Hello all; thank you for being so patient with this chapter, I apologize that it has taken so long. I work at a hospital and am an essential worker during these hard and trying times and have been working odd hours to try to help during this pandemic. I hope all of you are well, staying safe and self- isolating (sorry that turned into a lecture). I am also sorry about the repost of the last chapter, somehow it disappeared on me, so I reposted and unfortunately played a rude and early April fools' joke. I hope this chapter tides you over until my next chapter, I will try to update soon (I have a week of vacation coming up) Hope you enjoy, thank you again for your patience.

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Maddie could only explain her worry as a feeling of pure dread and nausea. She had encountered this feeling before, Buck's track record with luck would do that to her. She had seen him survive a crush injury to his ankle, a natural disaster and a blood clot to his lung and now this. She had snuck out once Chimney had fallen asleep and headed to straight to Buck's apartment. She wanted nothing more to find him there, but she knew that by now he would have sent her a short text to let her know he was alright. When she walked into the empty apartment the nausea began and she could feel the wet burn of tears beginning to accumulate in her eyes. She slid a chair in front of the door, settled down and began her wait.

A 12-year age difference separated the two siblings, Maddie was very surprised when her parents announced that they were going to add to the family. She hated the idea, not because she wouldn't love the baby unconditionally but rather that her parents… to be frank were not the best. They were both successful, very hard driven people who focused on work over everything. Maddie lost count on the many disappointments of her parents' absence; school functions, dance classes, soccer games to name a few. The only good thing being that at a young age she learned her independence but because she yearned for her parents' attention, she had the rebellious phase and neither parent cared to parent at all. Then Evan was born, and he became her focus as her parents continued on with their lives. At first she resented her brother, she was left to basically become a 12- year old nanny when she wasn't at school but suddenly she realized that she loved taking care of him and she knew that their bond was something she would need. Taking care of Buck actually help pave her career path into being a nurse.

The vibration of her phone caused her to nearly fall out of her chair as she rushed to the counter for her purse. She dug but with frustration could not locate it so she just dumped everything out and quickly grabbed it on its last ring.

"Buck," She asked hopefully.

"No, it's just me," She hadn't even looked at the caller id. "Guess that answers one of my questions," He sighed. His voice was groggy, clearly, he had just woken up and found her gone. "Where are you?"

"At Buck's apartment, I thought it would be my best bet," sadly that wasn't the case.

"Why didn't you wake me, I would have come with you."

"There wasn't a guarantee and I knew I was just going to come sit and worry."

"I can come sit and worry with you," he offered.

"No, you have a shift tomorrow," She protested. "Get some sleep, I will call you if he comes home."

"Maddie…" he began to protest.

"I promise, listen, thank you for being here for me and for Buck, you truly are a great man."

After a moment of silence he spoke, "if you need me, call me," instructed, "I mean it," he added before hanging up with her. She sat alone in the dark, only the moon cast a small among of light through the broad kitchen windows. She looked at her phone it was 2am, she began to doubt that he would show up now but she clung to the hope that he would.

Chimney had walked into work late looking absolutely exhausted and disheveled, it was instantaneous how everyone noticed. Hen was the first to watch him ignore the first round of coworkers asking if he was okay, instead he pushed his way to the locker room he threw his things in his locker. She slowly moved her way over, she knew that he knew she was standing outside the doorway.

"What's with this look today," She inquired. She watched as his shoulders fell with a heavy sigh, he looked up and scoped out the area before he turned to her and answered with one word.

"Buck."

"Is he alright," suddenly she began to worry not that she hadn't been the moment that Buck had walked out with so much as a goodbye.

"He didn't come home last night, Maddie is worried."

"Maybe he just needed some space, maybe he went out with friends," she suggested.

"From the way he has been the past couple of weeks I don't think he had anyone he was turning to."

"What about Carla?"

"I texted her this morning, she hasn't heard a thing." He looked at her with tired eyes, in that one glance she could see he was just as worried as her.

"Has Maddie called the police?"

"It's only been 16 hours, too early to file a missing person's report."

"What about Athena," Hen asked, "I'm sure Bobby can…"

"No, Maddie doesn't want everyone to know, I shouldn't have even told you."

"Chim! Buck is family of course you should have told me." She looked behind her; Bobby and Eddie stood garage floor doing a horrible job hiding the fact that they were trying to listen in. "Regardless of what is happening, he is family and this is a crisis."

"I know but…"

"But nothing; this isn't like Buck, he wouldn't just disappear like this." She recalled a prior conversation that she had with Buck in the hospital. It was two days after he was admitted. As soon as she entered the room she could cut the tension between Buck and Maddie with a knife. Chimney had warned her prior to the visit about the sibling's spat but she didn't know it would feel this awkward. After slight convincing she had managed to get Maddie out to go home, shower and eat; there Buck had confided in her. He had told her that he didn't want Maddie to carry all this weight on her shoulders. Between all of her Doug situation and all of his injuries and bad luck she would surly go insane in his mind. She saw how disappointed and guilt he held for causing a good chunk of Maddie's anxiety. No matter how had she tried, Hen was unable to convince him that he wasn't to blame.

"You're right, I need to tell Bobby," Chimney finally sighed, scrubbing a hand over his tired eyes.

"Come on I'll go with you." Chimney slowly got up from the bench and reluctantly made his way over to Bobby and Eddie, Hen by his side as they filled them in.

Somehow, he didn't know exactly how but somehow Buck had managed to stay awake for the night. He credited his small amount of knowledge of head injuries to Maddie and his first aid 101 class, not to mention watching Hen and Chimney work on patients. He knew better than to fall asleep, best case scenario he had a concussion but worst case he had a brain bleed from the fall; a head injury is unpredictable especially when you are on blood thinners. The pounding headache that lived through the night, coupled with the nausea and dizziness weren't making him feel any better on the outcome. In addition to that his whole side ached and when he found the courage to try to lift his shirt his body screamed with pain and he was greeted with a horrible black and purple bruise only emphasized by pale skin.

He had pushed aside his own injuries through the night, instead he monitored Madison who slept fitfully, walking up in a panicked sweat. When he laid the back of his hand on her forehead he could feel that she was cool and clammy, the sweat must have been from the amount of pain she was in. She would wake up every once in a while, sobbing, unable to hold back from the pain of her broken femur. He knew that with the fracture and the fact that the bone had broken skin there was risk of infection. It helped keep him awake so he could monitor her and also try to figure out a way out of this mess. There was no way he could move her, she wasn't going to be able to walk on her own and truthfully he wasn't sure he could handle the weight.

The ten foot drop above them was just that, a ten foot drop with no way back up. He wasn't going to be able to climb, there wasn't really a rocky surface and his shoulder was definitely dislocated. He had seen below them before the sun had cleared the horizon, it was maybe 8 to 9 feet below, not that he would love to fall another drop but if he could get to steady ground maybe he could walk to find help. He figured, after a while his concussion/ head injury had made him crazy and the idea of trekking alone while injured was a stupid idea, not to mention he couldn't leave Madison alone.

The sound of shaky attempts as calming breaths alerted him that Madison was awake and still in an immense among of pain. She was paler than he remembered, then again she was covered in her own blood. He looked down at her leg, the bleeding had stopped, for now but he wasn't sure his tourniquet would last very long, he would have to retighten it soon and he didn't know if he could cause her more pain.

"Do you want some of your water," he offered. She shook her head with gritted teeth, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze as she readjusted herself next to him. Her pale skin was almost a greenish hue every time she attempted to move.

"Do you think anyone will be by soon," she asked trying to divert her attention from the pain. Buck looked at the position of the sun, it had just risen maybe three hours ago he had guest.

"Probably, the early hikers usually arrive about now." He didn't want to discourage her but it was cold and it looked like it would rain soon, not to mention it was a Wednesday not a lot of people would be here today.

"I'm freezing." She tried to push herself closer to him, letting out a sharp hiss from the jarring movement of her leg.

"I'm sure it will get warmer soon, it is California," he half heartedly joked. She only nodded slightly to avoid anymore movement.

"We will get out of here," She spoke with uncertainty in her voice though it was supposed to come out with confidence.

"Yeah, someone will pass by in no time," He tried to speak more confidently but fell short. He looked above and below them, silently cursing himself for not bringing his phone or at least shooting Maddie a text; another thing for her to worry about. He laid his pounding head atop Madison's trying his best to stop the world from spinning, hoping that someone would come by soon.