Chapter Text
The nurse life isn’t glamorous, but it is interesting. Well, at least it is until you are stuck filling out paperwork during the downtime of your twelve hour shift. Eddie Diaz was in a groove though, letting the background noise of low chatter, beeping monitors, and ambulance sirens to blur into one another, his palm was smudged with black ink, but he was unstoppable. At least he was unstoppable until Maddie Buckley jumped up on the desk, thankfully missing the half–filled intake form pile. “I need a favour.”
Her voice was low and rushed. And Maddie, she isn’t always one to ask for help, at least not for the trivial things, although she is getting better at asking for a shift cover. One that Eddie is more than happy to give even at short notice considering how much shifts of his she has covered without complaint. “What kind of favour ? I’m not doing another night shift with Mary, she gets mean after 7pm.”
Maddie’s lip twitched at that, like she wanted to smile but she was too stressed to. Something he knew one or two things about. “ No, not that. I can deal with her, ” she looked out towards the door, where people were walking by and not paying attention to anything happening there. “Something bigger. Like– way bigger.”
“How big are we talking ?” Eddie asked warily and leaned back in the chair, twirling the pen in his hand. In all seriousness, Maddie and him have had each other’s backs since he joined the hospital staff, if she needed something from him that bad, he doesn’t think there is anything he’d say no to. “Spill it, Buckley. You’re making me nervous.”
Maddie took a deep breath at that, running a hand through her hair. “My parents are… they’re really intense. Pushy really.” She huffed. “And now that I’m out of the– Now that I’m single, they won’t back off about micromanaging my love life.” Eddie hummed to show he was listening but wasn’t about to interrupt her. He was there for Maddie’s aftermath of Doug, she spent more time in his house crying then in her parents house.
And he’d heard bits and pieces about Maddie’s overbearing parents; not much, but enough to know that pushy would be an understatement, that they were judgmental and were way too invested in Maddie’s life, especially when it comes to her love-life and ‘ getting grandbabies ’.
“That sucks, but what does it have to do with me ?” He asked once he realised she was done. Did she want to seek refuge in his house or ?
Maddie bit her lip, not a new habit of hers. “I told them I’m seeing someone.”
“You are ?” Eddie blinked. Surely if she was he would know. The shifts are long and they more or less know everything about each other. Eddie had told her about each and every one of his failing relationships with ex-girlfriends. Maddie shook her head and that’s when the realisation dawned on him like a slow-moving train. “Oh no. No, no, no. Maddie…” He takes it back, maybe he wouldn’t do anything .
“Eddie please !” She interrupted, clasping her hands together as some sort of plea. “They’re coming to visit, and I need them to believe that I’m not a total trainwreck right now. That I’m with someone reliable, someone stable. Someone like you.” He opened his mouth to begin to protest, but Maddie wasn’t done. “You’re my closest friend. You’re a great dad. You’ve got that whole brooding but still charming thing going on. They will absolutely love you and they’ll finally get off my back. Just one weekend, that’s all I’m asking.”
“Maddie...” Eddie couldn’t help but repeat, trailing off as he rubbed a hand over his face.
“Eddie. I’m begging you,” she said, leaning even closer. “I can’t handle their constant hovering. You’re the only one I trust to help me pull this off. Even Evan has a date.” Eddie hesitated, exhaling as he paused but he knew he couldn’t say no. He might not know the Buckley parents, but this is Maddie he is talking about.
“One weekend,” he said finally, pointing a finger at her. “That’s it. And you have to make me those cookies you made for my birthday.” Maddie all but deflated with relief when he finally agreed, nodding rapidly at his condition. She wrapped her pinky around his outstretched finger as some sort of promise.
“Deal ! You won’t regret it.”
“I already do,” he muttered, shaking his head.
The weekend arrived faster than Eddie expected. He was prepared for it; he and Maddie spent all of their time building each other up for it— switching breaks with other staff so they aligned, finding each other in quiet lulls of shifts, and even going out for coffee after a shift or two. Maybe they are overreacting, but Eddie highly doubts it.
They ran through how their relationship started. It was a classic co-workers to lovers scenario. They first met when Maddie stole Eddie’s food from the fridge by accident, then Eddie was always there for her and Maddie realised that it was always him, although he was the one to ask her out. They have only been dating for five months, but have gone on many dates that they feel like they know each other inside and out.
Maddie had prepped him with an exhaustive list of the do’s and don’ts of the dinner, things like how her dad liked his coffee and his favourite football team, the many topics that made her mom’s eye twitch, and especially the importance of keeping her brother in the dark about their arrangement. That was something he didn’t expect, not when Maddie seemed so close with him.
“I love him, but he's a terrible liar,” Maddie had warned him. “If he finds out. He’ll blow the whole thing in five seconds.”
Soon, Eddie found himself at the door of Maddie’s house, thankfully he was there a few times already and they had discussed how this part would go. He wouldn’t knock, no matter how weird it would feel, and instead would just walk right in. One hand held some generic wine he was told to bring, and the other had a bouquet of flowers for Margaret.
From the second he opened up the door, Maddie was there, as she promised, wrapping him up in a hug where she took the chance to whisper in yet another thank you. He hummed in response and placed a light kiss on her cheek, trying not to worry under the look of her parents eyes. “ You must be Eddie, ” Margaret said, pulling him into a hug the second Maddie let go of him. Eddie was never one for hugs, and the way she squeezed him felt suffocating, still he plastered on his smile.
“Nice to meet you ma’am. I heard many kind things,” Anyone who even knew him slightly would be able to tell his smile was fake, but thankfully the Buckley parents didn’t notice it, especially not as he gifted Maddie’s mother the flowers and her father the wine. Then came the small talk portion before dinner.
Then Buck came through the door, barrelling through like Maddie said he would. And listen, Eddie has seen so many photos of Buck, but there are two things that they don’t translate into reality. The first is his size, his shoulders were broad and looking at the other members of the family Eddie couldn’t help but wonder where he got the sheer height of him. Eddie is built, but Evan looked like he could beat Eddie without breaking a sweat, and isn’t that a thought. He didn’t notice the shorter male trailing in behind him until Evan moved aside to hug Maddie, going to her instantly, and it was like his height was nothing, not when he melted into Maddie.
The second thing he noticed was how the pixels on Maddie’s phone do not do Evan justice. Eddie knew he would be coming in with some surprises, but he didn’t think the surprise would be how good-looking her brother is. He can see Maddie in Evan already, but that is all in mannerisms and not looks. His eyes drew to the marking above his eye, but couldn’t look at it further because Evan’s eyes fell onto him, before quickly moving to his parents.
They didn’t go in for a hug, even as he moved towards them. “We thought you were bringing a girl, Evan.” His father said instead, the door wasn’t even shut for two minutes and Eddie wanted to dart out of it. Evan’s date, to his credit, didn’t seem offended or put off by the behaviour. Eddie wondered if he got the run down of the Buckley family too.
“I said I was bringing a date. I never said it was a girl.” Evan said, his voice nothing like the way Maddie described him to be. She said he was similar to the sun, or like a golden retriever. “This is Chimney Han. We work together,” he gestured to the man beside him, putting an arm around his shoulder that seemed less romantic and more buddy-like, but what does Eddie know ?
He was more caught up on the fact that they both have the same job. Firefighters, if he remembers correctly– and he does because he was on the hearing side of one of Maddie’s worried rants after a call would go wrong.
The conversation was awkward, but especially so to be having it in the hallway that was barely enough to hold two people in, let alone triple that amount. Maddie thought the same, or maybe she just wanted to move on because she cleared her throat. “I have the table all set and ready.” Eddie wondered if Maddie knew that Evan liked men, or if she was blind sighted by it and quickly recouped. “Nice to meet you, Chimney.”
As they walked by, Eddie patted Chimney’s shoulder as a sympathy. Sure he wasn’t an actual date, but he would be in the same boat as him since they both never been to a Buckley dinner. He couldn’t go fully into the kitchen, not when Evan stopped him and brought him away from the others. He could hear the Buckley parents mutter unhappily, and could hear Maddie overcompensate for them by being overly friendly to Chimney.
“So,” Evan only had a few inches over him, but his eyes shone down on Eddie, fixed on him like a spotlight. Maddie might have undersold just how intense her brother could be. “How long have you been dating my sister ? How come I never heard, or met you before now ?” His arm didn’t leave Eddie’s shoulders, and his voice was strong, but Eddie could sense the hurt undertone of it all. He could almost feel guilty about it.
“Five months. We didn’t want to tell anyone just in case we were better as friends, it would be easier to go back to how we were.” Not for the first time, Eddie was glad he didn’t crumble under pressure. The way Evan was looking at him, he thinks this might just be the break in his streak. “I really like her. I would scream it to the world if that was what she wanted; but you know her, she likes keeping a bubble.”
That seems to be the right thing to say since Evan straightened up and patted him on the shoulder. “Just so we are clear. If you hurt Maddie, if you make her doubt herself, if you brush off her worries, if you don’t listen to her, if you don’t make her feel like she is your world, I’ll–” He was interrupted by Maddie coming down the hall, and instantly his demeanour shifted to a troubled school child.
“Ev, I would appreciate it if you don’t interrogate him before dinner. Or at all. And to not leave your date alone with the sharks.” Maddie might be a foot shorter, but Eddie never felt so small, and he wasn’t even the one being scolded. Then the hand was off his shoulder, instead it was in the middle of a pinky promise with Maddie.
“United front.” With that, he left the two, not before looking back at Eddie. And then he was gone. His voice could hardly be heard, but it was clear it was directed towards his date instead of his parents. “Sorry about him,” Maddie said, but her voice wasn’t annoyed– more amused than anything else. “He still uh– blames himself with Doug. Even though he was just a kid.”
Eddie didn’t blame him for being overprotective, he is the same with his own sisters, but that reminder just made him all the more understanding of it all. “He seems nice,” he said instead, sarcastic but unserious. “We can do this. We rehearsed this well. And they don’t instantly hate me.” He can’t say the same for Chimney and gives him his silent sympathy.