after season seven

Chapter 13: Eddie

"Guys, I have an announcement to make." Chimney says into his mic as we're all in the engine on our way to a call the next day.

"What's up, Chim?" Cap asks.

"MADDIE IS PREGNANT!" He yells.

"No way, Chim!" Hen says and reaches over to shake him by the shoulder.

"Congrats!" Both Cap and I say in unison.

"Thanks, guys." Chimney looks over in Buck's direction. "You already knew, didn't you."

Buck just shrugs his shoulders and smugly smiles as he turns his head to look out the window.

We have to drive a bit farther for this call today because it's in the middle of nowhere. Apparently there's a man who tripped and fell down the stairs in his own house but he doesn't have any neighbors for miles that could help him.

"Alright, we made it. Let's go!" Cap announces.

We all get out of the engine and Cap calls out "Hen! Chimney! Go ahead to make sure he's okay and get him ready for travel." Then he points at me and Buck "You two, prepare a backboard and a gurney."

Buck and I start to walk around to the side of the engine when suddenly the floor gives in underneath us. I feel Buck reach for me as we're falling but the rest is a blur until I feel the hard ground beneath me.

"Buck! Eddie!" I hear Cap call from above.

I groan and finally push myself to open my eyes. The first thing I see is the sight of Buck's cut up face. "Buck!" I yell as I attempt to shake him awake.

A few seconds later Buck slowly blinks his eyes open and the largest weight is lifted off my chest. "What happened?"

I look up and notice that we fell about 15 or so feet down into this ditch. I bring myself up into a sitting position and urge Buck to do the same. "I'm assuming this guy had the place booby trapped or something."

"Argh, my head hurts like a bitch." Buck slurs.

A few moments later I feel Buck's head land on my shoulder. I peer down at him and can't help but feel content as I sit with my best friend at the bottom of a 15 foot ditch.

"You guys okay down there?" Caps voice booms down from above.

I quickly scan both myself and Buck before responding "Yeah, I think so! Buck may have a concussion though!"

"It's gonna take a few minutes for us to prepare the harness to get you guys out of there! And it turns out there was no guy at all! It was just a trick to get us out here!"

"Goddammit." I curse under my breath before leaning back against the dirt and closing my eyes. The pressure from Buck's head on my shoulder soothes me as I wait for the others to get us out of here.

After a few minutes, I hear noise coming from the top of the ditch. I open my eyes to see Hen peering down at us with a smile on her face which is quite odd considering the fact that we're currently stuck at the bottom of a 15 foot ditch.

My attention is drawn away from Hen when I feel Buck's head lift up off my shoulder and I immediately miss the feeling of being so close to him.

"Cap, Chim, and Hen are setting up a harness to pull us out." I inform him.

"What about the guy?" Buck utters.

"Don't worry about him. He wasn't real. Just a trick to get us out here and mess with us."

Buck rubs his eyes. "You're all good though, right?"

"Yeah, my ass just kind of hurts. You?"

Buck chuckles to himself. "Just my head."

As the minutes go by, I become more and more aware of my close proximity with Buck. Even though he's not leaning against my shoulder anymore, we're still fully pressed together in this very confined ditch. Every small movement Buck makes causes my stomach to flutter.

"Sending the harness down now!" Chimney yells from above.

I slowly stand and grab Buck's arm to help him up. "You should go first. You may have a concussion."

"Yeah, okay." He responds.

Once the harness reaches us, I help strap it securely around Buck. My hands linger on his body as I tighten the straps around his waist. "You good?"

"Yup." He whispers. Then he shoots a thumbs up towards Chim and he is slowly pulled up by the rest of our team.

I patiently wait for the harness to be sent back down to me, then I repeat the process myself and soon I am brought back to ground level.

Both Chim and Hen quickly check us out before we are cleared to head back to the station in the engine.