after season seven

Chapter 5: Eddie

Getting up at 4 am for work never gets easier, no matter how many times you do it. I walk into the station still half asleep and see Chim and Hen talking to each other in hushed voices.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" I ask.

Hen glances up at me with a worried gaze. "We're worried about Buck."

"Buck? Why? I was just with him last night."

"He's not answering his phone and you know he's always the first of us to be here. He's never late."

"Maddie was also having trouble getting in touch with him last night." Chimney chimes in.

"Did he seem weird at all when you were with him?" Hen asks.

I think back to dinner and how Buck seemed shut down after we ordered drinks. I didn't pay much attention to it last night because he said he was fine but now that I think about it, something was definitely up. "Yeah, he seemed kind of closed off yesterday. Let me try calling him."

I walk off and click on Bucks contact and then hold the phone up to my ear.

"Hey-"

"Buck! Where-"

"-This is Buck's phone. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you. Maybe." The voicemail recording stops.

"Fuck." I walk back over to Chim and Hen. "He didn't answer."

"What are the long faces for, you guys?" Cap walks into the room and pats Hen on the shoulder.

"Buck has gone MIA." Hen states matter of factly.

"What? Maybe-" Before Bobby can get his sentence out the alarm goes off at the station.

"I guess we'll have to figure this out after this call!" Chim yells as he jogs over to the engine with the rest of the 118.

I jog along as well but I can't get my mind off of Buck and the possibility that he might be in danger right now.

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The call ended up being for a little boy that got his head stuck between two balusters on a staircase. We were able to quickly cut him out and we happily watched as he reunited with his mom before leaving.

It was an easy enough call but it didn't feel right without Buck there with me. I've done many calls without him obviously but it felt different this time. It was almost like the pain was coming from my heart or something. Weird.

"Hey, Chim! Why don't you have Maddie go check on Buck?" I ask him.

"She can't. She's at work."

"Oh. Who's watching Jee then?"

"Maddie's parents offered to watch her while they are here in town."

"Buck's parents are back in town?"

"Unless he went out and got a new set of parents then yes that is what that means."

"They're obviously the problem then! Why didn't you just say that?"

"Eddie. Phillip and Margaret have changed. You know that."

"Just because they have 'changed' doesn't mean they have a right to waltz back into Buck's life!"

"Calm down, Eddie. Buck doesn't even know they're back yet. And there's nothing we can do when we're on the job. How about we all head over to Buck's place after our shift?"

"Yeah, Alright. Sorry for freaking out on you."

Chimney just laughs and shakes his head and walks over to Hen and Cap.

I figure the only thing I can do now is try and workout in the gym and keep my mind off of a certain firefighter named Evan Buckley.