Chapter Text
Chapter One -
Eddie picked up his phone as it lit up with an incoming call. The number was unknown, but he answered anyway. Usually they were junk calls, but with a kid you could never be sure.
“Hello?” He asked cautiously, waiting for the sound of a digital voice to confirm it was trash so he could hang up.
Silence greeted him.
He gave it a second and tried again. “Anyone there?”
Nothing.
Just as he was about to hang up, he heard it; “Eddie?” A slow slurred voice that could almost be . . .
“Buck?”
In the background he could see Bobby, and Hen look up at him on the phone.
“Eddie I’m sorry.” The voice slurred.
It had to be Buck, Eddie thought. He was probably drunk. Eddie went to hang up, still pissed about the lawsuit, at Buck, at life in general.
“Tell Chris I didn’t want to leave him.” Eddie paused. What did Buck mean? “Tell Chris I’m sorry and I love him” Buck’s voice sounded worse, pained even.
Eddie’s face paled a bit. He could see Bobby and Hen making their way across the loft to him.
“Buck?!” He questioned more urgently. “Are you ok? Are you drunk?”
“Not drunk” came Buck’s slurred response. Buck’s voice was weak but clear at the same time. “I didn’t want to go without saying goodbye to Chris. I promised I wouldn’t leave him” Eddie thought he could hear tears in Buck’s voice.
“Buck, talk to me. Where are you going? Tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you. You can talk to Chris yourself.” Eddie felt his own pulse racing. Buck was in trouble.
Hen and Bobby were beside him now. Worried expressions on both their faces. “Is that Buck?” Hen asked. Eddie nodded and put the phone on speaker.
“Buck, I have Bobby and Hen here.” Eddie tried again, not liking that Buck had gone quiet.
Over the phone’s speaker he heard Buck’s sharp intake of breath and a pained moan. “It’s too late Eddie. I think he killed me.” He huffed out a painful laugh and Eddie felt his heart stop. “But it’s ok. I think its better this way . . .” Buck’s voice trailed off again.
Eddie couldn’t get his voice to work. Buck’s words echoing in his mind “killed me … killed me … killed me …”
Bobby took the phone off Eddie. “Buck, it’s Bobby, tell me where you are, and we’ll come get you. You’re going to be fine kid. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Bobby.” Buck laughed over the phone, almost happily except it ended in a grunt of pain. “I shouldn’t have pulled the knife out… I know better…”
Eddie felt his heart start up all over again and race to beat out of his chest. Hen had pulled her phone out and was flagging down Chim from the other room as they all made their way towards the rigs.
Bobby’s face was pulled tight and white as a sheet. “Just tell me where you are.” Bobby bit out even as he climbed into the front of the ambulance beside Hen.
“I don’t know Bobby. A Field. A park. By a building. On a payphone. Didn’t know these still existed.” Buck huffed out, clearly struggling to breathe and get the words out at the same time.
Hen was on the phone to Maddie who had tracked the payphone as Eddie switched on the sirens and flew out of the station. The park was only 2 miles away, the payphone in the middle of it. They could be there soon. If Eddie drove fast enough.
“Hold on Buck” Eddie called. “We’ve got your location and we’re on our way.”
There was silence on Buck’s end. Was he gone already?
A Pause.
And then, “You don’t need to come.” Buck sounded worse than before. “I just wanted to say goodbye Chris.” He was panting now, voice weaker again. “Tell him I’m sorry I had to leave him. I love him so much Eddie.”
Christ Eddie couldn’t do this. “He loves you too Buck.”
“We all do Buckaroo” called Hen.
Buck laughed on the line and cried out in pain again. “You don’t have to say that cause I’m dying.” Buck slurred and stuttered. “It’s ok. . . Better this way . . . you can keep Bosco and not worry about me . . .” His voice trailed off.
“No Buck!” Eddie shouted. “We love you! I love you. Just hold on. We’re almost there.”
Silence on the other end, then the tell-tale sound of the line being disconnected.
Eddie sped up, flying round the corner as the gym building in the park came into view. They could see the payphone and a body slumped on the ground. Blood immediately obvious on the ground surrounding it.
The ambulance had barely stopped before Hen and Chim where out and running to Buck. Bobby and Eddie close behind. It was worse than they thought. Way worse.
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Eddie didn’t remember anything between arriving at the park and sitting in the hospital waiting room. He didn’t remember getting Buck out of the payphone and onto a back board. Logically he knew they put him in the ambulance and drove to the hospital. But who drove? Did Eddie drive?
As he sat in the waiting room, he tried to remember anything except the blood. Buck’s blood. And the bruises. God! The bruises. His poor face was battered, and his stomach covered in blood and purple and blue bruising.
Maddie was curled up in a chair beside Eddie as they waited for news on Buck. Bobby, Hen, and Chimney had taken the ambulance back to the station and would be back later. Athena had dropped in briefly but was out looking for who did this.
For now, it was just Maddie and Eddie. Waiting. Hoping. Praying.
“Was he that bad Eddie?” Maddie asked quietly.
Eddie didn’t know what to tell her. “He wasn’t good.” Eddie grunted quietly.
Maddie gave a sob. “How did this happen? How did we not know? Shouldn’t he have been on shift?”
Guilt flooded Eddie. Buck hadn’t shown up for his shift that morning. It wasn’t like him, but then he hadn’t been exactly treated well at work since the lawsuit. Eddie knew Bobby had tried to ring him and hadn’t got an answer. They had all joked about how Buck hadn’t shown up and maybe he’d left. It hadn’t sat right with Eddie, but he’d laughed too. Buck could take a joke.
Except now Eddie wondered why he hadn’t checked up on him. Had Bobby ever said if he heard back from them?
“He . eh . he didn’t show up for his shift this morning.” Eddie shrugged.
“And you didn’t hear from him?” Maddie asked, surprised.
“No.” Eddie answered. “I think Bobby called him.”
Silence settled between them. Maddie didn’t push for more but Eddie could almost hear the gears turning over in her head.
Thankfully the doctor arrived with an update before Eddie had to come up with a response.
“Evan Buckley’s family?”
Maddie nodded and jumped up. Eddie pulled himself to his feet too. Maddie gave him a look that Eddie couldn’t figure out but didn’t stop him from joining her.
“How is he doctor?” Maddie asked.
The doctor directed them to follow her down the hall into a small meeting room. Eddie’s heart beat out of his chest and seemed to stop all at the same time. This was the death room. Buck was dead. That’s why they brought them to this room. So, they wouldn’t make a scene in the waiting room.
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As they entered the room, the doctor directed Maddie and Eddie to sit. They did, Eddie grabbing Maddie’s hand as they did so. They both needed the support.
“Evan” The doctor started.
“Buck.” Eddie jumped in. “He prefers Buck.”
The doctor nodded. “Buck is alive.”
She looked kindly at Maddie and Eddie as they both let out sobs of relief. Before they could relax too much, she continued. “He’s in bad condition though. From what we can tell he was beat quite badly and stabbed at least twice, although there were no major organs hit which is why he is still with us.” She stopped for a minute, allowing them both to breathe and absorb what she had said.
Maddie seemed to be absorbing what she said better than Eddie. “Is he stable?” She asked.
“For now.” The doctor replied. “He is on fluids and required a blood transfusion. He will be in ICU for a few days to be monitored.”
Maddie nodded. “I was an ICU nurse. Can we see him?”
“Of course. You should know he has also suffered multiple rib fractures, as well as fracturing of his left orbital rim and nose, so his face is very swollen. There was bruising round his neck, and he is currently intubated.” The doctor seemed to steady herself before speaking again. “There is also evidence of old injures, fractures, and some bruising on his wrists and ankles.”
Maddie responded first, crying out in horror, and looking at Eddie for some unknown reason. “How old?” She stammered.
The doctor’s head shook slightly, “Unfortunately it can be hard to date exactly, but I’d say going back over two to three months. Any possible injuries in work? I know he’s a firefighter.”
Maddie looked at Eddie for an answer, but again Eddie shook his head. “He hasn’t been in the field recently.” He said quietly, almost in a whisper. They thought Buck was safe if he stayed off the field, how wrong they were.
Maddie’s eyes were dark as she looked at Eddie, but she pushed whatever she wanted to say to the back of her mind. Instead, she looked to the doctor again, “When can we go up to see him?”
“Shortly, they’re getting him settled in ICU.” She answered, “Only two visitors at a time though. I know with first responders you tend to stick together, but please try to stick to that for me.” Maddie and Eddie both nodded. “I’ll let you know when he’s ready.”
A tense silence descended on the two of them in the room.
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A short time later Maddie and Eddie found themselves being shown into Buck’s room in ICU. He was laid on the bed and partially covered by a sheet. The bruises on his face, chest and shoulders visible and causing Maddie to whimper.
His left eye was swollen shut and his nose had clearly recently been set. Under his arms and down beyond the sheet was wrapped in bandages due to multiple contusions and broken ribs. Fingers prints could be seen surrounding his neck.
Eddie dropped heavily into the chair beside Buck’s bed while Maddie perched on the bed itself. His eyes travelled down to Buck’s arms where more bruises were visible as well as cuff marks on his wrists. IVs were attached to both arms and multiple monitor’s beeped steadily in the background.
How was this Buck? Eddie thought slowly. In the hospital again, but more broken than ever before?
Maddie whispered to her little brother quietly, stroking his cheek. Eddie didn’t know what to say. He just reached out and took Buck’s left hand. It was warm and clammy, and just didn’t feel right but at least it was Buck’s hand. And he was alive. Right now, that’s all that mattered to Eddie.