Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned the rights to 911 or its characters. It all belongs to Fox TV and the show's creators like Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy and whoever else.

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Epilogue

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Eddie felt a small, contented smile spread across his face as he stared at his hand that was intertwined with Buck's as they lay together in the latter's bed. The sun had just started to rise, pale light coming in through the windows of Buck's loft. The night before had been one filled with the true beginnings of reconciliation between him and Buck.

It had also been highly pleasurable with the two of them sharing heated kisses and intimate touches without going all the way. That would be for later, when things between them were fully back to good. As he lay there with Buck plastered against his back, still sound asleep, Eddie was suddenly struck by a thought, a memory from the highly charged and earth shattering day that Chief Miranda Williams had come to the station to tell Buck that his hard work, all of his personal and professional sacrifices had finally paid off and Chase Mackey was going down.

Chief Williams had told Buck before she had sent him off with the pasta Bobby had cooked for lunch that she would call him about something they had discussed and what Buck wanted to do about it. It had been months now and no one else had any clue what Chief Williams had meant, Buck hadn't mentioned it either. Quashing down on his curiosity and unease, Eddie lifted his head to take a look at the clock Buck kept by his bedside.

The 118 actually had a late shift today, meaning they could all sleep in a little. With that in mind, Eddie kept his fingers intertwined with Buck's as he slowly turned over onto his other side so he could lay facing the other man. Even though he was asleep, Buck seemed to subconsciously understand Eddie's desire as shifted closer and tightened his arm around Eddie's shoulder. Eddie looked into the serene sleeping face of his best friend and now newly minted boyfriend and sighed, feeling a calmness he hadn't felt in a really long time wash over him as sleep tugged at the edges of his mind and rapidly spread throughout. Eddie's eyes fluttered shut and within minutes he was out like a light.

A couple of hours later found Eddie and Buck showered and dressed, enjoying the breakfast Buck had cooked for them. The conversation was light and the chuckles many. It was here that Eddie decided to finally broach the subject that had been on his mind earlier.

" Hey Buck, can I ask you something?" He began, battling against his own reluctance.

" Sure Eds, what is it?" Buck said after a bite of his omelette.

" You know when Chief Williams came to the station, I remember she said she would call you about something you guys discussed." Eddie began before he quickly moved to clarify as Buck stiffened a little.

" You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Buck I just... I remembered this a little while ago today and I was just curious." He said quietly.

He watched as Buck's eyes dimmed a little, his entire body seeming to deflate right after as with a sigh Buck nodded and then spoke.

" Chief Williams kept tabs on me during the whole lawsuit sting operation and after I came back to work. After she gave me that week off she called me one night while I was here for the night and not with you and Christopher. We talked about the case against Mackey and some of the other awful things he's done to other first responders." Buck said before his eyes looked back up to meet Eddie's before he continued.

" While the operation against Mackey was going on, Chief Williams also talked to me about whether I wanted to stay with the 118 or move on." He finished with all seriousness.

Eddie felt like all the air was sucked straight out of his lungs once these words registered.

" Buck what?" He asked, completely stunned.

" She gave me the option of transferring to a different firehouse, any of the top tier houses along with a promotion to lieutenant. I won't lie to you Eds, after the way you all behaved with me after I came back, after how Bobby treated me there were so many times I wanted to call Chief Williams and tell her I would take the transfer. You all broke my heart." Buck said softly with his eyes growing over bright with fresh tears.

Eddie felt his own throat close up for a moment before he forced himself to speak through the pain.

" I don't know how you chose to stay after how we all treated you Buck. Why um... Why didn't you take the offer?" He asked, shame spreading through his veins like an acrid toxin.

Buck just gave Eddie this tearful smile as he shook his head.

" The whole point of being part of that sting operation was to keep all of you safe, what sense would it have made if right after that I just transferred out and left my family behind?" Buck asked with a huff before he continued.

" I got that you guys would be angry and upset about the lawsuit, but I could take it knowing that you guys would learn the truth about why I did what I did one day. I just didn't expect it to reach that level of horribleness Eddie. I can't sugar coat it, you guys were so awful at times I could barely recognize you." Buck said with a hitched breath.

Eddie wanted nothing more than to reach out to Buck, to assure him that none of them would ever show him that kind of behavior ever again, but now was the time to just listen and understand Buck's truth no matter how much it hurt to have his own past horrid actions spelled out for him. Reassurance and heartfelt promises would come later. Eddie pursed his lips and nodded, waiting for Buck to continue his explanation.

" I didn't want a fresh start, I didn't need a promotion either. I just wanted to come back to all of you, I just wanted to be back by your side Eddie, to have your back like I promised. You all are enough for me, you are enough for me Eddie." Buck all but whispered as a few tears finally escaped him and he looked away from Eddie's gobsmacked expression.

The next thing Buck knew he was being seized by his shoulders and hauled up out of the chair he was sitting in at his kitchen island. Arms wrapped around him like a vice while he found himself face to face with an equally tearful Eddie.

" Buck... please just say that again." Eddie said desperately.

" I didn't want a fresh start?" Buck asked, unsure and confused as he reached up and wrapped his own arms around Eddie, feeling him actually trembling beneath his hands.

" N-No Buck, the other part, the part at the end." Eddie croaked out.

Buck thought back and then remembered what he had just said.

" That you are enough for me Eds?" He asked softly.

Eddie could only nod mutely before he promptly buried his face into Buck's neck. Buck gasped softly as Eddie's arms around him tightened almost to the point of pain.

" Eddie?" He asked.

" I-It's all I ever wanted to be for someone, anyone. I wasn't good enough for my parents, not even when I survived a war, got a Silver Star, wanted to be there for Chris, they thought I wasn't good enough, they actually wanted me to leave Chris with them when I planned to move to LA. They even tried to convince me to come back to El Paso right after Shannon's funeral, but I knew it wasn't really me they wanted." Eddie said before he let out a small sob and shook his head against Buck's neck.

" I wasn't enough for Shannon either. I was all in for giving our marriage another try, I was committed to being a better husband to her and then she says she wants a divorce, that she couldn't be a good wife to me and a good mother to Christopher at the same time. Then a couple of days later she got mowed down in the middle of the street and we lost her forever." He finished before with a shaky breathe he drew back so he could be eye to eye with Buck as he spoke.

" I am really enough for you?" He asked with an almost painful desperation.

" Yeah Eddie, of course you are." Buck replied without hesitation as he reached up and took Eddie's face into his hands and continued.

" You and Chris have become my whole world, but please, please don't treat me like that ever again, don't keep me from Chris like that again." Buck all but begged.

" Never, I'll never keep you from him again. I am so sorry Evan, I am so sorry I was so cruel. What I did was so shitty I don't know how you even still consider me a friend let alone love me." Eddie groaned as he averted his gaze.

" But I do, I do because you're gonna be better. We're not giving up on each other." Buck said as his own tears spilled down his face.

Eddie looked up and nodded before he leaned forward slowly, telegraphing his intentions. Buck needed no further prompting as he met Eddie halfway, their lips sealing together in a deep kiss.

They would get better, they would be better for each other.

A couple of days later at the station...

" So not only did he give up a $10 million settlement with the city, Buck also turned down a transfer to any of the best firehouses in the entire state and a promotion?" Hen asked quietly, in disbelief.

Sitting across from her at the dining table Eddie nodded in confirmation while Bobby sat stunned and Chim could only shake his head. Bobby has send Buck out on a quick errand to the nearby grocery store, giving Eddie the chance to finally share this startling new information of yet another sacrifice Buck had made to keep them safe from Mackey.

" We have to make it up to him guys, we gotta be worth him choosing to stay with us instead of rising up the ranks like he could have." Chim said with determination.

" We already hurt him by not having a welcome back party for him when he came back, just had Halloween decorations. Now I am worried if we try throwing a welcome back party now he'd just think we're patronizing him." Bobby sighed.

" I think the best thing we can do right now is keep rebuilding our relationships with him." Hen added.

Eddie sighed and nodded in agreement, his own mind lingering on any possible way to make it up to Buck for this latest revelation of what he had done for all of them. They couldn't really dwell on it for much longer as Buck got back from his errand at the grocery store a few minutes later.

If Buck was slightly taken aback when Bobby, Hen, and Chim all enthusiastically greeted him upon his return, he did give voice to it, letting the three other members of his family shower him with affection while Eddie looked on with a smile, and more promises to himself to treat this wonderful, selfless blue-eyed man that he loved with the respect and care he always deserved.

Time went on and the team stuck to their word of rebuilding things with Buck. Team dinners at Bobby and Athena's, get togethers like the mystery rooms where Buck really got to showcase his problem solving skills, Buck and Eddie going on actual dates together after they had already declared their love for each other. Coming out to the team and filling out the necessary paperwork for HR. ore playdates and hangouts with the kids and reassuring all of them that their Buck wouldn't ever be excluded from them like that again. There were lots and lots of therapy sessions too, both together as a team and individually. Most importantly there was plenty more heart to heart conversations between Buck and his family, even Athena, Maddie, and Karen making their own apologies for not doing more for him, or just being their when he felt so hurt and abandoned, not only because they had been left oblivious to how things were for Buck at work, but also because they had gotten so wrapped up in their own lives they had failed to properly check in with him too. It was the general consensus that so much heart ache could have been avoided if they had all just communicated better.

Slowly but surely, things not only healed, they got better. Bobby finally understood that his fears were interfering too much with Buck's life. Buck may have been like Bobby in so many ways, but he was not Bobby himself, he was his own person with his own mistakes to endure and triumphs to achieve. They were soon in a place where the trust was back between them and Bobby set many more responsibilities to the younger man both at the station and on calls, Buck more than up to meeting the task. Athena herself was always on hand if Buck needed her guidance. Chim understood his own failings better, out of everyone he was the one who should have been the most understanding. With his eyes open Chim may or may not have taken the protective big brother routine a little far, especially when he and Maddie essentially ganged up on Eddie this one time where they were all having dinner together with Chris at Buck's apartment and told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever hurt Buck the way he did during the whole lawsuit fiasco, there was no telling what either of them would do.

With Hen and Karen, they became Buck's other big sisters. Buck was their Denny's awesome uncle and one of the positive male influences they wanted in their son's life. Hen made her repairs to her relationship with Buck by teaching him some of what she loved, the procedures of being an EMT. Buck was in no way changing his field, but to have him know the basics was an added value and not a detriment. It gave Hen and Buck something else to connect to. Hen deeply regretted not sticking up for Buck, especially with her own hellish experience when she had first come to the firehouse and had to deal with such a horrid Captain as Gerrard had been. Hen made her own vow not only to Buck but to herself, that she would never just stand by and allow what happened to happen again.

As for Eddie, surprisingly enough while he whole heartedly admitted that he wasn't a therapy kind of guy he still went, still shopped around until he found a rather unconventional therapist who was also a mixed martial arts trainer. Now Eddie got his aggression out safely at the gym and learned new ways to cope at the same time. He and Buck became all the way synonymous with each other and the rest of the world. Eddie's parents had naturally blown a gasket when they had found out their previously thought to be straight son was now in a serious relationship with a man, but oddly enough the anger actually cooled a tiny bit when they learned that it was Buck that Eddie was seeing. Of course both Tia Pepa and Abuela Isabel descended on Ramon and Helena, letting them know loud, clear, and at length that they viewed Buck as their family, their unofficial nephew and grandson respectively and that none of them, Eddie, Chris, Tia, or Abuela were willing to part with him. It took some time but now Eddie would sometimes stumble across Buck video chatting with either Ramon or Helena. He's be asking his dad for tips on car maintenance or seeing if he could get some funny childhood stories about Eddie and his escapades from Helena. Buck just stayed Buck, and it worked to gain him a few more Diaz hearts while he was at it.

There were soaring highs and deep lows, but somewhere in the middle they all got back to each other, they got back to some place good. There was respect and trust where there had been fear and ill-advised actions no matter how well intentions. The wounds inflicted by the lawsuit farce slowly healed. The next time Chief Miranda Williams came by station 118, instead of anger in her eyes there was a warm smile on her face as she was happy to announce that after a daring rescue that was a full team effort, the 118 were to receive a commendation on behalf of the city. Buck had been the one to grin the brightest that day.

More months passed and soon it was summer time. With the hotter days came the crazier calls, including several instances of public nudity that they all had to tackle in sometimes 100 degree weather.

On a particular Saturday night as he was driving himself and Buck home to their house, Buck have moved in just a month prior, Eddie bit back a contented sigh and felt excitement in his heart. Today just happened to be Buck's birthday and while they had all treated Buck to a celebratory birthday lunch at the station, what Buck wasn't aware of was the surprise party that was waiting for him once they got home. Eddie felt his excitement increase when he though about the gift he had gotten Buck.

It was in his bedroom drawer, safe and hidden, a little black velvet ring box.

Eddie took a quick glance at a smile Buck beside him and felt his own lips curving upward. With all the cake a presents that were bound to be there, all the love that was going to be showered onto the wonderful, one of a kind man currently sitting beside him, Eddie had his own gift and a very important question he'd be asking Buck tonight.

As Eddie turned the corner and caught sight of his and Buck's home, his smile grew and above then the stars in the night sky over Los Angeles twinkled bright, almost seeming to be smiling themselves.

The End