Word Count: 1,224
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with 911, Fox, or anything else related to that particular universe.

Eddie didn't know what time he and Buck had been able to lift themselves off the bed to shower and dress in loose sweats and t-shirts. By the time they crept outside to sleep on the air mattress, the fire had died down and Chris was still fast asleep when Eddie peered into his tent. Still sore, and tired, and coming down from his high, he'd been more than satisfied to cuddle together, Buck's arms secure around Eddie's waist and his face nuzzled against Eddie's shoulder.

"Te amo," he whispered, hearing Buck's sleepy hum against him.

"Love you too."

There hadn't been enough hours of sleeping before he felt the air mattress shift, a fuzzy awareness that led him to opening his arms to a smaller body snuggling into his embrace before he drifted again.

He woke to it being too bright, the sound of cars and birds too loud, and was disoriented enough to flail his hands. The bed shifted too much beneath him and there was a sharp moment of lacking any sort of clarity, of reaching for the gun strapped to his hip because he couldn't remember who was meant to have been on last watch and-

"Dad?"

A hand brushed against the back of his shoulder and he recoiled, dazed eyes staring at a familiar blue over his shoulder that he couldn't place. His heart was racing in his chest, his breathing too short to be useful at reducing the dizziness that swam through his head.

"Eddie."

A calm voice, one he knew within the reaches of his soul called to him. He rubbed his eyes, fighting to shake away tendrils of sleep and fragments of memories that sometimes tangled together when he wasn't watching.

"Count backwards from ten, Eds. Focus on me and count backwards from ten."

So he did, and somewhere around four everything returned into focus. He felt the shame bubble and burn in his stomach as everything began to make more sense again and he looked between Buck's steady expression and Chris' wide-eyed panic at the way he'd woken up.

"C'mere," Buck murmured, and even though Eddie wanted to fight and say he didn't deserve it, he folded into Buck's embrace and draped a loose arm around Chris' waist, fingers tracing patterns against his son's back as he gazed into those beautiful hazel eyes that he knew better than his own. "Just breathe, baby. We're here."

He kissed Chris' forehead and somewhere between watching his kid and being held by Buck, everything started to slow again, the fractured awareness began to heal. "I'm sorry," he whispered, tugging at some of Chris' curls while Buck kissed the Mark on the back of his shoulder. The kiss was probably more comforting than anything else he could've done, sending a gentle wave of heat across his skin. "I- I'm not sure I've camped since- since I got back."

Behind him, Buck made a soft noise of realisation but Chris' brow crinkled. "You used to go camping in Afghanistan?"

A small, sad smile tugged at his mouth as he traced fingertips over the different curves of Chris' face. "Not like this, buddy. Getting sandwiched between my two favourite people is a much better way to wake up."

He wasn't entirely sure if Chris understood what he was saying but the way his face broke into a bright smile was better than the worry and confusion. Chris wiggled closer, a happy hum against Eddie's chest that helped chase away the remaining demons. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, kid," he said, squeezing Chris against him and pressing noisy kisses to his hair. When he started tickling Chris' ribs and he exploded into squirming giggles, Eddie felt like some of the weight in his shoulders was starting to lessen.

"How are we feeling about breakfast?" Buck asked while Chris was trying to catch his breath, the grin on his face mirrored by Eddie because it had been so long since he'd felt like this. He might have woken up shaky but the sense of calm had smoothed over him again until he felt back in control.

"Breakfast?" Chris said hopefully, eyes flashing over Eddie's shoulder to where Buck was pressed against him and undoubtedly peering past to meet Chris' eyes.

"Let's go. You can be in charge of washing the fruit and your dad can cut it while I make the pancakes."

"Pancakes?!" Chris abruptly crawled free of Eddie's arms and out of the tent, making excited chittering noises as he sought his crutches and glasses from his tent.

"Now you've done it," Eddie teased, rolling into his back and looking at Buck. "That kid will eat his body weight in pancakes."

Buck smiled but he cradled Eddie's cheek anyway, flickers of concern evident in his eyes. "Seriously though, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." He tilted into Buck's hand and kissed his palm before returning his gaze to the sparkling blue. "I'm- I'm sorry you had to see that. I think the- the explosion and gunfire yesterday rattled some pieces loose and waking up outside was… I didn't realise I'd end up…there again. "

Buck shook his head and smoothed his thumb over Eddie's cheekbone. "Don't be sorry. I understand fight or flight. I know why you encouraged me to start talking. Just...let me know if you aren't okay today? Please?"

"I will," he promised, tugging at Buck for a chaste kiss. "I love you too, by the way."

Buck bumped their noses together, the smile in his kiss obvious. "I-"

"Buck, are we getting pancakes?!"

They both snorted, fighting the various blankets and the wobble of the air mattress to climb out of the tent. Chris was standing by the back door, balancing on his crutches with an expression of exasperation that Eddie was fairly certain his son had learned from Abuela.

Once they'd all washed hands, Buck put them to work with Chris washing strawberries and blueberries and Eddie dicing them for a topping alongside bananas to mix in with the batter. Eddie watched, probably a little too closely, as Buck encouraged Chris to take different plastic bottles of syrups to the table one at a time and anything that was glass Buck carried over. Eddie laid the table and he realised they were able to just move around each other without thinking, without needing to ask. Everything felt so calm, and relaxed, and easy.

Buck's arms wound around him as he watched Chris at the table, munching on his first pancake, and smiled at the kiss to the back of his neck.

"I didn't get to say I love you too earlier, but I do," Buck whispered and Eddie brushed his hand against Buck's on his belly, squeezing gently before Buck let go to check the next pancake wasn't burning.

So what if he'd turned into a sickening sap for the domesticity? He hadn't felt this happy, this content, in so long that it almost felt unfamiliar to him.

He hadn't expected to gain all this from simply attending a drawing class at Carla's suggestion because of Athena's insistence that he hadn't dealt with his grief and anger. Yet, watching Buck move calmly and easily around his kitchen, Eddie was certainly and overwhelmingly glad that he had now.

There was absolutely nowhere else that he'd rather be.

~FIN~

Author's Note: While I'm saying this is finished, the Marks universe is one I've worked on numerous times and this is just the first time I've gotten something finished. There are threads unresolved, elements left hanging, and so a follow-up, or a series of little things, may well appear at some point in the future. I make no promises, but stay tuned nonetheless :)