Reading Time: 150 Minutes

Title: Making the Life
Series: All That Mattered
Series Order: 3
Author: DarkJediQueen
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Drama, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Relationship(s): Eddie Diaz/Evan Buckley
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Violence-Graphic, Explicit Sex, Character Bashing
Alpha: Starkindler
Word Count: 37,425
Summary: Evan had been all in for a while; now it was just time to actually do it.
Artist: AngelicInsanity

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Chapter One

April 2019

Eddie felt like his eyes were sandpaper behind his eyelids. He looked at where traffic was flowing as he sat in the parking lot of the 118 to get up the gumption to head out home. He would have to tell Evan about the stupid thing he did when running into the house to save Alex. He was fine; he had been checked over by medical personnel. He was fine. Bobby had thrown him to the ER to make sure he was fine. He didn’t like that part of it, but he had done it, mostly so he could tell Evan he was fine.

Maddie would have gotten the kids off to school already, so the house would be empty when he got home, outside Evan, which was honestly kind of rare. Xi loved school, which was a good thing. She was having the time of her life with it. The daycare portion of the school had been great for Xi before she started to go half days every day. Of course, that meant a little more money was spent on her for that, but that was okay.

When Xi had started school half-days in January of that year, she had been all aboard going there every morning. Now she was still going half days in the morning, but she stayed after school for soccer that was being played at the park next to the school. A few kids were part of it, and in her age group, they swapped the person who watched them through the other parents and Evan and Eddie’s family. If Evan and Eddie weren’t there, one of the others covered their day of watching.

When Eddie knew he would pass out if he didn’t get going, he turned on the truck. The rumble of the engine was something that was soothing to him.

The thought of Evan being at home and probably in bed was the only thing that made him not want to sleep at the station, which had been offered up to everyone who worked over the whole thing.

Dispatch not being able to do their best to help wasn’t something they could help. Having to resort to maps to help wasn’t something they could control. They did the best they could with what they had.

Only the Jeep in the driveway was such a rare sight. Abuela had been home for months. Ramon had finally moved into Eddie’s old place after the landlord got a few things updated inside of the place. Marisol was doing well back home alone now and enjoying it.

Maddie was doing her best to seduce the detective she had met. It was a long and slow seduction as she wanted not to make a mistake again when it came to a relationship. She felt like Lou might be the one. Eddie wasn’t sure about him being the one for her, but he was pretty sure she was the one for him. The man was smitten, and Maddie was happy to be friends for the time being.

Eddie left his bag and only took his keys in with him. He could easily get the rest of it later once he was awake. It wasn’t out of the norm after a bad shift.

Dropping his keys in the little box that Chris had made for them to keep keys in when they didn’t use them, Eddie headed into the living room to find Evan on the couch. He looked as wrecked as Eddie felt.

“I think everyone looks this way,” Eddie said.

“Oh, we probably all do, but then I have the stress of knowing you were in a house when a helicopter of water was dumped on it.”

“I told you I had an interesting shift. I’m fine and have the discharge papers to show for it.”

“You have discharge papers?”

“Bobby made me get looked at along with everyone else. There wasn’t enough notification of what was coming. A few got injured, but I got us to safety because I heard it. I know the sound of a helicopter over everything else.” Eddie dropped onto the couch and tipped to the side, happy for the new couch they had picked out that allowed them both to lay on it. The loveseat was where the kids migrated as the couch was a little hard for Chris to get in and out of without help since his legs weren’t long enough. It had been debated back and forth to death before they were shoved into the store and told to come out with something they could use.

Carla had been the big pusher on that because the loveseat was more than enough for Chris, and so were the chairs. Having a piece of furniture that Chris needed help in and out of now didn’t make the whole place hostile to him. It was a good lesson to learn about things for Evan. Eddie had been on the fence more than him and willing to buy it, but Evan had been so anxious that things had not gone well until someone else stepped in.

“It was hell today. Of course, then rumors started before we even got done, and I knew you were fine. We promised not to yell at each other while we were on the job based on what we heard from others. And I understand why you did what you did.”

“I knew I could get out again. I knew things would be fine. The water nearly did me in, and if I hadn’t been close to the tub at the time, it could have gone another way.”

“You did what you had to, and you are home. That’s all I care about.”

“Bobby’s been talking to me.” Eddie stretched a little and rubbed his head on Evan’s leg.

Evan laughed and started to rub Eddie’s back. While Evan liked his hair played with, Eddie loved to have his back rubbed. After a few moments, Evan swapped to light scratching. Eddie rolled to where he was on his front with his head facing the TV to give Evan the access he wanted him to have.

“Giant cat,” Evan said.

“You are too.”

“Never said I wasn’t. You are the one that denies it.”

Eddie huffed but said nothing else as Evan picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He moved through the DVR channels to the news from the night before.

“How was your day other than the crap we both went through?” Eddie asked.

“Good. It was pretty normal until that power outage with dispatch. You said Bobby has been talking to you.”

“Yeah, about how he thinks I’m reckless. I’ve never done anything I wasn’t sure I could get out of. It’s better than being timid in my eyes.”

“Your one partner didn’t stay, did he?”

“No. Bobby’s thinking about pulling in another probie to hope that I can train him to be what I need to do rescues with. I haven’t told Bobby I don’t plan on staying past the end of my probationary period. Tommy’s been pulling hard on getting me with you. He said he sees a huge difference in how we both do our jobs. Garza agrees that I’d be good there.”

“Ah, that’s why Garza went to talk to you the other day.”

“Yes, he wanted me to know that he supports Tommy in all he’s doing to get me there. There are times that couples shouldn’t work together, but we are both pretty even-keeled. So he doesn’t think we will have any issues. He just wants you happy and wants to keep you, so moving me over is good.”

“I don’t know what they see in me.”

“I do. You could be in Garza’s place one day. You will learn anything on the chance it’s needed. You go above and beyond to make sure that things are done. There might be those in your station who hate it when you are running around with a clipboard, but there are enough that want it.”

“I think that no one hates to see me with it. It just makes them look a little bad since I’m working and they are not, but I like keeping busy. Not many catch on that I have ADHD, but it’s the only real tell I have anymore. It’s why I like to rub your back even while watching the news or something on TV. I just need to do something.”

“Maddie commented about your ADHD once. I don’t see it often.”

“I didn’t respond well to the medications they wanted to put me on. So Dad helped me learn how to mostly control it on my own. Coffee and tea help a lot with that. It’s why you’ll see me drinking coffee late in the day. I don’t think about it much at all, so I just do it and go.”

Eddie had noticed a few quirks, but he had just assumed it was part of Evan. He hadn’t linked it to ADHD. It didn’t upset him that Evan had never told him. It wasn’t something that Evan needed someone to help him with. He wasn’t taking medication for it, and he had his life on lockdown when it came to managing it. There was nothing to fear from it.

“I had my appendix out before I even went into the Army. It burst when I was working for Dad one day. I hadn’t even noticed the symptoms of being sick more than just a normal sickness. It was a lesson learned about listening to my body and not what other people are saying.”

“It’s something a lot of people need to learn. It’s something that we see every day. People who keep on going when they should stop because X person pushed through the hurt back and was fine. Now this person will walk with a cane the rest of their life.”

“You have that happen?”

“Yes, I did. It wasn’t too long ago, either. The guy had been so upset but also had a layer of toxic masculinity there. I couldn’t do much with that, but Mia was pretty pissed off at him that he let his ego push him to damage his back that much. We had tried to be gentle when getting him up, but he was just in so much pain. He refused to cry because real men don’t cry.”

Eddie nodded, his cheek rubbing on Evan’s leg. He knew that his time in therapy was only helping him get better, but there were times when he was so done with it all. Then he would think about how that might lose him Evan one day because he stopped putting work into making himself the best person in the world. How that would fail Chris as well.

“So, did we hear about how Xi did with show and tell yesterday?”

“Oh, it was a hoot. Her teacher recorded each one and texted them to each parent when she had time last night. I got it and nearly fell over because I was laughing so hard.”

“You didn’t share this with me?”

“I didn’t get to watch it until late, and you had said you were going to bed, so no, I didn’t. I figured you could watch it today.” Evan stopped on Eddie’s back, and then there was a small sound from the haptic feedback for the touch screen right above Eddie’s head.

“She never told us what she was taking.”

“Well, she didn’t really take anything, and she and her teacher worked out what to do. It was just lucky that the show and tell was during Chris’ lunch hour.”

“She didn’t.”

“Oh, she did. Show and tell was her brother.”

Eddie reached up and snagged Evan’s phone to show himself the video while he waited for it to be downloaded on his phone.

The video was two minutes long, and it was adorable as hell. Chris was blushing the entire time as Xi talked about how he was the best brother because he gave good hugs.

Eddie laughed at the way the rest of the kids were all about asking questions, but none of them were about Chris’ disability. It was refreshing, but then Durand covered a lot of invisible and visible disabilities, even a hybrid of in-school lessons and out-of-school for the ones that were sick a lot and in the hospital. It worked well for the school and was a lot of the reason why Eddie liked it for Chris. He hoped that it kept on working like it was for Xi as well. She seemed to get along with her teacher and the other students.

“It’s a production. I’m not sure she’s bound for soccer like you want but to be an actress.”

“If that’s what she wants, it’s what she’s going to get. I don’t care. I sent it to Dad and Maddie as well. I think they will get a kick out of it as well. It’s good blackmail material for when she’s a teenager and bringing home her first significant other.”

“You would be that kind of father.”

“You haven’t seen the photo album, have you? It’s literally called Shit for Xi’s Romantic Partners. It’s in my bedroom since it’s got the word shit on it, and I don’t want her to see it and figure it out and then demand more Disney money.”

“They are at least going to have fun when we go.” Eddie rolled his shoulder, and Evan started to scratch his back again. It felt good.

Everything felt good. Just being able to exist like this with Evan.

—

Evan wasn’t sure what he was doing down here, but he had been called that Eddie had been brought in for questioning for stealing from a bank they were called to.

Garza had let him go with a look of upset on his face that one of the LAFD would be accused of it. Then before Evan had even left, one of Tommy’s friends from another station called to say that the entirety of the 118 who had been on shift had been brought in for questioning.

There was worry in Evan’s mind that several of the LAFD were not white.

“Buckaroo, what are you doing here?”

“Just came to check on Eddie, is all. Give him a ride back to the station and anyone else that might need it. So, explain this to me, please.”

“Oh, sweetie, this whole thing is a mess. Once we have it all down, I’ll make sure you know what is going on.”

“That much of a headache?”

“That and then some. I think that this is going to be one of the ones that are taught in the police academy at the stupid shit people do to not get caught.”

Athena escorted him over to where he could sit down and wait. Evan wasn’t sure whose desk this was, but he saw it had a good line of sight of an office where he saw Lou. The man looked like he was deep in thought as he stared at something. He didn’t look happy, but he didn’t look super pissed off. Evan debated going and seeing if he wanted to talk. They hadn’t seen each other in two weeks due to Evan’s work and Lou’s work.

Maddie was still unsure how she felt about Evan and Lou connecting as friends. Which Even understood, but at least they were all adults and didn’t think someone would cheat on the other. It was honestly refreshing how Eddie never got jealous. Even coming into the 217 station to pick up Evan and finding him draped over Tommy. It was just the way Evan was affectionate. He didn’t mean anything by it, and Eddie knew that. It wasn’t something Evan was willing to stop doing either. If Eddie got to where he didn’t like it, he would have to deal with that on his own.

After a few more minutes, Evan gave up and headed to Lou’s office. He knocked on the door, and the man looked up at him for a second before waving him in. Evan slipped in and shut the door as fast as he could.

“Eddie’s fine. I’ve been keeping an ear on everything. It’s just a hell of a confusing case.”

“I know he didn’t do it.”

“None of the 118 did. I promise you that it’s just a lot of stuff. I’m having trouble following it. Still, it’s not out of the ordinary. People come up with elaborate things all the time thinking they are smarter than the cops. It’s the ones who keep it simple that get away with it more often than not. Let’s not use that for a life of crime, Evan.”

“I’m too nice for a life of crime. I would be upset at the people I hurt for the stuff I’m doing. The LAFD is awash with rumors at the moment, so there might need to be something done about this after it’s all done, something from the LAPD about the respect that they have for the LAFD and that they are happy with the help that the 118 has given them, just to not push the whole feud that some members of our respective siblings have with each other. I heard a few pissed-off people in my shift alone.”

“I’ll make a note and talk with the detectives in charge of this case. I hadn’t even thought about that. We did take into custody a whole shift and accused them of robbery. Not that I don’t think some firefighters might attempt something like that, but we can’t see enemies everywhere with the people we work with daily to keep this city safe.” Lou looked at his phone and sighed. He rubbed at his nose. “I need someone to talk to, and while I’m sure that Maddie will be pissed off. She texted me a little while ago.”

“And?”

“She’s late.”

“Oh, I’m sure she will be here. She gets her head into-” Evan stopped when he took in the look on Lou’s face. “You don’t mean she’s like late for something you planned, right?”

“No.”

“Oh. Then what…OH!” Evan swallowed.

“Yes, that.”

“She told me that you and she didn’t that night where she stayed at your place after the date ran really long.”

“She didn’t even call it a date to me. I had a condom, and I didn’t notice a hole in it or anything. It’s not that I don’t trust her, but we have had sex just once with a condom, and she’s late for her period.”

“Damn. I think your day is worse than mine or Eddie’s. One of the women she went to nursing school with used to joke that she would get knocked up if her husband looked at her. She had five kids in seven years, and none of them were twins or triplets. She was a warrior. She was just one of those women who got pregnant easily. I never thought that Maddie would be that way. It was hard for our mother to get pregnant. They tried for several years with Maddie, and then it was nearly two years before they had Daniel. I was later and planned to not fail.”

“Yes, she told me a little about him and how you came to be. It’s hard to grasp that kind of thing, honestly. I know that there are all kinds of people out there. I also know that your father did well at stepping up.”

“She was honest with how she was during it all, huh?”

“Yes. She was brutally honest while we were friends and leading up to this. And now here I am debating what the hell to do about this.”

“Well, for one, don’t tell her that you are thinking of marrying her. She won’t like that. She might dump your ass for it. No, just tell her that you will support her whatever decision she makes about keeping the baby and raising it if she keeps it.”

“Oh, I wasn’t even going to touch the keeping part of it. That’s all about her. No, I would support her how I could and how much she would allow me. She told me before that she would be willing to move to a new department for the last few months if she ever got pregnant. The ER wasn’t a place she wanted to be after the second trimester.”

“Talk about kids, too, huh?”

“Yes. I want them. She wants them. She’s just afraid about how things went with your mother. She didn’t tell me all about it, but I got enough that she needed a lot of help and refused to get it.”

“Our father had us in therapy for over half of our childhood after our mother committed suicide. Maddie was in a lot right off the bat, while I went a lot more during my teenage years because of all of the issues that puberty made an issue. There were days I hated him for pushing me like that, but I am a much better person because of it.”

“I’ve already been made aware that your father would shove me in therapy as well if he thought he could get away with it. I see a therapist once a month, and they are on tap to see me more if I have a case that gets to me. I make sure that I work on myself with this job. I love it, but I don’t want to burn out. I don’t want to turn into someone I hate because I don’t watch myself. So, I just want to make sure that I am the best man I can be.”

Lou’s phone vibrated, and he glanced at it before wincing. He shoved it over toward Evan. “Passcode is four corners starting with one and going clockwise then counter without repeating the 8.”

Evan tapped in the code to get access, and he found that Lou had left the texting app open, so the picture of the pregnancy test was there. In all its positive glory. He sighed before looking at Lou. “I’m gonna be an uncle.”

“Shit.” Lou rubbed both of his hands over his face.

“Well, what do you have to do today?”

“I’m just in for a little while. I got what I needed to be done. I worked all weekend long, so I needed another day off. They don’t mind overtime when something big is going on, but I closed that case. Everything else is waiting on people to get back to me once they get into town or waiting on test results, so I have the rest of today off. Just reports that needed to be finished up.”

“Then you are coming home with Eddie and me. Maddie can come over as soon as she can, and you two can talk in a neutral space.”

“Your place is neutral?”

“More than yours or hers. The kids will be at school, and I only have to head over to help with soccer practice today. It’s a good day outside, so it won’t be bad. You could come if you wanted to get away from Maddie to do some thinking.”

“You aren’t upset that I knocked up your sister?”

“It takes two, and it seems like you both did everything you could to try and not become pregnant outside of not having sex, and well, sex is great.”

Lou laughed. A knock came at the door. Lou looked up and waved the person inside. Evan got ready to stand up and stopped when he looked to see it was Eddie.

“I’m free to go. None of us were formally charged. It’s a hell of a tale. I just want to go home and never think about this ever again.”

“We can do that. Lou will come over later, and Maddie will also be there at some point as well.”

“Why?”

Evan looked at Lou. Lou shrugged. Evan felt like Lou needed a big hug, but the man was still seated at his desk, so he would refrain from that. He really wanted to, though.

Lou stood up and held his arms open as if he knew what Evan was thinking. Evan was up like a rocket and hugged him.

“I swear that you would be happy being attached to someone all day long.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say no. Isn’t that what you signed up for when you said you would move in with me.”

“I thought that was sex whenever we wanted it.”

“That too.”

“Get out of my office and take your man home. I’ll be there as soon as I finish up this paperwork.”

Evan pulled out of the hug before kissing both of Lou’s cheeks. Lou made a noise of mock disgust.

“I see that you have the annoying little brother part down.”

“Rude. How fucking rude. I’m the best little brother in the world. Maddie will tell you all about it.”

“Yes, she told me about the popcorn in her backpack for her last day of senior year, so that popcorn went everywhere when she opened it up to get a pen out.”

“She put sardines in the middle of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She started that.”

“Let’s go. You two can fight it out at home when he gets there. Lou, thanks for the heads up about everything and telling me you would call your lawyer if needed.”

“It’s what friends do, right?”

—

Eddie grabbed the tortillas and looked at Lou, who was still just looking like he was shocked to the core. Eddie knew that feeling well.

“So, Chris’ mother and I weren’t married when she got pregnant. We did get married, and it was one of the worst decisions in my life.”

“That’s not where I expected that to go.”

Eddie shrugged and layered the tortillas in the warmer box before finally putting the lid on it. He wasn’t sure how many they would go through, but it was the good blue corn ones, so it was very possible they would go through both of the boxes.

“I’m sure that Maddie told you how Evan got Xi?”

“His friend died and left him her kid.”

“That’s it?”

“I think she was afraid of scaring me away. The family is good but complicated with everything. I think the dead mother and brother were all she wanted to use before she scared me away.”

“Well, she’s not wrong; it’s a lot. He was an oncology nurse and became too attached to a patient who had lost her husband when Xi was a baby. Maria fought with all she had. In the end, with the way Maria and her husband’s families hated each other for the color of their skin, no one related was an option. So Evan.”

“She left her baby to Evan? I know that he’s a good man.”

“The Buckleys are all invested with each other. If they had moved here at the same time, they would all be living in a huge house together. I see it coming as soon as Evan and I outgrow this place, or even with Maddie expecting now.”

“I knew Maddie was close to her brother and father. It’s all she talks about, honestly. Anything I can do to help?”

“Nah, I got this. Evan’s getting Xi ready for dinner. Phillip’s about twenty minutes out, and Maddie’s freaking out about telling her father. He’s not going to care about the whole thing as long as she’s happy. He will make sure that you make her happy and that you are welcome. He never once made me feel like he judged me; I’ll be honest, Evan’s the baby. He’s the one they will protect over anyone else in the scheme of things.”

Eddie picked up the last of the peppers that needed to be added to the skillet of meat that was cooking on the stove. The skillet was massive, and he still wondered where Evan had picked the damned thing up. There was a massive amount of veggies and meat in the oven on warm as he cooked up the last of it. The silence wasn’t horrible, and Eddie kind of liked it.

“Evan said the fajitas were to die for when you make them.”

“Well, I have made sure that I can cook something well enough to make my Abuela happy. I’m sure you’ll meet her soon. She’s not going to be deterred when it comes to someone in the family anymore. It’s going to be interesting to see what is going on with everyone. So, how about you go and get everyone? This won’t take long at all now.”

“Sure.”

The sound of the front door slamming shut made even Eddie jump a little. That was Maddie when she was in a rush and knew everyone was awake.

There was more noise that filtered back until Phillip came into the kitchen with a smile on his face. He had an arm wrapped around Maddie. It seemed the news had gone over better than Eddie hoped.

“Sweetie, you forget that I am friendly enough with Sergeant Grant that when I saw her out and about, I asked her about Detective Ransone as soon as you started to talk about him more. She doesn’t mince words. I have no fear that he’s going to do the right thing for you in this, and that’s support you.”

“Daddy.”

Eddie felt like he was a third wheel that was not needed, so he just kept his focus on the stove. He turned the oven off and then the fire under the skillet. He worked on getting the rest of dinner ready to be taken to the table.

The set of three family-sized cast iron pans for serving fajitas like in restaurants was already waiting for him to put the food in them. They were hot as hell from the secondary oven. They just need to be pulled out.

“What can I do?” Maddie asked.

“Get the three skillets from the oven and put them in their wooden carriers. Then we can load them up with the food. Evan laid everything else out for the food on the table before he went to corral the kids to get them cleaned up.

Lou came back into the kitchen, and he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was.

“Evan’s on his way with the kids. Mister Buckley, it’s wonderful to meet you.”

“Detective Ransone, please, it’s Phillip. Welcome to the family.”

Lou held out his hand. “Please, it’s Lou. I only make suspects call me Detective Ransone.”

“Then why did I have to?”Evan asked.

“You are always a suspect, from what I hear. Athena suspects you of many, many pranks.”

“She’s never caught me.”

“I think you’ll fit right in with us,” Phillip said.

“If Evan’s work husband doesn’t make you want to run.”

“Work husband?”

“My station’s pseudo second in command. Tommy Kinard.”

“Oh, Tommy and I are well acquainted with each other.”

Eddie knew that look. He knew that Tommy wasn’t one to settle down, his own words, but he had sexual relationships with a lot of people in the LAFD and LAPD who were also just looking for a good time and some stress release.

“You are going to have to tell me about how good he is in bed. Evan wouldn’t let me join Tommy in his bed since he worked with him.” Maddie huffed.

“You get attached, Maddie. So attached. You fall in love like breathing, and I didn’t want that kind of mess where I worked. I’m glad you respected my wants when it came to my co-workers.”

“No, I know. It’s why I don’t sleep around with co-workers, either. I get it. You want these guys to protect you, and if Kinard’s upset at me, will others treat you differently.”

Eddie wasn’t sure that the Buckleys were normal, honestly. He had a feeling they were poster children for what therapy could do, but there was just too much open honesty sometimes, and it made Eddie feel like he needed to work on himself even more.

“Tacos?” Xi asked as she trotted into the kitchen with a glare on her face.

“Tacos?” Lou asked.

“How have you not told him about my daughter’s obsession with tacos?”

“Well, I wanted him to see it before anything. It’s kind of hard to believe unless one is looking at it right off the bat like this.”

Lou looked at Eddie with a look of horror on his face. Eddie could only shrug. Lou chose this crazy, just like Eddie had.

“I guess she’s not warned you about the Abeuelas then, has she?” Eddie asked. In for a penny or for a pound, this was his crazy family.

Chapter Two

May

Eddie grabbed his phone from his locker. It was starting to get dark outside, and he hoped that the darkness would come with calm.

The whole city was on edge with the package bombs. Eddie had made sure that no one he wanted to keep alive would even touch a package unless they knew exactly who it was from and what they were expecting.

Chris wasn’t allowed to go and get the mail. Thankfully Xi had never once been inclined toward that.

“You look upset,” Hen said as she leaned in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest.

“It’s just the bombing stuff. I know that everyone knows what to do, but it’s just a worry I can’t get rid of.”

“You are having a few flashbacks to your time in the army. You are more even-keeled than a lot of people are even after a couple of years. Bobby talked about your service a little bit; I think to make sure we didn’t ask stupid questions.”

“I threw myself in therapy. Evan’s a good role model on that, even if I think sometimes his family is a little too into therapy. I’m just worried about the package bombs, yes. I keep thinking that the next message will be from Phillip telling me that one of the people I love has got hurt.”

“Phillip is Buck’s father?”

“Yes. He’s a good man. He could have cracked a long time ago but forced himself up.”

“And he’s romancing your father.”

“They are a pair of idiots. It’s the end of the month when all of us kids are going to get involved. Dad’s afraid that he’s not far enough out from the divorce, and mom doing her scorned woman routine during the divorce.”

“Yeah, I heard you talking to Bobby about a lot of that. I didn’t mean to and always left as soon as possible.”

“Things echo in here in weird ways. It’s fine. If I had wanted it more controlled, I would have had Bobby and me go to his office. Everything worked out in the end. My mom is getting the help she needs, and her family is taking care of her. Her brother moved back to El Paso so he could help. He can work from anywhere, and things will be better with a minder for her. If she gets better, he’ll be the one to reach out to me and my sisters.”

“It’s always hard when family stuff is going on. I know we are all a little more stressed than normal with Bobby and everything going on after that whole thing with his application when he came here. The package bombing isn’t helping at all. I’m sure that he’s driving Athena up a wall.”

“Oh, he has got to be. He does all the time when he’s here and doing his normal work stuff.”

Eddie laughed, and he closed his locker. It felt good to be out of the clothes he had been in before. The last victim he helped hadn’t been too hurt, but where she had flirted with him and stayed too close, her perfume had been on him.

“Let’s head up and wind down with something. I’ll see if I can’t help you forget about your worries.”

“You know, coming from anyone else, I would take that as a come-on.”

“Well, you are very, very pretty for a man.”

Eddie huffed and allowed Hen to distract him until the next call out. It was horrible as hell to be afraid all of the time, but at least with this, he could settle in and try and forget it for a few minutes.

—

“BUCKLEY!” Garza yelled at the top of his lungs. The man was very even-tempered, so when he yelled, everyone did what he wanted.

Evan laid his phone down even though it was ringing, but with a number he didn’t know. He headed toward where the bellow had come from. The rest of the team was all gathered around the TV, watching what looked like live TV coverage of one of the bombings. It took a few seconds for Evan to register what was going on with it. It looked like one of the ladder trucks had been blown up. Evan started to turn his head to look at his captain, but he stopped when he saw one of the people on the edges of the camera. It was Hen.

“Evan, look at me,” Garza ordered.

Evan was just looking at the screen as the camera started to zoom in on the turned-over ladder truck. Just as Evan noticed there was a person stuck under it, the TV turned off.

“Evan. Grab your gear and your phone, and let’s go.”

“Who was that?” Evan asked. He looked at everyone else; even Tommy wasn’t looking at him. He knew who was under the truck. Garza calling him Evan was more than enough proof. “Was that live?”

“Yes. The hospital is already prepped. Let’s go.”

“What happened?”

“I’ve got him, Cap,” Mia said. She hooked her arm through Evan’s and started to drag him away.

Evan didn’t fight her. He knew that he was in shock. There was so much through his head. Chris, Abuela, Pepa, hell, everyone needed to be told.

“Tommy’s going to handle telling who needs to be told and handle anyone who tries to get a hold of you through work. Cap and I will go with you to the hospital, and I can stay if you want to help…you don’t need to explain much at all about it. You could be in my spot if you wanted. If you want me there as a friend.”

“I have no clue what I want when it comes to that.”

“Well, we have more than enough paramedics on shift right now. Let’s just get you.”

“Here you go,” Tommy said.

Evan held out his hand for the bag. In Tommy’s other hand was his phone which Tommy handed to Mia.

“I’ll see what’s going on with it and let you know. I know you don’t need to answer much of anything until you know something. Cap’s taking us straight to the hospital.”

“Cap,” Tommy said before Evan got turned to leave by Mia.

“Tommy.”

“I get why you want to take him, but I think it might be best if I go. Mia can go, and she can bring back the car. I’ll stay with him.”

Evan looked at his hand where it was holding the bag. He wasn’t even sure what to feel. Eddie was trapped under a ladder truck. “Are you sure it’s him?”

“Yes, the newscaster was given his name by some bystander from where the team had been yelling it. There is only a single Eddie on the 118, correct?” Garza asked.

“Yes. I want Tommy.”

“Okay, Tommy, keep me updated. I’ll drop off your stuff if we go out on a call and, if not, first thing when we are done for the day. Go.”

Evan didn’t fight Mia’s arm tugging him toward the car. It was a strange feeling to be numb like this. Evan knew the issues with an injury like that. He knew what Eddie would be facing. The blood clots alone were going to be a huge deal. He wouldn’t be able to work for a few weeks, and he only hoped that Garza wouldn’t fight him on that. It would actually be other people that would fight it, but he hoped that Garza would fight for him on it.

The ride wasn’t something that Evan would ever be able to remember. He wasn’t sure what the hell they did to get there in what felt like minutes, but then they were pulling up. Evan knew that Eddie hadn’t gotten there because the team was waiting.

Hovering at the side of the group was Maddie. Evan broke from Mia’s hold on him and rushed to his sister.

“Oh, God! Evan.” Maddie grabbed him tight and pulled him into a hug that finally made Evan feel it. The pain. The worry.

The siren broke the silence, but there was still a good bit of time before they would get there.

“Dad?”

“I called Dad, and he’s going to the kids. Marisol will not leave, of course. Eddie’s family is going to the house as well. Dad’s not sure how to tell Chris about this. So once Abuela and Pepa get to the house, they are coming here, and between Abuela and you, you two can tell him.”

“How did this happen?”

“We don’t know. We weren’t given that. The news has no idea, either. There is an issue, or there was an issue with a guy with a bomb strapped to him. It was rather delayed on getting him out from under the truck. The people rushed it as soon as it was clear. The team couldn’t get it up alone. It was harrowing to watch it, but we all did. It wasn’t until he was freed of the truck that we all came out here.”

“I wasn’t watching the news. I saw him briefly under the truck, but they turned it off. That’s when Garza said what happened.”

“Buck, need anything else from me?” Mia asked.

“No, thank you. I needed someone to keep me grounded during the ride. I would have freaked out Tommy otherwise.”

“Well, you need anything, even if it’s someone to come and hold your hand after Eddie’s home. Let me know. We can come and be what you need.”

“Thanks.” Evan hadn’t let go of Maddie yet and didn’t want to.

“Back up, please,” someone called.

Evan let go and allowed Maddie to pull him away from where the ambulance was going to park. It felt like the world was narrowing, and the only thing keeping Evan there was Maddie’s hand on one arm, and Tommy’s on his other shoulder.

The hospital team didn’t even let the 118 get fully out of the ambulance before they ripped open the doors. The calls of vitals and what was going on washed over Evan. He took it all in, his medical mind taking it in and processing it. There were already complications from the crush injury.

“Buck?” a new voice called out.

Evan didn’t look away from where Eddie was being escorted into the ER. There would be a check-over before they rushed him to surgery. Hopefully, the surgical team was all in place already. When it came to cops and firefighters, the medical teams in the city did the best they could. It made Evan feel safe.

“Dad’s on his way with Eddie’s family,” Maddie said a few minutes later, once the team was all inside and they were just standing there. “Where is your phone?”

“I have it. We didn’t want him freaking out. I’m going to dismiss the people who don’t matter, not read it, and just make sure the notifications aren’t there. I’ll do that once we are in the surgical waiting area. His father?”

“Ramon’s in El Paso right now doing a last thing with his job before transferring fully up here to the office,” Evan said.

“Lou’s going to get a hold of him and get him on the next flight out and pick him up from the airport. Ramon will handle all of his family outside of Abuela and Pepa. It’ll make it all that much easier to make sure that nothing horrible happens.”

“How do you know that?”

“Oh, Dad said it, and it’s from the words of Abuela’s mouth.”

“Xi’s going to need things to keep her occupied.”

“Marisol packed her a bag that is full of more than enough, and she’s staying in her pajamas. There are more clothes in there as well. Chris is not changing, either. Once Eddie’s in surgery, things will change for the kids. The calm before the storm will usually put them to sleep. It’ll be okay if they sleep. Less chance of anyone having to make sure to keep themselves in check. You can come and look in the room, and Tommy can head up to the surgical waiting room. No one is in the private hall outside, and the nurses are making sure no one goes in. You can drop Evan’s bag in there.”

“Okay, I’ll leave him in your hands.”

Maddie tucked herself into Evan’s side, and they headed inside. Tommy went with them over to where they could look in the trauma room. Eddie was being prepped for surgery. He looked so horrible.

The only solace was that Eddie was out. His heart monitor looked like it was doing okay. It was erratic but not anything that Evan felt needed to be worried about. The team was working on him as quickly as they could, keeping Eddie from crashing but making sure they were quick as well. There was always a big deal about getting them into surgery as quickly as possible, and Evan was fully supportive of that.

“We will follow after they take him up. There is a dedicated elevator to the surgery floor. We will have to take the other.”

Evan nodded. He watched as the staff prepared to take Eddie out of the trauma room, hooked up to everything he needed for the surgery.

“Buckleys, let’s go,” the doctor said as soon as the bed was through the doors.

“What?” Maddie asked.

“Get with us and follow us. You are both trained enough if we need you. So, let’s go. It’s the only chance you are going to get.”

Evan didn’t wait for Maddie to move; he went to the spot that would allow him to snag Eddie’s hand.

There was blood all over Eddie’s face from the wound on his forehead. Eddie looked horrible, but not as horrible as he could have. There had not been something like this that happened in Evan’s memory for the LAFD. Victims under cars from various accidents but nothing like this, not since he had joined.

“You are strong, and you are going to come through this,” Evan said.

Eddie seemed to start to come out of it. His eyes fluttered, and there was a moan. “Ev?”

“Yeah, I’m here. You just focus on sleeping, okay? Sleep.”

“‘K,” Eddie said, and he seemed to pass out again.

“It’s a good sign that he reacted to your voice,” the doctor said.

“Yeah. It is. You are the one operating?”

“Yes. I will do my best to make sure he’s going to work again. I’ll make sure he can be a firefighter again.”

Evan could only nod. The trip felt like it had taken seconds, but it had to be at least two minutes. He stopped at the doors to the area he wasn’t allowed and let go of Eddie’s hand after a kiss on the back of it.

Maddie waited until the doors were shut before she came around to wrap her arms around him.

The next hours would be the worst hell of Evan’s life.

—

Even before Eddie knew that he was in a hospital with a fact, he knew it in other ways. The scent and the way that the place seemed to be on hold.

His brain was taking in things that he could only process subconsciously. He was warm, and part of his body was numb. He knew that feeling from being shot and waking up full of drugs. He wasn’t sure what had happened.

Everything was in pieces from what little he could remember. There were flashes of pain, of fire and smoke, and someone walking in front of him.

“I know you are awake,” Evan said.

Pressure on his hand had Eddie cracking his eyes open. If Evan was there, whatever had put him in the hospital was over, and he was safe. He wasn’t back in the desert in an enemy insurgent camp.

“Chris?”

“Asleep in the bed next to us. You got a double so the kids wouldn’t have to leave. I think that right now, it’s being ignored that they are here. Normally kids aren’t allowed to be in here since they are both under twelve. Maddie’s out in the waiting area, and I’m going to go and talk to the rest of them soon. Everyone is out there. Your team, especially the ones who aren’t in a bed themselves.”

“Who else?”

“Parker’s in a bed of his own in the obs unit with broken ribs and a concussion. He’ll be out tomorrow. He’s the only other one. Everyone else was treated and released. You are the worst off.”

“Who blew it up?”

“A kid who was full of grief about something that happened to him and placing the blame on the messenger, not the man who did the bad thing.”

“Is he okay?”

“Bobby? Yes. He’s fine. He talked the guy down. Now the guilt about it all is too much, I think. He’s hiding in the corner, and Hen’s afraid he will relapse. I heard that but didn’t ask anything else as it’s not my place.”

“Dad?”

“He’s in the waiting room. Lou booked him the first flight out that would get him here quickly and then went to get him. Maddie called him and freaked the hell out. Your father is handling your family, even your sisters. Once everyone gets to talk to you a little, they are going to head home. Well, I’m sure your father is going to stay right here. Dad brought your Abuela and Pepa here with the kids. Marisol is going to stay with Abuela to give her company. No one knows what to do, honestly. Everyone is freaked out.”

“You aren’t.”

“I trust in the science. Your surgeon talked to me for half an hour about things. One of the nurses is in trouble as the clot protocol was forgotten in everything. It was in the surgeon’s stuff. When I  head home in the morning after breakfast to get some sleep, I plan on looking up everything to do with the hardware they put into you.”

“What is it?”

“Screws and rods.”

Eddie looked away from Evan for the first time to see his leg. It was wrapped up to make sure it stayed in place and stable but allowed for changing due to the surgery. It was going to be a while before he was going to be put into a cast based on that.

“Can I look at my papers?”

“In the morning. Right now, I want to get everyone in to see you that needs to go home to sleep. Tommy drove me in and left once you were out of surgery. I think he looked in on you but needed to be mobile. My team will probably stop by once they are off shift, which is why I want to be here for breakfast.”

“Okay. Yeah. This is…I was blown up. Again.”

“At least you weren’t in a helicopter this time.”

Evan leaned over and laid his head on Eddie’s arm. He inhaled and exhaled. “They lost you a couple of times, and I was so scared. I can’t lose you, Eddie.”

“I know. I can’t lose you either. I’m always going to fight to come back to you.” Eddie gripped the back of Evan’s head and just held on. He knew that everything was scarier for Evan. Evan had never been through something like this. Even losing Maria had not felt like this to him. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world that this kind of thing was new to Evan.

“I’m going to go so Abuela and Pepa can see you. I’m sure that someone is getting my Jeep to me. I’ll make sure that everything is set up as much as I can for the house. The doctor thinks you’ll be on crutches by the time you are released. We were debating a brace versus a cast with the surgery wound and the risk of infection with all kinds of nasty stuff in there. It won’t be decided until you are going home, though.”

“I would prefer a brace if at all possible. I’m tiring out here. I’m half drugged from the last dose, and I saw the other dose just disperse itself.”

“I’ll go and get everyone and get things set up for them to see you.”

Eddie looked where he could see Chris in the bed. He could see a little of Xi’s hair out under the blanket. He wanted to hold them but knew that it would be morning before he was able to hold either one of them. It was a shitty night, and it would get worse.

—

The night had been long, and Evan felt like it was just starting. The kids were still asleep, and while Evan had napped a little, he wasn’t able to sleep for long periods because of worry about Eddie. He was afraid he would wake up, and Eddie would be dead.

“Knock knock,” Garza said as he peeked into the room. His gaze moved around, landing on the kids on the bed before settling on Evan.

“Come in, Cap.” Evan sat up straighter in the chair but knew Garza wouldn’t expect him to be anything other than what he was. Exhausted and worried about his lover. It was strange to feel like he did. Evan hadn’t felt this tired since he had been in college after a long night of studying.

“How is he?”

“Expected to make a full recovery. The break was a little higher on his leg than the doctor would have liked, but all in all, he’s good.”

“The team will stop by later tonight. They wanted to come this morning, but Tommy talked them out of it. Mia and Tommy already dropped off your Jeep.” Garza handed over the keys. “Do you need anything?”

“Not at the moment. Thanks for last night. I was not in a good place, and I’m glad you didn’t let me drive.”

“No, I knew you wouldn’t be. Let me know, or Tommy know anything you need. I’ll make sure you get it. I’m working on getting things moved around for three weeks off. If you end up needing more, you can let me know.”

“I will. I need sleep. Dad’s at the house and will watch the kids when I get there. We’ve got things planned out pretty well. I need to see about an in-home nurse to help with Eddie as there is no way Marisol can, and Maddie’s taking it super easy on things since she’s pregnant. She is just close enough to the age of being too old that we are all afraid of what it might mean if she does too much.”

“What about the woman who came to visit you a while back?”

“Carla? She’s got a full load of patients, but I can talk to her about it. Eddie wouldn’t need full-time care. I’m sure my father will move in, but he can’t lift Eddie.”

“You talking about me?”

“Kind of. Morning, Eds. Captain Garza is here. He was giving me the Jeep keys.”

“I’m glad you made it through, Diaz. Seeing one of our own under a truck like that. I never want to see that again.”

“I don’t want to go through it again. Thank you, Sir, for coming to see me.”

“Well, I do have something for you, but it’s contraband, and I was told to give it straight to you.” Garza stepped up to the bed and handed over a package of Reese’s Pieces. It was one of the bags that was resealable.

“Once he’s looked at this morning by the doctor, and they allow him breakfast, yes. There was worry about swelling last night and a second surgery this morning.”

“Well, at least he didn’t say no.”

Eddie’s laughter was like a balm to Evan’s soul. They weren’t going to let this destroy them. Eddie wasn’t going to let this make him someone he wasn’t.

“Da?” Xi asked.

Evan turned around in the chair and saw that there was movement under the blanket. Chris was still deeply asleep. The boy had been awake longer than Xi and had been restless a lot when he had finally crashed.

“It’s sleeping beauty,” Evan said. He walked over and picked her up. He sat down on the edge of Eddie’s bed and allowed Eddie to get a good look at her.

“How will she be with all of that?”Garza asked.

“Good. She’s really good at that kind of thing. I was still a little injured when I got her, and she’s been around for me being in a sling. She understands that something like this means doesn’t touch other than soft and gentle kisses.”

“That’s good. My firstborn was why I ended up on medical leave a week longer than planned, as he dropped a cast iron skillet on my broken foot, and I was just in an air cast. After that, I was in a full-on boot. It sucked, but he didn’t mean it. He just didn’t realize what it meant. I’m going to head out and let the nurses know you are awake.”

“Oh, I pressed the button, but he was awake in the night and got his full checks then. The other will wait for rounds. There might be blood drawn for morning tests before anything else, but they’ll be around when they can.”

Evan let Xi go when she pawed at Eddie a little. A few seconds later, she was curled into his chest, and it looked like she was going back to sleep.

“How did you even let them allow them in?”

“Promises that you would rest better. I can’t see you going back to sleep last night without seeing both of them. It was the honest truth.”

“And?”

“And they are all freaked out. This wasn’t a huge mass casualty event. The news has reported what this was about, just what they have picked up. The LAFD hasn’t made an official statement yet. Even Parker was treated like a king, more than normal on that. That and I think one of the nurses in the ER has a crush on him.”

“He’s like a doe-eyed innocent, even if he is nothing of the kind. Who stayed?”

“Your father and Makepeace. He said he wasn’t leaving until this morning. I think he wants to make sure I am good to drive home. I’m not mad about it.”

“No, I wouldn’t think you would be. How is my father getting home?”

“Me and the kids. He’s going to stay with us for a little while. He and Dad will be on child duty while I’m dealing with you. Even once you get home, things are going to be hard.”

“Don’t wear yourself out trying to get things set up for me being home.”

“I won’t. I will be making sure that food is easy for lunch and dinner. Breakfast already has a few things ready for it. Marisol couldn’t sleep last night. She has a few small-sized breakfast casseroles in the fridge, and we have cereal and milk enough for the other days.”

“Sounds like a normal thing,” Eddie said.

Evan laughed, and he felt like crying. He was sure that it was going to hit at the worst moment.

—

Evan stripped off his shirt, tossing it over into the pile of work clothes for him and Eddie. A lot of clothes needed to be washed, but that would come later. After Evan had slept.

Eddie had his phone, which had somehow been in the truck, and was just fine. His phone case had protected it. There were already a few messages from him about how lonely he was.

Chris and Xi were entertained by the grandparents in the living room since they were both out of school today and tomorrow. Evan had already texted the soccer coach for Xi as well.

There was nothing else to do right then except sleep. Evan wanted to sleep. He knew he needed it.

Checking his door was unlocked, Evan went to the bathroom to get undressed the rest of the way and debated a shower.

In the end, the feel of hot water on his skin won out. He turned the water on full blast as he grabbed underwear from the cabinet beside the sink. There were a few bits of clothing in there for impromptu showers.

Evan stepped under the water, turning it up a little more to make it even hotter so he could feel the sting of it. He clenched his fists and pressed them to the tile. He felt himself breaking as he stood there.

The water washed away the tears just like it washed away the day’s grime. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there crying, but when he was done, he felt emotionally done. He was so tired that he wasn’t even sure he would get to bed.

The only reason he made it there, with damp skin, was that he didn’t want to have to admit to Eddie that he fell asleep in the shower. Eddie would be pissed off at him for it, and he knew it.

Evan got the blankets over him, and the tiredness from the breakdown and the no sleep the night before just took over.

Waking up hours later, Evan felt like he had been drugged. He looked at the time and sighed. It was just after noon, which meant he got about three hours of sleep. Not nearly enough, but it seemed all his body was going to allow.

The smell of tater tot casserole filled up Evan’s nose, and he laughed. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not.

A soft knock on his door was low enough that he was asleep; Evan would never have heard it.

“Come in,” Evan said.

It was Ramon.

“Phillip has lunch nearly ready. How are you feeling?”

“Raw, numb, and just…exhausted.”

“Well, we have the stuff from the basement that was put back after Mama could move around again after breaking her hip. We think we also have the living room moved around to where Eddie can sit on the couch and get his leg up.”

“You guys didn’t have to.’

“We didn’t. Your team came around after you got home and spent most of the morning moving things around and getting stuff from the basement. There is also a new ramp outside. Wider than the other in case Eddie’s in a wheelchair. I guess they came over the night before, measured everything, and had it all cut down and ready to go before they even got here. I am not sure how they did that while working.”

“One of the guys has a brother in construction. The last time one of us needed a ramp built, it was done first thing in the morning like that as well. I’m not shocked.”

“Do you need anything right now?” Ramon asked.

“Nothing that anyone can actually give me. So, no. I’ll get dressed. How were the kids?”

“Chris is worried about his father, but he trusts that we would all tell him everything he needs to know.”

“And Xi’s trying to cheer everyone up. We are doing dinner with Eddie?”

“Yes. I’m working on dinner for that, getting lettuce cut up. I think taco salads would be the best. It’s one of Eddie’s comfort foods. I’ll take tortillas, and Xi can have tacos. Maddie and Lou are going to go to visit him at lunch. He’s going to be well visited.”

“That usually happens when it’s an injury on the job.”

Ramon nodded his head. He looked like he wanted to say something else.

“Yes?” Evan asked.

“I thought Eddie was throwing away his life when he came here. Being a firefighter is a dangerous job. Your father disavowed me of that notion. The funny thing was that, on the whole, I was putting my life more at risk every time I did a site visit than he ever has on this job.”

Evan nodded. He wasn’t sure that Ramon had ever got Eddie’s want to help people before this moment and what his family’s support really meant with all of this.

So now things were turned on its head. Ramon would come out stronger and more understanding, but it would be a process.

Chapter Three

May

Coming home felt like the best thing in the world. Unlike the last time he had been coming home, Eddie didn’t feel like he would rather stay in the hospital. He was looking forward to being at home with Evan and the kids. Evan had picked him up while Phillip watched the kids. Once Evan was home, they would be left alone. No one to come over the rest of the day. The next day for breakfast, Carla was coming over to figure out a schedule with Eddie about what he wanted from her and what kind of help she could give him.

“Okay?” Evan asked as he parked the truck in the driveway.

“Yeah, I’m just happy to be home. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“Evan.”

“Eddie, please. Don’t.”

Eddie sighed, but he nodded. He looked at the house and got ready to hug the shit out of the two kids.

“We are going to talk, and we are doing it this morning. I refuse to just let you hide whatever you have going on there.”

“You are the one who was nearly killed.”

“And you are the one that had to worry about me living or dying. There is no second place in this. Your pain at me nearly dying is just as important as my upset at nearly being killed.”

“Realistically, I know this. It’s just hard when I have people telling me that I need to support you and not burden you.”

“Who?”

Evan shook his head. Eddie opened his mouth to try and get Evan to tell him, but the front door opened up, and there was Chris. Eddie opened the truck door, prompting Evan to get out. Eddie hadn’t been allowed to shower at the hospital, and it was one of the first things he wanted when they got home. He was in a brace at the moment as there was a small infection that was trying to set into his surgical wound. There was nothing to fear about it; it just wasn’t something that would do well trapped in a cast. Crutches would be part of Eddie’s life for a while, so he knew he would just have to live with them, even if he hated them.

“Ready?” Evan asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“They are keeping Xi in the living room until we get you sat down on the couch. She’s not going to want to leave your lap for a while. I figure I’ll leave you to the kids while I get the rest of the stuff out of the truck.”

“Sounds good.” Eddie had tried not to get too much into his hospital room, but between the simple clothes he was allowed to wear and the books he had been reading when he was awake, there was more than he wanted to admit had piled up. Five days in there to make sure his leg was doing okay, and Eddie had been going nuts. He had ended up reading, on average, a book a day. Evan kept trying to get him to read on his Kindle, but Eddie didn’t want to. It was horrible that Evan was so enamored with that device. He didn’t push it, but he had brought it up enough over the last while that Eddie had been telling him no, just for fun. Eddie had books on his phone that he read through the Kindle app there. Chris had his own Kindle since the kid read a lot of books, and he read them often enough that Eddie wouldn’t be able to have a place big enough for all of them. Chris read a lot from the library, and the weekend trips there were fun, but Chris wanted to own a lot of books in series to be able to reread them as he wanted, which was where the Kindle came in.

“Welcome home!” Chris yelled loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear it.

Eddie waited to get on the porch using the new ramp he had been told about to get up there. It was nice and wide and would have been good if he had been in a wheelchair. Once on the porch, he gave up a crutch to Evan and wrapped Chris in his arms as much as he could. Chris was holding on a lot tighter than he normally would. It was good to be home, even if the first day was going to be full of kids who wouldn’t let him pee without escorting him to the bathroom.

“I’ve missed you,” Eddie said.

“Missed you too. Bucky took good care of me.”

“I had no doubts. Now, let’s get inside before Xi breaks free of Pop Pop’s hold.”

Chris laughed, and it sounded a little watery. There were a lot of emotions inside Eddie as well. He knew he needed to call his sisters, but he figured he would do that when Xi was down for a nap in a little while.

“Welcome home,” Ramon said as Eddie came into the living room with Chris in front of him.

“Thanks, Dad. I’m happy to be home as well.”

Eddie looked at the couch and was happy to see that it was set up for him. He knew it was but seeing it that way was great. There was an end table that was added to the corner of the couch since once he sat down, he wouldn’t be able to get to the other table without twisting. It was mostly empty, but it had a few of the books he had picked up from the library on his last trip with Chris and Evan. Xi had stayed with Abuela since her reading tended to be whatever was on hand.

“What do you want to drink?” Phillip asked.

“Evan said he made some of that peach black tea, and it’s in the fridge. I think I want that.”

“You got it.”

“In a cup with a lid, even if it’s something I have to snap the lid off of. The medication is making my hands a little shakey and messing up fine motor control.”

“Evan warned us. He bought a few things he thought you might like that will keep the drinks hot or cold and make it easy for you to drink out of.”

“He told me he would go looking but hadn’t told me anything about it.” Eddie carefully maneuvered to where he was able to drop down onto the couch and then carefully get his leg up. He leaned back into the piles of pillows and sighed. He felt exhausted, and he had slept well the night before. He knew it was the stress of the whole discharge process as well as the trip home itself.

As soon as Eddie was fully settled, Ramon let go of Xi, and she rushed over to settle between Eddie’s legs where his injured one was on the couch, and the other was on the floor.

“Hugs, Da, hugs.”

Eddie smiled, and he reached out to pull her up and into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly. She knew better than to mess with his leg; other than kissing his knee, she wasn’t to touch his leg. There was not a lot that Eddie could do at the moment. He was to relax and heal. Which meant a lot of reading and a lot of TV watching. It wasn’t something he was used to doing, so he wasn’t sure how it would go.

He was pretty sure it was why Evan would be there for the first two weeks. It would allow him to settle in and figure out what he could do while injured. Carrying drinks and food was going to be impossible to do. He was happy that he could come home even when he had been injured.

Evan came into the living room, dropping the bag with the books in it off to the side before heading to the back of the house with the bag of clothes and other things. Eddie rubbed at his face. He was going to rock the beard for a little while. It had been a while since he had even tried a beard, long before he joined the LAFD. There was something fun about it in a way he wasn’t sure he could describe.

Phillip returned with a tumbler with a handle on it and a straw peeking out. Eddie held out a hand and downed half of the tea as soon as it was in his hand. He was thirsty for something other than water. The tea from the cafeteria had sucked a lot. He was also just thirsty.

“It’s a good thing that I filled another in the fridge for you. Evan said you might be thirsty when you got home. It’s why he made so much of the iced tea.”

“He knows me well.” Eddie curled the tumbler into his body and relaxed back as Xi settled on the couch close to his leg but not that close. She leaned back into Eddie and put a pout on her face when Evan came into the room.

“If she even bumps you weirdly, you put her on the floor.”

“I will.”

Evan nodded, and he looked at Xi, who just crossed her arms over her chest and gave Evan a look that Eddie had seen a lot on Evan’s face. It was adorable as hell. The two of them butted heads a lot. The terrible twos hadn’t been a thing, but the terrible threes seemed to be. She was making sure that everyone knew she had opinions on what she would and wouldn’t be doing.

Eddie felt like he was going to pass out soon with the painkillers he had been given just before heading home and just the fact of being home. He wanted to slip down and take a nap.

“Let’s go, Ramon,” Phillip said.

“Yes, let’s. Leave them time alone as a family.”

Eddie waved, but it was just a little as he slowly started to slip into sleep.

—

Evan closed the bedroom door with a glance at Eddie as the man napped after lunch. He had been moving around pretty well on the crutches. The surgical wound had been cleaned up and dressed again. Once Eddie was awake, Evan would take the dressing off to allow it air. It was only needing to be covered when Eddie was sleeping to stop anything from getting into the wound from the bedding.

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

Evan turned to look at Chris.

“Good. I promise. I thought you were going to play MarioKart?”

“I am. I just wanted to check on you. You were happy to have Dad home, but then you have been busy doing everything but being around him since you got him home.”

“It’s just an adjustment. I can’t just yell for him, and he comes to see what I need. I’m happy, I promise. It’s just different, and I’m having to check myself a lot.”

Chris nodded, a solemn look on his face. He walked up to Evan and wrapped his arms around him, holding on tightly. Evan dropped a hand to Chris’ head and the other to rub at his back. It was good to be holding him like this right now. Evan wasn’t sure he wasn’t going to burst into tears, but then he had been on the verge of that for hours.

Nash had stopped by, and he had been very worried about how Evan would be with Eddie. It put a few bits of fear into Evan that he would be hurting Eddie by talking about how afraid he was. There was a text from Hen that was much the same. That Evan needed to put his fears about everything and be happy that Eddie was home all of the time. To not dwell on anything else.

It was exactly everything that Evan had been taught on how not to be an adult when it came to things like this. He had texted the hotline for his therapist’s office to get a call in when he could. He wanted to talk it all out with someone who wasn’t Eddie, and he hadn’t wanted to make a production of asking his father to stay.

“I’m going to go play now. If you need to cuddle, I can do that while playing.” Chris spun on his heel as much as he could and headed to the living room. It was good to see Chris in good spirits, even if Evan felt like he was going to break apart at the seams.

If this had been anything else, Evan knew he could do it, but no one in his family had ever been hurt like this. He had been the only one, and Maddie had always talked about her fear when she got the call that he was injured. His father had been more than willing to cry while holding him in the hospital. Fundamentally, Evan knew he needed to show Eddie that he was upset about this, not upset at Eddie as there was nothing he could have done to stop it but upset that this had happened at all.

Evan was heading to the kitchen to turn the crockpot from high to low for dinner when his phone started ringing. He saw it was his therapist’s personal line. He shut the door to the kitchen, knowing it would not stop even Xi from getting in there since it was a swing door that was usually locked into the open position.

“Hello,” Evan said.

“Evan, Eddie’s home, correct? Did something go wrong?”

“Give me a moment to grab my earbud, so I can talk hands-free without being too loud. Eddie’s taking a nap as lunch wore him out, and the kids are playing Mario Kart.” Evan got the earbud from the holder where he had put it before to have music to listen to and still heart for Eddie needing anything from him. “Nothing happened with Eddie. He’s home, and he’s happy to be home. The kids are taking it better than me, honestly. I just watched him breathe as he slept for ten minutes.”

“That’s nothing bad. You could have lost him, and you are still dealing with that. So what has you needing a call then?”

“Eddie’s Captain and one of his co-workers are pushing me on something, and while fundamentally, I know that they are wrong, I’m freaked out that they know something more than me and are right.”

“Which is?”

“Not talking about how this affected me with Eddie.”

“Well, I can tell you that they are very, very wrong. You need to talk about it between the two of you. There is nothing to be gained by not talking about it. Now, if you both dwell on it and can’t let it go months from now, then there is an issue. Eddie needs your support to get through this, but you also need his. Your needing his support doesn’t mean you are abusing him or anything like it. You supported him through everything with his mother and father, while he also was there for you for all of the small things as well. He had the greater need at that time, but that doesn’t mean that you also didn’t need a little from him.”

“So, just keep on doing what I’m doing?” Evan asked.

“Yes. Very much so. You’ve been good since you moved here. There have been issues, and I know that you have been iffy on how much to be a father to Chris, and Eddie’s been supportive. I want to say this, though, based on what you are telling me, Eddie’s never had someone who he was able to support in the way they needed while he was also injured. I’m sure that his coworkers are worried about him. They have their reasons, but that doesn’t mean that their wants are more valid than what you think is right. People can do harm even if they think they are doing good.”

Evan let his shoulders slump, and the worry in his body moved off him. He grabbed the spice he needed to add even as he turned down the temperature of the food inside. It was just a simple crock pot chicken meal that he had learned a long time before. He used to cook it low and slow while in school. He would be adding noodles later. The chicken broth with the spices would make a wonderful sauce. It was simple and easy. It was also a meal that Eddie liked, and Chris asked for the meal for dinner.

“Is that the only issue you have that needs to be covered today?”

“Yes. Eddie was worried about me a little bit when I got him home because I was kind of bombarded with it. I can’t even think about much else. I’m coping and it’s getting easier but I needed to hear that I am not a selfish asshole for wanting to get support while giving him support.”

“No relationship can survive if there is not a give and take. While the first few days he was the one that needed you, it can’t keep on. He won’t like you thinking he can’t help you. That’s not what I’ve gotten about him when you have talked about him.”

“I hear what you are saying, and I agree. I fully get it. I just needed to hear it. Thank you.”

“You are welcome. Have a good day, Evan. Let me know if you need anything. I have back-to-back patients all day but can call you in the evening again.”

“I think I’ll be fine. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

“Thank you, have a good day.” Evan waited for the therapist to say goodbye and then hung up. He focused on the food before he went to the fridge to grab a drink. Eddie had been sucking down the tea like it was going out of style all day so far. More would have to be made.

Evan grabbed a new pitcher out of the cabinet, and he grabbed the peach tea from the cabinet. He would have to add that to the running list of groceries on the fridge as they needed more of it if Eddie kept on drinking it like this.

Then there was the fact that Chris liked it as well. Xi wasn’t a fan of tea or pop, really. She liked juice and water and sometimes lemonade. It was not out of the realm of normal, though, considering that Evan didn’t drink much in the way of pop. Usually, it was lemonade with tomato-based spiced dishes like spaghetti and pizza.

“Juice?” Xi asked.

“Sure, hold on.” Evan popped the earbud out and popped it down into the case. He headed to the fridge to grab the cup that was kept in there full of juice for Xi. Evan would make another up and get it into the fridge. It made life easier. Chris had a few drinks in there as well. He drank water most of the time, water he filled from the fridge into the tumbler he could carry on a strap over his body into the living room or his bedroom as needed.

Evan finding that for older people had been great. It was a simple velcro strap that could be added to anything closed, and then the velcro was attached to a strap that went over the shoulder. There had been a few issues with it, but in the end, it was good for Chris’ independence. It allowed him to take care of a few things without having to give up the support of his crutches.

“Thanks!” Xi blew Evan a kiss before she took off for the living room and made Evan smile.

No matter what, Evan wasn’t fucking her up.

—

Eddie grabbed his tumbler of water and made sure his hand was steady before he got it up to his mouth to take a drink of it. He wanted to drink all of it, but he didn’t want to get up and go pee again, either. It was the only thing that was bad about all of this. He made himself have to pee like crazy. It was horrible, and he just wanted to stop it, but he was also so damned thirsty from the meds. So he was going to take a drink and then pout when he had to go pee.

“Need anything?” Evan asked as he got up and headed toward the kitchen.

“Give me a moment.” Eddie sucked down what was left. He handed it out to Evan when he was done.

They were alone. The kids had crashed not long after the sunset. It was back to school the next day for them so they could go back to a normal routine. It was something that Eddie was kind of looking forward to. He liked having them around to fill the silence, but he was pretty sure that Evan wouldn’t calm down anytime soon. After Eddie’s nap after lunch, things had changed a little, and he had been a little calmer.

Eddie had a feeling it was all about how Hen had let it slip she had helped Evan with how to handle Eddie coming home. She had just talked about how it was Evan’s first big injury to someone he loved. There was also that Bobby had stopped by as well. Even Evan had mentioned that.

Evan came back into the living room with more water for Eddie and what looked like a cup of hot chocolate, even though it was May. It smelled like the stuff that Eddie had brought home from Abuela’s a few weeks before. Evan got on the couch and curled up into the corner, his feet to his chest.

“Ready to talk?”

“Mostly, yes. It’s nothing you did. A few comments from some people had me freaking out that I was going to mess up your recovery.”

“How?”

“By talking out my feelings about even that short glimpse of you under the truck I had.”

“Ah, the 118 way of not understanding that more than one person is a victim in something like that. None of the team got therapy about Chim’s rebar incident and having to see him on the field like that. It affected them all, but they acted like it only affected Chim. I wonder if things might have been a little different on a few things if they acted like things affected more than the people it happened to. Maybe Chim wouldn’t have stormed off pissed. I have no clue, of course.” Eddie sat up on the couch and grimaced in pain as he moved his leg a little wrong. The brace was good, but everything hurt.

“You need the ice?”

“Yes, I think so. The swelling is a little more than I would like, but then I have moved around a lot more today than I have the last few.” Eddie grabbed the towel they had been using to keep his leg from getting too cold and threw it over as Evan headed to get the ice packs from the freezer in the mud room off the kitchen. Eddie took a sip of his water before setting it down on the table. He picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

There were a lot of shows that Eddie wasn’t sure about, but at least they worked for good background noise. He found the one documentary that Chris had wanted to watch, but Eddie hadn’t been able to watch it first to make sure there was nothing on it that would upset Chris. Eddie turned the volume up a little and started it up.

“Oh, hey, great idea.” Evan sat down on the couch again and laid the ice packs on Eddie’s leg before picking up his hot chocolate again. “So…you were talking bout Chim. How do you know so much about him?”

“Hen talks about him a lot. She misses working with him a great deal. I sometimes think she would rather have me in his place as a paramedic, but I couldn’t do that full-time. I have taken extra classes to be able to help more with the medical side of things when needed, but on the whole, I’m done with the full medic side of things. I can see them trying to protect me from things. You are known to be pretty open about feelings. Even Makepeace has heard you telling people to talk things out when there is a huge thing at an accident.”

“Well, that’s usually the ones where people from the car are about to start fighting over something stupid, like who caused an accident that wasn’t their fault at all. Not every single accident can be stopped by a quicker reaction based on eyes all over the road. If we can see someone coming at us from a blind spot, we would all be better for it. We can’t, though. No one can. Listening is a good thing that many have forgotten.”

“So, you called your therapist?”

“I had her call me when she had the chance. It was a short call.”

Eddie could see that. Evan just needed someone to tell him that how he wanted to handle things wasn’t going to make Eddie worse. Or that what he needed was just as important as what Eddie needed right now.

“And you didn’t want to ask your father to stay to talk because he would want to stay longer, and it would draw attention, and it was supposed to be just us today.”

“Quit it,” Evan said. He lifted his mug up and took a sip.

Eddie smiled. He lifted one of the ice packs and moved it on his leg a little. The pain from too much pressure on one point started to lessen. It felt good. It hadn’t been bad at all to be home. Eddie had worried that his want to get out of the hospital would put him in a worse spot. Yet, there was nothing. The real test was tonight and sleeping in a bed with Evan.

Evan didn’t move a lot and only tangled their legs together when he wanted sex. It was something that Eddie loved about him, and sex was a long way off unless it was jerking each other off. Even that was going to be iffy with how Eddie jerked sometimes.

“What did you want for breakfast in the morning?” Evan asked.

“Not sure. Will let you know. If I wake up like I did this morning, just oatmeal because my stomach was revolting. Other than that. I have no idea.”

“Okay, well, I guess we have the freezer waffles as well.”

“Don’t mock my freezer waffles. I like those when I want something easy and simple. Just them and not syrup.”

Evan made a face that Eddie knew meant he was trying not to make fun of Eddie for what he liked. Frozen waffles were far from something Eddie liked often, but he did want them occasionally. Chris liked them sometimes too.

“How are you fairing right now?” Eddie asked.

Evan held up a hand and rocked it back and forth. “Seeing you right here is helping me a lot. The nightmares, well, we will have to deal with them together because I know you are going to have nightmares that blend with being shot down.”

“I have, yes. Freaked out one of the nurses, but there was always that note that I needed to be yelled at and not touched to wake me up in my file. It helped a lot.”

“I’m probably going to be caught watching you sleep a lot. I did it twice so far today when you were napping. I just…I needed the calm and the quiet of it.”

“And that’s okay. I’ve done it a few times when we’ve both had horrible days at work. Or the worries that this is all a dream hit me hard.”

“You dream about being blown up and having a ladder truck land on you?”

“Well, no, but everything else. Finding you. Being with you. Having this family that we have. Hell, having my father in my life in a way that isn’t full of him hating every single choice I make because my mother wants me to live at home in her basement and have kids she can take from me and parent them instead.”

“That’s a lot to unpack there.”

“I’m working on it in therapy. It’s something that my therapist talked to me about this week when I didn’t fear my father coming to see me. He wouldn’t use this to tell me that I should leave. That I needed to give up Chris to him. My mother tried that a lot after Shannon left.”

“Well, it was a lot of messed up, but honestly, she didn’t need kids. I am not sure she should have access to any kids ever in her life. There is a whole lot of nope in how she raised you three and how she’s acted since you all turned into adults, with no help from her.”

“No, that would mean admitting that she didn’t want us to leave. It would mean showing the world that she failed. I think it’s the whole of it. She thought she was raising the perfect kids, and in the end, none of us were perfect in her eyes.”

“No, it’s not something she would ever admit. She’s invested in the family so much that she thinks her children never leaving is the right thing. That she gets to parent them and their children. Show the world how many ‘children’ she can raise.” Evan took another sip of his hot chocolate and sighed as he lowered the mug.

“How are you feeling? Honestly?”

“I promise I’m good. I knew that hiding anything wasn’t good, but there are times when things are put on hold to help someone, and then it’s brought up later. That’s what not burdening you with how I felt about it all while you were still in the hospital. Now, I can tell you I am happy that you are alive. How happy I was I wasn’t on the 118 to see you live and in technicolor under that truck.”

“Technicolor? Were you even alive for that?”

“Maybe, but it wasn’t something I remember. Maddie likes to say it a lot. It gets stuck in my head. So I just repeat it when I’m sure I’m doing it right. I would hate to get it wrong, so I don’t use it often.”

“I had all of these movies on VHS tape that were recorded from live TV. I watched one a few weeks ago with Chris when you were at your father’s bar working a shift to help him. I wasn’t sure what the hell I would see, but it was like a trip down memory lane that wasn’t a good one. There was so much that Chris wanted to know about the commercials that the movie was just forgotten. It was kind of great for me, but damn, the kid didn’t take any of it in. I’m sure that I could find the movie on streaming or buy it on DVD somewhere, but I wanted the way of watching with my kid, but in the end, I think that it’s just not the way to watch it with him.”

“I’m sure he enjoyed the time with you, though, and honestly, that is all that matters.”

Eddie hadn’t even thought of it like that. Chris had been happy and excited once he realized that he was going to get a look at things that were super old. It had been a good night, even if Eddie had been afraid Chris was bored as hell. The thought of that had colored what he had seen that night, but even just thinking back on it now, he could see what Evan said.

“I love you.”

“I know.”

Eddie picked up the pillow that was beside his leg and threw it at him. Evan put his arm up in time to make sure his drink wasn’t hit, but he was grinning as he did it. This right here was a good reason to get through things. He could do it, and he would be happy while he did it. Just to have Chris love him, Evan at his side, and Xi there to beg tacos off him.

Chapter Four

June

Eddie hated how he felt. He felt like he could go out and do anything, but his leg and the brace he had on it, along with the crutches, made him so damned tired.

“How about we go to the park?” Carla asked.

“No, I don’t want to burden you with that.” Eddie hated making her think she needed to entertain him as she did Chris and Xi.

“Eddie, the kids are feeding off your feeling upset. Xi’s thrown the book Chris is trying to read three times but doesn’t want to play with him. Let’s all get out and have some fun together at the park. I’ll leave you three there and go and pick up something to eat when we start to get hungry for lunch. After we are done, we can get ice cream and pick up a little for Evan as well. We can drop it off at the station. You can stay in the car or get out.”

Eddie looked at Carla and glared. Carla Price was heaven-sent to him, and he adored her for how well she fit in with them. She was there mainly for Eddie but was also paid for caring for Chris and Xi. Eddie just hated having her do things he thought were above and beyond.

However, she was right that his mindset was affecting the kids. He was in a foul mood and had been for days. His last surgery had gone well, and soon he could start full-on physical therapy. It was his mental therapy that wasn’t going the best. He felt like he was in a mood where it would be better if he was alone.

Eddie had snapped at Evan three times before he had gone to work that morning. The look on Evan’s face the last time had made Eddie think he had kicked a puppy. He wasn’t happy he had done it, but he also didn’t want to apologize in a text or a call. He wanted to see Evan and do it in person.

“Okay. We can do that. We can head to the park and let them run off energy and get me just out of the house and a place I can do things without having to do much.”

Carla gave him a smile that said she knew what he was going to do from the start but let him think it was a choice he made. The woman was good at getting people to do what she wanted without abusing them. She did have good advice on things, and Eddie had talked to her a lot about his surgery after getting his doctor’s input as well as Evan and Maddie’s.

In the end, Eddie had made the choice that would get him back to work quicker as well as make sure his leg was as good as it could be for his job.

“Dad, can we call Abuelas and have them come as well?” Chris asked.

“Sure. I’ll give Abuela and Marisol a call.” Eddie wiggled to get his phone out of his pocket, looking at the picture Evan had taken just the week before as his lock screen and wallpaper background. All four of them were smiling and happy as they sat on the couch.

Evan had the kids get on their laps, and he took a selfie with all four of them. It reminded Eddie of why he was fighting to get better, to be his best. He wanted to be able to pick up Xi and spin her around. He wanted to lift up Chris and hold him up to put the topper on the tree at Christmas. He wanted so much to not have to think about things that he couldn’t do that Chris could.

This was the point his therapist said would be the worst for him. When he felt good. He wasn’t so drained from healing and the pain of the injury. When he felt like he could do anything, but he couldn’t.

The contact image for Abuela was from her last birthday, with Xi on her lap and Chris beside her, helping her blow out the candles. Marisol’s was much the same. They were both in his phone under Abuela, with their given name after it.

“Eddito, you don’t call this early. Is something wrong?’

“No, Abuela. Everything is bueno. No, we are going to the park, and I wanted to know if you want to go with us. I’m going to invite Marisol as well.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely. Food?”

“There is a sandwich shop by our favorite park. Carla is going to pick up food after we have been there a little while. If you have dessert on hand, that won’t go wrong with us.”

“I just made some of those churro cookies that you like. I was going to talk Pepa into driving me over to give you to them when she got off work. This is better.”

“That sounds wonderful. I’ll be over soon. I’ll call Marisol. You just worry about the kids.”

Eddie laughed as his Abuela chattered on a little about her day so far. The sound of her happiness was all that Eddie needed to calm down a little bit. He knew he was being an asshole about everything, but his moods were all over the place. He had been told by his therapist, Evan, and even Maddie as being normal. Still, Eddie wanted to do better. He wanted to be better even if no one was pissed off at him for taking time to get himself through everything.

“See you soon, Abuela,” Eddie said as Abuela started to wind down on her talking.

“Hasta luego, Eddito.”

Eddie hung up and looked at Carla. “She’s going to call Marisol. Marisol will pick her up and bring her here. Then we can pack up and head to the park when we want.”

“Sounds good. I’ll get some snacks, and a few drinks for the kids packed. It’ll be fun. I promise.”

—

Evan rolled his head around to stretch it out. He hated the calls where they were talking down people they couldn’t get to and forcing them off ledges. He would rather be gearing up and doing the maneuver to get them inside. Or just anything, really.

“You are like a cat in a cage,” Parker said as he sat down beside Evan on the back of the ladder truck. It wasn’t the worst duty as this wasn’t clean up of spills that were crazy, but at least those he was active for.

“These are the worst calls for me. I want to be doing something to help that guy. It’s crazy, I know. Tommy’s trying and that we have better-equipped people on the way. I just don’t like this waiting around stuff.”

“I think that’s the difference between you and me, besides your in-seam. I’m used to hanging around since I have to stay with the trucks. It makes for a difference in looking at things. So, I just relax and try to anticipate what you guys might need.”

“Speaking of that. Tommy called you Radar one day. What the hell is that from?”

“M*A*S*H, and how have you never seen that?”

“I’ve heard of it. Dad threatened to make me watch it one summer. It never happened. I guess maybe I should at least try and watch some of it. So why did he call you Radar?”

“Radar is the nickname of a character who anticipates what the others need or just knows that something is coming that no one else does, like the choppers bringing in the patients.”

“Patients? Oh, wait, it’s like the army medical unit, not just a random name. I see now. Yeah, I’ll have to look at it. I’m sure it hasn’t aged the best, but then anything that’s made to be in a period like that wouldn’t be. So, how do you like it here?”

“I like it a lot. Better than my first station. The captain of the shift and I had a lot of issues. I wasn’t upset that I had to leave there. It made things hard on the others, so I asked to move where he thought I would fit in. The guy liked me, but we clashed on everything else. So he did make sure I was taken care of. Which is when I came here.”

“Sounds like the Island of Misfits.”

“We have been called that before. It’s nice to be wanted, though. Even if it’s because we are all a little mad here.”

Evan laughed because he knew that line. Even growing up with a good family, they hadn’t watched a massive amount of TV. Evan still read more than anything and played outside. He was active, and there were times that movies just were it. His ADHD had been easy to control, but mostly he gave into it when the weather allowed. It was another reason he had started to put on muscle and then chose to just keep on doing it. He was happy with that, and it gave him a lot of stuff to watch with Eddie, then with Eddie and the kids; if it was stuff they could watch as well.

“Finally,” Evan whispered as he stood up when Tommy started to wave them all forward. He patted Parker on the shoulder and headed to where Tommy and Garza were talking.

“How are you feeling about getting up the other side of the house and to the balcony from above?” Garza asked.

“I can monkey up that just fine from the backside. PD clear it?”

“Yes, the bedroom is blocked, and they found the rope he climbed to get up there after he blocked it. We have the air mattress on the ground just in case, but given the angle we could get, he could bounce off, so could you make sure to keep that in mind? Get over there and do what you need. The others are getting things set up for you to get up there. Go three houses down and behind. If you have to jump off and catch him to fully contain him safely, just send the pulse through the radio three times. Go.”

Evan gave a mock salute, and he went to grab the stuff he needed that he had not seen the team take. He also grabbed some gauze and tape so that once he was up on the roof and the gear was not needed as much, he could silence it to where no clinking sound could be made.

“Buck, grab…you already got it. I forgot that I trained you right,” Tommy said.

“Yeah, I don’t want to clink to set the guy off. How are you feeling?”

“Bored out of my skull. Let’s go. I’m going to go with you over there, but only you on the roof. We don’t want the focus split. You will leave your line on. We will allow some slack, but I’ll be the main one controlling it. If you have to jump to save him, I’ll let it go a little and then stop it. Hopefully, stop you mid-air with him. Be prepared to swing and hit something.”

“Oh, if I have to jump to get him, I’ll go to the side or something. I don’t want to hit the balcony.”

“No one wants you to hit the balcony, so please try not to.”

Evan headed to where they were going to wrap around out of the sight of the jumper. There was a cop there standing and talking to who he thought was the property owner.

“Thank you for trying to take him instead of harming him. He’s not normally like this.”

“I’ll do my best to get him without a single hair harmed,” Evan said. It was his standard answer to everyone when he did something like this or went in to rescue others. It wasn’t the best answer from the POV of the people around, but it was the most neutral on what he had to do. He snagged the rope as it started to drop down. No one ever took enough rope for his tastes.

The rescue was hard, given the way the house was, but at least there were a few places he could set up to get up higher. They were going in through the backdoors and then up to the top floor; it had already been cleared that the man had no line of sight to them as the bedroom door was shut. The ladder that was set up for him to get up to the roof was a little sketchy, but four people were holding it to hopefully not tip Evan to the ground three stories down.

“If you drop me, Eddie’s Abuela will curse you for the rest of your life, and I’ll haunt your asses if I die.”

The team just laughed as the part about haunting them was normal, but the line about Abeula was very, very new.

The rescue went smoothly, and Evan was breathing hard as he held onto the idiot who had tried to jump. There were a few things he observed on the man before he had jumped down to grab him, and Evan didn’t wonder if it was medication-related more than anything else. Or his body was just going haywire. The sweat on him and the way his neck veins were jumping from pounding heart. It wasn’t normal.

“Buckley, report,” Tommy said over the radio.

Evan wasn’t letting go of the squirming guy to grab his radio until he locked his legs around him. So Evan moved to where he had one arm like a band across the man’s chest and then his legs locked around his thighs. The man was as secure as Evan could make him.

“Buckley reporting secure. The guy is a squirmer, but I’ve got him. This is the last radio contact.”

“I’m headed up to you to do a medical check and get him strapped to a backboard.”

Evan dropped his hand from the radio and sighed as the man tried to make another bid for freedom.

There was a strange scent to the guy, and a check said it was his sweat.

“Hey, you on any new medications?”

“Fuck you.”

“Okay, we are in that stage. Got it.” Evan swapped arms on the guy’s chest to go ahead and radio again before Tommy got to him. “Stones, a patient has a strange smell on his sweat. I can’t place it, and when asked what medication he’s added lately, I was told to have sex with myself.”

“Medication check in the house,” Mia said.

“Yes. His heart is pounding, and he’s sweating a lot. I observed that before I tackled him. So whatever this is, I think it’s more medical than psych.”

“Heard,” Mia said.

Evan smiled and let go of the radio again to band both arms around the guy’s chest. It was about two minutes before Tommy came over the side of the roof with the backboard coming behind. He caught it as it tried to slide off the roof since it wasn’t behind him anymore.

“Patient is wide-eyed, more than we could see. His eyes look blown. Get on the radio with the hospital and make sure that they are ready to take him.”

It was quick work to get the guy strapped to the board. Tommy also had all of the gear needed to set up to lower the guy down. There was the sound of the others trying to clear the blockage at the door, but it was slow going, and this guy needed medical care now.

“Mia, keep looking. Misha, head back and let’s get ready to get this guy going. I want him gone as soon as he’s on the gurney.”

“You got it, Cap.”

After that, it was just getting everything cleaned up and leaving the rest to everyone else. Evan felt like he was exhausted from the whole waiting around for what felt like half of the day and then the rush of getting up and waiting for the right moment to jump down and grab the guy.

Evan just wanted to eat half of a pig and rest. He didn’t need sleep, but he needed a rest. That was usually just sitting and reading. He wasn’t sure if they were going to get that, but even if they were called out, he would be on light duty on the ladder truck unless it was dire. Garza tried not to make someone do anything too big after a big rescue like that.

“Looks like you have visitors,” Tommy called over the radio.

Evan looked at who he was talking to and found that Tommy was looking at him. He looked past the man to see Carla and Marisol’s cars in the visitor area.

Before the truck pulled into the spot, Parker stopped to let everyone out since he would be very precise about where he parked. It was a habit to just let everyone out.

Evan found all of them talking with the newer member, moving after a divorce, and not wanting to be at his old station. Hart was a good fit for them, and another show of Garza taking in the misfits and making them work.

“Eds, what are you guys doing here?”

“We were at the park, and I thought that a visit here would do the kids good before heading home. They aren’t getting out as much as normal, given my injury.”

“Well, it’s always nice to see you.” Evan stepped up and framed Eddie’s face to kiss him deeply.

Eddie gripped Evan’s arms and held on as Evan broke the kiss.

“I’m sorry,” Eddie said.

“I know you are. Look, I get it. This is worse than your last injury because you could move around, at least with it. Your arm was fucked, but your thigh healed up quickly from being shot. You were good. You couldn’t lift up Chris too much, but you were able to do everything else. You were able to move around.”

“I still hurt you.”

“But I know you don’t mean them, and you have never done it before. Now, if it continues even after you are better and can resume most of your activities, well, then we will have a conversation. I’m a bear when I’m sick, and you know it.”

Eddie laughed, and his eyes cleared a little. He looked happy.

“Papa! Drink!”

Evan laughed. He brushed his nose over Eddie’s before he let go of him and turned to where Xi was sitting on Tommy’s lap. Chris was beside him on the couch, with Parker looking at Xi like she would infect him with something.

Parker wasn’t the best with kids, but it seemed that Xi had made it her mission to fix that. She liked to sit beside the man, and so Tommy had taken on the job of protecting him from her happiness.

“You are spoiled,” Evan said, but he headed to the fridge to grab one of the Capri-Suns in the fridge. They were kept on hand for kids who came to visit either other firefighter’s kids or kids from the neighborhood who felt brave enough to ask all about them. He grabbed a second one for Chris as the boy would pout and make Evan feel bad if he didn’t.

The drinks were a treat, as Evan didn’t keep them in the house. Xi got watered down 100% juice at home. Of course, she didn’t know the difference. Chris never asked for things that weren’t there, and it was good. Eddie sometimes got him Lunchables to take to school, but those were kept mostly out of sight of Xi by being stuck in their drawer until Chris asked for them.

When Xi was in kindergarten and taking her meals with her every day for lunch, Evan didn’t mind her taking them.

“So, did you guys have fun at the park?”

“Da moped,” Xi said.

“Always the tattle tale, huh? I wasn’t moping; I was enjoying being outside while looking mournfully at the people who were playing soccer with the kids. It was a group of parents and their kids. Chris was even allowed, and he played with the rest of them.”

“That’s fun.”

“Yes, a few of the parents would come and talk to me while they were taking breaks when the kids wore them out. They do it a few days a week. I got the mom’s number who organizes it, and she’ll text me and even just pick us up in her van if we don’t want to drag Carla with us.”

“How would you have help?”

“Oh, there are enough parents there. I’ll be fine. I can do it myself. Xi went to the bathroom with the other kids, and both bathrooms have sinks just for kids and those in wheelchairs that are pretty low to the ground in stages. Chris said it was a great bathroom.”

“Oh, they finished the reno of them? I assume they were just making them better with newer stuff, not making them more accessible as well. That’s great.”

“It was great, Papa,” Chris said.

“Good. I can’t wait to see them myself. Maybe we can go on my next day off when I don’t have other things I need to do. Like tomorrow. Ugh, I hate going to the doctor.”

Eddie nodded his head.

Evan had always scheduled all of his doctor stuff on the same day. He had his primary care physician in the morning. His dietitian who would help him with his meal plans and where his targets needed to be to stay in a good range and not hurt his body after that. Then in the afternoon, he had his eye doctor, followed by the dentist after that.

The grouping of them like that had started when he had been a nurse. It was so much easier. His boss always knew as he made sure to request that day off. His primary care doctor and eye doctor were once a year; the other two were every six months. So everything was always scheduled at the appointment, and he had his day picked out before he even went based on the work rotation.

“It’s all four tomorrow, right?”

“Yes. I have Xi with me for all of them as well. She’s not going to be happy, but that’s why we have the dentist last.”

“We all have appointments,” Eddie said.

“Dude, that’s all kinds of nope,” Parker said.

“Eh, it makes it easier. Xi hates it for the day, but then it’s done, and I don’t have to go back for six months. It’s been this way since I adopted her.”

“It does make it a lot easier,” Eddie said.

“He’s brainwashed you. That’s too much nope in a single day. Just say that love blinded you, and you followed him like the pied piper down a road of nope.”

Evan laughed, and even Xi started to laugh. She was probably going to parrot some of that without understanding it. She had thoughts and opinions on things, and she made sure that they all knew it.

“Are you staying for dinner?” Garza asked as he came over to join the circle talking on the couch.

“The Abuelas have plans for dinner already, so they will be leaving as soon, but we can hang a while and see, I think.”

“Where is Carla?” Evan asked.

“She took a call about another client of hers. She might have to leave us here and come back later.”

“That’s no issue,” Garza said.

“What are you having for dinner?” Chris asked.

“Chicken tenders and french fries. Then there is some veggie medley that Buckley is steaming.”

“Hey, you all loved my last one!” Evan looked at Garza with a glare.

“The one with carrots?”

“Yes.”

“That’s my favorite.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Dad, we have to stay for dinner. Carla can go out and do her stuff and come back and get us. She packed more than enough stuff to keep us entertained all day.”

“I guess we are staying.” Eddie leaned back on the couch a little. Xi sat back, crossing her arms.

Garza just laughed at them before walking away, shaking his head.

—

Eddie felt the bed dip as Evan got into it. The peaceful morning bliss wasn’t going to last long at all. As soon as Xi was up, it would be a day of fun for all of them. Eddie’s physical therapist, as well as his mental therapist, was pushing him to get out and do something. So they were going to go to the zoo. Eddie would do what he could through the day, but Evan was bringing a wheelchair as well so that Eddie could rest in it.

“Are we still doing breakfast out?” Eddie asked.

“Yes. It’ll get us there just before the zoo opens up. Xi’s looking forward to chasing and playing with the otters in their tank.”

Eddie laughed and waited for Evan’s arm to relax to allow him to roll onto his back. He looked at Evan’s face to see he at least looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

“So, where is this wheelchair?”

“It’s from when I was injured from the wreck. I had a concussion that lasted a while. So crutches were not good. I bought one of those sporty ones.”

“There are times I think you should be a spoiled brat, but you don’t act anywhere like someone who grew up getting everything they wanted.”

“Oh, I didn’t get everything I wanted, but my father made sure I had everything I needed. I broke my leg once in school. Eighth grade, I think it was. I also dislocated my shoulder at the same time. I fell down a set of stairs at school. So I was in a wheelchair for part of the school year. Neither of us would fit in that thing even if Dad still has it. It might be good for Chris if he needs any surgeries. I doubt he has it. I’m sure he donated it, but it would be a good idea to keep it in mind.”

“Chris has been happy about not having any more, but he knows that to have a full life, he might need to have more. He hates wheelchairs, but I think that’s more that he likes using his legs. He’ll use a wheelchair if it’s best to keep him safe. He rarely fights me on it. He might be upset about it, but he doesn’t act like a brat.”

“Quit talking bad about my best friend.”

Eddie laughed, and he pulled Evan in for a kiss. It wasn’t going to be long before Xi was up, and Eddie just wanted to cuddle with Evan while he could get it. When the kiss broke, Eddie curled into Evan’s body.

“How was work?” Eddie asked.

“Good. We didn’t have anything truly fucked up, which helped. I got to watch Maddie and Lou on a date while we were working a wreck. They were inside a cafe near the intersection, so I checked them when I could. It wasn’t much after getting started, but it was a little more as the event went on.”

“She’s showing a lot.”

“I think she’s just really proud of being pregnant and wants to show it off. Which I get. Her exes really messed her up in some ways. Of course, meeting all of us as a massive family didn’t scare Lou off. I think he’s primed to just jump in and be himself. Which I think he was looking for as well.”

“Hmm, I know that you and your father and sister are blood, but you’ve built a massive family of choice around it as well. It’s nice to see the blend, even if part of that blend is my family and me.”

“Dad said that I always knew how to draw people in if they wanted or not. It was all superficial before. I never felt like I was super close to anyone. That changed once I was in the oncology ward. I learned how to make good friends and how to make it all good. Working there taught me so much. More than I thought I would ever learn from it.”

“Going into the army was a lesson I needed in a few aspects. There was downtime overseas, and it started to show me the flaws in the way I was raised. Others would read letters from their mothers, and there was love in them. My mother treated me like I didn’t have the brain cells to live apart from her. She told me in a letter once that I needed to tell my commander that I needed to go home because she knew I wasn’t good enough to be there without her. Well, that’s what it boiled down to. I wasn’t happy with any of it, but I never knew what I could do about it, and things just got worse when Shannon got pregnant. Then Chris was diagnosed.” Eddie pulled the blankets up a little more and curled tighter into Evan.

“Your mom is nuts. It’s not the best term, but she’s assigned to a psych facility, and I hope she gets the help she needs. She’ll probably still think you can’t even take care of yourself, much less Christopher when she gets out, but at least the rest will be all taken care of, and maybe she can control herself.”

“I’m not counting on it. Already been talking with my lawyer about making sure that when she gets out, I know and that once that happens, I can tell her to fuck off and do it legally.”

“DAD!” Chris yelled outside of the bedroom.

“Ugh, the children are awake.” Eddie had wanted more time with just Evan in bed.

“Oh, they have been awake since I got home. Xi’s been sitting in front of the TV watching soccer, actually. It’s a replay of last night’s Galaxy game. Chris was on the couch by the time I came in here. I assume that Xi’s getting to where she is getting antsy. You get dressed and ready to face the day. Carla helped you shower last night, right?”

“Yes, she did. We worked through all of it. We all got settled down. I could do it all alone after she helped me make sure my leg was wrapped up well. I’m pretty happy with how it went. I even learned a better way to wrap it. I’d never paid too much attention when she had done it before when I was not stable enough to do it. I think the next time, I’ll be good on my own.”

“That’s good. Okay, up and get ready. I’ll make sure they are set to go for the day. Chris told me he packed his stuff and Xi’s last night, but I want to be sure. Last time her backpack was too heavy.”

Eddie laughed, but he remembered that some of the things in her backpack for their day had been shoved into Evan’s. He had gone through Chris’ just after and found that Chris had been smart about his stuff but hadn’t thought about the weight difference between what each of them could carry. Chris had felt bad, but it was an easy mistake. Adults did that all the time.

A few minutes after Evan left the room, Eddie rolled off the bed and carefully got up. He had to be very, very careful of what he was doing when he was getting up or sitting down. It was the only point where he could do a lot of damage without thinking. He didn’t want to hurt himself that way at all. He didn’t want to have much to do with getting another surgery on his leg, either. It might come if it didn’t heal like it was supposed to, and there would be one for taking out the hardware inside of him later. Given his job, he didn’t want the rod in if it wasn’t needed once the breaks were healed.

Eddie groaned as he stretched, feeling his body liking the movement after a night of sleep. He groaned again and shook out his arms. He could work on his upper body again, trusting this leg was strong enough to not hurt or mess up when he was ready. He could also use the leg to brace himself on things without pain. Physical therapy was going really well for him. There was a list of things he was only allowed to do when someone was home to make sure he wasn’t alone long if he did hurt himself, but it was helping him feel better about everything now. It was just weeks since his last appointment, and he felt it would be a long time before he could do anything. The human body was strange, and even after years of working with it, he was still shocked at how it healed.

“Ready?” Evan called out.

“No, sorry, I got distracted.” Eddie wanted to go so they could be there at the zoo’s opening. He had been looking forward to his day for a week.

Chapter Five

August

Evan rolled up the hose and looked around the site of the accident. All were dead by the time they got there. On a mostly deserted road in the middle of the day, the only person on the street that was home worked the night shift and was already asleep when it happened. The man had come out at lunchtime to get his mail from the day before and saw the wreckage of two cars hitting each other head-on. He had called it in before checking on the people inside.

It was the kind of thing that no one really thought about happening in LA. It would be like it happening in New York City; one just didn’t think it was that slow in some parts.

“Okay?” Mia asked as she threw her arm over his shoulder and held on.

“Yeah. It’s senseless. How did it happen? I mean, I know that accidents happen all day long, but this?”

“It was strange from word one. But the kind of strange that we know it’s just an accident.”

“Yeah.”

Evan stored the hose, Mia still hanging off him. Thankfully, it hadn’t been needed as neither vehicle caught fire while they were extracting the bodies. The man in the one car looked like he was asleep, and there was minimal blood. The woman was a different story.

“I think he’s gonna come back as having been dead before the accident. The minimal blood and the way he was.”

“I agree. Heart attack. Which is fucking scary.” Mia finally let go of him and started to help him get the equipment packed back into the ladder truck. Parker was handling the engine.

Evan nodded to move, so he took over checking everything on the ladder truck. There was so much going on at the moment that Evan was just at a loss for how to handle it.

Of course, Eddie was the biggest thing on his mind now that they were not in the middle of an attempted rescue. Eddie hadn’t texted him once since he had gotten out of HR’s clutches on getting him because today he was back. It was quicker than everyone expected, but he would be on very light duty while his leg was judged to be fully back or not. It was going to be good for Eddie to get back. He was top of his game, but while training and passing things were easy, it was the daily slough that would be the true test of how good his leg was.

Evan was sure it was all good, but there would be a little bit of a curve to him getting used to working again.

“Let’s head back and get lunch. I’ve got us off long enough to make spaghetti to eat.” Garza tapped the ladder truck’s side to gain Evan’s attention.

“I’ll get it started as soon as we get there.”

Garza nodded, and he had a look on his face that Evan wasn’t sure he liked. The last time he had a look like that had been when a surprise birthday party had been thrown by Ennis’s wife for him.

Evan wasn’t sure he trusted that someone wasn’t going to be waiting to jump out at them.

He felt justified of being worried when he got out of the truck, and there was someone with Misha who was working on food. His back was to them, and he had a hat on his head. It looked like one of those things he had worn the first few weeks he had been here at the 217. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that something was happening with how cagey Garza had been to everyone on the way over.

“We get someone for Ennis’s spot finally?” Mia asked as she jumped out of the ambulance driver seat.

“Yes and no. We got the budget for that extra spot I’ve been angling for over the last three years, so they will be replacing Ennis, and this guy will just be added on. I was lucky enough to have a spot open for him when he got off medical leave. He’s going to be taking it easy as he figures out how his leg does with working again. I think that running around after his toddler daughter and a few years older son are enough that he’s going to be good.”

Evan looked at the man again, and then he saw the shoes. Despite their best effort, where Xi had decorated Eddie’s shoes with a marker were still visible in the right light.

“Sir?” Evan asked.

“Yes, go up and say hi. We can go over what I expect out of the two of you and all of that junk when the shift is over tomorrow.”

“How?” Evan knew he should ask a longer question, but he was just looking at Eddie in the kitchen, laughing and looking at home already in Evan’s space. It was something they had wanted, but not knowing it was happening was a shock.

“Things are a little strange at the 118 after the whole debacle with Captain Nash and the being nearly fired, and when HR asked Eddie where he wanted to go, he said he wasn’t sure. I think he wanted here but didn’t want to say it. Given his qualifications and everything else, he was given here as an option, so HR called and talked to me about things with you and all of that. I grabbed him before she got the words out.”

Evan didn’t even hesitate. He came up behind Eddie and hugged him. Eddie started to laugh and patted the arms around his chest.

“If you want to eat, you had better let me go.”

“You didn’t tell me you weren’t going back to the 118.”

“I didn’t know until I got to HR that the 118 doesn’t have a spot right now. So I jumped at the chance to come here.” Eddie patted Evan’s arm again, and this time Evan let go.

“I got to hug him first,” Misha crowed as she grinned at Evan.

“See if I bring in the peanut butter cookies you like next week.” Evan stepped clear of Eddie all the way and headed toward the tables to watch.

“Evan, please, Evan. I didn’t hug him!”

“She did. It was big, and she was smug the whole time,” Eddie said.

“Evan, don’t listen to him. Listen to me. You know I would never-”

“Do something that got cookies revoked?” Evan asked. He could hear the laughing from the rest of the team as they all crowded around to watch the show.

“Well, yes. I never would have if I had known that hugging him would get that revoked.”

“He’ll get over it.” Eddie stepped back from the counter and waved Evan back over.

Evan paid more attention to what they were working on and laughed. It was Evan’s favorite soup, and this was the aromatics that needed to go in just at the end, so they would bloom and give the soup a hint of flavor but not be cooked too long.

“I guess I forgive you all.”

“All?”Garza asked.

‘Yes, Sir. You didn’t tell me either.”

“And when have I ever given up the chance to get one over on you all?”

“He still loves to tell the story about how he was the one who was on the shift behind and got to deliver and hold that one guy’s kid first since the wife walked here when she went into labor, given the construction on the road over,” Parker said.

Evan laughed as he had heard that story a few times. Garza wasn’t malicious with it, but he loved to have fun and keep it all happy and easy. The small things to cut through the horrible of the job they did. The good calls were too few and far between.

—

“You aren’t upset, are you?” Eddie asked as he slipped into the locker room right after Evan.

Evan turned to look at him.

“No, I was just shocked. I get why you didn’t call. I’m sure HR knew exactly where we were and what we were doing. So a call wasn’t exactly on the up and up there. Garza being told about it beforehand makes sense. The hat was crazy.”

“I don’t wear them often, and as soon as Misha got word that they were headed back, I slipped it on. My shape has changed enough as I’m getting back into better shape than I was before I was blown up. I hoped it would take longer.”

“You wore the wrong shoes, then. Xi’s name is very visible on your shoes in the light right then. So yeah.”

“Damn.” Eddie waited for Evan to open his locker before he stepped up to him and pushed him into the locker right next to it. Evan relaxed back with ease and looked like he was up for anything.

Eddie kissed him, turning it just deep enough to make him happy. He had been given the code of conduct but understood that beyond this, there were some things that his new captain could forbid as long as he forbade it for all couples, even non-working ones visiting working partners. Garza was pretty free with affection for his wife in the station when it was quiet.

“Garza told me long ago what I could get away with, and I don’t figure he will add much more. He’s okay as long as it’s not like making out on the couch.”

“I figured, given how he is with his wife. As long as the rules are put in place across the board for all staff here, even with a partner who isn’t in the LAFD, HR doesn’t care. If it touches on anything close to just because we are in a gay relationship, then we go to HR. The lady who talked to me was very frank that while I needed to make sure that if anything came close to making me think it was discrimination, I needed to go to them even just to ask.”

“A few small scandals have made them want to make sure that they are seen as open and willing to take in all who want to help other people.”

“I’ve seen the push, especially for those who have a disability of some kind, adapting jobs to make sure that people feel welcome.” Eddie brushed his lips over Evan’s again before pushing off the locker.

Evan snagged the locker door and swung it open so it wasn’t in his way. Eddie pushed it back to halfway until he got his locker open.

“Right next to mine?”

“Well, he literally offered to let us share a locker, but I wasn’t sure how you would feel about that. It seems co-dependent.”

“Well, that’s because he knows how empty mine is.” Evan waved his hand at the locker. “I keep most of my stuff in my bag. I just keep showering things in here mostly, and we use the same.”

“Yeah. It’s stupid right?” Eddie asked.

“To want to do it? Or to feel like we shouldn’t?”

“To want to do it.”

“Nope. It’s kind of cute,” Tommy said.

Eddie looked where Tommy was, and he glared at the man. Tommy had the kind of smile that Eddie hated on most people. It reminded him of people who thought their shit didn’t stink. On Tommy, it didn’t seem like that, just that he thought they were cute, and he was smug about it.

“Creeping?” Evan asked. He jerked his shirt off and swapped it out for one in his locker.

“Dude, do you have to wear them a size too small?”

“Well, the others have been all used up. Or haven’t been restocked in the communal area. So don’t even with me. Besides, it’s not going to affect Eddie at all.”

“No, but it might the tour that is happening today.”

“What tour?” Eddie asked. There had been one at the 118 while he had been there, but it wasn’t too much on him. There had been something between Bobby and Athena’s ex-husband Michael about it, though. Eddie had stayed far away from their mess. He hadn’t wanted anything to do with it, really.

“We’ve got a group of kids coming from a club? I didn’t look that close at it. It’s been on the books for a while, and Garza picked who is doing it today with him.” Tommy waggled his eyebrows at them. “And I just informed you.”

“I hate you,” Evan said.

“I know you love me. Not nearly as much as the hottie beside you but close enough. So just settle in there and deal. Evan’s become one of our go-to tour guys, so don’t let him scare you off that much. It’s not nearly as bad as he makes it out to be.”

“You let me put this on. The mothers and fathers are going to hit on me, and you know it.”

“Well, you could put on the button-up. That just makes you look too pure and innocent, and you get hit on even more.” Tommy left the locker room cackling.

“I am not looking forward to having him as my boss,” Evan said.

“Yes, you are. Let’s get going and see what’s on tap as far as the kids go.”

“Evan?” Parker asked as he stepped into the room.

Eddie rolled his eyes at the way Parker was covering his eyes. “What do you expect to see, Parker?”

“I have no clue. Tommy left the room laughing.”

“He did that because of what he said, not what we are not doing. You look like a kid trying not to see his parents kissing.”

“Tommy said the tour starts in fifteen minutes, and some of the kids are already here.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Evan said.

Eddie shut the locker door when it was evident that Evan was done in there. He would move his stuff over later. Evan’s locker had more pictures of everyone in his life in it than anything else. There were only a few Eddie wanted to add. There was only a little to do to get ready for the kids who were coming. Eddie knew that most stations had it down pat what they were doing with that kind of thing. Bobby had it down to a science of sorts. It was a fun afternoon.

—

Eddie dropped onto the couch, putting his leg into Evan’s lap and groaning. Evan looked at Garza, who was reading over paperwork with Tommy right beside him. After the tour, the day had been insane, and they hadn’t been able to relax much at all. Then night had fallen, and they had gotten a few hours of sleep before being called out to help with the search for a kid who had gotten into a housing development that was under construction. The three-year-old wasn’t responding to the police who were trying to find him.

In the end, he had been found asleep in the model house after wiggling through a gap he should never had fit in.

“Hurt?”

“Aches. I’ll call the doctor if the ache keeps up after we get home in a few hours.”

“Want me to take a look?” Mia asked.

“Sure.” Eddie looked around and then shrugged.

Evan knew he was debating whether to just drop his pants or try and roll up the leg.

“I’ve got a blanket if you want to throw it over your lap,” Evan said.

“Nah, I have boxers on, and it’s not like it’s nothing anyone else won’t see. I was just making sure that the street area’s not visible from here, that’s all.”

Eddie got up and got his pants open and just dropped them down before sitting again, putting his leg back where it was. Mia came over with her bag and put on a pair of gloves before she touched the scar area.

“It looks pretty gnarly. Damn. Where does it hurt.”

Eddie leaned over and showed her where it hurt. She touched around but didn’t press too hard. She looked like she was pretty calm about it all, so Evan didn’t worry too much. Eddie had been checked constantly for blood clots. There was little chance he had developed one that quickly.

“It feels like a muscle. I’m going to check that, okay?”

Eddie nodded, waving for her to do it. She touched right above his knee and then pushed hard right on a spot.

“You are favoring your knee a little, and it’s making the muscles work weirdly. I’m sure you are just afraid of hurting it, and you are trying to make sure not to with babying but stop.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Mia spent a few minutes pushing on that spot before she moved up a little, and it was like all of the pain left. There was the dull ache he knew well from physical therapy.

“That’s all I’m willing to do so you get your pants back up, and your lover there can work on the rest of your thigh. That’s where most of the ache is.”

“Told you to watch that,” Evan said.

“Brat.”

Evan stuck his tongue out at him as Eddie got up and got his pants back up.

“Well, we can just carpool most days to work unless one of us has something else that is needed to be done before work or after work.” Eddie sat down again and laid his leg in Evan’s lap; even just having it up made it feel better.

Then Evan dug the heel of his palm down into the meat of Eddie’s thigh, and it hurt, but as soon as he let up, it felt so much damned better.

“So, Diaz, how was day one here?” Garza dropped down into a free chair and relaxed like he had no cares in the world.

“Not bad. The eye candy is nice. I’ve heard that the 118 is a meat market when it came to pretty people, but I honestly think you have it all beaten, Garza. Look at Kinard and Buckley.”

“And yourself?” Mia asked as she waggled her eyebrows at him.

“Well, it very much in bad taste to harp on ones looks too much. If you want to keep on talking about them, I’m not going to be upset at all.”

“I want to swap him out, Captain. I can’t take two of them. Two pretty boys who know how pretty they are. Even Buckley’s blushing when the old ladies hit on him is not worth this.”

Garza just laughed at Mia’s words. He shook his head when Mia huffed at him.

“You are the one that pushed with Kinard to get us more like the 118 and get bigger rescues. It makes sense with everything going on. It seems like every new disaster for the city is bigger than the last, and this at least keeps us busy, but you end up with guys like this.”

“You mean there aren’t ugly men willing to jump off moving things to save people?”

“If you find one willing to come here, I’ll keep them in mind for the next person we need.”

There was a feeling of family here that Eddie knew the 118 had been trying to get. It was like the 118 had only been pushing for family of the ones they were close to. Yet, Evan, when he came home, he talked about all of them. Or at least when there was something new or they had done something. There were names that were dropped more often, like Kinard and Parker but other than that, it was everyone.

“Today was good. I was worried about a new station, and then when 217 was offered, I jumped at the chance. I think I’ll like it here and might even stay after my probation period is over.”

“It sucks it’s not over,” Kinard said.

“Well, it’s not like anyone even saw this coming. I’m sure that a visit to see your old friends at the 118 wouldn’t go wrong.”

Eddie nodded, and he agreed with Garza. It would be good to go and see them and have a relaxing time. The few times they had visited him while he was getting better had been a little stilted. He felt like Bobby wanted him to want him more, but he couldn’t make Bobby happy because the man wanted more access to Eddie than Eddie was comfortable giving him.

“What are you thinking about?” Evan tapped his fingers on Eddie’s thigh to get his attention.

“Nothing much, just the changes.” Eddie smiled at Evan and got a blinding smile back just as Evan dug his heel into Eddie’s thigh again, releasing the last of the pressure. “I will get you back for that.”

“Eh, I’m not scared.”

“No? Are you sure?” Eddie asked, and he waggled his eyebrows.

“Buckley! Your sister wants ice cream!” Parker yelled from across the room.

“Quit reading my texts. She’s been craving it all night long, and Lou’s out of town on that case that they think has crossed county lines. He’s seeing if it is, and the paperwork was slow to come from the other county.”

“Then don’t leave your phone across the room!”

Evan huffed like it was the end of the world. He tapped Eddie to get him to get up, but before Evan could get up, the phone was being tossed in his lap. Evan dropped back down and dragged Eddie’s legs back into his lap. he started to work on Eddie’s leg again as well.

“You two look so damned cozy,” Parker said.

“Thanks, we are.”

Parker walked away, shaking his head at Evan’s words.

—

Evan snagged his bag and looked at the house. He had needed to stop and get bloodwork done to check a few extra things to ensure his body was getting what it needed, even though he worked it a lot. He had changed some of what he did, and now it was just a check to see if it helped or if he needed to change more.

He wasn’t worried. He had done what he needed. He would change more if it wasn’t enough, and he would make sure that he would be there for Xi, Chris, and Eddie for as long as he could.

Then there was the whole getting Maddie ice cream thing. Which had been longer than he thought. He was happy to be home and just spend the day relaxing. Chris and Xi were with Phillip to give them a few hours to relax before getting the kids for dinner.

The house was dark when Evan let himself in. He was just about to scream for Eddie when he heard a slight shuffling noise. Evan was about to ask Eddie what he was doing when a hand closed over his mouth. The look on Eddie’s face had Evan not even trying to say anything.

“Don’t move,” Eddie said.

Evan nodded his head. Eddie took his hand off Evan’s mouth, and his hand dropped to start to work Evan’s jeans open.

It was the work of seconds before Eddie was on his knees in front of him. Eddie didn’t hesitate to take Evan into his mouth. He understood why Eddie wanted them to shower before heading home. It was so good.

Eddie’s mouth felt so damned good on him. Evan had missed this kind of thing. Life had been so damned busy that this thing hadn’t happened in a long time. Evan dropped his head back into the door, and he just enjoyed the feel of Eddie’s mouth sliding up and down his cock. He had plans for what would happen when Eddie was done sucking him.

“Fuck, Eds. Your mouth.”

Evan tangled his fingers into Eddie’s hair, loving how Eddie was growing it out. He wasn’t going got last long, and he knew it. The feel of Eddie’s mouth on his cock and then the location, as well as how long it had been, meant Evan had been on edge since Eddie had gotten to his knees.

He came a few seconds after getting a good grip on Eddie’s hair. When he could move again, Evan let of Eddie’s hair and then laid that hand on his neck to pull him up to kiss him. It felt so good to just exist like this.

“And what do you want?”

“Hmm, a lot of wet skin around me. What do you say?”

“So we showered just to shower again?”

“No, no. We showered so that I could do that when we got here and that when we shower after, it can just be playing and not have to clean up anything.”

Evan closed the small gap between them, waiting to make sure Eddie was okay with kissing. Eddie surged into him and drew him into the kiss. It felt good to just be home with Eddie. Once they were in the rhythm of kissing, Evan started to work on getting Eddie naked. It was a tangle of limbs and bumps parts, but after a few moments, they were both into it, and Evan could start to lead him back toward the bathroom. The trail of clothes would be taken care of later, and no one was supposed to come and bother them.

“After this, nap,” Eddie said.

“Agreed.”

Evan opened the bedroom door and kept moving Eddie toward the bathroom. There was something fun about this: moving him to where he could touch all he wanted without worrying too much about windows. The bedroom curtains were always pulled; they didn’t need to give anyone a show. Evan backed Eddie right into the wall beside the shower stall.

Eddie hissed, and his body bucked up to get him away from the cold tile. “You are a menace.”

“Hmm. And yet, you love me. You wouldn’t know what to do without me in your life,” Evan said as he opened the door to the shower. He quickly kissed Eddie’s lips before darting into the shower to get the water running. Eddie came in after him, and just after the water was spraying out, he pushed Evan through it and put Evan on the tile.

“See,” Eddie said when Evan tried to buck up to get Eddie away so he could get away from the cold tile.

“Oh, I know, and turnabout is fair play and all of that yadda yadda, but the look of betrayal on your face is worth it.”

“I really hate you.” Eddie flung water at Evan’s face, turning into a game as the water warmed up.

It was a fun few minutes until splashing turned into groping, and then groping turned into rutting. It felt too damned good when the bathroom warmed up to where they didn’t have goose pimples all up their arms and legs. It was too good, and it was lovely.

By the time Evan had Eddie pinned to the wall with Eddie’s legs wrapped around him, Evan was hard again. A little conditioner on their cocks, and they were slipping and sliding along as rutting.

Eddie tightened his legs around Evan, and Evan pressed him harder into the wall for a few seconds before grabbing his hands and pulling them up, holding Eddie right where he wanted him.

“Fuck,” Eddie gasped and thumped his head off the wall as he came.

Evan rocked into him a few more times, getting all he could get out of Eddie before he started to chase his second orgasm.

When he was about at his end, Evan squeezed Eddie’s hands a little harder, and Eddie started to work his legs free. Evan didn’t back up until he was sure that Eddie was solid on his feet.

“See, wasn’t that a good reason to have your father watch the kids?”

Evan snorted, and he turned his head into Eddie’s neck. “Yes, it’s a good reason. I just assumed that after so long of seeing them every day, you would be missing them.”

“Oh, I am, but I think I needed this as well. A little adult time.” Eddie yawned so much that his jawbone cracked a little. “Nap?”

“Yes, hell fucking yes.”

Eddie smacked Evan on the ass for the cursing. Evan just laughed and darted away to get soap to clean up a little. He just squirted it into his hand and started to clean up like that. There was no reason for anything more. They were not that dirty.

“I feel like I could sleep all day.”

“Well, Dad’s okay to watch them as long as needed. He knows how the first shift back can be after off so long. So whatever you need.”

Evan got out of the shower first, grabbing a towel and drying off haphazardly. When Eddie turned off the water and stepped out, Evan was there with a towel, ready to dry him off.

Eddie looked him up and down. “You are going to dry yourself off better, right?”

“Yes. Of course, when I’m done with you.”

Eddie nodded. He waved to have Evan start to dry him off. It felt good to be taken care of like this; it was one of the best things that Eddie did for Evan, so Evan liked to do it as well.

There was a simple domesticity to their life that Evan never thought he would have. It blew past anything in his life. He had never seen his father happy, and even with the stories Maddie told him, their parents were never like this. There was always something off, especially after Daniel got sick.

“Hey, you disappeared on me there.”

“Yeah, I did. Just thinking about our life together is all. From what I understand, Dad and Mom didn’t have a life like this, so we are doing good when neither of us had a good relationship with happy parents; well, it’s nice.”

“It shows that with work, things can be overcome.” Eddie snagged the towel when Evan was done and tossed it aside. He grabbed the towel Evan had been using on himself and returned the favor.

Unlike before, the touches of skin on skin were not arousing, just comforting.

When Eddie was done, he tossed the towel aside and prodded Evan into the bedroom.

Evan dropped onto the bed and rolled to his side before pulling the covers up over him. Eddie laughed and dropped onto the bed hard enough to bounce Evan a little bit.

Once Eddie was under the covers, he rolled to wrap himself around Evan, and they just laid there for a few minutes, sharing space but not talking.

“I’m happy to be with the 217, Evan. I already feel like it’s better than the 118. I felt a little on the outside there, and it wasn’t just not needing a family like some of them do. When I think it’s that I can’t be that involved in them the way they seem to be in themselves. I can’t say it’s toxic, but it’s something that is not healthy for me.”

“I knew that things were a little weird there, but it’s nothing that doesn’t happen in some circles. We depend on each other, and things are good to want to be close to the people you depend on, but there is a line, and it’s a line that not all can see themselves crossing.”

“It can be a very hard line,” Eddie said. He squeezed Evan and dropped a kiss on his shoulder.

“Sleep. Then we can go and get our kids and have a fun afternoon before school starts.”

“Yeah.” Eddie sounded like he was nearly asleep.

Chapter Six

September

Eddie looked at where Evan and Chris were trying to win the biggest bear. Xi was attached to Eddie, half asleep from the morning of running around the park after breakfast before they chose to come here.

The Santa Monica pier was hopping as it always was on the weekend. Eddie was happy they had the day together when normally they would have it off.

They were going to be working the next day, after swapping days so that two friends could attend a wedding tomorrow. It would be a long two days since they were working the day after that as well, but it wouldn’t be too bad in the end.

“She’s adorable,” a man said as he stepped up to Eddie with a look that said he was not looking to strike up a convo about kids.

“Thanks. My partner will be happy his daughter is adorable.” Eddie nodded toward where Evan and Chris were.

“She’s his?”

“Yup and the kid with him is mine. We are quite happy together.”

“I don’t see a ring.”

“Allergic to marriage after my ex-wife up and left me after I was shot three times overseas and left me to care for a four-year-old with CP. Kind of makes me unwilling to commit like that again, but then it’s just a sheet of paper when we are everything to each other.”

The man said nothing and turned to leave.

Eddie was glad that Chris wasn’t around. The boy hated it when people hit on him or Evan when he was around.

Xi just glared at people who were not people she knew coming up to them, and her little resting bitch face was kind of great. Eddie found it had scared off more than one woman who was looking to mother their kids without permission.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man trawling for a hookup run so fast,” a woman said as she moved up to stand beside Eddie.

“He was looking for someone single and assumed that a man here with a kid was alone. Probably some kind of thinking men shouldn’t care for kids unless they have to.”

“Yeah, we get that a lot. My wife is up on the Ferris wheel with our kid. I’m not fond of heights, so I stayed down here to watch people. I think I want to just hang out with you and your man because I get to people-watch a lot of idiots and maybe not get hit on.”

Eddie chuckled and then groaned when he saw Evan and Chris headed toward them with the bear.

“Really? Where is that going to go?”

“Xi’s room,” Chris said.

“Why?” Eddie asked.

“So that when I’m reading to her, and we are cuddled on the floor because she hates her bed, we can lean against the bear. I have the spot picked out already.”

“And that’s why we got the purple bear since her favorite color right now is purple. It would have been better if they had a darker purple as it would match her sheets better, but we can deal.” Evan looked at the woman beside Eddie. “Hi, I’m Evan.”

“Adele. I was coming over here to stop your boyfriend and me from being hit on.”

“Oh, I saw the guy take off who was trying to flirt with Eddie. I would have sworn his pants were on fire with how quickly he ran away. Eddie’s good at chasing them off. I’m too nice and don’t realize they are flirting.”

“Well, this guy was obvious. He wasn’t interested in Xi at all and just interested in getting to have sex with a guy taking care of a kid. I’m well used to that in this meat market.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m staying right here with you two because you cannot buy this kind of entertainment. If that’s okay?”

“Sure, why not. We were just going to head over and get some of the fresh kettle corn and watch the waves for a little while. So let’s go and get that while Eddie watches both kids. He’s good at it.”

“I can’t carry Xi and the bear.”

“Oh, no. I’m going to set it down, and Chris will sit beside it. he already said he would.” Evan stepped up and pressed a kiss to Xi’s forehead. She made a noise of not wanting to wake up. “Besides, your arms have to be tired. So she can nap on Chris.”

“Thanks,” Chris said.

It took a few minutes to get them settled on the side of the pier. They weren’t as close to the water as they could have been, but with Xi, it was best to be on the side, so she didn’t run around too much. If she was in the front, she would run from side to side they had learned from other places they had gone to the beach at.

Eddie kept an eye on Chris as he got comfortable with Xi leaning on him. He was always so careful with her, but the growth spurt she had been going through was making her a walking accident. She tripped over her own feet all the time, as her legs were her biggest issue. Despite her and Evan not being blood, she was all legs.

“Dad, what are we doing for dinner?”

“Evan put out a casserole in the fridge this morning. It was the tater tot one, I think.”

“Oh, that’ll be good. How long are we staying?”

“Probably not much longer. Xi’s gonna wake up and want to be heading somewhere else. We did everything we wanted to do here today. It’s not like the zoo where we have to do everything every single time.”

“Well, we have to see the babies every single time, and since we are walking past everyone else, we might as well visit. They might think that Xi and I don’t like them anymore.”

Eddie shook his head because he knew full well that Chris knew the animals wouldn’t miss them. Yet, he kept that up for Xi. It was adorable and felt different compared to how Eddie and his sister were raised. Eddie was doing everything he could to make sure that Chris never felt like Eddie did growing up.

When Evan and Adele came back, they had two more with them. A teenager and another woman. Eddie assumed it was Adele’s wife. Evan stopped in his tracks and dropped the kettle corn.

“RUN!” Evan yelled at the same time that Adele yelled.

“TSUNAMI!”

Eddie got up and looked back. The water was retreating, but the actual tsunami wasn’t visible yet. Eddie grabbed Xi to hand her off to Evan as soon as he got close. Adele and her family were running already. As soon as Evan was close, he darted around Eddie and went for Chris. Xi was scared and squirming.

“Mija, hold on,” Eddie said as he took off at full speed. Evan was right behind him, but he wasn’t looking. It made sense what Evan had done. It made Eddie wonder if Evan had ever worked in disaster response when he was a nurse. He wanted to know what kind of life Evan had worked then.

The crash of the water hitting the pier made it shake. Eddie knew they were out of time. He looked to see where they could duck and hoped Evan would follow him. There wasn’t a lot, but there were also a lot of people. Most were not going to make it. Eddie wasn’t even sure he was going to make it. He clung tighter to Xi as he saw a stall used for games. It wasn’t the best idea, but at least it would hopefully give them a little bit of a place to be. He jumped over it and turned to make sure Evan was there.

Evan couldn’t jump with Chris’ weight, but he tossed Chris into a pile of toys before he jumped over as well and got his arms around Chris, holding him tight.

This was worse than seeing the rocket headed and knowing there was no time to do anything. It had just been Eddie and his team, and as much as he loved his team, they weren’t his kids and the love of his life.

Xi had seemed to fully catch on that things weren’t good as the wave took out the booth in front of them, and she held onto Eddie as hard as possible. Eddie gripped her hard as well.

“I love you.”

—

Phillip wasn’t sure what was going on as there were already messages on his phone before the alert went out.

Tsunami.

It was a bit of weather he never had to worry about in Pittsburgh.

The warning was late, it seemed since there were already things in the family chat.

Phillip was about to dismiss the alert, already thinking of things he could use the bar for to help things going forward. Then it hit him.

Evan, Eddie, and the kids were at the pier. He dialed Evan’s number, throwing the phone onto speaker as he reached for the landline to call Ramon. The cell never connected before going to voicemail.

“Phillip, we weren’t to meet until later. Unless you are calling to cancel.”

“Well, I am canceling, but…when was the last you heard from Eddie?”

“Early this morning, when they headed out. Why?”

“Get to your mother’s, Ramon. She’s going to need you today. Eddie and the family were at the pier. I’m going to call Maddie and have her keep an ear out.”

“Mama is not going to just sit at home with me. I will meet you at the bar. You are going to use it for something, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I’ll have my employees stay and call in others to help with anything needed. I can’t do much food, but I can make sure that rescue workers are able to get at least good food. Even if it means my staff going to other places and picking it up. I’ll get a hold of the LAFD and let them use my place if needed for anything. I’ll get Marisol as well. She’ll hate to be left out. Then we can at least do something while waiting on news of our family.”

Phillip’s mind was going a mile a minute, and he wrote down things he needed to do along with texting his staff and telling them that for all who could get there and wanted hours, he would pay them to work disaster relief in all ways that they could.

“Dad,” Maddie said when the call connected.

“What have you heard?”

“Nothing, really. It was still too early, and the buoys didn’t go off. There was no warning.”

“Evan…” Phillip choked off because while he kept it together with Ramon, he couldn’t now, not with Maddie.

“What about him? He’s off today.”

“Yes, and he and Eddie took the kids to the pier.”

“Dad.”

“You are working, yes?”

“Yes. I’m being dispatched to work triage at whatever place is set up or just pick everything up and start to run it if there is no one running it who knows their head from a hole in the ground. I’ll find my brother and the rest of our family.”

“Okay. I’m heading to the bar. It’s open for whatever the LAFD needs it to be. Or FEMA or whoever takes this over. I’m calling in all of my staff, and they can do whatever is needed as well.”

“Dad, he’ll make it. He’s tough, and he’s got everything to live for.”

“I know, but your brother has the worst luck in the world. Eddie’s is not much better.”

“No, but they are strong, and they will live. They will make it because they have those kids and us.”

Phillip wasn’t sure where Maddie got that from because Phillip wasn’t that optimistic. Evan was, though. He was happy and looked at the bright side of everything once he got over the surprise of something.

“Well, if I don’t hear from him, I’m going to go down there and look for him myself.”

Maddie laughed, but there was a bit of water to it, and she seemed on the verge of tears.

“Go, and if you need anything, even if it’s a body to go to hospitals and get supplies, let me know. I’ll make sure that someone is always on hand for that and food.”

“I’ll keep you informed. We might take over the bar and use it for treating those who don’t need too much care. Off-duty private EMTs might be willing to man that kind of place. I’ll let you know. If you hear anything.”

“I’ll text. I know the cell towers might go down once this gets going.”

Phillip let Maddie chatter at him for a few more minutes about what she was doing while they were waiting for their rides to the centers already set up to send off firefighters and paramedics. He wouldn’t be shocked if Maddie got herself on a boat to help look for Evan.

Once he was off the phone, Phillip set about getting the rest of what he thought he might need, as well as the cash he had on hand in the safe. He would send someone to every single drug store in the town if needed for supplies.

Phillip wasn’t going to rest until he had his hands on Evan, but he was a liability going out into the damaged areas.

—

Evan came up, his arm still around Chris, and the boy gasped as he breathed air. They both needed to get their lungs clear as much as possible. His head was swimming with everything they would need to be done to them since they had taken in seawater and they had cuts all over.

“I’m good,” Chris said.

“Okay, well. I’m good, I think. Let’s see about getting somewhere safe, and I can start to figure out where your father went.”

“Okay. I’ll be good, I promise.”

“Oh, I know, buddy,” Evan said as he pressed a kiss to Chris’ forehead. If there was one thing Evan knew, Chris was going to help more than anything else.

“Evan!” a female voice called out.

Evan looked to see it was the woman that Eddie had been making friends with. She was on a car with her wife and their teenage daughter.

“Chris, I’m going to help you get on my back, and you are going to wrap your arms around me and hold on tight, right?”

“Yes, Bucky.”

It took longer than Evan would like, but with him treading water and keeping an eye on the debris floating around them. He needed to make sure not to drop Chris.

Once Chris was on his back, Evan started to swim toward Adele. As soon as they were close, Adele reached for Chris to help get him up on the car.

“Thanks.”

“Where’s Eddie?”

“Not sure. I need to find him and Xi.” Evan didn’t get up on the car, but he looked around. He wanted to keep his energy, and getting up on the car might not be the best idea in the world for that.

“Papa, I’ll stay here. You find Dad and Xi,” Chris said.

Evan looked at him and debated what he would do for a few seconds, but so far, Chris was safe.

“There will be other waves coming in. Do not trust just sitting up there. You will need to hold onto the car however you can and each other. Keep an eye for floating debris.”

“Okay. I’ll keep him as safe as I can,” Adele said.

“Thank you. I’ll be back, Chris.”

“Go save people like you are supposed to, Bucky,” Chris said.

Evan gave him a smile and then started to swim off. He wouldn’t go far enough away that he couldn’t see Chris if he looked back. Depending on how things went, Eddie and Xi could be miles away. He wasn’t going to endanger Chris and leave him alone for too long, just to be safe.

“SIR!” a woman yelled.

Evan started to look around. He found a woman inside of a building, holding her arm. She looked like she was thrown through the window, filling the place with water.

“I’ll be right there.” Evan made his way over to where she was. He was careful with the glass and grabbed a floating bit of branch to use to knock out most of the rest of the glass. “Is that the only place you are bleeding?”

“Yes. I already checked myself over.”

“Okay, I’m going to take you back to where a pair of women are. They can get that wrapped, and we can hope you don’t bleed out.”

“It’s already slowing down. I’m a good swimmer. I just can’t get a good wrap on it with anything I have.”

Evan stripped off the thin long-sleeved shirt that he was wearing, and he tore off a sleeve before working on getting the stitches out. It would work well enough. He draped the rest of the shirt around his neck to get it affixed somewhere before he took off in case more was needed.

“You from around here?”

“I live in LA proper but was out here today on a date. He left before this all, and I hung around. I wish I would have left with him.”

“I bet. Okay, so this will hold for a while but don’t take it off. I know it’s wet, and it’s going to keep getting wet, but hopefully, it will clot.”

“You looked like you were looking for someone instead of just looking around for people.’

“My partner and our youngest. Our oldest is back with the ladies. We got pulled part in the wave.”

“I hope you find them. Where are the ladies?”

Evan pointed, and the woman nodded.

“I can swim that far. I still do some swimming competitions here, and I surf. I just didn’t want to leave here until I had to with the water rising like it was.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Go and find your man and kid.”

Evan nodded. He helped the woman get turned where he needed to go, and he looped the shirt around his neck better and tied it off like a scarf, and hoped it stayed. He made sure she was going to make it where she needed to go before he kept on going away.

When Evan made it to the end of the block, he was torn because he could still see the group of people on the car, but there was yelling from down the block. There was a few seconds of indecision until he decided that Chris would hate it if he ignored someone else in favor of staying too close. Evan started to swim away, toward the yelling, when he caught sight of someone else swimming that way. He paused long enough to see it was Eddie and Xi. Xi was on his back, much like Evan had Chris do.

Someone was caught in a tree, and it looked like they were not well off, but they were trying. Evan headed toward them. He didn’t say anything as he didn’t want to distract Eddie from what he was doing. He could catch up to them, and then they could figure out what they wanted to do.

“PAPA!” Xi yelled just seconds before Evan was going to be close enough to talk without yelling, and Eddie hear him.

Xi dove off Eddie’s back and swam toward Evan. Evan caught her up and hugged her tightly.

“Chris?” Eddie’s eyes widened in fear as he said his son’s name.

“On a car with Adele and her family. I set out to look for you and then heard this guy.” Evan let Xi climb around to where she was wrapped around him like she had been on Eddie.

Evan swam closer to help Eddie with the guy in the tree. His shirt was caught up, and he wasn’t strong enough to rip his shirt, it seemed, and also wasn’t able to just slip out of the shirt to get off.

“There is a fire truck back that way,” Eddie said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder.

Evan looked the way he pointed to see it there.

“Oh, yeah, there was the whole thing on the boardwalk, wasn’t there? We could make a little center there. It would be easier for Adele and the others to swim around the block in the other direction and get there. I can head back and direct them over there. Xi, you’ll have to stay with Daddy.”

“No,” Xi said. She clung tighter to Evan’s neck.

“Or, I can head that way and get them around that way, and you two can escort this guy there. She’s not going to want anyone but you and maybe Chris for a while. Just like Chris is probably going to want me.” Eddie’s face had a myriad of emotions all over it.

There were a lot of families out there that were not as lucky as them. Evan wasn’t sure what was going to be the death toll of this, but it was going to be years before it was all taken care of and people were able to give anything accurately on it.

—

Phillip hauled the backpack higher up on his shoulder, and he looked at Ramon, who was beside him with a backpack just as full of needed supplies at one of the medical areas that were hard to get to by vehicle.

The day dragging on and not getting any word of Evan, Eddie, and the kids had turned what little hope Phillip had into a mess of angst of the highest order.

Maddie was still working the main triage center that had been set up at an old facility, but there were a few staging areas inland. Since Phillip and Ramon were temporary members of the LAFD for this whole thing, Ramon had a radio, but it was a chatter that all non-staff were using so that it didn’t confuse the rest of the workers who were used to only essential chatter. A few members of the LAFD who were out for medical reasons were manning the civilian channels and relaying what needed to be relayed.

“You know I’ve never been ground zero for anything like this. I saw everything with 9/11 but never in person,” Ramon said when they were nearing the triage center.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, and I think that these two idiots of ours see smaller-scale stuff like this every day.”

“I mean, we worked the earthquake last year,” Evan said.

Phillip whipped his head around to find where his son was. He was sitting on a cot with Xi on the cot with Chris there. Eddie wasn’t anywhere he could see, but there wasn’t a look of massive grief on Evan’s face, so Eddie had to be somewhere.

“Where’s my son?” Ramon asked.

“He’s over helping the nurses get some people stabilized. We got here ten minutes ago but the radio they had went down. It was some old thing anyway.”

“We’ve got the new one here along with a  few other supplies.” Phillip laid the bag down and pulled Evan up and into a hug.

Evan held onto him.

“Why are you out here helping?”

“The kids needed sleep, and Xi wouldn’t sleep without me here. We’ve had a day. But we saved about three dozen people.”

“How?”

“Catch lines and just being in a place we could do good as the water was going back out. Ramon, come with me. Dad, stay with the kids. They aren’t going to let Ramon into the tent unless I’m with him.”

“I’ve got the kids.” Phillip sat down where Evan had been, and he laid a land on Xi’s leg; the girl didn’t even stir.

Evan looked exhausted, so the kids had to be as well. Xi probably fell asleep at some point. They were covered in cuts and bruises from being in the wave, Phillip thought.

He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the kids to send to the family chat.

Phillip: Everyone is safe and sound. Evan is taking Ramon to see Eddie in a triage tent and taking the supplies while I have the babysitting duty.

Phillip sent the picture after his message was confirmed as sent. The image would take a while with the system overloaded as it was with people trying to get a hold of loved ones.

After confirming the picture was sending, he swapped to the number that had texted him hours before.

Phillip: I’ve got my boys and the kids. Tell everyone at the 217 that they are safe. If you run across anyone in the 118, make sure they know as well.

There had been a few confused moments when Eddie’s former captain had heard him asking about Evan and Eddie to a group of searchers who had come back.

Evan and Eddie were not working the next day either. Phillip was going to make sure of that. They needed to see what was going on with them and the kids before they even thought about going back to work and dealing with this. While the 217 might not be tapped the day after tomorrow, there was very little chance they weren’t going to be working this tomorrow.

“Pappi?” Xi asked.

Phillip looked down, and he reached out to her; Xi got up, moving slower than she did even when half asleep. Her body had to be sore. There was probably not a low that anyone was willing to give her, just in case.

“Hey, my sweet angel,” Phillip said.

“Where’s Papa?”

“He’s with Pop Pop and Dada.”

Xi pouted, but she settled into his arms. Phillip laid a hand on Chris’ leg when the boy started to wake up.

Thankfully, Evan, Eddie, and Ramon were on their way before Chris was fully awake.

Xi was still pouting and didn’t seem that interested in going to Evan when he sat down again. Chris went right into his father’s arms and just seemed so small.

“So, I’ve been ordered to go to a full hospital to get checked out; all of us have with the depth of the bruises we have and how my leg aches. Dad’s going to drive us there in the truck.”

“We can’t all fit.”

“No, but I think no cop will stop anyone with a bed full of people being taken out of the danger zone. There are a few more that can walk that have come in that need to head out as well to get arms set or deeper scans done. The nurses are getting them all situated. We are going to stop where Maddie is and let them do a better check to make sure that all of us are cleared to go in without true medical escort.”

“And let my sister make us over,” Evan said.

Phillip wasn’t going to say anything about it because he was glad to be right here with his son, but he understood that Maddie needed to see him too. Stopping to have someone look at them was a good idea, especially for some of the people that were headed over to them.

“What about the ones you came in with?” Philip asked.

“Most are already gone, either able to fully walk just fine out of here or by medical transport. We have been hotwiring a few vehicles that survived and were not that damaged to get people out. Most of them aren’t more than a shelter to sit in, and most don’t even start.

A crackle of radio activating had Ramon jumping. He put his hand up and waited to see what was going to come over it.

“I’m looking for Ramon Diaz,” a voice said.

“Yes, hello, I’m here.” Ramon looked like he would rather be doing anything other than answer that.

Eddie started to laugh, and it sent Evan into giggles as well.

“Please tell me you have my work husband right there.”

Ramon looked a little wild as he looked at Eddie for help. Phillip just shook his head at the man. Despite everything, Phillip still wasn’t sure Ramon was ready for the next step, and it was driving the kids crazy. Every single one of their five children wanted them together. Phillip understood being scared.

“Click the radio,” Eddie said before he leaned closer to his father. Ramon did as he asked. “Listen here, woman.”

“Oh, thank the Gods above and below. Where is your prettier half?”

“I’m here as well. We are fine. I promise. Now, we are going to be getting checked out where Maddie’s at and then taking out the group to the ER because the depth of bruises is not something we all want to play with. Dad’s going to load up us and take us in.”

“Well, the captains have already said that you two are not to show up to work tomorrow, and the next day is iffy as well. Wait to hear from Garza are your orders. Obviously, that depends on what the ER tells you. The further you can go to get treated, the better. Everything is overwhelmed, but the lower risk checks are further into the city.”

“I’ll go where Maddie tells us and nowhere else,” Eddie said.

“Your phones are trashed, aren’t they?”

“Probably fried to hell. I still have mine, and I backed up everything last night. I won’t lose any pictures. I’m sure that we will have at least one of the dads with us,” Eddie said.

“Tommy had someone get him my number from your files since he couldn’t get a hold of either of you. I have his number. He can share that around until Eddie and Evan get a new number.”

Phillip saw the look on Evan’s face. It was tiredness, and Phillip knew the day had been long. He just wanted to get them out of there but knew that they had their own ideas of what they were going to be doing.

“What did you do all day?” Evan asked after Ramon finally got off the radio with Mia or Misha; Phillip couldn’t remember which one was each of the boys’ work wives. He didn’t really understand the whole thing, but it was something that was wholly theirs.

“Ran a shelter out of the bar. Most of my staff have made up their own schedule to have the place going all night long. I am paying them because a lot can’t volunteer hours and not get money.”

“Your whole family is crazy,” Eddie said. There was no heat to it, and Phillip took it for what it was. All of the Buckey’s gave. Phillip had made sure that he had enough money to enjoy his retirement from his first job. He was happy to have the money to make sure his employees were taken care of.

—

Eddie wasn’t shocked when Evan came back from checking on Xi with her in his arms. Chris had crawled into bed with them an hour ago. The guest room had Abuela and Pepa sharing, while the other room with the pullout had their fathers sharing. Maddie was sacked out on the couch while Lou was working on search and recovery since he had no cases he needed to work on overnight.

“Hey,” Eddie said.

“Hey.”

Eddie swallowed, and he looked at the way Xi tucked herself down between them. It wasn’t even dawn yet, and Eddie felt like they hadn’t slept a wink even though he knew they had. Instead, they were just so worn out that their bodies were going to force them to sleep. He was glad he didn’t have to worry about working the shift that he should have that day.

“Sleep,” Evan said.

“Gonna try, but it’s gonna be hard. I have a question to ask, and I need an answer tonight.”

“Okay,” Evan said, drawing the word out. He got himself settled under the blankets again.

“Evan Buckley, will you marry me?” Eddie asked.

“Yes.” There was no hesitation, and it had even seemed like he would say yes as soon as Eddie got his full name out.

“No hesitation?”

“I would have gotten up in front of a crowd to marry you months ago.”

Eddie didn’t even try and lean over to kiss him. Not with two kids between them. He settled in and just smiled at Evan.

“Do you even have a ring?”

“No. It wasn’t until that wave was crashing down that I realized that what I feared from you, I didn’t need to. You aren’t Shannon, and you aren’t going to leave Chris and me hanging. I don’t need to worry about a damned thing.”

“And you realized that in the wake of losing us?”

“Well, it’s the mind. Who knows what the hell it does.”

Evan laughed before he shook his head a little. He yawned, and it reminded Eddie that they needed sleep. The kids would bounce back quicker than either of them, and most of the family was involved in one way or another with the tragedy that had gone on.

Maddie had worked longer than she should have, and everyone was worried about her giving birth early due to it. Lou hadn’t been too bad off on worrying, but Evan and Phillip did; it was why they had gone to her to be looked at before going where she told them.

Tragedy struck, and they had been in the middle of it. Eddie was happy that they hadn’t personally lost anyone, but there was a lot that couldn’t say the same.

Eddie wanted to celebrate that in the best way possible, and a wedding was as close as they would get for that.

Chapter Seven

October

Evan looked at the food list for what was being catered, like everything that was desserts. The rest of the food was being brought in potluck-like but controlled. The catering staff was going to get everything up and then leave and come back later that evening to pick up the stuff that was theirs.

There was not a lot to worry about, and unlike what most thought they were coming for, it would be smooth. Probably one of the smoothest weddings ever.

Everyone who mattered was there for the first massive Buckley-Diaz family reunion. Eddie’s sisters were there, along with a few cousins with whom Eddie was willing to associate.

Evan had a few friends from the hospital back in Pennsylvania as well as Miss Edna was there for Evan’s extended family. There was, of course, everyone from the 217 who wasn’t working and a few people from the 118 for Eddie.

There were only two people beyond Eddie and Evan who knew it was going to be a wedding. That was Lou, who was, strangely enough, had the credentials to be able to marry people, and then the photographer who was hovering around taking pictures of Eddie and Evan getting ready for the day.

Once they had started to talk about what they wanted, they realized that while they loved their family, they would all have opinions, so it was best to keep it all quiet until it was all planned.

Then from there, it had just become a big thing that Evan hadn’t wanted to share with anyone. So a surprise wedding for all the people they cared about masquerading as a massive family get-together.

“Need help?” Eddie asked.

“No. I don’t need help. I haven’t needed help putting on my shirt unless I’m injured since I was a child.”

“Well, I didn’t ask if you needed help with the shirt. I just meant in general. Lou’s got Maddie installed in the backyard. She was on bed rest for the most part, but she was allowed to be up for a few hours. There was even a lounger she could lay in later when she wanted to be around people but needed to be down.

It was a good compromise.

“How is Lou doing?” Evan asked.

“Oh, he’s fine. He’s still in the same clothes as everyone else. So it’s not like he’s in a suit when no one else is.”

“And Xi and her dress?”

“I have the Abuelas on that, and they are making sure she stays clean. Lou started to tell everyone that we were doing pictures right off the bat, so keep an eye on the kids. I think that my sisters know something is up but are not sure what.”

“Well, no one knows we are engaged, so why would they think anything of this? They probably think that one of us is going to pop the question. With both families ready to console us when you turn me down.”

Evan put the finishing touches on his hair and looked at Eddie, who was still leaning in the doorway.

“At least we don’t have to deal with the family trying to make us sleep apart the night before the wedding. I get some things that are traditional, but obviously, that kind of thing just doesn’t work on keeping a marriage together.”

“You’ve got that necklace from your Abuelo, right?”

“Yes. You are wearing blue. My clothes are old. Yours are new. We are all set as far as that old tradition goes.”

Evan reached out, and Eddie slipped his hand into Evan’s and let himself be drawn in for a quick kiss.

The backyard of the house was laid out perfectly with the rows of picnic tables to fit everyone all laid out to make a makeshift aisle without anyone, nothing to show what it actually was.

“Let’s go and face the music,” Evan said when he broke the kiss.

It was time to face the music and face their family. They just hoped that this didn’t turn out to be something that pissed them all off.

Xi would never have been able to keep it secret, so Chris hadn’t been told either. They might be upset, but Eddie and Evan had planned this for over a month. They were now just six weeks out from the tsunami, and things had gotten back to normal as much as possible for the city.

Everyone was already gathered, and by the way that Lou was smiling, no one had figured it out. Eddie had been getting ready first, so Evan had greeted most of the people who had arrived first, and once Eddie was ready, Evan had headed back to get ready.

Evan sought out Lou’s gaze and nodded at him. Lou nodded back, getting everything ready. Candice, the photographer, caught onto what Lou was doing, and she got to where she needed to be for the next part. There would not be any of them walking down the aisle in the normal fashion.

“Dad, what’s going on?” Chris asked as he got up beside where Eddie was.

“You’ll see soon, buddy. Where is your sister?” Eddie asked.

“She’s up on the other side where Lou is now. She found a few bugs and is making friends with them.”

Evan rubbed at the bridge of his nose. It wasn’t going to be long before Xi brought home something bigger than a bug that she wanted to nurse back to health and keep. Thankfully, the bugs were all kept outside, and most of them didn’t need anything, but she tried to feed them everything that she thought they might want.

“Well, good. Let’s go up there and say hi to all of our guests.”

“Our? You invited them all.”

Eddie covered up a laugh. “Aren’t you happy to see your cousins?” Eddie asked as he looked at Evan with that grin still on his face.

“Yes, but we aren’t allowed to play right now because you want pictures.”

“Well, that will be over soon. I promise. Want me to carry you, or do you want to walk?”

“Walk.”

Eddie waved for Evan to go first, so Evan headed up just as Lou was picking up Xi from where she was about to start to play in the dirt. Xi huffed but slumped down onto Evan as he got her settled in his arms.

“Evan Christopher, if you got married without me there, I don’t care that you are an adult; I’m grounding you,” Phillip said.

“Thanks, Dad. We did not get married. We did get engaged, and when we started to think about what we wanted for a wedding, we realized that while the people we call family are loving and helpful, we wanted a wedding based on what we wanted, with no one on the outside changing it. There is a lot we wanted since Eddie thought he would never get married again, and his first wedding was a disaster from word one.” Evan looked over at Eddie, who had Chris in front of him.

“That is not to say that I am the only reason we planned without anyone else. We wanted something that was more us, and the more voices we have, the more things change. Some of you might be upset, but the wedding is supposed to make us happy. It should be the happiest day of our lives, and so we wanted to make sure that it was going to be something that would make us happy. So that’s what we did. With the help of Candice, who we hired to take pictures and yes, she got them this morning and afternoon while we were setting everything up and getting ready, and Lou, who strangely enough has everything needed to marry us, we decided that we wanted an event that celebrated family above all other things.” Eddie paused as Candice got to where she needed to take pictures of the faces of everyone when the bomb was dropped on them. “Welcome to our wedding. If you would all take a seat on the picnic tables, we will get this who on the road.”

There was nothing but utter silence for about five seconds before a few people started to talk, but they had planned for this, so Evan turned to face Eddie while Eddie did the same. Lou knew to go on and start the ceremony even if people were not seated.

“Everyone sit down and shut up! My brother is just getting married once, and if one of you makes me miss it, I’m going to be put out,” Maddie yelled across the yard.

Evan saw the others start to get seated. He looked at Maddie and gave her a smile and a nod before he turned back to face Eddie.

The ceremony was quick and easy; all of it was planned out from start to finish by the three of them. It was a show of their commitment more than anything, so while most of it was traditional, there was no religion in it, and they made it their own in special ways.

Their first kiss as a married couple felt like it was the start of something wonderful.

“We don’t have anything to throw!” someone yelled; Evan thought it might be one of Eddie’s sisters.

“That’s because we have food everywhere!” Evan yelled back.

That made everyone turn to see the food had been brought out during the ceremony by the catering staff as they had arrived with the desserts and so set up everything based on how it was supposed to be.

“It’s picture time, and we will get just us four for the moment but will have someone come and get the others as we get to each set of pictures. Eat, as this is not a big to-do. We want everyone to have fun, and you can bitch at us about the whole surprise wedding later.” Evan glared at a few people who were laughing, but it seemed that no one was unduly upset about anything.

Eddie looped his arm into Evan’s and pulled him away. The area under the one tree was set up for all of the pictures, and it didn’t look like a wedding spot, so no one had probably even had a second thought about it.

“Maddie’s crying, but she looks happy.” Lou looked like a man in love, which was good considering that Maddie had been a bear since going on bed rest, but there were enough people in the family to keep her entertained. Even Eddie’s Abuela would spend a day a week with her, teaching Maddie knitting.

“She’s actually the one that I worried about the least. She had her wedding hijacked by the ex’s mother. She wanted them to have the wedding she wanted and never got, even though it was against everything he and Maddie wanted. Maddie understands.”

“Let’s get you and your biological family next, Evan; I think that Maddie’s going to need a nap after she eats,” Lou said.

“Sure. I was planning on that. I was going to start with her and dad, then get the new bio family from both sides, then do just our siblings. Then Eddie’s family, that way, Maddie’s done off the bat. We can do a shot with everyone later when she’s awake after her nap.”

—

Eddie was ready for a nap by the time it came to cut the cake.

Thankfully no one was truly upset. They understood that not asking for help wasn’t a slight on anyone but something that was meant to not make some feel bad that they were not asked for help when they didn’t want fifty million voices weighing in on their day.

“Evan tells me you proposed after getting home from the tsunami,” Ramon said as he sat down and handed Eddie a beer.

The group picture had been taken when Maddie woke up from her nap, so no one had to stay looking their best.

“Yes, it just…in the wake of that. Of losing him, losing the kids. Being afraid of giving my heart again like that seemed stupid because I had convinced myself that as long as we weren’t married if Evan left, it wouldn’t hurt, and even as I knew it was false, I still kept on.”

“Pepa’s eldest posted about it being the best wedding ever on Facebook. She tagged you; I know you’ve not been on your phone. She blocked your mother months ago, but someone else must have shown her or told her, and she is bitching up a storm. Having access to the Internet is the worst thing for her. I’m not sure what they are going to do about that, but since she’s getting psych care, not criminal care, it’s a very murky area.”

“I knew she would be pissed, and I’m glad she is. She gets to see what she missed by her thinking. She’ll never know Xi. She will never know any children Evan and I adopt or have by a surrogate. It’s the best punishment for her in my mind.”

“You looked happy up there. I knew you were, but seeing you pledging yourself to Evan in a way that worked perfectly for the two of you, I see why your wedding to Shannon started the whole downhill of everything. You were brainwashed to make your mother happy above all others, and it wasn’t until you were in a war zone that you realized that it wasn’t ever going to happen, and your relationship with Shannon was messed up from that.”

“But I’m happy now.”

“You are. Maddie slapped Lou on the arm before crying on him about him being the one to marry you two.”

“Evan’s getting everything he needs so that he can marry Lou and Maddie. It was the only way Lou would do it for us and keep it a secret. Beyond, you know, actually understanding what is going on. I think Evan wanted him because he’s a little distant, and he didn’t seem to mind at all about keeping it from Maddie since it was our secret to tell.”

“How did you even figure out he was able to marry you two?”

“A night out at the bar. Maddie was at our home with the kids and Misha. Misha was more than happy to help babysit since Maddie already had a few restrictions. Lou was a little tipsy, and he talked about how he went through and got what was needed to make sure that any of his friends who wanted a non-religious marriage could get it. I guess he has a lot of LGBTQ+ friends.”

“That’s good. What about a honeymoon?”

“We have no idea what we want to do, but we already secured a three-night trip to a little place in wine country for our next four days off. We want our honeymoon to be something we both want, so we will plan it, figure it out, and do it when we feel like it.”

“I want to say that you are too grown up, but that’s a crazy thing to say. I’m glad you know what you want and are going after it, Eddie. Maddie looks like she wants you next, so get up and go over to her. She looks like she’s going to pop already.”

“She wants the baby out but also knows it’s not time. For the four days we have after the wine country trip, we will help Lou finish up the baby’s room. We are getting it ready for not only a baby but a toddler too. Xi can use the room when she stays over then.”

“Smart to plan ahead like that. What about your place?”

“We’ve got stuff all ready for it as well. Not anything that can’t be broken down in a minute, but it’s all ready.”

Ramon waited for Eddie to stand up before he did. Then Ramon pulled Eddie into a hug.

Eddie sunk into that hug, and he thought about how much he was happy with his father there with him.

As soon as the fathers’ hadn’t been upset about the surprise wedding, no one else seemed to have many protests about it.

Adriana was only upset that she hadn’t done her hair up really fancy, but then when she looked at everyone else, she realized that the wedding was comfort.

“You make him happy,” Maddie said when Eddie sat down next to her hip on the divan.

The damned thing was weatherproof, and the pillows were stored under it and other things. It had been bought for Eddie when he was injured and wanted to be outside of his leg hurt too much on a normal chair with it propped up.

“I know I do. You aren’t upset, right?”

“No. Evan’s always gone his own way. He wanted this because he wanted what he wanted. He got it. You got it. This was the biggest chill wedding ever. So I’m happy for him and for you. I want you both to be happy, and I think this is the best option. There might be people upset, but that speaks more of them than you. I think you did well at making sure this was your best choice; I like it. They will get over it, or they won’t. It doesn’t matter because this is what you needed.”

“Thank you. As soon as we started to plan, we also wanted to put our foot down. Not stopping my mother from interfering made her feel like she could just stick her nose in. My sisters would have done the same. I know that you and Phillip both are laid back and wait to be asked, but there would still be subtle things in there.”

“The only thing I would have changed was the actual walking down the aisle, but that was more to see Xi and Chris as the ring and flower bearers. I’ll have to have that for my wedding and be happy with that.”

“Yes, that was something that we debated, but in the end, we wanted this to be all four of us walking down to prove that we want this to be a family. Us four making the promise for a new day together.”

“Quit making me cry,” Maddie said. She dotted at her eyes again. “I’m so puffy in every single picture. You two are horrible.”

“You would have cried like this even without being pregnant. I’ve seen you cry at the drop of a hat, Maddie.”

“Get out of here. You are being mean.” Maddie laughed as she spoke, but she still pushed him away.

Eddie pressed a kiss to Maddie’s forehead after he got up and looked around for his husband. He looked at the ring on his hand. It was metal and something they had a metalworker make for them. They had silicone rings for working and days they just didn’t want to wear metal.

“Eds, come here. Your sister has pictures of you on her phone from when you were a kid. She took pictures of pictures for blackmail material. I didn’t know I needed to see you riding a wooden horse and wearing a cowboy outfit!”

“I burned all of those years ago!” Eddie said. He made sure Maddie was fine before heading over to where Evan and Adriana were.

Sofia wandered over to where they were as Eddie got close, and he looked at Adriana’s phone to find it was indeed the same picture he thought he had burned.

“Mom paid to have them scanned to CDs at some point. Before you were able to burn them. We found it packed in the attic of the old house. I’ve been going through them and touching them up, and saving them in better formats. It’s been good. I even have the one from your seventh birthday where you had no front teeth after playing baseball and getting whacked with the base runner’s helmet.”

Eddie leaned into Evan and let him take his weight as they looked at the blackmail pictures.

“You were so cute, Eddie. I can see Chris in your face there. I see better what he gets from Shannon as well.”

“Hmm,” Eddie hummed.

Evan wrapped his arm around Eddie as he handed the phone back to Adriana. “I would like copies of a lot of it. It would be nice to show Xi how you guys grew up.”

“I also have the old movies; those were also put onto CDs. I’ll make copies on a flash drive and give them to you with the pictures.”

“I have already started a digital photo album for Xi. it was something I did for myself, and then I went ahead and added what I could of Maria’s things. She didn’t have a lot of stuff from her childhood, but there was a lot of her pregnancy, the wedding, and when Xi was a baby. I have a timeline built into it so that Xi can see everything in relation to her mother and father.”

“That’s adorable. I like that you did it digitally.”

“I can print off things as well, make like a huge printed scrapbook for the different time periods. When she was just coming to live with me, I started it when I was awake all night worrying about what I was supposed to do with a baby. A box at a time, I went through everything. She had already had someone pack up most of it so that I didn’t have to worry about too much. She knew she wasn’t going to make it. So, in the end, she did what she could to make Xitlali’s life just that much easier.”

“Hey, I want to dance. Let’s get that part going.” Eddie threaded his fingers with Evan’s hand and pulled him up where they had cleaned the grass up to make it into a dance floor. No one else was dancing, but then it hadn’t been brought up.

Eddie wrapped Evan in his arms, wanting to just sway around with Evan in his arms instead of doing some kind of actual dance. More people joined them on the dance floor only a few minutes later. Lou was dutifully escorting Abuela on the floor, and Maddie was watching with a happy look on her face.

“Hey, Edmundo Buckley-Diaz, I love you,” Evan said.

“Evan Buckley-Diaz, I love you as well. To the moon and back.”

—

Evan opened the door and allowed Chris and Xi to head inside. They had dinner stuff ready to get started for the weekly family dinner. This time it was being held at his father’s. Eddie was bringingup the rear with the bags of groceries while Evan would head back and snag the rest once the kids were settled.

“Where’s Pop Pop?” Xi asked.

“He’s probably in the kitchen. Go and get settled in the living room with your game. I’ll help your father get things inside and then hunt down Pop Pop.” Evan shook his head and headed back out to help get the last of the stuff inside.

Evan headed down the hall, stopping when he saw Eddie standing in the kitchen door, his hands slack and the groceries on the floor.

“Eddie, if you spilled the milk, you are the only one cleaning-”

“DON’T COME IN HERE!” Ramon yelled, his accent thick.

Eddie turned his back and looked at Evan with wide eyes like he had seen something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Come on, Pop, that’s where we eat!” Eddie was covering his face.

Evan felt like he was missing something until it all kind of came together. “Were they?” He couldn’t even finish it.

“Yes. They were. I don’t even want to know how we got that far.”

“You get to clean up before we even go anywhere near those countertops!” Evan yelled into the room.

“I should never have let you grow up,” Phillip said.

“Do I want to know?” Eddie asked.

“He walked in on me getting head once in the kitchen by a girl down the block just after I turned eighteen. I didn’t know he was home, and he just walked in. I was made to clean the entire kitchen for it. Let’s go and entertain the children, and they can deal with the groceries and the cleaning.” Evan laid his bags down with Eddie’s without looking into the kitchen.

“I never want to see that again,” Eddie said.

“I never want to see it ever. I mean, I’m happy they are finally dealing with all of that but damn.” Evan let Eddie head into the living room first before he sighed as he thought about the fact that there was nothing to drink in there. He had promised Xi something to drink before they settled into start cooking.

“I’ll text dad to get her one of the juice boxes.”

“Thanks,” Evan said.

Chris and Xi were playing Hungry Hungry Hippos, one of the new games bought with Xi in mind. There were a few others that she liked to play with, but usually sitting in Evan or Eddie’s lap, she just helped instead of playing fully.

“We brought Candyland, right?”

“Yes, and after dinner, we will play it.”

“Evan, come and help me!” Maddie yelled from the doorway.

Evan groaned as he got up. Maddie was near where she wasn’t going to be allowed out of bed outside of doctors’ appointments, trips to the living room to spend the day, and bathroom visits, so she was getting as much time out safely as possible. Once she was like that, the house she was in with Lou was going to be where the weekly meals were with her, hopefully not being too tired.

“Don’t go in the kitchen,” Evan warned Lou as the man carried in the bag with desserts as Evan held his hand out to Maddie to give her something to balance on.

“Hungry, Hungry Hippos?” Maddie asked.

“Yeah, Eddie found it along with some of the games I’ve talked about us playing that summer I was sick all the time with that stupid cold that wouldn’t go away. We’ve had a lot of fun with Candyland. Xi’s going to want to play it.”

“Then we can while you guys are working on dinner or something.”

“Why can’t we go into the kitchen?” Lou asked.

“The dads are cleaning the counters…” Evan said, trailing off as he gave Maddie a look.

“NO!” Maddie was smiling as she got herself down onto the couch.

“Yes.”

“Oh my God, after he yelled at you?”

“Right?”

Evan let Maddie pull him down onto the couch as the sound of the door opening said the others were there. It would be a good night, just them and the ones they loved. Even if they gave Phillip and Ramon shit for being caught doing something in the kitchen. They were a family, and it was all that mattered.

The End

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