Work Text:
It was sudden, fast.
Like something Eddie has felt before, like when he was shot.
Only he wasn't shot in his shoulder, he was stabbed in his gut.
Ironically enough in a prayer room in a hospital when he was praying he and his friends didn't lose someone else they loved.
He needed to get up, needed to find someone to tell them there's a crazed lunatic stabbing people as they pray for their loved ones.
because unlike last time there's no one to pull him under a firetruck and save his life.
Breath shaky he looked for his phone then realized that bastard took it. With weak knees and blood dripping from under his hands,
he stood up.
~~~~~~~
Almost falling with every weak step and hitting into almost all the walls, which just made the hole in his side feel deeper.
He was making his way through the halls of the hospital. When he saw the elevators, he knew that was his best bet.
He stumbled to the doors with weakness clawing at his consciousness, slamming the buttons and with every hit he just got weaker.
When the doors opened, his body fell onto something that felt sturdy and grounded, it wasn't the floor like he expected but it made him feel safe.
It was only when he felt hands clasped on his shoulders and neck, and knees fall to the ground next to him and a panicked voice calling his name.
"Eddie! Oh my god Eddie? Open your eyes Eddie" his eyes flashed open like a bolt of electricity shot through his bones.
"Buck' he thought.
He couldn't see but he knew his eyes were open and he'd forgot where he was, but all he knew was Buck was next to him.
"Look at me Eddie, god just look at me" Buck called out.
Eddies' vision came too. "Buck." He finally let out as a weak whisper
"Eddie. What happened?" Buck said as he moved Eddie up to lean against the wall.
When buck asked him that he had to look down at himself then he remembered. Shit.
"I was stabbed."
"o-okay, b-by who?"
"I don't know"
The elevator started to move but abruptly stopped, which got both Buck and Eddies' attention.
They looked up at the screen, and they saw a "E" for error.
That made Buck jump up. "no, No, NO!." he yelled out at the same time hitting the buttons then trying to open the doors with his hands.
“Damn it it’s not opening” Buck said in frustration, hitting the walls of the elevator.
“sit down, please.” Eddie was exhausted and scared, but he needed to calm Buck down.
“before, in New Mexico, I was so scared.
I thought…. I thought you were dead.” He had to pause to breathe because if not he’d breakdown.
“And I felt like it was all my fault. I was driving the car. And I should have got to you quicker, then you wouldn’t have been through all that…..”
“I thought they killed you. Or left you for dead” buck interrupts, his voice started to break.
“I felt like it was my fault, if we didn’t go in that diner. If I didn’t draw that attention to us, maybe they wouldn’t have noticed me….. and then you found me. Right before…. Right before they were going to kill me.”
“Buck I-“
His phone started to ring, Buck got up quickly
"M-Maddie?" his voice broke as he answered.
"Please tell me your safe." Maddie said, panicked.
"Why?" Buck replied with urgency.
"there's an active shooter, the hospitals on lockdown." Said Maddie.
When Buck looked at Eddie with that certain type of fear that Eddie knew all too well, more than just him is in danger.
"Maddie, its Eddie h-he's been stabbed. We're stuck in an elevator."
Buck he looks like he is about to cry and Eddie can't help. He can't help anyone outside, he can't help himself, most of all he can't help Buck.
"Just focus on Eddie, I know it's hard, but you need to be there for him." Eddie hears Maddie through the phone.
"This isn't just hard; Maddie this is my nightmare."
The blood is heavy and coming out fast under his hands and Eddie can feel himself drifting away but he must stay, for Buck.
"Buck I-" Eddie is slurring his words
"Eddie! M-Maddie I have to go." Buck hangs up his phone and falls to his knees next to Eddie.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Buck. That I'm doing this to you again." Now he's about to cry.
"no. don't apologize Eddie; this isn't your fault." He's not lying to Eddie, but it feels like it.
"It's not your responsibility to save me.... again."
"It will be if I want it to, and I'm here and I'm going to get you out alive." Buck responded quickly.
"I thought this is 'your nightmare'" Eddie said and then regretted it, realizing by looking at Buck. That was the wrong thing.
"No, losing you is. And I'm not going to let me lose you."
The air felt heavy after that. Like Buck said more than he did, and Eddie should say something, but he just couldn't.
"you're losing a lot of blood." Buck broke through the silence.
"And it hurts a lot." Eddie trying to catch his breath, not from the pain but from the moment that just passed.
"Your shirt." Buck snaps back quickly like a piece just clicked in his head
Eddie looked down like he didn't know what he'd see
"Yeah, it’s ruined." he let out a laugh, that just made it hurt more.
"What? No, take it off."
That for some reason, caught Eddie off guard
"What…..?"
"You can use it to slow the bleeding."
That was the obvious solution, Eddie should've thought of it first.
Guess he was distracted.
He lifted one of his arms to untuck his shirt. "Ah! Shit!" he called out.
He tried to get it off, but it hurt too much, and he couldn't hold the wound and take it off at the same time.
"I can't, it hurts." It almost sounded like an excuse.
"Do you need my help?" and that almost sounded like threat.
"I-" he was about to say no but he knew he needed it.
"Can you hold the wound?"
Buck hesitated, not that he didn't want to help but like he thought he'd just hurt him more.
"y-yes. I can." Buck got close to Eddie, they shared a look like
“I'm sorry my blood is going to be on your hands again”
Eddie lifted his hands, and Buck immediately put his down. That made Eddie flinch.
"Sorry." Buck said quickly.
"No, you're good." Eddie
He lifted his shirt over his head, it hurt like hell, but he had to.
He balled his shirt up.
"Here." He put it under Bucks hands and then held them in place.
It still hurt but not as much, now that Buck was closer and he was holding their hands together.
"Buck"
He shouldn't be doing this, not when buck is this close. Not when he is this close to bleeding out. But he has to.
"Eddie." Buck replied in a way Eddie knew he feared what he'd say.
"If I don't make it out of this-"
"Eddie." Buck interrupted.
"Buck, just let me finish." A long pause echoed on the walls of the elevator.
"If I don't make it out of here, promise me." His voice suddenly became shaky and weak.
"Promise me you will be okay, and you will help Chris be okay. Cause he's going to need you."
Crying Buck replied, "No I need you."
"Buck I won't leave, just please." Long pause
"I-I promise."
"Thank you...." Eddie started to taste metal in the back of his throat.
"I'm so cold." He said, shaking.
"Eddie, I don't know what to do." Buck said crying, looking into Eddie's eyes.
Eddie pulls him closer and pressed their foreheads together.
"Can you hold me.?" Eddie sounded scared.
Buck didn't say anything, he just pulled Eddie to him.
He held him as tight as he could without breaking him.
A few seconds passed.
"you've always been warm." Eddie thought he might be overstepping.
"you've always been cold." Buck meets him half way.
"Buck I-"
God never gave Eddie anything to believe in. but this, this is something not only could Eddie believe in. He can live it, breathe it in and keep it.
Or at least he could.
~~~~~~~
He went limp in Bucks arms.
"Eddie...? Eddie!"
Buck checked for his pulse...
and it was gone.
With his knee holding his wound,
Buck started CPR
"Eddie come back, you said you wouldn't leave me.
So come back. I need you; Chris needs you, Eddie."
The elevator must have started moving but Buck didn't notice, but he did notice when the doors opened and Hen and chimney started calling him and Eddies names.
"What happened? Buck, are you okay?" Hen said in a panic.
"He was stabbed by the shooter. I lost his pulse."
Buck said as he was crying harder now.
"How long has he been down?" said Chim
"1 minute, 18 seconds."
"Let us work Buck." Hen trying to calm him down, but nothing can do that apart from Eddie.
~~~~~~~
When he woke up, he saw Buck, biting his nails and his leg going up and down.
"Buck...."
"Eddie, oh my god."
Eddie was still weak, but he couldn't help but laugh when he saw how Buck practically fell to the bed from how fast he got up.
The second they locked eyes they both cried.
Eddie reached for Bucks hand, and buck held it.
"I'm so sorry Buck." He almost couldn't speak, but he did.
"I'm sorry for every time l've almost die in front of you. I'm sorry for driving Chris away. And I'm so sorry for leaving to El paso. I'm sorry about Bobby and the fact I didn't come back right away. I know how lost you felt and I should have been there for you. And I'm sorry for what I'm about to say...."
"Eddie,"
"Buck you are my best friend, and I shouldn't be doing this, but I have to." A long pause.
"I'm in love with you"
"God, I'm so in love with you"
"And I think I have been for a long time, and I'm just sorry-"
Buck didn't respond, he just kissed him.
"What... I thought you didn't-"
"I love you too. And I have for a long time too."
This time Eddie kisses him.
"So, we're in love?" Eddie say with a laugh he’s joking, it was obvious.
"Well obviously. There is someone here to see you." Buck says as he pulls open the curtains
"Chris!" he was already crying but he somehow cried more.
The three of them embraced in a hug, that all of them wish was longer.
This. This is what god wanted to give Eddie. All the bad, all the good. Eddie understands now. It lead him to the one thing he wanted but just couldn't get right.
Family.
Him, Chris, Buck.
They are family.