Stay, For Me

two

He nodded and finally broke the hug, just long enough to kiss me.

*Buck's P.O.V.*

I couldn't process what had happened, I acted on instinct and kissed him. The second our lips met there was a spark within me, fire coursed through my veins as I stood there kissing Eddie. After a few seconds Eddie put his hands on my hips, pulled me closer and deepened the kiss. I got lost in the closeness of our bodies and the feeling of his strong, yet gentle touch. Our kiss didn't last super long, less than a minute in reality, but it felt like an eternity. I pulled back from Eddie and stared into his brilliant hazel eyes. There was such an deep intimacy between us as neither one of us made an attempt to move away from the other.

"I'm sorry Buck," Eddie whispered, "I'm sorry for everything I've put you through. I was selfish and I didn't even think of you when I made this decision. You've come to me for everything and I just completely sidestepped you with this. I can't imagine how much this hurt you, and I didn't even think about that. The truth is that I don't know what to think anymore Buck, I'm lost and don't know what to do. You were right, I was too ignorant and stuck up to see how much you were hurting. Before today I've never heard someone scream in so much pain, but hearing your cries broke me. I love you Evan Buckley, and I'm so sorry that it took so long for me to say it."

"I'm sorry too Edmundo," I replied gently, "I shouldn't have said the things I said. I know that you always have Chris' best interests in mind and you'd never use him as an excuse. I pushed you too far and I'm sorry. Honestly when I heard you say you were leaving everything just stopped. I couldn't process what was going on and I overreacted, I let my emotions take over Eddie. I wasn't hearing the logic behind your reasoning, all I heard was you were leaving me. After Bobby pulled me away, I broke down and I cried."

I stood there looking at Eddie, searching for something but I didn't know what.

"You were right though," Eddie responded, "I wasn't thinking straight, I was scared. I was afraid because Christopher made me realize how many times I've almost died on this job. I was even more afraid of losing myself to this job and ignoring Chris."

I threw my arms around Eddie and hugged him tightly. When I finally broke the hug I could tell that everything would be okay.

"As much as I hate to interrupt such a tender moment," Athena said firmly, "we're ready to leave now and neither one of you have a car here. We're all heading back to my place now for a little get together."

Eddie and I looked around and noticed almost everybody had left already.

"Before you two even think about hitching separate rides," Bobby said with finality, "You're both riding with us cause all the other cars are conveniently filled already. So come on you two let's go."

I felt myself swallow before nodding and following Bobby and Athena. Eddie followed behind me as we walked back towards Athena's car. I opened the door for Eddie and then scooted to the other side and got in. I heard the click of the door locking and both Bobby and Athena turned around to look at us.

"What the hell happened out there?" Bobby questioned, "I didn't expect it to go super smoothly because I could see how you two felt about each other but I wasn't expecting that. So you wanna explain to me why two of my best firefighters were acting like a couple of stupid teenagers in the locker room?"

"I overreacted," I responded, "I heard he was leaving and everything in me just shut down. Every ounce of self control I had went out the window, and suddenly I was back to being that kid driven by emotions. I lost control and I overreacted and I made a fool of myself. I just wanted to feel something other than heartbreak and betrayal."