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“I’m gonna live here now?” Theo asks as he stands with Buck in front of the window, staring out at the new backyard that’s filled with all kinds of toys for him to play with.
Buck slowly bends down, and looks up at Theo. “Yeah,” he says with a smile. “Welcome home, Theo.” He gently reaches his hand out, and is relieved when Theo takes it. Buck has only known this child for a couple weeks, and just made it official today, but Theo already owns Buck’s heart, and Buck is going to do everything in his power to protect him.
~
Buck is so engulfed in getting Theo settled into the apartment that he completely forgets to tell his friends and family, and most importantly his Captain.
“Has anyone heard from Buckley?” Chimney asks, walking into the lounge area, looking around at all the firefighters. “He’s been absent from work for three days. Eddie?”
Eddie blinks, and he looks up at Chimney. “Why do you assume I would know?”
“Aren’t you the one dating him?” Chimney asks, raising his eyebrows.
Eddie sighs, and shakes his head. “I’ve tried calling him. His phone’s off,”
“Yeah, unfortunately… Maddie said the same thing,” Chimney mumbles, and frowns. “Alright. Hen, you’re in charge. I’ve got to figure out what’s going on here.”
Eddie immediately jumps up from the couch. “Can I go? I’d like to know what’s going on with my boyfriend,” he says. “I wanna know if there’s something wrong.”
Chimney looks over at him, and nods. “Yeah. Let’s go,”
Eddie hurries over to Chimney, and starts following him down the stairs.
“So, why haven’t you gone to check on him at home?” Chimney asks curiously.
Eddie frowns, and he instantly looks over at Chimney. “Work. My son. I’ve been calling him every chance I get and it goes straight to voicemail. I’m worried about him. Trust me,”
“Me too,” Chimney says, looking at Eddie with worry.
Chimney and Eddie finally make it to Buck’s apartment. Eddie runs up to the door, and knocks on the door. He looks over as Chimney runs up as well. Eddie knocks on the door again.
“Buck! Open up!” Eddie shouts. He knocks on the door some more. He sighs, and runs a hand through his hair, and he looks over at Chimney. “What do we do?”
“I…” Chimney frowns. “It’s been three days. We can call A-” He looks up as soon as the door opens, and sighs in relief when he sees Buck opening the door, though he instantly notices how tired Buck looks. “It’s about time!” He hisses.
“Can you keep it down?” Buck groans, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I just got him to sleep.”
“Who?” Eddie asks, frowning.
“You haven’t been to work in three days, Buckley. I hope you have a very good explanation!”
Buck’s eyes instantly widen. “Oh, shit. I didn’t call you?”
“No, you didn’t call me, Buck. You haven’t called anyone!” Chimney shouts. “We’ve been worrying out of our minds about you for three days.”
“I-” Buck hesitates, and quickly motions for Chimney and Eddie to come inside. He quietly shuts the door behind him. He turns around, and takes a deep breath when he sees Eddie staring out the window. He knows Eddie sees all the toys in the backyard, and he knows Eddie already has a million questions running through his head.
“What’s going on, Buck?” Chimney asks, and he turns to look at Buck.
Buck puts his finger up to his lips, shushing him, and he motions the two to follow him into the living room. Buck smiles softly when he sees the little boy sleeping on the couch, covered up in a soft dinosaur blanket. Buck looks back over at Chimney and Eddie. “I- I may have forgotten to tell everyone. I’m uh, I’m a dad now.” He chuckles softly.
“Buck,” Eddie whispers, stunned. He stares at Theo, and looks over at Buck.
“Let’s go talk in the backyard. I don’t want to wake him,” Buck whispers, and leads the way out to the backyard. He shuts the backdoor. “Alright. Let me have it.”
“You adopted Theo?” Eddie asks, and he turns to look at Buck.
Buck nods. “It’s all still very new. I just knew it was the right thing to do. They were going to place him with a temporary family. Sure, they might have taken care of him, but they weren’t going to love him. He’s my son. I’m just trying to make Connor and Cameron proud,”
“Buck,” Eddie whispers, and steps closer to Buck.
“Well, that explains why you haven’t been to work in three days,” Chimney mumbles.
“Yeah, sorry. I really am. I was just so focused on getting things ready for Theo. I had to buy everything new for him, then I had to get him settled in, and I-” Buck is cut off by Eddie kissing him sweetly. Buck blinks, and stares at Eddie. “Eds?”
Eddie smiles. “I’m proud of you,”
“You’re not upset?” Buck asks, blinking.
“Oh no, don’t worry I’m upset with you. Only because you didn’t tell me about adopting Theo. I could have helped you. I have a son. Most of us have kids. We all could have helped,”
“As much as I am happy and also proud of you for doing this, Buck… you didn’t show up to work for three days. We’re going to have to have a conversation about this, Chimney says.
“Yeah, about that…”
“You’re not quitting, are you?” Eddie asks with concern, placing a hand on Buck’s arm.
“No, no… I’m not quitting. I would never dream of quitting this job. Although I’d like to talk to you about some more time off. I’m pretty sure I have a bunch of PTO saved up,” Buck says, looking over at Chimney. “Theo’s settling in, but I’m not ready to leave him alone yet, and I still need to work on finding a trustworthy babysitter to watch him when I do go back to work.”
“You haven’t gotten back in touch with Carla?” Eddie asks curiously.
Buck shakes his head. “Like I said… I haven’t talked to anyone about-” He glances over and sighs when he sees Theo standing by the stairs, looking very tired and slightly confused. “Dammit. I was hoping he’d stay asleep this time.” Buck quickly turns around, and opens the door. He walks back into the house, Chimney and Eddie following behind him. “Theo? Hey, what’s wrong, buddy?” Buck bends down to Theo’s height.
“You were gone,” Theo says, and he looks up at Buck sadly.
Buck chuckles softly, his heart melting at Theo’s little voice.. “I’m sorry, bud. I just had to go talk to my friends. But I didn’t leave. I’m still here,” he reaches over, and picks Theo’ up, holding him in his arms. He turns to look at Chimney and Eddie. “You remember my friends? They were there when we helped you down from that big tower.” He looks at Theo, and smiles when Theo nods shyly. “This is my best friend Eddie, and my other friend Chimney.”
“Hi Theo. It’s good to see you again,” Eddie says softly.
Chimney smiles, waving at Theo. He looks over at Buck. “You have a valid excuse for missing work, and you can have the rest of the weekend off, but I’m expecting you back on Monday, and we’ll talk about what we need to do to get you situated,” he says. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I unfortunately have to get back to work-” He looks over at Eddie, and sighs softly. “Alright, Diaz. You’re free from the rest of your shift.”
“Wait, what? Chimney-”
“No, no, no. Don’t even try to argue with me. I know you’ll want to be here with Buck, and you’re not going to be able to focus the rest of your shift. That’s a Captain’s order, Eddie,” Chimney warns, though there’s a smile on his face.
“Thanks Chim,” Buck says, grinning at the older man.
Chimney gently pats Buck on the shoulder, and he looks at Theo. “I’ll see you again soon. You’re one lucky kid to have Buckaroo as your dad,” he smiles at Theo, before turning and walking out of Buck’s house, leaving Buck and Eddie alone with Theo.
Eddie looks at Buck, and shakes his head fondly. “You’re going to be the death of me,”
Theo gently reaches over and tugs on Buck’s shift. “What’s a Buck-A-Roo?”
Buck barks out a laugh, and Eddie starts laughing as well.
When Chimney makes it back to work, he’s immediately cornered by the team.
“What took you so long? And why isn’t Eddie with you?” Hen demands.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me breathe,” Chimney says, holding his hands up. He sighs, and looks up at Hen, Harry and Ravi. “Buck’s fine.” He chuckles when all three sigh in relief. “I don’t know if Buck wants me going around blabbering about what’s going on, but he’s coming back to work on Monday, so I’m sure you’re going to find out soon enough.”
“He’s not medically hurt, is he? After everything that kid has been through…”
“No, Hen. Buck is perfectly fine. In fact, I think he’s more than fine,” Chimney chuckles.
“I really hate that you aren’t telling me the truth,” Hen mumbles.
“Yeah, why can’t you just tell us?” Harry asks, crossing his arms against his chest
“Because it’s not my place to tell. We all know how terrible I am at keeping secrets, and this secret is obviously very important to Buck, but I promise… he’ll tell you all,” Chimney says, and he quickly walks away, not wanting to spill any secrets without Buck’s consent.
Meanwhile, Eddie is still in shock over learning that Buck adopted Theo.
Theo is Buck’s mini. Theo looks like Buck. Acts like Buck.
“I just felt like it was the right thing to do,” Buck says when they’re sitting in the backyard on the porch, watching as Theo is running around on the plastic playset Buck got for him.
“I just wish you would have told me,” Eddie says, and he looks over at Buck, frowning.
“I didn’t mean to not tell you, Eds. I would have if my mind wasn’t running a mile a minute,” Buck says. He sighs, and looks back at Eddie. “I was talking to Harry at the birthday party. He mentioned how he and I were the only ones who didn’t have kids, and that kind of just sparked my intuition. I was already thinking about adopting Theo before then…”
“Chimney’s right. That kid’s lucky to have you,” Eddie says sincerely.
“No. No, I think we’re lucky to have each other,” Buck says, and chuckles. “You think Christopher is going to like having a little brother?”
Eddie laughs. “Christopher is going to absolutely adore Theo! I’m curious. What does Theo call you? I mean, last time we saw him… he was calling you Mr. Poop,” he smirks at Buck.
Buck rolls his eyes at that. “Yeah, we’re still working on that, and don’t worry he still calls me Mr. Poop because he knows it annoys me, but it makes him happy so I can’t really say anything. Theo loved his parents, and I’m not trying to replace him, but he’s my kid now. I’m just not rushing him into calling me dad until he’s ready, you know?”
Eddie nods. “That seems like the right thing to do. Hey,” he reaches over and gently places his hand on Buck’s shoulder, gently squeezing Buck’s arm. “You’re going to be an amazing dad, but you don’t have to go through this alone, you know? You have me. You have all of us.”
Buck reaches up and grabs a hold of Eddie’s hand. “I know. I love you,”
“I love you too, and I’ll love Theo too. Just the same way you love Christopher. I’m going to protect that kid like he’s my own. You know that, right?” Eddie asks.
Buck nods, feeling overwhelmed by the love from Eddie. “I couldn’t ask for anything more,”