Firehouse Oasis 118

42. Bobby

The moment that he laid eyes on Buck in that crowded train station was one of the biggest moments of relief Bobby had ever experienced. He'd started to wonder if maybe this was his punishment for what he did to his parents. That maybe all that he suffered at Thurmond wasn't enough and now he was fated to love so many amazing people and then lose them too.

He didn't think he'd be able to bear it, losing any of the 118, and certainly not Buck. The kid who'd looked at him and said 'I don't care what you are or what you've done, I'm still just going to sit here and look up to you and maybe annoy you a bit too until you start acting like you deserve it.'

They'd all been there for him, they'd all supported him, and when they found out the truth they'd all loved him anyways. Still though, there was something special about Buck, and he wasn't sure he could handle losing the kid.

Maybe there was some truth to the way they'd all always joked about Buck being his kid the way Denny was Hen's and Chris was Eddie's. He'd seen Eddie practically crumble when he'd heard about the dam breaking, and Bobby had felt himself crumble a bit too. He wasn't sure he would have had that reaction if Buck wasn't at least a little bit his.

He didn't say anything about this revelation though, not when Eddie's legs had gone out from under him and his knees had hit the ground with a thud. It wasn't the time now, as the others worked to get Eddie back to his feet he'd started scanning the crowd. Not just with his eyes, but with his mind too, feeling out for a familiar mind somewhere.

He was met with a barrage of chaos so loud and jarring that he almost passed out. He wasn't sure why he'd been able to seek Athena out mentally but not Buck. Maybe it was because he'd had eyes on Athena, and had been able to fixate on her amongst the crowd, like a lighthouse in a stormy sea. Maybe the chaos of the station was too much for his mind without being able to tie one of his physical senses to the kid. Maybe it was because he'd been inside Athena's mind before today but had never been inside Buck's.

Maybe it was because Buck was dead, a traitorous voice in the back of his mind whispered. Maybe there was nothing to feel or find.

He stretched his mind out further, searching the surrounding areas for Buck's mind. He could feel his body being tugged along by Hen and Chim, who'd reformed their human chain from before to search the crowd. He was only distantly aware of his body though, his mind was elsewhere. He could feel the minds of everyone around him, it was too much, if he was honest, the buzz of billions and trillions of electrical synapses firing. There were a few spots of solace though, familiar minds that welcomed him back, they were the hums of a familiar lullaby amongst a storm of static. It wasn't actually all that different to the white noise, if he was honest.

He held fast though, kept searching, even as his mind brushed up against Chimney's first, then Maddie and Athena's, and finally Eddie's. All the minds that his had once known. No others though, all the rest were indistinguishable, including Hen's, despite how familiar she was to him her mind was not familiar to his. Neither was Buck's, and that gave Bobby hope even though he couldn't feel Buck anywhere.

He still kept searching with his mind, Hen and Chim could handle the physical search while dragging his body along. Besides, what was the point in God having given him these powers if he couldn't use them to do some good? To help the people he cared about?

What was the point of being able to hear when kids were about to die if you could never stop it? The torturous voice from before whispered again in his mind.

He suddenly felt like something had grabbed at his ribs and yanked him forward. Such a strong and startling sensation that it took him a moment to realize that he was seeing double, two incongruous images suddenly overlaying each other. There, across the room, was Buck and Eddie standing there in the crowd, but at the same time, there was Buck standing right in front of him.