"Where did Buck go off to," Chinney asks as he places a remote control on the coffee table. "He's probably emptying Eddie's poor fridge. I'll go find him. Then you and Mara will have real competition," Maddie replies with a giggle. Chimney, Maddie, Jee-yun, and Mara were hanging around Eddie's house to keep the man some company.
No one had talked about it, about Christopher choosing to leave, and go with Eddie's parents. No one ever said anything, each of them too afraid to even say they were there for him. They never asked how he was doing. They just tip toed around the man, hoping the time would come where they could be of use. Of course, Eddie wasn't the only one who seemed distant. Buck was much quieter since, he was constantly lost in thought, and he seemed so down. Everyone knew that Buck was basically a second father to the young teen, but seeing him like this made it more apparent.
Maddie wandered the house, peeking around everything to try and find her brother. He wasn't in the kitchen, he wasn't in the bathroom, he wasn't in the front yard, he wasn't in the backyard, she even peeked into Eddie's room through the cracked door to find it empty as well. There was only one place he could be, now. So, Maddie hesitantly walked back down the hallway and stood in front of the second bedroom door. She offered a faint knock before twisting the knob and pushing the door open.
There, she saw Buck sitting against Christopher's bed, holding an Etch-A-Sketch in his hands. She observed his face, one of a broken expression. If you looked at Buck, you'd assume someone died. Chris was alive. Chris was healthy. Chris was with family, hopefully happy. "Buck?" Maddie steps into the room, letting her presence be known. Buck looks up to see his sister standing just in front of the hallway, looking down at him. "Uh, hey," he says with a crackle in his voice. "Missin' him," Maddie asks.
Buck only gives a nod, in return Maddie nods too. "It's weird, you know. I'm not his dad. He's not my kid. But...there was always this part of me that kinda felt like he was. I know it's not fair to Eddie, but I miss him," Buck blurts. "Buck, he's only a few states away! He'll come back," Maddie reassures, but it doesn't seem to work. "Will he? Maddie, you didn't see how hurt he was. He didn't even want to look at his dad. He couldn't have gotten out of there fast enough. What if he's angry forever? I made a promise, when I agreed to be his legal guardian if something happened to Eddie. I feel like I failed somehow. Maybe I should've talked to Eddie more, convinced him, or something. Maybe there was something I could've said to Christopher. I won't know, now, because there's always a chance that we'll never see each other again." Buck just begins to spew what he must've been holding in all this time. Maddie could only sit, and listen. But, now some of it all made more sense, "you made a promise when you what?" Maddie puts her hand up and shakes her head to kind of pause the moment.
"Eddie made me Christopher's legal guardian if something were to happen to him," Buck repeats. "Oh..., wow. Okay. When?" Buck lets out a sigh of emotion of some kind, "he told me about it back when he was shot, I guess," Buck replies. "You didn't feel like telling us? Or am I the only one that doesn't know? That's usually how it goes," Maddie wonders. "It just never came up, I guess. If I said anything about it, I kinda feared it would happen, you know? Can't imagine loosing Eddie," Buck chuckles dryly, now imaging Eddie gone and not having either Diaz anymore.
Maddie didn't have any words of wisdom. As Buck had said in the past, she was the one who leaves. She doesn't know how Buck feels right now, so all she can do is say she's there for support, hug him, and leave him be.
She may have left, but she wasn't going to allow Buck to be alone with overwhelming feelings. Maddie had walked back into the living room, waited for Eddie to finish his game with Chimney, and told him he should go find Buck.
"Sorry, what's up?" Eddie walks with Maddie the few feet away from the couch so she could talk to him. "Have you and Buck talked about...it...?" Maddie doesn't want to bring it up as much as the next person but, maybe it was necessary. "Uhm, no.... We haven't. I know we probably should, I just...it's kinda hard," Eddie replies somberly. "Well, he's kind of struggling. Maybe talk to him now?" Maddie walks past Eddie, placing a hand on his shoulder a she went. Eddie's face slowly dropped even more, a pit grew in his stomach. How exciting? He gets to talk to his best friend about their kid choosing to flee the state.
Regardless of how hesitant Eddie was, he still walked down the hall, and entered the dreaded bedroom. He saw his best friend sitting on the ground holding an Etch-A-Sketch. It was probably something him and Buck did together when Eddie wasn't around. "Hey, man," Eddie greets quietly. Buck moves his head to look up again, there he was. The man he wanted the comfort from, but dreaded seeing. No matter what tragedy you put in front of Buck, he'll find a way to feel guilty, no matter what. "Miss him," Eddie asks with a mood lightening laugh. Buck nods pathetically as he too lets out a few more dry laughs. "Me too. And he's my kid." Eddie laughs once more before he takes a seat against the bed next to Buck. "Sorry. It's just really hard, but I don't understand why it's so hard for me," Buck explains, his voice almost absent.
"Because you two are close. I get it. If I'm gonna be honest, I think he sort of saw you as a second parental figure," Eddie utters. Buck turns to Eddie, looking him in the eye with mild disbelief. "It's true. Cooking us dinner, taking us places, caring for us, sighing permission slips, going to parent meetings, all that stuff. You may not be good at bad cop, but he still learned a lot from you," Eddie adds sympathetically. Buck doesn't know what it is, but imagine himself being a house wife makes him giggle a little bit. "I'm devastated my son is with the people I worked so hard to keep him from. But, as much as I wish it wasn't true, I fucked up, and he wants space. And I'm sorry I'm putting you both through this. You two were an unstoppable duo. But I know my son. He will come around. He's a lot like you." Eddie then nudged Buck's side with his elbow, making Buck let out another laugh. But, he was still sad, but less sad now.
The men sat in silence for a few more moments before Buck gently lays his head on Eddie's shoulder. There, alone together, they sat in their son's room. The family of three now temporarily a family of two.
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Tommy? Tommy who?
I'm so obsessed w the idea of Buck and Eddie being sad together during this time.
Henren and Buddie happiness s8?
