Author's Note: Hey all! So, this my latest Abby/Buck story. This has taken a little longer than my previous stories to get ready (to post), but hopefully you'll enjoy it. Do let me know what you think, always love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Chapter One

Abby

Abby felt a strange sense of nervousness as she walked through arrivals at LAX. After the train crash two years ago, rail travel had begun to lose its shine a little and she had switched back to air travel. This was the first time she'd been back to LA since the crash and she thought about how different things were now.

For one thing, she was single again. Her and Sam hadn't lasted long after the crash. It wasn't really the fault of either of them, but the situation had changed things. Sam had known about Buck before, and unsurprisingly hadn't given him much thought. However, afterwards he was curious about Buck, the man who had saved his life, and had become more and more paranoid about Abby's relationship with him. Abby explained again and again that, whilst she was grateful that Buck had saved Sam's life and although she had met up with Buck the next day, she and Buck were finished and she no longer had any contact with him. But Sam couldn't shake the feeling that their relationship was perhaps more serious than Abby had led him to believe. He questioned why else Buck would've gone to such lengths to save him, if not for Abby. No matter how many times she explained that it was because Buck was good at his job, Sam couldn't seem to move past his paranoia. Three weeks before they were due to get married, Abby had had enough of the constant questions and arguing and she finished things with him.

However, Abby had made herself at home in Phoenix and had decided to stay. It wasn't like it wasn't a big enough city. She'd actually not seen Sam at all since she'd left. She assumed he was still in Phoenix, after all she had originally moved to Phoenix to be with him. But as it turned out she liked it and had stuck around, finding herself a place in the thick of things. She worked as part of a coaching team to elite young swimmers – the type that she had been at fifteen or sixteen, on the brink of an Olympic dream. It was fast paced and exciting, which she supposed was where the satisfaction from being a 911 operator had come from. The money was fair, at least it was enough for a small box apartment, with a bedroom, bathroom, small living space and kitchenette, but she supposed on her own, she didn't really need anything else. It wasn't like she was going to be sharing the space with anyone, she wasn't dating and she wasn't going to have any children. She'd pretty much given up on that, she had begun to feel the curtain pull across her window of opportunity after her fortieth birthday, and now at forty-six there wasn't even a sliver of light showing. So that idea was over.

But she was happy enough, she had some friends, mostly from work, and she'd occasionally socialise with them, they all had busy schedules with coaching, sometimes it was hard to find the time.

So, this weekend was a rare treat. Abby had been able to get a couple of other coaches to cover her sessions for the Friday evening, Saturday and the Sunday afternoon. Monday was Labor Day so there would be no sessions until Tuesday. She had the whole weekend to enjoy the festivities. Abby wasn't in LA to celebrate Labor Day though. She was here for Carla's fiftieth birthday party. In true Carla style, she was going all out. She'd booked a function room at a swanky hotel, beautiful gardens. They were having a giant barbeque and open bar. Carla had promised a dance floor and an all-round fun filled weekend. Carla had invited Abby months ago and so she had had plenty of time to make arrangements.

"Hey girl!" Carla smiled enthusiastically, encircling Abby in a tight hug when she greeted her.

"Hey Carla! You know you didn't have to meet me at the airport, but thank you." Abby smiled, hugging her back. Carla was the person Abby missed most from LA. There weren't a lot of people she spoke to in LA nowadays. She had a couple of friends she'd kept up with, sent Christmas cards to, but mostly she'd left all that behind.

"Of course I did. You know you could've stayed with us, right? You didn't have to book a hotel." Carla told her as they headed out to the parking lot.

"I know, but I figured you'd be busy and I kind of relish the idea of a luxury hotel room, you know I almost never go away." Abby told her. Abby was being truthful she had been excited about staying in such a comfortable establishment, but she had had to dip into her savings to pay for it.

"Well this hotel is amazing, you're gonna love it, the rooms are gorgeous, you're gonna wish you had a man for that massive bed you'll have." Carla winked at her.

"Oh no, I'm looking forward to being able to starfish, my bed at my apartment is a standard and before that I lived with Sam, I haven't been able to starfish since Europe." Abby told her. Carla laughed as she jabbed a key at a black Jeep, the lights flashed and Carla opened up the trunk for Abby's suitcase.

The hotel was amazing, every bit as amazing as it had sounded. She was pretty sure the bedroom alone was bigger than her whole apartment. There was also a living space, a bathroom with a tub and walk in shower, and a balcony, overlooking the LA skyline. Abby flopped down on the bed, stretching out her limbs and sighed in contentment. This weekend was going to be fantastic.

Buck

Buck felt exhausted by the time he finished work on Saturday morning. It was eight o clock and the evening had been busy. He'd spent most of his shift trying to locate and then rescue two teenagers who had broken into a derelict building for a romantic rendezvous. They had fallen through some compromised flooring and found themselves unable to get out. It hadn't helped that they had been drinking. The combination of the drunken description of their surroundings and the fact that the whole building was a death trap had meant it took the team a lot longer to find and rescue them safely. He supposed it was lucky they weren't hurt any worse and were still able to dial 9-1-1.

"Get some sleep man. I'll see you later. Christopher is super excited you agreed to come. Lena and I will pick you up en route." Eddie said as he headed out of the fire house.

Buck did need to get some sleep. He had agreed to go to Carla's 50th birthday party. He very much liked Carla, but he was surprised to get the invite. But he supposed it would be a help to Eddie, who was taking Lena with him to the party. If Buck was there, then he could entertain Christopher. Although Buck kind of wished Eddie had just asked him to hang out with Christopher at his house.

Buck got on well with Carla, after all he had been the one to recommend her to Eddie, but somehow, he always ended up connecting Carla to Abby. If he hadn't gotten involved with Abby he never would've met Carla. He often wondered if she was still in contact with her, she never mentioned her, but it seemed unlikely that Abby and Carla would just cut ties. They had seemed to have a genuine friendship, beyond Carla simply being Patricia's nurse. Abby had really relied on Carla more than anyone else besides him, not only for support with her mother, but for friendship. Carla had really been one of the few people Abby had seemed to stay in contact with when she went to Europe, and it had hurt a little that she hadn't chosen to stay in more frequent contact with him. But it was over two years now since he'd last seen Abby and he found he thought about her less and less. It wasn't like she was ever going to return to LA, and she was probably married to Sam, living the life she had planned with him in Phoenix. There was little point in dwelling on that. He at least felt confident she wouldn't be at Carla's party, because surely Carla would've mentioned it to him.

When he arrived back at his apartment, he didn't even bother showering before crawling into bed. He set his alarm for 4PM, later than he normally would, but as he needed to be ready by 7PM and it was probably going to be a late night, he decided he would indulge in a couple of extra hours. He woke up slowly with the alarm buzzing in his ears. He really wanted to stay in bed, it was warm and comfortable and he could easily sleep for several more hours, but he had agreed to go the party, so he had to get up. He used to really enjoy big parties, especially when he was younger, he could go to almost any crowded place, pick up a pretty girl and then take her home for the night and never see her again. He could still do this and from time to time he did. He wasn't quite as prolific as he had been before Abby. He did want to find someone long term, but he was still human and he still had needs. He'd struggled to find a girlfriend over the past couple of years. Girls liked him and so that part was easy, but he just kept finding nice girls, that weren't really that interesting to him. They were often pretty, about his age, up for a good time, but beyond that, they seemed kind of bland. He tried not to compare them to Abby, he really did, but she had set the bar for him and it seemed she'd set it pretty high.

As promised Eddie picked him up at 7PM. As he hopped into the back of Eddie's car, he noticed that whilst Lena was sat in the front, looking extremely feminine, the way she only ever really did around Eddie, and even then, it was rare, Christopher was missing.

"Where's Chris?" Buck frowned. Wasn't that mostly the reason he was going?

"Oh yeah, he got a last-minute sleepover invite. He and some friends are having a gaming night." Eddie told him casually.

"Why didn't you tell me? I was only coming for Christopher." Buck told him. Buck was annoyed, he'd actually bothered to wear a suit for this.

"Because you need to get out more man, you can't just stay in your apartment all the time, you're getting really boring, and this is Carla, you know she'll throw an awesome party." Eddie told him.

"So, you decided that bringing me as a third wheel was a good idea?" Buck asked.

"You won't be third wheel, it's a party, find a girl and chat her up." Eddie said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's a fiftieth birthday party, how many girls around our age do you think there will be?" Buck pointed out.

"It's Carla, she has loads of friends that are younger than her, and wasn't your last girlfriend sixteen years older than you anyway?" Eddie was not letting up.

"Oh, thanks for bringing that up man." Buck grumbled and scowled in the backseat.

"Come on Buck, it'll be fine, we promise not to leave you out…much." Lena grinned at him, before shooting Eddie and seductive smile.