Chapter 10
Morning came and Buck slowly woke up and blinked his eyes at the light. He realised he was on the sofa, lying down but was unsure where his head was. The last thing he remembered was he was resting on Eddies shoulder. He slowly moved and realised his head was now resting on Eddies lap and Eddie was asleep sitting up and one of Eddie's hand resting over Bucks body.
'I don't want this to end it's so nice'
Buck decides he wants to stay like this for a little longer so he just nods back to sleep smiling, after a while he is awoken when Eddie tries to lift his head gently and not disturb him which he fails.
"Hey." Buck says wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"Ah sorry, I was trying to be careful." Eddie says getting up and stretching.
"It's fine I was waking up anyway." Buck says as he sits up.
Buck looks up and stares at Eddie who looks a bit rough from sleeping sitting up, he smiles at him, who is busy stretching so he doesn't see Buck looking. He then looks down and removes the blankets off him.
"So, what you fancy for breakfast?" Eddie asks looking down.
"I'm not that hungry if I'm honest." Buck said.
"You got to eat Buck. I'll make some pancakes." Eddie explains as he heads over to the kitchen and starts to get the ingredients out and started mixing them together.
"Can I help?" Buck asks, walking over.
"No, you go freshen up. I was thinking we need chat after." Eddie says with a serious tone.
"Oh right, what about?" Buck asks concerned.
"Don't worry it's nothing bad. Just go get freshened up and I'll make the pancakes." Eddie says
'He thinks your useless he is going want you gone'
Buck heads towards to the bedroom and grabs a change of clothes and heads towards the bathroom. He closes the door and strips out of his clothes, peels off the bandages coverings his cuts. He needs to replace them, so he plans do them after he's showered. Once they're all off he looks in the mirror at his still bruised ribs along with the other bruises along his body he could feel tears forming at the state of himself.
'You deserved it all, you brought it on yourself'
He looked at his cuts and knew they would scar eventually. He shook his head and leaned in to the bath to turn the shower on once it was warm enough he stepped in and started to shower washing himself but taking his time not to catch his injuries to quick. Once he's done, he steps out and dries off and puts his clean clothes on and picks up the bag of bandages and cream and heads towards the kitchen where he can smell pancakes. He walks in and smiles at the sight of Eddie who has flour over him and looks stressed.
"What is going on?" Buck asks, smiling at the sight.
"Ermm it's all going wrong, I've burnt the first ones, then tried making more but I dropped the bag but it's going to be ready soon, so take a seat." Eddie says as he continues to pour the batter and make more.
Buck sits at the table and gets the cream out and starts applying it to his cuts, wincing at the pain as the cream settles on the wounds. He closes his eyes for a minute while he waits for the stinging to pass. As his eyes were closed, he heard something in front of him he opened his eyes to a stack of pancakes in the middle of the table.
"Give me a minute and I'll help bandage the wounds up for you." Eddie said, pouring two cups of coffee. He places them down along with the two plates and heads to the sink and washes his hands, and once his hands were dry, he heads back to the table and takes a seat next to Buck. Buck turned to Eddie and handed him the gauze and bandages. Eddie then starts to cover them with gauze first being as gentle as possible not wanting to hurt him. Once all the gauze is on he starts wrapping the bandages round them and taping them so they don't fall off.
"Thanks, it's easier with a second pair of hands." Buck says, gratefully.
"Well, I did promise the doctor to look after you." Eddie says getting up and moving round the table picking up three pancakes and placing them on Bucks side of the table and 4 on his own side of the table before sitting down in front of his plate.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Buck asks in a worried tone.
"I don't know how say it without sounding harsh." Eddie says running his hand through his hair "I think you need go to the police and give your statement. I know you don't want talk about it, but the longer you leave it, I'm worried they won't be able to do anything and that will play on your mind." Eddie says looking at Buck trying figure out what he was thinking and if he had crossed the line with what he said.
Buck looked at Eddie. To be honest he knew Eddie was right, but at the same time he didn't want relive the whole ordeal. But he knew Eddie was right. If he left it to late there would be nothing the police could do.
"Okay." was all Buck could say, he didn't know what else to say. He was so unsure about doing it but he wanted to show he was strong.
"Are you sure?" Eddie says as he takes another mouthful of pancake.
"I'm sure; just promise me that you will be with me when I do it." Buck says looking at Eddie hoping for reassurance from him.
"I will be, I told you I have your back remember" Eddie says smiling
"Thanks, Eddie." Buck says as he slowly eats the food.
They sit in silence as they finished breakfast. Once they were done, Eddie heads to the shower to get freshened up. When Eddie was in the shower, Buck sat at the table finishing the last bites of the pancakes, he heard Eddie's phone going off he looked at who's calling in case it was Chris, but it wasn't he saw Maddie's name he didn't want answer it, so just left it and finished eating. He placed the empty dishes in the sink and went to sit on the sofa.
'They will see how weak you truly are later'
He sat there for what feels like hours, but it was only minutes and his deep thoughts were disturbed when he saw Eddie stood there by the shower all dressed and looking mighty fine.
"So you ready? I know we only just talked about it but let's get it out the way and then we can spend the rest of the day together. You can play games and build Legos with Chris." Eddie says.
"Yeah let's get it done." Buck says as he signals Eddie to pass his trainers. He slips them on and gets up he slips on his jacket; he looks at Eddie who just smiles at him.
'He is so dam cute, stop it you will ruin it all stop been useless'
They head to the door and head on out and jumping in Eddie's car. They drive to the police station. During the whole way there, Buck hadn't said a single thing. Eddie could see he was deep in thought, he didn't know how today was going go, but he was happy the fact Buck had agreed to go and give his statement.
"We're here, are you ready to go in, or do you want to wait?" Eddie asks.
Buck didn't answer, he just stepped out the vehicle and started walking to the door of the station, and Eddie jumped out quickly and locked his pickup and caught up with Buck as they entered the station. As they walked up to the desk, there was an officer at there.
"Can I help you sir?" the officer asks.
Buck just looked and didn't say anything.
Eddie intervened "Is it possible to speak to Sergeant Grant please? If yes, please say its Eddie and Evan she will know what it means."
Buck looks at Eddie and mouths thank you, the officer points for them to take a seat on the chairs in the hallway. As they sat there, Eddie watched as Buck started tapping his foot and picking at his nails. He could tell Buck was getting anxious, so he put his hand on Bucks shoulder which made Buck jump a bit but turn his head to Eddie.
"It will be ok, I promise." Eddie says giving him that Diaz smile.
"Boys, what are you doing here?" Athena asks as she walks up to them.
Eddie stands and gives her a hug; she looks at Buck who can only just stare at her.
"What can I do for you?" She asks.
Eddie stares at Buck waiting for Buck to say it as he doesn't want to push him too much.
"I'm here to report the abuse I've suffered at the hands of my ex." Buck says as he stands up
Eddie smiles at Athena who lets out a sigh and walks over to Buck and holds her arms open for a hug, Buck is hesitant but he leans in and hugs her.
"That's fine I'll get a detective and I will be in there with you." She says
She leads them down to an interview room and asks them to wait there while she gets a detective. Once she returns, she opens the door and they go in, but Eddie is stopped.
"Sorry, you can't be in there while we interview." the detective states.
"But I promised him I would be there." Eddie explains.
"If you are in there with him, it can put what he says in to dispute and a conflict of interest as they can claim you pushed him to say it." The detective explains.
Eddie looks over and sees Athena she leans over to Buck and says "Look Buck, I know you want Eddie in here with you and I get this is hard, but he has to stay outside okay?" Athena explains
"I don't want do it if he's not here, please Athena." Buck says tears starting to form
She smiles at him and walks to the door ushering the detective and Eddie outside
"Eddie, I need you speak to him and explain you can't be in here when he gives his statement it's important that we get this done, but I don't want push him too much." Athena said.
"Ok, give me a minute." Eddie says as he walks into the room and sees Buck there head in his hands, sitting at the table. Eddie walks over and sits next to Buck, who turns to look at Eddie his eyes are red from where he had been wiping the tears away.
"Hey bud, I know I promised to be here but I can't, if I stay they can turn what you say into a lie as they may try say I pushed you to say it, but I will be outside the whole time. I will not move from the door and you have Athena in here with you. She will look after you and once you are done ''I will be at the door." Eddie explains as he rubs Bucks arm.
Buck doesn't say anything, but he nods and Eddie gets up and walks out the door. As he passes through the door, the detective and Athena walks in. Athena rubs his shoulder as she passes Eddie to silently say thank you and closes the door. Eddie just stands there staring at the door.
Athena and the detective take a seat in front of Buck and press the record button.
"Today's date is 17th November 2019, time is 10:45am, I'm Detective Tapping, in with Sgt Athena Grant and interviewing Evan Buckley, can you explain to us why you are here today, please Mr Buckley?" The detective asks in a level tone.
"I'm here to report abuse I received from my ex boyfriend Aaron Jackson." Buck explains
"Can you give us the details of exactly what kind of abuse and where it happened?" Athena asks.
"The first time was when he dropped boiling water over my leg, he made me think I had tripped it but now the more I remember, the more I now know that I hadn't had my leg out and he had done it on purpose." Buck stated.
"Did you report the burn?" The detective asks.
"No, Aaron made me think I could deal with it with me been a first responder." Buck replied.
"Did you tell anyone about the burn like a family member or work colleague?" The detective asks.
"No, at the time I wasn't speaking to anyone at the firehouse so I kept it to myself as I thought they would think I was silly for causing the accident." Buck says as he wipes a tear away.
They spend the next 40 minutes going through all the physical and mental abuse Buck had been subjected to in such a small amount of time and going in to details of everything.
"Would you like to take a break?" Athena asks.
"No, I need to finish." Buck says looking at the door knowing that Eddie was behind it, which gave him the courage to continue.
"The next question may be hard to answer, but we need to know, did he ever force himself on you?" The detective asks and Athena could only look at the detective she didn't want look at Buck till he had answered.
"Yes, on the 5Th November he forced himself upon me after hitting me over the head, he tied my arms up and-" Buck stopped as he starts to sob "He-he raped me. I said no, I told him I would be good and to stop and he didn't, afterwards he made me feel like it was my idea but it wasn't." He just let out a loud sob.
The door opened and Eddie came running in.
"Interview suspended at 11:35." Athena says and looks at the detective, who nodded grimly.
"We will give you 5 minutes" Athena says and nods to Eddie who is holding Buck close as he sobs on Eddies shoulder.
"It's ok bud, you've done so well, I'm so proud of you. Look, you have told the worst parts. you now have got a tiny bit more to do and we can leave. Remember I'm right outside that door. I'm sorry what he did, but I'm here okay?" Eddie says as he holds Buck.
Athena walks back in the room and taps Eddie that it's time for him to go outside the door again. he pats Buck on his back and he looks up. Eddie smiles at him and breaks the hug.
"I'm right outside." Eddie reminds him once again as he gets up and heads out.
"You ready Evan?" the detective says and Buck just nods once with a determined look on his face.
"Interview resumed at 11:45, Detective Tapping, Sgt Athena Grant and Evan Buckley." The detective says
"Ok Evan, after he raped you what happened?" asks the detective.
"I laid there and drifted off to sleep the next day I went to work and just got on with my job." Buck explains
"So, you didn't inform anyone?" the detective asks.
"No, I thought they wouldn't care and would only think I was saying it to get them to talk to me so I didn't bother." Buck explains and he looked up and could see Athena was trying to hold back the anger.
"Do you have any evidence of this happening?" The detective asks
"No, why would I, I'm not making this up, why would I?" Buck asks getting a bit angry.
"Evan we aren't saying you are its just without any evidence it makes it harder and were just after all the facts to help your case." Athena calmly says, making Buck nod in understanding.
"Why don't you explain what happened on the 13th November?" The detective asks
"Yes, it was a long day at work and Aaron came back from his work trip early and met me at work he had a run in with Eddie, on the way home he wasn't happy once we got in he went upstairs and I started dinner, as I was plating it up, he came behind me and hit me with across the head with something made of glass I fell to the floor in pain, as I lay there he kicked me and told me to stop lying." Buck states.
"What did he think you were lying about?" The detective asks.
"Eddie had texted saying I could talk to him anytime, he thought I had said something about what he had done to me but I didn't, he kicked me again I put my hands down to try get up and he stamped on my hand I fell and he kept kicking me in the ribs he then walked round and kicked me in the back." Buck says.
"Would you like to take a break?" Athena asked.
"Can we continue? I just want this over" Buck replied.
"So, you're on the floor what happened next?" The detective asks.
"He picked up the pan of food and poured it over me, he watched me for a while before asking if I had been meeting Eddie in secret which I hadn't. He then kicked me in the face as he went to do it a second time there was a knock at the door." Buck continues as he wipes the tears away.
"Who was at the door?" asks the detective.
"It was Chase Mackey. He was my lawyer for the lawsuit against the fire department; he had turned up as Aaron had messaged him. They talked about the plan moving quicker than they expected as people were getting too involved, they walked over and Aaron picked me up and Chase punched me in the stomach and he told me this was payback for costing him the money from the lawsuit." Buck starts to cry "Aaron explained that him and Chase had set the whole thing up him meeting me at the bar, saying that they knew I would be easy as I was dumb, they used the lawsuit to cause distress between me and the team so I would depend on Aaron more and basically only trust him and what he asked me to do, they kick me a few more times then get some beer out they drink some as they pour some over me, they then go upstairs and start trashing my flat I saw the door open and made my escape." Buck sighs as he finished his story.
"Once you escaped, you walked to Edmundo Diaz's house, why?" The detective asks.
"What do you mean why? I knew he would be there for me and would protect me." Buck says
"Well, I'm just asking as you said the team disowned you so I find it weird you would go there." The detective says looking confused.
"After everything that happened, I knew Eddie would help even if we weren't talking." Buck said confidently.
"That's all, Mr Buckley thank you for your statement." The detective said to Buck.
"Interview finished at 13:10." The detective says formally.
As soon as the stop button is pressed, Buck is up out his seat and straight out the door as he opens it he see's Eddie standing there, he grabs hold of him and holds him tight to himself and falls to the floor. Eddie drops with him just holding him close.
"Buck, you did so well I'm proud of you." Eddie said.
"If you want to, you can use the interview room till your ready leave." Athena says looking at Eddie.
He nods and helps Buck up who is sobbing so loud, they walk into the room and Athena closes the door and stands outside. Eddie breaks the hug and sits Buck down.
"I'm sorry Buck that you felt you couldn't talk to me or to the team, we never wanted to do that, I knew I should have pushed when you started distancing yourself, but I was so wrapped up in myself, I didn't and I'm sorry. But right now I'm here for you." Eddie says looking at Buck who just sits there, his arms on the table and his head on top of it.
After five minutes there's still no answer from Buck, and Eddie starts to worry. He places a hand on Bucks back and rubs it.
"Hey, how about we pick up Chris and go back to mine?" Eddie asks.
Buck sits up and looks at Eddie his face is red from the crying and nods.
"I'll go speak to Athena and then we shall go, just wait here okay?" Eddie asks as he gets up and heads to the door and walks through it closing it behind him.
"Athena, what happens now?" Eddie asks seriously.
"We process the interview and bring them both in for questioning, but the problem is lack of evidence, but I'm more concerned how Buck will cope. He looked so broken just now." she replies, looking sad.
"I know, we will have to take each day as it comes," Eddie says.
"How are you dealing with this, Eddie? I know this is a lot to take in and I know how you feel for him so it can't be easy." She says shaking her head.
"I've just pushed my feelings for him to the side. My main priority is helping him through this." Eddie explains.
"Well, you know where Bobby and I are if you need to talk, I know he might not want to, but try and see if he wants to come round for Thanksgiving" Athena says.
"Thank you. I will see what he says, we have a few days, but I'm hoping he will. Well, I'm going get him out of here. Thanks for today." Eddie says as he gives her a hug.
He walks back in to the interview room and walks up to Buck.
"Let's get you home," Eddie says.
Buck gets up and they head to out and to the car. The whole walk out, Buck keeps his head down not wanting to see anyone. They get in the car and head to pick up Chris, Buck stays in the car as Eddie fetches him and puts him in the backseat of the car.
"Hey Buck." Chris says with a smile on his face.
"Hey Buddy, did you have a good time?" Buck asks, his tone sounding down.
"I did, why do you sound sad?" Chris asks worriedly.
"Hey bud, how about we let Buck rest as we drive home, you can play with your tablet." Eddie says looking at Chris and Chris nods realising his Dad's specific look on his face.
They drive home and all get out and head into the house. Buck walks straight to the bedroom, closes the door and just climbs under the covers.
"Dad, what's up with Buck?" Chris asks, looking at the closed door.
"He's just had a bad day which has made him sad. How about we sit and watch TV and he may come out in a bit, what do you fancy for dinner?" Eddie ask
"Can we have pizza it will cheer up Buck too?" Chris asks.
"Of course." Eddie says.
With the TV and Chris being distracted by it, the time has passed and it is 6pm and Eddie decides it's time for dinner so gets his phone out to order pizza.
"Hey Chris, why don't you go see what pizza Buck wants and I'll pour some juice for you." Eddie says smiling at Chris, knowing Buck won't say no to him, he felt bad for using Chris but he didn't want Buck to wallow on his own.
"Okay Dad." Chris says as he walks towards the bedroom.
He knocks on the door and walks in; Buck looks up to see who's there. He had fallen asleep the toll of the day had caught up on him.
"Hey buddy, what's up?" Buck says as he sits up
"Dad is ordering pizza what kind do you fancy?" Chris asks, sitting next to him carefully.
"Superman, I'm not hungry." Buck says.
"You got to eat, remember what you told me, eating makes you big and strong." Chris reminds him, smiling at Buck.
"Ok, you got me. Let's go order the biggest pizza we can." Buck says, with a small laugh getting up and giving Chris a hug.
"Please play with my Legos with me until it comes." Chris asks, giving Buck that look.
"Of course," Buck replies quickly, knowing that he could not deny the littlest Diaz anything he wanted from him with that look on his face.
They walk out the room and head to the front room where Eddie was sat on the sofa and three glasses of juice were on the coffee table.
"So, what's it to be?" Eddie asks with a raised eyebrow.
"The super duper pizza isn't it Buck?" Chris says, with a giggle.
"That it is, Bud." Buck says nodding.
Buck smiles and sits on the floor as Chris pulls out the Legos out his toy box and Eddie watches as he orders the pizza over the phone. He knew the next few days might be tough but if they worked together it would be all ok.
It had been a week since Buck had been to the police station and things hadn't been easy for Buck. His cuts had started to heal and bruises had started to fade, he had a few days where he wouldn't come out only to eat and other days he was like the old Buck, the police had informed him they hadn't found either Chase Mackey or Aaron to question that had set Buck off. He started worrying whether they would turn up and attack him out of no-where but Athena had reassured him they most likely had left the State now.
"Hey Buck, I need to talk to you," Eddie says, sitting up from his seat. They were on the couch watching TV.
"Yeah, what's up?" Buck asks, looking away from the TV to look at Eddie.
"Bobby as asked if I can start going back to the station as they're short and need help, which means I'll have leave you here on your own for a while." Eddie explains.
"I don't need to go back to my place, do I?" Buck asks, worriedly, wondering if he has been staying here too long.
"Of course not, you're welcome to stay here and look after Chris." Eddie says with a smile.
"That's okay. I mean, it might be tough but I'll have Chris to focus on and I'm sure I can call you if there is a problem, when do you have to start?" Buck asks.
"The 25th so, that's tomorrow, also Athena asked if you want go round their place for Thanksgiving I told her that I'd ask, but no pressure. If you don't want to, we can do our own thing instead." Eddie says
"Wow, that's so quick. Can I think about it? Thanksgiving I mean?" Buck asks smiling and Eddie nods, then they turn back to the TV and resumed to watching TV.
The next day, Eddie goes to work and leaves Buck to sort Chris out. The day goes well and he messages Eddie whenever he got nervous and Eddie would quickly call him when free to set his mind at ease. Buck fetches Chris from school and helps him with his homework and when Eddie returns they sorted out dinner. Buck also decided he would bite the bullet and go to Athena's and Bobby's for Thanksgiving. He knew it be okay, as Eddie and Chris would be with him so he got Eddie to say yes to Athena.
It got to the 28th and it was Thanksgiving day, Eddie was on shift with the rest of the 118 so he had agreed to take Chris to Athena's and help out before everyone turned up, he was sitting on Eddie's couch with Chris waiting, for Abuela to turn up with a pumpkin pie to take over to Bobby and Athena's. As they sat there, waiting they heard a car alarm going off. Buck looked out and saw that it was his jeep's alarm going off so he grabbed his keys and went out to the car to turn the alarm off and check it in case someone had accidentally hit it, Chris walked to the door and watched Buck as he went round the side he saw no damage and turned to head back to the house he stood still as he looked at the front door there stood a man in mask and he had hold of Chris with a knife in his hand held close to Chris.
"Let him go please." Buck said, scared at what was in front of him.
The figure didn't answer the next thing Buck knew he was hit over the head and started to fall he looked at Chris and saw the masked figure push Chris to the floor and saw Chris bang his head, the next thing he knew he was been picked up and chucked in the boot of a car.
"Told you babe, we would get you." He recognised the voice and the two mask figures pulled their masks off. It was Chase Mackey and Aaron, his ex-boyfriend.
"Is Chris okay?" Buck asks the first thing that came to his head.
But there was no reply from them, just another punch to the face. Buck was still awake and he could hear a woman scream Chris name. He vaguely thought the voice was familiar.
"Let's get out of here." Aaron said and they slam the boot shut.
"Get back here!" Abuela shouts angrily at the two men, but they had jumped back into the car and raced down the street.
Buck, in the boot now knows that Abuela is there with Chris but he doesn't know how badly injured he is, and then the thought set in: 'what will happen to me?', he finally passed out.