Let me in

Chapter 6 : The calm before the storm

The situation has calmed down.

So much so that it's almost strange.

Buck apologized to Eddie that night for leaving him unanswered, explaining that he needed some fresh air and had turned off his phone because Maddie was harassing him.

Eddie didn't blame him, of course.

Nor did he blame him when, the next day, they changed in the locker room, and he discovered his best friend's back and arms covered in claw marks.

After all, Buck had a right to his life. A love life, a... a sex life.

Yes, he had a right.

But that didn't stop him from feeling his gut twist with discomfort at the thought of Buck getting laid.

Anyway, the situation calmed down over the next few days. Or rather, Buck calmed down.

He and Chimney were joking again, the atmosphere wasn't as tense, although there was still a little resentment in Buck and a little unease in Chimney. But overall, it was okay.

It was more tense between Buck and Maddie. They talked to each other, smiled at each other, and saw each other in passing at the firehouse most of the time, but they hadn't really had the time - or the courage - to have a heart-to-heart talk about their fight. As a result, it was as if it was always hanging over their heads.

Until today.

"Shit..." Chimney sighs, eyes glued to his phone as he tapps away at the keyboard at a rapid pace.

"What's on your mind, old man?" Hen asks him from the other couch, a book in her hands.

"Maddie has a checkup at the doctor's office tomorrow, but I agreed to cover for Anderson."

"What time is that?" Buck asks from the kitchen, helping Bobby prepare dinner, under Eddie's useless supervision.

"Five o'clock, why?"

"Fine. Tell her I'll go with her and pick her up."

Chimney froze and raised surprised eyes to him.

"Are you sure? I mean, I was going to ask Albert anyway--"

Buck raises his head to him with a grimace.

"You're not going to ask your brother to go with my sister to get an ultrasound." He says and then sighs, seeing from Chimney's expression that he had seriously considered it. "We may have had a fight, but I haven't stopped having a heart. I'd go with her."

"I might believe you better if you weren't pointing a sharp knife in my direction." Chimney grimaces.

Buck rolls his eyes and lowers the knife-which he had indeed raised-to resume his task.

[...]

"I didn't think you'd want to come."

"Yeah well Chimney didn't think so either. We had a fight, all right, but I'm still your brother." Buck sighs, annoyed that no one seemed to believe he could accompany his sister to a doctor's appointment without starting an argument.

"I know, Buck." Maddie smiles tenderly at him, but her eyes are sad. "I wasn't talking about that."

Buck stares at her, blinking numerous times, his throat strangely knotted.

Oh.

Buck says nothing. Maddie doesn't say anything either. They just stare into the whites of each other's eyes, in silence and a heavily charged atmosphere.