#Maddie raised buck - that’s why she’s breakfast food

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Something something about us being shown Eddie developing his cooking skills before buck - that were shown Eddie being able to cook a full meal (and bake) before were shown Buck doing the same thing. And something something about that foreshadowing Eddie having his full feelings realisation before buck.

Eddie’s cooking skills are on display in 5x11 outside looking in when he cooks dinner for buck Chris and Taylor - and he’s baked cupcakes for desert as well.

But we don’t actually get shown buck cooking a full meal until the 6x01 lasagne. He’s only got as far as breakfast foods when he makes Maddie an omelet in 2x04 stuck but we don’t get shown him actively cooking again until he makes the lasagne.

After that its hit and miss on the cooking and baking front for buck - burnt lasagne in a 7 and I’m assuming his baking isnt that great in 8x07 by the way Chim has one bite and then pushes the loaf away before he masters the ziti, garlic bread etc in 807 and then later the scones in 8x08.

[blueathens]

Heroes

                            Act 1, Scene 2

Song: Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler  Quote: “See! Golden retriever material!” 

TW: Death, Injuries (Blood) 

Masterlist//Agape Masterlist

"Kasey!" Bobby called the young fighter once she reached the top of the stairs, jogging up onto the top floor and towards her team before sliding into a seat in front of Bobby.

"What's up Cap?"

"If you wasn't doing this, what would you be doing?" He asked her as he handed her a plate with omelette on it.

"I don't know." She responded after a minute thought. "My dad's a firefighter so I grew up with this environment, and I knew from a very young age that this was what I wanted to do." Kasey told them. "But I guess I'll probably still be in the Army considering I've been in military clubs since the age of 7."

"So, you would still be saving lives?" Buck said with a mouthful of apple.

"I'm pretty sure it was what I was meant to do in this world."

"Hmm...she would be a golden retriever like Buck." Hen told the team. And Kasey tipped her head in confusion as she looked at Hen. "See! Golden retriever material!" Kasey smile, shaking her head, before eating a mouthful of her omelette.

"Did any of you get stuck in the traffic this morning?" Kasey asked with a mouthful of food.

"What is it with you and Buck speaking with your mouth full?" Tutted Hen.

"Sorry Mother Hen." Kasey apologised after swallowing her food.

"Yes!" Buck announced as he pointed his finger at Kasey before jabbing the breakfast bar with it. "I was stuck in traffic for almost two hours to get from Abby's place to the call from downtown, then back over here."

"Every day I question why you still live there." Kasey said.

"Just told Maddie she needs to start Ubering." Buck ignored what Kasey said.

"How's your sister settling in down there?" Bobby asked Buck.

"Well, she's a Buckley." Buck began with a side smirk. "Practically running the place." And with that Chim and Hen stood up with their food and moved away.

"I honestly can't be assed to move." Kasey said as she held her plate out for Bobby to give her another omelette. "Thanks." She smiled at Bobby before digging into her second serving.

"How about you Kas? How long did it take you?" Bobby asked her.

"It took me about an hour and half to get here from my place." Answered Kasey.

"But you don't live far."

"Were you on your motorbike?" Buck asked, leaning his left arm on the bar as he continued to eat his apple.

"No. I haven't rode that for a while now." Kasey told him, picking at her omelette.

"How come?" His eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at her, but she wasn't making eye contact with him.

"Jordan says it's too unsafe." She answered Buck.

Buck clicked his tongue.

"Well, your boyfriend should keep his mouth shut."

"I'm probably going to sell it soon anyways." Kasey continued, ignoring what Buck just said.

"Sell what?" A new voice asked.

"My motorbike." Kas replied, knowing the voice belonged to Eddie.

"You have a motorbike?"

"Yep, got my first legal one when I was 18. Before that I would do bike races illegal-" Kasey stopped her carless explaining when she realised Bobby was standing in front of her with his eyebrows raised. "You heard nothing." She pleaded him, her head shaking and eyes wide.

"Hear what?" He asked with a smile and Kasey beamed back at him.

It was probably 10 minutes later when the crew started to sort out the fire trucks and equipment when they felt it hit. When they felt the ground begin to vibrate harder than it has ever done before. Everything they had shook, and everyone tumbled downwards.

"Okay, that's at least a six." Chimney stated as he slammed a truck door shut.

"Seven." Hen corrected.

Kasey was leaning against the fire truck, grabbing hold of anyone who passed, so they didn't crash into the ground. She pushed them away from anything that could fall on top of them, and she made sure they weren't hurt. Glass shattered around them as she looked for her team-mates. She saw Hen pulling Eddie to safety, and she noticed Chimney also helping anyone he could. She watched how the tanks started to fall to the ground, one falling near her and the firefighter she was holding, she quickly pulled them into her as she blocked them from getting hurt with her own body. Whilst Hen helped Eddie to scramble away from the shelves of tanks that nearly landed on top of him.

"Anybody else back there?" Bobby yelled as he came into view.

"No." Buck yelled back. Kasey grabbed ahold of him as he came nearer to her and gave him her jacket to cover his face with, in protection of all the exploding tanks.

"I've got you." Kasey muttered whilst Buck moved closer to cover the three of them with the jacket.

"I've got you." He repeated back.

The red vehicle with blaring sirens rode through the empty streets. The street that had lines of damage and huge potholes in it. Building surrounding the area were crumbling down to the ground, and lines of brokenness were running through them preparing it for the next crumble. Trees, electrical cables and streetlamps were all falling onto the road or vehicles nearby.

“Is everything okay?” Buck asked Eddie as he watched him stressfully type onto his phone. Kasey who was looking at all the damage the earthquake has caused, immediately turned to look at Eddie.

“Yeah. There’s no service. Texts won’t even go through.” He replied, not once looking up from his phone.

“The earthquake probably took out the power.” Kasey told him through the microphone of her headphones. “Who are you trying to text? I can try and find a way for you to contact them if it’s really important.” She kindly offered him.

Eddie hesitated as he looked at Kasey. He was wondering if he should tell her that he had a son. He was scared to tell the team. For one, he didn’t want the team to treat him any less and not allow him to go into dangerous situations because he had a child. Two, he was still only getting to know the team. And three, if he told Kasey that he had a son, that would make his chance of being with her decrease. He knew she had a boyfriend but hearing her say ‘it’s complicated’ had given him some type of hope. Hope that he may have a chance with her one day. But telling her that he had a son may change all that because she most likely wouldn’t want to date someone with a kid, as it could be too much pressure for her that she doesn’t want, and it could be weird for her as it isn’t her child.

But he decided it’s better to come clean now than later, not wanting any consequences later for not being truthful. And if he was truthful now, it shows the team another reason why they should trust him. Allowing them to be able to open up to him and him with them.

“My son. I’m trying to reach my son.” Eddie said after moments of hesitation. And he watched how Kasey grinned at him, her eyes squinting slightly from her smiling.

“I love kids!” She told him happily before waving her fingers between her and Buck. “We absolutely adore them.” She dropped her hand. “What’s his name?”

“Christopher. He’s seven.” Eddie showed them a picture of him on his phone and both Buck and Kas leaned forwards to look.

“He’s so adorable…like his dad.” Kasey said without even realising it. And Eddie blushed slightly whilst Buck looked away from the phone to Kasey with one eyebrow raised. Even Bobby turned around slightly to look at Kasey. “Did I mention I love kids?” She inquired when she noticed the look Buck was giving her.

“I love this one.” Eddie said with a soft smile on his face as he looked at the image on his phone. “I’m all he’s got.” He looked out the window, eyes squinted. “His mother’s not in the picture.”

“What about a lover?” Kasey asked him again, not realising what came out of her mouth.

“No, been single for quite a while now.” He smiled at her.

“He’s at school?” Buck asked.

“Yeah.” Eddie nodded.

“Hey, I’m sure he’s fine.” Buck reassured him but Eddie didn’t seem convince.

“I’m going to see if I can find a way for you to contact him.” Kasey told him.

“You don’t have to-”

“I want to.” She interrupted him.

A few minutes later the fire truck reached its destination. The building was slanted. Most of it looked unstable with the way it was standing, how weak the bricks, stones and beams of it were and how most of the glass was shattered to pieces.

“You guys ever deal with anything like this before?” Eddie asked as he and the team looked up at the tilted building.

“No.” Bobby answered him, still in shock due to what he was seeing.

Around them, paper fell like rain, and people were screaming. But the closest scream they heard was one of an older women who was begging to go back in. “I have to get back in there.” She was being guided away by a cop. “No, you have to let me back in there! My baby’s in there!”

“Please, our daughter is still inside!” The father begged the cop who was taking him far away from the building. “She’s eight years old!”

“No, my daughter’s inside!” The cop was now holding her, to make sure she didn’t run back inside. “Kat! Her names Kat!” The mother shouted to the firefighters.

“You have to let me in there! She’s all alone! Stop it!”

Kasey, Hen, Eddie and Bobby was staring at the screaming parents whilst Chimney and Buck’s eyes stayed on the building.

“They seriously think that’s gonna hold it up?” he gestured towards a metal bar some people in red suits were putting up to hold the disintegrating building.

“Let’s go find the incident commander.” Bobby told the crew.

“Any word from Athena?”

“Haven’t been able to get ahold of her.” Bobby answered Hen, eyes distracted with all the sights in front of him. “What about you? Karen? Denny?”

“Same.” She looked around before continuing to talk to Bobby. “Cell phones are toast everywhere. The system must be overloaded.”

“Have you heard from Jordan?” Buck asked Kasey who just shook her head.

“No.”

“Is Jordan your boyfriend?” Eddie asked curiously, even though he could guess the answer.

“Yeah.”

“What does he do?”

Kasey laughed a breathless laugh. “I have no fricking clue. I asked him once he said something to do with maths and numbers and that was about it. The only other thing I know is that he wears a suit.”

“He’ll be alright.” Eddie told Kasey.

“Captain. Chief Williams, incident commander.” A women introduced herself, shaking Bobby’s hand.

“Captain Bobby Nash. How can we help you?”

“Hotel manager said they were between checkout and check-in when the quake hit, so they were light on the guests.” She walked through many shelters where first responders were helping the injured, the 118 following closely behind. “We’ve made contact with most of those. Multiple evac operations in progress. All but 12 of the 68 staff have been accounted for. It’s been pretty chaotic.”

“The family back there said their little girl is still missing.” Hen pointed behind her where the family was sitting.

“As long as is still safe to do so, we’ll be looking for any survivors.”

“What do your engineers have to say?” Questioned Bobby.

“Looks like we had a brittle failure in the prestressed concrete section of the buildings underground parking garage, causing it to pancake at the angel.” Chief Williams pointed at the floorplan of the hotel on the board. She moved to face the hotel. “Right now the reinforced steel is the only thing keeping it from completely collapsing. One good aftershock…”

“And the whole thing could come down.” Bobby finished her sentence as he and the team looked at the building, still in shock, with mouths slightly open. They couldn’t believe the sight they were seeing.

“A high-rise I supposed to be the safest place to be when an earthquake hits.” Said Buck.

“Not when you’re built right on top of a fault line.” Hen said.

“The quake was a 7.1” Williams told them.

“Northridge was just a 6.7.” Hen referenced to the 1994 earthquake.

“7.1 – that makes the largest in SoCal in 20 years.” Chimney pointed out. “And the last one was in Joshua Tree.”

Kasey squeezed her eyes shut and Eddie noticed her change in behaviour.

“What are you doing?” He whispered to her, shuffling closer so their shoulders were touching.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just picturing that I’m in Spain right now.”

“Fair enough.”

“How many crews do you have in there?” Bobby asked.

“Not enough. We’ve put in a request for Heavy Rescue 3, but they’re on their way to a freeway collapse. We can use every hand we can get.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

After one more glance at the building, Bobby turned to the team. “Listen up.” He began. “Here’s how you make it to the end of the day. You don’t worry about the things that you cant do anything about. Focus on one task at a time. I can’t order you guys to go inside the building, and I’m not going to judge you if you decide not to.” He looked at Hen. “Hen you have a kid, so…”

“Yeah. And I’d hope if someone whose job it was to save him had the chance to, they’d do it. No matter what.” Hen said.

“Yeah, Cap, it’s like what I told you this morning, I was made to save people. So, it be crazy for me not to go in there and save whoever I can.” Kas told him.

“Where do you want us?” Eddie asked Bobby, which he smiled at.

“Hey,” An officer interrupted them. “You guys will want to see this.” He lead them to a different side of the building, the team looking up at it, and seeing a man against a window.

“We could set up a bag street-side in case that window gives.” Chimney looked at Bobby.

“Nobody works under that side of the building.” He instructed, still looking up. “Somebody’s gonna have to get him from the inside.”

“Kas, Buck, you say that’s the 11th floor?” Eddie asked them, counting the number of floors there was until reaching the man against the window.

“I would.” Answered Buck. “I bet we could take the ladder to the fourth floor. Cut the distance in half.”

Eddie and Kas nodded in agreement.

“Head on up.” Bobby gestured them to go, but before they could a voice stopped them.

“There are five other people on the 12th floor who never came out, one of them is my oldest daughter. Please, you have to save them.” An elder women begged Bobby. Kasey watched the scene and interrupted Bobby’s thoughts before he could come to a decision.

“I can go and rescue them.” She volunteered making the whole team look at her as if she was crazy. “Buck and Eddie can go and rescue the man whilst I-”

“Cap! You can’t let Kas go on her own!” Argued Buck.

“If something happens there wouldn’t be anyone to save her.” Eddie added, feeling just as protective as Buck. He might have not known Kasey for very long, but she was his friend, one of his really good friends.

“Cap. Please.” Kasey begged, ignoring the two men behind her. “I can do this; you can trust me to do this. Buck and Eddie will be the closest to me and I’ll radio them every few minutes, so they know that I’m alright. And I’ll be extra careful. I won’t make any rash decisions like I would usually do. Just let me to do this…please.”

“Okay.” He nodded after a moment thought. The older lady thanked them, and a paramedic guided her away. “But if I tell you to leave, you leave. You will contact Eddie and Buck every two minutes, and you will do everything with extra caution.”

“Cap-” Eddie and Buck tried to argue but Bobby shot them a look.

“I trust Kas to do this, now do what you’ve been told before the whole thing comes down.”

And with that the trio ran off, grabbing the equipment and uniform they needed on the way.

As the trio started to climb the ladder Buck called Kas from over his shoulder.

“Do you really have to play hero all the time?”

“It’s kind of our job.” Smirked Kasey.

And when they reached the top, breaking a window to get in, Buck grabbed Kasey’s arm before she could leave and spoke to her again, with a hint of fear this time. “Hey, don’t die please, I kind of need you in my life.”

She could tell Buck was scared, but he’s never been one to exactly show it because they always had each other to hold onto. They were partners in this job. They did all they’re shifts together, always made sure they started and ended around the same time because they realised how much better they are at their job if they had one another. She may not have known Eddie for that long, but she knew he was scared too. Who wouldn’t in a situation like this. You never know what could happen as it was so unpredictable. And she knew Eddie was afraid for his son too, not knowing if Christopher was okay was killing him, and Kasey wish she could take some of those nerves away.

“As long as you two don’t die.” She said looking between Buck and Eddie who both looked at her with a sense of nerves and fear. “Let’s go save some motherfuckers.” She clapped as she walked away from the duo.

Kasey was now alone. And honestly she was scared too, she adjusted her radio on her shoulder, but she did connect to Buck and Eddie’s radio straight away, she had someone else to contact.

“Umm…” she started, she felt kind of awkward as she didn’t know if she got the right line. “Is this 911?”

“Yes, what can I do for you?” A sweet voice asked her.

“Oh good!” Kas sighed in relief. “I didn’t think I’ll be able to reach you, but I guess I did. Anyways, I’m Firefighter Kasey Strand and I would-”

“Kasey?” The voice asked. “Buck’s best friend?”

“Yes?” She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Who’s…oh shit…wait…is this Maddie?” A smile was forming onto Kasey’s face as she realised who it was.

“Yes!”

Kasey laughed slightly at hearing a familiar voice as she continued climbing the stairs that were on the other side of the building.

“How you holding up?” She asked Maddie.

“Not bad but I should be asking you as you’re the firefighter and all.”

“Oh, you know, the usual.” Kasey grunted slightly as the ground shook before she opened the door that led to the 12th floor. “I actually have a favour to ask.”

“Shoot.”

“I need you to check if a Christopher Diaz is safe at school, I don’t know what school he goes to, but he’s dad is on the same team as me. Eddie Diaz. Edmundo Diaz to be more specific. I just need to know if the boy is okay.”

“Give me two seconds.” Kasey could hear Maddie typing away on her computer, presumably looking for names of those people. “I’m giving the school a ring now.”

“Alright.” Kasey took this time to look around her surrounding, humming slightly to keep her nerves in check, it was something she always did to comfort herself. Glass was scattered across the floor, well what was left of the floor, a lot of it must’ve fallen to the room underneath her. Her hand lightly touched a wall next to her to keep her balance as she stepped over a hole, but that small touch made the wall crumble slightly. And it was then, she realised that there was no safe way to do this. She was going to have to make rash decisions.

“Kasey, Christopher is okay, you can tell his father that he’s safe.”

“Oh thank god.” Kasey muttered quietly, eyes closing in relief that nothing bad has happened to the kid she only just been told about.

“Is Buck okay?”

“Um… I was going to radio him after you, he’s with Eddie actually.”

“I thought you two always did your jobs together.”

“We do…mostly. I’m alone actually on the 12th floor trying to save-”

“You’re on your own?!” Maddie yelled, and Kasey flinched at the volume, her hand accidently letting go of the button on her radio. Maddie’s crew looked at her at the sound of her voice. “Sorry, my brother’s best friend is playing hero stupidly.”  

“Maddie.” She spoke as she held the button. “I have to radio Buck to see if he’s alright.”

“Kasey don’t do anything stupid. From the things I have heard, you can make quite rash decisions like my brother.”

“Guess that’s why we get on so well.” Kasey teased before saying a final goodbye to Maddie before getting her radio to connect to either Buck or Eddie’s.

“Hey idiot, if you don’t answer me in two seconds I will personally come to where you are and kill you my-”

“I’m here.” Kasey cut Buck off.

“Good, I don’t think I would be able to kill you. You were 1 minute and 10 seconds late. You said you would contact us every two minutes but you-”

“I contacted your sister first, she yelled at me for being on my own and-”

“Serves you right.” Buck nodded to himself.

“Shut up, I’m saving people.”

“Why you radio her?” Buck spoke over Kasey.

“For Eddie.”

Eddie quickly pulled Buck’s radio off his shirt so he could talk into it, but not before a quick “Hey!” left Buck’s mouth.

“Christopher’s okay, he’s safe, I got Maddie to search for his name to find his school as I didn’t know but-”

“Thank you.” Eddie sighed happily as he interrupted Kasey’s rant.

“Anytime.” Kasey smiled joyfully, knowing she got Eddie to calm down slightly. “Well, I gotta go, I’ll radio in 2 minutes.”

And then the line went dead, and Eddie looked at Buck with a smile who returned it back.

“Kasey’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?” Eddie said with a smile.

“The best. Why do you think I’m friends with her?”

Kasey was now preparing herself to fall onto the next wall, the building was slanted, which meant if she stepped into the next hallway, she would crash into the wall.

“He’s gotta be strong. He’s gotta be-” She sang to herself as she let go of the wall she was just holding and fell into the wall in front of her. “Fast.” She grunted when she head butted the wall. “And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero. I’m holding out for a hero-”

She quickly stopped singing when she heard people yelling.

“Fire and Rescue! Scream where you are.”

“We’re here.” Multiple voices shouted for her, and to Kasey it sounded like five different ones, which was a good sign.

“If you can, stand away from the door.” She yelled at them before she got an electrical saw to cut down the door. The door fell down, and luckily it didn’t hit anyone, well she hoped it didn’t after it fell out from the broken window.

“Thank for lord you’re here!” A women cheered.

“I need you all to stay where you are, and I’ll come and get you all as quickly and safely as I can.” She held her hand out to them, signally them to stay put before she pressed the button on her radio. “Eddie, Buck, I found the five people I need to. Helping them now.”

“We found the man and his colleague.” Buck said, emphasizing the word colleague.

“Why are you saying it like that?”

“I tell you the amazing story once we’re back to steady land…meaning you have to come back alive.”

“Always do…we Strands are invincible.” She smiled teasingly, and even though Buck couldn’t see her, he could sense the smirk.

“Kasey?” A voice called her, and she turned to look at the familiar sound.

“Jordan?” she questioned, squinting at him. Why was her boyfriend in a hotel like this, when he lived in the area?

“Babe! I’m so happy it’s you! Please come-”

“I’ll get to you when I get to you.” She cut him off rudely.

“Right, you’re closest, lets get you out of the way.” She held her hand out for a women who stood  against a wall that stood behind her, reassuring her she wasn’t going to fall anytime soon.

“That’s not fair, I’m-”

“Jordan!” she glared at him. “I’ll get to you when I get to you.” She spoke slowly before moving her eyes back to the women who was shaking her head, tears streaming down her face. “Hey! Hey! Hey!” Kasey voice went softer as she comforted the women. “I know you’re scared but you have to trust me. Just grab my hand and you’ll be safe, I promise you.” and with that the women lunged herself towards Kasey, catching her hand as she did so. Kasey grabbed her hand and with the other she held onto her arm, making sure she had ahold of her. Kasey’s feet were pushing on the doorway to support herself, not bothering to use the ropes just yet.

“God, you’re strong.” The women laughed faintly when Kasey pulled her up, pushing her into the wall next to her.

“I have to be to do shit like this.” She smiled at her before handing her a rope. “Now, I need you to help me. I need you to keep an eye on the rope that is now attached to me.” Kasey attached one clip to her harness before attaching the other clip (that was on the other end of the rope) to a pole in the wall, she pulled it slightly to make sure it was secure. “If at any time it falls, grab ahold of it and hold it with all your might, okay?” The women nodded, her eyes not once leaving the metal pole that was going to hold Kasey whilst she went to save everyone else. Kasey pulled herself back and forth before jumping towards the wall that the women she just saved was against. She looked around the room she was in, she couldn’t really tell what the room was for. She kind of wanted to know so she could guess why Jordan was here. She knew he didn’t work here, or he would have simply told her that he did.

She helped two more people before moving onto Jordan who was using the circular beam that was attached to the ceiling to the floor for support.

“Babe!”

“Stay quiet, don’t distract me.” Kasey grumbled to him.

She attached the spare clip to one of Jordan’s belt loops on his jeans. That was something else she picked up. He wasn’t wearing a suit like he would normally for work. So he definitely wasn’t at a work meeting.

“This is your daily check-up.” Eddie voice now came through her radio. “Sir, I need you to stay still.” Eddie said to the man against the window.

“Who’s that?” Jordan asked her, eyes narrowing slightly at the new voice.

“My team-mate.” She muttered back before holding the button to talk. “I’m doing alr-”

“Aftershock! Aftershock!” She heard Buck yelling.

“Everyone hold onto some- AHHHHH!” Kasey screamed.

“No!” Eddie screamed as the man fell through the window.

Jordan held onto Kasey tightly, but she wished he didn’t. She wished he wasn’t touching her. But she knew he had to, or he would fall. She was about to grab ahold of the beam they were against before she heard a woman screaming, she quickly unattached the clip that was on Jordan before jumping forwards. Jordan got a hold of the beam he was using for support as he watched his girlfriend dive for the women who started to fall.

Kasey’s face whacked the floor when she lunged. The touch on her helmet smashing in the process. She knew that was going to leave some sort of injury, but she didn’t care. The only thing she cared about is saving the red head.

She was falling towards the glassless window. Kasey’s fingertips grazed hers, but it wasn’t enough. She continued to fall whilst screaming, chocking on her tears, as she begged to be saved. They both reached the window, the women first, but she stretched her hand once more and Kasey grabbed it. It was enough for Kasey to fall with her before the rope jumped back up slightly from not having enough length. Kasey pulled her up, arms were now wrapped around the sobbing women who was crying into her shoulder. Kasey rubbed the scared lady’s back slightly, her hair messing up more from the movements of her hand.

“Shh…I’ve got you love…I’ve got you.” Panted Kasey. The rope continued to swing them back and fourth whilst Kasey quickly attached the spare clip onto the women’s fancy trousers’ loop. “You’re attached to me now, you fall I fall, okay?” She felt her nod and Kasey sighed slightly as she looked up at the building they just fell out of. The only thing that was keeping them attached to the room they just left was the rope that was attached to Kasey’s harness.

Kasey could hear people screaming from below and above her. She knew it was the people she was saving screaming and shouting but she didn’t know why.

She saw people from below her pointing at her, most likely gasping at the situation.

“Captain Nash?” A firefighter from the ground called into Bobby’s radio.

“This is Captain Nash.”

“I think one of your team-members just fell through the window on the 12th floor.”

Bobby stopped, Chimney looking at him. They just lost Hen when the Aftershock happened, she was somewhere under the rubble.

Both Bobby and Chimney knew who was on the 12th floor, he was the one who said she could. Both of their hearts got stuck in their throats.

However, what they didn’t know was that Buck and Eddie could hear them through their own radios. Eddie just pulled the blonde lady, Ali, from the window she fell out from. They were finally somewhere safe. And when they heard what happened to Kasey they froze and looked at each other.

“Please don’t be dead!” Buck begged as he tried to contact her through the radio, but no one answered. Eddie waited with his radio to hear what the firefighter from the ground was going to say after he went quiet for a few moments. Buck was frantically speaking into his radio, calling out for Kasey. Whilst Eddie waited, tears forming in his eyes as he waited for anyone to tell them if she was okay. He could feel his heart beating faster, and his breaths getting shorter.

She couldn’t be dead.

She couldn’t.

She just-”

“She’s okay. She’s got someone in her arms though. A women we think by the high heels that fell from there. She’s got a rope attached to her and-”

Bobby and Chimney sighed in relief when they heard this whilst Eddie hit his head against the wall behind him as he closed his eyes in relief, his hand coming up to his face to wipe the fallen tears.

“I’m gonna kill her.” Buck mentioned as he tried to get in contact with her again. “I swear, I’m actually going to kill her. She’s caused me enough heart attacks already and it’s time to end it all.”

“This is normal?” Eddie breathed out but Buck heard.

“Yeah, she’s more stupid than me.”

“That’s saying a lot.” Eddie muttered. “We can move in a second – I’m still trying to catch my breath.”

Back to the two women that were hanging out the window, Kasey was still stroking the lady’s hair, whispering words of comfort whilst she tried to think of a plan. “What’s your name, love?”

“Amanda.” She whimpered.

“Okay, Amanda, I’m Kasey in case you didn’t hear people calling me that earlier.” She breathlessly laughed, causing the women to laugh slightly too. “I’m going to try and swing to the wall of the building and see if I can climb back up.” She knew it was quite a rubbish plan, but she didn’t have many other choices.

“Is it a bad time to tell you I’m scared of heights?”

“What were you doing on the twelfth floor if you’re scared of heights?”

“My mother was staying in that room; I was getting the last suitcase before it all happened.”

“Well, just close your eyes okay? We’re going to alright.”

The women nodded, and Kasey sighed quietly, trying her radio, once but it wasn’t turning on. She thinks that she might have broken it when she crashed into the floor when reaching for Amanda. It was lucky that she had a walkie talkie in her other bag. But unlucky for her, she couldn’t reach that right now. She started to swing her and the lady back and forth, creating momentum.

“She’s swinging.” Observed the firefighter from the ground.

“Swinging? What she swinging for?” Muttered Buck to himself. “Did you see her fall?”

“No, she’s on the other side of the building Buck.” Eddie informed him. “If I did, I would’ve pulled her up.”

Kasey swung into the wall, her leg kicking the wall when she reached it, pushing her back, but the strong impact made her hiss in pain. She tried again, but this time her back slammed into the wall, slowing down the swing she created and pushing her back where she first started. Now, she was only swinging slightly whilst she bit her lip to contain her grunts of pain.

“Are you okay?” Amanda asked in concern.

“Yeah, that was just a really shit plan.”

“It probably wouldn’t have been safe to climb anyways.” Kasey looked at the building and she saw pieces of it falling after she crashed into it.

“Yeah, maybe.” She pictured the scene it could’ve been, dust from bricks and stones in her nails, before a big chunk of it comes out the wall and then-

She felt the rope being tugged. Kasey looked up, her vision was gone as she felt another tug before her and Amanda was being pulled up. She and Amanda was pulled all the way back into the room they fell out of. Kasey’s was being dragged across the floor whilst Amanda laid on her chest. Kasey’s head went back to see what was happening, but she saw nothing but the rope going round the corner. When she passed Jordan, she quickly grabbed him, whilst they pulled them up. And when they reached the hallway of safety, Kasey tucked Amanda and Jordan into the wall before she slide herself over there.

And there she saw the three people she saved, panting, whilst smiling at Kasey.

“You save us, we save you.” One of the men told her and Kasey nodded in gratitude. “Your bag was talking as well and – OH MY GOD YOU’RE BLEEDING!”

Kasey looked down at her thigh, where a massive piece of glass was digging into it, blood slowly falling out from it. “It’s fine.”

“Shouldn’t you pull it out?” A women questioned.

“No, no.” Kasey shook her head, closing her eyes slightly as she moved to sit up against the slanted wall. “I could lose a lot of blood by doing that.” She then looked over at the five people she saved before asking them to give her the medical bag.

She unzipped it and got her walkie talkie out, which in fact had many yells coming from it.

“You better tell me now, Strand, that wasn’t you who the firefighter was talking about.” -Bobby

“I swear, I’ll kill you.” – Buck

“Kas, talk to us.” - Eddie, shouting so Buck’s radio could hear him. “Or I will let Buck kill you.”

“OH MY GOD, SHE’S BACK INTO THE BUILDING!” -Chimney

“You gave me another heart attack, young lady, and you made Eddie go into a panic attack and-”

“KASEY! YOU LUCKY IDIOT!” -Chimney

“Strand!” -Bobby.

“It’s Kas to you Cap.” Kasey muttered into her walkie talkie.

“SHE SPEAKS!” Buck yells.

“No rash decisions?” Bobby asked her, well more like scolded her.

“I saved everyone.” She weakly replied in her walkie talkie. “I did what had to be done.”

“I know.” And just like that Bobby and Chimney had to end the line to go find Hen.

“We can come and-” Eddie started to say to her, his voice just being able to be picked up on the radio, as he was still trying to catch his breath.

“Just get the people to safety.”

“Person.” Buck corrected. “We lost one.”

“Oh.” Kasey went quiet for a second, she didn’t really want the survivors around her hearing this, but it was kind of too late now. “You did everything you could.” And with that she ended the radio call, moving onto more important things. She grabbed creams and bandages out of her bag before signalling to the three who helped her, to move closer to her. “Pass me your hands.”

“But you’re-”

“You lot first.” Kasey told them sternly and they hesitantly held their hands out for her. She saw red marks on each of their hands. “Thank you, by the way, for saving me.”

“You saved us; we should be thanking you.”

“It’s the right thing to do.” She applied cream to each hand and wrapped them in bandages. “Get them checked out when we get to the ground.” She told them grabbing another roll of bandages, wrapping it around the wound, she pulled it tightly, not risking to pull it out as she didn’t know how badly she would bleed out, and she didn’t want to get infected either.

“What size feet are you Amanda?”

“An 8.”

“Here take these.” Kasey said as she untied her boots.

“What? No, I can’t-”

“Just take them, please.” And Amanda hesitantly did. She was now wearing shoes whilst Kasey wasn’t. “You guys always come before me, okay?”

Kasey looked at her hands, after putting the roll back and closing the medical bag, they were dirty and bloody, but by how dark it was getting, she couldn’t tell which part of her skin was just covered in dust and which parts was bleeding.

“I think your lip is bleeding.” Amanda pointed out. Unconsciously Kasey liked her lips, allowing her to taste the blood and the dirt that she was covered in.

“I think a lot of me is bleeding right now, but that isn’t important. What is important is getting you guys to safety.” She rolled the rope back in and placed it round her neck, lopping her arm through it before doing the same with the medical bag. She adjusted her helmet before trying to stand up but instead she tumbled forwards making Amanda and a man rush to catch her.

“You won’t be able to walk.” The man told her.

“Watch me.”

“Hey idiot! We rescued more!” A voice from the walkie talkie that was in one of the pockets of the medical bag stated.

“Is that Buck?” Jordan questioned the minute he saw Kasey pick it up and press the button, knowing Buck would be listening.

“That’s Evan to you.” Kasey scolded.

“Jordan.” Buck said through gritted teeth as he rolled his eyes for Eddie to see. Eddie could tell from the minute Buck talked about Jordan, that he hated his gut. And not in the way he was like to him – jealous. Eddie could tell Buck hated Jordan’s guts. “Anyway, someone’s injured, bad, and we just wanted to check if you’re okay.”

“I’m o-”

“She’s hurt!”

“You’re hurt?” Eddie worried voice asked.

“A few cuts and bruises, nothing too extreme.” She lied as she looked at Amanda, putting her finger to her lip indicating her to stay quiet. “We gotta go, stay safe.” She told them before tucking the walkie talkie back into the pocket.

“She just lied to me, didn’t she?” Eddie asked Buck.

“She better have not being lying or I’ll kill her, bring her back to life, then kill her again.”

“I think she deserves it.” Shrugged Eddie. “After what she just pulled.”

“She should count herself lucky that I’m not killing her three times.”

“Is anyone else injured.” Kasey asked, as she leaned against a wall to keep her stable. They all shook their heads but kept their eyes on her wound. “Alright, let’s keep on moving then.” She limped away with the others following closely behind, as she guided them in the opposite direction she came from after seeing it was blocked up.

It was dark now.

Kasey knew this as she saw the night sky through some broken windows.

Kasey grabbed the walkie talkie. “Eddie, Buck-” but she stopped when she felt the wall her hand was against shake slightly, she threw her walkie talkie and grabbed hold of everyone behind her, tucking them in closely to her. She made sure all their faces was looking down as she pulled them to stand in a circle, heads touching one another, and hands touching behind their backs. Kasey flinched at the loud crashing sounds from behind her. When she turned around (once she knew the aftershock had finished) she saw that half of the floor was gone. And she could only hope it missed Buck and Eddie on the way down.

“How are we going to get over now?” The eldest man asked.

“Maybe, if Kasey would walk faster we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Complained Jordan.

“Isn’t she your girlfriend?” The second man asked.

“Yeah, and?”

“She saved your life man. She saved all of our lives and you’re out here complaining about an injury she got whilst saving us? She risked her life for us.”

“It’s not like she has much to lose.” Jordan spat out.

The man he was arguing with pushed him back slightly whilst the other three people shouted at Jordan.

“Did you just push me?”

“Pay her some respect!”

“She saved us.”

“We would’ve died if it wasn’t for her.”

A few floors under the 12th was Eddie and Buck who escaped through an elevator shaft. “Anything?” Buck asked Eddie, watching him trying to get in contact with Kasey again after she called for them.

“Nothing.”

“Okay…don’t panic…she-she-”

“She’s probably too occupied getting everyone out safely after that aftershock and talking through the radio is probably slowing her down.” Ali told the two panicking boys.

“Right.” Nodded Eddie.

“That would explain it.” Buck said, as he tried to convince Eddie and himself about the situation.

“Yeah…yeah.”

Back on the 12th floor, everyone was arguing whilst Kasey was trying to figure out a plan.

“Will you all shut up so I can think!” And just like that, they all quietened down. She walked towards the hole in the ground and saw that it went through many of the floors below. She turned around to face them and some of them blinked as the light from her touches shone in their eyes. The shoulder one was the worst as the one on her helmet was smashed, only small flickers of light escaping it. “One by one I will lower you down as far as I can, and when you get down there you will wait for me, do I make myself clear?” They all nodded. “Right, Amanda you first, love.”

Kasey attached the rope back onto her harness, which she took off and gave it to Amanda. “You going to wear this harness so I can lower you safely and when you at the bottom of wherever, you will take it off, leaving it still clipped to the rope, and harshly tug it five times so I can pull it up for the next person.” Kasey instructed. She then attached another part under a heavy stone before attaching one to her belt loops. And one by one she lowered them as far as she could. Hands burning from the sweat and grip she had on the rope as she pulled it back up and down with different weights. And Kasey was the last one to lower herself down, she left the ropes dangling as she unclipped the harness attached to it, allowing it to swing slightly on the ropes she was abandoning.

“Kasey isn’t here?” Eddie questioned when him and Buck reunited with the rest of the team (except Kasey) in the carpark.

“No.” Chimney replied, looking at Bobby out from the corner of his eye. “Have you heard from her recently?”

“She tried to radio us before the last aftershock.” Eddie started to explain, before he felt his chest tighten at the fact that they don’t actually know if Kasey was okay.

“We haven’t heard from her since.” Buck quickly told them.

“She’s Kasey.” Bobby said. “A fighter. She’s invincible remember? She’ll be okay.” Even though Bobby said this to reassure the people around him, it was also to reassure himself. He saw the young girl as a daughter figure and so did Athena. If she found out he got her killed –

No. She’s not dead. She’s Kasey. She’s invincible.  

Back to the 6th floor, Kasey and the others were hitting wall after wall as they walked, or in Kasey’s case, limped down the corridors.

“Your boyfriends an ass.” Amanda muttered to Kasey, who was leading the group.

“Tell me about it.” She hissed as her wounded leg hit the wall.

“Why you still with him then?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Kasey sighed. “I don’t know.” She repeated to herself.

“What are you guys standing around for?” Williams asked Bobby, Hen, Chimney, Buck and Eddie who were all staring at the hotel.

“Firefighter Strand is still in there.” Bobby told her, not once looking away.

“The one who chucked herself out of the window to save someone?”

“That’s the one.”

“Wow.” She said in an astonished tone. “That was really impressive. Stupid but impressive.”

“I think you just summoned up our Kasey.” Hen said with a small laugh as she thought about the girl.

Williams bit her lip. If Firefighter Strand wasn’t out yet, she didn’t really think she and the people she saved could be alive.

But how wrong she was…

“Paramedics.” A voice yelled. And every member of the 118 knew who that voice belonged to. “Come check out these lovely folks please!” She guided them to different paramedics.

“Kasey!” They yelled out, cheering slightly as they ran towards her. But Kasey didn’t hear them.

“Kasey needs a paramedic too.” Amanda told the paramedic who was checking her out.

“No, I just need to find my team. I’m alright.”

“We’ll take her.” A voice said from behind her. And it was Chimney, grinning at her.

“You stupid thing!” Buck yelled as he marched towards her, hitting her arm before embracing her into a hug. “I thought I lost you.”

“Lose me? Nah.” Kasey laughed as she pushed Buck away slightly as he started to add pressure on some of her injuries.

“You said it was only a few cuts and bruises.”  Eddie scolded her as he saw the state she was in. Her hair was a mess, eyes slightly red from the dirt and dust she was covered head to toe in. Cuts of all sizes littered her skin along with bruises. She wasn’t wearing any shoes. And she stood on her legs at an angle due to the glass in her thigh. But his heart fluttered slightly when she gave him a cheeky smile.

“Yeah, I lied.” She scrunched up her face when she saw the looks her team was giving her. “But my leg really hurts. I think my lip is bleeding. My hands hurt from the ropes and-”

“Let us look after you before we tell you off.” Bobby told her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Buck drove Eddie up to the place Christopher was waiting for him at. Kasey was sat at the back, cuts still littering her body, but she was cleaner now and her thigh was patched up. She watched Eddie quickly leave the car as he ran up to his son. She smiled softly as she watched them.

“He’s cute…Christopher I mean.” Kasey said out loud.

“You know, you’ve called Eddie hot and adorable before right?” Buck commented.

“It’s an obvious observation.” Her eyes stayed looking at Eddie. “I’m going to break up with Jordan.”

“About time.”  

“Yeah. I-” Her phone interrupted her, making her pick it up, already knowing who it was.

“Dad? TK?” She asked, chuckling slightly when she heard them frantically asking questions after hearing about the earthquake. “I’m okay. A bit banged up, but I’m okay.”

And by the time Eddie and Christopher came back to the car, Kasey was off the phone and was practically bouncing in her seat, waiting to meet Christopher.

“Do you guys really work with my dad?” Christopher asked them as he climbed into the back, next to Kasey.

“Yeah.” Buck answered. “I’m Buck.”

“And I’m Kasey.” She smiled warmly at him.

“I know you.” He said pointing at Kasey. “You’re the one who fell from the window to save the girl. We watched you on the TV. That was really cool.”

“It was, wasn’t it?”

“It wasn’t.” Eddie and Buck said from the front.

“Were you scared.” Christopher asked her.

“A bit…but I kind of felt like a superhero…like Spiderman.”

“Or Captain America!”

“You like Captain America?” Christopher nodded. “No way?! Me too! Would you look at that?”

From the front, Eddie watched them talk to one another with a smile.

Maybe it was a good idea that he told the team that he had a kid.

And maybe it was a good thing of introducing him to two of his new but closest friends.

A/N: Sorry there isn’t many Eddie and Kasey moments in this one, I really struggled writing this one. I’m not really proud of this chapter but I’ll go back to it later and go through it.

                                Previous◁ II ▷𝑁𝑒𝑥𝑡

[pupandangelscoffee]

Evan Buckley x Eddie Diaz x Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: mention of car crash, scene in the hospital, arguing with doctors

Synopsis: When Buck realizes he is not just in love with you but also in love with Eddie and admits to having kissed him, will he lose both of you or will he get his happy ever after?

Taglist: @enterprise-medical

Turning around and feeling the cold covers next to him leaves a bitter taste in Buck's mouth as he remembers the previous night. The yelling, the fighting, him saying that you didn't matter to him unlike Chris and Eddie. He regretted it the moment the words left his mouth, because you did matter to him, he was just confused. His feelings towards Eddie had changed over the past few weeks and two nights ago, he had kissed Eddie in a drunken haze.

But that hadn't been the only thing that confused him. He had spoken to Maddie and after her questioning, she suggested that he may be in love with you AND his best friend. When telling Eddie about it, he expected the other to laugh, yet instead the other male just hummed and stated "so just like me".

So now he was waking up to an empty apartment, his head feeling like it was about to explode. Buck missed your scent, your soft voice when you're just waking up, how he brings you coffee while you whine about wanting to stay in bed for just 5 more minutes. His heart clenches at the thought of you placing gentle kisses along his shoulder, your chuckles, your laugh when he told you some weird fact that he read online.

Ever so slowly the day drags on. Eddie doesn't even spare him a second glance at work, only talking to him when it is work related. Even the whole team noticed something was up between the two best friends, though unsure of what it is. Well almost all were unsure, Chimney knew what was going on from Maddie, however, he was sworn to secrecy by his wife and despite not wanting to admit it, she did scare him just a bit. Though he just kept quiet and watched the two males with careful eyes, ready to report everything to Maddie.

Dragging his feet as he enters the apartment, he calls out that he is home, hoping to hear your voice from the kitchen. Instead he is met with deafening silence. A silence he wishes didn't exist, a silence that he hates being the cause of. Dropping his bag on the floor, he sets his keys on the table before falling onto the couch and letting out a loud groan. Just as he is about to doze off, his stomach lets out a loud growl and after debating whether to ignore his hunger or not, Buck decides to order some chinese food.

Once he has eaten, he just stares at the wall for a good 10 minutes before grabbing his keys and rushing to the only person he can think of. A quick 5 minute drive later, he ran 2 red lights but he is distracted, and he is standing in front of Bobby's house. Sure, Athena and Bobby may be having a cute date night, but right now he needs dating advice and who better to get it from than his captain. Taking a deep breath, he finally knocks and waits for Bobby to open the door, who looks rather shocked to see a crying Buck standing outside of the door and quickly ushering him inside.

It takes exactly 1 beer, 6 tissues and Athena's calming words for Buck to open up about what had happened between him, his partner and Eddie. After hearing the entire story, the married couple sits there in shock as Buck is trying to calm down. "So that is why you two were so awkward at work today?" Bobby asks carefully, not wanting to send the younger male into another crying fit. Buck nods, blowing his nose before wiping away the remaining tears with his sleeve.

"Look, I don't know whether you want to hear this or not, but you need to grow a pair and invite them both over to your place, so that you can talk this shit out. It might not end with you three together, but it will give you all some closure. And who knows, maybe it will end with you all three happily dating." Athena states gently, rubbing Buck's back. Somehow the younger male had weaseled his way into her heart and she worried about him, especially when seeing him so heartbroken. But there simply wasn't anything her nor Bobby could do about the situation, they could only give Buck the support that he needed right now.

After his talk with Athena and Bobby, Buck slowly drove home, this time being a lot more careful. Once again, he finds himself laying on his couch, this time staring at his phone as he thinks about sending the message he had typed out, asking you and Eddie to come over the next morning. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, he presses send before shutting off his phone and rushing up to hide under his blankets.

The next morning comes and goes without a single sign of you. Eddie turned up around 9 and even brought some coffee and breakfast, because he figured that Buck wouldn't have eaten yet. Soon enough, it is late afternoon and Buck has checked his phone like a million time, though there was no message or call from you. Now he's pacing back and forth in his kitchen as Eddie tries to calm his nerves. "Hey, mi amado, I'm sure they're just busy and that is why they haven't reached out yet. It will be okay."

Hearing those words help calm Buck's nerve, though he still jumps to pick up the phone when he hears it ring. "Y/N? Is this you?" He asks quickly, only to frown when he hears Maddie deny it. "Buck, listen, I just had a call and normally I wouldn't be allowed to tell you this, but it's about Y/N. They were in a car crash and on their way to the west hospital. They're stable, but I figured that you'd like to visit them." Maddie explains gently, knowing that it would be a rather hard blow for Buck. After all, hearing that your loved one was just delivered to a hospital because of a car crash wasn't an easy pill to swallow. "Thank you, Maddie." Buck mumbles, quickly hanging up so that he can grab his car keys and Eddie's hand, explaining on his way out where they were going.

They didn't know what to expect when they arrive at your room, though certainly not you glaring at the doctors and stating that you're absolutely fine. "You have to let yourself be checked on, mi amor." Eddie says, recovering from the state of shock quicker than Buck did. "And who are you?" The doctor asks the men, raising an eyebrow at the pair. "We are their-" Buck begins, only to be cut off by you saying "my boyfriends. Now as I've been saying, I'm fine, I can leave." You continue arguing with your doctor as the two males stare at you in complete shock and confusion. You just called them your boyfriends, did this mean you like them back? That you were okay with trying a relationship between you three? They share a look before approaching your bedside, Eddie being the first to speak up again. "Listen doctor, I am a trained medic. They'll be staying with me for the night and if there is any sign that they are doing unwell, I will bring them back here immediately, okay?" Sighing, the doctor nods and excuses himself to get the papers for you to be discharged.

Finally, an hour later, all three of you were curled up under a blanket on Buck's couch with you in the middle and the two men holding hands on your lap. A small happy sigh escapes Buck as he watches the two people he loves, thanking the gods above that he was so lucky to be with both of you. Though the moment is quickly ruined, when he miscalculates the distance to his mouth and pours beer all over his chest.

[alostsock]

I am.

TW: Drinking (Buck is drunk), nausea/vomiting, insecurity/self-hatred, swearing.

This has no plot. Buck gets drunk and then he gets a little sad. Maddie and Chimney are there.

---

Chimney was sitting on the couch, staring at the quickly-cooling takeout containers on the counter. He was trying not to worry, but Maddie usually texted him when she was going to be late, and he knew she had gotten off of work more than an hour ago. When his phone rang he scrambled to answer it.

“Maddie?”

“Hey, Chim. Are you busy?” She sounded exasperated, but not anxious or upset, so he took a deep breath as he forced himself to calm down.

“No? Where are you? I thought you said you were off at 7?”

“Yeah I uh... got a call from a bar...”

“What?”

“Evan is... drunk.”

“What the fuck? Where are you?”

“...In the parking lot of his apartment. We’re having a bit of trouble.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

When Chimney got out of his car Maddie was crouched in front of the passenger seat of her car, pleading with Buck in a soft voice.

“Come on, Evan, your apartment is right there! We’re so close.”

“Tiiiired.”

“Yeah, I know love. But you can’t sleep here, it won’t be comfy. Think of your nice, comfy bed.”

“S’far.”

Maddie sighed, straightening when she saw Chimney walking up to them.

“He doesn’t want to get up, and I can’t carry him.”

Chimney frowned, “Well, I don’t think I can either, to be honest, but maybe between the two of us...”

Buck frowned at her curiously. “Used to carry me.”

“Yup.”

“Can’t anymore.”

“Nope.”

Buck suddenly looked very concerned. “Did y’get small, Maddie?”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “No, Evan. I did not get small. You got big.”

Buck giggled. “m’big.”

Maddie patted his hand sympathetically. “Yeah, babe. You are.”

“Can’t carry me ‘nymore.” He seemed almost sad.

Maddie shook her head, running a hand through his hair. “Nope.”

“Maddie...”

“Yeah Buck?” She frowned when she realized his eyes had a teary gleam to them.

“...mmh... Never mind. Forgot.”

“Okay... now, come on.” Between the two of them, Maddie and Chimney managed to haul Buck to his feet, each slinging an arm over their shoulders. It seemed that the change in elevation was too much for Buck’s stomach, however, since as soon as he was upright he froze for a second, and then doubled over to throw up. Maddie sighed, rubbing his back gently. “Think you’re done for now? Okay, good. Step around it, that’s it.”

They managed to haul Buck up to his apartment and to his couch. They tried to set him down gently, but once Buck realized where he was he crumpled onto it heavily.

Chimney sighed at the sight of Buck listing sideways, uncoordinated hands pulling at the couch throw. “I’ll get water...and a trash can.” Maddie smiled at him gratefully before turning back to her brother, wedging herself beside him to prop him upright.

“Have some water, then bed okay?”

Buck didn’t say anything, instead slumping down so that his head was in her lap. Maddie let out a huff of laughter before going to play with his hair, pulling gently at curls that had freed themselves from the hold of his gel.

“Maddie?” His voice was muffled, his face pressed against her thigh.

“Yeah?”

“Why’m I never good enough?”

Maddie’s heart sank. She’d been hoping this wasn’t going to be a sad-drunk sort of night.

“You are, Evan. I promise.”

“No, no’m not. M’dumb and selfish and exhausting and... and dumb.”

She leaned over to press a kiss into Buck’s hair.

“Aww, Ev. You have the biggest heart, okay? Anyone who doesn’t see that is probably just too self-centered themselves to realize just how good you are.”

“S’not true. M’full of it. So much, all th’time. M’exhausting.”

“Evan... no... You’re not too much. And I don’t know why you think you’re exhausting, I love you, okay? I don’t know who put these things in your head but they’re an asshole.”

“Eddie isn’t a ... a...he is... s’a good guy, Maddie. M’best friend.”

Maddie shook her head, trying to tamp down her rising anger. Evan didn’t need it. “Evan, love... He... he may be a good guy, but he’s wrong if he says you’re too much. And you don’t have a selfish bone in your body.”

Buck shook his head against her leg, and she could feel tears soaking through the fabric of her pants. She looked up to see that Chimney was busying himself in the kitchen, trying to give them as much space as he could in the open-plan apartment. She watched him flip a grilled cheese sandwich before turning back to her brother.

“Finally, Ev, we both know you’re not dumb. Who was trivia team captain in high school? Who got a full ride to college? Who graduated with distinction? And even if you hadn’t done all those things, you’d still be the smartest cookie I know, okay?”

Chimney rounded the coffee table to sit beside them on the couch, nudging Buck gently with the plate. “I know you love grilled cheese when you’re drunk, Buckaroo. Come on. Now, how did I not know that you’re a big ol’ nerd?” Buck let out a sob and Maddie’s head whipped up to glare at Chimney. Chimney winced.

“He’s kidding, Ev.”

Chimney nodded emphatically. “I am, Buck. I’m sorry. I just... I didn’t know those things about you, that’s incredible.” Buck shrugged from his slumped-over position. “It is. Although maybe I should have guessed, you do have a lot of weird knowledge stored away.”

Buck sniffled. “I... I like t’read.”

Maddie smiled softly, running her thumb in soothing circles on Buck’s shoulder. “You do.”

Chimney ruffled Buck’s hair before putting a hand under his elbow, gently easing him to sit up. “Food, Buck. Come on. Did you have dinner?”

Buck opened his mouth but Chimney cut him off with a raised eyebrow. “And whiskey doesn’t count.” Buck rolled his eyes but accepted the plate, nibbling tentatively at the sandwich. He managed half of it before he was pushing the plate back towards Chimney, face pale as he shook his head.

“Okay, that’s okay. More water?” Chimney took the plate and held out the glass. Buck shook his head again before leaning to lie back down. “Okay.” Chimney put the water back on the coffee table. “The water will be right here, and the trashcan is right by your face, okay?” Buck gave a minuscule nod, his eyes shut tightly.

Maddie’s gaze followed Chimney as he got up and put the plate back in the kitchen, leaving the sandwich just in case Buck got up in the middle of the night and decided he was hungry. When he came back to the living room Maddie nodded her head in her sleeping brother’s direction.

“I’m gonna stay here. I don’t like the idea of him passing out alone, especially if he’s throwing up.”

Chimney nodded. “Do you want me to stay? Or do you want me to go home and grab you some stuff for the night?”

Maddie shook her head. “Nah, I’ll steal one of his shirts to sleep in... although I think I’ll stay here with him a while first....” she gave him a wry grin, “but if you felt like it... you could come back in the morning with some fresh clothes and some breakfast... something greasy.”

Chimney rolled his eyes but pressed a kiss to her hair. “See you tomorrow.”

She smiled back at him. “See you.”

“Bye Buck!” Buck mumbled something incomprehensible in return.

[patroclusonly]

Redamancy

Redamancy

(n.) the act of loving the one who loves you; 

a love returned in full

I’m going full extra with the titles, last one was shakespear, this one is a cool weird word, very sexy of me. Anyway, this is a coda for 3x18. kinda meh but oh well

read on a03 

May’s graduation party was going great so far. The food was excellent, the company even better and the photobooth had been the best idea, everyone was loving it. 

Eddie looked at everyone with a big smile. They were finally having a good time, all the team was happy and without a worry. Well not all. 

He searched around the room but didn’t find Buck. He was nowhere to be seen. But he wouldn't leave without saying goodbye, so Eddie went to look for him outside. And there he was, leaning against the wall, with his head back and his eyes on the sky.

“Hey, man. You okay?” Eddie asked. Buck looked down and smiled when he saw him coming closer and standing beside him. Eddie felt something warm on his chest, he had been feeling that a lot around Buck lately. It was new, but comforting. 

“Yeah, just needed some quiet.” He shrugged, brushing his arms against Eddie’s and looking up again. 

A moment passed where they both stayed in silence, enjoying watching the sky turning from light orange to dark blue. 

“Sorry for hitting you in the face before. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No, It’s okay. Just surprised me a little.” Buck chuckled. 

“Are you really okay?” Eddie spoke after a minute, carefully glancing at him. Buck sighed, knowing exactly why Eddie was asking. 

“I talked to her, she told me she didn’t like who she was when she was here, with me. She didn’t seem sorry for never writing back but it’s okay.” He looked down, moving to face Eddie. He did the same. “I see now that she wasn’t who I thought she was….And that she didn’t make me who I am now, I did that myself.” Eddie smiled softly

“That’s right.” He put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it in reassurance before taking it back. “And I will not badmouth someone I don’t know...but you deserve better.” The softness in his expression took Buck by surprise but he smiled anyway, a little blush creeping up his neck. 

“Thanks.” He answered, smiling fondly. “I think I got better.” 

“You got someone I don’t know?” Eddie asked and Buck could swear he saw a pinch of jealousy on his furrowed brow, so he took the leap. 

“You do know them, actually.” He stated, amused at Eddie’s quizzical look. “They have the prettiest brown eyes that sometimes look hazel, dark hair, nice body, Like, really nice body.” He described while looking at him. Eddie’s face seemed to go through many emotions, settling for obvious jealousy. Which Buck found amusing and enough to keep going. “One of the best firefighters I’ve ever seen. After me, of course.” He joked and Eddie rolled his eyes. 

“Who is it?” He asked, getting annoyed and with no idea of who that could be since Buck spent all his time with the same four people. Buck tried to suppress the laugh that was trying to escape him.

“Come on, you can guess.” He said, crossing his arms in front of him and enjoying how Eddie couldn’t stop his eyes from traveling to the shape of his arms. He knew it was a good idea to wear that shirt. “They are the most stubborn person I know, as stubborn as me I would say. But they’re also the most caring, even if it’s hard for them to show it sometimes.” Eddie kept having the same puzzled look on his face and Buck smiled. “Still no idea?” He asked.

“Not really. If they’re part of the team I have no idea who could be then because I’ve never seen you talk for longer than ten minutes to anyone else that wasn’t cap, Chim, Hen or me.” And Buck almost snorted.

“Oh,  you’re so close to getting it.” He thought Eddie couldn’t look more confused but he was wrong. “Last clue, they have the most amazing kid.” Buck said and smiled at Eddie, who seemed to recall every conversation in which Buck had said that about Chris.

“Wait, I thought you said Chris was the most amazing kid in the world.” He said, eyebrow raised in confusion. 

“I did.” He smirked and fluttered his eyes at him. Something he did with Eddie a lot from the day they met, but maybe that was his conscience reacting to Eddie even before he knew what felt.  He began to walk away when he saw Eddie starting to connect the dots in his head but before he could take more than two steps he heard Eddie mumble something so he turned to look at him. He was already looking at him, mouth slightly open.

“Is it me?” He asked quietly, like he was afraid the answer would be no. Buck smiled softly at him. 

“Would you be mad if it was?” He said, standing just a few inches away from his face.  

“It would mean I was getting jealous of myself. So, no, I wouldn’t mind if it was me.” He smiled softly, waiting for Buck’s reaction. 

“I thought you’d get it sooner.” Buck teased and Eddie meant to glared at him but the fond expression on his face betrayed him. They were so close their chests were touching.

“Shut up.” He rolled his eyes at him.

“Only if you kiss me.” Buck quipped and Eddie’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes scanned Buck’s face, looking for hesitation but all he found was expectant eyes and soft pink lips that he wanted to kiss so badly. So he leaned in, gently brushing their lips together, and then pulled away. “That’s all you got?” Buck tilted his head in defiance and  Eddie was never one to back down from a challenge. 

He placed both of his hands on Buck’s face and pulled him in for a hard kiss, tracing his tongue through his bottom lip and biting it softly, earning a quiet groan from the younger man. And then he pulled back, smirking when Buck tried to capture his lips again. 

“That good enough for you?” He asked and Buck exhaled shakily.  

“Yeah. Yep. Can’t wait to do that again.” He answered, looking a little dazed, which made Eddie a little proud of himself. Or a lot proud. After all, he made Buck feel like that. 

“Well, that will have to wait, since we’re still at the party.” Eddie said and Buck pouted, looking like a kid who was just told they couldn’t play anymore because it was bedtime. “But you came come with us after, stay the night?” Eddie offered and Buck’s face lit up again. 

“Yes.” He agreed quickly. “And I can make breakfast in the morning for you and Chris.” He added with a big smile on his face. 

“I won’t say no to that. And Chris will appreciate eating something other than cereal.” He said, giving him a quick peck on the lips and taking his hand. 

“I guess I’m gonna have to do a lot more cooking from now on, huh?”  Buck asked jokingly. 

“Only if you want to.” Eddie smiled and Buck squeezed his hand.

“Of course I do.” He said grinning. “Now let’s go back to the party before I lose the little self control I have and start kissing you again.” Eddie laughed at that but followed him in.

They received some surprised faces from some of the crowd but their team only gave them knowing looks and supportive smiles. Maddie gave Buck a soft smile. And of course, Chris came running to them when he saw them holding hands and squealed in happiness, giving both of them a hug. 

Now they could say, without a doubt, everyone was happy and having a great time.