Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own 9-1-1 or any of its characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Athena pulls Eddie aside. "Can you sign these forms as Buck's medical proxy, to have the records of his facial injuries and concussion released to the LAPD as evidence."

"Sure," Eddie said carefully reading and then signing each form.

"Thanks Eddie," Athena said, hesitating before saying anything else.

"What is it Athena, if there's anything else I can do to help Buck, just say it," Eddie said.

"Keep his phone from him for as long as possible, stop him from trying to call Chimney," Athena said.

"Okay but Chimney isn't going to answer Buck if he isn't answering Bobby," Eddie replied.

"Buck will be hurt even if Chimney doesn't answer," Athena said sighing.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked.

Instead of answering Athena asked Eddie to put his phone on speaker and dial Chimney's number. "Bobby told me about his answer message. Hopefully he thought better of it and changed it back," she said setting hers to record.

"Hey, it's Chimney. Sorry I can't talk right now. Unless it's Buck, in which case, stop calling me,".

"Hey it's Eddie, are you doing okay man? How's the search going? If there's anything I can do for you, let me know?" Eddie said awkwardly before disconnecting. "Yeah, I'll keep his phone for as long as I can but he's gonna want to call Maddie."

"She's not answering and her inbox is full, she's either not been listening to her messages since she left or Chimney has spammed her number in the hope she'll get fed up with him and answer," Athena said.

"Or so deliberately so nobody can get through and leave a message about what happened?" Eddie suggested.

"Yes possibly but I don't like to think that Chimney's capable of acting that strategically at the moment," Athena replied.

"Do you really think that there's a risk he could hit Maddie or Jee-Yun?" Eddie asked.

"I want to say that the man I know would never hit his girlfriend or child but I never believed that he'd hit a friend the way he hit Buck either. What I can tell you is that the way he encouraged her isolation since Jee-Yun was born is a worrying sign and having a new baby in the house, and Maddie planning to leave him would both be considered major red flags for domestic violence occurring or escalating and his obsessive need to find her is concerning. Maddie has never been in more danger from Howard Han than she is right now if he finds her," Athena said seriously.

"I know I shouldn't be asking but is there any way you can trace her phone?" Eddie asked.

"Personally, no not without risking my job. But the missing person's bureau will try as soon as they open the case. That will only work if she hasn't turned off the location data or removed the battery though, and Maddie would know that from her work at the call centre so it won't work if she's thinking clearly and she really doesn't want to be found," Athena warned him.

"You've put a BOLO and arrest on sight order out on Chimney?" Buck said in shock. "I thought you were going to get Bobby or Hen to ring him and ask him to go to the police station wherever he is so he could be interviewed, told about the charges and released until his trial."

"We didn't have a choice. He's not answering Bobby, he is still answering for Hen but she refused to tell him. She didn't want to take sides between you and I couldn't convince her that it was in Howard Han's best interests to turn himself in before we put a BOLO out. She isn't thinking clearly and refuses to tell him even now so he can turn himself in before the BOLO finds him.

"He's not answering me either but I guess if he thinks I know about him hitting you he wouldn't," Eddie said.

"Did you message him. Even if he isn't answering his phone he's probably still reading his text messages," Buck said.

"I messaged him to call me urgently. He hasn't responded," Bobby replied. "I can't message him that the LAPD are searching for him and to turn himself in, it would be seen as hindering the investigation."

"Buck, you can drop the charges later if it still feels like the right thing to do. But Chim is acting erratically chasing after Maddie without the slightest indication where she might have gone and we know he shouldn't be behind the wheel in that state. Never mind the effects on Jee, being in her car seat for hours on end isn't good for a child her age and how long will it be before Chim gets frustrated at her for slowing him down. Please press charges so we can find them before something bad happens," Athena said.

"Okay," Buck said shakily.

"I'll message him that you have reported Maddie missing and they want more information about her mental state before they follow it up and to go to the police station and talk to them about where he's already looked and what progress he's made. Then we can make alternate arrangements to have Jee looked after if he insists on resuming this mad search," Bobby said.

"Hello," Buck said looking at the female police officer who he assumed Athena had sent to take his statement about Maddie for missing persons.

"Firefighter Buckley, I'm Officer Diane Stafford and I'm here to take your statement about the battery," Diane introduced herself.

Buck flinched at the term, "You mean the assault when Chimney hit me. It was just one punch," he protested.

"One punch that put you in the hospital with concussion and a fractured zygomatic arch, there have been deaths that resulted from a single punch," Diane replied as gently as she could while trying to get Buck to see the attack for what it was. The last thing they needed was for Buck not to have time to come to terms with the seriousness of the attack and trying to justify or defend Han's actions in his statement.

Buck frowned. "I thought that Athena was going to send someone from missing persons to take my statement about finding my sister, that's more urgent than pressing charges against Chimney," he said.

"Sergeant Grant briefed me on both situations but I'm afraid that without proof of mental incapacity we need your statement against Howard Han and the fact that he battered Maddie Buckley's brother causing serious bodily harm, to escalate the missing persons case regarding Maddie Buckley," Diane said.

"Why? Maddie left of her own free will. I'm only concerned because with her PPD we're afraid if she hasn't been seeking treatment she could be a danger to herself," Buck protested.

"Yes I understand your concerns, but without a doctor, therapist or psychiatrist's confirmation of the diagnosis we do not have cause to make her disappearance a high priority. Your sister is a grown woman without any diagnosed mental or physical health issues that make being away from her normal life dangerous for her, and there's currently no indication of foul play. All we have to go on is your suspicion and Howard Han's statement to his colleagues that Maddie is suffering from PPD. The assault on you however we will have documented evidence of once you've given your statement, and the proof that her domestic partner is capable of this level of violence does make finding your sister more urgent," Diane said soothingly.

Buck sighed and started his statement.

"Chimney, I mean Howard Han, Chimney's his nickname at the LAFD. He's been on family leave since my sister left 8 or 9 days ago, looking after their daughter Jee-Yun Buckley Han. I got off shift late and got home about 9am. We'd been up most of the night at a warehouse fire and then a couple of minor accidents and I was tired so I went straight to bed. I was surprised to see him at my door without Jee. I was going to babysit her that evening and I would happily have taken her for the whole day, but I think this was only about 10 or 11 o'clock. I'd been asleep so I'm not sure of the time but the sun was still coming into the windows of the lounge so it was still morning.

Chimney was upset. He'd got a receipt from the insurance company stating that they'd paid for an ER visit for Jee during the blackout, about eight hours before Maddie left. He's been to the ER and tracked down the doctor, Jee had slipped and fallen under the water while Maddie was bathing her, Jee was fine. I don't know if Maddie was just panicking or if Jee was under the water for longer than if she'd noticed and pulled her right out but Maddie thought she needed to see a doctor and get checked out. Chimney was all up thinking that that was why Maddie had left and if he just reassured her that everything was fine and Maddie was a good Mom, Maddie would come back and everything would go back to the way it was before.

Maddie had rung me on the way out of town but she'd made me pinky promise not to tell Chim because she didn't want him hurt that she'd rung me and not him. She only wanted me to look after him and Jee. Still the only thing she said in the whole conversation other than making me promise to look after them was that she'd taken Jee to a doctor, then she said Jee wasn't safe with her. I thought it was a routine mother and baby check up and the doctor had questioned Maddie's mental state. I didn't know it was the ER.

Chim realised from my reaction that I'd known something about it and demanded to know where Maddie was. I don't know where my sister went and I told him that but he didn't believe me. I wasn't looking at him so I didn't see the punch coming and I wasn't able to duck or put my hands up to stop him. The first thing I knew about the punch was feeling my face explode in pain. I could see two of everything and I could barely stay on my feet. Chimney was yelling but I'm not sure what he said. He stormed out and I lost my balance and fell down, I was throwing up and I couldn't get up so I called 911," Buck said.

"This is important Buck. Are you sure you fell down after Howard Han left the apartment?" Diane asked.

"Yeah. He banged the door but it didn't stay shut. I was trying to walk to the door, well the doors because I could see two of them and shut it. But I fell when I tried to walk," Buck replied.

"Was Han still out in the hallway? Could he have heard you fall? Did you call out?" Diane asked.

"No, he left in a hurry, I heard the stairwell door slam as I fell or just after," Buck replied.

"Do you think that he left the door open on purpose?" Diane asked.

"I don't think so. If I had to guess I'd say he probably didn't realise it hadn't caught when he slammed it. It swelled a bit in the humidity and is a tight fit at the moment but Chimney hadn't been to my loft since it happened," Buck replied honestly.

"Thank you for that, now what can you tell me about your sister's disappearance?" Diane asked.

"We'd worked the entire blackout, all hands-on deck all three shifts. Chimney was worried about her being in their apartment alone but he wouldn't talk to me about it, and I don't think he talked to Bobby about it or he would've given him time off to check on her and take her to stay with someone. Chim was desperate to charge his phone so he could call her. He spent a lot of time talking to her but that's not unusual he would normally call 4-5 times in a twenty-four-hour shift if she wasn't working. We'd worked 4 days straight and Maddie rang me just as I arrived home. I was super tired so maybe I missed something, a hint or nuance or something that would suggest where she was going. I just don't know. She said she had left Jee at the 118 and that it wasn't safe for Jee to be with her. She'd promised after ghosting me during her marriage that she wouldn't ever do it again so she rang me to say she was going away for a while and she'd be back when she'd sorted herself out.

I hoped that meant that she was booking into an inpatient program somewhere but she didn't say she was and she has a history of not engaging with therapists during mandated therapy sessions. She's high risk for PPD, with her age and the trauma of an abusive marriage and having to kill her ex in self-defence when he kidnapped her and was trying to kill her, and I don't think she'd really worked through all that so much as pushed it down and pretended she was over it all. I was concerned about that for a while but she had never confirmed that she had it with me. Chimney didn't tell me until after she'd left either. He said she didn't want anyone to know, so she'd cut herself off from all her friends and support and Chimney had let her, he didn't push her into getting help.

"Do you think there was a reason he wasn't encouraging her to go to therapy?" Diane asked.

"I think she didn't want to go and he was just supporting her wishes. He'd never push her to do anything she didn't want. In his mind we should all do what Maddie wants. He always took her side in every argument or difference of opinion she had with anybody, even if it was none of his business. He was pissed at me for returning to firefighting after being injured because Maddie wanted me to find a safer job but he never offered to quit himself, and he couldn't see that he was being a hypocrite," Buck replied.

"Do you have some good quality recent photo's, preferably not one's taken while she was pregnant, or in the first month or two after your niece was born, childbearing may have changed the shape of her face a little," Diane requested.

Buck pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his cameral roll. Probably not anything super recent, she'd been cutting me out, withdrawing. Josh her best friend in LA said she was doing it to him to once I mentioned it. He hadn't noticed so much because he really doesn't do children," Buck said showing her a couple of photos and sending her the ones she approved.

"Do you have Josh's contact details?" Diane asked.

"No, well other than 911, he's a dispatcher at the centre downtown, who worked the same shift as Maddie before the baby. Josh Russo," Buck replied.

Diane laughed. "I think I can manage to find his contact without resorting to that."

"I have a key to Maddie's apartment. Would it help if I can hunt through and see if she left any scripts, medications or receipts behind with her doctor's name on it," Buck asked.

"Honestly yes, particularly if she left the medications behind. That could be a huge red flag. Would you know her wardrobe well enough to know how much of it she's packed and whether she packed her warm or cold weather clothing?" Diane asked. "It would also help if she'd had professional photo's taken with the baby. They'll give better straight view of her face and higher resolution."

Buck chuckled. "I'll get Eddie to take me on the way home when I get out of here. You can just tell me that my photo's aren't good enough, you know."

"Your snapshots are very good for their intended purpose, to remember an event or time with your sister, but as for helping a stranger recognise her if she's cut or dyed her hair, they don't quite have the level of detail needed and it's better if we had a photo where your sister isn't smiling, since she probably isn't walking around grinning at thin air," Diane said diplomatically.

"No but I doubt that I'm going to find a sad photo, Maddie likes to put a positive spin on things and pretend everything is fine until it totally blows up in her face," Buck replied, sighing.

"Even a fake smile would be better than the genuine smiles I've just seen. Have you contacted your parents?" Diane asked.

"No, we don't talk and she wouldn't have contacted them. They're not exactly supportive and Maddie's relationship with them really isn't any better than mine for all she still speaks to them occasionally," Buck replied.

"You still should contact them because unless you have a very good reason they shouldn't, missing persons will contact them as part of their investigation," Diane warned him.

"I know that if she'd gone to them when she left her husband, they would have been upset with her for leaving because of what their friends would say about it, and perhaps they would even have tried to talk her into going back to him unless she managed to convince them how serious the abuse and threat to her life was. They're not so invested in her staying with Chimney because they aren't married and he isn't white but I don't know whether she fully realises that. Her mother has a very bad habit of saying I told you so, and rubbing Maddie's perceived failures in her face. Even when they come and visit, Maddie doesn't like to be alone with them," Buck replied.

"Maddie's mother, not yours?" Diane asked.

"She is my egg doner and bearer if that's what you're asking, but she doesn't like to think of me as her son. I was a spare parts baby. A saviour sibling who didn't get the job done, and unfortunately for all of us, they couldn't return me when my parts were faulty. They were stuck with the baby they never wanted and only had in the first place to save the son who died anyway," Buck said.

"Would they have encouraged Maddie to leave Chimney and the baby if they were in contact?" Diane asked.

"I don't think so, they definitely wouldn't have encouraged her to move back to Hershey, particularly if they were aware of her mental health issues or there was a chance she would bring Jee-Yun. They wouldn't want to deal with that and they would worry what their friends and neighbours would say," Buck replied.

-o0o-

Calley pulled Bobby aside to ask about Buck as soon as they met to hand over the reins.

Bobby sighed. "Fractured zygomatic arch and severe concussion. The surgery went well but he's out at least two or three weeks. He's also an emotional mess about the whole thing."

"I'd be an emotional mess about being assaulted in my own home too, let alone by my supposed friend and brother-in-law!" Calley pointed out. "Where's he staying?"

"With Eddie, Athena and I offered to have him but he's more comfortable there, and Eddie has a trained nurse looking after Chris while he's working," Bobby replied.

"I've tried to squelch the gossip but Logan, Stover and Johns all heard Buck say Chimney hit him. It isn't going to be kept quiet and they're already saying they'll refuse to work with Chimney. I don't think you'll be able to change their minds unless Han can prove he didn't hit Buck. SOCO were there photographing the scene, before we got there. It looked horrendous. Has someone got a key to his place so we can get the blood cleaned up before he goes back there?" Calley said.

"There's a warrant out for Chimney's arrest and he's left the city, so things aren't looking good for him at the moment," Bobby said soberly.

"Aren't looking good for Chimney?! Half my shift want to beat the shit out of him for hurting Buck!" Calley exclaimed.

Disclaimer: I do not own 9-1-1 or any of its characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.