#starting before the eddie/ana break up and continuing for at least a few episodes

[honorarybuckley]

what could have fucking been am i right? i’ve been mostly silent today with everything going on because i didn’t feel like i really had anything to contribute. and i still don’t, except to ask what could have been? imagine all the season five moments we could have possibly still had but with the promise of canon buddie covering it all in a warm blanket. the look in 5.01. eddie having a panic attack and being called repressed. buck worrying about him and pushing him to break up with ana (how messy would that have been after we witnessed them have their feelings realization, buck wondering if he was telling him this for the right reasons). the balcony scene. eddie leaving the 118. “you need to move on, i have.” buck kissing lucy. buck breaking down the door. eddie apologizing for scaring chris (for scaring buck?). taking eddie to see charlie. reuniting at work in may day. eddie going to texas. taylor coming back for the jonah stuff but as a friend. “is that really love.” the henren wedding (a perfect moment for them to move further towards an actual relationship leading into season six). god and there’s so many other moments in season five alone that would have been colored differently if they’d only been able to tell the story the way they wanted to.

[extasiswings]

MORE finale-spec because I hadn’t written a Buck POV yet.  Also, wow, I need the new episode so I have something else to think about...

There’s a moment that happens sometimes before disaster strikes.

The world slows, and everything is thrown into stark clarity—Buck can remember it right before the ladder truck, the tsunami, Eddie’s well collapse—that feeling of being outside of his own body for a few seconds knowing suddenly that something terrible is about to hit.  He remembers.

They’ve just finished a shift when it happens. Buck’s walking out to the parking lot with Eddie when Bobby calls him back—

“Go ahead,” Eddie says. “I told Christopher I would pick up ice cream on the way home anyway, so—we’ll see you at the house?”

“I’ll be there,” Buck promises. “I—I’m glad that—that we’re doing this. I’ve missed—” You. Both of you. “—him.”

Eddie’s lips curve up and his eyes soften.

“He’s missed you, too,” he replies quietly.

Buck’s heart flips in his chest.

Bobby calls him again. He turns away. Eddie continues walking to his truck—

Buck glances back over his shoulder when he reaches the garage—

The world slows. Everything goes cold.

A gunshot rings out.

Across the parking lot, Eddie collapses like a puppet with its strings cut.

Buck’s moving before he can even think, only to be abruptly yanked back into the safety of the garage. He fights the grip—everything around him is white noise, his focus narrowed to Eddie’s prone form on the ground—

His throat is raw. He thinks he might be screaming.

“Buck. Buck!” Bobby shouts right next to his ear. “It’s not safe—”

“Fuck safe,” Buck spits out and finally wrenches free, sprinting across the parking lot and dropping to his knees when he reaches Eddie. Eddie’s breathing is labored and blood slicks his hands where he’s holding pressure on the gunshot wound.

“Buck,” Eddie chokes out. “You shouldn’t be—sniper—”

“If he wants to shoot me, he can shoot me, but I’m not leaving you here,” Buck replies. He covers Eddie’s hands with his to help hold pressure, barely holding back a shudder at the unhelpful reminder his mind offers up that he isn’t trained for this, doesn’t know what he’s doing, and if Eddie dies—

Fuck, it would have been better if their positions were reversed. And Buck would do it if he could. Would take a bullet, a hundred, a thousand bullets if it would make Eddie magically fine, if it would send him home safe and sound to Christopher.

“Was supposed to get the ice cream,” Eddie murmurs, and his eyes are distant, focus slipping in and out. “Chris has been—been looking forward to tonight—all week.”

“Eddie, look at me,” Buck demands. There’s ice in his stomach and Eddie’s blood is warm on his hands—the contrast makes his head swim and his throat tighten. “Look at me, okay? Focus.”

Eddie makes a small, hurt noise and closes his eyes when Buck presses down a little harder, but when he opens them again Buck can tell he’s more present. Over in the ambulance bay, there’s shouting, and an engine starts up, but Buck’s gaze doesn’t leave Eddie’s.

“I promised—promised I wouldn’t leave him again,” Eddie says. “I promised—”

“And you’re going to keep that promise,” Buck replies fiercely as the ambulance pulls up right next to them, the doors opening and providing the faintest amount of cover. Hen jumps out with a backboard and together they get Eddie onto it and loaded inside.

“Buck,” Eddie tries to say again, except then his face pales rapidly, a terrible choked wheeze leaving him, and his eyes roll back.

“What’s happening?” Buck asks, his voice high with panic.

“I think one of his lungs collapsed,” Hen says, her own voice painfully controlled as she sets to work. And Buck just keeps holding pressure and lets her go.

When they get to the hospital—

Buck stands frozen in the ambulance bay outside the emergency room doors staring blankly after the gurney as the doctors and nurses wheel Eddie inside and into a trauma room. There’s blood rushing in his ears, he’s freezing—

And Eddie’s blood is on his hands, drying, staining his skin—

He gets sick in the nearest trash can.

“Buck.” Hen’s voice is quiet, her touch gentle when her hand curls around his shoulder.

He’s shaking. He can’t seem to stop.

“You’re in shock,” she says, and Buck realizes he must have said that out loud. “Come sit down.”

“I should be doing something,” Buck replies, even as he lets her lead him back to sit on the edge of the ambulance. His voice is distant to his own ears. “I should—I should call Isabel—Christopher—”

“You don’t have to do anything right this second.” Hen presses a water bottle into his hands. “Except drink that.”

Buck picks at the label instead. His mind is racing too quickly as well, skipping from thought to thought and not really processing any of them.

“He’s going to be fine, right?” He asks. “He has to be. Because I can’t—I can’t—”

Fuck, he can’t breathe. It’s like he gave Eddie his own lungs to keep him breathing. If he’s numb it’s because his heart is beating in Eddie’s chest, keeping him alive, and that makes sense to Buck because if Eddie dies—

He lost him to Ana. He did. Months of barely seeing each other outside of work. Months of barely seeing Christopher. Months of feeling like he couldn’t pick up the phone or drive over and use his key to just drop in because it suddenly felt...intrusive. And then Eddie broke up with Ana and they were finally supposed to get back to being them again, and now—

Buck would rather lose Eddie to a hundred Anas than lose him like this. At least before he still had physical presence, the half-life of proximity a few times a week at work. He could live with that, no matter how much it felt like hell.

“He has a great team working on him,” Hen says. “They’re going to do everything they can.”

It’s not an answer. Or it is. But not quite. But then, Buck’s pretty sure Hen doesn’t want to lie to him.

He shudders again. His eyes blur.

There are words trapped in his throat. Words that he hasn’t let himself say, has hardly even let himself acknowledge in his own head. But he’s fraying, fraying, fraying at the seams and his heart is in a trauma room and there is still blood on his hands—

Buck hunches forward, elbows on his knees, curling into himself.

“I’m in love with him,” he whispers. Just to say it. Just once.

Hen wraps her arm around his shoulders, gently encouraging him to lean against her.

“I know,” she admits.

And Buck turns his head into her shoulder. And breaks.

[hmslusitania]

Hey, you don’t need to answer this if you’re not up for more discourse, but i just wanted to complain a bit about how this Ana-storyline is now probably getting even more non-sensical. Because it very much seems like we are going to skip right ahead to Eddie being back at work, right? And i know, timelines on tv are…weird, to say the least, especially when it comes to medical leaves etc. But Eddie’s physical recovery must have at least taken a few weeks. Now, assuming that we are going to see Ana again, that means he kept her around for that long, with her probably helping him through all of it, and now he’s going to break it off pretty much out of the blue?

Hey Anon!

I...would not be too worried about the timeline. Season 4 retconned when May's graduation party was because of covid, so instead of taking place in May/June it took place in March (apparently) and when 4x01 started, it gave us a full title card saying it was September (despite the episode airing in January). So we know 4x01 and 4x02 took place in September 2020, and after that, we don't really have a timeline. There's a timeskip somewhere in Season 4, but I don't actually think it was during the mid-season break because they were doing vaccine doses in 4x08 and as we're all painfully aware, the vaccine wasn't developed until the beginning of 2021. Somewhere in between 4x02 and 4x08, we skipped a few months. My personal suggestion would be between 4x02 and 4x03, since I don't remember getting any indication that Lone Star was taking place at any other time than the present as it was airing so the timelines (in this version) would've aligned at the crossover.

Of course, I would take any and all timeline aspects with the utmost salt because basically anything you do to it to try and make it make sense results in Maddie being pregnant for like 13 months. Which is suboptimal.

As for Ana's return, I want to emphasise that this is not officially confirmed anywhere, to my knowledge. It's put together through analysis of Instagram stories, which is methodologically sound as far as a research analysis method, but also not infallible.

We did also get a bit of a filming schedule yesterday that someone dug up on Twitter, and so it looks like what they were filming yesterday with all the entire circus is actually part of 5x02 in the depths of the blackout, rather than part of the first episode, Panic. It makes me wonder/hope that perhaps if we do get Ana back, and we do have that opening extraneous episode, perhaps it will include flashbacks and that's the reason for her presence, and we will get to see A) some Eddie recovery stuff and B) the breakup we all so crave. As far as anyone knows (last I checked, but I haven't caught up with the dash yet this morning) Albert has not been spotted anywhere in turnouts, and that could be because Timothy wasn't kidding when he suggested that perhaps Albert would be at a different station, or it's because 5x02 takes place before that closing scene and we're going to backtrack a bit. Which, of course, would only muddle the timeline just a bit more, but whatever.

Or, it could be that they have been together the entire time, and we're going to get indications that Eddie just hasn't found a time to break up with her yet because how do you break up with someone you don't love when they've been helping you through a recovery? It would be the return of the reason Tatiana broke up with Chimney in 1x03 except at a reverse: Ana did stay and we would get to see the fallout of that particular relationship choice. In my ideal, here, we'd have Eddie constantly checking his phone during the blackout and Buck ask, "Chris?" because of course that's who Eddie's checking in on, and Eddie would reply,

E: Yeah, I'm just worried.

B: Why? Isn't he with Abuela/Pepa/Carla?

E: No, he's with Ana.

B: And you're...not okay with that?

[long, long, telling silence]

E: ...that's not good is it.

B: Not if you want the relationship to work out.

Basically, Anon, my advice here is to not count your chickens before they've hatched and to not start diagnosing them with relationship perils/nonsensically continued relationships until after they've hatched. I would not worry about it yet.

[shes-an-oddbird]

A Very long list of Season 5 Predictions/Wish List

I tried to hit as many of the characters as possible so this is really really long

The trickiest thing about this show seems to be the ever growing cast creating several stories at once and the fact that it’s a show about first responders so even characters that don’t seem like they would follow that career choice end up there and those that don’t sometimes feel out of place.

This is not to say that I don’t LOVE AND ADORE FIREFIGHTER ALBERT HAN! (but really kind of thought it came out of nowhere and yet I’m not surprised because what else were they going to do with him?)

It seems unlikely they’d assign Albert to the 118 unless Bobby requests him like he did with Eddie, but I think Bobby might have some hesitations about that. They’re already as close as family and sometimes make dangerous decisions because of it. He might feel its better for Albert to be with a different fire house or maybe Chimney would.

But he’s a regular so putting him with the 118 would be the best way to give him screen time

I personally think he’ll be assigned to the 133 since we’ve seen a bit of them this season. I’d love if there was a fun rivalry between the two firehouses (whichever one Albert ends up at.) I’ve said it before that the 118 is probably notorious at this point for the weird situations they get into. The teasing and the taunting would just be so much fun to watch. Albert talking to Chim or Buck and just being like, so the guys told me about this time…

Actually can we take a moment to appreciate that the 118 got ANOTHER firetruck destroyed and this one wasn’t even theirs. The 133 spends FIVE MINUTES with Buck and Eddie and their truck is in shambles.

On a more serious note, we might meet Chimney and Albert’s dad. I’m thinking he’s not going to be thrilled about his youngest joining the fire department and show up to talk some sense into him and scold Chimney for letting him do it.

I’m so confused about how much time has passed? How long does it take to become a firefighter? They must have some sort of plan for him because cutting out him going through training seems like a lost opportunity. It’s a story we haven’t really seen through anything but montages. Is it difficult? Would he try to quit? I’d have liked to see him making the decision in the first place.

putting the rest under here because its really a lot

We’ll also miss Eddie recovering (and Bobby too actually), which I’m a little bummed about but not devastated. It sounds like we won’t see much in the way of the effects of either shooting but can’t do anything about that now unless they flash back and have them work towards that moment on the roof.

My biggest concern with the time jump is missing literally any of Maddie’s story. I don’t know much about PPD or if its called recovery or overcoming it but I do want to see Maddie work through that and Chimney and the others supporting her.

I think her leaving the dispatch center will be temporary but it may take half or all of next season for her to return.

Maybe she’ll take over for May, if she does go off to school

Or May might continue working at Dispatch and going to school.

If she doesn’t go to school Athena is not going to be very happy with her. But maybe we could get Maddie and Josh being big siblings to May which is an underappreciated dynamic. Maybe it will help Maddie cope with how useless she’s feeling with Jee.

I’ll need to rewatch to see if they say what May wants to do but maybe she’ll study journalism or something that will keep her in the loop of the main characters the way it does Taylor.

And speaking of Taylor, she is actually a very interesting character, whether you like her (morally) or not. I think we’ll see more of her in season 5 and I genuinely think she’ll fall hard for Buck. And I think everyone needs to chill about how it’ll destroy her character.  We’ve already established that Taylor is like the female version of Buck (with a bit more sense maybe but a mirror if him non the less). If Buck is allowed to grow and want an actual relationship, is anyone really surprised they’d have Taylor go through that too.

She’s just a few steps behind, like he’s in relationship phase and she’s just coming to terms with her own feelings for him

My big concern, since they like to break Buck’s poor little heart, is that she’ll leave. She’ll get a job opportunity and pick it over Buck. I think it would be a hard decision for her but in character. Or maybe they’ll surprise us and make Buck and Taylor endgame (I know a lot of people don’t want to hear that but I could see it happening that way)

On the flip side I don’t know what’s going to happen with Eddie and Ana. I know she’s pretty much hated but its super unclear what the plan is other than that they’ll eventually break up per what Carla implied. I suspect they’ll be together for a bit of season five until Eddie figures out what’s up with what his heart wants. I don’t think Ana is some awful witch so the break up will probably be mutual or at the very least Ana won’t be surprised.

But hopefully we get more than just that as far as Eddie goes. The episodes we do get that are focused on him are really some of my favorites. They are wrapping up his moving on from Shannon arc which is cool. The trying to be a good father to Christopher will always be there, that’s something that will never change and always be a growing/learning experience.

I’d love to meet one or both of Eddie’s sisters. They don’t have to stick around long term like Albert did but to have them pop up with some crisis would be interesting and we could learn more about Eddie and the dynamic with his family which seems loving but strained.

Maybe we will see Eddie working more with Hen too. I was wondering if they’d make Eddie a full paramedic to take over for her eventually, which I decided they probably won’t do. But one episode of Buck distressed over the fact that he and Eddie wouldn’t be partners anymore would be fun drama.

The two really are just at a loss without each other and I love that. They get so pouty when they’re apart.

I don’t know what other plans they might have for Buck next season. I suspect we’ll see him worrying over Maddie and I’d kill to see him watching Jee-Yun.

I don’t know how old she’ll be because of the time jump but can you imagine Buck watching the baby and it just being an absolute disaster. So he starts calling everyone in a panic and we get firefam taking care of Baby Jee, maybe while Chim and Maddie are at a therapy session or just a weekend away for themselves.

I’m convinced the Baby would love Eddie. I think its just me projecting my desire for Eddie and Maddie to interact more. But like Hen teasing him because of course the baby loves him, all the girls love Eddie, he’s got the pretty face. Buck being super jealous that Jee likes him more. Eddie being genuinely surprised because he felt like such a failure when Chris was a baby. 

Denny, Harry and Christopher are all getting older too so there has got to be a story there with at least one, if not all of them. Harry was sidelined this season but I love that kid, he is the spawn of Athena and Michael and we already know he’s a little trouble maker. Match that with Christopher who is sassy and too smart for his own good and Denny who is clearly the good kid of the bunch. I don’t know, it’s another lost opportunity if they don’t do something with that.

They could assign Karen and Hen an older foster kid who’s maybe not such a good influence at first. Unless they opt for just younger ones, I’m not really sure how that works. But they could get one that’s not as easy as nia and they have to work for that bond.

Might be they adopt them at the end

I hope we see more of Hen’s mom and med school friends but not like a crazy amount. The cast is already too big but I love them so an occasional appearance would be welcome.

I love David and Michael too but they always seem like the hardest to work in because, as stated, they are not first responders. David is a doctor though so maybe we’ll see some interaction with him and Hen. And all the Bobby and Michael content is welcome.

I NEED A WEDDING NEXT SEASON! Just pick a pair and marry them please!!! Maddie and Chimney!!! Michael and David!!! Someone, please! Even just a proposal?! Maybe? Please?

And there will be another crossover event which is exciting because I really enjoyed the first one. I wonder if they’ll come to LA this time and what would bring them there. With the scheduling of the shows next season they won’t have to tie them together so much time frame wise. They literally could just be popping in for a visit. I’m not gonna lie when I thought about another crossover I really wanted Bobby the self-taught chef to meet Charles the actual chef but now I can’t have that and it makes me so sad.

Putting all this out there is a really good way to insure it never happens, but still, they seem like logical places to go as of the finale.