"Holy hell, look at that rope rescue!" Jim could hear a couple officers discussing in the corner, watching something on their cell phones. "Not bad for a firefighter!" Another one commented, and everyone laughed out loud. "Hey Street, come check this out!" Luca said, motioning him over to the group.

Jim had a bad feeling when he heard the word firefighter, but headed over to Luca to watch the video. He swore his heart stopped for a moment when the news reporter said that it was two firefighters from the 118 that were attempting a rope rescue. Jim wanted to stop watching, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of his boyfriend rappelling down the side of the building, and then falling - just free falling down to land in the barely inflated airbag.

Jim took a couple shaky steps back, trying to not make a big scene. He was already having trouble taking deep breaths, instead a wheezy sound was coming from his mouth. Luckily, Chris quickly noticed that something was wrong, and managed to move him into their kitchen with no one else giving them a second glance.

"Street, you need to calm down," Chris urged, placing a hand on each of Jim's shoulders. "You need to breathe in for four, and then out," she instructed, counting each of the beats out loud. "Buck is fine. He got up and walked away from the rescue. He is fine," She repeated, hoping that the words were breaking through to Street.

Jim finally was able to get his breathing under control, focusing first on Chris's reassurances, then on her firm grip on his shoulders. "I feel like a bit of a hypocrite," he whispered, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants. "We do crazy shit like that all the time, but - ", he paused, shaking his head.

"It's hard to watch someone you care about doing it too," Chris filled in Jim's sentence for him. While she hadn't had a chance to meet Buck yet, Jim had been keeping her up-to-date on how everything was going. And it was obvious that the two of them cared for each other. "Hey, how about we sneak out of here, and I'll drive you over to the 118 so you can check on Buck yourself?" She offered, looking at the time. "We're almost done our shift anyways."

"Yeah, that sounds…yeah, let's do that. Thanks Chris," Jim said, standing and giving her a hug. He let the hug linger a bit longer than normal, appreciating Chris's support, both of his relationship and of him.

XXXXX

Chris pulled into the 118 station just a bit before the next shift change. Shifting the car into park, Chris turned to Jim. "I'll just wait out here for you. Go see your man," she added, with a wink.

Jim nodded, and rushed out of the patrol car, entering the station through the fire truck doors. It had been forever since he had been in a fire station and not having ever been in this one, he was a bit confused on where to go. And then he spotted the good looking brunette from Buck's place, Eddie he thought his name was, headed in his direction.

"Hey, Eddie, right?" Jim said, jogging over to the other man.

Eddie nodded, recognizing the man from Buck's apartment a few months back. "I'm assuming that you're looking for Buck? He's in the locker rooms, just hang a left past the truck and you'll see him." He noticed Jim's look of concern, and patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. "He's okay man. And Chimney is the last one in there, so don't worry about anything."

Jim nodded, thanking Eddie and sped-walked to the locker room. Overhearing Chimney's comment about Buck not being the Buckley he wanted to spend the night with, he couldn't help but add "I'm relieved to hear that Chimney," leaning on the inside of the door frame.

Both men startled hearing Jim's voice at the entrance of the locker room. Buck looked over and shot him that gorgeous smile of his, and he couldn't help but walk over to wrap his arms around him. Buck gave him a concerned look as he felt himself shake a bit, but Jim just tucked his head in the crook of Buck's neck and closed his eyes. Buck was okay. Chris had been right.

"I'll see you on Saturday, Buck." Chimney said, quietly exiting the locker room to give the two men some privacy. Buck just gave him a small wave, still unable to move with Jim in his arms.

"Are you okay, babe?" Buck finally asked, when it seemed like Jim was never letting go. It wasn't that he minded a long hug, but he was concerned. He gave his boyfriend a soft kiss on the top of his head while he waited for a response.

"Yeah, yeah," Jim replied, finally straightening up and letting go of Buck a bit reluctantly. Glancing around, he chose to sit on one of the benches while Buck finished changing. "Your rescue went viral," Jim added, after a few minutes of silence. Buck sent him a bit of a quizzical look. "The rope rescue tonight?"

Buck's mouth formed a small O. He had tuned out all the spectators at the fire, not even noticing that there were cameras pointed in his direction. Now fully changed, he sat down right next to Jim, so that their shoulders were touching.

"I know that you are fully capable of doing that type of rescue, Buck. It was just hard to watch," Jim admitted, leaning into Buck a bit more. He didn't want Buck to think that he didn't think he was capable of his job. "I know we didn't have plans tonight, but can I take you out for dinner? Maybe Mexican?"

Buck smiled, excited about Jim's date idea. "That sounds good to me!". Grabbing Jim's hand to help him off the bench, the two walked towards the parking lot. "How did you get here anyways?" Buck asked, trying to figure out the vehicle situation.

"Oh, shoot. Chris has been waiting for me, let me just tell her that I'm going with you." Jim blushed, feeling bad about forgetting his friend had driven him there. But when they returned to the parking lot, she was nowhere in sight. A ding on his phone showed a simple text message from Chris - ''have fun tonight ;)', which he showed Buck with a laugh.

Buck threw his bag in the back of his Jeep and the two hopped in, with Jim providing the directions to the restaurant that Luca had recommended.

XXXXX

Buck paused for a moment when they entered the restaurant, as the decor smacked you in the face. He couldn't really tell if they meant it to be this gaudy or if they were aiming for cutesy and it failed horribly. But at the same time, with the mismatched plates, table cloths, and brightly coloured coloured walls, there was something really romantic about it. There were chili shaped lights strung all over the wall, and the majority of the tables were two seaters, obviously indicating a more private dining experience.

"You said Luca recommended this place?" Buck double-checked with Jim. Luca was in the process of getting a food truck up and running, so the man knew good food.

"Yup, he said that everything was homemade and that they make one of the best tomatillo salsas in the city," Jim replied with a grin. He indicated to the hostess that they would like a table for two. "Chris also confirmed that they are very LGBTQ friendly," he added, letting his hand fall to Buck's lower back as they walked back to their table.

"I really need to meet Chris and the rest of your team, they sound like great people," Buck said with a smile. He could see Jim tense slightly, and reached across the table to lightly squeeze his forearm and then hold his hand. "Please don't worry babe. Whenever you are ready is fine by me. Besides, you still need to meet Hen and Bobby." He said, looking down at the small menu that their server had placed in front of them with one hand.

"Thanks," Jim replied quietly, squeezing Buck's hand back. He felt very accepted by Buck's family and friends that he had been introduced to so far. He just hoped that his team would be equally happy for him. "Maybe we can go for nachos and beer with Chris next week? She keeps asking to meet you." More like begging with a lot of teasing, but Buck didn't have to know all the details.

Buck shot him that beautiful smile again and Jim melted. He was almost too distracted to see the couple that had just come in, but the door had an annoying chime when someone entered that caused him to glance over. "Hey Buck, can you briefly describe Hen to me?"

"What, why?" Buck stuttered, slightly confused at the question and turned to look at the same direction as Jim. It was Hen and Karen at the front. "She mentioned date night tonight but didn't say where. What an odd coincidence."

Jim started to pull back his hand, in case Buck wasn't ready to tell Hen yet but Buck just gripped his hand harder. "It's fine, Jim. She's with her wife," Buck replied, dropping extra emphasis on the word wife. "If they don't notice us now, I'll introduce you after our meal," he said with a smile. He was looking forward to more of the team knowing about his relationship.

Hen and Karen sat down at a table far across the restaurant, not seeming to notice the two men. Shrugging, Buck looked at the menu. "So, I'm starving. Do you want to order a little bit of everything and share?" He asked, hoping Jim was as hungry as he was.

"Yes, that sounds great," Jim replied, as they motioned for the waitress to take their order.

XXXXX

Hen and Karen were halfway through their meal when Karen heard a laugh that she hadn't heard in a while. "Is that Buck?" She asked her wife, looking around for the source of the laughter.

Hen had heard the laugh too, and finally spotted Buck and another man sitting at a table near the back. Giving her wife the look, she tilted her head slightly in the direction of Buck. "Looks like Buck got himself a date night as well," Hen said with a grin, wondering if it was the same man that Buck had asked for her advice a while ago.

"Maybe it's just a friend?" Karen suggested, not willing to make the jump to date just yet. But as the two women watched discreetly, they both noticed that Buck and the other man were holding hands across the table. "Nevermind," Karen said with a smile.

Suddenly, Buck was standing up and headed in their direction with the man trailing behind him. "Pretend that we weren't watching," Hen hissed and the two women tried to pretend like they were talking about Denny.

"Hey Hen, Karen," Buck said, nodding at each of the women. He pulled the man closer, wrapping his arm around the man's waist. "We don't want to interrupt your date night, but I wanted to introduce you to my boyfriend, Jim." Buck said proudly.

Jim reached over and shook Hen's and Karen's hands, blushing slightly. He envied Buck's ability to be so open about himself - he hoped that would rub off on him as well, sooner rather than later.

"It's nice to meet you, Jim," Hen replied, taking in the young man. She assumed it was the same man that Buck was asking her questions about how to tell when a date was a date or just two people spending time together. He appeared to be around Buck's age, and kept himself in shape. Perhaps a bit more shy than Buck, as he was openly blushing when Buck introduced him. But opposites do attract.

The two couples exchanged a few more pleasantries and then Buck and Jim headed on out. Karen looked across at Hen. "You knew?" She asked, not elaborating further.

"I had the inside scoop," Hen said with a grin. "I'm glad it's working out for Buck, he deserves it."