Christmas Landing on Its Feet

Buck Finds Out About Eddie, Channels His Inner PI, and Finally Stops Being Dense

“Did you know…” Ravi says the next day as he pets Norman while holding him. “That petting a cat decreases blood pressure?”

Buck pauses his spotting to look over at Ravi and say, “Well now that you mention it, I have been sleeping a lot better since he's been sleeping with me.”

Before their conversation can continue, Bobby comes bursting in with a box of wrapping paper, demanding, “Did you find someone to adopt Norman?”

Buck sets his barbell down, with Chim’s help, “No, not yet, despite Taylor insisting that he needs to leave.”

“Buck, come on.” Bobby says as he walks over to Ravi and Norman, petting Norman’s head, “We’ve officially reached the point where it’s her or the cat.”

Ravi stands up, “If you ever listened to me, I’d say keep the cat.”, he stops to hand Norman to Bobby. “And let me have a crack at Taylor.”

There’s a collective laugh, then Ravi asks, “Hey, what if we took him on calls?”

Chim makes no effort to hide how he feels about that idea, “We’d be the laughingstock of the LAFD!”

Bobby shrugs as he strokes Norman’s back, “I kinda like having him here. Who needs a dog like every other station when we can have something that makes us stand out, like Norman?”

Seeing he’s outnumbered when Ravi agrees, Chim backs down, “Alright, you’re the boss.”

That done, Bobby carries Norman over to Buck, pushing, “Well, Buck? What’s it gonna be?”

“Hey, hello?” Buck greets the cashier, when he doesn’t immediately see Eddie. “I came in the other day, and I’m looking for the guy that was working with you.”

“You’re here for Eddie?” The buff looking woman behind the counter asks, to which Buck replies,

“Yes, exactly! Eddie. Is he here?”

Now she gets defensive, almost angry, “Diaz is no longer employed here. He was let go.”

That’s complete news to Buck, considering he only saw Eddie working here just yesterday, “He was what? Why?”

The woman holds nothing back, “Apparently your little arm candy complained to daddy, the owner of the store. And I know he didn’t wanna fire him. Diaz is our best employee, and we all know it. But Taylor is the equivalent of a blowup sex doll, except an axtual sex doll has more feelings than she could ever hope to have.”

Buck sighs, “Yeah yeah, okay. I get it. You’re not a fan.”

The woman scoffs, “That’s sugarcoating it! Eddie’s practically working himself to death here to pay for his medical school tuition.”

Buck winces, “Oh wow, I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

The woman just glares at him, and Buck knows he needs to do something to make this right,

“Do you have his number? Or his address?”

The woman snaps, “Why, getting him fired wasn’t enough? You wanna get him evicted too?”, then turns away, done with this conversation.

Buck’s head snaps up, “What? No! I just want to apologize.”

What Buck can’t see is a small smile forming on her face, before she turns around, crossing her arms like she can’t wait to hear his explanation.

Buck says in a rush, “Look, I had nothing to do with Taylor getting him fired, okay? Trust me, if I had the first clue she was gonna do that, I would’ve stopped her dead in her tracks.”