Bobby
Bobby stepped out of his office and headed straight for the kitchen. It was the middle of the night and the station was quiet as most of the crew tried to get some shuteye before the alarms blared once again. Bobby wasn't tired so he had been in his office working on paperwork from the last call. It had been a rough one for all of them - mainly Buck and Eddie. They had been the last ones inside searching for a little boy when the second floor had collapsed into the first. Bobby had been worried, but before he had a chance to radio to them, there had been movement through the dust and rubble. They had been right at the door when the collapse happened, and were able to escape with only a few scrapes and bruises - with the little boy's lifeless body between them.
Bobby had sent them to the hospital, wanting to make sure there wasn't anything unseen wrong with them. Both had returned with Hen and Chimney an hour and a half later with clean bills of health. Eddie had instantly taken Buck towards the bunks to get some sleep and that had been the last Bobby had seen either of them - it was now only an hour later.
As he made his way into the kitchen - the only light on over the stove giving just enough light the illuminate around the kitchen and half the dinner table. Bobby spotted a shadow just at the edge of the light, sitting at the table. Making himself a cup of coffee from the obvious fresh pot, Bobby turned his attention to the man behind it. He watched as he shifted slightly, lifting his hand up to his mouth and taking a sip of his cup of coffee.
"Buck still asleep?" he asked, taking a sip of his own coffee.
Eddie turned his head to look at Bobby in the kitchen before shaking his head. He stood from his chair and stepped more into the light, walking closer. Bobby's eyes caught on the butterfly bandage above his right eye and across his left cheek, where Eddie had been caught in the face by a nail from a broken two-by-four swinging down at him when the house collapsed. Eddie moved to the counter that separated the table from the kitchen, sitting down carefully on one of the stools.
"He wasn't able to sleep and said he needed some time alone."
Bobby hummed in understanding. They had lost the little boy - he had only been about five years old. Bobby had gotten the story from Eddie before ushering them off to the hospital with their paramedics. Buck had found the boy unconscious, curled up in a ball under his sister's bed. The boy had stopped breathing before they made it out of the house, after the house collapsed both Buck and Eddie had covered his body to protect him. Hen and Chimney were unable to bring him back. Bobby could still hear the mother's screams in his head. He was sure they all would for days or weeks to come.
"He on top of the ladder truck?"
Eddie shook his head, then tipped his chin up before leaning his arms into the counter, his hands wrapped around his coffee. Bobby frowned as he tilted his head to the ceiling. He knew Buck's routines pretty well at this point. He had three stages of being alone. The first stage was him curling up to someone in silence; he wanted to be near others but didn't want to be poked and prodded. The second stage was him finding a quiet hiding place. Bobby learned quickly that was on top of the ladder truck - where he didn't mind having company and that could go one of two ways; silent companionship, or talking through why. The third stage, which Buck didn't go directly to easily, was the roof. If he was on the roof, that meant he wanted complete isolation to figure out things for himself. Bobby's only caught him returning from the roof a handful of times since the kid had started at the 118 and it was never after anything good - and he's only done it once since Eddie joined the team (none of them like to think about the call that trapped Eddie forty feet underground; least of all Buck and Eddie).
With a sigh, Bobby turned back to the coffee pot, fixing up another coffee the way Buck liked it - lots of sugar and a dash of cinnamon. Once he had it prepared, Bobby turned back to Eddie and nodded. He knew this could be a risk, going to sit up on the roof with Buck but Bobby didn't feel right leaving the kid alone after that last call. He headed back to his office to grab something out of desk, pocketing it before taking both cups of coffee and heading up to the roof.
Using his hip to push the door open, Bobby made sure the cinderblock they used to keep the door propped open caught the door - they had had a few incidents where someone had to be rescued because the door sticks and they got locked on the roof.
There was a slight chill in the air as Bobby took the few steps around the wall from the door, finding Buck sitting with his back against the wall, head tilted back and eyes closed.
"Hey, kid." Bobby whispered, trying not to spook him. "I know you don't usually like company but thought you could use this. If you want me to go, I can."
Buck's eyes opened and he looked up at Bobby - they were bloodshot and glistening with unshed tears, Bobby noted. Buck sniffed, shifted his body to sit up better against the wall and reached for the coffee Bobby was holding out to him.
"No, no. You uh-" Buck sniffed again. "You can stay."
When he heard the broken-whispered "Please", Bobby sat down next to the man he considered his own son, pressing their shoulders together in support. He took a sip of his coffee, watching out of the corner of his eye as Buck wrapped both hands around his mug. A few minutes passed in silence between them as they sipped their coffee and looked out over the horizon of the city around them.
"I know there was nothing we could do," Buck sighed, his hands tightening around his coffee. "My brain knows he was gone before the house even collapsed."
"But your heart's having a hard time." Bobby understood.
Buck just nodded, taking another sip.
Bobby reached his free hand out and clapped Buck on the knee, giving it a squeeze before pulling his hand away. He shifted so he could reach into his pocket and pull out the items he had grabbed from his office before coming up to the roof. He held them out to Buck without a word.
Buck looked at the two small bottles in the captain's hand before turning a questioning gaze on the man. Bobby just shrugged. Buck laughed, sat his cup on the ground on his side and took one of the bottles. He popped the cap off and fished the wand out of the liquid, bringing the wand up to his mouth and blowing. Bubbles floated around them for a second before being pushed away by a slight gust of wind.
Bobby also sat his coffee on the ground before popping the cap off the second bottle and fishing the wand out. His drawer in his office was quickly filling up with them; Buck seemed to have them hidden all over the station. Chimney had even found one inside the engine while cleaning just that morning. Bobby pretended not to watch from the loft as the other man blew some bubbles and then stashed it back in the engine. He did take the bottle away when Buck had pulled it out when they had been stuck in traffic on their way back from a call a few hours later.
They sat on the roof blowing bubbles until the alarm blared an hour later.