Author's Note: Hey guys! Work has been keeping me very busy, which is why it is taking a little longer than I would like to update. Nevertheless, here is Chapter Five. You know I love to hear your thoughts and all favourites, follows and especially reviews are greatly appreciated.

Chapter Five

Buck

If he was honest leaving her that felt worse than he had expected. The alarm had woken them both up at 5AM and neither one of them had felt much like getting up. The difference was Buck had to. Abby opened her eyes and moved herself to sitting as she watched him pull on his clothes. Once he was dressed he sat down on her side of the bed and looked at her.

"I don't want you to go." He said, reaching for one of her hands, holding it in both of his.

"I know, but I have to. I have work tomorrow and…" She began with a sad smile.

"No, I mean I want you to stay here, in LA – permanently." He told her.

"But Buck, I live in Phoenix. My whole life is in Phoenix now." She seemed surprised at his revelation. He conceded asking her to move cities was a big ask, but he really couldn't see what was stopping them now, other than Phoenix of course.

"I know, I know but you could coach in LA, you could live here in LA. Abby I know it's only been like not even two days, but seeing you again…Look, I figured out who I am without you, and all it taught me is that I don't wanna be without you." Buck squeezed her hand in a kind of silent plea. Her eyes filled with sadness as she looked back at him.

"Buck, I have to be in Phoenix." She said quietly.

"But Abby, I wanna be with you." He couldn't believe he was losing her again.

"I know, and I really care about you, but I just…I can't." He watched her eyes well with tears and he stood up.

"I have to go to work." He said quietly. Then he turned and left the room, without a backward glance.

Abby

She couldn't believe she just let it happen. Why had she let herself get in so deep? It wasn't that she didn't like Buck or care about him, she did, a lot. It's just, she'd spent so much time making a life for herself in Phoenix, or so she thought. Truthfully, she'd been in a Phoenix for over two years and what did she really have to show for it? She had her coaching job, and she was good at it. She had a high success rate and pretty much all of her clients made at least their second choice of colleges if not their first. She enjoyed coaching and got on with her colleagues, but really there was not much else to it. She was closer to Matt, Beth and the kids, which she did really like. On the rare occasion when she wasn't working, she was able to spend time with them. She usually managed to have dinner with them on Sunday evenings, as this was when she wasn't working and the occasional Thursday lunch with Matt or Beth as she had Thursday afternoons off.

But really after her job and proximity to family, what she had kind of dried up. She liked Phoenix a lot, but it was hard to enjoy it when she was working all the time. She had her apartment, but truth be told, it was somewhere to sleep and not much else.

It was the realisation of all these things at once that caused her to dissolve into tears mere seconds after she heard the hotel room door click shut behind Buck. She couldn't believe she'd screwed things up with him again. She began questioning every decision she'd made that weekend. Perhaps she should never had agreed have a drink with him, or dance with him. Perhaps she should have just left when she saw him in the lobby. Maybe inviting him up to her room had been a mistake. Maybe she shouldn't have come to LA at all.

In reality, she knew the weekend had not been a mistake. It had been the best weekend she'd experienced since she'd returned from Europe. Including getting engaged to Sam, including Thanksgivings and Christmases with Matt. She really hadn't ever been happier than when she'd been with Buck. But she was going back to Phoenix.

She eventually pulled herself together. Her flight wasn't until 6PM, but she had to check out by 12 noon. She'd agreed to go to Carla's for a Labor day lunch. She was heading over earlier as Carla had wanted to see her before she went back to Phoenix and she had already texted her a couple of times the day before asking how things had gone with 'fire boy'. Abby wasn't exactly looking forward to sharing her weekend story, but there was no way Carla was going to let her duck out of that one.

She dragged herself from the giant, comfortable bed, where just hours before she been sleeping peacefully with Buck. Wandering into the bathroom, she caught sight of her face and sighed, he eyes were still watery and red from crying and there was a slight pinkness to the tip of her nose. She decided a shower might wash away the evidence and possibly make her feel more put together. She turned the faucet and stepped under the warm spray.

Buck

He was feeling downright miserable once he got to work. He'd spent the last forty-five minutes scowling at the events of the weekend. He'd really thought she might stay, or at least have considered staying. But it seemed that she was clear on her plans – she was going back to Phoenix, back to her job, back to her life, the one that didn't include him. He supposed he should've known that it was just going to be a weekend fling. Their relationship was over a long time ago, it had been fun to be with her again, but that was all it had been for her, fun. Although, she hadn't said that. She had talked a lot about having to go back to Phoenix, but not a lot about leaving him, or what the weekend had been, she seemed upset when he left. But then, if she was that upset, why would didn't she stop him? Why would she still be leaving? If it was that painful, she'd stay.

"Wow, what's up your ass?" Hen asked as he walked up the steps in the firehouse.

"Don't wanna talk about it." He huffed.

"Oohoo someone has had a bad weekend." Hen laughed, he knew Hen meant no harm and had no way of knowing actually how his weekend had actually been brilliant (until it had come crashing down around him that morning), but he just threw her a dark look and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"Hey Buck, so how was Saturday night? Didn't see you around at the end of the party." Eddie teased as he bounded up the steps. This was just what Buck needed. He had never actually remembered to text Eddie back.

"Oh Eddie, our friend here is not in a good mood this morning." Hen told Eddie.

"Why what happened? The last time I saw you, you were dancing with Abby. You seemed pretty happy about it then." Eddie looked confused.

"Abby? Abby who?" Hen asked with new interest.

"Abby Clarke. You know his ex, Abby." Eddie clarified. Buck stayed silent and his scowl deepened.

"Didn't she get married?" Hen asked.

"According to Carla she and her fiancé never actually made it down the aisle. Broke up not long after that train crash they were in." Eddie said proudly, like it had anything to do with him.

"You and Carla should've stayed out of it." Buck spoke for the first time since Eddie had arrived.

"Dude, what happened this weekend? You two seemed to have hit it off all over again on Saturday. What, did she turn you down or something?" Eddie asked.

"Eddie I don't wanna talk about it." Buck told him firmly.

"It can't have been so bad. She seemed pretty into you to me." Eddie insisted.

"It doesn't matter what she seemed then, she flies back to Phoenix tonight. So as far as she's concerned, this weekend, never happened." Buck snapped and stormed off toward the locker rooms.

Abby

"Hey girl, how was the rest of your weekend?" Carla asked grinning, as she ushered Abby into the house, wrapping her in a hug.

"Hey Carla, it was good thank you. How was yours?" Abby smiled tightly, trying to dodge the topic of herweekend.

"Well, my head was not thanking me Sunday morning, but Saturday was worth it." Carla laughed, as she led Abby into the kitchen. The kitchen island was laden with vegetables in various states of preparedness. Judging from what she could see Carla was preparing a salad for the upcoming lunch.

"Howard is doing all the meat, so I get to do the salads. You want a glass of wine, whilst I do this?" Carla said, getting out a bottle of Chenin Blanc without waiting for an answer.

"Only if you let me help you." Abby was never any good at sitting back and letting someone else do all the work. Carla smiled and pushed a chopping board, knife and some bell peppers towards her.

"You can cut those up for grilling." Carla poured her a glass of wine and then one for herself.

"So, what happened Saturday night?" Carla jumped straight into it as she began to chop celery.

"Oh, well it was good, we danced, we talked." Abby knew that this not going to be enough.

"And…" Carla encouraged, making a carry on motioned with the hand she held her knife in.

"And, it was nice." Abby said feigning ignorance as she took a sip of her wine.

"Abby!" Carla snapped.

"Okay fine, he came up to my room, and we, you know." She twirled her wrist out in front her in an attempt at modesty.

"Had sex?" Carla offered.

"Okay yes, we slept together." Abby nodded.

"Well? How was it?" Carla asked. Abby rolled her eyes. She loved Carla but she sometimes wished she'd settle for less details.

"It was really good." She answered as she moved the red bell pepper aside and moved on to chopping the green.

"So, did he stay the night?" Carla asked.

"Yes of course he'd stayed the night, I was hardly gonna chuck him out in the middle of the night." Abby scoffed.

"Well then, what happened in the morning?" Carla continued to question Abby about Sunday morning, afternoon and night, until she finally made it to that morning.

"So now what? You gonna keep seeing each other?" Carla asked, poring them each more wine.

"Carla, I live in Phoenix." Abby said looking at her like she was mad.

"So? Phoenix isn't that far away. I mean it's a short enough flight." Carla pointed out. She wasn't wrong. Abby was wondering whether she should have made more of an effort to make some kind of compromise with Buck, but she brushed the thought aside.

"I don't have time, not with work. We'd never be able to work out a schedule." Abby explained away the suggestion and Carla fixed her with a sceptical stare.

"So, you're never going to have a relationship again because you work too much?" Carla said, putting her hand on her hip and fixing Abby with a doubtful stare.

"No, I didn't say that. I…I just, I have this life in Phoenix, and Buck is here and I'm not in LA anymore." Abby told Carla, even saying it herself, it didn't make much sense.

"Look, I know that when you were coming back from Europe, I told you that maybe staying with your brother might be a good idea, and all of that, but I didn't mean that you should move to Phoenix permanently." Carla's look softened before she continued.

"I know LA has all those memories with your Mom and I know that you were feeling kind of lost, but do you really feel like you're found in Phoenix. I mean all you seem to do is work and see your brother once a week. That doesn't sound like you're giving anything to yourself to me." Abby listened to what Carla said and came to the realisation that all she'd actually done by moving to Phoenix was become even more lost somewhere else.

"I know Carla, but I don't know if I can move back right now. I just, I don't know, it feels kind of…scary." Abby looked down, like she felt ashamed.

"What are you scared of? Coming back? Your old life?" Carla asked her.

"Yes." Abby nodded in confirmation.

"I get it, this is your old city, but that doesn't mean it only holds your old life." Carla smiled sympathetically.

Carla didn't push the conversation too much more. The afternoon was really quite enjoyable. It was a small but lively affair with just a few of Carla and her husband's friends. Everyone was in good spirits and although Abby didn't know anyone that well, people were friendly and eager to include her in conversations. By 4PM lunch was over, the party wasn't quite winding down yet, but she needed to head to the airport.

Buck

The day was dragging on. Most of the calls were straight forward, small fires caused by faulty barbeques and people getting drunk before grilling. A couple of trees got charred at one call, a summer house was almost burnt down at another. It was typical for a national holiday, especially one on a warm September day.

The calls were not the problem really. The 118 were like a family, and like family they all had something to say about what had Buck so down. By lunch time it had been well established that Buck and Abby had (at least temporarily) rekindled their relationship, but that she was still going back to Phoenix.

"Maybe it was just one of those weekend flings? You know, maybe that's all she was looking for." Chimney said reasonably as he stabbed a piece of penne with his fork.

"It can't be, she didn't even know he was there until halfway through the night. If she was looking for a weekend fling, she would've found one by then." Eddie said, dismissing this idea.

"I don't know that she would." Bobby mused sitting down at the table with his plate of pasta.

"Bobby, have you seen this woman? She definitely could've found a guy to hook up with. I didn't want to say anything at the time, but there were a few other guys checking her out whilst you were dancing." Eddie said, now looking over at Buck.

"Guys, can we talk about something else?" Buck had not been participating in the conversation or lunch and as far as he was concerned, the sooner they stopped focusing on Abby, the better.

"Look, if you're that into her, why don't you just, you know fight for her?" Hen suggested.

"Hen, I asked her to stay, she said no." Buck repeated his brief explanation from earlier that day.

"I know, but you could still fight for her. Go to airport, talk to her before she gets on the plane." Hen pushed a plate of pasta towards him in a bid to try and get him to eat.

"Hen, this isn't a chick flick." Buck grumbled, ignoring the plate.

"I know, and I know that it sounds all cliché, but that is probably your best bet, if you wanna stop her from leaving again." Hen insisted.

"Doesn't matter, I'm working." Buck said flatly.

"I can get someone to cover you. Call in one of the other guys, I'm sure someone is around. You can work a double next time, or work one of your days off instead." Bobby was a romantic, and most of the time this was fine, today this was not what Buck needed.

"No Bobby, I'm staying, I'm working." Buck told him firmly.

"You know, it's not a bad idea, I mean don't girls love guys going after them at airports?" Chimney looked at the others.

"It is kind of romantic." Eddie agreed thoughtfully before shovelling a forkful of food into his mouth.

"I already told you, she doesn't wanna stay so what's the point?" Buck was beginning to feel impatient.

"The point is, she'll forgive you if you try and fail, she won't forgive you if you don't even try." Athena's authoritative and confident voice rang out as she walked over from the steps, grabbed herself a plate of pasta and sat herself next to Bobby, and stroking her hand affectionately over the back of his head and down his neck as she sat down. Buck had no idea how Athena knew what was going on, but she was difficult woman to argue with.

"Athena, I appreciate you're trying to help, but I really don't think it's a good idea, I'm gonna stay here until my shift is over." Buck hoped his polite reply would work, it didn't.

"No, you're going to the airport. My shift has just finished, I still have the squad car with me. I'll give you a ride, soon as they get someone in to cover." Athena smiled, as if the case was closed and at this point Buck knew it was and finally relented.