We Can Help

Chapter Two

Buck couldn't breathe, he could get half a breath if he concentrated but it hurt so bad he wanted to stop, stop hurting.
He knew there was a knife in his chest, his lung had been punctured and probably collapsed. The knife was still sticking out of him.
Buck heard his radio but couldn't move to respond.
"Firefighter Buckley what's your location?"
Buck tried to move his hand up but felt so weak he had surely lost a ton of blood which was weird because he only had one small wound, had he been hurt somewhere else too?
"Firefighter Buckley please respond!" This time it was louder, Buck recognized the voice, Bobby.
Buck took another shallow breath and clenched his teeth before forcing his hand to move up to his radio, he tried to talk but his voice wouldn't work so instead he pushed the button in and back out in the pattern for "S O S".
'. . . - - - . . .' Went through the radio.
"SOS? Buck are you okay?"
'. . . - - - . . .'
"Buckley! Push once if you can't talk"
'.'
"Are you injured?" A voice, no Eddies voice said.
Nothing.
"Push once for yes twice for no" Bobby added in.
'.'
"Where are you Buck?"

"Can you remember?"
'. .'
"Cap I think he was near the front of the pileup"
'.'
"Okay Buck we are on our way, stay awake for us." Bobby spoke through and called out for a medic.
The team arrived shortly and found a bloody and now unconscious Buck with a knife in his chest.
Hen and Chim got to work quickly and checked his vitals confirming,
"He's alive, pulse is weak" Chim spoke.
Bobby and Eddie let out a sigh of relief and Chim and Hen got to work stabilizing the knife and then putting him on a gurney.
After a few seconds buck roused to consciousness.
His eyes fluttered open and he tried to take a big breath, but he was still unable too, it was a little better with the oxygen mask but he felt faint again from lack of oxygen.
Chim and hen loaded him in the ambulance and Eddie drove and Bobby sat in the back holding onto Buck.
"He can't breathe, his lung is collapsed!" Chim yelled.
"We need to make an incision to relive the pressure and allow it to expand" Hen said and grabbed scissors and cut Bucks shirt, while she preformed the procedure Bobby saw Buck's blade fall from his pocket onto the floor and quickly picked it up, pocketing it and making a mental note to give it back so buck didn't use something unsafe to hurt himself.
"Okay and I gotta put in the tubing— annnndddd done" Hen paused, "if he doesn't start breathing soon we're gonna have to start compressions..."
After a couple seconds of waiting Hen spoke.
"Starting compress—" she was cut off by a sharp breath from Buck.
She and Bobby sighed a sigh of relief.
The ride to the hospital was smooth and after around 5 minutes Buck regained consciousness.
"Ghnnnn" was all he could groan out
"Buck! Welcome back" Hen said startled by his voice.
"How do you feel?" Bobby asked him.
"....l-like" Buck stopped to clear his throat, "Like I g-got stabbed"
"Yeah I bet, wanna tell us how you managed that?" Hen asked with her concerned mom face.
"A- a guy, he tried to hit me- I- I blocked him, and- and he didn't l-like that" Buck stuttered out.
"Why was he upset in the first place?" Bobby asked this time.
"His wife- I, I coul-dn't save her..."
"So he pulled a knife on you?" Chim stated more than asked.
Buck nodded slowly.
The rig arrived at the hospital in a few more minutes and Buck was stable by the end of the ride, the whole team including Eddies son, Christopher, was in the waiting room waiting for Buck.
A couple hours later Buck walked out on his own two feet surprising the team.
"Why do you look so sad?" He said smiling.
Everyone sitting jumped up and ran to hug him.
"Ow-Ow! I got stabbed!" Buck yelled when he was hugged to tightly.
A chorus of "Sorry Buck" 's were heard.
"The real question is why aren't you in bed resting mister 'I got stabbed'?" Hen asked.
"They let me go cause I'm a frequent flyer, they just said no heavy lifting and call an ambulance if I can't breathe, I'm good really" Buck said and smiled.
"I'll drive you home Buck" Chim spoke up.
"Maddie and Jee-Yun are already at your apartment anyways" he added.
"Of course they are" Buck smiled and shook his head.
Everyone went home.

Bobby sat down at his table twirling the blade in his hand wondering how Buck could possibly hurt himself with it.
"Bobby? What's that?" Athena asked her husband.
"Are you alright?" She asked again.
"Huh? Yes I'm fine! This isn't mine." Bobby said
"then who's is it..." Athena asked confused
" it's Bucks.... He told me earlier today that he can't Quit hurting himself"
"Oh that poor child" Athena said thinking of her own children in that situation.
"So he gave it to you?" She asked.
"No it fell out of his pocket when Hen cut his shirt after he was stabbed, I forgot to give it back to him"
"Give it back—? What he's hurting himself with it!" Athena was confused.
" i- 'Thena I have to give it back to him, granted after a good cleaning, I'd much rather him hurt himself with a sterile dull razor than something else, he'll get an infection" Bobby reasoned.
"You have a point, but I don't like it." Athena told Bobby.
"I don't either I want to just lock him up in a cell and keep all the sharp things away from him."
"Just admit it, he's a son to you" Athena Joked.
"He is, but I'd never tell him that" Bobby said.
The couple sat in silence for a few minutes before Bobby spoke again.
"Could we house him here? Like in the guest room while he gets clean, I'm sorry if I'm overstepping"
"No! No nonsense this is your house too, and I think that would be good as well, to keep an eye on him, but would he agree?"
"I don't plan on giving him a choice, at least until he's a couple weeks clean"

Ringgggg

"Oh that's my phone" Bobby grabbed his phone and saw it was Buck.
"It's 10:30 at night why's buck calling?" He said while answering the phone.
"Hey Buck what's up?.............. are you okay?.................. what'd you use?............ I'll come get you............. Yeah do I need to call an ambulance?............. Are you sure?............ okay, Bye"
"What happened?" Athena asked.
"I have to go get him, he hurt himself again, it's worse than before I'm picking him up at his apartment so can you get the guest room ready for him Please?"
"Yeah sure, you might want too grab a few of his things too"
"Okay I love you honey"
"Love you"
Bobby grabbed his keys and walked out the door, he got in his car and drove to Bucks apartment.

"Buck? Can you open the door?" Bobby said while he knocked on the apartment door.
"Uh, yeah uh hold on" Buck said while sniffing and wiping his eyes.
Buck opened the door in grey sweat pants and a blue long sleeved shirt. His eyes were a little puffy and red but otherwise he looked fine.
"Uh come in" Buck said and walked to his kitchen island, sitting down, and wincing when his pants brushed against his thighs.
"Bu- Evan. can I see them?"
"Wow using my first name you must be mad" Buck joked.
"I'm not mad I just want to see if your okay, please can I see them?"
It was then that Bobby noticed the red blond forming on Bucks pants.
"Buck your pants are turning red"
Buck looked down and audibly gulped before pulling his pants down to his knees showing Bobby all his cuts and scars.
Buck felt weird about it, he had never shown anyone such a vulnerable part of himself.
He had deep scars some looking as old as several years ago while some were just a week into healing, the various stages of healing told Bobby that Buck has been selfharming everyday or every couple days. The brand new cuts were still bleeding profusely, but only one of them looked bad enough to need stitches. Bobby grabbed gauze and bandages from Bucks first-aid kit and started cleaning the wounds with disinfectant, earning a hiss here and there.
"Sorry Bud." Bobby said.
Despite the pain Buck was in he couldn't help but smile hearing Bobby call him 'Bud'
"This one might need stitches" Bobby told Buck.
"No! No please it's fine the way it is!" Buck tried to reason.
"Buck come on please, I'm not saying it has to have them for sure but I am saying it might."
Bobby finished wrapping Buck's wounds in bandages and cleaned up after himself.
"What did you use to do this Buck?"
"...."
"Buck please tell me"
"The.... The box cutter...." Buck said lifting his hand to the direction of a bloody yellow cutter.
"What triggered it this time?" Bobby asked while walking up the stairs and grabbing a few pairs of pants, shirts, socks, and underwear and shoving it in Bucks bag.
"Nothing in particular I just feel like I need too" Buck explained.
"You can always call me, before you do it I mean, not after"
Buck stayed silent for a moment before changing the subject.
"What are you doing with my stuff?"
"Your coming to my house."
"................ What?" Buck asked Confused

WC 1622