we can take a family weekend trip when it’s nice out. But sure. Tabled for another day.”

“Good. Now go back to bed so you can be rested for the rest of the drive tomorrow.” Dad nudged Buck.

“Oh, hey, was there someone knocking on the door earlier? I thought I heard something but couldn’t really tell if it was just background noise from my music or not.” Buck asked as he stood up and stretched.

“Bed.” Dad said instead of answering. “You handle LA traffic better than me and we’ll probably get back with a rush hour or something.”

“Probably.” Buck snorted. “Night, guys.”

“Night, Buck.” Chris smiled as Buck leaned over to hug him. He only rolled his eyes when Buck kissed his head before getting comfortable in bed. Chris finished his sandwich and by the time he was balling up his wrapper, Buck was already snoring.

“Do you want to talk more or just brush your teeth and lay down?” Dad asked as he watched him.

“I don’t really want to talk about certain things since we’ll go over them in our counseling.” Chris admitted. “But we can talk about other things. Like how you’ve started looking at Buck differently.”

“Just … studying him. I guess.” Dad said carefully. “I don’t know. He just … he’s always so damn happy to be included and so surprised that we plan with him in mind. I keep thinking about what you said, about me dating and not just fitting whoever I was seeing in with what we already have. I didn’t realize I was doing that. And now I’m just … reevaluating what I did to let either Ana or Marisol think my time could just suddenly be theirs or that I hadn’t had that time set aside for someone else at any point. I know I broke plans with both of them a few times to go out with Buck. Or to have him over for dinner. But I guess I’m just trying to figure out how they believed I didn’t have someone like him. How both of us didn’t.”

“I think that once they spent time with me they figured I was the only one they needed to win over.” Chris frowned. “But I’m sure I had to have talked about him. I did when we spent time with Tommy. So I’m pretty sure I talked about him with them. Actually, wait, I did. Marisol always looked confused when I mentioned he was picking me up from school or taking me to an appointment or something. She didn’t understand who he was and all I ever said was that he was Buck. I pointed out how many pictures he was in at the house, but she still seemed really confused.”

“She never asked about him.” Dad frowned deeper. “I’ll have to figure it out. Because I want to be able to tell him what you said about the three of us being a family and have him accept it. I just don’t know if I’d say it’s in a romantic way or not. Buck deserves romance. He’s a hopeless romantic and wants that big, loud, dramatic love.”

“That’s mostly because that’s how he understands love.” Chris argued. “He knows his sister loves him, and he knows Bobby does, he should know we do, but Buck doesn’t understand quiet love. We’re not really loud, over the top, dramatic people, even if he always says we are. We’ve loved him quietly for years. Just because he doesn’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”

“Food for thought, for the drive.” Dad said with a sigh. “Why don’t we turn in and try to get some sleep? Tomorrow’s going to be long and annoying and we’ll all have to do some stretches when we finally get home.”

“Not looking forward to that, but will appreciate the epsom salt bath once we get it over with.” Chris agreed, getting to his feet. “I’d offer a side of my bed if Buck steals all the covers, but I don’t really sleep any better than he does.”

“It’s fine.” Dad chuckled as he got up and they went to the beds. “I know how to wrangle Buck back to a reasonable position. We shared a bed during COVID, we can handle a night in a hotel. But if he is staying with us for a month, I’m gonna talk him into bringing his bed over since he has a king sized.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Chris yawned as he lay down. “Night dad. And … thanks. For coming to get me.”

“Night baby.” Dad kissed his forehead and set his glasses on the table. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” Chris sighed as he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep to the steady sound of Buck’s snores.

When he woke up in the morning, it was to the sound of Buck humming off key and shimmying a little as he dug in his bag for clean clothes. He got his glasses on and looked at his dad who had a finger to his lips while he recorded Buck being a dork first thing in the morning. Chris smirked and sat up a little, making as few movements as he could so Buck wasn’t aware they were awake. Except … then Buck was singing as quietly as he had been humming. In Spanish. Buck was singing quietly in Spanish. He wasn’t just making up words or blending sounds together, he was singing the words like he knew them. He sounded fluent, too.

“Since when,” dad said quietly, snickering as Buck let out something like a shriek, tossing his clothes in the air as he turned around to face them, hands on his chest like the dramatic teenage girl he was inside, “do you know Spanish?”

“Oh my god, have you been watching me this whole time?” Buck asked incredulously, pulling his ear buds out. “Are you recording me?! Give me that!”

“Nuh uh.” Dad said, rolling away as Buck dove at him to get the phone. So Chris got his phone out and started recording dad playing keep away from Buck in their little hotel room until Buck tackled dad on the bed and dad just laughed like an idiot and shoved his phone down his pants. “You’re heavy, and sweaty, go take a shower so we can get some coffee and breakfast and get on the road.”

“I’m deleting that video.” Buck grumbled, biting dad’s nose to be a brat before getting off of him. Dad just smiled unrepentantly.

“I’ll send it to someone else for safe keeping so that when you do get into my phone and delete it, I can still get a copy.” Dad laughed.

“Et tu, Christopher?” Buck gave him a pout when he noticed Chris had his phone pointed at them.

“Yup. Now go shower so we can get this long ass car ride over with.” Chris tossed a pillow at him.

“I’m getting an extra caffeinated energy drink for the road, just so I can irritate you both nonstop.” Buck sighed as he collected his clothes and went to the bathroom.

“Except he’s severely ADHD and unmedicated so he won’t actually be bothering us because he’ll be calm.” Chris snickered as he saved his video and sent it to his chat with the other kids of the 118.

“Let’s see which one of us can get him into lecture mode first.” Dad said, reaching a fist over that Chris bumped with a snort.

“You didn't workout.” Chris pointed out as he got up and grabbed his bag of new clothes. “You usually always work out in the mornings.”

“I’ve switched to mostly doing it in the evenings lately.” Dad admitted. “Helps tire me out so I don’t struggle with overthinking and negative thoughts. Didn’t even notice Buck was gone until I heard him come back.”

“How’d the blanket struggle go?” Chris asked, getting the new sweatpants and t-shirt out. He smiled when dad threw Buck’s hoodie over to him.

“The blankets weren’t really the issue.” Dad chuckled. “Buck sort of latched onto me like a baby koala and wouldn’t let me move. I was able to lay so he was more like a weighted blanket, though, so it worked out fine for me.”

“Yeah, I’m not surprised he was cuddling with you.” Chris shook his head.

“I like to cuddle. Sue me.” Buck stuck his tongue out as he rejoined them having taken a really fast shower. “Hurry up and get dressed or I’m going to pick out breakfast without you and you get whatever I pick out.”

“Why don’t you go get breakfast and fuel up so when we come down we’re all ready to go?” Dad suggested reasonably. “You know what we like and we’ve already got the route back home planned out for stops, so relax. Take a breath, ok? We’re fine, Chris is fine.”

“Right.” Buck nodded and took a deep breath before letting it go slowly. Dad had a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small squeeze and Buck lost the tension Chris hadn’t noticed in his shoulders until it was gone. “Sorry. I’m fine. Or I’ll be fine. Just- slight panic. Still.”

“It’ll wear off the longer you can see that Chris is fine. He’s fine because he called and you answered. Call Bobby while you’re getting food so he can tell you how proud he is of you for what you’ve done and are doing for us.”

“I feel bad for leaving him like we did.” Buck admitted quietly. “He had to call in basically four people to handle all the missed shifts. Two shifts for each of us. I’ve never called out before, not even when I was sick. You all had to bully me into going back and going to bed.”

“You’ve also never had to let your son stay in another state and trust other people to look out for him.” Dad said gently. “You spent your entire summer looking after me and purposely keeping the fact you were just as upset as I was that he was gone to yourself. You never even took a day off when your parents showed up and basically rewrote your entire childhood with a bomb of trauma. Your son called and you answered. Bobby knows and understands why you had to leave, why we both did. Hen and Chimney understand, your sister, Ravi, Karen, everyone understands. So take some time while getting breakfast for us to try and accept that we are all together right now and will be from now on. At least until he goes to college.”

“Oh my gosh don’t make me think about that!” Buck whined. Dad just laughed, though. All Chris could do was watch the whole thing because it was like he wasn’t even there. Actually, he’d seen them have conversations like this several times before. Where they only looked at each other, only talked to or listened to each other. They would be in a room full of people and they got into this bubble and were adorably idiotic together. He could never remember seeing his dad act like this even with mom. And definitely never with Ana or Marisol. Chris barely noticed that the conversation had ended until his dad tapped his arm and Chris realized they were the only ones in the room suddenly.

“You look a little in your head.” Dad said carefully. “You make the same face as Buck when he does it. Wanna talk about it?”

“Just … realizing some things.” Chris said, putting his shirt on and tugging Buck’s hoodie on as well. Dad helped a little so he didn’t get his head stuck with all the extra material since Buck was so much bigger than him.

“Like what?” Dad asked, getting his own clothes out to get dressed as well.

“You’re … happy.” Chris said probably more stiltedly than he meant. “With Buck, I mean. Like, I’ve seen you do it before, seen how you could be at one of our cookouts or with a big group of people but you just get tuned into each other and you’re both always smiling and giggling like little kids. Maddie and Chimney do the same thing. So do Hen and Karen. And Bobby and Athena. You just never let yourself accept that it was ok. I guess I’m just sad that whatever happened to you happened when you were a kid to make you think it wasn’t ok. You know. To be happy with someone. With a partner. No matter what anyone else would think.”

“It’s ok that you don’t understand it.” Dad shrugged. “I never want you to understand it. I never want you to experience anything like I did that made me … close off, I guess, from things that could make me happy. Give me joy. But we’re set up with a lot of upcoming therapy, so I’ll be able to talk it out and you and Buck can help me with it. But along those lines, no matter what happens, I’m ok with you wanting to do a step parent adoption with Buck. I support it, but I also don’t think it’ll go anywhere since he and I aren’t married. We don’t have to worry about your mom losing her parental rights or anything, but it still comes back to being married to who is applying for it. We can absolutely give it a shot, I won’t say no. But I want you to be prepared for if it gets sent back without any action.”

“I know, but it’s still something I’d like to do. And if anything, I know I can have him do an adult adoption for me when I turn 18. He’ll still cry just as hard then as he would now.” Chris shrugged.

“Absolutely.” Dad agreed. “How about when we get back we call your tias and ask them to come up for a weekend or something, eh? Maybe they can help knock me out of this mindset sooner than later? Because I know I’ve been looking at him differently. I know you don’t care because you told me as much. And I guess I can sort of see how everyone might be surprised that we aren’t together, even if they never hinted at it. Or at least not to our faces. It’ll take me a little while to get there, but I think I can. LA is big and has a lot of different types of relationships. Buck has taken care of me for almost every low point in my life. Same with you. So now we get to be there for him while he accepts that we want him as our family. That we chose him just as much as he chose us.”

“I will try my hardest not to blurt out that you sucked with women because you were oblivious to being in love with Buck the whole time.” Chris nodded, smiling when dad laughed really hard.

When they finally made it to the lobby, Buck was just pulling the jeep up. He had a confused look on his face as he watched Chris get in. He was definitely looking at the hoodie Chris was wearing, but Chris didn’t say anything, and neither did dad. Dad just passed out their breakfast sandwiches and drinks and started talking, asking Buck questions about his podcast list. It was a good thing he hadn’t bet his dad about which of them could get Buck rambling first. Because he took the question dad asked and turned it into the first hour and a half of their drive. It was impressive, actually, considering there was a podcast playing the whole time he talked. A podcast about ADHD. A podcast that definitely solidified Chris’ thinking about Buck being ADHD.

“Hey, Buck?” Chris asked after their first bathroom and stretch break.

“What’s up?” Buck asked, glancing at Chris in the rearview mirror.

“Why didn’t you fly?” Chris asked curiously. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard about you flying before, just driving. Have you?”

“Nope.” Buck shook his head and even dad was looking at him weirdly. “I’ve only ever been to the airport for calls with the 118. Pretty much everywhere I’ve been was because I drove there. Which is part of why I haven’t ever been to Hawaii or Alaska or anywhere else overseas.”

“Why not?” Dad asked interestedly. “Don’t like it?”

“I just can’t do it.” Buck shrugged. “Didn’t realize I’d never talked about that but ok. Here goes.”

“You don’t have to.” Dad said gently.

“It’s fine. I just haven’t really thought about it in a while.” Buck shook his head. “So you are both very aware of the war on terrorism because of being in the Army or being an Army brat.”

“Hey!”

“That’s what kids whose parents are in the Army are called.” Dad chuckled. “You were technically an Army brat, but we stayed at Fort Hood, so you’re the one unusual Army brat that only experienced one base.”

“Oh. Proceed.” Chris nodded.

“Right, but that all kicked off in 2001.” Buck said carefully. “Because the Twin Towers were demolished. There were more than two planes high-jacked that day, though.”

“You were just a kid back then though. Right?” Chris frowned. “Like nine or something?”

“I was nine.” Buck nodded. “But we were on a class field trip in DC.”

“Oh shit.” Dad whispered.

“The planes that hit the Pentagon.” Chris whispered.

“And the one that crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside. I’m from Pennsylvania.” Buck added. “Look, I know it’s probably stupid. People from that area still got on planes after that. Even people who had lost family in it. I just … couldn’t do it. Maddie can’t either, actually. She took a bus out here when she ran from her ex. Trains and buses before she talked her way into my apartment, same for when she went to Boston for her PPD. But yeah. I can’t really do planes. I tried once, when I was older.”

“When?” Dad asked interestedly.

“During SEAL training.” Buck shrugged. Shrugged. Buck went through even part of the toughest training on the planet and he shrugged about it. Who was this guy? Chris wondered how he’d never asked about any of this before. “I couldn’t do several different things by the time I dropped out. Couldn’t think unemotionally and couldn’t step foot in the plane when it was time for jump training. I could handle the training on the ground or off the platforms, but I couldn’t actually get into the plane. They tried to talk me into sticking with the Navy, though. Switching over to the officer program or even the enlisted one, but I’d been there long enough I figured it was time to move on. It was insane, guys. I think a lot of that training helped when I got to the fire academy.”

“You trained to be a SEAL.” Dad said dumbly.

“I didn’t make it.” Buck frowned over at dad for a second before focusing back on the road.

“Right. Uh huh. And how far in is jump school?” Dad asked, crossing his arms.

“Pffff….” Buck wobbled his head like he was trying to shake the memory loose or something. “I don’t remember. Maybe 15 months? Somewhere around there.”

“You … huh.” Dad said intelligently. Chris wasn’t going to make fun of him for it though because what Buck just said was insane.

“I got there probably six months after I turned 19.” Buck continued. “I was maybe two days, at most, away from accepting the offer of paid sex from a regular at a bar I managed to get part time work at since my paycheck was still four days away. Ran into a guy who said the open tryouts were starting soon, so I joked around about how he was gonna fuck up a day in, which led to him daring me to do better. He didn’t make it through hell week, but he told me he’d buy me a drink when I finally gave it up. Found him at the bar after and he cheered as soon as he saw me, knowing I’d walked away from it since the whole thing is around two years long to complete and graduate. He gave me a place to go for my next stop. His cousin had a ranch in Montana that he was needing seasonal workers for.”

“So is there, like, a weird network of people who may or may not share stories about how they found this random guy and felt like they had to help him and sent him on to a friend or relative who needed some sort of menial labor? I bet that would be an awesome tiktok post.” Chris snickered. “Actually, I’m gonna set something up, see if we can get a collection of people Buck’s worked with over the years.”

“That’s gonna be a lot of people.” Buck laughed. “I had probably two or three dozen jobs before I became a firefighter. And that’s not including the jobs I had in high school. I got to run the zamboni at the ice rink when I was a sophomore, that was pretty cool.”

“Didn’t skate?” Dad asked, still looking confused but really invested in Buck’s story.

“Sometimes.” Buck shrugged. “I played junior hockey and then played some in high school. It was the only sport that fighting and slamming people into walls was allowed and encouraged. I loved football when I couldn’t play hockey anymore, though.”

“Why couldn’t you play hockey anymore?” Chris frowned.

“I refused to take the fall for the coach’s kid who got caught with weed in his gym bag. They told me I had to trade with him, that I had to admit it was mine or I wasn’t playing anymore. I said they could eat a dick, basically, and quit. The football coach was pretty excited to have me and use my energy on the open field. I haven’t been on skates in a long time. If you guys want to hit an open skate time somewhere I can totally find us a rink to go to.” Buck offered.

“Just to see what you can do on skates, absolutely.” Dad agreed.

“Am I gonna be able to do it?” Chris asked cautiously.

“If not, we can get the wheel chair out and slide you around with us.” Buck smiled back at him. “It’s tricky, I won’t lie and say it isn’t. But we’ll give it a shot and see how it goes before switching tactics. They may even have some of those sled seats that we can take you around on. Paralympic athletes exist, bud. Even for what’s considered a winter sport. Hockey, skating, there’s something for everyone. I’ll look into it when we get back and give it a shot.”

“The slide seats would be pretty cool to try.” Chris said interestedly. “Do they really have those to rent? Like skates?”

“I’ll find a place that does it.” Buck agreed, and Chris could see him already forming a mental checklist.

After that it was like he and dad formed some unspoken agreement to see what they could get out of Buck while he focused on driving. They asked about jobs he’d had and things he’d done for fun at each place he’d stopped in. It felt like a mission in one of his video games. Stopping at side characters for random side quests that inevitably led to the final battle/result/end. Honestly, the more Buck said as if it was the equivalent of getting a different coffee than he originally ordered made his life seem like a series of side quests with no end goal in sight. It was so bizarre. Like, how did he end up being a firefighter? He messaged the others and told them they needed to set up a ‘LA cryptid firefighter’ account where someone asked Buck where he learned something so long as he was in uniform and recorded the answer. Everyone was obviously on board when Chris had texted them random things Buck mentioned.

Pulling into their driveway felt like a dream and relief and everything all at once. He had a lot of feelings that he couldn’t really name, but mostly he wanted to be out of the car. Buck got out a little slower than dad did, but they were all wincing and wielding sore muscles from the long drive. They unloaded and then gathered in the living room and all worked through stretches to loosen up their bodies again. Because of his condition, Chris’ aches were sort of everywhere. Buck was favoring his bad leg, though. And he almost never showed when it hurt. He’d had a ladder truck land on top of him and still tried to pretend that he didn’t have chronic pain flare-ups. Dad had been shot a few times before, and he always tried to hide when he had pain, too. They were both idiots, but Chris would get them through therapy so they were comfortable at least admitting they were un-comfortable.

What mattered most to Chris, for the time being, was that he was home. He was finally home, back with his dads. He could feel more of the weight he was carrying slip away as both Buck and dad told him goodnight and kissed his head. He smiled to himself as he heard them bickering quietly in the hall before they were farther away from his room. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to tell a therapist that he was going to run away, but so far it was working out for him.

He called, and his family came. His dads came for him.

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