Buck was quietly chatting with Noah as he cooked. His phone buzzed in his pocket. As he took it out he realized that someone was calling him, it was an unknown number in his phone, and he had noway of knowing if it was someone he knew as he never memorized phone numbers. He turned to Noah.

"Hey, can you watch this for me? Make sure to stir occasionally."

Noah shot Buck a thumbs up. Buck smiled as he stepped away from the stove. He picked up the phone and set it between his head and shoulder blade as he washed his hands in the washroom sink.

"Go for buck!" He hummed.

"Hey Buck! Its Eddie. I was wondering if you wanted to come over, Chris has really been missing you."

Bucks hand surged to his phone, ignoring the towel and his half-dried hands. He straightened his head and his nose scrunched up. He realized he was quiet for a little to long when Eddie spoke up.

"Buck..?"

"Yea, yea! Sorry— I got distracted... But, um... I'm busy, I can't really hang out... anytime soon. I mean, tell Chris I'm sorry of course but..."

Buck couldn't tell if he was rambling, but he decided to stop talking just in case. The other line was quiet for a few awkward seconds.

"Buck, you said you would be there no matter what."

Although buck could hear some underlying sadness in the other mans voice, it was mostly rageful, no matter how Eddie tried to come off. Buck couldn't help but scoff.

"Yea, yea. At one point I meant it, but things have happened as of recent."

"Like what!? What has made you and INSUFFERABLE ASHOLE."

Buck could tell Eddie purposefully over pronounced those last two words to get a reaction. He had only realized since he started working with the new team that Eddie— actually most of the old "firefam", as they called it— had been emotionally manipulating Buck from day one. And god, had it worked. When he joined the 118 he was still raw from losing his last team, and he was so willing to belive that someone wanted him to be in their fucked up family.

And at one point, Buck was willing to belive it. But not anymore. Buck was done. Buck was over it. And he was ready to show other people who he really was. He was not afraid of rejection anymore.

Buck flipped a switch that he hadn't had to flip for a long time, it was time to set a boundary.

"Eddie, I was willing to talk to you about a time in which I was free, but I'm afraid that position has closed. You do not have the right to talk to me like that. This conversation is over."

There was silence on the other line. Buck hung up before yelling could ensue. He drug his hands down his face and took a deep breath, shifting out of that mindset. He thought he was going to be silently raging for the rest of the day.

He left the bathroom and walked back into the kitched. The rest of the mindset and his silent anger slip away. He started cracking up when he spotted Noah full on staring dead-eyed at the pot.

"What! You told me to watch it!" Noah himself started laughing.

"Not that close you dumbfuck!" Buck walked over and elbowed Noah in the side. "I wish I had gotten a picture of that."

Noah wiped his eyes, "Go look at the security cam footage Cap."

"I mean... I would, but the camera angle is just plain bad!" Buck joked.

Noah snorted, causing Buck to once again elbow the other.

After a few minutes they finished cooking, and suprisingly they ate without any inturuption. Buck exused himself to go sit in his office and do paperwork. He had only just sat down when he got a text from an unknown number. The text read;

"Congrats on being the acting captain while I'm gone. You'll have to introduce me and the team to the floaters when we get back."

Buck had no clue who this could be. He double checked that this was an unknown number, and it was. He racked his brain trying to figure it out. Thats when he looked at the text again. He sighed when he realized it was Bobby. In hindsight Buck probably should not have deleted their contacts from his phone, their being the old 118, but it was too late to turn back now. Although, in his defense it had been two months.

Buck rolled his eyes and didn't respond as he got back to paperwork. It was about thirty minutes later when the alarm went off.

The team suited up and Buck hopped in the captain seat of the rig.

"Alright everyone, we're being instructed to help clear a three mile stretch of highway for a plane that can't make it to LAX."

There were various sounds of agreements and "okays." When they turned onto the highway they saw cars being funneled out by various other firehouses. They parked their rig at an exit and started clearing the highway. By the time the highway was cleared they could see the smoking plane in the distance. It touched down and halted when firefighting teams went to work evacuating passengers, flight attendants, and then Pilots.

Soon enough everyone was leaving, either back to their firehouses or to the hospital with passengers. The 118 was a lucky bunch who was patient free. On the way back everyone was chatting about how different that was, and how LA was different from the past fire departments they worked at. Buck enjoyed listening to the conversation but sadly after they all cleaned up Buck had to pull away to his office to finish up his paperwork.

After about an hour Buck was almost finished when he got a call. This time though he recognized the caller ID, it was someone he knew well, It was his cousin. He picked up the phone and placed it on speaker before setting it back down on his desk.

"Hey Owen, nice to talk to ya!"

"Yea! It's been a while. I don't think we've talked in forever," The familiar New Yorker answered.

"We haven't, not in a while at least."

"I heard you pulled a me down there."

"... The minefield?"

"Yea!"

"I did take a little inspiration," Buck joked.

The two chatted for a while before eventually saying their goodbyes. Buck finished up his paperwork and went to talk with his team. Thirty minutes later their shift ended.

Note: Im back with another chapter!!! So sorry it took me so long! I enjoy writing these stories but I constantly get sidetracked lol.