Sideways

Chapter 14 Fathers and Sons

Sunday, December 4th

"Eds."

"Hey, Eds."

"Babe, you need to wake up."

Eddie feels fingers running through his hair as he starts to wake up.

"You can't stay like that, Eddie. You're going to be hurting all day." Buck's voice says softly.

Eddie sits up with a jolt.

"Buck?" Eddie looks at Buck, one eye open, the other partly shut. "You're really awake? That wasn't a dream."

Buck reaches over and cups Eddies jaw softly. "I'm here, Eddie. We both fell asleep. But you need to get up. You need to go and get Chris."

Eddie sits back and yawns. "What time is it?" He says groggily.

"I don't even know what day it is. Never mind what time it is." Buck jokes back. "But the sun is up, so your son is up."

"Our son." Eddie grumbles as he stretches and yawns, as he lightly massages his neck. "Are you sure you're ready?"

Buck nods confidently. "I need to see him, Eddie."

"Buck..."

"Eddie, I know you're trying to protect your son...." Buck starts to say.

"Our son." Eddie, "Say it, Buck."

"Oo-our son." Buck says.

"Buck, I am not trying to protect either one of you from the other. I want to make sure you're ready. You were in a coma for a week. The 118 bombarded you yesterday." Eddie yawns again. "Seeing Chris is going to be hard on all of us. He took this really hard."

"I need to make this right, Eddie."

"You can't, Buck. There is no way to undo this." Eddies says. "We need to get through this together."

"I need to; I need to...." Buck pauses, not sure how to finish.

"You need to be there for him. That's all he needs." Eddie stands up, pulls his phone out of his pocket, and reads his texts. "He's awake. He doesn't know you're awake yet. So, we don't have to tell him yet. If you need more time, that's OK."

"No. Eddie, I need to see my son." Buck says confidently.

Eddie smirks at Buck.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Eddie says while looking in the air smugly. "I'm going to freshen up. You good for a minute?" Buck nods back at him.

Eddie walks out of the bathroom a few minutes later to find Bobby sitting at Buck's bedside. Eddie briefly thinks about their argument the night Buck was hurt and tries to shake it off.

"Morning, Cap." Eddie says grumpier than he meant to.

"Eddie," Bobby says back, nodding at him. Bobby then lifts a cup of coffee off the table and hands it to Eddie as he walks closer.

"Have you been here all night, Eddie?"

"Yeah, he wouldn't leave." Buck says.

"Buck, I'm not leaving you by yourself."

"Eddie, you need to take care of yourself. You were hurt too." Bobby says.

"Save it, Bobby." Eddie snaps back.

"Did I miss something between the two of you?" Buck asks.

"No." Eddie says. "Yes." Bobby says.

"Well, which is it?"