Buck´s POV,
The next morning Lizzie seemed to have just as much energy as she´d had the day before. It reminded Buck of the woman she had been before she had gotten sick, not that her energy now was anywhere close to before, but it was the closest to it then he had seen since.
"When do you think they´ll be here?" Lizzie asked as Buck sat behind her and braided her hair.
He had barely opened his eyes when she had asked him if he could help her braid her hair and help her apply some light makeup to her face. Buck had agreed immediately without even second guessing it. She hadn´t done her makeup in months due to how tired she always was, and besides the day before, her hair had been in a low ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way or irritate anything, so her asking him to help her was a big and happy surprise for him.
"Maddie said that she and Chim would be here right after they got Jee situated with Albert." He told her with a smile.
"which was over an hour and a half ago." She pouted playfully.
He chuckled "they will be here any minute now."
"What about Bobby and Athena?" she asked.
"Not sure, but I can text May and ask if you want?" he asked, while trying to control his rapidly beating heart that was feeling like it was trying to beat out of his chest at the thought of the two people he saw as parents showing up.
"That actually reminds me. Hen texted me while you were in the shower with the nurse. She asked when we would like to see her and Karen?"
"Please tell me…" Lizzie said while twisting slightly to look at him, she tool a deep breath before she continued "that you told her she could come today?"
He nodded as a response and kissed her "of course I did."
"Good." She kissed him again and took a breath "I cant wait to hear all the stories they have on you." she whispered against his lips.
He bit back a groan, remembering all the ammunition they all had on him, luckily, she already knew most of the stories because of Charlotte and Maddie, but if he knew his wife, she would make sure to get every embarrassing story she hadn't been told about out of them.
She turned back around, and he finished the braid "i can´t wait to tell them the story…. Of how we met" she said.
He groaned, thinking fondly back on that day and the minor concussion and sprained ankle he had given himself when he had tripped over anything on sight, including his own two feet.
He tugged lightly on her braid, and she turned her head to look at him with a mischievous smile on her lips that just made him groan again.
"I may need to rethink this whole introduction and meeting everyone thing." He joked against her lips and kissed her, she swatted at him playfully, he chuckled against her lips and was about to say something further when she shut him up by pressing her lips to his.
He heard the door open, he figured it had to be Maddie and Chim arriving so didn't remove his gaze from his wife, he was about to say that they had company when she kissed him again.
"Well that´s definitely a way to shut him up." he heard from the doorway, Lizzie started giggling as he looked up at the door where Athena was standing next to a smiling Maddie.
Maddie shook her head and moved further into the room to let Chimney, May, Karen, and Hen and bringing up the rear was Bobby, who was carrying several bags that looked and smelled a lot like food, in the door. He blinked several times at the amount of people suddenly looking at him.
The smell of the food suddenly hit him, and his mouth watered, it had been way too long since he´d had any of Bobby´s cooking, and despite everything that had happened between them all, he had missed his food and every memory they invoked.
Lizzie turned around to face everyone and leaned against his chest, she grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. He smiled at the silent support she was giving him and kissed the top of her head.
"Hi, you two" Maddie said with an amused smile.
"Hey Mads." Buck said.
"Uhm, Buck?" Chim asked and got his attention.
"Yeah Chim." He answered with an easy smile.
"The bag that you left at the station yesterday, I was meaning to ask you about it, Maddie also texted me about it, but I accidentally left it at the station. I promise I will get it for you, I just thought you should know." Chim said.
"It´s fine, whenever you get it back, give it to Athena and Bobby, it´s for them." He said.
"Okay then, now that´s out of the way. Bobby went a little overboard this morning with breakfast. I think there is enough food to feed an army." May announced as the man in question hurried over at the only table in the room that wasn't filled with gifts and flowers and busied himself with unloading the bags that he and Athena had brought with them.
Buck caught May´s gaze as she smirked at him "honestly though, I think mom, dad and David, all helped him in the making of all of this."
"Thank you" was all Buck was able to say, he was honestly speechless over it.
"Did you seriously make tacos and nachos for breakfast?" Karen asked in shock over at the many different types of food Bobby was placing on the table, Bobby smiled sheepishly and dropped his head to hide the blush that was forming on his cheeks, if Buck hadn´t been looking at the man, he wouldn't have noticed it.
"Hey! If you don't like tacos, I'm nacho type!" Lizzie said with a small breathless laugh.
Buck, May, and Maddie all groaned in response to the corny joke.
"What? That was funny!" Lizzie protested "come on!"
"So, you say." Buck said chuckling.
Lizzie swatted at him "I am so not…." She took a deep breath while grinning "the only one who thinks so."
Much to his horror, she was right, he looked around the room to find both Chimney and Karen grinning just as wide as his wife. He groaned and looked down at his wife who caught his eye, he rolled his eyes and leaned his head down to kiss her forehead.
Lizzie chuckled and sat a little more upright against his chest before looking around at everyone.
"Well, I am Elizabeth, but everyone calls me…. Lizzie as you probably already know…. And you." she paused and squeezed Buck´s hand while looking over at Chim and Karn "must be the famous Chimney and Karen, I've heard…. So much about."
Chimney nodded his head as he reached over and held his hand up for her to shake, which she happily did "Call me Chim. It´s so nice to meet, Lizzie." he said with a big smile.
Buck looked over at Karen again when he noticed she hadn´t introduced herself. He then noticed she was looking at him with tears in her eyes, he frowned and untangled himself from his wife, holding her steady as she sat crossed legged on the bed, she signaled that she was okay, so he went over to Karen.
"Hey." He whispered as he reached her,
"it is so good to see you, Buck." Karen whispered, before pulling her arms around him and hugged him tight.
"I realized I didn't get to do this yesterday when you came to the station." Hen said as she came over to them and hugged both him and Karen, "and I really should have."
He gently pulled back from the two women and smiled at Hen "To be fair, I probably wouldn't have let you" he admitted with a shrug.
"You look great Buck. Marriage and kids clearly suits you." Karen said with a teary eyed smile.
Lizzie chuckled "he looks like…. Death on a stick." She said and her, Maddie and May burst out laughing.
Buck chuckled at his wife and shook his head, out of the corner of his eye he saw Athena looking between him and Lizzie with a soft, fond smile on her face, a look he had only ever seen her give May and Harry whenever they did something she was proud of.
He turned to smile back at her, and then over at Bobby, who was wearing the same soft smile.
"My love…" Lizzie took a deep breath, while he turned around to smile at her "Why don't you go…... and get dressed while Maddie…. Introduces me to your parents?" she asked.
He whipped his head in Bobby and Athena´s direction in a panic of their reaction to the title. They were both staring at Buck with shock in their eyes, he swallowed heavily as he nodded his head to what his wife had said, he knew what came next now that his wife had most of the 118 in the room, he knew her plan was to start light, and then take the more serious talks with each of them.
He looked over at May, who smiled at him, she too knew what his wife wanted to do, and nodded to the unspoken question in his eyes, then he looked over at Maddie who did the same, much to his surprise when he looked over at Chimney and Hen, they did the same. They all his wife´s back if she needed it.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed at how quickly things were suddenly going, he went over and grabbed his clothes from his suitcase and then hurried into the bathroom. He passed Bobby on the way there, and the older man had put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him momentarily in his tracks and squeezed his shoulder.
"So, you must be Athena and Bobby." He heard his wife say, as he started the shower.
"Yes, we are. It is so nice to meet you." was Bobby´s response.
"It´s nice to finally meet my in-laws." Lizzie said as Buck stepped into the shower for what felt like the quickest shower of his entire life. Just above the spray, he could still hear the conversation outside the bathroom as he showered.
"Though I wish it was under better circumstances, it´s nice to meet you too Lizzie." Athena said.
"And you´re Hen, right?" his wife asked.
"Yes, but and I really don't mean this the wrong way at all, but how the hell did you know? You also knew who Karen and Chim were?" Hen said, sounding surprised.
"Buck has pictures… of everyone at our house." Lizzie said.
Buck cursed silently as he stepped out of the shower. He had expected her to bring up what had happened between them all, but he had not expected her to bring up the photos they had hanging on their family wall that was filled with various photos and memories of their lives.
And then it dawned on him exactly what it was his wife was doing.
She was making sure that they knew just how much Buck still cared about all of them, how important they still were to him, even after so many years.
It was so subtle it was downright devious what she was doing, he didn't think anyone would catch it, perhaps May and Maddie who knew Lizzie and maybe Athena who always seemed to know everything. But he was sure it would a little longer for Hen, Chim, Karen and Bobby to figure it out, and therefore taking it as his wife intended.
"Uh… what kind of pictures?" Hen asked just as he pulled on his boxers.
"There is our wedding portrait, our engagement photo…... the first sonogram for each of our kids, there is also of the kids and most of their milestones, then there is pictures of my parents, my brothers, and their families, our two nephews… Maddie and Jee…. There is also one of all of you at a Christmas party I think, it's the only picture he has of you all together…. Then there a several of you in smaller groups, and of Eddie and him, and Maddie and him… and him, Eddie, and Christopher." Lizzie continued rattling off as many of the photos they had hanging on the family wall and around the house she could remember.
He couldn't help the smile on his face even if he wanted to as he tried to imagine the looks on their faces as Lizzie listed all the photos that were clearly all family photos.
In that moment he didn't think he could love his wife more.
Once dressed in a burgundy Henley and jeans, he softly opened the door and looked around the room at the group. Athena had commandeered the chair on the right side of Lizzie´s bed and was in the process of setting up Lizzie´s food on the bed side table tray, much to the amusement of Lizzie. Hen and Karen were perched on the other side of the bed on two extra chairs they must have brought in while he was in the shower.
May and Maddie were in the process of moving additional chairs the nurses kept on hand for times like this. Chimney was sitting in the window seat laughing at Lizzie and Athena from the looks of it. Bobby were still standing by the table, setting up food where he had been when Buck entered the bathroom.
It struck Buck then that the other man who always had appeared to be fearless and so calm and collected, didn't know what to do or say in the situation he had found himself in.
It was a sobering realization. He had always seen and associated Bobby as this superhero of some sort who held all the answers to life biggest mysteries. The man had always seemed like he knew just what to say and what to do, and much to the man´s defense, it had been true for the most part. Seeing the man like this, just as lost for words as Buck was, it was a wakeup call that had been in the years in the making.
Buck then wondered if his own kids saw him that way.
"The food looks amazing Bobby." He said as he stood beside him, it was the first time he had really spoken directly to the man since he had been back, and now that he was doing it the anxiety, he´d had leading up to it, disappeared slowly. Bobby jerked slightly in surprise, not having noticed Buck coming up to him. After a few seconds the man smiled and nodded his head.
"It was the least I could do Buck, honestly." Bobby said.
Buck opened his mouth to protest, that he didn't have to do anything but was interrupted by Karen.
"Uh, you mentioned kids? How many do you have and what are their names?" she asked.
All eyes suddenly shifted to her, when Buck locked eyes with her, she smiled sheepishly "Sorry, I would just really like to hear more about them and your life Buckaroo."
He smiled and went back over to the bed to sit behind Lizzie, the way they had before he showered. Lizzie leaned back against his chest when he sat at the bed and kissed the top of her head. If he was honest, he wanted to hear everything he had missed just as much as Karen seemed to want to hear everything they had missed.
"We have five kids." He stated and waited for their reactions before he would say anything else.
Karen, Hen, and Chimney all stared in bewilderment between him and Lizzie, like they had suddenly grown a second and a third head. It was the same reaction they got every time whenever they told people the number of kids they had with their ages.
He glanced at Bobby and Athena, waiting to see their reaction, only to see that they were both smiling with no shock in sight. Which meant they already knew, and from the smug grin May was wearing when he looked over at her, she had told them.
He looked back over at Hen, Chim and Karen and enjoyed their shocked expressions. To be fair though, if anyone had told Buck nine years ago, that he would leave Los Angeles, get married to an amazing woman, and eventually have five kids all under the age of then, he would have called them insane.
But he wouldn't have it any other way.
Yeah, sometimes he wanted to rip his own hair out of his skull, usually it would be when all five kids were throwing temper tantrums, but most of the time, all five of his kids, were the final pieces of his heart and soul coming into place and making him who he is.
"Five kids?" Chim repeated with his mouth hanging open.
Buck chuckled and looked down at Lizzie, she winked at him when she noticed and looked back at Chim with a smile. Buck shook his head at his former friends and smiled at them.
"Yeah Chim, five kids. You heard right." He said.
"Wow." Hen breathed out, she then smirked and looked between Lizzie and him "Well, you two has certainly been busy." Everyone burst out laughing at Buck´s reaction, he was gaping like a fish stuck on land and as red in the face like a tomato.
"And their names?" Karen asked after everyone had calmed down.
"Killian is the oldest, he is seven years old. Then there is Jamie who is five." Buck said with a smile.
"Then comes Lydia and River who…. Is four, they are twins…. And lastly, Hannah who is two." Lizzie finished.
"Hannah turns three soon though and Jamie turns six in four months, right?" Maddie added around a laugh at the looks Karen and Hen were sending them.
"when´s their birthdays?" Bobby jumped in and asked, before anyone could comment on how Lizzie had been pregnant almost their entire relationship.
"June twenty second for Jamie and May fourteenth for Hannah." Lizzie answered and intertwined her fingers with Buck and squeezed, she wore a sad smile on her face as she looked at Chim who looked confused to the suddenly sad mood.
"On mother´s day." Athena explained sadly to Chim.