"Buckley, what can I do for you," Bobby noticed Buck standing shyly in the doorway to his office. He watched as Buck hesitated; like the previous day Buck looked exhausted but unlike yesterday he looked skittish and unsure. "Buck?" The younger man stepped into the doorway and for a moment Bobby could have sworn that Buck was going to be sick.
"Hey Cap, can we talk for a minute?"
"Come in," Bobby motioned to the chair across from him and Buck nervously took it. He didn't say anything at first, instead he took a white envelope out of his pocket and slid it across the desk. The last time Buck had given Bobby an envelope it was to let him know that he was being sued. Cautiously and curiously Bobby took the envelope and ripped it open. He was confused to say the least when he say the typed letter, on the bottom signed messily by Buck. "What is this?"
"My letter of resignation," Buck didn't make eye contact, he couldn't; this was clearly ripping his heart out. "I am resigning my position as an LAFD firefighter."
"Buck are you sure," Bobby asked baffled.
"It's for the best, I don't… I can't be here anymore."
"After you fought to come back?"
"I have made a mistake, I put the LAFD in the line of fire and have lost the trust of my coworkers which is the very foundation of this family."
"Buck," Bobby protested.
"This is my decision, and I apologize for the pain I brought to the department." He stood from his spot, "Thank you for the opportunity, for teaching me and guiding me, I am grateful, good luck."
"Buck," Bobby called out, but it was too late Buck had already bolted out of the office and to the garage floor. "Buck," He tried chasing after him, but Buck continued to the parking lot.
"What's going on Bobby?" Chimney, Hen, and Eddie took around him in confusion, truth be told he was too.
"Evan Buckley, if you ignore another one of my phones calls, I will kill you," that is if she could find him. So far since Chimney had called her to inform her that Buck had quit his job, she had texted him 22 timed, called him 11 and had left 5 angry messages. Now she sat in her apartment with Chimney who was freshly off shift and confused much like the rest of them as to why Buck had resigned and where he was.
"He will call you; he probably just needs some space." Chimney set a couple of glasses down on the table before sitting beside her on the couch.
"It has been nine hours, he isn't answering, he isn't home…"
"Maybe he is, you checked four hours ago."
"No, I asked his neighbor across the hall to let me know if he comes home," She sighed in frustration. Currently she was trying to wrack her brain with anyone in town where he could be with. Everyone from the fire station was out, Carla hadn't seen him and as far as she knew Buck hadn't had contact with Ali since she broke up with him.
"He will call, he is probably just in need of time to think."
"It's getting late, I'm just worried he hasn't been himself." Chimney would agree 100% about this, he constantly talked with Hen about Buck's mood change. He watched as she nervously bounced her knee, looking down at her phone as if it would magically ring and be Buck. "He's been so depressed lately and he fought to come back, sure it wasn't the correct way, but he wanted to be there."
"He told Bobby that he felt like he broke our trust."
"Which wasn't his intention," She became defensive.
"And I know that, but everyone else in the firehouse, he hurt them and its going to take some time."
"God, all he wanted was to be part of the team again and now he isn't, and he isn't answering, and he's been acting strange and what if he…"
"Don't think like that," Chimney stopped her immediately.
"I see it all the time, when I was a nurse, when I get the calls at the dispatching center."
"Maddie…"
"No, its true and he has been distancing himself lately, holding out on telling me anything and I thought maybe it was because I was smothering him but what if he felt like a burden."
"Buck knows you have his back," He tried to calm her.
"I know but he hasn't talked to anyone, he hasn't been sleeping and he barely eats, I worry." He wished he could say something, anything to calm her down, to ease her mind but at this point it was useless. Instead he wrapped his arms around her and held her close as they both sat staring at a phone that wouldn't ring for the whole night and or into the next morning.
Buck was two hours away from home, he was bleeding and cold but worst of all he was stuck with a dying woman beside him. He had left his phone turned off in his glovebox which was a mistake, his water bottle was empty zip up in shreds. The sun had gone down about an hour prior and already the temperature had dropped significantly. He internally cursed himself for not telling anyone where he was going even though the reason, he come out here was to get away from it all. He had left the fire station so quickly that no one had the time to question him, he just hopped in the truck, turned off his phone and threw it in the glove box. He drove for two straight hours, radio off and windows down, enjoying the silence as he left the city onto open road. After two hours of driving he spotted one of the rest stops signs mentioning a national park and he took his opportunity.
He looked to the woman who lay beside him, her face riddled with worry as her eyes pleaded for him to help her. He had been trying, for the past three to get them out of this predicament but the park had been pretty sparse of visitor and he had seen one ranger at the gate when he came in who didn't even bother to check him in. Now he was left on a small ledge cliff, far away from the trail, too far for anyone to hear him call for help, though he had tried.
"How is the pain?" He asked the woman. Her name was by some crazy coincidence, Madison and she went by Maddie. He found it suiting that even when he wanted to get away, she would still be with him.
"Like an eight," He could tell she was trying to hold back her tears and be strong, but she was clearly at a 10-pain wise. He had found her as she fell off of a small overlook, she was clutching on a rock on the cliffside. He had never seen someone so happy to see him, she told him she had been holding on for 20 minutes calling for help before he showed up. He had done his best to anchor himself down before reaching out and grabbing hold of her free hand, unfortunately the earth beneath him broke apart and he fell with her down to a ledge about ten feet below. "How about you?" He had been trying to avoid his injuries, not only because he wanted to focus on helping them get out of this but because he knew the risks of being on blood thinners.
"I'm fine," He lied.
"Don't lie, I can obviously see your head is bleeding."
"Head injuries always bleed bad."
"And they way you keep favoriting your left side, I may not be a medical professional, but I can tell what broken ribs look like."
"Alright fine I'd say a six but its fine, we need to get you help."
"You have been trying for hours to get us out of here, just sit down for a minute, there is no one coming tonight." He hated that she was right, that they were stuck together as he watched her shake from the break of what he guessed was her femur, afraid that internally she nicked the artery. He slid down beside her hand held out his hand, his shoulder was sore, and he was pretty sure it was dislocated from the pull down, but he didn't want to indulge another thing to worry about.
"I know the pain is worse than a 10, you can squeeze my hand if you want to." He could see her resilience, must be something about the name, she had a lot of the traits Maddie had. Eventually she gave in and took his hand, leaning against his bad shoulder and squeezed through the pain, burning her face into him as she tried to hold back the tears. He hoped that he didn't make matters worse when he set it, using his zip up as a tourniquet. With the combined body heat, the cold wasn't as bitter, but this wasn't going to be a great help. He prayed that his sister's over protective nature would help them being found but for tonight he was alone wracking his brain as to what his plan to get them help would be.