Hooray! I finally finished my first '9-1-1' fanfic!
I had a lot of ideas for shorter one and longer ones, but I picked this one because I figured it'd be kind of in the middle, and I was right. Plus, Buck getting struck by lightning mid season 6 was probably the biggest nail bitter in the series for me (besides the tsunami. Duh).
I've been focused lately on writing and posting new stories for fandoms I don't have anything post for yet. I didn't have anything for '9-1-1: Lone Star' for some time, despite being a big fan for a while, so I wrote not just 1, but 2 fanfics for that. And original '9-1-1' was next on my list.
When Eddie got home, he was still in a haze. If he didn't know the route by heart, he mostly likely would have driven himself elsewhere—like the firehouse or Buck's apartment building.
He hadn't wanted to leave the hospital but Bobby had insisted. Well, it was more like a cross between a helpful nudge from a friend and an order from his Captain. Either or, he knew to listen. There was nothing he could do for now, he was exhausted, and there were two people at his house that needed to be told what had happened to their dear friend.
Bobby had ended their shift early. It was standard that when something happened to one of them in the field. But it was mostly so they could all be there for Buck while he was 'incapacitated.'
Eddie huffed to himself. Incapacitated? He knew what was wrong with Buck.
He just didn't want to think about it, let alone say it out loud. But if he couldn't, even to himself, how was he expected to tell Carla or his son?
Christopher should be in bed, fast asleep at this time, and Carla was there for him on the night shift.
Finally, Eddie forced himself to get out of his truck, walk to the door, and open it with his key. When it was open, Carla was standing right there with a concerned look on her face.
"Eddie?" she asked as he stepped inside.
"Hey Carla," he replied, trying to smile as he closed the door behind him.
"What are you doing home?" Eddie faced her but couldn't meet her eyes. She recognized that look. His gaze stayed down, off to the side, eyes misty, and he was sniffling a lot like he was trying to choke down sobs. "Did something happen?" she asked, although she was sure that something had.
It was more of a question of what then if.
Eddie hesitated for a second, still trying to keep himself together. Carla just stood there and patiently waited. "It's…it's Buck," he finally said.
From there, Eddie told Carla what had happened as calmly and quietly as he could, mostly to make sure he didn't wake up his son. Although, he was sort of treating it like a practice run for himself, to see if he could explain it so when he told Christopher in the morning, he wasn't going to break down.
Christopher was likely going to be very upset, so he needed to be strong for him. Especially for this.
After many reassurances that their friend would be alright, Carla insisted that Eddie take a shower and then try to get some sleep. While Eddie agreed to the shower, he wasn't certain he'd be able to sleep much.
As the water of the shower trickled over his body, it reminded him of the rain coming down on him earlier when they were on that call and he saw Buck dangling from the top of the ladder—only it was warmer and he was naked.
He had hustled up that ladder as fast as he could. He tried to pull him up but he wasn't strong enough. He could, however, lower him down to Bobby and the others waiting with the ambulance down below. He remembered rushing back down and pushing Bobby away so he could work on Buck, but he had told him to drive the ambulance.
As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Eddie ran to the back to take over doing chest compressions from Chimney. They shocked him, and made sure that he at least had a pulse before letting the doctors take him. They promised to do their best.
"Do more!" That's what he had yelled to them as they wheeled him away.
That was exactly what he wished he could have done for Buck.
More.
After getting out of the shower, there was a hot mug of tea waiting for him on the coffee table. Carla knew Eddie wasn't going to go to bed, but she wasn't going to feed him caffeine to help him stay awake either. If they were lucky, he'd just doze off on the couch two or three times before the sun came up.
The next time Eddie woke up, Carla was already in the kitchen starting breakfast. Eddie came in to grab everything to set the table for three.
"When are you going to tell him?" she asked, standing at the stove, making French toast.
"After we eat. I think I can keep it together until then," Eddie replied as he grabbed plates and forks. He was mostly afraid that if he told him before, he wouldn't be so hungry afterwards and Christopher was a growing boy.
After the table was set, Eddie sat there with a cup of coffee. Just as Carla was finishing cooking, Christopher came out of his room.
"Dad?" he said, surprised to see his dad home already.
Eddie got up from the table and went up to hug his son.
"Morning buddy," he mumbled into his pajama-clad shoulder as he held him a bit tighter than usual.
"What are you doing home?" He knew his dad's schedule. He always told him when his shifts started and when they were over before going to work. He wasn't supposed to be home until later that afternoon.
Eddie plastered on a smile before pulling away. "What? And miss Carla's French toast? You must want it all for yourself," he joked.
This made Christopher laugh, which comforted Eddie. They went over to the table together just as Carla came out with the French toast.
The conversation while they ate was light. Eddie barely said a word and let Carla talk when Christopher wasn't. She was sad and worried too, but she knew Eddie's depth of hurt was different.
He had seen it happen. He had checked his best friend over, felt no pulse, and then had to give him chest compressions just to keep him alive.
It was traumatizing. He was still shell-shocked and she understood that.
Besides, the less he talked, the less likely he'd break down and spill the beans before Christopher finished his plate.
When they were all done, Carla insisted on clearing the table. Then she gestured to Eddie.
Eddie took a deep breath before standing up, then hoisted his son up and carried him to the couch.
When they were both comfortably seated side by side, Eddie took another deep breath.
"Christopher-"
"Something happened, didn't it?" Christopher said. Eddie stared at him, a bit surprised. "I knew something was weird. You being home early, you were quiet at breakfast, the sad look in your eyes, and now you're sitting me down to talk," the young boy listed off.
Either someone was hurt…or worse. A family member or someone from the 118—same difference.
He would have asked about it sooner but he figured his dad was waiting for a better time. But if he had had to wait too long, he was going to just ask.
Eddie chuckled. "Nothing escapes you, buddy." Sometimes he forgot how smart his kid actually was.
They were both silent for a few seconds until Christopher decide to finally ask. "Dad. What's wrong?"
Eddie tried to keep a straight face, he really did. But his lips kept pulling themselves downward and his eyes wouldn't stop burning. His throat hurt from repressing sobs.
The former army medic sniffled and cleared his throat.
"Um…well, Christopher…" he paused again as he finally met his son's curious and concerned gaze. "You know how we've been getting lightning storms?" he asked. He didn't think he could just say it and get right to the point, so he decided to start at the beginning.
"Yeah," Christopher nodded.
"Well…last night, it was storming. It was raining but we had thought that the lightning had let up, so while we were responding to a fire…we thought it was okay to run a hose line up the ladder."
"Ladders are made of metal. At high elevations, they can become the perfect conductor for electricity."
Eddie grinned at hearing his kid dropping such knowledge. "That-that's right, Christopher."
That being said, Christopher had a pretty fair guess how someone had gotten hurt. He just didn't know who.
He didn't want it to, but a rising feeling in the young boy's gut was already giving him an answer to that.
"Dad. Who ran the hose up the ladder?" he asked. "Was it Buck?" He needed to know, even if it was the last thing he wanted to.
A stray tear escaped Eddie's eye. He quicky wiped it away and answered his son, no matter how painful it was to get the words out.
"Yes, Christopher. It was Buck."
There was silence between the two of them again. Eddie watched Christopher for his reaction as he processed the information. His gaze was down at his feet hanging off the couch, his hands were gripping at his pajama shirt so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
"Is he okay?" Christopher finally asked.
"Um…we-we got him down safely, and then we brought him to the hospital. The doctors are taking really good care of him," Eddie quickly told him.
"So he's alive?" Christopher said, a bit choked up this time.
"Yeah, buddy. He's in a coma with a machine helping him breath, but he is alive," Eddie smiled a bit, happy to at least reassure him that Buck was still with them.
"Can I go see him?" he pleaded. If Buck was alive and recovering in the hospital, he wanted to go see him for himself.
"Not yet. You have school," Eddie reminded him.
"What about after school?"
"Kids aren't allowed in the ICU, remember?" He knew Christopher knew that because he had told him a lot about basic medical and hospital protocols before.
"So? I want to see him. I need to see him, dad!" Christopher said a bit louder, upset that he was being told that he couldn't visit his godfather/best friend who was barely clinging to life.
As more tears fell from Christopher's eyes, Eddie's heart broke more. He knew that as soon as he told his son, he was going to want to visit him and he wasn't going to like being told that he couldn't.
Eddie grabbed his son and pulled him into a hug tighter than even.
"I'm sorry, buddy," he said as he listened to his son cry the sobs he wished he could let out. "I know you're worried about him. I am too."
Christopher was a little late to school that morning, but after Eddie explained the situation, they understood. After dropping Christopher off, Eddie headed straight for the hospital.
Any time he wasn't with his son, that's where he was going to be.
I used the scene from 4x14 when Buck had to tell Christopher that Eddie was shot as a reference while writing this scene. It's sweet but also a big tearjerker.