30 Days Of You

Day 14

~All The Clocks Stop At 2:50~

"Come on guys, let's load up!" Bobby encourages the 118, hyping up their spirits before they're going to a call for a fire.

"We'll get it done before you know it, Cap!" Buck muses, making sure all doors are closed and he hops into the engine, putting on the headphones and strapping himself in, he's waiting for the adrenaline to build up. 


The rush of it, the giddiness that ends in fatal mistakes, is what he'd gotten rid of a long time ago. 


Buck waits for the adrenaline for a strength boost. 

Eddie sits down two seats opposite of him, headphones up and he's slowly locking in.  He's thinking about all the ways this can go, but hopes for the best outcome, that everyone makes it out alive okay. 

He knows Buck relies on the adrenaline during a call, he lost most of his idiotic recklessness but sometimes he still holds on to stupid ideas or maneuvers.  Sometimes they end good, sometimes not. 


"Buck, no showing off there," Eddie muses, a friendly smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. 

Buck is appalled, putting his hand to his chest, "Me?? Showing off? Never, Diaz. Who do you think you're talking to?"

"You, obviously," he laughs. 

The engine is speeding down the road like an arrow, sirens wailing and Bobby navigates the driver.

As they arrive at the 3 story building, Bobby navigates them so that they're in the best place, getting all of the gear out and hoses hooked up to hydrants. 


Buck and Eddie stop, they see the hydrant but can't wrap the hose around the car that's blocking it. 

Not like the person would know when a fire breaks out but parking and blocking a hydrant is not exactly the legal or smart thing, so they do what they're required to do:  "Hang on-"  

Eddie runs back and grabs one of their crowbars, smashing the windows on each side, both reach through the opposite and hand over the hose, hooking it up successfully and getting back to the others so they can knock out that fire. 

Other firehouses have arrived at the scene and have jumped to helping, eventually they get each other up to the rooftop and start poking and ventilating. 

First floor looks great, so Bobby commands his team, "Alright, Dispatch said there's two people still somewhere on the second floor, no exact location could have been obtained. Third floor is abandoned, first floor is cleared.  Buck, Eddie, I want you two to gear up with two of the 133 and go in to rescue those people. Keep a clear head and water on you."

"Yes Cap!" Both say in unison, grabbing their masks, sling their oxygen tanks over their backs and team up with two others, heading in. 

They're pushing through the fire, knocking it back and down inch by inch.  


Since this is also a rescue mission, they're banging on doors and opening those that seem to be openable.  Tiny broom closets and actual apartments get opened up. They sweep the entire floor but seem to find nobody.


"Did they flee?" One of the firefighters asks, his coworker shrugging, "But they would have met us on the stairway if they did." 


"Let's look into each room carefully, one more time!" Buck orders, grabbing the guy who asked and sending Eddie with the other. They split up, but so that they're still in earshot. 


The burning of the fire is slowly getting to them, their clothes can withstand it but the heat is still immense under it. Thousands of degrees flaring up beside them, engulfing them and tugging at their nerves, their ability to concentrate. 



"I got something!" Eddie shouts, rushing to a hand under a set of tables and chairs. He pushes them off, finding an unconscious male, probably in his 40s, "Sir! Sir- We're LAFD, we're gonna get you out of here!" 

Eddie reaches down, trying to feel a pulse on him, rolling the man on his back he rubs the sternum with his knuckles, finally getting a response.

The man is coughing pretty hard, turning back over on his belly and throwing up pretty harshly, "Sir- Are you in any pain?"


The man is in utter panic, yet shakes his head no.  Both Eddie and the other guy help him up, helping him get back to the stairs and outside of the building. 


Eddie radios in once outside, "One is out.  Buck where are you?"


"Working on it!" Buck barks back into his radio, scouring through the debris and stomping out little things that caught flame. 

Eventually his partner found a terrified little girl in a closet, she's trembling, sweating and crying. Her panicked screams startled both of them, "Sshh- It's okay! It's okay. We're firefighters, let's get you out of here." 

The man from the 133 says, offering to pick the girl up.  Buck finds a cloth and runs out, draining it in water and rushing back in.  His partner wraps the girl up as best as he can and starts walking back the way they came. 



"Firefighters this is Captain Nash, evacuate the building immediately! It's going to collapse!" 


It was an old building.  One that wasn't entirely made to withstand the fury of such a fire.


"Copy tha-"



"Buck?"  Bobby calls into his radio, hoping that it was just a stupid interference or that he only let go too early. 



The man from the 133 makes it out.  Carrying the coughing little girl, he's brought them over to the paramedics.  Exhausted, he takes off his mask and is promptly confronted by Eddie, "Where's Buck?! Where's my partner? Where'd you leave him!?"


The guy is appalled and confused, a bit terrified of the seething rage Eddie has in his eyes.  That's when he realized, Buck never made it out. 

"Buck come in!" Eddie radios, only to never get a response. 

"Screw it, I'm going back in."  He shouts, throwing his gear back on.  No one leaves his partner behind.  

Eddie never even heard Bobby shouting, pushed through everyone that grabbed him and sprints inside. 


"Buck!" 


He's scouting the area, finding the second floor collapsed.


"No-- No no no nononono!"  He rushes in, pulling rocks  and whatnot, while the outside is spraying water still.  He knows the fire should be dying down now, but Buck shouldn't be!" 


"BUCK!"  


The pain- 


Oh the pain. 

The gut wrenching feeling, the bittersweet tears prickling down of hope and fear, of prayers and curses, "Buck please say something!"


He's grabbed a rebar, sticking it between pieces and pushing as hard as he can, hoping it will lever off the heavy cement piece. 


It was too much- 


"Try again!" Hen orders, having squeezed herself between the debris, full in gear and pushing the cement block. Chim and Bobby join in, together all pulling the broken piece to the side. 


"Oh no-"

Chim swallows his comment, seeing a hand- Buck's hand. 


They throw off the rest of the debris pile, finding Buck unconscious but breathing, "Buck- answer me-" 


Eddie wasn't even the first to touch him.  He never confirmed that Buck was indeed breathing- 

He just looked at a watch, loosely hanging by a thread, "2:50.."  


"Buck!"


Buck's coughing, pushing himself up but in great pain, "Bobby? Eddie?"


Eddie doesn't even look down, praying that the minute will pass...yet it never did. 


All the clocks stopped at 2:50-  Buck's alive, yet the clock meant something entirely else to Eddie.


He snaps out of it eventually, watching as Buck gets wheeled off into the hospital to be treated for his injuries.  

He looks down at his own watch, hidden away under the heavy jackets and gloves, "2:50..." he mumbles again, looking up and just sees the sirens wail and the ambulance speed off. 


"All the clocks stopped at 2:50...."   Was Buck dead? .... Or was he dead?