#but isn't bobby the only one eddie ever told about shannon wanting a divorce?

[circular-8]

you know, through all of this I can't help but think that Eddie hasn't really processed or accepted that Shannon wanted a divorce. He's stuck in this limbo where technically he's a widower and everyone acts like he is because that what he tells (almost) everyone. But he's not, not really. They were separated for years and she wanted a divorce. I hope he comes to terms with that because I think that would really help him.

[archerincombat]

Hiii!!

I have questions regarding your speculations for 5b 😁

Just if you could explain in more detail what you meant by these?:

• Why do you think bobby knows about the will?

• What do you think Buck's trauma on the job (involving Chris/Eddie) is? Do you think something will happen to Buck and then we'll see Chris and Eddie reaction or do you think the Diazes will get hurt?

• How do you think Taylor's bracelet will come into play? Will she be in danger and Buck will/won't respond/show up?

• Will Buck and Eddie fight/ will there be angst, and if yes how do you think it'll play out and how/when will they reconcile?

Thank you and looking forward to the answers!

oh this is going to be very long—but also, shameless promo, my upcoming fic circles will have this in so much more detail, so looking forward to y'all's reaction to that!

I am convinced Bobby knows about the will for several reasons. I think Bobby and Eddie talk outside of work more often than we see on our screen—he told Bobby that he was planning to propose to Shannon, broke down in front of him, etc—you don't do that with someone you only speak to at work.

Further, if we look at the episodes between the well 3x15 (when we know Eddie changed his will) and 3x18, there's a rapid shift in the way Bobby speaks to Buck. 3x18 was the first time Buck's recklessness became a question of expendability. And Bobby's a logical man, but he's never been known to think things through when it comes to Buck.

More specifically, there's the framing of the train scene. You have Eddie, Buck, and Bobby, a trio we've never really seen before that except for 2x01. Later, we see that same framing in Buck Begins, when Bobby practically delivers Buck back to Eddie. There's an inexplicable shift there, and take the line from 3x16—"You know something I don't?"

The dialogue of the train scene is interesting too. You have this exchange. "Okay, he's a father. He has two daughters." "Stop. You're too close to this. This is too risky." Sure, this can be taken to mean that Buck is too close to Abby, which he is, but also something about fathers and their children. "Well, I am willing to take the risk." "It's not yours to take."

Okay, moving on, I do not think Eddie will get physically injured in 5b, but, I think he might get into a situation with Christopher (here's how the elevator can still win) where they both get Stuck. I think Buck has to be on the job for this trauma because he never is save for the well and the firetruck: because the point of S5 was to make everything a callback to the will.

The choice Buck or Eddie has to make isn't going to be between Christopher and themselves, we know that both of them would choose to save Chris in a heartbeat. The choice has to come down to either Buck or Eddie (in a metaphorical sense). Because Eddie thinks Buck would be better for Christopher than he would be—"no one will ever fight for my son as hard as you"— and Buck still thinks he's expendable.

If Eddie continues to be Shannon, as he has been in this side of the 'divorce', I could see a scene where Buck is on the job, he pulls up to a call and finds Eddie and Christopher caught in a precarious situation—a car crash perhaps—with a ticking time bomb (gasoline, something like the freeway pileup in 7.1). Christopher gets out easy but Eddie's door is crumpled in. A call back to the radioactive accident that Bobby found himself in, where neither Buck nor Eddie wanted to leave.

To answer your last question here, I think before this accident, Buck and Eddie have to be fighting. Not in an irreversible sort of way—I don't think they would do that anymore; not after the lawsuit arc, but something where Eddie lashes out because he's grieving and traumatized, and then immediately apologizes but tensions are still running high. I think it would be perfect for Eddie to tell Buck to save himself, and then for Buck to have to make that decision—"you never give up, do you?"—and refuse to leave.

I also think by the end of 5B, we'll have Eddie making an (implied) love confession to Bobby.