Reading Time: 147 Minutes

Title: Growing Pains
Series: Like Ripples From a Small Stone
Series Order: 4
Author: DarkJediQueen
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Drama, Established Relationship, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Slash
Relationship(s): Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Violence – Graphic , Discussion-Rape, Discussion-Ableism
Author Note: Eddie’s sister’s name is spelled Sophia in canon. I’ve changed it to Sofia.
Beta: ScarsLikeVelvet & Starkindler, Alpha: Starkindler
Word Count: 36,685
Summary: Buck and Eddie are settling into their life together, smashed into one big happy family, while the world around them seems to want to butt in too much.
Artist: Tintalle
Artist Appreciation: A big thanks to Tintalle who made me such beautiful art.

 

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Chapter One

Buck groaned as he woke up to the feeling of something hot and wet on his cock. He reached down and grabbed Eddie’s hair and tugged a little, getting his boyfriend to come up to him instead of sucking his cock.

“What are you doing?” Buck asked.

“Well, I’m not going to see you for a day, and I wanted to do something for you to remember me by.”

“You are going to work, and I’m going to spend the day with the kids; I’m not going to forget you, drama king.”

“Hmm, well, I have plans for us. It’s early enough the kids won’t be up. So, submit to what I want.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll take a video of me getting off and send it to you.”

“I am not sure that threat works the way you want it to.” Buck let go of Eddie’s hair and allowed him to do what he wanted.

Buck heard the snap of a lube cap, and then a hand was between his ass cheeks. Buck had gone to sleep with shorts on and was now naked. He didn’t mind it, they had woken each other up with sex a fair bit over the last while, but Eddie hadn’t gotten Buck’s shorts off without waking him up yet. Though, Buck had been dead tired the night before. He was just about done with his training to allow him to take the requalification test again. The instructors at the academy thought that he would be able to do that next week.

Fingers pressed inside of him, and Buck groaned at the feel. Eddie went right for two, so Buck assumed he had been awake for a while, ramping himself up on what he wanted to do. Eddie had threatened this after Buck had woken him up a week before stroking himself and moaning. It had ended with Eddie on his hands and knees and Buck fucking him hard and fast.

“You look so good in my bed,” Eddie said.

“At this point in time, isn’t it our bed?” Buck asked as Eddie got his hands under Buck’s knees and lifted his legs. Buck got his legs stiff so that Eddie could grip his cock and guide it in. Buck was ready for it. He rolled his head up and tried not to moan too loudly. He was hopeful the door was locked. Eddie was good about that, so Buck just pushed it from his mind as he was filled.

“It was my bed longer than it was our bed.”

“Hmm, so it’s my TV?” Buck asked.

Eddie laughed and kissed Buck. The feeling of being fucked by Eddie was one that Buck loved. He had never thought he would be an exclusive bottom, but he loved Eddie’s cock inside of him.

“It’s so good,” Eddie whispered as he broke the kiss.

Buck was rocking down onto Eddie’s cock as much as he could with the way he was right now; sex was easy between them, despite Buck’s small issues with intimacy. Now they were past that; sex was coming hot and heavy. The honeymoon phase had been delayed, but it was good now.

Eddie came first, and Buck kept his legs wrapped around him to not let Eddie get too far away.

“Needy,” Eddie said, but he pressed a kiss to Buck’s cheek as he got his hand between them to jack off Buck slowly. He kissed Buck on the lips again, claiming his mouth and demanding that Buck give him everything.

“Good morning,” Buck said when he had finally recovered from his orgasm.

“It was a very good morning. I love these mornings. I’ll love mornings like this more when we are both going to work again.”

Buck was looking forward to that again.

“What were you going to do today?” Eddie asked.

“I think we are going to go to that one park that Emma loves and then just wander around from there. First is breakfast; I was thinking pancakes and getting Chris hyped up on sugar before having him crash for an afternoon nap with Emma somewhere in the back of your truck.”

“Oh, you want to take the truck?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah, I do. Isn’t that okay? You said I could use it when I wanted.”

“I did say that, and I meant it. I just assume you would want your Jeep.”

“Nah, truck. I was thinking of going up into one of the nature areas and having a picnic lunch in the truck’s bed. We could have fun there if Chris doesn’t want to do something else.”

“Well, you letting him choose what you do, you might end up at the park watching people play soccer, or at the LA Galaxy watching a game.”

“Anything works for me. I just want to have a good day with them before I go back to work. I don’t want to miss a day out with them before I go back.”

“We should shower,” Eddie said as he pushed up to brace himself over Buck, he ducked down and kissed Buck quickly before getting off the bed quickly. He grabbed a pair of shorts and slipped into them before blowing Buck a kiss as he ran for the bathroom.

Buck got off the bed, and he snagged his shorts from where Eddie had tossed them. He rushed after Eddie and got into the bathroom to find that not only was Eddie ready for him, their clothes were already in there.

“You have been awake a while.”

“I have. I was getting ready. Now let me clean you up.” Eddie pulled Buck into the shower, with his shorts still on.

“Eddie!” Buck laughed, but he allowed his boyfriend to pull him.

—

Buck snagged the small bear dressed in a mock LAFD uniform with turnout coat, and he held it out to Emma, who was giggling.

“Are you a good little sister?” Buck asked as Chris grinned where he had just won that. Instead of the large bear that would be hard to carry around, Chris had just wanted the LAFD bear to give to Emma.

“What do you want to do next?”

“Ferris wheel, and then can we go to that shop you were talking about before we leave?” Chris asked.

“That’s all?” Buck was worried that Chris wasn’t feeling well.

“Emma’s getting fussy, and you said we could take a nap in the truck bed. I liked that we took the bus here. It was kind of fun, and the parking areas were crazy.”

“Yeah, we can relax in the truck bed once we find a shady place to be. We can all take a nap.” Buck knew he wouldn’t get to sleep, but he could at least relax. He wasn’t tired, not like he had been. His stamina was good. Emma had been carried by him for most of the day, just like at the zoo.

It was good, and he was pretty happy with himself. Chris had run off most of the sugar rush he got from breakfast, and Emma was wearing down into her afternoon nap.

The Ferris wheel and the shop were quick. Buck took a few pictures of them on the Ferris wheel with the view out to the ocean behind them. He posted the best of that to Instagram and tagged Eddie in it.

“Let’s get going,” Buck said when they were done in the shop. He held out his hand, and Chris handed over the second bear he had been given since he only wanted the small prize instead of the big one. Chris had been able to move around the shop without his crutches, so they had left them at the door. Chris got his hands into his crutches, and he headed toward where they had come from. They followed the straight shot road that would allow them to head toward where the bus could pick them up.

The siren that went off had Buck spinning his head around, and he looked back at where the ocean was. He could see what set off the alarm, only it was too close. His brain knew what that meant. Tsunami, and it was too close. Someone had hit the alarm by hand instead of the buoys going off.

“Papa?” Chris asked.

“Hold your crutches tight, buddy,” Buck said. He scooped up Chris and made sure not to hurt Emma. Chris went limp like his father had taught him when carried like this. Buck looked around. There was no way to outrun the wave, and with Emma, he couldn’t just let the wave take them. He needed high ground, and he needed it fast.

Looking, he spotted what might be their salvation, and he hoped he made it there.

—

Eddie turned on his phone screen again as he looked at the smiling faces of his family as they ate breakfast.

“So where are Buck, Chris, and Emma?” Scott asked as he sat down beside Eddie as they took a five-minute break and got some water into them.

“Well, if Buck stuck to the plans that they had, they were going to spend the morning in a park that is a long assed distance away from here then going to one of the nature areas and napping in the bed of the truck. He’s probably freaking out because he can’t get a hold of me. I keep trying.” Eddie looked at the lying bar that said there was service but only for his text to never go through. Service was for shit right now, but he knew it would be that way since everything was overloaded.

“That’s good that they are safe.”

“Yeah, it is. Now, where is your man?”

“I got one text through at one point, and he had another. He’s got his restaurant closed down to normal customers and is working on making food packages for first responders and victims. I swear there are times that Riccardo is the better of the pair of us. He’s got his staff that can’t cook buying up supplies to stick in with the food for victims. Small toiletries. He’s working on getting them to people to bring into the disaster areas, and anything else needed. I guess he’s working with someone from the academy who keeps track of medical needs that we don’t have on hand. He did this during Sandy as well.”

“Well, you can’t fault him for it.”

“No, I can’t. He’s got a huge heart, and it shows. He uses a lot of his money for it. His staff gets paid normal wages to work, and those that can afford it, they give a lot of that money back since they are being paid to volunteer basically.”

“Have you texted that to Buck? He would jump over.”

“I figure that Riccardo had messaged him. I can’t believe you haven’t heard from him.”

“I will, when the world-” Eddie stopped, and he frowned as he got a notification from Instagram. He opened it up, and his heart stopped. It was a picture of Buck and Chris on the Ferris wheel. The one that Eddie had climbed already to help rescue people. No one had talked about a man with a kid and a baby, yet, Buck hadn’t been there. Eddie saved the picture just how Buck had taught him how to do, and he zoomed in on Buck’s watch. It was about twenty minutes before the siren went off.

“Eddie?” Scott asked.

Eddie ignored him. He tried to think about things. Where were they? Had he lost them?

“CAP!”

Eddie was trying to figure out how to find out. If anyone at dispatch knew Buck was dead, that Chris and Emma were dead, they would tell him. He would be pulled out of work.

“Eddie?”

The phone was taken from Eddie’s limp hands. There was talking all around him, but all he could hear was the beating of his heart and the words in his head.

“Eddie, is this from today?” Bobby asked.

“Yes,” Eddie answered.

“Cap?” Scott asked.

“Buck, Chris, and Emma were on the Ferris wheel.”

“Twenty minutes before the siren, according to Buck’s watch.” Eddie pulled his focus back to the fact that he had to find them. Good or ill, he had to find them.

“Okay, Eddie, we haven’t heard anything. You can’t just assume they are dead. They could be sitting at home looking at the TV, shocked that they left before this happened. Give me a number to call to have someone from the house check on them.”

Eddie rattled off April’s number. He didn’t think she would be working unless she was pulled in since she worked a double before getting off at four in the morning. He wasn’t able to listen as Bobby checked in with dispatch. He knew what Buck’s luck was. Buck had the worst luck in the fucking world.

“They are not home, and April is now on her way here. She’s trained as a search and rescue volunteer nurse. She will get her gear and then be assigned to us. We are being sent in to do more search in boats,” Bobby said.

“Before the waves take people back out,” Eddie said.

“Yes. Chief Alonso was made aware of Buck being in the path. He can’t have us search for just them, but he can have us looking for anyone. You and April will take a boat together and look. It’s the best I can do.”

Eddie nodded. He stayed where he was as the rest of the team worked on getting them set up to head back out again. He couldn’t move cause if he did, he would start to swim out to where they were.

“Eddie,” April said.

Eddie looked up. More time had passed than he thought.

“I was already on my way here to hook up with someone. Now, let’s get our asses in gear. Your captain has our stuff ready.”

Eddie nodded his head, and he stood up. His body was already sore from the injuries he had gotten while hitting off things or just deadlifting up items in the water to find people. He thought about the Ferris wheel.

“Look, the last I knew from him, he was heading to that little shop he loves, and they took the bus here.”

“The bus, no, he took my truck.”

“Yeah, he parked the truck a good distance away, and they took the bus in here.”

“How do you know that?”

“He called me about something I had been looking for, and someone had some at the pier for sale, just not in the color I wanted. I slept like the dead for seven hours and got up just a few minutes before Buck called me. So let’s head to where Buck would have been walking away from the shop. We can go from there.”

“Sure. Point the way,” Eddie said. He followed April into the zodiac that they were going to be using.

“118, this is Dispatch,” a voice said over the radio.

“Dispatch, 118 listening,” Bobby said.

“I need at least one of your guys to swap over to the channel I tell you.” It was rattled off three times to make sure they had it.

Eddie frowned at that, and he did as was asked when Bobby nodded at him. It was a civilian channel and not one for LAFD.

“This is Diaz of the 118,” Eddie said.

“Oh, Eddie Diaz? Hold on,” a female voice said.

Eddie looked at April and then at Bobby.

“Dad?” Chris.

“Dios, mijo, it’s so good to hear your voice. Where are you?” Eddie asked.

April’s hand landed on his shoulder, and she squeezed tightly.

“We are in an apartment with this nice lady. We are near where the 126’s fire truck parked itself in the flood. They were on the pier responding to a call.”

Eddie remembered where he had seen it when looking for people the first time before they found the boat.

“Where is Buck?”

“He’s out there. People were being swept in, and he made a line off the truck and has been pulling people in. He’s tired.”

“How are you talking to us?” Eddie asked.

“Miss Mary has an old Ham radio that used to be her grandfather’s. She got it working, and Buck helped her access the channels. We don’t know the protocol to talk, but thankfully, the people were very nice to us. Are you coming to get us?”

“We are. April and I are. How many people are there?”

“I don’t know. Papa’s not sent anyone else to us for a few minutes, but there are fifteen in here counting Emma and me. Do you want to talk to her?”

“Is she okay?”

“We got inside just before the wave hit. Papa tripped on the stairs, and he landed on his shoulder badly, but he protected us. I was over his shoulder, and he fell the other way. He says his arm is sore but no worse than the time you and he fell off the couch.”

“Dios mío,” Eddie said before he clicked to talk again. Of course, Buck would use the time they had been making out on the couch, and Buck had hurt himself as the basis for how hurt he was. Buck had only had a stiff arm for a day. “Well, that’s good. I’ll talk to Emma when I get there, buddy. You just worry about keeping an eye on Buck.”

“He’s not in sight of us right now. He said he thought the water would start going out again, and he wanted to be there to catch as many people as he could who were going out. He also told me not to look out the window in case I saw a dead body. I don’t want to see a dead body.”

“Well, you don’t need to see one either, so do as Papa says, and I’ll be there soon. Can you give this back to Miss Mary?”

“Bye, Daddy,” Chris said.

“He sounds good,” April said.

“He does. I’m glad.”

Bobby’s boat got closer to his, and Eddie slowed down so they wouldn’t bump off each other.

“The water will probably start to swell back out at some point soon. I heard Buck has a line strung up to get people to safety. You worry about Buck and your kids, and we will worry about everyone else. Despite catching them, it sounds like Buck might have hurt himself. You two get them all to the point of handing them off to the hospital staff.”

Eddie waited for Bobby to pull away before he started to head to where Buck and the kids were as fast as he could go. He kept his eyes open for others, but there were none, not until they got close to where the fire truck was, and there were people scattered all around on whatever they could land on.

“Are you here to rescue us?” one of the ladies asked when Eddie slowed down.

“Shortly, yes. I’m the forward scout, and there are more behind us,” Eddie said. There were more people than they could take. It would become leaving people behind to get as many out as possible.

“How are you doing?” April asked.

“We are all good. The more injured were kept on the fire truck since it’s the most stable.”

Eddie looked toward the fire truck, and he saw Buck in the water. He assumed it was Buck. The man was on his back with his legs and arms wrapped around the fire hose stretched across the street. It was downright genius. It was a good tactic for Buck to safely get people out. Eddie kept his pace slow as he headed toward the fire truck. As soon as people started to look up with the sound of the boat engines, Buck rolled and disappeared under the water before coming back up and looking around. As soon as he saw Eddie, Buck’s whole body deflated slightly.

“Hey, Eds,” Buck said when Eddie finally got close. “Chris is upstairs.”

“I’ve been talking to him over the radio. I needed to see your idiot ass first before going up to see him.”

“We have decided. You don’t go anywhere without someone,” April said.

“What?” Buck asked. He grabbed onto the edge of the boat but didn’t move to get inside of it.

“When you go anywhere, you go with someone. You do not go to the store without someone else, and when we say that, we mean a damned adult.”

“I have to live my life.”

“Yeah, well, you suck at not getting pulled into shit. Now, tell me who I need to help.” April waited for Eddie to get the boat alongside the fire truck, climbing out. “Well, never mind. I can see what I need to do.”

“Mary is studying to be a nurse, but she’s like one semester in. I asked her to stay with Emma because when I tripped, the water rushed up the stairs. Emma’s lungs are clear, and she didn’t seem to have got any water in her lungs, but I worried. It was so horrible to ask her to watch the kids, but I couldn’t do this with Emma, and Emma’s freaked out.”

“She doesn’t understand what is going on, so it’s understandable. Now, let’s get you checked out.” Eddie pulled his stethoscope from his neck, and he waited for Buck to get up into the boat without tipping it. Buck dropped onto his back and just waved a hand.

Eddie checked him out with ease, listening to any issues, but it didn’t seem like his lungs were having any issues. “Now, your shoulder.”

“I’m fine on that Eds, I promise.”

“Up,” Eddie said.

“Ugh, I only like that when we are having sex,” Buck said.

A few people from the fire truck laughed at that, and Eddie resisted the urge to look up at them. Buck did get up, and he let Eddie check the range of motion he had for his shoulder. It was going to be black and blue, Eddie could see the bruising starting already, but he was right that Buck was good on it.

“Okay, I’m getting you three and Mary out of here, and if we need to transport anyone else who is critical, hopefully before the water starts to recede.”

“Scott’s staying behind,” Bobby said as his boat came up beside Eddie’s, and Scott got up onto the fire truck. “April, are you staying as well?”

“Yes. I have a few here cleared for transport.”

Eddie headed toward where Buck directed him. They came up to an open window set, and a woman was looking out with Emma strapped to her chest in the carrier that Buck used.

“I have never been happier to see her in my life,” Eddie said.

“You saw the picture on Instagram, didn’t you?”

“Yes, it came through very late, so it was well after the tsunami had hit. I felt so lost when I saw it and knew where you had been. I thought I lost you all,” Eddie said. He parked the boat and lashed the rope to a flag pole outside a closed window so it wouldn’t float away. Buck used a rope made of a bed sheet to get up to Mary’s. Eddie followed behind, dropping to his knees as Chris rushed right at him. Eddie wrapped his arms around Chris and held on tight for several minutes. Next, he stood up and pressed a kiss to Emma’s head. He looked at where Buck was standing, looking lost. Eddie held out his hand, and Buck came close, wrapping his arms around Buck to hold him tight.

“I’m sorry,” Buck said.

Eddie pulled out of the hug, and he cupped Buck’s face. He looked him in the eye. “You did not just apologize for being in the path of a tsunami, did you?”

“I guess that I did.”

“Oh, Evan.” Eddie pulled Buck in and kissed him.

“They do that all the time,” Chris said a moment later.

Mary laughed.

“How are you feeling now that you have stopped?” Eddie asked.

“Tired and hungry. Mary had water, a lot of it, so we were good on that. She shared it all.”

“I had bought them to stock at the little health fair we will be helping at later this month. I can get more easily. Neighbors upstairs have been checked on. The lower floors are businesses, and I hope that they got out, but we can’t check that.”

“Someone will check that at some point,” Buck said.

“Let’s get you and the kids to the field hospital to be checked out. Then we can get home at some point. Given what we are doing, we aren’t going to be allowed to work a full shift out here.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Eddie looked at Mary, and she took off the carrier, handing Emma off to Buck. Emma seemed to be having the time of her life.

“She was very upset she wasn’t allowed to play in the water. She had the run of this place for a while.”

“Until she was getting sleepy, and she didn’t want to lay down. Chris said being the carrier sometimes helped her go to sleep. I tried.”

“A lot is going on around here. I’m not gonna be shocked if she doesn’t get to sleep for a while.”

“Daddy, I dropped my crutches,” Chris said.

“That’s okay. We can get another pair later, don’t worry.”

Chris nodded his head. Eddie looked at Buck, who was holding Emma still.

“I’ll carry Chris. You get Emma. Mary, are you okay staying here?”

“Oh, yeah. When the water leaves, we can figure things out and such. We are safe, and I have my radio if something changes.”

Eddie wanted to take his family home and never let them leave, but he knew he needed to work. He needed to be helping people with anything that he could. If it wasn’t for Buck being injured, he would have been here with them. It would have been them out and about doing things and no danger on them.

Even a few small changes would have meant Buck, Chris, and Emma would have been lost to him.

—

Eddie came home late in the night. Buck had given him the keys to his truck, and it had been found with only minor damage. Eddie had gotten it towed to be checked out by his garage before anyone drove it. The tow trucks for the city were working overtime to get things cleared out. There were a lot of damaged vehicles.

Buck was sitting on the couch with the baby monitor in front of him on the coffee table. His head was in his hands. He looked like he was mostly through the bottle of beer that was on the table, but there was no evidence of more than that one.

Eddie shut the door, and Buck looked up. His eyes were red. “Oh, cariño.”

“I stopped crying a few minutes ago. Chris is in bed with Emma. She was clinging to him. She’s more upset about me being upset than anything else. She wasn’t even scared. Even when I fell on the stairs because the water came up on us. She didn’t get upset at all.”

“She trusts you.”

“I ALMOST KILLED HER!” Buck yelled. As soon as he was done speaking, he looked at the monitor, but no noises came out.

“You didn’t do it on purpose. You didn’t know about the tsunami and decided you didn’t care and went anyway. It’s a natural disaster, just like the earthquake last year and whatever we have coming up next. You can’t stop mother nature, and she’s a bitch most days. You cannot control her.”

“I know.”

Eddie sat down on the coffee table, glad he had the strong, sturdy table for this reason.

“I know you can’t help how you feel. When it’s your kid, you don’t think rationally. I tried to blame myself for Chris’ CP. We will never know what caused it with him. It could be many things, but none of them can be proven. I think about it sometimes. If I hadn’t been overseas. If I hadn’t been away so much afterward. Was it when he caught that cold? Did my mother do something? Did Shannon do something on accident? Did I when I was holding him, and I fell asleep and clutched him to my chest too tight? There are so many what-ifs that I had to let go of. You need to let this go, and if you need help letting it go, I’m here. I’m here for you for anything that you need.”

“I know. I know that. You have been by my side through all of this. Tommy’s not home yet; there is almost no one over there. April is still at the field hospital. Lily’s there, and she was over for a while and made me eat. I wasn’t hungry, but she stared at me until I ate. April said I saved twenty-three people with that line before I left, and when the water went back out, another ten caught it, so they didn’t go back out to sea.”

“I’m glad she’s keeping in contact with you.”

“Everyone is checking in. Even Kim went to her place and is working the ER to help triage patients being brought in. She’s pretty happy to be helping.”

“There are a lot of people out helping. Events like this remind me of the hope in humanity but also the horribleness when I see the shit about looters. Now. I need to get into the shower and get cleaned up, and I think you should join me.”

“I don’t feel like sex right now, Eddie.”

“Not for sex. For comfort. We both might get hard, but mentally I am nowhere near where I want to have sex, even with my hand. So don’t worry about that. Just come on. We can take the monitor in there and make sure our kids don’t need us.”

Buck nodded his head, and he allowed Eddie to pull him up. Eddie had reasons for this. He wanted to check to make sure that Buck wasn’t hiding an injury, and honestly, he did want to get his hands all over him, just in a medical way. He wanted to make sure his partner was fine after that. He knew that a doctor had looked at Buck at the field hospital before he was released. He had been kept up to date on that and when Buck had finally got home. Buck’s phone had gotten wet long before he started to go into the water, so it had been put into a waterproof bag with rice to help dry it out. Buck had texted him to keep him up to date once he had felt it was safe to turn his phone on. While Buck had a water-resistant one, he hadn’t wanted to take chances.

Eddie got his clothes off as quick as he could in the bathroom and then helped Buck out of the rest of his. He was moving slower, and Eddie knew it was because of his shoulder. It wasn’t nearly as black and blue as Eddie thought it would be, but there were more bruises all over his body, and he looked like he had been in a collapse during a fire more than he looked like he had been in a tsunami. Eddie turned the water on to get warm before he looked at Buck, who was looking at himself in the mirror.

“Debris, when you were rescuing people?” Eddie asked as he touched a deep bruise on Buck’s hip.

“Yeah. How do you look?”

“Not nearly as bad. I came in after the swells. I got pushed into a boat, but it was nothing.”

“Chris didn’t even start crying, Eddie.”

“He trusts you. Just like I’m his hero, you are too. He knew that you would get him out of it. He has absolute trust in you.”

Buck turned into Eddie and crowded him into the shower before he latched onto Eddie and started to cry, emotionally done with the day by the sounds of it.

Chapter Two

Buck pushed himself as hard as he could to finish in good time. He wanted to do this now. He didn’t want to have to test again. Buck had made sure that he wasn’t told the scores for anything until the end. Breaking through the last door, Buck headed toward the person who was doing his exam, and when the man turned off the timer in his hand, Buck dropped to his knees. Eddie was there, rushing over to take his helmet off, and he cupped Buck’s face.

“Well, there is going to be a bitch session after this,” Tommy said.

“Why?”

“Because you broke every record on the books,” Tommy answered.

“Really?” Buck asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. I wanted to make sure that no one could think a single thing about me coming back.” Buck was wiped. He had given the test everything that he had.

“Well, let’s get you cleaned up, and then you can go over the results.” Eddie helped Buck to his knees and ushered him toward the locker rooms.

Buck cleaned up as quickly as possible, with Eddie standing outside and chattering at him. Eddie was holding Buck’s towel when he shut off the water. Buck shook his head and took the towel. “So, where is this party?”

“Tommy’s. Bobby offered to have it at his place, but it was easier to do at the other house. Bobby’s been there working on some food over the afternoon. They also wanted to start the party late, but I pushed it up to make sure that if the party runs long, it won’t be too late in the night for Emma.”

“Good. Who is coming?”

“Everyone from the station and their families, everyone at the house who isn’t working or asleep, but the ones who are trying to sleep might not be able to.”

“Nothing strange is going to happen, right? No weird things?” Buck asked.

“No, it’s just a celebration of you coming back to work, that’s it, I promise. Maddie will be there, but she promised to be on her best behavior.”

“She’s been better over the last few weeks. I think that the near-miss when I was out and about in my life was enough to show her that she could lose me at any point in time, and pushing this thing where she wants to make my work decisions means that I’ll leave, has hit together. I think she’s learning about herself and more about how our childhood was after Daniel’s death. She had a few years of memories that she clung to because of clinging to Daniel’s memory. She tried to push that narrative on our parents after I was born. It was never going to work.”

“People can build fantasies with ease,” Eddie said.

“Yes, they can. I just wished that we had not had those issues, but I know that me just accepting her ways wasn’t going to work with the man I had become.”

“We should probably get out of here before someone thinks I’m giving you a celebratory blow job or something.”

“No, that was a good luck one this morning.”

Eddie shook his head, and he headed out of the room. Buck dried himself off, and he found some clothes laid out that were not the ones he had been wearing beforehand. He swallowed at the LAFD shirt that he would normally wear while at the station and on duty. He tugged it on, and it kind of felt like coming home. He brushed his hand over the logo near his heart.

“Am I going to have to deal with you preening in the mirror with that all day long?”

“I don’t know.” Buck felt his cheeks heating up.

“Tommy wants to go out to lunch to celebrate. He said something about picking up the kids from Lily’s office. I thought that one of the others had them.”

“There was something. Tommy said he had it handled, so I didn’t care much about it. So Lily picked them up, and Vince is watching them, which is fine as Chris is enjoying his day off from school for that in-service the teachers are having.”

“He’s not doing as well as I would like after the tsunami. I think that I need to find him a therapist.”

“I have a list of good ones in the area. Doctor Copeland gave me the list after I asked her after my last appointment with Guentzel. I was trying to figure out the best way to bring it up with Chris.”

“DIAZ!” Tommy yelled.

Buck laughed because Eddie was only Diaz when Tommy tried to get a rise out of him.

“Let’s go,” Buck said as he stood up from tying his laces. He threw his arm over Eddie’s shoulders, and they exited the room.

“I expected to see a fresh hickey somewhere,” Tommy said.

“No new ones at all. We don’t really go in for that kind of thing,” Eddie said.

Buck nodded his head. Making out where he lived and people walked in without knocking? Yeah, they got what they deserved, but there wasn’t a need to get caught doing something stupid at work that would get them pulled onto different shifts.

“Well, sushi?” Tommy asked.

“I have to go through the debrief and talk to the people in control of that, but I’ll meet you both out front. Don’t kill each other.”

Just to be an asshole, Buck kissed Eddie on the lips and then snagged Tommy and kissed him on the cheek.

“Get out of here,” Tommy said as he shoved Buck out of the way.

Eddie was smiling as Buck walked away, so Buck took that as a win and that Eddie really wasn’t worried about the affection between him and Tommy. Buck trusted Eddie’s words, but there was something about seeing it in action helped to settle Buck.

Buck had been off-kilter since the tsunami, feeling like he had messed up and needed to do something to make it up to Eddie for nearly getting Chris killed. Buck still had his issues at nearly getting his kid and himself killed, but the Chris thing was the biggest sticking point.

“Firefighter Buckley,” Chief Alonzo said as Buck came into the room.

Buck stopped in his tracks. He looked to see that no one else was in there. He swallowed and debated what the hell to do.

“Come in and sit down. We have a few things to talk about.”

Buck felt like he was wooden as he moved to sit down.

“How do you feel?”

“I’m good, sir. I feel really good. The tests I just did were easy.”

“Yes, I watched you.”

“Why?” Buck asked before he could even think about it.

“Because you were injured on our watch. You survived a tsunami and saved many people in it before you requalified to work again. You were the beacon of hope during the tsunami. Some of the people you saved recorded you after they were safe. That first couple you saved recorded nearly all of the rescues and then sent them to the office. You will have to just live with the fact that you are the face of that tsunami. We have made sure the kids are not talked about much, especially Firefighter Diaz’s son, so that he doesn’t become someone who is talked about a lot. You might not want to talk about what happened, but you will have to do a small interview with someone, and you will get to choose who you do it with. I also want to do one thing with you, son, before you go back to the 118.”

“I want to go back to work, Sir.”

“And you will. I have a pair of firefighters who will replace you and Diaz while you and he spend a month doing some extra training on my order.”

“With what?”

“You have a good mind, and I’ve heard how well you and Diaz work together and have even before you two started to date. I’m sending you both to train more on heavy rescue as well as search and rescue. One month of intense training, and then you both will return to the 118. Nash has already agreed. The man and woman who will take your place will ensure that your unit has what it needs to be allowed to take a few more heavy rescues. You will be fully kitted out when you get done.”

“Because I saved people?” Buck asked.

“Because you were light on your feet thinking when you did it. Your mind works in great ways from what I have been told. I want to keep on expanding it.”

“Thank you for the trust, sir,” Buck said.

Alonzo stood up, and he looked at the doorway. “Do you need me to tell Diaz?”

“No, sir, I can do that with no issue. Don’t worry about that.” Buck waited for Alonzo to leave before he got up as well. Eddie and Tommy were talking to some of the men and women in the academy’s current class.

“Buck?” Eddie asked.

“You and I are being sent to train more in heavy rescue and search and rescue and will join back with the 118 in a month.”

“Why?” Eddied asked.

“Cause I was too good at saving people in the tsunami. I’ll have to talk to a news person as well and do something about that. Chris and Emma will not be mentioned much. I don’t want to talk about them, Eddie.”

“Then make sure that they know that. You talk about rescuing people, and that’s it,” Eddie said.

Buck nodded. He felt numb. He wanted to just isolate and figure this out on his own. He knew that he needed to settle in and figure out his own mind, but he wouldn’t be given that. Tommy wanted to go out to lunch, and then there was the party. The kids would want to be around him, especially Chris, once he knew Buck had passed.

“Well, why don’t we head out to get food. Eddie grabbed your bag since he noticed you left it in the locker room. How do you feel about lunch?”

“I need to eat but nowhere that I have to deal with talking to people.”

“Eddie can stick you in the corner, and we will make sure that if someone does try and talk to you, we will distract them. How does that sound?”

“Sure,” Buck said. He swallowed before he looked at the time and realized that he did need to eat. He could brood on everything later.

—

Buck paused, and it made Eddie run into the back of him. He grabbed his lover’s hips and steadied himself so that he wouldn’t fall over.

“Buck?” Eddie asked as he stepped around his lover to look at who Buck was looking at.

The woman was laughing as she talked to the man she was with, and it wasn’t until the man smiled that Eddie realized who they were. Buck’s parents. Buck had his father’s smile.

“What do you want to do?” Eddie asked.

“I have no clue. Actually, no, I do know. I want to leave.”

“Okay. Let’s check out what we have, and then we can go home. We can work with what we have,” Eddie said.

Buck nodded his head, and he turned away from where his eyes were glued on his parents. It didn’t take but a few seconds for Buck to fall in line with Eddie. Checking out was simple, and then they were in the Jeep. They had finished up a long night of intense training as their last shift before heading back to the 118 just in time to work the Halloween shift.

Eddie was looking forward to being back at the 118 even if the last month had been intense and had honestly gone by quicker than he thought. It reminded Eddie of boot camp, but it had been good memories. When he had been learning and happy before, it had turned to something that he had come to dislike. He wasn’t that upset that he had been reminded of it all. Hell, he was kind of happy with some of the memories it dug up.

“How are you feeling?” Eddie asked.

“I have no clue. They never responded to me divorcing them in all ways I could as an adult. I never expected to hear anything, really. I mean, I hoped they would call and demand I not do it. Anything but honestly, I wasn’t shocked that I only heard from their lawyer about me being cut off from their wills. Which I am okay with. I don’t need money from them if they die. I don’t want anything from them.”

“Good. You are still angry. I mean, I’m still pissed at my parents, and they have not gotten any nicer about being cut off from Chris and me. I’ve almost got to the point of blocking them. I guess that someone told them that Chris was in the tsunami or there was footage that they saw. Adriana and Sofia are the ones who give Mom and Dad what I wanted them to know.”

“You have a good buffer with your sisters. I wouldn’t want Maddie to be that one.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t her who asked them to come here?” Eddie asked.

Buck looked at his cell phone like he was debating it. Like he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to do it or not. He typed out something as Eddie put the Jeep into gear and headed out. He didn’t pay too close of attention to what was going on as he drove them home. He hoped that Maddie wasn’t part of this.

It was the only reason Eddie could think of for why Buck’s parents were in Los Angeles. There was nothing for them here. Not when they lived in Hershey. Though they could just be on vacation. It was a strange place to be on vacation when they were not speaking to either of their children as far as Eddie knew.

Since Maddie started therapy, things had been tense between Buck and Maddie, but things were good. Eddie was happy about that. They had things to work through, but at least with Maddie in therapy with Doctor Copeland, there was the chance to do a joint therapy session with their therapists.

“I want to say no.”

“But you aren’t sure.”

“I am not even sure if they know that I know about Daniel. I don’t really care to know either. At one point, I got a little perspective from talking to Bobby about it after the bombing. He agreed that they hadn’t even called to talk to me. Which most parents would do even if they couldn’t fly out. Then well, Maddie said that they never saw her in the hospital either, not even when she was in a car accident and hit by a drunk driver back in 2015. She was mostly okay, but her leg was broken from the impact. Doug was the doting husband and didn’t blame her since she was stopped at a four-way stop, and a car took a turn too wide and hit the driver’s side of her car. The guy was drunk and took the turn too hard and fast, gunning it when it was his turn at the stop. Maddie told me they don’t like hospitals, and knowing that they spent so much time in them with Daniel, I can understand. I don’t think they would miss me if I died.”

“Buck,” Eddie said. He looked around and found a spot to park in between a line of cars parked on the street. “You don’t-” Eddie stopped himself because Buck knew his parents better than him. There was nothing that Eddie knew that Buck didn’t already know. “No, you know your parents. What does Guentzel think?”

“He isn’t sure, but given that they didn’t even call when Maddie did tell them about me being in the bombing, well, he agrees that it seems like they would not visit me if I was worse off. So he also agrees with me that my feelings are my right to have when it comes to not wanting anything to do with my parents. Maddie wanted me to try and make up with them, but Doctor Copeland helped her with that. I wonder if they are in town to try and work on her. If Maddie told them that she wanted nothing to do with them anymore.”

“Could be. Look, I know you want to go home, but maybe a little running or something would be better.”

“Nah, I have plans. We have the next few days off before we settle into working at the 118 again, so I just kind of want to be a homebody.”

“Okay.” Eddie checked traffic and pulled back into it. He would be worried about how Buck was taking things, but his leg wasn’t bouncing. He wasn’t outwardly displaying any of the nervous or upset movements that Eddie had learned from him.

After they got home, things were put up in the fridge for their planned meal. Emma was with someone at the house; Eddie didn’t try to keep track of who was who when it came to watching Emma cause she normally swapped hands at least three times. Chris was at school. They had a few hours. The late shift had been horrible, but it had been nice to just spend a little time at the training facility before heading home to never come back.

“So?” Eddie asked as he filled a glass with water from the fridge and looked at Buck, who was leaning on the kitchen sink and looking outside.

“How tired are you?” Buck asked.

“Not that tired at all, really. Why?”

“Empty house with no children and a still locked bedroom door just in case asshole friends come over.”

“I could be down for that.”

“Don’t you mean up?” Buck turned his head toward Eddie with a wicked grin on his lips.

“Watch it, or nothing’s gonna get up.” Eddie reached out and snagged Buck’s belt and used it to pull him close.

Buck boxed Eddie into the fridge. Eddie barely had time to set his glass down before being kissed. Eddie could feel it, the barely constrained emotions that Buck was having. Eddie wanted him to let them loose, and he knew that right now, Buck was just barely holding on. No matter how much Buck was in therapy, he was still working through getting a grip on the emotions that his parents made him feel.

“Bedroom,” Eddie said when they broke to both take in deeper breaths.

“Sure.” Buck didn’t step back, though. He stayed right there with his body pressed to Eddie’s.

Before Eddie could say a thing, Buck was running his hands down Eddie’s body and gripping his ass in a way that Eddie knew what Buck wanted. They were both bulkier than they had been before, but Buck had shown time and time again in training that he could pick up and carry anyone on the team. There was something that was almost too much about the fact that Buck could pick up Eddie and make him do what he wanted, but he never would.

“Up,” Buck said.

Eddie wrapped his arms around Buck’s neck and used the fridge to push up to wrap his legs around Buck as Buck held him in place using his ass. They were moving before Eddie was fully set, but there was no movement backward or down for Eddie. He got his legs settled and tightened around Buck just as Buck started to kiss him. The trust that Buck would never let him go. Never drop him because he was so strong. Eddie had never trusted anyone as well as he trusted Buck, both in his personal life and his work life. He formed bonds with his team in the Army, but it was never this deep or this strong.

“What should I do?” Buck asked, pressing his forehead to Eddie’s as he stopped just inside of the bedroom.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, should I press you into the wall and kiss you until you can’t take it and try and push me into doing more. Should I walk to the bed and drop you down there and hold you down until you push me into doing more?”

“Well, I see that pushing me is the theme, so why don’t we do it in bed where we can both have something soft?”

The world spun as Buck moved them with ease from there to the bed; Eddie barely could register where they were before Buck was on top of him. There was a desperation to Buck’s kisses, and Eddie just let him have what he needed. Eddie got his hands under Buck’s shirt and touched skin, scratching at his back as Buck rocked down into him. Their hard cocks pressed to each other, confined by jeans.

“Up and naked,” Eddie said. He was all for helping undress each other, but one of them had to get the door. Buck wanted Eddie right where he was so Buck could be the one to get up and get the door.

Buck shoved up, looking at Eddie on the bed before he stripped his shirt off as he turned to shut and lock the bedroom door.

Eddie began to strip as soon as Buck had his back to Eddie. It was harder to get naked while lying on the bed, but Eddie could do it. Buck was naked long before him and just stared, which had Eddie flipping him off. Buck just laughed and moved his hand in a hurry-up motion.

“You could help.”

“I could, but you are doing just fine.”

Eddie tossed his shirt down to the floor, and before he was fully laid down, Buck was there pushing him the rest of the way down. There was nothing gentle about Buck’s approach to getting them both fully hard, so Eddie gave back as good as he got, leaving bruises from where he held Buck tight. Or leaving scratches all along Buck’s back.

They rarely ever left marks like this when it was common to see each other at least shirtless at work. Eddie didn’t care as much now that they were going back to the 118. The team knew when to stop. At least when it came to Buck, who had stopped comments going over the line. The team would learn to do the same with Eddie as well. It wasn’t the worst to know that Buck would wear his marks in places that no one could really see except those they trusted.

When Buck finally pushed two fingers inside, there was an edge to it not being enough. Eddie was slicked up, and that was about it, which he was okay with. He loved it when he felt the stretch of being stretched on Buck’s cock. It was pretty thick, and it made it so fucking good when Buck was more focused on his own pleasure than Eddie’s. Buck loved to give pleasure, and there were times that Eddie was sure that Buck only got off on accident as he was too focused on Eddie.

The stretch when Buck finally pushed into him was too damned good, and Eddie had to grab his own balls to stop him from coming. He wanted this to last as the way he was worked up and worn out, he wasn’t going to get off again, and he knew it.

Buck made sure that Eddie was ready before he really started a workout on Eddie’s ass.

“Over,” Buck said a few minutes later as he pulled out.

Eddie whined, but he did as Buck wanted him to do. He knew that Buck wasn’t getting what he needed, and that was a hard ride. Eddie braced his hand on the headboard and got his legs under him before he nodded his head. Buck’s cock pushed inside of him, going a little deeper than it had before, and Buck was slow as he thrust back and forth a few times before he pushed so hard and fast inside that Eddie had to let his body move the way it wanted.

The other hand was curled into the bed; Eddie knew that he wasn’t going to last long with the way that Buck was going, and he only hoped that Buck was able to get off not long after. This was the kind of fucking that Eddie wasn’t sure that he could just let Buck keep going for a while after he came.

Eddie was debating if he wanted to stroke himself when Buck grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, disconnecting his hand from the headboard. He thrust all the way into Eddie and held him there, moaning out his orgasm. Eddie was kind of off-kilter and couldn’t let go of the bed without toppling over, and he was bunched up to where he couldn’t get his cock anymore.

Before he could even think of trying to move, Buck was moving. Buck pulled out before taking Eddie down into the bed on his side and wrapping around his back before palming his cock and jerking him off.

Eddie waited for Buck’s arm around him to loosen up some to allow him to roll over.

Buck’s eyes were shut, but a few tears were slipping out from behind the eyes. Eddie caught one with his thumb, and Buck’s eyes opened.

“Sorry,” Buck said.

“Don’t be. I had the time of my life. Or the ride of my life. One of those two. And if you are apologizing to me for crying, don’t.”

“I saw them there, and I was a kid trying to demand that they love me. I felt like going up and apologizing, and they didn’t even know I was there.”

Eddie didn’t want to bring up the other thing he had seen, which was the fact that he was pretty sure the woman had looked at Buck but hadn’t even looked like she thought she might know him. Eddie figured that their house was empty of anything of him. He was sure that looking at their place, it looked like they had no children, or maybe only they had Maddie on the walls. There was no way that Daniel was around after they spent so long without even talking about him. They had never processed their grief.

“Buck, you cannot hold in the anger at them. I know that sometimes anger helps, but right now, it’s hurting you.”

“I wasn’t ready to see them. I thought that I was, but I wasn’t. I’m glad that I have a session already for tomorrow.”

“So do I.” Eddie rubbed his thumb over the base of Buck’s eye again, and then he scooted around to where he could pull Buck into his chest. The bedding needed to be changed, and they needed a shower, but this was what Buck needed for now.

Eddie rubbed up and down Buck’s back as he felt warm tears on his chest. Buck wasn’t all the way there after the tsunami, even though it had been over a month. He was good on the front of being around Chris and not freaking out. He was good about showering as long as he didn’t have to taste saltwater. Getting Buck back into the water for work was going to be a little bit harder, but the training they had done for rescue had all been in freshwater, so there wasn’t the issue with it. The saltwater was the issue, and even just warmer water that was a little salty from sweat would freak him out in the shower.

“I’m a mess,” Buck said.

“Nah, you are not. I was a mess when I came back from Afghanistan. I had to apologize to a lot of nurses. They were understanding, and they didn’t get too mad at me. I mean, there were bigger assholes on my floor at the hospital before I was moved to the step-down ward. I was a lot more centered there. You bore the brunt of what happened. Chris is too young to understand what could have really happened with that. You are the one that did. All Chris knows is that you kept him safe.”

“He would have been safer without me.”

“He might have been there with Carla or Abuela. He had wanted to go back, and Carla might have taken him if you were at work. So, don’t even think about that kind of thing, huh?”

“I hadn’t even thought about that. How he might have been there with someone else. We left cause of Emma mostly. We could have been at the water’s edge if she hadn’t been with us. Or anywhere there really instead of leaving.”

“Things could have been worse, and instead, you all three came home to me. You were able to get back to me, and you were all three healthy. We just have to be happy that you are all back. Let go of the guilt, Buck. Don’t worry about me being upset. You didn’t mean to hurt him. You didn’t set out to get yourself, Chris, or Emma killed. Anyone upset with you for that just needs to step back. You are not to blame at all. You are doing what you can.”

“We are disgusting,” Buck said.

“No, we are not. We are messy; the bed is disgusting. You change the bedding, and I’ll get the water warm. We can shower and then figure out what the hell to do until Chris gets off school.”

“Emma’s gonna come back around one. We have until then to stay naked in bed.”

“We are going to the living room,” Eddie said.

“Ugh, fine. Just spoil my fun.”

“I will. You just do what I say, and things will be fine.”

“I see.” Buck moved, putting Eddie on his back, and he slipped over to straddle Eddie’s thighs. “You want me to do exactly what you say. So if you say jump, I should just do it?”

“Yes.”

“And if you tell me to drop to my knees, I should just pleasure you?” Buck leaned over and pressed a kiss to Eddie’s chest.

Eddie tried to reach out and stop Buck, but his hands were grabbed and pressed to the bed. Buck kept on going down until he breathed over Eddie’s cock. “I swear to you.”

“Oh, so you don’t want me to suck your cock?” Buck asked.

“No. Not right now.”

“Okay.” Buck moved up and let go of Eddie’s hands to brace them on either side of his head. “So I make the bed, and you get the shower going. Fine. All work and no play.”

“I think the play already happened.” Eddie sat up and wrapped his arm around Buck to pull him into a kiss again.

Buck felt lighter, mentally, at least to Eddie. He looked a little better, not just from the sex but from talking to Eddie and getting his mind wrapped around the fact that he wasn’t the cause of Chris nearly dying there. He wasn’t the one who made a tsunami happen. He had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Eddie waited for Buck to pull away before dumping Buck in the bed, Buck laughing as he bounced a little. They were going to be just fine. Happy and healthy for a long while. As long as they had each other, things would be fine.

Chapter Three

Buck didn’t even hesitate as he went into the station house. He went right to the locker room and opened his locker. He had a bag full of things that he needed to stock in there. Eddie had emptied out the clothes and things after the bombing. He had not wanted his clothes to stay in there and get an old smell. There were also a few other things he added to the array of pictures. One of him and Chris, him and Emma. Even one of him and Eddie kissing that Chris had grabbed his father’s phone to take.

“Hey, Buckaroo,” Hen said.

Buck turned just in time for Hen to get close and wrap him in a hug. Buck hugged her tightly, and she gave a little happy squeal.

“It’s not been the same without you and Eddie, but it feels like it’s been an age since you have been here. So did you like the stuff you and Eddie were doing?”

“It’s just a little more training than what we already had. We might end up with more heavy rescue and that kind of thing.”

“They guys who replaced you two are no joke,” Scott said as he walked closer. “We’ve been picking up worse calls over the last two weeks, and I don’t think I want to be like their station usually is. We won’t get more of those, but they wanted to ensure that we were all ready. So yeah, we had our own boot camp. It was good, though. We had no issues with some of the calls. Where is your broodier half?”

“Broodier half?” Buck asked.

“You are the prettier half; he’s the broodier half. It was decided,” Hen said.

“And we don’t get a say?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s great. He’ll brood more over that. He’s outside talking to his sister. Sofia wants to come up here for Christmas.” Buck turned back to his locker and grabbed his shirt to strip it off. He needed to work on getting changed. He would do it in front of these two if needed as well. He got the shirt off and heard Hen’s hiss.

“Maybe it should be the werewolf half,” Scott said.

“Yeah, he had fun,” Buck answered.

“Can you not strip?” Eddie asked.

Buck just laughed as he pulled his shirt on. He turned around with an unrepentant grin and looked at his partner. Eddie wasn’t blushing, and he looked pretty damned proud of himself.

“Okay, let’s leave the lover boys to do what they need since we are ready for work,” Scott said.

Hen followed him out of the room.

“You just had to, huh?” Eddie asked.

Buck looked at him, and then he turned around and showed the scratch that was on the back of his neck.

“Oh, yeah, there is no way to hide that one, is there?”

“No, there isn’t, so I would rather just get it all over with so that they can gossip their mouths off now instead of someone seeing it later and wondering.”

“At least they didn’t…” Eddie trailed off, and he rubbed at his eyes when Buck raised his shirt to show the bruises on his hips off, just visible above the hem of his jeans. “Never mind.”

“Yes. You only have yourself to blame.”

“Well, no, I blame you. If the sex wasn’t so good.”

“Oh, my God,” Hen said.

Buck looked to see her in the doorway again. She was laughing and wasn’t upset. “Cap wants you up in the kitchen as quickly as you can do it. Chop, chop.”

Buck saluted her, and he worked on finishing getting dressed. He was out of there before Eddie, who was laughing so hard at Hen hearing them it took him three tries to get his boots off.

A few stragglers were coming into the station, and they stopped Buck to give him a hug or a handshake, depending on how well he knew them. He saw a pair of new faces who looked uncomfortable, so he walked over. It was a pair of twin girls, and Buck was excited to talk to them about that if they wanted. He had done a deep dive into twins and various things about them.

“Hi, Evan Buckley, I go by Buck.”

“Mia and Misha Stone,” the first to stick her hand out said. She laughed a little. “I’m Mia.”

“And I’m Misha.”

“Cool. So Cap wants me up on top, but I can’t wait to get to know you both better. If there is a bear in the other room, ignore him.”

Misha laughed a little. “We were warned that Diaz could be a bear.”

“He can be, but he’s just a giant teddy. Ask him about Chris, and he’ll turn into a puddle of goo.”

“Quit telling lies and get your ass up here,” Eddie said.

“Well, looks like the boss is calling.”

“Like I could ever be your boss. I can’t even get you to pick up your dirty underwear.”

“IT WAS ONE TIME!” Buck yelled back.

The station turned into an echo chamber of laughing.

“Why did we think we missed you?” Bobby asked.

“Cause you love us, Bobby.” Buck turned to look at Bobby. The man was leaning over the railing and looking at Buck with a smile on his face. That guilt that Buck had seen on his face a few times was all gone.

“If you don’t want breakfast, keep on staying down there. I can only keep the vultures off it for so long.”

“Gotta go. I mean it; I can’t wait to talk to you more.” Buck spun on his heel and headed up to where Bobby was. He was pulled into a hug as soon as he was on solid ground at the top of the stairs. “So what do we have here. I said no party.”

“No, no party, but we are getting two of our own back extended times. So we are having a good breakfast party.”

Buck looked behind Bobby to see the pancakes that were on the table. Pancakes were a rarity for breakfast, given how many would have to be made, but it looked like they had all cooked or at least a few of them.

“I missed you all as well,” Buck said.

Breakfast was a noisy affair, and Buck spent too much time chewing as fast as he could before talking again. There was laughter, and even a few times that Hen was reduced to tears of laughter from laughing so much.

“So you are like the white whale,” Misha said when she moved to take the seat that Eddie had vacated when he finished eating.

“What do you mean?”

“You had a fire truck on your leg and were able to come back to full strength from it. Then you were in a tsunami and saved people when you weren’t even on duty. We heard all about it just before we left the academy, just like the guy who survived having rebar in his head.”

Buck nodded his head. He hadn’t really thought about Chim in a long while. The man wasn’t someone that Buck liked to think of. He hoped that maybe one day Chim would calm down but given that Hen didn’t bring him up, he assumed that it was all hopeful thinking on that.

“The 118 is like a myth, and when Bobby came and talked to us about joining here on the secondary ambulance for other calls. We couldn’t say no.”

“Oh, you are the two new paramedics?” Buck asked.

Misha nodded her head. She looked at where Mia was talking to Eddie. “Mia’s always wanted to be in the medical field, but I wanted to be a firefighter, so we compromised since we knew that whatever we wanted to do, we would be working together. Our application wasn’t taken the best, but we did finally get them to understand we would be assets.”

“It’s cool. I’m glad that things are changing slowly to understand that workplace relationships don’t have to be feared. Bobby had a long talk with Eddie and me, but he agreed that it wasn’t like we both weren’t already doing stupid shit. One of us has to go home to the kids, though, and that’s the biggest thing.”

“Oh, that’s right. I’ve heard about Emma. She’s not talked about as much as Chris, though.”

“Yeah, she’s my little darling. She had a minor fit this morning when I tried to leave her with her babysitter of the hour.”

“Hour?”

“Friends of mine. I’m sure she will change hands several times throughout the day, even if she doesn’t notice that she’s doing it. I used to live with them. A big adult roommate house with a bunch of people who are single living in there. Another firefighter from the 217 who owns it.”

“Really?” Misha waved to get Mia’s attention and moved over to talk with her and Buck.

“What?” Mia asked.

“Is there an open place? We’ve shared a room and can get an extra bed if there is room enough.”

“My place is still empty. At current, there are four nurses, two firefighters, three cops, a paramedic with a private company, and a lawyer who lives there. The attic is big enough for you guys; I lived there with Emma. There is also a room that might open up later if two guys get their heads out of their ass and move in together inside of there. You could put dibs on it in case the room is too small.”

“Hook us up,” Mia said.

“I will. We might even get lucky enough to work a scene with them today. They also cover some of the heavier rescues.”

As if summoned, the alarm went off.

“At least I didn’t say the jinx,” Buck said.

“Let’s go!” Bobby yelled out. They started to get the information about who needed to go. “Second ambu, with us.”

Buck rushed to the pole, and he slid down it, even though most didn’t use it anymore. He felt like it was something he needed to do.

—

“What’s up?” Tommy asked as he jerked off his helmet.

“Oh, sorry, just thinking about how to do the next part is all,” Buck said. He looked at where Eddie was walking with Misha. “And I think I might have a found a pair to move into the house, and then they might also take over the room when Noah and Shawn move in together.”

“The Stone twins?” Tommy asked.

“How did you know?”

“I heard Mia tell Misha to ask you something, and then there was a small squabble about it. It was while we were waiting for you and Eddie to decide what to do. They weren’t out of line.”

“I didn’t figure they were.”

“Have them come over for breakfast, you and Eddie as well. We can all talk about it. They asked you?”

“They said they might be interested.”

“BUCKLEY!” Eddie yelled even though he didn’t have to.

“My boyfriend is an asshole.”

“No, really?” Tommy asked, but he followed Buck over to where the decision had been made on what to do. The victim in the car was pretty safe, just trapped, but the car on top was the biggest issue, and they were waiting on the rig to get that one out of there. There was the worry that moving it would also possibly crush the victim below. It was a hell of a thing in this pile-up.

“Misha, I want you ready. Mia, behind her,” Eddie said.

The next hour was spent trying to get the car stable and then the victim out. Other than possibly being bruised up like a peach that was rolled over rocky ground, she was fine. Buck held her hand as Misha checked her out before getting her onto the backboard. She was still being treated as if she had whiplash or a spinal injury.

“You look familiar,” the woman said.

“There is a lot you could have seen me from,” Buck said.

“OH! You saved my mother in the tsunami,” the woman said.

Buck wasn’t sure what to say about that. He didn’t know what to do. He just wanted to get out of there. He still wasn’t sure what to feel about anything to do with saving people. He had given the interview and done the dance that he was asked to do about it all to make the LAFD happy.

“Thank you,” the woman said as Misha and Mia started to get her out here.

Buck was glad, and he stepped back to let Mia step past him.

“Come on,” Tommy said, and he clasped Buck on the shoulder to pull him away.

“Yeah,” Buck said. He looked to see what else there was to do. There was almost too much to do. “Who is left?”

“A pair of love birds in a van that is pressed to the wall of the underpass and the other side is so damaged. They were put last because they were making out every time anyone went to talk to them. Let’s go and cut them out. I’m sure they are making out again.”

Buck followed Tommy to the wrecked as hell van, and he sighed as he heard the thump inside, followed by a giggle. Buck looked at Tommy. “Yup, I just hope they are not…naked.”

“We got the promise they won’t be. All clothes are to stay on.” Tommy banged on the side of the van. “Just to be safe.”

Working with Tommy was easy; it was like working with Eddie. They knew each other well, and it showed in how they worked.

“So worst luck in the world. The back doors are so messed up,” Eddie said as he came up behind them as the two young adults were getting out of the back.

“Do we have to get checked out?” the man asked.

“You don’t have to, no. You have to fill out a form for refusing to be checked out. The paramedics will have it at one of the various ambulances.” Buck waved them toward it.

“What about if I were like…high?”

“Both of you?”

“No, sir, just me. I wasn’t the one driving. She was. I just wanted to be sure that wouldn’t like get me in trouble.”

“No, the paramedics would only check to make sure you don’t need to be checked out more.”

“Jimmy,” the woman said.

“Yeah, yeah, we will get checked out.”

“Good,” Tommy said. He looked at Buck with a smile before escorting the couple over to where Hen was finishing checking out another patient.

“Were they really making out? I heard Mia say something about that.”

“Yes. They were trapped in the van with nothing else to do since they were low priority. The front was too smashed to get them out without fear of the glass. Tommy banged on the side to make sure that we didn’t look in at them kissing.”

“That’s good. So what do you think of our first call out after coming back to the 118?” Eddie asked.

“Well, it could have been a lot worse. When I heard that it was a thirty car pile-up, I expected more than a single death.”

“Well, that first couple was very touch and go.” Eddie leaned into Buck’s side as he headed back to where the site commander was pulling everyone in. They were still working on cleaning up the massive accident, but now that the people were free, the rest would go a lot easier.

—

“So, how are you feeling?” Bobby asked as he sat down across from Buck.

Buck looked up at him, and Eddie couldn’t help the little laugh at the confused puppy face that Buck had going on.

“I’m fine,” Buck said.

“Good. I just wanted to check-in. It’s been a little while since you’ve worked a full shift like this, and usually right about now is when it’s really setting in.”

“Nah, Bobby, I’m good. My leg’s not aching; it hasn’t for a long time. I do have an appointment with pair of therapists when I get off work, though.”

“Therapists? You are seeing more than one?”

“Mental and physical. My physical therapist wants to check me over to ensure I don’t overdo it after working some but not like I used to. He’s afraid I’ll do more damage. So I’ll do that, and then I go and make sure that I’m not off my rocker with Guentzel.”

“Buck,” Bobby said.

“I’m just joking. He just wants to check in with me to make sure that I am as even as I should be. If I am, I’ll be dropping down in times I go as well, outside of the sessions I have with Maddie every two weeks. We do an hour with both our therapists and then half an hour alone with our personal one.”

“You are still doing good in therapy?” Bobby asked.

“I am. I’m doing really good. Doctor Guentzel thinks that I’ll be good. Just do visits when I need to check myself to ensure I’m not sliding back. Once I get things to settle with Maddie. That’s the biggest issue I got going on right now. Well, yeah, that and my parents and their shit.”

“Their shit?” Hen asked.

“Oh, yeah, I guess that part really hasn’t made it to most of you.”

“It wasn’t my place to tell them a damned thing,” Eddie said.

“No, it wasn’t. I guess I just assumed you would tell them something.”

“Nope.”

“Buck?” Scott asked.

“Maddie had a freak out thinking that I had Leukemia with the clots in my leg from just the little she had heard from random people in our lives.”

“That’s a jump,” Hen said.

“Not really. I had a brother; he died of it.”

“You have never spoke of him,” Bobby said. He had a hurt look on his face about that.

“No, it’s hard to talk about someone you never knew existed. I found out about Daniel that night. I’m a savior sibling who was unable to save his sibling.”

“Oh, Buck,” Hen said.

“There is a lot there to unpack, but let’s just say that my parents didn’t have time for me after I didn’t save Daniel. I have moved on. Kind of. My parents are in town right now, and I have no clue why. Maddie doesn’t know either. I’m not contacting them.”

“How do you know?” Bobby asked.

Buck looked at Eddie, and he gave him a smile, holding out his hand. Eddie got up off the couch and moved to where Buck was on the floor.

“I saw them in the store. They didn’t see me, or if they did, they didn’t recognize me. I am trying. So much is linked with Maddie that we are covering that all with you know both therapists.”

“So Maddie never told you?”

“Our parents didn’t want her to. I was going to bring this up with Bobby when the shift was over and go over with him everything, but honestly, I think I just don’t care who comes to see me. I don’t want Maddie here or my parents. So if any of them shows up, I want them gone. Maddie’s doing good at respecting me on everything, so I don’t think she will show up. I’ll let you know when I want Maddie around.”

“Are you sure your parents don’t love you?” Scott asked.

“Yes, I’m not going to go into it all, but safe to say they don’t care at all. They never asked Maddie how I was doing after calling them about me getting blown up. I was defective spare parts. They only kept me cause they had to. Their image wouldn’t hold up to them moving again.”

“Moving again?” Hen asked.

“After Daniel died, they moved because they couldn’t stand the judgment they got for having me.”

“That’s a heavy burden to put on a child,” Scott said.

“It is. I didn’t even know about it, but I always knew. There was something there. I was too hard to love, according to my mother. I heard her once. I tried to do everything for a while to get their love, and then I just gave up and worked on making myself as happy as I could. It’s when I realized that I was never going to be happy around them, and I left when Maddie gave me a chance. I wish she had gone with me.” Buck looked to the side.

Eddie caught Bobby’s eye, and he worked on getting everyone out of there. It was just the core group that were all close, so Eddie wasn’t too worried. Gossip would happen, but Eddie hoped that no one said anything horrible about it all.

“I’m glad that Chim isn’t here anymore,” Buck said a few minutes later when he turned to shelter himself in Eddie’s body.

“Why?” Eddie asked. He hadn’t heard Chim brought up by anyone but Hen and usually only when Bobby asked. Eddie always made a beeline away from that because he didn’t know the man, and he really didn’t want to know him.

“Some of his jokes were a little too much on the wrong side of friendly. I didn’t notice it until he was gone, but I was starting to curb what he said and when I stopped finding things funny, especially over my sex life. I did stupid shit while on the job, but I stopped that. I grew the fuck up when it came to that. I got better. I changed when it came to that. Though I don’t like how I was changed without my consent, I can’t un-ring that bell. I liked Chim on the whole, but then things turned sour, and he became mean.”

“I can’t help you that much on things with him, but I know that he’s not here, and you are. You made it back after a horrible accident.”

“Yeah, I did, but Chim made it back physically after his as well. He had just done other shit that had gotten him out of there.”

“And you don’t think that you weren’t looked into by Chim’s lawyers, and if they found something with a cause, they would have reported it?” Eddie asked.

“You are right. I just hate that you were right.”

“You can make it up to me later.” Eddie wrapped his arm a little tighter around Buck’s shoulder. This kind of thing was allowed, but not a lot of kissing and touching was evidently more than just simple touching. As Bobby had said, they had done this kind of thing before they were ever a couple.

“Oh, my God, she’s a cutie,” Mia called out.

Buck’s head shot up when Eddie heard the giggle that meant Emma was getting into trouble.

“Where is your parent?” Misha asked.

“Da!” Emma yelled.

Eddie laughed as he buried his face in Buck’s neck. Buck was laughing as well.

“Pa!”

Buck’s laughter broke out into something more audible to anyone else.

“PA!” Emma yelled again.

“Oh, fine, I’m coming!” Buck waited for Eddie to let go of him before they got up, looking over the railing down to Emma standing in the middle of the bay looking around. “Up here.”

Emma looked up, and her face split into a grin. “PA!” She went right for the stairs.

Buck hustled over to them to meet her halfway, thankfully not tripping over the stairs. He picked her up and pulled her to his body, holding her as tightly as possible. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back until she started to wiggle.

“DA! Hugs.”

“All right, hugs.” Eddie scooted around Buck on the stair and hugged her from behind. She settled down into Buck’s hold again with Eddie right there.

“Carla Price and this is Lily Green, and this young man is Christopher, their son,” Carla said.

Eddie turned around as he let go of Buck and Emma to see Carla and Lily there with Chris heading toward them.

“Let’s get off the stairs,” Eddie said. Eddie headed down the stairs and picked up Chris to hug before setting him down.

“Who are they?”

“That’s Mia and Misha; they are the new paramedics for the secondary ambulance. They started while Buck and I were gone. They are really cool, though.” Eddie crouched and let Chris settle on his knee to sit and stay relaxed. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Emma and I wanted to see you before school. So Carla got us ready early. Lily and Carla are doing something afterward with Emma, so she came along as well.”

“I don’t get to see my daughter?” Buck asked.

“We will be back after you two have had a nap. You would stay up all morning to be with her and be a grouch all day,” Lily said.

Hen laughed as she stepped up beside Eddie. “You know that she is right, Buckaroo.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it. So what are you three doing?”

“Dress shopping for Emma for that bring your sibling to lunch thing that Chris has next week.”

“What?” Eddie asked. He looked at Chris.

“I forgot about the flyer in my bag. I got home from school yesterday and got my homework done, but then we did the Legos, and it just slipped my mind. I remembered this morning and asked Carla to help remind me.”

“The flyer is on the fridge. I already filled out the paperwork to let them know to expect you both and Emma. It’s on a day where you don’t work.”

“Thanks, we will look at it when we get home.” Eddie tickled Chris a little before scooting him off his leg. He stood up to take Emma from Buck, who pouted but allowed it.

“She’s got your pout,” Mia said.

“He’s taught it to her, no matter what he says. He pouts way too much for just a few more minutes of this or that.”

Hen laughed, and Buck started to blush.

“Oh, he doesn’t have to pout for that.”

“Edmundo!”

“Evan!”

Misha started to laugh as she walked over to where Chris was tucked into Buck’s side. “Hello, my name is Misha.”

“I’m Chris.”

“That’s my sister Mia. I hear that you like space. Mia does as well. She wanted to be an astronaut at one point.”

“I want to work at NASA. I can’t go into space right now, but I can help others.”

“That’s a good plan. I’m sure there is something you can do at some point that will get you pretty close to space.”

“Do you like working here?”

“I do. I’ve heard a lot about your dads. It sounds like they love you and Emma a lot.”

“They do. They both like to protect her and me.”

“That’s what parents are supposed to do.”

“They don’t always. Dad and Papa don’t have good parents,” Chris said.

“Dios mío, Chris,” Eddie said.

Chris shrugged.

“Okay, Christopher, it’s time to go to school,” Carla said as she stepped up to him and ruffled his hair.

Buck straightened Chris’ hair and made it look as close to how it had looked before. He crouched down and gave Chris a hug at his level before pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Be good for Miss Flores.”

“I will.”

Eddie saw the face that Buck made about Ana Flores. Buck was the one who had talked to her more, with him meeting her at the start of the year and then dealing with Chris’ issues he had around the tsunami. Eddie had only met her the first day. Carla didn’t have the issues that Buck did, but even Buck couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong with her. Eddie trusted Buck, and Buck trusted his own instincts to know that Chris or any of the kids weren’t in danger, but they made sure that Chris knew that no matter what, even his teacher shouldn’t have him do something he didn’t want to do as long as it wasn’t in the scope of the school.

Durand was a good school, and Chris loved it there, but Eddie wasn’t sure about his teacher this year so far.

“So, how did you come back to work?” Mia asked.

“Huh?” Buck asked as he looked away from where their family was leaving.

“I said, how did you come back to work?”

“Oh, easy. I love them, and if push came to shove, I would give up my job to be with them, but I don’t have to, and this job makes me happy. I didn’t do well after I started to be able to live my life again. I am not one to just sit down. I would probably have some kind of volunteer job somewhere that I could take Emma with me if I couldn’t work. I don’t do well at idle.”

“No, he doesn’t. He usually finishes his work first, and before Eddie, no one wanted his help with their tasks because he doesn’t shut up most of the time. He was nervous when he started, but it just stuck with everyone else, even after he learned when to shut up. When Eddie started, Buck would work with him on things and never shut up, and Eddie never got upset. I knew then that I had picked the right person to help Buck. That Buck found the love of his life was just a bonus.”

“Watch it; Cap’s got a big head,” Hen said.

“I do not.” Bobby huffed, but he was smiling.

“That’s four you claim to have helped find the one person in their life. Even if the other three aren’t here anymore. You do bring it up that you are a good matchmaker,” Scott said.

“I get no respect.”

“You get as much respect as you deserve,” Eddie said. He tugged on Buck’s arm, where he was still looking where Emma and Chris had left. “You’ll see them soon. Don’t worry about that. Emma will be home after we nap, and we will go and get Chris from school.”

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t want to be away from them for that long. It kind of hit me when Emma giggled.”

“Well, I figure that was why Carla brought her around, and Chris. So we didn’t have to go that long without seeing them. So let’s go and do something to take our minds off the last little bit of our shift and then we can head home and sleep until Emma comes home.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a really good plan.”

Chapter Four

Eddie looked at where Hen was just staring off into space. She needed to be taken home, she was in no condition to drive, but Karen was working and didn’t want her workday messed with. Eddie understood it, but he also knew that Hen didn’t need to be alone until Karen got off.

“Go,” Bobby said.

“What?” Eddie asked as he looked at him.

“Go home with her, stay until Karen gets home. We will run an ambulance down, and I’ll notify dispatch.”

Eddie looked at where Buck was sitting on his phone. They had been released from the scene given that they had not had anything to do with it. Eddie wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Scott looked to be at loose ends and didn’t know what to do. Despite him being there longer than Eddie, Eddie knew that Hen wasn’t as close to him as she was the everyone else, even Eddie. Eddie figured that it had a little to do with him being the one to replace the person who had been her best friend.

Pulling out his cell phone, Eddie texted Buck.

Eddie: Do you still have Chim’s number, and can I have it?

Buck’s head shot up, and he looked at Eddie with the most confused look on his face before his eyes moved a little, and they widened in shock. Buck nodded his head before he bowed over the phone again.

Eddie’s phone vibrated, and he looked at Bobby. “I’m going to make a call, and then I’ll take her home. I will come back as soon as I can.”

“Eddie, stay with her,” Bobby insisted.

“I’ll stay until someone else comes to do it.”

Bobby nodded his head, and he walked off. Eddie headed outside to make sure that no one heard him. He just hoped that Chim’s number was the same.

“Hello?” A voice asked on the other end.

“Is this Chimney?” Eddie asked.

“This is; who is this?”

“My name is Eddie Diaz, and I work at the 118. Don’t hang up; this has to do with Hen.” Eddie waited, and there was no sound of a phone disconnecting. “Thank you. Hen was driving the ambulance when there was an accident. A life was lost, and she’s taking it hard. I don’t want to take her home alone. She’s refusing to let us call Karen, but she didn’t say anything about you.”

“I’ll meet you at her house. Diaz, thank you.”

“You are welcome.” Eddie hung up, and he felt better that someone would be able to go in and help Hen when the rest of them might not be enough. Eddie just hoped that he was making the right call on this.

Hen was silent on the way to her place, almost catatonic in how she was. A man was standing on her front porch when Eddie pulled onto the street. Eddie was happy that Chim was willing to be there for Hen, despite what all had gone on in their lives since he had been fired from the LAPD.

“Who blabbed?” Hen asked.

“I did. You won’t let us call Karen, and I respect your choice, but I knew that I wasn’t who you needed, and I’m not the person who is best suited for this. So I hoped that maybe your best friend would be a good idea.”

“Thank you,” Hen said.

“You are welcome, Hen. Now, get out and spend your time with Chim, and I hope that he gives you some comfort and peace.”

Hen got out of the Jeep and headed toward the front door. She unlocked the door, but Chim didn’t follow her in. Eddie was about to put the Jeep into reverse when Chim waved at him and rushed over. Eddie rolled down the window on the Jeep and waited for Chim to get close.

“Thank you for calling me. She’s stubborn, but I’ll work on her and maybe go ahead and tell Karen to pack it in and come home. How long ago was it?”

“Hours. We had to wait to clear the scene until our statements were taken. She’s just freaked out, and we didn’t trust her to drive home. Tomorrow morning, one of us will drive her car here and then be picked up by the other.”

“You mean you and Buck, right?” Chim asked. His eyes moved over the Jeep. “This is his Jeep, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“Hen mentioned that Buck was dating. I didn’t realize that it was you, Diaz.”

“She never said?”

“She doesn’t talk that much about things like that. There were a few mentions here and there when I asked how people were doing, who was new, and who had left. We don’t talk about Buck much; she gives me general updates, but Karen brought up Buck’s boyfriend once, but Hen said that he wasn’t dating yet, and then, later on, he was.”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“She’s talked about you a little. You help to keep Buck rational and make him think through things. That’s good. That’s something that he needs. I’ll let you go, get you back to work. I’ll make Hen check in with someone.”

“Thank you,” Eddie said.

Chim tapped the open window and then stepped back. He looked at Eddie and gave him a smile before turning around to head inside.

Eddie had no clue what to make of everything. Chim wasn’t anything like what Eddie thought he would be like, but he also hadn’t spent much time at all with him. He hoped that Chim got the help it seemed he needed back then.

—

Buck grabbed a bag of socks from the aisle. They would do until they could go clothes shopping as it seemed that all of Eddie’s socks were getting holes at the same time. He tossed them down into the basket and looked up, seeing his parents standing at the end of the aisle with a basket between them as his mother was putting a box of popcorn into it. He stayed where he was and looked at them. It had been just a short while since the last time he had seen them in the store, but he was stronger than he had been.

“Can you help us?” Buck’s mother asked.

“I’m sorry, what?” Buck asked.

Buck’s father looked at him like he knew him, but nothing else was there. “Have we met before?”

“Wow. Just fucking wow.”

“Papa, you have to put money in the jar,” Chris said as he stepped up to the cart.

“I will. Where is your dad?”

“I’m here, cariño,” Eddie said as he dropped the few boxes of pasta into the cart. “That’s everything from the list. Why don’t we go to check out?”

“You aren’t going to help us?” Margaret asked.

“No, ma’am. I need to get going. Our daughter needs to be picked up from the babysitters.” Buck saw it the second that his father figured out who he was.

Phillip opened his mouth and then shut it again when Margaret huffed.

“Have a nice life,” Buck said. He felt nothing. There was no pain; there was nothing there. He looked at Eddie and smiled at him. “I’m going to.”

Eddie took the cart from Buck and started to get him to turn. Buck pulled out of the hold long enough to pick up Chris. Chris held onto Buck as they headed to the check-out.

The Buckley’s didn’t even go after them. Buck got Chris settled into the backseat of the Jeep and then looked at Eddie through the back hatch where he was putting the groceries. Buck gave him a smile that he was sure went all the way to his eyes. Eddie’s posture relaxed some. Eddie looked happy that Buck was happy, and that was all that mattered.

“Dad, when we get home, can I go over and play with the puppy?”

Eddie snorted.

“That’s up to Tommy. I’ll call him when we are on the road. If he says no, then you don’t get to pout.”

“Okay.”

“We aren’t going to last before we end up with a pet of some kind.”

“I was thinking hamster,” Eddie said. He slammed the back door shut and came around to get into the passenger seat of the Jeep.

Buck got into the driver’s seat, and she looked back at Chris, who was smiling. The puppy was new. A rescue from a puppy mill found by the 217. The pup had needed a lot of love, so Tommy had adopted it since he knew that the house could easily take care of it. They had shown that by helping Buck with Emma.

“I don’t want a dog. Too much work,” Chris said. He hummed for a few seconds. “I think I do want a hamster.”

“We can see about that this weekend since we are off,” Eddie said.

Buck looked all around before he pulled out of the spot. With Chris liking to sometimes help with putting up groceries in the vehicles, it made more sense to back in, just to be safe, and he wouldn’t be standing in the driving area.

“Who was that?” Chris asked.

Eddie raised an eyebrow when Buck looked at him. He already had the phone to his ear to talk to Tommy. The look on his face told Buck all that he needed to know. Eddie was leaving that up to him.

“Well, do you remember a while ago you said that I had horrible parents?”

“Which time?”

Buck laughed. He shook his head before checking the traffic before pulling into it to head home.

“Well, you said it last that I had really bad parents, and I just needed to find new ones for your father and for me.”

“I did.”

“Well, those two back there, they are my parents.”

“Oh,” Chris said.

Buck glanced in the rearview mirror to see what his face looked like when he stopped at a red light. Chris looked very upset but not overly.

“Yeah. I know they have seen pictures of me with Emma, but I can say that they didn’t care about me in them, just Emma. It’s actually helped me a lot in the last ten minutes at letting it all go. I don’t care about them, I haven’t for a long time, but I let go of the last things. I was never going to be the kind of child they wanted. I wasn’t able to just leave their lives when they didn’t want me anymore, so they came to hate me before I became an adult and could actually leave.”

“We just need to find new family outside of Abuela, Pepa, and mis tías,” Chris said.

“No, I agree. We need to find older people who we think are good enough to call them mom and dad,” Buck said.

“Yeah, we can do that. I can make the application,” Chris said.

“That sounds like a good plan for after homework,” Buck said.

Eddie hung up the phone, and he looked at Buck. “Chris can head over after homework for an hour of playing with the puppy, then you can come back with Tommy and Emma for dinner.”

“Okay. Tommy is going to keep Emma?”

“Well, Buck and I need to talk about a few things, and I think that would be best without you and Emma around, so we don’t have to worry. Emma’s getting big enough that she mimics a lot of words.”

“I remember Grandma talking about me repeating words a lot when I was young before we left El Paso. I always did good at saying it at the wrong time.”

“Yes, you did though your great uncle Ivan is an asshole.”

Buck laughed, and he looked at Eddie as he pulled onto their street. “Great Uncle Ivan?”

“Yeah, on mom’s side. He’s like the biggest asshole in the world. I really don’t like him, and he was an asshole to Chris one time when Chris dropped something when Ivan was the one who ran into him when he was stationary. The only bonus was that my mother ripped into him as well. She didn’t like it at all.”

“Well, at least she was good for something,” Buck said.

Chris laughed at that.

“Chris, get inside and get your homework done. What do you have?”

“I have a math worksheet for extra credit, and then I need to finish the worksheet on the paper I will be doing for science. I’m nearly done, but my project is a little hard, so it takes more to do it.”

“Okay, then get to it.”

Chris headed toward the front door, using his key to get inside. Buck smiled at how happy the boy was to be able to get inside. He was no doubt going to just drop to the floor in the living room and work on his homework at the coffee table.

“So that happened,” Eddie said as he handed over three of the grocery bags.

“It did. I wonder what they are doing here still. You don’t think they moved here, do you?”

“I have no clue. You are the one who knows them best. I mean, you don’t know them much at all as you haven’t really seen them in nearly a decade.”

“I can see them maybe moving here for Maddie. So, yeah, that kind of tracks. I mean, they are all about appearances, so I could see them leaving Hershey to move here to be near their daughter after she was kidnapped by the man she loved and had to be there when he was shot by SWAT.” Buck stepped into the house with their stuff, Eddie coming in with the main bulk of the groceries. They had done a little other shopping before they had headed to pick up Chris from school.

Eddie didn’t pick up the conversation until they were in the kitchen. Buck slipped through to the bedroom to put up the other bags.

“So, what do you want to do about this?”

“Nothing right now. They haven’t tried to contact me, and living in the same city is not a crime. What do you think I should do?” Buck asked.

“Nothing, I just wanted to see where your head was at. I’ll get the fridge and freezer stuff if you get the rest,” Eddie said.

Buck nodded his head, and they worked in silence as they got the groceries put up. Buck laughed a little as he put the last of the cereal up for the week. He looked at the kind he had picked up without even noticing. It was one of his favorite cereals as a kid, but he hadn’t eaten it since Maddie had gone to college as his parents never bought it. They were why he ate pretty much any cereal because they never got the same thing each week.

“I’ve never seen you eat that before,” Eddie said as he tipped his head toward the box that Buck had just put up.

“Yeah, Maddie used to make sure that it was got for me, and I kind of forgot about it until I saw it today. So I grabbed it before I saw my parents.”

“I have never had it. Maybe tomorrow we can all eat it. I looked at it during check-out. It sounds good. Raisin Nut Bran is an interesting name.”

“It’s good. The rolled raisins are really good. They don’t get soggy in the milk, so there are no texture issues. Still, I am looking forward to eating it.”

“Good. I’m glad you have little things to look forward to.”

Buck nodded his head and worked on the last few things. As soon as he got the last put up, he laughed as he felt hands on his hips, holding him in place. Eddie stepped up behind him.

“Have you heard from your parents?” Buck asked.

“Really? That’s where you are going right now?”

“What else is there?” Buck laughed as Eddie pressed to Buck’s back and his arms wrapped around Buck’s waist.

“I don’t know what else is there?”

“Well, Chris is in the other room, so there is not as much as you think there is.”

“He won’t be as soon as he finishes his homework. Then we have an hour.”

“An hour nap sounds like heaven,” Buck said.

“A nap? You want to nap?” Eddie let go and turned Buck around.

“Well, we did housework today, and I didn’t get my after-work nap. So yeah, a nap sounds good. Stretched out on the couch, all snug.”

“We can’t fit on the couch comfortably.”

“Who said I wanted to nap with you?”

Eddie didn’t even give Buck a single chance to say anything else; he just kissed him. Holding him by the back of his neck. It wasn’t some simple peck either.

“Eds,” Buck said when he broke the kiss when it was turning a little too intimate for the kitchen when neither door was locked.

“What?” Eddie kissed down Buck’s neck instead, sucking a bruise right into the spot that would be visible from above his shirt collar when wearing just a t-shirt.

“You are an asshole,” Buck said.

“But I’m your asshole.” Eddie stepped, and the look in his eyes promised something more when Chris was gone.

“I’m going to go help our son if he needs it. You clean this up.” Buck waved at the reusable bags that they had scattered all over from the shopping they had done. He walked out of the kitchen before Eddie could say anything else.

Chris was working at the coffee table like Buck assumed he would be, his legs stretched under it and his crutches leaning on the couch.

“How are you doing, Chris?” Buck asked.

“Math is done. Can you check it?”

“Sure.” Buck picked up the worksheet, and he started to look it over.

Buck was finishing up that worksheet when Chris pushed himself up to stand and then dropped onto the couch beside Buck. He had the other worksheet in his hand.

“Can you look at this as well?”

“Sure. I don’t see anything wrong on your math sheet, so go ahead and put that into the done side of your folder.” Buck handed the sheet over and took the second. He looked at what the project was about. He knew that Chris would be working on it all year long as he was taught how to do science at a higher level to make junior high a little easier. It was still strange to see it, though, but taking a whole year to write a five hundred word thesis was not the worst thing in the world. Buck wished he had been able to do something like that. He had no help by the time he got to junior high as Maddie was gone.

“This was really good, Chris. I think that it’s good. The stuff you have wrong is all the stuff the teacher will help you correct because that’s what she’s there for, but there is nothing overly glaring.”

“I’m glad. I really love science.”

“I’m glad you love science. I love fire science. What we have learned about fire from controlled experimentation and analyzing what fires have already happened is pretty interesting. If it had taken me longer to get built back up after my injury, I was thinking of maybe going to the classes for arson while I was still on light duty and then transfer to that to do in place of going nuts.”

“Dad was worried you were going to go off the deep end. You didn’t, though,” Chris said.

“No, I didn’t, and do you know why?”

“Why?”

“I had you and Emma. Taking care of you two made me feel like I had something to give to the world outside of my job, and I learned what it really meant to be an adult. I thought I was only good for my job. I thought I didn’t matter any more than that, but Tommy started to teach me that I was, and you and your father finished that.”

Chris hugged Buck tight, making sure he knew he was loved with that simple gesture. It felt good to have Chris in his arms. He really wanted Emma here right now, but it seemed that she was busy with someone else. There were days it felt like she had a busier social calendar than Buck did.

“Can I go play with the puppy?”

“Sure. Put this where it belongs in your folder, and then you can see if Tommy is outside still. If not, come back, and I’ll watch you as you go over.” Buck let go of Chris with a little reluctance.

Chris carefully made his way to the door and got it open. “He’s outside.”

“Okay, you can go over but yell to make sure he knows you are coming.”

“TOMMY, I’M COMING OVER NOW!”

“OKAY!” Tommy yelled back.

Buck shook his head at that. He sighed and dropped his head back to look up at the ceiling. The front door shut, and Buck enjoyed the few minutes of silence. He was about to move when he heard the front door lock. He tipped his head to the side and saw Eddie at the door. There was a look on his face that Buck knew meant he was in for it.

“Still want to take that nap?” Eddie asked.

“Yup,” Buck answered. He stretched and then tipped over to fall onto his back, hooking his legs over the end of the couch. He smiled as he closed his eyes like he was going to fall asleep.

“I guess I will have to see if I can change your mind.”

Buck just relaxed down on the couch. He felt Eddie touching his feet, letting him know where he was before that hand moved up his jeans. Buck felt himself already getting hard. It was all a game. Shoes had been kicked off as they had come into the house like they usually did when they got home, and they weren’t going to go anywhere else for the day. Chris never took his off once they were on, which was usually pretty early in the day as his shoes helped him with balance. Buck honestly hadn’t ever really done that kind of thing before moving in with Tommy. The shoes on or off thing wasn’t a big debate there. The house was mostly wood outside of a few of the bedrooms so there wasn’t an issue with dirty shoes on carpet.

“That’s not sleeping,” Eddie said as his fingers dipped under the edge of Buck’s pants leg.

“No, it’s not. Working up to it.” Buck closed his eyes again, and he held back from the moan that wanted to slip out when Eddie laid his free hand on Buck’s thigh.

“Do you really think you can even keep this up for long?” Eddie asked.

“Hmm, I’m sure I could roll over and make it harder if I wanted.”

“Harder than this?” Eddie cupped Buck’s cock.

“Hmm, could be.” Buck started to act like he was going to roll over, but Eddie’s hand was firm on his thigh, the other one leaving his cock and gripping his shin.

“Fuck this,” Eddie said.

It didn’t take long for Buck to figure out what Eddie meant as his jeans were unzipped and his whole body lifted to get the jeans and his underwear down enough for Eddie to just suck him down. Buck grabbed Eddie’s hair and lifted his head to look down to see Eddie as he was bobbing.

Buck couldn’t take it longer than a few seconds, so he dropped his head back and tried to spread his legs, but his jeans were in the way.

“Eds, come on. Let me at least get a little bit naked,” Buck said.

“Fine,” Eddie said. He leaned back so that Buck could work on getting his jeans and underwear off. At least the couch was easy to clean, Eddie had bought it cause of a messy child, not sex on it, but it still worked out well for them. As soon as Buck was down again, Eddie was there. Buck grabbed his hair again to have something to hold onto, and he nearly started to cry at the way that Eddie kissed the tip of his hard cock before licking and taking it all the way inside of his mouth.

There was only a single act that got Buck off quicker, and it was when Eddie held their cocks in the same hand and jerked them off together.

Buck came just moments later, and before he could even catch his breath to find out what Eddie wanted, Eddie was getting up on the couch and getting his cock out of his jeans to jerk off onto Buck.

“You have a fetish for coming on me,” Buck said.

“And I love that you love it.” Eddie tipped down to where they could kiss, and Buck chased the taste of himself as Eddie jerked his cock to come all over Buck.

“I never said that.”

“Then how come you let me do it all the time?”

Buck didn’t answer because there didn’t need to be an answer.

“That’s what I thought.” Eddie kissed him again, and Buck put his all into that kiss. Eddie came just a few moments later, groaning into Buck’s mouth but not breaking the kiss.

When Eddie couldn’t stay up anymore on his arm, he lowered himself down and laid on Buck, just off to the side a little bit.

“Got your ass on display?” Buck asked.

“No, I don’t. All nice and hidden. Through the right angle.”

“Then I guess we should head to get cleaned up.”

“No,” Eddie whined, and he pressed a kiss to Buck’s shoulder. “Stay here.”

“We can cuddle in bed better and still get a bit of a nap in.”

“Ugh, fine,” Eddie said. He moved carefully as he got up, keeping his jeans up and only buttoning them.

Buck didn’t even try and get his clothes on. He just walked half-naked to the bedroom to put up the clothes and grab a pair of sweats to wear. Eddie went right to the bathroom, so Buck grabbed him a pair of sweats as well.

By the time Tommy brought Chris home, Buck and Eddie were in bed mostly asleep and just drifting there. They weren’t naked, so when Tommy appeared in the doorway, they didn’t move.

“You two look cozy. Derek’s cooking dinner and Chris has already decided he wants that for dinner. So, you two need to get shirts on. Chris is grabbing a book, and then he expects you both to escort him back over.”

“And where is Emma?”

“In the kitchen with Derek, babbling up a storm about a panda.”

“That sounds about right,” Eddie said.

Buck poked him in the side, and Eddie rolled off him. He grabbed the shirts at the foot of the bed and tossed one at Buck.

“That sounds like a good plan. I don’t feel like cooking anyway, and it’s my turn,” Eddie said.

“And I was just going to have us order in. So, this works out great,” Buck said. He slipped the shirt on and sighed as he found another slightly sore spot. “Chris is going to start calling you a vampire, Eddie.”

“Nah, he already knows what they are. He knows I’m not sucking your blood.”

“Just my cock.”

“You two are idiots. Let’s go before Derek throws a fit. He wants Buck’s help with the sauce. Something is missing.”

“He never follows the recipes. I’ll go bail him out quickly. You make sure Eddie makes it across the street safely?” Buck asked.

“I can make sure your bonny lass makes it across,” Tommy said.

Eddie laughed as Buck pressed a kiss to Eddie’s cheek before leaving the room. When he got outside, the street was dead, so he didn’t have to wait to cross. It wasn’t too bad of a smell when Buck came into the kitchen. Emma was sitting in a high chair at the island and making a mess of what looked like sweet potatoes. Buck went right for her and kissed the top of Emma’s head. She smelled like she had been in the bath.

“What happened?” Buck asked.

“Oh, we have found something she doesn’t like,” Derek said as he turned with a spoon held out for Buck to take a taste.

Buck walked over and did so. “Needs pepper and oregano, just a little pepper but like a lot of oregano. What doesn’t she like?”

“Getting licked by the puppy. It licked her once, and she marched to the bathroom and sat there until someone gave her a bath. So, she likes to watch the pup, but that’s it.” Derek put the pepper back, grabbed the oregano, and gave Buck a glare.

Buck glared back until Derek dumped in what he thought was needed.

“You are pushy.”

“Just stir it up and let it sit. How much has she eaten?”

“Just about four squares of the sweet potatoes. I cooked them up for her since she wanted the raw ones. She’s not teething at the moment, so I didn’t see the need to give her the raw ones.”

“No, cooked is good. So not enough to mess up her appetite but enough to appease her. Where is the pup?”

“Outside with pretty much everyone else.”

“Down?” Emma asked.

Buck looked to see that all of the potatoes were gone, and Eddie was helping to clean her up. She didn’t like having things on her right now, so she held still to get them off as quickly as possible. If only she kept that for the rest of her life, doing what Buck wanted when it helped her. He didn’t figure it would last much more than a week.

Eddie brought Emma over to Buck, and Buck pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m gonna head outside with her. I’ll make sure the pup doesn’t lick her, so I don’t have to give her a bath. When are you going to pick a name for the dog?”

“Oh, a name has been picked. Just ask your son.”

Eddie looked at Buck with a raised eyebrow, but Buck just shrugged. He had no idea what the hell was going on with the dog’s name.

The door opened, and Chris was walking in. He stopped and looked at them. “Finally. Come and meet Krypto.”

“Krypto?” Eddie asked.

“Oh, that’s cool, Superdog!”

“Superman?” Eddie asked.

“Yes,” Chris answered. He waved them forward. “Emma doesn’t like it when Krypto licks.”

“How did you end up naming the dog?”

“He didn’t. Not really. We were all talking about a name,” Tommy said. He grabbed Eddie’s arm and dragged him after him. “And the dog itself ran to Chris when Chris said Krypto. So then Stella said it from across the way, and the dog ran to her.”

“It just liked it?” Eddie asked.

“Or it was a name that’s close enough to the name it was called before we got it. Still, we now have Krypto the Superdog living here.”

Krypto, hearing his name, came running, sitting down at Eddie’s feet and looking up at him. Eddie crouched down to pet him, and Emma wiggled to get away, so Buck picked her up. The backyard was set up for outdoor eating. It seemed it was where they were going to be eating. Buck was okay with that. Eddie’s backyard still needed a little work to get it set up for being able to really enjoy eating out there.

Buck walked over to the chair that used to be his and dropped down into it. Emma laid on his chest to cuddle for a minute before she wiggled to get down. She looked around for Krypto and then ran off to go over to where Lily was gardening.

“And now she is going to play in the dirt and refuse to get clean,” Buck said.

“Well, that’s your kid; you made her that way,” Eddie said. He had two beers in his hands and looked down at Buck’s lap.

Buck nodded. Eddie sat down, setting the beers on the arm of the chair he wasn’t leaning against, and then started to look around the backyard. Buck wrapped his arm around Eddie’s waist and just enjoyed being there with his family.

Chapter Five

Buck checked the time on his watch as they pulled into the station. He looked over at Eddie, who was downcast. Everyone was really. Making a plan and keeping it from everyone had been hard as hell, but he had been lucky to get Athena and Derek in on it. Stella was taking care of making sure that Tommy’s firehouse had a good bit of Christmas cheer as well.

No one had been in a good mood when they showed up to work this morning. Chris had been upset to not get to spend the day with either of them. Abuela had been more than willing to watch Chris and Emma with Pepa’s help, but it wasn’t the same as having the family together.

“What the hell?” Bobby asked.

Buck craned his head around, and he looked only to cover his eyes and drop his head down. It was the worst thing in the world because not only was the surprise kind of ruined as there was no way that Emma was there without someone else being there, but now his daughter was running around naked with just her reindeer antlers on her head.

Bobby started to laugh, and it caught the attention of everyone else. When Buck looked up, everyone was watching his daughter run around singing some mangled version of a Christmas song.

“Is that Buckley’s kid?” someone from the ladder truck asked.

“Yes,” Eddie said.

“Well, she doesn’t have too bad of a singing voice.”

“Unless it’s four in the morning and you really want to sleep,” Eddie answered back.

“Okay, everyone out. Buck, find out why your daughter is running around naked.”

“Oh, I can answer that. She’s going through another phase where she hates clothes, and I assume she escaped the bathroom,” Eddie said.

“And the headgear?”

“We haven’t been able to get them off her head for three days,” Buck answered. He climbed out of the rig and looked at where Emma finally noticed them. She screeched and ran right at Buck, only to dodge him and start to climb up into the rig.

“Fuck my life,” Buck said under his breath. He looked over at where Lily was standing, looking like she would start to laugh. “Don’t even.”

“I have a bathing suit for her,” Lily said, and she held it up. It was at least festive and covered in snowmen. “I figure when she gets cold, she’ll consent to at least putting on a shirt over it. I was trying to find it in the bag when she slipped away from me. She was far enough back I knew she was safe.”

“I wasn’t worried about her being safe. Just not wanting everyone I work with to see her naked.”

“Well, that wasn’t going to happen because she was going to strip at some point today, and you know it.”

“So, Buck, what is going on?” Bobby asked.

Buck looked around to see where Eddie was, and he was coming out of the rig with Emma in his arms.

“Merry Christmas?” Buck said as he looked up to where the family was all gathered.

Bobby looked up at where Athena, Michael, Harry, and May were standing with smiles on their faces.

“You did this?”

“With a lot of help. That’s Derek,” Buck said as he pointed at Derek. “He worked with Athena, but it was my idea; I just didn’t have a big hands-on thing on it.”

“And you didn’t even tell me?” Eddie asked.

“Why would he, nieto? It’s not a surprise then,” Abuela said.

“Well, I would hope that someone would tell.”

“I wanted it to be a happy surprise for everyone,” Buck said.

The rest of the people up in the loft started to show up. Even Leo and his mother were there. Buck was happy that he got to do that part with Athena’s help.

“I have a surprise for you,” Abuela said.

Buck looked up at her to see that she was looking right at him. He saw movement off to Abuela’s side, and there was Maddie. She had a smile on her face that said she was unsure of being there.

“I didn’t pack her gift,” Buck said.

“I did,” Pepa said.

“Oh, good. So, who is hungry?” Buck asked.

“You just didn’t want take-out,” Eddie said.

“It’s Christmas!”

The team started to laugh and clasped Buck on the shoulder as they passed by him to go up and say hello to their family.

“Did you get Riccardo in on this?” Scott asked.

“I did. He made the turkey,” Buck said.

“You and he are too good at keeping secrets.” Scott pressed a kiss to Buck’s cheek before heading up.

Eddie wrapped his arms around Buck from behind and squeezed.

“Where is Emma?”

“Getting dressed in her bathing suit.” Eddie turned them to where Emma and Lily were in the locker area with the doors shut this time so she couldn’t escape. “You really didn’t want to take out that bad?”

“Just because we are at work doesn’t mean we can’t have family around and when we get called out, our families can talk to each other. It’s not like they will be bored. The house that isn’t working split up between here and Tommy. Then later they are going to descend on those who are also working but later today.”

“You are too good sometimes. When we get home in the morning, we will shower, and I’m going to show you how much I love you while I’m on my knees. Now let’s get up there.”

“Papa, up!” Emma yelled as she ran across to them.

Buck picked her up and made sure her antlers didn’t fall off. She was smiling and looked so damned happy. Buck wondered if he was ever this happy growing up when he wasn’t around Maddie. He looked up at Maddie, who was looking down at him. She had the same look on her face that Buck was sure he had on his. It wasn’t a happy one. Maddie’s smile changed to a little happy, and Buck understood her in that instant. For today, and today only, the past was the past, and they were going to enjoy the day for what it was. He settled Emma down when she wiggled.

“Come on, Buck,” Bobby called out from the top of the stairs. “It’s not a party without you.”

Buck waited for Lily to come out of the locker room before heading up. Emma was right on his heels, going up the stairs as fast as she could. The loft was full of smiling faces, and no matter how much sleep Buck lost working on this, it was all worth it.

—

“You were worried that much?” Hen asked as she sat down beside him on the couch. She had a cup of coffee in each hand. She handed over the cup to Buck.

“About?”

“Us not having our family at all outside of first thing on Christmas morning.”

“This is my family. Eddie, Chris, and Emma are my closest, but you are all family as well, and I didn’t want anyone not having as much time as they could.” Buck was tired after a middle-of-the-night call-out, but he hadn’t been able to sleep. No one had noticed him slipping out an hour before.

“And the food?”

“Well, the casserole was easy to make up to fill up our bellies before we go home to the kids. I heard Chris talking Derek into staying the night at our place last night so that he could be there right when we get home. I guess there are more presents to open.”

“Well, a few of us slipped some to Pepa for her to take home to let you open when you are alone. A few little things that are not meant to be made fun of but just enough to let you know how much you mean to us, how much you two as a couple make us happy.”

“Well, I’m sure that Chris doesn’t know about those. Chris said he had a big gift for Eddie and me.”

“I’m sure it’ll be a good present. You and Eddie deserve it. You especially. You’ve been through a lot with the whole bombing and coming back, then nearly getting taken out in the tsunami. You need a good thing; I just kind of hate that none of us thought about what you did.”

“It was nothing,” Buck said.

“No, it wasn’t nothing, Buck. Nothing that you do is nothing.”

Buck turned to look when he heard a noise. Eddie was coming up the stairs. He was tugging on his shirt when he did it. He looked around and looked right at Buck with a glare in his eyes.

“You didn’t get any sleep, did you?” Eddie asked.

“No, I couldn’t.”

“Give me that.” Eddie took the cup from Buck and drank it down before sitting down.

“Hen made that for me,” Buck said.

“Lay down here, stretch out and at least relax some.”

Buck waited for Eddie to get fully settled before doing as Eddie wanted. Buck had learned well how to relax even if he could not sleep. Eddie’s hand went right to his hair, releasing it from the gel he had on to keep it plastered down. He hadn’t refreshed it when he had woken up as he was pretty sure Eddie would figure out he wasn’t asleep and force him to settle down.

“How excited are you about going home?” Hen asked as she looked at Eddie.

Buck closed his eyes, and he listened to Hen and Eddie chatting. Eddie’s hand didn’t stop playing with his hair and scalp even after Hen had gone over to check on the food when the oven timer went off.

“What do I do?”

“Spread cheese on top and put it back in,” Buck said.

“What smells so good?” Scott asked.

“Buck made a casserole for everyone. It’ll be ready in about twenty minutes,” Hen said.

“Good. I’ll make the call to come and eat if they want food.”

“Hey, you gonna sleep?”

“I think that I might,” Buck said. He rolled to the side to where his face was hidden. “You can eat here?”

“Yeah, I can eat here. Don’t worry. You just get some sleep.”

“Did he get any sleep before we got the call?” Hen asked.

“I don’t think that he did.”

“No, I didn’t. My brain wouldn’t shut down.”

“Well, you can stay behind if we get another call before we get off shift.”

“Sounds good,” Buck said.

There were no call-outs, and Buck gladly handed the keys to the Jeep over to Eddie when they were ready to go.

“Coffee, I want to spend time with Chris before going to sleep. Maybe I can talk him into a nap. You know that he stayed up late reading whatever books he got under the covers.”

“I know he did. And Emma got him up at the crack of dawn to play with her. I know that you taught her that.”

“That kid was born that way. She did that kind of thing at the wrong time all the time.” Buck relaxed back into the seat, and he closed his eyes after getting buckled in. The Jeep was started, and then Eddie was taking them home.

Buck was sure that he did fall asleep because there was a hand on his face before he knew it. He opened his eyes to see Derek holding Emma right there in front of him. Emma patted Buck’s face again.

“Wake up, Pa,” Emma said.

“I’m awake.” Buck held out his hands, and Emma gladly moved over to him. “How long have we been here?”

“Just a minute. Eddie’s just now getting the bags out. Emma’s been waiting for you guys to get home. She wants to show you something.”

“Oh boy. That sounds like it’s not good.”

“Oh, it’s kind of not. The backyard is where we are headed.”

“Pa, cat,” Emma said.

“Cat?” Eddie asked.

“Well, I guess she wanted to tell you the surprise and not show you. Still, come on.”

Buck got out of the Jeep, and he listened to Emma as she had half-formed words that really made no sense outside of the word cat.

“So what happened?” Eddie asked.

“Last night, this little lady showed up in the backyard. We went around after we got home and found that she was from a litter of kittens a block over, and she escaped. Well, Emma fell in love, Chris fell in love, and well, I couldn’t say no. Also, Emma doesn’t mind it when Noelle licks her.”

“Really?” Eddie asked.

Buck wasn’t sure what he would find, but a lovely black cat was in a small little soft-sided cage. It was small, but given that the other cats in the area had their litters, it was small, even for the six-month-old. Noelle saw them and started to meow. Buck let Emma slip to the ground, and she ran over to the cage to touch it.

“And where did you get this?” Eddie asked as he tapped the cage with his foot.

“The shop that opens early. The owner gave us food and a litter pan for the night. We went and got everything needed this morning. I figured that since we are the ones that kept the kitten, we should at least pay for part of it. She’s fixed already and got everything up to date. The paperwork is in your bedroom.” Derek looked sheepish, but he didn’t look too much like he was all that upset about it.

“We have a hamster.”

“Yup, and we got one of the locking lids at the pet store. The cat can’t get into there.”

“So we are a multi-pet household. Hamster and cat, this is going to go well.”

“Noe,” Emma said as she held her hand out.

“Inside, love,” Derek said.

“What?” Buck asked.

“She wants to play with Noelle, but that’s only going to be inside. So, why don’t we head inside?” Derek asked.

“Sure.” Eddie picked up the cage, and the cat just laid there as Eddie carried her inside.

Buck had never had a cat. Hell, the hamster was the first pet he had been around. He didn’t know if he liked having pets or not, but at least a cat was pretty simple to take care of.

“Haven’t you ever wanted a pet?” Derek asked.

“I asked for a dog once, but my parents never got me one, and I just kind of never thought about it. Dogs are a little needy, and cats just seemed standoffish. I debated getting fish at one point. They make those automatic feeders so I wouldn’t have to worry about them when I’m at work for a full day. I know they do that with animals too, but I just never really thought about it.”

“So, is the cat a no-go?” Derek asked.

“No, it’s fine. I am sure we will be fine.” Buck looked at where Emma was trying to open Noelle’s cage. “So, Noelle?”

“We got her on Christmas. We had to give her a Christmas name,” Chris said.

“Well, you are right there.”

“She’s already really good at not getting under my crutches, but I do keep an eye out for her.”

“Good, because if she’s getting underfoot like that, she will go,” Eddie said.

Buck found that he was waning despite the quick coffee stop right as they left the station. He had been so stressed the day before and then unable to sleep.

“Buck, go lay on the couch. You and Chris can watch that documentary that he got yesterday from Pepa,” Eddie said.

Buck looked at the couch, and he found that he was tired enough to lay down. He knew that he would be tired as hell if he stayed awake, but he almost didn’t want to go to sleep either. He wanted to spend time with Chris.

“Sleep, Papa,” Chris said.

“Well, just don’t like letting the cat scratch my face off.”

Eddie laughed, and he looked at where Buck stretched out across the couch before kicking his shoes off. Eddie grabbed them off the floor and put them by the door. As soon as Buck was settled with a blanket over him with Chris’ help, Noelle jumped up to lay on him.

“Huh?” Buck’s eyes flew open, and he looked at the cat. He glared a little bit but then closed his eyes. He didn’t reach up to pet the cat.

“Eddie?” Derek asked.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry. He’s talked about a cat before. I think it’s a case that he never really thought he would get a pet. I never really thought of it as well. We will be fine with this. I think a cat’s the best option. The puppy you guys have, has proved to Buck that he doesn’t really want one of those.”

“We will find a new home for the kitten if things change.”

“No, it’s fine.” Eddie looked at Buck again to see that his hand had slipped up and petted the kitten’s back.

Buck had a family, and he never thought he would, so he considered himself set. Eddie knew what Buck’s thinking was on that. Why ask for more when he had everything he needed to be happy.

“Did you talk her into wanting the kitten?” Eddie asked Chris after Derek had left.

“No, she found the kitten first, I promise, Dad.”

“I believe you, mijo. I just wanted to be sure. Do you want a cat?”

“Buck does,” Chris said.

“What?”

“I heard him one day talking to that lady down the street, the one who had the cats. He said as a kid he had wanted a dog, but then when he got older, he always figured he would get a cat.”

Eddie pressed a kiss to Chris’ forehead, and he looked at where Emma was playing with a few toys. “Go and get the documentary set up. You can watch it now, and then Buck can catch up later with where you are, or you can both watch to catch him up.”

“Okay. I like just spending time with you guys. Can we have Chinese for lunch?”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. It’ll be easy to get that. We will order when Buck wakes up.”

Eddie looked at the kitten. He knew that after the hamster, the next pet would be something that would be bigger, but he hadn’t expected to get one so quickly. Though he knew that there wasn’t a lot that he or Buck wouldn’t do when it came to Emma. Still, it might be a little bit frosty for a while. Eddie had talked to Carla a long time ago about helping with pets, and she was more than willing. She had spouted off a lot of information about raising pets and helping kids assert their freedom, and growing up better for them. He wondered what she would say about adults learning to reach for more things that made them happy with pets.

Buck’s phone vibrated a few minutes later, and Eddie looked over to see him checking it before silencing it and laying it on the table. Eddie had a feeling it was Maddie. That line on Buck’s face usually only appeared when Maddie was being brought into things. The day before had gone well with them putting a cease-fire on all things hard to talk about, and they instead focused on being happy. It wasn’t a good long-term solution, but it was good they were able to do it for a short time.

Eddie had exchanged pleasantries with his parents over the phone, and Pepa had made sure that Chris called and talked to them during the day. Eddie still didn’t want much to do with them. He hoped that they would be able to accept who he was one day and that he knew what Chris needed in his life more than them. Their love was suffocating to Eddie. He wasn’t the male heir that was just going to roll over and do what they wanted. He especially wasn’t going to go along with his father’s thoughts on being a man because he had learned that most of it was toxic masculinity. Too much time spent talking to men and women in the hospital while he had been injured had changed his views on many things. It was why he stuck with therapy even after he had been released. He wasn’t the kind to just keep on doing something that was hurting him. So he settled in and figured out how he would want Chris to be raised and tried to live that way.

“Dad, Grandma asked when I was coming to visit them.”

“Well, I’ve told her time and again that she can come to you. It’s easier for her to come here than it is for you to go there with my work schedule.”

“I told her that, but she huffed and said something I didn’t understand.”

“It was probably in Swedish. She uses it when she doesn’t want anyone to understand her. I usually ignore her when she does it and act like I didn’t hear her at all.”

“Because it’s mean to talk to someone in a language they don’t understand when you are saying something that they do need to understand, and you are doing it out of anger.”

“Exactly,” Eddie said. Chris’ Spanish wasn’t good enough for long conversations, but their watching the telenovelas helped Chris understand spoken Spanish. It worked well for them, and even Buck got in on helping Chris learn it when Eddie and Chris were having fun talking to each other using the lines from the show. Though it also meant that Buck had revealed he knew Spanish as well.

“Pepa didn’t like Grandma using Swedish either, and she said something in Spanish that Grandma didn’t like that I didn’t understand.”

“Well, I have the app you guys use to talk set to record, so I’ll go through it later when you aren’t around just in case it’s something really bad.”

“That’s why I told you. Is Papa okay?”

“Of course, mijo. He’s just fine. He’s tired as yesterday stressed him out and wore him out to where he couldn’t sleep.”

“Like right before we moved here, and you were up all night but not able to sleep?”

“Yeah, just like that. Just let him sleep. He’ll wake up later and be more than willing to watch stuff with you.”

“Okay.”

“Now, I’m going to head and get stuff out of the Jeep to bring it in from Christmas at the station yesterday. You keep an eye on Noelle to make sure she doesn’t slip out.”

“Yes, Daddy. I’ll watch her, I promise.”

Eddie wasn’t sure that Noelle was really all that interested in going outside through the front door. The world was big and scary to someone as small as her.

It took three trips to get the stuff in from the Jeep. He wasn’t that upset that people liked them that much. He still wasn’t sure about some of the things that he had gotten. Still, he was sure that most of them Buck would enjoy. He found the present from Hen on the nightstand in the bedroom. He picked it up and opened it up.

Inside was a voucher for one of those weekend-long couples’ spa places. Only this one had a full-on hotel as part of it and what looked like a voucher for a romantic meal for two full of the kinds of foods that were supposed to make people get horny. Eddie saw a little slip of paper inside of there, and he pulled it out.

It was a note from Karen that it was half of her winnings and a little chipped in from the rest of the station to give them both something good. The team loved to bet on things, and Eddie knew that most of it was out of a boredom thing, and they never bet on things that hurt. Still, that Karen had made that much didn’t shock him. He had heard a lot of random bets that went on about them.

Eddie closed the flap again, and he laid the present down as he pulled his phone out. He thanked Karen and told her to thank everyone else for him but not text Buck about it yet as he was taking a nap. He put up their stuff and then headed back to the living room. Emma was playing with a few of her new toys while Chris was sitting in a little nest made by Buck’s body. He was on his side now with his legs bent. Noelle was sitting on Buck’s hip, and her tail flicked back and forth.

—

“We have to shut the door to have sex, you know that, right? Even if there are no kids at home.” Buck said as he stripped off his shirt to get ready for bed. He looked at where Noelle was lying with her body on Eddie’s pillow. “I don’t want claws in my ass.”

“No, one wants claws in their ass unless they are into BDSM.”

“Well, I am not. At least not the sadism and masochism part. The bondage and domination I might be. I haven’t tried that enough to know, really.”

“Really? You are going to talk about that now?” Eddie asked.

Buck grinned. “You don’t want to hold me down and fuck me right now?”

“Get the cat out of here,” Eddie said.

“You would disturb her?” Buck asked. He toyed with the string on the sweats he was wearing.

“I would kick her off my lap even if she had just laid down. The people who act like cats need to be treated like they own the things they lay on are nuts,” Eddie said.

“I had a friend in college who said she was trapped in her chair for an hour, and she was starved because she didn’t move off her lap. She was hungry and just didn’t move. I thought at first she was joking, but then I realized that she wasn’t. She would just stay in place for as long as needed if her cat was in her lap or laying on her book. That’s when I realized that she wasn’t joking when she tried it as a reason for her reading not being done for class.”

“Humans are weird.” Eddie looked at Noelle again.

Buck picked up Noelle and opened the door to gently throw her outside. He shut the door before she could dart back in.

“How are you feeling?”

Buck shrugged, and he looked at Eddie with a smile on his face. He walked over to him and cupped Eddie’s face. “I feel better since my nap and then just spending the day relaxing with everyone. It was nice to not have to worry about anything. Sucks we are back to work in the morning, but Carla will be over, and things will settle here. We can kind of move on and see how next Christmas goes. Hopefully, less morose.”

“Hey, this was a good Christmas. You made it special.” Eddie grabbed Buck’s hips and walked him back into the wall. “You made this Christmas worth it, Buck. Not even just what you did for us, but just being here. Living with me, loving me. Caring for my kid so much you let him talk you into things. This is nothing compared to what you have shown me in our lives over the last while.”

“I feel adrift right now. I had hoped that Christmas would help me feel better but seeing Maddie there just reminded me of Christmas in Hershey. This was a good one, though, and I will be happy to keep it right there in my mind when the next Christmas rolls around.”

“Good. Now, I told you what I would do, but you were tired. So, why don’t I do it now?” Eddie dropped to his knees and rubbed his face on Buck’s covered groin.

“You are horrible,” Buck said.

“No, I’m not. I’m wonderful, and you love it when I suck your cock.”

An hour later, Buck was lying on the bed naked. Eddie came out of the bathroom, finishing rubbing a towel through his hair. Buck’s hair had to be a horrible mess, but he didn’t really care. He would fix it in the morning. At least now, they wouldn’t have to shower.

“Come to bed and cuddle me. I’m tired.”

Eddie laughed, and he got into bed, tossing the towel to the side. He propped his head up on his hand and looked at Buck.

“What?” Buck asked.

“I’m just glad you know that you don’t have to act all happy with us all the time. You felt down today, and you were okay acting that way.”

“I believed you when you told me that I didn’t have to be on all the time.”

“I’m just glad you believe it. You have seen Chris on his days where he’s tired and worn out from where he doesn’t sleep well. Now you just need to see him sick as a dog.”

“He’s an angel, compared to Emma,” Buck said.

“You only say that because she only screams. You don’t have to deal with the whining and the begging. At least not yet.”

“Hey, we all got sick that one time. We were fine.”

“Yes, we all slept for a day, and that was it.”

“Eh, still. It was good. I’ve always been alone when I was sick. As much as I got attention for hurting myself, I was ignored when I was actually sick. I never could put my finger on it, and then well, Maddie’s thing. I’m just kind of glad I never had to go to the hospital until I was an adult. I have no clue what would have happened if I had. It wasn’t like they were going to go with me. Or maybe my father would have gotten over it and done it. I have no clue, and I’m kind of happy that I will never have to know.”

“Just don’t think about them.”

“It’s a work in progress, really,” Buck said. He sighed and dropped his head onto the pillow. He smiled up as Eddie moved over to finally lay on Buck’s chest. Buck started to card his fingers through Eddie’s hair. Eddie’s body started to relax and settle in.

Buck knew that Eddie was everything that his parents never were. He never expected Buck to be anyone but who he was, even if that was someone a little annoying sometimes.

Chapter Six

Buck opened the door, and he gave Maddie a smile as he waved her inside. He looked out at where she parked and was happy that she parked on the street. Eddie was out with Chris at Pepa’s for something to do while Buck met with Maddie.

“Where is Eddie?” Maddie asked.

“He’s out with Chris visiting family.”

“And Emma?”

“Playing in her room with her and Chris’ stuffed animals.”

“Oh, I would have thought that you would have her out here.”

“Nah. She plays where she wants. The other bedroom doors are shut, and she can’t get into anywhere but her room.”

“You aren’t going to have her out here to meet me?” Maddie asked.

“She’ll come out at some point.”

“You don’t want her to meet me, do you?”

“No, I do, but I also don’t make her stop what she is doing just to meet people. She knows that you are coming over, and she’ll come out when she wants.”

“You spoil her.”

“No, I just don’t see the need to make her meet everyone who comes over to the house. I remember being shown off with our parents, and it just made me feel like a doll that they only pulled out when they only cared then. We have a lot of people who come by for various reasons, and she’s having fun right now. She doesn’t need to be pulled away from that when she’s going to come out soon to want juice or milk, and you can meet her then.”

“Sorry. It’s still strange to think of you as a father, even if I have known that for almost two years now. You love her. I can tell that. Don’t mind me. I’m still working on myself to try and pull away from what our parents taught us as children.”

“And that’s fine.”

“I had a few reasons why I came over. One, mom and dad have been in town for a while now. I thought they were flying out to talk to me, but I found out that they rented a place here and have been living out of it.”

“I’ve seen them enough that I knew that they had to be staying out here or something. They actually saw me in the store twice. Once, they actually talked to me. I kind of blew them off, but I wasn’t too upset about that. I just did what I needed to do, and we left. I might have pissed them off, but I didn’t really care about that.”

“Well, they have headed home. They didn’t care about you.”

“Why don’t we go to the kitchen and talk?”

“What about Emma?”

“All of the rooms are down that way; she’ll pass the kitchen before she gets anywhere.”

“PA! PEE!”

“Or she will just yell from outside the bathroom door. Excuse me, we are potty training.”

“Already?”

“She wants to be a big girl. Chris didn’t get the door shut one day, and she had a freak out about using a diaper. So we are working on big girl underwear and have been for a month. It’s been a trial. She still wears a diaper at night, but we are working on that too. She’s gotten up a few times to have us help her.”

Buck excused himself and headed down to open the bathroom door to allow her inside. He didn’t do anything but stand there as she used her training potty. Eddie admitted that he hadn’t been around for most of Chris’ potty training but that outside of the issues of Chris’ CP, Shannon said it was easy with him. Buck wondered if it was something about Eddie or there were just horrible kids who were a bear to train.

“Wash?” Emma asked.

“Sure, love bug.” Buck pulled out the step stool that allowed Emma to get up and wash her hands. Buck paid a lot more attention to what she was doing there and helped her when the pump didn’t want to work. It was a new bottle and was still kind of stiff.

“Big girl?” Emma asked.

“Yes, you are a big girl.”

“Present?”

“Ah, you little beggar. All right, present in the kitchen.” Buck knew that the bowl of toys for her using the bathroom without an accident was full. She took off running toward the kitchen, and the sound of her feet suddenly stopped. Buck smiled as he followed her.

Emma was looking at Maddie with curiosity in her eyes.

“Ma?”

“Oh, no-”

“Yeah, that’s Maddie, Ems.”

“Oh,” Maddie said, and she laughed.

“She’s stubborn, and most names are just the first sound. Pa for Papa, Da for Dad, Chri for Chris. So Ma for Maddie.”

“It makes sense.”

“Present?” Emma asked.

“You are a little brat,” Buck said. He picked her up and carried Emma to the basket of toys. It was all things she liked and were big enough that they didn’t have to worry about her choking on them. She grabbed a stuffed fish from there and waved it.

“Mine.”

“Good cause I didn’t want it anyway.”

“Mine, Pa. Mine. No yours.”

Maddie started to laugh as Buck put Emma on her feet, and she took off running to the back of the house. “She’s going to run circles around you.”

“Oh, I know. I’m kind of glad that I have back up. Not only Eddie but everyone across the street. When you get to know her better, I will tag you in on watching her as well.”

“I always wondered if things would have been better if you were allowed to make more friends, had more adults that gave a shit in your life. I know that I was better off because our parents didn’t treat me the same as you. I didn’t see it, though. We had a shitty life, but I never tried to understand what you were going through. Our joint therapy sessions have really opened my eyes, and I’ve worked through a lot. I cut our parents off as much as you did. I’ve let them know that they can remove us from their will that we don’t want anything from them.”

“That’s good, Maddie. Are you happy about it?”

“I am. I’m really happy.”

Buck walked over to the kettle and turned it on. He snagged the basket of teas from the cabinet and handed it over to Maddie. “We have water, juice, and milk as well.”

“No, tea is fine. Loose-leaf? When did you get fancy?”

“I blame my friends. They threw away my single-serve bags three weeks ago when they realized that I wasn’t keeping to how things are across the street.”

Maddie laughed as she looked through the tea. “I think I want something strong and bitter. What do you say?”

“There is a maté in there that is great. Here.” Buck grabbed the bag and slid it over.

“I have never heard of this brand.”

“I love them.”

“Cool. So yeah, I’ll do the maté.”

“So will I.” Buck walked over, and he grabbed his pills for the morning. He set them where he needed them.

“What are those?”

“Oh, just my ADHD pill as well as vitamins and such. It’s nothing too bad. They are here because I didn’t want to have to go to my bedroom to get them this morning with Emma not allowed in there right now.”

“I feel bad that I never figured that out.”

“You were not around a lot when it would have been something that was noticeable and when you were, you probably put it all down to how excited I was to see you.”

“But not when you were in college. Looking back, I could see it after you told me about it.”

“Hindsight, but also there is a reason why they say that people shouldn’t care for their family medically like that.”

“I understand that, but I also should have paid more attention. I am just happy we have this that we can try. I’m working on myself.”

“I was a wreck when I started to work on myself. How is work going?”

“Work is going good. I’m pretty happy with everything. I do like it. I don’t know that I can ever go back to nursing. I know that Doug is dead. I know he can’t come back, but there is still something with having an open back, as it were. Doctor Copeland says that I might never get over that part of my PTSD, and that was a slap in the face when she said it.”

“Is she wrong?” Buck asked.

“No. She’s not. I just never put that label on someone like me, even though I knew that it was possible. It was just a shock. I’m on medication to help me with a few of the issues that I have had popped up, and I have put a hold on dating.”

“I did that. I had someone I had sex with when I wanted sex, and he was my comfort when I needed it, but we both didn’t push for more, and he’s still a great friend.”

“I’m not interested in sex right now. Doug used-” Maddie stopped.

“You can tell me anything, Maddie.”

“Doug used sex as a way of forgiveness. It wasn’t ever rough, and he never pressured me into sex. But it was always good, and I’m afraid of what I might do if sex came into a relationship with someone. I don’t want to just fall in love with the first man I come across again. I don’t want to feel like they are saving me from my life.”

Buck understood that feeling. He might not have felt it.

“How did you know Eddie was the one?” Maddie asked.

“Because he was my friend beforehand. We were friends, then best friends, and then I knew that I didn’t want to live a day of my life without him in it, but it wasn’t something possessive. If I was just his friend for the rest of our lives, I was going to be happy. I wanted him in any fashion that I could get. That he loved me as well was the icing on the cake, as it were. You’ll find that Maddie, but you gotta be happy.”

“Doctor Copeland says that all the time that I have to be happy on my own to be happy with someone.”

“And she’s right. I can’t make someone else the reason for my being happy. I was getting to where I was happy alone when Eddie came into my life, and that’s when I knew. I was fine with him as he was or with more. He was happy alone as well. He was just happier with me by his side, but he could live without me.”

“Da? Noms.”

“Noms?”

“You can thank Riccardo for that one. He keeps calling food nom-noms around her, and it’s stuck. Eddie has started to do it as well. It’s the worst. But I guess it’s not the worst when it comes to names of things. She just wants her morning snack.” The kettle clicked off that it was up to temperature. “Her food is in a little bowl on the third shelf from the bottom in the fridge. Can you grab it?”

“Sure.”

Buck worked on getting the tea going, and he watched out of the corner of his eyes as Maddie grabbed one of Emma’s spoons and then looked at Buck.

“She can sit on the island.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she’s getting to where she hates the high chair for her snacks, so we just plop her on the island or the table, and she sits there and eats. She’s pretty good at it. She’s also easier to clean up. Well, the counter is easier to clean than the floor.”

Maddie picked up Emma and settled her on the island, and she settled into a sitting position and held out her hands for the yogurt.

“She just eats it plain?” Maddie asked.

“No, I’ll get the granola.” Buck set down the mugs, and he opened the drawer in the island that held the little packets of granola. It was made with stuff that she liked, which was not a lot that was normally in granola, and it was made a little softer.

“Oh, that’s cute,” Maddie said as Buck opened the container and dumped it in. “You are more than I thought you would be.”

“What do you mean?” Buck asked.

“I just assumed you would be letting Eddie do most of the raising. I still had this image of you when I gave you the Jeep, and you ran all over the country. I assumed that in a few years, you would move on, leaving Eddie with the kid.”

“It takes a village to raise a kid, and I’m lucky that I have that village. They stepped up to help me, but they also made sure I knew how to do it on my own. While I have a nanny service on tap, I’m also lucky that I don’t have to use it that much. Everyone is pretty good at helping me out. Sometimes they even steal my child when I have a day off cause they want her. Sometimes I have to fight to see my child. I don’t like it.”

“Oh, my God, I forgot how devastating your pout could be, Buck,” Maddie said.

“Eddie tells me that all the time.”

“I want to get to know the man you are, Buck.”

“And I want to get to know who you are too within the boundaries I am setting on my life.”

—

Eddie wasn’t sure what he was going to come home to find. Buck hadn’t answered the last few texts. There had been a few after Buck, Emma, and Maddie had gone out to lunch but radio silence since then. Eddie unlocked the door, and he stepped inside to find Buck on the couch with an asleep Emma on top of him. Buck had headphones in and looked to be just listening to music.

Buck opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Eddie. He gave a smile and nodded his head.

Eddie turned back and waved for Chris to come on in. Eddie held the door while Chris came inside. When the door shut, Buck pulled the earbuds out of his ears.

“She just went down about ten minutes ago. Maddie and I wore her out at the park.”

“How did it go?”

“We had a few rough spots, but overall it was a wonderful day. We have a long way to go, but it was a good day. A really good start to connecting again.”

“Well, I think it was connecting for the first time, really.” Eddie nodded toward the kitchen, and Buck nodded his head.

Eddie went to get a beer for each of them and came back in to find Chris now sitting in the chair listening to music on his headphones with a book in his lap. Emma was still on Buck’s chest, but she was out of it.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. Lighter. It feels good. I feel like that while we had each other to support each other, but then she left, and it felt like she left me. I was alone, and I was afraid to do anything to rock the boat. It feels better to know that she was just as lost. I want to have my big sister back. I want to feel safe around her again.”

“It’s nice to feel safe around siblings. I think it’s good you and she are building that.”

“I’m happy that we are as well.” Eddie handed over the beer to Buck as he sat down at the end of the couch. Buck lifted his legs and waited for Eddie to scoot back before putting them in Eddie’s lap.

Eddie took a sip of his beer and was about to say something when a knock came at the door. It was strange for someone to knock, especially on a Saturday afternoon. Tommy just left himself in with his key and everyone else usually messaged before coming over. Eddie tapped Buck’s feet, and he raised them for Eddie to get up again.

“You are lucky. I love you,” Buck said.

“Like I did it because I knew someone was going to knock on the door.” Eddie opened the door and took a sip of his beer before he saw it was some guy in a suit out there. “Can I help you?”

“Edmundo Diaz?”

“Yes,” Eddie said.

“Here you go. I just need you to sign for these papers.”

Eddie took the clipboard, and he signed it before he looked at the person it was from. he knew the firm’s name. It was the kind of firm that buried people in paperwork instead of actually fighting a fair fight.

“Well, this isn’t good. Um, thanks. Have a wonderful day.” Eddie shut the door, and he looked at buck. Buck was now sitting up and looking at Eddie, confused. “I think we might need Lily.”

“Eds?” Buck asked.

“I just got served papers, and considering that-” Eddie stopped and looked at Chris. “She wants nothing to do with me. I have to wonder who the fuck sent this.”

Buck started to text, and he laid his phone down just as Eddie got the paperwork out of the Manila envelope. He saw the names on the top of it. It was a civil suit in family court. His parents were suing for custody of Chris. He shook his head and dropped the paperwork down.

“Yeah, we need Lily, and we need to see about getting CPS in here now to start a case on their end of what things are like,” Eddie said.

“What’s up?”

“My parents are suing for custody of Chris.”

Buck looked over Chris, and then he picked up his phone again as he sat up. He kept his free hand on Emma’s back to keep her from sliding down.

“I’ll have Tommy come over and watch the kids while we talk with Lily. I don’t think that we need to have him hear any of this.”

“No, that’s good. I’ll get the stuff I have on this. Print out of texts I have saved on my phone. I have the whole thread locked, and I have the messages that I have gotten since I cut contact with them. There is some horrible shit in there. I mean, if they are willing to talk to me like that, what would they say to Chris about me?”

“Nothing good. Okay, yeah, I’ll put Emma down in her bed, and we will see who comes over. I told Lily to send someone to watch the kids, and we would go to them.”

“That sounds good.” Eddie rubbed his hands over his face as Buck passed by him.

“Dad?” Chris asked.

“Hey, buddy. I have to talk to Lily about a few things, and I need Buck with me. Someone is going to come over to make sure that you have a backup on the Emma front.”

“I still don’t change diapers,” Chris said.

“I know. She’s been doing pretty good at telling us when she needs to go, but it’s gonna be hard to help her with that for you.”

“Babysitters ‘r’ Us,” Derek said as he came in the door a moment later. His eyes landed on the papers on the coffee table, and he pulled out his phone. He sent off a text. “Looks like this might take a while.”

“You have plans?”

“Yup, I do, but those plans can happen over here. Noah wanted to watch a movie with me. It’s kid-friendly, don’t worry. We will just watch it with Chris and Emma in a little while. We have dinner covered as well. Meaning that we will order it, and it will show up here. You guys worry about that.”

“Dad, is something wrong?”

“I don’t know. I need to talk to Lily cause its legal stuff, and I don’t want to freak you out if it’s nothing,” Eddie said. He wasn’t lying; he had no idea what most of it would say, and he would rather give Chris the straight facts.

“Okay, but you aren’t lying, are you?”

“No, Chris. You know I am crap with legal stuff. I would rather freak out if it’s needed than to have you worry about something and it be nothing.”

“Okay. I’ll make sure that Emma is woken up in a little while.”

“Buck texted me when she went down, probably as soon as he heard my voice.”

“Okay. I don’t change diapers.”

“It’s a good thing we have Noah coming over, huh?” Derek asked as he walked over to the couch and sat down. “Noah is like the boss at changing diapers.”

“Good. Maybe doing it will make him and Shawn want one.”

Derek laughed, and he waved Eddie away.

Eddie grabbed the paperwork, and he headed to his bedroom to grab the file he had in the safe on his parents. He grabbed the paperwork he had otherwise as well. The fireproof safe was one of the first things he had bought when he got there, and it held everything needed.

He was just about to leave the room when his phone rang. It was the Undertaker’s walkout song, and he groaned, but he answered it.

“Shannon,” Eddie said.

“Eddie, I just wanted to give you the heads up that your parents called me today to talk me into helping them get custody of Chris. They spouted off a lot of stuff, but I just ignored them. I thought I would give you the heads up, but I just got out of work.”

“They have already sent the papers showing their intent to sue.”

“I saw you with him a few weeks ago. I didn’t want to intrude as it looked like you were out a date with that firefighter you work with and his daughter.”

“What?”

“You guys were at the park. I was running around the track there and saw Chris. I didn’t want to approach for many reasons, but Chris looked happy and healthy, better than he did when we were in El Paso. I wish I had just taken him up to LA with me and forced you to follow. I won’t help them, and if push came to shove, I would stand up in court and tell them where to shove it. You have blossomed as a father just as much as I was withering as a mother. I love him, but I can’t be in his life in a way that wouldn’t hurt him. I don’t want to hurt him.”

“I can’t say he doesn’t miss you. I make sure he knows that you love him, but you can’t love him the way he needs and be around. If his grandparents try and take him, I think that seeing you in court saying what you think wouldn’t hurt him as much as they are going to.”

“I’ll make sure I have my lawyer on tap for this or a suggestion of a good one if he doesn’t think it’s the right thing for him.”

“I’ll be using Lily Green; she’s a friend and a damned good family lawyer who is going to rip them to shreds. I suspect that visitation will be on the table, but I’ll make sure it’s supervised, and I will contact CPS to start a file already on us so that we can get ahead of this and they can come and visit before my parents make a stink of this.”

“Contact the Union; they will lend their support and make a huge deal of it if that is needed.”

“I will.” Eddie swallowed as he thought about the friendship he and Shannon had before all of this. She had been his rock. He wanted that again. “I’ll text and keep you updated on my end.”

“Maybe someday we can be a weird little family, but I need more time, Eddie.”

“Take that time.” Eddie waited for Shannon to hang up before he did. He ensured he had what he needed before shutting the safe and leaving. Buck wasn’t in the living room yet, so he looked at where Derek was flipping through channels to find a documentary.

The front door opened, and Eddie turned to see Shawn and Noah coming in the door. They were holding hands.

“Holy shit,” Eddie said.

“What?” Buck asked as he came into the room again. He looked at Eddie and then at the door. “Well, hell.”

“Surprise?” Noah said.

“It’s no surprise. Well, you two are doing it like this is but the fact you are a couple is not. Happy coming out the pair of you. Now, come on. We have limited time before Emma wakes up, and we all know she’s going to be upset if the movie is started without her. I want to know it all.” Derek patted the couch beside him, and Noah sighed before pulling Shawn over there with him. “I’ll be your third wheel to this lovely date.”

“No making out. This is a no-making-out couch when I am in the living room,” Chris said.

“Get out of here,” Derek said.

Eddie tucked the papers close before he headed to the front door. Buck said nothing as they crossed the street. Lily was standing in the doorway with the living room taken over by her mobile office, as she called it.

“Um, privacy?” Eddie asked.

“Oh, no, everyone who is not working is moving Shawn into Noah’s room and Mia into Shawn’s old room. This area will be less on that.”

“How are they across the street getting out of this?”

“Well, it’s a surprise for them both. Noah made a comment about trying to work on it over the week. Derek’s the main one getting off on doing manual labor, but he’s the technical childcare as if it was the other two over there, it’s going to end up with making out, and Chris will not let them hear the end of it. So let me see this paperwork.”

Lily held out her hand, and Eddie handed over the papers he had been served. She snagged them and walked over to the chair where she worked from home and settled in to read.

Eddie sat down on the couch and looked at his hands while Buck paced behind the chair.

“Well, they have taken a very different stance than I would on this. The good news is that we can do this all outside of a courtroom. They want a jury trial, but we can easily make sure it’s a judge making the decision. It will work in our favor because honestly, their stated reasons are going to scream ableism to any judge in family court.”

“And our relationship?” Buck asked.

Eddie looked up at him. He had assumed that Buck was just worried about his parents and Chris, not their relationship added on.

“I refuse to even think about fake breaking up, much less actually breaking up just to pass through the courts. If they take my son away from me for loving a man, I will burn the world to the ground to get him back and fix this corrupt as fuck justice system.”

“Okay, rein in that anger and calm down,” Lily said. She turned to look at Buck behind her. “And you quit that shit and sit your ass down so that your boyfriend can sit on you to keep you from vibrating into another dimension.”

Buck walked around the chair, and he did that. He dropped down into the seat, and he glared at Eddie when Eddie tried to get closer.

“What are your first thoughts about what you are going to do?”

“CPS. I’m going to call them to start up a case file on my end so that we don’t have to wait for that part when my parents and their lawyer try and go that way. I need to call Abuela and let her deal with this how she wants. My parents have already made it seem like I have no family up here.”

“That’s good. I’m also going to start a file on everyone here and at your station and their words on all this. We have pillars of the community that we can trip over for weeks to ensure that you have character witnesses out the ass. Now, what are they going to pull out of the closet that can use to make it seem like you are the worst father in the world?”

“When I was down in El Paso, I was working three jobs to make ends meet. They took care of Chris more than I saw him but other than that, nothing.”

“Which if they took kids away from parents for that, they would end up with CPS overloaded as there are a lot of single parents working a job. You have Carla, us, your family, who else is Chris left with?”

“No one. I haven’t even had to leave him with the nanny service that Buck uses, even though they are on tap to help with him. They have staff that is trained to deal with all kinds of mental and physical disabilities.”

“He’s never been left with anyone you dated before Buck?”

“What dating? I didn’t do that when I was here. Not until Buck.”

“Hospital visits?”

“More than I would like but less than most kids get. Even Chris has accidents that we can’t do anything about, and with his limitations on movement, when he’s stiff, he goes. I’m sure that the ER thinks I’m nuts, honestly. Nothing serious in the past year.”

“I want those records. I’m going to dig as deep as I fucking can into your parents. Do I have your permission?”

“Don’t drag them in public, but do whatever you can to make sure that if they fight dirty, we can fight dirty as well.”

“A man after my own heart there, Diaz. Buck, your stuff will probably come up in court about your brother and your parents if that law firm does what I think they will. They will try and paint both of you as someone that shouldn’t be around any children, and we will make sure that it fails.”

“Do what you have to do,” Buck said. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

Eddie knew that Buck was upset because they didn’t see this coming. After everything with Buck’s parents, they assumed they would be trying to sue to get what looked like the only grandchild they would ever have.

“We will work out the money later, but I’m going to make them regret this, and if either of the kids is upset at all, which we know Chris will be, I will counter sue for emotional damage. I will put that out there and that the only thing I will go for is enough money for college for Chris to not have to worry but also enough to cover my expenses.”

“I’m good for the money you charge,” Eddie said.

“Oh, I know. But why not remind them that they started this, and I will end it. I want to make sure that they don’t get a wild hair down the road to do this again. Your updated will and such will be enough that most judges will understand that a lot is going on that is not good. So let’s get all of our ducks in a row right now, and then we will make a full-on plan of attack.”

Chapter Seven

Eddie sat down and looked at where Buck was on the phone in the corner of the room. Lily, his parents’ lawyer, and the judge were talking in chambers at the moment. Carla had Chris and Emma outside the meeting room with Tommy. Eddie was glad that they weren’t in a uniform of some kind, given the situation. Buck had tried, but Eddie had vetoed. They were both in sharp suits, though that were much more put together than what his parents were in. Eddie had seen them briefly when they had been escorted into the room since they were the first to arrive. The judge had not been willing for a ruckus in the outer area of these chambers.

As soon as the door opened, Buck hung up. Eddie looked over to see the judge and Lily coming in, and the other lawyer was leaving through the other door, probably to snag Eddie’s parents.

“So this is going to be a little more informal since your parents have said they are not stopping until Chris is theirs. I have not looked at anything as far as evidence goes, and Lily already said that I would have to throw you in jail before you would allow your parents to leave with Chris.”

“That sounds about right,” Eddie said.

The door opened again, and a pack of four lawyers and his parents came inside. It wasn’t until Eddie saw the young woman lawyer in the group that he understood why his parents had gone with this firm.

“Isabella,” Eddie said. He stayed seated even though Lily stood up. He only stood when the judge came to the table and sat down right after he did.

“Edmundo,” Isabella said.

“You two know each other?” the judge asked.

“Yes, Isabella is the only child of my aunt Mirabella. Who before now had been the black sheep of the family and hadn’t talked to anyone in the family in three decades. Her husband would bring Isabella around to visit the family once a year. She and I are roughly the same age, and she has resented me since we were seven, and I won the spoon race at a family reunion.”

“You cheated.”

“I don’t know how having steadier hands has ever been cheating.”

Isabella opened her mouth, but the judge held up a hand.

“I’ve looked over the case file so far on the motion put before the court. I want to see this evidence that you have about how Edmundo, Eddie is a man who doesn’t understand the care of raising a child with cerebral palsy. I will then hear what you have to say. Miss Green, until I ask, your side is to stay quiet, please.”

Isabella handed over a stack of papers that looked like something the whole station would fill out after a five-alarm fire. The judge looked through them all but didn’t look too hard.

“Okay, let’s start with childcare,” the judge said.

“As documented by the files there, he’s left alone with a group of people sometimes who live in a frat house,” Helena said. “The only competent person to watch him is the nurse who usually covers when Edmundo is working.”

“I see. And this frat house, what college do they go to?”

Eddie tried to keep his snort to himself.

“No, you misunderstand. They are not a frat house like that, but it’s over a dozen people living in the same house, of both sexes.”

“What jobs do they hold?”

“We didn’t research that far,” Isabella said.

Eddie leaned over. “Lie,” he said into Lily’s ear.

“Miss Green, do you have a list of the people who work in this house?”

“I do, for the most part. I did leave off one of the residents, for full disclosure,” Lily said as she handed over the sheet of paper that had everything the judge cared about.

“Why?”

“I didn’t figure that I needed to put myself on there.”

“I see.” The judge looked over the list for a few seconds. “How are any of these people incapable of caring for a child? Especially a pediatric oncology nurse?”

“Like, I said we didn’t look into that. The living situation is not one that the Diazes feel is a good fit for their very sensitive grandson who has only been raised by his family before this.”

“Hmm, I see.” The judge made a few notes on the list of people who lived in the house before he tossed the papers from Isabella’s away. “What else?”

“Well, there is the boyfriend.”

“Ah, Mister Evan Buckley. Lily, do you have the file you had made on him?”

“Yes, I do.” Lily handed it over.

The judge sorted through the paperwork in front of him and found the file that was there. “Ah, yes. I see that you have him listed as a horrible influence on Christopher because of his sexually loose ways. What do you mean by that?”

“He had a lot of partners before he and Edmundo started a relationship.”

“And did he parade those people in and out of his daughter’s life?”

“Not that we can tell.”

“I see. So getting his daughter that he adopted after the mother asked him to when she was dying has changed him, and the file I have here from Miss Green matches yours on the timeline of things.”

Eddie could tell by how his mother’s face pinched up that she was pissed off but trying not to show it.

It went back and forth like that for a while before the judge had gone through all of the papers in front of him from Isabella.

“Okay, so I’m going to ask a few questions of you, Mister and Mrs. Diaz. If I award custody of him, how are you planning to make sure that his father stays in his life?”

“Well, Edmundo will have to move back to El Paso,” Ramon said.

“I see, and Christopher’s school?”

“He will come down and be homeschooled by me. I have more than enough time to teach him in a safe environment where he is surrounded by those who understand him.”

“His grades are exceptional and the notes from his teacher at his very specialized school. His teacher calls him a social butterfly. How are you going to match that with homeschooling.”

“He has cousins, and we live on a very popular with families street.”

“I see. A floor plan of the house showed how it was set up so that he had more than enough to move around with his crutches and, when it was needed, a wheelchair. Is he going to need a wheelchair, Eddie?”

“Not if we stick to the medical plan that we have worked out with his team of doctors.”

“And this plan with you guys?”

“Surgeries aren’t needed. He is in such pain afterward. I hated that his mother forced those on him before that. He’s perfect as he is.”

“Mister Buckley, I’ve seen the file that states that you took him into a dangerous situation without a care in the world to his disability. What are they talking about?”

“The only thing that I can think of is the tsunami. We were walking back from the pier when it hit. I got him to safety. He was never hurt. He was barely in danger. It’s not like I took him there on purpose.”

“Is that what you are talking about?”

“He never should have been at the pier with anyone. That is not a safe space for him. He needs to be safer than that,” Helena said. She huffed as she leaned forward. “They take him to the zoo, and they let him rock climb!”

“Rock climb?”

“Yes, at a gym that does all kinds of things like that for those who have various disabilities. It was recommended by his team of doctors, actually. Everything he does there is safe and under the care of people who have trained to do it. He’s safe there, just like he is at therapy when he goes to make sure he is as bendable as he can be. He is as safe there as he is anywhere else.”

“See, they have no regard for his delicate nature.”

“Lily, Isabella, please take your clients out of here. Eddie, I would like to speak to Chris alone. I understand he is outside.”

“Yes. I will gladly let you talk to him alone. If he gets upset, though, I have told him to leave where he is.”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to upset the young man. I want to get his opinion on what he thinks of all of this. What does he know?”

“Everything. That his mother is working on herself and she wants nothing to do with either of us but that she would come back here in a heartbeat to tell my parents about themselves. He knows why we moved up here to LA and that his grandparents don’t like me raising him out of their area of control.”

“Edmundo, really,” Ramon said.

“I am speaking to him. You are to remain quiet. Go on.”

“That was pretty much it. I haven’t kept a thing about this from him. I have not said anything horrible about my parents in front of him, though. I know that they have said horrible things about his mother in front of him.”

“She was a piece of shit mother,” Helena said.

Eddie just enjoyed the look that his mother was given. He got up and laid a hand on Buck’s shoulder to have him get up. They were out of the room before Lily was. Eddie walked down to where Chris and Carla were sitting. Emma was dancing to the music playing out of Carla’s phone.

“Eddie,” Carla said.

“The judge wants to talk to you alone, Chris. Carla, do you mind escorting him once my parents have left the room. They should be taken down the other way.” Eddie looked up to see that it was right; they were headed the other way. He was glad of that. He sat down, and Buck sat down beside him.

“I’ll take Chris down and wait for him outside of the room.”

Eddie nodded, and he watched as they headed down. Chris was subdued because of him being upset. Eddie had a feeling that his parents doing this would remove what little want Chris had of contact with them. They were so short-sighted that they didn’t care about the future. They just wanted what they wanted now. Eddie wasn’t ever going to force Chris to see them again after this. He wasn’t going to make Chris do something that would hurt him.

It was half an hour later that Carla came back down with Chris.

“Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?” Eddie asked.

“I want to stay with Buck,” Chris said, and he crawled into Buck’s lap. “I don’t want anything to do with Helena or Ramon again.”

“Okay, mijo,” Eddie said. He stood up. “I’ll make sure to tell the judge that.”

“I already did. He asked me what I wanted after telling me some of the things that they said about you and about Buck.”

“Okay.” Eddie got up, and he pressed a kiss to Chris’ head before heading down the hall. Lily got off the phone she had been on since they left the meeting room.

“Ready?” Lily asked.

“Ready.” Eddie followed her into the room. The judge was still in there, and his parents were sitting there.

“Obviously, if this goes further, it’s court, and I will recuse myself, and a new judge will take over, and Eddie, I would suggest that you go for a jury trial.”

“That doesn’t sound very unbiased,” Isabella said.

“It’s not, but this was mediation, not a trial. Both parties agreed to mediation with a judge who would advise the best course of action, but the thing is that there has been nothing on the line of abuse or neglect shown on the part of Eddie to his son. There is a lot of posturing on your part. I have files from CPS here that was given to me by the CPS agent assigned to the case.”

‘We didn’t go that far,” Isabella said.

“No, Eddie did. He opened the case on his own because he was being sued for custody of his biological child by his parents. So they have been handling it with DCFS helping, and it’s being treated with the utmost respect. It’s been an interesting read about what they think about Chris’ life under the care of his father and his father’s family and friends. They wouldn’t recommend removing Chris from the environment he is in now. They have even gone to the ‘frat’ house as you call it and even to your mother and sister’s houses, Ramon. There isn’t a single red flag in the file outside of worrying about how attached Chris is to Buck and how much that will hurt if they break up, but they also note that it’s the same for almost all parents who date after a divorce.

“It’s also very telling that more paperwork was drawn up later and agreed to by Shannon Diaz to make sure that nothing can be in her choice on who Chris goes to if Eddie is killed. She understood that she wasn’t going to want an avenue open at all for her. Just to make sure you cannot get her child. Much work was done to ensure that you will never get your grandchild if Eddie dies. That right there tells me a lot. It would also come out in court and be spread around to the jury. You cannot tell me that a jury filled with parents, or those who have siblings with children, would not look at it strange that Eddie has done everything he legally can to make sure you don’t get his child, and here you are; suing for it.”

“We will go forward with this,” Helena said.

“And I wish you all luck. Lily?”

“Thank you. If you go forward with this, we will counter sue when custody remains with Eddie. For court costs and emotional damage done to Chris; his life is thrown into turmoil because his grandparents fucked up with their son and are trying to find a replacement son. I don’t think that Chris would thrive with you at all, and he would be turned into someone who would depend on you for everything, and considering how much older than him you are, that would be condemning him to a life of having to be taken care of once you have passed.”

“We have plans for everything. There is a lovely care facility for him when we do pass. We’ve already got him a place secured there.”

“I thought that the records from his team of doctors state that Chris can live a life on his own once he’s an adult?” the judge asked.

“Yes, they have,” Lily said.

“Yeah, this is not going to go well in front of a jury. Especially once Chris is on the stand,” the judge said.

“You would put him there to talk in front of strangers?” Ramon asked Eddie.

Eddie kept his mouth shut.

“Actually, Chris told me that he wanted to get up and tell you about yourself,” the judge said.

“See what he is doing to that poor boy,” Helena said. She crossed herself.

Eddie rolled his eyes and looked at Lily. She nodded her head.

“Is there anything else?”

“Isabella, do you want me to find a new judge for a jury trial?” the judge asked.

“Yes,” Ramon said.

“No, not for our firm. I think that this has gone as far as we can take it unless our clients really push it.”

“We are pushing it,” Ramon said.

“Okay, then we will be in contact.”

“We demand visitation,” Helena said.

“That’s up to CPS and DCFS. They make those choices, not me, and while the judge in the case can force it, I’m not going to. This was the last chance before this goes to court. May God have mercy on your souls.” The judge said the last directly to Eddie’s parents.

Eddie stayed seated until his parents, and their lawyers were gone. He looked at the judge. “Thank you.”

“I tried. There are reasons why I have this job. It’s pretty much all that I do. I try to stop cases from clogging the docket when there are kids who need to be in court more. You have done wonderfully with your son. You might have fucked up at the start, but you got it together. Chris is a lovely young man who will grow into a wonderful adult with the care you and your partner are putting into it. I cannot make judgments on cases, but I can try and sway to the way that I feel is in the child’s best interest. It works more often than it doesn’t, making the courts a little less packed.”

“Thank you for the words,” Eddie said. Lily laid her hand on his shoulder, and he stood up to follow her out of the room. Buck was just outside the door with Chris in his arms while Tommy had Emma in his arms. Carla was looking down the hall with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

“Anyone hungry?” Buck asked.

Eddie actually did feel like he could eat when he hadn’t been able to that morning.

—

Eddie pulled into the spot next to the Jeep. It was like no one wanted to be near the Jeep, given there were at least five car spaces empty on either side.

“Dad? I don’t see Papa,” Chris said.

“I do. He’s down near the surf.” Eddie shut off the engine and pulled the keys free. He slipped them into his light jacket pocket and zipped the pocket shut. It was pretty cool today with the wind at the beach.

“Papa?” Emma asked.

“I’ll let you out to go and get him as soon as I can, love bug,” Eddie said. He got out and walked around to make sure that everything was secure in the bed of the truck still. It was and would stay there until they were ready to eat lunch.

He walked around the truck to get into the backseat and get Chris out of there. Chris would take the longest to get to Buck, so being first was best.

“Da! PA!” Emma said.

“Hold your horses. I’ll get you out when I can.” Eddie shut the door on the driver’s side, and he walked around to the passenger to get Emma out. As soon as she was on the ground, she ran along the side of the truck, tucked in close like Buck had taught her. She stopped at the front and looked both ways to ensure nothing was coming even though it was just sand.

As soon as she trusted it was safe, she was off, tripping only once. Eddie laughed as she rolled through the sand before stopping, getting up, and running again.

Buck was so lost in his own world that he didn’t hear Emma running at him. He jumped when Emma launched herself at him.

“Emma? How are you here?” Buck turned his head around to look at where Chris was heading toward him and beyond Chris to Eddie. He slumped down like he had done something wrong but pulled Emma around to settle her into his lap.

“You tracked me, didn’t you?”

“You allowed me that kind of thing. I didn’t like the note you wrote.”

“I am not hurting myself.”

“Not really, but you are. I wasn’t afraid of you doing more than just angsting, Buck. I was worried about where your head is at and that you need your family around you.”

“I’m fine,” Buck said.

“And you will be more fine with us here. Can you really say that the moment you finally work yourself into going into that water is going to be a good moment if Chris isn’t sitting right here where you can see him?” Eddie asked.

“How did you know this was what I was doing? Maybe this was just where I ended up.”

“You took everything you needed with you to change and shower to get the salt off your skin.”

“Ugh, you know me too well. I demand a new boyfriend.”

Eddie closed the gap between them and settled in behind Buck. He bracketed Buck’s body with his legs and pressed his thighs to Buck’s.

“I still want a new one that doesn’t know me that well.”

“No, you don’t, Papa,” Chris said as he sat down beside Buck. “You love us just like we are, and you won’t get that with strangers. Besides, Emma would miss me. I am the nice one.”

“Yeah, you are the one that sneaks her chocolate when you think we aren’t looking,” Eddie said.

Buck leaned back into Eddie’s body, letting Eddie take his weight.

“Abuela called, and she’s not happy with my parents, but we think that the family as a whole has talked them out of suing for custody. Isabella’s mother is not happy with her at all and has contacted Abuela to make sure that if money is needed to cover anything of my father suing us, she’ll help as much as she can. She’s pretty well off, and Pepa is pretty sure that she is the one who contacted Lily to pay the bills on what was already done. I’m not going to fight it as I know it’s a lost cause there. I think that me kind of pushing away from the family that she had issues with has made her respect us more. I wouldn’t be shocked if Mirabella showed up on the doorstep one day.”

“Why was she the black sheep?”

“She married someone that the family hated. Abuelo, I guess, really hated him. Abuela loved him, but even she knew that he was turning too hard in his old age. Then Mira divorced him for just slapping her once. Then she married a man who Abuelo really hated, and things just went even more sour. It’s a whole thing that happened when I was too young to understand most of it, and my father refuses to talk about it. I didn’t care too much because I never knew Mira, and Isabella was someone I didn’t care about.”

“Isabella might resent her mother for doing what she did and it cutting her off from her family.”

“The thing is that if she hadn’t done that, Isabella never would have had children of her own. The man she was supposed to marry had three kids under five, and he refused to have more. It was part of the contract that I remember my mother talking about once.”

“Yeah, okay, I’m glad you don’t like that part of your family.”

“Very old-fashioned and not people I wanted around Chris, ever.”

Buck hummed and turned his head into Eddie’s neck. “I’ll never do this if I don’t just do it.” He shook a little as he stood up and handed Emma to Eddie. “Keep her close. I don’t want her in the water right now.”

“It’s fine. She’s good in her swimming class but let’s not chance that if you are freaking out.”

Buck felt himself settling down as he got closer to the water. He knew that he needed to deal with this. He knew that his issues were growing instead of getting better. Doctor Guentzel had been trying to get him to go back to the beach with at least Eddie there but pushing for Chris to be there as well. The tsunami hadn’t even been that bad for him. Chris and Emma had been safe the whole time. Emma hadn’t been phased by it while Chris’ nightmares were just around Buck not getting them out of there in time. It had all been a blip on the radar, really, with everything.

“Beach party!” a voice yelled out, and it nearly had Buck tripping. He had picked this beach because it was usually not used that much this time of day.

Buck stuck his feet in the water, letting the surf fall over his ankles as he looked back to see a line of vehicles on either side of his Jeep. Lily was dropping down to the sand on the side of Eddie that Chris wasn’t on, and the rest of the house was right there behind, carrying a whole bunch of stuff with them.

“And how did you find us?”

“I followed Eddie,” Dave said as he dropped a chair into the sand and then sat down in it.

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Eddie said.

“You bailed on breakfast, Buck,” Tommy said as he walked down to where Buck was.

Buck turned to look out at the ocean, and he didn’t want to fear it anymore. He didn’t want to fear it, to begin with, but it was what it was.

“Come on, Bucky,” Chris said as he bumped into Buck’s side. He was dressed in a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt, his normal for playing in the ocean. He dropped his crutches down and threaded his hand into Buck’s. “I’ll go with you, kid.”

Buck laughed, and he looked at the water again, feeling it hitting his ankles as the waves went in and out. He took a step, careful of Chris moving with him. Tommy was right there as well with a hand on Buck’s shoulder.

Glad that Eddie was back with Emma, Buck moved to where his knees were fully covered as the waves got a little stronger.

“You okay, buddy?” Buck asked.

“Of course,” Chris said, and he turned and held out his other hand.

Buck picked him up and carried him a little deeper into the water with Tommy right there. He looked back to see Eddie with Emma while the rest of their friends all worked on getting their little beach area set up.

“How do you feel?”

“Don’t try and psychoanalyze me now,” Buck said.

“I’m not. I just want to be sure to be ready if you drop him.”

“Bucky would never drop me.” Chris did cling a little tighter to Buck as he said it. “At least not on purpose.”

“Never on purpose.” Buck moved a little deeper into the water, and he was glad of having Chris in his arms for it. He stayed there in the waves and just waited for that fear to leave him. It slowly left him, and he could relax, standing there with Chris in his arms.

“Hey, why don’t we swap out?” Eddie asked.

Buck stiffened, and he felt Eddie’s hand on his shoulder. Then there was Eddie right beside him with Emma in his arms.

“Do you think we can go swimming?” Eddie asked.

“I think we can do that.” Buck looked to see that Eddie had taken off his coat and was not wearing a shirt anymore. Emma had the floaters on her arms and one around her waist. Chris was smiling when Buck looked at him.

For an hour, they played in the water, just the four of them. Then Buck carried Emma to the blankets that were spread all over. He grabbed the sunblock to put on her as soon as he had her dried, and then he put a little bit of the lower SPF on him. He looked at where Eddie was bringing Chris in.

“Hungry?” Lily asked.

“Starved,” Buck said.

“Noms,” Emma said. “I want noms.”

“Okay, pushy butt,” Lily said. She handed over a plate to Emma first that had cut up things already on it and ready for her. “And you?”

“Whatever you got is fine with me. I’m just hungry.”

“You missed breakfast and were brooding then spent an hour in the ocean. Of course, you are hungry,” Tommy said as he dropped down. He looked like he had been on a run. A few of the others dropped down, looking the same.

“Think fast,” Derek said.

Buck looked up and grabbed the water bottle as it was tossed at him. Another came right after.

“Drink those, or I will force you both to drink them.”

Buck handed Eddie one of the water bottles when he got sat down. Eddie laughed as he saluted Derek with the bottle. Chris dropped down onto the blanket beside Buck, and he snagged a bite of fruit from Emma’s plate.

“Off,” Emma said.

“Mine,” Chris said.

Emma blew a raspberry at Chris. She pulled her plate closer to herself and glared at Chris when he moved to steal more food. Her hand, though empty, moved like she was holding a fork and was going to stab him.

“She gets that from you,” Buck said as he looked at Eddie.

“Nah, you do it more than me,” Eddie said.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the house was sitting all around them, helping to make Buck know that he wasn’t alone. Food was brought out from the various baskets and bags and passed around for them all to share.

“So, what do you think, a good day?” Eddie asked.

“Hmm, a good day. A really good day with you coming to me. I thought I wanted to do it alone. I’m glad that you all know me better than I know myself sometimes.”

Tommy leaned over to look Buck in the eye. “We are family.”

“Yeah, family,” Buck said. He swallowed. “I think I’m finally, really learning what family is.”

Eddie pressed a kiss to Buck’s head, and it was the best thing in the world.

The End

 

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