Ready Made Relationship

The Strands He Hangs From

Buck had spent most of the day with a shovel in his hands and TK beside him, Mateo Chavez on TK's other side.

"So," Mateo's voice drifted into Buck's ears, giving him a sweet relief from the agonising pain of his left leg. He was silently cursing himself for forgetting to take his pain medication before he started with physical labour. He'd been warned about the chronic pain that would probably never leave him and had been set up with an ongoing prescription of strong pain meds. "LA, huh?"

Buck thought that the question must be rhetorical since their earlier conversation had already confirmed it, but Mateo turned to him and tilted his head in confusion when Buck didn't answer at first.

"Um," Buck tried to push the confusion from his voice as he answered. TK snickering quietly beside him. "Yeah."

"I have a cousin in LA. His name is Marvin." Mateo looked down at his work and then swung his eyes back up to Buck as though waiting for him to have a sudden realisation about the person to whom that name belonged.

"Well, LA's a big place." Buck shrugged, not dismissive simply stating facts.

"Yeah, no, of course," Mateo turned back to his work, and Buck was prepared to do the same, already berating himself for forgetting the painkillers again. "His second name is Chavez." Mateo looked up at him, hopefully.

Buck sighed.

"I don't think so, man." He shook his head at Mateo with a tight-lipped smile. "Marvin Chavez, not ringing any bells." He shrugged again.

For a moment, the three were able to exist in silence again. Buck knew it wouldn't last long, Mateo was reminding him more of Chris with every passing second. Chris would ask more questions than that, Buck expected that Mateo would, too.

"You must get some pretty wild calls there," Mateo mumbled.

"I'm sure ours are not all that different from yours." Buck responded, his shovel striking the ground again.

"You ever been called to Disney land?" Mateo asked.

"That's Orange County." Buck answered.

"LA, right?" Mateo's face scrunched up in confusion, and Buck felt himself soften physically. The kid was a lot like Christopher but also like Buck had been when he was a lot younger. Clever but lacking in some areas, geography obviously one of them.

"You know," Buck stopped, digging his shovel into the ground so that he could lean on the top of it. "We did do a rescue at an amusement park once." He felt the frown grow on his face as he remembered Devon. "A roller coaster malfunctioned and got stuck hanging upside down from a loop-de-loop. It threw one kid out. He was dead as soon as he hit the ground, but the guy that was sitting next to him was hanging on by his bare hands." Buck couldn't help but feel a bit of pride that Devon was able to think clearly enough to hold on for at least a little while, guilt quickly overwhelmed any positive emotion but he was glad it had been there. That surely meant that Buck was improving.

"You saved a guy that was hanging from a roller coaster?" Mateo's look of awe felt like a fence post going through Buck's chest.

"No, I didn't. He let go."

"That's rough, Buck." TK looked up, speaking for the first time since he'd picked up his shovel. He looked at Buck with concern. "You okay, brother?"

"Not really, but you know me, Teeks. I've always been oversensitive about that kind of thing." They met eyes, TK's crinkling with mirth at the incredibly dark inside joke. Buck laughed loudly despite the encroaching thoughts of how he could have saved Devon.

"I almost lost a woman last month. She almost drowned in less than a foot of water. Bus she was in flipped upside down and she got pinned under something. That was wild!" TK drawled, clearly trying to take Mateo's attention from Buck, who he knew was spiralling.