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Out of the two of them, Eddie had assumed Buck would be more excited about looking at engagement rings. After all, it was going to be a completely new experience for Buck, whereas Eddie had gone through the whole song and dance before (albeit, an extremely truncated version). Eddie was surprised to discover, however, that Buck was remarkably chill about the whole thing.
“You’re sure you want to look at rings together?” Buck had asked when Eddie first broached the idea. “I thought it was supposed to be, like, a surprise?”
“You’re going to wear it for the rest of your life,” Eddie had countered. “I want to be one hundred percent sure it’s something you love.”
Buck had conceded the point, which was how they found themselves spending their next weekday off browsing the selection at a jewelry store, trying to get an idea of what they both like. An argument had been made that they could have perused online collections just as easily, but Eddie has always preferred doing his shopping in person. (He’s oldschool, sue him.) And besides, it didn’t take much to convince Buck to do some physical window shopping once Eddie promised him they could swing by his favourite burger joint on the way home.
They wander into the jewelry store not long after it opens and find it empty except for the manager. She introduces herself as Katie with a bright smile before directing them to the display cases with the rings they’re looking for. Eddie watches Buck’s eyes bug out slightly as he takes everything in. Whether it’s the prices or the sheer number of options, Eddie can’t tell, but he gently knocks their shoulders together.
“What’s that face for?” Eddie asks.
Buck blinks a couple times and then turns to Eddie, a blush rising on his cheeks. “Uh, I think it just hit me all of a sudden.” At Eddie’s questioning noise, Buck continues, “I mean, like. We’re looking at rings. We’re going to get married.”
Eddie can’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, that’s the idea, babe.”
(They’ve talked about marriage plenty, and it breaks Eddie’s heart a little bit that Buck might only have been allowing himself to think about it as a hypothetical and that’s why Buck has been kind of subdued about the prospect of picking out wedding rings. Sometimes Eddie wants to go find Buck’s exes and one-night stands and ask them what the hell was wrong with them for walking away from someone so kind and compassionate and loving, but at the same time Eddie’s so incredibly grateful that he’s the one who gets to keep Buck. While they’ll both always have their hang-ups and insecurities, Eddie knows that they’re both getting better at no longer defaulting to those negative thought patterns – and Eddie hopes that once he finally gets a ring on Buck’s finger, that will be a more tangible reminder for Buck that he’s allowed – encouraged – to make plans about their future together.)
Buck gives him that soft, moony look that always makes Eddie a little weak in the knees, and reaches out to tangle their fingers together. Eddie tips into him and rests his head against Buck’s shoulder. He’s normally not one for public displays of affection, but in this case Katie is the only witness and the situation definitely calls for it.
After a few moments, Buck releases Eddie’s hand and straightens up, seemingly shaking off his weird mood. “Isn’t it, I don’t know, bad luck or something to look at rings together?” he asks.
“Pretty sure that’s seeing each other on the day before the ceremony,” Eddie says mildly. “But that also doesn’t matter because superstitions are bullshit.”
“After everything we’ve been through, I just don’t want to tempt the universe any more.”
Eddie barely resists the urge to roll his eyes. “You and the universe. Hey, what do you think about this one?” He gestures to a silver band, plain save for a single thin strip of sapphire in the middle. It’s unbearably sappy but it kind of reminds him of Buck’s eyes. Judging from the tender look Buck gives him, he knows exactly what Eddie’s thinking.
“What did you say earlier?” Buck asks. “It has to be something you love?”
Katie, sensing blood in the water, picks that exact moment to wander over with her saccharine smile. “Would you gentlemen like a closer look?”
“Oh, uh –” Eddie stutters, flustered.
At that moment, the little bell above the entrance to the store rings as the door opens and two men step inside.
“I’ll be with you in a moment!” Katie calls in her chipper voice.
In his peripheral vision, Eddie sees the two men pause as they notice other people in the store. The atmosphere seems to change subtly. At first, Eddie thinks it’s just the slight disappointment of no longer being the only two customers and now having more of an audience, but as Eddie waits for the feeling to pass, he realizes it’s actually his instincts telling him to be on alert. An uneasy sensation settles in his stomach as he watches the men look around the store, their gazes seeming to linger on the security cameras. Eddie pays more attention to their appearances: one is tall – almost as tall as Buck, but scrawny instead of built like a tank – and the other is about half a foot shorter, but with enough muscles that he looks like he could put Eddie through the wall without much effort.
As the stocky one rolls his shoulders, Eddie catches the unmistakable outline of a handgun underneath the front of his shirt.
Ice floods Eddie’s veins.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Beside him, Buck is chattering away with Katie about the ring that caught Eddie’s eye, asking about the material of the band and if the sapphire is lab-made or not. Eddie elbows him in the side and clears his throat meaningfully.
“Eddie?” Buck turns to him. “What’s –?”
“Do you have a silent alarm?” Eddie asks the manager quietly.
Katie’s eyes widen. “I – yes, we do, but why –?”
“I need you to trigger it. I think you’re about to get robbed.”
For the first time, Buck glances over to the other two men. He looks back at Eddie and doesn’t ask if he’s sure, just nods almost imperceptibly. Eddie’s nearly bowled over by just how easily Buck trusts him, but now really isn’t the time for getting sentimental. He watches as Katie slides discreetly down the counter, presumably to the spot where the silent alarm is hidden. Her hands drift out of sight, and then she looks back at Eddie and Buck, giving them a small nod.
Okay, so the police should be on the way, but what Eddie would love more than anything is to not be in the store when the cops arrive. Specifically, for Buck not to be in the store when the cops arrive. But, as Eddie turns around and acts like he’s casually checking out the other display cases, he notes that the scrawny guy seems to have taken up position right by the door. It doesn’t look like anyone would be getting out without a fight, and while Eddie’s only noticed a gun on one of them, he doesn’t want to take that chance. Plus, Eddie doesn’t honestly think he could in good conscience walk out of the store and leave Katie behind to deal with this by herself, even if the police are en route.
Buck shifts closer to him and presses their shoulders together. Eddie glances over and gives him what he hopes is a small, reassuring smile.
The unmistakable sound of a gun cocking behind them makes the smile fall right off Eddie’s face.
Eddie turns around slowly, and sees the guy with the gun pointing the weapon at him and Buck. The sight makes his heart pound harder in his chest as his palms start to sweat. Keep it together, he tells himself firmly. You need to keep a level head.
“Alrighty folks,” Gun Guy says. “No sudden movements, no one goes for their phones, and nobody gets hurt. We’ll be done with you in a couple minutes and you can go back to your day. Now, hands where I can see them and everybody get into that corner.”
He motions, of course, to the corner furthest from the store’s entrance. Eddie isn’t all too jazzed about that, but he hopes that if they’re all quiet and docile, this truly will just end up being a very unfortunate, short experience in their day. As he and Buck carefully walk to the corner that Gun Guy indicated, the lanky one rounds the display cases to grab Katie’s arm and shove her when she apparently doesn’t move fast enough for his liking.
“Hey!” Buck shouts. “No need to get rough with her!”
Both robbers turn to glare at Buck, and Eddie’s entire body tenses up. He wants to clap a hand over Buck’s mouth and stop him from making himself a target, but of course Buck would leap to an innocent bystander’s defence. It’s in his nature, and while normally Eddie gets embarrassingly weak in the knees whenever Buck’s big heart is on display, he would really rather that Buck not be drawing attention to himself right now in the presence of at least one armed man.
Katie takes the opportunity while Lanky is distracted to scramble away and join Eddie and Buck. Once she’s in the corner with them, the robbers seem to decide that the actual robbery should take more precedence than Buck’s outburst, and turn their attention to the display cases. Gun Guy uses his gun to start smashing the glass on the cases while Lanky grabs the jewelry and starts shoving it into a backpack he brought with him.
“You okay?” Buck whispers to Katie.
She sniffs and nods. “Yeah, thanks. Sorry, this probably isn’t how you wanted your engagement ring shopping to go.”
“Not exactly your fault,” Eddie says.
Buck glances at him and grins, and then Eddie feels the back of Buck’s hand brush against his. Eddie hooks his pinkie finger around Buck’s, allowing himself a meagre moment of comfort while the rest of him is on high alert.
The small, quiet moment between them is broken, however, when Eddie sees a lone squad car pull up in front of the store.
Oh shit.
The two cops get out of their car and close the doors, the sound of which draws Gun Guy’s attention. As he turns to the windows with his gun still clearly visible, the cops clock the weapon and they both immediately go for their radios as they begin backing towards their car.
“Fuck!” Gun Guy swears.
Lanky jerks around, eyes widening when he sees the police car outside the store. “How did the cops get here so fast?!”
“I don’t know!”
“Shit, this wasn’t part of the plan. What do we do now?”
Gun Guy swings his eyes over to where Eddie, Buck and Katie are huddled. As soon as his attention lands on them, Buck shifts his stance so he’s standing at the front of their group. Eddie barely resists the urge to grab Buck and yank him behind his own body, but he’s trying not to advertise how much of a weak point Buck is to him. Granted, they were clearly just looking at engagement rings together, but Eddie hopes that the robbers are comphet enough that they don’t immediately twig the fact that Eddie and Buck are a couple.
“We’ve got hostages,” Gun Guy says to his partner. “That’ll buy us some time. Get their phones.”
“Good idea, Heath.” Lanky stalks over to them, his hand outstretched. “Phones and wallets. Now.”
Eddie clenches his jaw, but supposes he shouldn’t be all that shocked that he’s going to lose his wallet during an armed robbery. He digs into his pocket and hands his phone and wallet over without complaint. Buck follows suit, as does Katie, who only has a phone to turn over. When Lanky glares at her, as if she’s trying to hold something back, she stutters out, “M-m-my purse is in the-the staff room, in the back!”
The man continues to stare at her, as if trying to figure out if she’s lying. Beside him, Eddie feels Buck tense, like he’s getting ready to jump to her defence. Eddie groans internally and tries to subtly reach for Buck, to squeeze his arm and silently tell him to stand down. Before he can, Lanky seemingly decides Katie’s telling the truth and turns back to his partner.
“Now what do we do?” he asks, pocketing their phones and wallets.
“You three.” Heath (evidently) points his gun at them, and Eddie’s heart stumbles in his chest. “Spread out, and no talking.”
Reluctantly, Katie slowly begins backing away. Buck glances at Eddie, the fear evident in his eyes, and Eddie wants nothing more than to be able to reach out and take his hand and comfort him, but he also doesn’t want to risk invoking the wrath of either robber. Eddie’s content to be stoic and compliant and allow himself to be ordered around – one of them has a gun, after all – until Lanky notices Buck’s hesitation.
“I told you to hurry the fuck up!” he shouts, grabbing Buck by the back of his shirt and roughly shoving him further away from Eddie.
Eddie sees red. All thoughts of being stoic and compliant fly out the window as soon as that guy puts his hands on Buck.
“Hey!” He muscles in-between Buck and the robber. “Don’t fucking touch him,” he growls.
Something insidious flashes across the man’s face. He bares his teeth in a predatory smile as his gaze shifts over Eddie’s shoulder – to Buck. Eddie squares his shoulders, even as he feels Buck wrap a hand around his wrist and try to tug him backwards.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to tell me what I can and can’t do with your boy,” the robber says.
Eddie’s self-preservation instincts are yelling danger! danger! but those instincts are immediately overridden by a more powerful gut reaction telling him to keep Buck safe. Drawing himself up as much as possible, he snarls, “If you put your hands on him again, we’re going to have a problem.”
“Eddie…” Buck hisses behind him, a warning.
Lanky doesn’t seem deterred. Still grinning, he shoots an arm out and fists his hand in Buck’s shirt, trying to yank him out from behind Eddie. Buck makes a noise – more surprised than frightened, but it has Eddie’s blood boiling as he throws caution to the wind and bodily shoves the robber away from them. If this asshole is determined to go after Buck, he’s going to have to go through Eddie.
From the other side of the room, Heath groans. “Walker, can you stop fucking with them and help me?”
Lanky – Walker – doesn’t break eye contact with Eddie. “Gimme a minute, I’m just teaching them a lesson.”
“Wait –” Buck says. “You don’t need to –”
It comes out of nowhere. One second Eddie’s curling his fingers into fists, careful to position his thumbs properly for when he throws a punch, and the next second something hits him in the side. It feels just like a dull thump for a couple seconds before a strange numb sensation starts to spread around the area.
Something’s wrong. He can tell that immediately even if he doesn’t know why.
Eddie looks down, and sees Walker’s fist clenched around the handle of a knife – the blade of which is buried in Eddie’s side.
He barely has time to process what he’s seeing before Walker yanks the blade out.
Somewhere behind him, Katie screams.
The red flash of blood – his blood – brings the pain. With his next heartbeat, a burning sensation begins to bubble up in the wound and spread outwards. Eddie claps his hand against his abdomen, more out of instinct than any conscious decision. As his mind catches up with what’s just happened, his legs tremble and he stumbles backward into Buck’s chest.
“Eddie?” Buck asks frantically, hands immediately gripping his shoulders. “Eddie, fuck, what did he –?”
“Jesus!” Heath roars. “I told you not to stab anyone!”
Eddie blinks and suddenly he’s being lowered to the ground. It feels like his brain is swimming through molasses as he struggles to get back to the present moment, but then suddenly Buck is leaning over him, his blue eyes wide with panic, and that’s the shock he needs to snap out of his daze. Yeah, sure, Eddie’s been stabbed, but he’s not the only one in danger here.
“Eddie, l-l-let me see,” Buck pleads.
Slowly, Eddie lifts his hands from his side and Buck tugs his shirt up and out of the way. Eddie glances down at the wound; it’s bleeding more than he would like – which would ideally be no bleeding at all – but not so fast that he thinks he’s in immediate danger. It’s comically lucky: he got stabbed, but the knife seems to have missed anything vital. His biggest worry is probably going to be infection.
Buck shrugs out of his jacket, balls it up, and presses it so firmly against Eddie’s side that his body skids a couple inches across the floor. Eddie opens his mouth to protest – he really likes that jacket on Buck – but then lets out a hysterical giggle at the absurdity of that thought. Buck stares at him with wide blue eyes, probably trying to determine if Eddie’s going into shock.
Suddenly, Walker appears behind Buck, looming over him. “I thought we told you to separate,” he snarls, gripping Buck’s shoulder and attempting to pull him away.
Eddie struggles to push himself up on his elbows, even as the movement makes him grit his teeth in pain. “Get your hands off of him!”
Walker’s attention shifts to him, and the man sneers. Before Eddie can dig himself in an even deeper hole, Buck wrenches out of Walker’s grip and crouches over Eddie, shielding him.
“I need to apply pressure to slow down the bleeding!” Buck snaps. “So unless you want to add a murder charge to armed robbery, back the fuck off!”
Walker raises his eyebrows in amusement and Eddie’s stomach drops. The guy doesn’t seem intimidated by Buck’s righteous anger at all; if anything, he seems to find it amusing – and Eddie knows that’s even more dangerous. The last thing they need is for Walker to decide that toying with them like a cat torturing mice is more interesting than helping his buddy rob the store. Eddie steels himself, body tensing as he prepares to leap over Buck and tackle Walker to the ground, stab wound be damned.
The sudden, loud ringing of a telephone makes everyone startle, breaking the tension between the three of them.
“Who’s fucking phone is that?” Walker yells, turning away and stalking towards the noise.
“I-it’s the store’s phone,” Katie answers tremulously.
“Well can you shut it up?”
“Who fucking cares!” Heath interrupts.
As the two robbers begin to bicker with each other, Eddie allows himself to relax minutely now that their attention is focused somewhere else. Eddie shifts his gaze back to Buck as he resumes trying to staunch the flow of blood from Eddie’s side with his jacket, and reaches out to tap the back of Buck’s hand.
“You okay?” he asks when Buck meets his eyes.
“Eddie,” Buck huffs quietly. “Can you stop trying to protect me when you’ve been stabbed?”
Eddie grins up at him. “Not a chance.”
“Stop talking back there!” Walker roars.
Clenching his hands into fists, Eddie lets his head tip back to rest against the cool floor. He keeps his eyes on Buck’s face, watching as Buck’s gaze tracks slowly around the store, like he’s looking for a way out. Eddie wants to grab Buck by the shoulders and shake him and tell him to just be patient and sit tight and wait it out – look at where Eddie trying to be proactive with the alarm got them. But Eddie also knows that if their positions were reversed – if it were Buck bleeding out under his hands – Eddie would do absolutely anything necessary to get him to safety. And it’s that knowledge that scares him.
Minutes pass in tense silence. The robbers continue to argue in hushed tones in the background, with the phone ringing intermittently. More sirens can be heard outside as additional police officers arrive on scene. There’s probably an ambulance out there too. Eddie wonders if the police have tapped into the store’s security feed, if anyone knows that he and Buck are caught up in this clusterfuck.
His hands feel cold. Shit, that’s not good. And there are black dots starting to creep into the corners of his vision like confetti. He needs to keep calm. He can’t let Buck know he’s deteriorating or Buck will throw himself on the metaphorical pyre to get Eddie help.
But of course, when Eddie glances up at Buck, he sees Buck already staring back at him, concern evident on his face. They’ve always been freakishly in tune with each other, which normally Eddie loves, but god he wishes he could have hidden his flagging state from Buck just a little longer.
Please don’t do anything stupid, he desperately tries to project into Buck’s mind.
Buck’s frown only deepens.
The phone starts up again. Walker seemingly has had enough; he stomps back over to the phone, looking like he might be about to take his knife to it to stop it ringing, but Buck interrupts him.
“You should just answer it,” Buck says. “It’s probably the hostage negotiator trying to see what you want.”
Walker turns his wild gaze on Buck, and Eddie paws at Buck’s hands weakly as alarm bells start ringing in his head. He wants to tell Buck to shut the hell up and stop drawing attention towards himself again, but before Eddie can warn him off, Buck is pressing forward.
“Look, he needs a hospital and you want more time to figure a way out of this, right? So answer the phone, say that someone is injured, and let the paramedics come in here and get him. As a show of good faith.”
“And let me guess,” Walker scoffs, “you want to go with him?”
Buck cuts a glance to Eddie and Eddie feels ice creep up his spine. “No,” Buck says. “I’ll stay here.”
Oh, absolutely not. Eddie needs to stop this ridiculous idea right the fuck now. “Buck, no –”
“If you let him go, I’ll stay here as a hostage.”
“No!” Eddie tries to put as much command into his voice as possible. There’s no way he can let Buck do this, send Eddie to safety while he stays behind. “That’s not happening, Buck.”
Buck looks at him, his jaw set in stubborn determination. “You need a doctor.”
“I’m not leaving you behind –”
“Chris needs one of us to come home!”
Eddie’s going to strangle him. Buck’s self-sacrificing streak has definitely improved over the years, and yet it still rears its ugly head when Eddie least expects it. Sure, Eddie could really use a sterile environment to clean his wound and stitch him up and pump some fluids back into him, but he can’t believe that Buck is honestly suggesting that Eddie allow himself to be whisked away to a hospital while Buck stays behind with a guy with a gun and another guy who’s already stabbed someone.
“Buck –” Eddie growls.
“Okay,” Heath interrupts. “The bickering is adorable, but you guys seriously need to shut the hell up.”
The phone rings again, and Heath glances between it and Eddie. Eddie can see him considering as he weighs his options, and prays to God that Heath decides three hostages are better than two. Sure, Eddie is starting to feel a little lightheaded from the blood loss, but it’s a small price to pay for staying with Buck through this nightmare.
Just as Eddie thinks the phone is about to ring out, Heath walks over and answers it.
“This is the cops?” he asks brusquely.
“Buck, I swear to God…” Eddie hisses through clenched teeth.
Buck doesn’t even look at him, just keeps his eyes trained on Heath at the phone.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Heath is saying. “I’ve got an injured guy in here, so I’m going to allow some paramedics to come and take him out. And since I’m being so generous and letting him leave, you’re going to do something for me…”
Eddie tunes the rest out as he slumps backwards. Shit. The fight drains out of his body, replaced with a numb disbelief. God damn Buck for suggesting this and god damn Heath for going along with it. Why the hell is he listening to one of his hostages? There’s no way they get out of this – they have to realize that – and yet they’re going to keep drawing the robbery out. And now Eddie’s not even going to be able to keep an eye on his fiancé and make sure he doesn’t end up getting stabbed as well.
We’re not technically fiancés yet. Neither of us have had the chance to ask, and now we might never get to.
It’s that thought that re-ignites Eddie’s anger.
“Buck,” he says lowly, “you have got to be fucking kidding me with this!”
Buck just shakes his head and presses harder against Eddie’s side. “I’m saving your life.”
“I’m fine!”
That finally gets Buck to look at him. His expression is a mix between incredulous and pissed off, like he can’t understand why on earth Eddie could be upset with this deal he’s brokered. “Eddie, you’ve been stabbed!”
“It’s not that bad –”
“I can’t believe you’re actually mad about this –”
“Gee, Buck, why could I possibly be mad –”
“Okay!” Heath calls. “The paramedics are coming in, no one try anything funny.”
Eddie’s antagonism disappears in an instant, replaced with cold, icy regret. For all he knows, this could be the last conversation he has with Buck and he’s spent it arguing with him like an asshole.
“Buck, I –”
The bell above the door rings and it feels like church bells ringing at a funeral. Fear explodes in Eddie’s chest as two paramedics enter the store and immediately make for him with their gurney. No, no, no, no! He can’t let this happen, he can’t let these separate them, he can’t leave Buck –
But then Buck is helping lift Eddie up onto the gurney, depositing him on it with a gentleness that makes Eddie’s heart ache. He locks eyes with Buck, but sees no trace of fear in his blue eyes, just conviction.
“Okay, we’re ready to take him,” one of the paramedics says.
Eddie’s hand shoots out and fists in the front of Buck’s shirt. He’s getting blood all over the fabric but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t want to let go; he wants to hold on to Buck with all his might and drag him out of the store alongside the gurney.
“Eddie.” Buck places a hand overtop of Eddie’s and squeezes briefly. “It’ll be okay.”
Tears spring to Eddie’s eyes as he shakes his head. “No.”
No, it’s not going to be okay. How can it be okay when you’re asking me to leave you and I can’t have your back? Nothing is ever okay when we’re not together.
“Okay, enough!” Heath shouts, brandishing his gun. “Take him and get out.”
Buck gently uncurls Eddie’s fingers from his shirt and forces his hand back down. So many words well up in Eddie’s throat that he chokes on them. There’s so much he wants to say to Buck: that he loves him, that he hates him in this moment, that Buck needs to come home to Chris just as much as Eddie does – but he can’t settle on what to say before the paramedics are practically sprinting out of the store with his stretcher.
When the door slams shut after them, that hurts a thousand times worse than being stabbed.
The chaos outside fades away as a high-pitched ringing starts up in Eddie’s ears. He can’t believe he just left Buck behind. With two armed men, no protection, and no guarantee that he’ll walk out of that store alive. Eddie’s breath starts to come in rapid, trembling gasps as the reality of the situation sinks in. That could very well be the last time he’ll ever see Buck. They were looking at wedding rings, planning for the future, and now –
“Eddie?”
Eddie’s head jerks in the direction of his name. He sees Athena making her way across the parking lot, her face sober but betraying the slightest hint of worry behind her sunglasses. Eddie stuffs the panic away and struggles to sit up a little.
“You’re hurt?” Athena asks as she jogs up to stand beside his stretcher.
“Stab wound to the abdomen,” one of the paramedics answers. “We need to transport him.”
Athena purses her lips. “Then the one who agreed to stay behind…”
“Buck,” Eddie confirms, voice breaking on his name.
“Of course he did,” Athena mutters. “Okay, get him to the hospital. Eddie, an officer will be there to take your statement once you’re patched up.”
The paramedics begin to push his stretcher again, but Eddie reaches out and grasps Athena’s wrist. “I know you’re not supposed to make promises but please –”
“Don’t worry,” Athena says, patting his hand. “I’ll bring that boy home in one piece.”
It should ring hollow – there are no guarantees that the situation will resolve without anyone else getting hurt – but Athena Grant is a force of nature, and Eddie feels himself relax every so slightly at her promise.
“Thank you,” he says, and finally allows himself to be wheeled to the waiting doors of the ambulance.
A strange sort of relief settles over Buck once Eddie’s out of the store. The agonized look on Eddie’s face as he was wheeled outside is going to be burned in Buck’s memory for years to come, but at least he’s safe now. He’ll be on his way to a hospital, far away from the man who stabbed him.
The man who is still clutching the knife with Eddie’s blood on it.
Buck shakes his head to clear it, and goes back to wiping Eddie’s blood off of his hands and onto his ruined jacket. He’s having a horrible sense of déjà vu – once again covered in Eddie’s blood, having just watched a team of paramedics take Eddie away from him. But at least this time Buck was able to get Eddie to safety quickly. Eddie was still alert and awake instead of limp and unconscious when the paramedics transferred him to the gurney. It’s the image of Eddie staring after him as he was wheeled away that keeps Buck from falling into full-blown panic.
Whatever happens now, one of them is guaranteed to get home to Christopher.
He knows Eddie’s pissed about that, but what the hell was Buck supposed to do? Just sit there calmly while Eddie bled out on the floor? Hell no. Buck saw an opportunity and he took it. He’ll take Eddie being mad and alive over the alternative.
The robbers have been paying less attention to their remaining hostages now that they think they have the upper hand. Buck has to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the smug bravado rolling off of them. Even if they are given a getaway car and not immediately tackled when they leave the store, there’s no way in hell the police won’t have GPS inside the vehicle. But as long as the robbers are in better spirits, Buck is less worried about someone else getting stabbed or shot.
Buck and Katie are both sitting against the same wall now, and have shuffled closer together. They haven’t risked trying to speak to each other, but Buck gets the feeling that they’re both taking comfort in the slightly closer proximity. No one likes to feel like an animal separated from the pack when predators are circling.
Katie makes eye contact with him, and he tries to offer her a reassuring smile. But then Katie’s eyes drift meaningfully to the front windows. Buck follows her line of sight and notices an increased flurry of activity outside, like the cops are getting ready to come bursting in. Anxiety settles heavily in Buck’s stomach. On the one hand, he would love nothing more than to get the hell out of here and follow Eddie to the hospital. But on the other hand, he really doesn’t want to get caught in the crossfire between the police and the robbers. Katie’s eyes are almost comically wide when he looks back at her.
It’s going to be okay. He doesn’t know if he’s trying to silently communicate with Katie or convince himself.
Buck shifts closer to Katie. Both Walker and Heath are still tucked away near the back exit to the store, not paying attention. He really hopes this hostage situation doesn’t end with him getting tackled to the ground and handcuffed like the last one.
(He really hopes this is the last time he’s ever in a hostage situation.)
There’s a split second where Buck notices the store’s front door begins to creak open where he’s able to steel himself before all hell breaks loose. He throws his body over Katie and covers his head as the police storm in and start shouting at the robbers to drop their weapons. Buck just keeps his head down as Katie shakes underneath him, counting the seconds and praying no one starts shooting.
A hand claps on his shoulder, and Buck almost leaps out of his skin until he looks up and sees Athena’s concerned face staring down at him.
Off to the side, Heath and Walker are both flat on their stomachs with their hands behind their backs.
“Athena,” Buck pants, scrambling to his feet. “Is Eddie– Was he– What hospital–?”
“Breathe, Buck,” Athena interrupts. “Eddie’s okay. He was more worried about you than he was himself.”
He snorts weakly. “That sounds like him. Do you know which hospital they took him to?”
“I’ll do you one better and take you there myself.”
“Thank you,” Buck breathes. The panic has dissipated slightly now that Athena’s assured him that Eddie is okay, but he knows the shivery, electrified feeling thrumming under his skin won’t fade completely until he can see Eddie for himself. Touch him, feel his pulse, assure himself that Eddie is safe and whole.
Athena nods in the direction of the door, but they’ve barely taken three steps towards it before someone calls out behind them.
“Wait, please!”
Buck looks over his shoulder to see Katie stumbling away from a police officer talking to her. He forces himself not to grimace; he knows they just went through a traumatic experience together and she might feel the need to debrief it with him, but Buck desperately needs to get to Eddie.
“Katie, I –”
“I just wanted to thank you,” Katie gasps. “I know you want to go to your partner but I just needed to say thank you for everything you did back there.”
“Oh…” Buck rubs the back of his neck. “You really don’t need to do that.” He barely did anything other than stand there like an idiot while Eddie tried to protect him and got hurt for it.
“I do, though,” Katie insists. “And I’d really like to give you something to say thank you properly.”
That piques Buck’s interest, even as Athena shifts impatiently behind him. “What did you have in mind?”
Eddie sits on the edge of the hospital cot in his little curtained-off section of Urgent Care, staring blankly at the faded blue fabric of the curtains.
He feels disconnected from his body, like he’s watching from the outside. He hardly noticed when he was hooked up to the IV, cold fluid pumping into his body; he was already frozen and numb. Not even when the doctor stapled his wound closed had he really felt any discomfort. Everything, inside and out of him, already hurt. The staples going in had barely registered above that base level threshold of pain.
(He’s aware he’s resorting to old coping mechanisms of dissociating – but it’s either this distant numbness, or giving in to the frenzied, panicked urge to peel out of his skin as he waits for news.)
Now he’s waiting for the nurse to come back with his discharge paperwork and prescriptions, wondering how the hell he’s going to get home – and what he’s going to have to say to Chris when he does.
Distantly, he knows that he should be figuring out a ride from the hospital when he’s missing his wallet and phone, but he can’t rouse himself enough to make plans. Without his phone, he feels even more lost. The only numbers he has memorized are Chris and Buck’s cells. He can’t call the latter because he honestly can’t handle Buck not answering, and he dreads calling his son for what he’ll have to explain. The worst part is that Eddie doesn’t even know anything. There are no TVs in Urgent Care so he can’t check to see if the robbery made the news, and without his phone he can’t trawl the internet to find answers. He honestly might break and ask the first person he finds after getting released if they can check fucking Twitter for him.
(He wonders if he could call 9-1-1 from a public phone and ask for Maddie Han, but he shrinks at the thought of having to explain to Maddie that he abandoned her little brother to a hostage situation. She’d tear him to pieces for it and he’d deserve it.)
It’s his fault, it’s all his fault. If he hadn’t been so observant, if he hadn’t told the manager to trigger the silent alarm and bring the police down on them so quickly, the robbers would have been in and out of the store with the stolen jewelry in a few minutes. Buck would still be by his side. They’d probably be home now, slightly shaken but laughing together in disbelief that their afternoon had taken such a dramatic turn. But Buck isn’t here with him. Buck is god knows where right now, while Eddie sits uselessly on a hospital bed, trying desperately not to imagine Buck’s lifeless body on the ground with a bullet in his head –
Eddie barely registers the sound of footsteps approaching before the curtains are being opened in front of him. At first he only sees the police uniform and assumes it’s the officer here to take his statement, but then Eddie blinks a couple times and realizes he’s looking at a familiar face.
“Athena?” Eddie’s heart leaps into his throat. “You’re here? What about –?”
Athena’s lips twitch. “I made you a promise, didn’t I?” She pulls the curtains further back, and Eddie gets a glimpse of someone careening down the hallway –
Buck.
Eddie is on his feet before he’s entirely processed what’s happening, heart hammering against his ribcage. He’s barely taken a step forward before Buck throws himself into the little curtained-off area and yanks Eddie into a crushing hug. The impact of their bodies colliding aggravates Eddie’s injury and he can’t help the small, pained noise that punches out of him. Buck immediately tries to pull away, already whispering frantic apologies, but Eddie clings to him like a deranged octopus, refusing to allow any amount of space between them.
“You idiot,” Eddie hisses into Buck’s collarbone, trying to sound stern but his voice comes out choked. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Buck shakes his head, squeezing him tighter. “I’m not sorry.”
The scraping of the curtain rings along the metal rod signals Athena closing the curtains to give them some privacy. As soon as they no longer have an audience, Eddie leans back just enough so that he can take Buck’s face in his hands.
“You’re okay?” he asks desperately, tilting Buck’s face this way and that as he looks for even the tiniest injury.
Buck indulges him, bringing his hands up to circle around Eddie’s wrists but letting him continue his inspection. “I’m okay. You’re the one who was stabbed, remember?”
Eddie scoffs, not bothering to dignify that with a response. Instead, he reels Buck in and kisses him, probably with a little too much fervour for the middle of Urgent Care where someone could walk in on them any second, but he doesn’t give a damn. He holds Buck’s beautiful, stupid face between his palms and kisses him for all he’s worth. Eddie’s mouth is firm and urgent against Buck’s as he savours the taste of Buck’s lips, the lingering scent of his cologne, the faint scratch of his stubble. He’d half-convinced himself that the next time he saw Buck would be under the harsh, cold lights of the morgue, and now the heat and smell of Buck surrounding him is almost overwhelming. Buck makes a hurt noise in the back of his throat and moves his hands to fist in the back of Eddie’s shirt, pressing even closer.
One of them is trembling slightly, but Eddie can’t tell who it is. Maybe it’s both of them.
Eventually, Eddie breaks the kiss to suck in a ragged breath, and rests his forehead against Buck’s. They stay like that for a few moments, just breathing together, until Eddie hears footsteps approaching and reluctantly disentangles himself slightly so it doesn’t look like they’re trying to fuse together into one being.
The nurse pulls the curtain open and barely even blinks at Buck plastered against Eddie’s side. “Here are your prescriptions and discharge papers,” she says, handing everything to Eddie. “You’ll have to come back in about a week to get your staples out.”
Eddie blanches slightly at the thought. Buck notices, because of course he does, and runs a soothing hand up and down Eddie’s back. Eddie’s sure that Buck is already mentally drafting a text to Bobby to get them both the day off so he can drive Eddie to the hospital and hold his hand while they rip his staples out.
The nurse tells them to leave the curtain open when they leave, which Eddie takes to be her subtly telling them to please get the fuck out so they can see another patient. Buck barely has a chance to thank her before she hurries off. Eddie doesn’t even feel guilty about not even trying; he’s too busy basking in the comfort of Buck’s presence to worry about social niceties.
Buck rubs Eddie’s back a few more times before stepping away. Eddie only stops himself from making a truly pathetic noise of protest because Buck circles around to his injured side and gently pulls Eddie’s shirt up to get a better look. Hissing in sympathy at the stapes, Buck’s eyes flick up to Eddie’s face as he scrutinizes him for any signs of discomfort.
Eddie tugs his shirt back down. “You can play Florence Nightingale to your heart’s content when we get home. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
He takes two steps forward before he realizes Buck isn’t on his heels. Turning around, Eddie sees Buck hanging back, looking almost… sheepish?
“You okay?” Eddie asks. “Athena’s probably waiting to talk to us.”
Buck smiles nervously at him, and then shoves his hands into his pockets. He doesn’t move.
“Buck?” Eddie walks back over to him, concern beginning to prickle deep in his chest. Buck said he wasn’t hurt, but had he been downplaying an injury this whole time? “What’s wrong?”
“So, uh…” Buck removes a hand from his pocket. He opens his first and reveals that he’s holding a small, velvet box. “Guess who got us a sweet deal on a ring because Katie felt guilty that you got stabbed?”
The sounds of the hospital seem to fade away as Eddie blinks stupidly at the box in Buck’s hand. He opens and closes his mouth a couple times like a confused goldfish, but what ends up coming out is, “You didn’t seriously use my getting stabbed to haggle, did you?”
Buck looks so affronted at the prospect that Eddie has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing. “Of course not! She offered, and they’re so overpriced anyway that I – Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is –” Buck sucks in a deep breath and sinks down to one knee.
Eddie freezes. “Buck.” Embarrassingly, tears immediately blur his vision. “Are you seriously doing this now?”
Glaring up at him, Buck counters, “Did you forget what we’ve been through today? I’m not waiting another second. Now shut up and let me ask you to marry me.”
Eddie coughs out a strangled laugh and mimes zipping his lips. The emotional whiplash of the last couple hours is doing his head in a bit, but then Buck beams at him, his one thousand megawatt smile that means he’s all-consumingly, incandescently happy, and Eddie fucking melts.
“Eddie Diaz,” Buck starts, and then blinks rapidly about ten times as his eyes fill with tears. (Eddie isn’t faring much better as he tries and fails to blink past the blurriness.) “Um, crap. I had a whole speech planned and everything, I promise, but of course I’m completely blanking on it all right now, uh, shit, I’m totally botching this –”
“Buck,” Eddie interrupts, trying to save him from his rambling. “We can do the grand, romantic speeches later. Just ask me the damn question.”
“Right, right, yeah, okay.” Buck takes a steadying breath and then grins. “Eddie Diaz, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” Eddie manages to choke out, and he’s barely finished getting the word out before Buck is sliding the ring onto his finger. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you. Now get up here.”
He hauls Buck up to his feet and crashes their lips together. The kiss doesn’t last long, both of them grinning too widely to do anything more than just clack their teeth, but it’s still utterly perfect. Buck wraps his arms around Eddie and Eddie tucks his face back into Buck’s neck, letting the safety and security he always feels when he’s near Buck spread through him like a warm drink.
“Eddie?” Buck whispers into his hair.
“Yeah?”
“Can we just look on Etsy or something for my ring?”
Despite himself, Eddie snorts into Buck’s neck. He presses a quick kiss there in apology. “Yeah, sweetheart. I think we can do that.”