Reading Time: 104 Minutes
Title: What’s Past Is Prologue
Author: Duochanfan
Fandom: 9-1-1, Hawaii Five-0
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Drama, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Relationship(s): Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz, background pairings
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Discussion-Sexual Assault, Discussion-Violence, Discussion-Combat Injuries, Attempted Murder, Attempted Rape (Wells), Violence – Domestic, Violence – Against Children, Homophobia, Racism, Hurt/Comfort, Dark Themes, Stalking, Canon Typical Violence, Gun Violence, Toxic Family Dynamics, Character Bashing, Ableism, Discussion-Combat Injuries,
Author Note: I entirely blame HarleyJQuin for this monster. She gave me the idea and it really didn’t want to let go. Now that it’s written, edited and all, I bow to you, HarleyJQuin and say, thank you! I loved working on this one.
Beta: HarleyJQuin – You are a miracle worker and an absolute star!
Alpha: HarleyJQuin – this is all your fault, a small idea and look at the monster it became. Thank you for helping me keep going!
Word Count: 131,758
Summary: Moving to LA with Shannon and Christopher after being shot was supposed to save his marriage. Instead, he felt more alone and abandoned than he did in El Paso. That is until he meets Evan Buckley; a former Navy SEAL who was finding his footing in LA. The two rekindle a friendship that had barely started in the sandbox and plan for their futures.
Artist: halestrom
Chapter Twenty-Six
Eddie felt groggy and floaty at the same time as he struggled to open his eyes. It took him a few moments before he realized just where he was. “E’an?” he croaked as he cracked open his eyes and looked around. Everything was blurry and he reached up to wipe the sleep from his eyes. His throat felt sore and dry as something plastic was placed against his lip, recognising a straw, he grasped at it and sipped the cool water.
“There, back with me?” Evan asked as Eddie’s world started to come into focus.
“Evan,” he said, blinking a few times, “Did-”
“Everything went fine, the scar tissue was trapping a nerve, which was causing most of the pain, but it’s free and things should heal up fully now, with no more problems. You’ll be resting for a few days and then back with the cane until the doc gives you the okay,” he explained.
Eddie nodded a few times, and yawned, “Right,” he murmured.
“The doc should be by soon to check on you, and then you’ve got another day here before you can go home,” he told him.
“Good, how’s Christopher?” he asked.
“He’s fine, worried, and he’ll be coming by a little later to see you, once you’re fully settled Abeula has him at the moment,” Evan answered his husband, reassuring him that their son was just fine with his great-grandmother and being spoiled rotten.
Eddie smiled and squeezed the hand that was holding his, “Good, I worry about him just as much. Maybe seeing me-” he broke into a yawn again as he then carried on, “Will ease the worry. I’m just sleepy.”
“I know,” he said as there was a knock on the door, and the doctor walked in with a nurse. Evan stepped back so that the two could talk to Eddie, and tell him how things had gone, and what he could expect for his recovery.
“Thank you,” Eddie said, nodding as they finished.
“Tomorrow morning, if all is well, then you’ll be able to go home. Rest is important, but you should be able to get to and from the bathroom within a few days without much help. For now, take it,” the doctor warned him one last time before leaving the room.
“We’ll be bringing a painkiller in for you in a moment,” the nurse said before he followed the doctor out of the room.
“I hate painkillers,” Eddie muttered, pulling a face at the thought of them. They always made him so sleepy and he hated the feeling of never being fully in control.
“We all do, but they are useful at times, to help us get the rest we need for our recovery,” he reminded him. Holding a hand for a second, “I know,” he repeated as he saw the pout the man had on his face.
“It just feels like that’s all I’ve been doing since I got shot down, I hate it, feeling like I’m not myself. It’s been over a year and I’m not fully healed. I wonder sometimes what would’ve happened if I’d stayed in El Paso and let Shannon go,” he wondered, changing the subject suddenly, his mind going over how things had been when he had first returned.
“Who knows, maybe your parents would’ve stepped up, or your sisters even. Helped you when you need it, or maybe things would’ve been even worse,” Evan shrugged, holding Eddie’s hand in his, kissing the knuckles, “I’m just glad that this part is over. It’s scary as hell, and it was the same last time, and when Christopher underwent his operation.”
“Yeah, always scary, worrying if they are going to be okay,” Eddie yawned again as the nurse returned with some medication for him to take. With a grumble and a pointed look directed at him, he took the medication and settled back on the pillows.
“Get some sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up. Pepa should be on the way with Abuela and Christopher in about three hours,” he said, checking the time, “Mary passes on her good wishes, and hopes of recovery and you have a handmade card from Joan,” he smiled as he looked at his messages.
Eddie smiled as he nodded, “A nap sounds good, you don’t have to wait around, you can go home and see Christopher, reassure him that everything is okay,” he murmured as his eyes drifted shut.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind being here, Christopher is fine and wants me here as well so I can make sure you’re okay,” he said quietly.
Eddie didn’t answer as he fell asleep.
XxXxX
“Evan, you don’t have to fuss,” Eddie said, trying not to snap, as he was helped to the couch in the living room of their little home.
“I’m not fussing, I’m helping you here, giving you the remote and then I’m going to the VA, a friend is there at the moment going through some stuff and he wants a friendly ear to talk to, or bitch too,” Evan snorted, “I know you’ll be fine, you have your phone, water, meds, and snacks; you should be fine until I get back. Christopher is at a daycare at the moment, and I know it’s going to be a fight to get him to come home again,” he added, rolling his eyes. Christopher loved his two days a week at daycare and couldn’t wait to start school properly in September.
“Fine, not fussing, and I’ll be fine. If I find myself not being fine, I’ll call you, or even Pepa, or someone,” he promised his husband with a soft smile.
“Good,” he leaned down and kissed him, “We have the home study in a week, and we also have the interviews for the adoption of Christopher in two,” he reminded him, “Don’t worry, everything should be well in hand by then.”
“Good, and I like having you sleeping in my room with me,” Eddie grinned up at him, reaching up and grabbing his shirt, pulling him down for another kiss. “Means I can wake up seeing your smiling face.”
“Same here, and there are a few other things I enjoy when sleeping in bed together,” Evan snorted, kissing him a third time. He got a snort from Eddie at his last remark and fourth kiss that lingered a little more. With a groan they separated. “I’ve got to go, or I’ll be late, I’ll message you when I get there,” he said as he then headed towards the door, grabbing the jeep’s keys as he went.
The drive to the VA was quiet, Evan hadn’t wanted to listen to the radio, not up to listening to someone else talking. He was in his head a little, worried about Christopher and Eddie with him being at the academy most days. He only had half days at times, making up for what he missed by joining other classes to keep up with everyone. He didn’t want to fall behind and have to wait another couple of months to graduate.
“Hey Evan!” The man he was meeting greeted him, “So, you told me about what was going on with your husband and kid, and you needed some help in looking after them, right?” he asked.
Evan jogged over and nodded, “Yeah, I’m trying to find what we can do about that, but it’s hard going. Christopher gets some grants here and there, but we don’t know what he is qualified for and what he isn’t. We’re also thinking that the school we have lined up for him isn’t going to work well for him. Since it’s a public school. I’m hoping you might have something that I can look into to help sort all that out.”
“As a matter of fact, I have someone that might be able to help. My wife,” Howard said, smiling.
“Oh?” he frowned.
“I am a vet, as you know, I met my wife before I shipped out that first time, came home injured and I help out here when I can. Though, my main job is handyman, I do a lot of things; I like the variety,” he grinned, “My wife, Carla, is a caring and kind woman, our children are grown, doing the college and uni thing away from home. She is also a Home Health Aid, and a wiz when it comes to paperwork and red tape. I’ve told her a little of what is going on and she’s waiting inside to have a chat with you,” he said as he led the way.
Evan blinked, “I thought…” he sighed, shaking his head. He had told Eddie a little white lie to get here, not wanting him to know that he was asking for help for their family. Eddie had been looking at trying to find someone who’d be able to help during the day, but he had been coming up blank.
“Don’t you worry, lad,” he said, “Now, Carla is going to help you, just like she’s helped a few others here. She works on and off for a service for the elderly who need palliative home care. She lost a client recently, and she likes to take a bit of time away from that.”
“I can understand, it must be hard to lose someone that you care for, even in a professional setting,” he stated.
“It is,” Howard nodded, “Carla, love,” he said as he walked into a room near the back of the building.
“Howard,” she smiled. It was a warm and large smile on her face, she was a beautiful woman, and Evan could tell she was a good person as well. There was just a warmth that radiated from her. “And who is this young man?” she asked, looking at Evan.
“I’m Evan Diaz,” he said, holding out his hand, “It’s an honor to meet you, Mrs Price,” he said.
“Well,” she murmured as she took his hand, “Nice to meet you, Evan,” she said, “What has Howard brought you here for?” she asked, “I know that husband of mine, he brings me strays often, that I take a liking to and do what I can to help them get what they need.”
Evan laughed, “Well, it is something like that,” he said, as he nodded at Howard, “I was talking to Howard the last time I was here about my husband and son. My husband has just had an operation on his leg. He’ll be alright in a few days to walk around, but he won’t be able to do as much as he used to before he’s done with his therapy. Our son has cerebral palsy, which affects his mobility, and he is in regular physical therapy to try and keep him as mobile as possible. We’re trying to get what he needs, but we’re also looking for a service that’d be able to take on both him and my husband for a while, and then once Eddie is recovered, just our son,” he explained to her as she gestured for him to sit down. His words weren’t fully coherent to his ears, so he repeated himself a little more clearly after he had sat down.
“Well, any paperwork with you?” she asked, getting a shake of his head, “Well, how about I follow you home, or you give me your address, and I’ll meet you there at some point to go over everything?”
Evan nodded that’d be fine, “I didn’t really tell my husband what I was planning to do, though he does agree that we need some help for now. He doesn’t know how long I believe we’ll need it for, and to be honest, I’m going to be a firefighter, I’ll be working twenty-four-hour shifts when I start, I don’t know what Eddie plans to do once he’s fighting fit, but he could end up working much the same hours, or just working when Christopher is out of school. So we may need someone who’d be qualified to be with Christopher during the day, and when he has his therapies, if we can’t make it to them.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be too hard to handle, how about we go now, and we can get everything sorted as soon as possible,” Calra smiled as she stood up. Evan did the same, agreeing with her.
Three hours later, most of the paperwork that Evan and Eddie had for Christopher was sorted; recommendations for schools for him were listed, and even some interviews had already been arranged for them.
“Wow,” Eddie said, smiling at Carla, “You’re a gem,” he stated.
“Thank you,” she grinned at him, “Now, I don’t want to be pushy, but I’m putting my name down on the list to work with you and Christopher and then transferring to look after Christopher. You two are put together, and I can see that you love your child, and from what you said about him, he sounds like a sweetheart. But we’ll have to see if he gels with me as much as I have with the two of you,” she added.
“We’d like that, thank you,” Eddie nodded in agreement as they made a few arrangements for her to come back at another time to meet with Christopher.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Well,” Evan said as he showed the woman from CPS out of their home. “I think that went well,” he said, as he walked back to Eddie.
“I know, she seemed like she was impressed with what we have going on here. The adoption process is going smoothly, and I am worried it’s going too smoothly,” Eddie said, leaning back in his chair, his leg was up, as it had been a week since his operation. It was healing well according to his doctors, and he wanted to keep that up.
“The next step is the interviews,” Evan said as he flopped down on the couch, looked over at his husband, and smiled at him, “Those will be next week, and I’ll be graduating from the academy in three weeks. I still don’t have a house yet, but the chief wants to talk to me in around a week about that. He’s keeping me out of the pool that the captains are to choose from for their probies.”
“Oh, that might mean he has a specific house set aside for you,” Eddie said warily.
“Yeah, I get the same feeling,” he nodded, noticing the unease, “being placed at a specific station could mean there is a problem, and they want your fresh eyes on it. With my SEAL background it could also be that I have a skill set that the station needs.”
“Hmm,” Eddie hummed, “Could be,” he said as he got up, using his cane he went over to the couch and flopped beside Evan, leaning against him, “That’s better,” he muttered.
Evan smiled as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer, “Love you, Eddie,” he murmured, placing a kiss on his husband’s head since Eddie’s face was tucked against his neck.
“Love you too, Evan,” he replied, the words now coming easy as they truly felt the meaning behind them.
“Carla said that she was taking Christopher to the park, and they should be back in another two hours, what say you to a nap?” he asked, feeling exhausted after the home study.
“I say, yay,” he grumbled as Evan moved, pulling him up and the two of them headed for the bedroom, sending a message to Carla about what they were doing. The woman had been with them for three days, and she was a god-sent angel that had done nothing but help them. The paperwork was a breeze for her, making sure Christopher had everything he needed. Everything was falling into place, and both of them were waiting for the other shoe to drop. That something would come at them and blindside them.
They lay down and were quick to fall asleep, wrapped around each other.
XxXxX
Evan was grumbling as he walked into his home after a day at the academy. Eddie looked up from where he was reading a story to Christopher.
“What’s wrong, Papa?” Christopher asked as he climbed off his dad’s lap, grabbed his crutches and headed over to Evan.
Evan sat down so he could climb into his lap and held his soon to be, if the interviews go well, son. “We had an instructor come in for the day from one of the stations. He gave me a nickname, since there are three Evan’s in my class,” he stated.
“Don’t you like your nickname?” Christopher asked, tilting his head as he looked at his papa.
“That’s the thing, I do like it, but…” he trailed off, he sighed and carried on, “It’s Buck, and it’s to do with my former last name. Since the paperwork hasn’t been processed yet , I haven’t been able to change it with the academy, so I’m still registered as Evan Buckley, but as soon as I can, I’m changing to it Diaz, since I’m Evan Diaz,not Evan Buckley now.”
“Ah,” Eddie nodded, “It’s a good nickname, it kind of suits you actually.”
“Buck,” Christopher said before his eyes started lighting up, “Like Bucky!” he grinned, “You’re a superhero papa!” he giggled and flopped against his papa’s chest.
“Oh,” Evan said, frowning, “Maybe,” he said.
“You’re my Bucky, and my papa; you’re a secret superhero, like Daddy,” he nodded as though that cemented everything in his mind.
“Keep the nickname, for work,” Eddie suggested, “I’ve been thinking, I’m going to be working for a bit after I’ve recovered enough, and I was thinking, what about if I join the academy as well. I might have to wait a year for the next intake, but… what do you think?” he asked Evan.
“I think it’d be perfect,” he grinned, “having you on the job as well. I know we probably won’t be in the same house, but, knowing you’re out there, while a little scary, I think it’d be good. To know you’ll understand the good and the bad days.”
“The wins and losses,” Eddie nodded in agreement, “as soon as I’ve healed enough I’ll talk about physio to bring me back to where I was, I’ve lost a lot of muscle since I came home. There is only so much that I can do,” he said with a smile.
“Sounds like a plan, and I like plans,” Evan said, rocking Christopher in his arms.
“So Daddy is going to be a hero too?” Christopher asked them.
“Yeah, I’ll be doing the same job as Evan will be as soon as I’m all better,” Eddie told him.
“Okay,” he nodded, “What’s for dinner?” he asked.
“We shall see,” Evan answered, laughing at the pout on Christopher’s face.
“I want chicken nuggies,” he suggested.
“We’ll see,” he repeated, tickling him. Christopher burst into laughter. Eddie watched them with an adoring smile on his face. Eddie couldn’t help but love them a little bit more each time he watched them.
XxXxX
The shoe was dropped and it wasn’t a shoe, it was a bomb of some kind and it blew into their life just after the last interview. All that was left was the court hearing, and Christopher would legally be Evan’s son. The bomb was in the form of Helena and Ramon Diaz. They flew into LA, and landed with an explosion, as they went straight to Eddie’s home and pounded on the door.
Eddie went over to the door, leaning on his cane heavily after he’d had a round of physio for his leg, the first lot of what was, no doubt, going to be many appointments in his future. He opened the door and went to shut it again, but it was forcefully pushed back, and he went flying, falling onto the ground with a pained grunt.
“Edmundo Diaz!” Helena yelled, standing over him, not caring that she had hurt her son at all. “How dare you get married to that bimbo!”
“What the fuck are you on about? What bimbo?” he couldn’t help but ask as he struggled to his feet. “Fuck,” he muttered, “Get the fuck out of my house, I don’t want to fucking see you. You’ve just been recorded forcing your way into my home without invitation, by the way; I have CCTV all over this fucking house for shit like this!” he yelled back, not caring what she had to say.
“Shut up, why should I care about that!” she snapped at him.
“Helena,” Ramon said as he looked at his son, seeing the cane and the struggle he had to stand. He went to help, but his hand was knocked away.
“Don’t you think you have caused me enough pain already?” he stated, glaring at the two of them, “Leave, now.”
“I won’t leave, we will be packing Christopher’s things and taking him with us. I won’t let him live in a house of sin like he is. He deserves better than a deviant and pervert for a father and that… that man living here, in this house with you. It’s sinful!” she yelled as she began to go further into the house.
“I am warning you now, touch one thing, and I’ll have you arrested for trespassing at the very least. You go near MY son and I’ll have you arrested for kidnapping faster than you can say ‘Edmundo’,” he told her, moving towards the living room and grabbing his phone before she could spot it and try and take it from him. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d try such a thing to make sure that he couldn’t do anything against her.
Helena turned to stare at him, “You’d have your own mother arrested?” she said, gasping at the audacity of it. If she had been wearing pearls she’d be clutching at them.
“I would, without a second’s hesitation, and you both know it. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to call the police on you both when you pushed things too far, and you clearly haven’t learned a damn thing. This time, you won’t have a leg to stand on, as I recall my lawyer sending you a letter to say that there is to be no contact between us, unless I reach out first. If you wished to speak with me or Christopher, you needed to go through them first,” he reminded her of what he had told her and what had been done.
“Mijo,” Ramon said, his voice calm, “You know we are just thinking about Christopher. He is a child, he doesn’t need to be around that type of behavior. Not at all, you’re going to drag him down with you and I know you don’t want that for him.”
“What would you know what I want for him, you never fucking listen to me. It’s always what you believe, never what you hear. I’ve told you everything the doctors have said about Christopher, he is smart, did you know he’s reading at a high enough level that he wants longer books, that he’s already reading at a second-grade level? He’s five, not even six for another five months. He’s amazing, and neither of you want to see that. Instead, all you see is the damn CP. He’s more than that!” he yelled at them, “He can be anything if he puts his mind to it, and neither of you cares what he thinks and feels. He is a child and you’re trying to silence him. It’s abusive,” he told them, shaking his head, “So leave. I’ll call 9-1-1 and I won’t hesitate to have you arrested and charged with whatever I can.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Helena hissed.
“I gave you fair warning,” he said as he held up his phone and dialed, pressing the number he moved out of the way of his mother’s hand as she tried to slap the phone away. “This is Eddie Diaz, my parents have invaded my home uninvited. I’m recovering from an operation at the moment, and have limited mobility, and they pushed me out of the way. I need some assistance in getting them out of my home,” he said as soon as the call connected with dispatch. He gave the address just as this time his mother body checked him.
“Fuck!” he yelled out in pain as he crashed to the floor once more. His leg throbbing in pain, he just hoped that nothing had damaged it again. It should be fine since it was healing very nicely at the last check-up he had. Eddie barely heard the dispatcher as they said that units were on the way.
Ramon grabbed Helena but it was too late as the sirens that were heard in the distance rapidly descended on them. Officers came on the scene, requesting medical backup as Eddie wasn’t moving from the ground just yet. Helena and Ramon were soon in cuffs as Eddie gave them a quick explanation of what happened.
“My… husband, need to call, Evan, he’s at the fire academy,” he stated as the paramedics arrived
“We’ll call him,” the woman said as she knelt, the man across from her checking him over.
Eddie explained his leg and what had happened, giving the officers the codes, so they could get footage of the incident, and saying yes when he asked if he wanted to press charges against them. He knew that they’d only get a slap on the wrist, but it’d be better than nothing for now. The trip to the hospital wasn’t a fun one, and he was glad that Pepa had Christopher for a play date with some of his cousins.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Evan ran into the hospital and over to the reception desk, “Hi, I’m Evan Diaz, my husband was brought in by ambulance recently,” he stated, worried eyes glancing around like he thought Eddie might appear in front of him. Showing his newly acquired ID that gave his married name.
The receptionist nodded, checking a few things, “He’s down in x-ray at the moment to ensure nothing was broken, I’ll have someone come and take you through to his room.”
Evan nodded as he stepped back. Waiting for someone to come and get him.
“Hello,” came a voice from behind him.
Evan turned and saw a woman who was shorter than him. “Yes?” he asked, frowning.
“I’m Hen, I’m one of the paramedics that brought your husband in,” she said as she looked at the uniform that he was wearing. “Firefighter?”
“I’m at the academy at the moment,” he answered, “you brought Eddie in? What happened?” he asked, having not been told anything, just that his husband had been taken to the hospital.
“We came into two people being arrested. One of them was yelling about someone called Christopher,” She began.
“Tallish woman,” he said, giving an approximate height, and “Then a man about this high?” he added, giving a second. White woman and a Mexican man?”
“Yes,” she nodded, “they were yelling at your husband, Eddie, he made me call someone called Carla, as I couldn’t get through to your phone at first.”
“I was going through the test house,” he said, as he mentioned the house that’d be filled with smoke and he had to find a victim within it. “So my phone was put away in my locker.”
“It’s alright, we were able to get you here eventually. He’s doing okay,” she told him as a shorter male walked over.
“Come on Hen, you can talk to the pretty boy later,” he said as he walked past.
“That pretty boy-” Hen began.
“Don’t care, Hen, we have to get back to the station,” he said, ignoring Evan as he carried on.
“Sorry,” she said, “He’s…”
“It’s fine, go on, you need to get going,” he said, gesturing for her to leave when a nurse came over to him.
“Mr Diaz?” he asked.
“Yes,” Evan said as Hen left him alone and followed her partner out of the hospital. “How is he?” he asked.
“He’s doing well, he’s back in the room, he’s getting another check over while they look at the x-ray, but if all is good they said he should be able to go home,” he told him as he led the way to where Eddie was waiting for him.
Evan went into the room and saw Eddie sitting on the bed. He rushed over, hugging him and kissing him, “You okay?” he asked as soon as he moved back a little, looking him over.
“I’m alright. I think it was more the shock of it than an actual problem with my leg,” he stated, “Mom and Papi turned up,” he sighed, “Mom shoved the door open when I tried to close it on her, and it sent me flying, think I jolted it more than anything. It was the flying fucking tackle she did that really shocked me,” he snorted, “I never expected that from her.”
“Neither did I,” Evan said, eyes going wide as his husband told him everything that had happened.
“Well, I’ve told them to press charges, they said they might not get anything more than a slap on the wrist. But I’m going to get a restraining order against them. I’m not letting them come near my family again,” he said.
“I’ll contact Nigel and see what he can do,” Evan told him, “I’ll do it now so he can at least get the process started.”
Eddie nodded and relaxed as Evan made the call. He listened as Evan told him what had happened, sending through the file from their CCTV system that he downloaded from their cloud storage.
The doctor came in. “Mr Diaz, and Mr Diaz,” he greeted looking from one ot the other.
“Is everything okay?” Evan asked as he ended the call and walked over to the bed again.
“Yes, everything is fine. I’d make an appointment with your own doctor to make sure, but we can’t detect anything wrong at all,” he smiled, “You’re free to go home.”
“Thank you,” Eddie said, swinging his legs around, reaching for the cane that had been brought by the paramedics, as the doctor left them alone.
“I’m glad everything is alright,” Evan sighed in relief.
“Same,” Eddie smiled as he felt arms go around him. He twisted slightly and hugged Evan back, just sinking into the warmth his husband gave off. They stood there for a few moments, before they headed back home.
XxXxX
Evan was a little nervous as he walked into the office that the Chief had commandeered for their little chat. “Sir,” he greeted with a nod as he closed the door behind him.
“Firefighter Diaz,” he greeted, “Please, sit down. I’m Chief Alonzo,” he said, “I’m in charge of the LAFD,” he said, holding out his hand for the other to shake.
Evan did so as he then sat down, “May I ask what I’m doing here?” he questioned.
“Of course. As you know your skill set is large, you have a number of certs down already, and then you have the fact you’re a highly trained SEAL on your side as well. There is a station that’s has been going through a number of changes, but they’re going to be losing one of their heavy rescue assets in the coming month; he’s moving to a new station in September. I’d like you to take over for him. I know you’re a probie, but you also have prior rescue experience. The deputy chief was just going to send you in without talking with you and the captain; who is heading here as we speak. I’d like the three of us to sit down and talk about what you can and can’t do.”
“Right,” he nodded slowly. “Of course, I’ll talk with him, I hope that we gel well,” he added.
“Thank you,” he nodded, a knock on the door had him calling the person in. “Captain Nash,” he said the man walked in.
“Chief,” he greeted, a little frown on his face.
“Captain Nash, I’d like you to meet Firefighter Diaz, since Firefighter Kinard is heading to the 217, you need a new heavy rescue asset, and Diaz here is the best to come out of the academy in a while. He’s got several heavy rescue certs already, and he’s also a former Navy SEAL. He has skills that are rare in the LAFD,” he snorted, as Captain Nash sat down.
“Firefighter Diaz,” he greeted, frowning as he saw the name tag said Buckley, “That says Buckley?” he questioned.
“It does; HR still hasn’t given me the right name tag. I got married four weeks ago, and well, it’s taking a while to get the paperwork processed. HR promised I’d get my new name tag soon,” he added.
“Right,” Nash said, “I’m Bobby or Cap,” he told him, “You’ll be starting at the 118 on September 5th,” he added.
“That’s great,” Evan said, happy to have a date when he’d start at a station. “I’m Evan, but I’ve been given the nickname Buck recently, and I don’t mind using either.” He had at first, but then after Christopher told him what he thought of it. He had stopped hating it and let it slide.
“Well, Buck, I welcome you to the team. Come early, as I tend to make breakfast,” Bobby told him.
“I’ve got a kid and husband at home, so I may eat with them, but I’ll save room,” he said with a smile and a nod. He was getting a good feeling from the man in front of him.
“Ah, didn’t know you have a kid,” he said with a soft nod.
“I’m in the process of formally adopting him. He’s my husband’s bio kid from his first marriage. She bailed and well, Eddie and I knew each other before we met up again in LA; we originally met over in Afghanistan. He’s a former Army Medic, recovering from being injured over there,” Evan told him.
“Well, I think we can say that you gel with the captain at least. I’m sure you have a few more things to sort out, Nash, and Diaz can chase up HR about his paperwork,” Chief Alonzo said as he got up. Leaving the two to talk a little more and finalize the details for Evan to join Bobby’s shift.
XxXxX
Evan finished his time at the academy with three days to go before he started his first shift, and a week before Christopher would start his new school year at Durand, one of the schools that Carla had been able to point them in the direction of. He made a few reservations, and with Eddie healed enough that he didn’t need to use his cane, unless he was doing a lot of walking. Evan would be taking his family on a small vacation to San Diego. It would give them a chance to spend some time at the beach and have a little fun before he started work.
Evan packed everything up and put it in Eddie’s truck. Since it was more suited for the drive, and was safer than his jeep. “Okay,” he said as he started back towards the house, only to stop when he saw two people he hoped he wouldn’t have to see again. “There is a restraining order out on the two of you,” he reminded Helena and Ramon.
“You need to leave my son and grandson alone,” Helena snapped at him.
Evan snorted, “I won’t leave my son or husband on the say so of a demented woman with a sense of entitlement larger than Jupiter.”
“You need to leave them alone,” Ramon added, “You’re going to do so much harm to them both.”
“No, the one that’s been doing the harm is the both of you. You both ignored everything they have told you,” he stated, shaking his head, “Now, you have a minute to leave the premises, or I’ll be calling 9-1-1. You don’t want to be arrested again.”
“I wil-” she began once more taking a step towards him.
“You will leave now,” Eddie said as he stepped out of the home, phone in hand, “I’ve already called the police. They are sending someone this way. You can either stay to get arrested here, or leave and get arrested elsewhere. I’m done playing nice with you; I have been for a long time,” he stated.
“Mij-”
“Papi, please, just leave me alone. I can’t stand the sight of either of you. You’ve both hurt me and Christopher for the last time,” he said, going back in the house as sirens began to approach.
Helena looked distraught as Ramon put an arm around her and they left.
Evan watched them go, making sure they actually drove away. When the officers arrived he went over, “They left, a few moments ago,” he told them, “I don’t know where they are staying, as no one in the family wants anything to do with them. It might be in the documents from their last arrest, or the details on record for the restraining order,” he added.
“Right, can we take a quick statement?” the woman said.
“Sure, officer.
“Sergeant,” she said, “Sergeant Grant,” she added.
“Sergeant,” he nodded, before giving her a short statement of what happened, “You’ll have to contact me by phone for the next few days. We’ve got a small vacation before I start work. My son and husband are both in need of a good break.”
“Of course, I’ll get in contact should we need more information. With some restraining orders, they may only get a warning, especially if they live out of state, as you’ve said these two do.”
“They do, thankfully. But they like to turn up like a damn bad apple,” he snorted.
She smiled slightly and tucked away her notebook and headed back to her car. Eddie walked out now that the coast was clear.
“They’re gone, and we’re going away,” he said.
“Yay!” came a cry from inside the house, “No more Grandma and Abuelo!” Christopher added as he walked outside.
Evan smiled and laughed, “No, let’s hope not. We don’t want them to ruin our vacation, we’re going to have some fun,” he added.
“Yep,” Christopher nodded as he headed to the truck.
Evan smiled at Eddie, “It’s going to be alright,” he reassured him, “We’re going to be alright too.”
“I know,” Eddie said as he leaned in and kissed him, “Love you, Ev,” he smiled softly.
“Love you too, Eds,” he said, pulling him in for a second kiss.
“So gross,” Christopher piped up, giggling as they turned to look at him, “Let’s go I want to play in the sand!”
Eddie and Evan shared a look and got Christopher into the truck before getting in themselves and heading off on their small vacation.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Evan was nice and relaxed as he walked into the 118. He glanced around, trying to get a feel for the station that was about to become his home away from home. His vacation had been brilliant; Christopher had enjoyed his time at the beach, and was now going on about wanting surfing lessons. Evan was already looking into things. Eddie was healing up, so much so, that he hadn’t used the cane at all while they were away. His doctors were impressed with his recovery, and physio was starting to ramp up for him.
Evan looked around, seeing someone standing near one of the trucks, he went over, “Do you know where I can find Captain Nash?” he asked.
The man stood up straight and looked him over, “Sure, he’s up in the loft, come with me,” he said an easy smile on his face. He turned and waved for him to follow, “This way.”
“Thanks,” Evan said, following him gratefully. “What’s it like to work here?” he asked, not wanting silence to descend between them.
“It’s good, took a while for it to be like that. Captain Nash is a good captain. He gives everyone a chance to prove themselves, and he likes it when you take the initiative and get more certs. He will offer them to the house, send emails to everyone about them. Not everyone will do them, but a few of us do.”
Evan nodded, “Sounds like a good captain,” he stated.
“Took a bit to get one, but yeah, he’s the best one so far,” he said, “I’m Terrance, I’m the engineer on shift here,” he said, holding out a hand.
“Evan Diaz, I go by the nickname Buck mostly,” he said, taking the hand and shaking it as they then began to climb the stairs.
“Oh, Buck, you made it,” Captain Nash said, “As I said, call me Bobby, we’re not big on formality here, unless it’s needed.”
“Bobby,” Evan said nodding once, “Thanks for the welcome,” he added as he walked over. Glancing at those that were gathered. He recognised the woman as the one that had helped Eddie, and the man that had been dismissive towards him.
“It’s good to see you again,” Hen said as she walked forward, “I’m one of the paramedics on shift.”
“Good to see you again as well, and in better circumstances,” he smiled, offering his hand.
“Same,” she smiled widely and shook his head, “Hope you feel right at home here.”
“You know him, Hen?” the man that had been dismissive said, looking at Evan with a frown.
“Yeah, you would too if you paid any attention to what I’m doing sometimes,” Hen said with a roll of her eyes. “This is Chimney, he’s the other paramedic on our shift. We do have two more, and we swap out on if we’re in the truck or ambulance,” she informed him.
“Hey,” Chimney said with a nod, looking skeptical at him.
“Nice to meet you, Chimney,” Evan nodded, not offering his hand as he could see that the man wouldn’t be taking it. There was something off about him that Evan couldn’t place. He had been dismissive, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t good at his job, or a bad person. He’d reserve judgment for now, and try his best to get to know the man.
“Buck comes to us highly recommended, top of his class in all aspects, more certs that you can imagine. He’s also a former SEAL,” Bobby began, “And I’ll let him say what he needs to about that topic. You won’t pressure or push,” he added, looking around at everyone and hoping they take on board what he was trying to say. Not everyone that had been military can or wants to talk about their service.
“And on the topic of being a SEAL, I can’t say anything about my missions or what I’ve done. My missions are all classified, just know that I retired from the SEALs almost two years ago when my contract ended,” he stated, looking around the room, “So any questions you ask, I’ll not be saying anything.”
“Come on, that’s not fair, you can’t tease us like that!” Chimney spoke up.
“Chimney,” Bobby said with a warning in his voice, “I mean what I said, do not pressure or push. Buck can’t say anything about his service. It’s the law,” he said, eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at his firefighter paramedic.
“Come on, Cap,” Chimney protested, “I’m just saying what everyone is thinking. If he can’t-”
“Chimney,” Evan said, stopping him from speaking. “If you’re going to try and make it seem like I can’t take the questions, oh I very much can. I just can’t legally answer them. If you want to keep pushing I can direct you to my CO, he will make sure you understand the ‘I can’t talk’ answer better,” he said, with a little uptick of his lips.
“And what’s that supposed to mean,” Chimney said, taking a step towards.
“It means that I’ll get my former CO, Steve McGarrett, to come from Hawaii, where he runs the Five-0 Task Force, and he’ll talk to you about the meaning of keeping your mouth shut. He will tell you a few things that I can’t talk about, as I don’t have the authority, and he’ll explain exactly what I can withstand when it comes to people asking questions I won’t answer,” he said, his voice going cold and letting everyone get a glimpse of what he had been like as a SEAL.
Chimney stepped back, seeing the look that crossed Evan’s face. It was cold, and dark, like a pit had been opened up in front of him. There was just no emotion on the man’s face in that one second, before there was the jovial smile back on it. He shuddered and pushed the thoughts that had entered his head aside.
“Now,” Bobby said, getting everyone’s attention, “He is going to be our new heavy rescue asset, so Mich,” he called out to the other heavy rescue trained firefighter; although he’d only be there for a year, maybe two, depending on how quick Bobby would be able to find someone to take over for him. The man stepped forward, “You’ll be working with Diaz and making sure he knows everything you do. Train him up,” he said.
“Cap,” Mich nodded as he walked over, “Well, Diaz, you’re with me. I’m going to teach you everything, so hope that head of yours is empty enough to stuff it with more knowledge.”
“Willing and able,” Evan grinned at him.
“Hey, before either of you run off,” Bobby said, calling to them, “Breakfast, I know you said you would’ve eaten at home first, Buck, but you’re still welcome to join.”
“Thanks, Cap,” Evan nodded, “I left some room when you said you were going to be cooking, I needed to see what your cooking is like. My own isn’t the best,” he admitted as he walked back.
“Well, you go and get ready, Hen, show him the lockers, and the locker that has been set aside for him, and then come and join us,” he stated, “And maybe, if I deem you good enough, I might teach you a few things in the kitchen.”
Evan nodded and followed Hen down to the locker rooms.
XxXxX
Eddie was missing Evan, he liked him being home for the night. But that night, he had his first shift and it was a twenty-four-hour one. Christopher was in bed, and Eddie was sulking, and he knew it. But he didn’t care, he was missing his husband. He huffed as he put down the book that he had been trying to read. He got up and began to walk around the house, only for him to head back into the living room with his phone ringing. He went over picking it up with a smile.
“Hey Eds,” Evan’s voice was like a balm on his soul.
“Hey, husband mine,” Eddie smiled as he curled on the couch. “How’s shift gone so far?” he asked.
“It’s been okay, I’m learning a lot, which I expected. Mich is my trainer for now; he’s a heavy rescue specialist like I am,” he stated, “he’s good, gave me some good tips, and warned me about one of the others on shift,” he said, his voice going quiet.
“Oh? Why?” he asked, frowning, not liking that there was someone that could be a problem.
“He’s a firefighter paramedic, more paramedic than firefighter at this point. He keeps everything up for the paramedic side, but doesn’t add any certs to the firefighting part of his job,” Evan began, pausing for a second, “he also has a tendency to try and volunteer for things that he isn’t qualified for. Bobby, the captain, is good at stopping him from even trying, but it still worries me a little.”
“Yeah, it would, you don’t want someone who isn’t qualified at your back,” Eddie nodded with a worried furrow between his brows, “Do what you can to make sure he doesn’t. If he gets assigned a task you know he’s not qualified to do, don’t carry on, stop what you’re doing. Say that you’ll make a complaint if he is given the task.”
“Since Bobby has already stopped him twice during our shift from doing tasks he’s not qualified for, so I think it’d be a complaint against the man instead of Bobby. Bobby is doing his best, and giving him a chance to get the certs so he can do what he is volunteering for,” Evan told him, and Eddie could hear the worry and the concern in his husband’s voice.
“Then you go to Bobby and make it crystal clear you won’t work with anyone unqualified., If nothing is done, you go higher. If you don’t feel safe doing something because he isn’t qualified then he’ll be the one to get in trouble. Bobby as well, if he lets him, but it’ll fall on the guy volunteering if he’s not qualified, and does the task against orders. You know this, you read everything you could get your hands on when it comes to the SOPs for the LAFD,” he reminded him, “Just… keep safe.”
“I will, I promise you on that, I’ll always do what I can to come home to you and our son,” Evan said, and this time there was a smile in his voice. “I love you, Eddie, and since I know Chris should be in bed, give him a hug and kiss from me in the morning,” he added.
“I will, love you too Evan,” he replied, feeling warm and better now that he had heard Evan’s voice. The call ended and Eddie relaxed on the couch, picking up his book, finally able to concentrate on the words in front of him now that he knew Evan was okay. Well mostly okay, the guy Evan talked about worried him slightly.
His phone began to ring again. He looked at it and frowned unknown number. He answered it, wondering just who was calling him.
“Eddie,” came the voice of Shannon Whitt.
“I thought we were never going to speak to each other again,” Eddie stated.
“I want to see my son,” she said.
“You have no son, remember, you gave him away, you didn’t want him,” he reminded her, “So no, you’re not going to be seeing Christopher, not ever. You have no rights.”
“I won’t have my son around you and that idiot that you decided to marry,” she snapped at him.
“Ah,” Eddie said with a slow nod, “So that’s why, you don’t like the fact that he was adopted, don’t like the fact that we’ve moved on from you. Hate to say it but we started moving on from you before I even moved out of Janet’s house. You mean nothing to us now, take that how you want. But we’re done with you, we are both happy and have someone in our lives who loves us for us and is willing to help instead of hinder. You didn’t care either way.”
“You’re my husband and son, not his!” she hissed at him, and Eddie could just imagine the look on her face. He’d see it often when she was mad at him.
“Check your paperwork, you have neither of us. You signed everything away, not me. You didn’t want to pay anything towards the care of Christopher, you wanted nothing to do with either of us. I did my best to be there for you even when Janet was spitting racist bullshit in my face all the time, it was you who decided that we weren’t worth the effort, or even a sliver of attention. Do not contact me again, or I’ll do the same to you as I did with my fucked up parents, and I’ll get a restraining order.” With that, he ended the call before she could say anything else.
He wasn’t going to sit there and listen to her prattle on about who he belonged with. He was already home, with Christopher and Evan, and he had to admit, he felt better in their relationship than he ever had with Shannon. He blocked the number and went back to reading his book before bed.
Chapter Thirty
Evan groaned as he looked at the three numbers that he had collected just during that one call. He hated getting them, it was like they all ignored him when he said he was married. Didn’t help that if Chimney was nearby, he’d say something about him lying. He ripped them up and tossed them in the bin in the loft, he wasn’t going to leave someone’s number just lying around; it could cause trouble for the women that had given them to him.
“Why the hell are you throwing them away?” Chimney demanded as he headed over, looking like he was going to be fishing the numbers out of the bin; at least until he saw they’d been ripped up, “Damn, man, could have shared the love there.”
“They were trolling a damn accident scene for a date, that is not the type of woman I’d ever be interested in. It’s in bad taste, and it’s disgusting behavior in my eyes. Someone almost died at that scene, and they didn’t care,” he said, shaking his head, “Not only that, but I already said, I’m married, I’m not going to cheat on my partner.”
“Yeah, to someone imaginary,” Chimney snorted.
Evan looked at him, then turned and walked away without dignifying his dig with an answer.
Chimney growled, “How fucking dare you walk away from me!”
“How dare I? How dare you?” he repeated back to him, “You come to me constantly and tell me that my marriage isn’t real. It’s very real, I go home every night to my partner and our child and spend as much time with them as I can. I come here to work, and I have to deal with someone who constantly tells people I’m lying. But it’s you who is telling your partner nothing but lies, not me. And don’t think I’ve not noticed how you try and belittle me to others. You’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen I’m not a SEAL, take it up with my former CO, I don’t give a fuck what you say about me, do not disrespect my service, it’s fucking disgusting behavior from someone who is supposed to be a senior officer in the firehouse.”
“You lie about everything, there is no way you were a SEAL, no way that you’re married and have a kid. You’re a fucking baby,” he snapped back, “It’s just not possible!”
“What the hell is going on?” Hen asked as she walked over to them frowning.
“I was throwing away some numbers, and Han here decided to have a go at me, first for throwing away the numbers and not sharing them, then telling me I’m not married, and I was never a Navy SEAL. I don’t care what he fucking says, I’m not listening to his bullshit. And I’ll tell you now, Hen, he does nothing but bullshit his way out of things, victim blaming and gaslighting people into believing that it’s them that is the problem. My parents were fucking masters of it, so I know it when I see it,” he added staring at Chimney, “Your so-called jokes are only funny when everyone is laughing, otherwise they are bullying behaviors.”
“I am no fucking bully!” he yelled out, gaining the attention of others in the station.
“You are,” Terrance said, “When you found out I’m part of a triad, you told me that there was no way that I’d be able to get a date with one person let alone two. When I took offense, you tried your ‘I’m only joking’ stance once more. Then you added to it by saying that obviously, I I only had two partners, because I was keeping one around for sex when the other didn’t want any,” he added, “That is bullying. I wasn’t laughing, it was something disgusting that you were saying about my relationship with my partners.”
“I was just jok-” Chimney began, glaring at Terrance.
“And once again, I’ll tell you that it isn’t a joke, as I’m not laughing at it,” Terrence reminded him, “We’ve told you dozens of times that if the person the so-called joke is about isn’t laughing, then it’s not a joke.”
“Come on, guys,” Hen began, holding out her hands.
“No,” Terrence said, shaking his head, “I’m not about to put up with this bullshit, every single thing is going on file, and I started doing that when I stepped foot in here,” he began.
“Chimney,” Bobby said as he stood at the top of the stars. None of them had noticed he had been standing there. “You have been time and time again to stop the bullying, I’ll warn you again, and I’ll be putting in motion another anti-bullying seminar for you, since you still can’t find the line between jokes and bullying.”
“Cap!” Chimney protested.
“I’ll keep sending you on the seminars each time I catch you doing the same thing, at some point the information has to sink in. This will be the second time in less than five months that I’ve had to send you on this course, Chimney, if this behavior continues, I’ll be bringing your behavior to the battlelon chiefs. I won’t have bullying in my firehouse,” he said, his words firm as he stared at Chimney.
“Fuck this,” he snapped as he headed off.
“Chim!” Hen called out behind him.
“Hen, stay,” Bobby ordered, “I warn you now, you’re close to toeing the same damn line as Chimney is. You have been enabling his behavior and occasionally taking part in it. It needs to stop, the next time I see it, you will be joining him in the course,” he warned her, “I know he is your friend, and that you both went through something I’ll never be able to understand. It doesn’t, however, give either of you a pass to bully those around you. None of the firefighters in this station were here when you two were put through something that I consider horrific. From what I’ve observed, and read, neither of you have dealt with it, despite HQ trying to get both into various therapy sessions.”
“We have dealt with it,” Hen protested, “And I need to make sure Chim is okay. You’re singling him out, Bobby.”
“I’m singling out his behavior,” Bobby pointed out, “not him personally. He is a fantastic paramedic, but his behavior isn’t conducive to a positive work environment. The bullying tactics that he uses are not professional and you know that, Hen. And you haven’t dealt with it, as the department has logged many missed therapy appointments for both of you. I agree that you both should need all the therapy for what you went through, for your own mental health and wellbeing.”
Hen was silent. Staring at Bobby.
“It’s a good idea if you’ve both been through something that has affected you like that,” Evan said, “I’ve done the therapy route myself, and still do occasionally, so does my husband,” he added, “Think about it, and really think if you need someone to help you with what you went through. It’s not a sign of weakness asking for help; PTSD can come at you at any time, and from anything.”
“I don’t…” she began, pausing when she saw Evan looking at her.
“I know you don’t want to, thinking that it’s something only those that are ill, mentally ill need. But we all needed that at times, that extra help in putting what happened to us behind us properly. To make sure it won’t affect our futures,” Evan told her, “I have PTSD, and so does my husband, we both have regular therapy to make sure we are dealing with it.”
Hen just nodded as she then headed to find Chimney.
Bobby pinched the bridge of his nose, “I am honestly getting sick of hearing about the so-called jokes he makes. Everyone has been his target, three probies we’ve had and he has run them all off. HR hasn’t been listening to the claims.”
“Then you go over them and talk to the Chief about it,” Evan suggested, glancing over at the man, “When you have a problem and usual person you report to isn’t dealing with it, then you keep going up until you get someone that will listen. If the squeaky cog starts complaining, well, just make sure you have everything in writing, to prove to the brass that you’ve been trying to get this situation solved and you’re being blocked.”
Bobby sighed, “When what happened with Gerrard came to light, Hen and Chimney were the victims of his blatant racism, sexism, and homophobia. He preferred guys like you, Buck,” he said as he looked at the man, “When I came in, I was told that I wasn’t to reprimand Chimney or Hen at all, and that I was to clean house. So I’m being blocked most of the time.”
“Then you need to go over their heads and to make sure things are put in place, Bobby,” Terrance told him, “None of us were here when that shit went down, some of us heard about it, and it made us leery about coming to the 118. We’ve heard good things about you, and then we hear from the probies who have done their probation time here, leaving with a cloud over their heads because of the behavior of a couple of individuals. Without some form of discipline that will stick, he’s going to keep acting out until he ends up fired; like you said, without the attitude he tends to have, he’s a good paramedic, and steady with it too,” he finished, shaking his head.
Evan looked at them, “I’ve been here four shifts, and already he is a bullying asshole to me, the others that were here before me, at least the ones who stayed in the LAFD, they only stuck out the year, and I can see why. I wouldn’t put up with that shit, they no doubt did and just left as soon as their probation year was up. I’ve been through hazing situations before, I don’t back down, and I don’t put up with bullshit, that shit can get you killed. From what I’ve seen, he constantly attempts to volunteer to do things he isn’t qualified for. I suggest you make it known to the whole station what each person is qualified for, and make it clear that no one will be doing something that they don’t have the certs for.”
Bobby nodded, “I’ve been thinking about it, I’ve been trying to get everyone to get extra certs; you never know what might come up,” he said, “I’m going to be writing another report and sending Chimney on the seminar again. Don’t think it’ll do any good, since this will be the second time he will be going.”
Evan nodded as Bobby left. Terrance turned to him, “Don’t let Chimney drive you off. You’re a good fit, and Mich is happy that he’s got someone that he can teach, and that might just prove to be a good damn heavy rescue asset to the team. We were about to be downgraded if things carried on.”
“I just hope the thing with Chimney is dealt with, I won’t hold back in the future,” Evan warned as he headed off to call Eddie, needing to hear his husband’s voice, and since it was still early in the evening, he might even be able to talk with Christopher for a little while.
Terrance watched him go as Hen walked back up the stairs, “Hen,” he nodded to her as she walked over.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Chimney is my friend, Terry,” she said.
“Being a friend sometimes means telling them a horrible truth that they don’t want to listen to. I’ve had to do the same thing when I told my older partner that he needed to cut his father out of his life,” he said, “He didn’t want to listen at all to me, told me I was wrong and that his father loved him. It took almost two years before he listened to me, and is doing better after leaving his dad behind. But it’s hard for him, much like my younger partner cutting out his mother from his life. Especially after the woman tried to kill her husband and oldest son. And yes, they both attend therapy,” he added before she could ask. “We all do, to make sure that our relationship remains strong.” With that, he headed down the stairs to do a scheduled engine check on both trucks.
Chapter Thirty-One
The 118 was mostly quiet after the confrontation that had happened. Chimney sneered each time he saw Evan and Terrence. Hen was ignored as well when she tried to talk with him. Nothing she said would calm him down. Bobby had made a list of what each firefighter and paramedic on A-Shift was officially certified for, and put it on the noticeboard for everyone to see. Terrence had asked for a listing of what each qualifications meant in the terms of actual tasks, so he knew what each of them should capable of. He was the senior firefighter after Bobby, even though Chimney tried to make everyone believe that he was.
The alarm rang and Bobby stood up, “Chimney, you’re man behind,” he said as he listened to what the call was. Normally he wouldn’t have Chimney behind at all, or not often at least. But with the behavior that he was showing, he wasn’t trusting the man out there just yet.
“Bobby, this is bullshit!” Chimney said as he followed behind them as they headed to the truck.
“Why don’t you take this time to think about your behavior, and why I wouldn’t want you on the job at the moment?” he asked of him, getting into the captain’s chair and looking at him, making Chimney move back as he slammed the door closed. He rolled the window down and looked out, “I mean it Chim, really think about this. Don’t just disregard it because you don’t like it. I’m done putting up with your bullying behavior. I won’t have it on my shift at all. The seminar should have gotten through to you the first time, but since it didn’t, you’re going again; a third seminar won’t be offered,” he warned him as the truck rolled out with one ambulance and the engine.
Chimney watched them go and all he could think about was being left behind when Gerrard was captain of the 118.
XxXxX
It was almost midnight when they finally returned. What was supposed to be a small call out, escalated to needing three more stations to join them before the first half hour was over. It had only been a small fire at a factory, until it had gone through a wall into the neighboring one which held flammable chemicals. They were exhausted, and dirty, and wanted nothing more than to shower and hunker down for a good few hours, before they ended up with another call out.
Bobby looked at the crew, “Alright we are off for four hours at the very least. Chief Alonzo said we won’t be called out for a few hours, and that our zone will be covered by another station. I suggest you all shower while I order food, we’ll bunk down for a while before we’re back on duty.”
“That’s great,” Hen said as she and the others dragged themselves to the locker rooms and headed for the showers.
Chimney stood in the loft watching them. He ignored Bobby, and the looks he was getting from his teammates. The captain saw nothing different about the other man’s demeanor, he sighed heavily as he headed up to the loft instead of going for a shower with the others. “Chimney,” he said as he gestured to the man to sit at the table. “We need to have a serious talk, now,” he told him. “Sit down, please,” he said, gesturing again to the chair as he sat down.
“I don’t know why I should, Bobby. You made me the man behind, he fucking did that all the damn time.”
“I made you man behind, because some of the things you had been saying throughout the day, stopped the rest of the team wanting to rely on you. You made them afraid, Chimney, that isn’t on,” Bobby told him, “I don’t know what to tell you Chimney. You repeatedly volunteer for things that you have no qualifications for, and I’m not talking about time on the job, Chim., I mean going and getting the relevant certifications for it, you’ve only ever done the bare minimum, no matter the opportunities that have been presented to you.”
Chimney stared at him, “What… do you mean by afraid?”
“They know you’re not qualified for a lot of what you consider to be the fun rescues, but they fear you’ll force them into accepting you as a team mate anyway. They don’t want you to do that, because it could mean they get hurt… or even killed. I’d never let it happen, but you have been known to muscle your way into trying to do things. If Terrence and I weren’t quick enough, you could have easily caused a few injuries with your incessant need to try and do something your not trained for. If you want to do the fun rescues, then go back to the damn academy and get the certs for them, just like everyone else does, and only then will I allow you to do them,” he shook his head, “you’re a good paramedic, Chimney, you’ve put the work into that, but you have to stop trying to volunteer for things outside your wheelhouse. The academy is there for a reason, and there are always emails being sent out with information about qualifications that you can do in your own time. I know Buck has already signed up for the swift water rescue course.”
Chimney was silent as he listened, shaking his head he got up, “I need to think,” he stated.
“I suggest that maybe you go home, we can get a floater in for the rest of the shift, or just be a man down,” Bobby suggested, “I need you to really think on this Chimney. Your behavior is getting worse. And Buck and Terrance are right that the behavior you show all the time is that of a bully. I know you know what that feels like, so I wonder why you’re so determined to do it to others who have done NOTHING to you,” he stated, getting up, “Take the rest of the shift and I hope that when you come back, you’re ready to be a true team player.”
Chimney nodded and walked away. Bobby sighed and hoped that he got through to the other man just what his behavior was doing towards the others that were on shift. Buck and a few of the others had gone to him over the last few months, even before Buck had started, to make sure that Chimney would never do something he wasn’t qualified for. He’d made sure that everyone knew just what each other could do now, so no one would be able to doubt if someone could do something, or let them do it if they tried to force their way in, as Chimney had tried in the past.
Bobby got up and headed down to shower before calling in a food order. The others kept quiet as they noticed that Chimney had left.
XxXxX
Evan returned home, exhausted and wanting nothing more than to sleep in. He opened the front door and walked in. He could hear Eddie moving around, Christopher would already have gone to school that morning. He smiled as he could hear Eddie singing in the kitchen, he was a balm to his exhausted soul.
Evan followed the voice into the kitchen. “Hey,” he said.
Eddie turned, smiled at him, and said, “Welcome home, I’m making breakfast burritos,” he smiled “Almost done, so wash up and change and they’ll be ready to eat by then,” he told him.
Evan walked over, wrapping his arms around his husband and just held him for a few moments. Letting the stress of his shift fade away as he felt Eddie wrap his own arms around him. “You have no idea how much I needed that,” he stated, eyes closed as he rested his head on Eddie’s shoulder.
“A lot,” he murmured, rubbing at Evan’s back and holding him tightly.
Evan nodded slightly. “Not been an easy shift. Chimney was starting in on me about me not being married, and then not being a SEAL, stupid things like that. He’s been doing it a lot, and it’s starting to really grate on me. I don’t care what he says, but he keeps saying it to others, they are going to end up believing him, since he’s been with them a while. But, Bobby,” he sighed, “He decided to print out what each firefighter and paramedic on shift is certified for and made everyone read them. He wanted everyone to remember what each other was capable of. Bobby was making sure that we knew he’d never let someone unqualified do any of the jobs that they shouldn’t be doing. Like Chimney and his want to do the rope rescues. He hasn’t bothered getting the certs, and they’d be easy for him to do.”
Eddie turned, after putting things on a low light, “Well, there’s nothing that you can do, other than what has been done,” he reminded him, “Go and shower, change into something comfortable, have something to eat, and sleep. Soon enough we’ll be going to get Christopher.”
Evan nodded, but waited a few more moments before he moved, “Thanks, for always being here,” he smiled, kissing him before leaving him alone.
Eddie shook his head, a soft smile on his face as he went back to getting the breakfast burritos ready for the two of them. Evan soon came back and they ate in almost full silence. Just taking in each other’s presence, there was no need for words between the two.
“Thanks, Eds,” Evan said, feeling better after he had something to eat.
“Welcome, it’s nice to be doing things again. Without having to rely on the cane, or anything else,” he said, feeling happy with his healing journey almost being over. There was just a bit more physio that he was going through, to make sure that the operation that he had, had done the job it was supposed to and freed the nerves that had been caught by some scar tissue.
“I bet, you’ve done well in getting back into shape. I know you’re looking into joining the fire academy as well, I can’t wait for you to join up. I think this will be good for you,” Evan said as they headed into the bedroom, Eddie enjoyed laying with him for a bit after Evan came home.
They settled on the bed, with Eddie wrapping himself around Evan as the man slowly relaxed in his arms. Their eyes began to close in sleep only to fly open when Evan’s phone began to ring. It was a ringtone that had been set to one person. He hadn’t heard it in a good few years. “Maddie,” he whispered reaching for it and answering.
“Evan,” came a teary voice.
“Maddie,” Evan said, joy in his voice as he heard his sister for the first time in years.
“Evan, I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m sorry I haven’t been there,” she murmured over the phone.
Evan put the phone on speaker, “Maddie, I’m with my husband, Eddie. He’s here, we’re here for you,” he told her.
“Okay. Evan I-” she stopped dead as another voice joined hers.
“Maddie,” the voice sent a child up both Evan’s and Eddie’s spine. It was Doug, Maddie’s husband. Someone that Evan had not liked, right from the beginning. “I thought I told you that you weren’t to use the phone.”
“I wasn’t, I just-” There was an echo of a slap heard through the line and a whimper. Both men remained silent as more sounds came through and the cries of Maddie as she begged Doug to stop.
“I told you, never to call anyone,” he said one last thing as the line went dead.
“Maddie,” Evan said, rubbing at his face as he got rid of the tears. He wanted to call out, to gain Doug’s attention, but he knew doing that would have put Maddie in more danger.
“We’re going to go and get her,” Eddie said getting out the bed, “We have to,” he added as he grabbed his phone, called Mary, and started to organize the trip to Hershey.
Evan called Bobby and explained the situation, that he needed to take a bit of leave to help his sister from a bad situation. Both of them worked together so the moment that Christopher returned home and they said goodbye they were heading to the airport to go to Hershey, to rescue Maddie from her abusive husband.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Landing in Hershey, the two men headed straight for the local police station. They had called Mary on the way, speaking with Christopher for a few moments, as he’d refused to go to bed unless they talked to him. Arriving at the station, Eddie went forward first, “Hi, I need to talk to someone about a domestic abuse situation that I’ve just found out about.”
The woman at the desk looked up, “We can send one of the officers out to do a welfare check, but that’s all we can do. They have to decide to leave, and prosecute the abuser.”
“We know that,” Evan said, barely stopping himself from snapping. He had heard about a few domestic situations that the others had gone to over the years, and none of them had been pleasant ones either.
“Then you know we can’t do much,” she said, sympathetic to what he was hoping to do.
“My sister called me, trying to talk to me, instead her husband came on and beat her, before ending the call. She was calling for help, and I’m here to go and get her. Please, I just want some police presence so that I can get her out safely,” he said, shaking his head, “She called for help. I live in California, not here. So I came straight here,” he pleaded for help.
“We’ll be able to send two officers to go with you,” she said, “But we’re not to interfere unless anything gets out of hand.”
“Thank you,” Evan said, he had his sister’s address, she hadn’t moved at all since they had settled in Hershey after they had gotten married. Evan gave over the address and got to the car that they had rented and drove to the address. Evan was nervous, it would be the first time seeing his sister since the day she had given him the jeep, telling him to go and live his life.
“She’s going to be okay,” Eddie said, as he reached over, leaving one hand on the wheel as he tried to comfort his husband, “I’m right here and we’re going to get her away from him and home with us,” he told him, reassuring him that all would be well.
“Yeah, yeah she will, and she won’t be near that monster again. I’ll make sure of that. I know she won’t want to say anything at first, not until she’s safe, but then… we’ll be able to convince her to leave and press charges against him,” he said, biting his lip as he wondered if he’d be able to get his sister to do so. He hated the thought of her in trouble like she was, wondering how long it had been since he had first hit her. He’d always disliked Doug, the man gave off bad vibes when Evan had met him. Even at their wedding, she looked more nervous and scared, than happy that she was supposedly marrying the love of her life.
Arriving at the home of Doug and Maddie, it was quiet, there were a couple of lights on, as it was late now; heading swiftly towards midnight. They’d barely had five minutes to rest since Evan had returned home. Even his shift had been busy and he was running on little sleep and exhaustion. Getting out of the car, they approached the front door and knocked. It took a few moments before the door was opened. Maddie was there, her eyes going wide, or as wide as they could, with the bruising on her face.
“What… what are you doing here?” she hissed, fear etched on her face.
“Just come with me, I have officers with me, they’re watching, and will be happy to go with you to get some of your things. I can book us a ticket back home, and we could be in LA as the sun rises,” Evan told her, taking hold of her hand, and seeing the defensive bruising on it.
“I…” she bit her lip, torn between wanting the safety that her brother represented, or to try and protect him by staying with Doug.
“Maddie,” Eddie said, as he gained her attention, “We’re here for you, we came for you. I know you’re scared, but we’re here to help.”
Maddie nodded, “I… please,” she said finally.
Evan turned towards the officers when the door flew open and Doug stood there, a hand on Maddie’s shoulder. “Doug,” Evan said, eyes filled with anger at the man who had dared to harm his sister.
“And why would the baby come here,” he sneered, “I thought Maddie told you to keep out of her way, she has a life to live, after all.”
“I’m… I’m leaving,” Maddie said, gathering her courage and saying aloud what she had wanted to say for years.
Doug turned to her, “What did you say?” he snapped, eyes flashing.
Evan and Eddie smiled at her as they motioned for the officers to make their presence known.
“I’m leaving. I’ve had enough. I don’t want the next time my brother hears about me to be because I’m dead, and if I stay that’s what’s going to happen!” she yelled out, all the frustrations and feelings of inadequacy falling away with her brother and his husband right there for her. She could see the two police officers coming towards the house. She had been so scared, and saying those words aloud for the first time felt like freedom, that she was going to be safe.
“No, I’m not letting that happen, Maddie,” he said, grabbing her, but missing when Evan got in the way. “Get out of here, Evan, you’re not wanted.”
“He has always been wanted by me. I made a mistake in staying with you as long as I did, and I won’t continue to make it. I can’t,” she said, her voice beginning to shake as she stood behind her brother. She never wanted him in that place, but part of her was grateful he was there.
“Mr Kendall,” the officer that started to enter the home said, “I suggest that you let Mrs Kendall gather her things and leave.”
“Never,” he growled as he pulled out the knife he had hidden and pushed Evan out of the way and towards the officer. He dived toward Maddie, grabbed her, and stabbed her in the side.
Eddie, seeing his husband go flying and then Maddie screaming out in pain, put Eddie on alert as he lunged forward and grabbed Maddie, pulling her out of the way and wrapping around her to protect her from Doug. Avoiding another lunge from Doug, Maddie and Eddie both fell in a tangle. With Eddie trying to cushion Maddie’s fall, he landed on something that caused pain to through his entire arm, causing him to yell out in pain.
The Second officer rushed into the house as they heard the commotion going on. Seeing her fellow officer on the ground, with another man lying on him, both struggling to get up. She pulled her taser and yelled, “Sir, drop your weapon or I’ll fire!”
Doug turned to her, throwing the knife he had been using at her, causing her to jump out of the way, as he ran from the house. The revving of an engine sounded, along with the screech of tires as Doug fled.
“Dispatch this is Officer Minus, I need backup,” she went into her radio, calling for backup and RA units. “I have two victims down, the suspect has fled in a car, his name is Doug Kendall.”
“Maddie! Eddie!” Evan called out as he scrambled to his feet and over to them.
“She’s hurt badly,” Eddie called out as tried to move Maddie off him without causing her or himself further harm. His left arm was not responding as it should do, and each movement was causing more pain. The other officer, that Evan had landed on, quickly ran over to help. Evan took care of Eddie, and the officer assisted Maddie by putting pressure on the stab wounds.
XxXxX
Evan had been checked over, to make sure he was okay, and now it was a waiting game. Both Eddie and Maddie had to go in for urgent surgery. Evan looked up at the two officers and a detective who had walked into the room.
“I’m Detective Watson,” the man said, holding out a hand, “I wish I was meeting you under better circumstances,” he stated.
“So do I,” Evan said as he gestured for the man to sit down.
“Sorry to ask questions at a time like this. But I need to know the details, and a timeline for everything that happened. I have the reports from the officers already,” he said, sitting down.
Evan nodded and began to tell him what had happened, and how he and Eddie had come to Hershey after Maddie called them. How she wanted to leave, and Doug wasn’t going to let her. I tried to keep her safe, but he threw me into one of the officers, and we went down in a tangled heap. He then attacked Maddie, and tried to attack my husband. Eddie was trying to protect my sister from her deranged husband. When he tried to stab at Eddie, he missed, but in trying to avoid the knife, they both tripped and fell,” he sighed, rubbing his head, “I just… I knew something was wrong when they married, there was just something. When I was younger, I asked her to come with me, to ditch Doug and leave him. I could tell each time I was around her, that she wasn’t happy; she pretended to be, but she really wasn’t.”
“Thank you,” he stated, “We’ve put a warrant out for Doug Kendall’s arrest, but at the moment, he’s gone to ground. Rest assured, we’re going to keep looking, but, I have to ask, does this man know you live in California?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, I don’t know if Maddie ever told him. I sent any postcards to her workplace to make sure that she was able to get them; it was better than sending them to the house. She told me he’d destroy them before she got them, another sign that something was wrong. I should have made her come with me, no matter what was going on,” he sighed
“We’ll keep you informed, of course, we already have your details. I’d normally ask that you stay in the area, but I’ve since been informed you have a son at home, waiting for you, and a job to get back to, so I understand that it may not be possible,” he added, having heard the details of the two men who had come to help Mrs Kendall.
“I… I need to tell Mary, she’s a friend that’s looking after Christopher. We were hoping to be back tomorrow… today, later on,” Evan said, getting a little confused about the time.
“It’s fine. I can understand,” he said, smiling a little as he stood up, “I have most of what I need, and as I said, I’ll call if there is anything more. We’re going to have an officer stationed outside the operating theaters, and when Mrs Kendall, and Mr Diaz, are moved to their rooms, they will follow. We are taking no chances, there is a high risk of Mr Kendell coming to the hospital to finish the job,” he added.
Evan nodded and they talked a little more before Detective Watson headed out. Evan didn’t know how long he had been sitting in the room, when someone finally came out to talk to him.
“Family of Maddie Kendall and Eddie Diaz?” the doctor asked, as he looked at Evan.
“Yeah,” Evan nodded as he got up and went over.
“There were complications with Mrs Kendall’s surgery. Her liver has been damaged, but we are looking at our options in trying to stop organ failure,” he stated, “She’s come out of surgery just fine, other than the loss of blood, and her liver, she’s doing rather well. As for Mr Diaz,” he paused for a moment, “He has broken his arm in several places as well as his clavicle, and he’s also done muscle and ligament damage to the shoulder, specifically the rotator cuff and the tendons in his elbow. We discussed his options with him before the surgery and he made the decision to go with external fixators for the break in his humerus as it gives him the best chance of recovery. He’ll have that surgery in a few days, once the swelling has gone down. For now, his entire arm is in a backslab cast for the breaks, and we’ll assess him for nis next surgery tomorrow. He mentioned that you need to return to LA as soon as possible, so once the external fixator is in place, we’ll let you both know how to proceed with the flights. We’re also looking into surgeons in LA, so we can have the referral done before you leave. As soon as he’s out of recovery, we’re going to have him and your sister in adjoining rooms.”
Evan closed his eyes, “Okay, and speaking of my sister?” he asked, “When will I be able to see her?”
“She’s out of recovery and being taken to a room already, Mr. Diaz will still be in surgery for another hour,” he said as he began to guide Evan to a room, “Mrs Kendall will be asleep for a while longer, but the anesthetic should be wearing off soon.”
“Thank you,” he said as he was shown into the room. Maddie lay on the bed, pale and hooked up to machines to monitor her.
“I’ll leave you alone now,” the doctor said as he left the room, and left Evan alone with his sister.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Evan was sitting in his sister’s room, he’d stopped by to see Eddie, and had been told to come back as Maddie had woken up. He held her hand as she cried. “It’s okay, Mads,” he said.
“No, no, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, there’s so much that I… should have told you. I should of said ‘fuck it,’ and not cared about what Mom and Dad said about my marriage and left with you. I regret it, I do,” she rushed out, holding onto her brother’s hand as tight as she could.
“It doesn’t matter, not right now, you’re okay, you’re never going back to him. I promise. I won’t let him get to you again,” he said, though he bit his lip, he couldn’t really promise that. Doug Kendall was in the wind and he knew he’d have to tell her that soon. First, there was the injury to her liver to deal with.
“You… you’re biting your lip,” she said, “what are you hiding?”
“Doug’s in the wind, they can’t find him. He ran out of the house in the confusion of the attack, and his car was found abandoned three hours later. I want to get you and Eddie to LA as soon as it’s possible. We have a better chance of flying under the radar out there. He doesn’t know, does he?”
Maddie gave a little shake of her head, “No. No, he doesn’t. I never told him and I never took the postcards home. I was going to at some point, but never got around to it. I always left them in my friend’s locker.”
“Then, hopefully, it’ll be safe there for us,” he told her, “If not, you’ll just have to concentrate on yourself,” he finished as the door was knocked and the doctor walked in.
“Mrs Kendall,” he greeted her.
“Please, call me Maddie, I’ll be divorcing him and getting rid of Kendall, I never want to be called that again, ” she said, looking at the doctor.
“Maddie,” he smiled, nodding his head. He had heard about her circumstances so could understand the sentiment. “Right, well we have news. The injury you sustained, has done serious damage to your liver. We’re looking into your options at the moment to try and repair it, but if not, then we will have to go the transplant route,” he stated, looking at them both, “I know it’s not good news, but not fully bad at the moment, we are hoping that the liver will recover. It just may take some time.”
“If a donation is needed, I’ll volunteer, you can test if I’m a close enough match.”
Maddie shook her head, “No… no you won’t be a match,” she stated, looking sad as tears started to gather. “I’m sorry, Evan, so sorry,” she began to babble again.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, really,” he said, shaking his head and having no idea what was going on with her.
“No, it’s not. I should have told you years ago, I should have ignored them and just told you,” she said, tears falling down her cheeks. “They stopped me each time I tried when we were little, I was always punished for it, I thought Doug would… he’d be there when I told you, he knew. I told him and he said that we’d tell you together. To show you that I loved you and I didn’t give a rat’s ass what they think about me telling you,” her words were just rushing out.
Evan paused, thinking back to the medical records that he had from being in the SEAL’s how there was something there that hadn’t been discussed with him by his family. “Daniel,” he whispered.
Maddie hiccuped and nodded, “How… how do you?”
“I asked for my full medical records before I went into the SEALs; they don’t like it when you’re hiding anything. They don’t take kindly to it, and it can lead to contract termination, so I wanted to make sure Mom and Dad didn’t hide anything serious from me. They had Daniel, our brother, who I was made for. I’m not angry at you Maddie, I remember what Mom and Dad are like,” he stated, going to reassure her as she started to apologize repeatedly for not telling him sooner.
“I wanted to tell you that day,” she said softly, “You were young, hurting and I didn’t want to hurt you more by telling you. Then he called and I was distracted again, I shouldn’t have been. I should have told you about Daniel and our waste of space parents,” she muttered.
“You can still tell me about him. I always wondered why he was never mentioned. It solidified in my mind that they don’t love me. I don’t care, anyway, the one I cared about was you; you raised me for those first few years, even when I knew that sometimes you resented that, and I don’t blame you, you were a teenager and needed some damn free time.” he said before she could tell him that she hadn’t.
Maddie looked at the Doctor, “I’m sorry, for…” She made a small gesture, wincing at the pull of her injuries.
“It’s fine, the medication that you’re on, does let you be a little uninhibited,” he brushed off her apology, “Now, I know that your brother has mentioned moving to LA. I am going to be talking to a colleague that I know out there, to transfer your care to her. Normally, I wouldn’t really recommend travel, but considering your circumstances, it might be a good idea for you, to be in a place where you can feel safe and secure. You’ll have a better chance at recovery if you’re not constantly looking over your shoulder and jumping at shadows,” he stated.
Maddie nodded and looked at her brother, “Do you really want me to come with you both?” she asked, feeling nervous.
“Yes, of course we do,” he told her.
“Where… where is Eddie, I know he protected me,” she said, frowning as she tried to remember the details of the attack. “He… got hurt?”
“He’s going to be okay, he’s in another room at the moment, I’m waiting for him to wake up, so I can be there,” he told her.
“Oh, this room is a double,” she stated, looking around, “Can’t you bring him in here, so you don’t have to keep going between rooms, will make things easier for you. I know you’re going to feel like crap if you can’t be with us both all the time,” Maddie said, knowing what her brother was like. He had a large heart, and she was grateful to know that it had never left him, no matter the shit their parents or the world had thrown at Evan.
“If Mr Diaz agrees, then we’ll do that,” the doctor said, agreeing with the suggestion.
“I’m sure he will,” Evan said with a nod.
“Right, Mrs… Maddie,” he corrected himself, giving her a nod, “The nurse will be by soon to give you something for the pain, I’ll be doing a check-up in an hour, to make sure that everything is well. I’d like to go through the options that you have regarding your liver. For now, we’re going to have to see if it starts recovering on its own, which means rest, and a lot of it. Regular check-ups to see how it’s recovering. We won’t know for sure what the extent of things is going to be. A liver transplant is going to be a last resort,” he told them both.
“Okay, thank you,” Maddie said softly.
“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling at her before leaving the room. The nurse came in soon after and gave her some pain medication.
“Evan,” she said after they were left alone, “Go and see Eddie,” she yawned, “I’m just going to sleep.”
Evan nodded, “Okay,” he said, kissing her forehead and causing her to giggle a little.
“I remember doing that to you a lot when you were little,” she murmured sleepily.
“I remember,” he smiled down at her, “Get some rest, Maddie, it’s good to finally see you again.”
“I’m so-” she cut off when she yawned, too sleepy to even finish apologizing again for not being there for her little brother as she had promised.
Evan smiled as she fell asleep. He was still hurt over her seeming to have abandoned him, but now they had time to talk, to work things out between them. He left the room and headed into the room next door. Eddie was still asleep, but he settled down to be near him, taking hold of his only free hand, as the other was immobilized in a backslab and complex looking sling after having the bones realigned. He sighed, “So glad that you’re alright.”
Evan was there for almost an hour before Eddie began to wake. He was groggy and pouty as he sipped at water. “Hey, Eds,” he said, a soft smile on his face.
“Evan,” he said, frowning, “Why… hospital?” he questioned.
“You were hurt when you protected Maddie,” Evan began, wondering what else he should say.
“Doug, Maddie, is she okay,” Eddie said a few moments later when Evan didn’t finish answering him.
“She will be, hopefully; her liver was damaged, and they are hopeful that it’ll recover on its own, but they are going to be monitoring her,” he told him, “I’m going to call the doc for you,” he said as he leaned up and pressed the call button. Letting the nursing station know that Eddie was awake. He helped him drink a little more water until the doctor came in.
“Mr Diaz, and Mr Diaz,” he said as he looked between the two of them, “I don’t know if you remember, but we talked briefly before you went into surgery about the breaks in your arm and the resulting soft tissue damage. We did surgery to realign the bones and repair the tendon and vascular damage, and we’ve put you in a temporary cast while we wait for the swelling to go down. The next surgery, which you’ll have before you fly home, we’ll install the external fixators, and the plate for your clavicle.
“We have a son back in LA, he’s with a friend at the moment, but we need to return as soon as we can,” Eddie said, as Evan helped him sit up a little on the bed, raising the head of it for him.
“I understand that, but we also want to make sure that you have the best chance of a full recovery. Your range of movement at the moment is zero. We’ll be replacing the cast that you have again after surgery.” he added, telling them more of the minor injuries that Eddie had sustained, and the care that was needed for them all. “And that will be all, we will have someone come in and check over the cuts and abrasions and clean them. You will also receive some pain relief as well. I ask that you have a little at least, as it’ll allow you to actually sleep and rest properly.”
Eddie grumbled but knew he’d give in.
There was a knock on the door and a nurse popped her head around it, “Sorry to intrude,” she said, “But there is a couple here demanding to see Mrs Kendall.”
“Names?” Evan asked, frowning.
“Margaret Buckley and Phillip Buckley,” she answered.
Evan sighed, “Our parents, do not let them near Maddie. She needs to rest and they’ll do nothing but upset and agitate her. I’ll deal with them,” he said as he got up, “Sorry love, gotta deal with those idiots. Can you ask security to come and deal with them? They are prone to shouting when they don’t get their way, or the attention they think they deserve,” he said, kissing Eddie before following the nurse to confront his parents, and figure out why they were there.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Evan walked into the hallway and through to the main desk for the ward. He really would like to know just who had informed his parents of what was going on. They had no right to come here now, not when they had seen Maddie several times during her marriage, he’d seen the posts on Facebook. Evan thought it was obvious in the photos that Doug wasn’t happy when they had family dinners. He saw red when he spotted his parents, standing there, demanding to see their daughter; so far the head nurse dealing with them had done a good job keeping them away.
“Evan!” Margaret screeched as soon as she saw him, “Should have known you had something to do with this mess!”
Evan rolled his eyes, “No I didn’t, what happened, was that you two were here, seeing Maddie, and didn’t care that she was being abused so badly by her husband that she called me, who lived the other side of the country, for help,” he snapped at them both.
Phillip scowled at him, “Don’t you dare speak to us like that. We’re your parents.”
Evan scoffed and laughed, shaking his head, “You’re no parents to me; you gave up on me the moment that I failed to save Daniel. You wanted nothing to do with me, which is why Maddie was the one that took care of me each day as I grew up. As soon as she left for college you checked out fully, barely even being home most of the time.”
“Don’t you dare talk about Daniel!” Margaret said, clutching at her chest, and going pale at the sound of the name of her eldest son.
“I can talk about him all I like, he’s my brother. You might want to forget you have another son who passed away, but I never will,” he sneered at her.
“Shut your mouth, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Phillip told him.
“No.” he stated, “This is the type of thing that I can’t stand from you both, the holier-than-thou attitude that you have going on, so I got out there as soon as I could, just like Maddie did. But she ended up with a damn monster.”
“Doug is not a monster, you kids have always needed a heavy hand, not one of you did what you were supposed to,” Margaret wailed.
“Oh grow the fuck up,” Evan said, “you’re sounding like a toddler that didn’t get their candy.”
“How dare-”
“Change the damn record, I dare because both of you suck at being parents. You’re both complete failures, you don’t care about us, you just care about your image; just like you’ve always done. Well, this time, we don’t care about your image. You want to be dicks, be dicks elsewhere, this is a place of healing and there are people that are sick and injured around here, and they don’t need bastards like you screeching near them. Leave, and don’t come back, you may as well count all three of your children dead to you. Because I can’t believe that you’d think that domestic abuse is a good thing. Maddie and I have talked, and we want you gone, do not come back at all, ever, and I better not hear that you’ve been trying to contact Maddie, because I won’t hesitate to make sure that all Hershey know exactly how horrible the two of you are,” he growled at them.
“I have security here to escort them out,” the head nurse said with a smirk as two men stepped forward to do just that.
“Thank you,” Evan said, “Please make sure that they are barred from seeing Maddie, I don’t want my sister disturbed.”
“Evan Christopher Buckley!” Margaret yelled as she was being pulled away.
“It’s not Buckley anymore; I got rid of that when I got married, it’s Diaz!” he called out, smirking at the horrified looks on his parents’ faces. “And know that neither of you is welcome in my family’s life, and never will be. I honestly hope this’ll be the last time I ever see you.”
“Ungrateful piece of shit, we should have dumped you the moment you failed to save Daniel,” Margaret hissed as she was escorted out.
Evan snorted, “Like I give a shit what she thinks and should have done’s,” he rolled his eyes. “Please make sure that they are barred from entering. I don’t want them to upset Maddie with their toxic views, they fully believe that she should have remained with her abusive husband instead of trying to leave. They’d rather all three of their children be dead, than ruin their so-called reputation.”
“That is unfortunate,” she said. “Go back to your husband, and sorry for having to call you in. I would’ve just gotten security when they started demanding, but they weren’t barred at the time from seeing Mrs Kendall.”
“That’s fine,” he told her as he then headed back to Eddie’s room. He’d have to tell Maddie what happened soon, but that could wait. Other things needed to be done first.
XxXxX
Two days after the attack, Maddie was healing well, though her liver was still only just functioning enough to keep her alive. They had been hoping there would’ve been some improvement, but so far it had leveled off and was staying the same. Evan was sitting in Maddie’s room as he waited for news on Eddie. He had gone into surgery a few hours ago. They’d wanted to wait for the swelling to subside before installing the external fixators, that would give him the best chance of a full recovery. As well as to go in and do a better repair of the rotator cuff. The initial surgery mostly just aligned all the broken bones and ensured there was no major vascular damage.
“It should be over by now,” Evan said, biting his lip and looking at the empty space where Eddue’s bed had been in the room. Just like they had suggested, the two had shared a room, a curtain between them giving them privacy when they needed it.
“No doubt they are bringing him down soon,” she said, reaching out and taking a hand. “He’s so nice,” she said softly.
“He really is,” Evan said, not having talked much to Maddie about Eddie yet. She had been telling him all she could about Daniel. She had also kept a few things from their parents that they had tried to throw out. “We met the first time when I was deployed, it was only passing, but we got along. Then when I was in LA, trying to decide what I was going to do, after a bad mission, I bumped into him again. He was still injured, after being shot down. We reconnected, and became really good friends. Another of my friends, the sister of my former CO, actually, she’s around a lot, with her daughter; Chris and Joan, her daughter, get along well too,” he smiled, as he talked a little more about Eddie and how they had gotten together. He didn’t tell her that they had married so quickly because they wanted to protect Christopher from his grandparents.
Maddie smiled as she listened to him, nodding, she had talked with Eddie a few times when Evan had to leave after visiting hours were over. He had been allowed into her home, to gather and pack things away to be shipped to LA. She had also been talking to a lawyer, to make sure that she’d be able to divorce, even though Doug was on the run, as he still hadn’t been apprehended yet. That was going smoothly, even if his parents were starting to cause a bit of drama. They were trying to rush the divorce, so that Maddie had no connection to him.
Soon enough Eddie was back in the room, his arm completely immobilized by the external fixators, a cast, and a sling. When they returned home, he’d be under the care of an orthopedic surgeon his current surgeon trusted, who would see him every few weeks. It would be some time before he could start physical therapy. He wasn’t happy about the injury, having only just gotten fighting fit again, but there wasn’t much they could do, and Eddie wouldn’t have changed what he had done, as he knew that if he hadn’t got her out of the way, there was a high chance that Doug would’ve killed Maddie.
Eddie woke a few hours later, and looked over at Maddie and Evan, “Hey,” he murmured as Evan helped him drink a little before raising the bed slightly.
“The doctor has already come in, everything went well, they’ll be around to check on you personally in a few hours,” Evan told him, “I’m almost done packing everything at Maddie’s, some things are being sold and others put up. The Kendalls are trying to play the victim, but since there is solid evidence of what he did, they aren’t getting anywhere. The detective on the case stopped by an hour ago, while you were sleeping, to update us. Doug still hasn’t been apprehended, but they believe they had a sighing of him near here, so we’ve been given the green light to leave at the end of the week.”
“They’ll be talking to the doctors and surgeons in LA, to make sure that the transfer of care is smooth. I’ve already spoken to mine and they are looking into putting me on the transplant list, as they are unsure if my liver is going to recover; the latest round of tests showed no improvement,” Maddie finished, looking over at Eddie and smiling, “Thank you again, for saving my life,” she told him. “I just wish you hadn’t gotten hurt.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Eddie told her, he yawned, “Ugh, I hate operations, they always leave me feeling sleepy as hell,” he complained.
“I know,” Evan said, “Get some more sleep, we’ll be here, they won’t kick me out for another two hours.
“Hmm,” Eddie hummed, eyes already closing, “Wake me in time for Chris,” he stated, wanting to talk to his son again. They were both missing Christopher like crazy, and even Maddie had been able to talk to him; he was excited to have another Auntie.
Evan murmured a promise and talked to Maddie a little more about what she wanted done with the house since it was in their joint name, but with the divorce, there was a chance that it might be awarded to her.
XxXxX
Two weeks, it had taken two weeks for everything to be sorted well enough for them to be able to leave. Maddie had been granted a divorce, faster than anyone had suspected. The Kendall family was still trying to cause problems, but after seeing the footage of the attack from the camera of one of the officers, then the second, they shut up for the most part after that, only making a few remarks about how their son had done nothing wrong and that Maddie was the cause of it all. There was a restraining order against them after they had tried to get into her hospital room. Now, they were leaving the plane that had taken them home. Mary was to be waiting for them to take them the rest of the way.
“Steve?” Evan frowned when he saw his former CO standing there.
“Mary told me what happened, so we’ve got some eyes and ears on the ground trying to find him,” Steve said, “Danny is at the house getting it ready for you all to rest and relax, he’s also cooking.”
Evan smiled, hugging him, “Thanks,” he said as he looked at Maddie who was being pushed by one of the airport staff. Eddie himself was in a wheelchair as well, not looking happy.
“Thank you, I’ll take her from here,” Steve said as he went to Maddie, “Hello, Maddie, I’m a good friend of Evan’s. Worked with him for a while as well,” he added.
“Thank you, for taking care of him,” Maddie told him.
“Welcome, now, let’s get you all home, dinner is waiting, Christopher is as well, and he’s been making cards and banners with Joan all day. Mary hasn’t had a chance to stop them,” Steve grinned as he led the way through the airport, to the waiting SUV that he had rented for the few days he’d be around to help out.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Evan lay on the bunk at work, and he was wide awake. He could hear the others snoring, or breathing heavily and even as they slept. He sighed as he got up and headed out to the loft. The shutters were closed, and the place was locked down. He went up to the loft, seeing it empty, since everyone was sleeping, he was glad to have five minutes to himself. Making a coffee he sat down at the table.
The last three weeks of October had been hectic. The only good things were Halloween and taking Christopher out trick-or-treating. They had dressed up, and it was a good night for them all. Evan was thankful he hadn’t had to work. The rest of the month before that night though. It hadn’t been good. Eddie had developed a mild fever three days after returning to LA. One of the wounds had come open and even after cleaning, an infection had set in. He was still being treated for it and it was delaying them starting his rehab since the infection had left him wiped out. Though the last few days, the infection seemed to be improving.
Sighing he sipped at his coffee, wincing at the heat and the burn of his tongue. Maddie was another story. Her liver wasn’t recovering like they wanted. There had been no improvement at all over the last few weeks. it was looking more and more likely that she’d be put on the transplant list before the end of November if there was still no improvement in her liver function tests. She was barely surviving at the moment, limited in what she could eat and do, trying to keep herself as healthy as she could, while waiting on the news of is she was going under the knife or not.
“You look like you have the world on your shoulders, Buck,” Bobby said as he walked over and sat down.
Evan looked up, “Because it feels like it,” he told him, being honest. “Maddie’s not getting better. Eddie’s only just recovering from an infection from one of the external fixator sites. He’s been really grumpy at not being able to do things, the temporary cast that he had on isn’t helping, it should have been taken off a last week, but thanks to the infection, he’s not recovering as fast as the surgeon would prefer.. The antibiotics were really messing with him, he’s been so tired and unable to keep much down for the last week,” he sighed, putting his coffee down and stood up to make Bobby one.
“Don’t worry about me,” Bobby was quick to stop him, “I’ll make myself a drink,” he said as he headed over and began to fill his own mug, adding some cream and sugar to it. “How are things outside of that?” he asked him.
“I’m worried about Eddie. He wanted to start at the fire academy next year. But with this, they don’t think he will be at that point before the application cutoff date. Not only that, but he might not be able to if it doesn’t fully recover,” he winced. “This… this is something Eddie really wants, he really does. I know that he misses being in the Army; it was his career, what he wanted to do with his life,” he said, his shoulders drooping.
“You need to get him to see someone; someone that he can talk to about all this. If the worst happens, he’s going to lose the prospect of a second career before it could even start. That is going to hit him hard, if it happens. I know when I got injured, it was a worry in my mind. This was the only job I knew. There were no plans for if I couldn’t be a firefighter. None at all,” he told him, turning to face him and leaning against the counter.
Evan went back to the table and sat down, “Yeah, I know. There is so much that I know he could do. But… would he even want to try? Would he really want to give up on this without trying first?”
“All you can do is talk to him, communication is key,” he reminded him.
Evan snorted, “It is,” he shook his head a few times before picking up his coffee again, “Doesn’t mean he’ll want to say something, but I’m hoping he will. I’m just glad that Carla is working overtime with us at the moment. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I would’ve been able to come back to work. What with the fever and Eddie being so ill, then Maddie needing help to and from appointments. Then there is Chris as well as his schooling, everything has been everywhere. I was glad of the time off to help out at first, but part of me is thankful to be here, it feels like I have room to breathe, and I hate myself for it.”
Bobby listened, “Buck, you’re going through a lot and each of them is as well. Tell me,” he began, “Are there times when each of them will demand time on their own?” he asked, giving Evan a pointed look.
Evan nodded, “Yeah, Maddie will go and spend time in a little cafe, having a drink or something and reading a book. Eddie would head off for his Abuela, his Tía would often come and get him. Chris is the same, he likes to spend time with his cousins, on playdates, and time out of the house. Hell, Mary even takes him at times. Or she pesters Eddie for the company when she has time off work,” he answered him.
“There you go, they each have something they do when they need time away, what have you done for yourself that isn’t coming to work?” he asked him.
Evan opened his mouth to say something and then stopped, “I don’t think I have. I’m always busy when I’m home. I know Mary has tried to get me out, and the week after Steve and Danny left, it felt like I was drowning for a bit as I found my footing, but as soon as I did, I didn’t even think about doing anything for myself. it was always about them, every single moment has been to make sure that the three of them had what they needed.”
“It’s going to sound mean, and evil, but take care of yourself as well. There is only so much that someone can take before they need to get out of a situation,” he sighed, shaking his head.
Evan sat there, staring at his coffee, “It feels wrong to want to do something for myself,” he finally said after a few moments of silence.
“Buck, you need to take care of yourself, or you’re not going to be able to help them when they really truly need it,” he pointed out, “take some time for yourself, talk with Eddie about things. No doubt he’ll understand as well.”
“Maybe… yeah, he would,” he sighed and nodded as he sighed. “I’m going to read a book, I don’t think I’m going to be sleeping any time soon.”
“I won’t be either, I’ve got paperwork to finish,” he said as he took his coffee and headed to the stairs, “Try and remember to take that time, and talk,” he added one last time before he went down the stairs and into his office.
Evan sighed and nodded to himself, as he picked up the book he had been reading earlier, opened it to where his bookmark had been placed, and started reading.
XxXxX
Evan returned home after his shift. He walked into his home and could hear music playing in the living room, it was late enough that Christopher should have already been heading to school. He followed the sound and saw Eddie resting on the couch, his eyes closed and his head slowly bopped along to the music. Evan watched him for a moment, smiling at how peaceful Eddie looked. He glanced around, not seeing Maddie at all.
“Oh, Evan,” Eddie said as he opened his eyes and saw his husband.
“Hey,” he said as he walked over, leaning down for a kiss, “You look relaxed and happy,” he said.
“I headed to the VA yesterday, was able to get Carla to drop me off and Pepa picked me up when my session was over. I really should have gone as soon as we got back. I just… kept putting it off and saying I’ll do it tomorrow, or next week,” He had to move the pillow that his arm rested on each night because of the external fixator. It was large and bulky and felt like it took over most of the California King bed they had; Eddie couldn’t wait for it to be gone.
“I’m glad of that, I was getting worried. You were shutting me out,” he said softly, as he took Eddie’s free hand and sat down beside him.
Eddie leaned against him, “I forgot that I’m not in this alone. I always was with Shannon, if I was sick when I was home, she just ignored me, told me off, and carried on with what she wanted to do. When I returned, she did the same thing, I was constantly looked down upon for being injured and needing some help occasionally. I need to remember that you’re not like that. You care, you care about me, Chris, and Maddie.”
“Of course I do, you’re my husband, Chris is my son, and Maddie is my sister, you three are my family. I love you all, and I want to help wherever I can for each of you,” Evan reminded him, putting an arm around him as they leaned back, Eddie fully resting against Evan and leaning his head onto his shoulder.
“Yeah, I missed that,” he stated, “I missed it, forgot it, and trampled on it. You’ve been so worn down as well. I hate what this is doing to you. We’re going to get through it… I’ve been talking to the others, in case I can’t be a firefighter,” he began, biting his lip, ” I know I really want to do it, but I’m looking at other things, just in case.”
Evan nodded, “It’s a good idea, I know you have your heart set on this, and your medical team all say a full recovery is possible, so we hope for the best and prepare for the worst?” he suggested.
Eddie snorted, “Yeah, that, we do that,” he agreed.
They were quiet for a moment, before Evan asked, “Where’s Maddie?”
“She and Mary have gone shopping. Mary’s feeling a little down now that Joan is at the daycare for the full day instead of half,” he said, “Another year and she’ll be starting school. Mary is not prepared for that.”
Evan laughed, “Yeah, I can get that. I was not prepared for Christopher’s first day at school either,” he reminded him.
“You almost cried,” he teased his husband.
“How could I not!” he protested, “he was going to school, soon enough he’s going to be going on dates, and thinking about other things that I never want to think about him doing. I don’t want him leaving for college one day, but we both know it’s going to happen. He is so damn smart, he is going to be running circles around us before his first year at school is over,” he huffed.
Eddie paused, “Do not talk about our baby dating, he is never going to be dating, not until he’s old and gray,” he muttered.
Evan looked at him, “You know he is.”
“Ugh, no, not happening, my baby isn’t going to be growing up anymore. I refuse to admit it,” he joked.
“You can refuse all you want, it’s going to happen,” he sang before the two of them burst out laughing. A very much-needed laughter. “I… needed that,” he murmured.
“I know, we’ve been piling things on to you to take care of all the time, you’re only human. Let’s… go on a date, where I’ll only need one hand to eat, and have some fun. Maddie won’t mind watching Christopher for the night?” he suggested.
“I’d like that,” he agreed, as they began to look up places where Eddie could eat without someone cutting his food up for him. That was one things he didn’t want to do out in public, even though people would understand that he needed that extra help for now.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Evan walked in from Isabel’s back garden, having taken care of a few things , since Eddie was out of action,. “So, the steps are fixed,” he said as he walked inside. Seeing Eddie sitting on the couch with a cake and Christopher on the floor with some of his Lego.
“Thank you so much, Evanito,” Isabel said as she walked into the living room with a pitcher, “Here, I made some lemonade,” she smiled, “this should refresh you well.”
“Thank you so much, Abuela,” he said, kissing her on the cheek as he went to her, and took the pitcher so he could pour some for everyone.
“Welcome,” she smiled, laughing lightly as she went and sat down, “So what are your plans for Thanksgiving?” she asked, “We only have two weeks,” she reminded them.
Evan nodded, “Well, Mary and Joan are heading to Hawaii to spend time with Steve and Danny,” he began, “Maddie is of course staying home, with us.”
“Then you’ll come here,” she said, in a way that said you better not argue with her.
“Of course,” Eddie said before Evan could even try and say differently.
“It’ll be so nice to have the family together again for dinner. Pepa is coming, along with Maria and her husband Roberto. Julieta is coming with her children, along with Luis and Rosa with theirs. It is going to be so nice to have so many of the family together. I love these dinners,” Isabel smiled as she sat down in her favorite chair, a glass of lemonade in hand.
“They were always a lot of fun,” Eddie grinned, “And often meant those of us under ten getting in some kind of trouble,” he snorted.
“Yes, how many times did I have to put you all in time out, I think you all spent time facing the wall with a stinging bottom,” she shook her head. “Didn’t stop you from doing the exact same thing twenty minutes later as I remember.”
“That wasn’t me, that was Luis!” Eddie protested. “I just got caught in the crowd.”
“That second time maybe, but I saw that smirk on your face, Edmundo,” she said, laughing at the pout her grandson now had on his face.
“I was an innocent nine-year-old,” he huffed.
Evan laughed at the two as he went over to Christopher and joined him on the rug. “Hey, Chris,” he said.
“Papa,” he grinned, “You want to play with me? Dad’s being boring,” he said, looking at his dad.
“Hey, I’m injured!” Eddie protested, “I can’t play with Lego, which is so unfair,” he whined, making Christopher giggle.
“Silly, Daddy, I could help you,” Christopher told him.
“Of course,” he said with a nod, “You would take all the Lego for yourself,” he pouted at him.
“So silly, Daddy,” he said, shaking his head, “Papa, can help you now?” he suggested, “Papa loves you a lot, so he won’t take your Lego,” he added.
“I thought you loved me a lot!” Eddie exclaimed, eyes going comically wide. Isabel was laughing quietly as she watched the little family.
“I do, but Lego is very important, Daddy,” he said, as he frowned in concentration, “They help with my mo-tor fun-tions,” he attempted to pronounce.
“Motor functions, very very close there Superman,” Evan grinned at him, “You’re so smart.”
“I like learning,” he grinned, wiggling where he sat as he reached out to grab some of the pieces and put them together with a look of intense concentration. Evan joined him, as Isabel and Eddie began to talk about what was going to be needed to plan out Thanksgiving in three weeks.
XxXxX
Eddie was happy as he walked around his family, there were so many of them around. More and more had confirmed to come as the days went on. By the time the day had arrived, nearly the whole of the Diaz family had come together at his Abuela’s. Pepa, Abuela, and three of the other cousins were moving around the kitchen. Luis’ kitchen had been commandeered as well, so a few of the cousins could make even more food, which had been brought over that morning.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself,” Luis said as he went over to his cousin. He was a little older than Eddie, married with three children, and a fourth on the way.
“I love being around family. I wish I had moved here as soon as I could, instead of waiting until I was out of the army, but…” he trailed off as he heard Evan laughing as he was playing with the children.
“You wouldn’t have met him if you had,” Luis was quick to deduce.
“Yeah, things would be a lot different. My parents started to drive a wedge between me and Shannon the moment we found out she was pregnant. By the time we left, I didn’t know if it would save our marriage. When I saw Janet. I knew, I knew at that moment that our marriage was going to be over before the end of the year, and it was. As much as Helena and Ramon hated Shannon, Janet hated me and Christopher,” he shrugged.
“Well, you found a good man in Evan, he’s a delight, and the kids love him. So me and Rosa want to know if you plan to have any more together?” he asked.
“At the moment, we’ve no plans, but maybe one day,” he said, imagining Evan with a baby in his arms, “one day.”
“I bet, Abuela will be happy to hear that. She loves the kids so much,” he said, as they watched the children play.
“Dad!” one of Luis’ kids called out, “You have to help, Tio Evan isn’t playing fair!”
“Coming!” he called out, “My kids have demanded I enter the battlefield,” he laughed as he went over and joined in the game.
Eddie laughed and watched them go. The laughter turned into a frown as everyone stopped when they heard shouting from the front of the house. “What the hell,” he growled as he began to walk into the house, hearing the yelling coming from the front door. He recognized those voices easily, they haunted him in a way, and he wished that he could say that the restraining order that he had out on them was actually useful.
“I’ll dea-” Luis said, as he put a hand on his cousin’s shoulder.
“No, you call 9-1-1 and tell them that we have two people who are breaking a restraining order at the door, that they are not allowed within 200 yards of myself, Christopher, and Evan,” Eddie told him, as Evan headed over. “Keep the kids out here, I don’t want them near those idiots.”
“I will,” he promised, knowing that really it was Christopher that Eddie didn’t want to go near his parents. The two were scared that they would try something a little more drastic than what they had done so far.
Eddie nodded and headed to the front door. He could see his Abuela arguing with someone, and stopping them from entering their home.
“Leave Ramon, I won’t have you interrupting my day!” Isabel yelled at her oldest son.
“I have a right to be here like the rest of the family; you’re my mother,” he said.
“That does not mean that I’ll accept you in my home. I told you when you made your stupid mistake that I wouldn’t welcome you into my home again. You have harmed Eddito and Christopher for the last time. I won’t allow it to happen again!” she yelled, “Both of you leave.” She almost jumped when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Eddito,” she said as she glanced back and saw him.
“It’s okay, Abuela,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile. “I’d have to care about them to be hurt by them, I stopped caring a while ago,” he told her, hugging her, “Go and sit with the rest of our family; I’ll deal with this,” he added, as he gently moved her aside with his one good arm.
“Edmundo,” Ramon spat, as he saw his only son. “Got hurt again?” he said, shaking his head in disappointment.
“I got hurt protecting a friend, she was being beaten and stabbed to death by her husband, he’d been abusing her for almost ten years,” he stated, “I did what anyone should do. Why are you here? You were told to keep away and not come near any of us again. There is a restraining order, remember, you should not be here. I’ll have you arrested,” he warned them, not telling them that the police had already been called.
“We are here because we heard you left your son, and went off to do goodness knows what for two weeks. What were you thinking, leaving that poor child with strangers,” Helena hissed at him, shaking her head.
“I left my son with someone that I trust, while I went with my husband to help save his sister’s life from her abusive husband. He almost turned into a murderer when she decided to leave him,” he explained, “Not that it matters to you, either of you, what I do with my son when I have to be somewhere else without him. You have this one chance to leave. I don’t want to see you near here again.”
“We have rights,” Helena spat at him, “We will always have rights and you can’t stop us.”
“No you don’t, you were told by the courts that you should not have contact with Christopher as you’re detrimental to his mental and physical well-being if you had any say in his care,” he reminded them both, looking from one to the other. Eddie forced down a smirk as he saw the police car pulling up. Two officers walked out.
“Mr Diaz?” he asked. getting the attention of Ramon as well as Eddie.
“That would be me, I had someone call for you,” Eddie said, “I’ve asked for you to come as these two are my parents, and they are violating an active restraining order. They are not allowed to be within 200 yards of myself, my husband, or our son,” he said, as he felt someone hand him something. Evan always kept the paperwork on the restraining order on him, no matter what. It was a quick way to show what was going on, and it was undeniable proof of the restraining order that had been granted. “Here is the paperwork,” he stated.
One of the officers walked over and took it, looking it over. “You are Mr Ramon Diaz and Mrs Helena Diaz?” he asked the two of them.
“Yes, we’re here because that idiot left our grandson with strangers; we needed to come and make sure that he was being well taken care of. We’ve not been able to see him for a while,” Helena said, shaking her head and looking sad and helpless.
“Christopher stayed with a friend as we helped my sister-in-law escape her abusive husband,” he said, not adding that the man was still on the loose.
“I see,” the officer said, “Mr and Mrs Diaz, you both are both under arrest for knowingly violating a restraining order.” They were read their Miranda rights and taken away.
“They’re gone, Maybe they’ll think twice before approaching us again.. Hopefully they’ll get fine, it would be better than the warning they got last time,” he stated as he turned to see Evan standing there, waiting for him with open arms. He had said that it didn’t hurt, to his abuela, but really, it still did and he knew that it would hurt for a long time, and maybe never stop. He walked into the embrace, and let his husband hold him, “Thanks,” he murmured.
“Welcome, always. Maddie and Abuela are keeping everyone busy for a moment. Pepa and the others are still in the kitchen getting the last of the food ready to be taken out. So we have a little time to settle back down,” Evan murmured, giving Eddie the time he needed to compose himself, then they rejoined their family and let the warmth they felt from them wash away the distaste of having to deal with his parents.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Helena and Ramon Diaz had been fined this time, and were sent back to El Paso with a community service order. Eddie had been grateful that they’d left. His sisters had made an appearance at the court hearing as their parents were sentenced.. Helena and Ramon had also been warned that the next time they violated the restraining order, the sentence would not be so lenient and they would face at least a year in the county jail.
Eddie winced as he looked down at his arm. The External Fixator was a menace in his eyes, but it was helping. He had just finished his physio appointment for the day and was finally back at home after an Uber ride. They were doing basic range of motion at the moment, to keep everything moving and flexible, he didn’t want to take a chance that he might lose any range of motion during his recovery. The appointment had been the earliest one he could get, since it was Christopher’s birthday. Abeula was hosting the party, this time it was a lot smaller than Thanksgiving had been two weeks before.
“Are you okay?” Evan asked as he handed over the mild painkillers that Eddie could take and some water.
“I don’t want them, Evan,” he said, about to push them away.
“I know, but these aren’t the drowsy ones. They will just take the edge off for a little while, and make sure that you’ll be able to enjoy the day with Christopher. He’s going to worry if he sees that you’re in pain,” Evan reasoned with him, pushing them toward him again. “Please, Eds, I don’t like seeing you in pain either. I know you can handle it, I know that.”
“I…” he paused. He knew that he was going to be in some pain for a good few hours. And the mild painkiller that Evan presented him with, wasn’t something that would cause him too many problems. “Fine,” he said, giving in, mainly because Evan was right, he would worry Christopher if he saw that he was in pain today especially.
“Thank you, now get a bit of rest. Mary will be arriving at Abuela’s with Christopher and Joan in about two hours. That should be enough time for you to get yourself settled, and for the painkillers to kick in well enough that the day shouldn’t be too bad,” Evan said as he headed to the kitchen to make them a quick snack and something to drink.
Joining his husband in the living room, the man was relaxing back on the couch. “Thanks,” Eddie said as he saw the sandwich and a small pile of chips next to it.
“Nothing too large, but something to take the edge of hunger off, since most of the food is going to be more like sweets,” he said, sitting beside him, “So, what did they say?” he asked, as Carla had been the one to take him to the appointment and drop him off, while collecting Maddie for her appointment.
“I’m doing well, but the movement isn’t going to be a quick thing to get back, and then I’ll have to rebuild a lot of the muscle that has been lost,” he sighed, “I hate this, being injured, I don’t like being so… off with things. I want something to do, hell, Pepa has been hinting about me joining her at work for a bit, it would be office work, but it would be better than nothing,” he finally said.
“I wish there was something I could do to make this better for you,” Evan said, letting his head lean on Eddie’s shoulder on his good side.
“There’s nothing anyone can do, I just have to wait and see what happens,” he sighed, taking a bite and shifting Evan off his shoulder as he moved. “Sorry,” he said, after swallowing his bite.
“Don’t worry,” he laughed as he sat up properly and began to eat, “Christopher is looking forward to the party. He doesn’t even care about the gifts either,” he said, shaking his head.
“He’s never really keen on all the attention being on him. Mostly because my parents would do it all the time and they weren’t so nice about it,” he sighed, “In the past, birthdays, for Christopher was him being put in the middle, and a parade of baby presents was given to him. Even at three, the presents were meant for a 3-6 month old range,” he shook his head. He was embarrassed, and he was teased for it by the older cousins. I’m glad that the ones out here are a lot damn better about things. They adore Christopher and enjoy spending time with him.”
“They really do,” he said, “I’m glad his birthday fell between shifts,” he added, “I’d rather be here than at work right now. Chimney’s still being a dick, but it’s been tempered a little. He’s saying things, but nothing that would warrant a write up like Bobby wants to do. He’s toeing the line, but only just.” he finished, shaking his head before eating his turkey salad sandwich.
XxXxX
Christopher was having a blast at his party, he and his cousins were having so much fun as they were playing. Presents had been opened, and Christopher had thanked each person, grinning as Lego sets were revealed, books that Christopher had been interested in, art supplies, and more. He was so happy he had been wiggling around with each one he opened.
Eddie was sitting with Evan, as the now six-year-old was playing with his cousins on the grass. The large yard was a blessing for the family gatherings that happened, Eddie wondered if he would be able to get his own yard ready for such things. It had been a nice day and Luis was there talking to Evan about when they were going to take their children to see Santa. Christopher had already written his list, and the were a few Lego sets on it, some of which he had gotten today.
“Eddito,” Isabel said, with a frown on her face as she walked over and leaned closer so no one else could hear her. “Shannon is at the door,” she told him, “I’m sorry, Eddito, I didn’t know what I should do. I’d have sent her away, but I thought that it would be better coming from you if that is to be the case.”
“Yeah,” he said as he got up, Evan looking at him with a frown on his face. “Just something I need to deal with.”
“Okay,” Evan said, seeing the determined and annoyed look on Eddie’s face.
“It’s not my parents,” he said, quickly to reassure him. Evan nodded again and Eddie went to deal with Shannon. He sighed as he reached the door, it was closed. He took a breath and opened it, stepping outside and standing on the porch, “Shannon,” he greeted the woman he once loved. She looked as beautiful as ever.
“I want to see Christopher,” she stated.
“Not going to happen,” he started shaking his head as he sighed, “You signed away your parental rights because you didn’t want to pay child support. You signed them away, because you wanted nothing more to do with me or him,” he reminded her.
Shannon closed her eyes and tilted her head to the sky before snapping it back down and staring at Eddie. “I want to see my son, you can’t keep him from me.”
“I can, and I will; you have no legal right to him anymore,” he repeated, he sighed again as he looked at her, “I’m not going to let you see him, you’ll only hurt him. He’s angry with you, you abandoned him, let him get hurt, and let his grandmother abuse him. I never ever let Helena or Ramon hurt my child like that. Never,” he stated, “I know they’ve hurt him, and he puts you, and his grandparents in the category of doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. He began to hate your mother because she was a racist bitch, and she had no qualms about telling a child he was a waste of space. You fucking let her, you were in the room and didn’t stop her. So don’t tell me that I’m exaggerating. I still have the video evidence of that,” he huffed as she looked like she was going to protest “At least my parents didn’t hate him, they loved him too much to be damn well healthy. To the point of fucking obsession.”
“Can’t you see that I was distraught at the fact that I was losing my mother!?” she protested, “I was going to lose her and there was nothing that I could do to change that. Nothing, not one thing!” she cried.
“That doesn’t stop the fact that you let her yell abuse and hit my son!” he yelled back, “you couldn’t even be bothered to tell your damned mother to stop being a bitch for even one day. Hell, she fucking carried it on to the damn will of her’s, the fucking farce that was. I don’t know why you fucking well insisted I went there, when you knew that the bitch hated me from the very moment she learned we were dating. She would have gladly taken you to family planning to get rid of Christopher, if it wasn’t for my own pleading with you to keep him.”
“Exactly, I stood up to her, I wanted Christopher, so please, you have to let me see him, he is my son and I deserve to have some time with him,” she pleaded with him.
“I can’t trust you with his heart, you’ve done nothing but hurt him for the last… year and a bit, and that fucking hurts me as well. I loved you once, Shannon, I thought you were a wonderful woman and mother, but in the last while, you’ve pulled the rose-tinted glasses from my face with so much force that I can barely stand to even look at you. You hurt our son, you left our four-year-old son home alone. This is not some fucking 90s movie, this is real life and that shit ain’t on.”
“He’s my son.”
“Then I’ll see you in court as you try and get your parental rights back. You abandoned us, Shannon, it’s going to take a long time for me to forgive you, and for Christopher to do the same. I don’t think I can ever forgive you for what you put him through. I warned you, I tried so many times to get you to watch him, to spend time with him, and you never did, not once. But when I’m finding happiness, you come out of the damn woodwork like a fucking cockroach. Go and figure yourself out before you try anything, the last time I saw you,when you signed your rights away, you had a boyfriend.”
“He was too immature, I needed someone who would have my back,” she hissed at him.
“I did, I told you to never let my parents in and to call the police on them. I even suggested moving before I came home, you’re the one that didn’t want to. My best guess for that, is you knew your mother wouldn’t want to help you with Christopher, considering the words she had for him. So fuck off, Shannon, I’m done with you and as I said, get in touch with the lawyers and go to court to get rights back, though no doubt with the evidence I have of your neglect, you’re going to have a hard time with that.
Christopher has regular therapy for what you did, for what that bitch did, and before you protest, I don’t care about not speaking ill of the dead at this point,” he said as she opened her mouth to tell him off. “I really don’t. She did nothing but hurt Christopher throughout his time in her home. I knew it was a mistake the moment you mentioned it, but I thought, she’s dying she might finally see Christopher as her grandson, instead of the spawn of the devil, and that’s her damn words.” With that, he shut the door in her face and watched through the small window to the side of it as she banged a little before walking away crying.
He steeled his heart, because he had once loved her, and she had given him Christopher. But at the moment, she needed to sort herself out. He hated the woman that she had become, he missed the vivacious and fun-loving woman who doted on Christopher, and loved him with all her heart. He opened his eyes and headed back out into the garden. He could hear Evan and Christopher laughing, andMaddie talking as she mock admonished them for eating her piece of cake. He smiled as he went out, to enjoy the rest of Christopher’s Birthday.
