One thing that never failed to impress Eddie was his little superman's ability to smile brightly every day. No matter the hardships Christopher faced he always greeted the day with determination and a smile.
"Dad, when can we see Buck again?" Christopher asked as Eddie drove them towards abuelas house.
Two days ago, Buck had let her sister borrow her Jeep again and needed a ride home from work and Eddie had offered. As a thank you, Buck had treated Eddie and Christopher to dinner at Pinchos, which was a small restaurant where you ordered your food through an app and the portions were very small, small enough that you had to eat at least three of them to feel full. As a result, Christopher had decided that Buck was the coolest person ever, 'Sorry, daddy'.
"I don't know, mijo." Eddie turned the car into the driveway to his abuelas house.
"I really like her." Christopher admitted. "She's really fun and very pretty and so smart."
Eddie smiled, he had been working at the 118 for around two weeks now and he loved it. Part of that was working with Buck. She was good at her job and always tried to stay positive and happy no matter what.
One thing that bugged Eddie though was the way some people treated Buck on accident scenes. Just last week they had been at a small three car collision and Eddie had been sent with Buck and the jaws to get a man out of one of the cars. The man, who had been in his fifties or sixties, had spent the entire time leering and making comments at Buck, and Eddie had been contemplating punching the man when they managed to hand him over to the EMTs.
Eddie shook his head and put the car in park before jumping out and running around to Christopher's side of the car, "All right there, bud. Dad's running a little behind." He pulled Christopher into his arms and lifted him out of the car.
While Christopher slowly but surely made his way down the path, Eddie knocked on abuelas door before walking down the steps again.
"Eddito." Abuela said as she came out of the house.
"Morning, Abuela." Eddie smiled.
"Eddie." Abuela said quietly when she saw Christopher making his way towards them. "Help him out."
"He wants to do it." Eddie denied while gesturing with his hand.
"Hola, mi angel." Abuela smiled at her great-grandson.
"Hola." Christopher beamed.
"Thank you for taking him." Eddie placed Christopher's bag on the porch.
"Taking him is not a problem." Abuela waved away the gratitude. "Giving him back… that's the hard part."
"Okay." Eddie squeezed Christopher's shoulder before hurrying towards the car.
"Edmundo." Abuelas disappointed voice stopped him in his tracks. "Where's the fire?"
Christopher giggled as Eddie ran back to kiss his Abuela on the cheek. Abuela did a small blessing before patting him on the cheek with a gentle hand. "That's better. Now go to work."
"Okay. Mwah." Eddie kissed Christopher's cheek before rushing off. "Later, buddy."
Living, and working as a firefighter, in L.A. Eddie had come to learn, meant that some of the calls they went on would be… odd. Like the day before they had helped a man who was stuck between two buildings, which, honestly, was a little anticlimactic but who was Eddie to judge.
But right now, they had been sent to some bar where a woman had apparently got her head stuck in, and Eddie isn't kidding, a tailpipe! Who even does that?
"Grab some creepers and some blocks." Bobby ordered as they jumped out of the truck.
Eddie followed Buck into where a woman in a pink top had said they were, hearing how the woman muttered about Eddie being hot and Buck sent him a smirk over her shoulder, but her eyes showed sympathy.
"Okay, guys, the strippers are here." The dark-haired woman leading the way said to some other women on the way.
"Excuse me, coming through." Buck said loudly, making the way through the throng of people.
"All right, ladies, just give us some space." Bobby's voice came from behind Eddie. "Thank you."
"Excuse me, clear a path." Buck zigzagged her way between all the people standing in the way. "Coming through, thank you, thank you… thank you."
The man standing by the truck where the girl had her head stuck in the tailpipe zeroed in on Buck the moment she stepped out into the sun and Eddie felt himself angling his body to put himself between them as best he could.
"Hi, what's her name?" Chimney asked quickly.
"Betty." The man by the truck stated proudly.
"Jennifer." Came the muffled voice from the tailpipe woman.
"Sorry, I thought you meant my truck." Truck man said, never taking his eyes of Buck.
Eddie noticed that truck man wasn't the only one looking at Buck, almost all the other guys there were also staring at her, some even leering. That the women were staring at him, Eddie didn't really register or notice.
"This is your truck?" Bobby asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, but it's not like I backed into her." Truck man protested as Buck got onto her back to look under the truck. "She did this out of her own free will."
"You dared her to." Pink top sneered.
"We were flirting." Truck man defended himself.
"Your idea of flirting with a girl is daring her to stick her head in your tailpipe?" Eddie asked in disbelief.
"Oh, man." Buck scoffed with a half chuckle.
"Hi, Jennifer, LAFD." Chimney said to Jennifer. "How are you feeling?"
"Uh, pretty good, actually." Jennifer didn't sound stressed at all as Buck grabbed the pen Eddie gave her to mark where they should cut the pipe. "Except for this whole, you know, ginormous tailpipe on my head."
"Hey, Jennifer, you're going to feel me poking around." Hen called out before she started poking.
"Why is this tailpipe so large?" Chimney asked.
"It's custom." Truck man declared like it was obvious.
"Where'd she get these bruises on her arm?" Bobby looked at truck man.
"That wasn't me." Truck man denied.
"It's from the bull." The dark-haired woman said from behind Eddie. "She rode it, like, five times."
"There's no way we're going to get a collar on her." Chim told Hen.
"I got it." Hen hummed.
"Get me out of this thing." Jennifer begged them.
Buck rolled from under the truck, "These things are meant to increase the power to the engine."
Truck man leered even more at Buck at that, "Yup."
"TSA 230 saw should do the job." Bobby pointed out.
"Oh yeah, like a knife through butter." Buck nodded.
"Chim?" Bobby called out.
"Excuse me." Chim came over carrying a saw and Bobby's turnout gear. "Way ahead of you, Cap."
"What?!" Truck guy exclaimed. "No, I spent 1,200 bucks on that tailpipe."
"You might want to close your eyes during this part." Bobby smirked.
"I might feel better if you would hold me." Truck man said to Buck, trying to look sexy and inviting.
"No." Buck deadpanned. "Plus, I need to focus right now so my captain doesn't cut Jennifer's head off."
"Hi." The dark-haired woman piped up from beside Eddie. "Do you have Snapchat?"
"No, and, uh, I don't think I'm what you're looking for." Eddie stated awkwardly. "I have… I have a son."
"That's great." The dark-haired woman flirted. "So do I."
"I think I'm gonna puke." Jennifer called out.
"You better not." Pink top leered. "This fire guy is totally hot."
"All right, what say we move the peanut gallery a few steps this way." Chim ushered them away. "Thank you."
"Jennifer, keep your head completely still." Hen cautioned. "You're going to hear a lot of noise, but everything is fine."
As Hen and Eddie helped Jennifer sit up after Bobby had cut the tailpipe Buck looked over at Chim, "We need lube."
"I have some!" Pink top called out.
Buck just shook her head as she caught the lube Chim threw at her and then she poured lube over the top of Jennifer's head while Eddie and Hen slowly eased the tailpipe of her head.
Jennifer looked at Eddie as her head was freed, "Wow, you really are hot."
"Would you like us to transport you to the hospital, get checked out?" Hen offered.
"She just needs another drink." Pink top told them.
"No, what she really needs to do is go home. All three of you do, in a cab." Bobby said before turning to address Jennifer. "Listen to me. When you sober up, you feel like you have a headache or blurry vision, or you feel confused, you got to get yourself to a hospital, you understand?"
Jennifer just started to giggle drunkenly as Eddie and Buck walked away from the scene.
"Hey, so is Christopher really the reason you don't date?" Buck asked before she frowned. "Oh my God, that was rude, I'm so sorry."
"Hey, it's okay." Eddie reassured her with a smile. "They just weren't my type and dating is a bit complicated when you have a kid."
"I can understand that." Buck hummed thoughtfully. "I mean, you need to think about Christopher's feelings too, right, not just your own."
"Exactly." Eddie nodded feeling warm at her understanding him so easily, before he pulled out his phone which was vibrating. "Hello?... What?... Which one?"
"Eddie are you okay?" Buck asked seeing the panic on his face.
"My Tia called and told me to come to the hospital." Eddie told her, feeling worry and panic creeping in.
"Okay, this is what we'll do." Buck placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "We'll ask Bobby to drop us off at the hospital and then we'll go from there, okay?"
"Us?" Eddie looked at her with wide eyes.
"You really think I'm going to let you go through this alone?" Buck asked in disbelief. "I've got your back, man, always."
"Thank you." Eddie felt so very grateful to have her as his friend.
Fifteen minutes later Buck followed Eddie into the hospital waiting room, Eddie looking a tiny bit harried and a lot worried.
"My Aunt." Eddie said before walking over to Pepa, before quickly walking over and hugging her. "Tia. Qué pasó? Is Christopher okay?"
"You mean Prince Charming? He's peachy." Pepa nodded towards where Christopher was charming a couple of nurses. "It's your Abuela, she broke her hip."
"What? How?" Eddie felt sad and slightly shocked.
"She was out back on the steps and calling him to come inside." Pepa explained softly. "She lost her balance. Christopher called 911. The rescue got there really quick."
"I want to see her." Eddie stated.
"No, she's sleeping now." Pepa denied before turning to look at Buck who was smiling over at where Christopher was. "And, uh, who is this?"
"This is Buck." Eddie smiled. "We work together."
"Mm, I just thought you dressed alike." Pepa hummed with a look.
"This is my Aunt Josefina." Eddie introduced before correcting himself slightly. "Pepa."
"Hello." Buck smiled kindly.
"So you're the one Christopher talks about so much." Pepa stated slowly.
"He does?" Buck looked shocked.
"Mhm, he has told us all about how you told him about the Speed of light in a vacuum." Pepa smiled kindly.
"Oh, I didn't know he still talked about that." Buck looked down with a blush.
"You can't keep doing this, Eddie." Pepa turned back to Eddie. "You can't keep leaving him with her, she's not up to it."
"I know, I know and I'm sorry." Eddie looked down, feeling sad and desperate. "I… I'm trying to find some permanent help, it's just… to many forms to fill out. It's worse than the V.A."
"I can't believe your gringa ex stuck you with all of this." Pepa looked annoyed.
"I'm not stuck, Tia." Eddie said and telling the complete truth, Christopher was worth everything to him.
"Do you have to go back to work?" Pepa asked like she already knew the answer. "Ah, and you're not stuck. I'll keep him tonight, but you need to get this figured out."
"Daddy." Christopher called out with a laugh, not having noticed Buck yet.
"Buddy." Eddie walked over quickly and pulled his son into his arms. "Hey… guess who's here?"
"Who?" Christopher asked brightly.
"Look over there." Eddie nodded to where Buck was still talking to his Tia.
"Buck!" Christopher squealed with happiness.
"Hey, kid!" Buck smiled equally as bright as Eddie walked over with Christopher in his arms and for a hot second the thought of 'She's so beautiful' flashed through Eddie's mind.
Eddie was sitting on the sofa in the loft back at the station with Christopher, laughing at Chim along with Hen and Buck when Bobby walked up to them and Eddie felt dread fill his stomach.
"What's this? I don't remember asking the Chief for reinforcements." Bobby spoke up jovially. "You any good with the hose, kid?"
"I can try." Christopher answered happily.
"So sorry, Cap." Eddie stood up with a worried look. "My Aunt's trying to get off work early, but until then, I… I didn't know where to take him."
"Yeah, you did. Right here." Bobby smiled kindly at him. "Buck gave me the heads-up. I already cleared it with the Chief."
Eddie looked over at Buck who nodded at him and Eddie felt like he could never be able to thank her enough. Before he could even try the alarm sounded though out the station and it was go time.
A few minutes later Christopher was sitting on his and Buck's laps in the back of the truck, demanding that Buck sit there to and not in the front with Bobby like she had planned, with Chim and Hen sitting opposite them.
"These are great, see, 'cause we can talk to each other." Chim said to Christopher. "Though sometimes I wish I had a mute button for Buck."
Suddenly the truck horn honked and Buck smirked as she looked a Chim. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you saying something?"
"How did you even time that?" Chim asked.
"I didn't, Jackson is just a very nice man." Buck laughed as Chim turned to look at Jackson, who was sitting in the front of the truck, with betrayal.
"You have a scar on you head." Christopher pointed at Chim's forehead.
"That's very observant, kid. I had an accident." Chim explained. "Got a big metal rod stuck in my head, but the doctor took care of it. You ever have surgery?"
"Two times." Christopher said.
"Actually, three times." Eddie corrected and he couldn't stop smiling.
"Well, you got me beat." Chim leaned back in his seat. "Now I feel kinda lame."
"Because you are." Hen and Buck chorused, making Christopher laugh happily.
"Your dad ever tell you why we call him Chimney?" Hen asked with a smirk.
"No." Christopher said with interest.
"No." Chim denied. "No, no, no, no."
"I'll tell you the story later." Hen promised with a wink.
When they arrived at the scene Eddie and Buck went to help the car on the left while Chim and Hen handled the one on the right and Bobby stayed back with Christopher to explain what was going on.
"Hey, can you grab the Jaws?" Buck asked and Eddie clapped her on the back before going to get them, smiling when he heard Bobby telling Christopher about the airbags.
The call went by quickly and then they were back at the station. Chimney helped Christopher to play pinball for a while Bobby made lunch for him. Then Eddie and Buck stood by the fire pole as Hen and Chim sent Christopher down the pole into their arms.
"You're a born firefighter, kid." Chim praised as he let go of him.
"Come down, bud." Eddie said as he and Buck caught Christopher's legs.
"You nailed it, kid." Buck smiled brightly.
"All right, fun's over." Eddie said as he saw Pepa walk over to them.
Everybody said goodbye to his little man as Eddie led him over to a smiling Pepa. He exchanged a couple of words with Pepa before turning back to his team as Pepa and Christopher left.
"Thanks, Cap." Eddie hugged him before walking over to Buck and pulling her into a hug too. "Thank you so, so much. I don't know how I will ever be able to tell you that enough.
"No need to thank me, Eddie." Buck said as she hugged him back. "Christopher is a great kid and you are an amazing father."
Eddie just hugged her tighter, doing his best not to cry but feeling his throat clog up a little. That was the only thing he wanted to be, an amazing father for Christopher, and to have someone tell him that he was, was… powerful.
They all went up to the loft to take it easy while they still could but Eddie noticed that the closer they got to end of their shift, the tenser Buck became.
"Hey, Buckaroo, are you okay?" Hen wondered slowly and Eddie knew the others had noticed her tenseness to.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Buck asked, a little too quickly.
"You're tense and a bit antsy." Chim pointed out.
"Is it that obvious?" Buck sighed as she leaned back against the sofa.
"No, we just know you." Hen smiled kindly. "So, tell us what's wrong."
"I have a date after shift." Buck admitted hesitantly.
"Why does that got you all tense?" Chim wanted to know, while Eddie felt like someone punched him in the gut.
"Because I don't want to go." Buck groaned.
"So, don't." Eddie spoke up. "Just cancel it."
"I can't." Buck looked miserable. "I owe one of my former roommates a favor and he called it in, which means I have to go on a date with his girlfriend's older brother."
"That sounds… fun?" Hen said slowly.
"Yeah, I'm jumping from joy." Buck gave Hen such a deadpanned look that Eddie couldn't do anything but laugh.
Two hours later the team made their way out of the station, wishing each other a good evening and a good night's rest.
"See you tomorrow, Buckaroo, and have fun on your date." Hen called out as Buck started to get into her Jeep.
"Shut up!" Buck shouted back in a sing song way, before turning to Eddie, "Say hello to Christopher from me, okay?"
"Absolutely." Eddie agreed. "And I hope your date isn't too bad."
Buck huffed out a self-deprecating laugh before waving as she drove away, leaving Eddie feeling sad for some reason he couldn't figure out.
The next day Eddie arrived at the station a little early, Christopher had spent the night at Pepa's and would spend the day there while Eddie worked. The night hadn't been the best for Eddie, he had had trouble falling asleep. For some reason Buck had been on his mind, he had been worried about her and he couldn't figure out why.
"Rough night?" Hen called out as he joined her, Chim and Bobby in the loft where Bobby was making breakfast.
"I just had a hard time falling asleep." Eddie said as he sat down. "What's the discussion of the day?"
Every day, as they sat down to eat their first meal together, they would discuss a different topic. Sometimes the topic might last more than a day, other times they had three different topics in one day, but it was fun.
"If you could spend a day with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?" Hen asked before she answered for herself. "I would want to spend the day with Rosa Parks."
"Who?" Chim asked slowly. "I know I've heard the name before but I can't remember where."
"Rosa Parks was a civil rights leader whose refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her bravery led to nationwide efforts to end racial segregation." Hen explained with a smile.
"Oh, okay, that's understandable." Chim nodded before frowning. "Does the person have to be real or are fictional characters also okay?"
Hen thought for a while before declaring, "Real."
"That's a hard question but I think I'll go with… Haing S. Ngor." Chim hummed. "He's a Cambodian American Surgeon, Actor and Author."
"Not a bad choice." Hen nodded. "Bobby?"
"Spending a day cooking with Gordon Ramsey would be exiting." Bobby told them. "What about you Eddie?"
"Can I choose Christopher?" Eddie asked with a smile.
"No, there's no fun in that." Chim groaned.
"I thought he was gonna say Buck." Hen smirked at Eddie who hoped his blush wasn't visible.
"I don't know…" Eddie tried to think but he was coming up blank. "Barack Obama?"
"A bit boring but a solid choice." Chim chuckled.
"Hey Buck, if you could spend…" Hen looked up at the arriving firefighter with a smile, which dropped into a worried look as soon as her eyes landed on Buck. "Oh my God! Buck, what happened?"
Eddie turned around quickly and felt the breath catch in his throat. Buck was dressed in her work clothes and with her hair up in its usual braided bun but that's were things started to be different from usual mornings. On the right side of Buck's face there was a bruise spanning her cheekbone and up towards a black eye and on the left side she had a cut on her brow that had been closed with butterfly clips.
"What happened, kid." Bobby walked over with worry clear on his face. "Do you want me to call Athena?"
"You don't have to call Athena." Buck told him quickly before taking a deep breath. "The date didn't go so well yesterday."
"Your date did this?!" Hen gasped, looking pissed. "I'm going to kill him."
"Calm down, Hen." Buck chuckled.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Chim asked softly, with a worried look.
"The date was doomed from the start." Buck admitted as she sat down. "First he took me to this really fancy place even though I told him very seriously that I don't like fancy places. Then he ordered my food for me like I'm a child and to add insult to injury he ordered me a salad. A fucking salad!"
"You only eat salads if it's really hot outside." Bobby hummed with an understanding smile.
"Exactly." Buck nodded and Eddie had to smile, he liked that she wasn't one of those women who ordered a salad or stuff like that to impress others. "Then he started talking about how if we were going to date, I had to quit my job because 'firefighting isn't a woman's job, a woman should stay home, cook the food and take care of the children'."
"He did not say that?!" Hen growled darkly.
"Oh, he did." Buck nodded. "That's when I decided to leave. I just got up and left, but he didn't seem to agree with that and stood up and grabbed my arm all the while asking me what I was doing?"
"He's an idiot." Chim muttered and the others nodded in agreement.
"I told him that I refused to breathe the same air as his misogynistic, sexist, disgusting ass." Buck smirked before she winced. "He really didn't like that, seems like he couldn't take someone calling him out on his bullshit, so he backhanded me across the face hard enough that I fell and hit my head on the table."
"Did you call the police on him?" Eddie asked softly.
"I didn't have to." Buck smiled slightly. "The waiter and two guests detained him while the owner called the police and an ambulance."
"You had to go to the hospital?" Bobby wondered.
"Yeah, they wanted to make sure I didn't have a concussion and to double check that I didn't need stitches." Buck gestured at the butterfly clips. "And I don't have a concussion, don't worry, I just have a slight headache but that is to be expected."
"You want some food?" Bobby offered with a small smile.
"Yes, please." Buck groaned gratefully.
"Com…" Bobby was interrupted by the alarm ringing throughout the station.
"Oh man." Buck grumbled as they all ran to answer the call.
"Here." Eddie pulled out a power bar from his pocket and handed it to Buck. "To tie you over until you can eat properly."
"I could kiss you!" Buck exclaimed as she happily accepted the power bar. "Thank you."
"No problem." Eddie chuckled a little awkwardly, trying to not blurt out 'Do it'.
When they arrived at the scene where a man had locked himself into a vault. While Buck and Bobby sawed the hinges of the door to the vault, Buck asked a question that had been niggling at her for a while.
"Do you think it's weird that I still live in Abby's place?" Buck looked at Bobby.
"Yes." Bobby stated simply.
"Me, too." Buck agreed. "At first it was fine, you know? She asked me to look after it for her while she traveled for a few months and that was fine by me, but she still hasn't come back and the only reason I know she isn't dead is because Carla still talks to her."
"Wait, Abby doesn't talk to you anymore?" Bobby asked slowly.
"No, she ghosted me." Buck shrugged. "Which is really rude and shows that she wasn't as good a person I thought she was. I mean, she was my best friend, but it seems like I was just convenient to her or something."
"Buck, you deserve to be happy, okay?" Bobby told her and grunted when they managed to get the door off its hinges. "All right, we got it. Step back. Ready?"
They pulled the door off and put it down on the ground. The sweaty man who had been trapped inside the vault looked at them gratefully.
"I don't know this Abby person, but I've never been happier to see anyone in my entire life." The man gasped and Buck smiled brightly at him.
They packed up their stuff, dropped the man off at the hospital and was on their way to the next call, all within a half an hour. The information was a bit vague but from what Buck could understand there was a man who had fallen down… under?... an escalator.
They made their way through the mall to were the injured and trapped man was, Bobby leading the way, "LAFD, coming through!"
"Hey, I guess they'd been working on the escalator overnight." Hen, who had arrived at the scene first, said to Bobby as they arrived. "The floor panel on the landing… it must not have been put back securely."
"Daniel, help is here. The fire department is here" A young woman called down to where Buck assumed Daniel was, before turning to Hen who guided her away. "Please tell me he's gonna be okay. Please help him."
"Hey, Daniel, can you hear me?" Bobby called down but didn't get a response.
"We got to get this step out of here." Chim pointed out.
Together Buck and Bobby grabbed the handles on the step, "One, two, three."
"Alright, Chim, you're on." Bobby ordered after they had put down the step.
Chim quickly jumped down into the 'hole' and checked for a pulse, "I got a pulse, guys."
A minute later Bobby bent down towards Chim, "Alright, talk to me Chim. What do you got?"
"It's not good." Chim said as he stood up.
"What's happening? Why are you stopping?" The woman made to move forward.
"Hey, you need to stay over here, okay?" Buck said gently as she stopped her. "They need room to work."
Buck managed to keep the woman from rushing forward until Daniel started moaning and almost screaming in pain. Hen ushered the woman back towards Buck who pulled her into her arms.
"See? He's coming out, he's coming out." Buck reassured the woman, who she still didn't know the name off. "I'm gonna help, okay?"
She rushed over and grabbed Daniel under the arms to help carry him to the backboard. As people started clapping Buck did her best not to flinch, they weren't out of the woods yet.
When they got back to the station Buck couldn't get the sobbing of the woman out of her head. it was supposed to be one of the happiest days of their lives, instead she had to bury her fiancé.
"You okay, Buck?" Eddie asked slowly as he walked up to her.
"Yeah, it's just not easy, you know, losing someone." Buck smiled sadly, feeling the butterfly clips on her brow pull a little.
"It never is." Eddie agreed. "And, I think, that if it ever stopped affecting us, then it's time to quit."
"True." Buck nodded before smiling again. "Hey Eddie, could you maybe do me a favor after shift?"
"Depend on what it is." Eddie gave her a smirk. "I ain't helping you do anything illegal."
"Funny." Buck chuckled. "I just need some help carrying my sister's things to her new apartment."
"Sure, I'll help." Eddie agreed. "But you owe me one."
"Deal." Buck smirked and Eddie felt like she was hiding something from him.
Eddie took a steadying breath before he knocked on the door to the address Buck had given him as they split up after shift. He had had a hard time choosing what clothes to wear after his shower and he had no idea why. They were just helping Buck's sister move, right?
"Hey, come on in." Buck smiled and held the door open to him.
"Thanks." Eddie walked in a little awkward. Buck had showered too and her hair was still damp, hanging down to the middle of her back in soft, beachy, waves.
Trying not to show how awkward he was feeling Eddie walked into the living room while looking around. "Thought you said we were helping your sister move." He looked over at Buck. "Doesn't look like she's packed anything."
"Oh, this stuff is Abby's. I lied about the whole moving thing." Buck shrugged with an apologetic smile. "I mean, my sister is moving, it's just… she doesn't really have that much stuff."
"What's going on, Buck?" Eddie asked feeling very confused.
"I asked you here 'cause there's someone I want you to meet." Buck looked so very proud of herself.
"You didn't set me up, did you?" Eddie wanted to know, feeling worried and sad at the same time.
"No, just-just trust me." Buck giving him a soft, earnest smile. "This woman is… exactly what you need."
Before Eddie could say anything there was a knock on the door and Buck smiled turned brighter. "She's here."
Buck walked, almost skipped, over to the door and opened it to let a beautiful, dark-skinned, woman inside. "Buckaroo!"
"Carla." Buck hugged her before closing the door.
"Baby… Ah, I've missed your face." Carla smiled up at Buck and Eddie felt awkward again.
"I've missed you too. Calls and texts aren't the same." Buck smiled softened as she turned towards Eddie. "Uh, Eddie, this-this is my friend Carla."
"Nice to meet you, Eddie." Carla held out her hand towards him.
"Likewise." Eddie shook her hand.
"Carla is L.A.'s finest home health care aid." Buck explained to Eddie with a smile. "She had years of experience navigating giant bureaucracies and I thought she could help you figure out how to get Christopher what he needs."
Eddie felt warmth fill his chest and butterflies in his stomach as he looked at Buck. She had gone out of her way to help him get help for Christopher and Eddie didn't know how he was ever gonna be able to thank her or repay her.
"I'm red tape's worst nightmare." Carla said with a laugh as she started to make her way past Eddie and into the living room. "I'll get you through this in no time. Now, let's go sit down and let's see what you're working with, besides that perfect bone structure."
'Thank you' Eddie mouthed at Buck, who just smiled and nodded at him to follow Carla.
Over the next two hours Carla helped him with everything he needed to do to get Christopher the help he needed, all the while Buck puttered around in the kitchen and gave them something to drink and snack on.
A/N: Pinchos is a Swedish restaurant chain serving small plates from cuisines across the world. Think a delicious mix of burgers, dumplings and paella, yummy desserts and colorful drinks. Their aim is to have something for every taste. The guests book tables, order and pay in an app. They were the first restaurant in the world to have all orders made through an app.