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Okay, so, maybe, Evan Buckley was feeling a little down on himself as he sat on a bench at the Santa Monica Pier that afternoon, eyes hovering over the little families, siblings laughing as they drag their parents off towards a new game. Ever since he started his firefighter training, all he has wanted to do was talk to his sister about it, he hadn’t heard from his sister in years, he had sent postcards, Christmas cards, and birthday cards for years but somewhere throughout the years, he stopped.
He got a wonderful girlfriend, Abby, lost said wonderful girlfriend and decided to completely change his life around and now the only person he wanted to talk to was completely unable to be found. The postcard he sent to his sister came back as return to sender with unfamiliar handwriting saying, “no longer at this address”. The phone number he once had was no longer in service.
A smile crossed his face as he watched a boy with crutches walk past him, head tilted back laughing at something the older red-headed woman in a yellow sundress he had been with said.
Buck moves from his spot on the bench to stand with his elbows resting on the fence, looking out at the water.
It definitely took him a lot longer to notice anything wrong than he would have liked. He vaguely heard someone to his right ask the question everyone else was wondering, “Where’d all the water go?”
There was a brief moment of calm before panic ensued, hundreds if not thousands of eyes focusing on the large wave heading straight for them, the warning alarm now blaring as people ran from the pier.
Buck was 10 feet from the fence when he saw that boy again, maybe 8 or 9, moving as fast as he could with his crutches, he took in the surroundings, seeing the red-headed woman from before with her yellow dress running from the boy, not even glancing behind her for the obviously handicapped kid. It didn't take but a second for his mind to be made up, detouring only slightly to grab the boy's crutches clanking to the ground behind them as he ran towards a shack.
Shoving the kid behind the shack, Buck glanced up at the wave before jumping behind it himself, covering the boy with his own body.
“My name is Evan, okay, you fight to the surface, and you call for me, okay? You’ll be o-" He didn’t get to finish before the water was rushing over them, he tried his best to keep a hold of the boy, but the pull was too strong.
He didn’t know which way was up or down, his body flipping throughout the water as he tried to swim, it felt too long, how long he was under, but he wasn’t going to give up.
Finally, he felt the air, his eyes opening as he gasps for breath, his head just floating above the water. Just barely within reach was a string of lights, he grasped onto it, using that to keep his body, first of all, above water, second of all, in place.
He watched the debris move past him, before he began twisting his body, panicking as he yelled out for the kid, he didn’t know a name, he just hoped the kid had heard him.
“KID?” He yelled it so many times he thought he’d lose his voice, until a small voice called out, “Evan! Evan!”
Thanking whatever gods were out there, he pulled himself up with the lights and looked toward the sound of the voice. There he was, just across from him, holding on tightly to a wooden light pole.
“Evan!” He called out again, trying to find the man.
“Kid! Hey, hang on okay, just just stay there! I’m coming.” He let go of the strings, using the flow of the water and his arms to propel himself to the kid.
He noticed late that the water was pushing him off course from him, “Grab my hand! Grab my hand! Reach out!” his fingers just barely brushed over the small wet hands of the boys, “Stay over there!” He was moving past the kid, hearing him yell out over the water that he can’t hold on. “Just hold on!”
The kid was yelling out his name again as Buck tried to find anything to hold onto, once again praying to whatever god that’s out there to give the kid enough strength to hold on as he tried to come up with a plan.
Buck grabbed a piece of debris before seeing the kid fall from the pole. He jumped as far out as he could, hand making contact with the little boy's arm just as he passes him. He used all his strength to pull the boy against the current, into his arms, one arm wrapping around his small frame while the other came to rest on the back of his head, a harsh sigh of relief hitting him.
He was stuck in a loop, repeating, “I got you” over and over as the water dragged them through the street. His breathing was rough, struggling to keep himself and the boy above the water until he saw it.
The almost-firefighter wants to laugh at the sight of their saving grace, a fire truck with the top high enough above the water for them to be safe. He makes it to the front of the truck, his arm gripping the side, slightly turning him to face the incoming debris that is headed straight for them.
Buck pushes the boy onto the top of the truck, just barely enough time for him to duck under the water, the debris flying above him, breaking the mirror to the truck. He gripped onto a piece of the top of the truck and used it to haul himself up, his body landing, fully out of the water, right in front of the kid.
The two lay there, taking the moment to finally breathe.
After a while Buck moved the two further down the truck so their backs were resting against the cab, Buck's arms wrapped protectively around the kid who he didn’t even know the name of.
“You good, kid?” Buck's breathing was still labored, coming out in large huffs as he rested his cheek against the top of the kid's head.
The current situation didn’t take the enthusiastic tone from the boy, “Yep. I took surfing lessons.”
He let out a chuckle, “Oh, well, maybe you can teach me.” he chuckles once more before resting his head against the red truck. “Can, can you tell me your name, kid?”
The kid smiled, “Chris- Christopher Diaz.”
“Christopher Diaz, I am Evan Buckley, you know what?” He pauses to let the kid ask a small “What?” before speaking again, “I think we’re gonna be best friends.”
He only hoped that his lighthearted tone was the right way to go about this whole situation, Buck did not have kids of his own nor was he ever around kids enough to know how to properly handle this kind of emergency.
“All right, I’m gonna take a look around and see what I see.” Buck carefully pulled away from the kid, Christopher, and crouched, just enough to look over the front of the firetruck, “I guess we’re gonna have to hang out here a little longer.”
Christopher smiled, “We have a firetruck.”
“Yeah, we do.” Buck laughs lightly, head bending down before looking back up, “You like firetrucks, Chris?”
The genuine smile that broke out on the boy's face was like nothing he’d ever seen, “Yeah, my dad's a firefighter.”
Before he could respond, Buck's head snapped up to the sound of a woman calling for help, he stood up fully, searching for the sound. He just barely sees her, a woman waving her arms to get his attention.
He yells out an assurance to her, letting her know he’s coming before he crouches back down to look at Christopher, almost reluctant to leave his newfound friend, “Okay, Christopher, I need you to sit right here for me. You promise me?”
“Yeah,” Christopher says, blinking up at the man. “Okay, right here, right here,” Buck confirms, slowly backing away from the boy to grab the ladder from the truck, letting the other side of it hit the top of another car, making sure it’s sturdy before lifting the hose over his shoulder and slowly making his way across the ladder, over the gushing water.
He climbs across cars, using a tree for leverage, in another car that Buck climbs atop, a man sits in the driver's seat, unable to get out, “I-I know. I-I’ll help you. I will come back for you. Okay. I promise you.”
Buck grabs hold of the firehouse and makes a running jump into the water towards the other side of the road, he latches onto a tree and secures the hose. Looking over his shoulder he calls out to the woman “Hey! Hey, you can let go! Okay? I need you to let go. You can do this!”
He watches as she lets go, moving with the flowing water, he makes his way to the middle of the hose, grabbing her hand when she gets close enough and then pulling them back to the other end of the hose that’s connected to the truck, helping her climb into it.
Buck moves across the side of the truck to where Christopher sat calmly. “Evan. People. Evan look.'' He lifted his arm to point in front of him, Buck turning to look at where he was pointing, multiple people beginning to float into their street. He looks over at the woman he just helped, “Hey! Hey, will you watch him?” She gives him the okay, he watches as she sits next to him before moving back to the hose, trying to help as many of the people as he can.
Before Buck knew it, everyone in their vicinity was now sitting on the top of the firetruck and he was back down next to Christopher, body leaning into him, trying to keep at least some part in contact with him at all times, he doesn’t know if this is more for Chris or him, the subtle assurance that he is right there.
They sat out on that fire truck waiting, praying, hoping someone would come. He tried to keep the young boy distracted, they talked about his family, a mom in heaven (Buck blamed the salt water but he teared up at that), the Army vet Firefighting amazing dad, his bisabuela, his Aunt Pepa, Buck even talked about his training to become a firefighter, which Chris joked that he hoped he ended up in the same station as his dad.
There was something about the kid, the unwavering happiness even in this situation, Buck just wished he could be like that. From that moment on he vowed to do whatever he could to protect this kid and get him back to his dad.
Buck was mid-conversation with Christopher when people across the truck began muttering, he followed their gaze to the bodies floating atop debris that began moving towards them. He pulled Christopher up to sit on the side of the truck, facing away from the bodies, “I spy with my little eye, something” he turns his head away, looking up, “something that is high.”
“A street sign?” Christopher asks with an innocent smile, Buck just points up, “Uh, high-higher than that, up there, woah!” He held his hands on either side of Christopher’s head to ensure he doesn’t turn as he himself looks over the bodies.
After a while, Buck decides it’s best to sit next to Christopher on the side, the possibility of any more bodies floating by was devastating and there was no way he could let him see that.
He turns his head lightly and presses the tip of his nose to the boy's head, “Can I, uh, can I ask who you were here with? When I got to you, you were alone. I didn’t like, like kidnap you or anything, did I?” He tried to joke with the boy, while also getting details to tell the father later.
“Babysitter.” Christopher says slowly, “She left me, you saved me. And you saved them.”
Buck looks over at the other survivors, “No, we did that together. Me” Buck motions to his own chest, “and you” he points his finger to Christopher, “make a great team.” He holds his hand up to the boy, “Give me a high five. I’m proud of you. Really.” The boy high-fives the older man before putting his arm around his neck and pulling him into a hug.
Buck's hand reaches up and cups the side of his head, Christopher’s other hand grabs Buck's side, “Thank you, thank you, Evan.”
Pulling away from the hug, Buck notices the water beginning to rapidly recede. He stands up a little before rushing to pull Chris into his body by the back of his head, “Everybody get down! Get down and hold on! Hold on!”
Evan Buckley cannot blame himself for the way that he sobs into the boy's hair as he listens to the pleas for help. He wanted to help them, he did, but leaving this kid right now was not something he could bring himself to do, not when there was a chance he could lose him to the water.
The other survivors begin trying to pull the people onto the truck, but the receding water and extra weight cause the truck to shift, and as hard as Buck holds onto the edge of the truck, they still fall.
Stumbling over the edge, Buck latched his hand onto Christopher’s arm as they fell under the water, not caring if the boy would have a Buck-sized hand pint on his arm, as long as they stayed together.
He wasn’t losing him, not this time.
By the time Buck managed to pull the both of them up above the water and into a standing position, the firetruck was nowhere to be seen.
The water had receded enough for Buck to stand with the water at his knees, he pulled up by his armpits, wrapping his legs around his waist, laying his hand out flat on the boy's back, the other threading through his hair, “Oh my god, Christopher.” it was less of an exclamation and more of a praise. He still had him.
Now he just had to get him away from the water. Somewhere he could call for his dad.
He must have walked for hours, stopping every now and then to help someone out from under the debris, never once letting go of Christopher, who had just seemed content to lay his head on Buck's shoulder, arms wrapped around his neck. He wasn’t sure where to go, they would have set up some sort of triage close enough to the pier to help the victims, but where, no one seemed to know. Buck managed to get a large group of people following him, he wasn’t entirely sure why they were, it was mostly the people he had helped.
It was beginning to turn dark; Buck stood Christopher on the nearest stable debris and removed his jacket he had to place it on the boy, pulling the hood over his head, crouching to look at him, “Hey you sleep okay, we’ll find your dad. I promise you.” He lifted the boy back up into his arms, his head falling onto his shoulder again, arms dangling around his neck.
By the time the water was at his feet rather than his knees, Buck was covered head to toe in cuts, and he was leading over a dozen people towards two mail trucks that came to a halt in front of them.
The firefighters helped as many of the survivors into the mail vans as they could fit, while the rest that were capable of walking followed behind the mail trucks towards the VA hospital.
They tried getting him into the truck as he has a kid with him, but he knew the moment he sat down, he wasn’t getting back up and all he wanted was to hand Christopher over to his dad safe and sound, so he walked with the others behind the truck until they stopped at the middle of the tents, where buck veered off to try and find someone with the list, they would have every person that is in here, patient, first responder and dead.
“Sir, sir do you need some help?” he looked over at the nurse with wide eyes, eyeing the clipboard in her hand, “I’m, looking for a-a firefighter, Diaz, I don’t remember his his his station.” He gasps as he clutches onto a nearby pole with the hand that wasn’t holding Christopher up, “I’m looking for firefighter Diaz, I have his son, Chris-Chris, Christopher Diaz, please.” He feels a set of hands land on his biceps, and he’s being led to sit on a nearby cot. A hand tries to move the boy in his arms, but he tightens his grip as he looks up at the male nurse standing over him, “No. Find Diaz, Firefighter Diaz, for Christopher Diaz.”
On the other side of the mail trucks, Captain Bobby Nash heard the calls for Firefighter Diaz, his head snapping up, and he jogs to the nurses, “I’m Captain Bobby Nash from the 118, I have a Firefighter Diaz on my team, what’s the situation.”
The male nurse looks over at the Captain gratefully, “We have an unnamed male here with a kid and all he’s saying is that he’s looking for Firefighter Diaz for Christopher Diaz.” Bobby thinks that his heart stops at his words, his gaze shifting to see a blonde-haired man sitting on a cot holding on tightly to a sleeping boy in a red jacket.
Bobby turns back to his team, “Someone find me Eddie. Now.” He begins to rush towards the man and Christopher, the unnamed man jumps at the sudden contact when Bobby’s hand grips his shoulder tightly, “Sir, sir, can you tell me your name?”
The man only blinks blearily up at him and shifts Christopher tighter into his chest, “I-I-I’m looking for Firefighter Diaz for Christopher Diaz.”
Buck could only say the mantra he had repeated in his head over and over for the past who knows how many hours. He needed to see Christopher with his dad and then he could sleep as much as he wanted.
“Sir? Can you please let him go so I can examine him?” He looked at the name tag “Nash” and shook his head, repeating his mantra.
There were yells of the boy's name and then a man is crouching where the other man just was, and the name tag reading Diaz was all Buck needed to see and he was letting the man grab Christopher from his arms, rushed “Thank You"s falling from the dad's lips.
Then Buck let himself fall back in exhaustion as he heard Christopher wake up and yell, “Dad!”
Two of the huddled firefighters were on him in an instant, assessing his condition as their teammate moved away with his son, staring down gratefully at the man that saved his son.
“We have a large abdominal laceration. Sir, can you please tell me your name?” Chimney asks as Hen gets up to wheel a gurney over to them.
He leans down as he watches the man whisper something, but only gets “looking for Firefighter Diaz for Christopher Diaz.”
Chimney curses under his breath and tries to stop the bleeding before he and Hen lift the man onto the gurney.
The fire academy graduation was postponed, but Buck still had to take a couple of months to heal. It was 3 months before he was fully healed, graduated, and walking into his new firehouse.
There was a sense of familiarity, not just on Buck's part, the rest of the 118 were left racking their brains for how their new recruit looked familiar.
It was dropped from their minds, the team not connecting their Buck with Chris’ Evan. Buck hadn’t remembered much about getting to safety after the tsunami. He remembers lots of voices, handing Chris off, and then he was waking up in a hospital.
Everything came to head at Buck's first appearance at the 118-family barbecue at the Grant-Nash house. He had been with the team for over 2 months, and he loved everything about it, he got along well with everyone, there was a bit of playful flirting between him and Eddie, and he felt like this was it, this was where he was meant to be.
Buck stood next to Bobby at the grill, a beer in his hand as he helped the man with the cooking. They were talking about a recent call when Buck caught sight of Eddie over the grill, his eyes lighting up, a smile falling on his lips and Bobby just chuckled, “You’ve got it bad, Buck.”
The man in question moved his eyes from the approaching Eddie to Bobby, “No I don’t, shut up.”
The Captain let out another chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Eddie says in greeting, hands coming to rest on his hips as he stares at the two. Buck lightly whacks Bobby’s arm and gives him a warning glare before smiling at Eddie.
“Hey, Eddie. Where's the little man?” Bobby asks, moving a burger patty into the pan waiting in Buck’s hand.
Eddie’s smile widens, “He’s inside with Denny and Harry.”
A kid, Eddie had a kid? “You got a kid? I love kids.” Buck beams, holding out the pan again for Bobby to place another patty.
No one got the chance to say anything, the sound of the sliding door interrupting their conversation. “Dad! Can Harry and Denny” Buck's eyes widen at the familiar voice, his head snapping up from where he had been looking at the grill, they connect with a familiar pair and the pan in his hand falls, thankfully it only fell a few inches, landing on the grills side table, but the clatter was enough to draw attention to him.
“Evan!”
His breath catches in his throat, because damn, it was Chris, his Chris. He could feel Bobby and Eddie’s eyes on him, but he could only focus on the kid a few feet away from them, just on the other side of the grill. “Chris?”
And then the kid was beaming, making his way closer as fast as he could with his crutches. Buck moved around Eddie, meeting Chris halfway, crouching right before him and hugging him.
Chris leaned his head on Buck's shoulder, letting his crutches fall to the side as he wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, “Daddy found you, I knew he would.”
“Now what is going on out here?” A voice calls from behind Chris, making Buck's head lift to see a confused Athena with her brows raised. Soon the entire party was filing outside around Buck and Chris, minus Chim and his girlfriend, who were running late.
The boy pulled away from him, smiling up at Athena, “You guys found Evan. From the tsunami.”
There’s a hand on Buck’s bicep, dragging him into a standing position and then he’s yanked into a hug, one arm wrapping around his shoulders while another goes around his waist, holding him tightly. Buck returned the gesture, letting his arms wrap around Eddie.
Chimney’s voice coming from the open doors breaks through the stunned silence, “You know this makes sense as to why Buck looked familiar.”
Everyone chuckled at the statement and the two men began to loosen their grips, but they didn’t let go. Buck felt Eddie’s hands lift off of him, only for his left hand to come to his waist and the right one to grip his shoulder. In the movement, Buck lets his hands drift across Eddie’s back until they’re resting in the same position.
His friend was looking at him in amazement, like he’d just had this earth-shattering realization about Buck.
There was chattering, the group all joking about small worlds and how crazy it was that their coworker was the man that saved Chris’ life. Buck fully pulled away from Eddie, the widest smile he had ever had on his face, he looked down at Chris first, ruffling the boy's hair, causing a giggle, before he let himself scan the rest of the group.
He was happy, he had a great team, and friends and he even found Chris again, which after waking up in the hospital, he thought he’d never see the kid again.
Buck saw Chimney and was about to step towards him to greet him and maybe finally meet his girlfriend, but his eyes drifted over to the woman, and he stopped, the small falling from his face in shock as his eyes connected with hers.
She mirrored Buck, mouth slightly agape, eyes wide. There were too many coincidences tonight, especially revolving around the new probie, because how can Buck be Chris’ Evan and Maddie’s Evan? It had been seven years but they still both looked the same, older and more mature, but they were still them.
Their exchange of looks went unnoticed until Maddie gripped her boyfriend's arm, a death grip that made him wince and turn to her and then follow her wide-eyed stare to Buck who held the same expression. “You’re kidding me.”
Suddenly, Buck wanted to be anywhere in the world other than where he was. Because Maddie was standing right in front of him, Chim at her side, her hand reaching out for Buck’s own. Seven years, a broken promise and his sister abandoning him with nothing but a stupid letter and the keys to her jeep. Now she is in California? In LA of all places, and she didn’t even look for him? Her wide eyes were full of tears, and she looked so happy to see him. His eyes were full of tears too, he realized. He took a deep breath, willing the tears away, and then removed his hand from her hold.
Buck didn’t miss the hurt that crossed her features as he turned away, scanning the once again silent group, he locked eyes with Bobby, “I uhm, I have to go home. Thank you for inviting me Cap,” he pauses, flicking his eyes to the man’s wife, “Athena.”
He turned to face Eddie and Chris, “I’d like to see Chris again soon if that’s okay with you?”
“Of course, yeah, let us take you to lunch soon, I’ll give you a call!” Eddie agrees, nodding his head enthusiastically and patting Buck's arm. Buck crouched in front of Chris again, giving him a light hug before pulling away, placing his hands on the boy's small shoulders, “We’ll hang out again in a few days, I promise. You still owe me those surfing lessons, remember?”
The air was tense as he shuffled his way past Maddie, not sparing her a single glance.
It was a lot to take in all at once. His sister looked happy, she had obviously gotten away from her dick of a husband Doug, and started a new life in LA, with Chimney and she was a dispatcher, according to the team. She’s happy. She just didn’t need her little brother in her life, his mind helpfully supplied, just like she didn’t seven years ago.
He’s happy for her, of course, he just, he needs a few days. Until he’s ready, he will just revel in the fact that he found Chris.