"Where's Buck?"
"Yeah, he never misses family dinner."
"Nobody misses family dinner. I started this tradition to keep the team together, and he's no exception. Eddie, can you please go take a look for him?" Bobby said, concern and confusion lacing his tone.
"Sure thing Cap." Eddie replied, pushing himself out of his chair and heading towards the bunk room, where Buck was seen last.
The rest of the 118 sat in stony silence as they waited for the remaining two members of the team to come eat. It was a (mostly) unspoken rule that nobody ate until the entire team was sitting down together. A couple of the team members sent longing looks at the aray of food Bobby had made, but nobody dared complain about the extra wait. Nobody was left out. Ever. Buck could try and isolate himself as much as he wanted, but there was no way in hell anybody was going to let him skip out on their shared meals.
Meanwhile, Eddie searched for Buck in the bay area and surrounding hallways, after having no luck with the bunk rooms. He even checked the washrooms right beside the bunks, but he wasn't in there either. Finally, he looked in the locker room, which was where he found Buck, sitting on the bench, hunching in on himself as if he were willing himself to disappear.
"Hey." Eddie approached, moving slowly so he wouldn't startle his friend.
"Oh. Hi." Buck said, voice small and almost sheepish. He knew he'd been caught, and that this was where he would get in trouble.
"What's going on with you?" Eddie asked, unable to keep the sharp edge of aggression out of his tone.
Buck flinched, as he was reminded of that fateful day in the grocery store.
"Nothing's going on with me." Buck finally answered. "I just wanted some time to myself. Tell Bobby I'm sorry for missing dinner."
"You can tell Bobby you're sorry yourself, 'cause you're not missing dinner. I know you know that nobody misses family dinner. You're not an exception Buck. So get up, stop moping around, and get your ass to the table."
Buck froze, memories of Eddie dragging him out of bed after his pulmonary embolism and Eddie telling him to get over himself in the store washing over him. It must've shown on his face, because Eddie's next words were softer, bordering on the tone he typically reserves for Christopher.
"Buck. We're starting to really worry about you. Please come back up there with me. We want you at dinner, where you belong. With us." He stressed, reaching out to put a hand on Buck's shoulder.
Buck sighed, unable to will himself to fight Eddie on this. He braced his hands on his thighs, before slowly forcing himself to stand. Refusing to meet Eddie's eyes, he shakes off the comforting touch and tosses the sandwich that was laying on the bench beside him into a nearby trash can.
Without exchanging any words, the two make their way back to the dining area, slipping silently into their seats next to each other. Bobby, thankfully, didn't ream Buck out, or draw further attention to the fact that he'd attempted to exclude himself from their dinner.
"Alright everybody. Dig in." Bobby said. It was the same words as usual, with only a hint of hurt poking through, shown with the slight emphasis on 'everybody'.
Dinner lacked its usual fanfare, but it went forgotten as the alarms rang, and the team raced to the trucks. The call was a relatively mundane one. A second alarm fire, with the 147 pitching in to help contain the blaze. It was nice working with them, their firehouse finally had been repaired, and their team back together on calls. Buck was glad for the extra bodies around, keeping any leftover attention from his earlier stunt away from him.
But as all calls go, the situation was contained, the fire extinguished. The 118 rode back to the station riding high on the adrenaline and good vibes from a job well done.
He missed family dinner.
It was only a few days after the last incident, but Buck wasn't at the table. Unease washed over the firefighters, a tension so thick, it could be cut with a knife. It loomed over them, like a tangible entity that pressed down on them from every direction. Nobody knew what to do, or how to react.
Buck was currently hiding out in the bunk room, away from his team.
It was Hen who bravely breached the subject, asking the others if any of them knew what the hell was going on with Buck.
To everyone's dismay, nobody seemed to have an idea. After a plan to ask Albert about their double date disaster, Bobby did the unheard of. He let the 118 eat without one of their members.
Once everyone had reluctantly dug in, trying to shake off the feeling of something being wrong, something being out of place, did Bobby gravely speak once more.
"This is where I draw the line. This will be the first and last time we eat without one of us. We eat together, we protect one another, we have each other's backs. I don't know what's eating at Buck, but we're going to fix this. Am I understood?"
A series of "yes Cap" and "we understand" chorused back at him, and he smiled grimly.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring some answers. Hopefully those answers will bring back the Buck they know and love.