Jack's Song

Ch. 2

Time seemed to lose all meaning after that. If Buck really thought of it, time lost all meaning around a week ago. That week went by so fast, almost as if it never happened at all. And yet, it felt like it had been years since Maddie had called him to tell him the news.

After Buck woke up that morning, the filling in a Diaz sandwich as both of the boys cuddled up to him as if his life depended on it, time seemed to slow to a standstill. He ate breakfast and showered and got ready, hardly saying a word and giving the occasional weak smile to Chris. He didn't notice the worried glances Eddie and his son exchanged.

He did, however, seem to notice everything else. Each individual tick and tock from the obnoxiously loud clock, the repetitive pattern of the carpet in between their room and the lobby of the hotel, the fresh pink roses that stood out stark against the mahogany table the vase was sat on.

Buck noticed the creak of the door of the hotel as it opened up to outside, the clacking of Chris's crutches as they walked to the car, the distant sound of the music all the way to the hospital. Every little thing.

He didn't notice Chris noticing him. He didn't notice how the boy noticed how his hands were shaking as he walked into the hospital. He didn't notice the way the young boy caught his dad's eyes and nodded exaggeratedly to his shaking hands and so he was startled when Eddie grabbed his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.

Walking into the hospital room was like having a bucket of cold water thrown over him. Jack hadn't known he was coming, his sister did, but they wanted it to be a surprise. And it was judging by the smile that spread across the man's face.

His smile was so blinding and bright that it almost distracted from the way his greying skin was pulled tight against his bones. The spark of joy in his eyes almost distracted him from the way they were sunken into his face.

He remembered what it had been like seeing Red in hospital, how his first instinct was to believe that something could be done, that there was some treatment or something. But Red had just asked him to stay with him, to be there by his side.

"Evan Buckley, am I dreaming right now or are you actually here?" Jack croaks. "And look at you! you actually have muscles now! no spaghetti noodle arms anymore," He jokes happily.

"Spaghetti noodle arms?" Eddie repeats with an amused tone.

"I was a really weak child okay," Buck says defensively.

Eddie lets out a laugh and shakes his head before turning to the man in the bed "Hey Jack I'm Eddie, this is Chris,"

Jack smiles in response, eyes flitting between Buck and the Diaz boys. "Found yourself a boyfriend and made yourself a cute lil' family did you, Buckley?" Jack says grabbing Buck's hand when he finally got close enough to do so. "You know," He turns to Eddie, "We always used to play mum and dads and him and Maddie would always fight over which one of the two would be a parent because they couldn't both be the parents, it was the most ridiculous thing, we actually had to make a schedule,"

"Yeah because Maddie kept pulling the 'I'm older' card," Buck says choosing to ignore the first part of Jack's statement.

"Well she is older than you Bucky," Chris says knowledgeably, the glint in his eye and mischievous smile giving away more of the teasing than the tone had.

Buck scoffs, clutching his chest as if wounded causing Chris to giggle. "Daddy and the others like to tease Buck about being the youngest too," He tells Jack conspiringly.

"Do they now?" He replies, "Well, did you know, that I'm actually older than Buck too, so he really is just a little baby hey?" Chris laughs and nods along, Buck can't even feign unhappiness at the joke, not while watching the kid laugh with the man he'd once thought of as a brother.