Sideways

Chapter 9 Tag Team Champs

"You're a sperm donor! You have never been that boy's father!" Bobby answers back as he pokes Phillip in the chest with every word. "I am the closest thing he has to a father, and I will, by god, never let you anywhere near him ever again!

"What the fuck are the two of you doing here?" Eddie yells, directing his voice at the Buckley parents.

"Did you do this? Did you let my son get hurt?" Phillip barks as he turns away from Bobby to face Eddie.

"Yeah, I just happened to have a spare bolt of lightning in my back pocket and decided to throw it at Buck for shits and giggles." Eddie turns to face Maddie. "What the actual fuck is wrong with them? He asks her.

"Why are you here?" Maddie asks her parents.

Margaret speaks up from behind Phillip. "We have been trying to call both of you all day. We were in the hotel room when we saw the news. There is a video of Evan hanging from and falling off the ladder."

"Well, that's just fucking great!" Eddie says while shaking his head.

"Decisions are going to need to be made about his care. But, as his parents, we should be the ones making the decisions." Phillip says as Margaret shakes her head in agreement.

"That's fucking rich." Eddie balks at both of them. "Where have you been the last five fucking years? Where were you when his leg was crushed by the ladder truck? When he had his embolism? When was he caught in a tsunami? Where the fuck were you when he actually needed you?"

"I don't think you understand how hard it is to see your child in the hospital." Margaret says.

"Oh, I know hard it is to see your son in the hospital. Because I have been there every fucking time!" Eddie screams down at Margaret, "You don't get a participation trophy for showing up once, and you don't get to make decisions regarding his care."

"Oh, and you think you do? Do you think that's your place? Phillip says mockingly.

"Have you tried talking to the hospital?" Maddie asks with an evil smile on her face.

"We were in the emergency room asking for updates. They wouldn't tell us anything about the firefighter brought in. We didn't realize there was more than one of you injured." Margaret says as she points to Eddie. "They told us they didn't have a patient named Evan Buckley. Then we saw Howard and joined them here."

Maddie lets out a cackle.

The door opens, and a new nurse comes in, "Excuse me, is there an Edmundo in here?" Eddie raises his hand. "Sir, we need you to sign this authorization to proceed with his surgery." He hands Eddie the clipboard, Eddie quickly signs, and the nurse leaves.

"What a minute, what surgery? Was that for Evan? Did you just approve him to have surgery? Phillip asks.

"Yes." Eddie says simply.

"What gives you the right?"

"I am his medical proxy."

'NO, YOU'RE NOT."

"Yes, he is." Maddie smiles at her parents.

Hen, Chim, and Bobby's heads volleying back and forth between Eddie, Maddie, and the Buckleys.

"Evan would never appoint some random man as his emergency contact." Margaret says to Maddie.

"Random man?" Maddie scoffs at her mother. "Eddie has been a major part of Buck's life for five years. He has been there through everything. Even when I wasn't. Eddie has more than earned that right."

"Listen here, Ed Man Do; you need to discuss and get approval from us before you make any other decisions about Evan's care."

"The fuck I do." Eddie barks at them.