#yeah. okay. but you and chris are MY diaz boys
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buckslasagna · 1 day ago
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Cute & Fluffy Buddie Fic Recs:
i could give you fifty reasons by marviless (@marviless) teen | 15,684
summary: So he curls his fingers around the wood of his clipboard and clears his throat. “You have really nice hands, you know,” is what he goes with. Eddie jerks back just a bit, dropping the halligan into the compartment with a thud as he turns shocked eyes back to Buck. “What?” “Yeah,” god, what does he even say, “they’re uh, strong. And capable. You know, like…they can do a lot of things.” Okay, so, maybe this whole plan needs a little bit of work. buck is on a mission to help eddie recover his self-confidence. it goes well for exactly zero parties involved.
Fluff and good feels central. Butterflies in your stomach and nonstop grinning!!
Penguins Are Gay, Just Like My Dad by Kwills91 (@kwills91) teen | 17,853
summary: Buck had thought he'd figured out what he was supposed to do with his life thanks to a sudden, crazy dream inspired by a movie and an invitation from some strangers in a bar, but a car accident that results in a serious injury destroys a chance of becoming a firefighter. But thanks to a friendly face, and a place of comfort, Buck finds a new goal of becoming a zookeeper at L.A. Zoo. Three years later, and he couldn't be happier. He loves his job, he loves the joy the animals bring, and he loves presenting the Penguin Show. He especially loves trying to spot the regular his friends and colleagues call Hot, Single Dad and his son. When the son enters a competition to win an afternoon with the penguins, Buck might just have the chance to take this from crush on a stranger to something more.
Zookeeper Buck and that's all you need to know. Fucking cute as heck.
Opie by Buddieaya teen | 4,633
summary: BUCK: I have your cat? UNKNOWN: shit i mean shoot i mean HOW did you get my cat?? BUCK: She was just sitting on my car and refuses to move. Do you live nearby? UNKNOWN: stranger danger??? i’m not giving you my address FBI. BUCK: …Do you want your cat back? UNKNOWN: my dad’s gonna kill me if he finds out she got out. can you like watch her for a sec? ill get my babysitter to bring me over Or; au where Buck finds Christopher’s cat Opie.
Buddie + Cats + Sassy Chris??? Yea need I say it? Cute!!
he ain't my blood, but he's my boy by PenOfPisces (@penofpisces) Gen | 3,950
summary: In which Christopher takes it into his own hands to show Buck that he's his son.
Cutest and fluffiest lil future Buckley-Diaz family ficlet.
something to hold onto by foxwatson (@eddiediazes) teen | 5,185
summary: There’s about a palm’s width of distance between Eddie’s knee and Buck’s thigh, where they’re both sitting on Eddie’s couch. It would barely take any movement at all for Eddie to just nudge his leg over a little further, press their knees together and let his rest there. or the one where frank tells eddie he should work on letting himself want things, and eddie starts by cuddling with buck
SO CUTE. This IS the ultimate cuddling fic
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tommygotwrittenoff · 5 months ago
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bobby says to eddie one shift where buck is home sick with chris. going home to see your boys? eddie smiles and says. yeah. and your boys just Sticks in eddies brain and when he gets home he sees chris and buck curled up on the couch asleep and the sight makes him pause cuz. yeah. those are his boys
#dont get me wrong#im obsessed with buck referring to chris and eddie as his diaz boys but you know eddie would also love calling buck and chris his boys#so he just. calls them that all the time#at a 118 barbeque hes like. well i gotta go round up my boys its time for us to head out.#or buck and chris go to the zoo over the weekend and hes showing hen pics buck sent and shes like. looks like your boys had a good time#and hes like. yeah 😊😊 they did#hes on the phone with abuela and shes like. howre your boys doing??#and eddie is just 🥰🥰 theyre great#he gets home from a 48 he picked up to buck and chris about to sit down for dinner and eddie goes in for hugs (that chris dodges)#and hes just like. i missed my boys#he just loves his family so much. the thought of leaving his boys together makes him so happy because he loves chris and he loves buck#and he loves that they love each other and that they both love him. and so hes always just like. my boys are spending the day together 🥰🥰#hes the guy thats sooo in love with his family and everyone knows and its sooo sweet to the point that it makes people a little sick#a firefighter from b shift chats with him during a shift change and the guy walks away from the conversation being like. i know eddie has a#perfect little family that he loves so much but i didnt know it was like. That perfect and sweet. what a lucky guy. what a beautiful family#because the guy told him to thank buck for the cookies he baked and eddie was like yeah. my boys made a mess of the kitchen making those#and started talking bout chris and buck and how they team up against him and never let him taste the dough (but they eat spoonfuls)#ofc we know buck is prob always saying. gotta go see my diaz boys. or. im making lasagna for my diaz boys tonight#and eddies like. buck you know youre a diaz boy too#yeah. okay. but you and chris are MY diaz boys#me thinks
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wernerherzogs · 2 months ago
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some of my fave buddie fics for anon in no particular order! please mind all the ratings, tags, and warnings of these works while browsing:
plot-focused:
about the present series by Amiril
The day of the shooting, Eddie got stuck in a time loop. But that was three months ago. He's completely fine now.
boys, when my baby found me by nondz (pinkjook)
Three months later, things are mostly back to normal.
And then there's an accident.
the city is a jungle and i’m a beast by putanauhere (TRUST ME.)
“There are no wolves in Southern California,” Buck states, another bit of trivia. He just doesn’t know it’s a lie.
The Things All Come and Gone by moodlighting
“I didn’t—it’s not that I couldn’t be alone,” Buck explained, pausing to find the right words. “I just. Wanted to be here.”
I Broke What You Gave Me, But You Kept Giving More by rcdwings
Evan Buckley wakes up without eight years of his memories with some guy named Eddie Diaz on his bedside. Which could mean nothing.
lonely little love dog by littleghost
When the 118 is closed for reconstruction after an earthquake, Buck is a floater for different stations around the city. He tries not to let it get to him. Much.
kerosene by mandolare
He doesn’t— need more of Eddie. This is enough. This is plenty. This is more than anyone else has of him; he can deal with the marrow-deep want that’s begun to choke him every once in a while.
all my little words by youbetsya
Eddie: Did you just send me an email??
Buck: yeah lol
Eddie: Why…
I dont think you’ve ever emailed me actual words before. Just stuff to print when your printer is broken
Buck: did you read it?
Eddie: Not yet
Too busy trying to figure out why the fuck you’re emailing me
Buck: just read it dude 🙄
instructions on not giving up by Wildehack (tyleet)
Eddie gave up in July.
Live and (Don't) Let Die by xylodemon
The guy gets straight to the point, asking, "What do you need?" in a dull, bored voice.
"My best friend is going to die. I want that to… not happen."
"No small feat, bringing back the dead. And it comes at a cost."
It's Eddie. Buck says, "Yes," without a second thought.
good pretender by likeshipsonthesea
“Okay, but what are the rules?”
Ravi stares. “The rules for…?”
“Casual sex.”
Ravi continues to stare. It is 5:39 in the morning.
i can tell just what you want (you don't want to be alone) by Talls
In which Eddie keeps secrets and Buck is incredibly normal and rational and even brave about his reaction to this.
here’s my hand, there’s the itch by signetsealed
"I wasn’t kidding when I said I could talk about Chris all night,” Eddie says. His voice is quiet and close in Buck’s ear. “But that’s not why I called.”
been lost for a while by trysetmeonfire
Eddie's wife has been dead for two weeks. There's a firefighter in bed five. These are not necessarily related facts, but Eddie will have a hard time separating them out, later.
Downward Facing Doggy Style by Survivah
Eddie and Buck pick up a new hobby while Chris is in Texas.
slaughterhouse by kithmet
Eddie announces he’s leaving. Buck, naturally, begins a slow descent to madness.
Choosing Joy 'Verse series by ithilien22
In which Eddie mends fences with Chris, starts something new with Buck, and navigates the complex emotions he has around his parents.
 the sweetest apparition by hyruling
Eddie moves to Texas. Buck keeps accidentally telling people Eddie's dead. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
pluperfect by unreckless
Buck is always good for a ride to the airport. He’s good at lots of things, like being a good friend and goodbyes.
beating the horse by doitgently
Eddie is moving to Texas. Buck finally figures out what he wants.
Burn a bridge, learn how to swim series by WatermelonShots (AvocadosUnderTheEaves)
In which there is some unexpected making out, some pining, one third of an existential crisis and a lot of unhelpful advice. Not necessarily in that order.
you drew stars around my scars by ladieslunching
Someone at the 118 doesn't know how to leave Buck's clipboard alone. Buck would be a lot more upset about it if it didn't bag him the love of his life.
Hot Ghost Problems by ebjameston
The ghost would prefer to go by Buck, if Eddie wouldn’t mind.
ripples all the way down by iriswests
This is the tumultuous road to finding out what Buck truly wants, paved by pebbles.
throw a bone, i’m finally home by fleetinghearts
“Oh, Buck,” Eddie says softly, torn between unbearable fondness and an ache that threatens to crack his breastbone.
when everything's on fire by beartowns
Eddie and Chris move in with Buck after a fire. Buck breaks up with his boyfriend, buys a house with Eddie, and realizes he's in love. In precisely that order.
ice cream before dinner by cloudydaisies
The problem is—well.
Actually, backtrack for a sec. There were a few problems.
Eddie’s got a whole lot of them, lately, and maybe that was The Problem.
Something in the Air (Is Giving Me Bad Ideas) by paramountie
After Christopher comes back from Texas, Eddie makes an important decision: he is not going to blow up his life anymore.
crossed the muddy line by Anonymous
Eddie Diaz is from El Paso, Texas; a fact which accounts for both more and less than he ever expected it to.
the tortured poets department by colonoscopys
The first time Buck touched him, Eddie blew an ambulance up.
still by brewrosemilk
For the first time, Buck longs for a bullet wound to treat. Dirt to dig at. A door to break through. Something. There’s nothing.
somewhere to stand and stay by teaspoon
“What are you doing right now?” Eddie asks. He sounds distracted; Buck can tell immediately that he’s driving.
authentication by v_greyson (greyson)
"Yeah, Eddie picks the guys so I don't make stupid decisions," Buck says, flicking through menus to pick a new racetrack.
The combination of Hen munching peanuts and looking back and forth between them makes Eddie feel like he's a zoo exhibit. Best Friends, captured in the wild, still feral, exhibiting behaviors heretofore unknown to science.
"Well, good luck with - all that," Hen says pointedly to Eddie. She is definitely not talking about the video game.
keeping score by arcanaphora
After getting dumped, Buck is left with two tickets to a weeklong cruise. Eddie steps in to support a friend in need, but complications arise when his friend becomes his fake husband. All's fair in love, war, and trivia.
if i said you could never touch me by marviless*
Eddie pulls back from him with a half-confused, half-concerned furrow in between his eyebrows. “Buck?”
Buck sags against the wall. “Sorry,” he says, wiping the back of his forearm against his forehead in a mixture of frustration and newfound exhaustion. “Sorry.”
Counting Pulses by tinyydancerr*
Eddie Diaz’s life is going great. He’s in therapy, he’s got a great girlfriend, a great kid, his friend is getting married to the woman of his dreams, and his best friend just came out to him.
Now his best friend is dating their new friend.
Things are going great. He promises.
porn-heavy (only a few of these are straight up pwp though):
Feel You Forever by semperama
“Is this…” Eddie meets his eyes again. “Is this new?”
a mess of my creation by Anonymous
They’re in the fucking bunk room. There’s someone snoring in the bed over by the bathroom, a good twenty feet and two beds away, and Buck doesn’t know if it’s Hen or Chimney or Bobby, but they’re in here, they’re asleep, and this is awful, this is so fucking unprofessional and if they get caught they are going straight to HR.
blood in the highs and count the stars by seachanged
“Go on,” Eddie says, nosing into the soft spot under Buck’s jaw.
Buck laughs, a little hysterically. ”You’re not serious.”
look straight ahead if you like it slow by hattalove
“This gets you going, huh?” Eddie grins, propping himself up on his elbows so he can move higher on the bed, reach the pretty pink bow of Buck’s mouth. “Devotion? You being it for me?” He stretches up toward Buck’s ear, whispers: “Monogamy?”
hang me up on your bedroom wall by eddiegettingshot
“You’re going to be a great father someday,” Eddie says eventually, because he’s worse than he used to be and Buck’s reverent eyes make him feel—they just make him feel.
“Eddie, I—”
“You are,” he repeats, firm. “Don’t you think I’d know better than anyone?
buck and eddie's red hot infidelity summer series by cranberrymoons
He’s not thinking about it. He’s not. He’s definitely not.
the moon like a spotlight by dykeries
Three months after Eddie moves to El Paso, Buck comes to visit.
this ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living by glorious_spoon
"You guess," Eddie repeats under his breath, but he sounds amused. He sets the boxes down and kicks the door shut behind him to wind through the chaos of Buck's half packed away kitchen. "You're insane."
love's not a game by thatbuddie (talktothesky)
“So that goal, huh?”
Buck groans, his hands clawing at the sheets beneath him as his toes curl up, the fire that’s been building up inside him for what feels like hours sizzling and uncontrollable in its path through Buck’s body.
i might kiss you on the back of your neck (because it’s christmas time) by sibylsleaves
Five Times Captain Diaz and Recruit Lieutenant Diaz fail to sleep together and one time they do.
would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses? by brattybuckley
Evan Buckley is currently on cloud nine. 
Well–
Honey on the Vine by sirencalls
Buck wakes up to an Eddie with stubble for the first time in months and refuses to let a good opportunity to go waste.
lock me down tonight by lecornergirl
Buck tells everyone Eddie talks him into it, but when it comes to Eddie, he’s never needed much convincing.
Mind Blowing Mess by EtoileGarden
"I’d like to have a threesome. I think.” 
“You think?” 
“Yeah,” Taylor eyed him for a moment, and then leaned a little further over the table, her chin in her hand. “Have you ever had one before?”
songs and poems and promises by lesbianrobin
“It’s crazy how different sex is with men,” Buck says, and everyone around him groans.
rodeo queen by okanus
“What’s the saying again? Save a horse…hm, y’know, I don't quite remember the rest of it.” Eddie can’t help the smile curving up the corner of his mouth.
“You’re an asshole,” Buck says, scowling. The tips of his ears are pink.
yes god don't speak by detectivemeer
“You’re staring.”
“What.” Eddie says. “No I’m not.” 
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eddiazx · 17 days ago
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homecoming - eddie diaz x reader
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Eddie hears her before he sees her.
An adorable voice that comes from several feet away. A voice belonging to a child, a child that was roughly 7 or 8 years old, probably the same age as Christopher. 
Eddie had been with the 118 for three months by now. He truly loves the job; it was rewarding and he loved being in service of people. Among their calls though, there were quite a handful of cats getting stuck in trees. Which was why they were currently at a park, Eddie resting a foot behind him against the fire engine, while he watches Buck climb up a ladder to extract the cat. Chim was popping his gum, explaining a new sci-fi flick that just came out to Hen, who to her credit, was doing a great job acting like she cared. 
“Are you a firefighter?” The voice had asked. Eddie looks down at the little girl, a girl who looked so very familiar with her hair in two braids and brown doe eyes. 
Eddie smiles automatically, and crouches down to be at the same height as the girl. “What gave it away?” He jokes, and he’s met with the sweetest giggle that he swears could cure diseases. 
“My mommy said that firefighters are unsung heroes. We actually had one come to the coffee shop that my mommy owns. It’s named after me! I don’t drink coffee though, I’m still too little. I do love the honey banana bread she makes though! That's why my mom calls me bee."
Eddie listens with patience, a soft smile on his face at the little girl’s rambling. Chris does the same thing - gets very enthusiastic and starts over-explaining with run-on sentences. It’s the most endearing quality ever, in Eddie’s opinion. 
“Yeah? Do you know where your mommy is now?” Eddie asks.
“Bee, what did we say about you running off without telling me?” A voice asks. Eddie’s eyes follow the voice and is met with an assault on all his senses, including a very clear pang in his chest. 
You look even better than you had nine years ago, which Eddie didn’t even think could be possible, since he already thought you were gorgeous when the two of you had dated at 18 years old. 
Your face drops when you realize who your daughter was talking to. The boy, or rather the man, who had broken your heart all those years ago. The one who your daughter shared DNA with. The one who didn’t even know he had another child, because you had left Texas for L.A. the second the strip turned pink. 
You recover quickly, putting your hands on your daughter’s shoulders. “Hey bee, Milo was asking if you wanted to play go-fish. Can you head over there? Mommy will be just a minute.” 
“Okay!” She tells you with a beaming grin. She then turns to Eddie, and says, “I liked talking to you firefighter man! You should come to my mommy’s shop sometime!” With that, she runs over to where your friends and family were. 
You internally curse the fact that your daughter was such a social butterfly, before finally meeting Eddie’s eyes. He looks like he was struck by lightning; eyes wide and mouth gaping. He was reeling, and you couldn’t really blame the guy. 
“She’s mine.” He says, eventually. It isn’t a question, rather, a simple statement, but you nod anyway. The familiarity that he had seen in the child makes so much sense now, down to the quirk of her smile that you have - but he could also see features of himself in her. The pang in Eddie’s chest was now reduced to a chronic, dull ache at all the years and memories he wasn’t there for. Again.
“I know it’s a lot to ask”, he starts, voice rough but surprisingly steady for someone who just received world-altering news, “but I think Christopher - my son, and I would love to get to know her more. I feel like they’d get along great. Could we all get to know each other?” The words feel wrong a bit, because there was a time where Eddie and you had known each other inside and out. Likes, dislikes, dreams, fears, and life goals - you had practically been an Eddie Diaz encyclopedia.
You’re pensive as you consider his request. You knew this day would come, where you would have to have this conversation with the father of your child. It doesn’t stop the fear gripping your insides, the fear that he would get close to the two of you, and then proceed to leave. It was a fear that was supremely unfair to Eddie, because he didn’t know when he chose to marry Shannon that you had been in the same predicament. And you didn’t know that hours before he was due at the altar, he had stood in front of your then empty house, desperately hoping you would tell him not to marry Shannon.
So with a rapidly beating heart, you smile softly. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s get to know each other.” 
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my spine split from carrying us up the hill (i’m just getting colour back into my face)
a buddie relationship breakdown fic | 21.8k
tags: buck pov, buck centric, established relationship, break up, cheating, sad buck, emotional/psychological abuse, unhealthy relationship, eddie diaz bashing, 118 bashing, (tho i think it’s more critical but for the filters), season 7 au, in an au where buddie got together after the shooting, Relationship Breakdown, Buck & Ravi Friendship, anti buddie, No Beta We Die Like Bobby Nash, (doesn’t in this fic)
It took Buck a moment to process what he saw before him.  Eddie — his arms wrapped around some woman. His face buried in her neck and his fingers brushing her skin.  The other man’s eyes widening, his face going pale as he realised they’d been caught.  Buck barely heard Eddie gasp Chris’s name — the boy motionless next to him as they stared at a ghost.  At Shannon.  At Chris’s mother — who Buck knew was dead.  Had been to the funeral and seen them both through the messy aftermath. Had helped this child mourn once and already knew he’d have to do it again.  Or: What if it was Buck instead of Marisol
in a surprise to everyone — and most of all me — i’ve actually written something ?? for the first time in like three years ?? wild
tbh i think that scene in 8.17 just reaffirmed everything i'd been slowly realising about buddie and why they could never work and it somehow manifested itself as this 😅
anyway - a lil excerpt for you all xx
He regretted it as soon as the dial tone sounded. Had let his thumb hover of the name — debating — for more than a few seconds before giving in to the urge to press call.
And yet — as soon as it actually started ringing — he knew he shouldn’t have done it.
That he was fine. That he was being dramatic, once again.
But he also knew he couldn’t just hang up. That it would create a panic — force them to call back — to ask questions.
“Doctor Copeland’s office,” it was a new receptionist. Her voice melodically neutral as she answered the phone, “May I ask who’s calling.”
Buck stumbled over his words for a second, before rushing to explain, “Uh — don’t worry. It was an accident.”
“Are you sure… Mr Buckley?” She drew out the question as if reading the name off a screen and Buck cursed whatever Caller ID system the psychologist’s office employed that still recognised his number.
Her tone more concerned as she asked again, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah — yeah, of course.” He felt almost breathless as the lies left his lips, “Just a wrong number. Pressed the wrong person by mistake. Sorry for any trouble.”
“Okay — then,” she sounded doubtful. “Well, we’re here if you ever need us, Mr Buckley. Don’t hesitate to ring back now. Okay? I know Doctor Copeland would be more than happy to fit you in.”
“Yeah—” he agreed half-heartedly. Desperate to get off the phone before he did something stupid like actually ask for an appointment.
Knowing it was pointless. That he was fine.
“Have a nice day then.”
He finally freed himself from the conversation. Heart racing like it usually only did when he’s had to run up six flights of stairs in full turn outs.
He forced himself to drop his phone onto the counter — hands shaking as he thought about reaching for it again — and made himself walk away instead.
Looked around the kitchen desperately for something to do and was relieved to spot the small stack of dishes from the night before.
They usually did them together. Buck drying as Eddie washed — accused of almost flooding the kitchen one too many times before Eddie had finally relegated him to the less dangerous of the tasks.
They’d been too tired the night before. Exhaustion dragging them towards bed and leaving the dishes to wait until the morning.
It had been happening more and more lately. Truthfully Buck couldn’t remember the last time they’d shared their little ritual. Meals eaten in a rush as they raced out the door to work — whoever drew the short straw and got home first left to do the tidy up.
At least if Buck didn’t end up eating alone. Eddie always out these days — the friendship he'd struck up with Tommy keeping him gone until late whenever they had the day off.
Chris, even more sociable than his father. Forever at a friend’s house, or out with the girl that he swore to Buck wasn’t a budding romance. Swindling invites for sleepovers through charm and good humour that a young Buck could never have dreamed of emulating.
Always clinging just a little too tight for people to ever really settle in his presence.
It left him alone most nights. At least the ones he didn’t spend at the firehouse, revelling in the thrum of activity. Instructions from Bobby as they cooked, Chim and Hen’s quiet rivalry as they wrestled for control of the TV remote.
Eddie sitting next to him in the engine — their legs brushing they were sat so close. Sometimes it felt like the most intimate they ever were anymore.
Never mind the way they’d clung to each other having rescued Bobby and Athena. Buck pressing into bruises to leave them there a little longer. To remind himself that Eddie had chosen him, that he loved him.
Not that he needed the reminder.
Buck knew that. Intrinsically. He did.
Read on AO3
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megalony · 2 years ago
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That's my Wife
This is an Eddie Diaz imagine based loosely on an Anon request. I hope you all like it.
Taglist: @lunaticspoem @butlegendsneverdie @langdonzvoid @jennyggggrrr @rogmeddows @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogertaylorsbitontheside @chlobo6 @rogertaylors-lipgloss @sj-thefanthefan @omgitsearly @luckytrashgooprebel @scarsout @deaky-with-a-c @killer-queen-ofrhye @bluutac @vousmemanqueez-blog @jonesyaddiction @milanosaurus @httpfandxms @saint-hardy @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls @mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me  @hellsdragon @im-an-adult-ish @crazylittlethingg @allauraleigh @onceuponadetectivedemigod @ceres27 @avyannadawn  @noonenuts @sleepylunarwolf @coverupps @justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway
Masterlist
Summary: While Eddie is at work, (Y/n) takes Christopher to a birthday party. Things don't go as planned when she goes into early labour.
Enjoy.
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"Now you know I can't go on the slides and stuff with you like daddy does, right?" (Y/n) grabbed Christopher's backpack from the footwell and slung it on her shoulder as she leaned against the door and looked down at her boy.
"Yeah. You take picture for daddy?"
"I will baby, don't worry."
When Chris held his arms out, (Y/n) rolled her eyes but obliged and looped her arms around his waist so he could hold onto her neck. He was so used to Eddie lifting him in and out of the car that he didn't dare jump down on his own and it meant that (Y/n), although eight months pregnant, also had to lift him and carry him around.
Something Eddie wouldn't approve of if he knew (Y/n) was still carrying Chris while she was pregnant, but he didn't need to know that.
She set him down on his feet and handed him his crutches before they started their short walk.
Chris had made a lot of friends in his new school and it was Adam's birthday party today. He was having his party at a play centre in town and he had very sweetly asked (Y/n) if Chris would be able to join and go round the centre. He wanted to include Chris but he wasn't sure if he did this sort of thing. It was something Chris loved to do, especially when his parents climbed into the play area with him and helped him down the slides or flop into the ball pit. But he could do this fine on his own as long as he knew (Y/n) was nearby.
Eddie would have been off shift and here too if Hen hadn't of gone off sick this week so Eddie picked up her shifts to help out. He knew once the baby was born he wouldn't be picking up any more extras for a while so it was worth it doing them all now to get the extra income.
(Y/n) rubbed her hand up and down Chris's shoulders as they walked into the reception and looked around for Adam and his mum.
She felt bad for Eddie, he had done a night shift straight into a day and when he got home tonight he was going to be dead on his feet.
"He's there mummy," Chris waved his crutch over towards where at least five tables had been pushed together for the parents to sit around. The drill was for the kids to run off and have a play for an hour or so, then they would sit down for food and cake and then another play before they went home.
"Let's go then,"
When they reached the table, (Y/n) put her and Chris's bags down on a free chair before she used the table as leverage to bend down on her knees in front of Chris. She silently held onto the crutches and he took the hint, letting her move them and he curled his arms around her neck and let his head fall on her shoulder. A big smile plastered to his lips.
He hadn't been anywhere like this in a while, probably not since before (Y/n) was pregnant. It had disrupted his day yesterday when Eddie had to sit him down and tell him he wouldn't be able to go and join him but because Chris knew he still got to go to the party, he wasn't too unsettled.
"Now you have fun and please be careful, do not go on the slides alone. If you need me to walk around and watch you just shout me, okay?"
"You come in too?" Chris nuzzled his face into (Y/n)'s neck until his glasses bumped and rubbed against her skin.
"I can't come in, I'm too big I'll get stuck."
"Mummy, please?"
"Baby, you know daddy will tell me off if I try. I can follow you round the outside though, are you gonna try go in with Adam first?" She could feel him laughing into her neck which was a good sign.
Part of (Y/n) worried that he wouldn't go in without her but she was hoping he would because he would have at least three other kids from school that he got along well with and Adam was glued to Chris. They would stay together so it wasn't as if Chris was totally alone in there.
If she wasn't pregnant or was less than six months, (Y/n) would be right in there with him going up the levels and waiting at the bottom of the slides for him. But Eddie had given her strict instructions before he left last night and he made her promise not to overdo herself and not to go down the slides or go too far if Chris asked her to. Chris didn't quite grasp that (Y/n) couldn't do as much with him while she was pregnant and it worried Eddie because he knew (Y/n) would give in and push herself to do stuff with Chris, it was endearing but worrying for Eddie.
"Okay,"
"Good boy, go have fun." (Y/n) pressed a sloppy kiss to his cheek and helped him take off his shoes before she gave him a nudge and watched Adam wait patiently for him.
From where (Y/n) sat down at the table, she could see most of the large enclosed play area in front of them.
There were a lot of slides, three levels to climb up, tunnels to get lost in. Foam stairways to climb, ropes to swing from and rollers like a car wash to squeeze through which she knew Chris loved. He could do almost all of it but (Y/n) didn't want him going down the slides alone just to be safe. Eddie always did everything with him ever since Chris was a toddler and they went to places like this.
She didn't want Chris thinking he could do something alone and then getting stuck high up on a level or burning himself on the slide or not being able to get back down from somewhere. As long as he had one of his friends with him he would be alright.
"He's a good little climber, isn't he?" Andrea, Adam's mother leaned over the table to smile at (Y/n) and nod her head in the direction of the boys.
They could see all the kids drifting off in groups of two or three and Chris was with Adam and a young girl called Sasha. They were climbing up a set of foam stairs and Chris was laying on his stomach, using his arms to pull up and scuffing his feet on the steps to give him an extra boost. He wasn't good on stairs, that was where Eddie would usually carry him if they couldn't find a lift.
But this was different, this was somewhere Chris could let loose and mess around. He could crawl and shuffle and climb and no one would say anything or stare or laugh because all the kids didn't care what he did. He was here to have fun and that was what he was doing.
"He is, he's very determined."
"Is Eddie not coming?" Andrea did a quick sweep around but she couldn't see him among the throng of kids and adults all bustling about.
"He had to work, so I have to take a lot of pictures for him." (Y/n) had her phone in her jacket pocket and she was waiting until Chris got close enough or went down one of the slides so she could capture the moments. That way Eddie wouldn't feel so bad or feel like he missed out.
"That's good, he was telling me you're close to your due date now… he even remembered the exact date. He was very excited."
Andrea's brows quirked and her smile showed she was impressed while (Y/n) pursed her lips to stop from smiling. Either Eddie hadn't explained it very well or Andrea hadn't been listening properly but there was a clear miscommunication somewhere along those lines.
"Uh, no, we're having a C-section, it's booked in for four weeks from now."
"Oh, that does make more sense considering he was very certain about the day."
(Y/n) couldn't help but laugh. It showed how endearing and sweet Eddie was at heart. He would do anything for his family and when they had been expecting Chris, Eddie had been just the same. Excited, anxious, walking on egg shells. If it hadn't been for the rather traumatic birth everything would have been a lot easier and it would have been a perfect pregnancy.
Chris's birth had been anything but plain sailing and because of how badly (Y/n) had haemorrhaged and the complications she had afterwards, the doctors thought it would be best to have a C-section this time. Save the panic and calm all their nerves and ensure nothing went wrong.
They had the date all booked and Eddie had it circled in red pen on the kitchen calander. His last shift was two days before the birth and his Abuela would have Chris for them while they went to hospital. Eddie had three full weeks off work for after the birth if everything went according to plan and he was counting down the days.
When Andrea got up to go and get a drink from the bar, (Y/n) dug around in her jacket which was really Eddie's denim jacket, and found her phone. She needed to start taking some photos, Eddie had promised to show Buck the pictures and let him know how it went since Chris was attached to his 'Uncle Buck'.
"Mummy!"
With one hand on her stomach, (Y/n) got up and slowly trudged over towards the entrance to the play area and looked up. Chris was leaning against the mesh, pressing his face so close his nose was pushing through and his smile was slightly obscured but it made for a perfect picture.
"We off down the slide," Chris pointed towards the dark blue curved slide at the front corner and (Y/n) nodded.
She pressed record and tilted her phone up, following the boys as they padded across the foam mats. Chris was in fits of giggles when he went down on his stomach and shimmied under one of the foam rollers and (Y/n)'s face beamed as she watched him. Part of her worried if he got stuck, there was no way she would get up there to get him out but he did it with a big grin on his face that she got on camera.
When they reached the slide, Chris sat down first and Adam sat behind him and (Y/n) moved to the end of the slide and waited for them to come down.
"Well done baby!" She put her phone back in her pocket and reached down to lift him up by his underarms. She set him back on his feet with a kiss on his head but did her best to hide her wince when her back twinged. Maybe Eddie was right, lifting Chris and carrying him as well as the baby was a bit too much after a while.
***
"Chris, are you coming?"
"No."
A frown pulled at Adam's lips and he held his hand out to see if it would make Christopher feel a bit better but he still shook his head.
Chris brought his hands up to cover his ears and started to shake his head before he moved and flopped down to the floor with a thump and sat down. There were too many kids and adults at that table. He wasn't sitting there with everyone shouting and screaming and throwing things. He wasn't eating his dinner in front of that many people.
He was very particular, being in the classroom at school was fine because they had less than twenty children per class, it was more concentrated and people were spread out. Eating dinner was different too because the teachers gave Chris his own little corner in the dining room where he could sit alone with hi back to everyone and eat his dinner in peace. And sometimes if he was very unsettled, they let him eat in the classroom which was always empty at lunchtime.
The only people Chris would eat around were his parents or the team at Eddie's station because they were more like family. He didn't like eating in front of strangers or other kids at school, he always felt like they were watching him.
"Oh, (Y/n)…"
Turning her head, (Y/n) looked around before her eyes landed on Chris and she quickly got up, ignoring the dull throb in her lower back as she tried to hurry over to Chris.
"Mummy… mummy, don't want to,"
"Baby, it's alright, come here." She rubbed her hands up and down his arms and pulled him closer until he could bury his face in her chest and wrap his arms around her waist instead of holding his ears. "We don't have to sit with everyone, we brought a pack up anyway, didn't we? Don't get upset, they can find us a table out the way. No one will mind."
She slowly rubbed her hand up and down Chris's back and kissed the top of his head. He had been doing so well and she wanted to finish the day on a high, not a low.
She had made a pack up this morning before they arrived and told Andrea Chris wouldn't eat any of the food they served here. He was specific, there were only a few places he liked to eat out at and he wouldn't eat party food, only food that his parents bought. Bobby was the only exception, Chris loved his food.
"No, not hungry yet."
"Five more minutes of play, then pack up, okay? We want to watch Adam get his birthday cake, don't we?"
Chris nodded his head and tilted his head back enough to press his chin into (Y/n)'s chest so he could look up at her. If either of his parents smiled at him it was an instant calming mechanism for Chris, he knew he wasn't in trouble and that it was okay for him to have a little panic.
"Come on then." A little longer playing would calm Chris down but (Y/n) didn't want him playing too long because he needed a rest and he needed to eat. They had to eat soon so they would be in time to see Adam get his cake and sing happy birthday to him.
He pulled back and let her lift him up to his feet before he grabbed her hand and held her arm to his chest when they started to walk.
The pair of them walked through the entrance and (Y/n) waited patiently for Chris to decide what he wanted to do. He knew he had to stay close enough for (Y/n) to walk beside him at the bottom, she couldn't climb up with him and she didn't want him wandering around on his own.
(Y/n) could see Chris had a frown on his face, he was still unsure about going back to eat with everyone. They were all being loud, throwing food and squabbling together, it was a sensory overload. At least in the play area all the kids bypassed him and didn't stay so close they were shouting in his ear.
Her eyes followed her boy closely as he shuffled up the steps and she took slow steps below him as he slowly shuffled along a rope before he looked down at her.
"Slide,"
"Okay, go along then baby."
"You meet me at the bottom," (Y/n) craned her head to see where the bottom of the red slide was but she frowned when she realised it was in the middle of the ball pit. She knew Chris wouldn't go down that slide unless she was waiting for him, he liked the ball pits but he couldn't get out of them properly.
"I'll wait at the side of the ball pit."
"No! Mummy you wait at the side."
"Baby-"
"Mummy!" Chris dropped to his knees and dig his fingers into the mesh rope protecting him from falling. He started to lean back and forth and swing on it as his frown deepened. He was getting unsettled, if Eddie were here it would be a lot easier.
"Do I have to call daddy and uncle Buck?" (Y/n) put her hands on her hips and straightened her back for a second before she leaned back down when her stomach cramped. She watched Chris start to whine her name over and over until she sighed and walked towards the ball pit.
It was going to be easier to go along with Chris than try and coax him to a different slide or go down it without her at the bottom. And ringing Eddie would only upset Chris further because it would mean he was in trouble.
If she got Eddie on the phone he would give Chris the stern talk, tell him he had to listen to his mum and if he couldn't then Eddie would have to come down there and sort him out.
(Y/n) walked over to the ball pit and peeked in before she sighed. At least Eddie wasn't here to see her doing this. The opening into the ball pit was a small oval gap in the mesh and (Y/n) had to sit down on the foam wall, carefully swing her legs over and then lower herself down. It didn't do her back any good to wade through the plastic balls that felt like a sea overtaking her and pulling her down.
"Chris, come down baby."
It was a relief to hear him giggling and banging the walls when he shuffled down the slide. She reached her arm out so that when he came out the slide, he could grab her hand and pull himself over to her.
He smacked his arms out and flung some of the plastic balls away from them and started to kick his legs like he was swimming and it was a relief to (Y/n) to see him finally settle and smile again. She knew getting him out of here was going to be the problem though. He had been playing for over an hour and now he was tired and needed food but he didn't want to be with everyone else. She might end up taking him home.
"A-are we going…" (Y/n) trailed off and turned her head to the side so Chris couldn't see her grimace when her stomach tightened. "Dinner time," She managed to grumble out before she turned and grabbed the foam edge to steady herself.
"Not yet mummy."
"Ooh no…"
Fuck. Not yet, not without Eddie!
Her water broke. In the ball pit. In the play centre. With Chris right next to her.
This was not part of the plan. The plan was all laid out and simple and agreeable, Chris was going to have a movie night with them the night before and then he would be up ready and early to go stay with Abeula. Eddie would be with (Y/n) right by her side and they would have this baby different to last time.
(Y/n) didn't want to go through labour again, she wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready for the panic and the blood and the complications and screaming out to hold her baby while Eddie pinned her to the bed when she tried to snatch Chris from the midwife. She didn't want to watch Eddie blur before her eyes and fall into his arms when her heartrate started to drop and she started to bleed again.
Fumbling in her pocket, (Y/n) shakily grabbed her phone and scanned down for Eddie's contact. He said he would try and keep his phone on him in case she needed to call today, he would do his best like he always did.
No answer.
"Eddie, baby c-call me… my water broke, fuck, call me back please." Her voice barely raised above a trembling whisper son she didn't scare Chris.
"(Y/n), there you are, we're going to cut the cake soon, would Chris like to have some?" Andrea bent down on the other side of the mesh and smiled at the pair of them but her smile faded quickly when (Y/n) looked up and she saw the tears on her face.
"My water broke,"
"Oh god… let me tell someone and we'll get you out-"
"No. No I- I'm not moving until I c-can get hold of Eddie…" (Y/n) braced her elbows on the foam edge and clenched her hands together to try and think. She wasn't able to move very far now and she couldn't go anywhere without Eddie. That wasn't an option. "Can you tell t-them to keep kids away from here, until he comes, please?"
She couldn't move but she couldn't have any other kids coming down the slide and messing about in here when she was like this. It wasn't safe nor conventional and Chris was settled, (Y/n) couldn't risk him having a meltdown or getting upset right now when she couldn't get hold of Eddie.
"Of course, I'll go now and they can section this bit off I would think."
(Y/n) managed a feeble thank you before she felt Chris grabbing her arm and tugging gently so she would look at him.
"Okay?" He asked quietly, smiling despite knowing there was something amiss with her.
"Just a bad back baby, daddy will c-come soon and get us. We need to stay in here for now."
She felt her heart calm just a little when Chris started to giggle and clap, he wanted to see Eddie. He thought Eddie would play with him once he got here but (Y/n) would let him think that and deal with the consequences later, as long as it kept him calm and happy.
As soon as Chris shuffled a little bit away from her to dive back into the middle of the pit, (Y/n) picked her phone back up. When Eddie's phone went to voicemail for a second time, she changed to dial 911. They could get hold of him, they would have to because (Y/n) wouldn't let anyone else near her unless they were in the 118 team.
"I- I need help, I'm in the Cromwell play centre a-and my waters broke… I can't move I'm in the ball pit."
"Can you tell me your name and roughly how far along you are? Paramedics are being dispatched to your location."
"No, I need you t-to get…" (Y/n) bowed her head on her forearm and groaned through a contraction. This wasn't fair. "Get the one-eighteen fire station team dispatched here, now. My husband is one of the firemen, Eddie Diaz, I need him here."
***
"Okay everyone, we have a woman in pre-term labour stuck in the ball pit, dispatcher said she was very anxious."
Eddie's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach when he climbed down out the truck and realised where they had parked. He could never make sense of the speakers when a call got announced and Bobby was the one who got the main details of their calls, the rest of them were told on the journey or when they got here like right now.
The play centre. Specifically the one where (Y/n) had brought Chris for a friend's party. Eddie could see her car parked up front and unless it was a very big coincidence that this was the same place his wife was at who wasn't at her due date yet, Eddie couldn't imagine it being anyone else. He knew (Y/n) would be panicking if it was her, she had been over the moon when they said she could have a C-section to reduce any risks.
The plans had changed if this was his wife.
"Mate, what's up?" Buck patted Eddie on the shoulder when he saw he wasn't moving and looked rather pale but Eddie stumbled over to Bobby in a frenzy.
"Cap, cap I think it's my wife. Fuck, if it's (Y/n) Christopher will be here!"
Eddie barely managed to tangle his fingers in his hair before he waved towards Buck and set off into a sprint. He had to calm himself down, he had to find out if this was his family or not and if it wasn't he could breathe deeply and be relieved that their plan could still go ahead.
He could hear Buck close behind him when he rampaged through the doors and towards the reception where one of the staff was waiting for them.
"She's this way,"
They took off in a sprint after the young girl but Eddie could feel his heart rocketing up into his throat, constricting his breathing when he saw Andrea bent down in the path beside the ball pit on the left. It had to be (Y/n) because he could see the utter relief in her eyes when she clocked eyes with him.
"Eddie! (Y/n), love, he's here now." She waved him over and got to her feet, patting his shoulder before she took a step back. Andrea knew (Y/n) had begrudged anyone walking down here to see what was going on, she didn't even want the staff coming to ask if she needed anything.
"Fuck, mi amor it's me I'm here I'm here."
He crouched down to look in and assess the situation but he didn't like what he saw. (Y/n)'s lower half was submerged in the plastic, her arms were folded over on the foam edge and her forehead had been pushed into her arms until she heard his voice. When she rose her head, her face was flushed, covered in sweat and tears and she was breathing in short huffs.
This brought back too many memories for Eddie. He thought they would get peace of mind with this pregnancy, no scares, no frantic worries about labour, no Eddie screaming at the doctor to help his wife and tell him what was wrong with his newborn son.
Before they were told they could have a C-section, Eddie had cradled (Y/n) in his arms one night when she started to cry, worrying what would happen if history repeated itself again.
"Daddy!" His head tilted up and a small creased smile pulled at his lips when he noticed Chris was sat on the foam edge next to (Y/n). He was patting her hair away from her face and kicking his legs out into the sea of plastic.
"Hey bud. We're coming in,"
He rounded the side and leaned forward to climb through the gap and drop down into the ball pit with Buck following behind. Bobby rounded to be in front of the mesh near (Y/n) for reassurance and Chimney waited near the exit to the ball pit for help when they tried to get her out.
"How we doing?" Eddie gritted his teeth as he waded through towards (Y/n), he had done this countless times with Chris but it never felt slower to get through than it did right now.
"You're here! I can't d-do this, we need the hospital," She felt his hands on her shoulders and the light kiss he pressed to her neck.
She knew calling 911 would get him here if he couldn't answer the phone and here he was, right when she needed him. (Y/n) didn't want to do this, she didn't want to be stuck here. She had thought about pre-term labour and she wished that if it happened she would be home with Eddie and still be able to get the C-section. There was no way that was happening now, it was far too late but she wanted to be at the hospital in the very least.
If she started bleeding out there wasn't much the team could do for her and Chris was here, (Y/n) didn't want her baby boy here to see her in pain.
She was just relieved he didn't understand what was happening.
"I'm here, you're fine, we've got this. Chris, bud are you gonna go and stay with Chimney so me and uncle Buck can get mummy out of here?"
"You here to play?" His head tilted to the side and he picked up one of the balls and started to pat it and tap it against his knees. He was assuming someone would get (Y/n) out and then he could play with his dad, he thought Eddie was here to play with him. And it was an added extra that Buck was here too.
"No buddy, no more play."
"Play!"
Chris dropped the ball and went to cross his arms over his chest, the smile slipping from his face when he saw his dad's stern expression. This wasn't the plan, something odd and strange wasn't supposed to happen and Eddie was always supposed to come here and play with him. He didn't want this to go a different way.
"You are not in charge, I am and daddy says you are going to wait with Chimney. Off you go."
There was no time for Chris to argue, Eddie picked him up and turned round to Buck who happily grabbed him and waded over towards the exit where Chimney was waiting with a smile for the little boy. Chris couldn't argue with Eddie and if he tried, Eddie would tell Chimney to put him in a time out. As long as Chris was out the way but cared for and safe, Eddie could keep his focus on (Y/n) and neither of them had to worry about him witnessing anything or hearing anything he shouldn't.
"Do you want to tell me why you're in the ball pit when I specifically told you to take it easy and not follow Chris into the play zone?"
(Y/n) reached her hand out and curled her fingers tightly around Eddie's hand when she felt him press up to her side. His lips smothered the top of her head and his free hand moved to her lower back and when she tilted her head back to look up at him, she tried to smile despite the guilt written across her face.
"He wouldn't come down unless I w-was in here," She could feel his hand tense on her lower back and he shook his head.
"These kids are gonna be the death of me." He muttered quietly while Buck came over to stand on (Y/n)'s other side. "Do you think you can shuffle out of here?"
She nodded, she would do anything to try and get to the hospital, she didn't care what she had to do. (Y/n) would crawl or swim through this stupid ball pit if it got her to a hospital.
"Good girl, Buck you go in front and I'll stay behind,"
"Come on (Y/n), you got this. I'm so pumped to meet my nephew." Buck held his arms out steady and let (Y/n) dig her nails into his lower arms when she turned round. He didn't think he would be around when she had the baby, Buck thought he would be either working and keeping his phone on him ready or he thought he might be looking after Chris. He had offered to take Chris on the evening after the C-section so Eddie could stay with (Y/n).
This turned out more in Buck's favour so he could actually be here when his Godchild was born. And he was so sure it was going to be another boy. The team had placed a few bets on the gender.
Rolling his eyes, Eddie kept his hands on (Y/n)'s hips and stayed close behind her. She leaned forward and pressed her head into Buck's chest and arched her back out. The three of them made a slow shuffle through the ball pit towards Bobby who moved so he was waiting near the exit for them in case they needed another set of hands.
"You ready?" Eddie whispered in her ear when Buck let go of her hands for a moment so he could climb out and stand next to Bobby.
"This won't be graceful,"
Eddie smiled despite himself and shook his head, at least she could make some light of the situation.
"Lean back into me, I'll lift you up."
(Y/n) nodded but kept her eyes tightly closed, she didn't like this one bit. She didn't like anyone but Eddie seeing her in a situation like this when there wasn't a lot of dignity left. As if her friends, Eddie's close friends and coworkers had to see her like this.
She felt Buck and Bobby take one of her hands each and grip her elbows and she let her legs go floppy so her weight was pushed back onto Eddie's chest. He had carried her around hundreds of times even while she was pregnant so she knew she wasn't putting any strain on him but it didn't feel right to do this in public.
She could feel his hands squeeze her hips before they travelled down her bum to grip the back of her thighs and it was comforting when she felt his face tuck into the crook of her neck. He kissed the junction of her shoulder and neck before he slowly lifted up her legs and pushed forward so she was sitting on the ledge. All she had to do was let them ease her forward and she would be out.
"Here we go, steady we got you," Bobby and Buck took her weight and helped her slide down onto her feet but as soon as her feet hit the floor, her knees caved.
(Y/n) coiled her arms to her stomach and dropped down to her knees, leaning forward to push her head into the floor as a horrid groaning scream left her lips morphed with Eddie's name.
"Hospital… w-we need to go- fuck, Eddie!"
"We have to see how far you are before we think about moving you (Y/n), let's get you sat down."
"No, I-" She stopped when she felt Eddie's hands on her waist and he slowly reeled her back up.
"Mi amor, I'm not risking moving you anywhere until we know what this baby is doing. You're safe, we're all here and Cap knows what he's doing." Eddie moved back a little and sank down on his knees before he carefully pulled (Y/n) with him and leaned her backwards. She relaxed in his hold and let herself sink into his firm chest while his arms coiled around her waist so she could grip his arms.
"Buck, grab the medic bag, I'm just gonna have a quick look, okay?" Bobby took off his overcoat and placed it over (Y/n)'s knees that were hunched up. There was no one around but he wanted her to have some sort of dignity.
He knew what everyone was praying for, they all wanted (Y/n) to be one or two centimetres dilated so they could get her in the ambulance and ship her to the maternity ward and have this baby in a hospital. But when Bobby looked up and saw (Y/n) crying out with her hand reached back and clawing at Eddie's shoulder, he wasn't so sure that was the outcome they were going to receive.
(Y/n) didn't have the will to care that Bobby was about to see a more intimate side to her. She didn't care that her leggings and underwear were now around her ankles, she just wanted to go.
"(Y/n)… I'm afraid you're already crowning, this will be the first kid born in a play centre so we need to get you set up." Bobby hid his frown when (Y/n) screamed and Edie tightened his arms around her when she started to sob and her chest heaved. This wasn't fair, but at least the team had gotten here at the right time. She had everyone surrounding her, they would look after her and make sure she and the baby were okay.
"Wow, really?" Buck knelt back down and put the medic bag next to Bobby but when he leaned to look, he found Eddie's hand in his chest shoving him back and (Y/n)'s leg move out towards him.
He was their closest friend, but (Y/n) didn't want him looking until the baby was born. It wasn't exactly an intimate thing the couple wanted to share.
"What-"
"That's my wife!"
"Buck keep a check on (Y/n)'s vitals. Miss, we need towels over here please. (Y/n) I'm sure you know what to do, push on the next contraction."
Buck moved to (Y/n)'s other side and made quick work of checking her blood pressure and he didn't make a face when she clenched his hand in hers and gave a sharp squeeze.
As if she was having her second baby here of all places.
"Fuck! A-am I bleeding?" All of them could hear the panic in (Y/n)'s voice and she tipped her head back on Eddie's shoulder to look up at him with terror in her eyes. She barely managed to crown with Chris before she was bleeding and as soon as he was born after getting stuck, that's when the blood flowed.
Whimpers and sobs bubbled past her lips and she pushed back into Eddie as if she wanted to disappear but he held her tighter and moved his legs so he was sat down instead of kneeling which was making his legs ache. He pulled his knees up and pressed his thighs tightly into (Y/n)'s sides, just like they had been sat when she had Chris.
"You're perfectly fine (Y/n), I promise. Just keep going you're doing great."
"Almost there mi amor, I've got you and cap's got the baby, we're all good. Come on you got this." Eddie whispered in the shell of her ear and tilted his head down a little more when (Y/n) reached her free hand up to cup the back of his neck. A shiver rocketed down his spine when her nails scratched against his skin and the hairs at the back of his neck and he kissed her head when she turned to bury her face in his chest.
His shirt smothered her scream and they both prayed Chris was far away enough not to hear what was going on.
"Head's out, one more push (Y/n)," Bobby grabbed one of the towels from the pile the lady shakily dropped down next to him. He spread it out over his lap and grabbed another one to hold beneath the baby, she was almost done.
"I love you so much," Eddie leaned over (Y/n)'s shoulder and he felt his heart jump into his mouth as he held his breath when she screamed into his chest.
"It's a girl!"
"You've done it mi amor, you've done it."
The brightest smile (Y/n) had ever seen lit up Eddie's face and she could feel his tears falling down onto her skin. Her head felt fuzzy and her body was trembling in his arms which he was soaking up and he held her so tightly she felt comforted and protected.
"Fuck (Y/n), well done! You've lost me the bet though," Buck rubbed his hand up and down her arm, smiling brightly as he looked across at Bobby. He gently let go of (Y/n)'s hand, seeing her grab Eddie's arm for reassurance before Buck grabbed the clamps and cutters from the bag to hand across to Bobby.
"Here's your daughter," Bobby carefully placed the small bundle into (Y/n)'s shaking arms and laid her on her chest.
She trembled so much Eddie had to move his arms and coil them around hers with his hands resting on top of (Y/n)'s to keep their daughter stable on her chest. Eddie brushed a finger across the newborn's cheek and despite the chuckle he let out, he moved to kiss (Y/n)'s cheek repeatedly. This wasn't how they were expecting to have their daughter, but it had gone much better than Chris's untimely birth.
"S-she's here," (Y/n) brushed her nose against Eddie's cheek and kissed him shakily.
"She couldn't wait to meet us."
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buddierecs · 9 months ago
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eddie diaz's moustache buddie fics
i am a secret lover of eddie's mustache so of course i am doing this :) this list has different rated fics, so please look at the rating make sure to kudos/comment on these amazing works :)
world war e(ddie's moustache) by: songbvrd "eddie is a little unhinged since christopher left. when buck gets yelled at for having facial hair, eddie makes a spectacle out of his own." word count: 19k rating: mature important tags: emotional infidelity, tommy kinard bashing, unhinged!eddie diaz, pre-relationship, mutual pining all my little words by: youbetsya "eddie: did you just send me an email?? buck: yeah lol eddie: why… I dont think you’ve ever emailed me actual words before. just stuff to print when your printer is broken buck: did you read it? eddie: not yet too busy trying to figure out why the fuck you’re emailing me buck: just read it dude 🙄" word count: 11k rating: teen and up important tags: texting, idiots in love, getting together, TW: suicidal thoughts to hurt, to heal, to hope by: brewrosemilk "...eddie, you think I'm going anywhere, you're fucking crazy." word count: 2.1k rating: teen and up important tags: getting together, first kiss just you know you'll taste me too by: teenytinytomlinson "eddie has a mustache, a cat, and a night out. buck gets a phone call, a near heart attack, and a whole new perspective." word count: 12k rating: explicit important tags: infidelity, getting together, gay!eddie diaz, jealous!evan buckley, anal sex, blow jobs, power bottom!eddie diaz one bright morning changes all things by: hispolestar "it's halloween, chris is heading back to texas for a few days and frank gives eddie therapy homework to do something for himself, to let himself want things. eddie enlists buck's help and something shifts between them in the following week." word count: 50k rating: explicit important tags: friends to lovers, infidelity, angst, tommy kinard bashing, therapy, panic attacks, demisexual!eddie diaz, anal sex, blow jobs, mirror sex, praise kink save a horse, ride a mustache by: bisexualbuckley "eddie gets a mustache. buck goes insane. there's some miscommunication. mustache smut ensues." word count: 7.1k rating: explicit important tags: miscommunication, established relationship, rimming, face-sitting, anal sex, riding, praise kink, come eating i'm in your grip by: thatbuddie "the one where eddie’s mustache makes buck lose his mind and get nipple piercings. and then eddie loses his mind about buck's nipple piercings. And then they lose their minds together." word count: 5.9k rating: explicit important tags: piercing, porn without plot, blow jobs, nipple play, come marking i can fix that by: 42hrb “what - what is that?” “what’s what?” eddie asked, but the smile tugging at his mouth, the smile that was just slightly obscured by the hottest mustache buck had ever fucking seen, told buck eddie knew exactly what he was talking about...." word count: 4.2k rating: mature important tags: handyman!eddie diaz, flirting, mutual pining, getting together, non-explicit sex one more can't hurt, right? by: eightpackdiaz "chris goes to texas for the summer. eddie adopts a bunch of cats about it." word count: 8.7k rating: teen and up important tags: cats, gay!eddie diaz, jealous!eddie diaz, tommy kinard bashing, boys in love, first kiss baby, i'm all outta words by: well-sussed "eddie works on feeling his feelings, frank has the patience of a saint, and the moustache is *seriously* doing it for buck." word count: 13k rating: teen and up important tags: gay priest, sexuality crisis, catholic guilt, idiots in love, mutual pining, soft!eddie diaz the mustache intervention by: xylodemon "so… what?" eddie asks. "this is some kind of intervention?" hen says, "yes, definitely." word count: 1.4k rating: not rated important tags: getting together, humour, crack it's not right (but it's okay) by: weewooforever "buck and eddie fuck nasty after tommy disappoints buck again." word count: 8.9k rating: explicit important tags: infidelity, idiots in love, getting together, possessive&bossy!eddie diaz anal sex, blow jobs, handjobs, praise kink
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ivegotyourbackbuddie · 25 days ago
Text
The Wrong Buckley. Part One of Six. Ao3 Link.
For once in Buck's life, things are starting to feel normal again.
Bobby and Athena's new place is filled with all his favorite people for what they're calling a "Welcome Home" party - a mix of a housewarming party, a welcome back for the Diaz boys, and a celebration for all the 118 members who are out of their quarantine.
Buck thinks it might be the greatest party he's ever been to, even though he's the only 118 member who isn't technically being celebrated. But with Eddie and Chris filling his home–their home?–with laughter and their own style of chaos, Buck can’t help but feel like, for once in his life, his house is a home. Even with the perpetual crick in his neck from insisting he's okay to sleep on Eddie's couch, this might be the happiest he has ever been.
Maybe it's time for a new software update. Buck 4.0: The new and improved happy Buck who has his whole family back.
It has a nice ring to it.
He glances around the backyard, searching for Eddie so he can fill him in on the news, only for his eyes to land on the empty seat next to Karen.
Huh. Usually, he's better at keeping tabs on Eddie, but the new design of the place is throwing him off his game a bit. Plus, he can barely keep his eyes off where Chris is chatting with Mara, Denny, and Jee, still amazed by how much the boy has grown up since Buck last saw him.
Buck clears his throat and wipes at his right eye quickly, trying not to get emotional about how much everyone is growing up.
"You okay, kid?"
Buck glances up to find Bobby, spatula in hand, wearing his "Kiss the Chef" apron Buck had gotten him as a gag gift, looking down at him with an amused smile.
"Yeah," Buck replies, smiling back at him, "Just thinking about how fast the time goes by, you know?"
Bobby glances over at the younger kids before sparing a glance at where Harry and May are talking with Athena and Ravi. His gaze settles on Buck, eyes lost in thought before he comes back to the present moment, searching for something that's no longer there. "I know," Bobby says, nostalgia heavy in his tone.
It all feels a little too bittersweet for such a lighthearted evening, so Buck gestures to the apron and asks, “Why don't I help you with the grill?"
Bobby chuckles and points the spatula at him. "You can man the grill when you have a get-together at your own place."
And isn't that a thought? Everyone gathering at Bedford St. for an evening hosted by him and the Diazes.
"I'll have to ask Eddie about that. Speaking of Eddie, have you seen him?" Buck can't help but ask.
"I haven't. Maybe check inside the house."
Buck nods, ignoring how Bobby's amused smile graces his face again, and heads inside. As soon as he steps in, he hears Eddie's voice from the new living room. "Hey, I've been meaning to thank you for that picture."
Buck frowns, wondering who else is inside, but his question is quickly answered when he hears his sister's voice reply, "It's a good one, isn't it?"
As Buck rounds the corner, he sees Eddie, head ducked down shyly as his face flames red in a way Buck has never seen before. "Uh, yeah. It really was."
Maddie laughs and reaches out, hand settling on Eddie's arm and squeezing his bicep. Buck takes a full step into the room, glancing around to see who else is in on whatever picture they're talking about, only to find the rest of the space empty. "Well, maybe you should actually-"
"Hey, Buck!" Eddie nearly shouts as he spots him.
Maddie startles, hand shooting back as she steps away from Eddie with a nervous smile.
It's... weird. Suspicious, even, but Buck doesn't want to go down that path of destructive thinking. Instead, he asks, "Since when do you two talk?" Okay, and yeah, maybe it comes out as a bit accusatory when he just told himself he's not going there, but it's a valid question.
"Come on, Buck," Eddie says, trying to brush him off with a nervous chuckle, "Is it so weird to find me talking to my best friend's sister?"
Maddie's face scrunches up at Eddie's wording, and she shoots him a look that has Eddie immediately stuttering out, "A-And my friend's wife?"
"Not helping," Maddie whispers under her breath, but Buck, having grown up with ears always on alert for those whispers, catches it immediately.
Eddie crosses his arms defensively and opens his mouth to say something, only to be cut off by Maddie, who calmly explains, "We started talking more when he moved to Texas. At first, I was answering a question he had for Howie since our place was also a fixer-upper, but then we talked every so often about Jee-yun and Christopher. And after the um..." Maddie trails off, hand coming up to trail over the faint scar on her throat.
Eddie finishes the thought for her, "I shared a little bit about my own PTSD, and we found out we had a lot more in common than we thought." Maddie nods, eyes more tired and sad than they were before. "And we've always been family because of you and the 118, but... now we're also friends.”
Maddie's eyes soften as she looks at Eddie, fondness and gratitude overwhelmingly evident in her gaze.
Buck looks between the two of them, unsure entirely what to say and trying so hard to not make it about him for once. "Uh," he starts, ever so gracefully, "Well, I..." He takes a deep breath and tries one more time, plastering on a fake smile and everything. "I'm happy for you guys. I mean, you're the two most important people in my life besides Christopher and Jee-Yun, so of course I'm glad you guys are friends." He opens his arms and says, "Come here," tugging them into a group hug that he thinks may have oversold the idea that he's perfectly okay with their friendship they kept from him for some reason.
But Maddie and Eddie are both smiling when they all step away. Eddie even jokes, "You're not going to maim my ankle over this, are you?"
Buck cringes while Maddie and Eddie laugh loudly, and he suddenly understands why they may have kept this from him. "As long as you two aren't secretly talking about me behind my back, then we'll be okay."
Something about the comment seems to fluster them, but Maddie is quick to distract him by asking, "You mean, I can't tell Eddie the reason why magnets were banned in our house growing up?"
"No!" Buck is quick to yell, eyes darting to Eddie, who is already giving Maddie a mischievous you'll have to tell me later look. "I take it back, I don't like that you two are friends."
They both laugh again before heading back outside, Maddie giving Eddie a discreet look before she goes over to Chimney. Buck tries his hardest not to overanalyze it, but when he sees the way Eddie flushes bright red again, he knows he won't be able to let it go.
-:-:-:-:-:-
“Buck, did you hear me?” Eddie asks.
“Hmm?” Buck hums in response. He’s glad that Eddie had suggested he drive the three of them to Grant-Nash’s place because he’s unable to focus on anything other than his internal spiral.
When they hit a red light, Eddie glances at him. “I asked if your neck is okay.”
Buck’s hand drops from where he was absentmindedly rubbing at a knot in his neck. “It’s fine.”
“Buck–”
“All good. I swear.”
Chris chooses this moment to pry his eyes away from his phone. “I thought lying was something we’re all working on not doing.”
Buck’s jaw drops as he looks back at the teen who just shrugs at his betrayed look.
“He’s right, you know,” Eddie says, trying to hide his proud smile. “No lying here.”
Buck sighs and hesitantly confesses, “Okay, the couch has been a little uncomfortable to sleep on for an extended amount of time. But we can just get another couch!”
“We already have two in the living room, Buck.”
“Yeah? And do you want to be the one to tell Margaret Buckley that the couch she chose is terrible to sleep on, so we had to get rid of it?”
Eddie’s face scrunches up into an exaggerated frown, and Buck can see Chris shaking his head out of the corner of his eye. Looks like they’ll be couch shopping soon.
But as Buck pulls out his phone to search nearby furniture stores, Chris drops a bomb on them. “Why don’t you two just share Dad’s bed? It’s not like it’s small. Plus, we won’t have to waste time or money on a new couch. And maybe the walls will muffle Buck’s snoring.”
Buck and Eddie both share a look, wondering if Chris has had this little speech prepared for some time since they’ve gotten back. But Buck can practically see the moment that the words register for Eddie as they come to a harsh stop at another light.
Buck gives him a look.
“Sorry,” Eddie mumbles, the tips of his ears turning pink.
Buck shifts in his seat a bit uncomfortably, trying not to think about why the two of them are so thrown by the suggestion. It’s not like they didn’t share a bed during the beginning of their covid quarantine, but Buck also hadn’t realized he was bi at that point. “I can sell my couch and use the money for a new one.”
Eddie lets out a deep breath and shakes his head. “No, we can share the bed. It was a good suggestion. Thank you, Chris.”
Chris gives him a mhm, and Buck thinks he might hear him whisper, “Finally,” under his breath. They might need to have a conversation about the mumbling at a later time, but right now, Buck is dedicating his time to staring at Eddie while trying to figure out what he’s really thinking. He goes off his tone, which was tense, the words short, and the steering wheel he has in a white knuckled grip that can’t be good.
But now is not the time to pry about it with Chris in the car. Luckily, they’re not far from the house.
When they turn onto Bedford Street, Chris announces he’s going to play some video game with his friends in his room for the night, and Buck is grateful, for once, that it’ll give him and Eddie some time to properly talk. But when they get inside, Eddie is immediately typing away at his phone, asking Buck briefly if he wants a beer, which he declines.
“Hey, Eddie?”
He glances up.
“I don’t mind taking the couch if you feel uncomfortable. I get that you need your own space, and I don’t want to invade it.”
Eddie sets his phone down on the kitchen table and gives Buck his full attention. “You could never make me uncomfortable or invade my space, Buck. If you prefer to sleep on the couch, you can tell me.”
“No!” Buck says a little too quickly. “I mean, I would love to sleep in a proper bed. And your mattress is better than mine, right? That’s why we tossed it out.”
Eddie nods sharply, lips pursed. “Yeah, that’s why we tossed it.” There’s something in there that probably needs to be unpacked, but Eddie is quick to move on. “Let’s get you settled in.” He passes Buck with a pat on the shoulder, heading toward his room.
The whole thing feels a little weird because it’s not like Buck has never been in Eddie’s room before – hell, he was sleeping there for a few months. But now that it’s back to being Eddie’s - with a mix of Buck’s things for safekeeping - it feels… almost off-limits. Maybe because the only moment they’ve really spent quality time in there was to patch things up after Eddie turned his room into a warzone, which isn’t the greatest of memories shared between them. Now, they somewhat share the space in the mornings because of their combined closet and dresser, but it’s all in passing. Buck wakes Eddie up with coffee, Eddie drinks it in grumpy silence while Buck picks out his outfit for the day, and then Buck leaves to shower and get ready while Eddie wakes up.
They’ve gotten used to this routine recently, so Buck can’t help but linger in the doorway now that it’s nighttime.
“You should’ve said something sooner about your neck.”
Buck winces as he realizes he was unconsciously rubbing at it again. “It’s not that bad.”
Eddie gives him a look and waves him inside the room. “Come here.”
He finally crosses the threshold, walking over to Eddie who puts a firm hand on his shoulder and says, “Sit,” as he guides Buck to the edge of the bed. His hand lingers on his shoulder, then trails to the back of his neck, kneading at the muscle. The whole thing makes Buck a little dizzy.
“Damn, Buck. You have a knot the size of Texas back here.”
Buck frowns. “Please don’t mention Texas.”
Eddie chuckles as he shifts onto the bed behind Buck. His fingers expertly dig at the tense muscles, and Buck’s hands fist into the sheets. He hums as he feels the knot loosen, letting out a soft, “Fuck,” when Eddie digs his thumb harshly into it.
“Sorry,” Eddie whispers, voice low.
“Feels good,” Buck groans as Eddie works at it again.
There’s a buzzing noise to Buck’s left, and he glances down, seeing his phone lit up with a text from Maddie. He goes to grab it, only to have Eddie beat him to it, which is when he remembers his phone is in his pocket. It makes his stomach twist a bit.
“What are you guys talking about?” Buck tries to ask casually.
Eddie types away behind him, sending a message before putting the phone on the bed, face down. “Just about how it’s nice to be back is all.”
Buck doesn’t say anything as Eddie resumes the massage. Only grunting and trying to muffle any moans as he wonders if there’s a particular reason why he’s so good at this.
He wants to ask, opening his mouth to say, “Eddie,” only for his name to turn into a breathy moan as the knot fully releases. Eddie’s fingers falter on his neck, gripping hard for a moment before pulling back.
“Bathroom,” Eddie says suddenly, grabbing his phone and clambering off the bed.
Buck turns to watch him leave, getting distracted by the fact that his neck doesn’t protest as he starts to roll his head around experimentally. He wonders if this is something he can request from Eddie more often.
He stands up to get a glass of water from the kitchen, remembering something he read about hydrating after massages to clear the body of toxins released, opening Eddie’s door, and finding the bathroom door cracked open. He’s about to pass it when he hears Eddie mumbling to himself, “Get it together.” Buck cautiously peers into the small opening, catching a glimpse of Eddie staring at himself in the mirror, fingers gripping the edge of the porcelain sink as he shakes his head and says, “I can’t believe I’m in love with a Buckley.”
It's a miracle Buck doesn’t pass out on the spot.
He takes a stumbling step back into Eddie’s room, somehow managing to close the door quietly in his haze. Although it’s entirely possible that he just slammed it because he can’t hear anything over the whooshing in his ears.
He doesn’t know how he didn’t see it before.
Eddie is in love with Maddie.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Buck must have heard Eddie wrong.
Maybe he said something like “I can’t believe I live with a Buckley.”
But Buck knows Eddie. He’s always been able to figure out what he’s saying, whether it’s under his breath on a ride to a call or stuttered through a mouthful of Buck’s lasagna.
And when he came back into the room with a glass of water for Buck, he had put his phone on the nightstand face down again. The only other time he had done that around Buck was right before Kim blew up their lives.
This isn’t a Kim situation, though. Eddie isn’t self-destructive enough to do that so soon after getting Chris back.
…Right?
Plus, Buck knows Maddie. She would never do anything to risk the happiness of the family she’s built with Chimney. Even if that means never being with Eddie.
Buck’s not sure if he could be as strong as Maddie, considering it’s Eddie - he would set his entire world on fire for him.
My god. What if it runs in the Buckley genes?
“Buck,” Eddie whispers in the darkness.
Buck pretends to be asleep.
“I know you’re not asleep.”
He tries a little harder.
Eddie sighs. The bed shifts, and Buck can practically feel Eddie’s gaze on him. “Throw in some snores and you might be convincing.”
Finally, Buck cracks an eye open and squints at him in the darkness. As his eyes adjust to the dark, he catches the exasperated amusement in Eddie’s gaze. “I’m awake,” Buck begrudgingly whispers.
“I’m shocked,” Eddie jokes. Buck opens both eyes to glare at him.
A silence settles between them as they stare at each other. Buck eventually shifts onto his side, mirroring Eddie’s position. “Can’t sleep?”
Eddie shakes his head. “Not with you thinking so loud.”
Buck tries to shift the topic away from Eddie's inevitable question. “I read a study about telepathic abilities. They used an MRI to study the brain of a person who claimed to be telepathic versus someone who didn’t have the ability while they both tried to do a telepathic task.”
“And?”
“The telepathic person’s brain lit up on the right side, and the other person's brain lit up on the left side. I’ll have to show you the article sometime.”
Eddie hums. “I’d like that. Chris would probably think it was cool, too.”
“Yeah.”
Eddie reaches out to smooth the creases on the comforter between them. “So, why were you lighting up the right side of my brain so much?”
There's the question. “You think you have telepathic abilities?”
Eddie smiles the way he does whenever he thinks Buck says something outlandish. “I think I have the ability to tell whenever my best friend isn’t able to sleep because he’s thinking too hard.”
Buck looks down at the creases between them, taking his turn to smooth them out. Eddie’s hand reaches out and settles over his, stopping the anxious movement.
“Are you okay?” Eddie asks quietly.
Honestly, Buck doesn’t know. He was okay before his revelation – beyond okay, really. And now?
It’s not like he can say, I’m spiraling because I heard you say you’re in love with my sister. And the only person he rants to about Eddie stuff is Maddie which he clearly can’t do now. So, he settles on saying the closest thing to the truth that he can, “I’m happy everyone is back and things are going back to normal. It’s just…” he trails of with a sigh, moving to lay on his back which means regretfully pulling his hand out from under Eddie’s. “I’m scared I might lose someone or everyone, and I don’t know if I can handle anyone else leaving again.”
The bed shifts as Eddie turns to stare at the ceiling, clasping his hands together over his stomach. A few moments pass before Eddie whispers, “I’m sorry for leaving you.”
The words are an arrow straight through Buck’s heart. “Eddie, you… you didn’t leave me.”
“I did, Buck. And I know it was the right thing to do for Christopher, but–”
“There’s no ‘buts’ about it,” Buck easily cuts him off. “You’re right. It was the right thing to do for Christopher, and he will always come first. I would watch you leave a hundred times more if it means you were doing what’s right for him.”
“Buck…” Eddie’s voice sounds watery, but Buck ignores it.
“Plus, it’s not like you abandoned me. We Facetimed and texted more than I’ve done with anyone else in my life, including Abby after she first left for Europe.”
Abby’s name makes Eddie groan, his arms uncrossing with a sigh, causing his hand to brush against where Buck’s is lying between them. He doesn’t move it. “It doesn’t take much to be a better person than Abby was.”
Buck turns his head to look at Eddie. “If it wasn’t for Abby, I would still be Buck one-point-oh.”
Eddie looks back at him, his gaze traveling over him. “Not after you met me.”
He doesn’t know what exactly Eddie means by that, but it makes his heart skip a beat. “Yeah?” Buck asks, the darkness making him feel a little bolder as he presses the back of his hand against Eddie’s.
Eddie’s hand pushes back before shifting over Buck's slowly until their palms are pressing together. Buck holds his breath as Eddie’s fingers slowly intertwine with his. He squeezes his hand tightly as he answers, “Yeah.”
Everything from the day and night goes out the window as Buck’s mind zeroes in on the connecting point between him and Eddie. He thinks he might be dreaming.
“This okay?” Eddie says so quietly that Buck nearly doesn’t catch it.
He nods and squeezes his hand. “Yes.”
The silence between them is tense and drawn out. After a few minutes, he wonders if Eddie has fallen asleep until he breaks the silence. “No one else is going to leave, Buck. Especially not me.” He turns to look at him. "We're going to be okay."
A flash of Eddie at the sink comes back to Buck, filling him with a wave of fear. But maybe, just maybe, Buck heard him wrong. “We're going to be okay," Buck echoes.
“We are,” Eddie states with finality. After a moment, his thumb soothingly rubs over Buck’s a few times before stopping with a squeeze. “Goodnight, Buck.”
“Goodnight, Eddie.”
Neither of them let go.
Part Two
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schrijverr · 5 months ago
Text
Do You Want to Go with the Strange Man, Buddy?
Divergence from chapter 13, where tía Pepa is forced to drop Christopher off at the 118 while Eddie is at the academy, because Abuela isn’t feeling well and she has to work. This leaves Buck with a surprise introduction to make to everyone.
On AO3.
Ships: Buddie (pre-slash)
Warnings: mentioned minor character death, mistaken child abduction
~~~
Buck had been working out on his own. It’s a slow shift – almost q-word, but he’s not saying it – so he actually took a decent shower after. He doesn’t know what it is about the shitty showers, but they’re homely to him.
Anyway, when he gets out and back into uniform, he checks his phone to see he’s missed a call from Pepa. She’s supposed to be dropping Chris off at Abuela’s house right about now, so he frowns and quickly calls her back.
“Oh, Buck, good. You’re on shift now, right?” she picks up.
“Yeah, I am. Is everything okay? Is Chris?” Buck asks worriedly.
“Christopher is fine,” Pepa tells him and his muscles unclench slightly. “We’re outside your work now, can you be there quick?”
“I can be there right now,” Buck says, starting to move towards the doors without a moment of hesitation. “And you’re sure everything’s alright?”
“It is, it is. Mama just can’t watch him today, she came down with a stomach bug,” Pepa explains.
At that point, Buck is at her car, quickly looking inside and waving over to Chris. However, he doesn’t immediately go over to him, because Pepa has gotten out of the car and closed to door behind her, a clear sign she wants to talk to him real quick, before Chris can hear.
Lowly, Pepa says: “Mama can’t watch him and I can’t take him to work right now. I can when I’m off, but not before. I tried calling Eddie, but he wouldn’t pick up. Is he safe here? Can you get off?”
Buck knows checking your phone at the academy has a high chance of getting yourself yelled at, so he gets why Eddie wouldn’t see the call. Mentally he makes a note to send Eddie a text about it all, before he assures her: “Of course I can take Chris. My Captain’s pretty chill, he’ll give me off or make me man behind or something. I’ll figure it out.”
“Gracias, gracias,” Pepa says, kissing his cheeks. “I have to go rush back before my lunch hour is over now.”
“Of course,” Buck blushes, still not entirely used to the warmth of this part of the Diaz family. He takes Chris’s bag from her, slinging it over his shoulder, before letting her get in the car, while he goes to get Chris.
Pepa has said her goodbye to him by the time he gets to his door, so he’s just focused on Chris when he opens the door. “Hey, buddy! Excited to hang out with me today?”
“Yeah,” Chris cheers.
“Good,” Buck smiles, unbuckling Chris from his seat and lifting him out of the car. He puts him on his hip while reaching in for the crutches, then the two of them wave goodbye to tía Pepa.
With her car out of the parking lot, Buck suddenly finds himself alone with Chris. At work. And it hits him that this is going to be a very hard thing to explain. Hell, he doesn’t even know how to begin, because how the fuck is he going to play this off?
It seems like frat boy Buck is dying today and he hopes they’re not going to be too weird about it in front of Chris. He’s never wanted his own issues to touch Chris. However, it’s also going to be heartbreaking to introduce him to everyone as his son, knowing that won’t last forever.
Subconsciously, he hugs Chris a little closer, before forcing cheer into his voice saying: “Well, I gotta introduce you to everyone then talk to my Captain for a bit, but then I can show you all the trucks and equipment. How does that sound?”
“I get to see the trucks?” Chris asks excitedly. With Buck sharing stories over dinner or breakfast on an almost daily basis, he’s gotten very enthralled with firefighters, so it’s dream come true.
Buck’s heart melts at the sight and decides that no matter how today goes, he’s going to make fucking sure Chris can see those trucks up close and personal. “Yeah, Superman, of course. Let’s go. Wanna be put down?”
Chris shakes his head. He has quickly realized that they first need to get through boring adult stuff before he can see the trucks and he wants to speed the whole process up. Which means he is perfectly fine where he is, getting to look around while papi does the walking for now. He’ll be independent when they get to the cool stuff.
So, Buck apprehensively makes his way up the stairs with Chris in his arms. He’s unsure what kind of reaction he should be bracing for when the finds the others hanging around the couch with their mugs, pausing when they see him.
For a moment, all of them just look at each other.
Then Hen cautiously speaks up: “Uh, Buckaroo, where- where did you get the kid? Did someone… Did he get lost?” she corrects herself, knowing Chris can hear her and not wanting to implant the idea that he was abandoned before they know more.
And Buck knows he should explain, but just going ‘no, this is my son’ feels weird when it’s not forever and this set up is just too funny. So he doesn’t explain and instead shrugs: “No, I just saw him while I was at work and took him.”
Everyone’s eyes get wide and they all freeze, as if they can’t believe that they’re hearing that and aren’t sure if he’s joking or not. They know Buck can’t lie, but since it’s technically true, it doesn’t read like a lie, which is hilarious to Buck right now.
He keeps a straight face as he turns to Chris and says: “Isn’t that right, Chris? I just took you off the streets.”
Chris – a little shit after his own heart and a better liar than his papi – just grins and nods: “Uh-huh, you did.”
Chimney must decide that he’s fucking with them, because he rolls his eyes: “Alright, sure. Was there anyone with him?”
“Yeah,” Buck says. “She wasn’t paying attention. I mean, I took this little guy here right out of her car and we waved at her when she left. Didn’t even blink. Probably didn’t care I did, did she?”
“That’s right,” Chris chimes in again.
At this point everyone is starting to get actually concerned. Buck is a little offended that they are, but he also gets it. Who knows if he snapped or something? A child abduction case should always be taken seriously. So, he should probably also stop now. Maybe a bad joke to make to begin with.
“Buck,” Bobby says, getting up slowly and holding out his hands as if calming a distressed patient. “I am asking you, if you can give the child to me. Okay?”
And look, he should just explain now, because this has gotten out of hand – story of his life, he supposes – but he can’t let this moment pass. It’s an educative moment, a cautionary tale if you will. So he turns to Chris on his hip and jostles him slightly, before quirking a brow and asking: “Do you want to go with the strange man, buddy?”
In the background, everyone is just getting more and more concerned with Hen and Chimney also rising to their feet and putting their mugs down. Buck half thinks one of them might sneak away to grab a tranquilizer or something, a true sign he should have never done this, but it’s too late for that now.
Luckily for everyone, Chris puts them all out of their misery by giggling: “No, papi.”
“Good answer!” Buck cheers, pressing a kiss on Chris’s cheek as he hugs him closer. “That is right, do not go with a strange man.” He turns to everyone else, who is still staring at him, perplexed. Buck has never seen someone blue screen like that. Ignoring it, he just goes: “And that’s how you teach stranger danger, people.”
For a few seconds it’s silent. The three others in the room blinking at him as they try to wrap their heads around the sharp turn that has just happened.
Not wanting to wait around for the explosion, he barrels forward, talking to Chris again as he goes: “So, let’s make them not strange people. This is my Captain, Bobby. Do you remember me talking about Bobby?”
“I do, he’s the Captain with the nice food,” Chris tells him.
Buck blushes a little, saying: “He is indeed the Captain with the nice food, but that was our little secret, remember?”
“But, papi, you’re not supposed to lie,” Chris counters.
“It’s a non-serious lie,” Buck defends himself, feeling a little called out anyway. “But you’re right. No lying. Want to say hi and thank you for the nice food?”
Chris nods and Buck makes his way over to Bobby, so Chris can shake his head. “It’s nice to meet you, Captain Bobby. I’m Christopher. Thank you for the nice food.”
Bobby now remembers Buck sneaking leftovers out the fridge. He always let him, figuring the kitchen in his frat house sucked and he didn’t feel like cooking there. Having the sudden knowledge that his food has instead been shared with this kid. This son Buck has apparently had this whole time, twists something inside him.
A little shellshocked, he shakes Christopher’s hand, saying: “Uh, yeah, call me Bobby. It’s nice to meet you too, kid. I’m glad you like my food.”
Chris smiles at him, but Buck moves on to the others before Bobby manages to form his face into a semblance of a smile back. It hits him all over again. Buck is a father.
“This is Hen, the badass paramedic,” Buck says, gesturing to her first and she waves at Chris and Chris waves back.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Hen smiles, shaking his hand when he holds it out.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Chris says politely and chipperly.
When Chris looks away again, she gives Buck a wide eyed look and quirks a brow. Buck sends a half grimace, half smile back. Then he moves onto Chimney saying: “And this is Chimney, the one with the funny name.”
“Hey! I’m also a badass paramedic,” Chimney exclaims, playing it up and snapping out of his funk, while Chris giggles. “Nice to meet you, kiddo.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Chris says.
During the introduction, it’s clear that both are obviously trying to hide how weirded out they are. Buck is starting to realize it might have been a little dumb of him to lean into the frat boy thing, but in his defense, it will probably be true soon. And that doesn’t hurt at all, no sir.
Shaking the gloomy thoughts off, he asks Chris: “I have to go talk to Bobby for a bit, do you wanna hang out with Hen and Chimney while I do? They know everything about the ambulances, I’m sure they’d love to answer your questions.”
“And then we can go look at the trucks?” Chris asks hopefully.
Buck just melts and he gives Chris a soft smile: “Yeah, buddy, then we can go look at the trucks.”
“Okay.”
He puts Chris down, encouraging: “Strong legs,” hovering a moment until he’s solid, before handing him his crutches. Then he points to the kitchen and says: “I’m going to be right there the whole time, so you can just call out if you need me, yeah?”
“I know, papi,” Chris assures him, a little bit of attitude that he totally gets from Eddie shining through.
“Alright, alright,” Buck grins as he shakes his head. Behind Chris’s back, he sends Hen a questioning look and a thumbs up, silently asking her if it’s okay. She gives him a reassuring smile and he relaxes a little with the relief.
He stays for just long enough to see Chris move towards them without any shyness, before making his way over to the kitchen. Bobby is right behind him and Buck feels very uncomfortable about the whole thing. Exposed in a way he usually tries to avoid.
So, before Bobby can say anything, he starts talking himself: “I know, I’m jumping this on you and I’m so so sorry. He was supposed to stay with Abuela, but she isn’t feeling well and tía Pepa can’t take him to her job and she couldn’t reach Eddie. But I can try to see if I can reach him, or stay behind and use my PTO or something. I totally understand if you can’t accommodate this right now. Again, I’m so sorry.”
“Buck, breathe,” Bobby says, brow creased worriedly. He places a hand on his shoulder and makes sure Buck is looking at him, then says: “We’re here to work with you. I’ll need to clear it with the Chief, but I’m sure we can figure something out until you figure out childcare.”
“Oh, that’s- that’s really nice,” Buck stammers.
Bobby still isn’t sure where the kid came from, but Chris is clearly Buck’s and he is panicking. As much as it hurts to think about it sometimes, he still recalls how stressful and scary being a parent can be. Of course he’s going to support him, even if he still hasn’t processed everything.
He squeezes Buck’s shoulder, searching for more words of support, finally settling on: “Of course.” He wants to ask more about the how and when of the kid, but before he can, Buck’s phone starts ringing.
“Fuck, that’s Eddie, I have to take this real quick,” Buck says, turning away, but not really moving away as he picks up: “Eddie? Hi, yeah, Pepa said she called you.”
Buck has never mentioned an Eddie before today and he doesn’t know how to feel about him, remembering what he almost fired Buck for. Maybe it’s more recent than that? Even if that seems even more ridiculous. God, Bobby hopes it is though.
He can’t hear what Eddie says. However, he does hear what Buck responds: “Everything’s fine. Abuela’s not feeling well, so she dropped Chris off here, until her workday is done.”
Then Buck listens briefly for a moment, before nodding, despite Eddie not being able to see. “Uh, yeah, that’s okay. Everyone here is super nice and helpful. Bobby says we can figure something out. So, I’ll keep him for now, no worries. We’ll look at the trucks and he’ll be thrilled. You just focus on training, I doubt your instructor will be pleased with you taking calls like this or missing out.”
Something in Bobby’s heart clenches at how soothing and worried Buck sounds. He gets the feeling he can now be reasonably certain he knows who Eddie is; his partner. Another thing they all missed. Buck has had a family this whole time. And they don’t sound strained, which is a relief. Though maybe also a bad thing?
That feeling is further confirmed when he sees a small shy smile on Buck’s face as he responds: “No problem. We’re a team, remember? Bye.”
He hangs up, before facing Bobby again face still slightly red. “Uh, sorry about that. Hope you don’t mind me promising that to Eddie.”
“I don’t. It’s okay, Buck, truly. We’re a team here too,” Bobby says, which makes Buck relax. He seems really anxious about this whole thing and Bobby worries about what makes him feel so on edge. “Are you okay?”
“Me?” Buck asks, taken by surprise. Then he smiles awkwardly and unconvincingly says: “I’m fine.”
Bobby levels him with a look and Buck looks away. Deciding that stern probably won’t work on Buck, he goes for compassion when he says: “Look, clearly this was something you didn’t want to share. I get that it’s scary and I just want you to know that we support you, no matter what. You’re safe here.”
Buck’s eyes widen momentarily, before his smile becomes more real. “Thank you. It’s not exactly like that, but thank you.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed-” Now it’s Bobby’s turn to be awkward. He could have sworn Buck was just coordinating with his… spouse? Partner? Boyfriend? Husband? His Eddie. Maybe it’s a nickname? Maybe it’s something else that would explain the sleeping around. He hopes it will explain the sleeping around.
“Oh, no, Eddie is my husband,” Buck quickly assures him, which clears up exactly nothing. In fact, it makes it worse.
“Now, I’m confused,” Bobby tells him honestly, praying Buck will give him more information that will turn him into someone Bobby recognizes, someone more than a cheater, who lies and hides.
“Uh, it’s- it’s a bit of a long story. Me and Eddie are married as friends, for Chris’s sake. His mom walked out and I kind of stepped up. So, I adopted him when Eddie had to go back into the military. He is training to be a firefighter right now. When he’s stable, he, uh- he’ll probably divorce me. Kinda hard to bring that up,” Buck grimaces apologetically.
Bobby blinks a few times, that is indeed a long story and that’s with probably most of the details missing. However, it does clear up the sleeping around situation, so he’ll take it. Still, unsure what to say, he asks: “So, how long have you two been married then?”
“Coming up two years, but living together and raising Chris for three,” Buck answers, looking over to Chris with a melancholic note in his voice.
Okay, so this isn’t just a recent thing for a last tour, but a years long thing. Bobby knows what it is like to lose a kid, but to know they’re still out there? God. He doesn’t know this Eddie, but that is an awful thing to do to a person. He frowns: “And you’re just going to disappear when he is stable?”
“Uhm, yeah, probably. I mean, we haven’t really discussed it,” Buck rubs the back of his head, then admits: “I’ve been too scared to ask.”
“Buck…” Bobby breathes, unsure how to even begin to tackle all this.
“I know,” Buck sighs before he can figure it out. “I know I should talk to him. I know that. But if I know, I can’t cling to the possibility of it not happening, you know?”
He looks devastated. It’s only in his eyes, his face keeps that helpless half smile, but his eyes carry a deep grief that Bobby knows. He has already given up on keeping a professional distance, so he just pulls Buck into a tight hug and holds him close when Buck melts into it.
When he pulls back, he says: “The not knowing is killing you too. Talk to Eddie, tell him this. If he is a friend, he’ll understand and want to help. We’ll be here for you whatever happens.”
“Thank you, pops,” Buck says with a crooked grin, sounding a little choked up. He hasn’t called Bobby that since his second month there, but the nickname brings back a wave of nostalgia, and – treacherously – a voice in his head flirts with the possibility of being a grandfather, before Bobby represses it.
“Of course,” is what he ends up saying. His smile feels a little more forced, but he sounds genuine when he says: “Go show your son the trucks, I’ll call the Chief.”
Buck’s eyes sparkle when he says ‘your son’ and he nods eagerly: “I will. Again, thank you so much,” then he bounces off to the couches.
At the couches, Hen and Chimney have stared at Chris for all but two seconds. Neither of them have a clue what to do with the surprise news that Buck apparently has a kid. A kid that is now staring at the two of them with big eyes.
“Uh, so how old are you, Chris?” Hen finally asks. A standard question to ease into it.
“I’m seven,” Chris tells her proudly.
Hen quickly does the math. That makes Buck nineteen when Chris was born. She shares a look with Chimney, who did the same math as her. With Buck’s record of sleeping around, that doesn’t entirely come as a surprise. However, the well adjusted kid speaks to a lot more maturity that his recklessness would indicate.
“That’s already really grown up,” she smiles at Chris, who beams with pride.
Both of them are used to working with kids, so Chimney takes over: “Buck mentioned you were interested in the ambulances?”
Now Chris lights up even more. He sure is a happy kid, Hen thinks fondly. Apparently Buck is a good dad, that’s nice. And it becomes increasingly clear that he raised Chris, because when he starts launching questions at them that are truly impressively detailed, his face is the exact same one that Buck makes when he’s learning things and curious. It’s truly adorable to see.
They answer his questions the best they can, getting very charmed by this kid in front of them. They can almost forget that Buck pulled a kid out of thin air. Still, every time he does something Buck-esque they’re reminded all over again.
Hen wonders if there is some drama with the mother, since she now recalls Buck knowing a lot about custody. If Chris had been an accident, then they might not be together anymore and Buck has had to go to court about it. Maybe it had been a whole thing?
Chimney meanwhile realizes why Buck canceled so much on them at the start. Still does, they’ve just gotten used to it. At the time he’d been so jealous thinking he must have more fun parties or hot dates, but he probably was just going home to his son. Obviously childcare is an issue.
He wishes the kid had just opened his damn mouth about it. He remembers how rough it had been for Hen and Karen when they first adopted Denny. How it’s still difficult sometimes. They could have helped. Chim finally got the babysitting gig down. He has had practice.
It’s a bit of a mindfuck to have to reframe Buck from a frat boy to a teen parent. However, the pieces do fit in a way. The flashes of maturity, the way he can flip the switch to being responsible, the way he’s gold when there are kids on a scene.
So, yeah, Buck is a dad. That’s a little new.
But it’s only new to them, clearly it’s not new to Buck. Because when he’s done with his talk to Bobby he swoops back in, hauling Chris up over his shoulder as he says: “LAFD here to rescue you!” which makes Chris shriek with delight.
Buck puts him back down and ruffles his hair, matching big smile on his face. “Are you ready to look at the trucks now, Superman?”
“I am, I am,” Chris says, bouncing up and down.
“Alright, then, let’s get this show on the road,” Buck exclaims, gesturing for Chris to lead.
The four of them make their way downstairs, all of them smiling at Chris’s excitement at seeing the trucks. Despite being older than him, they all remember that same feeling from their first day.
It’s obvious that Buck takes much pride in his work and the fact that Chris thinks his career is cool. As he shows everything with much gravitas and importance, not to mention a matching thrilled sparkle in his eyes.
Chris gets to try on his helmet and sit in the rig, while Buck takes a billion pictures. After he’s snapped one in particular, he grins at Chris: “Daddy’s going to be so jealous of you, getting to sit in a real fire engine before him.”
“He will,” Chris grins slightly mischievously.
Behind the duo, both Chimney and Hen freeze. Daddy. There is a second parent involved. With what they know of Buck that is almost more unexpected than the kid thing.
Hen wonders if maybe the other dad is trans and it’s still what she first thought, while Chimney immediately grimaces. He doesn’t want to judge Buck too harshly, I mean, he didn’t for Hen, but it’s different with Buck. So, he can’t help but judge a little.
“Daddy?” Hen asks, deciding it’ll be better to just find out. If it puts Buck on the spot, they can pretend to buy whatever excuse he comes up with for now and interrogate him later.
“Uh-huh,” it’s Chris, who answers, “he’s becoming a firefighter like papi is!”
Buck on the other hand looks less enthusiastic and more like a deer in headlight, blinking two times, before quickly explaining: “Eddie is Chris’s dad – other dad. Bio dad? – uhm, he’s my husband, but we got married as friends. It’s a bit of a long story.”
“They made them kiss,” Chris informs the other two firefighters there a bit too gleefully. “It was really silly.”
“Chris was with us for the wedding,” Buck clarifies with a blush. “It’s a thing they expect you to do.”
Both of them just nod. Hen is sure that there is a much more detailed and much more stupid story there to explain all this, but honestly, she doesn’t feel like figuring it out. Chris is still right there and Buck looks like he’s going to kneel over if they ask more. She’ll wrangle it out of him when he’s had more time to get his head on right.
At that point the alarm goes off and Buck freezes a little. However, Bobby appears at the top of the stairs, about to go down the pole. Before he does, he calls out: “Buck, get yourself into gear. Kid’s coming with us.”
“Aye, aye, Cap,” Buck says, relieved to get some clarity. Then to Chris he goes: “You hear that, bud, you’re going to be a firefighter today.” Chris cheers. “Stay right there, okay, I’ll be with you soon,” Buck promises, before hurrying off to get into his gear.
When they’re driving to the accident, Chris has a thousand more questions and eagerly listens to all their answers and explanations. As well as to the little jabs and teases they throw at Buck. He takes them like a champ, rolling his eyes as he takes more pictures.
At the scene, Bobby sends Buck out there, keeping a close eye on Chris for him and walking the boy through everything that’s happening. He makes sure to pay extra close attention to Buck and explain what he is doing to Christopher.
Bobby tries not to, but he can’t help but wonder if Robert Jr. would have been equally as invested if he’d ever been able to go with him to work. He always misses his family, his kids, the most on days like these. On calls with kids, or when classes come in.
He puts it out of his mind though. Buck is closer to being his kid on most days and he has made some peace with it, even if he won’t acknowledge it yet. However, it makes it easier with Chris than with another kid. It doesn’t feel like he’s replacing his own, it’s a relationship he hasn’t had with anyone before yet. New is good.
After the call, Chris is in high spirits, excitedly rerunning every moment to everyone and asking more questions. He is very much Buck’s child. However, this also means he’s easily distracted by the video games they have and the pinball machine.
For a snack, Bobby asks if he liked one leftover in particular, making sure to whip that up, much to the boy’s delight.
By seeing Buck around Chris so much, it normalizes itself in their brains that Buck is a dad. The shock and newness wears off and they can appreciate this side of their probie they hadn’t seen before.
Buck is still basically an over excited puppy, but he matches Chris’s energy pretty well, never going further than he wants. He also has gotten the balance between letting Chris be independent and preventing him from doing something dangerous down to a science.
It’s very interesting to see traits they know he has being dialed up or down to suit this situation. How natural it looks on him, despite their previous assessment of him being a frat boy.
However, it’s also very obvious to all of them, that he is still a kid himself, raising another kid. None of them – bar Bobby – have a general idea of how long he’s been doing this, but they can all gather that Chris is older than most kids people Buck’s age have.
Of course he’s a firefighter, but he tosses Chris around like it’s nothing, keeping up easily with his boundless energy, and saying stuff like: “High five, Superman!” when Chris tells Chimney that his movie quote was weird.
All in all, Chris is having a blast and so is the 118.
They’re all helping Chris slide down the pole, grinning as he goes, when a brown haired man comes wandering into the firehouse. He stops short when he sees the whole spectacle, then smiles.
Out of everyone there, only Hen has spotted him. At first she thinks he might need help, but they have to focus on Chris’s safety first. However, when she sees him stopping to watch, she knows that must be Eddie. Buck mentioned them getting married as friends, but looking at him smiling at Chris and Buck, she doesn’t know how much truth there was to that.
Her theory that this is Eddie is confirmed when Chris is safely on the ground. Buck is grinning down at him, not paying attention to anything else. Then Chris spots Eddie and smiles widely: “Daddy!”
“Hey, buddy,” Eddie smiles back.
Buck immediately turns to look at him, a love struck look coming on his face when he says: “Eddie, hey!”
Fucking hell, she was so right that there is a much more detailed and much more stupid story there. It is obvious to her that if these two are married as friends, they’re both lying to the other and maybe to themselves about it.
“Hey, Buck,” Eddie greets back unnecessarily. “You two look like you are having fun.”
“We are,” Chris answers for them, bouncing up and down. “I got to try on papi’s helmet and sit in the rig and then we went to this crash and the sirens were on. We had these headsets and I got to see papi work. He saved this lady from her car. It was so cool!”
“That sounds very cool,” Eddie tells him, the utter adoration for his son clear in his eyes. He cards his hands through Chris’s hair and hugs him close.
While that happens, Buck has also come to circle the two of them. He says: “I thought tía Pepa was taking him today. You’re here early. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Eddie assures him. “Instructor let us go early today. I think he’s getting soft on us.”
“Pff, of course. LA training is soft on you all,” Buck teases.
Eddie rolls his eyes, apparently familiar with this particular taunt as he replies: “Here we go again. Let me guess, in Texas they forced you all to sweat through it like tough guys.”
“You got it,” Buck grins. “Anyway, I’m being rude. This here is Bobby, my Captain.”
Bobby steps forward, shaking Eddie’s hand as he says: “I’m Eddie Diaz, it’s nice to meet you, sir.”
“Likewise,” Bobby smiles. “And no need for sir. Just Bobby is fine.”
“This here is Hen and Chimney,” Buck moves on introducing both.
They shake Eddie’s hand too, telling him it’s nice to meet him while he returns the sentiment, though he adds: “It’s so nice to put a face to the names,” as he does. Whatever hiding Buck was doing, it was a one sided hiding act. However, none of them mention it. Not in front of Chris.
“So,” Buck claps his hands. “Did you come for a tour of the trucks too? I told Chris all the facts, he could probably give you a great tour. You know, since he’s been in an actual rig.”
“You’re full of it,” Eddie tells him, but he’s smiling too much to mean it.
“I know,” Buck replies simply and Hen wonders if they know they’re flirting.
Before either can figure that out, however, Chris tugs on Eddie’s hand, pleading: “Please, daddy, I can show you everything. There are loops on the hoses, just like papi said. Do they teach you that too?”
Eddie looks a little caught out, trapped between Chris and the 118. Carefully he says: “I’d love to, mijo, but papi and his team have people to save and help. We should give them space to work.”
“It’s okay,” Bobby says, before Chris can even pout properly. Much like his papi, Chris has got him wrapped around his little finger. “We have the house on low priority calls for the time being. You staying a little longer won’t be an issue.”
“You’re sure?” Eddie checks anyway.
“I’m sure.”
“Thank you so much,” Eddie says, before turning to Chris: “Well, then I would love a tour.”
Excitedly Chris directs Eddie to the trucks, telling him everything he’s just learned, while Buck chimes in from time to time with other tidbits or words Chris has forgotten. Throughout it all, Eddie listens with great pleasure. He’s clearly not as much of a talker, but it seems Chris and Buck more than make up for that.
While they all watch the family from the sidelines, Chimney asks: “So, does anyone know more about what their deal is?”
Bobby – the savior with actual information – answers: “From what I understand, they got married after Chris’s mom walked out so Buck could be there when Eddie had to go back into the military. They’ve been living together for three years, married two.”
Chimney whistles lowly, then checks: “And we all heard him say they’re married as friends, right?”
“Oh yes, we did,” Hen replies, sounding a little pained.
Next to her, Chimney cocks his head, watching Buck and Eddie bump shoulders every time they walk, because there is no space between them. Slowly, he asks: “And… are we… believing that?”
“Oh, definitely not,” Hen says.
“Come on, guys. Let’s not speculate too much. Buck hasn’t been comfortable sharing, we should respect that,” Bobby butts in, trying to be the responsible Captain.
That earns him a double judgmental look from both Chimney and Hen, before they ignore them and turn back to their conversation. “I don’t think Buck would do the whole sleeping around like that thing, if they were actually already together,” Hen says.
“So, we’re betting on pining.”
“Of course.”
“Okay, they’ve already been doing this for three years… That denial runs deep.”
“Yeah, it definitely does,” Hen agrees. “Did Buck mention anything about their communication to you, Bobby?”
Bobby sighs and rubs his brow, then decides he’s really no better than either of them. So, he admits: “It is their plan to divorce one day, but Buck hasn’t talked about it yet, because he fears Eddie will just cut him out.”
“…Now I don’t know if I should laugh at him or feel a deep sympathy,” Hen comments with a jikes grimace on her face.
“I told him to talk to Eddie about it. Clear the air,” Bobby offers.
“Twenty dollars on them figuring it out when Buck brings it up,” Chimney says confidently. “There is no way, Eddie is going to not kiss him about that.”
“Hmm, I don’t know.” Hen appraises Eddie again, squinting as she tries to get a read on him. “Twenty on them not figuring it out for another three years. And another forty on them never getting divorced.”
“Uhm, you can’t bet on things that are basically facts,” Chimney complains.
“Hey, you don’t know that!” Hen exclaims, knowing he is right, but she doesn’t care if it’ll get her forty dollars. They’ve been eyeing new cutlery.
“Ugh, fine! But I’d like it on the record that I protested it and I want my counter bet to be that they do a vow renewal instead,” Chimney says.
“Alright, deal,” Hen nods, shaking Chimney’s hand as they seal the deal.
They all return to watching the three at the trucks again. Buck has lifted Chris onto his shoulders, so he can properly point at all the things he’s talking about. Eddie is listening to him, sure, but he is definitely more focused on Buck.
After a few beats, Chimney wonders: “Hey, now that we know Buck adopted Chris and they met a few years ago. Do you all think there is some truth to him snatching Chris story?”
“God, I fucking hope not.” … “Five bucks says there is.”
“Ten says it’s an exaggeration.”
They shake on it.
“Fuck it,” Bobby mutters, then says: “Five on it being wilder than that.”
They shake with Bobby too, then wait until the tour is done. They haven’t gotten to speak with Eddie much, but it’s okay. Everyone has gotten the chance to observe him and he seems nice and polite when they say goodbye.
Buck stands there like a mom on the very first day of school, waving at them until they disappear when they do leave. The others kindly do not call him out on it. There is a bet now, so no interfering.
Still, the only reason they don’t ask, probably actually is because the alarm starts ringing so they have to go and focus on an emergency instead of Buck’s newly revealed private life.
Throughout the course of their shift, they do learn more details about how Buck got into that situation. When he tells them about dating Eddie’s ex-wife and meeting her while she shopped for eggs, is something they have a fucking filed day with. And it earns both Hen and Bobby some money.
They also learn about Eddie’s chopper getting shot down and Buck nursing him back to health. He chokes up a bit there and Hen rubs his shoulder.
As she does, she feels a little bad about the self satisfied grin she tucks away. If they can go through that and not confess, she was definitely right in placing her money on three years.
However, overall, it doesn’t change too much.
Still, when Buck comes in for his next shift, they all eagerly turn to him, wondering if he’ll turn back into over-sharer Buck now that the cat’s out of the bag. They need to know more about this nonsense he found himself in.
Buck does not disappoint. He eagerly hollers: “Eddie is not going to divorce me!” which turns the heads of everyone who hadn’t been there last shift. Seems like Buck is going to have to explain it all over again. And the betting pool will grow. Hen is so getting that new cutlery.
~~
A/N:
Credit to Memememe8989, who suggested this idea in the comments, I had a different idea that is somewhat related to this (which granted, I might still write), but this was just so iconic that it immediately gave my brainworms <333
Llsdkghdhkf there was so no reason for Buck to do pretend to have kidnapped Chris, but the idea was just too funny and you can’t tell me he wouldn’t in his awkward insecurity
The full phone convo for those curious:
B: “Eddie? Hi, yeah, Pepa said she called you.”
E: “She texted me to call you. Is everything okay?”
B: “Everything’s fine. Abuela’s not feeling well, so she dropped Chris off here, until her workday is done.”
E: “And is that okay? I don’t want you to get in trouble of this.”
B: “Uh, yeah, that’s okay. Everyone here is super nice and helpful. Bobby says we can figure something out. So, I’ll keep him for now, no worries. We’ll look at the trucks and he’ll be thrilled. You just focus on training, I doubt your instructor will be pleased with you taking calls like this or missing out.”
E: “Okay, that’s good. Thank you.”
B: “No problem. We’re a team remember. Bye.”
E: “I do. Still, thanks. Bye.”
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srue-on-fire · 2 months ago
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Baby, I'm All In It
Pairing: Evan Buckley x Eddie Diaz Words: 1270 Rating: General Audiences Prompt: #7. "Come Back To Bed." Title: Backstreet Boys' OK prompt list 🩶 read on ao3
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❤️‍🔥
The house was quiet, wrapped in that hush that came after midnight. Buck stirred, fingers brushing the cool sheets beside him. He blinked into the darkness, the hum of the ceiling fan above breaking the silence. Eddie’s side of the bed was empty.
Again.
Buck sat up slowly, letting the comforter fall to his lap. The clock on the nightstand read 3:17 AM. That made it the third time this week. And Buck didn’t need to guess where Eddie was —he already knew.
He padded down the hallway barefoot, the wooden floor cool against his skin. Sure enough, just past the soft glow slipping out from under Christopher’s door was Eddie. Sitting on the hardwood floor, legs drawn up, back against the wall, his gaze fixed inside the slightly ajar doorway to Chris’s room. 
Exactly where Buck had found him three nights ago. And two nights before that. Then, too, Eddie had been out here, like a silent sentinel. And Buck had crouched beside him, coaxed him to bed instead of the couch with a soft nudge and a quiet promise that everything was okay.
The spill of the nightlight from Christopher’s room gave Buck enough to see the weariness in his profile. The tight set of his jaw. The faint shadows under his eyes.
“It’s okay, Buck,” Eddie said without turning his head. He didn't look surprised to see Buck. If anything, he looked like he’d been expecting him. “Go back to bed.”
Buck crouched down next to him, back against the wall, elbows on his knees, matching Eddie’s posture. “You say that like I’m the one who can’t sleep.”
Eddie didn’t reply. They sat like that for a while, the quiet broken only by the soft hum of night and the sound of Christopher’s fan spinning behind the door. 
Eventually, Eddie shifted, arms unfolding as he leaned his head back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling.
“I used to sit like this when he was little,” he said softly. “After Shannon left. And when we moved to LA. After— tsunami. Just... needed to know he was still there. That he was okay.”
Buck's heart pulled. “You still do.”
Eddie nodded. “Yeah.”
Buck waited a beat. “Rough call today.”
Eddie looked away again. “Yeah.”
Four teens stuck in a collapsed parking garage, half-buried under rebar and concrete. All of them scared. All of them reminders. One of them had the same eyes, too. Buck knew exactly what was going through Eddie’s head, because he’d seen it all too clearly in his own reflection at the end of their shift.
“You did everything right,” Buck said gently.
Eddie didn’t respond to that. Just rubbed at his face with both hands like he could scrub the images out of his head. “He’s just a kid,” he murmured, voice barely above a whisper.
Buck followed his gaze toward the door, where Christopher is sleeping peacefully. “Yeah. He is.”
“He’s not ready for the world yet.”
Buck felt something tighten in his chest. “He’s got time.”
“Not enough of it.”
There it was —that creeping dread Buck had watched eat away at Eddie in small, silent ways since Christopher left. That sense of running out of time. That unspoken fear of what the future might demand of them next. Of an empty nest. 
“Eddie.”
He looked back at Buck, something heavy swimming in his eyes.
“You don’t have to keep watching over him all night. You already brought him home.”
“I can’t stop,” Eddie admitted. “Not when every time I close my eyes, I see an empty house. And now I see those kids stuck under the rubble. I saw Christopher there, Buck.”
Buck didn’t say me too. He didn’t have to. Eddie knew it anyway. 
Instead, he reached out, laid a hand over Eddie’s. “Come back to bed.”
Eddie’s gaze dropped to their joined hands. “I’m fine here.”
“You’re not. You’re exhausted. Your back’s going to hate you in the morning, and Christopher is safe. He’s asleep. And you—” Buck’s voice cracked a little, “—you don’t have to do this alone. Not anymore.”
Eddie looked up then, eyes searching Buck’s face like he was trying to find something solid to hold onto.
Buck didn’t flinch. But God, was his heart thundering in his chest. He wasn’t saying the words but he meant it all the same and he knew Eddie got it. 
“Are you?” 
They sat in silence for a beat, their eyes drifting back towards Christopher. The steady rise and fall of his chest, the peace that came with childhood sleep. It was enough to remind them both why they did what they did. Why they fought so hard.
“He’s happy to be back,” Eddie murmured.
“So are you,” Buck replied, not as a question.
Eddie leaned his head back against the wall, letting out a slow sigh. “Yeah. It felt like… coming home.”
Buck turned to look at him. “You are home. This is your house.”
Eddie glanced at him. “Ours.”
Buck’s brows lifted a little.
“I never told you to find a new place,” Eddie added. “Don’t want you to.”
“Eddie…” Buck’s breath hitched. 
They hadn’t talked about it until now. When Eddie and Christopher returned to LA, they were focused on happiness, on reuniting with the family. The first thing Buck and Eddie was to set up Christopher’s room so he’d have a place to sleep. And then Eddie was busy getting reinstated and then Buck and Eddie were busy with… everything. 
They hadn’t talked about it. 
“I missed you,” Eddie said.
“In love with Eddie?”
Buck swallowed and looked down at his lap, his knuckles white. “I missed you too.”
Eddie reached out, fingers brushing against Buck’s wrist, easing his fists loose, turning to face him properly. “Then don’t leave.”
“Eddie,” Buck closed his eyes and swallowed again. 
“Am I asking for too much?” Eddie asked, slipping his fingers between Buck’s, voice baring all his vulnerability. “Am I reading this wrong?”
The only thing Buck could do was shake his head as wetness blurred his eyes. 
Eddie leaned forward to press his forehead against Buck’s temple as the man’s shoulders shook with relief and disbelief. 
“Buck—” he started and retracked. “Evan.”
Buck didn’t let himself think too much before turning his head and pressing their lips together. His hand squeezed Eddie’s when a hand came up to bury in his curls. 
The kiss was gentle and hard at the same time, a brush of lips as they breathed into it, breathed each other in. 
When they pulled apart, Eddie held him in place with a hand on his neck, their foreheads touching, eyes still closed, both of them panting a little. 
“I love you,” Eddie said. 
And a tear finally fell from Buck’s eyes. “I love you.”
They sat like that for a few more seconds, neither of them saying the word for what this was, what they were. But it hung in the air between them like gravity.
Buck stood first, holding out his hand.
Eddie took it, letting Buck pull him up. Their fingers stayed linked, Eddie gave a slight tug that pulled Buck just a little closer and pecked his lips chastely.
God, that felt so good to know they could do it whenever they wanted. 
Then Eddie glanced back at Christopher’s door. “He’ll be okay?”
Buck nodded. “He’s got you. And me. So yeah. He’ll be okay.”
Eddie met his gaze again, smiling faintly. “Alright,” he murmured. “Let’s go home.”
Buck bumped his shoulder gently as they turned. “You mean back to bed?”
Eddie chuckled, low and real. “Same thing.”
They were all finally home.
❤��‍🔥
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buckbuckleybegins · 6 months ago
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I loved this post by @8x06eddie so much that I just had to start writing something about it. It’s a classic 5 + 1 fic with a lot of domestic buddie!
Here’s a snippet:
~~~
The first time Eddie called Buck amor, it was entirely unexpected and probably unplanned—if Eddie’s expression afterward said anything.
It was early morning at the Diaz household, and the “two and a half men”—as Eddie liked to call them, though it was becoming increasingly questionable as Chris grew up—were getting ready for the day. Christopher was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth and getting dressed for school. Buck was in the kitchen, making his certified pancakes, the ones he’d promised Chris the night before. Meanwhile, Eddie was frantically pacing through the house, checking every nook and cranny for something he’d lost.
It was their 24 off that day, but bad luck meant someone from Shift B had called in sick, and Bobby had asked if one of them could cover. Eddie volunteered, and Buck wasn’t particularly happy about it. There weren’t many times their shifts didn’t align or they didn’t work together and most of those involved one of them getting injured—or worse. Eddie had spent the entire prior evening reassuring him, telling him it was going to be fine and that maybe it was a good idea for them to spend some time apart before they actually became codependent. Buck had huffed at that. What if he wanted to be codependent? Stupid buzzword.
“Buck,” Eddie called from the living room before pacing through the kitchen, still searching. “Amor, have you seen my keys?”
Buck froze, and so did Eddie—for half a second, at least, probably realizing exactly what he’d just said. Eddie quickly tried to play it off, continuing to pace the room, looking under everything he could find and avoiding Buck’s eyes. It didn’t fool Buck, though. Eddie had this thing he did when he was embarrassed—his cheeks would turn a rosy pink that Buck found super endearing. Right now, they were pinker than Buck had ever seen them.
“Uh…” Buck said, still dumbfounded. He caught a whiff of the pancake burning in front of him and quickly flipped it, cursing mentally. “Have you checked the shelf by the chimney?”
Eddie poked himself in the temple, his expression making it clear he hadn’t thought of that. Without another word, he disappeared back into the living room.
When Eddie returned, he poked his head into the kitchen, smiling at Buck, his cheeks still faintly rosy.
“Found them. Thanks. See you this evening?”
“Sure,” Buck replied, smiling back.
“Love you,” Eddie said casually.
“Love you, too.”
With another smile and a quick “Bye, Chris!” shouted from the living room, Eddie rushed out of the house, leaving Buck alone with his thoughts—and a raised spatula.
It was… it was the first time Eddie had called him that. And Buck? He was pretty much melting on the spot, chest warm and butterflies in his stomach, overwhelmed by how much he loved it. It was this sweet, unexpected thing, born from their budding relationship—so intimate, so domestic, so theirs. He’d never felt anything like this before, and all he wanted now was for Eddie to say it again. Over and over.
“Buck? You okay?”
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even hear Christopher join him in the kitchen. The boy was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, the expression so eerily familiar that Buck couldn’t help but wonder who exactly he’d picked it up from.
“Yeah, bud,” Buck replied, all smiles and heart still fluttering. “Ready for pancakes?”
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princessamericachavez · 1 year ago
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Say Don’t Go | 911 7x10 spec
Based on the stills and my brain not shutting up
“I hate you!”
Christopher’s voice resonates through the hallway until his door slamming cuts it off. Eddie flinches and Buck’s heart breaks.
“Chris-“
Eddie moves half a step forward and Buck stops him by the shoulder before he can go after his son. It’s not going to help. If he knows anything about angry teenagers (having been one particularly angry himself) is that Chris needs a moment away from his dad.
The problem are those big brown eyes. Because when Eddie looks back at him, so lost and heartbroken and desperate, Buck knows he has to do something. Because this is wrong, it’s just wrong, and Buck knows he cannot fix everything for the people he loves but he cannot —will not— stop trying no matter how impossible it feels.
“Let- let me try and talk to him,” Buck asks.
“What?”
Helena and Ramon both turn to him with equal disbelief, but Buck doesn’t even bother looking at them. They’ve been so ready to take this opportunity to rip Chris away from Eddie. And, sure, they are worried and Eddie should’ve handled this a lot better, but they aren’t even giving him the chance. So he doesn’t look at them, he keeps his eyes on Eddie who gives him the smallest, pleading, nod.
That’s all Buck needs. With one final squeeze, he lets go of Eddie and moves across the living room with long strides before the Diaz’s can stop him.
Who does he think he is? What gives him the right to intervene? How dare he even be here? Whatever they are thinking, comes second to Chris and Eddie.
Buck knocks gently on the door.
“Go away!”
“H-hey, buddy, it’s me. Can I come in?”
There’s a long terrifying pause that nearly shatters what’s left of Buck’s heart before the reluctant “okay.”
With a relieved sigh, he pushes in.
Christopher is sitting on the edge of his bed, a packed backpack by his side. For a second, Buck thinks of another day, years ago, when he found him just like this. Back then, Buck’s biggest fear was that Eddie’s heart would stop. Today, he’s terrified it will break beyond repair.
“Hey, Chris.”
“Hey, Buck,” he says, looking down at his hands.
Awkwardly, Buck makes his way to the bed and sits on the edge next to the boy. He’s so big now, older and taller, but he can still see the same child that had to comfort him after the shooting.
“Chris, are you sure about this? Leaving your dad, even if it’s just for a while… that’s not going to fix things between you.”
“I don’t want to fix them,” Chris snaps, sharply. “He lied to me! He lied to Marisol, to you, he lied to everyone!”
And that’s not something Buck can argue.
“Yeah, he- he screwed up, Chris, but you need to understand.”
“I understand! Why would he that! He’s- he always told me to tell the truth and to be good but he was a liar.”
“Hey, hey, that’s- that’s not fair. One mistake doesn’t make him a liar. He just- listen, Chris, you know your dad loves you more than anything in the whole world, right?”
He’s met with silence.
“Right?”
Chris gives a noncommittal shrug.
“Right,” Buck nods. “Because he does. And he would never, ever, do anything to hurt you.”
“But he did! It hurt! Seeing her and thinking it was her… it hurt, Buck.”
“I know, buddy… I do. I just- I meant, he would never hurt you on purpose.”
“He had to know it would hurt.”
“He did. Which is why he lied…”
Christopher huffs and Buck has the horrible feeling he’s not being as helpful as he hoped. What was he thinking? Just because he loves Chris with his whole heart it doesn’t mean he knows the first thing about being a parent. He only knows what Eddie taught him.
The memory hits home like a wave. Sunlight, a warm hand on his shoulder, his heart twisting from guilt to relief and to something bigger he couldn’t name.
“You know, your dad isn’t perfect.”
“No, he isn’t,” Chris scoffs.
“He isn’t perfect,” Buck repeats, tone pleading Chris to let him finish, “and he knows it. He told me once himself, that he’s failed many times as your dad. But he also said that he loves you enough to never give up, to never stop trying to be better… for you.”
Chris is quiet, but by the way his shoulders hunch and his head tilts, Buck thinks he might be getting to him. So he pushes on.
“And- and the thing is, Christopher, your dad is very hurt right now. It’s- it’s nothing like the time he was shot… it’s something… deeper, older. Because, you see, when Shannon- when your mom died, it really hurt your dad. He loved her so much… and I don’t think he ever healed from it, not really. I think that’s why he did all this. Because he’s in pain…”
Christopher peers at Buck from under his curly fringe, reluctantly making eye contact.
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“No, it doesn’t. But- but I think your dad really needs us right now. He- he needs you,” he corrects quickly. “This time, I think your dad needs you not to give up on him.”
“But I’m still mad.”
“And- and that’s okay. You can be mad. You get to be angry or sad or confused, I just- I just hope you can fight for your dad, like he does for you. Because, Chris, if he loses you… I think the pain will be too much this time.”
Chris is quiet. And Buck is exhausted.
“I don’t wanna make you feel responsible for him, Christopher. I promise, whatever you choose, I’ll have his back and make sure he is okay. I just- I think he needs both of us right now.”
“Why are you defending him? Aren’t you mad too? He lied to you too.”
“I- yeah, he did. But he’s my best friend, and I love him. I’m not quitting on him, he’s never given up on me.”
“Hmmm.”
It takes a couple minutes before Chris decides to get back up. Buck stays only because he isn’t asked to leave and, only when he sees the boy step outside does he dare follow cautiously.
In the living room, whatever Eddie was talking in hushed tones with his parents dies down immediately. He only has eyes for his son as he approaches.
“Mijo-“
“You have to promise that it won’t happen again,” Christopher demands, voice shaky. “You need to try to do better and you have to promise that you won’t lie to me again.”
Eddie walks towards his son like he is in a dream, eyes tearful. Buck can see him trembling even from afar, where he’s found a corner to tuck himself into and disappear.
“Christopher,” Eddie says, kneeling before his son and gently holding him, “I swear- te lo juro por mi vida. I will do better. I will- I will be better for both of us. I will spend every day trying to be a better father for you.”
“Okay,” Chris says.
“Okay?”
“I’m staying.”
Eddie leans forward to hug his son, but is met with a gentle push back.
“I’m still mad at you, dad.”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. Of course,” Eddie mumbles, but the relief in his voice is still palpable.
Eddie looks past Chris’s shoulder and his eyes find Buck. The look in his face… Buck knows Eddie like the back of his hand but he cannot quite place what it is. Thankfulness and relief and hope… but there’s something else behind it that makes Buck’s heart twist painfully.
So Buck looks away, tries to find something —anything— else to focus on and lands on the Diaz’s faces. Eddie’s parents look at him with… well, it isn’t quite anger, but there’s a confusion there and a bewilderment that somehow makes Buck even more uncomfortable. He ducks his head and beelines for the kitchen. He should let them be alone…
“Buck!” Eddie is rushing after him before he can get to the door.
When he turns around, he finds Eddie standing there, shaking and shocked. Buck waits, but Eddie doesn’t seem to have any more idea than he does about what he planned to say next.
“Sorry, I- I should probably go.”
Eddie takes a step forward, with that look still on his face.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Buck goes on. “Just- just be with your son tonight.”
“You sure? You could stay.” Eddie steps closer.
“No, it’s- it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to intrude, with your family-“
“Buck-“
“And Tommy is waiting at my place, so…”
Eddie stops. He blinks.
“Right, yeah. Of course. Just- I- Thank you.”
Buck smiles, even if the air between them still feels charged.
“I have your back, Eddie. Always.”
And before anything else can get his head spinning he steps out the back door. Only once outside does he stop and finally breathe. That was… that felt like… but it cannot be. It wasn’t. Even if Eddie looked like he wanted to-
No, of course not. Better get going, before his heart can manage to fool itself once again.
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writing-until-i-drop · 3 months ago
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Something About The Moon Brings Us Together | Ch. 1
read it on ao3
Buck was waiting for the day that Eddie came clean about being a werewolf. The entire 118 pack had scented it on him during his first day but he hadn’t brought it up or taken Bobby up on his offer to join them for their full moon night in the mountains. As it turns out, Christopher was going to force his father’s hand because in the middle of Buck’s living room was a half-transformed and terrified child.
Or: The one where Buck takes care of the Diaz boys, especially when Christopher turns out to be a werewolf too.
a/n: everyone can thank @closetspngirl for this getting posted
Buck was waiting for the day that Eddie came clean about being a werewolf. The entire 118 pack had scented it on him during his first day but he hadn’t brought it up or taken Bobby up on his offer to join them for their full moon night in the mountains. As it turns out, Christopher was going to force his father’s hand because in the middle of Buck’s living room was a half-transformed and terrified child. 
“S-stay away! Don’t come near me, I could hurt you!” The full moon wasn’t for another two days but partial transformations like this were normal for kids approaching their first full moon. Harry had scared the heck out of Athena, tearing up her couch mid-video game; a story Athena loved to tell almost as much as Harry hated it. 
“I know you can, buddy, but that’s why you’re going to take a couple of deep breaths for me. Can you do that?” Christopher’s shoulders shook as he tried to take a breath, dark eyes filled with tears, “You’ve got this, Superman.” Buck took a step forward, exuding calming, omega pheromones. It hurt his heart, the acrid scent of Christopher’s fear filing the air. Had Eddie not warned him that this was something that could happen? Buck frowned, Eddie was a good dad, there’s no way that he would intentionally hide something like this from Chris. Maybe it hadn’t been a problem with him and his sisters so Eddie hadn’t thought about it. That was more likely.
“I don’t wanna hur-hurt you.” Black fur was growing in patches and he had a tail, which was tucked between his legs. Buck took another step forward, watching the tenseness of Christopher’s posture relax more the closer he got, “Buck.” Christopher’s growing teeth were making it hard for him to properly pronounce anything and it was adorable.
“You’re not going to hurt me, Chris, you know why? Because I’m a wolf too, okay?” 
“You are?” Christopher sniffled, letting down his guard long enough for Buck to close the distance between them and pull him into a hug.
“A big, white wolf, I even keep my birthmark. Cool, right?” Chris nodded, taking a deep breath.
“You smell good,” Buck chuckled, kissing his curls. Eddie was going to be excited when he found out Christopher had grown into his wolf, after he got done being overwhelmed probably. “So, I’m a wolf?” Right. Christopher didn’t know what was going on, just that he suddenly had fur, a tail, and claws.
“That’s right, Superman. You know what werewolves are, right?” Christopher nodded, “Just like that. We turn into wolves on the full moon, when we’re wolves we act a lot like dogs, and even when we’re not wolves our senses tend to be a bit stronger. Like smelling and hearing things, especially the closer we get to the full moon.” 
“So, we definitely don’t want to eat dad’s cooking near the full moon,” Christopher’s face pinched together in disgust. Buck bit back a laugh,
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best. Don’t worry, Bobby cooks when we all get together for the full moon.” Christopher perked up like a puppy, looking adorable as his head cocked to the side.
“Bobby’s a werewolf too?” Buck tried not to wince as Christopher’s claws pierced the sofa cushions. At least he was doing less damage than Harry had. “What about Hen?” 
“Werewolf and werewolf,” Buck confirmed. “So are Chimney, Maddie, Athena, and the other kids.” Christopher blinked a few times in a row, processing the information. Buck waited with baited breath for Christopher’s reaction to these life-changing revelations. He was either going to accept it with childlike wonder or he was going to have an absolute freakout. Buck was hoping for one outcome but he was prepared for both, there was a container of cookie dough ice cream in his freezer for situations like this. 
“Wow,” Christopher grinned, showing off a mouthful of slowly sharpening teeth that garbled his speech. Oh thank god.
“Is something wrong?” Buck rolled his eyes at Eddie’s immediate question when he picked up the phone.
“What, no hello?” Christopher snuggled closer in his sleep. They had eaten ice cream and turned on a documentary on aliens that they liked and the young boy had quickly fallen asleep with his head on Buck’s lap. Eddie sighed, voice annoyed and amused.
-
“Hi, Buck. Is everything okay?” 
“Everything’s fine, I just wanted to let you know that Christopher had his first partial transformation which freaked him out a bit but I calmed him down.” There was a long silence that picked at Buck’s anxiety, so he started to ramble. “He’s really cute right now, at least the tail is, the claws digging into my thighs are a little less so but still. Luckily I’m not wearing my grey sweats or the blood-”
“I think I’m having a stroke,” Eddie cut him off, sounding winded. “Did you say tail?” Buck laughed,
“Come on, man, don’t act so surprised. Sure, Christopher is a little young for his first moon but you had to have known this was coming.” Eddie made a choking noise that definitely sounded like he was surprised and for the first time Buck wondered if Eddie hadn’t been born a wolf. Turnings were rare nowadays and the lack of familiarity with wolf customs would have made sense. “Eds, you do know that A shift is all wolves right?” 
“Holy shit.” Buck took that as a no. “So you…Bobby and…” He kept trailing off, sounding more and more desperate each time. “You know that I-” Eddie croaked like a strangled cat, “Buck.” 
“Take some deep breaths for me, ba-bud.” Where the hell had that come from? Buck shrugged his shoulders, shaking off the instinct to call his best friend babe. “Deep breaths, come on.” Buck soothed Eddie just like he had his son a few hours earlier. He could picture Eddie’s shoulders shaking as he took a breath. “Good, okay. When you get here later, we can talk about it.” Eddie made a softer noise, almost a whimper. “Just know that everything’s okay and Christopher is taken care of.” 
“Buck…” Eddie trailed off again, sighing his name like it was a hail Mary. Buck ran his fingers through Christopher’s soft fur. He was going to make it okay. Buck was going to fix everything.  He could hear Eddie’s fear and the smell of Chrstopher’s was burnt into his memory, neither of which made him feel good. 
“I’ve got your back, Eds.” There was a pause and Buck knew from all the way across town that Eddie’s hands were fidgeting like they always did when he was anxious. Eddie sighed heavily.
“I  know you do.” The affirmation warmed Buck’s soul, Eddie’s trust cascading over him like morning sunlight.
“We’ll see you in a few hours.” 
Christopher was now fully back to human form, well, besides the tail. The fluffy, black tail refused to go away and Buck was already thinking of ways to explain to his school why Chris would need a sick day that didn’t involve the truth. Maybe mono. Yeah, mono could work. Buck worked on typing up an email that Eddie could send into the school for the absence. 
“Can we order pizza for dinner?” Christopher asked, looking up from his game of Mario on the tv. 
“Yeah, we can order pizza. Do you want cheese?” Christopher’s brow scrunched together, thinking, and after a long moment he surprised Buck by asking for meat lovers, something he usually stuck his nose up at. Buck would have to make burgers for lunch tomorrow before they headed out to the mountains. 
When Eddie showed up, the pizza had just been delivered and Christopher was eyeing it hungrily, oblivious to the fact his father was staring at him with wide eyes. Buck, not wanting Christopher to feel embarrassed, quickly grabbed Eddie by the hand and dragged him upstairs while telling Christopher to tuck in without them. 
“He’s got a tail,” Eddie pointed towards the stairs and Buck swatted his hand down. “Why does he have a tail?” 
“Well, I assume it’s because you have a tail once a month,” Buck manhandled Eddie into sitting down on the bed, concerned and amused by the stunned look on his face. Eddie’s emotions were all over the place, there was fear and confusion rolling off of him, the scents filling Buck’s nostrils, triggering his calming pheromones once again. Eddie leaned forward slightly, inhaling deeply. 
“I don’t understand what’s going on, Buck. I know I’m a-” Eddie shuddered. “He shouldn’t have to be in that kind of pain.” Pain? 
“Pain? There shouldn’t be any pain, not unless you’re chaining yourself in silver or something.” The stricken look on Eddie’s face gave him away and Buck’s heart hurt. He squatted down to be eye-to-eye, reaching out to touch Eddie’s arm. Skin to skin contact was always the best way for omegas to soothe other wolves and it seemed to help. “Eddie, Christopher’s never going to be in pain because he’s a wolf and,” Buck squeezed his forearm. “I’m not going to let you be in pain anymore either.” 
-
Eddie watched as Buck sorted things out in a stunned silence. He was on the phone with Bobby, explaining everything, and had called Christopher’s school on his behalf before that. There was no physical clipboard in his hands but it was there in spirit. Eddie felt stupid for not coming clean to Buck sooner because even if he hadn’t also been a werewolf, Buck would have thrown all of his support behind helping Eddie figure things out. Just like he was doing now.
Because of course Buck knew how to fix everything, he always did. Honestly, Eddie was impressed that Buck had known about Eddie being a wolf for so long without forcing him to come clean. Warm fondness overtook Eddie as he watched Buck pace around the living room. The man had been a thorn in Eddie’s side when he first joined the department but he had managed to make himself integral to every part of Eddie’s life, of his son’s life. He was everything Eddie could want in a best friend and…more. 
“It’s settled,” Buck announced with a clap of his hands, startling Christopher who had been engrossed in his game. “You’ll both be joining us in the mountains tomorrow, Chris, Denny and Harry are very excited that you’ll get to play with them.” 
“Cool!” Christopher’s tail, which was still taking some getting used to for both him and his dad, wagged excitedly. “I’m gonna call Denny.” Christopher hopped up from the couch, moving towards the spare bedroom like he owned the place. With Christopher gone, Eddie turned his attention back to Buck, finding him already looking.
“You two can stay here overnight, hopefully when he’s asleep he’ll relax enough for the tail to go away.” Buck was taking everything in stride and it was impossible for Eddie not to feel soothed by the way he had everything under control. “You ready for bed? Christopher’s fading fast, he’ll probably fall asleep on the phone.” Bed. Sharing a bed. Bed with Buck. Buck who smelled really good. Eddie wasn’t going to make it out of the next 48 hours with his sanity intact.
“Yeah, bed sounds good.” 
Eddie checked in with Christopher before heading upstairs and changing into a pair of Buck’s sweats when offered. Buck’s bed was large enough for them to sleep side-by-side without touching but somehow they ended up shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the bed. 
“Why do you smell so good all the time?” Eddie flipped on his side and Buck did the same. “Is it a wolf thing?” 
“It’s an omega thing,” Buck explained, a soft smile on his pink lips. “When I’m trying to calm people down, my scent gets sweeter and stronger.” Omega? Also, if that was only supposed to happen when he was calming people down, why did he always smell so good? 
“What’s an omega?” Eddie asked because he couldn’t think of anything else to say and obviously, the classification meant something if that’s how Buck chose to identify himself. 
“Well, according to stereotypes, we’re peace seeking, child raising, submissive wolves.” Submissive? Why was that the only word that stuck out to Eddie? Was Buck blushing? Stop thinking about it, Eddie. Nope. Buck was his best friend, he wasn’t supposed to imagine Buck any type of way, especially not that kind of way but he couldn’t help it. Images of Buck on his knees, laying in bed beneath Eddie, whimpering and begging- 
Yeah. Eddie needed to get it together before he got hard. Buck took a deep breath, eyes fluttering shut, the smile on his face growing. 
“Come here, you still seem pretty stressed out,” Buck laid on his back and opened his arms, inviting Eddie to cuddle close. Buck’s chest was solid and warm beneath his head and Buck’s delicious scent was thick in the air around them, and Eddie found himself drifting off to sleep within seconds.
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sarahsmi13s · 2 years ago
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Bloodstained Sandbags
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whumptober day 1 : bloody knuckles
pairing: eddie diaz x reader
characters: eddie diaz, fem!reader, christopher diaz, evan buckley, scott (oc)
warnings: 18+ MDNI, nightmares, panic attacks, crying, blood, disassociation, SA (not in vivid detail, but it is spoken about), language, caretaking, PTSD, resetting a dislocated shoulder, talks of therapy, mentions of underground fighting, please tell me if i missed any
word count: ~5.6k
a/n: this is for whumptober! please please please proceed with caution and use discretion, protect your peace
also if you are on the whump taglist but are not familiar with a character, you can skip it will not hurt my feelings!
whumptober 2023 masterlist
summary: healing is draining and you're trying everything you can to stay afloat... can a new workout routine help keep you above water as you support eddie through his trauma while you work through your own?
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You really thought that when Eddie started working at the dispatch center, things were going to get better for you. You thought you would sleep better, your nightmares fading away as you always had your protector next to you now. You were safe, no one could hurt you with Eddie at your side.
But it didn’t seem to matter, because you couldn’t close your eyes without being back in that damn break room – the break room you no longer set foot in.
It was like even though you knew you were safe with Eddie… a sick, twisted part of you kept reminding you that Eddie wouldn’t always be there to protect you.
And the thing was, Eddie had no idea. 
No idea that you were struggling. That for months you were feeling sick to your stomach everytime you got up to get ready for work. That you wanted his touch but had a mini panic attack every time he touched you when you weren’t expecting it.
But he had no idea what happened to you either. You were afraid to tell him. Afraid he’d leave you, though logically you knew he would never do that. 
Except there wasn’t a good time to tell him, either. He was having a hard time with his PTSD and you were doing the best you could to help him while also trying to keep yourself above water.
Which is why you started going to the gym… The sweating, the adrenaline, all of it just made you feel stronger.
And that’s where you picked up on learning to fight, you wanted to be ready. Ready to protect yourself or Christopher if the situation presented itself and Eddie wasn’t around.
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You sighed as you walked into yours and Eddie’s apartment, your body stiff and sore from your workout. You managed to scrape your knuckles just a little bit too but it wasn’t too noticeable.
You hung your purse up and set your gym bag down. “Eddie? Chris?”
You heard Eddie’s voice come from the kitchen. “We’re in here, Honey!” 
You smiled and walked into the kitchen, seeing them at the table. “How are my boys?” You went over and kissed them both on the head, “I’m sorry if I made you wait, I got really in the zone at the gym and the traffic was a monster.” 
“Oh it’s no problem, I was just getting started on the veggies. Why don’t you go shower and it should be ready by the time you're done,” Eddie said as he stood and kissed the side of your head before returning to cutting the vegetables. 
You nodded at him before ruffling Chris’s hair, “Do you have any homework you need help with?” He nodded, “Yeah, math stuff.” “Alrighty, I’ll help you after dinner, okay?” “Okay.”
Smiling, you kissed his head again before going to take a shower.
Once you went into the bathroom, you were all too ready to peel the sweaty gym clothes off of you.
Your leggings peeled off with a wet sound, and if someone heard it they would have thought that you jumped into the ocean with your clothes on. The collar of your cutout t-shirt was soaked enough that you could ring it out. Your sports bra was practically the same way.
“I went way harder than I thought…” you mumbled to yourself as you dropped your clothes into a pile and checked the temperature of your shower.
Scalding hot, just like you liked it.
You stepped under the water, wincing slightly at the initial bite of the heat on your skin. But as you stood there under the water both the heat and pressure seemed to massage your muscles, allowing you to relax.
The shower was the only way you could get a massage, it was the only place you allowed yourself to feel vulnerable.
And you never went to a masseuse at all because Eddie was enough. But now, after everything that happened, the idea of being pinned under someone with your back exposed and their hands on you like that could send you into a panic attack.
He had tried once after he started his therapy sessions, realizing he had been neglecting you and wanted to help you work out the soreness of your muscles. 
But you were fighting a panic attack the whole time. You had to hold a conversation with him and ask him to not put his full weight on you. He cooperated without question of course and then you sat and chatted about your day.
Though you haven’t let him do it since, fearing that you would be able to hold it together and freak out on him.
Showers were your source of muscle relaxation. So that’s why you stood there, water pressure on pulse and heat turned up to hell.
When you felt satisfied, you turned the temperature down and finished your shower, ending with a cold rinse just to soothe your skin before getting out and getting dressed in a pair of shorts and one of Eddie’s shirts then joining the boys for dinner.
Eddie watched you wash dishes with a smile on his face as he leaned against the fridge.
He had cleaned out the sink, putting plates, bowls, utensils, and cups into the dishwasher while you were helping Chris with homework. But now you were working on pots and pans because they just didn’t fit in the dishwasher with the other things, often needing to be washed separately – and that took too long for your liking.
So after getting Chris settled down in his room, Eddie came back to watch you, wanting to spend alone time with you since you rarely got that lately. 
Not that he was necessarily mad about it, he respected boundaries when and where you set them – no questions asked.
But he was pulled to action when he heard you wince, taking a step and a half to meet you as you turned for a towel.
“What happened?” Eddie asked, holding your hand as you dabbed it dry, wincing as you did so.
You shook your head, not answering him as you took the towel away to blow on the raw skin of your busted knuckles. You had gotten lemon juice and salt on them from cleaning the cutting board you had used this morning, and it hurt like a bitch.
Eddie froze for a second. Where had you gotten bruised and scraped up knuckles from? You hadn’t had those this morning…
In a quick scan, he checked you over for injuries. If you had a bruised cheekbone or black-eye that he somehow missed during dinner. But you were clean, so he could cross fight off the list. 
“Nena… what happened?” 
His voice was gentle as he took the towel away from you and pressed a gentle kiss to your knuckles. He was worried, because last time he started coming home with busted knuckles he was underground fighting…
But you wouldn’t do that? Would you?
“I was at the gym and I scraped it, not a big deal.”
He nodded and rubbed his thumb gently over it. “Let me finish the dishes.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Eddie was going to finish the dishes, and he wasn’t going to argue.
You sighed and moved out of the way, letting him take over but you didn’t leave and instead wrapped your arms around his waist, resting your head on his back. After your day at work and then going so hard at the gym, you need this comfort. The domesticity of it all, the safety of it all.
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Over the next few weeks things seemed to be getting a little better. Sure, you were still having nightmares and coming home with slightly bruised knuckles but Eddie’s surprise touches didn’t spook you anymore. You were also considering becoming more intimate with Eddie again as he seemed to be doing better as well and was seeking out the contact again. 
Things were just slowly coming back to normal, well as normal as the could be, but things were getting better
But then something happened at work, and it set all of your progress back.
You were walking to your desk from the supply closet with more file folders, since you were doing some re-organizing and needed new ones, when you bumped into someone.
They caught you before you fell, steadying you with their hands on your waist. Huffing out a surprised laugh, you looked up to thank them but you nearly choked on air when you saw whose hands were on you.
Panic shot through you like lightning and you put distance between you and Scott immediately, not caring if it was rude or not.
“Woah, Y/N, you okay?” He asked, but the smirk pulling at the corner of his lips told you that he knew the answer. 
How could you be okay? After not seeing him that up close for months, then all of a sudden his hands are on you again and you’re back to being the weak little girl you were in the break room that night.
“S-S-Scott, I-I thought you were um late shift?” You stuttered, your eyes looking for escapes to your desk in your periphery. 
He put a hand in his pocket nonchalantly, attempting to lure you into a false sense of security, that that side of his body was safe to escape through – it wasn’t.
“Oh, I am, but I decided to come in on a Saturday. I needed another day on my paycheck since I took a day off this week.” 
You nodded, jaw setting and grinding your back teeth together as you tried to avoid looking at his face. “I see. Well Scott, if you’ll excuse me I need to get… get back to my desk.” You cursed yourself for starting so confident but then losing it as the breath just slowly got pulled from your lungs.
Scott just smirked. He could see the fear in your eyes and the cottonmouth you were getting just being in his presence. He thrived on it, knowing that corporate wasn’t going to follow up on the claim you made to HR and that you weren’t in a great position to quit so you had to stay for just a little longer.
But he just caught you one unlucky night where you had to stay late to finish a project, considering you didn’t work the night hours because you usually needed to be home with Chris because Eddie was working a shift. The one time Buck was off you took advantage of it and stayed late to catch up. 
And you haven’t stayed late since…
“Oh, by all means, don’t let me stop you, I was just on my way to get some coffee.”
You were trying so hard not to clam up and just bolt to your desk and pack up. But you calmly nodded and just squatted down to pick up the folders you dropped.
You hated having your back to him and your hands shook furiously as you collected the pale yellow folders.
“You look like you could use a break, why don’t you join me?” Scott’s voice was right in your ear. It was low and raspy as his hand gripped your shoulder.
Trying your best to just shrug it off, you shook your head. “No, I’m alright. I need to get back to work.”
He clicked his tongue and shook his head, “I insist.” His voice was demanding as his fingers curled around your joint and dug into your collarbone. 
Instantly your arm shot up and pushed him off you. “I said no.”
You scooped up the remaining folders and dignity and went toward your desk. Just to have fingers curled around your wrist and pulling you back into a hard chest. 
“I’m trying to be nice and you’re being a bitch.”
Rolling your lips between your teeth, you tried to yank your wrist away – twisting and pulling at his grip to get him to let go. “You just don’t know how to understand the word ‘no’. I don’t want coffee, I just want to go to my desk.”
You swallowed, finally looking in his eyes, shredding any last dignity you had. “Please Scott… you got what you wanted, just leave me alone… please…”
The canines he bared as he smiled wide made you sick to your stomach, but as he opened his mouth to speak his attention was pulled away and you took that chance to free yourself. You twisted your wrist and pushed the files into his chest before booking it to your desk.
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After gathering your things and rushing to your manager’s office, pleading to her with shaky hands as you told her something had happened and you needed to get home to Chris.
She immediately let you leave, not questioning it as you thanked her and ran out to your car.
The drive home was a total blur, taking the turns on auto pilot as you tried not to break down before you were in the safety of your own home and not risking anyone else’s safety.
And when you finally got home, you were booking it to the fridge to get a cold water bottle to maybe shock your system into calming down. But in your haste you missed the fact that Buck and Chris are home, and not out at the aquarium like you thought they were.
Buck had heard you come in and watched you nearly trip over yourself to get to the kitchen, abandoning your purse and keys on the floor.
Chris had seen it too and looked at Buck concerned, having never once seen you like this. “Buck?” Buck ruffled Chris’s hair, “I’ll go see what’s up. You stay here okay?” Chris just nodded and watched Buck get up and go to the kitchen.
Buck went to the kitchen, finding you chugging the cold water as you white knuckled the counter.
“Y/N? You’re home early.”
The way you jumped, hand clenching around the bottle so hard that water shot out of it – it would have been comical had the dilated look in your wide eyes not set off alarm bells in Buck’s head. 
You watched, caught like a deer in headlights, as concern washed over Buck’s face and filled his eyes with pity. Immediately your back was turned to him, shielding your breaking resolve from his helping hand. 
With the blood pounding in your ears, you missed his approach until he was touching you. You jerked again under his touch, weakly muttering out, “P-please don’t touch me.” 
Buck’s heart sank. He had never heard you sound like this before… so broken…
It sent him back to the night Eddie had destroyed your room in a fit of helplessness, how terrified his best friend was. How you sat with Eddie, him now remembering your bruised knuckles encasing Eddie’s in an act of comfort.
“Y/N… what happened? What’s wrong?”
“No-nothing, just-just…”
He tried to turn you and get you to face him, to get a read on your face and figure out what to do. But you yelped and pushed him back, sending his stunned 6’2” frame into the table.
“Buck you need to leave…”
“Y/N-”
“Leave Evan!”
Buck swallowed, trying not to be hurt as he turned on his heel and went to say goodbye to Christopher.
You watched him leave the kitchen, your ears hot and tingling as you looked at the mess you made. You needed to clean it up before Chris came in here and slipped.
Hearing Buck close the front door, you carefully made your way to the laundry room to get a dirty bath towel to clean it up. Your vision tunneled, your ears rang and you felt that sick snag in your chest as the air was stopping half way down your throat.
By the time you get there your legs can barely hold you up as you get to the washer and sink down to the floor. Sobs are wracking your chest and you can only pray Chris can’t hear you.
But your prayers went unanswered, because Chris can hear you and he is scared. 
Your broken sobs and ragged breathing are reminding him of the night Eddie punched those holes in the wall… and the night you came home and took a long shower thinking Chris was asleep and couldn’t hear you crying through the wall.
Chris abandoned the video game in front of him and put himself on a mission to find you. He could follow the sound of your cries to where you were sitting on the cold floor, head between your knees as you tried to breathe regularly.
“Y/N?” He gently called out, hoping you could hear him.
He watched you thread your hands in your hair and pull at the roots, sucking in jagged breaths just for them to be forced out with the next sob.
He didn’t like seeing you like this and he hated that he wasn’t sure how to help. But he knew he had to try.
Chris called out your name again as he approached you, not wanting to scare you and send you further into your panic. You must have recognized his voice because you seemed to calm down just a bit. He sat down on the floor next to you and put his hands on yours on top of your head. 
“You’re safe, it’s okay, Y/N. I’m here.” He recalled the phrases you had repeated to him when he was having trouble after the tsunami. He had to pull from what he was shown, he had barely anything to go off of and he just had to hope that it was enough.
With Chris putting his hands on yours, talking to you gently, you could feel yourself slowly calming down. His hands were so drastically different from the ones that had bruised your skin, that it managed to remind you that you were home and that you were safe.
“Please, Y/N…”
You look up at him slowly, your hands letting go of your hair and holding his hands. “It’s okay, you’re safe.” Chris moved your hands to his face, hoping that it can help to ground you.
Your thumbs immediately began to rub back and forth on his cheeks, him taking deep breaths to help you find a rhythm. “Follow me, Y/N. Just like you tell me…” 
Chris watched the fog clear from your eyes as you began to calm down and lean forward to press a kiss to his head as a thank you before resting your forehead on his. He wrapped his arms around you as best he could and you pulled him into your lap, your head falling to his shoulder.
You sat there for a bit in silence, rubbing Chris’s back as you managed to collect yourself.
“I’m sorry if I scared you, Chris. I didn’t mean to,” you apologized, breaking the silence. “Are you okay?” His voice was soft and gentle as he pulled back a little. You’re nodding immediately, “I’m better now, thank you buddy.” 
“Do I need to call Dad?” 
You shook your head, “No, it’s okay. I’ll be alright.”
He nodded before tilting his head a little, “Why are you mad at Buck? Did he do something bad?” 
Your heart sank. He had heard you yell at Buck, and you hardly ever yelled around Chris – if ever. And now you’ve come home early, yelled at one of your best friends, and had a full blown panic attack with Christopher as a witness.
“Oh Chris… Buck didn’t do anything wrong. I shouldn’t have yelled at him. I’m not mad.”
“Why did you yell at him?”
“I was just feeling a lot of things and it was just what happened. I could have handled it better and I will in the future,” you said gently as you pushed some of his curls back.
You sniffled a little bit, “Why don’t you go back to the living room and I’ll make you some lunch after I get changed?” You gave him the best smile you could and kissed his forehead after he nodded.
“Okay, let’s go.”
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Eddie had come home around 5:30 to you already finishing up on getting dinner ready. 
“Honey? What are you doing home?”
“Oh, I got the stuff I need to get done early so I decided to just come home,” you said nonchalantly with a shrug. 
He smiled and came up behind you to kiss your cheek before he went to get changed. But as he placed his hand on the small of your back, you jumped. 
Eddie’s brow furrowed, you had never reacted like that to him. But he didn’t get to ask you, because you turned your head and planted a kiss on his lips. “I love you, Eddie.” He smiled softly and kissed your forehead, “I love you too, Y/N.”
You wrapped your arms around him and buried your face into his shoulder, smelling his coffee and whiskey body spray. He hugged you back, albeit a little confused, but he could tell you needed this.
After a few moments, you pulled back, “Go get changed and cleaned up, I’ll have it plated for you by the time you get back.” He nodded and kissed your temple, “Yes ma’am.”
You smiled and pecked his jaw before he went to change.
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When he came back, Eddie found you and Chris at the table, his plate made up for him just like you said it would be.
“It looks fantastic, Honey, thank you,” he said, announcing his presence before touching your shoulder and kissing the top of your head. You smiled at him, “Of course, Sweetheart.” He sat down next to you, his hand on your thigh, just resting there as you ate. 
You talked about his day and everything that went on – you having been getting his twitter notifications and just wanted a little more detail.
But when he turned and asked you about your day, you clammed up and just told him it was like any other day, you just skipped the gym today because you wanted to surprise him with dinner. And you left it at that, leaving no more room for conversation about your day.
After dinner you all went to the living room to watch movies before Chris went to bed. It was your weekend routine.
Except tonight you broke routine.
You decided that you wanted to go ahead and go to the gym, just to get a small workout in before you went to bed. So, after you did the dishes you got in your gym clothes and gave Chris a hug and Eddie a quick kiss before leaving.
It had all happened so quickly that Eddie didn’t get a chance to really slow you down and ask you what was up. This behavior was just so off to him that he just wanted an explanation.
And he did… just not from you.
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After you lifted weights for God knows how long, you finally went over to the punching bag.
You had been on autopilot the moment you left the house. 
And yeah, you felt bad for just leaving Eddie hanging like that. Giving him no explanation other than you just wanted to. But you had been thrumming since your panic attack, using that energy on deep cleaning and laundry — too on edge to rest or sit still.
You needed an aggressive outlet for all that energy, you had to get to the gym.
So that’s where you’ve been. Lifting weights and running until near collapse. 
Now you were hastily wrapping your hands to take it all out on the punching bag. The poor inanimate object becoming the true outlet of your emotions, taking blow after blow as you wail on it. Your emotions from earlier in the day being released in the form of punches. 
You hated that Scott was able to revert you back to the scared girl you were that night, smothering all the progress you had thought you made.
The swinging sandbag in front of you felt like a wall as you hit it with every you had. Flashes of that night played behind your closed lids as you seemingly lost control.
You could feel his hands on you again, touching you with evil intentions. His hands mocked Eddie, tainted the loving touch of your boyfriend with his greediness. 
Your hips digging into the counter, bruised with the force of Scott pinning you in place. You couldn’t escape, you didn’t know how to escape.
With each moment flashing, each ghostly touch reminding you of what he did to you in the break room, you punched harder — oblivious to the pain shooting up your arm with each solid hit.
You couldn’t stop. You didn’t want to stop. 
You just wanted it all to go away.
And in those moments you didn’t feel the tears running down your cheeks, you were numb. You hadn’t noticed the break in your poorly wrapped tape, which allowed your bare knuckles to meet with the canvas bag.
The tears and dissociation blurred your vision and you were blind to the fact the red spots and streaks covering the rough beige fabric was your own blood.
You had broken the skin on your knuckles, staining the sandbag with your blood as tears stained your cheeks.
But when you land a particularly hard punch and your shoulder pops grotesquely next to your ear do you snap out of it.
“Oh fuck!”
Your curse was picked up by a nearby girl who had come in at the same time as you.
“Oh my goodness! Are you okay?!”
Your head whipped up to look at her and you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. 
You didn’t look good, covered head to toe in red splotches and sweat. You looked down at your knuckles and saw that your tape was practically non-existent and your hand was covered in crimson.
“Ma’am? Are you okay?”
You blinked and looked at the girl. “Yeah… yes yes I’m fine. I just… I need to go home. My boyfriend is probably worried.”
“Are you sure? That crack sounded bad…”
“Thank you for your concern but I’m alright. You have a good night and be safe, please.”
She could only nod as you quickly grabbed your bag and went out to your car.
You knew you’d be driving with just one arm and you really didn’t want to deal with an midnight ER on a Saturday night so you went straight home — knowing that you’d need Eddie.
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Eddie sat in the living room, his knee bouncing with nerves as he waited for you to get home.
You hadn’t answered your phone and he was starting to get worried. With his line of work, he was already thinking the worst. Did you get into an accident? Did you get taken? He had his radio on the coffee table listening closely while he waited, hoping that he didn’t hear anything related to you come over the device.
Then he heard it. The front door opening and closing followed by keys in the bowl and a bag hitting the floor.
You were home, so at least there’s that relief.
He looked up and over as you walked by, arm cradling the other as you sniffled.
“Chris was worried about you.”
Eddie watched you tense, but you didn’t turn to face him.
He stood walking over to you. “He told me you had a panic attack when you came home today, you know, after you yelled at Buck to leave. Then you weren’t here when he went to bed. He knows something is wrong, and he’s worried it’s his fault.”
That made you turn, allowing Eddie to see the rush of tears on your face as you still cradled your arm.
“No, God no. This is nowhere near Chris’s fault.” Your voice was thick with emotion as you spoke and the realization dawned on you that you would have to tell Eddie everything.
“Did I do something? Because I thought we talked about things and worked things out. If I did, please tell me… I want to fix it… I can’t lose you…”
“Oh Eddie…”
“Please mi vida…” Eddie’s voice was soft and low as he rubbed your arms.
You covered your mouth, attempting to conceal the sob of pain and regret. But you couldn’t hide the small yelp or your bloody fist.
Concerned, Eddie put his hands on your shoulders, freezing when he felt the slipped ball and socket joint and you sobbed into your hand.
“Sweetheart?”
“Fix it… please, it hurts so bad…”
Eddie nodded and carefully got himself into position, “You ready?” “Just do i- AH!” Mid sentence, Eddie popped your shoulder back into place.
“You’re okay, you’re okay,” he soothed as you sobbed into his shoulder.
“I’m sorry Eddie… I’m so sorry…”
He ran a hand through the hair at the back of your head, “Hey, lets get your hands cleaned up okay? Then we’ll talk, yeah?”
You nodded before stepping back, instinctively wiping your face with the back of your hand — smearing a little blood on your face.
Eddie tensed a little, that was the worst he’s seen your knuckles and it was starting to look suspicious to him. But you had come home the other times with no other injuries so he had no reason to question you about it.
But he could see clearly that something was wrong. Very wrong.
Eddie gently grabbed your hand and took you to the kitchen.
Without a word he sat you on the counter and grabbed the med kit from under the sink. 
You both stayed quiet as he dampened a towel and  cleaned you up, he inspected for tenderness and any signs of trauma to your hands other than the obvious.
Once he was done, you both sat in silence for a moment before you spoke up.
“It’s not what it may look like…”
“Oh yeah? Cause it looks like you’ve been fighting. I've seen the bruises on your knuckles but I don’t say anything because I didn’t want to assume. But after today I don’t know what to think.”
Your eyes fill with tears and you shake your head. “That’s not it, I swear. It’s just…” A weight settled on your chest as you realized this was the moment you would have to tell him and possibly change your relationship forever.
“Honey… please talk to me, I’m scared. I don’t want to lose you.”
And with that the damn was broken and you sobbed into your hands.
Eddie gave you a moment to calm down, comforting you as best he could until you were ready.
Once you were composed, you spilled everything.
From you needing to stay late to you going to the break room for a snack to when Scott walked in and shoved your dignity in the paper shredder.
Eddie was listening intently, his rage rising in his body but he tried not to show it and keep a gentle expression for your sake. 
But hearing you, here and now, sounding so ashamed and scared. Recounting the night in detail. 
And he had been so caught up in the job change that he hadn’t noticed. He hadn’t noticed that the love of his life was suffering because he wasn’t there. 
It wasn’t until his son came to him that he noticed something was wrong. 
“Eddie, I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry,” you sobbed, clinging onto him. “It didn’t… I didn’t want it, please you have to believe me.”
He felt his heart shatter in his chest. 
You were begging for forgiveness for something that wasn’t your fault. 
“I believe you Sweetheart, I believe you.” 
He pulled back a little, “I-Is this why you’ve been going to the gym?” You nodded, whimpering a little as more tears filled your eyes, “You won’t always be there… and I just… I want to be ready to protect myself or Christopher.”
You held your hand up and flexed it a little, “I saw Scott for the first time since that night today at work, that’s why I had the panic attack. And I needed an outlet, I didn’t know I was bleeding until I dislocated my shoulder.”
Eddie wiped your eyes, “Y/N I’m so sorry I never noticed… I should have been there…” You shake your head, “I didn’t tell you Eddie, you were going through a lot and I didn’t want to add on…”
He frowned a little but kissed your forehead. It made him feel awful that you thought you couldn’t come to him. You were processing something alone while helping him get better and that wasn’t fair. 
“Would you be willing to go to a professional about this? For you and for us? Just so we can learn to get through this together,” he laced your fingers together and kissed your knuckles. 
You nodded and pressed your forehead to his, “I want to try.” You brought in a breath, “I have to quit my job…” 
He hummed and nodded against you, “Please quit, I make enough, we'll be okay. And we can pull from savings if we need to.”
“Thank you.”
Eddie nudged your nose with his, “I love you, so much.” 
You smiled softly and flattened your palm over his heart, “I love you too, Eds. So so much.”
He wrapped you in his arms and just held you there. Planting gentle kisses to your head and whispering little jokes in your ear to make you laugh.
And that’s when you knew that it would all be okay, that it would be better. Maybe not tomorrow, but someday.
As long as you had Eddie, you would be okay.
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taglists: @bradleybeachbabe @valmare @fanboyswhore9 @cassiemitchell @startrekfangirl2233
hi, if you're seeing this and are currently not on the taglist and would like to be please fill out the taglist form -> whumptober taglist
i can not stress this enough, but whumptober can have some very serious and heavy topics and i want to make sure i am doing my part as an author to prepare my readers for what they are about to experience and that includes not only warnings above but my taglists as well
so if you want to be added check out the masterlist and read that carefully and fill out the form -> whumptober 2023
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megalony · 1 year ago
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She's My Daughter
This is an Eddie Diaz imagine based on a few combined requests. I really had fun with this one and might do a few more parts if anyone would be up for it. Feedback is always appreciated.
Taglist: @lunaticspoem@sj-thefanthefan@hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii @topguncultleader @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyjen @kmc1989 @itsmytimetoodream @noonenuts
911 Masterlist
Summary: Eddie is ready to introduce his family to his team, but introductions go a little wrong when his wife has a seizure and his daughter crashes into the station... quite literally.
Enjoy.
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"Is that a thing… bringing families to the station?" Eddie looked around the table of familiar faces, gauging their reactions to see if this was a joke or if Hen was actually being serious.
Eddie had done a lot of different, odd jobs since coming out of the army and none of those jobs had felt so much like a family as this one. He had never been that close to the people he worked with. Becoming a fire fighter and working in the 118 made Eddie feel like he had a proper family, not like the loose, estranged one he had back in Texas. He felt like he had a father in Bobby, a brother in Evan and another sister in Hen.
He stabbed a bit of pasta on his fork and waved it around his plate before he looked over at Bobby for confirmation.
"Yeah, families are always welcome here. We throw parties, barbeques and cookouts and everyone is invited. Do you have people you'd like to bring round?" Bobby leaned back in his chair with a gracious smile.
He tried to let all of his team know that family always came first. They were all welcome to bring their families to look round the station, meet the team and get to know everyone. They were all a family here and therefore Bobby wanted it to feel homely and for everyone to get along and know each other.
A gentle smile formed on Eddie's lips as he set down his fork and interlaced his fingers together beneath his chin.
"I uh, I'd like my family to meet you all, if that's okay?"
He had been working here for over three months now, it felt the right time to introduce his family to his team. They protected him at work every day, they had a right to meet the people they helped send him home to after every shift.
"Bring them for dinner one day this week."
"So, who are we meeting? You said you have a few sisters, right?" Evan reached out and patted his hand against Eddie's shoulder with a grin that started to morph into a confused frown when Eddie shook his head.
"I was thinking more about my wife and kids."
"You have kids?" Hen smiled, but she couldn't keep the surprise from her voice or stop her brows from arching up. Eddie never said anything about a family. He talked to Evan and opened up to him more than the rest of them, but he hadn't mentioned a family. They only knew he was married because of the wedding ring on his finger and Eddie didn't even talk about his wife to them so nobody asked.
"I have two girls and a boy." Eddie's face lit up into a grin at the thought of the four people he had waiting at home for him.
"How old?"
Chimney thought Eddie seemed the fatherly type. Whenever they were out on a call and kids were around, Eddie could always take charge. He talked to them in that soft voice and bent down to their level and seemed to understand whatever they were talking about or going through. But Chimney wouldn't have guessed he had so many kids.
"Bella's fourteen, Chris is nine and Rosie is only four months, we had her just after we moved to LA."
It had been a hectic time to decide to move away from Texas, but it had been the right thing to do. Eddie had a turbulent relationship with his parents, his dad had never really been involved in his life and as much as he loved his mother, she was overbearing.
It was hard when Eddie first came out of the army and had his parents around almost every day, acting as if he couldn't look after his two kids. Eddie brought up his sisters when he was a teen, he had been the man of the house while his dad worked away. He didn't want his parents on his doorstep everyday and everyone hovering around his kids or telling him his job wasn't right for him.
As for (Y/n), her relationship with her own mother was strained and she had no contact with her dad, so moving was a fresh start for everyone.
Eddie did his training for the fire department back in Texas, found the 118 and got his application all sorted and agreed before they moved. Three days into living in their new house in LA, Rosie decided she wanted to be born three weeks early so Eddie couldn't start with the department for a few extra weeks.
Now they were all settled into their home, the kids were settled at school and everything seemed to be slotting into place.
It was time Eddie introduced them to his work family.
***
Sinking back on his heels, Eddie swiped his bare arm against his temple and did a quick sweep around the truck. He tapped his fingers against his thighs and shuffled to lean over the side of the truck. He had fixed the ladder back into place and given the fire truck a quick clean while Hen worked on restocking the equipment in both the truck and the ambulance.
"Heads up, someone's got a clipboard handy."
Eddie pointed towards the stairs and gave Hen a certain, knowing look because he knew what was going to happen. She was going to argue with Evan because he was on one of his checklist rants. He was a menace with a clipboard and Hen lost her patience with him nine times out of ten.
He grinned at the way Hen sighed and planted her hands on her hips and silently shook his head with a raised brow.
Turning around, Eddie pushed up to his feet and slowly headed to the end of the truck towards the mini ladder to get back down.
"Excuse me… stop… stop!"
Eddie tilted his head up and glanced around, trying to locate Bobby when he heard his rather panicked voice. His eyes narrowed and his hands planted down on his hips as he stayed on top of the truck as his eyes landed on his captain.
Bobby was stood to the front of the station near the open shutters, holding both his hands out in front of him towards a car.
The car was juttering back and forth and whoever was driving had their foot on the gas pedal, reving the engine as if wanting to make an entrance and gain everybody's attention. But they weren't slowing down. The car jolted backwards, then surged forwards and sped through the shutters. No one was supposed to drive into the station. There was a car park round the back for staff when they arrived and a small car park at the front for any visitors or emergencies.
What on Earth was the driver doing?
Panic shot through Eddie's chest and his complexion paled when he leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at the number plate.
Oh God.
That was (Y/n)'s car.
"Fuck!" Eddie turned on his heels and clambered to the end of the truck, grabbing the handles of the ladder so he could slide down and jump down to his feet. His boots thudded against the floor and his knees jerked from the impact but he paid it no mind. "That's my wife's car!"
His feet moved faster than his mind could comprehend and he sped past Hen who followed hot on his heels. He weaved past the ambulance and moved towards Bobby who was stood in the middle of the station floor, his arms still out in front of him to try and stop the car from crashing into any equipment or the ambulance.
"Christ- (Y/n) stop the car!" What the Hell was she doing? Eddie tangled one hand in his hair as he held his breath. His wife wasn't a bad driver. She was quite a good driver considering she hadn't been driving for very long. She knew what she was doing and she knew not to drive into the middle of the station like this. She must be having some kind of emergency to be doing this.
Eddie's hand fell from his hair and he surged forward when the car juttered again and almost hit Bobby. And when Evan ran into the situation, he planted his hands down on the bonnet and hit it a few times to try and get her attention and make her stop.
A sudden burst of anger radiated through Eddie when he leaned down to look through the window. That wasn't his wife.
He got close enough to grab the handle and wrenched the door open, letting it swing far and wide before he leaned down and pushed into the car. His knees hit the chair and his shoulders pinned up against the roof as he leaned in the middle and yanked on the hand break to stop the car rolling backwards or surging forwards and running over his colleagues.
As quick as anything, Eddie unclipped the seatbelt before he wrapped his hand tightly around her arm and pulled back, yanking her out of the car with him.
"Isabella Diaz! What the Hell are you doing?!"
Eddie took a few steps back and pulled his eldest child along with him. His chest heaved and his lungs burned as he tried to take proper breaths but it felt like he was being suffocated.
His hands moved out to cup Bella's face and he tilted her head up so they were level and he could look her over. His eyes swept up and down her frame, looking for injuries or any signs of a problem or an issue. But all Eddie could see was her face turning a dark shade of red, her eyes puffing up and tears drenching down her face.
"That's uh… that's your wife?" Evan clamped his hands down on his hips but he frowned when Bobby hit him in the shoulder as a silent bid to tell him to be quiet. But Eddie was the one who said it was his wife's car coming into the station.
If that was his wife, then there were a few problems around here.
"Dad!" Bella moved her hands up to cup Eddie's wrists and took a second to try and catch her breath.
She had done it. She had gotten the car down to the station- the right station, where her dad would be. She had gotten them here in one piece and now she could get them to help her mum.
Fury bubbled up in Eddie's eyes when he looked over at Evan. He was starting to think of Evan as one of his closest friends. But he didn't think Evan would actually believe that this was his wife. As if he thought Eddie was some kind of weirdo who would go round marrying someone over half his age? What did he take him for?
"She's my daughter." He snapped back, somewhat rudely before his attention turned back to Bella and he started to smooth his thumbs beneath her eyes. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, silently telling her to talk to him and explain.
"Mum- mum's had a seizure," Bella pulled on Eddie's hand and pointed into the car.
She watched the way his shoulders slumped and his face fell completely and his jaw slacked but he couldn't fathom what to say.
His hands left her face and he turned around and propelled himself around the car. His hand scraped against the bonnet to help guide him round and stop him from skidding as he nudged past Evan to get to the passenger side. He opened the door and crouched down beside the chair to look over his wife.
"Can someone get the kids out please?" Eddie's lips pursed when he glanced in the back and felt his heart dropping down to his stomach.
Chris and Rosie were in the back.
Bella had driven all the way here with the kids in the back and (Y/n) mostly unconscious in the front seat. She could have gotten them all killed. She didn't have a licence and she didn't know how to drive. Bella shouldn't have been on the road and if her parking in the station was anything to go by, she would have been a menace on the roads.
Hen mumbled a quiet 'Hi cutie' as she unclipped Rosie from her carrier and gently picked her up, shushing her when she began to scream her little head off. And Evan moved round behind Eddie and grinned down at Chris who had a teddy pinned to his chest and was rocking back and forth in a mixture of stimming and panic. He picked him up when Chris didn't object and moved to stand over beside Hen while Bobby moved to kneel behind Eddie.
"Baby… baby, you with me?" Pushing up, Eddie moved his hands to cup (Y/n)'s face and gently tilt her head from where it was slumped against the door frame and the seatbelt.
He pushed his thumbs against her cheekbones to try and stimulate her before he moved his hand round and pressed his fingers against her neck to check her pulse.
A light tremble was rattling through (Y/n)'s body that was pushing back into the seat and Eddie could see a trail of blood trickling down her lower lip towards her chin. She had bitten her lip or her tongue during the seizure enough to make it bleed.
Her eyes were closed and when Eddie pulled up her eyelid to try and check her pupils, he growled. Her eyes were rolled to the top of her head.
"I take it this is your wife? Is she epileptic?" Bobby rested one arm on the roof of the car and leaned in to try and take a look at (Y/n).
They were supposed to meet Eddie's family in three days, he was going to bring them down to the station for dinner so they could all be introduced and get to know each other. This was not the way Eddie wanted them all to meet and this wasn't the kind of situation he wanted his kids to be involved in. His daughter had been panicked enough to try and drive the car down here to get help.
"She was diagnosed four years ago, but she hasn't had a seizure in months. She has absent ones, not like this." The last seizure Eddie could remember (Y/n) having was when she was pregnant with Rosie and that had been a small one while they were at home in the evening. She hadn't suffered with them for a long while.
When she first got diagnosed, (Y/n) was having two or three absent seizures a week and the odd tonic seizure where she tensed up and jerked around. She had been put onto meds to stop them and her meds had been reduced last year because she was doing so well not having any.
"Alright baby, let's get you out." With one arm around her back, Eddie unclipped her belt and slipped his other hand beneath her knees.
He pulled back and shuffled (Y/n) into his arms, letting her head loll on his shoulder with Bobby's hands on her neck to try and keep her steady and stop any damage from happening. Eddie stood up and took a few quick steps away from the car and over near the ambulance before he went down on his knees and eased (Y/n) down to the floor.
He laid her down and knelt down behind her, resting her head and shoulders over his lap before he started to run his hands up and down her arms to try and stimulate her and bring her back around.
"I'll take the kids up to the kitchen, come on." Evan gently eased Rosie from Hen and into his own arms and moved his free hand against Chris's back. Gently urging him to walk with him. He would get Chris a drink in the kitchen and settle him in front of the tv to try and calm him down and let him know that everything was alright now.
"Is mum okay?"
Before she could stop herself, Bella curled her hand around Hen's upper arm and stood close to her side with her left arm wrapped tightly around her middle to try and calm herself down and make herself breathe better. She leaned her head on Hen's shoulder, unable to stop the tears from falling again.
She had done well not to cry or burst into sobs while she was driving down here. Bella had told herself to be stern and calm so she didn't crash and hurt her whole family. It had worked. But now she was here, safely where she wanted to be, she could feel herself starting to shake and her chest was tightening up.
"Amor what happened?" Eddie lifted his head to look over at his daughter who took a few daring steps forward with Hen who was comfortingly holding her wrist and smiling at her. "Why did you drive here? You could have called 911." He couldn't see why Bella would take the risk of driving down here instead of calling for an ambulance.
She could have asked them to inform Eddie of the situation or call him once she'd called for help. It seemed drastic for her to pack everyone into the car and drive down here when she didn't know how to drive and Bella had been adamant she never wanted to learn to drive. She thought it was too scary.
"We were driving and mum felt sick, s-she pulled over but when she got out… she collapsed on the pavement. She had a seizure and I panicked… I p- I got her in the car, we were only f-five minutes away so… so I drove."
Tears drenched Bella's face as she tucked herself more into Hen's side and coiled both her arms around her chest, swaying back and forth.
She didn't know what to do.
One moment, (Y/n) pulled over and got out the car saying she was going to be sick, but the next thing Bella knew, her mum was on the floor having a seizure. And not the kind of seizure she usually had. She was flailing about, jerking, hardly breathing and biting her lip so hard she was froffing blood. When it stopped, (Y/n) wasn't talking and she was barely moving.
Bella didn't want to call an ambulance and leave the car on the side of the road and have to get Chris and Rosie rammed into the back of a crowded ambulance. She knew her dad was only five minutes down the road and it seemed like an easy task to drive straight down the road and turn a corner and reach the station.
And it was an emergency. If someone pulled her over, she would still get help either way.
So she managed to hoist her mum up and help her flop into the car and she did her best to drive down here while her mum had another seizure on the way.
All she wanted was Eddie.
"Cap…" Hen looked between Bobby and Bella until he got the silent message and nodded. They needed to switch places so Hen could help Eddie get (Y/n) stabalised and sorted out and someone needed to stay with Bella and calm her down.
Hen gently eased herself from Bella's side when Bobby walked over and curled his arm around her shoulder to try and give her some comfort. But just as Hen reached into the ambulance and grabbed her medic bag, she froze when Bella cried out and a few Spanish profanities slipped past Eddie's lips.
Eddie's hands moved to hold (Y/n)'s shoulders and he shuffled back before he tried to turn her over. He eased her onto her left side and knelt behind her with one hand cupping the back of her neck and his other hand lightly rubbing up and down her arm. She was going into another seizure. He kept her head tilted forward, Eddie didn't want to risk (Y/n) biting down again and choking on her tongue or on the blood welling up in her mouth.
"Alright, I've got you baby, it's okay." Eddie pressed his knees into her back to keep her kept on her side while Hen knelt down in front of her with her medic bag at her side.
While Hem rummaged around for some meds in the bag, Eddie swiped the stethoscope which he tucked into his ears and carefully pressed down between (Y/n)'s shoulders to listen to her breathing. He then curled his chest over her arm and pressed it beneath her shirt to listen to her heartbeat.
"Breathing's good, heart sounds fine."
"Pushing diazepam,"
Eddie gripped (Y/n)'s upper arm and tried to hold her trembling limb steady so Hen could inject the diazepam into her shoulder. It was the safest palce to administer meds when the rest of her body was violently jerking back and forth. And (Y/n) was already bleeding from the mouth, they couldn't administer any emergency tablets under her tongue right now. This was the next best option to try and stop the seizure and spasms.
"Dad…" Bella tried to run forward but Bobby reacted faster. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his chest, almost lifting her from her feet to stop her from reaching her parents. It wasn't safe for her to try and get involved. (Y/n) was being looked after.
Eddie lifted his head and tightened his hands over (Y/n)'s arm and neck when his eyes locked with his daughter who was almost the double of his wife.
"Carino stay with Bobby. It's okay." Eddie nodded his head until Bella stopped writhing in Bobby's hold and settled down. He didn't want her getting distressed either or trying to bustle over here. She needed to stay there, safe and out the way.
"It's working, she's calming down." Hen found a saline bag and the necessary needles in the medic bag and placed them by her thigh, ready to give to (Y/n) when the spasms fully wore off. The last thing she needed was to try and push an IV into (Y/n)'s hand and have her go back into another seizure and rupture a vein.
"She's gonna be sick."
Eddie reached his arm out and pressed his hand into Hen's shoulder, trying to nudge her to the right to get her out the way.
He moved his hands back to (Y/n) and tilted her chin down, keeping his fingers curled around her neck to keep her head down so she didn't choke. While he brushed her hair behind her ear and reached down to cup her wrist and pull her hand back.
He could see the way her stomach was tensing and sucking inwards and her chest was pushing forward instead of convulsing.
"Let it out, baby. Good girl," He leaned over to kiss her shoulder and slipped his hand from her wrist to grip her hand. Both he and Hen watched her chest closely and made sure she was still breathing and not choking.
A wave of relief tremored through Eddie when he felt (Y/n)'s fingers twitch against his hand and her arm suddenly jerked out. She coiled her arm to her chest, pulling Eddie's arm along with her which made his chest press down into her shoulder so he could curve around her.
Her knees tensed and kicked back and forth in an attempt to try and bring her knees up to her stomach. A burning gasp mixed with a cry vibrated past (Y/n)'s lips and her temple bashed into the floor when she tried to turn her head and press her face down into the floor.
With a deep breath, Eddie inched himself backwards and gently scuffed (Y/n) along with him to get her away from the puddle of sick. He let go of her hand and moved his arm around her waist and with his other hand against the back of her head, Eddie gently lifted her up. He reeled her up and let her flop back into his chest with a thump. Her head lolled into the crook of his neck and her temple pressed into his chin with a groan.
While she started to take deep breaths and murmur incoherent noises against Eddie's neck, Hen reached out and pulled her hand onto her thigh. She quickly slipped the needle into her vein and capped the IV in, keeping the tube wide open to let as much saline flow through her veins as possible. The seizures would have taken a toll on (Y/n) and they needed to boost her levels back up and get her back to normal again.
"It's alright baby… are you back with me now, hm?" Eddie kissed her temple and kept one hand pressing down on her stomach while the other hand feathered up and down her arm.
(Y/n) turned her head from left to right, wincing and whining when Hen pulled her eyelid up and flashed a light across her pupils. At least her eyes were now back down and looking ahead instead of rolled up to the back of her skull.
"Eddie,"
A spasm rolled through (Y/n) and sent her right side jerking out with her foot scraping the floor, her leg jostling from side to side and her right arm bashed down into her chest making her cry out. It was like the last waves of electricity were rolling through her on their way out of her system.
She could feel sparks flying down to her toes and her fingertips had gone stiff like they were turning to stone.
The feeling of Eddie's lips pressing into the side of her head was comforting and his hands were squeezing her skin with his arms wrapped around her like a security blanket. But (Y/n) couldn't work out why Eddie was holding her. Why was he here? When did he get here? What were they doing?
"Yeah, it's me baby."
"Home?"
"Home? No, you're not going home mi amor." Eddie sighed into her hair and smothered the top of her head with his lips as he tightened his arms around her waist.
There was no way he was taking her back home. He had to take her down to the hospital along with the kids to get her checked out before he even thought about taking her home.
"Home… you- you're home," (Y/n) tried to keep her eyes open but everything was so bright she wished the world would shut down and turn pitch black. Her face pressed as deeply into Eddie's neck as she could until she was almost smothering herself and she could feel very bob of his Adam's apple and each harsh breath he took.
"You're not at home, baby… you're at the station. You were driving, you and the kids, in the car…?" Eddie wasn't used to (Y/n) being this confused after a seizure. But then again, she'd had about three of them in the last hour from what Bella had told them. She was bound to be confused and agitated and scared.
He could feel (Y/n) shaking her head into his neck, she didn't believe or understand what he was telling her and he knew it was pointless to try and talk her through it now.
(Y/n) could barely see a thing when she managed to keep her eyes open for longer than a few seconds. She tightened her right hand around Eddie's palm but when she moved her left hand to try and reach up to hold onto him, something caught her eye. Her blurred vision tried to focus on her hand and her lips curled into a frown when she noticed a pastel white and leaf green plastic cap in the back of her hand, connected to a thin tube.
Whatever that was, (Y/n) didn't want it.
Her hand let go of Eddie's palm and before he could ask what she was doing, (Y/n) huffed and scratched off the cap in her hand.
"Oow," Tears stung in the corners of her eyes and she whimpered when her left hand started to spasm and a trickle of blood started oozing down and slithering between her fingers.
"Baby!" Eddie scolded through clenched teeth. "No- no, stop. Baby let me fix it, okay?"
Eddie perched his chin on (Y/n)'s right shoulder and wrapped his right arm around her chest, pinning her arm between them so she couldn't fight him or try and stop him from patching up her hand. He held her left wrist in both hands and pushed his chin down into her shoulder both to comfort her and make her stop wriggling.
He held her hand out towards Hen who was quick to run a swab over her hand to clean the blood before she carefully pushed the needle back into her hand and connected the tube back up.
"Bandage it please." Eddie whispered quietly, relieved when Hen smiled and grabbed a small roll of bandage.
Eddie had had this fight hundreds of times when (Y/n) was admitted to the hospital. Especially after she gave birth. She never wanted the canula in and always tried to take it out until Eddie bandaged her hand up so she couldn't see or touch it.
"Mum?" Bella pushed forward when Bobby let her out of his hold and allowed her to rush over and kneel down beside Hen.
She reached her hands out and wrapped her arms around both her mum and her dad, wedging (Y/n) between them in a hug. She tucked her face into (Y/n)'s neck, unable to stop crying when she felt her mum kiss her temple and try to hold her hand.
"Bella, wait here for a minute please while I move your mum." Eddie curled his fingers in the back of her hair and kissed her temple before he motioned for her to shuffle back a bit. He slipped his arms back around (Y/n)'s back and beneath her knees to pick her back up, relieved that she could seemingly move again. She hooked an arm around his neck and closed her eyes, tucking her face into his chest as he aimed for the ambulance.
Eddie knew the moment (Y/n) woke up properly and became aware of where she was and what was happening, she would kick off. She didn't like hospitals and she wouldn't want to be in an ambulance, but he had to get her to hospital. And he wanted to at least lay her on the gurney so she could start to come back round properly.
"I'll be two minutes, baby, I'm just gonna get the kids. This is Hen, she'll wait with you."
Once (Y/n) was laid on the gurney, Eddie kissed her temple and brushed his thumb over her cheek. He had a feeling she would pass out and have a nap, she didn't look like she could stay awake for much longer and he wouldn't blame her. It would be easier to transport her if she went to sleep for a while.
He patted Hen's shoulder, whispering a quiet 'thank you' in her ear before he climbed down and moved over towards Bella who was stood off to the side. both arms cocooned around her chest that was trembling and tears were flushed down her face.
The moment he was within reach, Bella tangled her arms around his torso and buried herself into his chest. He could feel her tears soaking into his shirt and each quiet sniffle she let out as she trembled so much she made Eddie start to shake back and forth. He wrapped an arm around her waist and tangled his other hand in her hair, cupping the back of her head while he leaned down to kiss her temple.
"Shh, it's alright carino."
"I- I'm sorry… I'm sorry daddy-"
"It's okay." Pulling back, Eddie moved his hands to cup her face so he could tilt her head up while his thumbs swiped away the tears tracing down her face. "I'm not mad, I swear."
"But… but the car…"
"I don't want you driving the car again, I mean it. But I'm not mad, you panicked and you came straight here, you got help. But next time, you don't try and drive the car with the kids in the back. You call an ambulance and then call me and I'll always come get you. Okay?"
There was no way that Eddie could be mad at her. She had been in a stressful situation and in her panic, she made a decision. It might not have been the right decision in the long run, but she had gone along with it and got everyone here in one piece. She brought (Y/n) somewhere safe and got her help and everyone was okay which was the main thing.
But if something like this ever happened again, Eddie needed Bella to call for help rather than take it into her own hands to find help herself.
She could have gotten herself into serious trouble if someone reported her or witnessed her or if she crashed. She could have made everything worse if she crashed the car with her unconscious mum and younger siblings in the car with her.
Eddie was going to be having nightmares about this for weeks, he could feel it.
"Okay," Bella nodded frantically before she pushed forward and tucked herself back into Eddie's chest, binding them both together like she was never going to let him go. Her arms stayed tightly bound to him until he held her shoulders and gently nudged her back so he could turn towards Evan who was walking their way with Rosie in his arms and Chris by his side.
"Everyone okay now?"
Eddie sighed through a smile and nodded his head, leaning forward to kiss Rosie's forehead before he reached over for Chris and picked him up. He kissed Chris's cheek and sat him on his hip although he could still feel Bella stood close to his side with her hands wrapped around his arm.
"Mummy okay?"
"She's fine, buddy. We're gonna take her down to the hospital though to get checked over, okay?" Eddie leaned back and took a glance over his shoulder towards the ambulance. He could guess that since (Y/n) wasn't arguing or shouting or crying out for him that she had indeed fallen asleep.
He could get Bella to ride in the ambulance with (Y/n) and the team while he took Chris and Rosie in (Y/n)'s car and followed behind them.
"Bell went through a red light," Chris leaned his head on Eddie's shoulder and grinned when Bella reached her hand out and lightly tapped his arm before she pressed her finger to her lips.
Her head tilted down and her eyes stayed on the floor when she felt her dad's piercing gaze fall on her and she could feel his elbow jutting into her side when he clamped his free hand down on his hip.
"Did she now?"
Lifting her gaze, Bella tried to smile but when she looked across at Evan, he was grinning at her and silently gave her a thumbs up with his hand hidden at his side so Eddie wouldn't see. "You said you're not mad at me," She whispered sheepishly, to which Eddie hummed with pursed lips.
He couldn't tell her off when he'd already explained he wasn't ngry and he knew she had acted out of panic. He just had to pray that within the next week, he wouldn't get any phone calls or letters to the house saying he had a traffic ticket for going through a red light or being caught speeding.
The only upside was that if that happened, Eddie could have a word with Bobby. He knew his captain would gladly talk to Athena and anyone else at the station to explain what had happened. They couldn't exactly charge Bella with anything when it was an emergency situation and she had done the right thing.
But Eddie's brows narrowed his chest tightened when he felt Chris lean up and whisper in his ear, "Bell hit a lamp post too."
"Isabella!"
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this-is-moony-lovegood · 6 months ago
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Grave Digger AU (Bones AU) Sneak Peek
I am ONE scene away from finishing my Bones AU/Grave Digger AU buddie fic that I have been working on since the end of season 6 and I wanted to share a final snippet with you before I post it. Hopefully tonight, if not, tomorrow!
As a reminder here is the fic synopsis:
While working a case of the serial kidnapper, the Grave Digger, Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Evan “Buck” Buckley and Etymologist Dr. Howard “Chimney” Han are kidnapped and buried alive until the $8 Million ransom can be paid. After receiving the call, Special Agent Eddie Diaz and the forensic science team at the Jeffersonian must race against the clock to find where the Grave Digger has buried their friends before they run out of oxygen.
Enjoy the sneak peek! Let me know if you want to be tagged when I post it! :)
Since Eddie started working with Buck and the Jeffersonian, he has seen bodies found in a lot of weird places: the stomaches of bears, inside of walls alongside a stash of drugs, in a 1950s fallout shelter, a garbage truck, oh, and only a few weeks ago floating in a water filtration plant. Yeah, that one made Eddie stock up on bottled water, and seriously consider only showering at the bureau or Buck’s apartment for at least a week. However, getting the call about this case takes the cake when it comes to dump sites. “My superiors say to let you look at the flying saucer.” “It’s not a flying saucer.” Eddie says, dismissing the park ranger’s wild claims, as he and Buck step under the crime scene tape. “It sure looks like one.” “Come on, Eds, at least check it out first.” Buck says, humoring him. “You know Chris is going to love the idea of us discovering aliens.” “Local kids dirt biking saw something shiny poking from the dirt.” The park ranger continues as the two of them approach, and okay, Eddie has to silently admit that it does look a teensy bit like a flying saucer sticking out of the dirt. He could see how a couple of rambunctious pre-teens with wild imaginations could mistake whatever the shiny, capsule door was for something out of a sci-fi movie. But come, on? Aliens in L.A.? Isn’t that more of an Area 51 thing? “They dug it out, looked in the window, and saw aliens.” “Did you look?” Buck asks. “Yes, sir. Then called for back up.” “Why?” “On, the account of well, they are, aliens.” He shares a look with Buck, and finds that he too has his eyebrows raised. However, while Eddie knows his are out of skepticsm, Buck’s are definitely from curiosity. His whole body is practically vibrating with excitement. “Alright.” Buck says, crouching down and dusting off the glass window a little more. No more than fifteen seconds later, he turns to Eddie, the smile on his face having turned into a grimace. “Do you want to take a look?” Nodding, Eddie carefully pulls off his sunglasses and crouches down next to Buck, so close that their shoulders are brushing. The glass is still a little dirty so he has to squint to see inside, but he instantly recgonizes the outline of two skeletons in matching navy and red track suits. They’re sitting on the floor of the - well, Eddie doesn’t have a better word for it other than spaceship at the moment - with one of them wrapping their arms around the other. Whoever they are, their last moments were spent holding one another. However, what really gets Eddie is their size. He might not be a forensic anthropologist like Buck, but he’s been doing this a long time to have a pretty good idea of what he’s looking at. “Oh, are those what I think they are?” He asks, hoping he’s wrong. “As long as you’re thinking they’re two adolescent human males.” Kids. Two kids who are likely barely that much older than Christopher. God, cases like this made his stomach lurch. With one look at Buck, he can tell he feels the same way. “How long?” He wonders aloud. “The amount of dehydrated tissue suggests the tank is sealed and intact. Years.” Years? These boys had been trapped down here, clutching each other for years… he doesn’t even want to think about what their parents must have been going through for that long. Oh, this is going to be a hard home visit to make. He’ll have to take Buck. He’s much better at softening the blow when Buck is at his side. Sighing, he turns to the park ranger and says, “I liked it better when you thought they were aliens.”
PS. Also, this fic is over 20k. Would you prefer to read this in two easier to read parts or one solid 20k chunk? Vote below and let me know.
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