"Whoa," Alistair Webster grabbed hold of Evan.
Eddie took a deep breath. The attack came from nowhere, and he had thought that the man he loved could've broken his neck. "Thanks, Cap."
"I'm glad I was here," Alistair eased Evan so he was away from the stairs.
"What are you doing here, Captain Webster?" Bobby asked.
"I asked him to be here," Chief Alonzo said as he walked up the stairs to join them.
"Chief, is there a problem?" Bobby looked around, a little confused at what was going on.
"Is there a problem? What do you think?" Alonzo held up his hand to stop him from answering. "We need to speak in your office."
"I have nothing to hide. We can do it here."
"Fine, Captain Nash, please be at my office at one 'o'clock tomorrow for a review of your time at 118. Please leave now, and I will see you for our meeting."
Chim smiled at Maddie. "So I'm going to be interim captain until he returns?"
Bobby turned and glared at him.
"No, firefighter Han. You are also being looked into about your behaviour."
"What about my behaviour? Is Buck trying to ruin my life? He's jealous," Chim snapped.
"We've had complaints since you started. It seems Captain Nash told us he had dealt with them. But there was nothing on your record. We've never had as many complaints as we did when you became interim captain. They also continued after Mr Buckley quit because of health reasons. We have a couple of floaters coming in. Alexandra Munroe will be interim captain until we deal with things."
"Thank you, Chief Alonzo," Alexandria nodded.
"Mr Buckley, I want to discuss a business proposition when your business is set up." Alonzo handed him his card.
"Of course, I'll be in touch with you soon." Evan reached over and took it.
"It's always Evan causing problems for everyone. He did it when he was a kid," Maddie pouted.
"Stop harassing Evan. You only think of yourself. You don't care about anyone else." Hen couldn't believe how much she ignored. She was finally glad she saw the truth.
"Maddie cares about you," Chim argued.
"And Karen?" Hen asked.
"Of course, I care about you both," Maddie smiled at her.
"Really, do you remember when Karen talked about consultant work?" She watched her best friend as he nodded his head. "You told us that if you knew anyone in that type of business, you would help. Westland was the company Karen really wanted to work with.
Maddie paled and glared at her brother.
"What does this have to do with anything?" Chim asked.
"Oh, so you don't know Westlands was her grandparents' business."
"I'm not close to them. They're the ones that raised Evan."
"They've listened to you before. I mean, you have two friends working there," Evan added.
"They aren't my friends anymore." She snapped.
"Evan believed I had turned against him. He still had talked to his grandmother and had information and a contract for Karen. That's a good person."
"How is Karen doing?" Evan laughed.
"She's been researching, and last I heard, she was about to talk to your grandmother. I haven't seen her this excited for a while. Thank you for knowing how wonderful she is."
"Karen was the exact kind of person with knowledge and skills the company needed."
"I'm sure Maddie–."Chim started to speak.
"We don't care, Chim. You love her and stick up for her no matter the evidence. We're not going to change our minds," Eddie interrupted. He was tired of all the excuses. He looked down at his watch. "I need to go and pick up Adriana. I'll drop you off at home first, Evan."
"You're sister, right?" Athena asked.
"Yes, we'll arrange a little get-together. Depending on her decision, she might be moving here permanently." Eddie looked forward to having her around. It was their parents that caused all the problems.
"We look forward to it," Athena moved and hugged Eddie and Evan. She couldn't believe all the crap they had and were going through. "I'm going back to work with what happened today. I'm going to see if I can get a restraining order against your sister." She whispered.
Evan pulled back and nodded. The two men left. Alistair covered the stairs after they did so no one could follow straight away.
"Thank you for accepting my transfer."
"Eddie speaks highly of you. He thinks you'll fit in well with us," Alistair answered. He wasn't going to go into details. But watching Hen, he did think she would fit in.
"You're leaving me?" Chim whined.
"I'm doing what's best for me. All you care about is her." She nodded at Maddie. "Captain Monroe, it's my turn to make sure the ambulance is stocked."
"Very well, Hen, and it's still Alex, but thank you," Alex smiled. Evan had been the one who believed in her. She'd always be thankful. If Nash and Chim came back, she would probably transfer. Hen showed her that nothing would change if those two men returned, and Alex wasn't prepared to accept those attitudes anymore.
"I will see you tomorrow Captain Nash, and we'll be in touch with you, firefighter Han. The both of you can leave, and Ms Buckley can go with you," Alonzo told them, turned and left. Captain Webster was right behind him.
"None of us wants to hear it," Alex spoke up before either man or Maddie could start on the evils of Evan Buckley.
Athena grinned at her; she needed to see if she could set the restraining order against Maddie.
XXXXX
Phillip Buckley slammed his cell onto the bedside table.
"What is it?" Margaret asked.
"Our parents found out about what we did to Evan and the restraining order.")
She sighed and turned to her husband. "What did they say?"
"Well, we broke that 'contract', so we owe all the money we got for them taking Evan."
"They can't do that. We deserve that money. Evan failed, and Daniel didn't survive."
"They can. It was a legal document. They also have evidence of business deals that weren't exactly legal. It's not the only thing…."
"What else?"
Phillip side and opened his mouth to tell her the rest
XXXXX
Sam pressed a button and smiled as he did so. The main monitors changed, and the back of Taylor Kelly's head could be seen. The man in front of her was former firefighter Evan Buckley.
"Turn it off," Taylor screeched.
He may only be a cameraman, but Sam Evermore was a decent person. Well, he'd like to think he was. His single mother had taught him manners, to not judge or use someone. You never knew their circumstances. He wanted to do well at his job, but not by stepping on other people. His showing everyone this could get him fired. The way Taylor treated the people she worked with was horrible. But what she did to Evan Buckley was disgusting. Just because of revenge because he turned her down.
"What's going on?" Trevor Street asked.
Sam turned to his boss. "I was testing the microphone we were using. I didn't mean to put on the main monitors. I'm sorry. I'll accept any punishment for my mistake." As the monitor continued to show Taylor talking about her co-workers.
"Don't worry about it, Sam. You're new. We all make mistakes." Trevor smirked as he walked away. "Ms Kelly, my office now."
XXXXX
Evan and Chris were cuddled on the couch as the door opened.
"Auntie Rana," Christopher screamed as he got to his feet, made his way over and hugged her.
"Evan, my sister Adriana," Eddie bent down and kissed his boyfriend. "Christopher, go and do your homework. Let your aunt rest."
"Bucky," He whined.
"Homework, like your dad said."
Christopher huffed and slowly made his way to his room.
Evan and Eddie just grinned at each other.
"Why were mom and dad arrested? Sophia said they shouted it was Evan Buckley's fault." Adriana wanted to know what her parents had done to cause this.
"I seemed to get that a lot lately." He chuckled.
"They were working with Ana to kidnap Christopher," Eddie answered
"Wait, what?"
"At least your lawyers know, and Ana has been arrested," Evan added.
"How could they… Why," She asked and looked over at her brother.
"Evan has a theory."
"Which is?"
"Control, I think your parents believe if they keep him helpless, he will always need them. I'm not sure if it's conscious or…."
"Oh, they're well aware. I overheard them say things that never made sense until you said that. It wasn't something that even occurred to me." She sighed.
"No one wants to think their parents could do something like that." Evan paused. "Except mine."
"Why yours?"
"Adriana–."
"It's okay, Eddie. My parents were abusive. I was eventually raised by my maternal grandparents. Eddie, go help, Christopher. Adriana and I need to talk about my business and see if we're on the same page. Just to get started, we can talk more about our respective parents later."
"Sounds good. How about food?"
"We'll send your brother to get a takeaway."
"He's a perfect delivery boy." She laughed as Eddie rolled his eyes.
XXXXX
Maddie shut her apartment door. She couldn't believe that Evan had a restraining order against their parents and now her. How could he do that to her? She was his sister and was just being honest.
Just then, her cell rang.
"Yes, this is Maddie Buckley."
Chim walked into the apartment and was just in time to grab his girlfriend before she collapsed.
"Maddie, what happened? What did Buck do?" He wasn't going to call him Evan if he could help it. Why should he?
"My parents..."
"Are they okay?"
"They paid Doug to date and marry me. They knew about the abuse and told him to keep it quiet and not embarrass them."
Chim held Maddie as she sobbed in his arms.
TBC
