Chapter 5

Eddie walked into the park, Christopher at his side.

Eddie unfolded the blanket and spread it out on the grass. Christopher sat down on it and took his book out. "If I have to read this boring b-book, I might as well do it in the nice sunshine."

Eddie laughed. "Not all books you read for school are going to be fun books. The faster you can read it, the faster you can be done with it."

"It's still boring. " Chris pouted as he opened it to the page he was currently on.

"I know, Buddy, but sometimes, we need to do things that we don't want to do."

Eddie watched Chris as he silently began to read. When Chris seemed to be fine, he closed his eyes as he laid down on the blanket. "I'm here if you need help."

"I know, Dad."

A few minutes later, a voice interrupted their quiet time. "Hey, look, it's the Diaz boys!"

Eddie's eyes opened, and he turned his head to the right, seeing a grinning Chimney approaching them.

"Uncle Chim," Christopher greeted.

"Hey, Kiddo," Chimney ruffled Christopher's hair. "Are you feeling left out? Do I need to ruffle your hair too, Eddie?"

"Please don't," Eddie replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm meeting Maddie's brother finally."

"You've been dating her for almost six months. I can't believe you haven't met her family yet. Is she ashamed of you?" Eddie joked.

"Ha ha ha. You're hilarious, Diaz. Her bother is just always busy with work. Maddie's always complaining that they barely see each other. Even when they have plans to see each other, more times than not, he ends up canceling because he gets a call for work. This is our third time trying to meet. And we're just hoping that it happens."

Eddie scrunched up his nose and Christopher went back to reading, no longer interested in the boring adult conversation. "That's odd. Is he a first responder or something?"

"No, he's a doctor. Not sure what kind. Maybe he works at a hospital. They can be on call even if they're technically off. Similar to first responders."

Eddie nodded. "Well, I hope you guys finally get to meet. It will give her brother a chance to do the shovel talk."

"The what?" Chimney asked.

"The shovel talk. You know. 'If you hurt my sister, they'll never find your body.' It's the brother's job to do it. I did it every time my sisters started dating a new guy when I lived in Texas."

"Great. Something more to worry me. But Maddie likes me. I treat her well. That should be the only thing her brother cares about, right?"

"Maybe, but he'll still need to give you the shovel talk. It's a tradition for all brothers of the universe. So be prepared."

"He'll like me. He has to like me."

Eddie grinned. Maybe it was mean, but it was fun to watch Chimney sweat a bit.

His grin dropped at the sight of a familiar man. A man walking next to Maddie, a woman that he had known for the last six months, and he could admit to himself that he saw some familiarity in their features. "What are the chances of that?" he asked himself.

"What are you muttering to yourself about?"

"Buck!" Christopher screeched happily, almost throwing his book to the ground as he quickly stood up, grabbing Eddie for support so he didn't fall over in his haste. While Eddie gave Christopher his crutches, Chimney turned around.

Buck smiled, although he looked a bit uncertain. "Hey, Eddie, Chimney." His voice warmed significantly when he caught Christopher in his arms, returning a very eager hug. "Hi, Superman. How's my favorite nine-year-old?"

Christopher's smile was so big that his face was probably hurting. "I bet you say that to all of the nine-year-olds you know," he sassed

"Maybe," Buck conceded, "But I still love ya."

They continued to hug while the girl looked a little confused. "Evan, how do you know Eddie, Christopher, and Howard?"

Buck blinked as he looked at Maddie. "How do I know them? How do you know them?"

"Well, Howard is my boyfriend that I wanted you to meet. And if you know them, then you know how I know Eddie and Christopher."

Chimney's mouth was wide open.

Eddie smirked as he warned, "You'll catch flies."

Chimney's mouth snapped shut. "Maddie, Buck is your brother."

"Well, yes. Buck, why didn't you tell me you knew Howard?"

"I never knew his first name. He was introduced to me as Chimney," Buck defended himself. He shot a look at Chimney. "Why didn't you know who I was?"

"Well, uh, um, Maddie still goes by her married name."

Buck frowned. "Yeah, Mads, you really have to change that. His name deserves to die with him."

Chimney rushed on, "And there are a lot of Evans. What are the chances of Maddie's Evan being Eddie's Evan?"

Now it was Eddie's turn to look gobsmacked.

"Eddie's Evan?" Maddie asked. "Something you want to tell me, Evan?"

Buck blushed. "No, of course not, there's nothing to tell. Right, Eddie? Nothing to tell."

"Um, right." Eddie cleared his throat. "Buck just happens to be Christopher's doctor. That's how we met. And he met Chim when we happened to run into him at a restaurant."

"This is a coincidence," Maddie huffed.

"Yeah." Chim's shoulders relaxed. "I was so worried about meeting Maddie's brother. And now I don't have to worry."

Buck stared at him. "Who says you don't have to worry?" he asked tonelessly.

"Um, uh…"

"Let's have a little chat," Buck said. He carefully pulled back from Christopher's hug, grabbed Chimney's arm, and dragged him away.

Maddie shook his head. "If Evan scares Howard away, I'll never forgive him."

"Maddie, relax. Like I told Chim, it's a brother's job. I had to do the talk every time my sisters began dating someone new. Some of the guys did get scared away, but that just meant they're worthy of the Diaz girls. The guys that stuck around after I gave my speech were worthy of my sisters. Chim's a strong guy. He'll be fine."

Maddie shook her head. "Evan is even more protective now. Especially after everything that happened with Doug."

"Do you blame him?"

"No. If I had just listened to Evan when we were kids, things might have been different."

"You can't live in the past, Maddie. You can only look to the present and future."

Maddie nodded and turned her attention back to Christopher, who was watching Buck and Chimney with way too much attention. "Hey, Christopher, so my brother is your doctor. Does he take good care of you?"

"Buck is the best," Christopher said. "He even came to my house when I had the world's worst tummy ache. He couldn't give me medicine to make the pain go away, but I know he wished he could."

Maddie smiled. "He is the best," she agreed. "I used to be a nurse, so I like to think he decided to follow in my footsteps."

"I did follow in your footsteps, but for different reasons as you know," Buck said, coming back with Chimney.

Maddie faced her brother and boyfriend. "I know." Her eyes softened when she thought about whatever shared memory they had. "So, how did the talk go? Do I still have a boyfriend?"

"Chimney doesn't look scared for his life," Eddie mused. "I think you might still have a boyfriend."

Chimney scratched the back of his head. "I know brothers are supposed to give scary speeches, but Buck doesn't have it in him to be too scary. He kind of reminds me of a golden retriever. He tried threatening me, but then he started laughing. Kind of ruined the effect."

Buck shrugged. "I can't help it. And besides, if you did something, Maddie would kick your ass before I even got the chance to. I've been teaching her."

Maddie grinned. "Oh, he knows. I've told him all about our sparring sessions. He knows he better watch his step."

Eddie noticed all this time that Buck barely looked at him, and he felt bad. He knew they almost kissed, and maybe It was wrong, and maybe Buck wasn't interested, but he didn't want things to be awkward between them. Especially if Chimney was dating Buck's sister, he was sure they'd see a lot more of each other.

"Hey, Buck, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

Buck took a step back. "Actually, I have to go."

Maddie grabbed his arm. "What do you mean? You were supposed to spend the whole afternoon with me and Howard unless you got a call, which you didn't. And just because you already met Howard, it doesn't mean you get to escape quality time with me."

"Well…"

"No well," Maddie sternly said.

"Fine," Buck muttered.

"Buck, come sit next to me," Christopher demanded.

"Christopher, that's rude," Eddie admonished. His kid knew better.

"Fine, please come sit next to me," he amended.

"Not much better," Eddie wryly stated.

Buck smiled, his eyes lighting up as he gazed down at Christopher. "It's fine. In fact, I can't think of anything I'd rather do more." He followed Christopher to the blanket and sat down, helping Christopher to sit down.

Christopher picked up his book and leaned against Buck, buried into his side as he began reading the loathed book.

The others watched with smiles on their faces and moved a little away to a group of benches in order to not disturb the duo.

Maddie and Chimney sat next to each other on one bench while Eddie sat by himself on a second bench.

"So, Eddie," Maddie began.

Warning bells went off in his head at her tone. "Yes?" he carefully asked.

"What's going on with you and my brother?"

Chimney grinned. "Busted."

"N-nothing. He's Christopher's doctor. At the most we're friends."

"But you want more," she stated knowingly.

Eddie thought about denying it. It really wasn't anyone's business but his, Buck's, and Christopher's. But what was the point? Maddie knew and nothing he said was going to convince her she was wrong.

"Maybe. I think we almost kissed after I drove him home from the bar. But before it actually happened, he ran as if hellhounds were on his ass. Obviously, he's not interested."

"Pfft," Maddie snorted. "I know my brother. He's interested."

"You've only been around the two of us together for the last 10 minutes. And in that time, he has avoided eye contact and was ready to flee when I asked to speak to him alone."

"That's how I know. He's a natural flirt. Flirts with anyone. He can't help himself. But when he's trying so hard to not look at you, to remain professional, it means he's interested. Totally backward, I know, but that's Evan."

Eddie looked over at where Buck and Christopher sat. "One of the reasons I like him is because of how good he is with Christopher. I know he's Chris' doctor and part of the reason is that it's his job, but anyone that connects that well with my kid, I can't help looking."

"When Evan decided to be a doctor, I was surprised. Not because I didn't think he couldn't do it. He didn't get the best grades in high school, but it wasn't because he wasn't smart. He was bored, and there were some extenuating circumstances that I'm not going into because it's Evan's choice who knows."

Eddie nodded, not pushing about what those extenuating circumstances were.

"So, why were you surprised by him going into the medical field?" Chimney asked with interest.

"He was always an adrenaline junkie as a kid and teenager. He was most happy when he was taking stupid risks. When we were kids, I would have guessed he'd end up being a firefighter or something else equally dangerous. Getting paid for life-threatening stunts seemed right up his alley."

"So, what made him decide to be a doctor?"

"Besides the fact all he ever wanted was to help people, it's a part of those extenuating circumstances that I won't go into."

Eddie nodded. "So what do I do? You say he's interested, but he's acting like he's not."

"Evan has always prided himself when comes to remaining professional with the parents of his patients. He's never gotten involved with any of the parents, either as friends or as more. And Karen has tried to be friends, but Evan has always shut it down. It's his rule. He wants to keep his personal life separate from his professional life.

"I guess I can understand that. Personal ties could make the professional ties cloudy."

"Yeah, but it also makes it so Evan is lonely. He spends so much time working, especially since he's determined to keep doing the house calls, that he doesn't have any friends and his attempts for dating are pathetic. Who uses Grindr for dates? Grindr is for guys that want to meet up for sex, not romance."

"So, he doesn't want to mix his two lives together. How do I get him to change his mind?"

"Be patient. Push a little bit. If he gets angry and lashes out, don't walk away. He's used to people walking away. Be the one that stays. Make him see that you won't abandon him when things get rough. Unless he's not worth a little work. If he's not worth the work to you, then just be the parent of one of his patients."

Eddie stared at the ground as he thought about it. Buck seemed to have issues from what Maddie was hinting at. Was a relationship that might not even last worth the work? He hadn't had feelings for anyone since Shannon, and Buck seemed great, but was Buck the right person to have feelings for? Especially with Eddie's own issues.

Christopher's loud laugh broke through Eddie's troubled thoughts. He looked over at the pair and smiled at the sight of Buck tickling Christopher's stomach.

Christopher looked so happy, and it had been a while since he seemed such carefreeness on Christopher's face.

Eddie nodded to himself. Yeah, it was worth it. Anyone that could make Christopher so happy was worth it.