"Don't ask," Maddie stopped Howie as he walked up beside her. It had been a trying two hours, no results and she was beginning to worry that they would never find Buck. She had been checking her phone every few hours, Carla had agreed to stay at Bucks apartment in case he came home but Maddie knew that it wasn't going to happen. His truck was here, when she had used the spare key, she had found his phone and wallet in the glovebox.

"I know we keep asking, we are just a worried," Howie explained.

"I know but I'd be lying when I said I'm fine, I'm a nervous wreck and I know you all are too." She looked over to Eddie who was searching the tree line for any clues, it made her wonder how far Athena, Bobby and Hen had gotten in their search. The walkie had been silent, the last update was an hour ago when the group of Rangers who had started the search had hit a dead end. "I am worried we are running out of park to search."

"This park is huge, there is a lot of ground to cover." He shined his light over the small distance in front of him, searching high and low for any signs of Buck. He looked back to Maddie who was doing the same, her face drained of color, her eyes puffy from silently crying this whole time. He knew she was exhausted; they all were but she had been worried nonstop since he called her to tell her Buck had quit. She only nodded in agreeance to his counter and continued on with her search. Her voice was beginning to weaken as she called Buck's name, but she made herself as loud as she could hoping that he would call back.

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Buck opened his eyes again, the rain had died down, but the cracks of thunder still rumbled in the sky before a blinding streak of lightning light it up. He listened close between the angered sky, still believing he heard hear. Her voice was so clear, this couldn't be some cruel trick his mind was playing on him, right? Somehow, he found the strength to pull himself up, letting go of Madison who was now as white as a sheet and almost completely still.

"BUCK!"

"Maddie," he squeaked out. His heart pounded against his chest listening again, waiting until he heard it again.

"BUCK," her voice sounded desperate, that was here that was Maddie. She was so close and so clear.

"Maddie," he tried to yell but it fell short and was drowned out by a roar of thunder. He began to panic, he had weakened his own voice yelling hours ago, he feared that he wasn't going to be able to grab her attention. He shook Madison's shoulder trying to wake her but he knew it wasn't going to work.

"Buck," this time another familiar voice called to him… was that Eddie?

"I'm here," he tired yelling but he just barely made a sound. His heart sunk as he listened to them call for him, unable to respond. He could feel the prick of tears in his eyes, he felt helpless, something he had felt a lot of lately and now he was stuck, in need of the people he had betrayed. He looked up to the edge above, praying someone would find him.

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Eddie had fallen, at the time it was pure misfortune, his foot was stuck again in the mud pit under him. He was being sucked down, unable to free his boot as he tried to yank himself free. He was tired, aggravated and to be honest he was losing hope so add on to the fact that he was now stuck only added to his frustration. At the time it was misfortune when he finally yanked his foot free but left behind his boot, and then again when he fell to the ground unaware of how close he was to the edge of an abyss he couldn't see. Lucky for him his yelp from the fall caught Maddie and Chimney's attention and they were quick to grab his ankles to stop him from falling further. But what had been misfortune moments ago turned to sheer luck and he quickly swatted away at Chimney's hand as he had reached out to help Eddie up.

"What," Chim asked confused. Eddie didn't have to look back to know that Maddie and him were exchanging glances but he wouldn't change his gaze anyway. His flashlight had fallen with him, over the edge, out of his hand but as it fell it cast a light on the very thing Eddie was fixated on.

"Give me your flashlight," he snatched Maddie's light out of her hand, pulling himself close enough to the ledge were he could safely plant himself but also check and make sure he wasn't seeing things. Both Chimney and Maddie fell beside him, inching their way over as Eddie searched below. His light finally hit a leg and worked its way up until, with great relief it fell on to Buck's face.

"Buck," Maddie shouted. Her heart leapt out of her chest as she saw her little brother squinting against the light to look up at them. "Oh my god, he's alive," she sobbed. For a moment she was over the moon with excitement, tears of joy poured down her face with the rain water but not they had to get him out and from a fall of that height she could only imagine the injuries that he could have.

"Eric," Eddie called to the ranger. "We found them."

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Bobby, Athena and Hen were out of breath well before they reached the rest of the group. The minute they heard over Ranger Lawrence's radio, "We found them," they took off running. By the time they reached them the local fire department had shown up, in full gear set up to scale the cliff side to pull Buck and the mystery woman up.

"What do we know," Hen asked huffed out.

"He can hear us but he lost his voice, probably from hours of calling for help and being exposed to the cold so we don't know much."

"And this crew?"

"The 197, they are based about five miles down the road from the park," Chimney watched as one of the firefighters clipped a carabiner to his harness.

"We offered to help but they said the conditions are to risky," Eddie rolled his eyes, "Like we haven't dealt with this before."

"They are going to get Buck up, that's what matters," Bobby reassured him. Maddie was clinging tightly to Chimney, watching anxiously they had gone over the risks with her no doubt, having such a muddy surface they ran a risk of a mud slide. These were not uncommon in California, it happened more than Bobby wanted them too, in fact he remembered a call that was one of Bucks first with them.

"She's going down," Chimney announced. Everyone held their breath, watching anxiously as the firefighter propelled down, disappearing from their sight 15 feet back from the work area. Bobby felt Athena grab for his hand and hold it tight as they waited and tried to hear anything from the team trying to rescue Buck.

"Have a medic on standby we have one coming up," They heard the radio sound. They huddled close together shivering in the rain as the team began to pull up the first person. Maddie danced in place, bouncing from one foot to the other, she would be ready to sprint to Buck's side the minute he surfaced and Chimney was there to hold her back while they unharnessed him and handed him over to the medical team. They finally saw the basket gurney was pulled over the edge revealing a sheet white faced woman. Medics rushed to her aid and rushed her away freeing the basket to be lowered down again.

Maddie worried, he had been awake when they found him so that was a good sign, but that woman didn't look well, and the injuries Buck probably endured were 10x more deadly with him on blood thinners. It felt like an eternity, waiting, Chimney could feel Maddie's grip tighten with each passing moment. Finally, they could hear a commotion coming from the cliff side, the crew member by them had since walked to far away for them to hear his walkie, instead they were holding their breath again waiting. As soon as they saw the basket gurney appear Maddie let out a sob and broke free of Chimney, not that it mattered because him and the rest of the team were behind him, dodging the firefighters.

"Evan," Maddie cried. She reached him just as the paramedic was throwing over a warming blanket over him.

"Mads," His voice was barely a whisper, yet it was the greatest thing she had ever heard.

"I'm right here, we are all right here." The team gathered behind her. She reached out and for a moment her hand touched his, it was cold and clammy, but his fingers intertwined with hers and she felt the absolute relief right up until the paramedics whisked him away and he was gone.

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Buck did not remember much after being rescued; what he did remembered looking up and seeing a light and for a moment he thought he had died. He quickly realized he had not when he saw Eddie and Maddie staring down at him, calling out to him. He wanted to badly to call back, but he was tired and cold, and everything was getting blurry. The next thing he knew he heard more voices, ones he did not recognize, and Maddie, Buck and Chimney were gone. He remembered wanting to close his eyes, but he forced himself to stay awake so that when whoever was going to come down to save him arrived, he could insist they take Madison first.

"Evan; my name is Lieutenant Carver; we are going to get you out of here." That was music to his ears, he had just enough energy to shake her off and point at Madison and Carver seemed to understand that if Madison did not go up first, Buck was not budging. As they pulled Madison up, he remembered silently praying that they would get her in time, save her life so that he would not have to face Annie to tell her he was sorry for losing her. As he watched her disappear over the ledge, he prayed the medics could rush her to the hospital in time.

"Your next." His head lolled over to Carver, his eyelids falling heavily as he began to feel the darkness closing in. "Not right now Evan, you have to stay awake, you have a very worried sister topside." He forced his head up and down in a weak nod as he allowed Carver to pull him into the basket and clip him in. She patted his shoulder and gave him an assuring smile and then he was being pulled upwards towards a bright light above, the rain now misted over him, the rumbling in the sky had moved on and the lightning had stopped lighting up the sky. He remembered being blinded by the flood lights and jumping when hands touched him.

"It's okay Evan we've got you." He closed his eyes for a moment as he was transferred over to a gurney that was standing by a warming blanket thrown over him. And then she was there, her voice at least, and he had to open his eyes to believe it was real.

"Mads," he could barely hear himself. She reassured him that she was there, they all were, and he felt the warmth of her hand in his and in that moment, he knew he was safe, he had made it. He was on the move again and his grip on her hand slipped, she was gone, and he was being loaded into an ambulance. He was safe now, he could let go and relax now and he did, he closed his eyes and that was the last thing he remembered.