Black And Blue-E.Buckley (9-1-1)

TwentyFive

Will never let it get close to bein' toxic

And I promise I'll never walk away

"Why are we having dinner with Bobby and Athena again?" Buck asked as they approached the house.

"Because they're our friends and friends have dinner together sometimes."

Buck just nodded and continued walking. He looked at Eleanor slightly confused when they reached the door and it was slightly ajar. Eleanor just nudged him along. 

"Surprise!" everyone yelled as they reached the stairs. Buck's face lit up as he looked around the room. 

He looked behind him to Eleanor and gave her a huge smile. "Did you do this?"

"Me and Maddie," she smiled.

Buck made his way through the room stopping here and there to talk. "He looks happy," Maddie commented as she and Chim walked over to Eleanor. 

"Yeah, well, he passed so," Eleanor shrugged and walked away. She and Maddie were still slightly estranged. Eleanor was just trying to do what was best for her and Buck but Maddie didn't always agree. 

Eleanor walked toward the back porch in search of Buck but found Eddie instead. "Hey," he greeted, wrapping her in an embrace and kissing her cheek. Eleanor hugged him back. "Long day?"

She nodded. "I sat by the phone half the day but he did it, he passed."

"That's great, I'm happy for him. What about you?"

Eleanor sighed, "I failed."

Eddie could sense the disappointment in her tone. "Do you want me to help you? We could make flashcards, Christopher is great with that actually," they shared a laugh. "Seriously though, I can help you study."

"Buck and I tried flashcards, mock quizzes, everything," she sighed again.

"Let me take a shot at it." Eleanor smiled and nodded.

"Buck!" Christopher yelled. Buck smiled and walked in their direction. 

"Hey buddy," Buck kneeled down so that he was at Christopher's height.

"This is for you."

Buck took the card from Christopher, "Wow, thanks, buddy. This is great." Buck smiled.

"It's you and me."

"Oh and what's that?"

Eddie bent down to their level. "It's a surfboard, right? He'd obsessed." 

"'Dear Buck, you are an awesome firefighter. Love Christopher.' Very sweet Christopher, thank you." Buck hugged him. 

****

"I can't believe you managed to keep this a secret," Buck wrapped his arm around Eleanor, pulling her closer to his side. 

"Well, we wanted to do something nice for you," Maddie chimed in.

"Yeah, especially after all the hard work you've put in. I never doubted you," Eleanor said putting emphasis on the I. 

Buck watched as Chim came over with a plate of cake, not even noticing the staring match between the girls. 

"There's cake?"

"Uh, two cakes," Chim smiled.

"We weren't sure how today was gonna go," Maddie added. 

"So we had another one on standby in case you crashed and burned that said 'Better Buck next time'" Eleanor shook her head and walked away. 

Eddie grabbed her arm, pulling her aside as she walked through the crowd of people. "Everything okay?"

"Just so tired of everyone's doubt." Eddie raised an eyebrow. "Maddie, she's been doubting him the entire time. I understand that it was a bad injury and he's still got a long journey but every time she said something about him not being a firefighter anymore it broke him. I was the one who sat there every night with him and listened, not her. The possibility of him going back to work was the only thing that pushed him and kept him going. If it wasn't for that hope, he would have given up on his recovery. And they just don't understand it," she sighed.

Eddie reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I know it sucks to sit there and listen to that, trust me, I know. But Buck knows who was there, he knows who believed in him and who didn't." 

"Buck!" someone yelled. Eleanor turned so quickly that she got a little dizzy. Her eyes searched frantically for Buck. When she finally spotted him he was on the ground. She ran as quickly as she could, Eddie right behind her.

****

"You got lucky. Most people who suffer a pulmonary embolism don't do it surrounded by trained medical professionals. It saved your life."

"So what caused the blood clot?" Eleanor stood by Buck's, fingers intertwined with his.

"Clots, plural. There's the one that hit his lungs and then there's two more in his leg. As to the cause, it's unclear."

"Yeah, but he just got a clean bill of health last week. This came out of nowhere," Chim added.

"Did it? No pain or tenderness in the leg? Skin discoloration, swelling?"

"I thought I just pulled a muscle or something. Okay, I've been training for my LAFD recertification test." Maddie gave a disappointed look to Buck and Eleanor.

"Well, that's not surprising. Training hard can lead to dehydration which can increase the risk of clots."

"Okay, um, well, great. Look I'm not dead. You found the clots. When can I get out of here?"

"We'll move you to a room. Keep you on the anticoagulants. Tomorrow we'll run some more tests. And then, we'll see."

"Thanks, doc," Chim looked around at the looks on everyone's faces. "You know what, I'm gonna go tell everyone that you're okay. Let them know that you're staying all night."

"When did your leg start bothering you?" Maddie was trying to stay calm and keep her voice down.

"Like a day or two ago. Maddie, I was not ignoring this okay? I didn't know what it was. I thought I had a leg cramp or something."

"Yeah, well, you need to be more careful. Because if this had happened when you were alone you could have died."

"But I didn't okay? I just passed out-"

Maddie cut him off, "Yeah, just passed out after vomiting up blood."

"What? I don't- I don't remember that. I vomited up blood? At Bobby and Athena's house?"

Maddie turned on Eleanor next. "And you didn't notice any of this?"

"Don't you think that if I had I would have done something?" Maddie rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'm not him, I don't know what goes on in his body and I'm kinda busy too. I didn't see anyone else staying up late with him, cooking for him, taking care of him 24/7."

"Too busy to notice he's in pain?"

"Hey," Buck butted in. "Don't take it out on her, I didn't tell her. Every time she asked I said I was fine."

Maddie huffed and rolled her eyes at the two before walking away.

**A/N: I am so so sorry for such a long delay. I've been dealing with a lot and it's been a very very crappy couple of weeks. Trying to get back on my normal update schedule now.