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Eddie's first thought upon waking up was pain. His second thought was for his husband, Buck. The last thing Eddie remembered was seeing Buck's blood-spattered face, and he needed to know how badly Buck was injured.
Slowly blinking, Eddie took in the ceiling above him. He was clearly in a hospital, if the beeping machinery hadn't already clued him in, and it was daytime. That meant that Chris was probably at school.
"Ooh, there you are," said the soothing voice of Carla. Eddie blinked and she was standing over his bed, reaching for something beside his hand. She looked like she had been crying. "Let's just get the nurses in here to take a look at you."
"Buck—" Eddie tried to ask, but the word came out garbled as his throat was too dry.
"Chris is just fine," Carla reassured him. "He's at school right now."
Eddie knew that. He needed to know about Buck.
The nurses bustled in and fluttered around him for a few minutes, and Eddie did his best to stay awake through all their poking and prodding. He needed to know why Carla had been crying. He needed to know where Buck was.
Finally most of the staff left, the last nurse giving him a spoonful of ice chips before departing. Now that his mouth wasn't a desert wasteland anymore, Eddie felt able to speak again. "Buck? How badly was he injured?" he asked Carla.
"Buck isn't injured at all, baby," Carla reassured him, and relief flooded through Eddie's body, even as his brain tried to make sense of his last thoughts. He was sure he'd seen Buck, covered in blood. But he'd also been sure they were taking fire, so maybe it had been a flashback?
Carla fed him another ice chip as she said, "Buck's at work right now. We've been taking good care of Chris, and they're both going to be thrilled to know that you're awake."
"But I saw Buck, covered in blood. Injured," Eddie insisted.
Carla gently swept the bangs off of Eddie's forehead. "Baby, that was your blood. All Buck had was a little road rash from crawling under the ladder truck to get you. Physically he's just fine."
"Under the ladder truck?" Eddie parroted back.
"He kept shooting after he hit you," Carla said. "From what I understand he blew up the Captain's truck and they ended up taking the door off the ladder truck in the process of getting you out of there. It was a mess."
"But Buck's really okay? He's not injured?" Eddie persisted. He couldn't help it; Buck being injured still felt like the truth, like he had willed it into being after seeing Buck covered in blood — his blood, apparently.
"I promise, the only thing that boy is is worried for you," Carla vowed.
Eddie relaxed against the bed again. "Okay," he said softly, his eyes blinking slowly against his will.
"You just go to sleep now, and when you wake up I'll probably be back with Chris," Carla reassured him.
Eddie knew that Carla would have taken great care of Chris for however long he was unconscious — the nurse had mentioned it earlier, but Eddie hadn't retained the information. He knew Buck would have done the same, if he wasn't injured.
No, Eddie corrected himself sternly. Buck wasn't injured. His husband was at work, where he should be, and he was just fine. Eddie willed himself to believe it, even as sleep pulled at him. His last thought before falling asleep was that Buck was fine.