Reading Time: 115 Minutes

Title: A New Way Forward
Series: Life, Love, and a New Way of Living
Series Order: 2
Author: Hourstillnoon
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Angst, Contemporary, Crime Drama, Drama, Future Fic / Post-Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Tragedy
Relationship(s): Evan “Buck” Buckley/OC, Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Content Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Discussion of Minor character death (OC), arson, burn victim, car accident, discussion of sexism, child kidnapping, alcoholism, anger issues related to alcoholism, threats to minors safety, permanent injury (leg amputation)
Author Note: The threats to minors safety is related to the alcoholism warning. Specifically, Chris has his mobility threatened by having his crutches threatened to be confiscated. They never actually get taken, and Chris gets removed from the situation quickly.
Word Count: 50,521
Summary: Buck is finally getting back on his feet after his wife, Amelia, died three months earlier. People from his past keep popping back into his life, for better or for worse. How will Buck deal with the past returning to haunt him?
Artist: Nightsong21133

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Chapter One

“Daddy, I don’t want to get dressed!”

“Melody, you have to. We have to get you to Grandma and Grandpa’s soon.”

“But daddy, I wanna spend the day with you! I don’t want you to leave again!” The five year old whines.

“I know, baby, but daddy has to go to work. I’ll be by after work today. You love going to Grandma’s.”

“But I want you!”

“I promise, I’ll pick you up as soon as I’m done work.”

“Okay…” Melody agrees quietly.

Shortly after she’s finished getting dressed, they’re on their way.

“Grandma!” The little girl yells, running into the house.

“Hi my sweet girl! And how are you today?” Athena asks her granddaughter.

“She didn’t want to get dressed. She wanted to stay with me.” Buck kisses his mom’s cheek.

“Have you looked into therapists for her?”

“I have. I’m on a wait list now for one that does both child and family therapy, so I can sit in on some sessions with her once a month.”

“Good idea. Her mom’s death was hard on her. On all of us.”

“Yeah. I miss her every day.”

“I know you do, baby. We’re here for you.”

“Anyways, I should get to work. Don’t want to be late, that hardass will write me up.”

“Oh yeah, wouldn’t want to write yourself up.”

Buck rolls his eyes, kissing Melody on the head before leaving for work. In the six years since he came back after his travels, he’s worked his way up the ranks. He now manages the whole team of forensic investigators. Marsha trained him up to take this job since he was the most senior one on the team that was willing to do the job. There were people with more seniority, sure, but none of them wanted to be manager or lead the team. They joined to do the job they applied for and weren’t interested in a management position.

The job had better pay than his old position and led to more flexibility in hours, but it also led to more work behind a desk and paperwork. He couldn’t regret taking the position, he loved where he was at now. He had more of a hand in the overall investigations and assigning different people to their roles in an investigation. He also worked more with the detectives and Captain Maynard on cases, being a liaison between his team and the detectives on the case. That was something he had taken over doing when too many people on his team were questioned about their ability to analyze and investigate. He didn’t want the explanations on his team’s shoulders so he started being to go-between with the detectives and his team. It worked out better for everyone overall.

Walking into work, he sees Maynard in his office.

“What can I help you with this early?”

“We had another case of arson last night. Same as the other ones. I wanted to give you the heads up before the investigator shows up.”

“Didn’t the old one get fired? Did they find someone that quickly to replace him?”

“Yeah. He moved here for the position of lead arson investigator from New York.”

“Okay. Thanks for the heads up. Anything else you needed?”

“Yeah. The investigators name is Eddie Diaz.”

“Oh. Okay, thank you for telling me.”

“You going to be able to work with him? I know you two have a history.”

“We do, but that was six years ago. I’ll be okay to be a professional as long as he is.”

“Okay. I wanted to give you fair warning.”

“Has he been warned?”

“I doubt it. His boss wouldn’t know about your history.”

Buck nods, taking the time before his meeting to look over the case files he was sent, both from his team and the arson investigation team. He makes notes on his team’s investigation and has some files copied to give to Eddie when the meeting starts.

An hour later, there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in!” He calls.

Eddie opens the door, closing it behind him. When he turns around and sees Buck behind the desk, he freezes.

Buck motions to the chair across from him at his desk. “Sit. We have a lot to go over for this case.”

“Uh… yeah. I guess we do.” Eddie clears his throat, taking the seat Buck motioned for him to, “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to see you here today.”

“I get it. I was told an hour ago when I got in. Have you been briefed yet?”

“I was given a little bit of information. I was brought on pretty quickly. I haven’t had much time to look over anything.”

“Okay. The basic rundown is that an arsonist has been targeting empty houses when families are away on vacation. They haven’t killed anyone yet, but the date keeps getting closer and closer to the return date for the families who own the houses. It worries me a little that one will come home early and be caught in the fire. From the reports so far, the alarms and sprinklers have been disabled some time before the fire, so if a tired, jet lagged family came home early, chances are they wouldn’t know about the fire until it was already on them.”

“What else is there?”

“There’s a new report here from last night,” Buck hands Eddie the copied file, “same situation, but the family got home hours after their house burned down. An overnight team went over to investigate. They are still going over their findings for this fire, but I suspect that it will be similar to the last ten.”

“Can I ask why the arson investigation team outsources some of the investigating and testing to the LAPD instead of hiring people themselves?”

“It would cost them more money to hire that kind of help and set up the labs they would need themselves. Not only that, in cases of arson, they work with detectives very closely anyways, so might as well have our forensic team cover that as well.”

“That makes sense I guess. Why isn’t the detective here for this meeting?”

“She hated the person you took over for. She refused to meet directly with him. She’s now waiting on my report of how you are to work with before she steps in and attends the meetings again.”

“What did the guy do to her?”

“He was incredibly sexist and elitist. He didn’t believe that women should be doing any detective work. He constantly talked down to her and wouldn’t listen to anything she had to say. Eventually, he got fired for taking it too far. You’re his replacement.”

“Okay.”

The two spend the next hour going over the details of the case from a forensic standpoint. Once Eddie is all caught up, Buck stands to escort him out.

“Can I ask how you’ve been for the last six years?”

Buck hesitates. “Look, Eddie. I know we have a history. I would like to put that behind us while we’re at work. If you want to clear the air, we’ll have to find time to do so after working hours.”

“I’d like that, Buck. Does tonight work?”

“No, I have family obligations tonight. Next week would work best.”

“Okay. Wednesday?”

Buck nods. They exchange plans to meet up at a local restaurant Buck knows. Once he leaves, Detective Cobb comes into his office and closes the door.

“So? How is he?”

Buck sighs. “He’s not sexist.”

“What’s wrong with him then?”

“He’s my ex.”

“No! The one before you met Amelia?”

“The very same one.”

“I want details.”

“Audrey, I know Amelia told you the details when I told her.”

“No she didn’t.” Audrey’s voice comes out squeaky.

“You’re a terrible liar and you know it.”

“Come on. I know he left you for his wife, that’s all she would tell me.”

“That’s all you need to know.”

“Was there tension?”

Buck glares at his friend. “I’m not answering that. You’re here to talk about the case.”

“Yeah, yeah. That can wait.”

“Audrey.”

“Fine. But I’m coming over for supper.”

Buck lets out yet another sigh. “Are you bringing Lucy this time or leaving her to pout alone at home after shift?”

“I’ll bring her. The pouting got almost unbearable last time.”

“I’m going to tell her you said that.”

“No, Buck, please. I’ll get in so much trouble.” She whines.

“Then maybe don’t tell me how bad your wife’s pouting can be if you don’t want me to tell her.”

“I always knew she was your favourite.”

“I never hid it. I knew her before you.”

“Yeah, well, I introduced you to Amelia, so I should win on that alone.”

“We knew each other before. She just didn’t know how to find me when she found out she was pregnant.”

“Yeah, and I found you and reintroduced you.”

“Well, Lucy found you, so I still think she wins.”

“No fair.”

The day finishes quickly after his meeting with Detective Cobb. He stops by Athena’s house to pick up Melody.

“Eddie’s back.” Buck starts off.

“He’s what?” Athena asks.

“He’s back. He’s the lead arson investigator. We’ll be working together a lot.”

“Will you be okay with that? I can talk to Maynard, convince her to get someone else.”

“No, I’m okay with it. We’re having dinner next week to clear the air.”

“Does he know it’s not a date?” Athena asks.

Buck shrugs. “I didn’t frame it as one, so he should have no reason to think it’s a date. Besides, I’m sure he’s still with Shannon.”

“And what if he’s not?”

“Then I guess we’re both single fathers.”

“Single fathers who work together and have a history, you mean.”

“Yeah. Single fathers who are just work colleagues.” Buck says pointedly.

“Okay.” Athena says with a grin.

Buck leaves, satisfied with their conversation. When he gets home, both Lucy and Audrey are in his kitchen.

“Auntie Lucy, auntie Audrey! You’re here!” The young girl runs up to the two women.

“We are! We even brought supper!” Audrey holds up the pizza boxes.

“Really? I had something marinating in the fridge.”

“You can make that tomorrow.” Audrey waves him away.

“So, Eddie’s back?” Lucy asks quietly.

“Not now. After she goes to sleep.” Lucy nods at Buck’s words.

They have supper on the couch with a movie, which Melody falls asleep shortly after. Buck puts her to bed, closing her door on his way out to the living room.

“I thought Shannon had permanently banned Eddie from LA after you got back?”

“I don’t know any details. I know he moved back to LA from New York recently for a job promotion but I didn’t ask about his life. We’re meeting Wednesday to talk.”

“You just want to avoid seeing my parents again. That’s the day they fly in.” Audrey accuses.

“I love them, but they’ve been visiting once a month since Amelia died. I will happily let them see her when they do come down, but that doesn’t mean I need to see them for their whole trip.”

“I know. That’ll slow down eventually. They’ll stop soon. They just miss her.”

“I know. We all do.”

“Are you going to tell him about Melody and Amelia?” Lucy asks.

“Yeah. I don’t like hiding Melody from anyone. It’s not fair to her. Plus, I haven’t been able to take the ring off yet, so it’ll do no good to try to hide Amelia, even if I wanted to, which I don’t.”

Audrey grabs Buck’s hand and squeezes it, hearing the tears behind his words.

“She loved you, you know. She wouldn’t want you to be stuck in your grief, unable to take the ring off.”

“I know she wouldn’t, but it’s only been three months. I can’t, not yet.”

“Has Melody still been having nightmares?”

“Yeah. Almost every night. I’m on a wait list for therapists for her, so hopefully I can get her into one soon.”

“Yeah. It was tough on her.”

“I just wish I could take it away, you know? The pain and grief.” Buck says, letting the tears fall.

“We all do. Has she talked to you more about it?”

“A little. I talk to her about missing her mom a lot, so I think that helps some.”

“Good. Keeping her talking will help.”

“That phone call was the worst one of my life. Getting the call to go to the hospital quickly, that she was…“ Buck takes a deep breath, Lucy rubbing his back. “I’m glad Melody was unhurt, but she shouldn’t have had to see that.”

“I know.”

“Okay. Now, let’s talk more about you two. How’s the hunt going?”

“Terrible. There are no good options. Be glad you got your house when you did. There are no good three bedrooms anymore.”

“Well, if you didn’t need that third room it would help.”

“Shut it. We need a room for our babies.”

“I wasn’t implying you needed to get rid of the cat room. You don’t need a spare bedroom.”

“Yes we do. We need a place for mom and dad to stay when they come down.” Audrey says.

“I’ve got two spare rooms. They can stay here easily.” Buck offers.

“You need the space. I don’t expect you to house them every time they come visit.”

“I don’t mind. Seriously. They’ll always be family and this way they can at least see Melody more when they’re here.”

“I still feel like we need a spare room. What if Lucy’s family wants to stay over?”

“Lucy’s family lives in LA. They have their own places.”

“What if we want our lovely niece to stay over with us?”

“That’s a better argument!” Buck tells them.

“Have you just been goading us into arguing to take your daughter?”

“Maybe.”

“Jerk.” Lucy shoves his shoulder.

“You love me.”

“You wish.” Lucy counters back automatically.

***

The week flies by, and by the time Wednesday rolls around, Buck is regretting his decision to meet up with Eddie. Amelia had helped him work through his emotions about the other man before they got together, but it was hard seeing him again in person. He knew he was going to have to talk to Eddie about everything and was dreading it. He didn’t want to rehash old wounds about their time together, and he didn’t want to have to talk about his dead wife again. Everyone in his life now knew about it and how it happened. He didn’t want to talk about it outside of his therapist’s office, but Dr. Copeland had told him to talk more about the accident with people, preferably ones that don’t know yet. This was the perfect opportunity to do so, but Buck wasn’t sure he had it in him.

It’s too late to back out now that he’s sitting at the table, though, so he waits for Eddie to arrive.

“Hey. Sorry I’m a little late. Work ran later than I was expecting.”

“It’s alright. I ordered waters for now.”

“Thanks.”

They fall into an awkward silence.

“So. How’s Chris? Shannon?” Buck breaks the silence first.

“Yeah. Uh… Chris is good. He’s enjoying his school so far. Got him transferred to another high school before moving here.”

Buck notices Eddie ignores the question about Shannon.

“That’s good. High school already. That’s crazy.”

They take a moment when the waiter comes by to order their food.

“Have you told anyone you’ve moved back yet?”

“Just Abuela and Tia Pepa. They’re letting us stay with them while we figure out living arrangements. Tia Pepa moved in with Abuela a few years ago to help out more.”

“How’ve they been doing?”

“Uh… They’re good. They’re happy we moved back.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“What happened, Eddie? What caused you, Shannon, and Chris to move so suddenly and cut everyone off?”

“Getting to the point, then, I see.”

“Well, Lucy was very mad when you didn’t tell her yourself that you had moved. She found out from Bobby that you had resigned instead of just taking time off.”

“When did he tell everyone?”

“I remember her coming home a month after I got back from my trip, ranting about how you left with no warning, and you changed all your contact information so she couldn’t even call you to yell at you herself.”

“Do you still talk to her?”

“I do.”

“Does she know I’m back?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. How did she take it?”

“Well, she didn’t scream at me if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Oh. That’s good then.”

“So, again, what happened?”

Eddie sighs. “Shannon happened. She found out that I called you. Chris had apparently been mentioning you a lot more since the tsunami happened. She got mad, deleted your number from my phone, and insisted that we move to New York. She had a job opportunity there. She then insisted we cut off everyone that disagreed with the move. She had already gotten me to cut off all of the 118 because of their connection to you, so the only people left were Abuela and Pepa. They kept trying to convince me before I left to stay in LA, divorce Shannon. I was too stubborn to listen.”

“Did they let Shannon move in or is she staying elsewhere?”

Eddie looks away from Buck. “She’s still in New York. I don’t think she’ll move. We divorced a year ago.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. It was messy. The worst part of it was the custody battle. We both wanted full custody. What it ended up coming down to was her abandonment of Chris and him wanting to live with me. It appears as if the courts don’t see me going to war and still being in contact and visiting as abandonment.”

Buck gives Eddie a weak smile. “How’s Chris handling not seeing his mom as much anymore?”

“He’s angry. He wishes that we hadn’t moved back, or that she would move here with us. He talks to her, I think, but doesn’t talk to me about it.”

“That’s tough. An angry kid isn’t an easy thing to handle.”

“Yeah. Anyways, how have you been?” Eddie takes the time to look Buck over. “Is that a wedding ring?”

“Uh… yeah. It is.” Buck refuses to make eye contact with Eddie.

“How long have you been married?”

“Four years this July. We were together for a year and a half before that, though.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Another awkward silence falls as the waiter brings them their food.

“What’s her name? Your wife?”

“Amelia.”

“Do you have a picture of you two?”

Buck nods, bringing up his favourite of the two of them from their wedding day. Her black hair falls down her back in waves. They’re smiling at each other, laughing while Buck dips her low to the ground.

“She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah.” Buck smiles a little, looking down at his food.

“Do you have any kids? I know you’ve always wanted a family.”

Buck holds his tongue at Eddie’s comment. “Yeah, a daughter. Melody.” Buck pulls up a family photo of the three of them to show Eddie.

“Wow. She looks like her mother, but with your blue eyes.”

“Yeah, she does. She acts like her, too. If she can convince me to have a day in bed instead of going out, she will.” Buck grins.

“You look happy. In the picture, I mean. When was it taken?”

“We got them done in May of this year.”

“How old is Melody?”

“She’s five.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Amelia actually found me when I got back from my trip. She was pregnant with my kid, so I moved her into my house, figured we could co-parent a baby better from one house. Shortly after Mel was born, we fell head over heels for each other, we got married the year after. Our moms actually planned a rush wedding because they couldn’t wait any longer than the three months it took for them to plan a backyard wedding at mom’s.”

“Athena planning a wedding that quickly? That doesn’t surprise me. I’m glad it worked out for you two.”

They fall silent as they finish eating, Buck wanting a distraction before getting into the next part.

“She died.”

“Who died? Athena?” Buck hears the alarm in the other man’s voice.

“No. Amelia.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Eddie says awkwardly.

“Three months ago, actually.”

“Buck, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.”

“It’s okay. My therapist has encouraged me to talk about it with someone new.”

“Okay. Tell me as much as you want, but only if you want.”

Buck takes a deep breath. “It was on our four year wedding anniversary. I had gotten called into work, on that arson case, actually. I was only supposed to work until lunch time. I guess Amelia had decided to bring me lunch from our favourite café. She had Melody with her. They were crossing the street; the car didn’t see them.” Buck pauses, looking across the restaurant to compose himself. “Amelia shoved Melody out of the way. She got the brunt of it. Melody only had a few scratches from being pushed out of the way.”

“Shit, Buck.” Eddie’s voice comes out weak.

He holds up his hand, trying to stop Eddie from talking before he breaks down more. “I got a call telling me to go to the hospital quickly. I got there with enough time to say goodbye before she was put into a coma. She died two weeks later.”

“I don’t know what to say, Buck. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Buck clears his throat. “Thanks.”

At this moment, the waiter comes back. “Is it two bills or just one?”

“One” Eddie says at the same time Buck says “Two.”

“One, please. Buck, let me do this. It’s the least I can do.”

“Water under the bridge, Eddie.”

“Seriously, Buck. I hurt you. At least let me pay for your meal.”

Buck smiles weakly. “Thanks. Seriously, though. I’ve worked through it. Therapy’s a bitch.”

“Okay. I’ll believe you.” Eddie smiles. “This was nice. I’m glad we got caught up.”

“See you at work?”

Eddie nods, the two parting ways.

When Buck gets home, he sees a rental car in the driveway, Audrey’s car parked behind it. He parks in his usual spot, walking into the house.

“Daddy! Nana and Papa are here!” Melody screams.

“They are, baby girl! They’ll be staying here for a whole week!”

“Yay!!!” his daughter screams out.

“She never gives us this kind of welcome. You notice that?” Audrey comments to her wife.

“That’s because she sees you at least once a week.” Buck tells them both dryly.

“And? She should be just as excited to see us as she is to see my parents.” Audrey replies.

“You don’t bring her presents. Your parents bring her presents every time they come.”

“Oooh, there’s an idea! We should start bringing presents!” Audrey says.

“No. She has enough. She doesn’t need more stuff.” Buck tells the two sternly.

“Fine. We can just give them to her when you’re not home.” Lucy informs.

“Don’t you dare.”

Lucy grins at him.

“Hey Alex, Aiden. How was your flight?” Buck asks the two, walking up to hug them.

“It was good! Only a short flight.” Alex responds.

“You didn’t spoil her too much, did you?”

“Of course we did. She’s our only grandchild, it’s our right to spoil her.”

“You didn’t spoil us this much when we were kids.”

“That’s because we were the parents, not the grandparents.” Aiden tells his daughter.

Audrey grumbled a bit at that while Lucy rubs her hand down her wife’s back comfortingly.

“Daddy, I’m tired. I’ve had a very exciting day. Can Nana tuck me in tonight?” Melody asks.

Buck kneels down to her level. “You have to ask her yourself.”

Melody turns her blue eyes onto Alex. “Nana, can you tuck me in please? It’s bed time.”

“Of course I can sweetie. Lets go brush your teeth.”

“But Nana! I brushed this morning!”

“You still have to brush before bed. You don’t want your teeth to rot, right?”

“I guess not.”

“Goodnight, sweetpea. Say goodnight to auntie Lucy, auntie Audrey, and Papa.” Buck hugs his daughter.

“Goodnight!” She waves at each of them, blowing them a kiss as she walks towards the bathroom.

It takes twenty minutes for Alex to finish up Melody’s bed time routine before she joins them in the living room.

“How has she been?” Alex asks.

“Not a whole lot has changed. She still has nightmares regularly. I’m still on the wait list for a therapist for her. I’m hoping that will help, but I’m not sure how long that could take.”

“Yeah. Your therapist couldn’t take her, even for a little bit?” Aiden asks.

“No, unfortunately not. I tried that, but she said she’s not trained in child psychology. She put in a good word at the place I put Melody’s name in at, so hopefully that helps speed up the process.”

“We have something we wanted to talk to you about.” Alex tells them, grabbing her husband’s hand.

All three of them give the two their full attention.

“We’re moving to LA.”

“This is sudden.” Audrey is the first to react.

“Not really. We’ve been considering it since Amelia died. We want to be closer to our family.”

“Where are you going to stay?” Audrey asks.

“Actually, we’ve been looking at houses. There’s one not too far from here. It’s a two bedroom. There would be room for Melody to stay there with us on overnights when you’re comfortable, Buck.” Aiden looks to Buck.

“That sounds nice. Have you set up a time to view it?” Buck asks, pulling out his phone.

“In two days.”

“Okay. I can have my dad come with. He’s an architect so he has some experience with building structure.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Buck shoots off a text to Michael.

“He agreed to go. He’ll meet you here.” Buck looks up at them after getting confirmation.

“Okay perfect. We better head to bed. Travelling is tiring, even if it’s not that far for us.”

“Okay. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

“Goodnight.”

The three of them wait to hear Alex and Aiden settle before speaking.

“So? How was dinner?” Audrey asks with a grin.

“Dinner was fine. I told him about Amelia.”

“Got into the dark stuff early, huh?”

“Sounds like your first date.” Lucy comments.

“This one wasn’t a date. It was us clearing the air so we can work better together in the future.”

“Whatever you say.” Lucy teases.

“It wasn’t. It’s too soon, you know?” Audrey nods at his reply. “Plus, even if it wasn’t, I’m not sure I could date Eddie again. I’ve gotten past what the way he went about things now, but he still hurt me. I’m not sure I could trust him not to hurt me again, you know?”

“Yeah I know. I get it. We’ll drop the teasing, then.” Lucy tells him.

“Thank you.”

“So, what has that asshole been up to?” Lucy asks.

Buck and Audrey laugh. “Still mad, huh?”

“Yes. He left without telling me.”

“At least you didn’t yell when I told you he was back. Baby steps.” Audrey tells her wife.

“Shove it. He deserves my anger.”

The three of them laugh for a moment, falling silent.

“He divorced her. He said it was a pretty nasty custody battle. She stayed in New York.”

“That’s rough. Well, if he’d listened to you in the first place he probably never would have had to leave LA and we would be besties still.” Lucy comments.

“Honestly, Luce, I’m kinda glad he didn’t. If he had, I probably wouldn’t have Melody. I don’t know if I would have gotten with Amelia, even, and I wouldn’t give that up for the world.”

“Fair enough. I reserve the right to be mad about everything, though.” Lucy comments.

“You can be mad all you want, babe.” Audrey kisses her wife’s cheek.

“There’s a firefam barbecue next week. Are you coming, Buck? Bringing Melody?”

Buck sighs. “Maybe? I dunno. They look at me like I’m broken and walk on glass around Mel.”

“Yeah I know, but the more they see you out, the less they’ll do that.” Audrey reasons.

“You’re right. I know you’re right. I’ll decide next week when mom inevitably tries to coax me into coming.”

“You should. It would be good for both of you.” Lucy starts as well.

“Yeah. Are you two going?”

Audrey nods. “I’ve convinced her to go.”

“Good. Still holding a grudge?” Buck asks Lucy.

“Yes. Cap refused to transfer Chimney when he kept bugging me to get Maddie in contact with you. He also didn’t tell Chimney to stop, so I believe the only reason he didn’t keep bothering you is because Athena would have kicked him out if he had. At least Chimney stopped trying to come to the barbecues with Maddie. He figured that was the best way to catch you by surprise, I guess.”

“He’s a good paramedic and he’s loyal. I just wish he’d understand that I don’t want to hear Maddie’s excuses.”

“Yeah. What she said wasn’t okay.”

“It wasn’t. I know she was hurting, but I didn’t need that. I’m just glad they don’t know where I live. I would have actually had to get a restraining order and get them arrested if they’d known.”

“Yeah. I suspect both Bobby and Chimney value blood family so strongly because of their past.”

“Oh, the psychologist is coming out! I thought you were a detective!” Buck teases.

“Shut it. Someone has to take over Amelia’s role as family psychologist. You’re not going to do it, so it might as well be me. I did hear it a lot, especially while she was in school.”

“That you did.” Buck smiles slightly.

“Okay! None of that! Wine anyone?” Lucy interrupts.

“You know, you can’t offer to get us drunk every time we start talking about her.” Audrey comments.

“Do you want wine, or not?”

“Yes please.”

“I take it you’re both staying the night?”

“Obviously.”

“I can still kick you out, Donato!” Buck threatens.

“No you can’t. You love me too much. Plus, Alex, Adrian, and Melody would miss me too much.”

Buck rolls his eyes at her comment, watching as she pours the three of them big glasses of wine.

***

It takes a month before Alex and Adrian close on the house. They still have another couple months to pack up their life and get it to LA. Buck offered them to store some stuff in a spare bedroom that he won’t use, putting stuff slowly in there every time they come up. Mostly, it’s valuables they don’t trust the moving company with. It’ll be nice to have them close finally. He’s sad that it was heartbreak that brought them closer to their family, but they’re good people. They’ve always been kind to him.

On moving day, Buck loads up their valuables with Lucy into his SUV while Audrey takes Melody to the zoo. Lucy and Buck wait for the movers, Alex and Adrian following behind with their car. They’re only left waiting for a few minutes by the time they have the valuable boxes stored safely out of the way. Between the four of them, they guide the movers with the stuff from their old house into the proper places. It takes an hour for the movers to have everything done. Alex takes charge of setting up both bedrooms with Adrian, Lucy sets up the living room and Buck tackles the kitchen. It takes most of the morning to finish everything, but by the time Audrey steps in with lunch and Melody, everyone is exhausted and ready for a break.

“Working hard, I see! And we didn’t even have to help, right Melody?”

Melody nods in agreement with her aunt.

The six of them sit down for lunch, then Buck takes Melody home for the rest of the day.

“Did you have a good day with auntie Audrey at the zoo, princess?”

“Yeah, daddy! It was the best! We got to see soooo many aminals!”

Buck chuckles at her pronunciation, finding it cute. “I’m glad you had fun.”

“Nana and Papa are staying this time, right?”

“Yes they are. You’ll get to see them more often now. Is that okay?”

“Yes! I love them!”

“I love them too, baby.”

They get home and Buck gets her settled with a colouring book at the table.

“Daddy?”

“Yes baby?”

“Do you think mommy is watching us from heaven?”

Buck takes a moment to process before he answers. Melody looks up at him while he’s thinking.

“I do, baby. I think she’s watching us always.”

“How does she watch all of us, though? We’re not all in the same place.”

“That’s a good question. I think that she has multiple screens to watch us from, one for each of the people she loves, that way, she can watch us all. Then, when we’re together, there’s a big screen for all those moments.”

“Kinda like the screens in your office?”

“Yeah, kinda like that.”

Melody nods, going back to her colouring.

“I miss her. I wish she was here.”

“So do I, sweetheart. Every day.” Buck kisses his daughter’s head, grabbing his laptop to finish up a report while she colours.

Chapter Two

“The family was almost home in this one. A neighbor called 9-1-1 when they saw someone running from the house. They knew the family hadn’t pulled up yet. I did the interview earlier today. They couldn’t tell me any identifiers outside of height.” Audrey fills Eddie and Buck in while they meet in Buck’s office.

“My team has gotten the samples they need from the house, but haven’t had time to analyze them. They suspect the findings will be similar to the other houses. They’re working on trying to find a connection between the families, but nothing yet.”

“How much has been released about this case?” Eddie asks.

“Not much. I don’t even think it’s known that it’s arson, just a string of families with bad luck when it comes to fires. I think Captain Maynard has been working closely with the LAPD and Arson media liaisons to talk to reporters about everything. They’re trying not to scare the public. It might make people cancel trips last minute in fear that they’ll lose their home, but it would likely just cause the first death.” Buck answers.

“Detective Cobb, are you prepared for when the first death happens? It’s been building up to this moment.” Eddie asks next.

“Yes. I have my theories about that. When it happens, I want both your teams ready to start increasing what we analyze. Grab any samples you can find of anything. See if something changes when someone gets hurt.” Audrey answers.

“Okay perfect. What are those theories, if you don’t mind me asking?” Eddie says.

“No, not at all. My biggest theory is that the first person they kill will be intentional. They’ve been building up to when the families will be home. I think that the other families will have no connections to each other aside from them all going away and coming back within a day of their house being burned down. The first casualty will be someone who wronged this person in some way. As they start killing, I suspect that the arsonist will become more and more unhinged. They’ll slip up and that’s how we’ll catch them.”

“And other theories?”

“The first casualty will be an accident. They’ll time it too close together and when that happens, the arsonist will become wracked with the guilt of killing someone innocent, someone they didn’t intend to die. Then, they will get less and less careful as they go after the people they intend to kill.”

“What makes you think the arsonist will kill at all?” Eddie asks.

“The families are getting home closer to when the fire starts. This suggests they’re building to something.”

“Okay. So, can I ask, what the other arson investigator did to make you sit out on meetings? I got Buck’s version, but I want to hear yours.”

“He refused to believe my theories, solely because I’m a woman. He also tried to go above mine and Maynard’s head to get me replaced on the case, if not fired outright. When that didn’t work and he got in the way of the investigation progressing by refusing to look at or speak to me, he got fired.”

“Why did they let it go on so long?”

“There wasn’t much they could do until he got in the way of the investigation. Unfortunately, he was a semi-competent lead arson investigator, if you could get past his sexism. Buck’s the only reason I stayed sane during everything.”

“Yeah. The guy was a dick, I wasn’t going to let him walk all over you. Unfortunately, my numerous complaints fell on deaf ears at arson investigation, until he started getting in the way. Then, Maynard’s boss got involved and demanded action.”

“I know the head of arson investigation got replaced as well. Is that why?”

“That’s exactly why. He was the old lead’s brother-in-law, so nepotism was a big reason that he got the job in the first place. That, and bribery. In the investigation into the head of the department, they found out he’d been taking many bribes. I know there are a lot of detectives and arson investigators having to go back and deal with all that crap.” Audrey tells him.

“Wow, what a shitshow. I’m just glad I came in after that. If I’d come back before, I would have probably gotten fired for speaking my mind.”

They conclude their debrief of the case, finishing shortly after.

“So, Eddie, I have to know.”

Eddie looks at Audrey.

“Why did you get into arson investigation? You used to be a firefighter.”

At the question, Eddie looks to Buck.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell her your old job.”

“It’s true. He didn’t. Are you going to answer?”

“I got shot on the job. There was a sniper in New York shortly after I started there. The nerves in my hand never quite were the same, so they offered me a position at arson investigation in New York. I took it. I actually have grown to love it since the transfer.”

“Damn, that must have sucked, having no one around to help out.”

“Still not my fault.” Buck tells Eddie as he again looks to Buck.

“I had my ex-wife to help out with Christopher.”

“And she refused to move with you, even for Chris?”

“Okay, that one was me. But to be fair, I needed someone to talk to about our dinner, and I wasn’t going to go to mom. She would have found you and given you the biggest lecture of your life, rivalled even the one Isabel would have given you when you turned up at her door.” Buck tells the other man.

“I’m glad you didn’t tell her. Does she know I’m back?”

“Yes. Maynard warned her you’d be at the station, and told her not to talk to you until she was less angry.”

Eddie winces, “she really didn’t like the way I treated you.”

“Actually, it’s not that. She was angrier about your sudden disappearance. She understood your side of things, wanting to make things work with Shannon. She almost did with Michael for the kids. You really hurt a lot of people she cares about, so be prepared to grovel next time you see her.” Audrey informs.

“Do you think it’s better to start that sooner rather than later?” Eddie asks.

“It depends if you want to get in touch with anyone from the 118, honestly. If you have no intention of talking to them again then I wouldn’t recommend groveling at all.” Buck tells him.

“What about making up with you? Should I grovel if I want to do that?”

Buck hesitates. “We’re just work colleagues. There’s no reason to make anything up, Eddie.”

“What about that dinner we had?”

“That was to clear the air, make it easier to work together. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that it was anything more than that.” Buck tells Eddie awkwardly.

“Oh. Okay. I understand. Uh… thanks for clarifying.” Eddie looks away from both of them. “I uh… should get going. Update my team on the progress of the case. Yeah, I’m going to uh… go…”

Eddie stands up, leaving suddenly with his case files.

“High five, bro! Way to assert your boundaries!” Audrey tells him, holding up her hand.

Buck sighs. “I didn’t exactly like doing that, you know. But I just can’t.”

“I understand. I’m not sure if you noticed, but he was trying to flirt there, probably putting out feelers on how you felt about him flirting. It’s a good thing you shut that down.”

“Yeah I know it was. It’s too soon to even think about anyone else, let alone Eddie, in that way.”

“I know. He hurt you a lot.”

“He did. I’ve gotten over that situation, it’s been six years, but I don’t think I can trust him again the way I did before. He hurt me a lot and I would be worried that he would leave again, you know?” Buck confides.

“I do know. That much hurt isn’t easy to get over. I know it took a while, a lot of therapy and Amelia being encouraging, but I’m glad you know yourself well enough to know that you would have a hard time trusting him again.”

“Yeah me too. Enough time has passed by now to have a clearer view of everything that happened. It should have never gotten as bad as it did.” Buck admits.

“What made it so bad? Amelia never gave me any details, and Lucy only tells me about how he hurt her, she won’t get into how it affected you, telling me it’s up to you what you want to share.” Audrey admits.

“Smart woman.”

“I know she is.” Audrey sighs happily.

“What hurt so much about that situation was a few things. Eddie couldn’t admit that he loved her. He went back to her because he didn’t want to deal with custody, sure, but he stayed with her so long because even a small part of him still loved her. He kept calling me after the fact and telling me he missed me while refusing to admit he loved her, on top of staying with her. It felt like he wanted me to admit that I missed him and wanted him back, but I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t fight for a relationship that was dead.”

“How were you so sure it was dead?”

“I was there that day, when Shannon showed up. After she left, I saw the look on his face. There was no way to not know in that moment that he wasn’t going to choose me.”

“I’m sorry, Buck. That would have sucked.”

“It did. But I’ll be okay.”

“I know. If you ever want to rant to someone about that situation, I can take Melody for a night and send Lucy your way.”

“Thanks. I may take you up on that.”

With the conversation over, the two get back to work.

***

“You’re coming to the barbecue this weekend, right?”

“Mom.”

“What? Is it a crime to want to see my son and grandbaby in the same place as the other people I love?” Athena asks.

“I guess not. I’ll come if it means you’ll stop bugging me about it.”

“Great! Oh, and bring Alex and Adrian with you.”

“Yes mom.” Buck rolls his eyes.

“I heard that eye roll over the phone.”

“I wasn’t trying to hide it.”

“You know, I can’t wait until Melody starts giving you that much sass.”

“She already does, don’t worry.” The timer goes off. “Gotta go, supper’s done. Love you!”

“Love you too.”

Buck hangs up the phone, grabbing the dish from the oven. “Supper’s done!”

Melody runs into the room. “Daddy! Supper!”

“Wash your hands, baby.”

“But I’m hungry.” Melody whines.

“I know, but we have to wait a few minutes for supper to cool on your plate so it’s not too hot.” Buck tells her as he’s cutting up her food, “come on, let’s go wash together, yeah?”

Melody nods, climbing up into his chair with him as he wheels them into the bathroom.

It doesn’t take long for them to finish eating, then it’s time for a show before bed. As Buck is tucking her in, she speaks up.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah baby?”

“How did you get the booboo on your leg?”

“I got into an accident in a car when I was 18.”

“Wow! That was sooo long ago!”

Buck laughs, “it was!”

“Are you okay? I don’t want you to be hurt like mommy was.”

“I’m okay now. It’s been healed for a long time. I will try my best not to get hurt like mommy was.”

“Okay. Miss Diane told me you must have been hurt pretty badly if you had a fake leg. Was it bad, daddy?”

Buck sighs, knowing he’ll have to talk to her sitter again about boundaries.

“It was bad, but it’s gotten a lot better.”

“But sometimes you’re in your chair. Does that mean it hurts when that happens?”

“Yeah, baby. When I’m in my chair, it hurts. But that’s what happens with something as serious as my leg booboo. I have to wear a heavy fake leg, so it gets sore. That means that I’m going to want to not wear it sometimes.”

“Why do you use your chair more than your crutches?”

“Sometimes it’s easier to wheel around the house than it is to use the crutches.”

Melody nods. “You are in your chair a lot when we get home. Is it because you have to wear your leg all day at work?”

“Yeah. It’s easier to get around when we go out with the leg on, so when I get home I take it off. It gives my leg time to feel better and not as sore for the next day.”

“Okay. Can you read to me before I sleep?”

“Of course. The usual?”

Melody nods. Buck picks up the chapter book that him and Amelia had been reading her together. They’ve read it so many times already, but it was a way for Melody to remember her mom so Buck didn’t mind reading it to her again and again, as long as she still wanted to hear it.

“Goodnight, baby.” Buck says, kissing her head softly.

He walks out, turning off her light, making sure she doesn’t wake up as he closes the door a little behind him. The sitter he used was starting to get on his nerves. He hired her from a service that helps out with last minute needs for sitters, but she had violated his boundaries over and over again. He knew that Melody’s grandparents loved taking care of her, as did her aunt’s, but it wasn’t something he wanted to rely on. He knew about once a week, she would see her family, and sometimes Athena would request a grandma day, but he needed a more permanent solution during the week until she was in school next year. A nanny for a year wouldn’t be a bad idea. He would look into it after this weekend.

***

“So Buck. How are you doing?” One of the people from the 118 asks.

Buck tries not to groan. He knows they’re concerned, but the pity in their eyes is tiring. He answers the questions but quickly moves on to hiding beside Hen.

“How’s life?” Buck asks her.

“Good. How’s hiding?” Hen replies.

“That’s no fair. You weren’t supposed to call me on it.” Buck whines.

“Buck, it’s obvious. Why don’t you tell them to leave you alone about it?”

“Because I’m too nice.”

As Hen goes to reply, Bobby gets everyone’s attention.

“I have an announcement. I figured this was the best time to tell everyone, seeing as we’re all together.”

Buck glances over at Chimney, who had attended alone today, on request of their captain. Luckily, he hadn’t approached Buck.

“I am stepping down as Captain of the 118. I will be moving into a more part time position as a teacher at the fire academy, as a way to transition slowly into retirement when I’m ready to take that step.”

Silence follows, before a couple people start talking at once.

“Slow down! I’ll explain if you’d give me a moment.” Bobby calls out to the crowd.

Everyone stops talking.

“Wilson will be taking over as Captain. She’s been training our probie to take over as paramedic for her, and he’s been doing well. He almost has his certification complete. Donato will be taking over her Lieutenant position. She took the exam a few months ago. Congratulations to you both for the well-deserved promotion!” Bobby announces.

Everyone tries to approach Bobby at once. Instead of braving that crowd, Buck approaches Hen and Lucy, who are standing off to the side together.

“So, the dynamic duo. I heard that Lucy had been working more with you, but she couldn’t tell me why. Congratulations on the promotion to you both.”

“Thanks, Buck. I appreciate it.”

As Buck goes to speak, the three fall silent, hearing an exchange behind them.

“It’s bullshit that you got looked over, man. I can’t believe that Bobby even demoted you in the first place.”

“Come on, I already explained this to you when Hen took up the position as Lieutenant. I stepped down, I wasn’t demoted. Bobby came to speak to me about the position to make sure I hadn’t changed my mind. I just want to be a paramedic. I don’t want that kind of responsibility. I also don’t want to hear that shit from you.” Chimney replies.

The two keep walking past them, moving to a different part of the yard.

“You know, he stopped pestering people to get you to talk to Maddie after Lucy went off on Bobby and him.”

“Congrats. I shouldn’t have even had to go off on them about it.” Lucy interjects.

“Why bring this up, Hen? It’s been years. Like I told mom, I don’t mind if he comes to the barbecues, or even if Maddie comes with him, but if Maddie is with him, I will leave.”

“But if Chim’s here, you’ll stay?”

“Chimney didn’t tell me that all I’m useless since I couldn’t save her brother.”

“You say “her” brother as if he wasn’t related to you.”

“In a way, he wasn’t. I didn’t know him, and I certainly didn’t know about him until Maddie went off on me. I have no connection to him, so I don’t consider him my brother.”

“Okay. Fair enough. I’ll drop it.” Hen replies, noting Lucy’s glare.

“Thank you.” Buck replies.

He manages to avoid any more questions on his wellbeing. Bobby’s announcement helps a lot, as everyone is more concerned with talking to Bobby, Hen, and Lucy than making sure he’s okay. He’s grateful for the distraction, so grateful that he doesn’t notice Chimney approach him.

“Hey, Buck, can we talk?”

“About what?”

“About my behaviour.”

Buck nods at that. “Okay.”

“I want to apologize. I was out of line, trying to convince you so hard to talk to Maddie. It wasn’t fair to you, using our kid against you to guilt you into talking to her.”

“Why did you do it?”

“I got so far into my head. I thought if you two could talk, work things out, that everything would be okay. Maddie was so hurt by everything, and you being here brought a lot of it back for her. I just wanted to fix her problems for her.”

“And I was a problem.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. That situation was still sensitive for her. Anyways, I won’t get into that. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for the apology, Chimney. I appreciate it.”

He nods, hesitating a moment.

“Do you think- ah, never mind.”

Buck sighs, “what is it?”

“Do you think that we could have Melody meet our kids? I know her and Jee are around the same age. Daniel is a few years younger. If you say no, I’ll understand. I won’t bring it up again.”

“I’ll think on it. But, Chimney, I don’t want this to be an invitation for Maddie to come back into my life. If I say yes, I want to meet only with you, or if Maddie insists on being there, I will leave. If she really wants to be a part of the visits, I can see if someone else is willing to take her.”

“I understand.” Chimney tells him, walking away.

“What was that about?” Athena comes up beside him.

“He apologized for pushing Maddie onto me.”

“About damn time.”

“Yeah. He also wanted to know if I’d be willing to let Melody meet his kids.”

“Are you going to?” Athena asks.

“I told him I’d consider it. If I do, I won’t see Maddie. Either I find someone else to take her, or Chimney doesn’t bring Maddie.”

“Good for you, keeping to your boundaries.”

“Thanks.”

***

It had been a long day at work. Another close case with the arsonist. Buck just wanted to go home and hug his daughter, relieve Diane of her sitting for the day. As soon as he got home, he knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. A car was there that he didn’t recognize.

He walks into the house, immediately feeling tense. He walks into the living room as he hears children’s laughter coming from in there, more than just Melody’s. He sees Diane talking excitedly with Maddie on the couch, Melody with two other kids, very likely Jee-Yun and Daniel, around the coffee table playing a board game. Buck texts Audrey for backup, just the words “help, Maddie, at home”.

“Oh, you’re home. I hope you don’t mind, but your sister came by to visit. Isn’t that nice?” Diane says.

“Maddie, can I see you in the kitchen?” Buck spares a glance at the kids to make sure they don’t notice anything. Melody doesn’t look up from the game, not noticing or caring that her dad is home.

Maddie nods, following Buck.

“What are you doing here?!” Buck makes sure his voice is low enough not to carry into the other room.

“Look, I know I shouldn’t have just shown up here-“

“No, you definitely shouldn’t have.”

“-But I didn’t know how else to get a hold of you.”

“Why did you need to talk to me that badly? How do you even know where I live?!”

“Diane sits my kids when we need her to as well. One day she had already been here, but I needed Jee and Daniel taken care of. I called her and she told me to bring them by here, as long as I was back before you got home. I didn’t know it was your house until I came by and saw the pictures on the wall.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here now.” Buck tells her.

“I wanted to talk to my brother.”

“Your brother died shortly after I was born.”

Maddie flinches. “That’s not fair. I was hurting.”

“Isn’t it? From where I was laying, so was I, and you didn’t hear me throwing insults at you.”

“It wasn’t the same.”

“What do you want from me, Maddie?”

“I want you to hear me out. Please, Evan?”

“My name’s Buck. I had it legally changed.”

“Why?”

“Why? Seriously? You’re asking me why I changed my name when my only blood family disowned me and left me on my own after a horrific car accident where I lost my leg?” Buck feels his phone vibrating in his pocket but ignores it, not taking his eyes off Maddie.

“That’s not fair, Buck. You know that’s not fair. We all were struggling.”

“You struggling justifies abandonment?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. Can you please just hear me out?”

“Fine. You get five minutes. Go.”

“Buck, I need more time than that to explain everything.”

“Four and a half.”

“I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have said you were useless for being unable to save Daniel. It wasn’t in your control. There was no way you could have saved Daniel.”

Buck hears the door open quietly in the middle of Maddie’s speech. Maddie doesn’t notice Audrey coming up to lean on the wall behind her. Buck is careful not to tear his eyes away to give away her presence.

“Is that all? You’ve still got three minutes.”

“Buck, come on. Can’t we work this out?”

“No. Either you finish telling me what you stomped all over my boundaries to tell me, or you take your kids and get the fuck out.”

“Fine. I need money.”

Buck raises his eyebrows at her.

“Mom and dad are broke. They made a bad investment with their company. I got into some debt a while back. Howie doesn’t know and I don’t want him to know. We’re looking into buying a house soon, but with my debt I won’t be able to afford it.”

“Why would I help you? What makes you think I even have the money for that?”

“You owe me this at least. Plus, you must’ve gotten a pretty big some of life insurance from your wife. I know I did when you killed Doug.”

“Fuck off with that shit, Maddie. He died because he drove recklessly. I had nothing to do with his death. I don’t owe you shit. Get the fuck out of my house.”

“Buck, please. I need the money more than you do. You already have a house. It’s not right that I have to live in apartments.”

“You got into debt yourself, Maddie. Get yourself out of it, without relying on others.”

“But-“

“He told you to get out. If you don’t leave, I will have you arrested. I think your kids would notice that, don’t you?” Audrey says from behind Maddie.

Maddie whirls around. “Who are you? How long have you been there?”

“Long enough. I’m a member of Buck’s family that actually loves him and cares about his wellbeing.”

“You’re not his blood. You can’t be family.”

“I’m his sister-in-law. Are you going to leave or do I have to arrest you?”

“I’m not leaving until I get what I want.” Maddie holds her head high.

“Fine.” Audrey grabs some handcuffs, walking towards Maddie.

“You wouldn’t arrest me with my kids in the other room.”

“They won’t know.”

“You wouldn’t dare arrest me a week before Christmas. That would just hurt my kids.”

“I will. This is your last chance to leave willingly.” Audrey argues back.

Maddie holds her head high, arms crossed.

“I’ll go in there, make sure they don’t come out. I’ll find a way to get them to Chimney. Lucy on shift today?”

“Yeah. An overnight.”

“Okay.”

With that, Buck goes into the living room, glaring at Diane, who at least looks a little sheepish. Buck distracts the kids until he gets a text from Audrey giving the all-clear.

“So, who wants to go to the firehouse! Maybe visit grandpa and auntie? Dad?” Buck looks at Melody, Daniel, and Jee-Yun.

The three kids cheer excitedly. He looks to Diane.

“You’ll drive Maddie’s car with her kids, to the 118. I’ll drive you back here, where we’ll have a talk. Understood?”

Diane nods, grabbing Maddie’s keys. She follows him to the firehouse. Buck gets himself and Melody out of the car, walking towards the other group. He leads them up the stairs.

“Hey, Buck. I wasn’t expecting to see you here today.” Lucy greets as he walks up the stairs.

Chimney is sitting at the table as he walks up, the three kids in tow.

“Jee-Yun? Daniel? What are you doing here?”

“Lucy, can you watch the kids for a moment? I would like to talk to Chimney in private.” Lucy nods her confirmation.

Buck leads Chimney to a quiet part of the firehouse.

“What’s going on, Buck? You look pissed.”

“Maddie was at my house after work today.”

“What?! How does she know where you live? Buck, I swear, I didn’t even know where you lived.”

“Apparently Diane had told her to drop the kids off one day when she was looking after Melody without talking to me about it. Maddie found out it was my place after seeing the pictures on the wall.”

“What?! That’s insane. I had no part in this, I promise.”

“I know you didn’t. I wanted to let you know, Maddie refused to leave until she got what she wanted. Audrey heard the whole thing. I texted her when I saw Maddie. Chimney, Audrey arrested Maddie for trespassing.”

“What did she want that bad that was worth being arrested for?!”

“She wanted money.”

“No. She told me she had money. We were starting to look into buying a house.”

“She lied. She came by to ask me for money. She has debt that she didn’t tell you about.”

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry you were dragged into this, Buck. I don’t know what I’m going to do. We’re short staffed today. I don’t know if I can leave…”

“Talk to Bobby, see if he can spare you. If not, Diane may have to watch the kids.”

“I don’t know if I trust her, Buck. Not after everything you’ve just told me.”

Buck rubs a hand down his face.

“Everything okay here?” Bobby says, walking up to the two.

“Is there any way we can call in a floater, Cap? Maddie got arrested for trespassing on Buck’s property and the kids’ sitter is unable to be trusted.”

“No can do. We’re short-staffed right now, I couldn’t even get a floater to help cover our blind spots. We don’t have the extra hands to cover a paramedic.”

“Fuck. Okay. It’s okay.” Chimney starts.

“What about the Lee’s? They’ve helped you out before.” Bobby suggests.

“They’re out of town for the night.”

“Anyone at dispatch that you and Maddie are friends with?” Bobby says.

He shakes his head. “Anyone we would trust is on shift right now.

Buck considers his options, “I’ll take them for the night, if you trust me to. I understand if you don’t want me to, we haven’t spoken much since the whole Maddie thing, but as long as she doesn’t come by to pick up the kids, I don’t mind looking after them.”

“Are you sure, Buck? I don’t want you to feel like you have to. Maddie put you in a pretty tough position.” Chimney says.

“Yeah, I’m sure. The only thing I ask is that you give me time before we all leave to talk to Diane.”

“Buck, I’m sure you don’t have enough safe seats for all three kids, so Chimney, I can spare you for an hour to drop them off with Buck. But come back asap, okay?” Bobby informs.

“Got it, Cap. Thanks.”

Buck walks over to Diane, who had been watching the exchange from a little further away.

“With me, outside.” Buck says, trying to contain his anger.

Diane follows slowly behind him.

“What the fuck were you thinking?! You don’t let people into my home without informing me! We had this discussion before, I know we did.”

“I thought it would be fine. She is your sister. Family is important.”

“I’m estranged from my sister.”

“I thought it was about time you two made up.”

“You don’t get to make that decision for me. How did you even know she was my sister?”

“She mentioned you to me, saying she wanted to make things right, last week. I thought when she showed up at your house I would let her in, give you two a chance to talk.”

“That was not your place.” Diane stays quiet at that, “have you watched other kids at my house without talking to me about it?”

“Yes. When someone calls me last minute, I can’t bear the thought of those kids being alone, so I have them over to your house while I watch Melody. She loves playing with other kids.”

“You’re fired. I can’t deal with an unreliable sitter. You cannot be bringing other kids into my home without talking to me about it. It’s very dangerous.”

“No, please! I need the money! I need as many clients as I can get!”

“I will be reporting you to the agency you work for. This is something they need to know.” Buck tells her, “start looking for another job.”

“No, I need this job! Please don’t report me!”

“You should have thought of that before.” Buck tells her. “Oh, another thing, did you tell my daughter that my amputation was a really bad injury?”

Diane nods.

“Why did you think that was appropriate for you to talk about? It wasn’t your place to tell her any of that.”

“Someone needed to talk to her about it. You weren’t.”

“I had, actually, in an age appropriate way that wouldn’t scare her. You scared her. I will also be mentioning to your agency the inappropriate behaviour you exhibited with my daughter, and how you had conversations with her you had no right to.”

Buck walks away, having said all he needs to say.

“Ready to go?” Chimney asks.

“Yeah. All taken care of.”

They gather up the kids and head off, Chimney offering to take Diane back to Buck’s to get her car. They both watch as she drives off then get the kids settled in the living room with a game.

“Thanks for doing this, Buck. You didn’t have to. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what Maddie put you through.”

“You didn’t get her to come over here, Chimney. Just… be careful, alright? She seemed pretty entitled when talking about my money. I wouldn’t want her to treat you like that too.”

“I will. I’m going to see about getting her some help.”

“I hope she does.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Buck.”

“Get back to work, before Bobby sends the truck after you. I can handle the kids.”

Buck goes back into the house, making sure the kids are okay and distracted for the moment while he makes a call to the agency Diane works at. They take his report seriously, noting down everything to investigate with her other clients. They ask if he wants to be assigned a new sitter, but he refuses, saying he will take his business elsewhere for the moment. He then calls Alex, asking if she’ll watch Melody tomorrow while he gets things figured out.

With that figured out for the moment, Buck can finally relax for the evening.

Chapter Three

Buck gets a call from Audrey before he goes into work the next day. She warns him that the arson case has gotten worse, and to prepare his team. This time, there was someone home. She spent all night at the bedside of the victim, waiting until they were good enough to be interviewed, as well as watching her to make sure the arsonist didn’t stop by. They wanted to make sure she was safe.

Alex gets there right as Chimney is gathering the kids up. Buck made sure all three kids have been fed. He pulls her aside to explain a bit of the situation. He wants to make sure she knows to watch out for Diane. She sends him off, telling him to try not to worry as much, that she will take care of things on this end and they can talk more when he gets home. He leaves, kissing Melody on her head.

When he gets in, Eddie is waiting in his office.

“Hey, sorry I’m a little late. Hectic morning.”

“I get it. Having to corral a kid that early can get like that sometimes.”

“I was corralling three. Chimney’s kids were staying over.”

“Everything okay there? Did you and Maddie work things out?”

Buck hesitates a bit. “No. I’m sure you’ll probably hear some gossip as you leave, so I’ll just tell you. Maddie was arrested for trespassing last night. Chimney couldn’t get off work and I offered to look after the kids since he had no one else.”

“Oh. Yeah. That would, uh… make it a bit more difficult in the mornings. I take it she had the kids with her, then.”

“Yeah. My sitter let them in. She refused to leave. I made sure the kids didn’t see her arrested.”

“Good, good.”

“Anyways, I take it you’re here to discuss the case.”

“Yeah. I’m sure you haven’t had time to be caught up yet.”

“Audrey, uh, Detective Cobb, called me early this morning to give me a warning.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. Has anyone from your team found anything yet? I’ll be checking in with my team after this.”

“No, nothing yet. They were still at the scene when I got in this morning and was briefed. They’re combing over the scene, trying to get any little scrap of anything.”

“Okay.”

The two go over the case file they received. It’s short, since there’s not a lot of information yet. They part ways pretty quickly.

Buck goes to the lab attached to the station to coordinate with any of his team that are there. He finds a few lingering around, analyzing some data that is there already. They have most of the crime scene techs on scene at different crime scenes, but a few on the arson case are going back and forth with any evidence they collect to try to speed up the process as much as they can. They’ve been there for hours now, and are almost done, from the call he makes to the lead on the scene.

Buck steps in to help speed up the process until Audrey gets back. He steps into his office to talk to her about the case.

“Did you get any information from the victim?”

“A little, yeah. I stopped by the arson investigation office on my way back to update Eddie. She was looking after the house for the family with her husband. They were staying there as a last-minute thing while the owners were away. The family was due back this morning shortly after the fire started, but their flight got delayed. She wasn’t supposed to be there, but was. I called in one of my detectives to start investigating her past, see if someone may have accidentally targeted the right person. I also had them looking into the family that was targeted. Neither have anything or anyone in their past, really, that are alive to do this, that wasn’t in another state at the time of the fire.”

“Damn. I was hoping that we’d get something.”

“Yeah, so was I. We’ll keep up the search. Hopefully someone from arson or your team can find something to identify them.”

“Yeah so do I.”

***

Buck gets home after work, more stressed than before he left. He had to start looking into other sitters, maybe even committing to daycare, while he’s at work. He walks in to supper on the table.

“You didn’t have to do that, Alex. I would have made supper.”

“Nonsense. You deserve to relax.”

“Thanks, but I’m not sure I’ll get much of that tonight. I need to start looking into other agencies to use or daycares to take Melody to while I’m at work.”

“What about a nanny? Have you thought about that?”

“I did, briefly, but dismissed the idea. I don’t want to get to know a stranger that would essentially live here and do all my chores for me. That’s why I went with an agency that doesn’t have them do that for me.”

“I can understand that”

They all sit down to eat supper together.

Once Melody is in bed, the two sit down in the living room.

“Oh, Melody has an appointment just after Christmas with a therapist. She finally got in.” Buck tells her.

“Oh good. That’ll be good for her. I’m glad she finally got in.”

“Yeah so am I. Now I just need to figure out childcare and we’ll be doing good again.”

“I’ve been doing some thinking about that actually today while looking after Melody.”

“Okay.”

“What if you don’t get another agency?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I can watch her while you’re at work. I love spending time with her, and Adrian’s job is enough for us to live off of. I’ve been wanting something to do since we moved. I would love the opportunity to watch her. I can cook and make sure she’s taken care of, but won’t touch the chores aside from cooking and cleaning the kitchen a bit if you’d rather I not.”

“Really? You wouldn’t mind?”

“No, not at all. I love my granddaughter.”

“Okay. We can work something out payment wise, then.”

“No. I won’t accept payment for looking after family.”

“Alex. You’d be doing a job, I want to pay you.”

They have a standoff, staring at each other.

“Fine. You can pay for any outings we go on while I watch her when you’re at work, and any groceries I get for food that I make here, and takeout that we get.”

“Fine. I can work with that.”

“Good. I’ll start walking home. I’ll let you know when I get home, yeah?”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

Buck walks her to the door, then waits until he gets her text before going to bed.

***

All too soon, it’s Christmas morning. Buck is spending the morning just him and Melody, then late afternoon, he’s bringing her to his mom’s, where her and Bobby will be hosting a big family meal. His dad will be bringing May and Harry by, as well as David. Audrey and Lucy will be coming, and so will Alex and Adrian. It will be a full day, but first, Buck has to get the two of them through the morning.

“Daddy! Wake up! Santa came!” Melody comes running into his room, bouncing on the bed.

“Oh really? I guess that means I need to get up then, huh?” Buck says, smiling at his daughter.

“Of course, silly! It’s present time!”

“Okay, baby. I’ll be right out. You get started on sorting the presents, okay?”

“Okay!”

By the time Buck makes his way to the living room, the presents are piled around. Buck’s is a lot smaller than Melody’s but that’s to be expected of the 5 year old. Buck watches as she opens each of her presents, making sure to save the best for last. She gets a lot of new toys that she’s excited to play with.

When her pile is all opened, she looks at him. “Your turn, daddy!”

“There’s one more here for you. I hid it so you’d open it last.”

“But I wanna see you open yours now! Can I open that one after breakfast?”

Buck smiles. “Of course.”

Buck opens his presents, getting a few kitchen gadgets and some helpful stuff for around the house. The last one he opens is a hand drawn book.

“What’s this?” Buck asks, looking to his daughter.

“I made it for you! I did it all myself!”

“Wow! This is my favourite gift ever! Thank you so much!” Buck squeezes her into a hug. “Now, you ready for me to start the waffles?”

“Yes! I want strawberries and lots and lots of whipped cream!”

“Okay. Only because it’s Christmas.” Buck tells her, smiling.

They finish eating. Buck puts the dishes in the dishwasher, starting it up. Buck sits her down in the living room with the final wrapped gift.

“Now. This one is extra special, and I need to explain why.” Buck tells her.

Melody looks up at him, giving him her full attention. Buck hands her the gift. As she’s opening, he explains.

“This gift is from your mom. She got Nana and Papa to bring it with her when they came for a visit over the summer. It was her most favourite toy growing up, and Nana had recently found it while they were cleaning. Your mom wanted to wait until Christmas to give it to you.” Buck has tears in his eyes at the end of the explanation.

Melody holds up a stuffed bear that looks a little faded, but still in good shape. “This was mommy’s?”

“Yes it was, baby.”

Melody launches herself into Buck’s arms, crying.

“Ssshhh, ssshhh… I know baby. Let it out. It’s okay.” Buck rubs her back, letting his tears fall.

She continues to cry for a few minutes, then looks up at him.

“I miss her a lot.”

“I do too, baby. Every day.”

Buck continues to rub her back, soothing her into sleep. As she naps, he distracts himself with cleaning up their wrapping paper, letting her cuddle with the bear as he does. He had debated waiting a little longer to give it to her, but now he realizes that would have been a mistake. She needed that little piece of her mom today.

The rest of the day flies, Melody having a lot of fun seeing all her family in one place. She ran around, bragging about how her mom gave her a bear from when she was little. It was bittersweet, but nice. Buck’s glad he took her instead of keeping her at home. It was a good evening.

***

“Auntie May!” Melody runs up to May as she walks in the door.

“Hey! You’ve gotten so big!”

“No. I haven’t grown since you came to see me last, auntie May.”

“When did she get so sassy?” May asks, looking at Buck.

“She’s always been sassy, you just didn’t notice. She takes after her mother.” Buck hugs May.

“Ah I see.”

“How’s UCLA? Still going well?”

“Yeah. Studies are going well. My roommate this year at least doesn’t party like last year’s did, so I can actually spend time in my room to study instead of the library.”

“Good.”

“Go. I can handle my sweet niece while you go out. She was fed already?”

“Yes. Here, take some cash.”

“Buck. I told you I don’t need to be paid.”

“I know you did, but I’m insisting.”

“Fine.” May takes the cash, shoving her brother out the door.

Buck gets in his taxi, directing them to the bar he’s meeting Lucy and Audrey at.

“Hey!” Buck greets, sliding in opposite the two.

“Hey!”

“Want another round?” Buck asks, glancing at their empty glasses.

“No, we invited a fourth, he’s at the bar getting us another round. We told him your drink order.”

“Okay. Anyone I know?” Buck asks.

At that moment, Eddie walks up to the table with the drinks. He places them down in front of the owners.

“Hey. Hope you don’t mind that Lucy and Audrey invited me. Me and Lucy had dinner earlier to clear the air and she invited me along.”

“No, not at all. They insist I come out with them once a month and I’m usually left alone when they inevitably decide to ditch me.”

“We do not ditch you. We simply leave you to your own devices.” Audrey replies.

“Right. Luckily I can always find a dance partner if I so wish.”

“So, Eddie. Have you talked to Athena yet?” Audrey asks.

He hesitates at the question. “No not yet.”

“Why not?” Lucy asks. “You talked to me.”

“She scares me.”

“As she should. You’ll have a lot of groveling to do with her. Better start sooner rather than later, though. She won’t appreciate you putting it off.” Lucy tells him.

“Buck, do you have any advice to win over your mom?” Eddie turns to Buck.

“All I had to do was be abandoned with no family and be extra loveable. But for anyone not as privileged as me, try flowers and a good bottle of wine. It’s a start for her to hear you out instead of kick you out. Plus bringing Chris to see Harry will help. She won’t kick him out, even if she kicks you out, then you at least have time to regroup and return to pick him up.”

“Thanks. You’re so helpful and encouraging.” Eddie replied sarcastically.

“Anything I can do to help, Eds.” Buck says, giving him a soft smile.

“Okay! We’re done our drinks! Time to dance!” Audrey drags the two men onto the dance floor with the help of Lucy.

They spend over an hour dancing, losing each other in the crowd many times. Buck allows himself this one day a month to let loose, feeling light and free. By the end of the night, Buck is tired and ready to collapse in bed. Lucy and Audrey take him back to their apartment for the night, like usual, so he doesn’t wake Melody. In the morning, he helps Lucy make breakfast.

“So, I’ve been doing some thinking, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you need a rebound.” Lucy says.

Buck spits out the mouthful of coffee he just tried to drink. “What? Why?”

“Because. It’s been six months. I think it’s time to get laid. Nothing serious, but if you start hooking up, by the time you are ready for a relationship, it won’t be as hard to take that step.”

“I don’t know, Luce. I can’t even take the ring off…”

“I know it’ll be hard, but all you have to do is try flirting with someone. Maybe put the ring on a chain or something so it’s still close to you.”

“Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

“Perfect. You’re coming out with us next weekend. I’ve already talked to May. She’s watching Melody again.”

Buck rolls his eyes at her. “How kind of you.”

“I know. I’m the best sister-in-law ever!”

***

By the time the weekend crept up on him, Buck had time to think over Lucy’s suggestion. He knew she was right, and furthermore, he needed it. He bought a chain to put the ring on later in the week, finally being able to bring himself to take off the ring to put around his neck instead.

Lucy and Audrey met him at the same bar as the previous weekend.

“Hey. Have you given any more thought to my suggestion?” Lucy asks.

“Yeah. It’s a good idea. And look, no ring.” Buck holds up his left hand.

“I’m proud of you.” Audrey tells him.

“Did you take my suggestion with the chain?” Lucy asks.

“Yeah, but I left it at home for the night. Didn’t want to risk losing it or scaring anyone into thinking I’m cheating on my spouse.”

“Oooh, good idea, I hadn’t thought of that!” Lucy encourages. “So, there are three people I noted while we waited for you that I think would be your type. Want me to point them out?”

“No, thank you though. I’ll get someone myself.”

“Okay. Can’t say I didn’t try.”

“I know. If I can’t pick anyone up myself, then I’ll ask for help.”

“Okay. That’s fair.”

Buck take an assessing look around the bar. He notes a few men he may be interested in, but they’re either with someone else or appear completely disinterested in anyone that isn’t their drink. So not the best option there. He takes another look around, spotting a few women doing the same thing. He catches one’s eye, a tall, gorgeous redhead. Before either can look away, Buck winks at her with a smirk.

“Found someone already?” Audrey asks.

“Maybe.” Buck stands, walking over to the woman.

“Name’s Taylor.”

“Buck.”

“See something you like?”

“Definitely. Got something to offer?” Buck asks.

“No strings attached. The bathroom is a good place for something quick. If that’s not your thing, I have a place we can go. I’m pretty… flexible.”

“How about we get out of here? Go to that place you know. Sound good to you?”

Taylor nods. “Do you need to tell your friends you’re leaving?”

“No, they’re good. They knew I would be leaving.”

“Perfect.”

She leads him out of the bar by the hand, taking him to her apartment. Once they’re done, Buck leaves, quietly entering his house so as not to wake May or Melody.

***

Buck walks into work on Monday to see a familiar face sitting outside his office.

“Hey, Chris. What are you doing here? Don’t you have school?”

“My dad’s punishing me.”

“Over what?”

“I was just hanging out with my friends. I wasn’t doing anything bad!” Chris says. “I don’t know why he’s so mad.”

“Okay. Is he in my office? I can try to talk to him.”

“Okay.”

Buck walks into his office, which is closed.

“Why is your son sitting outside my office on a school day?” Buck asks Eddie.

“He’s shadowing me today.”

“What happened? He said he was just hanging out with friends.”

“Yeah, during school hours.”

“Okay? I don’t follow. Why is that bad?”

“Because they weren’t at school.”

“So, you decided to punish Chris by taking him out of school, for skipping school with friends?”

“No that’s not it.”

“That’s what it sounds like, Eddie. Maybe instead of punishing your son, actually talk to him about why he was skipping school.”

Eddie ignores him.

“Eddie. You need to actually talk to your son. And get you both therapy. It actually does help. Melody has been in therapy for a month and she’s doing a lot better. Therapy helps deal with hard situations.”

“Why do you care? We’re just work colleagues.”

“That’s fair to say. But I see you and Chris struggling to connect. I’m going to advise any work colleague to go to therapy when I see them struggling, not just you. I just so happen to have a bit more background into your life.”

“Okay. I get it.”

“So. Why don’t you take Chris to school, or out for breakfast. Have a talk with him. He’s fourteen, not seven. Treat him like it.”

Eddie runs his hands down his face. “You’re right. But we have work to do.”

“I can brief with my team until you get back. It can wait for you to talk to your son. Now go.”

Eddie listens this time and leaves.

In the time it takes Buck to brief with his team, Eddie has returned to his office.

“Anything new on the case?” he asks.

“A little. My team is working on analyzing some fabric they found at the scene. Nothing concrete yet, and we doubt we’ll get anything from the fabric alone, but it’s a better lead than we’ve had in the last year so we’re working with what we’ve got.”

“No connections between any of the victims at all? They have no one in common?” Eddie confirms.

“Not that we could find. If there is someone, they buried it deep into their past or it isn’t on record. Of the victims Detective Cobb has interviewed, none of them have any ideas on why their house specifically was targeted.”

“I can see why this is so hard, even without any concrete physical evidence. If the victims don’t even know who’s doing this, how are we supposed to make any connections, especially if they don’t have anyone in their past that their aware of.” Eddie comments.

“Yeah. Do you have a theory?” Buck asks.

“Yeah, kind of. I was going to stop by Detective Cobb’s desk to bring it up with her when I was done with you. What if the victims don’t have a connection because there isn’t one? It could be someone who saw them in public and decided to stalk them, then as soon as they leave for vacation they burn the house down. They find out how long they’ll be gone for and do it near the end.”

“I wouldn’t rule that out. Unfortunately, we only have our theories so it’s not exactly like we can check any theories off right now as it stands.”

Eddie nods.

“Okay. If that’s it, I think you’re good to go talk to Detective Cobb.”

As Eddie’s leaving, he turns, “hey, Buck. Thank you. For encouraging me to talk to Chris. Things aren’t fixed, but I think it’s a good step in the right direction.”

“Of course.” Buck smiles at him.

Eddie smiles back, closing the door behind him.

***

Melody’s birthday comes up faster than he was expecting. It usually does, being at the end of January, but he talks his mom into hosting a family gathering for her. He convinces her it’s a good idea, and that he’ll even clean up after, but she brushes that off, telling him she’d do anything for her grandbaby.

The party goes well, and Melody is more than happy with the way the afternoon goes. The evening is just the two of them, a movie night. Melody falls asleep early that night from all the excitement from earlier in the day. Buck tucks her in, kissing her head as he leaves her to sleep.

***

Buck pants, collapsing beside Taylor on the bed. They spend a few moments catching their breath before Taylor prompts them out of bed.

“You hungry?” She asks.

“Sure.”

“Great. I’ve got some leftovers we can reheat.”

Buck follows her to her kitchen, helping grab some plates to put the food on.

“What do you do for work?”

“Small talk? I didn’t take you for the type.”

“I can make small talk when I want to.”

“Okay. I’m the team lead for the forensics department of the LAPD.”

“Oh really? What’s that like?”

“It’s a lot of paperwork, honestly. Sometimes I miss being in the field, but then I wouldn’t have as much flexibility with my hours, plus the bump in pay is nice. What do you do?”

“I’m a reporter for Channel 8 news. I recently got promoted to lead reporter from field reporter. I got into the job by being a traffic reporter, but transitioned to the field after my helicopter crashed. They agreed to promote me since I refused to get back into a helicopter again after that incident.”

“Wow. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“It’s been 6 years. I’ve had time to deal with it.”

Buck nods. They continue to chat as they eat, discovering that they get along well outside of just sex.

“Us getting along doesn’t mean you’ll turn around and fall in love with me, does it?” Taylor asks.

“Not a chance. We get along, sure, and we’re good at sex, but I don’t think either of us want a relationship. A friendship, maybe. I honestly don’t see myself falling in love with you.” Buck tells her.

“Good. I don’t either. I’m okay with us being friends with benefits, at least until the benefits are no longer benefiting us.”

“Okay. I can agree to that.”

“If you have any leads on any cases in the news you can share, you know who to go to, right?” Taylor asks.

“I do. You’ll be the first to know.”

“Good.”

***

The next night out, Buck brings Taylor. Audrey brings Eddie, apparently, as he’s at the table when the two arrive.

“Hey. This is Taylor.” Buck introduces, “Taylor, this is Lucy, Audrey, and Eddie.”

“Eddie. I think I recognize you. You were a firefighter a few years back that responded to a helicopter downing, right?”

“I might’ve been. It sounds vaguely familiar. I don’t recognize you, though, sorry.” He comments.

“It’s alright. I don’t expect you to. It’s a lot easier to remember someone who saved your life than it is to remember someone you saved when it’s your job every day.” Taylor tells him.

Eddie nods in agreement.

“Is Taylor your girlfriend?” Lucy asks nosily, looking to Buck.

Buck laughs. “No. We’re friends with benefits. Neither of us want a relationship. We’re good with our arrangement.”

“Good for you. You look lighter.” Audrey comments.

The night goes well, and at the end of it, Buck goes home with Taylor. He sneaks in later that night, careful to be extra quiet. May is still awake at the kitchen table.

“Hey. Not staying with Audrey tonight?” May comments quietly.

“No not tonight. I went home with Taylor.”

“Does mom know you have a friend?” May asks, raising her eyebrows.

“No. She won’t want to hear about my sex life.”

“And I do?”

Buck gives her a look.

“Okay, alright, I get it.” May holds up her hands. “Since you’re home do you want me to leave?”

“Absolutely not. You were already planning on staying, no need to leave. Plus, Melody would be disappointed she didn’t have aunt May when she woke up. I’m heading off to bed. Don’t stay up too late.”

“Okay. I just have to finish up this paper then I’ll go to bed.”

Buck nods at her, heading down the hallway. He peeks in at Melody who’s sleeping soundly, before wandering down to his bedroom to sleep.

***

As the months go on, Buck and Taylor become closer friends. They still have their friends with benefits arrangement, which is working well for them. They don’t really need anything else from each other aside from friendship and the occasional hookup. He brings her out with him once a month to have fun with Lucy, Audrey, and Eddie, who has become a regular now on their nights out.

Buck wouldn’t call him and Eddie best friends, but they get along well enough outside of work. They’re slowly starting to become friends it seems, the more they spend time together outside of work. They haven’t been to each other’s houses and don’t talk about anything personal, necessarily, but they will sometimes text each other memes or exchange cute pictures of their kids. It’s a good stepping stone to becoming actual friends in the future, at least.

Buck and Eddie are the last to leave, Taylor having left early because of breaking news, and Lucy and Audrey wanting to go home early that night.

“Taylor left you high and dry I see.” Eddie comments.

“It’s not like that. I understand that her work is important to her and she has crazy hours. There have been times she’s had to leave in the middle of things and it’s all fine. We have an understanding.”

“Oh. So why Taylor?”

“She was a stranger. Someone to rebound with after… after. It was easy.”

“You know, if you wanted a friend with benefits I would have been willing. At least you knew we worked sexually.”

“Eddie. Don’t.”

“No, Buck. You didn’t need to go to some stranger to make friends to fuck. You could have had me.”

“Okay. I think that’s enough alcohol for you.” Buck takes Eddie’s beer, replacing it with his water instead.

“I want an answer, Buck. Why wasn’t I good enough?”

“Eddie. It’s not that. Me and Taylor… we were just supposed to be fuck buddies, but we work as friends. We would never work in a relationship, we want completely different things.”

“I get that, I do, but why not me?”

“There’s too much history there, Eddie. I couldn’t… I couldn’t have sex with you.”

“Why not?”

“It wouldn’t be fair to you. To me either. You would have been just a rebound. I also couldn’t trust myself with you like that, not with our history, not right now.”

“But I thought you were over that. You told me you were.”

“I was. I am. But that doesn’t mean we’re ever going to have something sexual or romantic again, Eddie. I can be friends with you, I’m just not sure I can trust you with my heart again.”

“Fine. I guess I don’t deserve love. I just hurt everyone and everything I come into contact with. Even Chris doesn’t want to be around me.”

“Hey, where is this coming from? Did Chris tell you this?” Buck questions.

“Pretty much. He told me that he wishes he had run away after the tsunami. That it would have been better to be away from me, since I just ended up cutting him off from everyone he loved, and that Abuela or Tia Pepa never would have isolated him the way I did.” Eddie slurs.

“Okay. I think you both need therapy, and you need to go home. You don’t need any more alcohol. I’ll call a cab for you.”

Buck manages to get Eddie into a cab and gets Eddie’s address out of him to give to the driver. He gets home himself shortly after, texting Audrey and Lucy to come for breakfast the next day with him and May.

***

The next day, Buck is preparing breakfast. He has everything done by the time that Audrey and Lucy let themselves in. The five of them eat together, before Melody goes to play in her room.

“You called us here for a reason. What happened?” Lucy asks, getting to the point.

“It’s Eddie.”

“What about Eddie? You three were fine when we left you last night. Is he hurt?” Lucy asks.

“Not physically. Taylor left about an hour after you two did. She got called into work for a breaking news segment. The two of us were fine until the end of the night when Eddie was way too drunk. He needs help.”

“What happened? What did he do?” May interjects this time.

Buck sighs, rubbing his hands down his face. “He asked me why I didn’t come to him for a friends with benefits situation instead of meeting a stranger. I told him I couldn’t trust him in that way again, and he took that to mean he shouldn’t love anyone because all he does is hurt them. He admitted to me last night that Chris wanted to run away after they moved since Eddie was isolating him.”

“Oh. How do you feel?” Audrey asks.

“I feel pissed. He has no right to come to me and ask why I won’t have sex with him. He’s not entitled to my body. I’m also pissed for Christopher’s sake. Eddie shouldn’t have isolated him so soon after such a traumatic event for him. I doubt he even got Chris in therapy.”

“As you should be. He shouldn’t have said any of that to you. I think maybe you should try to reach out to Chris and Shannon. See what caused the divorce. Maybe ask Chris how he’s doing with everything.” May suggests.

“Yeah. I think I may have to.”

Audrey rubs Buck’s arm, “I’m sorry he’s put you through so much.”

“Yeah me too. I’m just not sure how to get Chris alone without Eddie.”

“I have an idea.” May says.

The three of them look at her.

“He reached out to mom recently. To try to mend things. It’s slowly working. I could get her in on it, have her ask about having Chris over to hang out with Harry. We could have you over after he leaves and you could talk to Chris then.”

“Yeah. I think that could work.” Buck comments.

“I can watch Mel while you do that. If I don’t, you know she’ll stick to Harry like glue, which then also means Chris will probably be brought into that.” Audrey offers.

“True. She loves Harry.”

They make a plan before May suggests getting Chris and Harry together. They don’t tell Athena the whole plan, just enough to not have her too suspicious of them.

Chapter Four

The week flies by, Buck acting as normal as he can without being too awkward around Eddie while at work. Soon, Buck is entering his mom’s house after Eddie’s dropped Chris off.

“Hey! I’m home!” Buck calls out.

“Buck! I wasn’t expecting you!” Harry calls out. “Where’s Melody?”

“She’s with Audrey today. An auntie/niece day.”

“Okay. Did you come to see Chris? He’s here today.” Harry asks as Chris comes around the corner.

“I did. Hi Chris. Mind if I talk to you for a moment?”

Chris shrugs. “I guess.”

Buck leads the two of them out to the back porch, Buck propping his own crutches against the table as he sits.

“What did you want to talk about?” Chris asks. “Am I in trouble?”

“No Chris, you aren’t in trouble. I want to ask how you’re doing.”

“Alright I guess.”

“How are things with your dad?”

Chris shrugs.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me about it, I know it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, but I think you should talk to someone about it. Someone you can trust.”

“I’m mad at him. I hate that he took me away. If he hadn’t, then maybe we would still be close. I missed you, Buck. I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“I’m glad I’m not dead too, Chris. Is there anyone you feel safe talking about this with?”

Chris hesitates for a moment before nodding. “Abuela. She would listen to me.”

“Okay. Next time you see her, can you talk to her? I want to make sure you’re not pushing this down.”

“You mean like dad does.”

“I do.”

“He and mom used to fight all the time. They didn’t think I could hear them, but I could.”

“I’m sorry that happened, Chris. They shouldn’t have done that. I have a question for you.”

Chris meets his eyes.

“Can I have your mom’s phone number? I would love to talk to her about some things.”

Chris hesitates at the question.

“I won’t tell her anything you’ve told me today, I promise.”

“Okay. I’ll give you her number. Can I have yours? So I can talk to you if I need?” Chris asks.

Buck nods, and they exchange their numbers, Chris also giving Buck Shannon’s.

“Thank you for talking to me, Chris.”

“Can I go hang out with Harry, now?”

“Yeah. I’ll walk with you back into the house. I’ll say goodbye to Harry before you two go hide in his room.”

Chris nods, the two of them making their way into the house. Buck says his goodbyes to Harry, sitting down at the table with Athena for a moment.

“Anything I should know?” Athena asks.

“I don’t want to talk about it too much. I was just making sure Chris knows he has people in his corner.”

“Okay. If you need anything, let me know.”

“I will, mom. I should go, I have a few things to get done.”

“Okay. Come by soon for supper with Melody.”

“I will.”

Buck drives home, thinking about what he’s going to say to Shannon. He gets himself comfy at the table before dialing.

“Hello?” Shannon’s voice says after a few rings.

“Hey Shannon. It’s Buck. Please don’t hang up the phone.”

He hears her sigh. “You’re lucky you started with that. I would have. What do you want?”

“I’m sorry to ask such a personal question, but why did you and Eddie divorce? I don’t feel comfortable asking him. I doubt he would tell me, anyways.”

“I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you, since you were one of the reasons.”

“How can I be the cause of the divorce? We hadn’t talked in years before he moved back here.”

“He was hung up on you. He couldn’t let go of the fact that I forced him into staying with me. Now that I have some distance from the situation, I can see that was the wrong move.”

“You said one of the reasons. If you don’t mind sharing, what were the others?”

“He was resentful of me. He blamed me for the move and cutting off his family. I did get a job offer in New York and I did give him an ultimatum to move with me. I was hurting. I knew he was in love with you and was only with me because of my threats. I knew it wasn’t right. I suggested he cut off anyone who argued with him about the move. He did. About a year later I realized how far I went with that. I suggested he reach out to his Abuela and Tia Pepa to try to mend things, maybe send Chris there for a few weeks in the summer. Me and Eddie had a big fight about that. He insisted that since I wanted him to have no family and no support like I had, then he would follow what I wanted.”

“Yeah. He mentioned the ultimatum to me.”

“I figured he might. Look, I feel like I need to warn you. If you decide to get close to him again, there are some things you should know.”

“Okay.” Buck says hesitantly.

“First of all, I’m sorry for my part in breaking you two up. I was hurting and I wanted him to hurt too. It wasn’t fair to any of us. I’ve since gotten a lot of therapy, which Eddie refused to go to with me. I got Chris in as well, but I don’t think he’s gone since they moved.”

“No I don’t think so. I talked to him earlier. I think I managed to convince him to talk to an adult he trusts.”

“Thank you.”

Buck makes a noise of confirmation.

“Second thing, me and Eddie had a big fight before I left. It was a screaming match, actually. We both said some pretty hurtful things, during that, but that caused me to leave. He was so angry that night. He confronted me about things I thought we’d started to get over, like me lying about you being in the tsunami, the ultimatum, how I could leave Chris for three years with no contact. All valid things, but he accused me of destroying all the good things he had in his life. That was the moment I knew I had to leave. I went to file full custody that next morning. As you know, he won. It was a long, ugly battle.”

“Chris was the deciding factor, though. That’s what Eddie mentioned.”

“Yeah. He was. He said he wanted to live with Eddie, as long as I wouldn’t leave again. I promised him I wouldn’t. Chris told me in private before they moved that Eddie needed him more than I did.”

Buck gasps a little. “That should not be on his shoulders.”

“I know, but there wasn’t much I could do at that point. I’ve been trying to convince my firm to let me open an office in LA so I can be with them, but they’re hesitant. I work well at this location and get along with everyone. If they don’t decide soon, I’m going to put some feelers out there for something in LA. I miss my son.”

Buck looks over at a picture of him, Amelia, and Melody. “I understand. I don’t think I could live far away from my daughter.”

“A daughter? That’s amazing, Buck.” Buck hears the smile in her words.

“Yeah. She’s pretty great.”

“I’m glad. Anyways, I think I should let you go. If there’s anything else you need from me, call or text.”

“I will. Thank you for taking the time to explain. If you need help job searching let me know. I may know of places that have openings here. I have some connections with people.”

“Thank you, Buck. Has anyone ever told you you’re too kind and forgiving?”

“Every once in a while. You deserve forgiveness. You’re able to admit your wrongs and you’ve gotten help. Plus, I know Chris misses you.”

“Thank you.” With that, Shannon hangs up the phone.

***

Chris calls him at least once a week to check in, on the nights he’s staying with Isabel. He texts Buck a few times a week as well. They haven’t had a deep conversation like they had before, but Chris trusts him enough to talk to him about his life, at least.

Buck would do anything for the kids in his life. It’s important to him that kids have safe spaces and people to go to. It’s why he was so involved with Harry, May, and Denny while they were growing up, and even now when Harry and Denny are teenagers and May is in university. Buck wants Chris to know he has a safe space, an adult he can talk to when he needs to get away.

While he wouldn’t let anyone overstep or stomp on the boundaries he has set for his own life, if one of the kids in his life needs something, he will do his best to try to get them to a place or person that can help them.

His own complicated feelings surrounding Eddie makes the situation with Chris harder, but if Chris trusts him to be someone to go to in this situation, Buck will be there for him. He knows that means talking to Eddie at some point, and getting closer to him, but Buck’s finding it hard to make that first step. Eddie needs a friend. Buck will try his best to step into that friendship role, without letting his heart get in the way this time.

***

Buck is careful around Eddie while also trying his best to support him. He’s trying to keep the other man at arm’s length as best he can, but he knows he’s failing. Eddie needs someone in his corner, a friend he can talk to, and he knows that Eddie won’t let anyone in willingly. Lucy isn’t willing to force her way into his life, but Buck can. He can keep his heart guarded while also letting Eddie in, getting close to him and being the shoulder he needs to lean on.

Buck spends his time after work mostly with Melody, but he makes sure to text Eddie at least once a day after working hours. Him and Taylor still talk a little, but the hookups are becoming less frequent. Before, they would get together usually once a week, but it had been almost two weeks and both of them were too busy to meet up.

It’s a Friday afternoon when Chris texts Buck.

Chris: I’m staying with Abuela tonight. Can u check on dad? I’m worried about him

Buck: Of course, Chris. Anything specific worrying you?

Chris: He hasn’t been ok. He’s been quiet won’t be coming to Abuela’s even for supper like usual

Buck: I’ll bring him dinner. What’s his favourite?

Chris: He likes thai

Chris sends Buck Eddie’s favourite order from the place they usually buy from.

Buck: How’re you doing, Chris?

Buck gets caught up with work. When he goes back to his phone, he has two texts from Chris.

Chris: I’m ok. School is interesting.

Chris: I’m going to talk to Abuela tonight

Buck: I’m proud of you. It’s hard to open up. You can always talk to me if you need and I know your Abuela will say the same thing

Chris: Thanks, Buck. Gotta go

Buck smiles at his phone, texting Alex.

Buck: Hey can you watch Mel overnight tonight? Maybe take her for a sleepover at Nana’s? I want to check in on a friend tonight

Alex: Yeah no problem. Me and Adrian would love to have her for a sleepover. I’ll watch her tomorrow as well, bring her by after lunch some time. You can get some things you need to do done then without worrying about her

Buck: Thanks, I appreciate it. If you need anything for her, food or anything, feel free to take it from the fridge

Alex: Thanks Buck, but I think we’ll be okay. Adrian just went shopping

At the end of the day, Buck places a preorder for Thai food, setting it to be picked up in an hour. He then texts Eddie.

Buck: hey Eddie. Got any plans tonight? I can bring thai over if you’d like

Eddie: Nah, no plans. Chris is with Abuela tonight so I’m tucking in early. I still got some leftovers from yesterday. Spend the night with Melody, I’m sure she’d love that

Buck: She’s having a sleepover at Nana’s tonight so no Melody. If you change your mind let me know

Eddie doesn’t respond to his text. Buck decides to go over anyways, not wanting to break his word to Chris that he’d check on his dad. If Eddie doesn’t eat the Thai food, he can always put it in the fridge for later and take his home with him. At least then he can tell Chris how his dad is doing. He’s not going to lie to the kid.

He goes by the Thai place, picking up his order then heads to Eddie’s place. He knocks on the door, waiting a few minutes before he knocks again.

“I’m coming I’m coming!” Buck hears from inside.

Eddie opens the door shortly after.

“What are you doing here? I told you not to come.”

“I know, but I was lonely without Melody, so decided to get Thai food and bring it over anyways. I kinda guessed at what you might like but if you want to switch, I got something I would eat too.”

Eddie stares at him from the doorway.

“Are you going to let me in?” Buck asks.

“Uh… sure I guess. I can still have an early night if you leave after we eat.” Eddie comments, shaking himself a little.

“So, where should I put this down?” Buck asks, holding up the bag.

“Uh in the kitchen I guess. I’ll get plates.” Eddie leads Buck to the kitchen, grabbing plates as Buck unloads the food.

Buck hands Eddie his dish, looking at it in surprise.

“So, do you like that one?” Buck asks.

“Yeah. Yeah this one’s fine.” Eddie replies quietly.

“Want some water?” Buck asks, getting up to grab himself one.

“Uh… No, I’ve got something here.” Eddie holds up a glass with amber liquid in it.

“Okay.”

They fall into an awkward silence as they eat. Buck helps Eddie tidy up their mess, putting their plates in the dishwasher.

“Do you want the glass in there too?” Buck asks.

“Uh… no I can hand wash that later.”

“Okay.”

As Buck is throwing away the takeout containers, he notices the garbage is full. He ties it off, taking it out of the bin.

“Uh… I can take this outside while you replace the bag.”

“Okay.” Eddie doesn’t look at him as he does.

Buck takes the bag outside, along the side of the house. He opens the garbage bin on the side of the house, noticing a full clear bag beside the bin. He grabs it to try to put it in the recycles bin, only to find it’s full. Between the clear bag and the bin, it looks like it’s full of bottles. Mostly cheap whiskey, with a good handful of beer bottles mixed in as well. Buck places the bag back down, intent to ignore it for now, and goes back inside.

“Why are you really here, Buck? I doubt you were just bored at home.”

“Why do you doubt it? Maybe I decided I wanted to spend my Friday evening with a friend?”

“Who sent you? Was it Abuela?”

“Why do you think anyone sent me?”

“Because you got my favourite meal from my favourite restaurant. You couldn’t have just guessed that.”

“We were close at one point, Eddie, unless you’ve forgotten.” Buck comments.

“Right. Well, I think it’s time for you to leave.”

“Why don’t we watch a movie instead?”

“No, Buck. Get out, I don’t want you here. We aren’t friends, or did you forget? You were the one who told me that when I first moved back.”

“Yes. I did tell you that. I changed my mind.”

“Oh really? So, what? You’re allowed to change your mind but the moment I do, I’m the villain? Huh Buck? Is that how it is?”

“Eddie. What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Shannon, Buck! You made me the big bad guy, convincing everyone around me that they should just abandon me because I was doing what was best! For my son and for Shannon and for me by giving Shannon and I another go! But no! I had to be the villain for breaking your fragile heart! You will never know what it’s like to stick by someone when things get hard!” Eddie shouts, getting into Buck’s face.

Buck flinches back from Eddie at his words, smelling the whiskey on his breath. “Come on, Eddie. You’re drunk. You should go to bed.”

“Fuck you. You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore! You dropped me the moment things got hard!”

“Eddie. I chose myself. I wasn’t going to let myself become the affair partner, the second choice to your wife. I didn’t drop you because things got hard. I refused to be someone’s side piece.”

“Don’t you know, Buck? You were more than just a side piece. You’re the love of my life. I need you.” Eddie walks close to Buck again.

Buck backs off a bit. “Eddie. Stop. You need to go to bed.”

“No. I need you to know. It’s her fault. If she hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t have had to choose. Then I wouldn’t have lost you.” Eddie gets close again.

“Eddie. Come on. We need to get you into bed.”

“Why can’t you see? It’s not my fault. She made me choose.”

“Eddie. Stop. You need to sleep this off. Let’s get you into bed.” Buck tries to grab him by the elbow.

Eddie pulls his arm out of Buck’s hand. “Why did you leave me, Buck? I needed you. I needed you. Why does everyone leave me? Shannon left twice. You left. My sisters won’t take my calls. Everyone hates me.”

Buck finally manages to get a good hold of Eddie, dragging him down the hallway. He opens doors until he finds the right one. “Come on. Let’s get you into bed.”

Buck tucks Eddie into bed. Luckily, he had changed already and was in sweats so Buck didn’t have to try to change an uncooperative Eddie. Once he’s tucked in, he starts sobbing. Buck tries his best to soothe him, but nothing works. At this point, Buck puts a glass of water and Tylenol beside the bed. With how drunk Eddie is right now, he will probably need it.

With that done, Buck leaves. He grabs a spare key – Eddie still keeps them in the same place – and leaves. He texts Eddie that he took a spare key so he didn’t leave the door unlocked.

Buck runs his hand down his face once he gets in his vehicle. Looking at the clock, it’s not too late. Buck drives, pulling up to the house. He gets out, knocking on the door. Isabel opens the door after a few moments.

“Oh. Hello Buck. I wasn’t expecting you. Everything okay?”

“Uh. No not really. I just came from Eddie’s.” Buck says, then adds on quickly, “He’s okay physically.”

“Oh. I see.” Isabel looks into the house behind her. “You best come in.”

Buck enters, following her into the kitchen, where Chris and Pepa are at the table.

“Oh. Hello Buck.” Pepa greets.

“Hi Pepa.”

“I thought you were supposed to be with dad.” Chris comments.

Buck hesitates a moment. “He’s asleep, buddy.”

“Oh. Did you bring him his favourite Thai food?”

“I did. He liked it a lot.”

“Good.”

“Sit, Buck. We were just talking about Eddie and Shannon.” Pepa tells him.

Buck listens, not about to disobey a Diaz woman.

“So, Chris, where were we?” Isabel says, placing a cup of tea in front of Buck.

“I’m worried about dad. He’s been weird. He’s fine during the day, but sometimes I’ll wake up at night to get water or use the bathroom. He doesn’t hear me. I hear him crying.”

Buck looks at the two women. Their eyes are fixed on Chris.

“Did he seem okay to you when you were there, Buck?” Chris asks.

“No. He was fine for a bit. I put him to bed, but you don’t need to hear everything I have to say, Chris.”

“I’m not a baby! I want to know what’s going on with him!” Chris yells.

“I know you do. How about this, I talk to Isabel about it first while you talk to Pepa. Then, Isabel can decide how to tell you, okay? I don’t want to tell you anything without talking to her first. She can help figure out a way to tell you properly. You don’t need to get in between everything and take care of him. That’s not your job as his kid. His job is to take care of you, yeah?”

Chris nods, and Isabel leads Buck into the living room so they can talk more privately.

“So. What is going on with mi nieto that you felt the need to come by and tell me?” Isabel asks, giving Buck an assessing look.

Buck sighs. “I showed up with Thai food, per Chris’s suggestion. We were fine while we were eating, then after we cleaned up it was like a switch flipped.”

“Oh. How so?”

“He… he became angry that I was there, asking who sent me to check on him. He accused me of abandoning him. There was a lot of accusations thrown around.”

Isabel’s eyes widen a bit.

Buck hesitates to say the next part. “He told me I’d never know what it’s like to stick by someone’s side when things got hard. Isabel, he knows my wife died almost a year ago.”

She gasps, “I’m sorry, Buck. I know how hard that can be.”

“He was drunk. I could smell the whiskey on his breath when he got close. I don’t know how I didn’t smell it before we ate. It was all I could smell on his breath.”

“I see. This is why you didn’t want Chris to hear this.”

Buck nods. “He doesn’t need to know what was said. How cruel his dad was. I know he’s a teenager now and sees stuff. That’s why he asked me to check on his dad. But Isabel. He shouldn’t have to see this.”

“I know. How was Eddie when you left? Still angry?”

“No. He was crying in bed. I didn’t know what else to do for him so I left. He went from angry and blaming me, then blaming Shannon for everything, to self-deprecating. He was going on about how everyone leaves him, how his sisters won’t talk to him.”

“They are very hurt by everything that happened before he left.”

“I understand. I’m just not sure he does.”

They sit in silence for a moment, both of them thinking.

“I called Shannon. Chris gave me her number.”

“She talked to you?”

Buck nods.

“How did that go?”

“I was expecting her to just hang up on me, honestly. She told me about explosive fights they had. He was angry and resentful of her. That’s what caused her to leave, a screaming match they got into about how she destroyed his life.”

“She may have had a part in how his life ended up, but he chose to go along with it. He’s just as much to blame here.” Isabel says.

“Yeah. Isabel, I think he has a drinking problem. With Chris mentioning hearing him crying at night, to Shannon mentioning the anger. Last time I went out to a bar with him he had too much to drink and we got into a fight. The same kind of anger I saw today came out, but I sent him home before it could turn into crying. When I took out the garbage, I also noticed a full clear plastic bag beside the recycle bin. I went to put it in, but the bin was already full. Both looked to be full of alcohol bottles. Whiskey, mostly, with some beer bottles as well. I don’t know what to do here.”

“Leave it with me. I will figure out how to help mi nieto. This shouldn’t be on you or Chris.”

Buck nods. “What are you going to tell Chris? He won’t let this go without something.”

Isabel takes a moment to think. “I will tell him his dad is sad, that it’s been there for a while.”

Buck nods, agreeing that’s for the best. “Oh, another thing Shannon mentioned to me. Chris told her that Eddie needed him more, which is why he stayed with Eddie. I fear that he feels he needs to take care of Eddie.”

“Thank you for telling me that. Now, I think you should go say goodbye to Chris.”

Buck agrees, going to say goodbye to him, then going home.

***

Buck is interrupted by banging on his door. He throws the laundry in his hands into the dryer, starting the load before going to open the door. The banging hasn’t let up any. Buck opens the door, and the person storms past him, almost knocking him over on his crutches.

“Woah, careful, you almost knocked me over.” Buck tells Eddie.

“You had no right to come over like that yesterday.”

“Okay. You’re right. I overstayed my welcome. I should have left as soon as you started yelling at me.”

“No, Buck. You shouldn’t have come over at all. I told you I don’t need you. We’re not friends.” Eddie waves his finger between the two of them.

“So, just to be clear, in retaliation for me showing up at your house unexpectedly is to return the favour?”

Eddie glares at him.

“How’s your head? It must be hurting.”

“My head?”

“Yeah. From your hangover.” Buck comments.

“I don’t- what are you going on about? I don’t have a hangover.”

“Really? You drank a lot last night, Eddie. I’d be surprised if you didn’t have a hangover.”

“I don’t. I didn’t drink that much. Only a few glasses.”

“Eddie. I smelled it on your breath. It was strong. It wouldn’t have been that strong if you weren’t drunk.”

“I wasn’t drunk. I was fine until you showed up.”

“You weren’t fine, though. I saw you. I heard the things you said, Eddie. You weren’t fine.”

“I would have been fine if you hadn’t shown up! I don’t need you in my life! Stop trying to force your way into my life!”

“You can only pretend everything is fine for so long before everything comes crashing down, Eddie.”

“I don’t need a lecture from you! I got enough of that from Shannon when we were together! I don’t need you butting in too!”

Buck’s phone rings. He takes it out of his pocket, seeing an incoming call from Adrian.

“Hold on, I need to take this.” Buck tells Eddie.

“No, Buck. We’re talking.”

“It’s my father-in-law. They had Melody last night, I need to answer.” Buck looks at Eddie as he answers. “Is everything okay?”

“Buck. I-I’m sorry. It’s… it’s Alex. She was at the park. She-she had a heart attack.”

“Wait what?” Buck exclaims, turning his back to Eddie’s ranting.

“She’s at the hospital. Lucy called. The 118 took the call.”

“Does Audrey know? Is Alex okay?” Buck asks.

“She does. I got Lucy to call her after hanging up with me. Lucy said she’d stay at the hospital until I can get there. Alex was brought right into surgery.”

“Okay. I’ll come pick you up, take you to the hospital. Then I can take care of Melody. I don’t imagine she’ll want to leave after watching her Nana collapse.”

“No. You’re right. I can walk to your place, Buck, save some time. Get a bag ready with snacks for Melody. I’m sure she’ll need it.”

“Okay. Yeah. Okay. You’re right.” Buck hangs up the phone, rushing around the living room to gather some toys as well as a bag.

“Buck. Can you stop rushing around for a moment? We were talking.” Eddie steps in front of him.

“No I can’t. I have to go to the hospital.”

“Why? Is someone hurt?”

“Yes, Eddie. Someone is hurt. My mother-in-law had a heart attack. Her husband is meeting me here and I’m going to the hospital with him. Melody must be terrified.”

“Wait, Melody was with her?”

Buck nods.

“Okay. Okay. How about this. I drive you two in your SUV, then take a cab back here to get my truck. I’m not sure you should drive right now.”

Buck looks up at him. “You were just yelling at me, and now you’re offering to drive me to the hospital?”

Eddie nods. “Your kid needs you. That’s more important than my anger any day.”

Buck stares for a moment. “Okay. Yeah. Okay. I just need to grab some snacks and waters to put in her bag, and we can wait outside for Adrian.”

Eddie nods.

Buck finishes packing up the bag, getting outside just as Adrian is walking up the driveway.

“My friend Eddie is going to drive us in my SUV then take a cab back here in a bit to get his truck.” Buck informs, locking up the house behind them.

Adrian nods as the three of them pile into Buck’s SUV. It takes half an hour with traffic to get to the hospital. As soon as Eddie parks, the three of them are making their way inside. They spot Lucy almost immediately.

“Hey. Did Audrey take Melody to get a snack?” Buck asks, not seeing either his daughter or her aunt anywhere.

“What? What are you talking about?” Lucy looks up at Buck like he has two heads.

“Melody. Did Audrey take her to get a snack? I assume she beat us here.”

“Buck, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

At this point, the doors open and Audrey rushed up to them. “Hey. Any updates?”

“Where is Melody? Lucy? Where is my daughter?”

“What do you mean where is she? Isn’t she with you?” Lucy responds.

Buck feels himself starting to panic a bit now.

“Lucy. Don’t joke with me right now. This isn’t funny. Did Melody go with a nurse?”

“Buck. I don’t know where Melody is. I assumed she was with you. I wouldn’t joke about that.”

“Oh god.” Buck rushes over to the nearest garbage can, emptying his stomach.

“What’s going on? I don’t understand.” Lucy asks.

Adrian looks between Buck and Lucy. “Melody was staying with us last night. Alex took her to the park with her for a morning walk. If Melody wasn’t at the park when you picked her up, that means someone took her.”

Buck walks back over to the group. “We need to call Captain Maynard. My daughter is missing.”

Chapter Five

Buck calls his captain to inform her to get the police here and to the park to start a search, then he calls Taylor and asks her to send a news crew to the park. He gives her the information she needs to run a story on a missing six-year-old. Then he calls Athena.

“H-hey mom.”

“Buck, what’s wrong, baby?”

“Where do I start?” Buck lets out a humourless chuckle.

“Talk to me, Buck.”

“Uh. Alex is in surgery at the hospital. She had a heart attack while at the park with Melody. She kept her for a sleepover last night.” Buck starts.

“Oh no. Is Melody okay? Do you need me to come pick her up?”

“Uh no. That’s the other thing… Uh…” Buck’s voice breaks.

“Buck, baby, what happened? Is Melody hurt?”

“I-I don’t know, mom. She wasn’t at the hospital when I got here. Lucy said she wasn’t at the park when the 118 went to pick her up. Mom, I think someone took my baby girl.”

“Oh, Buck. I’m on my way. Stay there. Does Captain Maynard know?”

“Yeah. Uh yeah. I called her first. Then called a friend to get a news crew on the story.”

“Okay good. Who’s all there with you now?”

“Uh… Audrey, Lucy, Adrian, Eddie. Elaine just walked in with Lou.”

“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Stay put, yeah?”

“Yeah.” With that, Athena hangs up the phone.

“So. What do we know?” Lou asks as he approaches the group.

“My daughter. Uh, Melody Grant. She uh… She was at the park with her Nana, Alex Cobb. Alex had a heart attack. I have no idea when, but when I showed up here, Melody wasn’t here. Lucy told me that Melody wasn’t at the park by the time she got there. I think someone took the opportunity to take her when Alex collapsed.”

“Okay. We have police on scene there now so if she got lost or distracted, they will find her. We are here gathering any information we can from you to ensure she’s found quickly.” Elaine tells Buck, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

Athena gets there as Elaine and Lou finish up their questions for the group. Buck lets them know he got word that Maddie had been released a month after she was arrested with community service, and they promise to look into her. He can’t think of anyone else who would intentionally take his daughter.

“Mom, thank you for coming.” Buck hugs her as she walks up to him.

“Always. I’ll always come when you need me.”

At that moment, a doctor walks out to greet everyone. “Family of Alex Cobb?”

Adrian and Audrey stand and approach the doctor. Everyone else hangs back to give them space. A few minutes later, Audrey returns.

“She made it out of surgery. She’ll be okay. She’s still sedated right now and they don’t expect her to wake up until late tonight or early tomorrow.” Audrey informs everyone.

They all collectively let out a sigh of relief.

“Buck, why don’t you come down to the station with us? We can keep you more informed from there.” Lou suggests.

“Yeah. I think I will.” He looks to Audrey, “can you let Adrian know where I went? I’ll be sure to keep everyone informed.”

Audrey nods.

“Do you need a ride to the station?” Lou asks.

Buck looks to Eddie. “Hey. I know this is probably a lot to ask, but can you take my SUV back to my house? I have my house keys here. Then you can take your truck.”

“Yeah. I can do that.” Eddie tells him. “Anything you need, Buck.”

Buck nods his thanks at Eddie, following Lou outside to his unmarked car. They sit in silence as Lou drives them to the station that has become so familiar to him over the years.

Once Buck gets to the station, Lou and Elaine get him set up in a family room.

“So. The officers found nothing at the scene. We want to get dogs brought in to sniff the area, but for that we’ll need something of Melody’s. Do you have anything on you?” Elaine asks him.

“Uh… Yeah. Yeah I do.” Buck pulls out her favourite stuffed elephant, one she’d had since she was a baby. “This was hers. I’d brought it in the bag because I assumed she’d need a comfort item and had figured the bear that was her mom’s was still at Adrian and Alex’s.”

Buck hands the elephant over to Elaine, who takes it and leaves Buck in the room with Lou.

“You’re the lead detective on the case, I assume. Isn’t there somewhere else you need to be?” Buck asks.

“No. I may officially be the lead, but I am here for you, to keep you well informed as well as safe. Elaine is leading everything for now. Seeing as you’re one of her own, this feels personal for her and she wouldn’t have it any other way.” Lou tells him.

Buck nods.

Lou turns on the small TV in the room to Channel 8. Buck watches as Taylor fills the screen, the background is a park. She’s broadcasting a story about Melody. Buck half listens as she tells the story as breaking news, asking viewers to keep their eyes open for her. She shows an image of Melody on the screen. Buck had sent her one of Melody earlier that week to show during the news story so people knew who to look out for.

“I can’t believe this is happening…” Buck says.

“It’s hard to believe that this kind of thing still happens.”

“Do you have kids?” Buck asks. “I’m realizing now I don’t know much about you personally. We don’t work together as closely as me and Audrey do.”

“Uh no. I don’t.” Lou answers. “I guess it just never worked out like that.”

“Ah. Kids aren’t for everyone.” Buck comments.

“No, they certainly aren’t. It seems like you’re a pretty dedicated father, though.”

Buck smiles. “Amelia showed up on my doorstep randomly, 7 months pregnant. I had gotten back from a 6-month long trip, all of which she had been trying to find me. We had a one night stand shortly before I left for the trip. As it turns out, my roommate and closest friend at the time, Lucy, was dating her sister. As soon as I met Audrey, she told her sister that she found the kid’s father. We agreed to move her in with me, make it easier to co-parent Melody. I had two extra rooms, and had the space. Lucy was okay with it as well. Any time she needed space, she’d go to Audrey’s. The first two months were hard, but wonderful. I went to the appointments that I could make it to, and she let me in the room for the birth. I got to cut the umbilical cord. It was wonderful. We got together a few months after Melody was born, we fell in love slowly as we got to know each other. It was perfect.”

“It sounds perfect.” Lou lets Buck ramble.

“Her birth was the best day of both of our lives. I don’t know what I’ll do if-“ Buck can’t let himself finish that thought.

“Try not to think of that right now. That kind of thinking won’t do any good.”

“I know. It’s hard not to think of it.”

“Can I sit beside you?” Lou asks.

Buck nods.

Lou sits beside him, putting an arm around him. “I know we don’t know each other as well as I know Athena, but I will help you through this. There are a lot of people working on this. We will find something eventually. Plus, your daughter must be pretty smart.”

“Yeah. I taught her as soon as she was talking to memorize our address and at least 911, as well as my own phone number so if she was in trouble she could call. If she hasn’t called yet, then she must not be able to.”

“Or, more positively, she doesn’t think she’s in trouble, so she hasn’t been harmed.” Lou reminds him.

Buck nods, not sure how much relief that brings him.

A knock sounds at the door before it opens. Elaine walks in.

“We sent an officer over to Maddie’s. She was there with Howard Han and her two kids. Melody wasn’t there. I’m sorry, Buck.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course. I promised to keep you informed and I meant it. We have a dog team going out to the park now with the elephant. Hopefully they’ll be able to get a track. If you think of anything else, Lou can let me know.”

Buck nods at her, leaning more into Lou.

“Bad blood between you and your sister, I take it?”

Buck looks over at Lou. “I’m Athena’s kid. I know you’ve heard all about Maddie. I know you work with her often enough, especially when everything was happening there, both times.”

“Okay, yeah. I know her side of things, and small details. I guess I’m just trying to distract you and that’s the best I got.”

Buck chuckles a little. “Okay. Maddie and I were close when we were younger. She took better care of me than Margaret and Phillip ever did. She loved me more, too. She left for college when I was 9. She rarely came home, only for summer breaks, really. When she met Doug, she stopped coming home unless he was invited. Margaret and Phillip hated him so he was never allowed at home. They moved back to Hershey shortly after he finished med school in Boston. I saw her less and less, because Doug didn’t want us in the house if we didn’t want him at ours.”

Lou nods, listening to Buck talk.

“I haven’t thought about that in years.”

Buck gets a text and opens it.

Taylor: Finished my news broadcast. They will rerun the one I did. Waiting at your house for word in case she gets returned here

Along with the text is a picture of Eddie and Taylor beside each other on the couch. Eddie looks annoyed.

Buck sends a thumbs up to her to let her know he got the text.

“A friend is at my house just in case she ends up back home.” Buck tells Lou.

“Oh good. I was going to have an officer go by soon.”

They fall into silence. Half an hour later, Elaine comes back in with a knock.

“The dogs picked up her scent all over the park. Eventually it goes off a side street, but stops about three blocks away. I assume she was led away from the park some time in the panic between when someone called for help and when the ambulance got there. I assume she was taken off in a vehicle, but there is no security footage in the area she was last. Officers are going door-to-door now to see if anyone has any information, but I doubt it. I’m sorry, Buck. We’ll keep searching. Hopefully someone who has seen the news calls it in and we can get another lead.”

Buck’s nod is the only answer he can give.

“I remember when me and Amelia first got together. She was insistent that she didn’t want to lean on me for everything, that when her maternity leave was up, she would go back to work. She had a private practice she worked with in a counselling centre. She was always wanting to be independent. There were some days she refused to let me clean the whole house while she was napping. She wanted to do her share of chores. I told her, her share could be breastfeeding while she can, and I will take care of most household stuff while she rested.”

“It seems like you two had a lovely relationship.” Lou responds.

“We did. We rarely argued. It was to the point that when we were looking for care for Melody, we decided to go with a nanny service that had the sitter’s not doing any housework outside of care for the child. Amelia was uncomfortable with someone else cleaning our house for us, as was I, even if we were paying them for it. The service we used had last-minute requests, as well as scheduled. It wasn’t like a traditional live-in nanny service. The sitter would come in when you needed them. You could also request one person, and if you were a regular, you’d most likely be assigned a more regular sitter, to make sure your kid was comfortable. That’s a big thing we liked about it.”

“How did that go?”

“It went well. Right after Amelia died, our regular sitter moved to care for her mom. I got a new hire in once I went back to work that September.” Buck pulled a face at the thought of Diane.

“I take it that one didn’t go as well?”

“Not quite. She overstepped a few times. She would talk to Melody about stuff that she had no reason to, such as how her mom died, or how my leg got amputated. I was going to have another talk with her before I fired her, but I ended up firing her and reporting her to the company she worked for.”

Lou sits up a little straighter at that. “What happened there?”

“She had Maddie over. I found out that same day that she would sometimes have other kids over to my house while she was watching Melody without telling me. She didn’t want to give up the pay that she would get from watching more than just my daughter.”

“Oh wow. Have you heard from her since?”

“No. It’s been a few months so I figured that if I was going to, I would have by now. I also blocked her phone number so she couldn’t contact me that way.”

“And after that? What did you do for childcare?”

“My mother-in-law, Alex, stepped in. She talked to me about wanting to look after Melody more full time while I was working. I agreed. Melody loves her Nana, so it was an easy transition for them both.”

Lou nods, listening intently to Buck talk.

Before Buck can mention anything else, Michael walks in.

“Hey. I was told you were in here.”

“Dad. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay with Harry?” Buck asks.

“I was, but your brother is stubborn. He said that he was fine, and that you needed me more. Then insisted I come down here to be with you, since he knows Athena will be on the street searching herself.”

“She did insist on searching herself after we both left the hospital.”

“I’m just going to step out for a minute. You okay with your dad, Buck?” Lou speaks up.

Buck nods. Michael’s eyes widen a bit at the sight of Lou.

“What was that about?” Buck asks after Lou closes the door.

“Uh… Me and Lou had a… relationship of sorts… before I met David.”

It takes Buck a moment. “Oh. OH! I see. Well, glad that through that he could still be friends with mom afterwards.”

“I’m pretty sure they compared notes.” Michael jokes.

“Ew. Okay, that’s enough details on my parents’ sex lives. I’ve already had to see too much of mom and Bobby, I don’t need to hear any more from you.” Buck says.

“Oh, like how your mom had to hear too much from you a few years ago?”

“I can admit. That was a mistake. I was also drunk, young, and stupid. I wouldn’t torture either of you with that again.”

“How’re you doing, Buck?” Michael asks.

Buck sighs. “I’m trying my best to distract myself. I can’t let myself think too hard about it because if I do, I will break down and that won’t do anyone any good.”

“Yeah. I’m here now so I can help distract you, yeah?”

Buck nods, letting himself fall into his dad’s arms.

Lou comes back into the room.

“I need some more information from you.”

“Okay. Did you get something?”

“Not in the way that you think. Based on something you told me, we want to look into someone. Can you give me the information for the nanny service you used before?”

“Uh yeah.” Buck grabs a pen and paper, writing down their information. “Do you suspect someone there might have done this?”

“Yes. We want to look into your old sitter, Diane. You mentioned having a few issues with her, so we want to look into her. We can’t say for sure whether or not she’s the one who took Melody definitively, but we want to find her, just in case.”

“Okay. Thank you, Lou.”

He nods, taking the piece of paper from Buck, leaving the two alone in the room again.

Buck sags against the couch, falling into it.

“What if this is my fault? What if Diane took Melody because I got her fired?”

“No. This is not your fault. It’s her fault. She is to blame for kidnapping. Even if it was retaliation, that’s on her, not on you. You hear me, Buck?”

“But… what if she hurts her? I can’t- I don’t know what I’ll do if-“

“Hey, Buck, look at me.” Michael waits for Buck to look at him. “She will be okay. Diane likes children, yeah? She worked with children. If she was going to hurt her, she would have done it by now, and you would know about it, yeah?”

Buck nods, trying to come down from his panic.

It takes hours to hear anything at all from anyone. Elaine and Lou had left Buck and Michael in the room alone. Now that Buck had someone to lean on, Lou was free to do his job again. Buck tried to feel bad for that, but found that he couldn’t. He wasn’t going to force himself to feel bad for needing support on one of the worst days of his life. He would take the support when he could get it.

Eventually, Athena comes into the room.

“Hey, baby. I have an update.”

Buck looks up at his mom. “How bad is it that they’re sending you in?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. I just got back, they called in everyone on the street right now. We went door-to-door and got a few leads that way, but we exhausted the search radius around the park. They figured I was best to give you updates since I know you better.”

“Okay. What’s going on?”

“They couldn’t get in touch with Diane, but they did get a hold of her company. They fired her after you reported her. She had a few strikes on her record, and they did an investigation with other families she had been sitting for. There were issues that went unreported because she guilted them into not reporting her. Not only was she having families drop off their kids with other kids when she wasn’t supposed to, there were a few single parents that told us she would act inappropriately with their children. Stuff like telling them things they shouldn’t know, or talking to them as if she was a parent. She was known to ask kids to call her mom before.”

“And she’s the main suspect?” Michael asks.

“Yes. At this point in time, we’re working off her being the main suspect. She would make the most sense, what with her past behaviour. That and not being able to contact her says a lot. Now, what would you like to eat? Bobby will bring something in for all of us.”

“Thanks, mom, but I can’t eat right now.”

Athena gives him a look. “You haven’t eaten all day. I will bring you something and you will eat it. Got it?”

Buck sighs. “Got it.”

“Good.”

An hour later, Athena is leading Isabel into the room.

“Isabel. What are you doing here?” Buck asks.

“Mi Eddito called me. Asked me to keep looking after Christopher, that you had an emergency. He told me he’s watching your house with a friend of yours while you sit here waiting for information. Me and Pepa made food for everyone. Enchiladas, should be enough for you and your family here.” Isabel hands off the bag to Athena, who grabbed plates on the way in.

“You didn’t have to.” Buck tells her. “Thank you.”

“Of course I did. You have been really kind to Christopher. He’s told me how you’ve been there for him. I’m happy to help care for you the way you have my family, even if you and mi nieto didn’t work out, si?”

“Chris needs someone looking out for him. I know he has family, but sometimes people need a different adult to trust, someone on the outside looking in.”

Isabel nods in understanding. “Any news on your little one?”

Buck shakes his head. “We have a suspect. The sitter that I fired a couple months ago. Outside of that, no. She didn’t bring a phone with her, so no way to track her. Her vehicle was found abandoned a few blocks outside of where it was seen near the park. She must’ve had a backup that wasn’t registered under her own name.”

“Ah. Well, from what I hear your little one is smart. She will come back to you. I believe that.” Isabel tells him. “Now eat. You’ll need your strength.”

Buck forces himself to eat a little bit. Once everyone has eaten, Isabel packs up the empty containers, hugging Buck, before she leaves.

“It’s been twelve hours since I got the call about Alex and who knows how long since Melody has been missing. What if we don’t find her?” Buck asks his parents.

“We’ll find her. We’ve got the best people on it, you know that.” Athena tells him.

“We both know you can’t guarantee that, mom.”

“You’re right. I can’t. But we both need to believe she’s coming home to us, because if we don’t, then we’ll both break.”

“Okay. You’re right. I know you’re right.” Buck says, leaning into her side.

Suddenly, outside the door there’s a lot of commotion. Buck lifts his head off Athena’s shoulder, sitting up straighter. Captain Maynard comes into the room, holding a phone.

“Buck. It’s for you.” She says, handing over the phone.

Buck takes the phone with no hesitation. “Hello?”

“Daddy?”

“Melody? Are you okay? Where are you? Are you hurt?” Buck asks, standing up and nearly falling, forgetting to grab his crutches.

Michael stands to steady Buck, supporting him as he talks into the phone.

“Daddy I’m scared. Miss Elaine said to go to one of the rooms and ask for help, but I’m scared.”

“Do you know where you are, baby?”

“No. That’s why Miss Elaine wanted me to go ask for help. But leaving means hanging up.”

“How about this. You go knock on someone’s door and get help. Then they can call us back and we can come get you, okay?” Buck tells her as calmly as he can.

“Okay, daddy. I’ll go get help. Come and find me soon, okay?”

“I will, baby. I promise.”

The line goes dead as Buck hands Elaine her phone back. He grabs his crutches, steadying himself.

“I’m coming with you. Let’s get ready to go, then when she calls back, we can leave sooner.”

Elaine nods, leading him out of the room.

“I’ll send you with Lou. I’ll be staying here. I’ll contact Sue and let her know to connect her to your phone. Melody said she tried your phone from the phone she had, but it didn’t work, so she called 9-1-1. They connected her with me, figuring it best to have her talk to the lead on the case for the time being. You two go, as soon as you know where she is, go to her. She’ll need her dad.”

Buck nods, following Lou out to his unmarked vehicle.

It takes another 15 minutes before Buck’s phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Buck. It’s Josh at Dispatch. I have a caller here wanting to talk to you. We have her location and have sent in on to Detective Lou Ransone and Captain Elaine Maynard. You okay to talk to her?”

“Yes. Please. Let me talk to her.” Buck says.

The phone call goes through and Buck talks to his daughter. He stays on the phone with her as they speed through LA to get to her. As they approach the hotel, Lou turns off his sirens and lights. Lou pulls into a parking space near the front entrance. He gets out, instructing Buck to wait in the car while he talks to the manager and gets a key for the room they’re in. Buck keeps talking to Melody, assuring her they’ll be there soon, that he’ll be there to keep her safe soon.

Lou returns as another police vehicle pulls up beside them. He gestures for Buck to follow him, and Buck convinces Melody that he needs to hang up, that he’ll be right there. She lets him hang up as he grabs his crutches, following behind Lou quickly. Lou leads him into the hotel, the two police officers following behind them. They get to a room and Lou stops. The two officers go two doors down, waiting on either side of the door for Lou and Buck to have Melody out of there.

Lou uses his key to open the door, opening it slowly.

They walk into the room, Melody on one of the beds, a young couple on the other, closest to the door.

“Daddy!” Melody shouts, running to him.

He drops to a knee, dropping his crutches to the ground as he scoops her into his arms, holding her tight. They’re both crying as Lou closes the door, talking quietly with the couple.

“Daddy. You made it. You’re here to take me home.” Melody tells him.

“I am. I’m here to take you home.”

They hear yelling from the hallway. Buck covers Melody’s ears, hoping she won’t hear much of what’s being said.

“I did nothing wrong! I was just taking care of her! That’s my job! I had to become her mother; she doesn’t have one! I had to protect her!”

“Buck, stay here. Melody needs you.” Lou whispers to Buck, noticing the anger coming from him.

Buck nods, holding Melody a little closer.

“Daddy, can we go home? I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“Yeah baby. We can go. But we’ll have to go to daddy’s work first, so you can talk to Miss Elaine and Mr. Lou first, then we can go home.”

“Okay. Can you be with me when I talk to them?”

Buck looks over at Lou, who nods at him.

“Yeah, I can stay with you.” The hallway goes silent, and Lou motions for Buck to stand up. “Mels, how about you climb onto my back? I can give you a piggyback to the car so I don’t have to put you down to walk to the car with my crutches.”

Melody nods her head, climbing onto Buck’s back. Buck stands up slowly, careful not to knock her down as he grabs his crutches and situates himself. Buck slowly makes his way to the car, placing Melody in the car seat they’d put in the back seat for her, climbing in after her.

“Daddy, you can sit in front if you’d like. I can see you from there.”

“Thank you, but I also want to be able to see you, so I’m going to stay back here and keep you company. I already missed you a lot today, I don’t want to miss you more.”

“Daddy, you’re silly! I missed you too.”

Buck smiles at her, kissing her forehead. It takes some time to get back to the station, Lou going slower now that they’re not in a rush. Once they do, Lou puts them both in the family room Buck had been in all day. Elaine and Lou meet them in there.

“Melody, we have a few questions for you. Is it alright for us to ask them right now?” Elaine asks.

She nods her head.

“Great. Do you remember what happened this morning? What led you to leaving the park with Diane?”

Melody nods again. “She came up to me at the park and asked if I missed her. I didn’t want to be rude so I said yes, even though I prefer spending my days with Nana. She’s much better at looking after me. Miss Diane told me we’d go get ice cream, that she’s already told Nana and that it was okay. She gets me to hold her hand as we leave. She put me in her car, and didn’t even get me any ice cream!”

“I’ll you some ice cream tomorrow, does that sound okay?” Buck assures her.

“Okay. Thank you, daddy.”

“Where did she take you?” Lou asks next.

“She drove around a lot. I kept asking when we were going to get ice cream. She told me soon. Then she put me in a different car. We drove around a lot then too. She took me to my hotel room once it started to get dark. I asked her why we were there. She told me that she was going to take care of me now. I told her I wanted to go back home to daddy, and asked her to take me home. She said that I didn’t need daddy anymore, that she was going to be my mommy now, and that I had to start calling her mommy. I told her that she wasn’t my mommy, that I wanted daddy, but she didn’t let me call.”

“Thank you for telling me. How long did she leave you alone for once you did call?” Elaine asks.

“I told her I was really hungry, so she left me alone to find food for us. She forgot her phone so I called for help.”

“That was very smart. You did good with that.” Buck tells his daughter.

“Melody, what happened once you hung up the phone?” Elaine asks.

“I went to knock on someone’s door, like I had been told. I heard the TV on in that room, so I knocked. The woman answered the door and I asked to come in. She let me in. I then asked her to call the police for me and tell them where I was, that I was Melody Grant, and wanted to go home but Miss Diane wasn’t taking me home. She got me to sit on the bed while she called. Then I got to talk to daddy until he needed to hang up to come get me.”

“Thank you for telling us all that, Melody.” Lou says.

Elaine and Lou leave the two alone after their conversation is over.

“So, Mels, I have to talk to you about Nana.”

“Is she worried about me? I don’t want her to worry.”

“She… she was hurt today. Right after you went with Diane.”

“Is she okay? Can I see her?” Melody asks, concern in her voice.

“She’s okay. It’s late now, but I’ll take you to see her tomorrow. Does that sound okay with you?”

Melody nods her head. “Is Papa with her?”

“Yeah. He stayed with her.”

At this moment, Athena and Michael come into the room.

“Grandma! Grandpa!” Melody runs up to them, both of them scooping her up between them.

“Ready to go home? I’ll take you and your dad home.”

“Yeah. Is grandpa going to come with us too?” Melody tells his grandma.

“Not tonight. He’s going home to uncle Harry. I’ll drop you two off then go home to grampy Bobby.”

“Okay. I guess that’s okay.”

As the four of them go to leave, Athena carrying Melody out, Michael hangs back with Buck.

“We called Adrian, Lucy, and Audrey to let them know you had Melody. None of us had Eddie or Taylor’s number, but we know you’d be going home eventually so could tell them then.”

“Thank you. For all you have done for me.”

“Of course, Buck. You’re family.”

“I don’t know where I’d be today if you and Athena hadn’t taken me in after my amputation. I am where I am now because of you two.”

“Athena’s a big softie. She saw a lonely kid and couldn’t not take him in. We’re all the better for it, anyways.”

“Ah, thanks. All flattery.”

“No seriously. You were a part of our family for a while, but the day we officially adopted you was the best day to happen to our family.”

“Thanks, dad. I appreciate hearing that from you.”

“Of course, kid. I think after today you needed to hear it most.”

Buck climbs into the back seat again with Melody, not willing to have his back turned to her yet. Michael waves them off as Athena drives off. They make it back to Buck’s house in good time. Buck helps Melody out, Athena holding the door open for them.

The door opens before they get to it, Taylor standing in the doorway, Eddie behind her.

“Daddy, who’s home?”

“It’s my friends. This is Taylor, and this is Eddie.”

Melody looks up at them, waving.

“Hi Melody. I’m glad you’re back home now.” Taylor waves back at her.

“So am I. Daddy, put me down. I want to go to bed.”

“Do you want help getting changed?”

“No. I’m six. I can do it myself.” Melody responds, running off to her room.

Buck stares after her, unable to take his eyes away from the place she ran off to.

“How is she?” Eddie asks. “Did they take her to the hospital to get checked over?”

Buck shakes his head. “No. They allowed me to take her home tonight. I’ll be taking her to the hospital tomorrow to see Alex, so I figured I’d get her checked over then. She seems to be doing okay.”

“How are you doing?” Taylor asks.

“Next question?” Buck lets out a dry chuckle.

“Fair enough.”

“Well, I should go. Abuela told me to drop by when I leave here when she brought us supper.” Eddie pats Buck on the shoulder as he slips past.

“Daddy! I’m ready to be tucked in!” Melody yells from her room.

Buck quickly makes his way to her room, sitting by her bed when they get there.

“Which story do you want?”

“I want one about you and mom.”

“Okay. Let me think.” Buck pauses for a few moments. “There was once, before you were born, when your mom and I had our first fight. It was nothing serious. She wanted ice cream but it was very late. We ran out and the store was closed.”

“Wow. She was allowed to have ice cream late at night?”

“Yes. When you grow up and are an adult, you’ll get to eat ice cream whenever you want.” Buck tickles her sides a little.

Melody giggles, squirming. “More of the story, daddy!”

“Okay, okay. She kept telling me that I needed to find somewhere that had ice cream because she needed it right then. We argued about it. Eventually, I convinced her to wait until the next morning and I would get up bright and early to get her ice cream for breakfast. She agreed.

“I hadn’t set an alarm, but your mom did. She got me up as soon as she got out of bed, demanding I get up and get her ice cream. You know how she usually was with getting up in the mornings.”

Melody nods.

“She wanted ice cream so badly that she got out of bed willingly and made me get her ice cream. I, of course, did it. She ate the whole tub by that night. This time, I went back and bought a couple tubs to keep in the freezer so I hopefully wouldn’t have to get out of bed that early again.”

“Did it work?”

“For a little while. Then she got ahead of me and ate it all.”

“I think I get my love of ice cream from mom.”

“I think so too.” Buck tells her, kissing her forehead.

Buck stands up, going to the door. “Goodnight, baby. Sleep well.”

Buck closes the door behind him, leaving it open a crack, making sure to turn the light off. He wanders down the hallway, to the kitchen where he can hear Athena and Taylor talking.

“I can’t imagine what he’s going through. Having her taken like that?” Taylor says.

“I almost had it happen with Harry a few years ago. There was someone after me during the blackouts. He’d escaped from prison. Buck had heard that I had people watching over every other victim’s house except my own. He demanded someone go by my house as well. We had a pretty big argument about it, actually. He ended up sending someone while we were arguing. I’m glad he did, because the man was starting to walk off with Harry when they pulled up. They arrested him right then and there.”

“I’m sorry that happened, Athena.”

Athena hums in response. “Buck was there for us during that. He’s been there for us since the moment we stepped into each other’s lives. All we can do is be there for him now.”

Buck enters the room, not wanting to eavesdrop any longer.

“She was just starting to fall asleep when I left.”

Both women look up at him.

“Come sit. I made tea.” Taylor tells him, motioning to the table beside her.

Buck obliges, sitting down in front of the cup of tea at the table.

“I don’t know how I’m going to let her out of my sight again.” Buck tells the table.

“Therapy. Lots and lots of therapy.” Athena tells him, rubbing his arm.

“The worst part is, that it was someone I know. Someone deliberately took her from me. I didn’t even think it could be her. She was the last person on my mind. How could I have not thought of that?”

“She didn’t try to contact you, right? She left you alone after you fired her. How were you supposed to know?” Taylor asks.

“Yeah. She left it alone. But I should have known. She’d had bad behaviour in the past. Why didn’t I suspect her until it was spelled out for me?”

“Baby, you weren’t thinking clearly. All you knew was that your baby girl was gone, and your mother-in-law was in the hospital.” Athena tells him gently.

Buck sips his tea, avoiding eye contact with the two women. “You’re both right, I know you are. It’s hard to see it myself.”

“I know it is. That’s why we’re here.” Athena says.

Buck lets out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know how to talk to her about what happened. I know she knows it’s serious, but I don’t think she’s realized how serious the situation was. She’s been through so much in the last year.”

“You’ll figure it out. Don’t wait, though. Make sure she knows she can come to you. She needs to know it was a serious situation, in an age appropriate way.”

“Yeah. I’ll set some time aside to talk to her, probably tomorrow after we go see Alex.”

“Good idea. Now, finish your tea so we can go to bed.” Athena instructs.

“Bed? I thought you were going to go home.” Buck comments.

Athena shakes her head. “There’s no way I’m going home tonight. I’d be too worried about my babies. I’ll stay, make you two breakfast, and drive you to the hospital.”

“I don’t have much of a say in this, do I?” Buck asks.

“No you do not. Now, Taylor, are you staying the night?” Athena turns to the woman.

“No. I just wanted to stay long enough to make sure Buck had time to decompress after the rush that today has been. When you both go to bed, I’ll leave.”

The small group finishes their tea in silence, then walks Taylor to the door.

“I’m glad Melody is home, Buck. If you need anything else, let me know.”

Buck nods at her, closing and locking the door behind her, heading off to bed once that was done.

 

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