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The building is collapsing on top of them. The dust and rubble crumble around Buck as he and Ravi hook the man onto the makeshift zip line. They do the false countdown and push on one, and the older man screams as he goes down the line. Buck watches as the man safely makes it over, and then the all clear comes from Eddie.
He scrambles to help Ravi get connected to the line. “Go, Ravi, just go!” he yells as the building starts to crumble and the dust fills their lungs. He pushes at Ravi, who glides across the line, albeit with a few bumps.
Buck doesn’t wait for the all-clear, reaching for his clip to hook onto the line, only to find busted metal somehow damaged from the building’s secondary wave of earthquake-like rumbles. The clip is mangled, and there’s nothing he can do. He feels numb at first—no panic, no fear, no anguish—like the world is still turning like he isn’t totally and completely screwed. Then comes the slight shake in his hands and his breaths coming in shorter spurts—he’s not gonna make it. The rumbling gets louder, and another shake of the building rocks the foundation.
Eddie’s voice cuts through the panic. “Buck!” The words in between are muffled, but he hears the tail end of his message. “Get your ass over here now!”
But he can’t. The only way out is not an option—the carabiner is broken, so he can’t clip himself onto the rope, and there’s no way he could shimmy across the rope with his bare hands all the way to the parking garage. The rope would break and he would plummet down the give or take eight stories to the hard concrete.
At least Ravi and Flint made it out, Buck thinks. Better him than them.
So he reaches for the radio strapped to his chest and shakily presses the button.” My clip broke,” Buck manages to say, and he can practically hear the disbelief and the desperation even if there’s only silence through the radio.
There’s a sudden roar, and Buck narrowly manages to duck out of the way of a particularly large piece of debris. He clicks the radio again without a second thought. “I’m sorry,” he croaks out, voice breaking. “T-tell Maddie I love her and Jee. She’s the best big sister anybody could ask for, and Jee will be such a good big sister just like her mom. And tell Chris—”
“Stop it right now, Buck. You’re not going to die, we’re going to find a different way to get you out,” Eddie protests vehemently through the radio.
“There’s no time! This place is going to go down any minute!” Buck argues, he needs to say this, and he needs to say it now. This building only has a minute, give or take, before it all comes crashing down. The radio is silent again, and Buck takes it as a sign to keep going.
“Tell Chris that he’s the smartest kid I know and that I know I promised not to leave, but tell him I tried. And that I love him a lot,” Buck chokes up, thinking of being another person added to the list of loved ones Chris lost.
Hen, Chim, Ravi. I don’t know who’s hearing this,” Buck says, before taking a breath and continuing. “I love you guys so much,” he blubbers, hastily wiping at the tears flooding his cheeks. “You guys are seriously the best, you’re my family, and I don’t know what my life would be if I didn’t have you guys. And you guys are some of the strongest people I know, so you’ll be just fine without me.”
The building shakes again, and Buck doesn’t care how obvious it is that he’s separated the people into categories, saving Eddie for the end. It’s hitting him hard that what everyone was implying these past few weeks and months was true—he’s in love with his best friend. And now he’ll never get the chance to experience it.
“Eddie. You’re my best friend. Actually, you’re more than that. And I don’t know how to thank you for putting up with me all these years because I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. But I need you to know that you’re an amazing Dad and that I—”
His world rumbles and shakes, and one of the loudest crashes he’s ever heard unfolds above him as piles and piles of stone, brick, rebar, and furniture come crashing down.
At least it’s me, Buck thinks. They don’t need me. Then the rubble consumes him, and the world goes black.
___________________
Eddie thinks he’s managing the immediate panic he feels when he sees the news on the TV and finds out the 118 are in danger—that Buck’s in danger. His family, trapped, and he isn’t there to help—just like with Bobby. He shoves the anxiety and the panic down deep inside of him—it’s no use to him right now. One encouraging comment from his tía and Chris is all he needs to grab the gear he was given earlier and rush to the building collapse. He makes it to the scene in record time, pleads his case with Gerrard, and fires up a crazy idea to save Ravi and Buck.
The plan is working smoothly. Buck tells him they’re clear, and he shoots the line into the building, waiting for the confirmation that it’s set. From afar, he sees Buck and Ravi shove at the civilian they are with, and the white-haired man comes soaring down. He can see more movement once he gives the all clear, and his heartbeat climbs as the amount of dust and debris only seems to increase when another rumble hits. Ravi goes down the line, and Eddie can almost taste relief. One more.
Ravi gives Buck an all clear, and Eddie prepares to catch Buck, but nothing happens. Of course, the dust from the explosion and continuing “aftershocks” make it hard for Eddie to see across the way. He and Ravi exchange nervous glances and hear the men behind them mumbling in alarm.
“Why isn’t he coming?” Eddie demands, reaching for his radio and clicking the button. “Buck! What the hell are you doing? Get your ass over here now!”
For a moment, there’s only static until he hears the familiar click, and Buck’s voice floods the radio. “My clip broke.”
Three little words, just three, nearly manage to knock Eddie off his feet. No, no, no— this was supposed to be different. He’s here.
Being here was supposed to be the difference between losing someone he loves again.
He hardly notices the ground shaking as the building starts collapsing again. Ravi is in no better shape. The man looks like he’s about to be sick—his hands on his helmet, his face distraught, as he keeps shaking his head.
There’s the disbelief that this is actually real. He may lose Buck for good. Eddie stares across the gap between the garage and the building to find Buck facing him.
The radio crackles to life again, and Buck’s apology hits him like a ton of bricks, his mind flashing back to the other night, where Buck said the exact words to him but now in an entirely different context. Then the goodbyes start, and the mention of Chris’s name rips him out of his frozen state. His son can’t lose someone else, especially not Buck. Eddie can’t lose someone else, especially not Buck.
It hits him suddenly, the answer to why the possibility of losing Buck stings more than the thought of anyone else. Buck is his best friend, his confidant—the person who understands him better than anyone, who loves his son like his own, who sublets his house for him when nobody else will. The person he dreaded leaving the most and missed like a second limb in El Paso. He loves him.
And isn’t that just the story of Eddie’s life, finally finding an answer to one of his biggest questions in life, only to have the answer be ripped away from him by a collapsing building?
“Stop it right now, Buck. You’re not going to die; we’re going to find a different way to get you out,” Eddie protests vehemently on the radio. He can’t take it. He doesn’t want to hear these words, knowing they’re probably the last words he’ll ever hear Evan Buckley speak.
“There’s no time! This place is going to go down any minute!”
Eddie shakes his head, even if Buck can’t see him, and he desperately wants to sprint down those parking garage stairs to immediately go and find him, but he can’t bring himself to look away.
Buck must take Eddie’s silence as an initiative to go on. He mentions Chris and Eddie’s heart squeezes when Buck apologizes for being another person Chris is going to lose. Eddie can’t take this—he can’t. The words El Paso reach his ears, and Eddie can’t help but think he still thinks I’m going to move to El Paso after all of this?
Buck continues to speak swiftly of Ravi, Hen, and Chimney, how much they mean to him, and how they’re going to be okay without him.
“Bullshit,” Ravi mutters, wiping angrily at his eyes. His own tears spring to Eddie’s eyes when his name is mentioned.
Buck doesn’t stop though and Eddie’s throat damn near tightens to the point where he feel like he can’t breathe. “Eddie. You’re my best friend. Actually, you’re more than that. And I don’t know how to thank you for putting up with me all these years because I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. But I need you to know that you’re an amazing Dad and that I—”
Was Buck about to say what Eddie thinks he was going to?
“Buck—” any words he was about to say are swallowed up by an almighty roar as the rest of the building collapses, and Buck is suddenly surrounded by thousands of pounds of rubble.
The loud roar is accompanied by an eerie silence as the dust fills the air, covering the nearby cars, roads, and buildings. Then the chaos breaks open.
“No!” Eddie hears someone cry. “No!” he hears it again, more anguished and raw. “Buck!” The cry comes again, and it’s then Eddie realizes that the cries are coming from him, his throat feeling raw. His breaths come in unevenly, his eyes are full of tears, and his whole body feels like it’s in an earthquake, given how much he’s shaking.
Ravi is suddenly right by his side, pushing him away from the edge of the parking garage he didn’t realize he was stepping towards. Buck was right there, and then he was gone.
Eddie’s eyes are blurry with tears he doesn’t realize he has shed as he wipes them with his sleeve. Ravi’s face becomes clear again, and Eddie can see the anguish from a mile away. Eddie shakes his head, refusing to believe that the man he loves is dead. Being here didn’t make a difference; he still lost someone, he lost Buck.
Ravi must read the same anguish on his own face and yanks him into a tight hug, his shoulders shaking. “I can’t believe—”
Eddie shakes his head again, stepping away, feeling awful at the face Ravi makes. “We need to go get him.”
Ravi’s face scrunches in confusion. “I—Eddie—”
“—No. No. It’s not real. He’s not dead,” Eddie refutes, starting to move toward the stairwell, hearing Ravi’s footsteps following him. He’s Buck—the golden retriever with the nine lives of a cat—if anyone can survive this, it’s him. Eddie won’t be the one who sits by and doesn’t even try to look for him.
“Eddie—there’s no way he could’ve survived that!” Ravi tries to stop him, grabbing his arms as he moves past him.
“Yes, there is! If he was dead. I would know! I would know it!” Eddie protests, spinning around to Ravi, jabbing a finger at him. He would know it if Buck were dead, surely. It’s his best friend, the love of his life, surely he would know. The world would be different, he’d feel something—anything to signify that the love of his life was gone. Instead, all he feels is numb.
“Okay,” Ravi relents, and it’s Eddie’s turn to be confused. Did he just agree with him?
“Okay?” Eddie questions, looking at Ravi intently.
Ravi straightens himself up. “Okay, you said he’s not dead, so he’s not dead. But there is no way you’re going in alone.”
Eddie stares at him for a moment before nodding. He turns back around and books it for the stairwell, Ravi hot on his heels.
___________________
Dripping of water is what wakes him. The splash of water against stone and puddles of water awaken the rest of his senses. The world is dark, and his eyelids feel as if they weigh a million tons. He feels as though he can hardly breathe, a crushing weight on his chest, and his head is hammering with every thought.
Buck groans, using all of his energy just to open his eyes. The world is blurry and spinning in the mirage of colors and directions, and he forcibly blinks, clearing his vision. He feels incredibly nauseous as the dizziness doesn’t seem to fade away even when blinking.
His throat feels clogged with dust and remnants of debris, and when he coughs, the dizziness increases. Buck holds his breath, refusing to expel the bile climbing up his throat, and a moment later, the dizziness passes. With the dizziness gone, he can finally adjust to his surroundings, taking in the broken walls and rubble landscape.
How the hell is he still alive?
Somehow, Buck finds himself trapped in some sort of air pocket, nothing pressing against him, but he’s surrounded by bits and pieces of concrete and steel. He can see out a hole and a giant open space in the rubble with streams of light beaming in.
Light means it’s still daytime, so he couldn’t have been down here too long—unless it’s been an entire day, which he highly doubts, but for all he knows, it could’ve been minutes or hours.
Buck’s vision feels like it’s swaying—moving from side to side—moving up and down—a hint of spinning. He knows he’s stuck, and his breaths start to come in shorter bursts, and Buck knows the worst thing to do right now is panic—but he can’t help it.
Buck gave his goodbye speech, and now he’s not even dead. He wishes he could’ve saved his team the trouble of realizing that he didn’t die in the building collapse, but from being buried in the rubble and probably of asphyxiation. He didn’t even get to tell Eddie the truth, that he’s completely gone for him and hopelessly in love with him. It’s a hard truth to realize that he didn’t get to tell someone he loves them again. First Bobby, now Eddie.
His thoughts make the panic worse, and he feels even more lightheaded. Buck steels himself, working through the techniques Dr. Copeland shared, and eventually, his breaths slow down.
Buck’s head still hurts, and he can feel a trickle of something—probably blood—down his cheek. He tries to focus on what else might be wrong with him, but the sharp ache of the monstrous headache prevents him from it.
Just as he wants to close his eyes and try to forget everything happening to him, he hears something. At first, he chalks it up to the debris shifting, but the more he listens, the more it sounds like something else entirely—voices.
He thinks of Bobby and what he would do, grabs a smaller chunk, and bangs it against the concrete, wincing at the loud sound scattering across his brain. Buck has no energy to yell, so he bangs and bangs and bangs and hopes somebody finds him.
___________________
Gerrard is angry. Fuming, really. He forcibly tries to stop Eddie from going into the remains of the nineteen-story building when they pass by, somehow knowing exactly what they were up to. “Diaz, Pannikar, you better not be going in there!”
Hen is there, too, directing others to help her get Chimney and Athena out. She spots them but doesn’t even try to stop them. If Eddie knows anything, he knows she would be right beside them if she weren’t focused on them.
“Diaz. That’s an order! Do not go in there, it’s unstable,” Gerrard reprimands, but Eddie isn’t listening.
“I don’t work for you,” he snarks, grabbing the helmet he left by the rig. He moves toward the rubble, pushing against the hand that tries to snatch his arm, continuing to make his way to Buck.
“Pannikar, I can’t allow you to—” Gerrard tries when he can’t stop Eddie, but there’s no stopping Ravi either, as they descend into the chaos of debris, rubble, and a field of dust.
“Eddie, wait!” Hen yells, and Eddie pauses momentarily, ready to defend himself for going in. When he turns, he finds her extending a med kit to him. “You’re going to need this. If anyone survived this, it’s Buck. Bring him home,” her smile is watery, and he can see tear tracks across the dust settled on her cheeks.
Eddie nods, grabbing the med kit, “I will.” One way or the other.
Eddie and Ravi start for the rubble again, ignoring Gerrard’s cries of “Insubordination!”. Eddie leads them toward the left side of the building, the area most likely where Buck is, and starts digging.
The pile of debris is settled for now as they move across it, trying to find better access points. Concrete, stone, and debris cut at Eddie’s fingers and palms as he sifts through the rubble, but Eddie pays it no mind.
It feels like hours have gone by before Ravi calls for Eddie, who moves gingerly to the area Ravi is searching. “What?”
Ravi points to a hole in the debris leading further down into a cavern-like area in the rubble. “We should check in here,”Ravi says simply, and Eddie agrees. Together, they carefully enter through the hole and into the space below, which keeps going down and down.
They turn the lights on their helmets, picking and tossing at debris that may get in their way, calling for Buck. He could be in this mess since he was on the 9th floor, so he would be closer to the bottom.
He needs to find Buck now. What if he’s running out of air? What if he’s bleeding to death? What if he has internal bleeding? And the worst one on his mind. What if he’s dead?
Eddie’s breath always picks up when he circles back to that question, the more he’s searching. His voice feels tired, but he can’t stop. He needs to keep calling Buck to let him know they’re looking for him. And just as he’s about to kick the debris in frustration, he sees a helmet on the ground, stuck between two concrete slabs.
Just like that, Eddie is on some sort of adrenaline rush, climbing through the cracks and crevices, pushing at some of the concrete. “Buck!”
If his helmet is here, he must be close by, as the strap must’ve broken on impact rather than come loose as soon as he fell.
“Buck!” he yells again, desperately waiting for some sort of sign.
There’s a sudden clang. It makes both of them freeze, waiting for the rubble to shift, but to their surprise, nothing shakes or twitches; the sound continues. Hope rises in Eddie’s chest as the clang sound echoes across the makeshift room they’re in.
Clang.
Eddie straightens. It sounds so close, but he can’t place the sound. The clang comes again, and it’s to the right of him, and then he sees it, an open cavity in the rubble with sound echoing out of it. “Ravi!” he calls, message unspoken as he rushes over and sees Buck.
He’s cringing away from the light, covered in dirt and debris with a stark shine of red running own the side of his cheek, but it’s him, it’s Buck—alive by some goddamn miracle. Buck and his bright blue eyes looking at him, his chest moving with each breath. He rushes to touch any piece of him, reaching over the boulder of a rock until his hand cups Buck’s cheek, “Dios.”
“Jus Buck,” Buck slurs, his voice sounding like heaven to Eddie’s ears. He laughs wetly, the tears of relief flooding him.
“He’s alive?” Ravi exclaims, his tone is a mixture of surprise and relief as he makes his way over in a scrambled rush. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re alive,” Ravi repeats as soon as he sees Buck in the open crevice.
“I guess sometimes I have good luck, Rav,” Buck says, but it sounds muffled. Good to know his sense of humor is still intact.
Buck is stuck in this open-air pocket of debris. Luckily, they can see Buck’s entire body from their angle of the crevice, and Eddie feels a spike of relief, seeing nothing pinning him down.
Eddie’s gaze is fixed on the sticky red blood slowly making its way down Buck’s face. “You’re bleeding, where does it hurt?” Eddie goes into medic mode immediately, wordlessly making Buck follow his finger with his eyes as Ravi shines a light on him. Buck flinches at the light and, from Eddie, can see his pupils are wide, but not uneven, and he’s a little delayed in following Eddie’s fingers side to side.
“Mm-mph my head is killing me—can’t tell,” Buck whimpers, and Eddie’s heart squeezes, his thumb sweeping across Buck’s ruddy cheek.
“I know, baby,” he ignores the slip, hoping nobody catches on. “Try your best for me, okay?”
Buck tries to muffle his second whimper as he nods. “U-u-um,” the blonde starts shakily. “I t-think I broke some ribs and h-h-hit my head because I passed out. My arm kinda-kinda hurts too.”
“Good, Buck. That’s real good,” Eddie praises as he pushes Buck’s matted curls away from his face. “Which arm?”
“M-my right one,” Buck stutters, but he seems more relaxed from Eddie’s comfort. Eddie looks at the arm and doesn’t see any immediate damage or obvious sign of breakage.
“Can you wiggle your fingers and your toes for me?” Ravi asks, his expression worried, and Eddie feels the same sentiment. He doesn’t know what to do if there’s a spinal injury at play here. Ravi and Eddie watch both ends as Buck scrunches his face in effort mixed with pain, and Eddie breathlessly laughs at the sight of wiggling fingers and toes. Ravi makes a noise somewhere between a cry and a laugh at the relief of seeing the movement.
“I did it,” Buck cheers weakly, and Eddie can’t stop himself from smiling.
“You did it,” Eddie echoes, another breathless laugh spilling from his lips. “Now let’s get you out of here.”
Ravi starts pulling at some rocks and debris, and Eddie reluctantly moves his hand away from Buck’s face. He helps Ravi move one of the bigger pieces of concrete out of the way so they can reach him. They carefully shift it to the side to not disturb the unstable pile of building material and splintered wood and metal from furniture and appliances.
Eddie freezes at the sight of rebar sticking out, quickly moving his gaze to the origin of the metal, and his head sinks between his arms, a breathless laugh of relief escaping him. The rebar missed Buck by mere inches. An inch or two to the right, he and Ravi would’ve found Buck’s dead body.
A shift in the rubble across from them hits him with the reality of the situation. They really need to get out of here before something shifts in the debris they can’t work around. They’ve already been awarded so much luck, and he doesn’t know when it’s going to run out, but he’ll be damned if it’s before getting Buck out of here in one piece.
He reaches for his radio, hoping there might be some signal down here to signal to dispatch that they have Buck. “Hello? Anybody there? This is Diaz.”
Nothing. There must not be any signal all the way down here.
“Alright, new plan. Let’s get Buck the hell out of here before this place decides it wants to swallow us whole.” Eddie suggests, suddenly feeling antsy to get out of here.
Ravi agrees, naturally, who would want to stay down here, and together they move to shift the slab above Buck off. The second it’s removed, he and Ravi move for Buck, who struggles to sit up. Eddie clasps Buck’s uninjured arm, and Ravi reaches his hands to Buck’s right side for more support, lifting slightly until Buck is at their level. Buck sways a little in their grasp.
Eddie momentarily forgets about Buck’s injured ribs and pulls him into a desperate hug, tears forming in his eyes as he holds him.
“You guys shouldn’t have come back for me,” Buck croaks out, but he makes no move to let go. Eddie squeezes him tighter in response, like hell they shouldn’t have.
“And if we hadn’t? You’d be stuck down here alone,” Ravi argues, brows furrowed together.
“Yeah, but you couldn’t have known I was—”
“Buck,” Eddie stops him again, pulling away slightly and pressing their foreheads together, “We came back for you because we love you. Now let us help you.”
Buck’s blue eyes search his and Eddie does his best to keep his gaze reassuring until Buck’s forehead nods against his. “Okay,” he whispers.
A sudden creaking noise startles the three of them, and Eddie grabs at Buck’s hand, starting to pull him. “We gotta go.”
Buck winces as he moves with him, causing Eddie to frown, “Ribs?”
“Mhmm,” Buck hums, trying to breathe through it, “And leg.” At Eddie’s alarm, Buck rushes to explain, “Just the old injury, I promise—must not have liked being jostled around so much.”
“Eddie, we gotta go now,” Ravi insists, his face twisted, as he hurries over to Buck’s injured side and gestures for Eddie to take the other side.
Eddie slides Buck’s arm over his shoulder, and they try to move as quickly as possible through the shifting rubble. Buck is practically dragged between the pair, trying and failing to match their pace.
There’s a crash behind them as debris shifts and is engulfed deeper into the rubble. They pay it no mind as they continue in the direction they came. Eddie swallows hard when he hears Buck’s tiny inhales and whimpers. Going uphill is even worse because there’s no set path, so it’s basically a handoff of Buck to the person ahead. This leads to Buck having less support, and he gives Eddie a heart attack every time he almost topples.
There’s another shift in the rubble, and they stumble as the ground vibrates. They brace themselves as Eddie grips onto Buck as tight as he can—he refuses to lose him again in this mess. The false ground beneath them shifts, and Eddie braces for impact, but it never comes.
Ravi urges them to move when the ground settles. It is only a few more feet until they reach the entrance they came through. Except when they arrive, the entrance is a few feet higher than when they came in. Eddie looks at Buck, then Ravi, and then back at the entrance nervously—in their rush, they didn’t exactly come in with any equipment for helping victims climb.
“We’re going to have to go up,” Ravi says. Eddie puts his hands on his hips, trying to figure out how to get them all up.
“One of us needs to go up first, and then they can help the other two,” he concludes, starting toward the entrance.
“E-Eddie, wait, I need to tell you that I-I—”
In that moment, Eddie realizes exactly what Buck wants to say, and he can’t hear it now, not until they’re out here.
“Nope, I don’t want to hear Buck. You can tell me later when we’re out of here,” Eddie cuts him off. He doesn’t want to hear the words until he knows there’s something he can do about them.
Eddie hates the face Buck makes at that, so he takes Buck’s face in his hands and kisses his forehead. Buck blinks adorably confused while Ravi tries to hide his smirk. “I’ll see you in a minute.”
“Don’t worry, Buck, I got you, we’re gonna get out of here,” Ravi reassures, but given the way the ground still has a thrum of vibrations, they can’t know for sure.
Eddie lifts himself up, hoping the pressure isn’t too much, lifting his legs to a saddle over the rubble, struggling against it. He’s relieved to be in the light again, but a huge part of his world is down there in the dark, so he turns back around. He finds the light framing them, looking up at him, and waves a hand before extending it toward them.
“Sorry, Buck, you gotta climb. It’s the only way,” Ravi bends at the knees and interlocks his fingers, palms facing upwards.
Buck inhales shakily before stepping his good leg into Ravi’s palm, wincing at the shift in body posture, but he breathes through the pain. Before Buck puts his full weight into Ravi’s hands, he looks at him, and Ravi nods. Buck breathes out and then puts his weight into it as Ravi pushes him toward Eddie.
Eddie grabs his outstretched arm and starts to pull. He winces at Buck’s cries of pain but doesn’t let his grip falter. Ravi must give one extra push because suddenly, Buck is up on the rubble with him and in his arms. Eddie breathes a sigh of relief into his neck, squeezing him tight. Buck is outside of the wreckage with him alive.
Buck pulls away first before turning back to help Ravi up, too. Ravi’s feet dangle at the edge, pulling himself up as their standing point crumbles beneath him. They both reach for him and pull him up until he’s safe. All of them share collective breaths of relief and exhaustion.
There’s another shift with the rubble, and Eddie scrambles to his feet, pulling Buck up with him. “Let’s get out of here.”
They resume their old positions next to Buck and move off to the side, moving quickly toward the street. Sirens are still blaring throughout the block, and the dust seems to have settled for the most part.
It takes Buck, who leans heavily onto Eddie, to realize how out of it he is. His eyes are unfocused, and he keeps blinking as if he’s fighting against a heavy weight—he needs an ambulance now. “118, this is Diaz. We need an ambulance now.”
“Diaz, what’s your status? Pannikar with you?” Gerrard’s grumbly voice answers.
“Ravi’s here, we’re both fine, but I need an ambulance, we’ve got Buck here. Probable concussion, broken ribs, possible fractured arm.”
“Copy that. Good to hear. Do you need us to come to you?”
Ravi and Eddie exchange glances, then back at Buck, who looks like he’s about to fall over. Eddie helps Buck sit on one of the cars parked nearby. “Yeah, we’re on the west side of the building.”
“Copy that,” Chimney quickly answers this time, as if in a rush. “On our way.”
Less than a minute later, the ambulance is speeding toward them, swerving out of the way of bigger pieces of debris until it pulls up to a stop in front of them. Chimney and Hen rush out, one with a kit and another with a gurney.
Hen rushes up to Buck, instantly checking him over, “Chim, gurney, over here now.”
Eddie watches as she cups one side of his face, having him follow her finger as he did in the rubble. Hen gives Buck a reassuring smile as she slips the c-collar on him.
“As you wish,” Chimney quips, but it lacks the usual luster as his eyes trace over Buck. “Glad to see you in one piece, Buck.”
Buck smiles sheepishly before swaying when he stands, Eddie’s arms steadying him as he helps him onto the gurney. With the help of Chimney and Ravi, Buck makes it onto the gurney, and Eddie accidentally holds his breath at the sight of him slowly losing his fight with consciousness.
“No sleeping on the job, Buck,” Hen comments, as they wheel him toward the back of the ambulance, Eddie following her inside, but it’s no use. Buck’s eyes slip shut as soon as the doors close. Eddie’s panicked eyes connect with Hen’s. “Try to wake him up while I get lines ready.”
Eddie does as he’s told, trying to gently but firmly wake Buck. At first, Buck just jostles under his touch, but after a few seconds, Buck’s eyebrows crease in frustration, and he mumbles at him. He feels relief flood his chest—he hates how tricky head injuries are, and he would hate to lose Buck after all of this.
Eddie keeps doing the same until they reach the ambulance bay doors at Presbyterian, and the doctors take him out of his reach.
All he can do is wait and hope his presence made a difference this time.
___________________
Buck wakes, this time not to darkness but to bright fluorescent lights and a steady beeping noise, which can only mean he’s in the hospital once again. Which means he’s alive—thanks to his family.
The last thing he clearly remembers is getting onto the gurney with Hen and Chim fussing over him, and then the rest is a blur of sounds and people.
He blinks, and his vision is clearer than during the collapse. Buck feels the wrapping of a bandage on his head and the familiar arm sling across his right arm.
Casting his gaze across the room, Buck finds Maddie and Eddie at his bedside, asleep, and Hen, Chimney, and Ravi in the corner of the room on a cluster of chairs they must’ve dragged in.
Buck can’t fight the tired smile on his face. It seems he woke up just in time for Athena to come in, looking far less dusty than the last time he saw her.
“Hey, Buckaroo,” Athena says gently, stepping more into the room, clearly careful not to disturb the rest of them. “How we feeling?”
“Like a building collapsed on me,’ Buck quips, and an emotion he can’t quite place crosses her face before she’s smiling again.
“Don’t let them hear you say that,” Athena replies, squeezing his hand. “You had some people very worried here, including me.”
“Sorry, I scared you,” Buck apologizes, but she shakes her head as if to say not your fault.
Their conversation seems to have stirred Eddie awake as he wakes with a jolt, searching around before landing back on Buck. His eyes widen when he sees him awake. “Buck!”
Buck winces at the loudness, his head still sensitive, it seems, and everyone else jumps up at the noise. Eddie looks sheepish when everyone wakes up, but it’s gone in the next second as he looks at Buck with an expression that makes his head feel all floaty. “You’re awake,” he says.
Buck gives his best reassuring smile. “I’m awake.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Any pain?”
“How’s the head?”
“Should we get the doctor?”
Maddie, Chimney, Hen, and Ravi’s voices clamor together as they ask him all these questions. Buck feels a rush of emotions hitting him at once: love, relief, pain, guilt, and confusion. “I’m okay, head and ribs are kinda sore, but that’s about it. Are you guys okay?”
“You’re the one in the hospital bed, you big doofus,” Maddie chides, but it’s all teasing and her eyes turn watery, “I thought I lost you…when I heard—” she cuts herself off, and everyone seems to reach for her, but she waves them off. “Sorry, pregnancy hormones,” but they all know it’s not.
“I love you, Mads,” Buck offers, hoping it will help. Maddie sniffles, her eyes shining in her watery gaze.
“And I love you,” she breathes.
“We all love you,” Chimney resounds, looking between Buck and all of them. “Which is why the 118 isn’t just a number,”he says pointedly, and Buck shrinks at his gaze. “It’s different, Buck, you’re right, with Bobby being gone, but he wouldn’t want us to be separate, to be alone, if we didn’t have to. You’re important to us, Buck. We’re a family, not just a number now, and we’re gonna get through this together because we have each other and we love each other. Understood?”
Buck feels his cheeks flame and his eyes sting, but he doesn’t think he’s the only one. “Understood.”
Hen calls the doctor in at some point, and after her update, it seems everyone wants to give Buck time to rest. They all assure him they’ll return to see him again in the morning, except for Eddie. Eddie doesn’t move an inch.
“So, I guess I’ll be breaking out of here tomorrow,” Buck starts, twiddling his fingers nervously.
Eddie laughs breathlessly, “Guess you’re lucky this time, but it does lead me to my next question. Are you going to come home, or do you want to stay with Maddie?”
“Home as in your place? I’m not sure they’d let me-they seem pretty strict on the whole can’t go home alone thing,” Buck says in confusion. Eddie was there for the conversation, shouldn’t he remember that?
“Home, come home. I’ll take care of you,” Eddie pleads, as if Buck would say no, but he can’t help but frown—Eddie’s supposed to be in El Paso and start as a firefighter there, so how can he offer this?
“What about your flight? What about El Paso?” Buck can’t help but ask, his eyes downcast.
“Buck,” Eddie says, and Buck waits for the inevitable admission, how he got a new flight to make it in time for the morning. A hand touches his chin gently, pulling it back up to meet Eddie’s eyes. “I’m not moving.”
Buck squints his eyebrows in confusion. “You’re not?”
“I’m not.”
“But what about Chris?”
Eddie smiles, “I talked to him after you were admitted—he was worried. It appears he’s not as happy as my parents made me believe he was in Texas and didn’t want to leave L.A. again.”
“And what about you?”
Eddie sighs, but his eyes never leave Buck’s. “I never wanted to really leave, if I’m being honest, but seeing you all on the news about the building collapse, I knew I couldn’t just stand by while my family was in danger. Not again and not ever again. Especially when I almost lose you, Buck. I can’t lose you,” Eddie confesses, and Buck can see the tears forming in his eyes.
“You’re not gonna lose me,” Buck assures.
Eddie’s face scrunches as if trying to keep the tears at bay. “Then you’ll come home with me?”
Buck nods immediately. “Of course I will.” Eddie perks up at his answer, pulling Buck’s knuckles up to his mouth and kissing them.
They’re both silent for a moment before Buck bursts.
“Can I tell you now?” Buck whispers, and Eddie gives a watery laugh, clasping Buck’s hand tightly.
Eddie nods enthusiastically. “Yes, please.”
Buck’s tiny smile turns into a full-on beam. “I love you. I’m in love with you.”
Eddie’s cheeks redden, and Buck feels him squeeze their clasped hands as a blinding smile overtakes his face. “I’m in love with you too,” Eddie says.
Buck’s stomach flutters at those words, squeezing his hands back. Everything may not be as it was before, but with Eddie by his side, he knows he’ll be alright.