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“— Officer Down! I repeat, we have shots fired. Sergeant Grant is down, send an RA unit!”
Detective Hooks pants into the radio, the dispatcher on the other side provides an ETA that Athena can’t hear. She’s struggling to open her eyes, struggling to breathe. Hooks’s breathing slowly evens out, and he lets out a laugh when the radio goes silent. Athena’s eyes flutter open catching glimpses of what he’s doing. Hooks leans over Nikolay and shoves the gun into his hand, carefully putting the index finger over the trigger. Athena’s eyes close, steps coming closer and closer. She hears glass shatter and a grunt.
“Fuck,” Hooks hisses as he sits next to Athena and takes her hand, two fingers over her pulse point, “I hope for your sake, it’s not the 118 who responds.”
“I’m losing a lot of blood.”
Eddie stares down at Athena on the stretcher and finds himself tempted to pray. She was cold, clammy when they got to her. Hen is yelling over the rumble of traffic about how long it’ll take to get to the OR. He holds down as much as he safely can, knowing what Hen’s about to say.
“Hold pressure.”
The doors to the ambulance are opening before he knows it and he moves with the stretcher keeping the pressure on the wound. He’s seen so much of this before, he’s had to tell platoons that their friends won’t make it, civilians that it’s too late for their family, and each time it feels impossible. A nurse taps him out and he watches as the walk away, Hen giving report as they follow. The monitor dips, and suddenly the trauma doctors are yelling orders over one another, it’s a cardiac arrest. Eddie holds his breath, Buck is holding Harry back as he screams over them, yelling about his mom. Eddie feels a sinking feeling in his stomach, one he hasn’t felt since Tía Pepa called him that morning.
Chim’s hands snap him out of a daze.
“We have to go.”
“Cap.”
“Ravi’s getting the stretcher back.”
“Chim, we can’t just —”
“We’re not. Harry and Hen stay, but we’re doing this right. We go back to the station, call Chief Simpson and hope he gives up leave for this. I need your head in this Diaz, it’s chain of command.”
Eddie nods. He breaths out and looks out at Harry slumped forward in a chair as Buck kneels in front of him. Harry is nodding along to whatever Buck is saying and chokes out a small laugh in response to him. Buck stands and drops a kiss onto Hen’s head, a small smile slipping onto Hen’s face. Ravi is jumping out from the box when they get to the loading zone. Chim stands in front of them.
“Ravi get in the engine. Buck, Eddie you’re in the ambo. We’ll see you at the station.”
Eddie makes his way to the driver’s side and quirks his eyebrow when he sees Buck already buckling his seat belt in.
“You’re driving?”
Buck shrugs.
“Need something to focus on.”
Eddie rounds the truck and gets into the passenger seat. The soft sound of asphalt carries underneath them for a few minutes before Eddie can’t take in anymore.
“I wanted to pray.”
“What?” Buck turns to him for a split second, his attention going back to the road.
“On the way here, I saw her on the stretcher and every part of me that wasn’t already applying pressure and listening to Hen, wanted to pray. I wanted to be able to do more than what I was doing.” Eddie pauses, he looks at Buck. “I felt fucking helpless.”
Buck sniffles, but he doesn’t say anything, so Eddie continues.
“I’ve been feeling that way for a while.”
“About Esteban?”
“All of them yeah, but it’s more than that. Abigail, Theo, you. I should’ve known something was wrong after New Mexico —”
“Eds, we’ve already talked about this.”
“Hm.”
“Nothing about any of those situations is your fault.”
Eddie straightens in the seat and turns slightly towards Buck.
“That’s not why… with Athena sure, I wish we knew sooner, that people would actually move out of the way of an ambulance so that we could get to where we need to go, but it’s not that I blame myself, not really, I just wish I could do something.”
“You’re doing what you can to help Esteban and the migrants from that building.”
“Am I?”
“Eddie,” Buck turns into the station, “you and Hen started fundraiser after fundraiser for them. The entire community donated clothing and toiletries, you took a stand against ICE knowing they could’ve easily targeted you too. That’s not nothing.”
Eddie takes a breath, he knows Buck’s right, but there’s a gnawing feeling in the back of his mind that won’t let this go.
“They came here to find something better. They thought it was a Coyote helping them out, not some asshole looking to sell them to the highest bidder, and they were locked in a room. They had hope, so much hope that they burned down a building just to see the sun again and now no one knows where they are. Athena’s in the hospital because she wanted to help, because we asked her to help.”
Buck backs up the ambulance into the bay and places it in park. He shuts off the engine and turns to face Eddie as he unbuckles the seatbelt. Eddie notices the glassiness in his eyes, the tears unshed.
“We’ll figure it out, we always do.” Eddie nods, he watches Buck turn and open the door to step off.
“Buck?” Eddie unbuckles his belt and waits.
“Yeah?”
“You know you can talk to me about whatever is on your mind too, right?”
Buck exhales and drops his hand from the handle, the door slightly ajar.
“I do,” he exhales, “I will... just not here?”
The station feels odd, a heaviness in the air as a car pulls into the bay, Chim is locked in the office, Ravi and him are checking over the bay and making sure all things are ready for B-Shift even if it there’s nothing they can do besides restock, again and again. Buck is cooking something up in the loft when Rosen walks in and groggily says good night to them. She pauses at their expressions and her shoulders sink before he and Ravi find themselves being hugged.
“Sergeant Grant has been through god knows how many close calls, she’ll make it. I’m grabbing coffee then I’ll come down for report, yeah?”
Ravi and Eddie thank her as she makes her way up the stairs. Eddie double checks the meds on the ambulance, gives Rosen report and is stocking the dressings and gauze when Ravi clears his throat.
“Buck made us breakfast for dinner, if you want some.”
“Okay.”
“Eddie?”
“What’s up?”
“From what May told me, Athena’s also like Buck’s mom. Has he told you anything about how he’s feeling?”
Eddie sighs as he steps down from the box and looks toward the loft. Buck is wiping down the large dinner table and carrying a few plates in the other hand.
“No, but he’s definitely feeling it. He’s gonna be in take care of everyone else first mode unless we stop him.”
Ravi hums.
“Should we?”
“I got it. Go shower if you need to, then meet us at the hospital?”
Chim comes down the stairs, followed by Buck.
“No time, keep uniforms on. Chief wants us on duty to finish out the shift.”
“Figured.” Ravi pouts beside him. “Are we at least able to go check up on them?”
“We have leave to go see how Athena’s doing but we are still on call. Dispatch knows of our location and will reroute us if needed. Rosen is man behind while we visit the hospital and we all owe her tremendously for coming in on short notice.”
The pit in Eddie’s stomach finds its way back. They all make their way to the engine, slipping on the headsets wordlessly. Chim turns to them, Eddie sees the sadness flickering in his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I know we wanted to be there as long as we needed to be.”
Buck takes a deep breath and shakes his head, a humorless laugh escaping him.
“Chain of command, right?”
Eddie swallows, the words feel harsh coming out of Buck in that tone. Rules and structure are important, but lately he wishes he could change what was happening, forget that systems exist and that they’ve been so interwoven that making sense of one thing made you lose yourself in another. He wants to take the words from Buck’s mouth and will them back inside, change it so that he’s teasing Eddie for believing in them, for trusting them. He bites his lip and shuts his eyes, hoping no calls happen, hoping they can just be there as Athena’s family.
He breathes in and hopes.
It’s been hours. The waiting room staff is mumbling about some file getting water on it when Hen slides into the seat across him. Eddie waits.
“Edmundo, just say it.”
Eddie shakes his head, a smile forming.
“How are you, really?”
Hen rubs at her eyes, her glasses tipping over to one side for a moment.
“As okay as I can be.”
“Hen.”
“I’m scared,” Hen leans forward in the seat and plays with her hands,“but not because I think she won’t make it. I know she will. But someone wanted to hurt her, someone she’s not going to stop looking for after she gets out of here. And that terrifies me. I almost lost her when we went to space and I can’t, I won’t do it again.”
Eddie leans back in the seat.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I wasn’t supposed to. I haven’t said anything to May or Harry, only Karen knows. She was struggling after Bobby, I nearly lost her because she didn’t want to fight anymore, she pushed herself and almost died telling me I had to get home to Denny and Mara because her own kids are grown, that they didn’t need her. But this? This is work. She’s fighting for someone else now and she won’t care if it hurts her, she’s not going to stop.”
The elevator chimes and the doors open, Detective Hooks walking out. Eddie notices the few scrapes he has on the side of his face, something he refused treatment for, claiming Athena should be the priority. He watches as the Detective approaches Chim and whispers something to him. He turns to Hen.
“Do you trust him?”
Hen blinks and turns towards Chim and the detective, a small nod of understanding as she turns back to Eddie.
“Hard to when he gave us the run around with Esteban and their whole group.”
Eddie follows the detective’s movement back to the elevator.
“Something’s off about him.”
He meets Buck’s eye from across the room. Buck scrunches his brow and Eddie mouths later and brings his coffee up to drink the rest of the lukewarm liquid.
“Have you talked to Buck about Theo?” Hen leans back into the seat.
“Haven’t had the time.”
“But you will?”
“Of course I will.”
“Deirdre’s not going to be able to do anything if you wait too long to convince him.”
Eddie sighs. Hen’s right, Theo’s been on his mind since Buck came back to the station after the pile up. He’d already heard from Maddie that saying goodbye to Theo took a toll on Buck. He could see it. Seeing Connor and Kameron in that car hit Eddie harder than he thought it would for two people who were practically strangers to him. He looks across the room again, Buck is now pacing, his phone to his ear. The pacing stops and Eddie sees the screen flicker Maddie’s contact before Buck puts his phone away. Eddie pulls himself up, turning back to Hen.
“Text us if something changes?”
Hen nods. He moves toward Buck and taps him on the shoulder motioning for him to follow. He walks down the halls and waits by the exit door near the patient tower. Buck stops in front of him but Eddie makes them keep walking.
“Spill.”
“I’m fine.”
“Not buying it. This is hard on all of us, but you just lost Connor and Kameron, you just saw your kid for the first time in four years. Tell me where your head’s at.”
It had finally felt like Buck’s smile came back when he was running around with the toddler a few days ago and now his eyes look as tired at they were when he was first recovering. Eddie’s thoughts race to Theo again, how someone could dim his light if he went into the system, how it could drained like the Buckley’s did to their own son. Eddie reaches the arched doorway of the chapel and stops at the threshold. He’s tempted to go in, get on his knees and pray to a god he honestly can’t feel the presence of but he can’t let Buck avoid this conversation.
“Running a million miles and hour.”
“About?”
Buck leans against the wall. Two people walk around them and into the chapel.
“I feel like I’m losing another parent,” Eddie nods as he leans back opposite him. He stares up at the ceiling and takes a few breaths while Buck continues, “it’s stupid. My parents are in their RV, waiting for it to sell. But —”
“Bobby was always more than our captain. Athena loves you Buck, I’m sure she sees you as a son too.”
Buck hums. Eddie hears Buck tapping his nails on his phone case.
“Maddie’s trying to convince me to see if I can take Theo in.”
A small tugs at Eddie’s lips, at least it’s not just him and Hen who think Buck could do it.
“And?”
“What do you mean and? Eddie, I can’t. I want to, god I want to, but I gave up my rights to him.”
“Then fight for him.” Eddie move to catch Buck’s gaze and holds it. “Fight like I know you would for Chris.”
Buck’s shoulder sag minutely. “That’s different.”
Eddie steps away and glimpses into the chapel, the people who went in are now holding hands with their heads down.
“Is it? I know you saw that kid smile and immediately melted. I know you’d anything to make sure he knew there was nothing wrong with how energetic and curious he is. I know he needs someone who sees him and loves him anyway. It’s breaking your heart to let him go a second time, Buck.”
“He doesn’t know me.”
Eddie hears Shannon’s voice in his head. You’re still a stranger to him, but you don’t have to be.
“What are you afraid of?”
He asks himself more than he does Buck. The open door of the chapel letting out the creaks of the pews near the front of the chapel shifting under the couple’s weight. Buck moves next to him, his weight settling and pressing up against Eddie’s shoulder.
“What if I try and they say no? I fucked up Eddie. They do home checks, they go through your background, extensively. It’s not just me recovering from New Mexico. I have the lawsuit on my record, I have no partner, I have a house,” Buck huffs, “barely. But is that enough?”
Eddie exhales.
“You’re not doing it alone Buck. You have me, you have Maddie. I know you, and that kid? There’s no one that would be better for him than you.”
Buck’s phone buzzes loudly. Deirdre’s name pops up on the screen and Eddie laughs in disbelief.
“Seems like the universe is screaming at you this time.” Eddie pushes off the wall and walks into the chapel.
He’s completely alone when he places his hand over his heart, willing himself to feel that connection Abuela was talking about. You were looking in the wrong place. Eddie closes his eyes and lets memories run through his mind. What is love, if not god’s presence? Chris’s smile appears first, Abuela’s gentle touch, Shannon’s laughter as she filmed Chris’s first steps. He smiles, his nose prickling with the urge to let his eyes tear up. He sees soft blue eyes crinkling during late night talks and the splotches of pink turned redder by beer. His eyes open and the pit that existed in his stomach earlier lessens, his hand relaxes over his heart and feels the weight of his abuela’s words. He stands and kneels along the pew, the rosary beads are in the truck but he doesn’t need them, not for this. He prays.
Eddie crosses himself as he stands. A disgruntled voice is coming from right outside the chapel. Eddie can hear bits and pieces of conversation. Something about a lost load of merchandise, about too much attention. Eddie scrunches his brow and makes him way toward the back of the chapel, careful not to draw attention to himself when he hears Athena’s name come out of the man’s mouth. Eddie steps back against the wall as the man paces in front of the chapel’s doorway.
“Stay there. No, I told you I would take care of her.” The man sighs into the phone. They turn and Eddie sees the shine of badge around his neck first. “Because we can not afford another mistake. Sergeant Grant has to be taken care of delicately. Your father would have — fine, I’m on my way.” Detective Hooks shoves the phone in his pocket and walks toward the exit of the patient tower.
Eddie pats his pockets, searching for his own phone and finds them empty. He swears under his breath and follows closely behind Detective Hooks. Eddie hides from view as Hook’s eyes dart across the hall and exit before he steps into a service stairwell. Eddie takes a quick look across the exit doors toward the waiting room, Buck and Harry nowhere to be seen, May and Ravi are sitting with Hen and Chim. He has to hurry, Hooks was talking about Athena to someone who wanted her hurt. Eddie takes the steps slowly, waiting for the sound of a door. He walks onto the third floor with his head down, making his way to the nurse’s station first, if he’s right, Athena’s just been brought up.
“Hey, quick question for you. Do you know how Athena Grant is doing?” He asks the one person he knows is probably the charge nurse. He gets stared down as she types without looking at the screen.
“Still in surgery.” The nurse sighs as if waiting for him to give her any excuse in the book to see her. “I already told your captain that I’d send the calvary straight down for you all to stop worrying.”
“Thank you.”
“You were here that day weren’t you, when ICE took that group?” She looks at him and smiles sadly. “I’m sorry we couldn’t do more to help all of them, trust me when I say I didn’t want them to leave, not without knowing they were all safe.”
“Me too.”
“One shift at a time, right?”
He nods, the words catching in his throat.
“One shift at a time.”
He walks along the halls, stopping at a supply closet when he hears a loud thump. Hook’s voice is joined by another in whispered yells.
“I told you to let me handle it.”
“You can not be trusted.”
“It was the only way to save us both.”
Eddie presses closer to the door, careful of not opening it further.
“I almost lost millions because of her and those stupid firefighters, do you know how hard it was to get the buyer to agree in the first place? You got lucky they were able to pick them up when they were.”
“They don’t know anything.”
“You killed my father because she walked into the room, they know enough to be a problem.”
A steady pacing is met with a clang of metal on metal. A small sound, a gun’s safety clicks off.
“You don’t have the guts to pull that trigger.”
“I am not soft.”
“Put it away, before you cause us problems.”
“I’m trying to fit your mistake Hooks.”
“You want to help? Go downstairs.”
Eddie takes a few steps back, the door to the closet swinging open. He walks toward the center of the floor again, carefully to match pace with Hooks and the man that stepped out with him. The man walks faster, passing Eddie. He’s in scrubs that are a size too large for him, a scrub cap sitting wrong, tufts of curly hair poking out the back of it. Eddie stares at him as he walks away, eyes drawn to the metallic grip peaking through the waistband of his pants.
Detective Hooks clears his throat and extends his hand to Eddie. Eddie blinks.
“Firefighter Diaz,” Eddie takes his hand, “I didn’t know Sergeant Grant could have visitors already?”
“She can’t. I was checking up on the surgery, needed to stretch my legs.”
Hooks nods. Eddie swallows, he needs to buy time. Get to Athena. He swallows, she might kill him for the shit he's about to pull.
“Where are they?”
“What?”
“Esteban, Hugo, Inez, every migrant you were supposed to help.”
“You’re still angry.” Hooks sighs. “I get it, I wish I could have helped them, I do. It’s not like I didn’t try, ICE had jurisdiction. Chain of command and all, you get that.”
Eddie huffs.
“No, I don’t think I do actually.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. It’s out of my hands.” Hooks goes to walk away.
“I almost lost millions because of her and those stupid firefighters.” Eddie recites back to him.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Hooks turns to Eddie, his brow furrowed.
“You’ve been in on it, haven’t you?”
“Would that make you feel better? To have someone to blame for the fact that ICE has your friends? Blame me then, but whatever this is? Leave me out of it.”
“How much?”
“Excuse me?”
“How much money did it take for you to look the other way? Ignore that they were selling people, locking them up in cement cages and leaving them to rot.”
“Diaz. Walk away for your own good.”
Eddie steels himself.
“Do you know where they are?”
“No one does.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“What are you trying to get at here, Diaz?"
"That you're dirty, that you worked with ICE to — "
"What, make a little cash on the side and get a deal through?”
“That’s why Athena was the only injured person on your stupid sting operation, isn't it? You didn’t save her. She figured you out, so you shot her.”
Hooks takes out his phone and dials, he stares at Eddie as he speaks. “Cause a distraction.” Shots are fired beneath them. Hooks huffs as he takes out his own gun from the holster. He points it at Eddie and pulls the trigger.
“There’s an active shooter.” Maddie’s voice is raw and soft as she holds the phone in her hand. Buck listens, a large manila folder on the passenger seat of May’s car and his phone sitting on the dash. “The hospital’s on lockdown.”
“What part of the building?”
Maddie exhales. “Shots were first somewhere on the first floor near the patient tower. Chimney’s working with the ED to get everyone triaged, but the list keeps growing. We don’t know that the shooter is connected to what’s happening with Athena but LAPD is treating it that way. She's still in surgery. No one is allowed in or out of most of the hospital.”
“Okay, I’m on my way. I’ll let you know if they let me back inside.”
She hums. “Evan, there’s one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“No one knows where Eddie is.”
A car horn comes from behind Buck, the light in front of him green.
Eddie stumbles across the floor, his hand pressed hard on right side. His vision blurs as he presses the elevator button, blood smearing on the stainless steel finish. Hooks laughs behind him, wiping the blood off his lip.
“You’re tough, I’ll give you that.”
The elevator dings open, Eddie almost falling forward inside. He pushes at the button to close the doors, the elevator groaning in complaint. They close as Hooks takes another shot, this one barely missing him, hitting the back of the elevator instead. Eddie pushes down his hand, grunting at the added pressure, he’s losing blood quickly. He moves at the sound of another shot, the elevator groans again, lights flickering on and off, a heavy whine as it sits and blares an alarm at him. He throws his head back and pushes the emergency intercom. Static, then a small tone starts and ends before a monotone voice answers, he breathes out as they ask if he needs assistance. His voice slurs slightly, rattling off his details and asking to talk to dispatch.
“I’m patching you to 911 dispatch in your area. Please stay on the line.”
“911, what’s your emergency?” Josh’s voice comes through the line and Eddie is almost glad to hear him.
“LAFD Firefighter Diaz, I’m stuck in an elevator on the west side of the patient tower in First Presbyterian between the first and second floor, gunshot wound to the right lower abdomen, entry and exit wound, but I’m losing blood fast.” He catches his breath hissing at the wave of pain.
“Eddie, it’s good to hear your voice, they’ve been looking for you.”
“Yeah, well tell’em I’ll wait. You need SWAT down to the operation room,” his voice wavers, “it's Hooks. All of it, he— after Athena.” His eyes flutter, he struggle to keep them open. Josh’s voice is yelling at him to stay awake.
Eddie slides down to a sitting position. His mind goes to Chris, tears coming down his face. Maddie’s voice takes over and he wants to reach out to her, tell her it’s okay. That he’s just sleepy.
“— don’t you dare make us tell Buck that you aren’t fighting to make it back to them Eddie. Stay. Awake.”
“Trying...”
Eddie takes a deep breath, his eyes falling closed again.
The surgeon turns to retrieve the hemostats from a nurse and works methodically and meticulously, pulling out tiny fragments of metal, dropping them in a stainless steel dish.
“Suction.”
An anesthesiologist checks over Athena’s levels and reports them to the room.
“Almost done, just one last piece.”
The hemostat is tightened, a delicate pull to free the metal, it glitters in the surgical light. The door blares behind them.
“Sir, this is a sterile environment. You need to leave.”
Detective Hooks reaches for his gun and points it at the surgeon, the hemostats still in her hands.
“Step away from the sergeant.”
She looks down at the cross clamp on Athena’s aorta, they’re already on borrowed time for this, the clamp's only there so that she could reach the last of the fragments without nicking the artery. Athena’s experiencing bradycardia at this point and they can’t let her flatline, not for long anyway.
“No.”
Detective Hooks shoots into one of the computer monitor.
“Try again.”
The room all takes a step away from the operating table, their hands up in the air.
“Don’t move.”
It feels like an eternity before the sound of a flatline has the operating room itching to scatter. Hooks waves the gun at anyone who dares move and inch. The monitor continues its screech, Athena’s heart has stopped. Any longer and she could face permanent brain damage.
“Please. Let us save her.”
“She brought this on herself.”
Men and women in kevlar vests start to fill the room, each yelling at at Hooks to drop the gun. He drops it in front of him and is forced to his knees. The surgeon runs to unclamp Athena.
“Get the paddles.”
A nurse turns behind them and grabs two long internal paddles, handing them back to the surgeon.
“Charging.” Someone yells out.
“Clear.” All hands around Athena’s opened chest fly up and away. A shock is sent and Athena’s body jumps in response. The room is silent, the droves of men and women long gone The rhythm doesn’t return.
“Again.”
Another charge, hands moving at the sound of the surgeon’s voice. A second shock. A nurse looks at her monitor and shakes her head.
“Again”
“Charging.”
She calls for them to clear away and shocks Athena again. Her body jumps. The rhythm stays flat for a moment, then…
“Pulse at 31 and rising.”
The surgeon hands the paddles back and sighs in relief.
“Perfs you’re up.”
Eddie wakes in a hospital bed, again. His entire abdomen feels sore. He tries to push himself up slightly, only to be stopped by a soft warm hand on his.
“Hey,” Buck whispers.
“How long have I —”
“A few days."
“Is Athena safe?”
Buck smiles tiredly.
“She woke up yesterday morning, grumpy as hell that she missed out on arresting Hooks but we told her what happened.”
"So she knows?"
"Part of it, you couldn't tell us everything with how out of it you were. Detective Romero called Chim this morning, he should be around to see you soon."
"Okay."
"Lie back down. I’ll get a nurse.”
Eddie nods and wraps his hand over Buck’s for a moment, pressing it onto his chest. Buck smiles softly as Eddie lets him go. He looks around of the room, the fluorescent lights bright to him, he squints and finds himself yawning. Buck walks back in with a nurse and Eddie at least remembers how this part goes. He answers every question and smiles as he looks at Buck when he’s told how lucky he is that it was only a tangential gunshot wound, somehow missing every important organ. The nurse leaves them and he waits, hopes that Buck can be braver than he was last time they sat in a hospital like this, hopes that maybe he won’t need Buck to be braver.
“So, you may have noticed, I almost died again.” Eddie starts.
Buck laughs, his eyes crinkling as his smile widens. He leans back in the hospital chair and yawns.
“You’re horrible.”
“Then say something.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Hey, Eds I’m sorry you were shot again, I’m glad you’re okay would work perfectly.”
“I am glad you’re okay.”
“Is Chris okay?”
Eddie plays with a loose hospital gown string, his back nestled in a wall of pillows.
“I caught him googling how much it would take to bubble wrap a person.”
“Thought about doing that to you once or twice.” He pauses, meeting Buck’s eyes.
“He’s worried, but I think it’s helping that I talked to him about the will.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Deirdre came over for a preliminary home visit for Theo and it came up. You were right.”
“Usually am.” Buck rolls his eyes, Eddie just lightly shakes his head and laughs. “What was I right about?”
“That I would fight like hell for Chris and for Theo. I told Chris what was happening, and he just had this moment where he looked at me as if I’d said the dumbest thing in the world.” Eddie makes a face. “That face exactly. He called himself my kid."
"Okay?"
"Eddie."
"I just got shot, wait a couple days, maybe I'll reveal another legal decision I made without telling you."
"You're not funny."
"I am hilarious."
"Is he?"
"Buck, he loves you. You've been in his life since he was seven, helping me, caring about him. You literally make him dinner more times a week than I do. Are you really that shocked?"
"I guess not, I just —"
"Didn't expect him to say it to your face?"
"Yeah."
“Did Deirdre say when Theo can come home?”
“Not yet, it’s so much paperwork and I know Deirdre is trying her hardest to push me through because he’s biologically mine but then there’s school paperwork, and daycare, and the whole diagnosis thing, am I supposed to do that before or after he gets into school —”
“Buck.” Eddie reaches his hand out, palm up for Buck to grab. He hesitates for a fraction for a second before taking Eddie’s hand. “Breathe. I won’t be able to work for a few months. We don’t know how parental leave will work for this, but between me healing and having to do PT again, I’m sure that both of us can make sure Theo is set up with everything he could possibly need. He doesn’t need everything done on day one.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Who said anything about asking?”