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Buck couldn’t stop the grin from spreading on his face as he watched the scene in front of him unfold: Chris, who had already shifted (since children tended to shift at the first signs of moonlight, not having the ability to wait the night out like adults did), tugging on one end of a rope that he had in his mouth, with Eddie holding onto the other end, both using all their strength to try to snatch it from the other. Being able to spend the full moon with the Diazes, his Diazes, was a gift that he’d never take for granted. For many, many years in his 20s, he transformed alone, often in the bed of his Jeep, without any pack member around. Now, since joining the 118, and especially since Eddie joined, he’s never been by himself.
Until tonight, that is, though neither Eddie nor Chris knew it yet. This time, it’d at least be self-imposed. Buck had heard from Hen a few weeks back about a medical trial that was experimenting with a new medication that, if all went right, would make transitions easier on people who tended to have rougher ones than the general public. Buck had signed himself up immediately. Although his leg had healed miraculously from having a firetruck fall on top of it, shifting always made that old injury flare up.
“Oh, you got it!” Eddie cheered, snapping Buck out of his thoughts and back to the present, where he saw Chris happily dragging the rope around in celebration. The kid’s fur was a warm golden-brown, similar to Buck’s own. They were the only two members of the 118 pack who were werewolves, the rest - including Maddie - were all human. Chris inherited the gene from Shannon and Buck . . . well, Buck had been Turned a while back.
“Do I get to try now?” Buck asked, leaning forward in his seat on the couch and resting his elbows on his knees.
Chris yipped his approval, so excited that he dropped the rope, and Buck joined him. If he were also in his werewolf form, he’d be stronger than Chris, but because he wasn’t, the younger Diaz had the advantage. Still, Buck wasn’t going to lose so easily. He planted his feet firmly on the carpet, going into the same stance that quarterbacks would do when catching the football.
The second the words “you ready?” came out of Buck’s mouth, Chris was pulling on the rope with everything he had. Eddie alternated between cheering his son on and trying to distract Buck. After a few good minutes of back-and-forth, Eddie ever so slightly kicked at the back of Buck’s knees, sending him tumbling to his knees and giving Chris the opportunity to yank the rope out of his hands, which he did.
“You two ganged up on me!” Buck cried, though he wasn’t upset in the slightest, as Chris barked happily.
“It’s a dad’s duty,” Eddie said, going over and lifting his son into his arms. He sat down on the couch with Chris, and Buck followed. He knew that Eddie loved being able to hold Chris’s werewolf form. He was getting to that age where he wanted to be more independent, so he rarely wanted to be carried as a human.
For a few minutes, silence sat peacefully between the three. It was Buck’s favorite kind of quietness, when you knew someone so well that you didn’t feel the need to fill every moment of your time with something. His eyes drifted over to the clock and he sighed, realizing that their night was going to have to come to an end.
“Well, uhm, I think I’m gonna spend my full moon at home,” Buck said. He hadn’t planned this out beforehand, but figured it was best to spit it out instead of beating around the bush.
Immediately, he was met with two identical looks of puzzlement, and a whine from Chris (which broke his heart). If Hen hadn’t pulled some strings to get him into this medical trial, he probably would’ve caved right then and there.
“What?” Eddie said, in a way that might’ve suggested that Buck had announced he was going to quit firefighting and move across the country. “Why?”
“A couple of Hen’s friends from medical school have this trial with this new medicine that should make my transformations painless. She got me in it and I just think it might be best that I do it on my own, at least for the first time. In case there are any side effects,” he explained.
“Are you sure?” Eddie asked, moving Chris off his lap. “We’re happy to help you through it.”
“I know,” Buck said, wanting to reassure him. He had a feeling Eddie was probably thinking back to the first couple times Buck had transformed in front of him, and how shy he had been. “I’m good.” He stood up, ruffled Chris’s fur, and began to make his way to the door.
“Did you ask Bobby for some time off in case there are side effects?” Eddie asked, walking Buck to the door.
“Uh . . . no,” he answered, realizing at that moment that that probably would’ve been a good idea. “I’ll be fine. I’ll text you in the morning, okay?”
Eddie nodded, not looking entirely convinced, but opened the door for Buck nonetheless. “I’m holding you to that,” he said, and he wasn’t joking.
Buck smiled. “See you at work. Bye, Chris!” He said, waving as he exited, and got a bark in response. Once the door closed behind him, he headed to his car, got in, and drove off.
Not long into the drive, he felt the hairs on the nape of his neck start to stand up. It was getting close to transformation. Maybe a little too close. Buck did not want to get to the point where he waited too long that he transformed against his will. He had experienced that before and it was not pleasant. He sped up a bit, going a little over the speed limit, until he got home, where he promptly flew out of the car once he got into his garage and ran inside.
Without turning the lights on, Buck went straight for the package that had the pill bottle inside. After ripping it open, he brought it over to the counter and glanced at the instructions as he poured himself a glass of water:
TAKE 2 TABLETS APPROX. 30 MINUTES BEFORE TRANSFORMATION
Okay. 30 minutes. He could last that long. There were some side effects, listed as drowsiness, memory loss during his time transformed . . . all were manageable. Placing the two tablets on his tongue, Buck took a large gulp of water and swallowed. After that, he changed into his suit, a specially-made design that would act as regular clothes for his human form and would disappear when he was in wolf form. That way, no one would see him naked when morning came.
Grabbing his digital camera, Buck made his way over to his living room, where he had set up a cozy, nest-like structure of pillows and blankets before leaving for work this morning. He had originally planned to do the transformation in his room, where he’d be most comfortable, but decided not to since he didn’t want to deal with the fur that would get all over his bed.
Sitting down in the middle of the floor, on his softest blanket, Buck set his camera up on a stand on his table and pressed record. A stipulation of taking part of this trial was that he had to film the duration of his transformation and send it to the researchers and doctors.
“Hey,” he said to the camera, giving a small wave. Then he dropped his arm, ‘cause that felt a little awkward. “I just took the pills. I’m waiting for the transformation to start and . . . I feel fine, so far? I guess you’ll see if I’m in pain or not. It’d usually be my leg, so . . . We’ll see.”
For about a half hour, Buck did a whole lot of nothing. He rearranged his blankets, fluffed his pillows, and talked to his camera a bit more until the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He sat a little straighter, fighting the urge to take a few deep breaths like he usually would to prepare himself for the pain. The transformation itself was always a blur for every werewolf, since it was taxing on the mind, but once the dizziness began, Buck knew it was happening. The world swirled around him, almost in slow-motion, and his vision blurred. Everything felt big, heavy . . . and when Buck opened his eyes next, he was no longer human.
Now, Buck waited to see if his wolf instincts would pose a problem. They could be difficult to control any other time, but on the full moon, it was multiplied by ten. All his senses were more intense and sharp, and it took lots of effort and training over the years to be able to balance his human brain with his wolf one. The fact that Chris, as an adolescent, managed to have good control on most full moons was a testament to just how strongwilled he was.
Things didn’t seem too different at first. Despite the tiredness he felt, Buck’s memories about the medical trial and what he was doing stayed in-tact. He walked around his living room for a while, playing with some toys he had, and making sure to stay in view for the camera. The later it got, though, the more everything seemed to set in, and Buck could feel his awareness slipping away. He drifted in and out, his mind hazy, one second awake, and the next feeling like he’d just been asleep.
It stayed like that until morning, when Buck opened his eyes, feeling the warm sunlight shine on him through his windows. He went to stand up and he did . . . but on all fours. Not on two feet.
Well, that wasn’t normal. He should’ve woken up human again, especially since the sun was fully out. At least his mind felt less clouded, like the wolf instincts had been dialled down again. It’s probably nothing, he told himself. Maybe you just have to shift manually.
The only problem with that was that it had been quite a while since he last had to worry about shifting manually. Buck wasn’t sure he even remembered how. He tried to focus, close his eyes, picture his human self in his mind, the feeling of his back arching, arms stretching, toes wiggling . . .
Nothing happened.
Panic was starting to set in now.
Was this another side effect? Had he not seen it listed with the rest of the tiny text on the label, in the dark, when he’d been eager to just take it?
Buck bounded over to the table, standing on his back legs so that he could knock the pill bottle onto the floor with his paw. With him being a werewolf, people usually assumed that he’d already be quite big and tall. In fact, that was the norm for many wolves . . . Except Buck. That’s what happens when you get Turned as an adolescent, instead of being a natural-born wolf. Werewolf biology had a hard time cooperating with human biology.
Sure enough, on the side of the bottle, in teeny tiny print, “difficulty shifting back to human form” was listed under the side effects section. Great. There was no telling how long this was going to take, though Buck only hoped that he just needed to let the medication pass through his system.
He obviously couldn’t work as a firefighter like this, but, with no way to call anyone on his team, he didn’t want them thinking that something was really wrong with him. He was supposed to text Eddie this morning, and Buck didn’t want him freaking out because he didn’t. He’d have to make his way to the station.
A glance at the clock told Buck that there was no time to waste, as the shift would start in about a half an hour. Picking up the bottle in his mouth, he set it on the coffee table, then did the same with his phone. Now in front of the camera, Buck barked at the table, hoping to send a message if anyone watched this video before he could transform. After hitting the “off” button with his snout, he left through the doggy door installed in his backdoor, and started on his way to the 118.
All things considered, it was shaping up to be a nice walk. It was definitely going to take a while to get all the way to the station, but at least he was getting in some exercise. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and there weren’t too many squirrels, so Buck didn’t have to worry about reigning his instincts in.
He was almost out of his neighborhood when he noticed two women with their dogs, a smaller one and a larger one, likely out for a morning walk. They had stopped in front of a garden, admiring it, and their dogs were mulling around, sniffing and whatnot. They were getting along fine until a truck came barrelling down the round, blasting music. It made both Buck and the smaller dog jump, which got the bigger dog’s attention. Instantly, he could see what was about to happen.
The bigger dog felt threatened, and as he went to react and pounce at the smaller one, Buck ran without thinking. He jumped in-between the two, pushing the smaller one out of the way, and felt a sharp pain as teeth ripped into his back.
“Oh my god!” One of the ladies shrieked, and Buck thought, Yeah, you’re welcome. “That dog just attacked Cupcake!”
Before Buck could do anything, there were hands on him, patting around his neck. “No collar,” one of the women said. It dawned on him that they thought he had attacked Cupcake. And that he was a dog. Chimney was going to have a field day with this, as he had always compared Buck’s wolf form to a dog. “Can you call animal control?”
Uh-oh. That was not good. Buck thrashed, managing to get out of the woman’s arms and a few feet away before a weight crashed into him, sending him sprawling onto the sidewalk. Bella, according to what it said on her collar, was now looming over him, with a look that said: You get up and I’ll knock you right down again.
“Hey, you guys need a leash?” A new voice said, making Buck’s hopes at getting out of here sink lower and lower. A third woman came out from inside the house they were in front of, holding a collar and a leash. Two of the women wrangled Buck into it, and since he didn’t want to give them anymore reasons to label him as “aggressive”, he let it all happen.
While they all stood around, waiting for animal control to arrive, Buck did his best to keep himself calm. He ignored Bella’s grumbling and Cupcake’s whining, who was probably loving the attention she was getting as her owner fawned over her, even though she didn’t have a scratch on her body.
He tried to focus on transforming, as if could manifest it into reality. It wouldn’t be ideal, the women would get the shock of their lives, but it was his last resort.
Unfortunately, before he knew it, a van pulled up and an animal control agent stepped out. Buck heard him talking to the women, but he didn’t listen, too caught up on waiting for his moment to bolt. That came when the woman held the leash that was on him out to the agent.
Buck ran. As fast as his four legs could carry him. He did a 180, beelining it for his house. If he could make it back there, he’d be safe. Everything would be fine.
Buck just about made it to his yard, had his eyes zeroed in on his back door, when he felt something poke him in the back. Immediately he slowed, stumbling, as he started to get woozy. Crap. Did he just get tranqued?
His question was answered when a foot stomped on the leash that was trailing behind him, preventing Buck from going anywhere. It was the agent, who did not look happy that he was led on his chase. As he got closer, Buck could only think of one last defense: he jumped up and clawed at the man, then made another run for it.
His front paws had barely scraped the mat that was outside his back door when he felt another poke. Immediately, Buck dropped. The world titled sideways and his vision went black.
For a while, Buck knew nothing. He slowly started to come to, but everything was blurry, and his senses felt dulled. Buck could just make out that he was in a moving vehicle, there were bars in front of him, and someone was talking.
“You’re not a regular dog, are you?” Buck blinked at the agent, barely comprehending his words. “Yeah, I had a feeling when you didn’t go down the first time. Goddamn werewolves . . . Dunno why you’re not human now, but ya’had to make it my problem by attacking that dog and then attacking me . . You’re gonna learn something today, asshole. I’ve got a buddy who runs a pound, and I think I’m gonna drop you off there. Maybe you’ll turn human later, maybe you won’t, I don’t care. You can sit there in the meantime, see how dangerous beasts like you deserve to be treated.”
After that, Buck only heard bits and pieces of the world around him. He couldn’t even discern whether the guy was still talking, or if he was hearing sounds from the street. Whatever sedative he was hit with was strong, and Buck found himself dozing off again. It felt nice to drift away, at least while he was so tired.
“Hey! How was Buck and Chris’s full moon?” Was the first thing Eddie heard as he walked up the steps to the 118’s kitchenette area. Despite the question, Eddie’s eyes still swept the area: Hen, Chimney, Bobby, and Ravi were all there . . . But no Buck. Eddie felt something inside him deflate, worry prickling at the back of his neck.
“Eddie?” It was Chimney, prompting him again to answer.
“Sorry, uh, Chris was fine. Buck . . . I don’t know. He went home to do a trial that Hen got him into? An experimental pill to help with his leg pain. He was supposed to text me this morning,” Eddie said, slipping his phone out of his pocket to check it once again. No notifications.
“Nothing?” Bobby asked.
Eddie shook his head, sitting down at the table. “I almost drove to his house after I dropped Chris off, but I didn’t want to be late in case he was here and . . .” He trailed off, gesturing to the Buck-less space around them.
Bobby glanced at his watch. “He still has some time,” he said, though there was a hint of uneasiness in his voice for the firefighter who was like a son to him. “We’ll give him a bit before we start to worry.”
Two hours, after an annoyingly long call, Eddie had started to worry. And he wasn’t alone.
“Maddie says she hasn’t heard from him,” Chinney reported, his bubblegum-chewing lacking its usual vigor. “She’s wondering if Athena will do a wellness check?”
Bobby nodded, having had the same thing on his mind. “I’ll call her. I’m gonna see if we can get taken off of calls for now, just in case,” he agreed. Call it Captain’ intuition - maybe even farther’s intuition - but having this happen after a change in Buck’s full moon routine was cause for concern.
“Can I go with her? I have a key to Buck’s house, in case she needs to get in,” Eddie said, making everyone stop in their tracks. That was certainly new Buck-and-Eddie information.
“I’m not sure she’ll want to wait for you to grab the key—” Bobby started to say.
“Oh, no, I have it on my keyring.”
Bobby, Chimney, Hen, and Ravi all stared at him.
“You have Buck’s key on your keyring?” Ravi echoed, needing to hear this one more time.
Eddie nodded, not getting the big deal. He walked over to his locker and opened it, unzipping his backpack and grabbing his house keys. Sure enough there were two keys on there.
“We’re best friends. It’s normal for me to have a key to his place,” Eddie argued, already knowing what they were all thinking and not in the mood to get into it right now.
“Chim, Hen, do you guys carry around each other’s keys with you, everyday?” Ravi asked.
“No,” the two paramedics said simultaneously.
Eddie turned to Bobby, who said, “I’m gonna call Athena,” and walked away.
Thankfully, she was having a slow day at work, so she could afford to drop in on Buck, and agreed to take Eddie along with her. If it came to having to get into his house, it wouldn’t be fun for anyone if she had to break the door down.
“You stay behind me,” Athena instructed as they got out of her cruiser, walking the pathway up to Buck’s front door. She knocked on the door and they waited, with Eddie tapping his foot against the pavement impatiently. After almost a minute, she knocked again, then peered in through his windows. The lights inside seemed to be off. “Call him again.”
Just as Eddie was slipping his phone out of his pocket to do that, they heard another voice.
“Are you guys looking for the dog?”
They both turned, only to see a woman walking her yorkie not too far from them. She jogged over, shortening the gap.
“No, I’m looking for the owner of this house,” Athena corrected.
“Oh . . . Well, you should let them know that their dog got picked up by animal control. He went after my dog this morning, knocked her over, then ran over into this yard. Almost got away, too,” she explained.
“We’ll let them know,” Athena said, perplexed. Buck did not own a dog. What was she talking about and where was he?
The woman accepted that and left and, without being told to, Eddie went ahead and unlocked the door with his key. “You go on in, you’re checking on him. I technically can’t enter, since I can’t be sure that he’s even home. It’s not enough to go off of,” Athena told him, standing aside.
Eddie did not have to be told twice. He walked inside, scanning the living room before checking Buck’s bedroom, then the bathroom. All morning his mind had been conjuring up worst case scenarios, imagining Buck getting into a car accident on his way to work, slipping and falling in his house, having a pulmonary embolism again (even though there was no reason that’d happen), among other things.
After finding those rooms, as well as the kitchen, empty, Eddie circled back to the living room. That’s when he noticed the camera, Buck’s phone, and the pill bottle all lined up. As if placed there. Eddie checked the pill bottle first and found nothing unusual, so he moved onto the camera, and saw that a video had been recorded.
His heart pounding, since he had no theories in mind for what possibly could have happened, Eddie pressed random buttons until he got what he wanted and the video began playing. He listened to Buck talk about the trial, and his eyes were glued to the screen when he saw Buck actually transform.
He’d seen it happen many times before, and yet it still took his breath away. For a long time, Buck had been self-conscious about transforming in front of others. He’d always felt like it was something to be shameful of, because of his parents. But Eddie thought he it was beautiful. He got to watch Buck unlock another side of himself, and his patterns and markings were gorgeous.
There was something different about this full moon, too. For the first time, Eddie didn’t see an ounce of pain in Buck’s face. No grimaces, no stiffening of his muscles. He was completely at ease. He was exactly how it should be.
When the video passed the point of his transformation, Eddie remembered what he was looking for: clues about where Buck was now. He sped through the recording, looking out for when Buck became human again . . . Only, he didn’t.
The sun was shining through his windows, and Buck was still a werewolf. It all clicked like puzzle pieces snapping together in Eddie’s head. The “dog” in the yard. The new, experimental medication. Crap.
Pocketing the pill bottle, Eddie ran out to Athena and shoved the camera into her hands. “He’s with animal control,” he said. Her eyes widened.
They were gonna laugh about this, Eddie told himself. Some day it’d be a distant memory, and Buck would recount the annoying hours he spent with dogs sniffing and pawing at him over dinner and wine with the family.
The longer Eddie sat in the back of Athena’s car, listening as she talked to animal control over the phone, the more he began to think that “some day” was going to be very, very far away. From the sounds of it, she was having trouble tracking down the agent who responded to the call. The only reason Eddie hadn’t leapt out and gone to look for the woman to interrogate her about the encounter was because he couldn’t, since the doors didn’t have a handle on the inside. He had tried to get Athena’s attention a couple times, but she seemed pretty set on ignoring him.
“I don’t think you understand—I can go the long way to get the information I need, but there is a werewolf missing and I have good reason to believe that one of your employees is involved,” Athena said, at the trail end of her patience. “Thank you. Alright. Yeah. I got it.” She grabbed a notepad and scribbled down something. “Goodbye.”
She got off the phone and looked at Eddie in the rear view mirror. “I’m going to drop you off back at the station,” she said. He sat up and opened his mouth to protest, but she just continued. “I have to make some phone calls and you need to explain this all to your team. The station’s on the way to the animal control office, anyway.”
Eddie frowned, but didn’t argue. The most important thing was finding Buck, and if he had to be out of Athena’s hair to expedite the process, so be it.
When they got to the firehouse, Athena promised Eddie she’d call as soon as she had Buck, and he sent inside. Bobby, Chimney, Hen, and Ravi were all waiting, anxious for news. Eddie sat down, showed them the pill bottle, and explained everything he knew. Bobby was stoic, though by his frown, Eddie knew that there was some anger bubbling up inside him, similar to how he felt. Chimney processed it with a few blinks, then stepped out to call Maddie. Hen stared at the table, feeling guilty for connecting Buck to this trial, if Eddie had to guess. He was quick to assure her that the only fault lied at the hands of animal control. Ravi was calm, practical, sure that everything would be resolved soon.
The real reason Athena dropped Eddie off was because she was starting to get suspicious of this whole situation, and she didn’t need him freaking out or doing something rash. According to the person she spoke to on the phone, they had gotten a call about an aggressive dog in Buck’s neighborhood this morning, but there was no formal report made on the situation yet. Apparently the agent had told his boss that “nothing happened”, which contradicted what the woman said about Buck being taken away.
Staring at the name of the agent that she’d written down, Athena decided to do some investigating before walking into their offices. Darren Hackett. He had no criminal record, but his name was in multiple police reports as a complainant. Athena quickly noticed a pattern: he’d called 9-1-1 numerous times over his concerns about werewolves. It was clear, from looking through the transcripts, that to say he didn’t “like” them would be an understatement. He despised them.
Athena started to get a bad, nauseating feeling in the pit of her stomach. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she changed focusses, now looking up the tag number that animal control had told her belonged to Darren’s vehicle. It didn’t take her long to find him on the traffic cameras, pulling up to what looked like a pound. A quick Google search confirmed that it was.
Buck was inside there. Athena was sure of it. She texted Eddie and told him to go back to Buck’s house and grab his wallet, then get the 118 and meet her at the address she sent, updated her dispatch over the radio, and finally drove off.
This exhaustion felt never-ending. Buck woke up again when he felt movement, and realized he was still in a cage, being carried out of the car and inside a building. It wasn’t until he was dumped into a larger kennel that he remembered what that guy had told him in the car, and it dawned on him that this was the dog pound.
Immediately, all his energy came roaring back, putting him into a frenzied state. He turned around at the very front of the kennel and began scratching, pawing, and growling loudly. Buck couldn’t stop, and he didn’t want to. He needed someone to pay attention, to hear him.
Of course, that only got the dogs in the kennel around him riled up, and soon their barking drowned out his own. It went on for a while, leaving Buck to form a different plan. He had to try and shift back again. It was going to suck to do that while in a kennel, but he had no choice.
For the next couple hours, shifting was all he allowed himself to think about. Time seemed to fall away. When he took breaks, he tried to ram open the bars, desperate to do something.
After the fifth time of ramming it and being unsuccessful, Buck stumbled, and melted into a puddle on the floor. He opened his mouth to let out an anguished whine. It was on the tip of his lips when he heard footsteps and he looked up, hoping that it might be someone there to rescue him . . .
And it was. Athena was here, walking towards him, with an employee at her side. Buck began to jump and run in the little space that he had and, when the employee unlocked the kennel, he barreled straight into Athena's legs.
“You’re okay, you’re okay,” she reassured him, kneeling down to wrap him into a hug. “The team’s here, they’re right outside. We’ll get you back to being human in no time, alright?”
Buck barked, incredibly relieved. The adrenaline that the excitement had brought was going down now, and he found that his legs sagging were beneath him. He was still so tired, probably a combination of the sedative and the entire day he’d had.
“Buck? You okay? Are you hurt?” Athena asked worriedly, quickly looking him over. He shook his head, trying to communicate that he wasn’t. “Can you get the firefighters who are outside and bring them here?”
The employee must have complied because moments later, Buck opened his eyes to see his team, his family, rushing towards him. Eddie was at the front, no surprise there, and despite the fact that there were two paramedics behind him, he still dropped to his knees to examine Buck.
“I don’t think he’s injured, just lethargic,” Athena said, but it didn’t seem that Eddie was listening. He was caught up in what he was doing, patting every inch of Buck’s fur, even carefully taking hold of his tail.
Buck, to his credit, let Eddie do all his checks. He relished in the feeling of safety as he (also blaming this on his tiredness) leaned into his best friend’s soft touch. Eddie’s pats may have a medical purpose, but they were also quite soothing.
“You rest Buck, we’ll get you to the hospital,” Bobby told him from overhead, smiling down at both his firefighters.
That was all he needed to hear. Buck closed his eyes, and the world drifted away for the umpteenth time that day.
“Is there an Edmundo Diaz here?”
Eddie stood, quickly closing the gap between himself and the doctor who was calling for him. “That’s me, Eddie,” he said, holding his hand out.
The doctor, a man who looked to be in his 40s, wearing the usual white coat, shook his hand. “You are Mr. Buckley’s friend?” He asked, glancing down at his chart.
Eddie nodded. He supposed that “friend” was accurate, though it didn’t feel like a big enough adjective to describe his and Buck’s relationship. He wasn’t sure what he would have preferred the doctor to use.
“I’m Doctor Martin, I specialize in lycanthropy medicine. I want to first assure you that Mr. Buckley is doing just fine,” he began to say, and Eddie immediately felt himself exhale a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “We’re going to keep him in the lycanthropy unit, but he should be released tomorrow morning. There were traces of that medication you told us about in his system, which we managed to flush out, and after that he was able to transform under our supervision. The blood test results also found two other drugs present, one a sedative for canines that likely didn’t have any effect on him, and the other a sedative specifically targeted for werewolves. It’s the reason he was so drowsy, and he may feel some nausea and sickness from it, which is why we want to keep him overnight.”
Eddie nodded, relieved to hear that he was human again. “The transformation went alright?” He asked.
“It was a little rough, because of his leg and his body had to work through the fatigue. We gave him some pain medicine for that, so he’s a little, ah, loopy, at the moment, but I can take you to see him,” Doctor Martin explained.
“Yes. Please,” Eddie said quickly.
Doctor Martin led him through the lycanthropy unit and the moment they slowed down in front of one of the rooms, Eddie thanked the man and headed inside. Once he did, any lingering worry, or memory of how freaked out he’d been today, melted away. Buck was sitting upright in his bed, wearing a hospital gown, gazing up at the TV in the corner of the room and eating some jello that he’d gotten on the side of his mouth.
“Hey, Buck,” Eddie greeted softly, not wanting to startle him.
Buck’s eyes cut over to his and they lit up. “Eddie!” He said, and the Texan took that as his cue to walk in. He drew up a chair to the side of Buck’s bed, glancing at what was on the TV.
“You have, uh, a little something on your . . .” Eddie said, gesturing to the corner of his own mouth.
Buck stared at him with this quizzical, puppy-dog look on his face. Eddie picked up a napkin that was on his tray and held it out to him, hoping he’d get the hint.
He didn’t, so Eddie reached out and dabbed at his mouth with the napkin. Buck smiled, letting him, and Eddie’s breath caught.
It was a smile that was pure, unfiltered Buck. The same kind of smile he’d see when Buck was falling asleep on his couch, when he hugged Bobby or Maddie, after he helped Chris with his homework.
“How are you feeling?” Eddie asked, trying to clear his own mind.
Buck shrugged, still smiling. How he could maintain that look on his face after the day he’d had, Eddie had no clue. “Tiring. Weird. Are you the only one here?” He said.
“They needed the 118 back on shift. Maddie volunteered to take work off but I told her I’d be able to handle you,” Eddie teased. Buck chuckled, and wow, it was nice to hear that after everything.
“You don’t have to stay,” Buck said quietly.
Eddie immediately shook his head. “And have to go back to work? No, thank you,” he said. Though that wasn’t really the reason he was staying, and they both knew it. “Pepa’s going to bring Chris over after she picks him up from school, he’ll want to see you.”
Buck nodded. His eyes wandered back to the TV, and, probably due to the medication, he got distracted by it for a few moments. Eddie chewed on his lip, thinking.
“Hey,” he said, grabbing Buck’s attention again. “Next time, tell me about the medical trial, okay? I . . . I want to know this stuff.”
Buck nodded. “I didn’t want to take your attention away from Chris,” he admitted, glancing downward.
Eddie shook his head. This guy. “We’ve been through enough full moons for me to know how to pay attention to both of you. I don’t want you to go off and spend your transformations alone,” he said.
“Okay,” Buck agreed, and took another bite of his jello. Again, he got the jello smeared on his lips, but didn’t notice. Eddie didn’t bother trying to tell him, and just picked up the napkin, dabbing it off.
It was then that the realization happened. It wasn’t any dramatic shift, nor did it make his eyes wide, or his jaw drop. The thought He’s ridiculous. I love him settled inside him, as natural as any other thought would pop into his head. He knew that this wasn’t intrusive, though, that it was real, because he felt no need to brush it off as platonic love like he would’ve any other time a similar thought entered his head. Not knowing where Buck had been for the day really, truly freaked him out. It was terrifying. He saw that now. It showed him a glimpse of what he was missing, of what he’d continue to miss if he let the denial go on.
Ever since Buck had left his house the previous night, everything felt off. Wonky. Unbalanced. Even when they found him, things still felt weird. Now, the world was starting to right itself. Buck was here, human, safe, and Eddie was in love.
What else did he need to know besides that?