Eddie walked out of the station with a smile, he had just gotten off a four-hour shift, standing in for another firefighter who had needed to take his son to the doctor, and now he was going to the Science Museum with Christopher and Buck.
It had been two weeks since Buck had introduced him to Carla and Eddie was still trying to come up with a way to thank her, but she seemed to be doing things just to make it harder for him. This time she had, somehow, gotten her hand on three free passes to the Science Museum and had asked if Eddie and Christopher wanted to go with her.
Buck seemed to adore Christopher and the two never ran out of topics to discuss, sometimes leaving Eddie to just listen and smile at them. And she never made Christopher feel different from any other child, never tried to stop him from doing something just because he had CP and always listened to him when he wanted to talk about something.
"Earth to Edmundo Diaz?" Buck's laughing voice pulled Eddie out of his thoughts. "You back down on Earth or do you need a few more minutes?"
Buck was wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a light grey t-shirt, with her hair up in a high ponytail and Eddie was not surprised that she looked beautiful. Buck was the sort of woman who didn't need to try to look beautiful, she just was. She had this inner light that just made the world light up around her.
"Sorry, just lost in thought." Eddie told her.
"Well, do you need a map to get out or are we okay to pick up my favorite Diaz?" Buck smirked and started walking towards her car.
"You do know that my Abuela has insisted that she meet you, right?" Eddie asked as he climbed into the passenger seat of Buck's jeep. "Apparently she wants to meet the person Christopher is always talking about and she refuses to let me take Christopher back before she's met you."
Buck pulled out of the stations parking lot while sitting silently in the driver seat for a while before speaking quietly, "What if she doesn't like me?"
"Of course, she'll like you. With the way Christopher talks about you, Abuela almost thinks you hung the moon and the stars." Eddie reassured her but deep inside he felt happy that she wanted to make a good impression on his family.
Eddie had realized in the last week that he might, might, have a crush on Buck. But could you blame him? She was like sunshine reincarnate, she went out of her way to help him so he could take better care of Christopher, she got along with Christopher, she…
"Eddie!" Buck's voice called him back out from his mind once again.
"Sorry." Eddie muttered, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Are you okay?" Buck asked softly, worry written on her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Eddie hurried to assure her. "I just have a lot on my mind, is all."
"If you're sure." Buck hesitated a little before smiling again. "We're at your Abuelas."
"That was quick." Eddie murmured with a slight frown.
"Nope, it took longer than usual thanks to traffic, but you were lost in your head so…" Buck shrugged as she jumped out of the Jeep.
"I haven't told Chris what we're doing this afternoon or that we're going with you." Eddie explained as they walked towards the house. "I wanted it to be a surprise."
Eddie saw Buck take a deep breath and straighten out her shirt, which wasn't needed, before she followed him inside. He could see the nervousness in her eyes, but it was quickly hidden by a smile.
"Hola, Abuela." Eddie smiled as he saw his Abuela standing by the counter making cookies.
"Eddito, mi nieto, cómo estás?" Abuela looked up with a smile.(My grandson, how are you?)
"Soy Bueno." Eddie kissed her on the cheek.(I'm good.)
"Daddy!" Christopher called out in happiness and quickly made his way to hug him.
"Hi, mijo." Eddie hugged back feeling the stress melt off him. "I have a surprise for you."
"You do?" Christopher looked up at him with wide eyes.
"We're going to the Science Museum with Buck." Eddie mock whispered.
"Buck?" Christopher looked around the kitchen.
"Hi, Superman." Buck smiled and waved from where she was standing by the door.
"Buck!" Christopher almost sounded happier to see Buck than to see Eddie bur Eddie didn't blame him.
"Abuela, this is Buck." Eddie introduced. "Buck this is my Abuela, Isabel."
"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Diaz." Buck gave a shy smile.
"Buck, that is a very interesting name." Abuela hummed thoughtfully but she was smiling.
"It's a nickname taken from my last name Buckley." Buck explained softly. "My name is Evangeline."
"That is a beautiful name." Abuela declared and Buck blushed.
"Thank you, Mrs. Diaz." Buck looked down shyly again.
"Call me Abuela, dear." Abuela patted her on the cheek before turning back to Eddie. "Ella me gusta mucho."(I like her very much.)
"Yo tambien, Abuela, yo tambien." Eddie smiled as he watched Buck listen intently as Christopher explained something to her.(Me too, grandmother, me too.)
"Ya la has invitado a una cita?" Abule asked seriously.(Have you asked her out on a date yet?)
"Abuela?!" Eddie looked at her wide eyed with a blush slowly creeping up his neck.
"Qué?" Abuela had a hidden smirk on her face, Eddie was certain of it. "Te gusta, es obvio, así que invítala a salir antes que alguien más."(What? You like her, it is obvious, so ask her out before someone else does.)
"Dad, can we go now?" Christopher called out impatiently and Eddie saw the look Buck sent him, like she was saying sorry that she couldn't distract him any longer.
"Yeah, in just a minute, mijo." Eddie assured his son.
"Evangeline dear, I baked some cookies for you to bring with you." Abuela walked over and handed Buck a container full of cookies.
"Thank you so much, Mrs…" Buck trailed of at Abuelas look. "Thank you, Abuela."
"Think nothing off it, niña." Abuela smiled and patted her cheek one last time before turning to hug Christopher goodbye. (Child.)
"Maybe she's a pathological liar." Buck suggested as they sat down on the sofa in the loft after coming back from a woman being run over by a car in a parking lot, a woman that had earlier been arrested for stealing packages from people's porches.
"Or she's just lazy." Hen pointed out.
"Or that." Buck pointed at Hen with a laugh and leaned against Eddie.
Eddie had spent the four days since their trip to the Science Museum trying to work up the courage to talk to Buck about, maybe, going on a date. His Abuela couldn't stop talking about how pretty Buck was and had smirked as she told Eddie that Buck had 'good childbearing hips' to which Eddie had blushed redder than he can ever remember doing since he passed puberty.
"What about…" Chim was interrupted by the alarm and they were all up and on their way to a cemetery in less than five minutes.
They arrived at the cemetery to see a group of people standing around a man laying on the ground. Athena met Bobby as he walked towards them and Eddie followed with Buck by his side.
"Sir, I'm just gonna examine you for a second here." Bobby crouched down beside the man and lifted his shirt. "Oh, okay, we got a colostomy bag, probably backing up. You're going to have to intubate him." Bobby said to Hen and Chim before turning back to the man. "Sir, just try to relax, these paramedics here are going to attend you."
"Oh, hell no." The man looked up as Hen and Chim stepped forward before he started groaning, before looking at Bobby. "You do it."
"Sir, I am not a trained paramedic." Bobby explained slowly. "I can't intubate you, they can."
"I'm fine." The man protested weakly.
"Sir, you are not fine." Chim pointed out. "Your bowel is probably obstructed; the contents of your colostomy bag are backing up into your system. You're about to choke on your own waste. You will suffocate and die."
"Get… away." The man protested.
"Okay, sir, if you refuse care, we cannot administer it by force." Bobby told him.
"She can do it." The man indicated to Buck with a leer on his face.
Eddie felt anger course through him as he saw Buck shiver with discomfort at the look the man was sending her, he wanted to punch him or maybe just walk away and let him die in his own waste. No, he would never do that to someone, but he could pretend for a hot second.
"Sir, I haven't been trained as a paramedic." Buck explained to the man.
"What about him?" The man looked at Eddie.
"Diaz." Bobby said and moved out of the way.
"Diaz." The man sneered. "What kind of name is that?"
"My father's from Mexico." Eddie said, letting more of his Spanish accent slip forward. "My mother's Swedish. I can help you out with the Swedish half, but no one told me which half that is."
Eddie hid his smirk as he heard Buck cough to hide her laughter. The man started shaking his head at Eddie and Eddie stood up with an annoyed look.
"Okay, would you like me to call you another paramedic team so you can have an all-white one?" Bobby asked with slight irritation.
"Yeah." The man groaned.
"He's gonna aspirate." Hen pointed out right before the man started reaching and then throwing up. "And he's aspirating."
"Actual diarrhea of the mouth." Chim said as he waved a hand in front of his face. "Outstanding."
"Okay, guys, let's get to work." Hen sighed and they all did their job, even if they were feeling annoyed and irritated at the man.
After sending the diarrhea man off to the hospital Buck walked over to where a dark-haired woman was standing with a big smile on her face and at Buck's answering smile Eddie couldn't do anything but smile and follow.
"Well done." The dark-haired woman complimented.
"Right, your ride-along was today." Buck looked a little embarrassed. "Uh, Cap, Eddie, this is my sister Maddie."
"Nice to meet you, Maddie, I'm Eddie." Eddie held out his hand which Maddie gladly took.
"Nice to meet you to Eddie." Maddie sent a smirk over at Buck and Buck blushed, making Eddie feel hopeful that Buck wouldn't be opposed to a date, if he ever got the courage to ask her.
"Great to finally meet you." Bobby spoke up with a welcoming smile.
"Yeah, you, too." Maddie smiled again. "I've heard nothing but wonderful things about you."
"Well, don't believe everything your little sister tells you." Bobby cautioned with a teasing look sent at Buck.
"I meant from her." Maddie nodded towards Athena.
"Ah. Well. The feeling is mutual." Bobby admitted as Athena walked up to them.
"She's really something." Maddie said. "She never lets anything get to her."
"Get to me? Do you know how many times in a given day somebody's got the opportunity to get to me?" Athena scoffed with a chuckle. "If I start letting them get to me, I wouldn't make it past breakfast. Which reminds me, we should eat."
"Eat?" Maddie asked in shock as Athena walked to her car. "You want to eat after that?"
"It's lunch time." Athena stated and sent a kiss at Bobby before getting in her car and driving away.
"You and Maddie…" Eddie trailed of slowly.
"Don't look a lot a like?" Buck asked with a sad little smile. "Yeah, and I've always envied her for that."
"Why's that?" Eddie murmured as they made their way back towards the truck and got in.
"My parents… well, I was an accident while Maddie was the wanted child." Buck said like it was no big deal, but Eddie could see the sadness in her eyes.
The ride back to the station is quiet and Eddie wants to help but doesn't know how. So, with a fortifying breath he walked over to her as they climbed out of the truck, doing something that he's never done before.
"Buck, I know your sad or feeling off and I'm sorry that I brought back those memories." Eddie said quietly as he sat down beside her. "Is there any way I can help you feel better."
Buck looked up at him with a 'are you serious' look and Eddie thought back to what he asked. When it finally clicked, he looked horrified, "NO… not like that… I just…. I thought we…. I was… That is so say…"
"Calm down, Eddie." Buck laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "I know you didn't mean it like that."
"Oh, Dios Mio." Eddie breathed out in relief.
"And to answer your question." Buck smiled gratefully at him. "No, there is nothing you can do, but thank you for asking."
"I still don't understand how she could just hang up." Buck said to Maddie. "Anyway… so she hung up on a thousand people and it's your fault she got fired?"
"Oh, not just fired. The LAPD had launched an investigation, she could go to jail, which I guess is also my fault because I violated a code when I reported her." Maddie ranted with annoyance. "I don't even know what that means. Like, a 911 dispatcher code?"
"They say cops have that blue line." Buck pointed out, but not really sure what she meant.
"Yeah, well, I wear maroon. Anyway, she just kept texting and calling, so I had to shut my phone off." Maddie was interrupted by her phone vibrating. "Ugh, guess who? Looks like Gloria's not done yelling at me?"
"You do know you can charge her for harassment, right?" Buck asked as she turned to her older sister and when Maddie's phone started ringing again Buck smirked, "Here, give me your phone."
"What are you going to do?" Maddie asked even as she handed over her phone.
Buck just kept smirking as she answered the call. "Ziggy's abortion and pizzeria where today's loss is tomorrow's sauce. How can I help you today?"
Maddie had to bite her tongue to stop the laughter from bursting forward, Buck sounded like one of those phone-sex-line operators, all seductive and sexy.
"Maddie is that you?" Came Gloria's voice from the phone which Buck had put on speaker.
"Sorry we have no Maddie here." Buck said with the seductive voice. "Are you searching for Marie? Her loss was today's sauce."
No answer came from the phone until Gloria just hung up and Maddie started to laugh long and loud, Buck joining in with a tinkling giggle.
"How did you even come up with that?" Maddie asked after they had both calmed down.
"The internet." Buck smirked like it was obvious.
"I love you, Evie." Maddie smiled. "Never change."
"I love you too, Mads." Buck kissed her sister on the cheek before going to the kitchen. "What do you want to drink?"
"Do you have any white wine?" Maddie looked hopefully.
"Since you came to town?" Buck turned her head towards Maddie before pulling out a wine bottle. "I always have white wine for you."
"Wait…" Maddie narrowed her eyes at Buck. "You don't drink wine. Do you buy wine just for me?"
"Well, yeah." Buck uncorked the bottle and poured a glass for Maddie.
"That is so sweet." Maddie gushed and pinched Buck's cheeks.
"Get off." Buck waved Maddie's hands away. "I don't like you anymore."
"Liar." Maddie singsonged and walked over to the table.
"Good morning, Eddie." Buck greeted him as he climbed out of his truck.
"Morning, Buck." Eddie looked up with a smile and froze. Buck was wearing jean shorts that went to the middle of her thighs, showing off her ass and her mile long legs perfectly, and a tight tank top with the words 'Girl Power' written on it.
Eddie still hadn't gotten around to asking her out and he was beating himself up about it. What was so hard about asking Buck out? She was beautiful, kind, funny… was it that he was scared that she would say no?
"Maddie wanted us to carry the sofa." Buck gestured to the white sofa with a plastic sheet covering it.
"Okay." Eddie nodded. "I brought the pizza. Should I go in with that first or…?"
"Just place it on the sofa and we'll carry them both at the same time." Buck smiled and together, with the sofa between them, they made their way towards Maddie's new apartment.
As they make it to the door, they noticed that they couldn't carry the sofa in without twisting it and making the pizza fall off and as a joke they stared to discuss how to make it happen without twisting it.
"Maybe we pop the hinges off the door." Eddie offered as Maddie walked out.
"Or we use the Jaws of life." Buck piped up and Eddie pointed at her with a half smirk.
"No, no, no, it has to fit. I measured it twice." Maddie denied as she fretted slightly. "Can't you guys just, you know, tun it around the other way?"
"Then the pizza will slide off." Buck pointed out.
"You have pizza on my new sofa?" Maddie asked, both shocked and annoyed.
"It's on the plastic." Buck gestured and Maddie turned around grabbed the pizza and walked inside with a huff. "Okay, then."
They picked up the sofa as they chuckled and somehow, someway, with Eddie grunting out an "Alright, pivot." They got the sofa inside and on the floor.
"Hey, thank you, guys, for helping me on your day off." Maddie smiled as Eddie walked up to her to take the pizza.
"Don't worry about it. Plates?" Eddie asked quickly.
"Countertop." Maddie indicated. "Kitchen."
Eddie walked towards the kitchen to find the plates, being joined by Chimney a few seconds later.
"So, have you asked her out yet?" Chim asked as he pulled out the beer from the fridge.
"What? I have no idea what you're talking about. What?" Eddie spluttered.
"Oh, come on, Eddie." Chim laughed. "It's as obvious as a neon sign that you want to ask our Buckaroo out."
"Is it really that obvious?" Eddie wondered quietly.
"To everyone but Buck." Chim nodded.
"I just… what if she says no?" Eddie admitted slowly. "I don't want to make it awkward at work. And I have a lot of baggage."
"First of all; Everyone has baggage." Chim pointed out. "And second; She won't say no. Trust me."
Eddie goes to say something else but Maddie, followed by Buck, enter the kitchen with bright smiles and… is Buck blushing? Maybe Chim was right, maybe he did have a chance.
"That's what you said last time and then when you were going to ask her, you chickened out." A voice in his head, sounding a lot like Abuela, tutted at him.
"What do you want us to do next?" Buck asked as she took a bite of her pizza slice.
"Could you help me put the display cabinets together?" Maddie pleaded.
"It's not from IKEA, is it?" Buck grumbled. "Because in the wise words of Ryan Reynolds 'IKEA is Swedish for Fuck You!'"
"No, it's not from IKEA." Maddie chuckled.
"Then I'm happy to help." Buck beamed brightly.
"And what do you want me and Chim to do?" Eddie wanted to know, feeling slightly disappointed that he didn't get to work with Buck, but he still had work for that.
"There is a truck coming with a few things I ordered online." Maddie explained. "So, if you two could carry those inside that would be great."
"We're on it, boss." Chim saluted with a smile.
The first call of the day was interesting to say the least. It was not every day a helicopter went down, not even in L.A. Buck felt worried about the blades snapping off and killing people, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind when she looked over at Eddie.
Because of the sounds and the air whipping around their ears she couldn't ask if he was okay without getting the others attention. Eddie had vaguely told her that he had been in a helicopter crash in the army and Buck could guess that he had PTSD because of it, and she wanted to make sure he was okay.
Suddenly Buck was hit with an idea and she hoped it would work, she quickly grabbed Eddie's wrist, placed two fingers against his pulse point and with slow, even taps of her fingers, she began to use morse code.
"●●▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬●▬" Buck tapped and Eddie's head swung up to her in surprise, before moving his hand to tap back with a grateful look. (U OK)
"●● ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬●▬" Eddie smiled at her. "▬ ●●●● ●▬ ▬● ▬●▬ ●●●"(AM OK) (THANKS)
Buck nodded at him with a smile and a squeeze of his wrist before they tuned back into the plan just as Bobby started to give out orders.
"Alright, guys, we're gonna fan out, go behind those bleachers." Bobby turned to Eddie. "Eddie, after we get the people out, you think you can kill that engine?"
"Thinks so." Eddie agreed with a frown. "I'm just worried about the dynamic rollover."
"Is that when the whole thing goes sideways?" Buck asked loudly.
"Yeah, quite literally." Eddie nodded. "We change the weight ratio by pulling people out, whole thing could tip over, rotors could snap off."
"And then the flying rocks are gonna be the least of our problems." Buck muttered.
"Alright, visors down, let's go!" Bobby called out and then they were on the move.
The winds from the rotors became stronger the closer to the helicopter they got and Buck felt something hit her hip, hard, but she ignored it and kept going forward, focusing on the job.
"Buck get her out of there!" Bobby ordered as they arrived at the helicopter.
"On it, Cap!" Buck proceeded to open the door as Eddie went for the driver side. Was it still called a driver's side on a helicopter? Buck shook her head and looked at the red headed woman in the back of the helicopter. "Put your arms around me. Yes, alright, here we go."
AS Buck made to lift the woman out the helicopter shifted and she fell back into the helicopter. Buck managed to lift the red headed woman out of the helicopter and away to a safe distance, then she watched Eddie jump into the driving seat and shut down the helicopter.
'That's hot.' The thought hit Buck out of left field and she felt a blush rise on her cheeks. 'What the effing hell was that about?'
A while later Buck was watching as Hen checked the red headed woman out and felt a niggling sense of knowing her, her voice sounding really familiar.
"Sorry for staring." Buck apologized when she realized that she had been staring for a while. "It's just… I recognize your voice from somewhere."
"I'm Tyler Kelly." Tyler smiled at Buck. "You might recognize me from Skywitness News Eight."
"Oh right!" Buck smiled. "You have helped me beat traffic in this city more times than you'll ever know."
"You might want to Uber tomorrow." Tyler pointed out.
"Yeah." Buck nodded before she saw Eddie out of the corner of her eyes. "If you'll excuse me."
Buck quickly jogged over to where Eddie was standing. At first, he didn't even acknowledge that she was there, just breathing hard and staring into the distance.
"Eddie?" Buck asked gently. "You okay, man?"
"Buck?" Eddie gasped out as he looked up at her but not really seeing her.
"Hey, it's okay, just breathe." Buck quickly grabbed one of Eddie's hands and placed it in the middle of her own chest, making sure he could both feel her breathing and her heart beating.
Then she just started talking, telling him about what she found out on her last trip down the rabbit hole. The longer she talked, the more relaxed Eddie became until he finally just took a deep breath and looked up at her with a small, but grateful, smile.
"Thank you." Eddie whispered.
"No problem." Buck smiled softly. "If you want to talk about it, you know where you can find me, otherwise I'll just be here as silent support."
"Seriously Buck, thank you." Eddie squeezed her hand with a look that Buck couldn't decipher.
Eddie was working out as he did his best to ignore Buck who was dancing as she cleaned the Captains car, the one Bobby never used. He looked up just as Buck moved her hips in a move that should be illegal, at least if Buck was the one doing it.
When they had gotten back from the call with the helicopter two days ago, things had been calm for a while. Then Buck had reached for something and her shirt had slipped up to who off her hipbones and Hen had lost it.
Turns out that Buck had been hit with something at the helicopter 'crash' and hadn't said anything about it. Bobby, when he had seen the bruise, had sent her to the hospital to get it checked out, worried that it might be worse than it looked. Luckily, it was only a bad bruise and it would heal in a couple of weeks.
Eddie was knocked out of his thoughts by Buck's voice. "Miss. Kelly? What are you doing here?"
"You can just call me Taylor." Taylor Kelly smiled and… was she flirting with Buck? "Uh, how was your drive in? Did you miss me?"
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Eddie got up and walked over to them. He wasn't really sure why, he had never really been a jealous person before, but there was something about Buck that brought out a possessive, jealous side of him. "Any side effects after the crash?"
"Eddie." Buck smiled before she frowned. "Crap, I promised to spot you, didn't I?"
Eddie smiled at her and was about to tell her it was okay when Taylor spoke up.
"I'm great. Thanks to all of you, which is why I'm here. You guys were so amazing." Taylor gushed, mostly looking at Buck. "I want to do a story on this firehouse and on the heroes who work here."
"Yeah, but you do traffic." Chim, who had walked up to them along with Hen, pointed out with confusion.
"I'm not quite ready to go back in the sky, so I thought I'd try my hand at telling a story from the ground." Taylor told them.
"And use your newfound fame to put your face in front of the camera." Hen chuckled.
"That, too." Taylor admitted.
"Smart girl." Hen raised an eyebrow.
"I can't wait to interview all of you." Taylor looked around and Eddie saw Buck stiffen. "I want to know why you chose this job, the crazy things you've seen, what it's like to face death. I mean, Howie, you almost died, right?"
"Actually, nobody calls me that." Chim said, looking uncomfortable. "It's Chimney."
"I bet there is a story there." Taylor smirked.
"Not one you can tell on TV." Hen muttered.
"You okay?" Eddie whispered to Buck as Bobby came back.
"Yeah, I just don't like this." Buck murmured back as Bobby came walking back with orders to let Taylor do her story.
"Don't worry Captain Nash, your story's in good hands." Tylor smirked again. "I'm going to make you all famous."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Buck muttered to Eddie who squeezed her shoulder.
Eddie watched as Buck did her best to avoid Tylor and the camera man at every turn, many times walking into the locker room where Tylor wasn't allowed to go. Eddie did his best to help, but that sadly ended with Tylor cornering him as he was working on the punching bag and asking him a lot of questions.
"What I missed most after leaving the Army is the camaraderie, um, working shoulder-to-shoulder with a great team, and there's none better than the one I found here." Eddie did his best not to look over to where he knew Buck was.
"So, are you and Buck always paired together on jobs?" Taylor asked with a smirk.
"Most of the time we are." Eddie did his best not to snap or glare at her. "We work well together and I have her back as she has mine."
"It must be difficult to work with such a beautiful woman on a daily basis." Taylor remarked and Eddie felt anger bubble in his chest.
"Hey Eddie, can you come help me with this?" Buck called out from where she was standing on top of one of the firetrucks.
"Be right there, Buck." Eddie called back, feeling relived knowing that Taylor was not allowed up on the trucks.
"You okay?" Buck asked as he joined her. "You looked a little tense, there."
"She was being very rude." Eddie groaned as he rubbed a hand over his face.
"That doesn't surprise me." Buck shrugged. "I'm sure she's nice and all but she's a little to invested in her job, in finding her 'story' and forgetting the people behind said story."
As they worked, they talk quietly to avoid Taylor hearing what they talked about, not wanting her to put their conversation in her story.
"So, what do you think, Zoo or Aquarium?" Buck asked with a smile.
"I don't know." Eddie hummed. "He likes both, I think."
"We'll figure it out." Buck smiled and Eddie felt his breath catch in his chest. The way Buck was standing and the way the sun was hitting her made her look ethereal, otherworldly, like a Goddess come down to earth.
"You okay, Eddie?" Buck asked with her head tilted to the side.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Eddie smiled at her. "Just, could we talk? After the whole thing with Taylor Kelly is over?"
"Sure." Buck gave a cute little frown. "I haven't done anything that…"
"Oh, no, of course not." Eddie hurried to assure. "It's just something I've wanted to talk to you about and I rather do it when we don't have to worry about someone with a camera following us around."
"Okay, then." Buck nodded with a grin. "After Taylor is done with her 'story' we'll get ice cream or something and you can tell me whatever it is you wanted to tell me."
"Ice cream, huh?" Eddie smiled again, he loved that Buck would rather go out to the park and get ice cream than demand an expensive lunch or dinner.
"Ice cream only comes second to chicken nuggets." Buck nodded and chuckled.
"Excuse me?" A male voice called out from the floor and both Eddie and Buck moved to see who it was.
An older man was making his way into the fire house, leaning on a cane and looking around in interest.
"Charlie?" Buck called out and the man looked up at her.
"Miss. Buck." Charlie gave her bright smile, before turning his eyes towards Eddie. "And Mr. Diaz."
Buck hurried down from the top of the firetruck and hugged Charlie gently. "Oh, it's good to see you again, Charlie."
"It is very nice to see you to. Miss. Buck." Charlie laughed and hugged her back as Eddie stopped besides them.
"It's good to see you, man." Eddie shook Charlie's hand.
"How have you been?" Buck asked kindly.
"I've been okay." Charlie smiled at her. "The PT has been hard but rewarding."
"So, not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?" Eddie asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"I just wanted to come and thank you and Miss. Buck for saving me after I had been a bit of an idiot." Charlie smiled and held out a tin with cookies with a small teddy bear dressed as a firefighter sitting on top.
"Aww, he's adorable." Buck gushed as she looked at the teddy bear. "And you don't have to thank us for that."
"Miss. Buck, you are an amazing young woman, one of the kindest people I've ever met." Charlie looked at her earnestly. "And I know that I didn't have to thank you both but I wanted to."
"You're not so bad yourself, Charlie." Buck kissed Charlie on the cheek with a smile.
Then Eddie and Buck had to move as the alarm sounded through the air and Eddie saw Buck hugging Charlie one last time before they were in the truck and making their way to the scene.
Arriving at the… eating competition?... Eddie shared a look with Buck before they both coughed to hide their laughter.
"Excuse me, sir, are you refusing care?" Bobby called out to a man sitting at a table looking pale and sweaty, who waved Bobby away.
Suddenly there was a hiss and Chim had almost launched himself into Bobby's arms, making Eddie and Buck snicker at him.
"Cute." Chim glared down at the lizard? before turning to the woman who had met them as they arrived. "That thing yours?"
"That's Claud." The woman informed him. "He's the grand prize."
"He's kinda adorable." Buck knelt down to look closer at Claud, petting him on the head.
"Whoa, guys, guys." Bobby called out as the man by the table collapsed and then they were moving.
Eddie couldn't decide what he was most disgusted by as they made their way back to the firehouse. Was it when Hen pulled out a cocoon thing out of the man's throat or was it when the blond woman had live cockroaches crawl out of her mouth?
He felt a shudder go through his body, he wasn't afraid to admit that he disliked bugs. Eddie didn't hate them, he just rater avoid them and not have them in close proximity to himself. Which was a bit of a problem due to the fact that Christopher was very fascinated by everything bug.
"I can't believe that they would eat live bugs." Buck looked disgusted. "I mean, doesn't that count as animal cruelty… bug cruelty?"
"People are weird." Eddie muttered as he looked over at her.
"Definitely." Buck laughed brightly as the truck turned into the firehouse.
"How's it looking, Cap?" Chim asked as the sirens wail the next day.
"Seems like one of the bodybuilders at Muscle Beach is stuck in a pose." Cap's voice came over the headset and Buck bit her lip not to chuckle, she had never really understood the appeal with bodybuilding, to her it looked unnatural, but to each of their own, she guessed.
When they arrived and started to make their way towards their patient, Buck could feel the eyes burning into her and suppressed a sigh.
"LAFD." Bobby called out as he led the way. "Clear a path."
Buck almost winced in sympathy as they walked up on the stage, doing her best to ignore the hand that 'accidentally' touched her ass as she walked past one of the bodybuilders, and stopped in front of their patient. "Looks like extreme hyponatremia."
"Say what?" Bret, Taylor's camera man, asked.
"He's got a charlie horse." Hen explained.
"He is a charlie horse." Chim pointed out. "What's your name?
"Charlie." The bodybuilder said in a pained voice.
Buck shared a look with Eddie before she had to look away to not laugh as Bobby asked, "Okay, Charlie, when was the last time you had any fluids?"
"Yesterday afternoon." Charlie told him.
"Flushed yourself out for the competition today?" Chim wanted to know.
"And for the weigh-ins, to make the veins pop." Charlie admitted.
"Well, you're definitely popping." Chim told him.
"Alrigth, Charlie, your potassium and your sodium have bottomed out and that's why you're seizing up." Bobby explained. "Now, before we start replenishing your electrolytes, you got to answer me honestly; are you dosing?"
"No-n-no steroids, if that's what you mean." Charlie denied but his eyes flickered towards Taylor and Bret quickly before focusing back on Bobby. "I'm totally clean."
"Get the camera out of here, please." Bobby looked annoyed and Eddie did as asked.
"Hey Charlie, my name's Buck." Buck spoke up before Bobby could. "I know you are in pain right now, and probably a little scared, and that's okay. But if you are not truthful with us and we start giving you saline and you have been dosing, your kidneys could start to fail, okay? We are not here to judge you, we only want to help."
"I'm on steroids." Charlie admitted as he looked into Buck's eyes.
"Okay, that's fine." Buck smiled reassuringly at him. "Are you taking anything else?"
"I took a diuretic last night to shed some water weight." Charlie told her.
"That explains his low blood pressure." Hen spoke up. "70/40."
"All right, let's get him transported." Bobby ordered.
"This is going to hurt, okay?" Buck said to Charlie as she got ready to lower him to the backboard.
"On three, everybody." Chim declared. "Ready? One, two, three."
"Agh!" Charlie grunted and almost screamed in pain before he was on his back and calmed a little. "Am I, am I gonna be okay?"
"We're going to get you through the day." Bobby promised.
"You'd think he'd earn a trophy for holding that pose so long." Chim smirked.
"Right?" Hen agreed as they wheeled Charlie towards the ambulance.
Buck was about to follow them and go to the truck but a hand on her arm stopped her.
"Excuse me?" One of the other bodybuilders said as he got her attention.
"Can I help you?" Buck asked politely.
"My name is Derek." Derek introduced himself with what Buck assumed was supposed to be a flirtatious smile. "When you walked onto that stage, my breath left my body. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."
"Um… thank you?" Buck felt uncomfortable and shifted, looking for an escape.
"How about you let me buy you a drink after you get off work, hmm?" Derek slid an arm around her waist and Buck felt like he was looking through her clothes.
"I'm flattered, but…" Buck started to stutter out, feeling Derek's hand wander lower on her back, towards her ass.
"Buck." Eddie said as he walked up to them, glaring at Derek and Buck almost sighed in relief.
"Eddie, time to go?" Buck tried to tell Eddie how thankful she was with her eyes.
"Yeah, Cap's getting a bit impatient." Eddie told her, never stopping his glaring.
"Then let's go, don't want Cap mad at us." Buck hummed and started walking away.
"I hate that you have to leave, but damn, baby girl, I love watching you go." Derek called after her as he stared at her ass.
"He's not worth getting charged with assault, Eddie." Buck grabbed Eddie's arm to stop him from turning around and punching Derek in the face.
"He's not, but you are." Eddie told her softly before climbing into the truck.
Buck stood there for a while, feeling butterflies in her stomach and a blush on her cheeks before she shook her head and climbed into the truck after Eddie.
It started as a tingle in his fingers, of that Eddie was certain. After that time really had no meaning anymore. He had clear flashes of what happened but they never progressed from point A to point B in a straight line. It went from point A to G to X to E until he finally connected to point B.
Point A was in the fire truck when everything started to tingle, the world started pulsing and Buck looked to be shining like a star in the dark world that was his life.
"I can see the pollen." Eddie whispered to Buck.
"I can hear it." Buck told him with confusion.
Point G is where Buck turned to him with fear in her eyes.
"Please don't let my mother put me in another beauty pageant." Buck begged softly with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to, I just want to be a firefighter, don't let her take me."
"I'll protect you, Buck, I promise." Eddie vowed. "You won't have to do anything you don't want to."
"I trust you, Eddie." Buck murmured into his neck.
Point X was when he started crying because someone was handcuffing him and he got scared and confused.
"What's going on?" Eddie sniffled. "I don't like this."
"Thena, you are allowed to like kinky sex stuff and handcuffing your partner, but you need consent. Consent is sexy!" Buck declared with a glare. "And I don't think Eddie is consenting. Plus, he's not your partner, he's mine!"
"Am I really?" Eddie turned to Buck, beautiful Buck, with a hopeful look and tears on his cheeks.
"Are you what?" Buck, gorgeous Buck, asked as she turned to him.
"Am I yours?" Eddie asked hopefully.
Point E happens when they get back to the station, all of them tired.
"I wanna take a nap." Buck, wonderful Buck, declared as she leaned against Eddie's side.
"You wanna take a nap?" Eddie leaned his head against hers.
"Imma take a nap right here." Buck, magnificent Buck, nuzzled closer to his side, burying her face in his neck and falling asleep.
Point B finally arrived when they all sobered up, as they talked about the whole thing while they walked up to the loft to watch Tylor Kelly's story on tv.
"…And everything kinda sparkled." Eddie said as he remembered looking at Buck while high and seeing her sparkle, like the most beautiful being to walk the earth.
"Ah, I'd say it was more glistening, like the whole world was covered in doo." Hen almost cooed as they sat down on the sofa in front of the tv.
"You think this is why people go to Burning Man?" Buck asked, sitting down beside Eddie.
When it was finally, finally, time to go home, Eddie felt his stomach knot with nervous energy. It was finally time to have that talk with Buck, and while Eddie was nervous, he also felt calm, somehow knowing that Buck wouldn't judge him.
He made his way down towards the locker room but froze when he heard Taylor Kelly's voice. Wasn't she done with the whole story yet?"
"So what did you think?" Taylor asked.
"I gotta say I was surprised that you didn't put the whole 'high firefighters' thing in your story." Buck said slowly.
"I thought that leaving that out was for the best." Taylor gave a half giggle. "And I was hoping that, maybe, it would make you inclined to say yes."
"Say yes to what?" Buck sounded confused and Eddie nodded in agreement. 'Yes to what?'
"To dinner, with me." Taylor murmured and Eddie felt dread, what if he was too late? "As in a date?"
"I'm flattered and all but I have to turn you down." Buck told Taylor.
"Is it because I'm a woman?" Taylor asked and then she tried to coax. "Because you don't know what you're missing if you haven't tried it.
"No, it's not because you're a woman." Buck laughed. "It's because I'm demisexual."
"What's that?" Taylor sounded confused and Eddie could understand why. What the hell was demisexual? "Is that like… bisexual?"
"Yes and no." Buck chuckled. "Demisexual is somewhere in between bisexual and asexual, it's when you only feel sexual attraction to someone after having a close emotional bond to them."
Eddie felt elated and sacred at the same time. Buck could only be sexually attracted to him if they had a strong emotional bond, which they did or so Eddie liked to think, but what if it wasn't that sort of bond? Eddie decided that he would still talk to Buck and hope for the best.
"I gotta go." Buck said and Eddie heard her close her locker. "I was promised ice cream and I'm gonna cash in."
Eddie started to move again, feeling a smile make its way onto his face. "Buck, you ready to go?"
Buck looked up at him from where she exited the locker room with a bright smile, "Absolutely."
"Know what ice cream flavor you want?" Eddie laughed as he nodded slightly to Taylor, trying not to smirk smugly.
"After they last couple of days it feels like a chocolate chip cookie dough day." Buck almost skipped her way to Eddie's truck.
"Hmm, not a bad choice." Eddie hummed thoughtfully. "But I think I'm going to go with rocky road."
"Oh thank god." Buck gave a dramatic sigh of relief. "If you had said mint chocolate chip, we wouldn't be able to be friends anymore."
"What's wrong with mint chocolate chip?" Eddie chuckled.
"If you want frozen mint just freeze your toothpaste and eat that." Buck shuddered dramatically.
Eddie looked over at her and the moment their eyes met they burst out laughing. He had never had this sort of easy friendship with someone before, the sort where he didn't have to try to be perfect, he just had to be himself.
After they had arrived at the ice cream bar by the beach and ordered their ice cream, they sat down on a bench that looked over the ocean. They sat quietly for a while, just basking in the calmness of the evening and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.
"Okay, so the reason I wanted to talk to you are two things." Eddie spoke up quietly. "First I want to tell you something and then I want to ask you a question. Is that okay with you?"
"You can tell me anything, Eddie." Buck smiled kindly at him. "I promise not to judge."
"I know." Eddie took a deep breath and began. "I'm married."
"Oh." Buck looked shocked and then Eddie saw sadness flicker across her face before she sank into herself and while Eddie felt bad for making her sad, he also felt hopeful and happy that she got sad over him being married.
"I joined the Army straight after high school and became a medic, this you already knew. But I was on leave and met a woman named Shannon, we connected and we had fun, and it was never meant to be more than that, but then she ended up pregnant." Eddie explained. "And thanks to my parents being pushy and having expectations we ended up married, even though my parents never liked Shannon in the first place and I didn't love her. After the wedding, I was deployed again but was granted leave for a week to see Christopher be born before being sent out again."
"At least you got to see and hold him when he was born." Buck smiled at him and Eddie felt his heart skip a beat, here she was pointing out happy things to him while he had hurt her.
"When we found out that Christopher had CP I enlisted again, to help pay for the medical bills but, to be honest with you, I was also running and that is something I will never forgive myself for." Eddie really felt ashamed for doing that and he didn't think he would ever not feel ashamed of that. "Then the chopper went down and I got sent home with a silver star. As soon as I got home, before I had even been home for a month, Shannon started talking about moving and I just needed to be able to breath, to find out who Eddie was instead of Army Medic Diaz."
"Hey." Buck placed a hand on his and gave a gentle squeeze. "It's understandable that you wanted to find who you were in civilian life, okay? Your feelings are completely valid."
Eddie felt a sob get caught in his throat. No one had ever said that he was allowed to feel like he felt and having Buck telling him that he was with complete sincerity was so powerful and validating.
"When I asked Shannon for more time, to breath, to find out who I was, she just huffed and didn't talk to me for a while and two days later she was gone, leaving me and Christopher like we were yesterday's trash, with only a note to say that she needed to breath too." Eddie felt the age-old anger rear up as he thought about it. "And fine, her leaving me doesn't bother me, I was planning to ask for a divorce anyway, but leaving Chris? That I will never forgive."
"She just left Chris?" Buck looked equally pissed as she looked shocked. "No offence but I don't think I like your wife."
"Neither do I." Eddie told her. "And she's my soon to be ex-wife."
"Oh?" Buck looked up and Eddie thought he saw hope in her eyes before it was hidden away again.
"A week after Shannon left, I contacted a lawyer and asked for a divorce." Eddie explained. "I filled out the papers and the lawyer sent them to Shannon. Sadly, she never actually answered or signed them."
"What does that mean?" Buck wondered. "For you, I mean."
"It means that my lawyer has been sending her divorce papers every three months since then and if she still hasn't signed them in two months the court will annul out marriage and I get full custody over Christopher."
"That's great!" Buck exclaimed before she blushed and looked away.
"I think so too." Eddie nodded with a smile.
"Not to sound rude or anything, because I'm actually really happy that you trust me enough to tell me, but why?" Buck frowned in confusion as she tilted her head to the left.
"I wanted to tell you so there would be no secrets that could crop up and ruin things between us after I ask my question." Eddie said and felt the nervousness creep back up in his chest.
"Okay, so ask away." Buck focused on him with her beautiful blue eyes and Eddie felt the nervousness disappear.
Eddie took a deep, steadying breath, before looking Buck in the eyes. "Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow? As, in a date?"
Buck eyes widened before she blushed and gave a small genuine smile, "I would love to."
"Really?" Eddie gasped in happiness.
Buck nodded while she kept blushing and Eddie felt like he could float away on a cloud of happiness. The whole way while he was driving Buck home he couldn't stop smiling and laughing as they talked about anything and everything.
"So, what should I wear tomorrow?" Buck asked as she leaned against the door after getting out of Eddie's truck.
"Something comfortable." Eddie told her.
"You're not even going to give me a hint, are you?" Buck chuckled.
"Nope." Eddie smirked. "I'll pick you up around 11, okay?"
"Sound perfect." Buck smiled at him before pushing away from the truck. "See you tomorrow, Eddie, and thanks for the ice cream."
"See you tomorrow, Buck." Eddie murmured quietly to himself as he watched Buck walk into her apartment complex. Tomorrow was the first step towards a bright and happy future.