Black And Blue-E.Buckley (9-1-1)

Seven

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

Buck and Maddie had both taken the day off from work. They took turns sitting with Eleanor, waiting for her to wake up. The doctors had done tons of tests. Michael had beaten her pretty badly, with lots of bruises and a few fractures but nothing seriously bad. Buck was sitting by the side of her bed, scrolling on his phone when he heard her make noise and start to move.

"Maddie!" Buck yelled into the hallway. He went back to El's bedside and tried to calm her as she started to freak out. "El, it's okay. You're okay, you're safe now." She calmed slightly as her eyes locked on Buck's. He gave her a gentle smile and she grabbed his hand.

Maddie soon appeared by Buck's side, a doctor stood on the other side of the bed. Eleanor kept her eyes locked on Buck.

"How are you feeling Ms. Blair?" The doctor asked as she checked all of Eleanor's stats and charts.

"F-fine," she managed to squeak out. She had been out for hours, they had her on pain medication which was definitely helping right now otherwise she'd probably be screaming in pain.

"Pain on a scale of one to ten?"

Eleanor winced as she tried to move, "Nine." Buck watched her intently, his eyes locked on her every move. Maddie stood beside her brother, concern plastered all over her face.

"I'm gonna give you another dose of meds which should help the pain," the doctor explained before putting medicine into El's IV. "That should take effect soon, you just get some rest, okay? Call if you need anything." The doctor smiled at them before leaving the room.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Maddie spoke as she moved to the other side of the bed.

"Thank you," Eleanor grabbed Maddie's hand. A few tears slipped down El's cheeks.

"I told you we'd be there," Maddie smiled.

"Bobby said Athena's gonna stop by, she wants to talk to you now that you're awake," Buck informed the two. They both nodded in response.

About half an hour later Athena arrived. She knocked on the glass before entering the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Honestly, awful but so grateful to be away from Michael." Athena gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Maddie went to get food, she should be back soon. I know you'll need to talk to us too."

"Nobody's talked to you yet?" Athena asked.

"No, Maddie and I have just been sitting here since we came in. The officers at the scene didn't ask us anything. They looked around and that was it." Athena scoffed. Buck started to stand up to leave the room but Eleanor grabbed his hand. He looked back at her.

"You can stay, please." Buck nodded and sat back down. Athena pulled over the other chair and sat beside El. She pulled out her notepad and pen.

"Okay, I'm just gonna ask you a couple of questions about the events leading up to this. We can stop at any time, let me know if you need a break. Some of these may sound obvious or redundant but I have to ask." Eleanor nodded and Athena continued. "Who did this to you?"

"Michael Spencer."

"What is the relationship between you and Mr. Spencer?"

"He's my fiance."

"And how are things between you two?"

"Awful, he's been abusing me for eight years." Buck tensed beside her, hating what he was hearing.

"Can you tell me what happened? Starting with the night before this incident."

Eleanor took a deep breath before she started. "The night before was fine, nothing happened. I cooked dinner, we ate, Michael watched some TV, and we went to bed. The next morning was fine as well or so I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought everything was fine but apparently he sensed that I was planning to leave. It was a normal, quiet morning. I thought he had left for work, I called Maddie, and I started packing. I kept hearing noises and that's when I realized he was still home."

"And what happened then? Did he say anything to you or just..?" She stopped.

"He threatened me, called me names, blamed me. Do I have to repeat all of it?"

"No, that's okay."

Eleanor nodded. "After that, he just went crazy, there was this look in his eyes." Eleanor started to cry. Buck grabbed her hand. She turned to him, giving him a small smile before continuing. "I thought he was gonna kill me."

Maddie walked in with food just as they were finishing up. She set everything on the counter and listened as Athena talked.

"Thank you, Eleanor. That's all I need right now. Buck and Maddie I just need to take your statements and I'll be out of your hair." Maddie and Buck nodded. They gave Athena their statements which were just about identical as they were together the entire time. Athena finished writing everything down and put her notepad away. "Thank you. Eleanor, I'm glad you're okay. Get some rest." Athena smiled at her before leaving the room.

"Are you hungry?" Maddie asked as she grabbed the bag off the counter.

"A little." Maddie started pulling things out of the bag and setting everything on the table before rolling the table over toward the bed.

"I didn't know what everyone wanted so I just grabbed a little bit of everything," Maddie smiled.

"Thank you. Both of you, I really appreciate you helping me."

"I would've wanted someone to do the same," Maddie smiled at her again.

Buck sat quietly in the corner, picking at some chips but not really eating much as the girls chatted. He had zoned out of their conversation a while ago, getting lost in his own thoughts, and processing all the information he had just heard. It wasn't that long ago that his sister had come to him with the same problem. Though Maddie had spared her brother a lot of the details surrounding her situation. Buck's heart hurt for the women in front of him. They didn't deserve any of this, though he didn't really know Eleanor yet, he did know that she didn't deserve everything she had been through for eight years.

When Buck looked at Eleanor he saw a kind-hearted, beautiful woman. Someone who would give up everything she had to help another person. The kind of woman his parents wished he'd end up with. After eight years of trauma, she still found a way to smile. Michael had never killed the light inside of her, he may have dimmed it a little but it was still there.

Buck couldn't help but stare at her, the way she bonded so quickly and easily with Maddie. Even how quickly she had trusted him. Her smile was enough to light up his whole world..

AN* I'm having trouble deciding what season I wanna base this in :/ I'm thinking either mid season 2 (before Doug dies) or mid season 3. Any thoughts?