Evangeline "Buck" Buckley took a deep, steadying breath as she looked up at Firehouse 118. She loved working here, has loved it from the moment she stepped through the doors for the first time. It had felt like coming home, like family, and that was something Buck surely needed.
Her life hadn't been easy, sure, some people had it a lot worse than her but still, let her complain every once and again. Growing up with her parents, who basically didn't raise her, and her older sister Maddie, who did raise her, wasn't the easiest thing in the world.
Buck's parents hadn't planned on having more children after Maddie, but then her mother ended up pregnant with Buck and being from a religious family, Buck's mother refused to get an abortion.
After giving Buck the name 'Evangeline Calista Buckley', which, frankly, sounded so very pompous to Buck that she hated her name. According to her mother it was a pristine name and showed that she was from a good, 'well off' family. Buck just called it a white, rich, snob name.
And yes, Buck knew that she might be a tiny bit biased and rude about it, but come on! Her parents were all about image and looking good and being perfect. Her mother even put her in beauty competitions as a kid for fuck sakes! Who does that to a child? And as she got older, her mother and father bragged about her beauty to anyone and everyone they could, not caring about what Buck wanted or how she felt about it, all the while making Buck hide all her little imperfections with makeup i.e., the birthmark over her eye.
The only time they paid attention to her was when there was some new beauty pageant or ballet course she was to participate in on her mother's part, and her father only paid attention to her when he was mad at her or to try and show his 'beautiful daughter' off to his colleagues.
She had left as soon as she turned 18 and hadn't looked back since. At first, she had joined the Navy and the SEALs, determined to be the first female Navy SEAL in history. She had almost managed her goal, even specializing in EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), and the physical part had been easy, but they had wanted machines more than people, they wanted her to flip a switch in her head and shut of her emotions and Buck just couldn't do that.
So she quit, started traveling and trying to find herself. She had finally found her calling in life when she joined the fire academy and then when she was placed at the 118 and she was happier than she'd ever been.
That Abby, her best friend that Buck might, might, have a crush on, left to find herself after her mother's death, hurt a lot but Buck could understand why she needed to leave. It might also help to get Buck to leave her crush on Abby behind and move on, because Buck knew she didn't have a chance with Abby due to the fact that Abby was as straight as someone could possibly be.
"Hey Buck, you going in or are you just going to stand there all day?" Chimney's voice made her turn to the left with a smile.
"I just got lost in thought for a minute." Buck chuckled. "Good morning Chim. You doing the firefighter calendar thing?"
"Morning Buck." Chim smiled back at her before they made their way inside the firehouse to start their day. "Yeah, I was thinking about it."
"You'll do great." Buck encouraged with a smile.
"You really think so?" Chim sounded unsure.
"I love you like a brother Chim, but I can objectively say that you are a good-looking man with very attractive attributes." Buck patted him on the shoulder.
"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Hen walked up to them with a smile.
"We're talking about Chim being good looking enough for the Hot days, Smoldering Nights: Men of the LAFD wall calendar." Buck beamed as she nudged Chim with her shoulder.
"Do you really need to use the whole title?" Chim laughed.
"You could just say 'that idiotic, reductive, sexist calendar that insults the dignity of this organization and furthers the myth that all firefighters are male'." Hen pointed out with a small sneer.
"Yeah, that's not any less words." Chim pointed out.
"Hen, come on, it's for charity." Bobby said as he walked up to them.
"No, Bobby, you too?" Hen looked disappointed.
"Well, why not?" Bobby shrugged. "They say a man is at his sexiest when he reaches 50."
"I think it's great that you're both doing this for charity." Buck piped up. "And Hen, you and me are here to prove that not all firefighters are male."
"Dude, most guys on accident scenes look at you like you're a goddess the moment they find out you're a girl." Chim laughed.
"That's because she is." Hen declared with a smirk. "Buck is 5'9 and built like an Amazonian Warrior Princess and if I wasn't already married and in love with Karen, I would so worship at the alter at Buck's feet."
"Ehh…. Thanks?" Buck stuttered out with a blush, before turning the subject back to the calendar. "I just think it's sad that they only pick one candidate from each station."
"Okay, that is a beautiful man." Chim spoke up, looking at something behind Buck.
"Where's the lie?" Hen asked slowly. "And I like girls."
"Does who ever that is know that they're basically giving us a show?" Buck wondered.
"Probably not." Hen chuckled. "Who is that, anyway?"
"That's Eddie Diaz. New recruit" Bobby answered. "Graduated top of his class just this week. Guys over at Station 6 were dying to have him, but I convinced him to join us."
"What did you do?" Buck smirked as she turned back to Bobby. "Bribes or threats?"
"Really, Buck?" Bobby gave her a look. "He served multiple tours in Afghanistan as an Army medic. Guys got a Silver Star. It's not like he's wet behind the ears. Come on, I'll introduce you to him."
The sirens were wailing as they rushed towards their first call for the day. Bobby had only had time to do a quick introduction before the bell had rung and they were off.
"So Eddie, uh, you heard about the hot firefighter calendar?" Hen asked after a minute in the truck.
"Sorry, the what?" Eddie looked confused.
"It's for charity." Buck spoke up with a smile. "You should sign up. Both Bobby and Chim are doing it."
Eddie chuckled, looking a bit embarrassed. "I don't know…"
"Come on." Hen coaxed with a bright smile.
Buck saw how uncomfortable Eddie was getting and decided to change the subject. "So, a little weird question, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but is Eddie short for Edmundo?"
"Yeah, how did you know?" Eddie looked up at her gratefully. "Most people guess Eduardo."
"I was going to guess at Edgar just to see how you would react, but decided against it." Buck laughed.
"I can't tell if she's being serious or not." Eddie looked over at Hen and Chim.
"With Buck it's always a fifty/fifty." Chim chuckled, but before he could elaborate, they had arrived at the scene.
"What's the situation?" Bobby asked the man who came to meet them as they arrived.
"The air nozzle is embedded in his ass cheek." The man explained as quickly as he could. "I shut it off, but I was afraid to move him."
Buck listened as Bobby told them what to do, all the while speaking kindly with the vic, Hector, trying to keep him as calm as possible. The best thing to do in these situations was to keep calm and not panic, panic usually resulted in the worsening of their injuries.
"Buck, I need you to get a 14-gauge angiocath." Bobby ordered as everything else seemed to have failed. "We need to start decompressing the pleural cavity."
"All right, I'll get on it." Buck nodded and went to work.
Buck started pulling out the tools she needed as she heard Eddie ask, "Want me to help?"
"Hang in there, Hector." Buck murmured to them man before nodding at Eddie. "Have you ever done anything like this?"
"I've treated guys with a collapsed lung in combat." Eddie nodded slowly.
"Then you do it." Buck held out the tools towards Eddie. "I have the training and the knowledge but this is a time when I can't screw up, so please."
"I've got you." Eddie smiled kindly at her. "Can you help me with the shirt?"
Buck pulled Hector's overshirt out of the way so Eddie could cut a hole in the undershirt. As Eddie pushed the needle into Hector's chest, Buck watched intently so that she would know what to do next time.
The moment air started flowing out of Hector's chest, Buck could see the slight relief on Eddie's face. A few seconds later Hector started to breathe again and Buck felt herself relax and she smiled down at Hector.
"You're doing great, man." Buck told him.
"Are you…?" Hector gasped out as he looked slightly dazed and out of it.
"Am I what?" Buck asked slowly.
"Are you an Angel?" Hector's voice was still breathless as he looked up at Buck in awe.
"And Buck's pretty face strikes again." Hen snorted as Chim chuckled while they wheeled Hector away.
"Does this happen often?" Eddie asked as he watched Buck walk over to the fire truck with an odd look on her face.
"Oh yeah." Chim nodded with a smirk. "You might not have noticed with Buck wearing all the gear but according to Hen she is… what was it you called her this morning? Oh right, An Amazonian Warrior Princess."
"Well, she is!" Hen declared as they walked towards the truck. "The first time I told Karen, my wife, about Buck and what she looked like she got mad and a little jealous but then when she met Buck, she just turned to me and said she 'Completely understood why'."
Coming home to Abby's apartment after a long shift and with the only plan of taking a hot shower and then binge watch The Flash, Buck was very surprised when she saw the opened wine bottle on the counter, along with a glass and hearing the shower going.
At first, she was very happy that Abby was home again but then she frowned. That was white wine on the counter, Abby didn't like white wine and only drank red, so who was in her apartment?
Buck grabbed a frying pan from the stove as quietly as she could before slowly walking towards the bathroom. Creeping up on whomever was in the shower made adrenaline curse through her body and with a deep, but quiet, breathe, Buck pulled the shower curtain aside with a scream, incidentally making the person in the shower scream to.
"Maddie?!" Buck asked, shocked, as he lowered the frying pan.
"Damn it, Evie!" Maddie glared. "Don't you knock?"
"Me?" Buck looked at her older sister like she'd lost her mind. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was in town and I wanted to see my little sister." Maddie told her.
"You could've called." Buck pointed out, then she smirked. "But seems like I've seen you instead, huh?"
"Yeah." Maddie laughed a little awkwardly.
"I'll go fix some food, you finish your shower." Buck chuckled as she walked out of the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, Buck gave Maddie a plate of food with a teasing sibling smile. "So, I gotta admit, you look good Maddie."
"Oh shut up." Maddie threw a piece of bacon at her.
"What? You do." Buck laughed as they walked into the living room. "By the way, how did you even get in here?"
"I told the building manager I was your sister." Maddie told her simply.
"And he just believed you?" Buck looked at her in disbelief.
"Well, having boobs doesn't hurt." Maddie looked up with a smirk.
"Yeah, the building manager is a bit of a chest man." Buck nodded in agreement, having noticed that any time she talked to him he was staring at her breasts. "How'd you know where I live?"
"Well, first I went to the address the Christmas cards keep coming from and the guy said you were here." Maddie shrugged.
"So you did get those Christmas cards?" Buck asked sadly.
"I'm sorry I haven't been in though lately." Maddie apologized softly.
"Three years, Maddie." Buck muttered, feeling the all to well known feeling of abandonment fill her chest. "I haven't heard from you in three years."
"Yeah, I know and I'm so very sorry." Maddie pulled Buck into a hug, both of them clinging to the other.
"So, since when do you cook?" Maddie asked as they pulled back. "I already knew you were a bit of a baker but food has never been your strong suit."
"Yeah, my, uh… my boss, Captain Bobby Nash, is like Guy Fieri." Buck shrugged with a small blush. "He's been teaching me, but we haven't made it past breakfast yet."
"That's very nice of him." Maddi smiled softly, before looking around the apartment. "This is a really nice place, little sister."
"Oh, it's not mine, sadly." Buck chuckled. "It's my best friend's place. I'm just looking after it while she's out traveling for a couple of months."
"You actually have a female best friend?" Maddie asked in mock shock.
"Shut up." Buck nudged Maddie with a smile.
"Wasn't it you who said… what was it again?" Maddie smirked teasingly. "Oh, I remember, 'Girls are so complicated, I'm only ever having boy friends'."
"I was seven!" Buck groaned
"But you were so determined." Maddie laughed freely.
Yesterday and this morning Buck made herself scares and Eddie started to wonder if she was mad or embarrassed that she had asked him for help back at the scene with Hector. He tried to talk to her when he saw her that morning but Buck was an excellent avoider and she got away from Eddie in record time. The next time he saw her was a couple of hours later and he could admit, at least to himself, that he froze slightly when he did.
Buck was doing pullups at the end of what counted as a gym at the 118, wearing a lose tank top and a pair of baseball shorts. And Eddie had to agree with Hen and Chim, Buck was built like a mix between Xena the Warrior Princess and a Model.
Eddie quickly shook those thoughts out of his head, feeling them to be rude and inappropriate to have about a team mate, before walking up to her as Buck landed on her feet after letting go of the pullup bar.
"Hey Buck." Eddie called out before she could walk away again.
"Oh, hey Eddie." Buck looked up at him with a small smile. "Can I help you with something?"
"Did I do something to offend you or something?" Eddie asked quickly.
"What?" Buck looked confused. "No, why would you think that?"
"It feels like you've been avoiding me since the call at the garage yesterday." Eddie pointed out with an awkward shrug.
"I wasn't avoiding you, not really." Buck shrugged. "It's just… got a lot on my mind, is all. I'm sorry if I've been rude, it was not my intention."
"It's okay, I just thought I had done something." Eddie shrugged with an embarrassed smile. "Or that you felt… weird about asking the new guy for help yesterday."
"I'm actually really glad that you had done something like that before." Buck admitted while rubbing the back of her neck. "One wrong move from me and Hector could have died."
"Thank you for trusting me." Eddie said strongly.
"Thank you for not mocking me about it." Buck smiled at him and clapped him on the shoulder before making her way towards the showers, leaving a grinning Eddie behind.
"Fire and Rescue." Bobby called out as Buck followed him into the house. "Hello?"
"I'm back here." A muffled male voice came from further in the house. "Help me."
"There is a lot of different military things here." Buck muttered as she looked around, feeling a tiny bit uncomfortable.
"Back here." The voice sounded again and Bobby managed to lead them into the correct room.
"Oh thank God." The man sitting on a chair with a bloody rag tied around his leg looked up with relief as Bobby and Buck entered.
"Hello, sir." Buck smiled kindly at the man as she kneeled down on his left side while Bobby crouched on his right.
"What's your name, sir?" Bobby asked slowly as he checked the wound.
"Charlie." The man, Charlie introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you Charlie, I'm Buck." Buck smiled up at him. "The man beside you is Bobby."
"Nice to meet you too, Miss." Charlie managed to give her a smile. "Wish it was under different circumstances though."
"You and me both, Charlie, you and me both." Buck chuckled.
"All right, tell us what happened, Charlie." Bobby asked as he inspected the wound in Charlie's thigh.
"Damn grenade went off while I was taking it apart." Charlie looked annoyed with himself.
"Why where you taking it apart?" Buck asked, more to distract Charlie than anything else.
"I was cleaning it." Charlie said. "I'm a collector."
"No kidding." Bobby looked up with a smile.
"And you accidentally pulled the pin?" Buck wanted to clarify.
"Oh, it ain't that kind of grenade." Charlie shook his head slightly. "It's a 40-Mike-Mike. A practice round for an…"
"M203 grenade launcher?" Buck filled in when Charlie trailed of to breathe through the pain.
"Yes, how did you know?" Charlie looked at Buck with interest.
"I've fired one of those a couple of times." Buck smirked.
"You really are the sort of person they talk about when they say 'Don't judge a book by its covers', aren't you?" Charlie chuckled.
"Makes life interesting though." Buck smiled back.
"So, how did you end up with the grenade in your leg?" Bobby brought them back to the topic that was more pressing at the moment.
"I picked it up at a flea market in Brea, part of my 'Nam collection." Charlie told Bobby. "My screwdriver must have touched the propelling charge. I…"
Charlie was interrupted by Bobby, "All right, I see metal. A lot of shrapnel. Femoral artery has been nicked, we got to get him transported now!"
A few minutes later Buck was in the back of the ambulance with Eddie and Charlie. Buck was sitting on the bench, trying to stop the bleeding in Charlie's legs with gauze.
"I guess you've seen a lot of shrapnel wounds." Buck spoke up softly as she looked up at Eddie.
"My share." Eddie agreed.
"Is it as bad as it looks?" Buck asked quietly to not let Charlie hear her.
"It's a lot of small wounds that bleed a lot." Eddie said and she knew he was trying to reassure her without actually lying. As Charlie gave a groan Eddie focused again. "Need to change those dressings, they're soaking through."
"Hang in there Charlie, we're almost there." Buck piped up as she did her best to smile at Charlie.
Buck removed the dressings and froze, "Hey Eddie, correct me if I'm wrong, but practice rounds have blue caps, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Eddie looked at her.
"That one's gold." Buck felt the adrenalin course through her body.
"Shit, that's live." Eddie cursed and hit the celling of the ambulance. "Pull over!"
After Bobby had called the bomb squad, and they had arrived, they took an x-ray of Charlie's leg to see where and how the grenade had lodged in Charlie's leg.
"Yup." Jim, the captain of the bomb squad, said as he looked at the x-ray. "There she is."
"He's got a live round embedded in his thigh." Bobby sounded impressed and shocked.
"He's lucky it was a launch grenade." Buck hummed thoughtfully, then she continued as she saw the curious look Bobby sent her. "It has two components: gunpowder which makes it travel and an explosive charge that makes it go boom."
"Okay, so why didn't this one go boom?" Bobby asked slowly.
"It's fitted with a proximity fuse." Buck explained to him, not seeing the interested look on Jim's face and the surprised look on Eddie's. "It's a smart sensor that tells the cap its traveled a safe distance from the shooter to explode."
Eddie nodded in agreement, "From his hand to his leg probably wasn't far enough."
"Well, we can't bring him inside a hospital full of people, not with that stuck inside him." Bobby pointed out.
"We called the military for help." Jim said slowly. "Sadly, we can't do this ourselves. We need to find someone who knows how to pull that thing out of him without setting it off."
Buck could see the look Bobby was giving her. He was the only one who knew about her Navy days and what she had specialized in, before Buck could say anything to Bobby, Jim spoke again.
"They're sending someone up from Pendleton." Jim informed them. "Should be here within in the hour."
"He doesn't have an hour." Buck pointed out.
"Buck…" Bobby trailed off and she knew he was asking if she could do it.
Buck opened her mouth to say that she could but before she had the chance Eddie piped up, "I can do it. If he doesn't go to surgery soon, he'll die."
"You've done this before?" Bobby asked slowly.
"Well, none of the guys I served with were dumb enough to shoot a live round in themselves, but I'm familiar with the ordnance."
"I'm in." Buck spoke up confidently.
After getting into the bomb squad getup, Buck and Eddie made their way into the back of the ambulance where Charlie was still lying on the bed.
"How you feeling there, Charlie?" Eddie asked as they climbed in.
"Like a world-class idiot." Charlie remarked. "My wife, if she was still alive, she'd be here now saying; I told you so. Maybe she'll be able to tell me in person in a minute."
"That conversation will have to wait." Buck smiled at Charlie. "You are not allowed to quit now, understood?"
"Yes ma'am." Charlie gave a half salute at her and she chuckled.
"What branch did you say you were in, Charlie?" Eddie asked after he had started the drip.
"I didn't. I always wanted to be a Marine." Charlie explained quietly. "I tried to enlist during 'Nam, but I was 4F, an enlarged heart. So instead, I spent the last 40 years teaching seventh grade."
"See there, Charlie?" Eddie said kindly. "Not all heroes serve on the battlefield."
"That's very kind of you to say." Charlie murmured and Buck smiled at Eddie.
"Charlie, do you know if it's an M433 round or an M406 round that you have in your leg?" Buck asked slowly.
"Why does it matter?" Charlie looked confused.
"It matters because if it's an M433 we have a little more wriggle room to move it, but we have less wriggle room if it's an M406." Buck explained patiently. "An M433 is designed to travel further than the M406."
"I'm sorry but I don't know." Charlie looked pained that he couldn't help more.
"That's okay Charlie, we'll just have to assume it's an M406 and try our best not to wriggle it to much." Buck patted him on the shoulder. "Now you just sleep and when you wake up me and Eddie will have this out of your leg."
"Thank you kindly…" Charlie trailed off as the good drugs started to work.
"You ready?" Eddie turned to her.
"Let's do this." Buck nodded decisively.
Buck pulled the gauze off the wound and frowned slightly. "He's losing a lot of blood."
"Keep pressure on it." Eddie instructed as he moved closer with the claw thing to pull the grenade out. "Not too much pressure."
The next few minutes were nerve wrecking to Buck, blood seeping over her hands as Eddie did his best to get the grenade out without twisting it but finding out that he had to turn it to get it out.
After everything was said and done, Buck and Eddie were standing off to the side taking off their borrowed gear when Eddie spoke up. "You're badass under pressure, you know that?"
"So are you, man, so are you." Buck laughed brightly, feeling the adrenalin slowly leaving her body.
"You can have my back any day." Eddie told her with a bright smile.
"And you can have mine." Buck smiled back.
"Deal." Eddie chuckled.
"Nice work, kids." Bobby walked up to them. "I'm glad you both made it out of there."
"Did you ever doubt us, Cap?" Buck mocked being outraged at that.
Before Bobby could answer the ambulance exploded and Eddie, Buck and Bobby ducked in surprise.
Eddie looked up and straightened before giving a devil may care type of smile, "You guys hungry?"
"Yeah, I can definitely go for a double cheeseburger right now." Buck groaned as she felt her stomach growl.
"There's a McDonalds around the corner, I'm buying." Eddie pointed over his shoulder.
"Can we go Cap?" Buck turned big blue pleading eyes at Bobby. "Please, please, please…"
"Fine, go, you've both earned it." Bobby waved them away. "Your shift is almost over anyway."
"Thanks Pops." Buck hugged Bobby before grabbing Eddie by the arm and swiftly dragging him towards the McDonalds he had talked about earlier.
"So…" Eddie started when they had sat down with their burgers, getting a lot of looks from the other guests due to them both being in their uniforms and turnout gear.
"So…" Buck said in the same tone of voice before taking a bite of her burger.
"How do you know so much about the grenade in Charlie's leg?" Eddie asked curiously.
"Well…" Buck took a sip of her coke. "Not many people know about this, Bobby is the only one except my sister actually…"
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Eddie hurried to assure her.
"I'm not ashamed or anything, I guess it's just not something I usually talk about." Buck shrugged. "When I was younger, I joined the Navy because I was determined to become the first ever female Navy SEAL."
"With you sitting here I assume it didn't go as planned?" Eddie hummed.
"It didn't. The physical part was easy, I even specialized in EODs, and the training officer even wanted to put me on a fast track." Buck told him. "But they wanted machines, not people and I couldn't flip the switch in my head to turn off my emotions."
"Yeah, it's not the easiest, is it?" Eddie looked down. He wanted to say something more but didn't want her to think less off him for it, but at the same time he felt like she was on of the few people who could understand. "I can shut of that part of me but at the same time, it gets harder and harder to get back."
"When my training officer tried to convince me to stay, he told me to 'Find something or someone to be your humanity, something or someone who reminds you why you need your emotions but also remind you why you do this job'." Buck told him gently. "That made me stay for another two months before I quit."
Eddie sat quietly for a while, contemplating what Buck had just told him before he smiled. "That helps, thank you."
"You're very welcome." Buck smiled back at him. "But if you really want to thank me you could give me a ride home?"
"Sure, no problem." Eddie agreed with a quiet chuckle as they stood up to throw away the garbage that was left after they were done eating.
The morning started off calmly with breakfast made by Bobby and Buck, and for once they managed to eat their breakfast without stress. Hen told them about Denny trying to help Karen cook and making a mess while the others laughed around her.
It was closer to lunch time when they were called out to an… accident? Buck didn't know what to call it when someone cements another person's head into a microwave, except idiotic.
"Quick." A dark-skinned young man named Mitch ran up to Chim as they jumped out of the truck and ambulance. "They're in the back. We put a tube in so he could breathe, but I think the cement smushed it."
"What is it, a YouTube prank?" Chim asked as he followed the young man.
"Don't judge." Mitch said as he started leading the crew up the stairs. "Followers equals cash."
When they arrived in the backyard, they saw a man in a blue shirt with a microwave on his head and a blond young man, Shay, standing beside him sort of holding the microwave.
"What's his name?" Bobby asked as he stood in front of the man.
"Jessie." Shay replied quickly.
"Jessie, this is Captain Nash, LAFD. Can you hear me?" Bobby tried to make contact with Jessie. "All right, he's totally cut off in this thing. Let's get some screwdrivers, try and get this frame off."
Buck did her best to keep her eye on Shay and Mitch as Eddie worked on getting the microwave frame disassembled. "He's panicking."
Suddenly Jessie's panicking got worse and he was up and moving despite the 118 crew doing the best to stop him. As Jessie fell into the pool, Buck didn't even hesitate as she jumped in after him, seeing Eddie do the same from the corner of her eye.
They managed to get Jessie up on dry land and lying on his back but while Eddie found a pulse Hen didn't manage to find any respiration.
"Is there a plastic bag in there or something?" Chim asked as he turned towards Shay and Mitch.
"Yeah, we put it on his head before we pored the concrete." Shay spoke up with panic mixed sadness. "Please don't let him die, he's my best friend since kindergarten."
"I can't get in there." Chim pointed out.
"Yeah, we had 30 minutes to get him out of there." Bobby said as Buck and Eddie used screwdrivers to get the frame of Jessie's head. "Now we got 30 seconds."
"No response to sternal rub." Chim stood up.
Hen looked up at Bobby. "Pulse is fading. Still no respiration."
"All right, Buck, once we get this frame off, you and I are gonna go hammer and chisel on that block."
"Starting compressions." Chim called out as he got to work.
"You ready, Buck?" Bobby asked as he placed the 'chisel' on the cement block.
"Yes." Buck said right before she took a swing of the sledge hammer.
"Again." Bobby ordered and she hit the chisel again.
After the third swing of the sledge hammer, they managed to get the cement off and with a little work from Hen and Chimney Jessie sat up with a chough and Buck breathed out in relief.
"Shay Reed here, fans." Buck vaguely heard Shay say. "And today's Shay-nanigans is maybe our most intense yet! We just watched the most gorgeous firefighter in the world sledgehammer her way into a cement block to save Jessie!"
Buck looked up in time to see Shay turn the phone towards her and all she wanted to do was hide. She felt grateful for Eddie who stepped forward to block them from filming her as Bobby looked at Shay in annoyance.
"Are you filming?" Bobby's voice contained irritation.
"Yeah, bro." Shay chuckled, still trying to film Buck. "If we didn't film it, it didn't happen."
"You were crying like two minutes ago." Eddie pointed out as he did his best to shield Buck.
"Yeah, two minutes ago, he was gonna die. Now he's gonna live and be a legend." Shay pointed out, before turning the camera towards an annoyed looking Bobby. "Say hello, Shay's Army."
"Hello, Shay's army." Bobby quickly crabbed the phone.
"Wait, what the… what the hell man?" Shay stuttered out. "What are you do…?"
Bobby placed the phone on the ground before kicking it into the pool, "Good-Bye, Shay Army!"
"Dude!" Shay said with his arms wide in shock.
"Thank you." Buck murmured to Eddie as they sat in the truck on their way back to the firehouse.
Eddie didn't even have to ask what she was thanking him for, "I got your back."
"And I got yours." Buck gave him a small but genuine smile.
A few hours later Buck was standing beside Eddie as the later played pinball. Teasing him about calling Eddie G.I. but ending with, "Wait weren't they Marines?" To mess with Eddie a little.
"Army is better than Marines." Eddie scoffed but sent a smile Buck's way.
"I'll have to say that SEALs are better than both of them." Buck smirked widely.
"What would you know about SEALs, Buckaroo?" Hen asked from where she was sitting at a table.
"Well…" Buck stuttered out.
"Just because you want to be loyal to a friend you met before becoming a firefighter, doesn't mean you have to say SEALs are better just to show support." Eddie spoke up, knowing that Buck didn't want the other to know about her past in the Navy and respecting that.
"Oh, be quite." Buck groaned dramatically before mouthing a silent 'Thank you' at Eddie.
"All right everybody, listen up. I've got an announcement to make." Bobby came walking up to the loft. "I just got off the phone with the people from the calendar and they have made their choice."
"So who won?" Buck asked when Bobby held them in suspension.
Bobby didn't say anything, just looked over at Chimney with a raised eyebrow. Chim looked behind himself before turning back to Bobby with a surprised look on his face. "No way, you got to be kidding me."
"No." Bobby shook his head. "Congratulations, Chim. Or should I say Mr. April?"
"I told you, you could do it!" Buck walked over and pulled Chim into a hug. "You're a calendar boy, now."
"You did it." Bobby smiled.
Buck got a teasing look in her eyes and turned to Chim with a smirk. "Now that you're famous, can I have your autograph?"
"Shut up!" Chimney laughed as he pushed Buck playfully.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Athena's voice came from the walkway by the loft.
Bobby met her half way and they could see she was saying something but they couldn't hear what, and then Athena grabbed Bobby gently by the face and pulled him into a kiss. Buck watched with a bright smile on her face as Bobby's face lit up with happiness at that simple gesture.
"What are you all looking at?" Bobby asked as he turned towards the others. "There's no more announcements."
"Pay up." Hen held out her hands towards her team mates with a smug look on her face.
Buck laughed and pulled out her wallet as Chim and Eddie groaned.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you knew?" Bobby looked puzzled.
"Sir," Hen gave Bobby a 'bitch please' look. "First you two were happy at the same time, then you were both pissed off at the same time. It wasn't hard to figure out."
"And, uh, you good with this?" Athena walked up to Hen.
"Girl, I'm just mad at myself for not fixing you up in the first place." Hen chuckled and Athena joined in.
They all went their separate ways, Bobby and Athena hand in hand, waiting to either eat dinner or go out on another call. Luckily for them all, the rest of their shift was calm with only a minor car accident to sort out.
"Thanks for the ride, man." Buck smiled as she jumped out of Eddie's truck, having let Maddie borrow the Jeep for the day.
"No problem." Eddie chuckled. "I'll see you next shift."
"Drive safe." Buck called out as Eddie pulled away from the curb.
Buck made her way up to Abby's apartment, the thought of moving hitting her but quickly disappearing again, as she thought about maybe having a movie night with Maddie. When she walked into the apartment, she felt an air of… something.
Then she felt sadness creep up her throat as she saw Maddie's bags packed and ready to go, with forementioned woman sitting on the couch looking scared but determined.
"Leaving already?" Buck asked, trying to sound normal but not really succeeding.
"Road ahead awaits." Maddie said slowly.
"I'm more concerned with the road behind you." Buck said as her suspicions about what had happened to Maddie started to look more and more likely. "Maddie, what really happened with Doug? Why are you running away from him?"
"No, I'm not going to bring my little sister into this." Maddie denied.
"Standing in between you and anyone who thinks they can hurt you is exactly where I want to be standing." Buck vowed. "Maddie, are you in some kind of danger?"
"That stuff that Mom and Dad hated about him, that you picked up even as a teenager, it all got worse. Much worse over the last year or so. And when I threatened to leave, he threatened to kill me." Maddie said, her voice braking as tears slid down her face. "And he meant it."
"Mads…" Buck whispered softly.
"You know, when women in abusive relationships used to come into the hospital, I got to be honest, I would pass judgment." Maddie admitted. "Like, 'Why don't you just leave him?' Now I get it. It's like, you can't even believe it's happening."
Buck walked over and sat down in front of Maddie. "But you broke free and I'm so very proud of you. But now is not the time to be alone, all right?"
"Evie…" Maddie started but Buck cut her off.
"So, you know, you should stay here." Buck offered softly. "All right? I got plenty of room and hey, if Doug comes looking, I know a very good place to hide bodies. Or if you're not into that, I do know a lot of cops."
"He won't." Maddie whipped her face to get rid of the tear tracks. "He doesn't know you live here, he doesn't know what you do. It's a real benefit to being married to somebody who doesn't ask any questions."
"Okay, well, that's perfect, you can start over." Buck encouraged gently. "I can help you. I can help you get a great nursing job at one of the hospitals…"
"No." Maddie interrupted. "I really miss helping people, but I can't do that job every day, looking over my shoulder, wondering who's walking in the front door."
"Okay, so you want to help people but not deal with them face-to-face." Buck stated thoughtfully.
"Yeah." Maddie whispered self-deprecatingly.
"I think I might have an idea." Buck smiled. "How do you feel about talking on the phone?"
"What? What are you talking about, Evie?" Maddie looked at her younger sister in confusion.
"If you want to help people but not face-to-face, what do you say about becoming a 9-1-1 Dispatcher?" Buck offered slowly with a bright grin on her face.