EDDIE POV

As Eddie reversed out of his parking spot he looked towards the firehouse once more, a place he felt like a safe haven was feeling more and more like a horrid place. Everyone seemed to be angry at him, but they were all on Buck's side more importantly. He starts to drive and think back these last few days with everything that has gone on. He felt guilty for punching Buck, that is true, in the end, he had worked so hard on controlling his anger but it just got the better of him and there was nothing he could do.

He wanted to apologize to Buck about it but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Something nagged and it hit him, everyone was on Buck's side because they had spoken to him and got his side. Even Bobby, who was behind Eddie pretty much at the party, realized he had not spoken to Buck to hear his side as he was always with Ana! And she made it impossible to either leave her alone or not be there for her.

Ever since then, he has had this unshakable sensation within him. A sinking feeling that something was off. He knew that but did not know what it was.

His focus is on the road as he hits the highway and it would be rush hour traffic so people weaving in and out having near misses, eventually, he pulls off and continues to drive as Christopher reads a book from the back seat..."Was Mr. Buckley looking at Miss Flores or you? From what I can see she only seems to mention him staring over when you are with her."

The question creeps back, and he doesn't know what to think. The sound of a horn blaring behind him snaps Eddie's attention to the road. He sighs and continues to drive till he arrives at his destination and as he looks at the house he knows that he might get some answers here or not at all.

"Edmundo and Christopher, what are you doing here?"

"Hi Abuela, I need... " He couldn't find the words he thought he knew. But after taking a huge breath, Eddie set his mind to just 'Screw it.' He wanted to explain everything to her. Maybe she would have something to say "I need your help on something." He mutters out.

"Of course, come on in."

After settling Christopher to the living room, they head to the kitchen and take a seat, Eddie starts to fidget because he doesn't know how to explain this whole shit show. But his Abuela knew him long enough to discern Eddie's tells, because all she did was she placed a hand on his fidgeting hands, smiling and nodding to just take his time.

"It's fine Eddie, take your time."

As much as he denied it, he found comfort in those words. And so with another big shaky breath, he retold the story of how he courageously saved his girlfriend (but right now he feels like he royally fucked up.)

She patiently listened in, until he got to the part where he punched Buck for catching him leaning over his girlfriend.

"Owww." Eddie states as he feels Abuela's hand slap the hand she was holding.

"¿De verdad Edmundo?"

"Oye! It's not like I wanted to punch him! Plus, that's what I saw!"

"Oh Dios mio. Did you even dare ask his side of things?" Abuela asks while she looks sternly at him.

Eddie didn't say anything because he was only realizing this morning that maybe he should have asked what was going on first before throwing a punch that rivals McGregor's.

"I know, I regret it now, and other things like what the detective asked and I can't figure it out." Eddie says, rubbing his hand.

"DETECTIVE?" She questions. Loudly.

"Yeah about that…" And Eddie continued on his retelling this time finishing without being slapped or punched by Abuela.

"So what do you want to ask about?" Abuela rubs the bridge of her nose while Eddie mules over the thought.

"Why does everyone seem to flock to Buck about this? Why aren't they asking my side instead?"

And with that Abula gives him a once over. "And why haven't you?"

"What?"

"Well, Edmundo. From the shortest time that I've known Buck, he doesn't seem to be the type to prey on women…"

"Not you too." Eddie says disappointed that no one would even listen to him or take his side on this.

"He might as well be any kind of gringo who would do that, for others. But when you get to know him, he's not. So tell me, how could I, someone who barely knows him, seem to trust him more than someone who has gotten to know him for two years?" Abuela asks him as she projects that ever-patient voice of hers.

"Eddie, I've seen the way Buck looks at you and it's like you are the only person in the room. The only time you see someone like that is when..."

"You're in love with that person?" Eddie finishes the sentence realizing everything was now worse than it was.

'Buck had feelings for him? What the fuck? He actually has…

Everything suddenly rushes back to his mind, the water inside his nose, oxygen running out, nearly passing out then nothing.

"Do you love him?" It's a simple question that he knows the answer to. But does he really? Did he really like Buck also?

'These thoughts need to be cleansed. Clog him.'

"N-no.." he mutters

'Here you will learn to act normal and your sinful ways will be cleansed.'

Eddie wanted to crumple up like a ball from the memories. But he willed his body not to because someone was there with him. He couldn't show weakness nor emotions.

"Well, you need to think of this really well. Also if I, an old woman, can see it? Then so can others. Ana may have seen it and got..." But before Abuela could continue the phone rings and Ana's face lights up the screen. He makes his apologies and heads off ignoring the call, but not without a word from Abuela telling him to think about what they spoke about.

It was already getting late, and he was sure Ana would be home by now. So with that, he entrusts Chris to Abuela and heads off into the setting sun to go home for today… He had questions of his own that needed answering so it's best if Chris were to stay here for a bit just in case it gets nasty.

Hen's POV

"We only have one shot at this. Do we even know that he's home?" Lena asks, peering into the windows of her car.

"Well, I don't see his jeep parked in the driveway... Hold on." Hen says squinting her eyes to get a better look and she recognizes Ana immediately. Both Hen and Lena observed her as she fished her phone out of her bag.

They were both outside Eddie's house waiting for an opportunity to expose Ana to Eddie. But Ana being present and Eddie MIA, they were sitting ducks. At least, they now know that Ana is here, that only leaves Eddie.

When she saw that recording everything made more sense. Buck was set up.

"You think she's calling Eddie?"

"I hope so. Or else our flank might fall without a fight." Hen says then looks at Lena, "Lena, are you sure you want to be involved in this?"

"Uh yeah. If you think you can mess with my homeboy and get away with it, not a chance." Lena smirks and Hen nods.

They had a plan, but it all relied on luck and timing. Thankfully, they've got one down in their plan, which was to get Ana alone. But then without Eddie, everything might have been a lost cause. Even if they got her to confess with the one evidence that nails her, she can still deny it.

'What if you record it?' Chim said earlier.

'Well, I will. But I have a feeling it would take much more than that to sway Eddie. While we do have physical evidence that's enough to nail her to one spot, she can just deny that and say it's all made up... Since, this is coming from someone who supports the other party.' Hen say's rubbing Denny's phone.

'She can deny it all she wants but it's pretty obvious that the video is legit. Why go through all this trouble then?' Chim asks.

'Somethings are much more believable when you hear it from the culprit themselves. In this case? It's everything we need.'

'Not to be a cynic, but why? I mean I get it that y'all doing this for your friend. But really? Going in there just to get a confession from her? Is that really necessary? I mean, I'm with shorty here. That video is enough.' Lena asks, brows closed together in thought.

'Exactly… Wait, what did you just say?' Chim asks and Lena just laughs.

'Like I said. Eddie is a stubborn one. Aside from needing more conclusive evidence, I just want to talk to her.' Hen says with an air of finality. And to her surprise, nobody said anything after that. They just looked at her solemnly as they understood her. Bobby on the other hand, as much as he hides it, he too is conflicted about this. But otherwise, he says nothing.

They had a plan. And they only had one shot. And their key was Ana being here before Eddie, and they got just that.

"I'm going in. You know the plan Lena." Hen says gets the recorder hidden and adjusted to her clothes. As much as it did hide the recorder, baggy clothing was never Hen's style.

"Alright then. I'm going to send you a message on Denny's phone for you to know that Eddie's outside with me." Lena says looking around the bend, staying on the lookout for Eddie's jeep.

Hen gets off and heads in, she knocks and waits for a bit at the porch before long Ana opens the door. A questioning look on her face.

"Hen! Hello, what are you doing here this late?" Ana sweetly asks, however, her eyes were frantic, looking at the sides and her up and down.

"Uhm, is Eddie here? I just wanted to apologize to him." Hen says and she could see Ana's shocked face.

"W-what for?"

"I may have said something to him that… Was really uncalled for." Hen says acting like she was embarrassed.

They only had one shot at this, and she wants to do it right. For her friends, and partly because there was a bet involved.

"Well, he's not in yet… But you can wait for him inside. Come on in." Ana says opening the door for Hen to enter.

'Lena, it's up to you now.'

Eddie's POV

When he arrived at his house he saw someone standing outside by the porch. Lena.

After making sure the car was off and locked, he proceeded to go and confront what she was doing here.

"What are you doing here?" Eddie asks and Lena raises a finger.

"First, shut up and just listen. Second, it's much better if you hear from the culprit themselves what really happened that night, yeah?" She says. Eddie was about to ask when he heard someone was talking from behind the door. He could make out Ana's voice but someone was there with her, Hen. From the corner of his eye, he could see Lena texting.

"Is that Hen? What's she doing inside?" Eddie asks apprehensively and Lena blocks off the door from him.

"I just said to listen in!" She hisses.

'What are they doing here at my house? Why is Ana talking to Hen and why is Lena playing gatekeeper?' Eddie asks himself, but judging that Lena will not budge, he sighs and listens to the conversation happening inside.

"Ana, as much as how well you played your act, I think you've done enough." Hen says from behind the door.

"W-what do you mean?" Ana asks in a small voice and Eddie recognizes that that's how she talks when she's getting anxious.

"You're really going to play this out huh? Okay, well what if I told you that I have evidence that Buck didn't actually 'do' anything to you?" Hen says and Eddie's eyes go wide.

They can hear Ana scoff, "What evidence? Oh, of course! You would go even that far to fabricate evidence for your friend. I already told you that He tried to force himself onto me! But of course, you wouldn't believe th..."

Eddie notices that Ana suddenly went silent and he could faintly hear something playing.

"Where did you get this?"

"So you do admit?" Hen sternly says, raising her voice a little bit. After a while, no one spoke and it was Hen who spoke again, "Ana, why would you do this?"

"You have no idea do you?" Ana says her voice grim.

"No idea of what? That you actually set up Buck pinning on you? Hell no! But we all knew that he would never do that. Why would you… Why did you do it?"

"Have you ever been hurt by someone so deeply that you've lost hope in love?" Silence for a bit and then Ana continues, "No? Well, I have. So you have no idea of how it feels to feel like you're loved after everything. You have no idea how much Eddie made me feel normal again, after being abused and being left for dead. You have no idea!" Ana shouts.

Eddie stood their shell shocked by what he just heard. But before he could collect his thoughts they heard Hen calmly say something.

"What you've been through must have been rough. And I won't pretend to know how it feels. I get that you felt threatened that Eddie will leave you if Buck gets too close. However, that does not give you a free pass to do something so horrible to someone else!" Hen shouts the last few words.

Half of what Hen said barely registers on Eddie's mind. All he could think of was that Ana set it up. And he fell for it.

He fucking fell for it.

He should have known better.

He should have seen it because… because?

Eddie then didn't notice but he started to walk away. He could barely make out what Lena was asking of him because all he could think of was that he should just go away.

'And go where? This is where you fucking live. This is a place where you go home to. This is where Chris is supposed to be happy and be someone he could be whoever he wants to be. Somewhere his son could grow happy and cheerful. Somewhere where Chris is…'

'Chris…'

And in that instance, he snapped out of his daze and looked back. He was no longer near his house anymore and he was at the intersection connecting to the highway and the other to the beach.

Kind of ironic that he stopped at this place. An intersection where he had to choose which direction to go. Because that's where he is right now, mentally and physically. He was in a place where he just learned something big that made him go dashing into an intersection… Or was he here in the first place? And he was just arrogantly standing there. Doing nothing and helplessly drowning in his doubt?

'Where should I go? To the left? That leads to the beach just a few kilometers from that intersection. Or should I go to the right? That leads to the highway…'

Breaking off from his thoughts Eddie decided to go somewhere that was safe but far off. He decided to jog to the beach. A long jog, but nothing compared to what he was used to anyway.

The jog eventually becomes a slow and a staggering pace, the adrenaline that had helped start the jog wearing off but the sound of the waves spurred him on to keep going. He doesn't think about anything but the pavement in front of him till he is met with the sight of the crashing waves.

He stumbles onto the sand and falls to his knees as the thoughts of what he heard come flooding to the forefront of his mind.

"How could I be so fucking stupid to fall for her, why did I even pick her?" He questions himself as he moves to the familiar tune.

"Because this is what a real man does, he finds the perfect woman to be his wife and raise his children." A dark husky voice comes over him. He's very familiar that it's his own voice, but it was more like someone else's will ingrained in him.

"But it's alright to love a man. Right?" he stops breathing for what feels like a lifetime but starts again he didn't think he would ever say it aloud.

"But to love a man means you will be cast out from your family and be doomed to be alone forever. Remember what happened before? Because of your foolishness, he was found dead in a ditch. Because people overheard!"

There's silence in Eddie as the sound of the waves fills the air, he sits there. That last thought from his mind was so strong and felt so true because it was true. Time passes by and he thinks more about earlier and remembers.

"Abuela already showed me she wouldn't cast me aside, my friends wouldn't either, well they might after this..." The weight of the whole Buck allegation was hitting him, everyone was on Buck's side but him.

"Your parents won't accept you and will disown you so will your sisters, your son will be taken away from his father who has unnatural urges."

"They're not unnatural urges, they are who I am, aren't they or am I just trying to justify feelings for a male friend?"

"You shouldn't have feelings for friends, only loyalty."

"Stop..." Eddie whispers out, a silent yet desperate call for help. Up until now, he was barely holding it together up until that revelation that he just heard. It was all too much until his mind came crashing down on its own. His emotions and thoughts run amok to the point that he felt something wet come to his eyes. He was crying. For the first time in forever.

"Edmundo. A real man does not cry! You have to be strong!" A big figure looms over him and despite knowing that it's not real. He still felt the shock from the fist hitting his face. A phantom pain that he will never forget.

Buck's POV

'You know what son? There's a saying that he once told me…'

Buck was again drifting in and out of his consciousness and luckily this time he was in his apartment and not in some random street. He checks the time and it's way past eight-thirty, meaning that he passed out for over seven hours.

Amid his awakening, why did he just remember that memory? Old man Harold knew stuff that he didn't and guided Buck anyway despite being too young to understand.

"How is the old man these days? Maybe I should check in sometime." Buck thinks aloud but is stopped short by his phone ringing.

'47 Missed Calls: Madds'

Oh, God… She must be worried. Speed dialing Maddie's number he anxiously thinks of what to say as an…

'Hello? Buck?' Maddie's voice comes through the other line

"H-hey Madds, what's wrong?" Buck replies while yawning in an attempt to make it look like he just woke up. Judging from the tone, Maddie was worried sick.

'I heard what happened today.' Maddie says and there was silence for a bit. So that's why she was calling. 'Do you want to talk about it? If you don't want to talk about it over the phone you can come to our place.' She says and she could hear Chimney humming about.

Buck would have wanted to just say something, but he chickened out at the last bit. He knew that Maddie would be able to sniff out something's off with him today if they did talk about it. He shakes his head and his gaze lands on the pills on the floor. 'How much did I take?' He thinks to himself.

'Buck?'

"Oh, sorry Mads… It's just… Been a long day so I slept it off." He tries to chuckle at the end and it comes out forced.

'Are you sure you're okay? I can come over instea…'

"No." Buck immediately says. "Listen, I'm going to be fine. I just need some rest for today, yeah? Talk to you tomorrow?"

There was a long silence before Maddie answered.

'Okay. Tomorrow then.'

And with that, the call ends.

Everything was so messed up. Him using drugs? The police? Ana? And Eddie?

Eddie…

'You know what son? There's a saying he once told me…'

What did old man Harold tell me then? Buck couldn't remember anymore, because all he was focused on was getting to bed and trying to sleep it off. The weight of yesterday's problems seems to carry on forever, and Buck deemed his only salvation then was just sleeping and taking the drugs.

While in bed all he could think of was why did Eddie believe Ana more than him?