Chapter Text
It's been three months sense the hospital shooting.
In less simple words 13 weeks, 92 days, or 2190 hours sense Eddie Diaz had worked a shift at the 118, not like he's counting or anything.
The shooting was something that did significant harm to not only Eddie and Athena but the entirety of the 118 and extended family. The only time Harry let his mother out of his sights was when he was on a shift, and May practically moved in to help with her mother's recovery.
Hen and her family were either in Athena or Eddies house most weekends, mostly spending time with them.
Chimney and Maddie both did the same, bringing Jee and Nash over once the two injured members were ready for visitors again, while also bringing enough food to stock both of their fridges.
Which they couldn't take total credit for (barely any in the long run), Buck and Pepa both did most the work of filling the freezers for the two injured members. Buck spent time at both their houses, concerned for both of their safety. It took plenty of time from both Athena and Eddie to convince Buck to stop stressing about them as much, and he somewhat did.
But again, it's been three months, Athena has been getting better by the day, so has Eddie and it's not like nothing good had come from the hospital.
While in the middle of bleeding out Eddie somehow, by the grace of God, convinced Buck to foster Theo and with the help of every one of the 118 and extended Buck had finally gotten custody of his son and most important Eddie has one week before his re-certification test.
Well in the grand scheme of things that wasn't actually the most important thing, but in the moment, Eddie felt like it was for a second.
He'd missed spending time at the station with the 118, missed the team dinners, missed being around Buck, he meant everyone.
It was late at night or early in the morning, Eddie hadn't gotten around to checking the time yet, and his room was blacked out anyways.
He was sitting in silence attempting to decide whether going back to sleep was going to be worth it or not, well that was before someone decided for him. A knock echoes through the house, Eddie attempts to burrow deeper into his bed trying to ignore whoever was at the door. Nevertheless, the person on the other side of the door persisted.
Eddie rolls over looking at the alarm clock on his nightstand,
6:47 am
"oh, come on," he groans, slowly getting up making his way through the house, pausing briefly near Chris's door sounds of the 16-year-old sleeping making its way through the door, thankfully. Eddie was half expecting him to still be up playing video games, once confirming Chris was actually still sleeping, he continues on throughout his home.
Once making it to the door, leaning against it slightly he looks through the peep hole seeing Evan fucking Buckley on the other side, "what do you want?" he groans into the door just before opening it. Eddie looks the man over seeing what was in his arms. Theo was still knocked out wrapped in a blanket, while a bag was thrown over Buck's other shoulder. "What are you doing here, Buck?"
"Repayment," Buck smiles, walking through the threshold of the house tossing the bag down near the entry way, "you have one week until re-certification, and I need a babysitter," he explains, gesturing to the child who was already beginning to stir in his arms.
Eddie hopes his face looks as puzzled as he feels, "Daycare?"
"Closed for some reason, got an email about it haven't read it yet" Buck answers while passing Theo into the other man's arms, "you have nothing better to do once you drop Chris off at school, you can't work, so take Theo out have some fun get some fresh air."
"Buck," Eddie begins,
"I have to be at the station by seven," Buck explains backing up towards the door, before rushing forward quickly to press a kiss to the four year old forehead, "love you Spider-man," he sighs, looking up at Eddie seeing how close the two of them were, he quickly backs up again, "have fun, don't do anything I wouldn't do," Buck says just loud enough to not wake either of the boys up, quickly rushing out the door before Eddie could get any thoughts processed.
"Alrighty," Eddie sighs, bouncing the toddler slightly, before making his way back down the hall. Stopping by Chris's door again hearing the alarm beginning, Eddie sighs briefly deciding it would be easier to set the sleep toddler down before trying to rouse the sleeping teen.
Eddie unwraps the blanket from the toddler's shoulders, laying it to the side it was covered in spider-man, a gift from Hen when Buck first started fostering Theo. Once he successfully untangled himself from the kid's grasp, he quickly leaves the room. Stopping once he reaches Chris's door, knocking on it loudly enough to wake him.
"Chris!" Eddie yells through the door, "Come on! You have school!"
The only sounds he receives in return was groans and complaints, "get up!" he yells one more time before walking to the kitchen to begin making something for the three of them. Quickly deciding cereal was going to be the best option, that he had the less likely chance of making a mess of. Not long afterwards he heard the sounds of crunches.
"I thought I heard Buck," Chris mutters in greeting, once reaching the kitchen.
"He was here earlier," Eddie answers, bringing bowls and cereal over to the table.
"Why?"
"He was dropping Theo off," Eddie answers, setting the milk on the table before sitting down with his son, "he needed a babysitter, Theo's daycare got shut down for the day."
"And that's the only reason?" Chris wonders.
"I'm pretty sure," Eddie answers, already half expecting where the rest of the conversation was going.
"I'm just saying, it seems more like buck up dad, less in need of a babysitter." Chris explains, picking
at his cereal aiming for the marshmallows hidden throughout, "It's what you did when he was sad,"
"I'm not sad," Eddie retorts.
"I guess," Chris chuckles, looking down the hallway when Theo's voice begins carrying through the house, "Guess Theo's up,"
"I'll be back," Eddie walks down the hallway to be greeted with a four year old crashing into his legs, halfway down the hall,
"Hi!" Theo yells, grabbing onto Eddie's pajama pants, "Eddie!"
"Hey spider-man," Eddie sighs, picking the toddler up settling him on his hip, "you hungry?" the only answer he gets is a shrug of the shoulders from the toddler, Eddie sighs leaning his forehead into the kids shoulder briefly, "come on, Theo."
The two of them make their way into the kitchen where Chris was still picking his way through his cereal, "you can't just pick all the marshmallows out of it," Eddie scolds, setting Theo down on the counter, "I don't even know how Buck talked me into buying that,"
"Buck threw it in the cart while Theo distracted you," Chris interrupts.
"Sounds about right," Eddie sighs, turning his attention back to Theo, "What are you hungry for?"
"Marshmel!" Theo yells, his hands shooting up quickly.
"Maybe later buddy," Eddie sighs, looking over to Chris who was laughing quietly. While Chris finished eating, Eddie convinced Theo into eating something that was actual food and not completely made of sugar. Once Theo settled at the table with food Eddie and Chris both rushed off to get dressed.
Eddie finds some clean clothes, quickly getting dressed when the alarm on the nightstand catches his eye.
7:47 am
shit
Chris's school starts at 8
Eddie runs out of the room, stopping at Chris's door, "Chris we gotta go!" he yells, before making his way into the kitchen finding Theo playing with his food, "alright, we gotta go spider-man, come on."
"Eating still," Theo answers, grabbing a fistful of dry cereal to prove his point.
"I know," Eddie sighs, grabbing a lid for the bowl, "But we're going to be late, you can eat it in the car."
Theo doesn't answer only stares at his food bowl that Eddie took, Chris comes down the hallway not much later. Eddie grabs Theo's bag which he was hoping Buck stashed his shoes in and parades the two towards the door. Theo rushes out before the other two, running towards the vehicle.
Eddie stops for a second thinking about the fact he doesn't have Theo's car seat, only to open the door to find the exact thing he was worrying about. Theo's car seat already there.
"Damn it Buck," Eddie mutters, days like this are the reason Eddie regrets giving Buck the spare key to his car. He doesn't think about it much longer, getting both of them into the back seat. Checking the clock on the dash, seeing they only had 10 minutes to make it to Chris's school.
Thankfully traffic wasn't as bad as Eddie was assuming and they got it there two minutes before the morning bell, "Love you, Superman,"
"Love you, dad," Chris answers, climbing out the car.
"Love superman!" Theo yelps, looking towards Chris who was grabbing his crutches out of the truck.
"Love you too, Theo," Chris smiles, walking away from the truck to be met with a few of his friends.
Eddie drives away from the school, once watching Chris and his group of friends walk into the building, he glances back at Theo who was entertaining himself with a forgotten toy he left from the last time he and Buck were in the truck.
"Well Theo," Eddie begins, pulling over to the side of the road, "what are we going to do?"
Theo looks out the window momentary, tilting his head slightly while he was trying to think of an idea. Eddie watches in wonder, noticing how Theo was acting exactly like Buck when he doesn't have his plans already set out.
"Well, I was thinking we could go to a park or-" Eddie begins, dragging off looking over to the toddler whose attention was quickly caught by the first word.
"Yes!" Theo yelps, attempting to jump up, while still being strapped into his car seat.
"It looks like we've made a decision then," Eddie laughs,
The two of them made their way towards the closest park, it was in the middle of downtown surrounded by tall building. It being the middle of the school day did help, with their only being a hand full of kids actually playing on the playground.
There was still plenty of people in the surrounding areas of the part though, the second they parked Theo began fighting against his seatbelt, while Eddie dug through the bag Buck had brought to find Theo's shoes. Which had fallen to the bottom of the bag, Eddie made quick work of getting the shoes on the four-year-old before helping him get out of the car.
Theo bolted towards the playground, while Eddie ran close behind him, sweeping him up before he crossed the parking lot alone, "Dios Theo," Eddie sighs, settling Theo on his hip with the bag thrown over his other shoulder, "You gotta stop running off."
Theo furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the firefighter in annoyance, "Hurry then,"
Eddie laughs softly at the kid's expression, letting him down the second they reached the grass. Theo took off towards the playground while Eddie walked close behind finding a spot near the playground to let the bag down.
When Eddie looked up, he found Theo climbing to the top of the playground, stopping briefly to see if Eddie was watching, once confirming he was he kept climbing.
"Theo!" Eddie yells, rushing over when the toddler tries to climb onto the roof of one of higher parts of the playground, Theo stops quickly looking down at Eddie with a smirk on his face, that could only remind Eddie of Buck.
he desperately needed to talk to Buck about everything that night, Eddie thought briefly before Theo began trying to climb again and the thought was quickly kicked out of his head for the moment.
***
The station was a type of chaos that could only be achieved by about two floaters and a dozen stressed firefighters, two people from B-shift had gotten hurt during a call earlier in the night, which lead to people from A-shift getting called in early. The floaters were borrowed from another station that wasn't under as much stress ever sense the hospital.
Buck was in the kitchen starting breakfast, when Hen joined him sitting at the bar, "How's buck up Eddie going?" she asks.
"It's less buck up Eddie, more of I needed a babysitter," Buck answers, while focusing on whatever was in the pan in front of him.
Hen gives him an exasperated look before responding, "That's not what you said on the phone,"
"Well buck up Eddie was easier to explain, " Buck answers, looking up at Hen, "so was lying about Theo's daycare being closed, so Eddie would take him for the day."
"Seriously?" Chim asks, walking up behind Buck to steal from the pan, "What happens when he finds out?"
"He got to spend his day with a cute four-year-old," Buck argues, "I wouldn't say that's bad."
"An insane energized four-year-old, you mean," Chim corrects, leaning against the counter, "I was there at his and Jee's last play date, I swear the two of them feed off each other's energy."
"Definitely," Hen laughs, "but the pictures were worth it,"
Harry and Ravi come running up the stairs at the sounds, "What are you guys talking about?" Harry asks, jumping up to sit on the counter.
"Buck lying to Eddie, to have a free babysitter." Chim answers.
"Isn't that just daycare?" Ravi wonders. all three of them look over at the man, who stares back like a deer caught in head lights, "Is it not?"
"Ravi," Chimney sighs, "you sweet summer child, day care is in fact not free, more like 2,000 dollars."
"A month!" Ravi yelps, "Who is paying 2,000 dollars for child care?"
"It's sometimes more," Hen laughs, "and most people pay for child care until they're old enough for school, unless the school costs money."
Ravi looks at the woman in shock, "people pay for elementary school?" he asks, "isn't that like a requirement of life?"
"Yeah," Buck answers, "but some school are better then others, so you pay for them."
Chimney looks over at his brother-in-law, "didn't you go to one of those type of schools?"
"I did," Buck answers, "for like two months, it didn't take long for my parents to get annoyed with the price and put me into a normal school,"
"Tracks for your parents," Hen mutters.
Silence covers the kitchen for a minute, the only sound coming from the pan in front of Buck. It was a second longer before Harry starts talking, "Have you talked to them about Theo?"
Buck stares at Harry for a second, before turning his attention back to the food in front of him, "Uh- no," he answers, "They don't know anything about him, or why he's with me and it's not like they've tried to get into his life."
The alarm echoes through the station, getting them all out of the conversation, as they all rush down the stairs. Hen falls into step with Buck, "He's lucky he's got you, and you've got us."
Buck smiles slightly as they rush to put their equipment on, "thanks Hen."
The 118 all loaded up driving to the location of the accident, it wasn't a very bad one a normal fender-bender at the most, on the call one of the drivers were complaining their door was stuck shut which lead to more people having to go.
Hen and one of the floaters made their way over one of the victims, while Buck went over to assess the other vehicle, with Ravi waiting near the latter truck waiting for Buck to tell him what they need most, "Rav we need the jaws!" Buck yells over.
"Got it!" Ravi rushes over and the two of them make quick work of getting the man stuck in his car out, which the minute he did he crashed into Ravi who was helping him stand as a crutch, "We're gonna need some help over here!"
"One second!" Hen answers, collecting everything from the first victim, to rush over to the second one.
As Hen rushes over the ground begins to shake, sound of glass beginning to brake echoes through the air as the buildings surrounding them begin to experience what was happening. "Earthquake!" she yells, "Everyone stay calm!"
The surrounding bystanders didn't listen most of them beginning to panic and running off in different directions. The 118 didn't follow as Chim begain yelling at the group, "Everyone stay where you are!" he yells, "stay away from the light poles and the trees until it's over!"