Lost and Found || Buddie

Chapter 8

Buck woke up that morning to the smell of coffee wafting through the air, but not moving from where he was clinging to another person. To say Buck was confused was an understatement until he remembered that Eddie fell asleep on the sofa bed with him after having checked on him after his nightmare. Blushing furiously, the man pulled himself away from his best friend and sat up. Shannon must be making coffee, he thought. Running a hand over his face and yawning, the man stood up and made his way to the kitchen where Shannon indeed was.

"Good morning." The woman smiled, lifting her coffee mug up to her lips, taking a sip. "How'd you sleep?" She asks.

Shrugging his shoulders, Buck walks over and grabs a mug from the cupboard and makes himself a cup, he needs it. "Not well I suppose. Woke up in the middle of the night having a nightmare. I was yelling, I guess." He tells his friend.

Shannon frowns and sits at the table, gesturing for Buck to sit across from her. "Is that why Eddie is asleep on the sofa bed?" She asks curiously.

"Yeah. He said he couldn't really sleep, that I didn't wake him up but I don't believe him." Buck laughs softly and sits across from her with his mug in hand. "We were talking and he ended up falling asleep so I did too. Sorry I took him from you."

"No Buck, it's okay. You don't have to be sorry. You needed comfort of some sort and Eddie was able to give it to you. I'm glad." She tells him and sets her mug on the table. "You can talk to either of us you know. We're both here for you."

Buck gives her a small smile. "Thank you Shannon. I just, I don't want to talk about it yet. It's too much and I don't want to relive it. I know I'm going to have to at some point but now is not the time. I'm starting to get some sort of normalcy back in my life. I've got Eddie and you and Christopher. I've got Maddie. So why do I need to go back into that dark place and talk about it when everything's starting to go back to normal?" He says.

"Because Buck, you went through this huge trauma and it can't be good to have it bottled up inside. You need to talk to someone. One of us, a therapist, someone." Shannon says, trying to encourage him.

"Thank you for caring, honestly." He says softly and they start talking about anything and everything else as they wait for Eddie and Christopher to wake from their slumber.

Three days later, Buck finds himself sitting on the couch and looking at his friends nervously. Christopher had already been out to bed and the three adults were sitting in the living room, watching horrible reality tv. "I want to talk about it." He whispers, thinking the two were going to deny him.

The married couple looked at each other with knowing looks and nodded at the man. "We're listening." Eddie encourages his friend. The older man braced himself for what Buck was going to tell them. Eddie was sitting in the recliner while Shannon was on the couch with buck. Shannon grabs the younger man's hand and squeezes it gently, offering him a bit of comfort.

Taking in a deep breath, Buck looked down at his lap. Maybe it would be easier if he wasn't looking at the couple. "I remember the jeep breaking down." He started. "So I let Maddie know and I think I sent you a stupid picture Eddie. I called a tow truck and while I was waiting, it was so fucking hot my shirt was drenched in sweat. I got out and went into the backseat going through my bag to find a tank top and then all of a sudden someone was grabbing me, covering my mouth and everything went dark." He swallows. Eddie and Shannon stayed quiet as they listened to their friend relay his darkest days to him. "I shouldn't have gone on that stupid trip. I should've just stayed home." Tears filled his eyes.

"It's not your fault Buck." Eddie tells him and leans forward, as if to hear his best friend's words better.

Shaking his head, Buck continued. "I woke up and an older lady was driving my jeep. She ended up taking me to a house and shoving me into a room in the basement. I still had my phone on me, I don't know why I thought I'd have service, so when her and her counterpart left me alone that night I tried to call out but it didn't work. Instead I used my text messages with Eddie as a diary until I couldn't anymore."

"That explains why his phone was going nuts the day Maddie called to say you were alive." Shannon says softly.

Buck looks confused but figures he'd ask about that later. "And here's where things get dark." His voice trembles. "I was pretty much there as a device, a toy." He mumbles. "Um, the male would come down and use me. It was horrible. I would scream and I think that actually helped him get off." Tears were streaming down his cheeks now. "Eventually I just learned to take it, what else was I supposed to do? I wanted to die, If I could've I would've ended my life in that fucking basement."

Eddie was angry. He felt sick, he wanted to throw up while listening to the vile things his friend had gone through for four years. "And the woman, she made sure I was healthy for the most part but then she tortured me in her own ways. And they always said my name in the most sinister way." That's why he didn't want to be called Evan anymore.

Shannon let go of Buck's hand and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug, tears covering her face as well. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." She whispers, rubbing his back, trying to comfort him. "You don't have to say anymore. I'm just glad you trusted us enough to talk to us about some of it."

Eddie watched as the two had their moment. He loved them both, and the fact that the two had grown close hadn't bothered him a bit. "The nightmares, I wake up because I feel the weight of his body on top of mine and I can't breathe." Buck adds, burying his face in Shannon's shoulder.

Eddie stood up and walked over, pulling the two into his chest, wrapping them in a hug. "It's okay Buck, it's over. He's not here, you're safe." He whispers. He knew it hadn't been easy for the man to open up to them but he's glad he did.

The three stayed like that for what felt like hours, but Buck wasn't complaining. It was nice to have that embrace.

The next day when Buck woke up he was once again wrapped around his best friend's body, Eddie didn't want to leave him alone that night hoping to ward off any nightmares that Buck would've had. "Yknow, I too gravitate towards him in my sleep." Shannon chuckles softly from where she sat in the recliner, a sleepy Christopher on her lap, watching cartoons quietly.

A blush covered bucks cheeks. She had seen the way he was cuddling his best friend and she didn't have anything to say about it? He found it a bit odd but brushed it off. "I mean, he is like a space heater." He laughs and the older man stirs but doesn't wake up.

"He really is." Shannon smiles. "Your buddy over here," she points to Christopher, "wouldn't stop yelling your name in his room. I had to bring him out here to physically see you just so he would stop." And Bucks heart almost explodes.

"Well, come here then." Buck laughs softly and stands up, walking over to the two with his arms stretched out. Christopher reaches out to him and Buck picks him up, the boy instantly burying his face in the man's shoulder. "You're too cute for your own good."

Eddie doesn't make it known he's awake when he opens his eyes, looking over to the moment his best friend and son were having. A warm fuzzy feeling washes over him and he ignores it.

That day Buck let's Shannon and Eddie help him make an appointment with a therapist before he goes out for lunch with Maddie that afternoon. He doesn't tell his sister about the conversation he had with his friends, she doesn't need to know yet.

The day Eddie leaves is a horrible one, Christopher and Shannon crying, Buck trying to hold back tears as he watched his best friend leave him. Eddie reassured his family that he would write and call when he could, but that didn't seem to help.  Buck holds Shannon and Christopher that night, trying to comfort them, but he's not sure it works. He knows it doesn't help when Shannon tries to comfort him back.