Chapter 11
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.
A/N: Warning for threats of violence,
There was finally a result for the BOLO for Maddie Buckley's car, it had been seen in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington State, and officer Stafford asked for a local female police officer to confirm her identity and well being and inform her that she had been reported missing.
"Maddie Buckley," Officer Nadia Sidarov asked as the door opened to reveal a woman who matched the photograph of the person she was looking for. She held out her police badge for the woman to see.
The woman looked panicked for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I'm Maddie Buckley, is something wrong? Is it Howie… Or Evan?"
"No Ms Buckley, you've been reported missing in the state of California and we're just following up to confirm that you've been found and left of your own free will? May I come in? Is there anyone else in the apartment?"
"No, nobody is here. I'm living here on my own," Maddie confirmed, stepping aside to let the police officer into the apartment.
"Are you hurt in any way? Do you need medical attention? Or any other assistance?" Nadia asked looking around. The small apartment was clean and tidy but almost painfully bare, it had a neglected air as if the place had been unoccupied for quite some time, there were barely any hints that anyone was living there at all other than the lack of dust and the fact the heating was on.
"No I'm fine, I just needed to get away and clear my head. Sort some things out with me. I need time," Maddie said. "What happens now?"
"Well, that's entirely up to you. I will inform the California Missing persons department that you've been found alive and well and they will inform the person who reported you missing, a Mr Evan Buckley. But the only thing he will be told without your express permission is that you've been found alive and well and are aware that he reported you missing. Neither he nor anyone else will be told anything about your whereabouts unless you specifically ask that we inform someone that you're in Seattle. Mr Buckley did ask that we inform you that your daughter Jee-Yun Buckley Han is safe and well and being looked after.
"Buck? Not Howie?" Maddie said confused.
"Mr Evan Buckley reported you missing," Nadia confirmed.
"I guess that Howie agrees with me. He and Jee are better off without me," Maddie said sadly.
"Mr Buckley reported you missing, Mr Han is also listed on the paperwork, he began the process but became upset when informed that he wouldn't be told any information about where you were found unless you requested that he be told, and didn't follow through with the report," Nadia clarified.
"No don't tell them. I don't want them to come here. I need time to get my head right. Don't tell me anything more," Maddie said shaking. "Is that all you needed from me?"
"Yes Ms Buckley, it is. This is my card in case you need to contact me," Nadia said gently, clearly Ms Buckley wasn't ready to be told anything else about what was going on with her family at home.
"Thank you, Officer Sidarov," Maddie said.
"It's my pleasure, to be able to relieve your brother's concerns," Nadia said smiling.
Maddie gave a poor attempt at a smile. "Yes, I don't want them to worry about me. Tell them that I'm fine and not to worry. Thank them for looking after Jee. Tell them that I'm getting help and not to look for me, I'll be in contact when I'm ready."
"I'll send the information to his contact at missing persons to have him imformed, as soon as I get back to the office," Nadia confirmed. She wasn't at all sure that Maddie Buckley was getting any sort of help but it wasn't her place to question the message she was given.
"Is Maddie okay?" Evan asked desperately when he saw Officer Diane Stafford on his doorstep.
"She is, may I come in," Diane replied smiling reassuringly.
"Sure," Buck said leading her into the lounge where Eddie and Chris were playing with Jee.
"She found Maddie," Buck blurted out as they walked in.
Eddie smiled. "How is she?"
"I'll preface this with the fact that I didn't see her myself. Your sister is not in California so we contacted the police in her local area to do a welfare visit once we located her. The local police officer that met with Maddie Buckley reports that she walked away from her life willingly, and does not want her location revealed. Maddie asked Officer Sidarov to tell you that she is fine, she is getting help and asked you not to worry. I can tell you she was alone when Officer Sidarov visited and not being coerced in any way, there were no visible injuries or bruises, she had a place to stay and she looked well nourished, her clothes fit well but were not new, suggesting that she hadn't gained or lost a significant amount of weight recently," Diane said.
"But you can't tell us where she is and she didn't mention coming back," Eddie said."
"No, I'm sorry but I cannot say anything about where she was found or anything that Officer Sidarov might have spoken with her about other than the message Maddie asked her to convey, 'that she is fine, she is getting help and asked you not to worry and not to look for her'," Diane said sympathetically.
"Can you at least tell me that she's receiving treatment for her PPD?" Buck asked.
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you that without her permission, but it's honestly not something the local police even asked her so I do not know," Diane said apologetically.
"I understand. She isn't ready to talk to us. That's the way she's always dealt with things, to retreat and sort out how she feels first, then get in contact when she's ready. It hurts to know she's hurting and I can't help but she'd only retreat further if I tried to push my way in before she's ready," Buck said sadly.
"You know your sister and her coping mechanisms very well," Diane commented.
"She was close to our brother who died when Maddie was ten and we didn't have the best relationship with our parents, and then her husband was abusive. She's had a lot of trauma in her life unfortunately, so I'm familiar with how she deals with it," Buck replied. "My parents dealt with the grief of Daniel's death by moving and pretending that he'd never existed. Maddie's learned to do the same. To move away and start again, pretending everything is fine and ignoring anything that doesn't fit into the picture you want your life to be."
"At least you don't know for sure that she's not receiving the help she needs to get better. Did you tell her about Jee being looked after by Buck and about Chimney being in prison?" Eddie asked.
"Officer Sidarov passed on the message that Jee-Yun was safe and being well cared for but made the decision not to inform her about the location and circumstances of Howard Han. Maddie apparently was shaken by being found and asked her not to tell her anything more, before she could share the information that Jee-Yun is being cared for by you," Diane replied.
"So what happens now?" Buck asked.
"We have closed the case because Maddie Buckley is officially no longer a missing person," Diane replied, sympathetically.
"Can you give her contact information to Child Protective Services, so they can contact her if something comes up with Jee-Yun and they need to contact her mother?" Buck asked.
"I can put a seal on it so they have the information in the event of an emergency or to inform her of future custody disputes and court appearances, but her daughter is currently in a safe and stable situation. They aren't likely to contact the birth mother unless circumstances change or you're unable to continue caring for your niece," Diane agreed, standing.
"Thank you for finding her and letting us know she is okay," Buck said walking her towards the door.
"What day was she found?" Eddie asked.
"Officer Sidarov met with Maddie this morning," Diane informed them.
"Thank you," Eddie said.
Buck immediately telephoned, Bobby and Athena, Hen, Albert and the Lees to tell them that missing persons had found and spoken to Maddie this morning but that they couldn't tell him where she was because Maddie had asked them not to. He asked them to let Chimney know when he rang them since he wasn't contacting Buck.
"Several hours after asking everyone to pass on the message that Maddie had been seen alive and well that morning, Buck got a phone call from Chimney. He looked at Eddie and they went to Eddie's room and put the call on speaker.
"Hi this is Buck, please be aware that all calls to this number are being recorded," Buck said clearly.
"Where's Maddie?" Chimney demanded.
"I don't know. I haven't seen or heard from her personally. Missing Persons found her but they can't tell me where she is unless she agreed to me being told and they said she asked them not to tell," Buck replied. "The officer who came to tell me spoke to the local police officer who saw her this morning. They said she's okay. She wasn't injured in any way and was coherent and not in need of being brought to hospital. She asked that we be told not to worry about her, but that's all they could tell me."
"I don't believe you. Why'd you try to keep this from me?" Chimney said angrily.
"I didn't, I knew you can't get phone calls where you are and didn't have access to your phone, and you haven't been ringing me so I rang and told everyone who I knew you'd been in contact with recently as soon as the officer from missing persons left, and asked them to pass it on as soon as you called them. There was nothing else I could do," Buck replied.
"If I find out that you know where she is and are hiding her from me I'm going to make the punch I gave you last time I saw you feel like a kiss on the cheek," Chimney said furiously.
"I swear, Eddie was here when Officer Stafford came this morning. She didn't tell us anything about where Maddie was, only that Maddie said she didn't want either of us to know where she was or to come after her. Officer Stafford said she didn't see Maddie herself because Maddie is far enough from here that they used the local law enforcement to visit her instead of going themselves, they said she wasn't in California but I don't know how far away that means, it could be the other side of the country or just the other side of the state line," Buck said.
"He's telling the truth," Eddie said curtly. Eddie was furious but he knew he couldn't threaten Chimney back over the phone when the call was no doubt being recorded and possibly monitored on the other end as well as by Buck.
"You would say that you faggot, you'd say anything to protect him. Don't you ever get sick of him hanging around like an eager little puppy all the time?" Chimney sneered. "But you can't be there all the time."
"I can give you the name and direct contact number of the officer that's been handling Maddie's missing persons case and you can call her yourself, or I can contact Officer Stafford and ask her to contact you through official channels," Buck offered.
"That's an easy bluff to make, they aren't going to accept a call from a federal prison even if I could get one put through from here," Chimney snapped. "You better have found out where Maddie is and be ready to tell me as soon as I get out of here Buck or you're never going to be able to work as a firefighter again," he said before disconnecting the call.
"He didn't even ask about Jee," Buck said sadly.
"Never mind that now, I think you need to make a copy of that recording and take it to the police, or at least to get Athena and Roger to listen to it and tell you what they think you should do," Eddie said worriedly.
"You think he's serious about those threats? He's mad now but he'll have plenty of time to calm down before he gets out of prison," Buck said hesitating.
"Or plenty of time to stew on it all and build up an even bigger rage than he has now if he really believes that you know where Maddie is," Eddie countered. "He's going to be angry if he gets out of prison and you still can't tell him where Maddie is. It can't hurt anything to ask for advice."
Buck reluctantly agreed and Eddie called Athena who was on shift and told them to meet her at the station when she heard about the threats.
Thankful that Chris was still at school for another couple of hours, Eddie called his aunt who agreed to pick him up from school and they bundled Jee into her car seat for the trip to the station with Eddie driving and Buck in the back trying to distract himself and Jee.
Athena listened to the recording and asked them to wait, returning a minute later with Detective Lou Ransone.
"Buck, Eddie, Athena said that you had something for me to listen too?" Lou greeted them.
"Yeah, has Athena explained or should I explain why he called?" Buck asked.
"How about you explain. I'm going to record this conversation if that's okay with you," Lou said.
"Okay," Buck agreed, Eddie nodded.
"This morning officer Stafford from missing persons came to the house and told us that my sister Maddie had been found. She told us that Maddie's okay but not ready to come home and doesn't want us told where she is. Chimney never calls me, I don't know whether he doesn't want to or he's been told not to, but he hasn't called Eddie while I've been staying there either. I knew he would want to know that Maddie's alright, so I left messages for him with all the people that I know he's been in contact with over the last few weeks. My lawyer recommended that I record all calls from or about Chimney and Maddie to document that they've not been in contact with Jee, to prove to CPS that she's going to need an adjustment period to transition custody back to Chim and Maddie. I told him at the start of the call that he was being recorded but he ignored it, or didn't pay attention. He didn't believe that I still don't know where Maddie is," Buck tried to explain coherently in spite of his doubts that they were doing the right thing.
Eddie laid a hand on Buck's shoulder, stopping his rambling and pressed play. The four of them listened to the call in silence. Buck only now realising when he wasn't trying to find the words to convince Chimney that he didn't know where Maddie was, what a serious threat it seemed to be.
"That is a serious threat," Athena said.
"I agree, it's also proof of a total lack of remorse for the original battery, and a total lack of self-preservation when it comes to Maddie Buckley and Buck," Lou said.
"Do you think that it's enough to make sure Buck is warned before Chimney is released, and to get a restraining order?" Eddie asked.
"It definitely is. But to be honest in that frame of mind, I wouldn't expect a restraining order would stop him. You said you were planning on moving. I would make sure you're moved before he is released from prison, and do not give your new address to anyone you cannot trust not to give it to Howard Han or anyone else that would pass it on to him," Lou said seriously.
"You think that he'd hurt Buck?" Eddie said.
"He's obsessed with finding Maddie, that obsession could be driven by fear because he knows exactly how her PPD was presenting before she left or it could be entirely irrational and a symptom of his own mental illness. But it has already led to him battering Buck and criminally neglecting his own child because he couldn't put a halt to the search for ten minutes every hour or two to feed and change her, if he truly believes that you or Buck know where she is and are refusing to tell him I do not know what limits he would go to, to force Buck to tell him," Lou said earnestly. "I was surprised that he passed his psych evaluation and was declared fit for trial, but then even most serial killers are fit to stand trial there is a significant difference between sane enough to stand trial and be held accountable for your actions and being unlikely to reoffend or mentally healthy enough not to be an ongoing threat to the object of your obsession or anyone you see as standing in your way."
"Our lawyer suggested that we should take Jee to see him in prison, as soon as she's allowed to travel. Do you think that would be safe," Buck asked.
"There is no physical contact allowed between prisoners and guests at the Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix, unless you specifically ask to be cleared to use the family room. It may not be in Jee's best interests emotionally to see her father through the bullet proof screens after all this time and not be able to receive any physical affection from him. Normally people with children would be encouraged to use the family room which is guarded at all times for your protection as well as to prevent the passing of contraband, but he wouldn't be able to harm Jee or either of you," Lou replied. "Can I ask why your lawyer is recommending it?"
"Partly so Chimney can't argue that we're denying him access to his daughter and demand that the custody arrangements be changed, and partly so Buck can record Chimney's reactions to her to support denying him custody when he gets out until he can prove that his head is in the right place to be a good father," Eddie explained. "If he's still willing to ignore her in favour of interrogating Buck then we have reason to argue that the psych hold and evaluation he had to stand trial, isn't enough to determine fitness to resume custody of a baby or toddler."
"Be very careful not to overtly provoke him into verbal aggression or threats otherwise it could be seen as entrapment, and warn him at the start that you're recording the conversation" Lou warned them.
"Okay," Buck agreed.
"Buck, if you do find out where your sister is, I cannot recommend that Howard Han be given that information. I have no reason to believe that he's ever been violent or threatening to her in the past but it may not be in your sister's best interests for a man so obsessed with returning her to their previous relationship and with an established tendency for violence in response to this situation to find her, especially if she isn't 100% ready and willing to come back to him and resume the relationship," Lou warned them seriously.
"I honestly don't know where my sister is, and she's more likely to tell him before she tells me," Buck replied, anxiously.
"That's your sister's decision to make, but she will be safer if she contacts him herself than if he finds her another way, not that I'd be encouraging her to do so unless she's all in, perhaps not even then if she were my sister. The level of obsession Han is projecting is disturbing," Lou replied.
"Do you think that I should try to text her or DM her on Insta and warn her? I have no way of knowing if she's keeping up with Insta or reading texts or emails," Buck asked.
"From what I've heard about your sister's possible mental state from you and Han, I'd wait. It's not important while Han's in custody and he might have calmed down or given up by the time he gets out, and if not your sister will hopefully be in a better headspace to hear it and the warning might do more good then," Lou suggested. "I would also be very careful who else sees or learns about any warning you send. Han is likely to regard it as an unwarranted attack on his relationship with Maddie Buckley."
Even though they hadn't made a decision about living together yet, Eddie accompanied Buck and Pepa on the next house hunt. Buck had decided that regardless of whether he was buying a home for two or four people he wanted somewhere with his own yard for Jee or his future foster children to play in. He also wanted two bedrooms he could devote to foster children in case he was ever asked to provide siblings a home and a room for Chris as well if necessary. But if he was moving in with Eddie he would have to talk to him about future foster children, and it would depend on Christopher, how he reacted to Jee going back to her mother and whether he was willing to deal with letting another child into his home without knowing how long they would be there for.
Eddie could see that Buck was right in his suspicions about Pepa. His Aunt was far too delighted that Eddie had come along to help Buck choose a house and all the houses she showed them would be easily adapted to meet Christopher's needs and were in convenient travel distance to Durand. He was a little worried about the houses she'd chosen though, he and Buck hadn't talked about how they would split expenses but surely even half the rental on any of the houses he'd seen today would be well over what he was paying now. He resolved to sit down and talk to Buck about that later, he knew Buck paid more for the loft he spent as little time in as he could than he paid for his house, maybe he didn't realise with the copay for Chris's therapy and the expenses of bringing up a child, he just didn't have as much of his income to spend on housing. He was also reminded that Buck actually earned a little more than he did with the extra year on the job and because of all the heavy rescue certifications he had. Still Eddie was determined that if they were going to move in together he was going to contribute half of the household expenses, or more since Christopher's food and expense were more than Jee-Yun's. He wouldn't have anyone be able to say he was taking advantage of his friend.
"I have one more house to show you but it's only for sale, not for rent. The owner is trying to avoid forfeiting on the mortgage and losing the money they put in so they're desperate to sell and the price is more than fair. He's had two lots of tenants in a row who failed to pay rent and wrecked the place. The house needs a lot of cosmetic work but it's mostly things the two of you could do yourselves, it's recently rewired and the house is sound and the plumbing in good condition," Pepa said.
"But I need a house that's going to pass CPS inspection before Jee starts to crawl, and I don't have a lot of free time to put into renovating a house," Buck said worriedly.
"This house will pass inspection once it's had a good clean, the house was repaired after the first set of tenants moved out and the problem this time is mostly that the tenants repainted and let their children choose the colours. That or they were both colourblind, and the owners aren't up to fixing it and need a quick sale," Pepa said laughing as she pictured their reactions to seeing the house.
"The first problem was obvious as they drove up the road. The house had an attractive roofline and lines and would have looked great if it wasn't a blinding shade of violet with bright yellow trim.
"I didn't know purple could come that bright," Eddie said faintly.
"At least the roof and garage doors are a normal colour, the rest is fixable," Buck agreed. "Hopefully it's not purple inside."
It wasn't but if anything, it was worse, every room was a different vibrant colour from the bright green entry and dayglow orange sunroom, to the aqua and burnt orange kitchen, the electric blue lounge, the Barbie pink little girls room the white, Laker's coloured boys room and the yellow and royal stripes with the Ram's logo in the master bedroom. Buck immediately put his sunglasses back on. Other than the colours the whole house looked and smelled like it needed a good scrubbing and they'd obviously smoked and had pets inside because the whole place smelled like stale cigarettes and wet dog.
"You'd need to pull up the carpets, and perhaps replace the curtains to get rid of the smell but there's quality floorboards under this filth and it wouldn't cost much to polish them and paint over the walls," Pepa said.
"What about the bathroom?" Buck asked. Losing the carpet and curtains wasn't an issue, they dated the house and beige was a terrible colour for carpet, especially in a house with children and crutches.
"There are two and they're actually the best rooms in the house, all they need is an industrial cleaning. The plumbing is all up to code, and the owner updated both before the last set of tenants moved in, after the one's before that did a number on it," Pepa said, opening the door to a surprisingly modern and well lit main bathroom, with a large disabled access shower and separate tub in sand and sea tones that would have looked soothing if it wasn't for the Little Mermaid wall decals.
"We'd have to get rid of these before the kids see them," Eddie said chuckling. He walked over and used a fingernail to lift an edge and carefully remove the smallest one leaving pristine paint in its place.
"Yes?" Buck asked hopefully.
"Yeah, I think so, if we can afford to buy it and fix it up," Eddie agreed.
Pepa named a price and Buck immediately agreed without haggling.
"Buck," Eddie protested.
"What? It's less than three quarters of what the house would be worth cleaned up and painted and it's well within the budget I set for myself before we spoke about moving in together. We can afford this, and have the money to pay someone to clean and paint it if we have to," Buck replied.
Pepa laughed, "Don't worry, Eddie I'll do the haggling for him. I know the owners will accept $10,000 less in return for an immediate settlement, the owner's brother is a conveyancer and already has their part of the paperwork ready to go and is willing to hand over the keys within the week in return for a 25 percent deposit which would give you access to start work immediately the check clears," Pepa said knowing that Buck had the money to pay the deposit outright.
"I can't come up with my half of that deposit," Eddie said.
"I have it sitting in my account ready to go if I found the right place," Buck reassured him casually.
"Buck, can we talk about this," Eddie said gesturing to the back yard they hadn't looked at yet.
"Okay," Buck said, hoping Eddie wasn't having second thoughts about moving in with him.
"Do you not like the house? It's in a great location and it's got just about everything we had on our wish list, well the sensible wishes anyway. I worked construction a couple of time on my travels, one of them was for a renovator and I know I could fix this up nicely," Buck said nervously.
"I can't afford this," Eddie said looking out at the nicely sized yard with some good sized shade trees.
"Eddie, I can. It's within what I was willing to spend on my own to buy the right place, and the repayments wouldn't be any more than you're paying in rent now," Buck said.
"Buck, I can't afford to pay for half this house. If we get it, then you will have paid the whole deposit, and you're the one with the know how to fix it up the way you want it. I feel like I need to contribute equally to any place we get together and I couldn't do that here," Eddie said bluntly.
"I don't care about the money Eds. I have the money from the settlement against the hospital for not warning me about blood clots and putting me on the appropriate medication when I was discharged the first time and the compensation for the Dr Wells thing. I can pay the deposit, the legal costs and for the renovations without borrowing extra money, and it isn't like I wouldn't get my money back and then some if it doesn't work out and we sell the house," Buck replied.
"Can't you understand? I care!" Eddie said emotionally. "You give and give, don't you see that you deserve someone who can give back an equal amount?"
"Eddie, I have been living with you rent free for almost a month now so you could look after me while I was injured, and I moved my niece in too without even thinking about how much extra work that would mean for you, and you haven't once complained. You spend so much time looking after the two of us. You took me in and shared your son with me, and that is priceless. You gave up your privacy and let me sleep in your bed so CPS wouldn't throw a fit about me sleeping on the couch, and now you've made us a family. Families aren't about equal division of assets or labour. Families are about everyone pitching in what they can do to make it work. I understand that your parents have drummed it in to you that you need to be the provider for your family but I don't need you to support me financially, and you give me the physical an emotional support I need to be the best me I can be, that's what matters," Buck tried to explain how the money truly wasn't an issue to him and he hoped that Eddie could get passed this because he could just tell that this would be the perfect house for the four of them. Or the three of them and a new foster child if he survived the emotional upheaval of having to give Jee back to her parents and only seeing her when they let him.
Eddie didn't say anything.
Buck waited for about ten minutes that felt like hours, before sighing. "Eddie, I don't want to rush you into a decision and I'm not trying to. This house is the best one we've seen to meet our needs and I need to settle on a place as soon as possible, particularly if it needs this much work before we can move. But I can afford this place on my own if you aren't ready to move in with me, or have changed your mind about it. So, I'm going to go in there and sign the paperwork and I'd really like for you to sign it with me but if you feel that you can't, that's okay. I'd still want you to move in when you're ready," Buck said getting up to go and meet with Pepa.
Eddie watched him go and realised that Buck was doing this and if he didn't join him now, then even if he moved in later the house would always feel more like Buck's place than their place. It was time to push aside his pride and do what was best for the four of them. The disparity in their finances wasn't going to go away whether they bought this house or not, Buck would never need Eddie to financially support him, but he still thought that Eddie contributed enough to their relationship to be worth keeping. It was a foreign concept to the Texan who'd been raised to believe that the main role for man of the house was to provide the money for the family. He silently signed the paperwork with Buck, then got out his tape measure and started measuring the rooms and windows while Buck arranged the transfer of the deposit to Pepa's business account.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, commented positively, followed, bookmarked or favourited or gave Kudos to this story for your support.