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1
"What's you name, ma'am?" Buck asks, giving the old lady a soft smile before giving her a quick once over to check for injuries.
A hand lands on Buck's bicep, "I'm Carrie."
Buck ignores the hand on him, very used to it at this point when going to nursing homes or just homes of the elderly. "Hi, Carrie. I'm Buck, we're here to help you. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Oh, it was so silly. I was cooking and slipped. My son should have never called you guys, I'm fine," Carrie sounds like the typical old lady, who is trying not to be a bother, it's almost sweet if it didn't make their job more complicated, "I really just need a hand to get up."
Buck keeps smiling at her, because it's hard not to, it's funny. Kids and old people are some of Buck's favorite calls. "Well, seeing as he did call, we need to check you out. Do you mind?" Buck gestures to her hips, needing to make sure she didn't hurt herself.
"Sure, go ahead," Carrie gets the glint in her eyes that Buck also knows too well, "How old are you, Buck?"
Buck doesn't even stop his assessing to answer, "I'm 32."
"You know, I have a wonderful granddaughter just about your age, I think she would be great for you," Carrie raises her eyebrows, smiling brightly when Buck looks up at her.
Again, it's not the first time it's happened, but for once Buck doesn't laugh it off, saying no thank you, "As much as I appreciate the offer, I'm actually married."
"Lucky woman," Carrie only sounds a little disappointed, but she also sounds very interested.
"That I am," Eddie says as he lowers the stretcher.
Buck and everyone else on the team are trying very hard not to laugh at the expression on Carrie's face, but it's proving to be incredibly difficult. Carrie's face is moving between shock, surprise, intrigue, disappointment, and then immediately to delight.
Before Carrie can start anything, Hen steps in and takes over for Buck. Which gives Buck plenty of time to look at his husband.
It still feels great to be able to say that. That's Eddie. My husband. Buck still isn't used to it. Considering it has only been a month (34 days, but who's counting) since they got married, Buck decides that it's fair.
The glint of joy in Eddie's eyes tells Buck he is enjoying it, too.
2
Eddie is there the fastest, his arms wrapping around the woman charging for the burning house.
"You can't go in there," Eddie hates having to tell her that, but it's true. If she goes in there she will just be another person to rescue.
The woman struggles against Eddie, not that it matters much seeing as he's quite a bit bigger than her and he's practically holding her above ground. "Let me go! My husband is in here! I need to help him."
"I'm sorry, but you can't. If you go in there you could die," Eddie tries to insist, something that works more often than not - never when it's a parent going for their kid.
Her arm breaks free from Eddie's hold and very nearly smacks him in the face. "I don't care, I need him!"
"I understand-"
Anger enters her voice with such venom that Eddie almost forgets to hold her back, "Oh really, is your husband in there?"
"Yes, he is," Eddie answers simply, "My husband ran in there to save yours, and I want him to come back out, just as much as you want yours, so I need you to stay put."
That seems to take the wind out of her sails. At least a little. She goes slightly limp in Eddie's arms, anger seemingly replaced by worry and fear. She starts shaking with sobs, and Eddie really can't blame her. The only reason he doesn't feel fear tearing him apart is because he knows that his husband knows how to get out alive. This isn't a traumatizing thing for Eddie that only happens in his nightmares. Watching the man he loves run into or be in a burning building happens to Eddie on almost a daily basis. And if Buck isn't in a fire there is something else dangerous going on.
That doesn't mean that Eddie isn't relieved when Buck makes it out. Because he is. Eddie feels air come a little easier to him when he gets to bump his husband's shoulder.
3
Eddie hates these calls to the point where he'd rather have latrine duty than go on these calls.
The bass is still hammering through the speakers so loudly that Bobby has to shout to be heard, despite being within arm's reach. People are dancing and drinking, some seemingly completely unaware of the emergency happening somewhere in the house.
"Gotta love frat houses," Buck shouts, though he doesn't look like he means it. Actually, Buck looks like he's getting some flashbacks that he's regretting.
No one pokes fun at him, all of them too busy trying to get through the crowd. It's technically a medical call, but when you get dispatched to a place like this it's always better to have more people to ensure that Hen and Chimney have the space that they need.
So, Buck and Eddie are standing between the emergency and the rest of the party.
Okay, maybe Eddie doesn't mind this quite as much, because it gives him an excuse to lean against Buck without it interfering with his job. He gets a side glance from Bobby that tells him he knows exactly what Eddie is doing, but he just rolls his eyes and turns his attention beck to Hen and Chimney.
"Damn, daddy."
Nevermind. Eddie hates these calls with a burning passion.
Beside him Buck tries and fails to suppress a snort of a laugh. He doesn't look at all guilty when Eddie sends him a look.
"Excuse me?" Eddie asks, because he has to be polite to the drunk twenty something in front of him.
The young woman doesn't seem to give a damn about the fact that he's clearly working, though she might not notice, she seems quite drunk. "I said, damn daddy," she shouts louder, as if Eddie hadn't heard her, "You're hot!"
"Okay," Eddie shouts back, elbowing Buck in the side. It's rude of Eddie. The 'okay', not the elbowing Buck he deserves that.
"Wanna get out of here?" Her eyes actually look glazed over. Enough so that Eddie consider actually getting her out of there and putting her in the back of the ambulance to take to the hospital.
"No," then because he doesn't actually want to hurt her feelings more than necessary, "Sorry, I'm married."
The woman puts her hand on his shoulder, sliding it down his arm, "I don't mind, she can join if she wants."
Buck has to turn around, shaking with laughter beside Eddie now. "No thank you, I don't share my husband. And he doesn't either."
"Oh," she looks disappoint for a second, within which Buck has turned back around, "What about you, sexy?"
In this scenario there are two option for how Buck would react. He might laugh again, because this is ridiculous when you're stone cold sober. Or he might turn to look at Eddie with the soppiest look on his face.
He chooses the second option. "Sorry, like my husband said, we don't share," Buck says not looking at the woman to see her be disappointed again.
They are saved from any further conversation by Chimney shouting, "Let's move."
4
Buck and Eddie hadn't been able to have a proper honeymoon. All they'd done was a single night stay at a hotel in town. And it's not like they really can now either. Not with Theo officially adopted by both of them.
Okay, sure they probably could, but Buck doesn't want to leave him for too long at a time. He just can't, not yet anyway.
So, instead of going on a honeymoon, the entire Buckley-Diaz family is on vacation a little further up the coast from LA. It's nothing fancy, just an Airbnb close to the water.
Buck still doesn't love getting in the ocean, so he's sitting on a towel with all their things surrounding them, Chris lying next to him with a book. Eddie is out in the water throwing Theo around. Literally. Eddie will pick up the little boy raise him high in the air and throw him out deeper into the water. Theo squeals of joy every time his head is above water and he moves back to Eddie as fast as he possibly can.
Watching them, Buck can't not want to memorialize this. So, he grabs his phone and films them. He really hopes that the microphone pics up on the sound of them. How Eddie counts down before he throws Theo, how Theo laughs as he goes through the air, his loud "Again, again" when he makes it over to Eddie, his arms stretched up towards Eddie.
"It's so nice," a voice says next to Buck. A woman is sitting down on Eddie's towel, closer to Buck than perhaps necessary. If Buck had to guess she's a couple years older than him.
Buck blinks at her, stopping his recording and lowering his phone, "What?"
"Having friends who get along with your kids so well," she says like it's obvious.
Buck almost gives Chris' arm a little smack at the snort the teenager lets out. He doesn't, but only because he's afraid that too much movement would cause him to lose the hold he has on his own laugh.
The woman doesn't seem to notice, still talking about how it must be so nice for Buck to have such a good friend, who'll go to the beach with him and both of his kids. Buck doesn't know how to break it to her that Eddie isn't actually his friend.
Luckily, he doesn't have to because a small body collides with him at a high enough speed that Buck is flattened in surprise. Eddie's laugh gets closer and closer until a foot nudges Buck's ankle. Still holding on to Theo, who is just cuddling into Buck's chest now clearly tired, Buck sits up and smiles at Eddie.
"I'm just going to get us some food from the truck, before that one," Eddie nods his head towards Theo, "crashes out." Buck gives a little laugh, adjusting Theo a little in his arms. "Where's my wallet, mi amor?" He grabs the wallet out of the bag Buck indicates.
This entire time Eddie hasn't so much as acknowledged the woman sitting next to Buck. Not even as he walks away after kissing Buck quickly. Buck hasn't looked at her either, so when he finally turns to her he has to hold back another laugh.
"He's my husband," it's all Buck says, he doesn't feel the need to explain further, or apologize even though there's certainly a glint of something in her eyes that suggests she feels like he should.
She gets up pretty quickly after that and walks away. It's as if that was permission for Chris, because he starts truly laughing. Buck can't stop himself from laughing with him, though it's significantly more muted so as not to jostle Theo too much.
5
PTA-meetings have never been Eddie's favorite thing. No matter how much he cares about Christopher, no matter how hard he tries for him, he will always feel like he's not doing good enough. Which doesn't lessen when he goes to PTA-meetings, no matter how many times he reminds himself that several of them are stay at home parents because of their kid's disability, which means that they have time to do all the things that Eddie wishes he could while the kid's at school. Eddie wishes he had time to be both of those things, the parent that's always around and has time and the man that loves his job.
But the meetings have gotten much easier to go to when he has Buck with him. It takes of some of the burden, especially because Buck seems to be enjoying it. He knows all the parents' names, all the kids, including their disabilities. Buck gets up early, baking something for everyone. And they all love him, parents and kids alike.
So, now Eddie just gets to go to the meetings and watch his husband be… well his husband. It's somehow gotten even more intense now that it's Theo's school, but for the moment Buck seems to not be going totally overboard, probably because Bobby has been helping them out like he's being paid to do it. He's bringing them cooked meals, even buying them a new freezer to store all the extra food that he's made them.
Right now, Eddie is watching Buck navigating through telling everyone that yes, he has adopted Theo, and yes, he is also his biological father. It's a weird conversation. Even if the parents have been made aware that Theo was donor conceived. Eddie has offered more than once to have that conversation for Buck, not wanting the love of his life to continuously have to talk about friends that he lost. Buck had said no.
"Hey," a hand holding a plastic cup shows up in Eddie's field of vision, "here."
Eddie accepts the cup with a nod and a smile, his eyes quickly moving back to Buck.
"He certainly is a handsome one," the woman says, clearly having followed Eddie's line of sight.
Eddie lets out a little laugh, beyond used to people talking about Buck like that, "Yes, he is." It took Eddie a while to get comfortable with people flirting with Buck so openly or 'thirst after him' as Harry likes to call it. But he has gotten used to it, he even feels a weird kind of proud when people do, because that's his man.
"He also seems so sweet," the woman continues and Eddie finally looks at her, recognizing her as the mom of a kid that Theo talks about a lot, "Must be hard raising a kid like Theo all on your own."
Look, Eddie knows that the sentiment comes from a good place, he's heard it a million times when it comes to Christopher. They aren't wrong, it can be really hard, but there is something about the tone when they say it, as if it's some sort of terrible burden to carry. Like it's a kind of sacrifice.
But now is not the time, and it's not like Eddie knows the woman. So, he doesn't say anything. Just gives her a tight smile and turns back to Buck.
Everyone's kids are running around, seeing as they're on the playground. Which means that Eddie didn't notice as Theo comes sprinting at Eddie, not until he only has time to widen his stance. He's distantly very grateful he's as strong as he is, because it means that he can catch Theo with one arm when the boy launches himself at Eddie.
"Hi Theo," Eddie laughs a little breathless, hugging the boy to his chest as arms wrap around his neck in return.
"Hi Dad," it still makes Eddie internally flinch when Theo calls him that. It wasn't something he and Buck had even discussed or expected, but when Theo a few days after called Eddie babe it became obvious that Theo might not be aware that Eddie's name was… well, Eddie. "I can't find Buck," Theo pulls back, almost making Eddie tip.
Eddie adjusts Theo against him, so that he's ready for Theo to move more when Eddie points in Buck's direction, "He's over there."
Theo immediately starts squirming to be put down and Eddie just barely manages to get him close to the ground before Theo jumps down.
Through all of this the woman next to him is just watching, staring at him. Eddie almost laughs at the confusion on her face, but he doesn't feel like teasing so he takes pity on her, "I'm Buck's husband."
Her face goes through a now familiar line of expressions. It's starting to be entertaining to watch when people do it. Eddie doesn't even get to see what expression she lands on, because Buck calls out for him. So, Eddie just smiles at her and walks away.
+1
The ER is chaos. People everywhere. Nurses and doctors shouting orders. People screaming and crying.
Not that Buck can find it in himself to care at present moment.
Now, normally when Buck finds himself walking into an ER, people get out of his way simply because of the uniform he's wearing.
But Buck is not wearing his uniform today.
He'd been at home with Theo, trying to spend some time bonding, especially because Theo seems to truly have grasped that Mom and Dad aren't coming home. So, Bobby had given him a few days off.
Theo had been asleep in Buck's arms as he walked around the house, tidying up a little, when the door bell had rung. And the Chief had been standing there with a look on his face that Buck might never have seen, but he knew instantly what it meant. All he asked was which hospital and then he was out of the door.
Maddie had met Buck and Theo in the parking lot, taking a still sleeping Theo to the waiting room while Buck ran straight for the ER doors.
He spots Bobby first, setting off to get to him, but someone stops him. Hands grab his arms. They're not actually strong enough to hold him back. But Buck stops dead anyway.
"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't go in there," one of the guards who grabbed Buck half-shouts over the chaotic noise.
Buck doesn't struggle against them, but he also doesn't let them drag him back, "Please, I have to get through."
"Sir, you can't," the guard insists, holding on tighter to Buck as he struggles against the hold. "We can't let civilians go through."
Logically, Buck understands, but logic means nothing to Buck right now. He's on the verge of begging, tears streaming down his face by now. Buck doesn't feel them. He barely feels the hands holding back.
"Hey," Buck hadn't even noticed Bobby coming closer until he's right in front of him, "his husband is back there."
Immediately the guards let go of Buck, who hadn't realized that they were practically holding him up. Bobby must have seen it, because he's there in an instant, his arms wrapping around Buck's middle.
Bobby doesn't keep him there, but he does keep Buck against his side, guiding him to wherever it is that Eddie is.
The moment Buck sees Eddie, it doesn't matter who's holding on to Buck or who is in his line of sight. Buck is getting to his husband.
His husband who isn't conscious.
There's dried blood on his temple. One of his eyes is already swollen shut.
Eddie doesn't react when Buck reaches him. Not a twitch.
If it wasn't for the chair Bobby pushed under him then Buck would have ended up on the floor. The tears haven't slowed down at all, so Bobby is blurry when Buck looks up at him.
He doesn't even have to ask, Bobby answers without needing it, "It was a single vehicle crash, but another vehicle came rushing through and Eddie pushed Harry out of the way…"
Buck doesn't hear if Bobby says anything else, because Eddie finally stirs, his eyelids twitching.
Someone strong drags Buck away by pulling his chair. If scrubs weren't so recognizable Buck might have fought it.
Everything that happens from that point is a haze. People move in and out of his field of vision. Shades of blue temporarily covering his view of Eddie. Voices are speaking, but Buck doesn't hear any of it. Even when he can tell that they're speaking to him. At some point a hand wraps around his upper arm and Buck is aware that he's moving somewhere.
"Hi," a rough voice finally brings Buck back to himself.
The world seems to come back into focus, and Buck realizes that he's in a patient room.
And that Eddie is awake and smiling at him.
"Eddie!" Buck only just manages to stop from throwing himself at Eddie. "Are you okay?"
It's a stupid question to ask to a person in the hospital, but Buck feels even dumber for it considering the fact that he knows what happened to Eddie.
"I will be," Eddie starts to smirk, "when you give me a kiss."
Buck lets out a wet chuckle and leans in to gently press his lips to Eddie's. He gets a very satisfied hum in return, Eddie's face practically blissful despite the pain he's clearly in.
"You scared me," Buck whispers with his forehead against Eddie's.
Eddie's nose moves up and down Buck's cheekbone, but Buck assumes he was meant to rub against Buck's nose instead. "Sorry, baby."
"Not your fault, just glad you're okay," Buck kisses him again.
As terrifying as seeing Eddie in the hospital is, Buck knows he'll be okay. They have been through worse and they'll get through this, too. At least now Buck doesn't have to pretend not to be terrified for the man he loves.
"I love you, husband," Buck murmurs against Eddie's lips, feeling them stretch into a smile as Eddie repeats the words back to him.