Chapter Text
Adriana Diaz is 24, fresh out of college and armed with little more than a degree, no plan to use it, a recently-imploded social life, and a bank account hovering dangerously close to overdraft. She scrolls through an embarrassingly sparse message history to find a text from 2019, and mouths a quiet thanks to the cloud for saving it. She messily scribbles the address '4995 South Bedford Street' onto a post-it, recalling a house she last saw for her sister-in-law’s funeral. She guesses that she's no longer welcome in Houston, after her graduation ceremony and the cold shoulders that came with it. El Paso certainly has nothing to offer beyond disappointed sighs and disapproving glares from her parents. And so she gets in her tiny, wheezing silver Nissan and heads west toward Los Angeles.
It only occurs to her when she crosses the state line from Arizona into California that Eddie could have moved out at any point in the past 7 years. It’s not like he would have thought to send her an updated address. No, he probably wouldn’t have thought to do that even if they had been talking regularly - Adri can count the number of times she’s left Texas on one hand (and she doesn’t even need all five fingers). But she’s come too far now to chicken out. She’s sure even a new renter, or owner (she can't even be sure of Eddie's financial status), the new inhabitant may have some clue on where the previous inhabitant lives. And that’s if her brother doesn’t answer the door to start with! She takes a deep breath and manages to convince herself to keep her foot on the gas.
A while later, she’s parked on the street, and knocking on 4995 South Bedford with conviction. Before she even has time to worry that Eddie’s out, the door flies open, leaving her face to face (alright, face to chest, given the size of the man) with a tall, curly-haired man wearing a very comfy-looking blue sweater. He doesn’t hide the confusion in his face, but is smiling politely either way.
“Hi?” He tries.
Behind him, she hears the shouts of a toddler. She hasn’t seen her nephew in a hot second, but she knows he’s definitely 15 and certainly not the four-year-old who appears to be doing laps around a couch she can barely glimpse behind the man. Her expression turns sheepish, sorry for interrupting this poor man and his son’s afternoon.
“Oh! I’m so sorry for interrupting. Um… I think I have the wrong house, but I’m looking for my brother. I think he used to live here? Well, I mean - I know he used to live here, circa 2019. I don’t know when you moved in, but maybe you know where he might live now?” Adri stumbles through her explanation despite rehearsing it in the car.
The man’s eyebrows knit together. She sees him mouth “2019” to himself, as if trying to reconcile timelines. Sure, 7 years is a bit of a stretch to expect anybody to remember. Despairingly, she wonders how many times the house has already exchanged hands since.
The man’s eyes light up, as if he’s figured something out. “Are you Sophia or Adriana?”
Definitely not what she expected him to say. “A- Adriana,” she answers, deeply confused.
“Eddie! Your sister Adriana’s at the door!” He turns to yell behind him, in a direction she presumes is the bedroom. He turns back to face her, smile still beaming, “Hi, by the way, I’m Buck!”
It explains nothing, but Adri nods. And impossibly, her brother appears behind the man - Buck - and his eyes widen in surprise, almost like he can’t believe what he’s seeing.
“Adri? It’s actually you! Aren’t you in college? What are you doing in LA?”
The answer’s a bit too heavy for her to get into standing in the door of her brother’s house, so she just gives her sweetest smile, bats her eyelids and says, "Graduation was last week, so I thought I’d come see my favorite brother!"
Eddie blinks. Which, fine, is an appropriate reaction to seeing your little sister for the first time in seven years with zero preparation. He schools his expression to something less in the realm of shock and horror to a more welcoming one. In fact, he gives her a soft smile. “It’s nice to see you too, Adri. Do you have somewhere you’re staying?”
Adri coughs. "Um… No. I kinda thought…" her voice trails off and loses steam as she wraps up the sentence "... I could crash with you?"
Eddie’s gaze softens. "Yeah, yeah of course. If you don’t mind the couch, you can crash here for however long you plan to stay."
Adri doesn’t have the heart to tell him that she doesn’t have an end date in mind, but she happily nods and finally passes the threshold into the home. She’s abruptly stopped by almost crashing into the four year old, filled with boundless energy, who’s still tearing a warpath through the living room.
“Oh! This is Theo. I see you’ve met Buck. Theo is Buck’s foster son. Theo, say hi to my sister Adri.”
Theo looks at Adri, wide eyed and curious, before his face morphs into the biggest smile he can muster. "Hi Adri!"
Eddie pats him on the head, and Adri narrows her eyes at the gesture. It seems almost… paternal, like something often repeated. Eddie looks back up at Adri, still wearing a smile she recalls he'd reserve only for Chris. "Chris is out at a friend's place, but he'll be back for dinner. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to have his Tia here for dinner."
Before she can respond, Theo is grabbing Eddie's leg and asking, "What's a Tia?"
Eddie bends down to scoop Theo into his arms, looking at him in the eye as he says, "It's Spanish for Aunt! Adri is my sister, so she's Chris' aunt, so he calls her his Tia Adri."
Theo seems to consider for a moment, both Buck and Eddie happy to patiently watch him process. Then, he smiles, reaching for Adri and saying, "So can I call you Tia Adri too?"
Eddie seems to almost choke on air, his eyes quickly glancing over to Buck in mild panic. But Buck simply grins, tilting his head toward Adri, as if deferring to her.
Adri startles, then nods and says, "Yeah, of course!" Her eyes dart over to Eddie, clearly indicating that this will be a conversation later, but Eddie is oblivious, bouncing Theo in his arms and turning to bring him back toward the living room.
Buck reaches toward the duffel bag by the door, and lifts it over his shoulder. "It was nice to meet you, Adri, but I've gotta run, or else I'll be late for my shift."
"Oh! Of course! Um… Your shift…" She tilts her head, as if asking a question.
"I'm a firefighter. I work with your brother at the 118." He smiles, waving to her and to Eddie and Theo, who are settling down onto the couch. "See you guys tomorrow!"
Adriana hadn't even been aware that her brother worked at the 118, which she assumes is a station number. She did recall her parents talking about Eddie's work partner in passing, which she now assumes must have been referring to Buck. Which does beg the question…
"Wait. If you guys work together, why aren't you going to work too?" She eyes Eddie suspiciously.
Eddie smiles sheepishly. "Um… I'm on… medical leave…" He mutters toward the ground.
Adri quickly scans him in panic, trying to identify whatever ailment has befallen her brother. "Medical leave?" She prods.
Eddie rubs the back of his neck, looking away from her. "Yeah… I um… Got stabbed."
"You got stabbed?" She almost screeches.
"Stabbed!" Theo repeats from the sofa.
Eddie glares at her, then at Theo, shushing him. "It wasn't that deep, seriously. I was out of the hospital in three days."
"And you didn't think to tell anybody?" Sure, Adri doesn't really keep up with her family, but she'd heard about Eddie being shot a couple years back, so she's sure she would have heard if Eddie had told anybody in their family about a recent stabbing.
"Look, I didn't need anybody to worry," Eddie sighs, his voice then dropping lower as he continues. "And I didn't need Mom and Dad thinking I needed any more help with Chris. I had everything handled."
Adri nods, something like sadness forming in her throat. She had also heard about Chris running to live with her parents last year, and knows her parents probably jumped at the opportunity to try to push Eddie out of their grandson's life. She's no stranger to their attitude towards her and her siblings, one of the many reasons she's never made the drive from Houston to El Paso over any holidays, despite going to college in the same state.
"Right. But you're… ok now?" She speaks, her mouth suddenly dry and uncomfortable, out of practice expressing concern or affection. And wholly unequipped to offer any comfort, she thinks.
Eddie smiles, finally, settling onto the couch next to Theo. "Yeah, I am. Just not allowed to work for a couple weeks while the wound heals, so I'm on babysitting duty with my favorite toddler!" He leans over to tickle Theo, and Adri smiles at the sight.
"What about Chris?" Theo asks, eyes wide.
"Well, bud, Chris isn't a toddler. He's my favorite teenager!"
Theo giggles at that, then jumps off the couch to play with some of the toys he has sprawled across the floor. Eddie looks slightly winded at the effort of sitting down on the couch, and so continues to watch Theo from his vantage point without getting up.
Adri takes the opportunity to plant herself next to her brother. "So… We don't see each other for 7 years, and you're now apparently co-parenting a toddler with your very handsome co-worker. What's that about?"
Eddie looks completely unfazed. He shrugs. "Buck also helps with Chris. Just repaying the favor."
"Oh, my mistake. So you're co-parenting two kids with your co-worker."
Eddie has the audacity to smile at her. "Well, Buck isn't just my co-worker. He's my best friend. We kind of… do everything together." He turns to look at Theo, and Adri spots something wistful in his eye, a spark she thought he'd lost after the army, overbearing parents, and a dead wife ripped it out of him.
"You know, people don't usually co-parent with their 'best friend'," Adri smirks, carefully watching Eddie's reaction. Eddie simply shrugs.
"Well, Buck and I do."
Because the truth is, Adriana Diaz had been 8 when Eddie announced that his girlfriend was pregnant, that they'd be married in the summer, and that she'd become an aunt by fall. She was 8 when she thought no, that's not right because she had quietly always assumed she'd be getting a brother-in-law instead of a sister. She was 8 when she had seen Eddie first disappear into himself, ship himself off to war and come back different, like he was slightly broken in a way that a fourteen year old little sister didn't know how to fix.
"Sure," She says, in place of the violent rumbling in her chest.
"And what about you?" Eddie asks, turning his attention to her, looking almost like a concerned parent. The way he used to look at her when he asked about her homework, when he'd make breakfast for her while their mom was busy with work, the way he pat her on her shoulder and bandage up scrapes so mom and dad wouldn't worry.
Adri sighs. "Freshly graduated! Biochem major, though I don't… know if I want to actually do something related to it," she admits, wincing.
"Hey, that's fine," Eddie offers easily. "You already have me beat by even getting a degree."
"Yeah, after a gap year and 5 whole years of undergrad. If I had taken even another semester I think Mom would have had an aneurysm." She rolls her eyes. "Are you… sure you don't mind me crashing here? It's just till I figure out what's next, I promise."
Eddie's features soften, brows creasing with something Adri reads as kindness. "Yeah, of course, Adri. Stay as long as you need, okay? I'm in no rush to chase my baby sister out, as long as you're fine with the couch." He smiles again. "Though I think Buck can attest to the fact that the couch's pretty comfy, since he used to sleep on it half the time."
Adri laughs in slight disbelief. "Okay, sorry, you co-parent two children with your best friend who also sort of lives in your house?"
"Well, not anymore! Since he started fostering Theo he's had to stay at his own place, there isn't space for both of them to sleep here," Eddie says, betraying the slightest bit of a pout at the fact.
Theo hears his name and bounds over to Eddie. "Eddie! Is it snack time yet?"
Eddie glances at the clock, then back at Theo. "Sure is, buddy. What can I get you today? Cheese sticks okay?"
Adri notes with some alarm that Theo starts vibrating as he jumps up and down. "Yes! Yes please!"
Eddie slightly ruffles Theo's hair as he stands up, wincing slightly at the slight sting in his right side, and pads off to the kitchen, giving a parting glance to Adri to instruct her to keep an eye on the ball of energy who looks like he's about to rocket through the living room.
"Hey, Theo?" Adri asks once Eddie is out of earshot.
"Yes, Tia Adri?" Theo asks sweetly, still almost jumping in place.
"Do you spend a lot of time with Eddie?" She asks, biting back a smile.
Theo nods with great gusto. "Uh huh, I'm here all the time! Or sometimes Eddie and Chris come to our house!"
"That's great," Adri says. "You know, when I was your age, Eddie was the person who took care of me the most. My mom and dad were super busy with work, so Eddie was the one who had to spend time with me."
Theo nods with understanding. "Buck says my mom and dad are gone…" Adri suddenly pauses, afraid she might have stumbled into a sore spot. Right, she chastises herself, he's a foster kid. Something probably happened to his parents. She nods at Theo with some concern, but Theo is happily continuing on. "But Buck and Eddie and Chris spend lots of time with me!"
Eddie reemerges with a plate of cheese sticks, and sets them down on a low table next to Theo. "What're you guys talking about?" He casually asks as he takes his seat on the couch again.
"Just about you and Buck," Adri smiles. "You guys seem to take really good care of him."
"Doing our best," Eddie says, fondly passing a cheese stick to Theo, who gladly chews at it violently. "Guess I got stabbed at the right time, otherwise we'd probably need to figure out a different childcare arrangement."
"Being stabbed isn't exactly something people are usually relieved about, Eddie."
Eddie shrugs, settling in and clicking the television on, the episode he was halfway through is paused, and he hits play.
"Real Housewives? Edmundo Diaz, who even are you?" Adri looks to the screen and at her brother in shock.
Eddie shrugs again, smiling. "What? I like the drama. It's just trashy enough to have on in the background when you're home alone with a toddler."
Adri looks at Eddie, really looks at him now. She sees how he's filled out in the years since she's seen him, how he's so much fuller, complete, no longer sharp, jagged edges that he'd hurt himself on. The last time she'd seen him, at his wife's funeral, he had seemed so small, so broken, like everything in him was being spent trying to hold the pieces of himself together for his son, almost unrecognizable as himself. She had barely reconciled him as the same brother who would sneakily watch telenovelas with her, who'd help braid her hair when mom was too busy, who secretly taught her to dance when dad told her she was too young.
This Eddie in front of her today, who was all rounded edges, blank spaces colored in with bright paint, was more like the Eddie she remembered. He smiles a crooked smile so familiar that Adriana's heart spins.
"I missed you, Eddie," She says, barely registering the words before they spill out of her mouth.
Eddie looks stunned for a moment, before his features melt with affection. "Yeah, I missed you too Adri."
💛💙
Chris takes a moment when he enters the house to study Adri. She winces, acknowledging that she's been absent from her nephew's life in the past 7 years, and she doesn't really expect him to even remember her, so it's a bit of a surprise when an easy smile forms and he breezily says, "I think I was really little when I last saw you, but I remember you."
Before she knows it, she's wrapping him into a tight hug as Chris says, "Hi, Tia Adri." Eddie observes from the kitchen counter, plating penne for four, and fondly smiling.
Dinner is a boisterous affair, with Chris giving a run down of his day at his friend Marcus' house, Theo interrupting intermittently with exclamations of excitement, and Eddie nodding along with rapt attention. Adri thinks it's a miracle at all that there isn't more penne tossed against the wall, with how much gesturing Theo and Chris are doing, but she happily lets the rowdy chatter wash over her, lets it almost remind her of late nights in Houston at her own dining table with a different group of chatterboxes. Realizing what she's doing, she quickly cuts the memory short and shoves it aside, willing herself to stay present in her brother's home instead.
As she's washing the dishes, Chris and Theo distracted by the switch in the bedroom, Eddie comes up to her. "Hey, you're a guest, you don't have to do the dishes."
"I'm trying to earn my keep here," she jokes. "I can't just live here rent free, eating your food forever. Which, by the way, you've gotten so much better at. No more smoke alarms being set off, I assume?"
Eddie's eyes widen. "You remember that? You were like… two years old."
"Well, Mom and Dad won't stop bringing it up at family reunions. Like it's some kind of funny family anecdote," Adri pauses, staring at the soapy suds on the plate she's holding, her grip tightening on the plate as she huffs. "I always kind of thought it was fucked up of them to laugh at a twelve year old who was just trying to take care of his sisters."
"Langu-" Eddie says almost unconsciously, before looking bashful. "Sorry, force of habit. I have to keep telling myself you're not that fifteen-year-old I said goodbye to in El Paso." He assesses Adri then, and the look in his eyes is unmistakably one of pride.
"Yeah, well, you kind of did more to raise me than Mom or Dad, so I get it." She says with a small smile, met with a small tug at the sides of Eddie's lips. A moment of silence passes between them then, and Adri mutters, "I guess it was also kind of fucked up that I never bothered to really keep up with you after you left."
"Hey, no." Eddie's eyes suddenly light with concern. "Phones go two ways, Adri. I was the adult then, you were a teenager. That's on me, okay?"
She nods, sniffing slightly in an attempt to hold back ill-timed tears which are threatening to spill. "Can I ask… why you never reached out either?"
Eddie sighs, but his response emerges faster and more honest than Adri expects. "Shame." Eddie looks to the floor. "I was a young single dad, my wife had left me after I left her first and I was so sure I'd fucked everything up in my life. I was gonna fail my family and my son and I was so ashamed, so I ran across the country and decided not to call or talk to anybody in El Paso until I fixed it all."
"Did you?" Adri looks cautiously at Eddie. "Fix it?"
Eddie laughs humorlessly. "I'm uh… I guess I'm still working on that."
Adri realizes with a start that she isn't that dissimilar. She had blown up everything good in her life in Houston and decided to run across the country, a phone with tens of blocked contacts in hand. But she had run to the only place she felt was a safe harbor amid the turbulence of her fraught social implosion.
"When I saw you today," Adri says instead. "I thought you looked happier than I've ever remembered."
"Yeah?" Eddie hums, deciding then to wipe down the kitchen counter to give his hands something to do. He looks pleased.
"I think you've built something really good here, Eddie." She admits, something in her heart twisting with grief at her own life in comparison. "When you first got married, left for the army. I know I was 8, but all I remember was thinking that my big brother was sad, like something was out of place," She momentarily wonders if she should be admitting this to Eddie, like it's somehow tainting the memory of Shannon. "But today I looked at you in that living room, at dinner, and it seemed right instead."
Eddie's face does something complicated that Adri can't really read. A mixture of relief and sadness mix before finally settling into a pressed smile. He looks up at Adri, voice soft, "Yeah… I'm pretty happy with the life I have now. I never… I never knew you thought I was sad."
"I think I've thought that for so long, it just became part of how I remembered you. For years, every time I saw you when you were back from the army, working three jobs, trying to raise Chris. You just got sadder and sadder. And when you left and never called I just assumed you were trying to leave El Paso because it was making you sad, so I never called either. But even at Shannon's funeral, you'd been in LA for over a year, but you still looked so sad."
"You know none of it was about you, right? I had a lot going on in my life then," Eddie says, tone even and careful. "I was struggling, PTSD, depression, trying to keep myself afloat and pretend it was all ok when it wasn't. Trying to put up a strong front so none of you would worry about me. And sometimes I still struggle. But none of it was because of you or Soph, you guys were the best part of growing up in El Paso."
Adri rinses her hands off and wraps Eddie in a hug. "I'm sorry I didn't call."
"Me too," Eddie breathes. "But I'm really glad you still came today."
Adri's breath catches, and her voice falters as she finally confesses, "Eddie… I think I really fucked my own life up. I don't know what to do." She knows she's not exactly giving any context to Eddie, but she doesn't really want solutions at this point, she just wants to bury her head and hide in the arms of her big brother.
Eddie rubs circles into her back as he assures her, "We can figure it out together, ok?"
Adri nods into her big brother's shoulder.
💛💙
Buck barrels into the Diaz house the next morning with far more energy than somebody coming off a 24-hour shift should reasonably have. He's immediately pounced on by Theo, with Chris hanging back to greet him with the practiced nonchalance of a dignified teenager. Adriana is up, lounging on the sofa which had been her bed the previous night. She has to admit, the couch is pretty comfortable, especially for her 5'4 body. She can't imagine how Buck had managed to squeeze all 6 plus feet of himself onto the same couch, especially with the frequency Eddie implied.
Buck beams at Adri, saying, "Hey Adriana! Hope your first day in LA went well?"
"Yep," Adri nods. "Didn't really do much other than hang around the house with Eddie and chat, but it was a good time."
"Well, you should get out! We need to take you to see LA while you're here!"
"O-oh, there's no real need. I'm more than happy just to spend time with my brother. Besides, you have two kids to take care of."
Chris rolls his eyes. "I'm fifteen, not five."
"And the kids are staying over at Hen's tonight! That's another of our friends at the 118. She and her wife have two kids, the older one is about the same age as Chris." Buck looks at Adri, winking. "So let me and Eddie take you out tonight, see the sights!"
"Um… Don't you need to… I don't know, rest after your shift?" Adri asks, unsure about a night out.
"I'll just take a nap now. Should be ready to go by dinner time. Let me tell Eddie," Buck is speaking a mile a minute, clearly excited.
"Tell me what?" Eddie emerges from the kitchen, a juice box in his left hand and a glass of orange juice in his right, which he passes off to Theo and Chris respectively. "There's pancakes in the kitchen, by the way."
"We're taking Adri out tonight!" Buck declares. Eddie looks warily at Adri before nodding. "Thanks for pancakes, Eddie, I'll eat and then crash and be ready before dinner. You good to bring the kids to the Wilsons? I told them 5pm."
"Yeah, of course. You rest up, I got this." Eddie smiles. Adri notes the distinct domesticity in the scene, trying to commit to memory the way her brother's eyes sparkle, in a way unlike anything she's seen before. It settles something in her, relieves the tension in her chest. Like some subconscious worry for her brother that's been bundled up inside her for years unknotting itself at last.
As Buck disappears into the kitchen, Adri sighs. She says, not without some levity, "I guess I don't really have a choice here, huh?"
Eddie laughs, "Buck's stubborn like that. It'll be fun. Promise."
And Adri has always trusted her brother, so she finally nods her head in acquiescence.
💛💙
A bar on a Friday night is definitely not Adriana's scene. She had deftly avoided most nights out at the bar through her college career, silently grateful that the 2-year age gap with many of her peers allowed her to pull the "I'm too old for this" card, opting instead for quiet nights in with a small group of friends. Friends who are no longer speaking to her, so she supposes nights out at the bar with her brother and brother's best friend are all she has left.
Perhaps her discomfort is written plain on her face, because she finds Eddie hovering a little too much in the booth they're situated in.
"You really okay with this? You don't look like you're having a lot of fun," Eddie says, looking a little weary himself.
"Just not really my thing. But I'm happy to be here if it means I get to spend some time with you and Buck. Really."
"Okay, but say the word and we can head home. I'm serious." Eddie gives her a reassuring look, and Adri nods.
Buck returns from the bar, drinks in hand, and carefully places beers in front of Eddie and Adri, with a sparkling water in front of himself. Adri tilts her head at that, wondering aloud, "You're not drinking tonight?"
She feels Eddie stiffen slightly, while Buck rubs his hand along his nape. "Oh, um," Buck stutters. "I had a bit of a drug dependency problem a few months back, so no substances or alcohol for me." He smiles a little too quickly afterward, trying to assure Adri.
"Oh! I'm so sorry. Oh my god, why'd you bring me to a bar, then?"
Buck shrugs. "I don't know, you're young and fresh out of college, I thought it might be more familiar, y'know, not as lame as like going bowling or something."
Adri laughs out loud, saying, "Buck, I love bowling. Honestly, I'm happy to do anything as long as I can spend time with you guys and get out a little, okay?"
Eddie, finally untensing, pats Buck on the shoulder. "We'll get it right next time, bud. Thanks for planning and organizing this tonight. And for being designated driver." He sips his beer with intention. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quick. Both of y'all be nice." His tone is light as he slides out of the booth and saunters to the bathroom.
Adri turns to face Buck, whose eyes are still trained on Eddie's silhouette fading into the crowd. A sly smile plays on her lips as she prepares to playfully rib him, when her attention is pulled by familiar voice that almost slams her brain against a wall.
"Adri? What the hell are you doing here?"
She whips her head around, much faster than is healthy for her neck, and finds herself face to face with Jason Garcia. She's immediately wincing, her internal monologue completely jammed, printing nothing but the word fuck over and over.
"Hey, Jason. Why are you in LA?" She hears herself almost whimper, while Buck watches on with some hesitation.
"Got that internship I was gunning for. Which you would have known if you had bothered to talk to anybody at all," Jason responds, words dripping with venom and starting to slur. "What the fuck, Adri, you disappear off the face of the earth and run off to LA, and I find you in some bar on a date with a random guy?"
"Woah," Buck quickly interrupts. "This is not a date. I'm her brother's friend."
Jason scoffs, "Sure, dude."
Adri's face is buried in her hands.
Jason continues, slightly incensed, "Did she tell you she just got out of a three-year relationship? No? Go on, Adri, tell him. Tell him all about how I proposed to you and you dumped me and told me you never loved me. And then disappeared from Houston and ghosted me all the way to another fucking state. And just two weeks later, here you are, totally moved on! Fuck you, Adri. What the hell is this?"
Fuck. Adri feels herself laid bare in front of Buck, who she met yesterday, who is definitely judging her. Who's probably going to tell Eddie how she fucked up and get her kicked out of the only home she has right now.
But instead, Buck's tone takes a slightly crueler edge as he responds, "Hey man, I don't know you, but you're drunk and you're not speaking to my best friend's sister that way. I'm gonna suggest you get the hell away from her."
Jason studies Buck, laughing with a slight hysterical edge. "Wow, already under her spell, huh? Some advice, dude, don't believe a word she says. She led me on for three fucking years, man. What kind of insane bitch does that?" He stumbles slightly, clearly intoxicated.
"What the hell did you call my sister?" Eddie suddenly appears behind Jason, closing the gap between them in a few large strides. Jason's eyes widen slightly when he finds himself inches from Eddie's face, his breath hot on Jason's clammy face. Jason takes a step backwards, faltering slightly on the sticky hardwood floor. "You heard my friend. You should back off before either of us does something we regret," Eddie practically growls.
Jason throws his hands up, muttering a half-hearted "whatever" before turning and skulking away. Adri is left crying into her hands, apologizing for the scene that just unfolded on her behalf.
Eddie is immediately beside her, hands on her shoulders, his voice suddenly stripped of all malice. "Hey, it's okay, Adri. You wanna talk about it?"
"Um… Not really." Adri admits. "Can we just forget that happened, for tonight? I promise, we can talk about it another time."
"Of course," Eddie smiles, clinking his beer against Buck's glass. The three of them ease into lighter conversation and pretend that evidence of Adriana's destroyed life didn't lay in tatters on the floor of the bar around them.
💛💙
They don't talk about that night, or about Jason, or about what the hell Adriana's going to do now that she's out of a three-year relationship, completely friendless, jobless and directionless. Adri is sure that Buck pretty much has a good idea of what went down in Houston now, and he's surely told Eddie about it. She sees the way her brother looks at her with trepidation, working at his lower lip, not knowing how to breach the topic and choosing instead to talk circles around it.
And she gets it, she really does. If she had a little sister who she practically raised, she'd want to know she was okay, that she had a plan on how to move forward from the utter destruction she'd left in her wake a couple of states away. But the truth is, Adri has no clue what she's going to do. She has no plan, no good ideas, and definitely no real support system beyond her big brother (who now only very tentatively knows the truth). She'd been too ashamed to call Sophia, who still lived close enough to her parents that she was afraid the words might bleed into the air, somehow reach her parents' ears and fuel their judgemental stares and disappointed head-shakes.
But it's also not for lack of trying. She's taken countless career aptitude tests online, done a ton of research, even very very briefly flirted with the idea of following in her brother's footsteps and becoming a firefighter (which she quickly dismissed when she realized her noodle arms probably wouldn't even be able to lift a fire hose). Beyond wanting a career that she finds fulfilling, that will make a difference, she's come up with nothing at all.
It's another slow afternoon, Buck's on shift again, and Adri is rubbing her face as she mindlessly scrolls through listicles online about the coolest jobs in the world, when this all changes. Eddie is on the phone, frantically rushing into the living room, Theo in his arms. He looks distraught, his usually overly-gelled hair loose and floppy, eyes wild and lips trembling.
"Yeah, okay, I'm on my way with the kids," Eddie quickly rasps into the phone, clearly visibly scanning for his car keys.
Adri swiftly stands from the sofa, grabbing the keys from the coffee table and walks over to Eddie.
Eddie eyes the keys, and says, "Thanks. Um… Buck's in the hospital, just got the call from our captain. I'm taking the kids, can you help me bring Theo to the car and…" He turns toward Chris' room and pitches his voice at a slightly higher volume. "Chris! We gotta go to the hospital!"
Chris is quickly out of the room, looking concerned. "Is Buck ok?" He asks as he quickly pieces together the situation.
"I'm not sure yet, but we'll find out when we're there, okay?"
Adri quickly reaches over to receive Theo, and brings him out to Eddie's truck, strapping him into the kid's seat in the back. Chris and Eddie follow swiftly, and the four of them are soon speeding off to Cedars-Sinai.
Eddie bursts into the ER like a man possessed, Adri notes, as she trails behind him with Theo 's hand in hers, and Chris ambling by their side. Eddie is greeted by a few firefighters in uniform, which Adri assumes must be the rest of the 118. She reaches them in time to hear the Asian man, wearing a captain's patch on his uniform, telling Eddie, "Surgery will be another 30 minutes or so, then we can see him. He should be fine, Eddie."
Adri watches Eddie take a deep breath, and with an exhale, he's like a puppet with its strings cut, tension draining from him as he sags into a waiting room chair. He quickly rights himself, remembering his surroundings, and turns to the rest of his team to add, "Right. This is my sister Adriana, she's in town after graduating and staying at my place right now." Turning toward Adri, he introduces her to his team. "This is Chim, our captain. And that's Hen, Ravi and Harry."
Adri smiles at each of them, happy to put a face to some of the stories she's heard from Buck and Eddie over the past couple days. After exchanging brief pleasantries, she settles on a seat next to Eddie, Chris on his other side and Theo squirming in Eddie's lap. It doesn't take more than five minutes before Theo gets impatient, asking Eddie, "Where's Buck?" with tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
"Doctors are looking at him now, okay? We'll see him soon. He'll be ok." Eddie's attempts to soothe Theo placate him briefly, but Adri sees the same worry and restlessness in Theo's expression reflected in Eddie. The same sense of helplessness hanging in the air across the whole waiting room. The clawing anxiety that manifests in tapping feet and itchy fingers. She hates the feeling, hates how it makes her feel like her skin is crawling and her neck is itchy.
She turns to the firefighter next to her, Hen, she remembers, and whispers, "What exactly happened to Buck?"
Hen responds, too quiet for Chris or Theo to hear, "We were clearing a building on fire and a column fell on him, crushed his knee pretty good, and he hit his head a little on the way down. We assessed him on site, his leg's broken in maybe 5 different ways for sure, but other than that he just has a slight concussion."
Adri exhales, slight relief in the act, as she assures herself Buck will be fine. It doesn't exactly clear the anxiety permeating in the atmosphere, but she feels like something in her has somewhat unclenched.
A young woman strides quickly into the waiting room, and Eddie quickly jumps to his feet, with the rest of the team quickly following.
"May!" Eddie says with some relief. "Do you have news about Buck?"
The woman, May, smiles a reassuring smile and says, "He's out of surgery. Dr. Monroe says it went well, and you guys will be able to see him soon, I'll let you guys know when we've set him up?"
Eddie rests a hand on her shoulder, almost like he's bracing himself from falling over in relief. "Thanks, May."
"No worries, Eddie." May says, quirking an eyebrow at him. "Take care of yourself too. I'll be back, ok?"
May turns to leave, and Adri scoots up to Eddie, "Sounds like good news?"
"Yeah," Eddie says breathlessly, finally smiling. "Oh, I forgot to introduce you to May. She's Harry's sister and a friend of most of us at the 118. And she's a nurse-in-training here."
"Oh! How long has she been training? Seems like she's already got this nurse thing handled." Adri notes.
"Just a couple weeks. She's on an accelerated program for college graduates. Her major wasn't really related to nursing, but she used to work at Dispatch - with me actually - so her past experience was pretty helpful in boosting her application," Eddie answers, slightly distracted at Theo who's started to release some restless energy by running circles around Eddie.
"Wait, you worked at Dispatch?"
"Yeah, I left the 118 for a while after the shooting, Chris was wor-" Eddie starts to ramble mindlessly, then stops himself with a slight shake. "This is maybe a story for another time."
Adri nods, the sprout of an idea already blossoming in her chest. She turns to look at the rest of the 118, tentative smiles now spreading all around, and it waters the germinating desire in her.
It's another half an hour of waiting before they're allowed into a room, where Buck is lying on a hospital bed, his leg in a huge cast, cuts and scratches peppering his face, with some attempt at having been cleaned. He looks sheepish as Eddie strides in, Theo and Chris in tow.
"Look, before you get mad, it was a freak accident. I didn't do anything crazy!" Buck starts defending himself, looking tired from a long shift, groggy from surgery, but still sporting an easy grin. Eddie frowns, scanning Buck as if assessing for more damage, before exhaling and reaching over to give his shoulder a tight squeeze.
"Buck! What's this?" Theo reaches for and almost manages to poke Buck's cast before Chris reaches over and stops him.
"That's a cast. You have to wear that when you break a bone, to protect it while it's getting fixed." Chris explains. Adri realizes that it sounds so much like how Eddie would explain the ways of the world to her as a child. It doesn't go unnoticed how the wide-eyed wonder in Theo's eyes match hers as a four-year-old, who thought her fourteen-year-old older brother knew everything, could do it all.
Wide-eyed and mouth gaping, Theo continues, "Your bone broke? Does it hurt?"
"Yeah, it really hurt. But the doctors made it a lot better. That's why you always gotta be careful, bud. If you fall and break a bone, it'll hurt a lot!" Buck laughs, and Theo nods, behaving as if he's just been imparted sagely wisdom.
Eddie, who still hasn't said a word, finally lets go of his scowl. His lips turn upward in a tentative smile as he watches Theo closely examine the cast, Chris hovering next to him to make sure he doesn't try to get physical with Buck's broken body again. Adri notices when Eddie finally takes another look at Buck, convinces himself that Buck is fine, and lets out a long exhale. She watches as relief lets him finally set down his tense shoulders.
The room starts getting a little crowded as the rest of the 118 stream in, so she smiles and nods at Buck, saying "I'm glad you're okay," before excusing herself to the hallway, where she runs into May.
"Oh, hey! My brother told me you're a friend of the 118, May, right?" Adriana introduces herself casually.
May smiles, "Yeah, they're like family to me, kind of grew up around them because my parents knew them all, but over time they've become like aunts, uncles, and siblings to me. Except Ravi, I mean, he's my boyfriend. Definitely not a brother," she offers easily. She looks at Adri for a moment, before saying, "Is Eddie your brother? I'm just guessing, but you do look alike."
Something about that makes Adri feel warm. She'd always loved when people likened her to her siblings, especially when people could tell they were related without them saying, like it was another unbreakable bond that tied them together, that they were linked even without words. She nods, the comfort settling into her chest. "Actually, he also told me something that I wanted to ask you about."
"Sure, ask away."
"What's the application process like for your nursing program? I'm thinking of becoming a nurse."