Reading Time: 110 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 Thirty-Eight
Evan parked the truck in the drive and got out, he had just finished his first shift of the New Year. Christmas had thankfully, been drama-free, and they had a wonderful time, especially since Steve and Danny had come in from Honolulu to see them, and spend time with them all. Maddie had a good week as well, with some slight improvement to her liver, it wasn’t a massive improvement, but a small, tiny, almost minuscule improvement, according to what Maddie had told them; but it was something, and the hope was that it continued to improve.
However, the year’s first shift was over and wasn’t a good one. They’d found a baby, in a pipe, flushed down by the teenage mother. It had started with an argument between him and some police officer. Bobby had come up and said that Evan had been right, that they shouldn’t ride together. Sergeant Grant hadn’t been happy about it, but as the second RA unit had rolled up as they were talking, there wasn’t much she could do.
His mind went back to the confrontation outside of the hospital, as they handed over the victim and the teenager.
“You do not get to play God!” Athena Grant yelled out as she stormed towards them.
Evan turned towards her, “I’m not playing God,” he told her, “I was pointing out that having a victim and the one that did it, in the same ambulance, isn’t procedure.”
“It was a baby and their mother,” she said, frowning at him.
“It was a victim of attempted murder and the perpetrator, she knew her child was alive when she flushed them down that pipe. There was no way she didn’t know that,” Evan told her. “Having them in the same vehicle is bad news. It could have easily harmed the teenager. Imagine you tried to kill your child, and you’re feeling guilty? She no doubt does, but that could also be detrimental to her mental health to be confronted with the result of her actions. Her hormones from the pregnancy and the birth would be all over the place, and it could lead to other issues,” he summarized.
“Buck is right,” Bobby said as he looked at her, “Sergeant Grant, we all have SOPs for this type of situation, and it’s to never have them transported together. No matter the age,” he finished.
“Sergeant Grant, I get where you’re coming from, I’ve no doubt that the girl did this in a panic, and hopefully, CPS will be able to sort all this out and make sure the teenager and the baby will be safe,” he said as he headed back to the engine and climbed in.
“He’s a brat,” Evan was able to hear Athena say.
“But he’s correct,” Bobby told her, “Don’t hold it against him, he was thinking about both of them. Seeing what she had done to her child could easily push her over the edge. Especially if the worst happened while we were on route, we also wouldn’t have had the space to deal with it,” he added, giving her a nod, “I’ll see you around, Sergeant,” he told her and headed for the truck with the others.
Evan sighed and got out, heading into the home. He could hear Maddie talking on the phone, her voice was quiet enough that he couldn’t tell what she was saying. So he followed it and nodded at her.
She nodded back and mouthed, “Therapist.”
Evan nodded back and headed out of the room, not wanting to disturb her call at all. He had been happy that she had shaken off what Margaret Buckley always said about therapy and had gone with it, even though it was more because of his and Eddie’s insistence for them all to go to therapy, and deal with what happened that had changed her mind. She was working on herself, wanting to be completely free of not only what Doug had done to her, but of their parents, and what they had done to her when it came to Daniel, and the secret of his life and death.
He found Christopher in his room, sitting on the floor, on the bed was Eddie, who was fast asleep. “How long has he been sleeping?” he asked his son.
“He’s been sleeping a lot, Papa. I had a nightmare, and Daddy came in to cuddle me. I woke up, but Daddy’s still sleeping,” he smiled, “I let him sleep since I don’t have to go to school today.”
“Alright, why don’t you head into the dining room, and I’ll sort something out for breakfast,” he suggested, “I’ll wake Dad up and either send him to bed in our room or into the dining room to eat.”
“Okay,” he said as he crawled around a little before bracing himself on the bed and stood up. Slowly steadying himself he grabbed his crutches and headed out of the room.
Evan smiled as he looked at Eddie, he actually looked really relaxed for once during his sleep. He was a little tempted to just leave him there, but the awkward angle of his neck would leave him feeling some pain from it for a while, if he didn’t get him into his own bed. “Eddie,” he called out, he waited a moment, before calling again. Knowing better than to touch him just yet, “Eds, come on, husband mine, time to wake up.”
“No, comfy,” he protested, only to move and go, “Oww!” he pouted as he slowly opened his eyes and reached up with his good arm and rubbed at his neck. “Damn it,” he cursed.
Evan snorted as he tried not to laugh, “Come on, go to our room if you really want to sleep a little more. I’m about to start breakfast, but I can always put something aside for you,” he told him, helping him up from the bed.
“I’ll eat, maybe sleep later,” he said, as he looked around, “Where’s Chris?”
“Dining room, I told him to go there; Maddie is in the living room, she’s pacing around as she talks to her therapist,” he said as they walked towards the dining room, Christopher was at the table, a book now open on it as he read. Evan carried on to the kitchen and started breakfast, as Eddie went to Christopher.
XxXxX
Evan jumped out of the engine after he had parked it in the bay. He had been longer than planned, but he’d radioed Terrence to tell him what was going on, and that he would be a little longer. He had been able to hand off Veronica to a friend; she was the lady that had all her snakes taken away a few days ago after the incident with Spartacus. He left her with a recommendation that she make an appointment to speak to someone about what was going on.
“You’re in so much fucking trouble,” Chimney sneered as he sauntered over.
“And why would I be in trouble?” Evan asked him, eyebrow raised for a moment as he walked past the older man and headed to where Terrence was so he could report on how the engine had responded to him
“You took the engine for a fucking hook-up,” he snapped at him, “What the hell else. I heard that you met up with that snake lady, and that you were seen together. So much for being married, nothing is sacred to you, is it!” he yelled out.
“Chimney, enough!” Bobby yelled out, hearing the conversation and also hearing from Terrence what Evan had been doing. “Buck was meeting with Veronica after he spotted her about to jump off a roof,” he stated, “He radioed in what was going on and asked that someone contact a friend of her’s that she had told Buck about. The friend was able to meet them, and Veronica is now being taken to an inpatient facility. Her friend got in contact with me, and said thank you for what you did, Buck. From what she told me on the phone, Veronica has a history of suicidal thoughts, the snakes were her coping mechanism; a very dangerous one. Hopefully, she finds a better one, or goes with smaller snakes at the very least.”
“Come on Cap, you don’t really believe this bullshit!” Chimney protested.
“Chimney,” Bobby’s voice was stern as he spoke, “Katie is the one that talked to me, and I verified that Veronica is now being taken care of, since I wanted to make sure that she is getting the treatment that she needs. So I know that Buck is telling the truth, and not only that, but there is footage online of him pulling her away from the edge. The call for her came through moments later, no one would have been able to get there in time to stop her from jumping if Buck hadn’t been passing by at the right time.”
Chimney huffed and stared at them, “Fine, whatever,” he muttered as he stormed off.
“He is determined to try and get me fired,” Evan said, shaking his head.
“I don’t know why,” Bobby sighed. He was about to say something else, when the alarms rang and people headed to the vehicles, “Buck, your turn for the man behind!” he reminded him.
“Damn, forgot about that,” Evan huffed, that was the one part about being a firefighter he didn’t like, when he had to sit out the call, and be the man behind; everyone took turns at it. Unless Bobby wanted you to sit out because of behavior or something else going on, then he would make them man behind for the day.
Chimney sneered as he went past and headed to the ambulance.
XxXxX
An hour later, he was in the truck that had been left behind, and driving to meet with Sergeant Athena Grant. After an update on the situation, he began to drive through the streets at a crawl with the siren blaring, hoping they would be able to pinpoint where a little girl was in grave danger.
He was on the phone to dispatch as he drove, “There, right there,” the dispatcher said.
“Right,” he said, as he slowed and moved back a little. “I can see the bike the little girl mentioned,” he added, looking at the building and relaying the building’s address to Sergeant Grant. Minutes later, he was using the water hose on the roof to knock a burglar off his motorbike, before he could shoot the Sergeant.
“Thank you for all your help, Firefighter Diaz,” the dispatcher said, “My name is Abby,” she introduced.
“Nice to speak with you, and you’re pretty good at keeping calm,” Evan complimented her.
“Thank you,” she laughed, “and I look forward to speaking with you again,” she said.
“Alright, take care,” he said as he ended the call and got down from the roof as the mother held her daughter. Sergeant Grant walked over to him, “Sergeant,” he nodded.
“Diaz,” she greeted, “I’m still not sure of you, but you did good here.”
“It’s why I’m doing this job, so a family won’t ever be torn apart,” he said as he looked at the reunion that was going on as the dad arrived home as well.
“Hm, you were right about the baby, they shouldn’t have been together. My captain made that very clear to me, I would’ve ended up with a reprimand if I’d been more insistent,” she snorted.
“It takes someone with a lot of guts to say they were wrong about something,” Evan told her, “I can understand where you were coming from with the teenager, she is a child herself, going through something, that no child should be going through. I don’t know how the baby came about, but it can’t have been easy if she gave birth in secret as she did,” he added.
“The baby is going to a foster home, and so is the mother, to separate homes. They aren’t going to charge her, for now, but that might change if she does anything else while in the foster system. That’s all I can tell you about them at the moment.”
I understand, they deserve their privacy,” he agreed, “It was good working with you, Sergeant,” he said, holding out his hand.
“And you, Diaz,” she said, giving him a smirk as she took the hand and held it first as she shook it. They headed to their vehicles, and Evan went back to the 118.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Evan was shaking and it wasn’t from anything but pure anger. The roller coaster rescue, and trying to save Devon, had thrown Evan more than he would have liked. He had faced death, been there when he had been the cause of it, and been there when those he cared about died around him. But there was something about Devon that played on his mind. In the end, Bobby had given him the number of one of the department therapists, in the hopes that he would talk to them. He had, but Dr Wells was not what he had expected. The woman had tried to force him to have sex, even telling him that she would tell his captain that he wasn’t fit for duty if he didn’t.
Evan had pushed her away and stormed out of her office. Calling Bobby and alerting him that something had happened with Dr Wells, , and that he would tell him next shift and he mentioned her threat to have him declared not fit for duty.. He also sent a report to HR about it, but he had received a message back telling him they trusted the word of Dr Wells over a probationary firefighter.
“Evan,” Eddie called as he came out of the house and saw that his husband was still in the truck he used to go to work in.
“Eddie,” he said, taking a breath to try and steady his thoughts a little more. He got out of the truck and went over to him hugging him tightly.
Eddie put his arm around him, holding him as best as he could as he asked, “What’s going on?”
“Dr Wells,” he began, “She tried to blackmail me into having sex with her,” he spat, shuddering. “I don’t… I didn’t.”
“I know,” Eddie said, “you would never cheat. I know you wouldn’t have done anything, I believe you.”
Evan slumped in relief. “HR doesn’t sound like they’ll be doing anything. I don’t think I’m the first to complain about her either,” he added.
“Then I think we know of someone else that would be willing to help,” Eddie said, giving him a look.
“Yeah, Steve,” he smiled, “I… I don’t like asking him for help though.”
“But you know that he and Danny would do anything to help you. You’re their friend; Steve and you served together, that’s more than friendship, that’s brotherhood,” he reminded him as they headed into the house. “Carla took Maddie to the hospital, she wasn’t feeling right when she got up this morning. Chris is at school, and Abuela wants him for the night, so Pepa is collecting him after school.”
“Then while the house is clear, let’s call Steve,” Evan said as they went into the living room and sat down.
“McGarrett,” came the answer as soon as the call connected.
“Hey, Steve,” Evan said.
“Hey,” Eddie added, as the man was on speaker.
“Evan, Eddie,” he said, “Hang on, and I’ll put you on speaker so Danny can say hi,” he added.
The two waited and Danny was soon on the line as well.
“Hey,” Danny said, “Everything alright?” he asked.
“Not really,” Evan said, being honest.
“Oh?” Steve said, his tone changing.
“I just went to a visit with one of the LAFD approved therapists, a Doctor Marie Wells. She tried to friend me on Facebook a few hours before my appointment, but I ignored the request, as I don’t really use Facebook. But, when I entered her office, I recognized her. During the session moved over to me and put a hand on my dick, and said she could help me feel better. I pushed her away and stood up, thats when she threatened to tell my captain that I am unfit for duty if I didn’t fuck her and make it feel good. I didn’t listen any more and left. She threatened me again as I was leaving her office, should I say anything; I know it’s just my word against hers, but this stinks of her having done this before.”
“I’ve got someone looking into her now,” Steve told him.
“We should know more about her soon,” Danny agreed.
“Good, I really don’t like her, there is something about her that rubbed me the wrong way, Steve, and I do mean really rubbed me the wrong way,” Evan said, frowning, “Like…” he trailed off.
“I get where you’re coming from,” Steve told him. There was the sound of a ringing phone and Danny speaking in a quiet tone.
“Okay,” he said after a few minutes. “This was sent through to me,” he said as he started to read aloud, “Dr Marie Wells, 43. Has been a counselor to first responders in three major cities. Complaints were made against her, but seemingly ignored, but when there was too many to be overlooked, she moved. We’ve traced three more than move with her, a brother, and their wife, along with another male. All four names are linked. I’m sending you the info and you can take it to someone in the LAPD. We’ll also be getting in touch with them.”
“You’re one of ours, Evan, we’re going to be helping. If they don’t do anything, I’ll rope Sam Hanna in on things, he’ll be able to help, he’s NCIS, and you’re a former SEAL, Mage,” Steve told him, “The case can easily be taken by NCIS, since it’s now crossed the line,” he reminded him.
“It.. might be better to do so,” Evan said, as he thought about it, “She sees first responders in LA, so not only LAFD but also the LAPD,” he added.
“Then, I’ll be sending it to Sam now, he’ll be able to get things started,” Steve told him, “Look out for him getting in touch with you,” he finished.
“Will do,” Evan nodded, “And thank you,” he added.
“No need for thanks, we’re glad to help,” Danny said as he added, “Take care of yourselves, and we’ll call as soon as we know more. Though from what I know, Sam’s a good guy, he’ll do right by you.”
“Right, bye,” he said as the call ended and he leaned against Eddie, “I think that the shit is going to hit the fan about that sooner or later.”
“Yeah,” he snorted, as he put an arm around Evan’s shoulders and pulled him close, they had a bit of time before Maddie would return home.
XxXxX
Evan walked into the firehouse, “Cap,” he said as he looked at Bobby.
“I was about to ask you to come to my office, I got a call from Dr Wells,” he stated.
“I suspected you might, I did warn you not to listen to it,” Evan said, a little wary and hoping that his captain had listened to him.
“And I won’t since you told me not to, and I know you already have a therapist who can sign off that you’re fit for work,” he nodded, “Come on,” he said, leading the way to his office and closing the door behind them. “So want to tell me why she called me and stated that you’re not fit for duty? I know it’s a lie, I can tell that right from the get-go. You were confused about something, but not unfit for duty.”
Sitting down he sighed, “Wells decided that she wanted a ride on me, I told her no. She wanted sex, Bobby, to basically rape me and make it seem like it’s my idea,” he told him, “When I said no, she threatened to inform you that I was not fit for duty. When I still left, she threatened again to say the same thing if I didn’t remain quiet. I’m not by the way. I reported her to HR; but I believe that someone or maybe more than one person in HR is fielding any complaints made about her and destroying them, and someone is doing it within the LAPD as well.”
“And how do you know this?” he frowned.
“Because she’s done it before. The case has been handed over to NCIS, my former CO is making it an NCIS case, because of my connection to the Navy, though it’s a little strained now,” he snorted, “But they are using it to look into things.”
“Okay,” Bobby frowned, not liking where this was going.
“The shit is going to hit the fan, Bobby, this isn’t the first time she has done this, not just in LA; she’s been in four other cities over the years, and complaints had built up around her before. They all went away for the most part when the rest of those who worked with her left the city and they started afresh in a new one; it’s not just sex either,” he warned him, “There is evidence of extortion and blackmail as well. They are making money off the victims of these crimes, to stop what she is doing from getting out, because she gaslights her victims into feeling like it was them that was asking for it. This is only what they have been able to find out since yesterday, Bobby,” he finished, shaking his head.
“Thank you for informing me, and I’ll keep an eye on anyone else that has gone to her, there are at least three on this shift,” he stated, rubbing his face.
“Sorry, Cap, for dropping this in your lap,” Evan said as he got up, “I hope this will be dealt with quietly,” he added.
“So do I,” Bobby said as he got up and they headed out to join the rest of the shift.
XxXxX
Evan was at the end of a rescue when his phone started ringing. He looked at it and saw an unknown number, he hesitated for a moment before he finally answered. “Hello?” he queried.
“Hello, Firefighter Diaz,” came a female voice.
“Yes.”
“It’s… Abby, from the rescue of the little girl, that you helped me and Sergeant Grant with,” she said.
“Oh, yeah, I remember you,” he frowned, “Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just… I saw you on TV after the young man had died,” she told him, “You looked so sad and done with it all, I just wanted to check in and make sure that you were all right.”
“I’m alright, getting through it, as you do,” he told her.
She hummed, “Yeah, it’s all you can do. I just… I’m here for the start of it, but never for the rest. I don’t know how you do it.”
“You’re there when the worst day of their life begins, I’m there to help them make it through the day, and the hospitals, doctors, and nurses are the ones to make sure that they get to spend the rest of their life with their loved ones. We don’t see the ending either sometimes, and when we do, we feel like we failed at something, even when we’ve done everything we could to save a life,” he told her.
“Yeah, sometimes I don’t want to know how it ends,” she stated, “it hurts to think of the people that I talk to have died.”
“It does,” he said, “sorry, but I need to get going, my cap’s looking at me,” he added as he looked at Bobby and could see him frowning as he looked over at him.
“Yes, of course, and sorry for calling out of the blue like this,” she said with a little chuckle.
“It’s okay, thank you for checking in,” he told her, before ending the call and hurrying back to the ladder truck.
“Everything alright?” Bobby asked him, concerned
“Yeah, that was the dispatcher, she was checking in,” he said, frowning slightly, “Part of me is wondering just how she got my number.”
“I’ll make a query about it,” he stated as they headed back to the station. Only for Evan to be called into Bobby’s office when they arrived. Sam Hanna and another man met with him to interview him about what happened with Dr Wells. As they talked, they mentioned his theory on others reporting her being found was correct, but giving him no names.
The two men leaving caused a curious Chimney and Hen to try and corner him.
“So, who are they?” Chimney demanded to know.
“None of your business,” he stated, “They needed to talk to me,” he said, “And that is all you need to know, the rest is private,” he said as he walked away, even though the two followed him and carried on trying to question him, until Bobby stepped in and sent them to do some chores since they were doing nothing good in his eyes.
Chapter Forty
Carla was there when Evan was getting ready for work. “Hey, Evan,” she greeted him with a hug, “Sorry I wasn’t here last night, they had an emergency placement for me that they asked me to do, since the last caseworker didn’t care that her constant tardiness was impacting her client’s daughter’s job,” she shook her head.
“Really?” he asked, eyes going wide.
“Yeah, this woman constantly turned up late, even though the lady had a job that she needed to go to. She’s been suspended and is now under review to see if the service will keep her on. Don’t think they will, since this is the fifth home that she’s been in, where she’s late each time and not caring,” Carla said, shaking her head, “So it looks like she is going to be finding a new place of employment by the end of the week.”
“Good, sounds like she needs a kick up the damn ass for that shit,” Evan cursed, shaking his head, “I know that carework is a hard job, the people you mean and the things they are going through. You’re there to help, and give them that little bit of knowledge that their loved one is in good hands. Sounds like the hands weren’t good with this carer.”
“Really not,” she stated, “She was slightly neglectful as well, not at all what a carer should be,” she huffed, lips pursed in annoyance.
“What was the daughter like?” he asked, as he grabbed some of the toast she was making and buttered it.
“She’s nice, she’s a dispatcher and she’s talking to this nice firefighter. She told me that they have a connection going and even though they haven’t met yet, it feels like something will happen when it does. For now they want to take it nice and slow, to make sure that they are right for each other, since he is a little younger than her,” she told him, “It’s nice to know that she has someone in her life that she can talk to and hopefully spend time with. He sounds like a nice guy,” she added as she handed over a plate of scrambled eggs, “Now get that down you before you head off to work.”
“I will,” he smiled at her as Maddie walked into the dining room.” Morning Maddie,” he called to his sister.
“Morning, Evan,” she smiled, she still looked sickly and the recovery she had with her liver hadn’t lasted more than a week. She was back at the previous levels again, and they were worried that an infection was setting in as she had been feeling a little off for the last couple of days.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked her.
“They’ve put me on the live donor list. They don’t think that I’m going to recover and they don’t want to wait too long to start the search in case my liver fails before they are ready,” she said, slumping a little, “There’s just nothing they can do. Oh, and the detective called, they’ve seen nothing of him at all. Doug’s in the wind. They believe he might have crossed state lines, as they found out that his parents gave him a massive amount of funds, in cash.”
“Serious?” Evan frowned, “Really, they did that?”
“Yeah, they are doing the, ‘he’s done nothing wrong, it’s all her. She’s making it up’,” she mocked and rolled her eyes. “I’ve been trying to get them to help with him for years, and they did nothing but keep me trapped in there,” she sneered, “So the detective is going to charge them with obstruction and aiding and abetting,” she grinned, “Couldn’t happen to a nicer family.”
“Wonder if that would bring him out the woodwork,” Evan wondered as he put some of the egg on his toast and ate it.
“Doubt it, he’s a full-out narcissist with a misogynist streak that could be seen from Pluto,” she rolled her eyes and looked at the toast and bacon that had been put in front of her, “Carla you’re a star, really, I don’t know where you were found, but seriously, you’re the best, my once every two week treat” she praised as she folded the toast around the bacon after putting a pat of butter on it and letting it melt before taking a bite.
“Damn,” he said as he saw the time, “Gotta hurry,” he said as he hurriedly ate his food. “Tell Eddie and Chris I love them, and I’ll see you two ladies tomorrow,” he said as he hugged his sister and then did the same to Carla, “Thanks, Carla for keeping this house going while I’m at work.”
“You’re welcome, sugar,” she told him, “Now, you be careful and no dangerous stunts.”
“Yeah, my heart can’t take it when I see you on the news,” Maddie added as Evan rushed out of the house .
XxXxX
Evan walked into shift with a skip, his day was going to be more relaxing than the evening. Since Chimney was only on a twelve-hour shift, after requesting the first half of it off so he could do something with his girlfriend.
“Someone’s bouncy,” Hen commented, with a smile.
“Can’t I be happy? My husband is recovering, his rehab, while going too slowly for his liking, is working and they are still hopeful of a full recovery. My son is loving school so much that it’s a job and a half to get him to leave at the end of the day. He’s even signed up for two after-school activities,” he snorted, shaking his head.
“What about your sister?” she asked.
“She’s not doing well. They’ve put her on the transplant list as they don’t think her liver is going to recover without some sort of intervention. They believe a partial liver transplant is the way to go, from what she had been telling me previously,” he sighed, “I’m not a match to her either, so I can’t do it,” he shrugged.
“Well, at least there is a chance someone else could be a match, or close enough that this will work,” Hen reassured him.
“I know, doesn’t stop me from worrying, but she seems to be in good spirits and while it is a downer, she’s still upbeat that she can keep going,” he smiled a little and headed towards the locker room.
Hen followed him as he changed, “I’d like to meet them all at some point. You talk about them all the time.”
“I’ll see if they want to stop by at some point. I know Christopher would love nothing more than to come by and see the trucks, he’s talked about nothing else for months,” he smiled as he looked out at the bay as he put his shirt on and buttoned it up.
“Then bring him along, and with that husband of yours. I’ve heard about him, just not seen him yet,” she reminded him.
“I know,” he smiled, “I’ll see what I can do. Carla will most likely be the one to bring them by if that would be the case,” he said as he laced up his boots again and stood up.
They headed up to get their list of chores for the day. Bobby worked on paperwork as they were only interrupted three times by call outs. Returning from a call they headed up to the loft as the dark of the night descended on the city. Bobby started to make a meal for them all, since Chimney would be joining them soon.
“Damn, Cap, that smells good,” Hen said as she moved over and looked at the jerk chicken he was frying up, “Smells as good as Karen’s.”
“I know, Karen gave me the recipe,” he said, laughing at the open mouth look she had on her face.
“Really, she gave you her fried jerk chicken recipe?” she asked.
“Yes, she did, though she wanted my mac’n’cheese recipe, I think it was a good trade,” he said as he went back to cooking.
“Damn, Cap, that’s the best trade,” Hen laughed as she went to start setting out the table.
They heard cursing from below and the thudding of feet coming up the steps. Chimney stormed into the loft area, tossing his jacket to one said. “I am a good looking bloke,” he stated as he looked around, waiting for answers.
“Yeah,” Hen nodded, “I can see why you’re considered so.”
“Objectively, even though you’re so not my type, yeah I could see it,” Evan answered him as did a few others around the room.
“Why did she say NO!” he damned an answer as he looked at them, “I had a nice meal set out, and got the ring, made sure it was something that she would like and then asked her to marry me. She said no.”
Hen, Evan and Bobby shared a look. They all were uncomfortable with the relationship that Chimney had with Tatiana. She was a badge and ladder groupie, looking for the adrenaline rush of someone telling them about the daring rescues that their partner told them. But Chimney was lying to her, the things he told her were things others were doing, not him.
“What? What the hell are you looking at each other like that for!” he yelled at them, glaring at the three, “Hen?” he growled.
“Chimney,” she began her words slow and hesitant, “She may have said no, but she doesn’t know you. When she really does, then she’ll say yes.”
“She does know me,” he stated, “She does, she has done for seven months.”
Bobby tried his best to hide the snort, but it escaped him.
“Bobby? Cap?” Chimney said, his voice low and graveled as he stared at the man.
“She doesn’t know you though,” he told him, turning around, sighing, “She knows the lies you’re telling her, but she doesn’t know about the paramedic that you truly are, the one that saves lives. And knows how to save someone in a way that not many others can,” he added.
“He’s right,” Evan stated, “You’re lying to her,” he said, sighing, “You’re lying to her time and time again, and you expect her want to marry that lie. She knows deep down that you’re not who you say you are,” he told him.
“What would any of you know, you have no idea what it’s like to be in a proper relationship.”
“I was married,” Bobby stated, steeling himself. “I was married for over ten years until she died. She knew everything, including the darker parts of me,” he added, thinking about his addiction. He had tried to hide it, but he knew Marcy knew. She had kicked him out that night after all, because he had fallen off the wagon again.
“I’m married, with a kid, Chim,” Evan snorted, “Have been for a while now,” he added, “So yeah, I know what it takes to be a husband, to be a father to find that one person that will make your life complete. You’re lying to her so much that she doesn’t even know how you truly are. Like Cap said, you’re a great paramedic,” he stated, repeating a little of what Bobby had said.
“You have no fucking idea,” he said as he stormed off. They could hear his car peel out of the parking lot.
Half an hour later Bobby’s phone started ringing. “No, we can’t go there and take over the scene, conflict of interest, make sure he knows that, but we will come for support for him,” he said as he looked at those that were in the loft at the table with him.
“What’s going on?” Hen asked.
“Chimney’s been in a crash, he’s seriously injured, so we’re going for support, not to help; we’ve been taken offline for this. So, get in the truck, we’re heading to the scene. We can talk to him for a moment, but that is all that we are going to be doing. No matter what he insists,” Bobby said.
“But, Cap?” Hen protested, as did a few others.
“We’re emotionally compromised,” Evan stated, “We care about him, so our minds may be clouded, and we could make a mistake that could cause his death,” he warned them, “I’ve seen it happen, even when there are people with good compartmentalization, it happens.”
The others finally nodded and headed to the truck to the scene. Chimney protested the other station dealing with him, but Hen remained close by and traveled with him to the hospital. The rest of the team went and waited in the waiting room for news.
Chapter Forty-One
Evan sat down at the table with a coffee, he could hear the two women sitting on the couch nearby talking. He shook his head, as anyone could hear what they were talking about, nice and clearly as well.
“Honestly, I hate the girl. I want to go marching up to her and arrest her and charge her with anything and everything that I can think of,” Athena said, “She harassed, stalked, and degraded my baby girl so much that she tried to take her life. And now she is in a strange place without me and I can’t even go and see her.”
“Athena,” Hen began, shaking her head, “She’ll be home before you know it, and then you can hold her as much as you like,” she reminded her.
“It won’t be any time soon, they are trying to make sure that there is no problem in the home first. I already told them where they need to look for the problem, but they aren’t going to listen to me since they have to make their own mind up about it all,” she sighed.
Evan stood up, “I hope you don’t mind me coming over,” he said as he walked to the couch and went around it, sitting on a chair. “I know this is a private conversation.”
“But the whole loft can hear you,” Bobby added, as he walked over with two mugs of coffee for the two women, before leaving and reuniting with his own, and sitting on another couch.
“I thought I might remind you of something,” Evan said, “Aren’t there laws here in California about cyberstalking and harassment?” he asked.
“Oh my,” Athena said as she started smirking, “Yes there are, and this is just the case for it. She might only be fifteen but it would mean she faces some sort of damn consequences,” she said as she started laughing. “I don’t know why I forgot about that.”
“You’re too close,” Bobby said, thinking about Chimney. “You might not think it, but your mind is on your daughter, where it should be, and making someone pay for what they did to her. You want to take what has hurt her and lock it up, you’re not thinking as a police officer at the moment, but as a parent.”
Athena nodded, “Yeah, you’re right, I am, I’m her mother and I couldn’t protect her from this. I didn’t even know what was going on until now. Until my baby almost died.”
“Now you do, and now you can do something about it. You have to keep away from the investigation, but hand them your daughter’s phone. You still have it?” Bobby asked her.
“Yeah, I’ll hand it into Elaine, I know she’ll find someone to deal with this, who can be trusted,” she stated, “Thank you,” she said as she stood up, “I think I’m going to do that now.”
“Drink your coffee first,” Bobby suggested, giving her a look and a shake of his head.
She smiled at him and sat back down, “Well, won’t make much of a difference if I wait a little longer.”
“Chimney is doing well,” Hen said as she changed the subject. “I visited last night, he’s awake and sitting up. Doesn’t look like there are going to be any problems with his recovery, he said that everything is okay, and the docs are confirming that.”
“That’s good news,” Bobby stated with a nod.
“Hmm,” Evan nodded, “it is,” he agreed, “What about Tatiana, I know you went to her apartment and talked to her, Bobby?” he asked the man as he turned to look at him.
“She refused to go and see him. I think she was planning on leaving him, not wanting to be around for his recovery at all,” he stated sadly, “Nothing I said was enough for her to stay.”
“I can’t really blame her,” Athena said, “I know all about Chimney and his enjoyment of lying to his partners, he’s done it before from what Hen told me.”
“He has, a little too often, I’ve tried to get him to change, but he never did. Never would. Hopefully, he does now. He needs to see that he’s a good bloke without all the lies muddying things up,” she huffed and then sighed, she finished the last of her coffee as the alarm went off.
“Duty calls,” Bobby said as he put his own mug down and they headed out, with Athena heading to her own car, as the man behind cleaned up.
XxXxX
Evan looked at Eddie, grinning, this was the first date they were going on that year. It had been a while, since Eddie hadn’t wanted to go out with the external fixator, when he did he was often stared at. In the end, Maddie had been able to convince him to go and have some fun while they could. It was nice to be out, and the restaurant was a nice Thai place that Maddie had found with Carla, when the two had gone out for a curry night.
“Maddie said that this place is really good, and eating here should be fine for you,” Evan said, knowing that Eddie wasn’t exactly comfortable with eating out, especially since he was still in the external fixator. They were hoping to get rid of it by the time April session started.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Eddie said, kissing him before they entered the restaurant
“Yeah, Happy Valentine’s Day,” Evan grinned at him as he gave their name and was shown to their table. They could see an older woman at a nearby table, with someone who looked uncomfortable being there.
They were quick to order, choosing drinks as well, but nothing alcoholic. They sat talking, smiling, holding hands, and sharing little kisses. “It’s nice to just do this,” Evan said.
“It really is, I didn’t think I needed it, to be honest. That we were alright at home all the time,” Eddie said, as their food arrived, and they looked over the curries that they’d both ordered.
“Sometimes we need that push to go out again,” Evan nodded, looking at Eddie and grinning, “Smells great.”
“Let’s see if it lives up to the hype of Maddie and Carla,” he said as he took a bite, both of them nodded before letting each other try their meal.
“Wow, flavourful, the spice blend is brilliant,” Evan said, grinning, “I think we found a winner when it comes to Thai,” he added.
Eddie laughed and nodded, “Yeah, the heat is good as well, this is good,” he said, going back to his own. “Maddie says that she expects us to go and have date nights at least once a week, that she doesn’t want to cramp our style,” he added.
“Yeah, she loved it when I first dated someone, she was such a proud parent, I was twelve,” he said with a roll of his eyes and we were going to a school dance as friends. It was one of the few times that she came home, instead of remaining at her college or with Doug, as she started dating him when I was around nine,” he said, pulling a face as he thought of his sister’s ex-husband.
“Well, at least she was there. The first date I had, my parents decided that I couldn’t be trusted to pick someone to date,” he snorted.
“Oh?” Evan pushed a little, “Why’s that?”
“I dated the daughter of a single mother,” he said, “Shannon. We dated, we split, I joined the Army, and we reconnected on one of my trips home. She got pregnant, I got special permission to go back and marry her, and then again when it came time for Chris to be born. I don’t think either of us was really ready for marriage, or even being parents. I wouldn’t change a damn thing though. I love Christopher, he’s my world,” he finished, smiling a little as he thought of his son.
“Well, he is the best part of being married to you,” Evan smirked, “So I don’t blame you there,” he laughed. “But, damn I didn’t know that Shannon was from your high school days.”
“Yeah, my mother hated it when she learned that we had reconnected when I was on leave. Finding out that we were expecting, well it was a blow to her ego, that’s for sure,” he snorted, “She didn’t think I should have a life outside of what she wanted me to do. When I started ignoring things like that, she was always losing it; I no longer cared, one way or another,” he shrugged.
“One way to stick it to the parents,” he nodded, “I hadn’t spoken to my parents from the moment that I left them. Maddie helped with that, by giving me her jeep just before I turned 18. I ended up deciding that the SEALs was what I wanted to do. I went through with it, joined a team, and that was my life. No true home, just passing time between missions on the couches of teammates and friends, or just finding places to hang out. I was in Peru for a bit,” he snorted, “Even learned to bartend for something to do. I hated having nothing to do.”
“Yeah, Pepa is helping me find something to do while I recover. Since I’m not going to just stay at home any longer. She’s got some office work that I can do with one hand, so I’m going to take her up on that,” he said, smiling at feeling like he was actually doing something.
“You said something about that a while ago,” Evan remembered.
“Yeah, I’m just going to do it, instead of just talking about it. Going to be going for an interview of sorts,” he snorted, “But hey, I’ll take anything at the moment.”
“I’m glad that you’re going to be doing something,” Evan encouraged eating the last of his curry.
“So am I,” he smiled, “I’ve been thinking about the things that I can do if I can’t be a firefighter,” he paused for a moment, “I just… I don’t know if I want to give up now, or wait a while longer to see if I can recover more first.”
“No matter what, I’ll support you. We’re covered for a while,” he told him, reaching out and taking a hand as soon as Eddie put his utensils down.
“Yeah, I know, I just… feel useless at times. I’ve got an external fixator still, my injuries took an age to heal the last time. They said that because things took so long, my immune system was compromised, and that’s why I fell to the infection so easily,” he sighed, shaking his head, a melancholy smile on his face as he looked at his husband.
“Hey, shit happens, it’s how we deal with it that matters the most. You’ve kept your head up and did what was needed to recover fully. If you do or don’t, it doesn’t matter, you’re trying your damnedest. If you want to pursue something else, I’ll be behind you 100% and you know it. I’m so damn proud, Eds, you keep on fighting. I can see where Christopher gets it from. Yeah, this got you down, but it would get anyone down, but you’re holding on,” he told him, pulling his hand closer and kissing the back of it. “I’m here for you, husband mine,” he whispered, kissing the hand once more.
Eddie smiled and nodded, “I know, and I love you so damn much,” he stated, “I hate to think where I’d be without you.”
“I love you too,” he said as they ordered a dessert to go and paid their bill. Talking more as they waited for their desert for a few moments. They took the bag, holding hands, Evan opened the door for his husband, and as Eddie passed, they shared a kiss. They walked out of the restaurant none the wiser that someone had been watching them the entire meal, eyes full of anger as they watched what was going on, and wanting nothing more than to get up and go over there and cause trouble of some kind. The watcher got up, paid their own bill and stormed out, leaving their pity date behind.
Chapter Forty-Two
The plane crash had been horrendous. Walking around the dead, and those who were fighting to stay alive. It was a hard scene, they had been able to rescue some of those that had been trapped on the plane, but Evan had no doubt that there were some that had died, either from the severity of their injuries, or because they couldn’t be rescued in time. It hadn’t helped that Abby, the dispatcher, had taken to calling him randomly throughout the last week. She’d called while he was on the beach, and had been looking for a specific passenger, he’d called 911 and asked for a message to be recorded for his wife. Buck had been disheartened to report his passing.
Evan was finally heading home, it had been harrowing and all he wanted to do was to wrap himself around Eddie, and cuddle until the memories faded a little. He stopped by the late-night grocers and headed in, he wanted some comfort food and to him, that was boxed mac’n’cheese, it wasn’t as good as Bobby’s, but with some added bacon, and extra cheese, it was just as comforting. He went through the store’s aisles, grabbing what he needed. He stopped as he saw Bobby in one of the aisles.
“Bobby,” he called out, making the man jump as he reached for the whisky bottle.
“Oh, Buck,” he said, looking guilty as he stared at the bottle and moved away.
“You alright?” Evan asked as he walked over.
“I… it was a hard night,” he said, ashamed.
“Hey, we all have them,” Evan told him, “Why don’t you come back with me, we have a spare room that you can use for the night. I… I don’t think you should be alone at the moment.”
“No, you’re right, I shouldn’t be,” he agreed. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”
“Do you have a group? A sponsor?” Evan asked quietly as he led Bobby around the grocers to get what he needed, to make something for himself and Bobby.
“I do,” he sighed, “I should talk to Wendel,” he added, “I haven’t been by for a while.”
“Right, well, you should call them, it might be best to do so tonight when we get to mine. And you’re coming, if you don’t join me, I’ll hunt you down,” Evan warned him.
It forced a laugh out of Bobby and a nod, “Okay,” he agreed, giving him a weak smile.
Evan smiled and sent a quick text to his husband to expect the two of them at the house. It was the very early hours of the morning, but he knew that Eddie was still awake as he had been talking to each other just before he left the station.
XxXxX
Reaching Evan’s home, Bobby felt odd, he hadn’t gone to the store specifically to buy alcohol, he’d just wanted to grab something to eat that he could make quickly at home, he hadn’t wanted takeout. Instead, the horrors of the night had gotten to him and he had walked towards the whiskey, his preferred brand sitting there, on the shelf. Temptation had been great, and he had almost given in and he hated himself for it. Now he was in Evan’s home, the man’s husband sitting across from him in an external fixator, and Evan walking in with some mac’n’cheese, with added cheese and bacon.
“Here, eat,” Evan told him, handing it over along with some utensils, he smiled at him, going to his husband and sitting down.
Bobby was quiet as he ate, “I messaged Wendel, I’ll be meeting him tomorrow since we don’t have a shift,” he added.
“That’s good,” Evan nodded.
“The guilt about not being able to save people eats me sometimes. Most of the time, I can move on from them, and help the next, others it does get to me a little and I think… I think back to the fire that killed my family.”
Evan and Eddie listened as he talked about his family, about what happened, and the guilt he felt for it.
“Bobby, it was an accident, the first set because of faulty wiring in the space heater. That wasn’t on you. I get that you feel responsible for it all, I can understand, and no matter what is said, you will always feel that guilt for living when they didn’t,” Evan said quietly, “Do you talk to someone, actually some qualified?” he asked.
Bobby shook his head, “I’ve never been able to open up.”
“Then you should, it’s not healthy to keep it all in like you are,” Eddie told him, “I talked to someone about what happened out in Afghanistan, I didn’t think I needed it, but I really did in the end.
“We’re all doing the therapy thing, I am about Devon, Wells, and other things. Even Christopher has someone he talks to as well, because his mother neglected him as she did. Find someone, and do it,” Evan pushed, getting a nod.
“I… omitted a few things when I joined the LAFD,” he stated, looking down.
“What would they do if they found out?” Evan asked him.
“I’m not sure, they could suspend me, fire me,” he paused, “I just don’t know what they would do.”
“I think,” Eddie thought for a moment, “It might be best if you got ahead of them, making sure that if they found out, then they can’t hold it against you. You’re a good captain and you turned around the 118 from what I hear. I think that would work in your favor at the moment. So-”
“Go to them, and talk to someone in HR, or even the chief, I heard that Alonzo is a good man, and I think it would be best going to him directly,” Evan finished for him.
Bobby nodded, “I will, after I’ve started talking to someone and going back to AA meetings,” he promised, more to himself than to the two men across from him.
“Good, I’m going to get the guest room ready, I’ll get some towels for the bathroom, and you can shower before you go to sleep,” Evan said as he got up, finishing his mac’n’cheese.
“Thank you,” Bobby said as he got up to help clean up before Evan headed to do as he said. Bobby had to admit the next morning that he was grateful for the two taking him in for the night. It was also fun to talk with Christopher and answer as many questions as the six-year-old could ask before he left.
XxXxX
Chimney was back at work only a month and three days after the accident. There was a new scar on his forehead, but he was quick to remind everyone that scars just made a man look sexier. Evan couldn’t help the roll of his eyes as he listened again about how he recovered without a problem. Hen was happy her best friend was back, but Evan could have done without the snipping remarks that he was shooting his way each time he was flirted with on scene.
Evan was checking over the loadouts on the engine, making sure everything was where it should be, and inspecting the equipment for any faults. It wouldn’t do for something to break in the middle of a rescue.
“Evan,” came the voice of his sister.
“Maddie,” he grinned as he finished what he was doing, “One moment and I’ll be with you, I really need to finish this, in case we have a call out,” he told her, letting her stand there, watching as he finished the checks.
“You work hard,” she said when he was done
“Well yeah, people’s lives depend on me doing my job properly,” he smiled, going over and hugging her. “Didn’t think I’d see you here,” he stated, “Not that I’m unhappy about it.”
“I know,” she smiled, and laughed, “The testing that I’m going through at the moment is horrible,” she stated, “I just wanted to see my brother, and maybe get a few hugs,” she told him, being honest with him.
Evan hugged her tightly again, “Whatever you need, Mads,” he said as he rocked from side to side a little.
“Thank you,” she murmured, “They are going to be telling me when I can undergo the transplant at my next appointment,” she told him, “They were going to have me travel out, but changed their mind, as the donor is coming here.”
“Well, you know me, Eddie, and Carla are all here for you. Mary and Abuela as well, you’re family,” he reminded her, “Ask us if you need something, always.”
“I will, you’ve been drilling that into my head for a while, and so has Mary,” she smiled as she let go and took a step back.
“What to come up and meet everyone?” he asked, eager for the others to meet his sister. Bobby already had, but no one else had yet. She had been keeping to herself, and only going out when Mary or Evan had taken her out.
Maddie hesitated for a moment and then nodded, “Yeah, I’d like that,” she said, taking his arm as they walked to the stairs and went up to the loft.
“Hey,” Evan called out, a grin on his face, “This i-”
“The secret girlfriend,” Chimney stated as he looked Maddie up and down.
“I’ve already told you countless times, I’m married to a man,” Evan said, the smile gone from his face, “And I was going to say that this is my sister, Maddie,” he added.
“Maddie,” Hen greeted, elbowing Chimney in the side before going over to the woman, “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name,” she stated, “I’m Hen. I’m one of the paramedics on shift with your brother.”
“It’s nice to meet you as well, Hen,” she smiled, shaking the offered hand. “I at least know the face of the one that will help my brother when he inevitably gets hurt.”
“Oh?” Hen said, raising her eyebrows.
“He is a trouble magnet, or rather was as a child, not so much now that he’s all grown up. I can’t help but be happy and proud of how he’s changed,” she said as she looked at Evan with pride in her eyes.
Evan couldn’t help the blush, “Only because you taught me when I was little.”
“Nice to meet you, Maddie,” Chimney said as he walked over, “I’ll also be looking after your brother if anything happens.”
Maddie looked at him and nodded, “My brother means a lot to me, especially since he and his husband saved my life not that long ago,” she stated, looking at her brother, “And they’ve been helping take care of me while I’ve been so ill, making sure that I have everything I need.”
“How about I show you around, and you can tell me stories about your brother,” he said, smirking slightly.
“No, thank you. I’ll have Evan show me around when he is free,” she said, looking at her brother, “I should head home.”
“You okay to get home?” he asked her, frowning, he could see she was feeling uncomfortable.
“I’ll be fine, I’ll order myself an Uber and head home, no doubt Eddie is already wondering where I am,” she smiled, hugging her brother, “It was nice to meet you,” she added as a few nodded towards her, having not been introduced.
“I can walk you out and wait with you, if you want?” Chimney said moving closer to her as though he was about to escort her.
“I’d rather speak with my brother for a little while longer,” she told him with a tight smile as she grabbed Evan’s hand, “Walk me out?” she asked, “I know you’ll have to go if the alarm goes,” she added.
“Sure, you know I’m happy to be there with you,” Evan smiled at her and he led her back down. “You okay?” he asked her quietly as they got outside.
“The way he was looking at me,” she shuddered, “I didn’t like it.”
“I didn’t either, be careful of him. He has a nasty habit of lying to his partners, and he doesn’t see it as a problem,” Evan warned her quietly.
“I’m not going near him, or anyone for a long time,” she stated, “I need to remember who I am, and get better,” she added as the Uber she ordered via the app parked nearby and she hugged her brother, “I’ll see you at home soon,” she said as she let go.
“I’ll see you at home, message me when you get there,” he added as he watched her nod and get in the car. He headed back inside, not even reaching the trucks before the alarm went.
Chapter Forty-Three
Evan shook his head as he ended the call. The dispatcher enjoyed talking with him and listening to him as he rambled on about the job. She did much the same, rambling about both the job, and about caring for her elderly mother. She sounded lonely, and he could sympathize with her; what she was doing sounded hard, having to look after someone who was slowly forgetting you. He couldn’t imagine slowly seeing a loved one losing who they were.
“You alright?” Eddie asked as he walked past, he looked grouchy, he was still in the external fixators and he hated it. Though he was improving in leaps and bounds, and they were getting closer to taking them off permanently.
“Yeah, talking with Abby, she’s upset about her mother,” he said shaking his head, “She is fighting to get a proper carer in to help with her. The latest one let her mother leave the house, and she went missing for almost three hours. She’s having to change the way the locks are done on the door so it won’t happen again.”
“At least she was found, I’d hate to think what could have happened to the poor woman in such a vulnerable state,” Eddie said, nodding a few times.
“Yeah,” he sighed, shaking his head, as his phone then buzzed and a message popped up on a new unfamiliar number. He sighed as he read it, deleted it, then blocked the number.
“What is it?” Eddie demanded to know, eyes fixed on Evan.
“Just stupid messages,” he told him, shaking his head, “I’ve had about eight or nine of them. They are just calling me a cheater, demanding that I leave you. Stupid stuff. Nothing threatening at the moment,” he added, reassuring him that there was nothing that could be done about the messages but what he was already doing; ignoring them, deleting them, and blocking the number.
“All different numbers?” he asked, getting a nod. “Evan,” he sighed, “That could be bad, have Steve look into it,” he told him.
“It’s nothing, most likely someone that has just seen me and thought I should be with them-”
“Exactly, someone watching you enough to know that we are together,” Eddie said, “That’s not good, Ev,” he reminded him, “Now, please, if you get another one, then maybe send it to Steve, or just talk to him about what you can do to help you figure out who’s doing it, and get them to stop. This can all lead to something you really don’t want, if this was Maddie, what would you be doing? he then asked, changing tactic a little.
“I’d be doing the same, calling someone in that can help try and trace things,” he sighed.
“Then do it,” Eddie told him, getting a huff and a nod from his husband. He was about to say something else, when someone was knocking on the door.
“I’ll get it,” Evan said, hurrying to escape his husband’s disappointment, “Oh, hi, Special Agent Hanna,” he greeted the man standing there.
“Just Sam, Evan,” he smiled, “Can I come in, I have some news that I thought you would like to know, before the shit hits the fan.”
“Sure, of course,” he said, as he opened the door wide and let the man in. He led the agent into the living room, where Eddie was already sitting.
“Eddie,” Sam said as he gave the man a nod, there was a serious look on his face as he sat down, “Right, so Wells will be arrested soon. We have warrants for her and her three accomplices. However, it’s going to hit the news, there’s no way we are going to be able to keep it under wraps. The LAPD and the LAFD may come under fire for a while with this, as there are at least twenty people that have been affected by her, and maybe even more that we don’t know about,” he added, shaking his head.
“Right,” Evan said, taking a breath, “What evidence has been collected, and will our names be released?” he asked.
“The evidence we have so far is copies of the reports that had been filed against her, we also have videos of some of the people she had raped. There is more, but I can’t talk about it,” he added, “As for the names, we aren’t going to release them, but there is a chance that she might try and do so to shift blame onto others. We believe she may try to use the defense that she is a woman, so can’t rape anyone. That was why she was keeping evidence against them, and not her. There is no way that she’ll be able to get out of serving some serious jail time.”
“Fuck,” Evan cursed, rubbing a hand over his face as he leaned against Eddie, needing his presence to ground him for a moment “So, no matter what, it’s going to come out, she’s going to try and use it to get out?”
“There’s no way that she could use the videos to get off the charges, they all have her voice, blackmailing her victims. The prosecutor thinks she’ll try to play it off as having been forced to make those comments,” Sam told him, “Just be on the lookout for something coming out. There are going to be a lot of rumors, but there won’t be anything you can do,” he finished.
“Right,” he muttered, “She’s going to cause trouble, not just for me, but for others as well. There are going to be people out there that are going to need support, and all the public is going going to see is a woman, and that she’s the victim, not the men she has raped, taped, and abused.”
“I know, we’re reaching out to every one of her victims to give them a warning. Most are already back in therapy with someone who is trusted, often taking a friend or partner. Unfortunately, some of the victims haven’t been believed when telling family what happened, and have been left alone. I know that a few will try and reach out to others.”
“If someone reaches out to me, I’ll help,” Evan stated, not wanting anyone to face such a thing alone.
“I know, and some of the victims already know who is who,” Sam said, “I need to get going, I have a few more people to warn before the day of over,” he stated as he stood up, “It was good to see you again, Evan, you as well Eddie, just wish it was for a better reason.”
“Same,” Evan said as he held out a hand, Sam shook it, and was taken to the door after shaking Eddie’s as well. “I hope next time we meet is for a different reason,” he said, though he wasn’t holding on to any hope of that happening.
Evan walked back and into Eddie’s arms. “Damn, I hate this.”
“Same,” Eddie added, rubbing his back with his good hand, and just leaving the brace wrapped around him awkwardly, with his sling being pulled a bit tight.
Evan huffed, “At least we have tomorrow to look forward to,” he added, thinking of their plans for the weekend.
“Yeah,” Eddie sai, kissing him, “let’s go and watch something mind-numbing on TV for a bit,” he suggested.
Evan let go and laughed, “Sounds like a plan.” He followed Eddie into the living room, both of them settling against each other on the couch as Eddie put The Great British Bake Off on.
XxXxX
Evan laughed as Christopher was watching the lions at the zoo being fed. “Yeah, they are cool,” he agreed with the six-year-old.
“Good idea to bring him here,” Eddie said again, as he held Evan’s hand tightly. Their son happily clapped and giggled as he listened to the zoo keeper telling them about the lion that they were watching.
“It really was,” Evan agreed. “The end of the month is going to be hectic. Maddie has her surgery, and April is going to end up with her being in recovery for some of it, hopefully, it all works and she’s fine. She wants her life back,” he added.
“Who wouldn’t, she spent a lot of time under parents that didn’t appreciate her, and then under a husband who is an abusive asshole,” Eddie muttered so that Christopher couldn’t overhear them.
“Exactly,” he sighed, “Chimney came back last shift, Maddie stopped by, and well… he flirted and she was not happy about it. She left before she could even say hi to anyone.” he grimaced, “I still can’t believe that he came back after only a month,” he added, shaking his head.
“It’s something alright,” Eddie said, “I’m still not sure about him from what you’ve said.”
“I’m hoping that he improves, but not holding out hope. He’s a good paramedic,” he muttered, “But his attitude toward women, and the way that he treats them disgusts me. I hate that he went near Maddie with that attitude.”
“Maybe warn Maddie, so she knows to keep away?” he asked, getting a nod, “Then that’s all we can do,” he said before looking toward Christopher, “Come on, mijo, we need to move on if we want to see everything.”
“Okay, Dad,” he called out as he turned and made his way over to them. Evan smiled as he watched.
“Bastard,” someone hissed from behind Evan and Eddie.
“What?” Evan said, frowning as he turned to face the woman.
“You heard me you fucking bastard,” she snapped. “You fucking ghosted me, Evan Diaz. You ghosted me.”
“I don’t even know you,” Evan said, shaking his head, “I’ve never once talked to you, to be able to ghost you.”
“You reeled me in, made me feel special, and then stopped talking to me. Was it because I wouldn’t send you pictures, you fucking pervert.”
“I suggest that you stop what you’re saying, right now,” Eddie said.
“I don’t know who the hell you are, but I suggest you get away from this bastard,” she told him, sneering as she looked back at Evan.
“Evan happens to be my husband, and gay, utterly and totally gay,” he said, he was lying as he knew that Evan was bi, but if he got the woman to leave them alone he was willing to say so.
“Yeah right,” she snorted as they both held up their hands to show their rings.
“Married,” Evan told her, “I’d never cheat on my husband, or hurt my son like that.”
“So-” she began, shaking her head, “No fucking way would you have a kid. That… that would be something you would have said. Stop lying to me you asshole!” she yelled out this time, gaining attention.
“Don’t be mean to my papa!” Christopher yelled as he stood there glaring, “She was being mean, Papa, you’re not supposed to be mean.”
Evan turned and knelt, “I know, she’s confused me with someone else, okay, Chris, she’s entitled to be angry as it sounds like someone has hurt her feelings,” he told him gently.
“But, Papa, Daddy said no one should be mean to people. It’s not nice to be mean. It’s like that mean man that hurt Daddy and Auntie Maddie, he was really mean… will she hurt someone because she’s mean?” Christopher said, making strange leaps of logic as he glanced wearily at the lady who was now standing there open-mouthed.
“No, no,” Evan shook his head, “I don’t think she wants to hurt anyone she’s just trying to find out why this other person hurt her. We can understand that, can’t we?” he asked him.
“Yeah, it’s nice to know why, but it’s no reason to hurt each other, that’s what Daddy says,” Christopher nodded.
“I’ll talk with the lady and find out what is going on, and you stay with Daddy,” he told him.
“Okay,” he said, “Don’t hurt my papa, he’s nice and he helps people. If you’re nice he’ll help you too,” he added as he let himself be led away by his dad.
“Miss?” Evan said as soon as they were alone, though within sight of Christopher and Eddie, “Now, please, tell me what happened for you to believe that I was the one talking to you,” he asked her. She was quick to tell him, even showing him the page on her phone. “Well, that definitely isn’t me,” he told her, “I don’t know who it is. It is my picture and name,” he agreed, “And a couple of my calls, but not the ending of them,” he frowned, “Just the start of them.”
“It… really isn’t you?” she asked, sounding more and more upset.
“It really isn’t. I’m sorry this has happened to you. I’d report this to the police, and see if they can do something,” he said.
“I’ll… I’ll do that. Thank you… for listening and talking to me even after what I called you,” she stated.
“As my son stated, I’m willing to listen and to help where I can. I have a few people who might be able to help me with this, but they are also rather busy,” he added, thinking about Steve and Danny. He didn’t really want to bug them about this, but maybe he could make them aware of what was going on if this continued.
The woman nodded and headed off, with Evan going back to his family.
Chapter Forty-Four
Chimney had been back at work for a few shifts before he discovered some information that Evan had hoped he’d never find. “You really couldn’t even keep it in your pants with your therapist!” Chimney laughed as he gained the attention of most of the 118 A-Shift and some of B-Shift as they headed out.
Evan took a breath, still wanting to growl and snap at the man since he knew that another of B-Shift, who was there, had been in the same place as he had been. Dr Wells had raped the man and had blackmailed him twice more since, extorting money out of him to make sure that charges weren’t levied his way for it.
“Okay, that does it,” he said as Chimney made another joke about what had happened. “It’s called RAPE!” he yelled out, making sure every single person in the area heard him. “You want to know about Dr Wells, well here it is. She has raped several firefighters and pollice officers, and then tried to blackmail them to extort money from them. She has been arrested along with three others who had helped her. You want to make fun of me, for something as serious as rape? Fucking go ahead, but I’m going to be reporting that shit straight away, and you can answer to the brass about your abusive behavior,” he stated as he got up and marched away from him and straight to Bobby’s office.
“What’s going on?” Bobby asked as he stepped out of his office.
“Firefighter Han has decided that joking about me almost being raped by Dr Wells was a good idea, and did so in front of everyone else in the station, A-Shift and some of B-Shift,” he stated, as he knew that Bobby was aware of another at the station, currently watching them, who’d been a victim of Dr Wells.
Bobby growled, “Firefighter Han!” he yelled out.
“Come on Bobby, I’m just joking around!” Chimney tried to protest.
“Who the fuck is laughing at your victim blaming?” Bobby asked, glancing around the station and seeing no one else laughing at all. Each of them looked solemn and unimpressed with the paramedic and his words. One looked pale and was almost shaking where he stood.
“Come on, Cap!” Chimney protested again, looking at Hen for backup.
“I’m not with you on this one,” Hen told him, “You fucked up, and fucked up bad,” she told him, “You just decided that it was funny that someone we know was almost raped. That isn’t funny. If Buck was a woman would you be doing the same thing?” she asked him.
“Well, that would be different,” he snapped at her, glaring at his friend, “How could you betray me,” he stated quietly.
“I’m not betraying you, I’m standing up for what is right. Like I have done since I got to the 118, when Gerrard and the idiots that thought I was lesser than them for being a woman were around,” she told him, shaking his head, “I can’t help but wonder what happened to my friend, the man I met when I joined this station, wouldn’t do something like this…” she trailed off as she stepped back.
Chimney called out to some of the others, friends, and people he joked with. “Come on, people, you know me. I joke around about stupid shit.”
“This isn’t stupid though, is it,” Terrence stated, “This is something serious that has affected someone we know, and who knows who else?” he said, frowning at Chimney. “You’ve always been tactless in the past, but this is a new low, even for you.”
“Fuck you, what would you know about jokes, you never laugh,” Chimney muttered.
“Firefighter Han, you’re suspended for two shifts, get your things and leave. I’ll be lodging yet another formal complaint with HR about your behavior,” Bobby stated, even though he knew that any complaint that he brought to them about Chimney was often ignored, and just quietly set aside. He had compiled all the reports and other documentation he’d both sent and received from HR about the man, he was just trying to find a way to get the chief to meet with him then he would be bringing it up with him, since he was getting nowhere with HR.
“I can’t believe this,” Chimney snapped as he headed to the locker room to do as he was told. He complained loudly the entire time. As soon as he was gone, it was like the 118 could breathe. It was only part way through his first week back, and he couldn’t keep his foot from his mouth long enough to last.
“Can I… can I say something,” one of the B-Shift firefighters said, as he looked around, pale and shaking.
“Of course, Vik,” Hen said as Evan went over to him.
“I’m right here,” Evan said to Viktor, “You’re not alone,” he added.
Viktor nodded at him, “Wells did that to me. She gave me something to drink, and I felt floppy, not able to control myself and she did that… to me and I couldn’t say no. She told me if I told anyone she would send it to my wife. She did anyway. Lisa left me over it, divorce and everything now,” he said, shaking his head, “I tried to come forward after that, but… nothing was done,” he looked down, feeling ashamed of himself.
Evan held out a hand, “You’re not alone, Vik,” he told him, “There are others in the same boat, who lost everything because of this woman. Well, it is never going to happen to someone again, because we got her. She’s being arrested this morning.”
“I know, I was warned,” he stated, “I just…” he took a breath, “I’m seeing a new therapist, online, it’s helping me better now, but with this all about to come out. I just… I was going to ask Captain Parker if I could get a little time off.”
“I’ll organize it for you, Vik, since Al has already left. I’ll sort it so they get a floater in for a week at least. If you need more time after that, talk to Al, and I will as well, to make sure he knows that this is something that you need,” Bobby said as he walked over, “You’re not alone, we stand with you, and Evan,” he stated.
“We stand with you both,” Hen added her voice to it as the others were doing the same. Viktor looked to be on the verge of tears as Evan nodded in thanks, squeezing Vitkor’s hand.
“Thank you,” Viktor said, as he let Evan’s hand go, “I’m… going to head home.”
“Here,” Evan said as he wrote something down and handed it over, “if you need someone to talk to, I’m a phone call away,” he told him, “Don’t worry, day or night,” he reassured him, “I know what it’s like when you have no one that you can call and rely on when you’re down.”
“But you have a husband and son,” someone pointed out.
“I do now, but I didn’t always. Before I joined the SEALs, I had no one. My parents hated me and pretended I didn’t exist for the most part. My sister was absent, and locked in her own hell with her ex-husband; she wasn’t allowed to talk to me in case she set him off. It’s only recently that me and Maddie started talking again, and then there is Eddie and Chris, well, that’s only a couple of years old,” he stated.
“Right,” he said, nodding, “I get you.”
“Thanks, for this Buck,” Viktor said, nodding and tucking the paper away, “If I need help. I’ll call,” he promised before he and the others of B-Shift left. Though someone went with Viktor to make sure he really was alright on his own.
A-Shift finally headed up and started their breakfast routine, Bobby was the one not cooking as he was busy filling in the paperwork for Chimney’s suspension.
XxXxX
Evan walked into Maddie’s room at the hospital. He was scrubbed up and covered in full PPE. The transplant had gone well, and she was in recovery. Now it was a case of wait and see if the liver piece would take, or would her body reject it. The transplant had happened at the best time, as her liver had started to fail a few days before; she had been confined to the hospital as the donor flew in. From what they had been told, the donor wanted to remain anonymous, which was understandable.
Maddie wrote a letter to them, thanking them and telling them how she had come to need a liver transplant. She promised the donor and herself that she would live a good life and find joy in it again, and not let what had happened keep her down for long. She wanted to make sure that she would have the life she had dreamed of. The letter had been long, almost four pages long. But it had been sent, and while Maddie would never know if it would be read, she felt better for it being out there.
“Hey,” Evan said as he sat down, seeing Maddie awake and looking tired.
“Hey,” she smiled, “I feel like shit,” she muttered.
“Well, you have just had an operation, and I know you know what patients go through after that,” Evan snorted but smiled as he sat down.
“Doctors said that all is good, and it’s just a wait-and-see for rejection or not,” she said, looking a little scared, but hopeful.
“Good to know you’re doing well,” he said, “Christopher has been making you get better cards all day. Joan has been with him. Mary and Eddie are on clean up, since Mary handed them glitter, and Eddie okayed it,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
Maddie laughed a little, “Owwie,” she said, through her laughter, “Okay, note to self, no laughing,” she said, as she pressed her hand over the incision.
“Sorry,” he apologized, looking a little sorry for making her laugh.
“Don’t be sorry for that,” she told him, “And you’re going to need a new home, you’ll still be finding glitter by the time Christopher gets married.
“Don’t tell me about that, no, he’s never going to grow up,” he muttered, pouting.
“I’ll remind you at each birthday and milestone,” she promised instead, grinning at her brother’s pout.
“Mean,” he told her.
“It’s a big sister’s job,” she said solemnly, “And one I take pride in,” she added with a smirk.
Evan stayed a little longer before visiting time was over.
XxXxX
Evan huffed when he saw Chimney walk in for a half shift. He had been suspended for a shift and half of the next, not the two that Bobby requested. Evan had been doing what he could to avoid the other man since he didn’t want to listen to his drivel about anything at that moment in time. However, that didn’t matter when a woman stormed into the station and slapped Evan around the face, accusing him of ghosting her.
“Ma’am, let me guess, someone has been messaging you, talking to you, and then stopped when you wouldn’t do something. It’s the same as another lady, she was able to tell me what was going on,” he shook his head, “I’ll be sending your name to the police so they can take your statement about it. At the moment, I’ll refrain from pressing charges against you,” he told her, “but try and hit me again, and that kindness goes out the window,” he stated, warning her as he added, “I’m gay, I have a husband and a son with him. I have no interest in women,” he added, again, he was bi, but he did lean more towards men.
Bobby looked over, “I’d rather you press charges, Buck,” he stated, shaking his head, “I won’t have this kind of behavior in my fire station. I’ve seen how in love you and Eddie are, you would never lead someone else on.”
Evan nodded as he gave the woman the contact details for the officers looking into the catfishing. He’d met them when they came to interview him about the issue a few days ago..
“Stop lying, I totally believe you were contacting those women, there is no way that you would be happy with a guy and having a kid hanging off you all the time,” Chimney sneered from where he was reading on the couch.
“And I don’t care what you believe, as I’ve said before,” Evan shrugged, “You believe what you will, but leave me out of your delusions,” he finished as he started to call the police officer he’d been talking to.
Chapter Forty-Five
There was a double celebration at the Diaz home. Maddie was home from the hospital, and Eddie was finally out of his brace, he would have rehab still, to rebuild all the strength that he had lost, but he was getting better, and that was what he was focusing on. The only downside was that he wasn’t fit enough to try and join the fire academy, which would have to wait until the next year, hopefully, by then he’ll be fully recovered, and there would be no more surprises left for him at the end of his physical therapy.
Maddie smiled as she settled on the couch. She was moving slowly around the house, but still enjoying the fact that she was home, and that the liver she had been donated was working perfectly, and was already starting to grow a little. They hoped that within a few months, she’d be fully recovered, and able to start living her life. The donor had gotten in touch with her while she was still in the hospital, wishing her a long and happy life; that she now had everything to live for.
“Well,” Maddie said as she looked around the house. A few people were attending the gathering. Eddie had brought his abuela and aunt over to spend some time with the family. His sister, Adriana, had been able to come in and see him as well as her family joining her for a few days. Sophia had been working, and hadn’t been able to get the time off.
“How are you?” Carla asked as she walked over and sat down next to her.
“I’m doing so much better now, I don’t feel like I want to pass out or just sleep anywhere and everywhere,” she smiled at the woman, “Thank you so much for all the help that you’ve given me since last year. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you and Evan,” she stated, smiling warmly at the woman that had been so much help to the Diaz family.
“It’s my pleasure,” she told her, “I’m just happy that I was able to help like I was. You’ve all done the hard parts, and gone through what you could to start your recovery.”
“Yes, but you’ve been there every step of the way, you took me to appointments, hell you took me out when things were getting to me, because I was always inside. I was… I’m still scared that Doug is going to walk out of the shadows. We still don’t know where he is,” she stated, thinking about her ex-husband, he was still in the wind, and there had been no recent sightings of him. His family had gone silent, and had moved, according to Detective Watson. He’d located them in New Jersey, and had the local police keeping an eye on them, in case they were helping their son in the area. So far no luck had come from that watch, but he was hopeful something would turn up soon.
“Well, you know I’m here, even if you want to get together as friends and just have a coffee. If I’m not working, I’m always up for a caramel latte made properly. As I can’t make that for shit,” she snorted, shaking her head.
Maddie laughed, “Neither can I, but Evan can, I watched him. He can make them like Starbucks, which is great, since it’s not overpriced coffee, and tastes even better in my honest opinion.”
“Well, from what I heard, he had a part-time job as a barista at one point, before joining the SEALs.”
“He’s done so much, he grew up so much while I was gone, that sometimes I look at him and wonder what happened to the little boy I was patching up after a fall,” she smiled as she looked around for her brother, not seeing him in the room, “He’s grown up so well. He’s a good man, and I couldn’t ask for better for my brother,” she stated with a smile.
“He is,” Carla nodded, “A good man, and one that I am proud to know,” she stated. “Well, look at the time, I’ve taken on a client for the night. An older lady with alzheimer’s, she’s started to fade fast. The daughter is distraught at the thought of losing her mother, she’s been helping to look after her for a long time now. I’m glad that she has a boyfriend that she’s able to call and talk to,” she added.
Maddie nodded, “That’s good. Thank you for coming to this little party,” she smiled as she could hear the laughter of children coming from the backyard, she had a feeling that would be where Eddie and Evan were. Neither of them liked to be too far from Christopher if they could help it.
“I’ll see you soon, flower,” she told her, hugging her before letting herself out of the house.
Maddie smiled as she looked out the window. She could see most of the street from where she was sat, the window was nice and large, a bay window. She frowned as she saw someone across the street, a man, she believed, he was tall, and oh so familiar, and her body went cold. She shuddered as she called out, “Evan!” fear was lacing her voice as she waited for her brother to come. He rushed in from the garden.
“Maddie!” he asked, eyes wide as he rushed over to her.
“It’s Doug,” she whispered, eyes still locked on the figure across the street.
Evan looked up and nodded as he looked at Eddie. “Call 9-1-1,” he ordered as he headed out the door. The man was quick to disappear, as soon as Evan started to move toward the door, like the had sensed that someone was about to come after him.
“Fuck,” Evan cursed, as he could see the man had gone. The other adults in the room looked at them and wondered what was going on. He shook his head, letting them know that he wouldn’t be saying anything at the moment, that he would be waiting until another time to say something. he didn’t want to put Maddie on the spot about Doug at the moment, she had better things to concentrate on than her ex, who didn’t want to stay away.
“He’s gone,” Eddie said over the line. “We’re going to be calling the Detective in charge of the case in Hershey as well, to make them aware of what is going on here. We don’t want this guy to escape again,” he added as he looked over at Evan.
“He’s gone,” Evan said as he looked at Maddie, who was shaking, “come on, let’s get you to your bedroom, let you lie down and rest. I’m going to make sure that area is secured, and then Eddie and I are going to call Detective Watson,” he stated.
“O… Okay,” Maddie nodded letting herself be helped to her feet. She leaned on her brother as they made their way to her bedroom. She had wanted to move out and had been thinking about finding work. But now, after seeing Doug, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go out there at all.
Evan made sure she was asleep, and the room was secure, before he left her alone. He went around the house, checking in on their guests and making sure that there were no strangers in the house. He wasn’t taking any chances with his sister’s safety, or the safety of his family.
“Eddito has explained,” Isabel said as she walked over, “If you need some help, you come to me. I’ll be glad to keep Maddie company,” she told him.
“Thank you, Abuela,” Evan said as he hugged the woman, “At the moment, she is resting. It was a shock for her to see someone out there watching the house. I don’t know if it really was Doug, it looked to be the same height and build, but it had been several months since he had been last seen. it might have just been someone innocent. But time will tell on that,” he stated as he glanced over her shoulder toward Eddie who was on the phone again.
“I called Detective Watson, thought I’d get that out the way,” Eddie said as he hung up the call and walked over. “He’s going to get in touch with someone here, so they know the score and to get updates out on his location. The local police are going to be heading this way soon as well, they want to make sure that it really is Doug. There might be some CCTV that we can hand over. So I’m about to head to our room and check the footage,” he said, kissing Evan as he walked past him, “We’ll find him and make sure our family is safe,” he added.
Evan nodded, giving a tight smile as he saw the other guests. “I’m sorry, but my sister isn’t feeling well, at the moment. She’s gone to rest for now, and I know you have learned of the situation, but I ask that you don’t speak of it to her at the moment. She is still weary about him, I’m going to circulate his picture among you all, to make sure that you know what he looks like.”
“Thank you,” Adriana said, nodding at him, “If she needs somewhere to go and relax that’s unknown, my husband’s family has a condo where she could go to for a bit to really rest and relax; it’s in a gated community, and it’s near the beach. We go there when we need time to relax from work for a few days,” she smiled at them, as her husband nodded his agreement.
“Thank you for the really kind offer. I don’t think she will take it for now, but it might be something she could do after this is all over, and she can really and truly relax,” he said, thanking her again.
“Just tell us when you would like to go,” her husband, Diego, said as he looked at him.
The party didn’t last for much longer, no one wanted to remain after seeing such an upset of one of their hosts. Maddie needed a little time for herself, and to get over the shock of seeing what she believed to be Doug standing across from her home.
XxXxX
Evan bit back a curse as he hung up the phone. It had been Viktor, he had needed someone to talk to when he head learned that Wells had been released on bail, based on her standing in the community, it didn’t seem to matter that she had raped and abused a dozen men and a few women. Sam Hanna had been right, he had warned them that the defense was going to try and make it seem like she was the victim, not the men and women she had harmed. Viktor was alone, and Evan didn’t want him to be, so Eddie had called Hen, who had called one of Vitkors closest friends on B-Shift to go and check on him. He had only hung up when Juan arrived, with promises to remain with him. Juan was two years younger than Evan, had married his highschool sweetheart as soon as they could, and then joined the fire academy. He had been a firefighter for three years by the time Evan had graduated and joined the 118.
“He safe?” Eddie asked, getting a nod, “Then that is all we can do. We can’t fight what she is doing without compromising the trial that they are hoping for.”
“I know and it fucking sucks. But she’ll get what’s coming to her,” he growled as he felt arms going around him. He sighed as it was nice that Eddie’s arm was now free of the brace. It was nice to have them both wrapped around him again.
“It’s going to be okay, we’ll get Vik through this, from what you said he’s a young guy, and alone. Well, he has us, I wonder if I should bring him to Abuela’s,” he thought aloud.
Evan snorted, “She might adopt him. Hhis parents weren’t happy with what happened, and they believed the cheating, instead of the rape,” he said.
“Well, I’ll invite him and tell Abuela that we’re bringing a friend. He could do with some support,” he said, knowing that his grandmother would do what she could to help a lost soul.
Evan nodded, thinking it a good idea, “time will tell.”
Eddie laughed as they settled down to watch a movie before they had to pick up Christopher from school.
Chapter Forty-Six
Carla frowned as she looked at the woman beside her. The redhead came home from work, tired but happy. “You’re in a good mood?”
“Yeah, I was able to talk to my boyfriend. He was so helpful when I needed him,” Abby told her, smiling as she grabbed the bottle of wine and poured herself a glass, “Would you like one?” she asked her, smiling happily.
“No, I don’t drink while I’m on duty,” Carla said, shaking her head and raising a hand to stop her from pouring some for her.
“Are you sure? I’m here now, so you could consider yourself off duty,” she suggested, giving her a little smirk, “I won’t tell a soul,” she added.
“No, really, but thank you,” she smiled, “I’m not much of a drinker, never have been. The occasional glass when we’re out celebrating, but Howard and I prefer not to drink at all.”
“Alright,” she said, nodding as she walked over to the couch and sat down.
“How are things going? This boyfriend, I’ve not even got a name,” she pushed a little, wanting to know about the mysterious man who helped the woman that she was sitting with.
“He’s amazing, there are a few things in the way, but… well, I don’t think they’ll be a problem for much longer. I know something is going on, he’s talked about it before,” she told her, “Evan is a wonderful man and a hero. He tried so hard to help save that young man on the rollercoaster.”
Carla frowned even more as she listened to Abby talk about her firefighter boyfriend. “Oh, what’s his name again?”
“Evan Diaz, he’s so nice, I think you’d like him,” she told her as she went on about the last call that she had with Evan.
Carla bit her tongue. She knew that Evan wasn’t the type to cheat and she also knew about the catfisher situations that were going on. The police hadn’t been able to get the accounts locked down, since the one controlling it had been able to make new accounts several times already. Each time one was shut down, another would pop up, start talking with people, until it was shut down, wash, rinse, repeat. The police had found several profiles that were being used.
She remained with Abby a little longer until her shift was over, and then headed home. She would be seeing Evan and Eddie the next day, before the younger of the two headed off to work.
XxXxX
Walking into the Diaz home, she looked for Evan straight away, finding him with Eddie, she asked, “Do you know Abby Clark?”
“Yeah, I do,” Evan said as he cooked breakfast for his family and for Carla. “She contacted me a while ago. She’s the one that I told you about, the woman that is helping her mother and looking after her,” he added, looking over at her, “She’s okay, a little clingy, but I can understand. She likes to talk a lot,” he finished as he plated the scrambled eggs and bacon for everyone. Christopher was still sleeping, and he would be okay for another few minutes.
“I was with her last night,” she said.
“Wow, small world,” he said, “How is her mother?” he asked, “She said that they don’t think she will last much longer. She’s mostly non verbal now,” he added, as he remembered something that Abby had told him.
“She’s not doing well at the moment,” she said, nodding slightly.
“Right,” he said, nodding, “That’s not going to be easy for her.”
“No, it’s not, but she said something that I thought you should know,” she added.
“Oh?” he asked, sitting down as Carla joined them at the table.
“She made it seem like you and her were going to get together, that you needed to do something, and then you would both be free to date. That you were waiting for her mother to pass before you met, as you didn’t want to distract her from what was going on,” Carla told him.
Evan sat up straight, “I… I wasn’t aware that I had led her on like that. I’ve talked about Eddie a few times, that we are married and happily so,” he said.
“I know, which is why I thought I should bring this to your attention,” she stated, “Well, I’ve told you, and since you’re somewhat friends with her, I think you should know that I don’t believe it to be a good idea for you to meet with her, even after her mother passes.”
“I wasn’t going to,” he stated, “But now I’ll make sure of that. I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I,” Eddie said, as he had been quiet during the talk, so he could find out what was going on.
“I won’t be going, and I’ll start ignoring some of her calls,” he added as he looked towards his phone, wondering if he should just outright block her.
“I don’t know what to advise you on this. It’s a tricky situation, she is clingy because she needs that thought of normalcy in her life, her mother is dying and there isn’t anyone close by that she can talk to. Her brother lives in Nevada,” Carla said, “On the other hand, she believes that there is something between the two of you that doesn’t exist. No one should have to pretend such a thing with another person, just to feed their delusions,” she sighed, shaking her head.
“I’ll lower the amount of calls that I take from her. Slowly start weaning her off me, as it were,” he grimaced.
“Yeah,” Eddie nodded, “Sounds a little sensible, if you do it slowly, she might be able to find something else or someone else that she can connect to. Or maybe get in touch with her brother. “If you help her again Carla, point out that you know Evan and that he is happily married, and that she should talk to her brother for a bit of help,” he added.
Carla nodded, “I will be, I only didn’t say anything last night because I wanted to talk to you about the situation before. I know that you had been talking to someone who needed some help,” she finished as she finished her toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs.
“Thanks, for talking to us first,” Evan said as he finished his breakfast, “I’ve really got to hurry, or else I’ll be stuck in traffic for at least an hour,” he snorted as he got up, kissing Eddie before hugging Carla. “I’ll wake up Chris on my way out, so I can get a good morning hug from him.”
“I’m working with Pepa for a couple of hours today,” Eddie said, talking about the small office job he had with Pepa, though hopefully that’d soon be over and he’d be applying for the academy in the new year.
“And I shall be with Christopher at school, ” Carla smiled and laughed as the two men grinned at her.
“Do we know what Maddie is doing today?” Evan asked as he put his plate in the dishwasher after he rinsed it off.
“She had plans with Mary and Joan; Mary was able to get her to go out today. She’s been a bit reclusive since she spotted Doug a week ago,” Eddie said as he did the same, “Hopefully she’ll start getting out and about again. I don’t like her always being inside. It feels like she is starting to give up again. I know she isn’t, it’s just how my mind is going over it,” he said, knowing that the others were going to protest his words. “Don’t worry though, I’m talking with my therapist and I know that Maddie is doing the same, she is getting help with her anxiety, which is needed.”
Evan nodded, kissing him, “It’s okay, now I’m going to see Christopher and see if I can get that morning hug, “he said as he headed out and into Christopher’s bedroom. “Chris,” he called out as he waited for the six-year-old to slowly wake up.
“Morning, Papa,” came the sleepy reply.
“I told you that I’d wake you up so that I could get a hug,” he told him as he went over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it.
“Okay,” he muttered, he got his hug and kissed the top of the messy curls, “I’ll see you tomorrow. You be good for Carla and your dad, and make sure you give them big hugs from me when it’s bedtime. I’ll try and call if we’re not busy.”
“Okay, Papa,” he grinned and hugged him really tightly, “There, big hugs,” he said, “I love you, Papa,” he murmured.
Evan held him and nodded, “I love you too, superman,” he murmured, holding him tightly for a moment and then letting him go with another kiss on the head. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Evan got up and headed off to work, kissing Eddie one last time as he passed him to get to his jeep.
XxXxX
It was almost a week after their talk when Evan’s phone started ringing. He sighed as he looked at it and saw that it was Abby. She had called three times so far that week, and he had only answered one of them. He sighed and then nodded to himself as he answered the call. “Hey, Abby,” he greeted, trying to hide the grimace he wanted to pull. He wasn’t sure what he thought about the woman on the other end of the line now.
“E… Evan,” came the crying voice on the other end of the line.
“Abby?” he frowned, “What’s going on?” he asked her, already dreading the answer and wondering if she was going to try and pressure meeting him.
“She’s gone. My mom,” she added, “My mom is gone and I don’t know what I should do. I just…” she cried, breaking into sobs again.
Evan felt some sympathy for her, there was no way he could be cold towards her at this point. She had lost her mother and was vulnerable as well. It was hard to lose someone you cared about. He dreaded to think of what he’d be like if something had happened to Eddie or Christopher, or even Maddie, Mary, Joan, and the others on his SEAL team. He loved them all deeply, they were his family. Carla and those at the 118 were soon creeping into his heart as well, and he knew that soon enough he’d consider them family.
“I’m so sorry Abby,” he stated, “I wish there was something I could do to help you,” he winced at his words.
“You could… you could come here, I could do with a friend,” she stated.
Evan looked around himself, “I can’t, I’m at work,” he said, he could hear Bobby in the loft.
“I-” she broke down crying again as she asked for him to go to her again.
“I’m sorry Abby, I won’t be able to get the time off,” he told her, shaking his head
“What… what about her funeral?” she then asked, sniffling a little as she tried to get herself under control.
“I could ask, but I don’t know if I will, since she’s not family,” he told her.
“Could be,” she muttered under her breath, it was obvious to Evan that she hadn’t meant for that to be heard.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, “I wish I could, but I’ll ask. Eddie and I’d love to be there to support you.”
“Ed… Eddie,” she stammered.
“Yes, my husband. I’ve told him about you, and he thinks you’re a wonderful woman for what you have been doing for your mother. I don’t know many that’d be able to take such a thing on, be able to be there until their final moments, and do everything they can to make those last months happy. You’ve done something great,” he told her.
“O.. okay, my… brother should be arriving soon. I have to sort out the rooms,” she said as she then hung up.
Evan pulled a face, he had no intention of asking, but he knew that he’d have to make sure Bobby knew what was going on, so he could help with the lie of not being able to go because of work. He headed to the storage cupboard to continue inventory, after talking with Bobby.
Chapter Forty-Seven
You’re a mess and a cheat. All you’ve done is lead people on with who you are.
You’re disgusting, cheating on people with him. You should get rid of him, he’s going to bring you down
You’re going to be mine one day. When you are, you’re going to realize that stupid bastard that you’re with is just using you.
I’m the only one you need, a woman to show you the true pleasures of the flesh. That bastard you have hanging onto your arm is nothing compared to me.
Evan shook his head as he looked at the messages. They were all along similar lines. Each of them is mean and nasty towards himself and Eddie. Like they were trying to drive home that he and Eddie weren’t going to be happy families all the time. He shook his head and forwarded them to Steve. He had finally gotten in touch with the man to try and trace where they were going. He deleted them and got up from the bench he was on. He was in his gym clothes and was taking his hour of PT on the bag for a bit while they were on their break.
Abby hadn’t been happy to be told as soon as he had the funeral date, that he wouldn’t be able to attend because of work. She had called Bobby, to try and plead her case about having her closest friend at her mother’s funeral. Thanks to Bobby’s quick thinking, and after Evan had warned him, he had been able to come up with something plausible to make sure that he wouldn’t be able to go, no matter who she went to, to try and get him the day off. Though she had told Evan that she hadn’t been comfortable about the thought of Eddie being there, since they didn’t know each other.
Several members of the shift were working, including Chimney, Evan had plans to ignore them, while he did his workout on the heavy bag, not wanting to spend his quiet moments having to listen to whatever snide comments Chimney was thinking about. He knew that he was doing so, because of the way that Chimney looked at him, with a smirk playing on his lips.
Chimney stopped what he was doing and wandered over, “So I hear that you’re cheating on that invisible husband of yours,” he stated.
Evan looked at him and rolled his eyes, ignoring him and returning to his workout. Hitting at the bag with solid thumps, the rhythm of the noise was almost soothing for him.
“Come on, you’re not going to react?” Chimney laughed, glancing around at the others, that were looking unimpressed with Chimney’s behavior. He sneered at them as he looked at Evan, “I’m trying to help you fit in here.”
“No, you’re not. You’re doing the only thing you know to do, and that’s to bully someone that you think is below you,” Evan stated, his voice even, “I don’t care what you have to say, because in the grand scheme of things, in my life, you don’t mean anything. You’re just someone I work with, while some of the others on shift have become friends, you have not,” he shrugged and went back to what he was doing, ignoring the muttering that Chimney was doing.
“Buck,” Hen said as she walked over, “There is someone here who wants to talk to you,” she said, frowning as she walked over to him, “Is this another one of those women that have been saying you’re talking to them?” she asked quietly.
“I don’t know, it depends on who it is. Maddie is at home, I know that, Mary has work, and the only other woman I know, well I’ve never met,” he shrugged.
“Well, a woman, older than the others that I’ve heard come at you,” she told him, “Just be careful, I’ve already warned Bobby, so just yell if you need help of any kind. I’ve led her to a place which I know is covered by CCTV.”
“Thanks,” Evan said as he headed over to the place she indicated, beside one of the trucks. He frowned, he’d never seen the woman standing there before. She had long red hair, and glasses that felt like they took over more of her face than they should have. She turned to him and smiled.
“Evan,” she said as she went over to hug him.
“I…” he frowned as he heard the voice. “Abby?” he guessed, the voice that he knew he had heard several times.
“Yes,” she said, going in for a hug again.
“I’m sorry, I don’t feel comfortable hugging people,” he said, giving her a tight smile, “I’m working and I don’t like my personal life interfering,” he added quietly.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head, “I feel like we’re close because of how much you’ve helped me with my mother,” she told him, smiling a little.
“I get it, but this is our first meeting,” he told her, his words gentle, “So, Abby, it’s nice to finally meet you, I’d ask how you’re doing, but I get the feeling you’ve been asked that a lot already.”
She gave a small snort and nodded, “I have,” she stated, “But that’s normal. It was the same when my dad passed away. Everyone is always asking me and Mom if we’re okay, if we’re fine, how are we,” she sighed, “it’s a lot, always the same questions and always the same answer. I’m doing as well as I can be,” she said, “Sorry for just dropping by like this, but I thought maybe I could talk to your captain about you getting the day off, maybe not even the full shift either.”
Evan bit his lip, he wanted to just tell her that he wasn’t going to be going no matter what was done. “Abby, I don’t think I’ll be allowed, I’ve already had to have extra time off during my probation period because of what happened to my sister and husband,” he said, making sure to remind her that he was married.
Abby wrinkled her nose a little, “I know, I just need someone there for me,” she said softly. “My brother and his family are going to be there, and I just feel more alone than I have done since I broke up with my partner a few years ago,” she sighed.
“I’m sorry,” he said, nodding, “I can understand that. I can talk to the captain, but I know he is adamant about not letting me have more time off. Since I’m still a probie, it could make it difficult for me to actually pass my probation year,” he added, looking toward the office where he knew Bobby was listening in, ready to step in should it be needed. He could see the silhouette of him through the crack in his door.
“Well, let’s go ask him, you never know until you ask,” she said, with a smile as she began to walk toward Bobby’s office.
Evan wanted to roll his eyes and groan as he followed her. He knew that Bobby had his back for this, but he just didn’t want to get into it today, he had only just learned that Abby had been deceiving people into thinking that the two of them were going to get together. He had thought that they’d be able to become friends, but he didn’t have many of those outside of the tight group he already had which was mainly, Eddie, Maddie, Mary, and some of Eddie’s family members. There was Steve and Danny but they were an ocean away in Hawaii.
“Hello,” Bobby said as he stood behind his desk, having dived there when he noticed them heading his way.
“Sorry to trouble you, Captain Nash,” Abby said, a sweet smile on her face.
“And you are?” he asked, playing ignorant.
“I’m Abby Clark, I’m a 9-1-1 dispatcher, we’ve talked on the radio a few times,” she told him, ignoring the call she’d made to him earlier in the week, “Sorry to just turn up like this. I’ve been talking to Evan a lot over the last few weeks, and he’s been such a great help while my mother was so ill. She passed away a few days ago, and the funeral is soon,” she said quietly.
“I’m very sorry for your loss, Miss Clark,” he said, “but I’m not sure why you’re here?” he pressed gently.
“I am wondering if you’d be able to let Evan go for a few hours, while the funeral and wake are happening. I could do with a little support at the funeral. I know it’s a lot to ask, Captain Nash,” she asked, looking as sweet and hopeful as she could.
“I am sorry, Miss Clark, but Buck has taken all the time he could during his probation period already,. I can’t even let him go for a half shift at this point,” he told her, using what Evan had been saying out in the bay as a good excuse. “He’s had to take more time off than is recommended,” he added, “I’m really very sorry. It’s not something I’d be able to change without it affecting Buck’s probation, and it could mean it fails and he has to go through the academy again.”
“But a funeral should be covered for emergency time off?” Abby said.
“Yes, it is, but only of a family member,” he countered, “I’m sorry, Miss Clark, but I can’t allow it. If he was family, then it’d be fine. But as I know that he isn’t, it’s not going to be possible.”
Abby didn’t look happy, “isn’t there a way that you’d be able to change it enough that he could be seen as family. Maybe pretending that he is my partner?” she asked.
“No can do on that,” Bobby said, shaking his head, “Look, Evan is married, and his husband is well known to people, including the chief. If it comes up that he is, even pretending, to be seeing someone else, it can come out under the morality clause that we take on when it comes to our contract. It is too big of a risk,” he stated, “Now, I am really sorry, Miss Clark, but we’re online, and Buck has a few chores he needs to get to, after he changes out of his PT clothes,” he said, noting that the man was out of uniform.
“Yes, of course,” she said, not happy with the outcome as she turned to the door, “Will you walk me out, Evan?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said, nodding his thanks to Bobby as he followed her, “I’m sorry, I did say that it’d be doubtful it could happen,” he reminded her.
“I know,” she sighed, unhappy with the situation, “Try and do your best to get out of it. Fake an illness if you really have to. I just need someone there for me,” she said.
“It’s not that easy,” he told her, “Dispatch and firefighting are different, the work I do is important, even as a probie. I don’t want to jeopardize my job, I wish I could go, but I can’t. I’m really sorry, Abby. Maybe I can ask Eddie and Maddie to go and be with you,” he suggested.
“No, no,” she shook her head several times, “It’s fine, I’ll just have to content myself with talking to you on the phone occasionally through the day, if that is allowed?” she asked, a little snippily.
Evan pursed his lips, “I might be able to take one or two, it’d depend on what I’m doing. If I’m in the middle of chores, or on a call, then I won’t be able to. I’ve already had a few verbal reprimands for being on my phone too often during my shift.”
“Okay,” she said, “thank you for at least talking and trying,” she added as she went in for another hug and then stopped herself, “Sorry,” she smiled sweetly before walking away.
Evan sighed in relief and hurried to go shower and change. He wanted to talk to Bobby before they had another call out.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Maddie parked the jeep near the 118. She had taken a few driving lessons, to make sure she still knew what she was doing behind the wheel. Doug had made sure he drove her to work, to the doctors, if they went anywhere, he’d be driving. If she wasn’t with him, she wasn’t going at all. The only escape she had from him, had been at work, where she had time without him breathing down her neck. The jeep had been a gift to herself when she had passed her nursing exam, it had been in her name, and she had only had a chance to drive it a couple of times before she had sneaked away from Doug and gifted it to Evan. Now, it was back in her possession, and she was happy about finally being able to drive it.
She got out, locked it up, and headed into the fire station. She hesitated a moment, thinking of the man who had been very forward and had felt slightly creepy to her. He had insulted her brother and she wasn’t happy about that. She shook herself, she wasn’t going to let a man frighten her away anymore, Dr Marshal was great in helping her see the patterns that she kept falling into. Maddie walked into the 118, with her head held high, she smiled at the woman who approached her, “Hen,” she said, guessing the name
“That I am,” she smiled, “What can I do for you, Maddie?” she asked her.
“I just wanted to talk to my brother for a few moments,” she said, “It’s nice to see you again, Hen.”
“And you, I have to say, you’re looking a lot better than the first time you came here,” she said.
“Well, at the time I was going through liver failure,” she told her, walking with her along the bay and towards a set of stairs. “I had been attacked by my ex-husband, but my brother and his husband helped save my life. They brought me here to hopefully recover, but in the end, I needed a transplant, thankfully I was one of the lucky ones, and I got a live donor. So here I am, getting good news that I want to tell Evan,” she smiled widely as she saw her brother as she reached the top of the stairs, “Evan,” she called out.
“Maddie, what are you doing here? I thought you had an appointment today?” he frowned as he rushed over and checked her a little.
“I’m okay, I drove the jeep, thank you, for letting me have it back,” she smiled, hugging him tightly, “And for the good news, well, the doctors have said that my liver function has improved massively and that they are happy with how my body is handling the transplant so far,” she told him as he let her go.
“Yeah?” he asked, smiling widely.
She smiled back and nodded, “Yep, I think I’m going to be okay,” she said, almost crying as she had been afraid that she was going to die with how things were going. Part of her had already prepared for that scenario.
“I’m so happy for you, Maddie,” he grinned, “Come on, Bobby’s cooking and we’re offline for two hours. We just finished a call that took us most of the morning and afternoon, so we have a couple of hours of downtime to be able to eat, rest up, and restock everything,” he said as he looked over at Bobby, “You don’t mind if my sister joins us?” he asked him.
“Of course not, the more the merrier,” he smiled, “Though you coming back to help?” he asked, glancing over at Maddie and smiling at her, “Welcome to the 118, glad to see you again, you’re looking a lot better time.”
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about you from Evan, it’s nice to meet you at last,” she said, as she walked over and stood by the counters as her brother went to help his captain. “What are you making?” she asked.
“Just finishing off a salad, we’ve got two lasagnas I made for the shift in the oven. There is plenty for everyone, and as we eat them, a third and fourth will be cooked for those that want seconds,” Bobby answered her.
“Wow, seconds?” she said looking around.
“We work hard at the job, and sometimes we need the extra calories a good meal can bring in. Which is why we are sometimes able to have two hours for food and rest, especially after a hard and long call,” Hen answered her.
“We work hard, we play hard,” Chimney said, smirking at her.
Maddie looked at him, not saying a word as she turned her attention back to her brother, “It must be nice eating like this,” she said.
“It is,” Evan grinned, “But sometimes, I miss being at home with Eddie, Chris, and you,” he told her.
“Suck up,” Chimney muttered.
“I’ll thank you to not comment on things you clearly know nothing about,” Maddie growled, “my brother loves his family with his whole heart, and I know he’d walk through fire for any one of us to make sure that we’re safe,” she added, “He’s not a suck-up, he’s just telling the truth, that he misses being with his family.”
“I-” he grunted as Hen elbowed him to shut up.
“I know you miss eating with us, Christopher hates it,” she said, shaking her head and smiling, “he was telling me all about the fact that you could end up rostered on to work the important days, like Christmas and his birthday.”
“I’ll always try and get his birthday off, I never want to disappoint him,” Evan said as the oven dinged, and he and Bobby started bringing everything over. Everyone was quick to dig in and the food went around the table as the two other lasagnas went into the oven. All four were easily demolished before Maddie had finished the only helping she had.
“That was delicious, Bobby,” Maddie praised, “I was never really one to cook, I can do it, but I don’t enjoy it.”
“Buck does,” Bobby said, “He’s been helping me in the kitchen whenever he can.”
Maddie grinned, “Ah, so that’s where he has been learning a few things from. I know I didn’t teach him to cook, and his CO with the SEALs didn’t.”
“No, Danny did whenever I visited them while on leave. Steve wasn’t even supposed to be with the SEALs, he took on my team and when a mission came up he flew to us from Hawaii,” Evan explained, “So when I had leave, he often grabbed me and took me home while we waited for another mission, or I took some time to travel, ready to head back should the call come through.”
“So you mean that you had a lot of off time?” Chimney asked him, frowning, “That doesn’t seem right.”
“I was part of one of the best teams, Chimney, Steve was the commander but he had other work as well with the Five-0 Task Force in Hawaii. We had small missions without him, but for the larger ones, Steve was recalled from the reserves to take command. So no, I didn’t have a lot of time off, mostly a month, sometimes two months each year, depending on the mission, and its length, since one of them took almost 13 months to complete,” he said, shaking his head, “Look, there is a lot that goes into each mission, and it doesn’t always start with someone going out there, it starts here, with Naval Intelligence and then the teams are selected.”
“Wow,” Hen said, frowning, “thirteen months?” she asked, getting a nod, “How do you deal with being away for that long?” she asked.
Evan shrugged as he got up, rinsed his plate off, and put it in the dishwasher, “It was what it was, there was nothing to do anyway, I didn’t really have a place to call home at the time, I lived either on base in the barracks, or Steve would grab me. I got to know him well, and it was he who directed me to his sister when I didn’t know if I was going to re-up at the end of my last enlistment,” he shrugged again as he walked back, the others all starting to pitch in clearing the table and making sure that the place was clean. The 118 was back online.
“I’ll head out,” Maddie said as she hugged her brother again, “Don’t worry about walking with me,” she said, “I’m fine on my own, I’m not parked far away. I’m going to head to Mary’s, we plan to go shopping, she needs to get a few more things for Joan, can’t believe she is almost five,” she added, shaking her head.
“You should have seen her the first time I met her, she was just turning three and now she’s going to be five,” he shook his head thinking of the little girl who still wanted to follow Christopher around as much as she could.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Evan,” she said, heading to the stairs as Evan was called to help with some of the dishes.
Maddie watched him for a moment and headed to the stairs, going down them she stopped when someone stepped in her way. “May I help you?” she asked, the smile that she had been wearing dropping from her face.
“Yeah,” he said, “I’m Howard,” he told her, “I thought it might be better if you learned my actual name, instead of the nickname that I go by around here,” he stated.
“Why would I need your name, you work with my brother, that’s all I need to know about you,” she stated, as she tried to move around him.
Chimney moved into her path again, “Come on, why won’t you even talk to me.”
“Considering that your first words out of your mouth were somewhat along the lines of calling me Evan’s invisible girlfriend, when I know for a fact, he told everyone here that he’s married to a man, and they have a child. You then proceeded to leer at me,” she said, happy that Dr Marshall had been able to install some confidence back into her. The help she had been given through her therapy was coming in handy.
“Buck has a lot of numbers from the women we meet,” Chimney said in his defense, “I was just teasing him.”
“Doesn’t matter, first impressions do,” she stated, “Now, please, let me pass,” she added, waiting for him to step aside.
“I just want to ask you out, go out for coffee with me?” he asked, giving her a look, almost pleading with her to agree.
“I’m sorry, but the answer is going to be a no. I don’t want to date anyone at the moment, I am recovering from a serious illness, and I’m still trying to come to terms with the end of a marriage that I had hoped would be my only one,” she added, “I won’t be dating, not for some time at the very least, and I wouldn’t date someone who was leering at me as soon as he found out I wasn’t my brother’s so-called invisible girlfriend.”
“Come on, just one date, it won’t hurt you,” he pressed, moving a little closer.
“I said no, now move,” she said more firmly as she looked at the man before her, “I’ll yell, and I’ll report you if you don’t get out of my way,” she threatened, starting to feel very uncomfortable with the man.
Chimney huffed, “Fine, I’ll ask another time when you’re not so up your brother’s ass. He’s not what he seems you know.”
“It’s you who can’t see who my brother is. I’d never, ever, date someone who said such disgusting things about my brother. He is the one person in my family that I truly care about,” she said as she walked past him and headed to her jeep. She was shaking as she got in but felt elated that she had stood up for herself. With a breath, she steadied herself and headed to meet up with Mary.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Bobby looked at the door before him. He had submitted a form, telling the chief that he had omitted a few things on his intake form that he shouldn’t have. He had been wanting to come clean for a while, but it was talking to Eddie and Evan that had given him the last push that he’d needed to get him to actually do something. Bobby wanted to do things right, he knew that his past was something that was always going to be there, but he was starting to think again about his future, and not just the little black book he had.
“Captain Nash, Chief Alonzo is waiting for you, you can go in now,” the receptionist said as she gestured to the door.
“Thank you,” he said, standing up and straightening his uniform as he walked inside, head held high. He had been called in for this meeting, and he had no idea what the end result was going to be. There was a chance that he’d be fired, and he would accept that. He had done wrong after all, but he hoped that maybe he might just be able to keep hold of his job. He loved being a firefighter, and the 118, with the exception of Chimney, was becoming more like a family since the moment Evan stepped through the bay doors.
“Captain Nash,” Chief Alonzo said as he stood up. shaking the man’s hand before gesturing to the chair that was waiting for Bobby, “Please sit, and let’s discuss what you sent through to me.”
“Yes, sir,” he nodded, moving a little stiffly to the chair and sitting down. He sat ramrod straight, looking at the man before him, and hoping that he’d be able to find something in his expression that would tell him what was going to happen, but Chief Alonzo gave nothing away.
“Well, you omitted a few things in your intake about what happened in St Paul,” he said as he looked at the report before him that Bobby had submitted.
“I did, I apologize for it. At the time I was just thinking about leaving St Paul behind, because I knew that what happened was going to cloud my mind all the more being there. It already was in some ways, and since I had… fallen from the wagon again, I knew remaining there was going to be detrimental, and I’d lose myself without a new direction,” he tried to explain his reasonings, “It’s no excuse for what I did, I understand that, which is why I admitted to it. I should not have omitted the truth in the first place,” he finished.
“If you hadn’t told us, we’d never have known about this?” he pointed out.
“But I’d still know about it,” he stated, shaking his head, “That is what made me come forward now. I’ve been at the 118 for a while, and I’ve cleaned the house as much as I have been able to. There is still one problem left in the house, but I’m having trouble dealing with him at the moment. But, I feel that the 118 would be able to cope and still be a strong station without me. There are some very good people, great firefighters and paramedics, I could not be prouder of them.”
“I’ve reviewed what you have reported, and the rules around it,” he stated, “I know you went through something horrific, but lying to us, not telling us something so important, there has to be consequences. While I do not want to see you fired, you must face some disciplinary action for what you have done. Since you have brought this to me, I’ll be suspending you, without pay, for two weeks,” he said, sighing, “I hope there is nothing else that you have failed to tell me about your past, Captain Nash.You will do your next shift, and then your two weeks begin after that.”
“There isn’t anything else, though there is a problem in the 118, that I need to talk to you about,” he said, thinking that if he has the Chief’s ear now, he might as well use it.
“Oh?” he frowned, “I thought you were there to clean house?” he asked him.
“I was. I’ve done what I could, but there is still a problem in the form of Firefighter Paramedic Howard Han. He has been through disciplinary seminars a few times already. I don’t know how many more times I am supposed to send him to those when it is clear that none of them are working. He is skirting the line at the moment, but I am asking that the next time that I have to report him, I please make sure he has the full punishment that is to be given for his infraction. Last time I tried to suspend him for two full shifts, as is normal for harassment of a co-worker. Instead, he was back within thirty-six hours, how can I show those at the 118 that we are cleaning the house when abuse and bullying are still rampant and those that are doing it aren’t punished?” he stated.
“I’ll certainly look into the situation. If it happens again, please CC me in for any report that is sent to HR about him, so I can follow up myself,” he suggested.
“I’ll do so, sir, and thank you, for not firing me. I wouldn’t have fought it, if you had deemed it necessary,” he stated.
“You’re a good captain, Nash, your chief in St Paul was sorry to see you go, even with the events surrounding your departure,” Alonzo told him.
Bobby smiled, “He’s a good man, and helped train me up when I was working from lieutenant to captain,” he said, “He helped me a lot when Marcy and the children died, gave me a place to stay, and tried to help me to get back on my feet.”
“Then don’t disappoint him again, get yourself sorted, and make sure you head back to the 118 stronger than before. I look forward to the direction that you take it,” he said, standing up.
Bobby stood up and shook his hand again, “Thank you for taking the time to see me, and for listening about Firefighter Han as well,” he added.
“I’ll look into things,” he vowed as Bobby then walked out.
Bobby sighed, only two weeks, he could live with that. However, he’d have to go back to the 118 and tell them the news of his suspension. It wasn’t going to be easy, but at least Terrence was there to take over for him, he had the most experience, he might be younger than Chimney, but Terrence had three years more experience than him. He knew that with the last shift, he’d have to make sure people and plans were in place should anything happen. He’d warn Terrance what to do should Chimney play up, and he’d be warning Chimney as well that he now had the Chief of the LAFD in the loop about his behavior, maybe that’d help in calming the man down.
XxXxX
The end of the shift came all too quickly for Bobby as he called the shift to come up to the loft for one last talk. C-Shift was starting to drift in, having been told to wait downstairs while A-Shift was taking. “Right,” Bobby said as the last of the shift stood before him. “I am on a two-week suspension,” he told them, not hiding what happened, “I omitted something on my intake, that has now come to light,” he said, seeing Evan nod reassuringly towards him. “I’ll be back in two weeks.
“So does that mean that I’m captain?” Chimney smirked as he looked around, “You better watch out, I’m going to have you running drills,” he warned them.
“No, Chimney you’re not going to be interim captain at all. You aren’t the longest serving firefighter in this station, and you don’t have the qualifications for it either,” Bobby stated, looking at him, “With the words you just spoke, I wouldn’t trust you to run this shift the way it needs to run,” he added.
“But, Cap!” he protested, “I’ve been here the longest.”
“You may have been at the 118 the longest, but that doesn’t mean anything in the face of almost sixteen years of experience,” he stated, “Terrence, you’re going to be taking over as Interim Captain of the 118 for the five shifts that I’ll be missing. You already know the paperwork that you will have to fill in, and make sure that you keep on top of the others in doing their after-action reports. Which reminds me, Gibbons, Chimney, you still owe me reports from the last two callouts, they better be on my desk before you leave,” he warned them, “I’ll be putting notes on file for those that like to take their time with the reports. But you all know that each of them needs to be on my desk before the end of the shift. It’s why we usually have an hour at the end for turnover,” he reminded them all.
“Cap!” Chimney yelled, “I am not going to work under him, he’s a damn baby!”
“Firefighter Han,” Bobby said, his voice going cold, “You will be working under Interim Captain Terrance Sage for the next two weeks, if you do not wish to, feel free to make a complaint about it, but remember one thing, Han, you don’t have the experience or the qualifications that he does, nor his actual rank; I won’t tolerate insubordination. Due to recent reports, your situation is now being monitored by Chief Alonzo. Any reprimands will be CC’d to him, at his request, as well as the usual channels.”
“What?!” Chimney took a step back, “You can’t do that!”
“I can, and I have, your behavior is the only thing that still brings this station down and I won’t tolerate it anymore. I don’t care what happened when Gerrad was here, he’s no longer a shadow in this station. This is MY station, MY shift, and you will behave,” he said. Each of the firefighters on A-Shift stood up straight as they looked at their captain. It was the first time they had seen this side of him, not since DeLuca had been at the station and had disobeyed orders.”Thank you, Captain Nash, I won’t let you down,” Terrence said as he stepped forward and nodded, “I still around after my shift, so you can take me through everything that I’ll need to know.”
“Sounds good, and if you need any advice, well, I’m just a phone call away,” he told him, as he led the way down to his office.
“This is all going to go badly,” Chimney warned, sneering as he left the others.
“That wasn’t fair to Chimney,” Hen said, frowning as she turned to the others.
“How was it unfair?” Gibbons stated, “He’s always getting away with harassing others? He pretends he’s more than he is all the time. He almost had people believe he could do heavy rescue when he wasn’t certified. If he had tried he would have opened the LAFD up to being sued.”
“But he still has the experience needed to lead the shift,” Hen stated.
“But Terrence has more, almost twice as much as Chimney,” another pointed out, “Look, we get it, Hen, he’s your best friend, but he’s not really a friend to the rest of us. His jokes are never jokes, but barbs that hurt. He makes sure to hit at any weak spot he can find. He can be fine one minute, and then you’re his worst enemy the next. No doubt he’s going to try and cause trouble for Terrence with him taking over. If I was you, I’d distance myself from him. He’s just going to drag you down if he carries on,” he added, shaking his head and heading off.
“He’s right,” Gibbons said as others nodded.
“He doesn’t like me and has made my sister feel so uncomfortable she’s wondering if she should file a complaint about him,” Evan added, “one day, he’s going to go too far with his behavior towards women, and it’s going to fuck up the rest of his life. I just hope you’re not collateral damage when it happens,” he warned her as he headed off as well.
Hen stood there, frowning at the others, she had believed that Chimney was well-liked by A-Shift. She shook her head as she started to go through the interactions that Chimney had with the rest of the shift, when she was close by, trying to figure out what was going on.
Chapter Fifty
Chimney had taken the warning to heart. However, that was more because Hen had kept a close eye on him right from the start. Terrence had run the shift much like Bobby, he and Evan doing the bulk of the cooking, but the others all pitched in where they could. He had only had to remind them a few times about getting their after-action reports in. Chimney had taken the piss, and the only reprimand he had was for not handing in his reports before the end of the shift. Which resulted in a one-shift suspension on shift number four without Bobby being around.
The middle of September brought several changes in the Diaz household. Maddie was searching for her own place, since the sightings of Doug had stopped, although the police were still on the lookout for him. He’d gone to the ground after being spotted outside of Evan and Eddie’s home. They’d confirmed that it had been him, from CCTV footage from the house he’d been standing in front of.. When he turned to flee, his face was easily seen in the high-quality footage.
Maddie had been distraught, but determined, especially with Dr Marshal and Evan’s support, they helped her in finding a place. It would be secured enough that no one would be able to get in that she didn’t allow. She’d also started working again, she had tried to go back to nursing, but after a shift, she hadn’t been able to stay. She had looked over her shoulder too much, afraid that Doug would get to her. In the end, she had gone and started working at dispatch.
Evan looked at his phone and sighed, there were messages again. A few missed calls from Abby as well. Since the funeral she had been calling often, trying to talk to him. He had answered two of the calls so far, telling her that his work was getting busy and he was busy with family things as well. It helped a little that Maddie now worked at dispatch, and had met Abby. Maddie had returned from work after that shift, growling a little about the woman who had said that she and Evan had been close.
Eddie and Evan were doing what they could to deter the woman from talking to him all the time, but that wasn’t the only thing they were fighting against. Three more women had popped up over the last two weeks, each of them coming to try and attack Evan, believing that he had been speaking to them and then had ghosted them. Two had been arrested and charged, and the third had been able to listen to reason and had apologized for almost hitting him. She’d found him to be truthful, it also helped that Eddie and Christopher were with him again for that one. The other two had accosted him at the fire station. Chimney egging them on, telling them both that Evan got a lot of numbers while he was working, and was known to flirt. Terrence had been the one to shut that up the moment he heard it, and the police had been called straight away.
“You okay?” Hen asked as she walked over and sat beside him on the couch. The rest of the shift was downstairs getting ready. Bobby was returning that shift, and Terrence was thankful for it. He hadn’t enjoyed having to deal with Chimney all the time.
“Yeah, these women, I just want to know why they keep coming for me. I’ve found nine profiles on Myspace, three on Facebook, and six on Insta,” he sighed, “Two more on Twitter. I’ve put out that I only have one profile on Insta and that’s it, but,” he sighed again, shaking his head, “No one is listening. They are all so damn happy to be talking to a fake instead of the real me. I’ve put on mine that I’m married as well. No one wants to believe it. Doesn’t help that when they come here to confront me, someone keeps telling them that I’m single and flirting with anything that breathes,” he growled as he thought of what Chimney did each time a woman came to the station.
“I get you,” she said.
“Do you really?” he asked, “If Eddie and I weren’t so sure about each other, this could ruin my marriage. I have a son to think about, and that dickhead isn’t helping things. I’ve been hit six times so far, how many more times am I going to have to press charges on these women because that idiot likes to goad them on? It’s not him who suffers in the end, the women do. Two I know have lost their jobs because of it, I initially didn’t want to press charges, but Bobby said I can’t let it slide as it sets a bad precedent. Now though, I’m fine with pressing charges, because… I can’t let it carry on, I can’t.”
Hen nodded and stood up, “Yeah,” she nodded again as she walked away, “I just have to do something,” she added.
“Okay,” Evan said, shaking his head as he went through his messages, forwarding a few toward Steve. The man was doing what he could about the catfishing, the sites so far weren’t being cooperative with him, but that didn’t mean his team was just letting it go. They were shutting down the profiles they came across, hacking into them, and sending word to the victims that were being contacted that they were being catfished and that the real Evan Diaz was married with a child, and his image was being used against his wishes.
Hen walked down the stairs, seeing Chimney coming out of the locker room, she grabbed his arm, and yanked him towards the ambo, and almost threw him inside, “We need to talk,” she demanded, her eyes flashing a little with anger.
“What’s this about, Hen?” he asked her, sitting down on the gurney.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing goading those poor women that come here?” she asked him, “Really, what do you think is going to keep happening if they keep accosting Buck like they are?” she asked, waiting for him to answer. She hummed at him, to do so again when he remained silent.
“Why should it matter to you?” he asked her, frowning, “This is just Buck trying to drive a wedge between us.”
“No, this is me thinking about those women whose lives are being destroyed because they aren’t listening to what Buck is saying. Instead, they are listening to you as they go and attack him. They are getting arrested and being charged with assault,” she told him, “Two of them have lost their jobs, Chimney. And that’s because you goaded them into hitting him, telling them that he deserves it.”
“And he does, he is being flirting with all the damn time!” Chimney yelled out, “How is that fair?”
“Chimney, he doesn’t want it!” she yelled back, “He’s happily married, with a son, for fucks sake,” she shook her head, “Instead you’re happily destroying the lives of the women that come here to confront someone innocent. The catfisher that is doing this is still out there and causing harm to women, by making them believe they have a chance with him. He has been able to talk to a few and he has found a dozen accounts on the different social media platforms and tried to get them shut down. He only has the one social media account that he uses, which I follow, and it’s set to private, as it has pictures of himself, his husband, his son, and their families. It’s like I don’t know who you are anymore,” she said as she got up and opened the door to the back of the ambulance, “Think hard if you want to continue down this path, Chim, I love you like a brother, but sometimes you’re a damn fool,” she stated leaving him alone.
Not even a step away from the ambulance, the ground beneath them shook violently. They ran out of the station as glass broke and tools fell from their hooks. It started the beginning of a very long day for A-Shift, and Bobby was now back on shift with a bang.
XxXxX
Eddie was only just able to pull his car over as the world shook. “Fuck, he said as he pulled out his phone and sent a mass message to everyone, to head to his home. Pepa replied that she was closest to Durand, and would pick up Christopher on her way. Eddie was grateful for it, and as the world slowed its shaking he could see someone had crashed not far in front of him. Pulling out his phone he began to call 9-1-1.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” came the smooth voice on the other end.
“My name is Eddie Diaz,” he said, giving his location, “Vehicle crashed before me, three cars, one van, there is smoke rising from one of the cars,” He stated as he got closer, the window was smashed on the first car. “The driver of a dark blue Toyota, one infant, one child, passengers” he stated, “All alive,” he said as he could hear the baby crying. The little boy was crying for his mom. Who was breathing but looking very dazed? “The driver is somewhat conscious. Ma’am,” he said, trying to get her to answer him.
“Mattie, Tina,” she called out as she started to return to herself.
“If you can move, I suggest that you get out of the car. It’s not safe,” Eddie instructed as he tried to pull open the back passenger side door, and found it stuck. The woman was able to stumble out of the car and get to the back, Eddie helped with the baby, as the driver got the child, taking them to where he had been able to stop. “Stay there,” he said, still on the line with dispatch as he went through the other three vehicles.
“Thank you, Dispatch,” Eddie said as he finished relaying things to them, as the sirens could be heard.
“Welcome, Eddie,” he said, “Glad you were able to help there, they are no doubt grateful for it,” he added.
“Yeah, thank you,” he said as he hung up and looked at where the sirens were coming from. Everyone was out of the vehicles and was sitting at the side. Thankfully, he hadn’t been able to detect any serious injuries, except for the concussion that the first woman had. The rest were bumps and bruises, but there was no telling what might be hidden in the end.
The fire and ambulance soon arrived and took over as he remained on the scene for a moment before he headed home. The feeling of being able to help someone was like a balm to his soul. A message finally got through to him, letting him know that Pepa had been able to pick up Christopher, but they were having a little trouble heading back. There were a lot of crashes going on and some of the roads were impassable, but she’d find a way to his home.
Eddie got in his truck and called Abuela, needing to know that she was okay. It took a few tries for the call to connect, but it did. “Abuela, you okay?” he asked.
“Si, nieto,” she answered, “I’m fine. The neighbors need help, are you able to?” she asked, “Nothing bad, just a little help.”
“Sure, I’m on my way,” he said, nodding to himself and grateful that his arm was strong enough now to be able to cope with helping out, he’d been working hard in his rehab to make sure of that. That was how Eddie’s day had gone, people calling out for help as he made his way around the streets, helping with minor things that he could do, fixing a few plumbing problems, righting furniture, and helping to check over the homes. Nothing big, but as Evan returned home that night, they collapsed in each other’s arms, happy that they had done all they could to help the people of LA.
