Anatomy • Eddie's daughter

The Bloodied Brick Wall

25

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"Two birds on a wire
One says, "C'mon"
and the other says, "I'm tired""
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"I need some help here!" Eddie called out as he watched a man collapse. The firefighters rushed over to him, allowing Eddie to turn around and make his way to a different area.

He looked around the area, not really knowing what he was looking for, but it certainly wasn't an injured Buck.

"Buck?" Eddie walked towards him in concern. "Wait, what are you doing here? Are you okay?" Eddie looked over Buck's face, inspecting the cut scraps that littered it. "Wait, where's Christopher and Jo."

"Eddie" Buck said weakly making Eddie burrow his eyebrows.

Buck looks past Eddie as a man calls out orders, but Eddie's eyes never leave Buck.

Except when they traveled down to his chest.

"Why do you have his glasses?"

Buck tries to think about his words but his brain is too loud right now, which makes it hard to form sentences.

"We— me, and Christopher and Joey, we were— at the beach, and--um- and listen to me, okay?" Buck says as he stumbles over his words. Eddie's heart slowly sinks to his feet. "I swear to you, okay, I tried And I just-"

Eddie stares at Buck for a few seconds before dropping his eyes down to his feet, his whole body going numb.

Oh God

"Eddie, I just don't know how to say it." Buck and Eddie stand there for a minute, the silence suffocating them.

"He--he just— he just vanished and Jo-"

Tears rush up to Eddie's eyes as he looks up to Buck but before their eyes can meet, they meet a figure behind Buck.

"Christopher?"

Buck looks up to Eddie with a pained expression, that is until his eyes follow Eddie to the young boy who stands behind him.

"Christopher?"

"Dad!"

Eddie's heart lifts slightly, while Buck chokes back a sob and stumbles back.

"My God! Thank you. Thank you."

The rest of the conversation is drowned out when a hand is placed on his shoulder, and three figures appear in his eyesight. "Buck, what happened to you?"

Buck ignores the question and stares at Chris and Eddie.

Bobby trains his eyes on Buck but throws a quick glance at the interaction. "You two okay?"

No, Buck wasn't okay. Josie was still out there. But at least he could feel some hope bubble up in his chest.

————-

Eddie was an absolute mess. Chris had been checked out by Hen and Chimney about 20 minutes ago and now he sat in a hospital bed under a tent next to Maddie, who got here extremely fast.

Buck sat in a different tent, not being able to look or see Eddie. He wanted to jump out of the bed and find Josie.

He owed that to Eddie.

Now, the whole team + Lena stood around Bobby as they listened to his orders. "Keep your eyes out for anyone who is hurt or injured. Check in every couple of minutes. We move fast but carefully."