Every Breath You Take (I'll be watching you…)
Summary: Buddie fic. Mysterious gifts start appearing at the firehouse for Buck from a secret admirer, but as the gifts get progressively more sinister and the 118 grow increasingly worried, they must uncover the mystery before someone close to them gets seriously hurt, or worse. Protective!Eddie. Established Buddie relationship. Follows on from Turning Point but can be read as a standalone.
Disclaimer: I do not own 9-1-1 or anything associated with the show.
Author Notes: None at the moment. Thank you!
Trigger warning: Mentions of substance abuse/addiction.
Set after season 6.
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Chapter 3
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The firehouse was unusually still when Buck and Eddie arrived shortly before eight o'clock. They shared a look but shrugged it off, heading to get ready for the day as they continued their conversation.
"She said the table is booked for seven," Buck said, pulling his plain white shirt off and gently tossing it into the locker before grabbing his work shirt. It was a little tighter than some of his others, but Buck enjoyed catching Eddie looking him over from the corner of his eye whenever he was wearing it and enjoyed the way Eddie would awkwardly shift and clear his throat whenever he was caught.
"Seven?" Eddie asked, without looking Buck's way, his head still in his locker as he searched it. "Maddie does realise we might not even get finished until six, right?"
Finishing up getting dressed, Buck closed his locker and leaned against it, watching Eddie as he buckled his belt. "She said there's less chance of us getting distracted if we go straight from work, and since Carla will already have Chris, we'll have no excuses."
"Distracted?" Eddie scoffed, raising an eyebrow and looking to Buck.
But Buck was barely paying attention, his gaze focused much lower than Eddie's face. It took him another moment to catch onto the fact that Eddie had spoken and he shook his head, attempting to clear away the dirty thoughts that had entered it. Blinking, he met Eddie's gaze. "Huh?"
Eddie smirked and shook his head, but said nothing and Buck was beginning to see that maybe Maddie had a point.
She had called him that morning to set up a 'double date', as she called it, because he and Eddie had missed their get togethers on the last two Saturdays and she wanted to see her little brother. Apparently, the table was already booked for that evening, all they needed to do was show up. She had them trapped and she knew it.
Buck was still smiling as he climbed the stairs to the loft two at a time and caught site of everyone crowded around the table closest to the kitchen area. Everyone, it seemed, also included a plain clothed Athena. He frowned a little, tilting his head as he got closer.
"Hey, Athena, what are you doing here?" he questioned, confused but no less happy to see her.
Everyone's attention snapped to him, their faces a mixture of emotions that Buck couldn't quite read. Bobby was the closest and stepped forward, blocking his view of the table but not enough that he didn't see the small red box sitting there.
"Buck," Bobby said, in that calm and commanding voice he often had when dealing with something serious, "I need you to head downstairs to my office, okay?"
But Buck didn't move, the smile falling from his face as he tried to twist around so he could see what everyone was looking at, but Bobby shifted, making it impossible for Buck to see. "What's going on?"
"Eddie," Bobby said instead, placing one hand on Buck as he tried to redirect him to the stairs as he used the other to beckon Eddie forward, "take him to my office."
"Sure thing, Cap," Eddie responded, confusion clear in his tone. Though his movements were slow and unsure, he gripped Buck's upper arm lightly and tugged him along until Buck's feet were moving willingly down the stairs and toward Bobby's office.
They were silent at first, as Eddie leaned against the front of Bobby's desk, his arms folded over his chest and his brow furrowed deep, and Buck paced back and forth across the floor. He could feel the nervous energy running through him, tensing his muscles up as his mind raced.
The red box. It was the same kind that had been showing up for him over the last couple of weeks. The same one the cupcake had come in, and the red string. It was weird and it was creepy, but that was it. Why wouldn't they let him see?
"Buck, sit," Eddie said finally, lifting his gaze to meet Buck's eyes.
Buck swallowed hard but obeyed, his gaze never leaving Eddie's as he spoke. "What was that up there?"
"I don't know." A careful and measured response from someone who was trying to remain composed.
"And why is Athena here?"
"I don't know."
"They're hiding something."
"Buck…" Eddie breathed out, closing his eyes, his jaw tense, and Buck realised that Eddie was just as frustrated as he was. He was just better at hiding it.
Buck took a breath and looked down at the floor, trying to get his thoughts in order. But no matter how much he tried, he kept seeing that small red box.
"We should…" he started, making a move to push up from the chair, but the door opened, silencing him, and Athena and Bobby entered the room.
Bobby's face was solemn, the tick in his jaw and slight crease in his brow giving away his worry, but Athena was unreadable. In fact, if anything, she was the picture of cool and calm and very much collected, none of the things that Buck felt in that moment.
"Bobby tells me you've got yourself a bit of a secret admirer," she said, moving closer to Buck.
Buck couldn't help but feel small under her gaze, his eyes flicking from her to Bobby and the closed door behind him. "What's going on?"
"Buck, Eddie," Bobby said, firm as he looked between them. "I want you both to stay calm."
"Did I do something wrong?" Anxiety gripped Buck as he tried to think back, twisting in the chair so he was facing Bobby and Athena. Sure, there were stricter rules in place over gifts left from the general public, but surely nothing that would warrant Athena to be there. "I swear, I didn't eat anything."
Athena raised an eyebrow at Bobby and Bobby let go of a small breath. "He means the cupcake."
"Oh, yes," Athena said. "The first gift from your secret admirer."
"I didn't-"
"Relax, Buck," Eddie said, and there was a tightness in his voice that suggested he had already figured out what was going on and Buck really wished someone would fill him in. "They don't think you ate anything."
"Listen, Buck," Athena continued. "Bobby called me down here because your admirer left another gift and this one wasn't as nice as a cupcake. I've got some detectives up there now looking it over and they'll no doubt have some questions for you."
"You haven't done anything wrong," Bobby assured him, with a gentle nod. "I just need you both to remain calm." And though he said both, he looked toward Eddie in particular.
"What was in the box?" Buck asked, taking note of the look Bobby and Athena shared, but before either of them could answer, there was a gentle knock at the door.
Bobby opened it up to allow a familiar looking detective to enter, a small clear bag in his hand. There was a tight smile on his face, no doubt an attempt to look friendly, as he moved further into the room until he was beside Athena.
"Evan Buckley?" he questioned, looking Buck up and down.
"Buck," both Athena and Bobby corrected.
"Buck," the detective repeated, with a slight apologetic nod. "I'm Detective Romero."
Buck could only nod, his eyes drawn to the clear bag and the hint of gold he could see through the Detective's grip.
"Before I ask you anything, I just wanted you to have a look at this. Let me know if you recognise it at all."
The detective passed the bag over and Buck could see now that it was an evidence bag. He gripped it loosely and looked down at the gold ring inside, clearly large enough for a man, an engraving of a skull just over a half inch in diameter on the top of it. But it wasn't the pattern or design that drew Buck's attention or had him silenced. It was the recognisable tinge of red that sat smudged inside the bag, tainting the gold in certain places. He turned the bag over and shook his head slowly before holding the bag out for the detective to take back.
But it wasn't Romero that grabbed the bag. Instead, it was Athena, her eyes narrowing as she looked down at the ring.
"I think I might," she said, before passing the bag back to Romero. "You should run the prints to doublecheck."
"You have prints for whoever left the box?" Buck asked quietly, barely lifting his gaze from the floor as the thoughts began to come together. He already knew the answer to the question, or rather, feared the answer.
"Not exactly…" Athena answered, careful and solemn.
"What was in the box?" Buck asked again, attempting to swallow that sickening worry that was building up inside of him.
"Nothing you need to worry yourself about yet."
Buck's jaw tightened and he raised his gaze to meet hers. "Athena…"
"It was a finger, Buck," Bobby finally relented. "We didn't want you to have to see it."
"We deal with stuff like that every day," Buck answered, numb and controlled.
"And out there, in the field, we can pack it away. But when it's aimed at you, when someone brings it into our home… it hits different."
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Once Romero was finished with questioning Buck, Athena escorted him out and Bobby stayed behind long enough to tell Eddie and Buck to take all the time they needed. Eddie wasn't sure there was enough time to spare in the day for that. Buck had shrank further and further into himself with each passing question until Eddie hadn't been able to take it anymore and had snapped at the detective. Athena had shot him a warning glare, her message clear. They were allowing him to be there to support Buck, but another outburst and he was out.
Now they were alone once more, Eddie pushed forward and moved to kneel in front of Buck, attempting to catch his gaze. But Buck's mind was elsewhere and Eddie cupped the side of his face gently and forced Buck to look his way. He offered up a small smile once those blue eyes met his finally and placed his other hand on Buck's knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"We should get back to work," Buck said, his throat working and his hand bouncing loosely against the arm of the chair as he looked over his shoulder at the door. "The err… we need to check the… we need to check the engines and clean them. And we should help Hen with the decorations. Halloween is next week-"
"Buck," Eddie breathed out, interrupting him and attempting to ground him.
"It was a finger, Eddie," Buck answered, and Eddie hated how lost Buck looked in that moment, hated that all he could do was be there when what he wanted to do was take it all away.
"I know."
It was another half hour before they finally emerged from Bobby's office. The same silence from earlier still hung in the air of the firehouse, a tension that suggested a single breath would cause the whole building to shatter. This time when they climbed the stairs to the loft, Eddie went first, and they took their time, Buck hesitating a moment on the very last step.
Bobby was the first to acknowledge them, rising from his seat as they approached, and Hen fussed, taking on her usual role of caring big sister. She stood and pulled out a seat, guiding Buck into it and fetching him a cup of coffee, whilst Chimney, he attempted to break the tension with a bad joke that earned him a small smile from the corner of Buck's mouth and a very pointed glare from both Hen and Bobby.
It did the job though, getting them all talking again, even if they all danced around the topic of the secret admirer. The only one to even slightly acknowledge it was Bobby as he told Buck that if he needed to take the day off, he would understand. But Buck shook his head. He lied, saying he was fine, he just wanted to work, and Bobby didn't argue.
It wasn't brought up again until late afternoon, when Athena returned to the firehouse, but this time in full uniform. She was waiting for them in the loft when they got back from their latest call.
"Athena," Bobby greeted, giving her a small hug and kiss. He pulled a chair out for her but she shook her head.
"Unfortunately, I can't stay long," she answered, "I just wanted to deliver the news in person."
"News?" Eddie questioned, choosing to stand beside the chair Buck had claimed.
"We identified the victim." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "Fredrick Galloway. The man you would have taken a swing at the other day if I hadn't stepped in," she added, looking to Eddie.
"The drunk guy from the call. The er, fire at the club," Buck said, putting it together and bringing his hand up to his jaw.
"As his arresting officer, I recognised the ring…" Athena explained. "And his fingerprint was a match."
"He's dead, isn't he?" Buck asked.
"Honestly, we don't know." Athena offered up a small shrug, spreading her hands out in front of her. "Detective Romero is currently trying to track him down."
"But you haven't found him yet…"
"Buck," Bobby warned, but there was no anger there, just worry, "don't go down this road. It's still too soon to know anything."
"We know it's his finger," Buck answered, "and the only reason for that is because I made him a target."
"You didn't make anyone a target," Eddie all but growled, anger bubbling up inside of him, at the situation, at whoever was doing this.
"But I did… It was me he punched, and because of that, whoever this random sicko is went after him."
"It's not your fault."
"Really?" Buck snorted. "Because it certainly doesn't feel that way. Someone went after the guy because of me. He's dead, because of me."
"We don't know that," Bobby argued. "We've seen countless people lose their fingers and live to tell the tale."
"In accidents, yes." Buck shook his head and looked down at his hands. "Except that's not what this was. This isn't a random machine accident where some guy lost his finger to a Happy Meal. Someone deliberately took the time to cut it off and send it to me. Who would do that?"
Athena's sigh was audible and she looked to Bobby. "Why didn't you tell me about any of this until today?"
"It was weird, yes," Bobby answered, "but I thought that would be it. I never thought that whatever this is would go this far."
Chimney, who had been surprisingly quiet until now, suddenly breathed in sharply, his eyes widening as he looked between everyone. "I know who it is. It's the guy! That guy… Shawn, Shawn Harris."
"And who is Shawn Harris?" Athena narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, listening intently and soaking it all up.
"He went to high school with Buck," Eddie answered before pursing his lips and shaking his head, "but that doesn't make any sense. Buck said he was obsessed with Maddie."
"Except I spoke to her," Chimney continued, "and she told me it was never about her. Buck was the one he was obsessed with. She said he moved away before anything could actually happen."
"No," Buck scoffed, leaning back in the chair. "I remember, he would ask me about Maddie all the time. He'd always check and ask if she was picking me up. It was like he always wanted to know where she was."
"Oh, Buck," Hen breathed out, sympathy lining those words.
"What?"
"Something tells me he was trying to see when he would get you alone."
"And he was there," Chimney added, looking to Bobby and then Athena. "At the club. I swear it was him. He must have seen Buck get punched and decided to get payback."
Athena nodded. "I'll look into him, see what I can find, and in the meantime-"
"Nobody hurt Buck," Chimney added with a smile, interrupting her.
Athena closed her eyes and pushed out a breath, like a mother trying to remind herself that she loved her children.
"Stay. Safe." She pushed out, emphasising each word.
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A/N: Much more to come...