Chapter Text
Buck had been feeling off for the past few months. He started feeling weird when pains in his chest and in his upper abdomen appeared. They weren’t too bad at first so, he just figured he must have been sore, or just was overworking himself.
The pain was sharp and stabbing. They became more noticeable after a few weeks of having them. He still just thought he needed to slow down and maybe go and see his doctor. He scheduled an appointment for the following week just to be safe and get it checked out. He continued on with his week as normal, pushing through the pain when it became sharper and deeper.
It was 12 hours into a 24 hour shift when they got a call to an apartment fire. When they arrived the fire was already crawling from the third floor where it started to the fifth floor. The truck halted to a stop and they all jumped out to assist wherever they were needed. “Hen, Chimney I need you in triage with patients who have already been evacuated. Buck, Eddie gear up, you’re going in for search and rescue!” Cap yelled. They all replied in unison “Got it Cap!”
Buck and Eddie made quick time of getting their gear on and secure. Once they had it on they made their way to the front entrance of the building, and to the flights of stairs they needed to climb up to get to the third floor. They made it to the first hallway where it looked like mostly everyone had evacuated in time. There were still a few doors closed so they decided to split up and knock on of all of them to make sure no one was left behind. “We should split up, you take this side, I’ll take the other.” Eddie yelled as he made his way to the other side of the hallway. Buck nodded in conformation.
Walking to his first door he called out “LAFD! Is anyone in there!” He didn’t hear anything so he made his way to the next door. He did the same thing for each door until his second to last door someone responded. “Help, I’m in here!” He put his hand up to the door. It didn’t feel hot so he backed up to kick it in. “Get away from the door I’m coming in!” He kicked the door as hard as he could. That’s when he felt the sudden sharp pain in his chest. He tried to ignore it, but it was worse than it had been before. He had to take a minute to regain himself before he tried kicking in the door again. This time he used all of his strength to kick the door in. The door came open on impact, and he made his way into the apartment to look for the victim.
“Ma’am, where are you?” He was yelling as loud as he could with the pain in his chest becoming harder and harder to ignore.
“I’m over here. In the kitchen.” She didn’t sound very far away. He could just barely make out where the kitchen was. The whole apartment was covered in thick black smoke, which made it difficult to see. As he moved closer towards what he was mostly sure was the kitchen, he could see the victim crouching near the refrigerator. She didn’t seem hurt just stuck from not being able to see through all the smoke. He walked over and crouched down next to her. “Ma’am are you injured?”
“No, I don’t think so. Just stuck sitting here, I couldn’t see to be able to get out.” She sounded scared as one normally would be.
“Alright I’m gonna give you this mask to help you breathe. Just put it on and I can guide you through to the exit. Can you walk?”
“Yes.” He handed her his mask to put on. He knew he wasn’t supposed to, but she had already been in the smoke for this long, he could last long enough to get to the exit. They were slow coming out of the apartment but they made their way through. The hallway was going up in flames quickly. The roar of the fire was so loud he could hardly hear himself think. He could still feel the sharp pain in his chest that was now affecting his ability to walk properly. Every little movement made it feel like he was gonna pass out. He pushed through though. His job was to save people and that was what he was doing. Walking through the hallway he could see Eddie walking with another victim. He had given his mask to them too.
They made it to the stairs with Eddie and the man he was helping guide to the exit close behind them. Every step Buck took felt like a mile. It was getting harder and harder to push through. He kept telling himself just get this lady out of here then you can stop and take a break. He knew he wasn’t gonna take a break, he just wanted to make sure he got the victim out safely. There were probably more people still in there that needed his help. And that was what he was gonna do. Help them. So, once he got the lady out, he went back in and brought another one out. He knew he was putting himself and others at risk, but he didn’t want to seem like a failure or a disappointment. He’s always being a liability. He needs to show everyone, especially Bobby. That he’s capable. That he’s good at what he does. And if that means pushing through the pain, so be it. If he focused more on what he was doing the less the pain was noticeable.
He got the same sharp, deep, stabbing pain in his chest before. It’s just never happened while on a call. Normally it goes away within 30 minutes to an hour, but now that he’s actually doing stuff it’s sticking with him and being a pain in his ass and chest; literally. Him and Eddie had brought the last victim out and now they were doing clean up. He was hoping his chest would stop hurting while he helped with cleanup, but it didn’t. He could see Eddie throwing him concerned looks ever time he got the chance. He must look worse than he thinks.
They were all piling back into the truck when Eddie came up to him.
“Hey man, are you okay?” He sounded very concerned.
“Yeah, why would I not be?” Buck tried to walk away but Eddie grabbed his arm.
“I don’t know. You tell me. You’re the one who is clearly in pain. Every step you take you're wincing, you’re sweating, and out of breath.” Of course he’s sweating and out of breath, they just walked through a burning building.
“We literally just walked through a burning building. Anyone would be sweating and out of breath after that.”
“You know what I mean. You’re sweating more than usual and you should have caught your breath by now.” He was gonna ask why Eddie knew how much he usually sweated, but decided against it.
“Yeah well, I’ve just been more tired than usual. I think maybe I’m catching a cold or something.” He was taking the easy way out.
“This seems like more than a cold. I really think you should get checked out by Hen or Chim.”
“I don’t need to get checked out, I’m fine!” Buck knew he shouldn’t have snapped but the pain in his chest was getting worse and he was becoming irritated. Before Eddie could say anything he jerked his arm from his grasp and got inside the truck. The ride back felt like it would never end. It was awkwardly silent in the truck. Eddie had sat in a seat on the other side of the fire truck wanting to give Buck some space. Everyone had heard their little spit early as it was right outside the truck everyone was sitting in. Buck didn’t really care, he just wanted the pain in his chest to stop.
When they arrived at the firehouse, Buck was the first one out of the truck, the first one to head into the shower, and the first one to go inside the bunks. He was pretty much dead tired and all he could focus on right now was the pain in his chest. It was starting to subside, but it still left an achy feeling. Almost like phantom pain, like he’s expecting it to be there all the time now.
He chose one of the bunks in the far right corner of the room and plopped himself right on top of the covers. He knew someone would be coming to check up on him, as this is definitely not like his normal self. He just hoped they would wait until he could maybe get a little bit of sleep. Of course that didn’t happen. Not even five minutes later somebody walked into the bunk room. That somebody was the one and only Bobby Nash. He looked up to see him walking over to where he was at.
“Bobby, I’m fine.” Even he knew he didn’t sound convincing.
“Yeah right. You’re totally fine.” Buck thought that might have been the most sarcastic voice he had ever heard.
“Yes, you’re right, I am.”
“No, you’re not. You need to tell me what’s going on. Maybe me or one of the team can help you.” Yeah they could totally help with this Buck thought to himself. He slowly sat up and sighed as he started to tell Bobby what’s been going on with him.
“I-I don’t exactly know. For the past few weeks or months I’ve been getting these really sharp stabbing pains in my chest, and like my upper abdomen.” He waved toward where the pain was at with his hands. “It’s like it will flare up at random times then it will go away. I guess today it just lasted longer and now it has me scared.”
“It sounds like something you need to get checked out.”
“I know. I am getting it checked out. I already scheduled an appointment with my doctor. So, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine as of right now. The pain has kind of gone away now.”
“Well there’s only a few hours left of our shift so I’m sending you home-ah no arguing. You look like you could use the rest anyways. To be completely honest you look like crap.”
“Gee thanks cap, and fine I’ll go home only because I actually am pretty tired.” He really was. He could probably fall asleep standing up at this point. They both made their way out of the bunk room and Buck headed to the locker room to get his stuff. As he was walking to his jeep Eddie appeared in front of him.
“Hey, where are you going?” He sounded and looked confused.
“Cap sent me home. Said I look like crap and could use the rest.” He hoped Eddie wouldn’t ask anymore questions as he was ready to get home.
“Alright, well you go do that I guess. And you really do look like crap. It’s probably a good thing Cap’s sending you home.”
“Gee thanks again. Everyone is telling me I look like crap I didn’t think I looked that bad”
“You look that bad.” Eddie said with a blunt expression.
“Yeah yeah whatever. I’m gonna get going now, hopefully I can beat some of this traffic and try to not fall asleep while driving. I’ll see you at our next shift?”
“Yeah I’ll see you later. Bye Buck, and please try to not fall asleep while driving. That wouldn’t be good.” Buck smiled at that and turned toward his jeep. He got in and put his key in the ignition, feeling the rumble of the engine as it turned on. The traffic wasn’t too bad so he was able to make it to his loft in record time. As soon as he made it inside he went straight to his bed. Within a minute he was out like a light.