Word Count: 2,451
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with 911, Fox, or anything else related to that particular universe.

The return to the bar on Buck's bike was as exhilarating as it had been the night before and his truck felt incredibly tame and boring by comparison when Eddie sat in it. His hands curled around the steering wheel, heart still thumping as he gazed at Buck through the windscreen. He hadn't had a chance to really admire the long, lean lines of Buck's form straddling the bike but it was a good view and Buck clearly knew it given the way he raised his visor and winked at Eddie before jerking his head towards the road.

Right.

Picking up Chris.

Who was probably going to squeal excitedly at seeing the bike and then pout tremendously that he wasn't allowed to ride it with Buck.

He'd have to remember to draw up some boundaries with Buck later which were exceedingly hypocritical that his son was never allowed near the thing.

He flipped the ignition and led the way to Abuela's house, driving carefully so that Buck didn't have to speed through an amber light or stop suddenly and ram into the back of his truck. Occasionally Buck pulled alongside him at traffic lights, waving a gloved hand that Eddie rolled his eyes at before waving back. Other drivers on the road must've thought they were nuts. Maybe they were. But when he'd start driving again, he couldn't help the small smile that lifted his lips until the next red light.

Eddie slowed to a stop outside Abuela's house, eyeing the empty front porch. Images flickered across his memory, like a grainy black-and-white clip, of his slow-motion walk to the porch before collapsing to his knees to sob into Abuela's arms after he'd left a sedated Chris at the hospital. He'd only left because Athena had ordered it, because Walker had dragged him away, because Chris was asleep and the doctor had insisted Eddie get some rest too. Eddie had tried to stay at the hospital but they'd-

He startled at the knocking against the glass and the flashes scattered away. He wiped at an errant tear on his cheek as he turned off the ignition and opened his door.

"What happened?" Buck said, reaching for his hand even as Eddie shook his head and shoved his fingers in his pockets.

"I'm fine," he muttered, swallowing whatever emotions had brimmed to the surface at the thought of the last time he'd turned up to Abuela's with a changed Mark. He squared his shoulders and avoided meeting Buck's eyes, too afraid the tenuous control of his emotions would start to fray or snap if Buck showed too much compassion. Falling apart earlier had been awful enough and all those emotions weren't something he wanted to revisit right now. Not when his son was so close. He always had to be in control for Chris. He was the only parent his son had left.

"Eddie-"

"Are you coming?" he deflected, stepping onto the path without waiting for Buck. It was rude, he knew that, and his mother and Abuela would probably scold him for it, but he needed to trap all the feelings he had for Shannon back in a box where they couldn't hurt him.

Buck's footsteps clicked behind him as Eddie ascended the handful of steps and rapped against the door, twisting the handle open. Buck clearly wavered at the thought of entering the house, so Eddie brushed a quick kiss to his cheek and then stepped inside.

"Abuela, soy yo. ¿Dónde estás?"

"Cocina," she called back and he could smell the sweet, buttery freshness of cookies and hear Chris' laughter. He followed the smells and sounds, some of the emotional turmoil evening out when he laid eyes on Chris standing near the oven with his face and shoulders dusted in flour.

"Dad!"

He moved towards Chris, lifting his son into his arms and nuzzling against the floured cheeks. He pressed a kiss to his forehead and cheeks, cradling his body into his chest. "Hello, my little warrior."

"Hi," Chris hummed with a smile, a hand tangling into his shirt.

Eddie approached Abuela and dropped a series of kisses to her cheeks and then wrapped his spare arm around her shoulders for a loose hug. "Thank you for keeping him overnight, Abuela."

She patted his cheeks when he pulled away, staring into his eyes with a knowledge and wisdom that reflected her years. "Yesterday was difficult, nieto. You know it is no problem."

"Yesterday… Yeah… " He nodded absently, squeezing her and giving Chris another kiss. "I, uh… I have someone I'd like you both to meet."

Chris' eyebrows rose and Abuela's eyes glinted. Eddie was still figuring out the little connections that had begun to form between him and Buck but he remembered from his days with Shannon that he would start to sense emotions or could encourage certain responses if he tried hard enough. So he attempted some sort of mental willing thing with his attention focused on the Mark and he heard a stuttered sigh near the door and then some shuffling footsteps in the corridor.

"Chris, you- D'you remember Buck?" he said as Buck appeared in the doorway, rocking from the balls of his feet to the heels and looking incredibly small for someone taller and broader than Eddie.

"Yeah! He was at Athena's party!" Chris said with an exuberant nod. "Why's he here?"

Eddie glanced between Buck, Chris and Abuela. Her eyes had shifted into something shrewd, a grin at her lips, that made Eddie immediately uncomfortable.

"Well, he's…" Eddie bit his lip, wondering why this was so difficult. Maybe if he'd had more time to rehearse what to say or maybe if he knew how they'd react to the way Buck was about to become incredibly enmeshed in their lives. "He thought he might hang out with us this afternoon," he said and his reasoning was lame but Buck still looked amused by it.

Chris' eyes flick between Eddie and Buck, something creasing his forehead and making his lips purse. "Okay…" Chris agreed, though he sounded dubious or doubtful about something.

"So Buck," Abuela began as she stepped towards Buck with an outstretched hand. "Is that a first name or a last name?"

Buck laughed, shaking her hand even as he rubbed the back of his neck shyly with the other. "Neither, Ma'am. It's a…a nickname for my last name, I guess. Buckley."

Abuela leaned up to kiss each of his cheeks and Eddie pressed his lips together to hide the smile at how Buck's cheeks pinked at the affection. "So we shouldn't call you Buck Buckley?"

Buck's lips twitched as Abuela released his hand and patted his chest. "It wouldn't be the first time I've heard that but uh- No, my first name is Evan so you can use that or Buck. Buck's… I use Buck most of the time."

Evan?

It hit Eddie rather abruptly that he probably should have considered learning Buck's first name before introducing him to his grandmother and to his son a second time. It had barely been two hours since they'd been all over each other in the shower and he could've smacked himself in the head if Chris wouldn't have worried that he wasn't okay.

Buck met his eyes, something reassuring in the half-smile that slightly reduced the urge to maim himself.

"It's lovely to meet you, Evan." Abuela patted his chest again before returning to the biscuits she had been sorting into containers. "I hope you three have fun today."

Eddie wasn't sure if his cheeks flushed noticeably but Buck's darting eyes certainly made him aware that their thoughts had both gone to the same place, which was a decidedly different idea for the word 'fun' that Abuela was referring to..

"Maybe the park for a little while?" Eddie suggested, stroking his fingers through some of Chris' curls as he looked over at Buck. "Then home to watch a movie?"

Chris nodded, nuzzling into Eddie's shoulder like he'd never let go. "Is Buck gonna stay with us?"

Abuela didn't quite hide her snort from Eddie's ears but Chris didn't seem to notice.

"I have work tonight so I can't stay too late," Buck explained and though Eddie would've gladly kept Buck held against him until the early hours of the morning again, he managed to swallow whatever disappointment he might've felt.

Abuela's look as she shoved a container of cookies into his hands indicated that she'd caught it anyway.

"Thank you for today," Buck said as he lingered on the front deck, the blue of the sky and white of the streaky clouds fading into apricots and soft pinks and purples with the setting sun. "Even if it was terrifying to meet your kid more…formally."

Eddie tugged Buck towards him, unwilling to let him go when it was still so early in their relationship. The Marks made it harder too, like Fate was trying to swirl strings around them to keep them together even though Buck had to pull away to get to his shift at the bar.

"Chris isn't scary."

"No, but…what if he hadn't liked me? What then?"

Eddie pressed his lips to Buck's, feeling the way Buck's hesitation gradually melted until it dissolved completely when Eddie cradled Buck's jaw to drag a thumb around the shell and behind the ridge of his ear. "Doesn't matter because he does like you, as do I."

"How am I meant to go to work now?" Buck pouted and Eddie grinned, kissing him again briefly.

"You'll just have to come back after."

Buck's eyes widened but he nodded, tilting his head into Eddie's hand so he could brush a kiss to the inside of Eddie's wrist. "You should text me."

Eddie's eyebrow arched, feeling slightly chilled when Buck pulled away from him and stepped backwards to descend the stairs towards his bike. "Maybe you should give me your number first."

It was Buck's turn to grin. "Who says you don't already have it?"

Eddie felt stupefied and thought all he did was blink for the remainder of Buck's return to his bike. He only returned Buck's departing wave out of habit. Once the roar of Buck's bike had faded down the street, he went searching for his phone and found it tucked behind a cushion on the couch.

"Dad?"

He scrolled the contacts, finding nothing under 'Buck' or 'Buckley' or 'Evan' or, on a random hunch, 'Art Guy'. Frowning, he started at the top and moved systematically down the list until he reached almost the very end and found one he definitely would've noticed if he'd looked before and definitely hadn't entered.

yelkcuB navE

"Dad?"

He bit down on the amused and slightly irritated grin to focus on his son. "Yeah?"

Chris shifted, little fingers wiggling together as he looked between the phone and Eddie. "Is Buck why you have the Mark on your shoulder?"

Well shit.

He opened and closed his mouth several times before he put the phone on the coffee table and held out his arms to Chris. Chris snuggled into his side, half sprawled in his lap, as Eddie rubbed a hand into his back.

"How would you feel if Buck is the reason?" he said carefully, watching Chris for any signs of discomfort or unhappiness.

Chris shrugged but his fingers still twisted like he was anxious about something. "He seems nice."

He covered Chris' hands with one of his, drawing wavering hazel eyes upwards. "You know you matter more to me than anyone else in the whole world, right?"

"I know," Chris said with a nod, letting Eddie prise apart his hands. "I just don't want you to lose him and end up sad again."

It felt like his son had just made him swallow a stone and he stared in disbelief at his kid. "Oh, sweetheart…" He decorated Chris' curls with kisses, leaving Chris' hands to cup his face and rubbing a thumb over the apple of his cheek. "Sometimes stuff happens that's beyond our control, like realising we love someone or someone loves us. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it means we're going to get hurt but we can't live in fear of that otherwise we'll be just as sad and unhappy because we're alone.

Chris gazed at him, his bottom lip wobbling slightly. "But... But I don't want you to be hurt…"

"I know, buddy, I know." He pressed a kiss to Chris' creased brow and ran his thumb down the bridge of his tiny nose. "And I don't want you to ever be hurt but that's the chance we take when Fate lures someone into our lives."

Chris sighed, his eyes still looking glittery while his fingers bunched around a button on Eddie's shirt. "Do… D'you like Buck?"

Eddie swallowed and ran fingers through Chris' hair, down the back of his neck before he linked hands around him in a loose, cradling embrace. "I… I do, yeah. How do you feel about that?"

"It's okay," Chris said and that was more of a relief than Eddie could have predicted. "I didn't mind watching a movie with him today. And he lifted me really high at the park!"

Eddie tucked Chris into his arms and slowly started to feel somewhat soothed that his son wasn't going to reject Buck, which would have made the fledgling relationship he was starting to develop difficult to maintain. It made him feel light-headed with hope and the warmth beneath his skin flare to life. "Would you…mind if I invited Buck over again?"

Chris pressed his lips together as he thought about it carefully, and Eddie had a feeling that the future colour of any of his Marks depended a whole lot on his son's approval of who gave them to him.

"Does he make you happy?"

Eddie wasn't sure if he could go that far. He knew being with Buck made him feel calmer, but he still didn't know much about Buck. He wanted to get to know Buck though. He wanted to keep Buck near him. Fate had tangled them together for a reason and he didn't want to lose that too quickly.

"I like being around him," he said, watching Chris and gauging his reaction to such a simplification of his complicated feelings.

"Then you can invite him over again," Chris agreed and Eddie felt some of the tension that had gathered behind his sternum start to loosen. Maybe it could be okay.

do i even want to ask when u put your number in my phone?

GPS directions 2 the bar

that was AGES ago

goes 2 show how often u look at ur contacts ;)

~TBC~