Buck's Baby (By Accident)

Apnea

The ride to the daycare was one of the most agonising of Buck's life. His mind was furiously working through all the scenarios it could come up with now that Hen and Chim had stopped talking, everyone else in the truck too shocked to speak. Eddie's hand was clamped around Buck's thigh painfully and when Buck glanced up at him briefly, he could see his jaw was clenched tightly.

"Buck, when we get there, I want you to let Chim and Hen do what they need to do." Bobby instructed, watching Buck carefully in the rear-view mirror. Buck didn't reply, instead focussing hard on keeping his breathing under control, trying not to spiral into a panic-attack. He needed to be strong for his son.

The moment the truck came to a stop outside the daycare, Buck was flying out the side door, clambering over Eddie in his haste to get out.

"Buck!" Eddie's voice barely registered in Buck's mind as he wrenched his wrist from Eddie's grip, the older man tried to hold him back. He expertly dodged Bobby's arms as the fire captain reached out to grab him, and the world seemed to lurch back to full speed as he burst through the doors, Hen and Chim hot on his heels.

"Mr. Buckley, what are you-?" the receptionist exclaimed as he barrelled into the building, a wild look in his eyes.

"Where's my son? Where's Aidan?" he demanded, head flicking from side to side as he searched for any sign of the kid. The receptionist pointed to the main classroom, her hand shaking. Hen and Chimney were one step ahead of Buck, pushing through the doors and dropping to the floor next to a tearful woman, holding a small, limp body in her arms.

The world stopped completely as Buck took in the scene in front of him. Aidan was completely floppy and unresponsive, the only indication of life being the great gasping breaths he was taking. His lips and fingers were blue and his breaths sounded as though his airways were full of fluid, a sound Buck would never forget for the rest of his days. The woman holding Aidan was clutching him close to her chest, rocking back and forth as she begged Aidan to breathe.

"Ma'am, please give us the baby" Hen said firmly, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder. Buck vaguely registered that it was Rebecca, the lady he'd left Aidan with that morning. She obliged, transferring Aidan into Hen's arms, and stepping out of the way, a hand over her mouth as she tried to stem the flow of tears.

Hen gently laid Aidan down on the floor and unbuttoned his onesie, exposing his chest so Chim could fix the EKG leads. Buck's heart was in his mouth as he watched Aidan breathe, the skin in his chest exposing his rib cage and his abdomen contracting with each, painstaking breath. Hen fitted an infant sats probe to his foot and helped Chimney set up the EKG. Buck was dimly aware of Eddie and Bobby's arrival, the sharp intake of breath from the former notifying Buck of his presence.

"His oxygen sats are at 85% and dropping Chim, we need to bag him, now" Hen's voice brought him back to the present and he watched as Chimney scrabbled around in the equipment bag for the neonatal bag valve mask, attaching the tubing to the end of the oxygen cylinder they'd carried with them.

"Setting oxygen to 15 litres per minute" Chimney responded and knelt behind Aidan's head, tilting back the baby's head so the airway was patent. He held Aidan's head, his hand cupped around the mask over the baby's face in a c shape, leaving his fingers free to hold his jaw open. Chimney squeezed the bag and relief washed over Buck as he saw Aidan's chest rise. It was only then did he notice he'd been holding his own breath and he let it out in a quick rush, breathing deeply through his nose as black spots appeared in his vision.

"Hen?" he asked, his voice quiet and breaking. "Hen is he going to be okay?".

Hen looked grimly up at Buck.

"He's – he's not well Buck. He's tachycardic, almost certainly hypoxic, and he's got a fever of 103. My guess is, based off the sounding of his breathing and his chest retractions when he tries to breathe, he's probably got RSV with combined pneumonia. We need to get him transported right away".