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Eddie was having a normal day. It’s not unusual that Eddie and Theo are together, just the two of them. Buck had a shift without Eddie today, which Eddie hates, but it’s fine. He just prefers when they can look out for each other.
This is something that Chimney knows and tries to avoid, and besides, they work the best when they’re together.
Today B-shift was down a person and Buck, being the person that he is, volunteered to fill in as soon as he got word of it. Eddie immediately offered to look after Theo while Buck was out being a hero.
Christopher was at Hen and Karen’s. He was dropped off there right after school so they could start their weekend early. So, for the next couple of hours, it’s just going to be Eddie and Theo.
Buck’s going to get off at 6:00pm. The person he was filling in for started their shift but had to leave early for an emergency.
Right now, Eddie and Theo are at the grocery store, getting stuff for Bobby and Athena’s get together later this evening.
Theo had one hand gripping one of Eddie’s pant legs, when suddenly, it’s gone. Eddie looks up and some random woman is grabbing Theo by his wrist while holding up her phone, recording Eddie.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The woman asks.
Eddie jumps into action immediately, picking up Theo and putting him on his waist. Theo’s arms wrap around Eddie’s neck instantly. He smushes his face into his neck. What the hell is wrong with this lady?
“Me?" Eddie exclaims. “What are you doing? Don’t touch him.”
The lady moves closer with her phone still up, “How do you know this man sweetheart?” She tries to ask Theo.
Theo doesn’t budge. His arms only tighten on Eddie’s neck as he smushes his face closer. Eddie can feel wetness on his neck. Theo is crying.
“Leave my kid alone.” Eddie moves further back.
Theo whispers, “I’m scared.” into Eddie’s neck. “I want Buck.”
“I know, baby, we’re leaving. We’ll see Buck later.” Eddie starts to walk towards the exit. He pulls out his phone out of his pocket at the same time. He needs to get Theo away from this woman. He goes to his contacts and clicks ‘Athena.’
“That is not your kid.” The lady follows, screaming, “This man is trying to kidnap a little boy!”
When Eddie exits the store, there are already two police officers outside. “Excuse me sir? Do you know this boy?” Eddie rolls his eyes and waits for the line to connect.
“Eddie?” Athena answers the phone.
“Athena, can you come to the grocery store off Beverly Boulevard? This woman just tried to take Theo from me. Accused me of kidnapping him.”
“Nana?” Theo whispers, backing away from Eddie’s neck.
“What? I’m on my way. I’ll be there in less than a minute. How is he?” Athena asks.
Eddie guesses that Athena was already in this area, He can hear the sirens turn on through the phone.
He can also hear the woman finally make it outside to them. Informing the officers on what she thinks happened in the store. He doesn’t care. All that matters is Theo.
“Yeah, buddy. It’s nana.” Eddie replies to Theo. Then responds to Athena, “He scared Athena.”
“I’m pulling up now.” She hangs up.
Just as the line disconnects, Athena’s car pulls up. It’s not a cruiser. It’s an unmarked car. Ever since she made the switch to detective, she’s had to get a car that looks less apparent that it’s a police vehicle.
She parks right in front of the entrance, crooked, not caring because that doesn’t matter right now. As soon as she makes it to Eddie, Theo is reaching for her. She pulls him into her arms, holding him on her hip.
The woman walks closer to them with the other two officers, her phone still recording them.
One of the officers acknowledges Athena, “Detective Grant. What are you doing here? I think we have it handled.”
“Yeah? And what do you have handled? Explain the situation to me.” She responds, her hand rubbing Theo’s back.
The officers look at each other for a moment, before the same one— Eddie reads Wright on his badge—speaks again, “Well, we got a call that there was a kidnapping in progress, so we came to, uh…help?” He says it like a question.
Eddie is trying very hard to be calm, but he’s being accused of kidnapping right now and this random woman just assaulted Theo while he was in his care. He needs to just let Athena handle it.
“And what conclusion did you come to?” Athena asks.
“Well, we were just about to arrest him, but then you arrived.” Officer Wright explains.
Athena tilts her head. God—she and Buck have such similar mannerisms.
“So, you were going to arrest him based on what? What one person said? You weren’t even going to question him?”
“Ma’am, I assure you, this man is not this little boy’s father. They’re not the same ra—they don’t look like each other.” The lady speaks.
“That’s what made you decide that he was a kidnapper?”
“Well…yeah.”
Athena eyes the officer then looks back at the woman. “This is my grandson.” Athena states. “You see the resemblance?”
Eddie almost laughs.
“Is that a joke?” The woman asks.
“No joke. Do you think that just because they don’t look alike, they aren’t related? What an ignorant mindset. You scared my grandson and accused my son-in-law of a crime he most certainly did not commit. I should have you arrested for filing a false police report, assault, child endangerment, child abuse and I’m sure I can find another charge just for you wasting my damn time.”
Eddie hears Athena. She’s speaking from a place of anger. Anger and love. She called Eddie her son-in-law. Buck’s husband. Maybe she phrased it that way to emphasize his relation to Theo.
“Ma’am, I—” The lady tries.
“And you.” Athena ignores her and turns to the officers. “I should have your badges for this. You should know better.”
Neither of the officers say another word.
“Eddie.” Athena says, “Do you want her arrested?”
Eddie’s not a spiteful person, but this woman assaulted Theo. Eddie looks at the boy in Athena’s arms, laying his head on her shoulder, one arm around her neck, the other playing with the fabric of her shirt. He lets his eyes track over Theo.
His eyes are damp, he had cried silently into Eddie’s neck. His gaze continues until it lands on his wrist. Theo’s wrist is bruised, the shape of fingers is red around it. It’s probably very tender too. That itself makes Eddie want to press charges.
“His wrist.” Eddie steps towards Athena. She looks down at it and Eddie can see the anger form on her face.
Athena points a look to Officer Wright, “Cuff her.”
“What?” She exclaims. “No, I didn’t do anything!” She screams, attracting more attention from people who are just trying to get their groceries.
The officer obeys, taking her phone out her hand and giving it to the other officer before pulling her hands behind her back.
“What are you doing? I did nothing wrong!” She exclaims as they put her in the back seat of the police car.
Eddie doesn’t care. He tuned her out as soon as he saw Theo’s wrist. Athena hands him back to Eddie.
“Eddie? Do you still want to come to the get together at ours tonight? I understand if not. Same for Theo.”
“We were here getting snacks for it.”
“Oh, we have enough. May just brought some over earlier today.”
“Great, so this all could’ve been avoided.” Eddie runs his hand through Theo’s hair.
“Eddie, none of this is your fault.” She rubs his arm. “Now go home and put some ice on that wrist.”
“Yeah, we’ll see you later.” Eddie answers her previous question.
“Bye nana.” Theo waves tiredly. He looks like he’s overdue for a nap.
“I’ll see you later, baby.” She presses a kiss to his forehead and gives Eddie’s arm another rub before getting back in her car.
When the two of them get in the car, Eddie tries to call Buck. He doesn’t answer, so Eddie guesses he's busy with a call. He instead types out a long paragraph telling Buck what happened at the grocery store. Then starts the engine so they can go home—to Buck’s house.
When they got to Buck’s house, Theo fell asleep in the car, so Eddie picked him up and brought him to his room. He changed his clothes as carefully as he could so he wouldn't wake him up.
After he finished changing him, he laid him in bed and tucked him in. Instead of icing Theo's arm and risking waking him up because of the chill, he had rubbed some Arnica around his wrist, kissed him on his forehead, and left him to sleep.
Eddie, now in the living room, looks at his phone, he has an unread message from Chris that says, ‘u n Theo ok?’ He guesses that he heard what happened from Athena, or maybe Buck. In his messages with Buck, it shows that he read the message a couple minutes ago, but he still hasn’t responded.
Fuck.
He fucked up.
He let Buck’s kid get injured in his care and now Buck isn’t responding.
Eddie responds to Chris, telling him that they’re okay now and Theo’s a little shaken up but he’ll be fine. Eddie exits out of their messages and opens the Find My app.
Buck’s on his way home. Like, less than a minute away. He’s down the street.
Eddie tries to mentally prepare himself for what Buck is going to say or do. Not that he expects Buck to put his hands on him, but Eddie would understand if he did.
Buck walks through the front door, dropping his duffle bag on the floor. He doesn’t spare a single glance at Eddie. He walks down the hallway to Theo’s room. Eddie follows silently.
Buck sits at Theo’s bed, pushing his hair out of his face and giving him a kiss on his forehead. The same exact spot that Eddie did a couple minutes ago… Eddie stays at the doorway and watches as Buck looks over his wrist.
He runs his hand through his hair again before getting up and turning to Eddie. “Hey.” He whispers.
“Hey.” Eddie whispers back.
“Kitchen?” Buck asks.
“Sure.”
They walk down the hall in silence.
“Are you okay?” Buck asks when they get in the kitchen.
“What?” Eddie blurts out, not expecting him to start with that.
“Are you okay?”
“Buck—I—yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
Eddie nods. “I’m sorry.”
“Eddie, you didn’t do anything.”
“Theo got hurt in my care. His wrist is bruised. He was crying into my neck. I—I should’ve paid more attention to my surroundings.”
Buck doesn’t say anything, he just steps closer and wraps his arms around Eddie’s waist. Eddie’s arms immediately go around Buck’s neck.
“I’m so sorry.” Eddie says like he was holding his breath.
“You did nothing wrong Eddie.”
They stay like that for God knows how long.
When Eddie, Buck and Theo get to Bobby and Athena’s place, it feels like everyone is kind of hiding something from them. Like they’re keeping secrets.
Chris and Denny are in Harry’s room playing something on his playstation. Mara, Jee and Theo are in there as well. Hopefully the older kids are letting them have a turn.
Chim is conversing with Hen, Bobby and Athena by the kitchen island. Eddie is sitting with Maddie and Karen on the couch while May’s on the carpet a bit in front of them playing with baby Nash.
Buck’s across the room at the dining table talking to Ravi and Harry. It looks like they’re watching something and the look on Buck’s face is very…intense. He looks up at Eddie for a fraction of a second before looking back at Harry’s phone.
What are they watching?
“Eddie? You okay?” Maddie asks.
“People have been asking me that since I got here.”
Maddie and Karen give each other a look then look back at Eddie.
“You’ve been doing that too. Giving each other looks like there’s something everyone knows except me.”
“Eddie.” Maddie puts her hand on Eddie’s, she sighs, “There’s a viral video that’s been going around.” She pauses for a second. “Do you remember the woman who tried to take Theo's recording you guys?”
“She posted that? How? And why? She was clearly in the wrong.”
“She was on Facebook live, so I guess that the people watching the live recorded it and posted it on other platforms.”
“And I’m guessing that all of you have seen this video? And you didn’t want me or Buck to know.”
Karen speaks, “We were going to tell you, just…not in at the get together...”
Eddie nods. “And am I right to assume that Harry just showed Buck the video and that’s why he’s looking so…like that?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Karen says.
“I want to see.”
“Eddie—” Maddie tries.
“Please? I want to know why everyone is acting like there’s—I don’t know, everyone is just being…odd.”
“Eddie, I don’t think you remember what you said.” Maddie finally gets out.
“I don’t think I said anything outrageous.”
“Not outrageous, just maybe something you weren’t ready to admit yet.” She says pulling out her phone.
He watches as she pulls up the video—the video with eight million views. She clicks on it and it shows that there are five million likes.
The video starts, a screen recording of the lady who tried to take Theo—Marissa Collins is what the name says in the corner.
Eddie recalls everything that happened while witching. He’s confused about the thing everyone is being so weird about, but then he replays it in his mind.
My kid.
Eddie called Theo his kid.
Was that weird to say? Is Buck weirded out by Eddie calling him that? He didn’t mean any harm by it. He didn’t mean for it to come out at all.
Ever since Theo came into their lives, he’s felt so much care for him. He does view him as a son, but he’s never said that out loud before. And he’s definitely never said it to Buck.
Eddie is sure that Buck views Chris as his son too, Eddie always saw Buck as a father to Chris… Buck has been helping him with Christopher for almost a decade.
“Eddie?” Maddie asks.
May looks back and says, “Hey, all the comments I saw were positive and agreeing with you and mom if that helps.”
Eddie didn’t even know she was paying attention. He nods and gives her a smile, “Thanks May, excuse me.” He gets up and walks over to Buck. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
Eddie can see Ravi and Harry look between the two of them.
“There’s a video.” Eddie says.
“Yeah, just saw it.”
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“Rude.” Buck jokes.
“Buck.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“The truth maybe?”
“Can we talk about this later? At home?” He says it like they both live there.
Eddie looks behind him at Ravi and Harry. They turn to face each other quickly, acting like they weren’t listening.
“Okay, later.” He walks back to Maddie, Karen, and May.
When they get back, Buck puts Theo to bed. Chris went back to Hen and Karen’s. Both of them are in the kitchen now. Stocking the refrigerator with leftovers from Bobby and Athena. Well, Buck is, Eddie’s just waiting patiently.
When the fridge door shuts, no one says anything for a while, until Buck speaks first, “You called him your son.”
“I did.”
“And Athena called you her son-in-law.”
Eddie honestly forgot about that part. “She did.” He responds.
“And you didn’t deny it. You called Theo your son like you’ve said it hundreds of times. And your facial expression didn’t shift at all when Athena said we were married.”
“No… I guess not… It felt normal.” It felt right.
“You get that it’s not though, right? You’re straight. I—I’m not your husband.” Eddie notes that Buck didn’t say that Theo wasn’t his son.
“You could be.” Eddie says without thinking.
“What?”
“We could get married. You could be my husband. If you want.”
“Eddie. You are straight.”
‘I—I don’t think so.”
“What?”
“It’s just that…we’re raising two kids together. You used to be at my house more than you were at your own. It’s switched since Theo’s been here. Now Chris and I basically live at yours.”
Buck doesn’t say anything. He lets Eddie speak his mind.
“Buck, when I think of my future, I see you, me, Chris and Theo. All of us, living under one roof. I don’t want to find a woman to be Christopher’s mother. I don’t want you to introduce another man or woman into our sons’ lives. I want the life that we’ve been building for more than eight years.”
Buck blinks at him. He still hasn’t said anything else yet.
“Do you not want this? Our life together? Me?”
Eddie watches Buck’s face switch to panic. He moves, stepping in front of Eddie.
“Eddie, I think I’ve always wanted you. There isn’t a universe where I don’t want you. And I love the family that we’ve built. I just…I didn’t know I was allowed to have it. Or you.”
“You want this?”
“I want everything with you and our boys.”
“You’re allowed.” Eddie confirms.
Eddie’s eyes dart down to Buck’s lips for a second before gazing back into his eyes. Buck does the little nod that he does, and Eddie moves his face closer.
When their lips touch, Eddie feels like he can finally breathe. Buck’s hands immediately find Eddie’s waist and Eddie's hands find a place on Buck’s neck, one hand runs through the hair that meets the back of his neck.
Buck lets out a noise that Eddie wants to hear for the rest of his life. He wants to pull that noise out of him for the rest of his life.
When they part, Eddie instinctively licks his lips and says the first thing that comes to mind.
“You taste good.”
Buck’s breath hitches, then he lets out a little laugh, “Eddie, you can’t just say things like that.”
“Why not?”
Buck tilts his head slightly, “Because how am I expected to keep my hands off of you.”
“I don’t want that expectation placed on you.” He looks up at him through his lashes
Buck smirks and tilts his chin up. Eddie takes it as a signal to lean back in.