Chapter Text
Buck thought going to the peir was a good idea.
Christopher couldn’t stop talking about the new game he wanted to try at the fair, and despite the fact that Buck had no will of leaving his apartment that day, he couldn’t refuse anything to Eddie’s son. And anyway Eddie had left his apartment telling him "to have fun". He almost recommended him to go to the fair, right?
That’s how they both ended op on a bench at the end of the peir after a long afternoon testing all of the attractions and games of the fair. Christopher couldn’t be happier, and in a way, Buck couldn’t either. This afternoon had been the first time he actually felt something real since his accident with the firetruck. But he wasn’t surprised: Chris had always had this power on him. That’s exactly why Eddie dropped him at his apartment this morning actually, he knew Christopher could heal him.
Buck almost sent a picture of them both on the ferris wheel earlier, but he didn’t want to bother Eddie at work and Chris convinced him that it would be better to tell him tonight, when Eddie would come to Buck’s apartment to pick him up, and Buck agreed. Eddie would be so happy to know that Buck left his apartment, even if it’s only for an afternoon, and he wanted to see the joy and surprise on his face.
That was Buck’s first mistake.
The second was turning his back to the water when they sat on the bench at the end of the pier. If he had looked at the horizon, he would have seen the sea retreat. He could have seen the signs announcing a tsunami. But he turned his back.
The third was not running fast enough. When the first wave flooded the streets of Los Angeles, he was carried away by the current, Christopher in his arms. It costed him everything he had inside him not to let Chris go, but he managed to keep the little boy with him while he was fighting not to make them both drown.
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Buck doesn't know how much time has passed since the first wave decimated everything in its path. The sun barely moved in the sky, yet if someone had asked him he would have replied that hours have passed.
Christopher shivers against him, his arms around Buck’s neck as he does his best to swim through the debris. Only one goal haunts him: find a shelter for Christopher before a new wave hits. But the streets of Los Angeles don’t give them many options to shelter right now. The only thing Buck sees is destruction, injured people and chaos.
And water.
Way too much water.
Buck's limbs are on fire from fighting against the current but he does not give up. He continues to swim, one hand around Eddie's son while the rest of his body fights to try to shelter them. The salt of seawater burns his eyes but he doesn't care, he forces himself to keep his eyes open, his gaze always looking for a safe place.
“Buck, look !” Christopher points something in front of them. A firetruck. It’s not the best shelter, but it’s their best option yet.
“Good job Buddy” Buck nods, breathing hard because of the effort. Carried by the sudden objective, he starts swimming faster and harder. He draws on his last reserves to carry them both safely.
A sigh of relief escaped him when his fist closed on one of the truck's handrails. The so familiar cold of the truck's metal on his skin has never been as relieving as in this moment. He closes his fist and clings with all his strength to fight against the current while hoisting Christopher on the roof with his other hand. Eddie’s kid climbs on the truck, in a hurry to get out of the water. Buck notices with relief that the truck is high enough for them to stay on it if a new wave arrives without fearing for their lives. Without further ado, Buck climbs into the truck following Chris. He would have never imagined that feeling the ground under his feet could provide such relief, but he doesn’t take the time to appreciate it, his focus still completely on Chris. The poor kid is shivering, his lips turning blue because of the coldness of the water.
“Sit here bud, I’ll find you something to warm you up, okay ?”
He gently guides Christopher to the middle of the engine, as far as possible from the edges of the roof. He doesn’t want to risk him to fall back into the water. Once Chris is seated, Buck looks around him to find something to warm him but unfortunately there is almost nothing on the roof except the hose bed, which doesn’t help. Buck wishes he could grab a survival blanket but he would have to go to the side of the engine to grab it, which mean jumping directly into the water again, which is too dangerous. It’s better to stay with the kid right now. He could give his shirt to Chris but it is soaked, it would risk giving him even colder. Buck therefore resolves to sit next to Christoper and take him in his arms, hoping to give him some of his body heat. Chris’s head naturally finds its place under Buck’s chin.
“ How long are we going to stay here, Buck ?”
Buck’s heart tightens. He wishes he could give him a real answer but he has no way of knowing that, and he doesn’t want to lie to Christopher. He might be young, but he deserves the truth.
“ I don’t know. But we are safe here. As long as we stay on the truck, we will be fine” Buck whispers before putting a kiss on Chris’s wet hair.
“Dad is going to find us” Christopher announces without any hesitation, which tightens Buck’s heart even more. The poor kid believe that his father is looking for them while Eddie absolument does not know that Chris and Buck were in Santa Monica. Eddie still thinks that they are in Buck’s apartment, miles from the beach.
“ Sure Buddy. Your father must be moving heaven and earth to find you right now” he lies
I should have sent that stupid picture of us on the ferry wheel.
Now it’s too late, Buck’s phone is long lost in the water.
“ Find us Buck” Christopher corrects. “ Dad knows I’m with you, it must be reassuring to him”
“Reassuring ?” Buck frowns
“ Yeah. I’m safe with you Buck. I wouldn’t have wanted someone else with me today, except my dad”
Buck smiles and kisses Chris’s hair again.
“ You are really the cutest kid in the world. Thank you, it means a lot” He pulls Christopher a little bit more against him, rubbing his arms to try to warm him up. “You are right, you’re safe with me. We’ll stay here and wait for your father. Together”
Christopher nods and snuggles up in Buck’s arms, craving his warmth. Buck couldn’t help noticing his resilience. Christopher is so young... He has just experienced a highly traumatic event and is not yet out of trouble, yet he remains sitting in silence, calmly, and does not panic. It’s impressive. They both have scratches and light injuries, yet Chris doesn’t cry or complain.
Eddie, you have the most amazing kid in the world.
Buck promises to tell Eddie the second they meet, even though his best friend already knows.
Buck was so lost in his mind that he didn’t even feel Christopher tugging his sleeve.
“Buck” Chris calls him, what gets him out of his thoughts.
Chris extends his finger and points something in front of him. Buck follows his finger with his gaze and sees it : a woman with a baby in her arms, fighting the current but losing. She had blood dripping from a bad cut on her forehead but she doesn’t seem to care.
“HELP ME !” She screams, not especially to Buck but to anyone who might be listening to her.
Buck’s jaw clenches. He could help her, but that would mean leaving Christopher alone on the truck. Hesitation was ripping his heart apart. But suddenly he imagines Eddie instead of that woman. He imagines his bestfriend trying his best to keep Christopher out of the water. If that was Eddie, Buck would want someone to help him.
There was no hesitation anymore. His firefighter’s instincts kick in immediately.
“ Stay on the truck buddy. Never leave it, okay ? You hear me ? Never. I’m coming back”
He kisses Chris’s head one more time before rushing toward the hose bed. He takes the longest hose he can find and attaches it to the truck before positioning himself on the edge of the truck, the hose rolled on his shoulder. His plan is simple: swim to the tree on the other side of the street and tie the hose to it. Once it crosses the street above the water, he will be able to help the victims cling to it and join the truck.
The plan is simple, but easier in theory than in practice. He has no right to make mistakes, he must succeed in reaching the tree. Despite being a firefighter accustomed to adrenaline, his hands can’t stop shaking as he looks at the distance between him and his lens.
“ HELP ME !” The woman screams again
Buck takes a deep breath and jumps into the water. The speed of the current surprises him the second his body enters the water. He had forgotten how fast it was. He takes his head out of the water and starts swimming. Debris hit his body while he swims but he ignores them. Dirty and salty water enters his eyes but he does his best to forget the burn, focusing on continuing to swim and never find himself with his head under water.
He finally reaches the tree after a swim that seemed to last forever. He wraps his legs around the trunk to secure himself and makes a solid knot with the hose around the trunk, creating a tensioned bridge barely hovering over the flood. With a grim look at the woman now really close to him, he swung himself out, hooking his arms and legs around the hose in a desperate sloth crawl, his body dangling dangerously close to the churning current. When he is at the middle of the hose, he extends his hand and grabs the woman’s when she reaches his level, preventing her from being carried away by the current. Ignoring his burning muscles, he pulls her with one hand so that she clings to the hose while keeping her baby against her. That’s when he notices that she has wrapped what looks like a scarf around her and the baby, which he finds really smart.
“ Are you okay ?” He asks when she is secured on the hose, checking for other injuries than her bad cut on her forehead.
“ Yeah... Just few scratches... Thank you so much sir”
Buck looks at the baby but doesn't notice any injuries.
“ Buck. Call me Buck. Go on the truck now, you will be safe”
The woman nods and starts to sloth crawls toward the truck. Buck was about to follow her when he hears screams. Other survivors are coming towards them, screaming for help. Buck can’t let them drown when he now has the opportunity to help them. He calls the lady he had just helped, who is now a few feet away from the firetruck.
“ Ma’am ? Can you look over my kid while I help them ? His name is Christopher”
He doesn’t even notice that he called Christopher his kid.
The woman nods and promises to take care of him. Buck nods back, he knows she will. And that’s what he need: the certitude that someone is taking care of Christopher so he can focus on saving as many person as possible.
So he stays on the hose, waiting for survivors to help them.
One by one, he hauls them up. A terrified teenager, an elderly woman clinging to a stop sign, a father who wouldn't let go of his toddler, a young man carrying his unconscious girlfriend,...
Fifteen. He counted them in his head like a litany. Fifteen people now huddled on the roof of the truck, gasping for air, shivering, but alive. Thanks to him.
Unfortunelaty, he was so focused on them to notice that the sea was retreating. The survivors haven’t noticed either, too focused on their injuries and their fear to look at the sea. The first one to notice was Christopher.
“ Buck ! The sea is leaving ! It’s over !” He shouts with a big smile on his face.
Buck looked back toward the shoreline. The water was receding with a violent, unnatural speed, pulling cars and chunks of asphalt toward the deep. And then, he saw it. It wasn’t the end of the tsunami, it was the second wave, way too close because they weren’t looking at the ocean.
The second wave wasn't a wall of white foam; it was a dark, silent mountain of debris-choked water, towering over the palm trees, moving at a speed that defied logic.
"Christopher, lie down! Hold the rail!" Buck roared, his voice tearing his throat.
He starts to crawl on the hose but he is 20 meters away from the truck. It’s imposible. He won’t reach it in time. The wave is too big, too fast, too close,... Tears bed in his eyes when the realization hits him hard. He realizes with a coldness that had nothing to do with the water, that he wasn't going to make it back. He had traded his spot on that roof for their lives.
He should have stayed on the truck with Christopher.
He should have sit toward the sea on that pier.
He should have sent that picture to Eddie.
He should have said no when Chris asked him to go to Santa Monica.
There is so much things he should have done.
“ Buck, why aren’t you coming ?” Christopher screams
He looks panicked now. He must have understood that a new wave was coming. Buck hates that the last time he will ever see Christopher is with so much pain in the eyes of the one he has always considered his son.
“ It will be okay bud. I love you” Buck screams
The woman he saved takes Christopher in her arms and turns his face so he doesn’t see Buck. She must have understood that Buck was going to die and that Chris shouldn’t see that. Buck has never been so grateful in his entire life. Chris shouldn’t see this.
In those final seconds, the roaring world went quiet. Buck didn't feel the wind or the spray anymore, he only felt the crushing weight of the inevitable. He looked at the truck, so close yet a lifetime away, and realized his strength had finally met its limit. There was no panic, only a cold, hollow clarity. He wasn't going to make it. His last thought wasn't of the water, but of the boy on the roof—a silent, broken prayer for a miracle he wouldn't be there to see. He accepts his fate, his death will be the results of a serie of bad decisions and the only person he can blame is himself. Yet, he whises he had more time.
He wishes he had told the 118 how important they are for him.
He wishes he could see Christopher graduates.
He wishes he could see Maddie’s wedding with Chimney one day.
He wishes he had told Bobby that he is a father to him.
But it’s okay, because Christopher is safe, and fifteen people will go home safe tonight. So it’s okay if he doesn’t.
Buck closes his eyes.
And then the impact came.
It felt like being hit by a train. The water slammed into his chest, knocking the very breath from his lungs. He was ripped away from the hose as if he weighed nothing at all.
Christopher’s scream was the last thing he heard before the ocean swallowed him whole.
The undertow was a violent, swirling vortex. Buck tried to fight, his arms thrashing against the crushing weight of the current, but the water was thick with sand and debris. Something sharp—a piece of the broken pier—slashed across his thigh, a searing jolt of agony that made him gasp, only to fill his mouth with suffocating brine.
He was being dragged backward, away from the shore, away from the light. The fire truck, the people he’d saved, and the boy he loved more than life itself vanished behind a wall of churning white foam.
Under water, he doesn't even know where the surface is, everything is black around him. Debris hit him relentlessly and quickly his lungs begin to burn. He has to breathe, but he doesn't even know which direction to swim in. Suddenly an intense pain explodes in his temple. He doesn't even have time to understand what's happening that he loses consciousness.