Reference made to S02:E03.

"Hey babe," Buck said with a smile as Jim finally answered the FaceTime call. "I just wanted to let you know that we got here safely." The call had gone out to fire stations across the United States to come help battle the wildfires surrounding Texas. The timing had worked out well - Jim had decided to take some additional training in Virginia Beach, so Buck jumped at the opportunity to help out. He also thought it would be pretty cool to meet other firefighters from around the country, not having done something like this before.

"Please be careful Buck," Jim said, his left leg bouncing nervously. He knew what a danger magnet Buck could be. "Stick with Eddie and Hen, and be safe. I have to get to class, love you." Jim waved goodbye and clicked the end button. Buck smiled at the 'love you', he didn't think that he would ever get tired of hearing that from his partner.

"Managed to get a hold of lover boy?" Eddie teased, coming around the corner of the truck and spotting that sappy look on Buck's face.

"Yeah, couldn't talk for long though, he's on his way to another training class," Buck answered, putting his phone safely back in his pocket. "Were you able to get a hold of -"

"Hey you two, we're supposed to be over listening to the update by the incident commander," Hen shouted, cutting off what Buck was going to ask Eddie. She motioned for Buck and Eddie to follow her.

When Buck and Eddie arrived at the briefing, Buck couldn't help but notice someone who looked familiar out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over again, trying to place where he had seen the female firefighter.

"Stop staring, Buck," Hen hissed, also noticing Buck's looks. "Don't make me report you to HR." She added, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Ouch!" Buck exclaimed quietly, not wanting to interrupt Captain Strand. "I'm not staring that way Hen, you know that I'm with Jim." He explained, a tad upset that Hen thought he was being a pervert. "I just zoned out there for a minute - I thought I recognized her from somewhere. Do either of you know her?"

Both Hen and Eddie shook their heads and Buck decided to drop it. If Hen thought he was being creepy and she knew about Jim, he didn't want to bother the woman herself. Once Captain Strand's speech was over, the three firefighters went to register themselves for work.

XXXXX

Buck headed back to their fire truck to grab his gear, having been asked to help dig up near the fire line. Hen had already explained that she was going to help out at the medical tent, which made sense, he was just a bit disappointed that they weren't going to stick together. He perked up when he saw Eddie.

"Hen's bailing on us to go work in the medical tent," Buck explained, tossing a shovel over to Eddie. "So it's just you and me," Buck added with a grin, looking forward to spending some time with his best friend.

Eddie shook his head, handing Buck back the shovel. "Nope, I volunteered to go up with some firefighters from the 126 to rescue some kids - they needed a medic so I jumped on it."

The same firefighter that Buck had been staring at earlier pulled up in an ATV, letting Eddie know where to meet her while sending a glare in Buck's direction. She had caught him staring at the meeting earlier. Buck looked down at his shoes, embarrassed. He really didn't mean to bother her. Before Eddie left, Buck grabbed his elbow. "Can you - can you please apologize to her for me? I really didn't mean to make her uncomfortable."

Eddie nodded, and clapped a hand on Buck's shoulder. "I will, don't worry. And for the love of God, please be careful. I don't need your boyfriend coming after me if anything happens to you when I'm not there."

XXXXX

Buck briefly thought about what Eddie had said a few hours before as T.K. tackled him to the ground to avoid being hit by a flaming vehicle. Him, T.K. and Mateo had been talking about crazy calls and then Buck found himself crashing to the ground.

Realizing that someone could be in the vehicle, he yelled at T.K. to toss him his axe and broke the driver's window to open the door. When a large fluffy dog came jumping out, he looked at the other two firefighters in confusion. Then the owner appeared, running down the hill, apologizing to everyone for the actions of his dog. Luckily, everyone was fine.

Limping a tad, as Buck had landed on his leg funny, Buck went over to thank T.K.. "Hey man, thanks for the save. Nice reflexes," he added, patting T.K. on his shoulder. He bent down to try to massage out the cramp in his calf, completely missing the odd look that T.K. was sending him.

"You okay, Buck?" Mateo asked, noticing that Buck was rubbing his lower leg like he was in pain.

"Yeah, just need to do a couple stretches and it should be fine," Buck said, waving his hand like it was nothing. "Old injury from being crushed by the ladder truck, it twinges up every now and again.

"Wait, you're the firefighter that was crushed by the explosion?" Mateo said, making the connection. That had been on the news everywhere. "T.K., he might have you beat there." Mateo joked, referring back to the crazy calls the three had been discussing previously and inadvertently restarting the competition.

XXXXX

It felt like the next 24 hours was a joke, a really bad joke.

First was discovering that Eddie had to hear a helicopter going down. It had taken a couple years, but Eddie had finally confided in Buck about how he received his Silver Star, and he was concerned about his friend's well being after being there for a similar incident.

Second was that Hen was in that helicopter. The whole time she was missing, Buck refused to let himself think that she was dead.

Third was that they weren't going to send someone to help. Buck didn't even think twice about grabbing the keys and stealing a firetruck. After all, he used to do it for much less noble causes.

Buck had been running on autopilot. Steal the keys, grab the truck, find Hen, and bring her back. That had been the only thoughts running through his head, and now that they were all back, with Hen and Captain Strand under medical care, his exhaustion finally hit him. After checking in with T.K. to make sure he was doing alright, he collapsed on his cot and was out like a light for the next eight hours.

It was the delicious smell of coffee that helped lure Buck out of bed and out to have breakfast. Members of the 118 and 126 were sitting together, so Buck snagged his own cup of coffee and some pancakes and headed over. Everyone's spirits had been lifted, and with the news that the wind had shifted, the 118 was set to roll back to L.A.

After lots of thanks and goodbyes, Buck was slightly surprised when T.K. came by to thank him personally for helping steal the fire truck. "Well, it's what we do, right?" Buck commented, tossing his gear into the truck. "And hey, if you're ever in L.A., we should get together." T.K. seemed like a really nice guy, and Buck could always use more friends.

"Yeah, sure," T.K. replied, sounding unsure. "But just so you know, I have a boyfriend and it's pretty serious, so…" and he patted Buck on the shoulder as he walked by him.

Buck didn't even hear Eddie come around the truck asking where Hen was, he was too shocked by T.K.'s comment about having a serious boyfriend. T.K. thought he was interested in him? Like, the man was hot, no doubt about it, but he hadn't been flirting with him. He was being nice, trying to make friends to take his mind off things, like being surrounded by wildfires and not being with Jim.

Normally, Buck might have just shook it off, but he felt like he had to set the record straight. Especially if word got back to L.A., Buck did not need teasing of that nature getting back to Jim. Dashing around Eddie, Buck quickly caught up to T.K., who had stopped to talk to Hen. "Hey man, I'm sorry, but I wasn't hitting on you," Buck blurted out. "I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable in any way." He added.

"Oh, I'm sorry Buck. I can normally tell the difference if someone is straight or not," T.K. replied, concerned that he had presumed Buck's sexual orientation.

"I'm definitely not straight," Buck said with a chuckle, while noticing a further confused look on T.K's face. "And don't get me wrong T.K., you are very attractive looking. But I'm taken," Buck said, pulling out a chain with a simple gold band on it. "My partner proposed a few weeks ago," Buck said with a grin, completely forgetting the fact that Eddie and Hen were in earshot.

"Oh my god Buck, Jim proposed!?" Hen squealed, reaching over and giving Buck a huge hug. Eddie also reached in with a hug as well, congratulating him on his engagement.

"Well, congrats Buck. And I'm sorry again," T.K. replied, slowly backing away and letting Buck celebrate with his team mates. He and Marjan had definitely misinterpreted Buck's actions that week.

XXXXX

Later that week, T.K. noticed a notification that Buck had added him to Instagram. The message said 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' and T.K. was thoroughly confused now.

But then a reply quickly followed saying 'OMG I'm sorry! Jim saw my message and helped me realize how sexual that sounded. I meant I'll show you a picture of my cop if you show me yours'. And two photos were sent shortly after, one of a handsome SWAT officer and a second of Buck and the man with their arms wrapped around each other.

T.K. snorted. It was such an odd noise that Carlos looked over at him in concern. Motioning for Carlos to come join him on the couch, T.K. explained the situation and soon had Carlos laughing along with him. "Are you okay if I send a picture of you?" T.K. asked shyly. Things were still awkward with the whole Carlos' parents not knowing about them, and T.K. didn't want to share if Carlos wasn't comfortable with it.

"Go for it, babe," Carlos said with a twinkle in his eye. "I like when people know that you're mine," he added, repeating his words from the roller derby night. His gaze showed his intent, and T.K. quickly sent a photo in response before throwing himself at Carlos for a deep, heated kiss. Maybe being friends with Buck wasn't a bad idea at all.