What the Hell!... Maddie?
A/N: I know that traditionally Eddie lives in a house, in this story they've chosen a high security apartment building due to Buck's past career as a Navy Seal. Abbey was never more than an aquaintence.
A/N2: I should warn that this isn't terribly Maddie friendly, so if you didn't see anything wrong with the way Maddie broke into Abbey's apartment then this probably isn't the story for you.
Disclaimer: I do not own 9-1-1 or any of its characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.
Buck entered their apartment and heard the shower running in their ensuite, he called out hello but wasn't bothered when he didn't receive any answer. He grinned, Eddie had beaten him home and Chris was still at his friend's house. He wondered how much adult time they had before one of them had to pick him up.
Eagerly stripping off his clothes he entered the bathroom with a smile on his face and pulled back the curtain to join his lover in the shower.
"What the hell, Evan? Haven't you ever heard of knocking? I know I brought you up better than this!" Maddie yelled at her brother, trying to wrap the entire length of shower curtain around her body and getting water everywhere. "Put some clothes on!"
Buck stood there in shock for a moment before his brain re-engaged enough to realise he was standing naked in front of his sister and grabbed for the towel that had been set on the hook, hurriedly wrapping it around his waist, then reached past his sister making her jump and squeak anxiously to turn off the water before the puddle reached the carpet since the curtain wrapped around his sister wasn't keeping it in the shower recess.
"Maddie? What are you doing here?" Buck asked.
"Since when do you barge in on people in the shower? Why didn't you knock?" Maddie demanded, ignoring his question.
"This is my home! Why would I knock on my own bathroom door? Eddie would expect Chris, or I to barge in anytime he's left it unlocked, he would think it was an intruder if someone knocked on the bathroom door while he was in the shower if he thought he was home alone," Buck asked sarcastically. "What the hell are you doing in my shower?"
"Who are Eddie and Chris?" Maddie blurted sounding unimpressed by the argument. She really hadn't noticed that either Eddie or Chris's names or both had been mentioned on all of the postcards she'd received over the last several months, she'd long since stopped paying much attention to the names of people he wrote about, not thinking that she'd ever meet any of them. Half the time until recently the people he wrote about had been different on each postcard as he moved on.
Buck frowned. "Better question, what are you doing here? How'd you find out where I live?"
"Can you get out so I can get dressed?" Maddie demanded, shivering.
Buck backed out of the bathroom without taking his eyes off her face, pulling the door shut. He quickly pulled on some sweatpants and an old LAFD t-shirt.
"Can I have some clean clothes," Maddie called.
Buck looked around for a bag or suitcase for a moment before deciding that after her sudden appearance after her ghosting him for three years, he didn't really trust Maddie enough to give her the suitcase without searching it first and wouldn't want to go through his sister's bras and panties anyway and getting out a pair of his own sweats with a drawstring and an old LAFD hoodie and carefully passing them through the door. Eddie's clothes would have fit his sister slightly better even if she'd still swim in them, but he didn't want to see her in Eddie's things.
Maddie came out a few minutes later swamped in his clothes. "You could have just pushed the suitcase in," she complained.
"If I'd seen a suitcase, I would've called the police and reported some crazy nutjob breaking into our apartment and moving in, instead of thinking my fiancé had arrived home before me and deciding to join him in the shower," Buck pointed out tersely. "You still haven't told me what you're doing here."
"Can't I visit my brother?" Maddie asked sarcastically.
"Visit, sure! No problem. Glad to see you after all these years, Maddie. But visiting implies calling me to find out my current address, letting me know you were coming and making plans with me, instead you fucking broke into my home without my permission and took a fucking shower! After three years of no contact whatsoever! What the hell, Maddie? You're lucky I thought it was Eds or I would've stormed in here with the baseball bat, or had the police storm in and drag you out in handcuffs," Buck ranted.
"You never played baseball. You don't even like to watch it," Maddie snorted.
Buck merely reached into the corner of the open closet and pulled out the wooden bat Eddie kept from his high school days on the Varsity team.
"You wouldn't have hit me. You're not violent like that," Maddie said shakily.
"How'd you get in?" Buck demanded without admitting that she was right, unless Chris or Eddie was in direct danger he couldn't imagine hitting any woman, let alone with a baseball bat.
"The landlord let me in," Maddie said shrugging, trying to act casual but Buck noticed that she hadn't taken her eyes off the bat.
"Nice try Maddie, the landlord is currently in San Diego, he's a friend so I'd know if he was visiting and he wouldn't let strangers into my home. Tell me the truth! How did you get in here?" Buck asked tersely.
"I'm not a stranger, I'm your sister," Maddie protested.
Buck almost growled in frustration. "For the last fucking time, how did you get into my apartment? What else did you do since you got in?" he demanded, becoming more anxious as his sister refused to answer. He was uncomfortably reminded that he really didn't know her very well anymore.
"He said he was your landlord," Maddie said shakily. She'd never thought her baby brother could sound so cold and hard. All of a sudden she realized that he wasn't just a bit put out that she'd got into the apartment, he was absolutely furious with her though she wasn't sure why, and all that anger directed at her was nerve wracking.
"Male African-American with a Brooklyn accent, taller than me 200lb of pure muscle?" Buck demanded, describing his former team mate and current landlord.
Maddie shook her head. "No, he was a pale, thin guy greying brown hair, beard, blue/grey eyes shortish, maybe 5'8'' looked like he was early forties, who was he if he wasn't the landlord? He had keys to your apartment."
"That's the super, or I should say that was the super who's about to lose his job. I hope you're proud of yourself," Buck said, still furious enough to make Maddie nervous though it was no longer directed at her.
"Why? He didn't do anything wrong. I told him I am your sister," Maddie protested weakly.
"And he had no way of knowing if you were telling the truth. Part of his job is to provide security for the building, not to circumvent the tenants' own security," Buck retorted. "He should've kept you in his office or called me to check, Hell he should've called the police if you insisted on being let into one of the apartments without the tenant's permission. What was he thinking?"
"Well having boobs helps," Maddie said flippantly.
"Please tell me you didn't show him?" Buck said dryly, wondering just what was driving his sister to be desperate enough to break into his home. Was she trying to hide from someone and how far she would go to get herself behind a locked door where nobody could follow her? He knew that he would end up helping her, but no matter what was going on with her that didn't give her the right to break in like this and act like she owned the place. He was still entitled to be angry about his safety being violated, and Chris's. What if she hadn't been his sister and Chris and Carla or Abuela had been the first people home?
"Of course not, I didn't do anything like that. I don't know why you're so upset about this. I didn't mean you any harm. I didn't do anything wrong," Maddie snapped.
"What if Eddie and Chris got home before me and found a strange woman in our shower? Eddie would've come through that bathroom door with his baseball bat already swinging if he thought you were a threat to Christopher,"
"I'm no threat to your friends," Maddie protested.
"I had my identity stolen a while ago. The man was using pictures of me on a profile to talk to women. He died recently and I've been assaulted by women your age twice because of the situation, once when I was out with Eddie and once at the fire station, also in hearing distance of Eddie and a third woman was arrested for throwing bricks at the 118 where anyone coming out the door could have been injured. A couple of the women who thought I ghosted them have retaliated violently to being abandoned after being encouraged to share deeply personal secrets with him. Eddie wouldn't recognize you so he would have thought you were another one of the nutjobs out for revenge. He probably wouldn't actually hit you unless you threatened him, or he thought you were a direct danger to Chris, but he would have forced you to wait in the shower while he called the police and had you arrested for breaking and entering," Buck explained.
"What's been done about that. I hope they were arrested!" Maddie exclaimed.
"LAPD are doing their best to trace the victims and contact all of them and explain the situation but we know there could be more of his victims out there and not all of them are willing to believe the LAPD because I'm a first responder too and they think it's a case of LAPD protecting our own," Buck replied wearily.
"That's terrible, who would've done such a thing?" Maddie exclaimed.
"The catfish was done by some lonely old guy living in a caravan who wasn't fit enough to get out and about to meet people in person, who was apparently very good at convincing each woman that she was the only one he was talking to and that the two of them had a deep and intimate connection. He was only found because LAPD went to arrest him for catfishing me, but that's irrelevant. Why did you break into my apartment?" Buck replied.
Maddie didn't answer, asking another question about what was being done to the women who'd assaulted him which Buck ignored. He pulled out his phone and called Eddie to warn him his sister had turned up and had been inside the apartment when he arrived home.
"Is this the sister you haven't heard from in more than three years? How did she find you? Should I ask Abuela to keep Chris for the night? I'll be home as soon as possible unless you'd like some time to catch up with your sister. I'm sure Abuela will happily feed me too," Eddie asked.
Maddie was disappointed when Evan immediately disagreed with that plan and wondered why he wanted the other man to intrude on their reunion.
"No please come home, I want you here. Asking Abuela to have Christopher is probably for the best until we sort out what's going on. Tell Superman that I'll ring him before bed to read to him," Buck replied.
"I'll be with you as soon as I can then," Eddie replied.
"So, how did you find me? I've never sent you this address even if were getting my postcards," Buck asked.
"I went to the address you sent me last and they told me where you moved to," Maddie replied.
Buck narrowed his eyes, if that were true it wouldn't only be the building super fired over this.
"Uh! Try again Maddie. I came almost directly from work. No one at the 118 would give a random woman our address, instead of having you wait there for me where they could keep an eye on you, particularly when they knew I was on shift," he said angrily, hoping he was right about that and trying to remember who had been the man behind on each call that day.
"I didn't go to the 118, I didn't want to disturb you at work. I went to the house in Wiltshire Boulevard and spoke to someone named Blaine," Maddie replied.
"You really thought it would be less disturbing to break into our apartment than it would be to visit me at work and make plans to meet up later?" Buck asked sarcastically, mentally planning to call Blaine and rip him a new one for giving out his address without contacting him first and cursing himself for not even thinking of calling his former flat mates and warning them about him being catfishes and the risk of furious women who thought he'd ghosted them. The student house had people moving in and out all the time, it was sheer luck that Maddie had found someone home that had even heard of Buck, let alone knew his address. He hadn't lived there in months when the guy using his image died and he hadn't been back to visit so it hadn't crossed his mind that was a way people could use to find him.
"Blaine should also have sent you to the 118, I'm surprised he even knew my new address," Buck said suspiciously.
Maddie bit her lip anxiously, this reunion wasn't going anything like she'd expected. She wondered what had happened to the little brother who had always begged her to stay with him, to come with him on his adventures? She'd expected him to be as excited to see her as she'd been at the idea of seeing him. She only hoped the reason wasn't the same as the reason she had had to cut Evan out of her life to protect him. Did her little brother need saving? He was acting so out of character.
She watched suspiciously as another man rushed in.
"Is everything okay, Carino? I got here as soon as I could," Eddie asked, looking lovingly at Buck before his gaze hardened as he recognised the tension between the siblings.
He seemed caring but Maddie didn't trust it, she knew Doug was like that in public.
"Better now that you're here," Buck admitted, looking calmer, which Maddie had to admit was a good sign, she knew that she hadn't been fully relaxed around Doug for years.
Maddie glared at him expectantly. Why was this stranger so important to her brother? Why did Evan want him to crash their reunion? Why did his presence seem to make Evan look more relaxed?
Eds this is my long lost sister Maddie. Maddie this is my fiancé Eddie Diaz who you owe a huge apology to for breaking into his home since you refuse to apologise to me," Buck said glaring back at her.
"How did she get in and why, after all this time?" Eddie asked.
"Don't know," Buck shrugged.
"Didn't you ask?" Eddie asked his fiancé incredulously.
"Of course I asked! Several times! She said that the super let her in but I still haven't got a satisfactory answer why he'd do that without calling one of us, why she's here in LA or why she felt the need to break in rather than stop by the station but she admitted that she knows where I work because she's apparently been getting my postcards after all," Buck replied annoyed.
"So after three years of not even bothering to let you know she was still alive she still expected the right to just walk in and make herself at home?" Eddie asked unimpressed.
"Yeah," Buck replied.
"Did you tell her about me and Chris?" Eddie asked.
"Of course I did!" Buck exclaimed. "You guys are my life! What else would I write about?"
"Why are you here?" Eddie asked.
"I came to see Evan," Maddie replied.
"You travelled all the way from Boston without thinking to call in advance? It's got to be a six hour flight. What if we'd been away or working overnight? Would you have slept in our bed too?" Eddie demanded.
Buck remembered what they'd been doing this morning before Chris woke up and that they hadn't had time to change the sheets, intending to put them in the wash as soon as they got home. The thought of his sister sleeping in their mess made him very uncomfortable.
"Would you have gone through our cupboards looking for clean sheets too? Why didn't you just call me? Or send me a fucking message that you were coming? It's been three years Maddie but my phone number and email haven't changed," Buck said hurt by the reminder that his sister had willingly dropped all contact for so long. He'd put quite a lot of effort into keeping the same phone number even when he'd moved out of the country and back again, so she could call him if she needed him.
"I didn't think of it, coming here was a spur of the moment thing and I just thought of surprising you," Maddie replied.
"Well then, you succeeded, we were sure as hell surprised!" Buck retorted. "Why were you in Los Angeles if visiting me was a spur of the moment thing? Were you originally planning on fucking leaving without contacting me? Have you been here before?" he asked hurt by the thought that she'd been here and hadn't been planning to see him except for a spur of the moment impulse.
"What, no I've never been to Los Angeles before. I haven't been in the same state that you were in at all since you left Pennsylvania, I came to Los Angeles to see you," Maddie replied.
"I Skype with both my sisters every week or two but I would never break into one of their apartments, and neither of them would let themselves into my home without my permission let alone have the fucking audacity to get naked in my en-suite shower when I wasn't expecting them," Eddie said.
"I left my phone in Boston," Maddie replied.
"What? You just forgot to bring your phone on a holiday?" Buck asked confused.
"Or you left it behind or threw it away because you're on the run?" Eddie asked pulling his phone out of his pocket and pulling up Athena's number. He showed it to Buck and put the call through when the younger man nodded.
Maddie blushed. "I'm not running from the law!" she said outraged.
"But you are running from something, or someone," Buck stated flatly. "Where's Doug? Did he come with you?"
"Doug's back home, I left him," Maddie said.
"Good," Buck said smiling slightly for the first time since he'd found her in the shower.
"How am I to believe you aren't wanted for arrest when the only time I've met you is because you broke into my home?" Eddie asked bluntly.
"Who are you calling?" Maddie asked shakily as the phone rang.
"My Captain's wife, she's a police sergeant. She will get to the bottom of this and make sure it's safe for us to bring Christopher home." Eddie replied.
"You don't need to call her," Maddie almost begged as the phone rang.
"Are you in hiding? From Doug?" Buck asked.
"More just laying low," Maddie tried to bluff, unsuccessfully. Buck could see her anxiety ramping up further at the question.
"Athena Grant" Athena asked.
"Hi Athena, can you come to our place we've a bit of a situation. Everyone's okay we just need some fairly urgent advice. Buck's sister broke into our apartment and is acting suspiciously," Eddie explained.
"I didn't know Buckaroo had a sister," Athena said frowning.
"He doesn't talk about her because she stopped talking to him before he came to LA," Eddie replied. "He hadn't seen her since he was nineteen, hadn't even heard from her in over three years before he got home today to find her inside our locked apartment in our en-suite bathroom taking a shower."
"Where's Christopher?" Athena asked. "How sure is Buck that this is actually his sister there now?"
"He's safe! He's with Abuela, she'll keep him overnight and I'll pick him up to take him to school in the morning," Eddie replied.
"It's Maddie," Buck said.
"Does Buck want to press charges?" Athena asked neutrally, she would support whatever the man she loved as a son wanted.
"I don't think he will against Maddie, but she's acting like she's on the run, didn't even try to contact Buck to tell him she was coming, and has refused to explain what she's doing here. We need to get to the bottom of things and she's not answering us," Eddie said.
"You want me to run her name?" Athena offered.
"Might be an idea," Eddie agreed looking at Buck.
"Her name is Maddie Kendall, she was working as a nurse in the Emergency Room at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston three years ago when I heard from her last," Buck said, spelling out the name.
"You can't run my name, he'll find me. He has contacts. Call my boss, she will vouch for me Liana McGregor she's the head nurse in the Emergency Room at Massachusetts General," Maddie said panicking.
"Who will find you?" Buck and Athena demanded, though Buck had an idea he knew who she'd say. He'd never liked Maddie's husband Doug from the moment they met though he hadn't had the experience of the world to know what was wrong with him and Maddie had written off his comments as merely jealousy that he wasn't getting as much time and attention from his sister as he was used to.
"Doug Kendall, my husband," Maddie admitted shakily.
"You're running from him? Has he hurt you?" Athena asked gently.
"He always was controlling, at first I thought it was romantic how much he missed me that he called so often when we were apart, and well, Mom and Dad always had to have things a certain way so that didn't seem odd to me either. But over the last year he's got worse. He always said that if I tried to leave him, he will kill me," Maddie said softly, standing shaking.
Buck walked towards her slowly and pulled her into a gently hug. "You're safe here, we'll protect you," he promised.
"I'll be there in about 30 minutes. Lock all the doors, I've got my key. I'll call you when I get there," Athena said before disconnecting. She then checked the number, rang Massachusetts General and asked to speak with Liana McGregor, to obtain some corroboration for Maddie's story. She wasn't impressed at not being able to run a complete background check but she was willing to hold off for now as long as she got some confirmation of the story.
When she heard that the head nurse she wanted to speak to had been viciously attacked, allegedly by Dr Kendall who had since fled and was at large she was tempted to flip on her lights and sirens to get to the Buckley-Diaz home as quickly as possible.
She then called her friend Detective Lou Ransone and quickly explained the situation. "Dr Doug Kendall is or was until yesterday a highly respected Cardiologist and leader in the community. I'm not sure how realistic her fears are but his wife is concerned he has friends on the Boston PD who will cover for him and help him locate his wife can you make sure that his details and the BOLO have gone out nationwide without alerting anyone to the fact Maddie Kendall is in Los Angeles?" she requested.
"I can do that in fact I'll call my brother in Los Vegas and have him check and enter him on the system so there's no record of LAPD looking into the case, Can Mrs Kendall identify the potential leaks from the Boston PD?" Lou said seriously.
"I am on my way to her location now, I will update you with any information she might have," Athena replied. "Can you ask your brother to run Maddie Kendall's name as well? She's on the run and I want to be sure she's only running from a violent and abusive husband."
"Will do," Lou said frowning. He didn't like the thought of a woman using the ruse of being a domestic violence survivor to hide from the law, too many women were stuck in situations thinking that nobody would believe them if they asked for help. But until they had some sort of proof he'd do all he could to protect the woman and if the husband did have a dirty contact in the Boston PD it wouldn't be much of a stretch to go from covering up abuse and helping him trace his wife to faking an arrest warrant.
Athena arrived at the Buckley-Diaz apartment and let herself in with her key, stopping in the entryway when she didn't immediately see Buck or Eddie and calling out officially. "LAPD call out."
"We're in the bedroom, the threat is contained," Eddie called back and Athena made her way in to meet and interview her adopted son's sister who looked shaken and deeply offended to being referred to as the threat.
"Hi Athena," Buck said grinning at the woman.
Maddie was sad to see that the policewoman's arrival also relaxed Buck. 'Was finding her in his apartment really so stressful? Did he see her as a threat too.'
"Hi boys! Hello you must be Maddie. The two of you don't look much alike," Athena greeted them.
"No, I look more like my sperm donor and Maddie looks more like her mother," Buck replied.
Athena's eyes narrowed dangerously. She'd had her suspicions about Buck's childhood and homelife from some of the things he hadn't learned or done before along with the way he absolutely never spoke of his parents, the way Bobby had let slip that he'd been Buck's next of kin on all his paperwork from the day the probationary firefighter had joined the 118, but this total denial of them as parents at all was worse than anything she had expected.
"They are your parents too!" Maddie said crossly.
Buck, Eddie and Athena ignored her outburst .
"I need you to tell me about Doug Kendall. What are the chances of him coming here looking for you?" Athena asked.
"None! He doesn't know where Buck is living, or that we're still in contact. I've never taken any of the postcards he's sent me home, and I ditched my car and bought one with cash in Providence just after I left Massachusetts," Maddie replied.
"Did Liana McGregor know where you were going? Does she know your brother is in Los Angeles?" Athena asked gently.
"I didn't tell her where I was going but she could have guessed, she knows Buck is a firefighter here. But she wouldn't tell Doug," Maddie replied confidently.
"I'm sorry to inform you that Liana McGregor was attacked and found beaten in her home. She's expected to make a full recovery but she hasn't been able to be questioned as yet and Dr Kendall has been identified on her security camera as a potential lead suspect. There's an APB out for his arrest as a person of interest but Boston PD can't find him. If Nurse McGregor knew where you were going she may have inadvertently let something slip under duress," Athena replied.
Maddie looked shaken. "I should go, I shouldn't have come, I didn't mean to put you in danger."
"The truth is that Buck could've been in more danger if you hadn't thought to visit him, your husband may still have thought you would come here and Buck and Eddie would've had no warning of the danger. At least this way we can take precautions and get them and Christopher somewhere their security isn't so easily compromised," Athena replied.
"You and Chris should stay with Abuela until he's caught," Buck said to his fiancé immediately.
"I agree that Chris and Carla shouldn't be here on their own but you're not staying here by yourself either, we'll be safer together, if I go we both go," Eddie retorted.
-o0o-
"Can I press charges against the Super for letting her in without pressing charges against Maddie?" Buck asked.
"You'd really do that. Have him arrested for being nice to me?" Maddie asked guiltily.
"He broke the law letting you into someone else's home, he should be arrested for letting a stranger into an apartment where a child lived. A child he already knew has recently been part of a custody battle, not to mention is living with a victim of identity theft who has already been assaulted twice by the victims of the man using my identity. He knowingly breached our security and I no longer feel safe leaving Chris here with nobody but a home health aid to look after his safety," Buck said uncompromisingly.
"I definitely can arrest him since letting people into tenant's apartments is illegal, but since Maddie really is your sister and you're not pressing charges on her for trespass or breaking and entering I doubt you could get charges against the Super for abetting her to hold up in court so he'd probably be released by tomorrow at the latest," Athena replied.
"He needs to at least be questioned and frightened out of doing it again. Doug Kendall is a charismatic manipulative bastard. I can't trust that he won't be able to talk his way in here too. Not to mention there are a lot of families living in this building," Buck said.
"Having a police report about the incident should help us break the lease without penalties as well," Eddie said. "It will take time for the Landlord to replace the Super. We need to find a place with better security and a super who isn't such a dumbass."
"Or rent a house so we don't have a super at all," Buck agreed.
Athena nodded. "Come by the station tomorrow to make an official report, and I'll have him brought in and the fear of god drummed into him to protect the other residents, but you'll still have to move. Even more urgently because the last thing you need is a super with a history of breaking into tenant's apartments and a grudge against you."
Maddie hoped that would be enough to stop them from filing charges and getting the super fired.
"We'll do that," Buck agreed, taking out the suitcases and starting to pack their things.
"Where are you going?" Maddie asked in confusion.
"We can't stay here with the lack of security you highlighted if there's someone after you that's willing to beat a woman half to death in order to find out your whereabouts, it wouldn't be safe for Chris," Buck said incredulously.
"Who is this Chris you keep referring to? You said you were engaged to Eddie," Maddie demanded.
"Chris is our son," Eddie stated firmly. "He's eight and has CP. If he and his carer had been here alone when you broke in and terrified him, we would be pressing charges."
Maddie glanced at Evan and saw to her horror that he completely agreed with that statement.
"What? Wait? You can't have an eight year old son! You would have told me," Maddie exclaimed shocked.
"Well no, he's Eddie's son," Buck admitted.
"Biologically he's mine, he's ours in all the ways that matter," Eddie said quietly.
"Where are you going to stay? You're welcome to our guest room boys," Athena offered her husband's team mates.
"Thanks Athena but Abuela has already offered for Buck and I to stay with her, and I think it will be safe enough since there's no paper trail connecting her with Buck," Eddie replied.
"What about me?" Maddie asked.
"I'm not inviting a total stranger who breaks into other people's apartments and has a stalker after her, to stay with my son and my grandmother," Eddie said bluntly before Buck could reply.
"She can't stay in a hotel, they wouldn't take her without some form of ID," Buck said worriedly.
"We have an arrangement with a hotel which we use for witness protection. They'd rent you a room without recording your ID if I vouch for you. You'd have to pay cash in advance but they have some competitive long term rates," Athena offered. She was tempted to offer her guest room to Buck's sister but it was her week to have May and Harry, and Eddie did have a point. Buck had been a child the last time he'd spent quality time with his sister, he really didn't know her as a person and she couldn't trust her in general let alone trust that she wouldn't trust the wrong person with Athena's address.
"I could stay here," Maddie suggested.
"Think about how easily you found Buck once you got here. You said that you were concerned that your husband had a police officer helping him. This is the address Buck has on record with the DMV and the LAFD and you've just proved how easy it is to con the super into letting someone into an empty apartment. If it isn't safe for Buck and Eddie, it certainly wouldn't be safe for a woman on her own," Athena stated, before Eddie or Buck could lose his temper at the further invasion of their privacy.
"Will you come and stay in the hotel with me Evan? I'd feel safer if you were there and we could catch up properly," Maddie begged.
Buck looked torn. "Chris will be upset if Eddie arrives at Abuela's without me after we changed the plans for tonight and Eddie dropped him off so suddenly," he said apologetically. "I'll meet you for lunch tomorrow, and we'll catch up."
"Maybe I should move on, not stay if there's a likelihood of Doug coming here," Maddie said.
Athena frowned at the blatant attempt to manipulate Buck into staying with her. "You have more support here. You go anywhere else and you risk using your own ID to rent a room or an apartment and getting a decent job or living as if you were an illegal immigrant without legitimate ID, your best bet if you won't accept my help, would be to go into a battered women's shelter and let them set you up in a new place."
Maddie nodded. "I'll accept your offer of a safe hotel, I have the money to pay for it."
"Do you have a phone, text me your number and I'll send you the address for lunch," Buck suggested.
"No I don't, I guess I need to take care of that tomorrow," Maddie said uncertainly.
Athena told him the general location of the hotel she was going to set Maddie up in and Buck picked a deli near there that did good healthy rolls and wraps, and wrote down the address and time to meet. Athena then led Maddie out to her car while Buck checked over their packing and Eddie contacted all the other residents on their floor explaining what had happened and that they'd send a message on the group chat if they came back for anything, encouraging the other residents that if they saw anyone trying to get into their apartment or heard anyone moving inside it without hearing from Buck or Eddie first, they should lock their doors and call the police.
Most of the other residents were shocked at the Super's actions and relieved to hear that Buck and Eddie knew the building owner and would have him replaced even if they moved out themselves.