Author's Notes: This chapter contains graphic violence. Trigger warnings for blood, violence and ableism.

Chapter 4: How Many Times Can A Broken Thing Break

"Evan, what the hell?"

Buck was hit with a wave of guilt as he unlocked the door to his apartment, cellphone glued to one ear as his sister vented her frustrations at him. He'd been ignoring Maddie's calls and messages alongside everyone else's so she had every right to be mad at him.

"Mads, I'm-"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry. What were you even thinking?"

Buck frowned, suddenly unsure of the actual reason he was being yelled at. Was it for the ignored messages or had she already found out about the lawsuit? Speaking of, Lochert was due to arrive in less than five minutes he realised as he checked his watch, kicking the door closed behind him without bothering to lock it.

"You can't quit your job and then refuse to talk to anyone for days. And why did I have to hear about it from Chimney instead of from you?"

Oh, that. Buck sighed. "I just needed some space to clear my head, that's all."

"And you couldn't do that whilst still employed?"

The sarcasm wasn't appreciated. "Whose side are you on here, Maddie?" Screw Chim for opening his big mouth. That man couldn't keep anything to himself even if his life depended upon it.

"This isn't about taking sides, little brother. But while we're on the topic, it sure wouldn't be the side of the person who quit the same job he nearly killed himself trying to get back to!"

"They wouldn't let me go back to being a firefighter," Buck argued, unable to disguise his bitterness. "It's the most important thing in the whole world to me, you know that. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Take the desk job, Evan," Maddie all but yelled. "Prove to Bobby and the team that you're back to being one-hundred percent instead of moping around the house feeling sorry for yourself. What good will that do you?"

"I am sick of having to prove myself," Buck spat out, tears stinging his eyes for the second time that day. "Time and time again, over and over... Why can't people just accept that I know what's right for me?"

Maddie let out a heavy sigh, the line falling quiet as she listened to her brother's distress. Her next words when they came were gentle but stung just the same. "Evan, you know you've not always been the best judge of-"

"No," Buck interrupted, suddenly not interested in hearing whatever it was Maddie had to say about his lack of judgement when it came to his physical wellbeing. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and he didn't need any extra shade thrown his way, however well intentioned. Neither did he want to listen to someone who was supposed to be on his side tell him he was being dumb. "I can't have this conversation with you right now, okay? I'll..." His voice cracked. "I'll talk to you later, sis."

Hanging up without waiting for a response, Buck turned his phone off and threw it onto the coffee table instead of at the wall like he wanted, just as a loud knock came from the front door.

To have Maddie attacking his decisions, the same sister that'd promised long ago to always have his back, was like a knife to the gut. Buck knew that Bobby probably loathed him after today's debacle (although disappointing the parental figures in his life seemed to be the norm for him), and there was no way that Hen and Chimney would take anyone other than their captain's side in anything. That left Eddie, and Eddie was... complicated. So who did Buck have left in his corner?

Absolutely no one, apparently.

Somehow he wasn't surprised.

Head pounding with too many unwelcome thoughts, Evan did his best to switch them all off, not having the mental capacity to deal with the drama. Once Lochert got rid of the stupid lawsuit, he would do everything in his power to get his life back on track and attempt to fix things with his friends and Maddie, but until then he could only deal with one problem at a time.

Opening the door, the fake smile Buck had plastered on his face fell as he spied Kev Lochert on his doorstep. The lawyer, looking as immaculately dressed but as arrogant as ever, was shadowed by two unfamiliar faces. The three men loomed in the doorway.

"Evan, buddy!" Lochert greeted, cheerfully pushing his way into Buck's apartment without invitation, a stack of paperwork tucked under one arm. His unexpected companions, one tall and lean, the other large and overly muscular, followed closely behind and Evan instinctively took a step back.

Sensing his discomfort, Lochert cracked a grin. "You caught us on the way to a business lunch. These are my associates, Tomasz and Alfie." Tall and lean was Tomasz, while Alfie was the gym junkie. "When I get you to autograph the retraction we'll need these guys as witnesses to confirm you weren't coerced into making your decision."

Buck accepted the obvious explanation with a nod of his head, silently berating himself for the spike of paranoia. "Sure. Just show me where I need to sign so we can get this sorted, once and for all."

Lochert nodded, gesturing towards the coffee table and Buck allowed himself to be herded in that direction, glad when the other two men kept their distance. Once they were settled on his sofa, he watched as the lawyer dropped the stack of papers onto the table in front of them and began to arrange them in some sort of order that made sense only to him. When the blond pulled out a Montblanc fountain pen from his breast pocket, Buck nearly choked. Some of those things were worth more than two thousand dollars...

"So, listen," Lochert began, shifting in his seat as he turned his attention from the paperwork to the younger man beside him. "Before I let you sign your life away we need to have a serious conversation."

Buck stayed silent so Lochert took it as permission to continue.

"I received a phone call from the LAFD half an hour ago. Now I know you didn't want to go ahead with the lawsuit, Evan, but the commissioner had agreed to settle this matter outside of the courtroom."

Buck frowned. Already? "What do you mean?"

Lochert offered one of his brightest smiles as he answered the question. "It means, Evan Buckley, that you've won. The mayor and the LAFD are adamant they don't want the bad press - just like I said from the very beginning. They're offering you six and a half million dollars in compensation."

Buck felt the colour drain from his face as the room started to spin. "Six and a half million?"

"A life-changing amount for sure," Lochert agreed, his excitement apparent. "Not that it in any way makes up for the pain and distress of the accident, of course."

Buck ran a hand through his hair, slumping forward as Lochert's words circled his brain. Six and a half million... "But what about my job?"

There was a long enough pause that Buck could tell straight away the news wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Unfortunately, the commissioner wasn't quite so generous on that front, man. I'm sorry."

That figured. Even the commissioner would rather throw a ridiculous amount of money at him than let him back on the job after Bobby had shared his thoughts on the matter. Buck felt sick to his stomach.

"Obviously it's not official yet. Their legal team are still drawing up all the relevant documents, but if you don't think it's enough we can continue with the lawsuit," Lochert added. "Or we can propose a counter-offer. Stipulate that you want your job included as part of the compensation."

Buck shook his head, bewildered. "I don't..." He turned to face the lawyer, desperate to get his point across. "This has never been about the money. I just want my job back."

Lochert shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I get that. And I know you're upset, but this is six and a half million dollars we're talking about here. That's a life-changing figure."

"No, you're wrong. Being a firefighter is life-changing," Buck argued, climbing to his feet so he could burn off the sudden restless energy thrumming through his veins. "I don't care about the money. In fact, I don't want it."

Lochert took a deep breath, climbing to his feet as he shoved his expensive pen back into his breast pocket. "Listen-"

"No, for once you listen," Buck begged, sick of having his choices ignored; ridiculed. "I honestly don't care what the LAFD are offering. They could double or triple the amount of money and my answer would still be the same. That's not what I'm after."

"So what you're saying," Lochert snapped, disbelief written all over his face, "is that you're willing to turn down the payout of a lifetime for a stupid job?"

"Stupid?" Buck glared incredulously at the lawyer and his sudden change in tone.

It dawned on him then, why Lochert was pushing so hard for him to accept the money. His fee on a payout that size would keep him in business - and, apparently, ridiculously expensive fountain pens - for years to come.

"You know what?" Buck was done playing the lawyer's game. "I think we're done here. You should leave."

Lochert blinked, but didn't immediately acquiesce and Evan watched as a mixture of emotions cross the blond's tanned face. Frustration, disbelief, anger. It seemed to be the latter that eventually won.

Gesturing to the two other men standing mostly forgotten in the room with a snap of his fingers, Lochert watched as Tomasz and Alfie zeroed in on Evan, grabbing the young firefighter by the arms and pinning him in place between them with their bruising grip at his unspoken order.

"Hey," Buck yelled in surprise. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

"I've invested far too much time in you, Evan," Lochert eventually answered, his expression as cold as his voice. "I'm not leaving without my money."

Alfie rammed a meaty fist into Buck's stomach, cutting off whatever he was about to say as he doubled over in pain and choked on his words. Tomasz grabbed a fistful of his curls, yanking him back into an upright position.

Lochert closed the distance between them in a few long strides, relishing in the younger man's flinch as he encroached into his personal space. "I did my research on you, you know. I saw you in that hospital bed, a pitiful, broken man, and I knew straight away that you'd be an easy target."

Buck struggled to pull away but Tomasz and Alfie only dug their relentless fingers in harder.

"Except you've been nothing but trouble, when really all I'm doing is you a favour," Lochert continued with a look of outright disgust. "You'd never be able to earn that sort of money, not in several lifetimes. Especially not working for the city."

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it? Whether I agreed to the lawsuit or not," Buck growled and could only glare as the lawyer flashed him a shark-like grin. It was answer enough. The faked signature on Bobby's copy should've given it away, but as usual Buck was too busy dwelling on his own insecurities to use his damn brain.

"So, consider this your one and only warning." Lochert's charming smile was like a venemous snake preparing to strike. "The lawsuit will stand," he commanded. "You'll get your money, whether you want it or not, but instead of my regular fee of ten percent, I'll be taking seventy. And if you try reporting me to the police, or if you open your mouth to any of your stupid little friends, we'll be back to pay you a visit. And maybe that delightful little cripple boy you seem so fond of."

Buck saw red at the mention of Christopher. Despite the fist in his hair and the arms holding him back, he capitalised on Lochert's stupidity at standing so close to ram his forehead into the idiot's nose, relishing in the loud crack as bone and cartilage broke and blood exploded in a fine mist.

"You stupid sonofa-"

The gold ring on the enraged lawyer's finger split Buck's lip as he answered the headbutt with a backhand. Buck grunted at the flash of pain but grinned through bloodied teeth as he watched the river of red flow from Lochert's obviously broken nose to stain his pristine suit.

An unexpected kick to the back of his knees knocked his feet out from under him and Buck hit the floor with a thud as Tomasz and Alfie loosened their hold on him. Rolling in a bid to get away, a hand grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him backwards, the material cutting off his airway with a jerk. Clawing at his throat in an effort to catch his breath left him open for the next hit - a steel toe-capped boot to the ribs, and any air he might've sucked in was forced out again with a pained groan.

"Careful, gentlemen. He's on blood thinners," Lochert's voice snarled from nearby. "But don't let that stop you. Teach him a lesson."

Buck lost count of the blows to his body after that. Fists joined feet and it was all he could do just to curl into a ball to protect his vital organs as the blows rained down, one after another.

When a lull in the beating allowed him a moment to catch his breath through bruised ribs, Buck recognised the sound of breaking glass. Blinking through tears of pain to open his eyes he discovered a bloodied Lochert smashing up his apartment in a petty display of rage; his coffee table flipped with a careless hand that sent glass and a flurry paperwork in every direction. When the lawyer turned his attention to a shelf of photo frames that held cherished memories of the people he loved most - Eddie and Christopher at Christmas in front of a terribly decorated tree; Maddie dressed up as a zombie cat for Halloween; Buck with his team before all the drama with the ladder truck'd happened - and swept the lot onto the floor in a cascade of more shattered glass, Buck renewed his struggle to get away.

Tomasz stepped in for another round of vicious kicks but Evan lashed out with a foot of his own before the first could land, catching the thug in the side of his knee and sending him stumbling away with a yelp of pain. With a little distance between them it gave Buck the opportunity to sweep the tall man's feet out from under him, knocking him to the ground. Ignoring his own protesting body, Buck threw himself at the downed man, landing a solid punch to his jaw that stunned him enough to keep him grounded for the moment, but Alfie chose that moment to rejoin the fray, grabbing Buck by the back of his shirt and bodily throwing him away from his partner.

Before he could reorient himself, the larger man had stomped down on the thick scar tissue covering his previously injured leg, once, twice, three times, and Buck screamed as the pain sent shockwaves throughout his whole body. Trying to protect the limb from further assault resulted in several broken fingers when the next kick crushed his hand as well. He zoned out after that, the pain becoming too much.

The next thing Buck became aware of was a harsh slap to the face. He blinked to find Lochert kneeling over his prone form, the blood from his broken nose mostly dried and flaking away as he grinned down at him. "Still with us?"

Another slap threatened to send Buck back into oblivion, so Lochert delivered the last part of his message before he lost his target audience. "Remember, Evan. If you tell anyone about our deal we'll be back and next time we won't be quite so gentle."

Climbing to his feet, the lawyer herded Alfie and a limping Tomasz towards the door. "We'll be watching the house," he called over his shoulder. "So don't try anything funny."

The door slammed behind them as they left.

-911-

Buck lost track of how much time passed as he faded in and out of consciousness, but the house was growing dark and he was shivering from the cold the next time he blinked back to some semblance of awareness. Knowing the chill was likely from a mixture of blood loss - his blood-thinning medication for once doing more harm than good - and his body reacting to the trauma of the beating, he knew he had to move, and soon, or he wouldn't be getting up again.

Bracing himself for the inevitable pain, Evan took a moment before moving to assess his injuries, starting from the bottom and working his way up. His scarred leg was throbbing in time to the beat of his heart from the vicious stomps it'd taken but he could move it despite the discomfort. He remembered one of the blows hitting his kneecap. While there was a lot of swelling, thankfully nothing felt broken beyond repair. His left hand, however, was a mess of damaged fingers - a casualty of trying to protect his leg - and Buck had to swallow hard against the rising nausea when, even in the faded light of his apartment, he could see the broken, misshapen digits.

Not wanting to dwell on that for too long, Buck continued with his self-assessment.

His ribs were, hopefully, just bruised. He'd be able to tell more once he was upright but, for the moment, whilst breathing was agony it wasn't laboured enough to suggest anything as dangerous as a punctured lung. He ignored the multitude of bruises he could feel all over his back and his stomach, skipped past the muscle-deep bruising on his arms from where Lochert's thugs had held him in place, and moved on to the still bleeding cut on his lip.

The lawyer's ring had torn into the soft flesh easier than a hot knife through butter. Buck prodded the cut with his tongue, regretting the action almost immediately as his mouth refilled with the thick, iron tang of blood. He could feel the tackiness all down his neck that caused the thin material of his shirt to stick to his chest, and sensed the puddle that'd collected beneath his cheek. One of his eyes was swollen almost shut, and prodding gently with the fingers on his non-broken hand revealed another gash that still oozed freely - this one to his eyebrow.

Buck knew the blood loss was going to be a problem if he left his wounds untreated for too long, so, taking as deep a breath as his ribs would allow, he moved before he could change his mind. He wasn't proud of the sounds he made as he forced his body into an upright position, the room spinning sickeningly as he dragged his sore body across the floor until he could prop himself against the nearest wall, but he was just glad there was no one around to hear them.

A frantic knock at the door soon stole that illusion from him.

Buck felt his heart skip a beat as a wave of terror froze him to the spot. Was it Lochert? Had he sent his goons back to finish the job? He wasn't sure he could survive another round with Tomasz and Alfie, not in his current state.

The knocking came again, louder this time, but thankfully followed by an all-too-familiar voice.

"Evan? Are you home? We need to talk."

It was Maddie.

The sheer relief at recognising his sister's voice almost sent him collapsing back to the floor, Buck's limbs turning to jelly as the spike of adrenaline-fuelled fear dissipated, leaving him weak. Maddie could help him. She could patch him up, like she used to when they were younger and Buck had fallen out of the tree and broken his arm, or wiped out on his skateboard and scraped his face, and he could tell her everything and she'd know what to do; know how to make everything better.

The relief was quickly swallowed by sheer panic as Lochert's parting words replayed themselves. If you tell anyone about our deal, we'll be back... We'll be watching the house... Don't try anything funny.

No, he had to protect Maddie.

The urge to call out for help anyway was great enough that Evan clamped his good hand over his own mouth, just to be certain the words couldn't escape. Maddie didn't deserve to get caught up in yet another mess he'd made for himself. That, and he'd never forgive himself if she got hurt because of him.

"Evan, c'mon. Please? I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to yell at you like that."

Buck listened, letting his silent tears fall, not bothering to hold them back this time.

"If you don't want to see me, I understand." She sounded sad. "I'll give you your space, but could you please turn your phone on? Everyone is worried about you."

Everyone? Buck wasn't sure who she meant by everyone. Once upon a time it might've meant Bobby and the team, but he knew better, didn't he?

"Look, I have to get to work," Maddie sighed, still talking loud enough to be heard through the door. Buck had a fleeting moment of panic when he realised that the door wasn't even locked. If she tried the handle, she'd walk in to find the mess - and not just the destruction of his apartment left behind by a pissed off Lochert, but the pitiful, bleeding disaster that was her baby brother.

"Please, please, please..."

It took a moment for his own whispered words to reach his concussed brain. When they did, he simply clamped down harder on the hand over his mouth, ignoring the stab of pain as he accidentally dug shaking fingers into his lip. Whether he meant for his sister to leave so she'd be safe or whether he was begging for her to open that door so she'd find him, he wasn't completely sure.

"I'll stop by after my shift and we'll talk," Maddie promised with an air of finality. "I'll bring breakfast. I love you, Evan."

Buck felt his heart shatter into a million tiny pieces as he listened to his sister's footsteps, his one chance at help, walk away into the distance.

His sobs, when they came, sounded loud in the cold, dark house.

Notes: I would love to hear what you think!