Chapter Text
Rain hammered against the windshield hard enough to blur the city into streaks of red and gold light.
Buck tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he waited at the intersection, exhaustion settling deep in his bones after a sixteen-hour shift.
Dispatch had been relentless all week, and Buck had needed to fill in for a firefighter on C-shift whose wife had gone into early labor and no floater was available.
And now he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Buck had stopped at a convenience store near Fairfax to grab coffee and aspirin when he noticed two men shouting in the alley beside the building.
One of the men wore an expensive gray coat already soaked by the rain.
The other man kept glancing over his shoulder like he expected someone to appear.
Buck hadn't meant to stare.
Then the man in the coat pulled a gun.
The sound of the shot still echoed in Buck's ears.
Buck had ducked behind a dumpster before either man noticed him, heart pounding hard enough to crack his ribs.
The wounded man collapsed instantly, blood spreading across the wet pavement.
And then the shooter turned.
Their eyes met.
Buck swallowed hard at the memory.
The man had seen him.
Buck glanced in the rearview mirror again.
Headlights.
The same black SUV that had been behind him for six blocks.
A chill crawled up his spine.
"Come on," he muttered, pressing harder on the gas as the light turned green.
The SUV accelerated too.
Buck reached for his phone.
Call 911.
That was the smart move.
But before he could unlock the screen, bright headlights exploded toward him from the driver's side.
A horn blared.
Metal screamed.
And then the world disappeared.
"118, respond to a multi-vehicle collision on Fountain Avenue and North Harper. Possible entrapment. One critical."
Hen looked up from her food instantly. "Fountain and Harper?"
Chimney was already halfway down the stairs. "That's a few minutes away."
Bobby frowned as they hurried toward the truck bay. "Let's move!"
Eddie jogged beside Ravi toward the truck, pulling on his turnout coat.
The rain intensified as they rolled through the streets, sirens cutting through traffic.
Athena's cruiser sped past them seconds later.
Bobby's stomach twisted.
Something felt wrong.
By the time they reached the intersection, chaos had swallowed the street.
A red Sedan had wrapped around a traffic pole hard enough to split the hood nearly in half, steam hissing from the crushed engine while a white SUV sat sideways across two lanes with its front end demolished.
Athena stepped out of her cruiser and immediately froze.
"Oh my God."
Eddie followed her gaze.
The SUV.
The Sedan.
Buck's Jeep.
For one terrible second, Eddie couldn't breathe.
Then he was moving.
"Buck!"
Bobby grabbed his arm before he reached the unstable vehicle. "Eddie! Wait!"
"That's Buck in there!"
Hen and Chimney exchanged alarmed looks.
Buck hung limp behind the wheel, blood streaking down the side of his face. The driver's side had taken the direct impact, the metal crushed inward around his legs.
Athena immediately took control of the scene, though her voice sounded thinner than usual. "LAPD already has traffic diverted. I need that SUV driver secured for questioning. Witnesses said he blew through the light."
The driver of the white SUV sat handcuffed on the curb, dazed and bleeding.
But Athena noticed something else.
A black SUV parked half a block away.
Engine running.
Watching.
But before she could approach it, the vehicle sped off into the rain.
"Athena?" Bobby called.
She tore her attention away. "Later."
The team moved with practiced precision.
Stabilize.
Hydraulics.
Glass removal.
Buck groaned weakly as Eddie climbed into the backseat to keep his neck and spine stabilized.
"Hey, hey, stay with me," Eddie said, voice shaking despite every effort to steady it.
Buck's eyelids fluttered.
Confusion filled his expression.
"Eddie...?"
Relief hit so hard Eddie nearly laughed.
"Yeah, I'm here."
Buck blinked slowly.
Then his face tightened with fear.
"Who... who's Eddie?"
Silence.
Complete and horrifying.
Hen looked up sharply from where she was checking him over.
Chimney stopped reaching for supplies.
Eddie stared at Buck like he'd been struck.
"Buck," he whispered.
Buck's breathing accelerated. "I don't— I don't know where I am."
Blood pressure dropping.
Panic rising.
Hen immediately switched into clinical mode. "Possible traumatic brain injury. Can you tell me your name?"
Buck looked between them helplessly without moving.
Rain drummed against the wreckage.
"I..."
Nothing.
His eyes filled with terror.
"I don't know."
Eddie felt the world tilt beneath him.
The waiting room at First Presbyterian was packed within an hour.
Maddie arrived with Jee-Yun, both of them nearly slipping on the wet hospital floor as Chimney caught them.
"Where is he?" Maddie demanded.
"CT scan," Chim answered softly.
Maddie's face crumpled instantly.
Karen sat beside Hen while Denny leaned against her shoulder half-asleep. Mara sat quietly nearby with May and Harry, both unusually subdued.
Christopher refused to leave Eddie's side.
"Dad," he whispered, "Buck's gonna be okay, right?"
Eddie opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because he didn't know.
Bobby paced the hallway with his arms crossed tightly.
Ravi stood near the vending machine looking devastated.
Athena finally emerged from speaking with detectives.
Her expression alone made Bobby straighten.
"What is it?"
Athena lowered her voice. "The crash wasn't random."
Every head turned.
"What do you mean?" Hen asked.
Athena glanced toward the kids before continuing carefully.
"There's surveillance footage from the convenience store near the accident." She paused. "Buck witnessed a murder."
Shock rippled through the room.
"And whoever committed it knows Buck saw them," Athena finished.
The doors to the ICU hallway opened.
A doctor stepped out.
Eddie stood immediately.
"How is he?"
The doctor offered a sympathetic smile. "Mr. Buckley is stable. He has a concussion, several broken ribs, and a fractured femur. Physically, we expect a recovery."
Maddie exhaled shakily.
But the doctor's expression darkened.
"However, the head trauma appears to have caused significant retrograde amnesia."
Silence settled heavily over the waiting room.
"How significant?" Bobby asked quietly.
The doctor hesitated.
"At the moment... he doesn't seem to remember his family, his friends, or much of his life at all."
Christopher's eyes widened.
Maddie covered her mouth.
And Eddie felt his heart break all over again.
Because somewhere inside a hospital room was the man he loved.
And Buck had no idea who any of them were.