Never mess with us again

chapter two

two months later

As the firemen came up the stairs Bobby had to smile, because Eddie was among them. It had been far too long since he'd seen him in uniform. And it was as if the oppressive atmosphere that had hung over the fire station for far too many weeks had been lifted a little.

"Sit down, dinner will be ready soon," the Cap said. And shortly after he noticed how quiet Eddie was.
Eddie excused himself to go to the bathroom as soon, as his plate was empty. This was the eighth time that day. Hen and Bobby looked at each other. Something wasn't right. But Buck shouldn't worry about Eddie. They would try to figure out later what they could do to support him without calling in the Buckley-Han cavalry.

meanwhile with Chris

Carla never expected to go back to school. While her little friend sat with his group of friends, looking over periodically to see if she was still there. She tried to solve the math problem like everyone else, but somehow it was harder than she remembered. She could remember the names of over 100 medications, the medical history of all her patients, etc. She knew how much medicine a person of a certain height and weight needed, and how to keep people calm and entertained. But this math problem.

She sighed as her smartphone vibrated again, it was Eddie. Christopher's father was almost buried under more anxiety than his son. And she couldn't blame him. When she found out he was gone, and then when she found out he'd been kidnapped. Just the thought of that time almost made her heart skip a beat. How must his parents have felt? Buck seemed to cope better than Eddie. She wasn't sure if it was because Buck still had to go through the process with Chris and didn't have time to process everything. He buried himself in researching how he could give his son all the support he could in every minute, he had without Chris. He called nearly 20 counselors, sought advice, and brought in Bobby, Maddie, and Eddie to help him decide which one to use. Carla was stunned when she walked into the kitchen one day and saw the huge pile of documents. When she asked about it, she found out that Buck hadn't just been looking up different support organizations, comparing programs, and doing background research, on all of the programs. He also read through various studies that had something in common with Chris's Situation.

Okay, maybe both of them were more than overly cautious in their own, unique ways. And even though Carla's head was already spinning at the thought of the large pile of papers, she had to grin. They were great parents and would do anything for Chris and the rest of the family.

Carla grinned slightly and sent a picture of Chris in his group and the math problem to his parents' group. Buck sent a heart smiley in answer to the picture. And when Carla asked, he couldn't resist sending the solution and an alternative way. Eddie also replied with a smiley.

at the fire station

When Eddie emerged from the bathroom, Chimney surprised him.

"Hey, brother-in-law."
"Don't ever say that again," said shocked, but laughing Eddie.
"Sorry, I couldn't stop myself. I haven't been able to tease either of you in almost a quarter of a year. Now on to something more serious. I'm worried about you." And when he noticed the expression on his colleague's face: "Don't worry, our partners don't know about this, yet."
He had to smile soberly as he thought about the Buck-Maddie combo when he or Eddie was injured.

Buck had taken his behavior after Maddie's return to the heart.
When he apologized to Chimney, the man felt bad. The conversation that followed led to Buck deciding that, in a similar case, he would talk to Athena first because he didn't want to lose anyone either, and he understood how close it was to Maddie, that it could have gone seriously wrong.
And Chimney apologized for his behavior. For hitting him and not saying goodbye to him like it would have been appropriate especially because of Jee-Jun. What if something had happened to him and Jee-Jun?
Buck's thoughts had taken over Chimney for a short while and he had felt pretty crappy.
Especially since he knew, that Buck would never take that time lightly, let alone forget it.