Buck's Baby (By Accident)

Cranberries

It was safe to say Aidan's first Halloween had been a resounding success. Christopher had joined them back at Buck's house around 9pm, just before Eddie could start properly worrying about his son's wellbeing. The kid hadn't managed to get to sleep until close on midnight, however, owing to the large amount of sugar he'd consumed before stepping through Buck's door. Buck had watched with amusement as Eddie spent the rest of the evening trying to wrangle the kid into bed, peaceful in the knowledge that his own son was fast asleep down the hall.

True to his word, Buck had fired off photos of Eddie dressed as Voldemort to the 118, giggling all night as he received their replies. When they were at work the next day, Chimney hadn't stopped teasing the poor man. Buck eventually stepped in, worried that Eddie would refuse to participate next year if he copped too much grief. Hen had very diplomatically told Eddie that she thought it was very supportive of him to dress up to make his son and boyfriend's Halloween as memorable as it could be. Eddie had perked up slightly at this and admitted that he had actually enjoyed himself, even if the makeup itched and the bald cap made him look close to 60.

Despite only having been officially dating for almost two months (and being a situation ship for a whole month before that too), Buck and Eddie had settled into a good routine. Eddie and Christopher stayed at Buck's house 5 out of the 7 nights of the week, and would spend the weekends at their place. These nights generally tended to be the ones when Aidan would have his worst sleeps. Buck would put Aidan to bed early in anticipation of a difficult night and would hover outside his room, waiting until Aidan's cries turned from insistent to inconsolable, at which point he would reluctantly haul the sobbing boy from his crib and bring him into the lounge, where he would set up his phone and Facetime Eddie. The second Eddie's face would appear on the screen, Aidan's wails would turn to sad little hiccups as he calmed down almost instantly.

Buck found it especially heartbreaking the first time Aidan tiredly pointed at Eddie's image and whispered "Papa" as he settled against Buck's chest, eyes fluttering shut as Eddie's voice lulled him, finally, to sleep. When this became a regular thing on the weekends (and when Eddie admitted he kept his phone next to him at Aidan's bedtime, just in case), Buck couldn't help but wonder if it wouldn't just be easier if Eddie and Christopher moved in with him permanently. He went round and round in his head about asking Eddie, convincing himself that it was too early for them to take this next step, but after a lot of thinking (and a frank conversation with Maddie in which she pointed out that Eddie basically lived with him anyways), he decided to pop the question, as it were.

It was mid-November, the week before Thanksgiving that Buck finally plucked up the courage to float the idea past Eddie. The two were lounging on one of Buck's couches as they watched a movie, Buck's long legs spread out in front of him as he propped his feet up on the coffee table, Eddie curled into his side with his head resting on Buck's chest. Aidan, now a master crawler, was merrily scooting around the floor of the lounge, occasionally coming to a rest underneath Buck's legs and grinning toothily at his father. Christopher was set up at the dining table, pages of information spread around him as he worked on a project that was due the following Monday. Buck was absentmindedly scratching Eddie's head as he observed his son. He'd had to set up baby gates all over the house now the boy was mobile, a decision he'd made after finding Aidan in the bathroom, trying to pull himself up on the bathtub. Buck reached over and paused the film, clearing his throat nervously.

Eddie looked up in confusion. "Everything okay?" he asked, pushing himself off Buck.

"Yeah, everything's fine" Buck replied, hesitating for a second before continuing. "I was just thinking – you and Chris spend a lot of time here, right?".

Eddie peered at him suspiciously. "Yes?" he queried, drawing out the vowel.

Buck rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Like, more than you're at your own place".