The first thing Eddie did when he woke was to go check on Buck. When he reached the living room, and saw the empty couch where Buck had been only hours earlier, he cursed at himself; How could he have been so stupid? Cap would have a field day reprimanding him over this; How could he have been so careless? But he had been exhausted, and he really had thought everything had been safe with leaving Buck to sleep alone, after all he had only been down the hall. He didn't even hesitate and think before grabbing his phone, still in the pocket of his pants, his heart broke a little ekstra when he saw the messages from the team wishing them a good rest, but he quickly clicked them away and found the number for Athena before hitting call.
"Hey there Eddie; How's it going with you and the sleeping beauty? What have you calling at this early hour?" Athena asked worried from the other end of the line, probably noticing the time Eddie thought to himself.
"Athena! He was asleep… I thought it was safe… I… I was just down the hall… I really thought it was safe" Eddie was rambling and panicking at the same time, while trying to explain to Athena what had happened. Why was he like this? Normally he was all calm and collected, always keeping his cool in times of crisis, so why was he so rattled out over Buck being missing again that he couldn't even think to come up with a plan?
"Whoa slow down cowboy! What exactly happened? Try and breathe in deeply and then tell me, from the top, what happened and where is Buck?" Athena replied, already going into cop mode, being all calm and collected. God why couldn't he do that, Eddie thought to himself, while taking in a deep breathe like Athena had ordered.
"Last night after we all left the station, I drove Buck and I home to my place, figuring we had had enough excitement for one day. Buck was looking dead on his feet and I had to support into the door and over to the sofa" Eddie began.
"Right where he fell asleep, rather quickly giving the time of the picture you sent" Athena stated trying to move the story along.
"Right, he fell asleep, and I thought that meant it was safe for me to get some rest too" Eddie continued.
"But it wasn't?" Athena guessed, but still needing to hear it from Eddie to believe it; "Eddie sweetheart what happened?" she was feeling anxious, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
"Athena, He's gone! I woke up and went to the livingroom first thing to check on him, but he's not here" Eddie finally managed to explain, taking in another deep breath, this time a little more shaky. His body was trembling from the panic and he still found it difficult to focus on a plan that would solve this situation. He waited for Athena to answer, and it felt like forever before she finally did;
"Okay Eddie. Have you checked the entire house. We're coming over. Kids are with Michael until tomorrow, figuring we might need to head out in a hurry I asked him to take them for a few days yesterday" Athena stated, and Eddie could have cursed again; Why hadn't he thought of checking through the house before calling Athena?
"Well guess I just kind of panic, didn't even occur to check the rest of the house" Eddie answered a little embarrassed, mentally kicking himself for not thinking of that.
"That's alright sweety. You go check the rest of the rooms" Athena said, more motherly than cop mode now, holding a short break before continuing; "Bobby and I are still coming over. You text if you find him. Everything is gonna be okay" she stated before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone. Eddie looked at the phone embarrassed for a few seconds before starting to go through the house searching for Buck.
He looked at the door to Chris' room before continuing without opening it, surely Buck wouldn't have gone in there, but he had already checked every other room in the house twice. He turned around to face the door again, one hand on the handle debating whether to open and check or not, when someone was knocking at the front door. He let go of the handle to Chris door to go answer the front. He opened the door to a sight he hadn't expected. Out front stood Hen, Karen, Denny and Chris; Karen and Hen looked apologeticly at him, while Chris was smiling from ear to ear. He stepped aside to let them all in, looking at Hen and Karen a little confused. He was about to shut the door behind the group that had now moved inside, when he noticed Bobby and Athena pulling up; He sent Athena a nervous smile when their eyes met, and decided to leave the door on a creek for Athena and Bobby to just come in. He turned to face Hen and Karen, Denny and Chris already making their way towards Chris room.
"What's going on?" he asked confused, trying to hide his worry over Buck still being missing but not succeeding at all.
"Sorry, we would have texted you before coming. We tried to distract him as long as possible, but couldn't drag it any further" Karen explained.
"What's going on?" Hen asked, sensing Eddie's worry; Just then Bobby and Athena walked in, not wasting any time for pleasantries apparently, which Eddie kind of appreciated at the moment.
"You checked the entire house?" Athena asked, having moved back into cop mode after still not having received a text from Eddie. Bobby was standing behind Athena, giving a sad nod of recognition to Hen and Karen, who started to get worried over Athena's seriousness.
"Checked all the rooms twice, still no Buck" Eddie answered, hearing both Hen and Karen gasp behind him realising the seriousness of the situation. Bobby didn't say anything, but they could all see how worried he was, and how he was blaming himself.
"Okay, first things first, we need to call the police, get his description out there for them to keep an eye out for" Athena said, already pulling her phone out, about to dial, when the five grown ups is interrupted by the Denny running to them, the clicking of Chris crutches a little further behind but also moving towards them.
"Is Buck still having nightmares?" Denny asks while first looking at his mothers, before turning to look at Eddie, Bobby and Athena while smiling. They all look at him and Chris, who has now made it out to them, with sadness, their innocence is adorable and no one wants to be the ones breaking these boys hearts, but deciding someone has to Bobby tries;
"Yes buddy, he has. But we're gonna try and help him" he says.
"Can we wake him?" Chris asks, now standing next to his dad. Eddie scoops up his son and hugs him tightly.
"I don't think so buddy" Eddie answers; "I don't think any of us can wake him up right now", the sadness in Eddie's voice is evident.
"Okay; Then we will go out and play" Denny states, starting to take on his jacket and shoes that he had tossed when they got here.
"Can I go give Buck a hug first?" Chris asks his dad, who is still holding him and now gives him an even bigger hug than before.
"Wish you could bud; Wish you could" Eddie says while hugging his son tight.
"Maybe when he wakes up we can give him a hug?" Denny suggests, and all the grown ups just look at the boys and their innocence and big hearts makes it hard not to cry.
"Maybe we should go get some ice cream with the boys?" Karen suggests, gesturing for her and Hen; "Let you sort things out here, and then you can call us or text when you hear something" she states.
"But I wanna be here when Buck wakes up" Chris objects, knowing that complaining doesn't actually help, but he really wanna be there for his Buck and help, just like Buck did for him doing the tsunami.
"I know baby; But right now your dad and Bobby and Athena need to find Buck and help him, and while they do that we'll go have some ice cream and maybe make a really nice drawing or a card for Buck. Doesn't that sound nice?" Hen asks, getting Chris from Eddie and starting to move towards the door.
"Okay" Chris says, defeated but back to being happy and bubbly again, grinning while asking: "Can I have a biiig ice cream with sprinkles?"
"Of course baby" Hen laughs, this kid is simply amazing. Karen and Denny already said goodbye and are moving towards the car, Karen carrying Chris jacket and shoes since Hen is carrying Chris; Hen turns around with Chris in her arms: "You call the minute you here from anything" she puts pressure on the last word.
"Tell Buck he can keep the teddy if it helps him be okay" Chris grins at his dad, Bobby and Athena when Hen carries him out the door. No one says anything, they just smile, unsure of what Chris is talking about.