Eddie POV
Eddie watches as Buck walks away to the utility room, he knew only one good thing was to come from the water gun fight and that would be a tired Chris. He takes another sip and feels the gentle heat of Ana beside him. He knew she had an issue with Buck and even voiced it to him. Her concern was that she felt uneasy around Buck. She explained that he was always looking at her and she felt like he was checking her out but Eddie had laughed it off because he knows Buck, he might be out looking for someone, but he wasn't that desperate. Plus, he's like a fucking saint especially when it came to women. He might be an idiot around them trying to impress them but it's all innocent and doesn't have any trace of malice.
And that was a week or so, then she brought up the same thing again earlier and he had to admit; he did catch Buck a few times looking at her. He wasn't about to start an argument in front of everyone they know over something that could mean nothing.
"Hey, why the long face?" Ana says.
"Just how wet everywhere will be after the kids are done playing with the water guns."
"Well, how about I grab some towels, and we can place them on the table outside? Ready for the kids." She says with a smile.
"Yeah, that's a great idea." Eddie says with a smile as they start walking through the party. Bobby asks Eddie something and he sees Ana carry on to the utility room
"Everything ok Bobby?"
"Yeah, is Buck ok though? He seems distracted." Bobby states.
"I don't know, Ana said he has been staring at her a lot and I've caught him doing it a few times, but it's most likely nothing." Eddie states but catches Bobby's look.
"I saw it too, it does seem weird, but then everything with Buck is weird let's be honest. And in a good way, still, I'm worried. I'll have a chat tomorrow to see what's going on." Bobby says.
Eddie nods and starts making his way to the utility room, he sees the kids come charging in but stopped in their tracks by Athena who makes them go back outside, Eddie shakes his head he figured they were going to try to scare Buck again but that was squashed. As he moved through the party he realized he couldn't see Ana. He thought in the time it took to speak to Bobby, Ana would already be out by now so he grabs the door handle and opens the door.
"Ana you in here?" Eddie's words and what he sees made his blood run cold with horror at the same time burn with anger. He saw Buck leaning over Ana, no, pretty much on top of her. Kissing her. He stands there undecided about what to do.
"Buck, I said I wasn't interested in you, I said NO!" Ana screams at him, and Eddie can't believe what he has just heard.
"Buck what the fuck!" Eddie shouts and looks to Ana who is clearly distressed and crying.
"Eddie, he tried to take advantage of me, God knows what would have happened if you hadn't walked in." She starts to sob.
Eddie sees nothing but red. His so-called best friend just took advantage of his girlfriend! All the times he's been staring at Ana, he was checking her out?! He wanted her and wasn't happy Eddie was the better man? Was that it? He clenches his fist and in a blur the sensation of his fist connecting to Buck's nose hits him. The next thing his rational mind registered was Buck is on the floor clutching his nose, eyes terrified and teary.
"Eddie no!" Bobby's voice calls out making Eddie stop.
He looks in front of his ex-best friend on the floor nose bleeding, the sounds of Ana crying and others appearing, he watches as Buck barges past and is out the door.
"We will get everyone to leave." Athena's voice says and he can hear people making moves and the kids moaning. The sound of Ana sniffling makes him turn and embrace her.
"Ana, come here, I'm sorry. I should have spoken to him before, he was out of line."
"I'll go get Chris, and take him back to ours for the night, don't worry I'll get your shift covered tomorrow." Bobby says before leaving.
"What happened?" Eddie asks, hoping it was a misunderstanding
"I asked him politely to stop looking at me so much because it made me feel uncomfortable. He said he liked me and I would be better off going out with him." She lets a sob, "I said I was happy with you, a-and that he should think about his friendship with you first."
"Then what?" Eddie asks, clenching his fists.
"I must have indicated something because the next thing he did was that he tried to kiss me and I said no. But then he pushed himself on me and kissed me." She says, shaking in horror, "I'm sorry Eddie I didn't want to kiss him..." She starts to sob more and Eddie holds her close.
"It's fine, it's not your fault. You said no and he should have respected that."
Eddie sees off Chris, explaining he needed to look after Ana as she was ill, and they spent the whole night on the couch. Ana kept breaking down and Eddie felt guilty as he had put her in a position of uneasiness and when she expressed her concern he pushed it to the side just like he did with Shannon's concerns. Though this time he was going to make sure he dealt with it.
But the pang in his hand from when he punched Buck lingered and not in the way he was used to. Back when he was fighting or was in training, every connecting hit felt good and released tension within him. But he hit Buck. Buck.
He couldn't believe he had done that either. He knew when he did that their friendship was over. But he promised he would never hit anyone unless provoked, and in a way he was. As a man, he was defending his woman from something she did not want. He knew he would need to speak to Bobby, there was no way he could work with Buck. Actually no, Buck shouldn't be allowed to work.
'Mierda!' Eddie screams at himself.
He was fucking confused. Last time, he was jealous! He was actually fucking jealous because Taylor fucking kissed Buck, on the cheek. AND HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE FEELING!
Ana's POV
'It worked. Eddie believes that Buck forced himself on me and now… Well, let's just say that they will no longer be friends, considering Eddie's beliefs and values he will never forgive Buck from now on. And~ Now I have Eddie all to myself.' Ana thinks to herself as she cries in Eddie's arms feigning fear as she fakes her trembling body on Eddie.
Bobby POV
After the party, they ushered everyone to just go home because everything turned sour quickly when word got out. Buck. Forced himself on Ana?
"You don't think he really did it right?" Harry asks and May purses her lips while Bobby and Athena look at them both from the mirror.
"Do what?" Athena asks.
"Kiss A! Mpfh!" Harry was about to ask something when May covers his mouth.
Bobby sighs and looks at Athena who seems to be thinking of the same thing.
"No." Athena says.
"Yes." Bobby says.
Bobby and Athen looked at each other.
"What?" Both asked each other.
"You heard what Eddie and Ana said. Ana said she was just asking Buck if the water guns were ready, then Buck forced himself on her and Eddie walked in on them like that." Bobby says and he could see the disbelief in Athena's eyes.
"And you're just gonna believe her?" Athena says exasperatedly.
"We have two people saying so out of three who were there. Evidence are stacked against Buck here Athena and I can't just ignore that, you of all people should know that."
He could see Athena exhale and cross her arms before she continued.
"True as that may be. There's something off about that scene." Athena says.
"What do you mean?" Bobby says.
"Just… Everything about that accusation. For starters, we both know Buck to be a gentleman despite being a total fool. But that's what makes him an honest man, and not someone to take advantage of some woman out and about. Especially not one which has already been taken by their friend. It's just not like him at all." Athena exclaims and looks to Bobby, " You of all people should know him better by now. You're his captain to begin with."
"Guess we both don't know who he is then." Bobby says with finality as they drive back home to prepare for tomorrow.
Buck's POV
Buck was traveling down the road and he didn't know what to do. He just wanted to forget the whole night and maybe even tomorrow. He drives down the road and ends up at the bar he was a few days ago again. He chucks his phone in the glove box and gets out, he heads on in wiping his nose of dried blood. He orders a few strong whiskeys but nothing seems to be helping him. He spots a guy who gives him a nod and is confused as to why, he heads over to the man intrigued by who he was.
"See your back! It looks like you're trying to forget a bad day. Maybe I can help? I know last time you said no but I have something if you want it and it will make the day disappear.." The guy says.
Buck thinks about what the man was saying and then the man shows him a white substance. Drugs. His day and life were most likely ruined anyway. He knew full well Ana would be spinning lies to make him seem worse so he nods and follows the man into the toilet.
After their exchange, Buck now has green pills which were named Faundicity. The man told him that after Puffers Paradise's drug was becoming unpopular and unsafe, Faundicity became the new pill. Buck remembered that time where they responded to a call where the ladies who took Puffers Paradise had their eyes bleeding out.
Buck brings this up to the man and the man just shushes him and tells Buck that it's much safer than Puffers Paradise.
Still, despite what the man said, he still had his doubts. As a firefighter, he knows the effects of these kinds of drugs. It's psychedelic and an upper basically which is why a lot of people decide to just take drugs. More. More. And more. Until we got those calls where they found an overdosed person on the brink of death.
He found it stupid. And selfish. That there was something like this that could help him with his problem. Despite being just a momentary relief, the fact that he can just forget everything even just for a bit seemed appealing.
"I've been down that road before. And I don't recommend it." Eddie says holding the punching bag off Buck.
That time also when his parents came to LA and Buck found out a secret that they kept from him his entire life. That time, hurt. A lot. They hid the fact that Buck was just a miracle kid for his brother. During the bone marrow transplant, some complications arose and it made Daniel's body go through a relapse through his symptoms, the graft failed, and Daniel died. Because of him. After that, Maddie explained that they moved to Hershey and lived there, to escape from the pain.
If his parents got to do that just to escape their pain, Buck could have just done that. Move to another firehouse or another state. To getaway. He would very much like that. But he can't.
Maddie was here. She was nearing labor and she's the last family that Buck considers as of now. The. Last. One. But that fact also felt off for Buck. He was just being a nuisance for her.
'She already has enough problems to deal with. I shouldn't add more into it.' Buck thought to himself and then looked at the green pills that he was holding.
'Just a pill can make it all go away. I promise.' The man said flashing the bag of pills in his hand. 'Since I can see that this is your first time, I'm going to give three for free to you. And in any case, which you will, need more… You know where to find me.'
The green pill, Faundicity, seemed so alluring at the same time disgusting. And so swallowing his insecurities and pride, the pill found its way down his body with the help of alcohol.
Taylor's POV
After finishing off the last-minute briefing they had she head straight for Randy's bar because she still had a tab open. And now she had to pay her due. She always paid her dues. But with the way her things were going she wasn't overly surprised when she saw a blond man with blue eyes in the bar.
"Taylor. Heh. Nice of you to drop by for your friend again." Randy said, wiping a glass.
"What's he doing here?" Taylor asks getting twenty-bucks ready to give to Randy.
"Dunno. But the man's been here bout' an hour or so already. And…" Randy says leaning over the counter so only Taylor could hear what he was about to say. "He's already had the lovely opportunity of poppin a pill." Randy says as Taylor gives the twenty.
"Hmm. Consider your bill paid, once you help that man." Randy says holding off Taylor paying, "I've seen that look before a lot of times. Perks of working in a bar I guess. But that look doesn't end well. And from all the people who told me why… Let's just say that all of it was what you would call cliche reasons, but hey, everyone's different and they wouldn't be the first innocent person who goes through the bottle and could never get back out. So I'll only consider your tab paid, once you've helped him."
Taylor was shocked at Randy. To be fair, she hadn't known him that well, so it shouldn't be that shocking that someone would be like this. But then again, she never thought that Randy, a man with a lot of ink on his skin, stoney eyes, and looks like he's with the Russian mob, would be this caring.
'Well, don't judge a book by its cover, Taylor. You of all people should know that.' She scolds herself.
"Okay then." Taylor says getting ready to go to Buck but she had a thought, "But can you clear something up for me?"
"Hmm?"
"Why'd you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You know what I mean."
"And I already told you." Randy says and Taylor raises her eyebrows making Randy sigh, "He reminds me of someone. Someone, I couldn't save. This person, Taylor, they went through what that man is facing right now."
That's where it clicks. The reason why Randy would open a bar.
"Is that why you opened a bar? Because of this person?" Taylor asks and Randy nods.
"Counter-intuitive I know. Opening a bar which is a gateway to what my friend went down with. But also, it's a good place where I could at least help people struggling before they go any further down the barrel." Randy says then holds Taylor's shoulders.
"And right now he needs a friend." Randy says nodding to Buck.
"You do know that I don't like being indebted to people. I always pay my dues." Taylor says.
"I'm counting on it." Randy says and Taylor goes on to face Buck.
When she got to him he seemed intoxicated, and not like last time. Last time he was just drinking but now? He was taking pills? What the hell was he thinking?
"Alright, Buck. Let's go." Taylor says lifting Buck but she forgot. He weighs like a fucking tank! "Oomph. Okay, mister. Let's. Get. You. Home!" She grunts while she tries to hold Buck upright.
"Need help?" Randy says already lifting Buck up with ease.
"Thank you." Taylor says reaching for her phone.
"Do you have a car?" Randy asks.
"Uhmm…"
It wasn't any later that they were already on their way to Buck's apartment on Randy's pick-up truck.
"You didn't have to do this you know? I could've just ordered an Uber." Taylor says looking at Randy.
"And you're going to carry this tank back to his apartment, which I'll bet you fifty, that it isn't on the ground floor." Randy says and Taylor just zips it. He was right. She couldn't carry him up to his apartment which is why she was about to call Eddie. But even inebriated when Buck heard the word 'Eddie' he shouted no. Violently.
Taylor looks behind to the passenger seats and sees Buck lying there who seemed to be on cloud nine right now. She sighs as she eyes two green pills that fell out of his pocket when they hoisted him up earlier.
"Randy. What do you know about this?" Taylor asks Randy and he glances briefly before looking on the street.
"A new drug that's been finding its way on bars everywhere. They call it Faundicity. Word is it's better than any uppers out there, and much safer than Puffers Paradise." Randy explains, "I keep on trying to keep any sort of drugs off my bar. I don't know where your friend got some of that but I won't tolerate that the next time."
"Roger that." Taylor says.
The drive to Buck's apartment was quiet as Taylor was contemplating whether to call Eddie or anyone from Buck's contacts but he didn't know who and Randy was just talking to his assistant at the bar on what to do with the liquor shipment that they just had.
All Taylor could do at that time was think. What should she do now with a drugged and drunk Buck?