It was almost the end of shift for one Evan Buckley, and he was ready to leave. Hearing the uncontrollable teasing from his friends about Eddie and Ana's recent date was killing his already low mood. Luckily he knew precisely the thing to raise his spirit. It was about midday, and Maddie was still home on maternity leave, so he decided to visit his sister and baby mango. As soon as he looked at his watch to check the time, Hen chose to call him to play along with the teasing.
Buck looked over at Eddie and said, "Edmundo… I know it's been a while, but really? You're on a date, and you guys are doing math?"
"Is this the same man that had his date ending up dating his roommate?"
"Aw, he got you there, Buck," Chim laughed.
"You know what," he looked at his watch, "I don't have to be here for this attack because my shift just ended. Have fun for the rest of your 24-hour shift, guys," Buck laughed.
"Wait, Buck, you know we're just joking with you, right?" Chim started.
"Of course I know; please, Chim, if I felt offended, you would be having a very nice talk with my sister." Buck shrugged. And funnily enough, Chim's phone started ringing.
"Wait, what," Chim said as he leaned over the railing of the stairs and his eyes widened, "Buck come back; what did you do?"
As Buck walked down, he said, "answer your phone, Chim, bye guys." he waved.
Buck walked out of the fire station lockers walked to the parking lot where his Jeep was. He put his duffle bag in the passenger seat and his phone in the phone holder on his ac vent. Buck gently placed his face on the steering wheel as he thought about being left behind once again. He took five minutes to himself before calling his sister and carefully pulled out of the parking lot into LA traffic. As he was waiting for her to pick up, he thought more about the fact that he hadn't seen Christoper in so long. He also thought about how, since Ana had been around, he hadn't seen the Diaz boys in a while. It hurt, but in true Buck fashion, he pushed his feelings down and wished the best for the couple.
"Hello?"
"Hey Maddie, you're home, right?" Buck asked.
"Yeah, Jee and I are here watching a Christmas movie."
"Maddie, it isn't even close to Christmas."
"I have to start her early, you know; it's never too early to watch Christmas movies."
"Sure, Maddie," he smiled, "Anyways, I was calling to see if I could call a Buckley Night today."
"Yes, you can," she started. "Jee is going to love her first Buckley Night."
"Duh, you know she will, I'll stop and get some-" All Maddie could hear was the sound of cars hitting one another and then silence.
She called out, "Buck?"
"Buck, are you okay? Oh my." Maddie started tearing up and watched her hands begin to tremble. She put Jee-Yun down on her playmat and got up to grab the house phone to call 911. As the phone rang, she continued to call out to Buck.
"911. What's your emergency?" a familiar voice asked.
"Josh, Josh, oh my god!" Maddie started to hyperventilate.
"Maddie, breathe. What happened?"
"It's Buck, he was." she took a deep breath, "He was driving, and then I heard a crash."
"He was in the pile-up?"
"The pile-up?"
"Turn on the Tv." Maddie got up and walked to the tv to turn it on. "Oh my god."
"We've already had multiple calls about it and the 118 and the 217, and they have already been called and are on route."
"Okay, okay."
"I'll alert the team, okay?"
"Yes, please do." Maddie breathed out.
"He's gonna be okay, Maddie."
"I hope he is."
~15 minutes before at the fire station.~
As Buck walked down, he said, "answer your phone, Chim, bye guys." he waved. Chim answered his phone and walked away to the bunk room to take the call.
"Eddie?"
"Yeah, Bobby?"
"Come over here, help me cook lunch."
"Bobby, I know Buck's already told you, but I can burn water."
Bobby chuckled, "Luckily, we're making omelets; you can cut up vegetables, right?"
"Yes, that's the one thing I can do. Haha." Eddie grabs the cutting board and knife and starts to chop the peppers, tomatoes, and onions.
"So, you and Ana."
"Please, Cap," Eddie points the knife slightly, "I just got Hen and Chim off my case."
"No, I know. I just want to know how you feel about it all."
"I- I don't know, I'm trying to move slowly for Chris, but I don't think that he likes me dating. Did you know that he ran away to Buck's house?" Eddie scoffs.
"I did."
"You did?"
"Yeah, I did, you know Buck. He thought he overstepped, so I told him that it was okay and that you weren't upset. Which you aren't right?"
"You are right; I'm glad that Buck was there."
"Eddie… I'm going to ask you to be brutally honest with me right now."
"Um, okay."
"Do you see you and Ana being together for the rest of your life?"
"Man, you're not pulling any punches, are you?"
"Answer the question, Eddie."
"I honestly don't know. My parents would love her."
"But do you love her?"
"Bobby…" Eddie trailed off
"Edmundo? Are you here?" Ana called out
"We'll finish this later."
"Okay. Hi Ana." Eddie walked over and kissed her cheek.
"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go to Lunch during your break."
"Uh, sure, if it's okay with you, Cap?"
"30 minutes, Eddie. Have fun." Bobby answered.
"Alright, let's go, I just have to-" Eddie stopped as the alarm went off. "Nevermind."
"It's fine, Edmundo. I can wait here."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I just heard over the radio that we're going to a multiple car pile-up." Hen said as she ran down the stairs to the lockers to get on her gear.
"Oh."
"I got to go." Eddie started jogging down the stairs.
"Be careful," Ana said.
Eddie and the rest of the team separated Eddie, Chim, Hen, and Bobby in the engine, Probie in the ambulance, and the rest in the ladder truck. They all put on their headphones and got ready to listen to Bobby.
"Okay people, we have a multi-car pile up over on West and 4th street. A truck lost control and well you can guess the damage. Eddie and Hen, you guys will work in the middle and work your way to the end. Chim and John, you'll work on just the bottom cars. The 217 has the truck driver and the cars next to the truck. The Captain from the 217 and I will be working at the command center to connect with the dispatch center. Tag people that are dead and tag people that have small injuries. If and when you find anyone that has life-threatening injuries radio to base and then take care of it. Do you guys understand?" Bobby explained.
"Yes, Cap"
"Yup!"
"Yeah, but guys, does anyone else feel weird?"
"Weird like what Hen," Eddie asked.
"I don't know; something just isn't right." Hen explained.
"Well, Hen, I hope that your gut is wrong, no offense."
"None taken Chim."
They pulled up to the scene and saw how bad the pile-up was. There were cars flipped over, crashed into each other; it was overall a horrible scene that was going to stick with them for a while.
Chapter 2
After Bobby gives them another quick pep talk, they went to the rig and got their gear and tags. They all broke up into their respective groups and started making their way to their designated area. Hen and Eddie finally made their way to the middle of the pile-up. Eddie began to go to some of the cars and put tags on the people in them, so far, he counted four people deceased, ten people critically injured, and ten people with minor injuries. He knew that he would be hugging Christopher a little tighter tonight.
"How are you doing Hen?"
"Is this the time to be asking that?" Hen glared. "Hi sir, yeah you're good to go. Just walk carefully to the tent over there." He pointed at the large tent at the end of the pile-up. She then continued to walk to the next car.
"Just making small talk, but what did you mean by bad feeling?"
"I don't know, I just feel like something is going to happen that's going to affect us."
"That's very concerning, are you sure?"
Hen stopped walking and turned around, "Eddie, have I been wrong, I mean I don't want to be right, but honestly, when am I wrong?"
"You're normally not, but this is one time that I want you to be very wrong." Eddie sighed and continued tagging.
~Back at control center~
Bobby turned around to talk to the other Captains when a voice started calling their number.
"118, 118! I need to speak to the Captain." a voice called through the radio.
"Josh, it's me, Bobby. What's going on."
"Hey there Bobby, I was just on the phone with Maddie and she said that Buck is in one of the cars." Bobby's face dropped. "Bobby are you there?"
Bobby shook his head to clear the shock. "Thank you, Josh, I'll tell the team to go and find him." He put his hands on the table to brace himself before he called the rest of the team. He finally pulled himself together and made the radio.
"Chim, Hen, and Eddie, drop what you're doing and head over to the command center."
"What's going on Cap?" Chim asked.
"Just come here." He took his finger off the button and tried to calm himself further. Finally, the whole team was there.
"Bobby, you gonna tell us what's going on?" Hen asked. The rest of the team shook their heads in agreement.
"I just got off the radio with Josh at the dispatch center, he told me that Maddie called 911 to tell him that Buck was in the crash."
The whole team collectively gasped, "We need to... We need to go find him." Chim started to move back towards the pile-up.
"Chim, wait we need to make a plan before-"
"Before what? Before what Bobby, because we've been here for almost 20 minutes and not only that, it took us 5 minutes to get here and in that time no one has even been to his car." Chim said exasperated.
"He's right Bobby, we just need to grab our stuff and go." Hen ran back to the ambulance and grabbed her med bag. She came back with the stuff and got ready to go when she noticed Eddie. "Eddie? Eddie, if you need to sit this one out then you can."
"No, I need to be here."
"Okay, then let's go." Hen and the rest of the team started to run into the accident looking for Buck. It was barely 5 minutes before someone called out. "He's here!" The whole team ran to Bobby.
"Oh god." Hen gasped. Buck's body was leaned forward, being held up the seatbelt, his legs pinned by the steering wheel. There was a cut on the side of his head and a line of blood running down the side of his mouth, leading Hen to believe that there were
internal injuries. "Okay, um, someone needs to get the jaws and open the door so that we can work on him."
"Already got it," Bobby said, and Eddie got to work removing the door. "Okay Eddie, it's time for you to step away." Bobby tried to pull him back gently.
"Bobby what? No, I need to help."
"Eddie, you're too close to this."
"Bobby we're all too close, the more time we stand here arguing isn't helping!" Eddie yelled out, "Look, it's just I didn't get to help Shannon. I need to help, please."
"Fine Eddie" Eddie turned around to start helping and saw Buck's neck already in a brace and that he was slightly conscious. Eddie grabbed Buck's hand and called out to him so that he could wake up to tell them what hurt.
"Buck? Buck, wake up."
"Mmm, hurts," Buck mumbled.
"What hurts Buck?"
"Everything." Buck started to close his eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey. No Buck you have to stay with me okay, no sleeping. Tell me where you were going." Eddie was trying to ask Buck anything so that he would stay awake while Hen and Chim worked on him.
"I was, um, I was going to Maddie's house for, um, Buckley night and to see Mango."
"Buckley night, what happened?" Eddie tried to keep Buck's focus on him.
"Nothing really… Eddie, it hurts" Buck tried to close his eyes again to the pain.
"Eyes on me, man, ignore what Hen and Chim are doing. Okay? Just look at me, I'm here, alright? I know, I know it hurts, but it will be over soon, alright?" Eddie pleaded with Buck, as Buck's eyes rolled slightly.
"Okay, Buckaroo we're gonna move you soon, okay." Hen said softly. Chim walked over to the side to grab the backboard just as Buck started coughing up blood. "Chim! Eddie! We need to move faster. There's definitely internal bleeding." Eddie went to Hen to help her pull Buck out of the car while Chim and Bobby got the backboard and stretcher ready. "On my count, okay?" Hen paused then counted to three, "One...two...three, pull." Eddie and Hen pulled Buck out of the car and onto the backboard on top of the stretcher, they strapped him, put an oxygen mask on, and ran him towards the ambulance. "We're 10 minutes away Buck, okay, hold on." Hen spoke as she and Eddie got in the back. Chim got in the front and started speeding away.
As soon as she got Buck all connected to the machines it started going off. "Oh, crap." She began to cut off his shirt and saw a big bruise running from the side of his chest down to his hip.
"Oh my god…"
Chapter 3
"He needs a chest tube Hen, the blood is pooling."
"I know Eddie." Hen breathed. "I'm going to do that and you focus on his breathing okay." Hen started to insert the chest tube when Eddie yelled out. "His chest isn't moving… he's not breathing.
"Okay start bagging him. I'll grab the intubation kit" Eddie grabbed the Ambu bag and shifted Buck's head slightly so that it was straight while he bagged him. "Okay Eddie, move." Hen worked swiftly and inserted the tube into Buck's mouth, she then attached it to the Ambu bag and told him to start bagging again.
Hen banged on the front and yelled "Chim! Drive faster." She was able to feel the pick-up in speed. She could feel the sweat running down her face as she worked on Buck. She quickly realized that Eddie needed a break and called out to him, "Eddie." Nothing... "Eddie, give me the bag."
"No Hen I need to do this." he continued to squeeze the Ambu bag to keep Buck breathing.
"No Eddie, just hold his hand okay. Comfort him we still have 5 minutes." Hen said softly and grabbed the bag.
"Okay," Eddie grabbed Bucks's hand and moved closer to his head so that he could stroke the side of his head where his hair was. "Buck… Buck, I know that I've been a real jerk and so I have so much to tell you and apologize for, but I can't do that until you wake up, so you have to be okay, okay? You know Chris has missed you and he wanted me to ask you if you wanted to go to the Zoo with us on Saturday, so you have to be okay. You can't give up, you have to fight for me and Chris, fight for Maddie and Jee-Yun, fight for the 118. Your time isn't up yet, do you hear me, Evan Buckley?" Eddie didn't even realize that they were at the hospital until Hen told him they had to move Buck. Eddie and Hen took the stretcher out of the ambulance and moved quickly into the ER.
"Patient is 28 year old, white male, intubated on route, GCS of 8, lost consciousness 10…" Eddie couldn't as they only let Hen continue going into the trauma room.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here." A nurse spoke up as Eddie tried to move forward
"I have to be with him." Eddie wiped the tears running down his face.
"We need to have space to work on him, okay. Your boyfriend is still fighting, remember that. We're going to take him up into the OR soon" The nurse walked into the room, leaving Eddie in a state of shock.
"Where's Buck?" Chim ran in to see Eddie just standing there. "Eddie! Where's Buck?"
Eddie shook himself, "He's in the trauma room, they're going to take him for surgery soon." Hen walked out shortly after Eddie said that and said, "Eddie let's get cleaned up and into the waiting room, okay?"
~10 minutes later~Eddie and Hen walk out of the bathroom in fresh scrubs since their uniforms were wrecked due to the blood on them. They immediately threw their old clothes in the trash and walked into the, unfortunately, too commonly visited waiting room. They both sat down across from Chim and Bobby who had a look of distress on their faces.
"Have they said anything?" Hen asked.
"Nope, they're waiting for the emergency contact or Power of Attorney for Buck, so I called Maddie to come down here. She should be here soon"
"What about Jee?"
"She's with along with Albert. She's not happy with the reason but is glad to spend time with them so it works out." Chim shrugged.
"Okay that's good, Eddie what about you, where is Chris going to stay?"
Eddie got up and started pacing, "I don't even know, I have to call Carla and see if she can stay with him or maybe Pepa-" Hen cut him off.
"I can call Karen to take him, Denny would love to hang out."
"Okay… Okay, thank you."
"Come here Eddie, please." Hen looks at him worried.
Eddie looks at Hen with tears in his eyes, "How do I…" He pauses "How do I tell Chris that his best friend is hurt."
Bobby walks behind Eddie and places his hand gently on his shoulder, "I'm not going to tell you it's easy but you just have to tell him. The worse thing you could do it lie to him."
"Oh god. You're right." As Eddie walks off into the hallway to call Chris and Carla, Maddie walks in.
"Maddie," Chim rushes over to hug her, "I'm so sorry," he mumbles in her hair.
She pulls away and tries to smile. "It's fine because Buck is going to be fine."
"Maddie…" Bobby tries.
"No! Just no. I'm going to see what his condition is." She walks over to the front desk.
"Hi, I'm here for a patient that just came in. Evan Buckley?"
"And you are?" The nurse asks.
"His emergency contact and sister."
"I'm sorry to inform you his emergency contact is no longer you."
"Who is it then?"
"An Edmundo Diaz?"
"Oh my- can you just tell me what's wrong with my brother."
The nurse looks down at her computer, "They haven't updated his condition beyond what the paramedics have said, I assume that's because they brought him up to surgery. Um, I can see if one of the surgeons can spare a moment to come to speak with y'all."
"Thank you and yes please." Maddie turns around to relay the information just as Eddie walks in. "Eddie Diaz! We are going to have words."
"What happened?"
"When were you going to tell us that you're Buck's emergency contact?"
"I didn't know, maybe he switched it to be so you wouldn't be so stressed out. I mean that's why I changed it to him so that Abuela wasn't stressed out especially if it was a dumb injury."
"Sure, that's definitely it." Maddie looks at him suspiciously. "Anyways, the nurse said that she's going to try to get one of the surgeons down to talk about Buck's condition properly because they haven't updated it."
"Ok, so what now?" Eddie asks.
"Now we wait."
I'll post the second part at some point. Also yes this is in a different format than on AO3.