Chapter 19
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"How did the custody hearing go. Did Chimney and Maddie attend?" Hen asked eagerly as she let Athena into her house. She had been bitterly disappointed that the hearing was held during her shift at the hospital and she hadn't been able to get away.
"No neither of them came. Buck was awarded permanent custody of Jee-Yun," Athena told her friend, watching closely to see her reaction.
"What about Chim's rights, he's Jee's father," Hen protested.
"Then where is he? Where was he today when the judge allocated permanent custody to the only parental figure Jee actually remembers, and the only candidate for permanent custody that turned up to fight for Jee's rights. He hasn't been acting like Jee's father at all since his release from prison, he's only asked to see her once. Even if Buck had not accepted permanent custody the judge was ready to sever Howard Han's parental rights and put Jee-Yun up for adoption, how would that have been any better for anyone?" Athena asked.
"I'm not saying that Buck isn't a fantastic guardian but Chim should have been given a chance to give his opinion on the care of his daughter, why wasn't he he notified of the hearing," Hen said.
"He was! Buck made sure that both Maddie Buckley and Howard Han were served notification of the trial date six weeks in advance. He personally paid his lawyer to hunt them down and have them officially served the paperwork, and neither of them bothered to thank him or contacted CPS with the intention to request custody or to object to a permanent custodial decision being made. Neither Maddie nor Chimney were present in court today. Instead, Buck, Eddie, Albert and the Lees as well as Bobby and myself all agreed with the judge that Jee-Yun's best interest were served by awarding Buck permanent custody," Athena said bluntly.
"Chimney will probably be more upset about Maddie's parental rights being severed, and that he can't use Jee-Yun to bring Maddie home and the fact that it's Buck that replaced him than actually losing his rights to parent his kid," Karen said cynically.
"Yes, I was surprised not to see him in court if only for the off chance that Maddie would answer the summons," Athena agreed.
"Yes, that is unexpected," Karen agreed in surprise.
"He would have been there for Jee too. Are you sure he's not injured or unable to get here for some reason?" Hen asked panicking. She pulled out her phone and called him without waiting for an answer.
"Hi Hen, there's no news yet, but I'm sure that some of the people I've been talking to are in contact with her and they seem to be sympathetic so I think they'll tell Maddie I'm here, and she'll contact me," Chimney replied optimistically.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt or sick or anything?" Hen demanded.
"No why? Why would you think that I'm hurt?" Chimney asked confused.
"Because you weren't at the family court hearing for Jee," Hen said slowly as if she couldn't believe he hadn't even remembered that it was today. She gestured the others to be quiet and put him on speaker.
"That's not until next week, I hate to have to leave here when I was just making progress but I think that having Jee come back with me will help, if Maddie doesn't come to the hearing and get joint custody with me," Chimney replied.
"No Chim. The hearing was today, I'm calling because you missed it," Hen said.
"Did Maddie get custody of Jee back? Is she going to stay in LA or did she say where she was living?" Chimney asked eagerly.
"Maddie wasn't there, she didn't show up or contact the judge either," Hen said gently.
"But she knew about the hearing?" Chimney asked.
"She was served with the notice through the missing persons bureau," Hen confirmed.
"So who got custody of Jee-Yun?" Chimney asked.
Athena and Hen looked at each other in concern. "Buck did," Hen admitted.
"But I thought that the hearing was to find a more appropriate guardian," Chimney said.
"No, it was to formalise the process of returning guardianship to you or Maddie if that's what you wanted. The judge was happy with Jee-Yun's medical reports, the social worker's reports about the home studies and Jee-Yun's living situation with Buck and Eddie," Hen said carefully.
"So nothing has changed, it would have been a waste of time for me to come," Chim grumbled. He sounded annoyed.
"Buck was awarded permanent custody. It's going to be extremely difficult for you or Maddie to get custody of Jee since neither of you turned up to the hearing or contacted CPS to request a change of date, the judge didn't take it well," Hen replied vaguely.
"Maddie and I can deal with that when we're back together," Chimney replied confidently.
"The judge had the receipt Maddie signed for the paperwork about the custody hearing, she knew about it, If she wasn't there today I don't think she's planning on coming back at all," Hen said gently.
"I just have to find her and remind her that we're good together," Chimney insisted.
"Chimney, your parental rights were permanently severed. Buck has been granted permanent custody with the right to adopt Jee-Yun. The judge doesn't believe Maddie's going to come back," Hen said.
"He doesn't know Maddie like I do," Chimney argued.
"Chimney you haven't seen Maddie in more than two years, she will have changed in ways you cannot predict," Hen protested.
"She won't have changed that much," Chimney refuted.
"The Maddie Buckley I knew wouldn't have walked away from you or Buck, let alone your daughter for two years. You know that," Hen said sadly.
"That's the PPD," Chimney refuted.
"Not anymore it wouldn't be. There's no reason for her to still have PPD. She may have a clinical depression but Jee is nearly two and a half, even if she never sought treatment any hormonal imbalances should have resolved and Maddie hasn't had a child in her care for two years. Until the judge said she'd signed the receipt for the court papers we didn't even know if she were still alive," Hen reminded Chimney.
"Of course she would be depressed, she's lost custody of her daughter, her partner and her whole life, all her friends," Chimney said.
"They're not lost, they've all been here waiting for her to return the whole time, she gave them up," Hen reminded him.
"Why are you so insistent that Maddie isn't coming back?" Chimney demanded.
"Because you're giving up your life looking for her instead of building a new life for yourself and being part of your daughter's life," Hen said frustrated. "Maddie's leaving hurt you but you're only hurting yourself further by not accepting that she's gone. Come back and make a life for yourself. If Maddie comes back one day great it can be the icing on the cake but you've made it the entire cake and it shouldn't be. Even if Maddie does come back to Los Angeles it isn't going to magically fix everything else going on in your life. You need to do that so you've got something to offer Maddie to make her want to stay and try again."
"Jee doesn't need me, she's more Buck's daughter than mine now," Chimney said.
Hen had to admit that he was right. Jee was happy living with Buck and Eddie and if Chimney couldn't even bother showing up for her custody hearing and was still obsessed chasing after the ghost of Maddie Buckley instead of working on building a relationship with his daughter, then she was better off staying with Buck, who had been there for her every moment, doing his absolute best for her since she'd been given into his care.
"Buck used to be your friend. He was only doing what his sister had asked him to do. He genuinely has no more idea where Maddie is than you do. Isn't it time that you tried to forgive him for not telling you about a phone call that he knew didn't contain any more information than was in your video message?" Hen asked tiredly.
"How can he not have found her in all the extra time he had?" Chimney demanded.
"He was busy making sure his niece was well cared for, and respecting his sisters wishes, Buck believes that Maddie would run again if she was being pursued. He was afraid that if she found out he or you were searching for her it would make things worse," Hen said, hoping that Chimney was finally listening to reason.
"Do you think, that's what happened? That Maddie might have been in Boston and she found out I was heading here and left? Did Buck tell her I was coming here looking for her?" Chimney asked hesitantly.
Hen immediately wanted to agree to get Chim to come home and also to deny that Maddie would run from him.
"That depends on whether she was there in the first place and what sort of life she'd built for herself. Boston's a big place, you could both be there years without seeing each other if she's out in the suburbs, but Buck honestly has never believed she was in Boston," she replied.
"You're saying I should come back to LA? There's nothing there for me if Maddie isn't there," Chimney said.
"You should present yourself to your parole officer and hope the courts take your mental health into consideration when deciding the penalties for breaching your parole. Then you can put all that behind you and get on with living your life," Hen muttered.
The celebration Buck and Eddie had with the children was necessarily low key. Jee hadn't been aware of the court hearing or that she wasn't already going to stay with Buck, Eddie and Chris. They hadn't wanted to take away her sense of security unless it was absolutely necessary and thank goodness now it never would be.
Chris had been aware of the hearing and that Buck was stressed about what the outcome would be but they'd tried to downplay it with him so he hadn't realised how much was on the line.
So they celebrated with eating homemade icecream sundaes and watching Jee's favourite movie in a blanket fort in the living room, letting Chris and Jee sleep the night in there while Buck and Eddie snuck away for some more adult celebrating of their own.
By Athena's design, Buck and Eddie along with Chris and Jee were the last guests to arrive to the party. Athena had festooned the yard with "It's a Girl" bunting and balloons with a huge "Congratulations Daddy Buck" banner. There was cake and gifts for the new family, some toys and new clothing for Jee and a voucher for a professional family photo.
Nobody could have known that the party was put together on such short notice, everything was perfect, even the California weather, with a sunny day that wasn't too warm, and all the guests were eager to greet and congratulate the new family.
Everyone seemed delighted to celebrate Buck having permanent custody of his niece and Jee having a permanent home with Buck and Eddie. Even Hen had come around to see that staying with Buck and Eddie was the best possible outcome for Jee, short of Chimney and Maddie getting back together and both getting the therapy they needed to be a stable couple and good parents.
"Are you going to start encouraging Jee to call you Daddy?" Ravi asked, as he took his turn to hold the guest of honour before she demanded to be set down so she could play.
"No I'm kind of fond of Unkabuk, I'll wait until she decides that she wants to call me something else. Besides Jee's already starting to call Eddie 'Dad' or 'Daddy' some of the time, copying Chris," Buck said laughing.
He looked at Hen uneasily waiting for her to remind them all that Chimney was Jee's father but she just smiled and suggested. "I think that you look more like a 'Pops'."
Buck smiled, almost tearfully at the unexpected acceptance.
Their favourite present for their family came from Chimney, though Buck and Eddie both suspected his motives in sending it, in the end though, Buck was just so grateful to have a copy of the recording Maddie had made for Chimney and Jee before she left. Finally she had a way for Jee to see her mother talking to her, hear her mother's voice and hear how much Maddie cared about her wellbeing. They knew that the recording calling Jee precious, telling her Mommy loved her and asking Chimney to look after her wasn't going to be enough when weighed against the fact that her mother had left and chosen to have no contact with Jee or her caregivers for years. But at least it was a way for Jee to remember her mother and Buck to remember what Maddie sounded like.
Chimney had sent the recording with the message that Maddie had always meant him to share it with Jee and he'd been selfish keeping it from her. Buck suspected that the fact that Jee had hardly remembered Chimney at the start of their last supervised visitation that had made it easy for Chimney to leave her behind when he moved to Boston in the hope of meeting Maddie, and he didn't want Maddie to have that experience if she did return to Los Angeles and want to see her daughter. Or perhaps he was just hoping to be allowed unsupervised visitation next time he came back to Los Angeles or to guilt them into bringing Jee to visit them if he found Maddie.
Chimney was arrested for disturbing the peace at the hospital Maddie used to work at and for stalking one of the nurses who'd admitted to him that she and Maddie had been friends in the past. The police were seriously concerned by his insistence that the woman knew where his girlfriend was and needed to tell him, especially with the record of assault and battery perpetrated against the last person he'd erroneously decided knew the whereabouts of Maddie Buckley and referred him for psychiatric evaluation. He failed his psych exam and was committed to a maximum security psychiatric facility, where he stayed for several months and was successfully treated for depression and learned to hide his obsessive behaviours in the hope of being released.
He was then transferred to prison to serve the remainder of his original two year sentence for breaching parole, which infuriated him because it had totally slipped his mind that there would be penalties for running out on his parole conditions when he left to resume the search for Maddie.
While in prison he got involved in an escape attempt that caused a riot and the death of a prison guard and was transferred to a higher security facility and charged and convicted with felony manslaughter and sentenced to another 10 years for his part in planning the riot and escape even though he'd had nothing to do with attacking the guard.
Things settled down at the 118, Eddie and Buck eventually after much discussion adopted Jee-Yun at the same time that Buck adopted Chris making them a true legal forever family. Once Jee-Yun turned three they put their names back on the list of available foster parents for short term emergency care and fostered several sets of siblings for a week or two while their parents were in hospital, or in one case where one parent had been arrested until the other parent returned from where they were deployed on a naval ship. Chris and Jee-Yun managed the changes in their lifestyles and routines while they kids were with them but knowing they had a place to go prevented them from becoming overly attached, and being with their own siblings as well helped the foster children deal with being in temporary care.
Epilogue
Most of the firefighters rushed from the ladder truck to the showers, to wash off the chemicals from their recent rescue. Bobby frowned as he exited the ladder truck more slowly and saw the parcel sitting inside the pedestrian door to the station.
With some trepidation, remembering the parcel bombs left on doorsteps by Freddie before he blew up the ladder truck, he approached and when it seemed to have the legitimate tags on it, the name of the label was Evan Buckley, care of the 118 Fire station. Bobby checked the security cameras and identified the Amazon delivery guy he'd seen before, then picked it up and took upstairs to discuss it with Buck.
Jee would be four next week and he thought that Eddie and Buck had agreed no more extra presents. Buck and Bobby had promised Eddie that everything they'd ordered for her birthday had been delivered.
He supposed that it could have been books or something to make sure that Chris wouldn't feel neglected but the pink box put lie to that idea. Or perhaps some extravagant decoration for the party itself. It was odd that Buck had arranged to have a parcel delivered to the station without warning him, particularly when Eddie was still working there.
-o0o-
"There's a parcel for you Buck, I put it on your bunk," Bobby said quietly, in case it was something he didn't want Eddie to see. Unfortunately he'd forgotten Eddie had ears like a cat.
"I thought we agreed no more presents for Jee?" Eddie said quietly.
"We did." Buck said confused. "I haven't bought anything else. Certainly nothing to be delivered here."
"There was a box just inside the pedestrian door. I checked the security, it was delivered by Amazon," Bobby said.
"I'm not expecting a parcel," Buck said curiously.
He went into the bunk room to check it out, and stood there looking at it for a minute with tears in his eyes. It was a teaset, plastic but an almost perfect replica of a teaset he remembered sitting on his sister's shelves in her room in Hershey. Treasured even after she'd grown out of playing with it.
"That looks like another present," Eddie said teasingly coming into the room.
"Buck, Querido, what's wrong?" Eddie asked anxiously as he saw Buck was crying.
"I think it's from Maddie," Buck whispered. "She had a tea set that looked a lot like this one, except hers was china. She really loved it, kept it out on display until she left for college. That's not something anyone else would know, is it?"
"Well I'd assume your parents would know," Eddie said gently.
"I haven't spoken to them since they told me off for not telling them Maddie left LA. They still don't know that I have custody of Jee. If they sent it, they'd send it to Maddie," Buck replied.
Eddie didn't bring up the possibility of Maddie having told someone about the tea set she'd had as a child. The only person she'd be likely to have told was Chimney and he wouldn't have remembered a detail like that after all this time.
"Is there a message?" Eddie asked.
"No just the packing slip. She must have ordered it online. I'll take it home and wash it all just in case," Buck said not opening the pox further.
"You cannot think that Maddie would send something that would hurt Jee?" Eddie exclaimed.
"No but I don't know that she sent it. I want to believe she did but I haven't heard from her since the New Year after she went missing when I told her about Chimney being in prison. I have to admit that I don't know her at all anymore," Buck said sadly. "Maddie's teaset was still on the shelf in her room last time I was there."
Eddie nodded. There was the possibility that Chimney had visited the Buckleys in his search for Maddie and seen the tea set. The thought of the man organising to send his daughter a gift shouldn't have been so surprising or disturbing as he found it, but if he did send anything it would be something connected with Maddie. Perhaps he believed Maddie was in contact with Jee and would see the tea set.
It would be more believable that Margaret or Phillip Buckley had come across the replica tea set and sent it to the 118 as their only contact associated with either of their children.
"Let's not say anything about our suspicions on who might have sent the tea set," Eddie said.
Buck frowned, more thoughtfully than upset. "Okay, but why? Surely you don't still believe that Hen would get in contact with Chimney and tell him? Or do you think that she's lying when she said she's not keeping in contact?"
"No, I'm sure she wouldn't tell him. His second arrest and being held in a psychiatric facility finally convinced her that his obsession with Maddie was extremely unhealthy. But I think that there's a small part of her that would feel guilty in not telling him. That part that so desperately wanted to believe that her best friend was a good man for so long. She's trying to put him behind her and I wouldn't want to bring up all those feelings again," Eddie explained.
"I wouldn't want to worry Bobby and Athena either. We'll wash it very carefully to make sure that it's safe, but it should be. This is the packaging Amazon would have sent it in and it didn't look like it had been opened and resealed," Buck agreed.
"Would you even be able to tell after you tore it open?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah I opened it with my knife. I knew I hadn't ordered it," Buck replied.
-o0o-
Buck and Eddie gave Jee the tea set several days before her birthday so they could get some photos of her playing with it without the other new toys competing for her attention. She loved it and Buck Chris and Eddie indulged her in playing tea party, drinking water out of the tiny cups. Buck had even made tiny cookies and a miniature cake for them to eat. Buck picked the happiest looking ones and on the morning of Jee's birthday he posted them on his Instagram.
-o0o-
Maddie smiled as she saw the pictures of Jee playing with the tea set she'd bought her, followed by the birthday party with her preschool friends and then the Firefam the following day. Buck was doing a wonderful job of raising the little girl to be happy and confident, there was none of the hidden sadness that had been present in both her brother's photos at that age. She was glowing with health too, no sign of the illness that had stolen her brother Daniel from her.
Maddie was pleased that Buck had accepted the tea set for his daughter, she wondered if he knew she'd been the one to send it. It wouldn't surprise her if he remembered the tea set Daniel had chosen for her birthday the year before he'd become too ill for mundane things like going shopping. Would he see it as a sign of support for his bringing up Jee, or would it make him worry that she was working her way towards coming back and suing for custody of Jee. She would never do that. Jee was clearly better off with Buck and Eddie who could love her unconditionally and ungrudgingly.
There was no sign or mention of Chimney in any of Buck's posts for years now. Even Karen and Hen's Instagram didn't include any photos or mention of the former paramedic. Maddie wondered what had happened to him. Had he left Los Angeles to make a fresh start somewhere else. Was he in Boston, still hoping to find her there somehow. She hoped that he wasn't travelling from place to place looking for her. She felt safe where she was living. She was fairly sure he wouldn't think to look for her where she was and she'd been careful not to leave an electronic trail.
-o0o-
Eddie, Chris and Jee-Yun looked at Buck as he hung up the phone. "Are we getting a child?" Eddie asked.
"How many kids? How old are they and how long are they staying?" Chris asked casually. Only Eddie knew that he and Buck had also put their names down to accept a potential permanent placement.
"They want us to take a toddler, there were complications and his mother died in childbirth his grandmother just had a stroke and his grandfather can't take care of both of them. They want to still be allowed to remain in touch and to visit, but it would be a permanent placement," Buck said.
"I don't have a problem with that if they're decent people and don't have a problem with us," Eddie said quietly.
"He hasn't been diagnosed but CPS are worried that he's not meeting his developmental milestones physically, they want us to meet him before we accept," Buck said.
"That's fine, I'd want to meet him and the grandparents too if this is to be long term," Eddie agreed. "Where?"
"At the CPS offices downtown at ten o'clock, then if it goes well we could meet up again tomorrow at the zoo so the kids could meet before we make a decision," Buck said.
"What's his name?" Jee-Yun asked.
"Daiki Javier Ramirez, he's half Mexican and half Japanese. He's currently speaking mostly Mexican to his grandparents.
Eddie laughed. "Sounds like he'd fit right in."
The End
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, commented positively, followed, bookmarked or favourited or gave Kudos to this story for your support.