Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Buck suddenly had more to do than he felt like he had time to do it. He was working at the shop, both on the car he’d managed to get, along with all the other customers; he was helping Chris get into the swing with his fancy new school that Carla found for them, he was running with his new running club and even getting set up with the paralympic team meet schedule. The coaches seemed to like his speed and how easily he agreed to attend and compete in certain events. He only had one meet before the wedding, but he had another a few weeks after he got back from his honeymoon. The summer was going to be busy with more meets than he’d gone to or participated in since high school. But Eddie and Chris were both excited to watch him run, so he started to get more excited for it, too. 

Eddie filled him in about the firehouse congratulating them for getting engaged and was told that Buck had to come to some cookouts or even come by the firehouse some time to meet everyone. He did want to do that, but he also didn’t have a lot of time. The next Olympic games were coming up the summer after they got married, and everyone Buck met from the paralympic team seemed to think he was going to be going with them after only one meet. Eddie did tell his firehouse team that his fiance was a potential Olympic athlete, and Buck had to kiss him senseless for having that kind of faith in him succeeding. While the firehouse crew were disappointed that they couldn’t be at the wedding, they all seemed to understand wanting a simple family affair. Apparently Eddie’s Captain had run off to the courthouse after he’d been dating his wife after 11 months together and had proposed when they’d only been together for around five. 

Honestly, once the entire Diaz family converged in LA, it was wild. The firehouse crew took Eddie out for a bachelor party night, even if he said he didn’t need it. Buck encouraged him to go because the guys from his mechanic shop were planning to take Buck out, too. After they’d shown him how they’d painted his jeep that he somehow managed to get running a little later he’d planned. The hangovers had been complete hell to get over, but Abuela’s food helped with some of it. Chris thought the whole thing was hilarious. He also managed to extort $20 out of both Eddie and Buck separately. They didn’t find that out until they were actually going to the wedding venue. Helena still hadn’t warmed up to Buck, which was fine. He wasn’t particularly fond of her, still, but he could tolerate her. Eddie and Ramon both found it funny, though, as they tried to navigate polite conversation at least for a little while. 

Eddie was not ashamed at all by how much he spent their reception groping his new husband. Not that Buck was that much better, but Eddie was doing it constantly. All the way until they were told to leave while they were still somewhat decent. Which was a wonderful idea because Buck really wanted to peel Eddie’s suit off of him. Christopher was staying with his grandparents, with strong promises from Ramon that they didn’t have to worry about anything and that he would keep Helena in line. Which was really his way of promising that she wouldn’t kidnap her grandson, who was officially Buck and Eddie’s kid. Or would be once they submitted the step-parent adoption paperwork after getting back from their honeymoon. Buck had to do all his name change stuff when he got back, too, so that was gonna be fun.

Buck dressed similarly going to the airport that he had when he first came to LA; shorts and a t-shirt. Eddie wore joggers and a t-shirt, though, bringing an extra hoodie in his carry-on in case Buck needed an extra layer. Buck was also glad that Eddie had helped him figure out applying for the whole TSA pre-check thing, because it made getting through security super simple. He still offered to take his leg off when they were going through the metal detector thing, and Eddie had snorted and kept snickering while he waited for Buck to be scanned. They held hands as they got coffee and a snack before waiting at their gate. Eddie even made sure he took his anxiety meds before they boarded. Eddie sat on the side by his prosthetic and helped rub the tension in his thigh away as the flight went on. 

The family hadn’t spared any expense for their honeymoon, either, everyone pitching in for various things. Buck and Eddie were picked up in a fancy car by someone with their name on a sign, just a simple ‘Mr.’s Diaz’ which made them both inexplicably happy. The days there went by way too fast, and they managed to defile nearly every surface of their room, and a few walls, during their stay. They were both also tugging uncomfortably on their clothes once they had to be dressed consistently to go home. It took them a little while to adjust back to LA time, though. Eddie was napping every chance he got at work, and Buck was just trying to keep up enough energy to make it through practices. They were both actually really thankful to have Eddie’s sisters staying in LA for another few days because when the weekend came, they both crashed out. 

Eddie was incredibly busy at the station once they finally readjusted to being back. They ended up having another celebration, but just with Eddie, Buck, and Chris, when the step-parent adoption went through just before Buck’s final meet to qualify for the Paralympic games. He’d won his event for a few of his meets, and he came in second or third in a few, but he was hoping he could qualify now that he was into it and enjoying it. Eddie and Chris had come to some of his meets and cheered him on proudly, making him smile. Ramon came to one that the boys couldn’t make it to, and he definitely cheered the loudest of anyone there. Buck wasn’t surprised that he was telling anyone nearby that that was his son-in-law. 

As soon as Buck finished his last race, he knew he’d made it. He’d qualified and was going to be going to the Olympics. There were still a lot of rumors and gossip going around about who he was and where he was from, but the world would learn soon enough. He wasn’t sure about that part, but he knew it was going to happen anyway. He hoped that since there were usually hundreds of American athletes participating, they wouldn’t look at him too closely. Considering he’d only been running for four years, it was going to be a big deal. So Eddie offered him a sort of compromise; he could practice answering uncomfortable questions about his life by meeting the firehouse crew. They were all getting somewhat impatient about meeting Buck, too. Which was funny, and he kind of wanted to keep up the air of mystery and see how many people said Eddie was making up a spouse at all. Eddie didn’t find that very funny, though. 

“I have some time off from racing for a little while.” Buck sighed when Eddie gave him a flat look. “And you’re right, it’s not a bad idea to do a test run with them.”

“It’s insane that we’ve managed to be together and even married for so long without you meeting any of them officially.” Eddie said, relaxing a little as Buck agreed to meet them.

“I feel like I know some of them already, not gonna lie. From how much you talk about them.” Buck said thoughtfully. “Is it gonna be weird that I know so much about them but I’m a complete mystery? Like, I’m pretty sure I could point out and say hi to every single person you work with, by name and description, but they won’t be able to do the same for me.”

“It was fun for a while.” Eddie snorted. “I didn’t really want you to meet them before because you were still grieving for your best friend. And then we started dating, then you moved in with us, and I’ve just been enjoying having this thing just for us. But I’ve met everyone and their partners and I think it’s time they met you. Well. I guess that’s not entirely true. I haven’t met Chimney’s partner.”

“Why not?” Buck frowned.

“I guess before she got here she was in a pretty abusive relationship before escaping.” Eddie shrugged. “She’s from the northeast, Boston, I think. I’m not really sure. They have a little girl together, too, and are planning to get married, but not until they find some long lost family member. Each time we’ve gotten together she was called into work or something came up so she hasn’t been to the get togethers I’ve been too.”

“That sounds insane.” Buck hooked his chin over Eddie’s shoulder. They were in the kitchen and Eddie was attempting to make something from a recipe he’d gotten from his boss. It smelled really good, and Buck was mostly just there to supervise and help Eddie if he neglected something or got distracted. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d have loved to have family at our wedding, just my sister, obviously, but there are anniversaries and vow renewals for when that comes up.”

“That’s what I told them.” Eddie nodded, turning his head and kissing Buck’s cheek. “They’ve been together for around six or seven years, and their daughter is four going on five, but Chimney said he was going to marry her as soon as she was ready. She’s been saving up for a private investigator, apparently.”

“Maybe I could help.” Buck offered. “Stir that a little more.” Eddie switched the spoons he was holding and stirred without question. “I’m pretty good at finding people.”

“You know a crap load of random people.” Eddie chuckled. “Honestly, the more I heard about her, the more it reminded me of you.”

“How’s that?” Buck frowned, reaching out and dipping his finger in the sauce quickly. He hummed and turned the burner off so it could settle.

“Woman who was in an abusive relationship, managed to make it out alive, searching for a long lost little brother.” Eddie recited. “Parents are somewhat well-to-do but didn’t give a shit about the missing brother before the woman left and ended up here working as a dispatcher and going out to certain places, hoping for a sign of the person she misses so much.”

“How long has it been since she’s seen him? Her brother.” Buck asked, turning the other burner off. 

“That’s kinda tricky.” Eddie pursed his lips before plating up the main portion of pasta and adding the veggies and sauce over it all. “So there’s a big age gap, kinda like me and my sisters, so she had moved away before he was in double digits. Except then she was secluded with her ex and didn’t see him until years later when he came to ask her to run with him.”

“Ok, that does sound similar.” Buck pointed out, setting the silverware on the table. Chris was already there and waiting, playing some game or another that he downloaded on Buck’s phone. “The only difference being I don’t think my sister would care if our parents knew where I was or not. Yeah, she’d probably be upset they didn’t know, but she wouldn’t cut them off like this woman did with her parents. Pretty sure she’d suffer through whatever they said just to have them in her life again after being stuck with just Doug for so long.”

“That’s why I just said it reminds me of you.” Eddie nodded, “go sit down or I will trip over you and I really want to see how this turned out.”

“What’s her name?”

“No idea.” Eddie hummed, setting a plate in front of Christopher before picking up the plates for him and Buck. “Pretty sure it starts with an M, but I don’t actually know. Their daughter’s name is Jee-Yun. She’s named after Chim’s mom.”

“That’s so cute.” Buck smiled. “I don’t even think I know anyone I’d want to name a kid after.”

“Liar.” Eddie and Chris said at the same time.

“Ok, fine, yes, if we wanted another kid and we got a baby girl, I would absolutely want to name her after my best friend in some way. Maybe a middle name or something.” Buck rolled his eyes.

“There are a lot of options for adoption.” Chris commented, setting Buck’s phone down and picking up his fork. “Ms. Hen and her wife, Denny’s moms, started fostering last year. And Denny was adopted, too. But we’d need a bigger house.”

“We haven’t even been married for a year.” Buck snorted. “Let’s see how we handle at least one more before we talk about more kids.”

“Dad said you would say that.” Chris rolled his eyes. 

“It’s a lot to consider.” Eddie leaned over and booped Chris’ nose, making him giggle. “Would we get a baby and start from that early on? Or would we get a kid that’s a little older, maybe even close to Nia’s age, or yours? One bathroom is barely enough for the three of us, so I don’t think it would work if there was even one more person around to use it.”

“Definitely not.” Buck agreed. “Let me get through this first season running on an actual team before we try to make that plan. Through one Olympics, and we’ll rediscuss it.”

“So? Did dad do alright?” Eddie asked, watching as Chris and Buck each took a bite. 

“This is great, babe!” Buck said happily, Chris nodding along. “Good job.”

“Thanks.” Eddie chuckled. “I had a very handsome sous chef that kept me on task.”

“He means me.” Buck faux whispered to Chris who started laughing. Eddie just rolled his eyes and smiled at them before eating. 

Buck was 27 (almost 28), and it had been around nine years since he’d seen his sister, let alone anyone else from his family. What Eddie told him about Chimney’s partner, though, brought up the thoughts he had about what happened after he left. He felt like he’d learned a lot about himself in therapy over the years. Eddie was turning 30 soon, and Christopher would be 10, but he couldn’t help thinking about his sister. Eddie’s sisters were around any chance they could be, and they loved spoiling their nephew and teasing their brother. Could Buck and Maddie be like that some day? If they got to see each other again, would they be able to get past everything that happened? Buck wanted to think he could handle seeing her again, if he got the nerve to look for her. But he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it alone. 

Which was fine, because he doubted Eddie or Christopher, not even mentioning Ramon, would let Buck do something like that alone. He’d been accepted as a Diaz, and it was incredible and so easy he forgot sometimes that he hadn’t known them forever. When the get-together was coming up, Buck had Christopher help him make a few things to take over. He hated the idea of showing up empty handed, even if Eddie assured him everyone was just wanting him to be there so they could meet him. Chris had fun helping him and Buck sent a few pictures of Chris baking or testing the product to Eddie while he was at work, getting heart reactions to each one. Also a pouty face since Buck wasn’t in them. So Buck and Chris took one together after Chris had blown corn flour at him and it was all over his hair and face. That had gotten a laughing crying emoji and another heart. Honestly, Buck could easily see how Shannon had fallen in love with Eddie Diaz and felt grateful to have been able to do the same without reservation. Which was not what he expected. 

“Hope you boys have showered already!” Eddie called when he got home. 

“We did.” Chris laughed, answering his dad. Buck did a little twirl once Eddie was in the door to the kitchen and showed off his sneakers that matched his blue shirt and he was wearing tan shorts that he’d gotten at a thrift shop that were generally for golfing. But they were comfortable and breathable, so Buck was going to wear them for whatever he wanted to. Eddie whistled appreciatively. 

“I know, I look good.” Buck said, sighing dramatically and making Chris giggle some more. “Now it’s your turn. Get ready and we’ll load this up in the truck.”

“Be out in a sec.” Eddie leaned in and gave him a quick kiss before disappearing to the bedroom. Buck and Chris loaded up the foldable grocery cart thing they’d found at one of the thrift shops to get everything in one trip. The pitchers of sangria were in a box so they wouldn’t slide around or fall over or anything. They’d just gotten everything loaded when Eddie appeared again in jeans and a low v-neck shirt that was a faded blue to match Buck and Chris. Chris was wearing a blue shirt because he’d wanted to match his Eva (even if he didn’t call him that as much anymore, moving on to Buck, Pops, or when he was feeling sassy, E-Bucks. It was apparently close to some virtual money thing for his video games) so of course Eddie was going to go full dork and match them as well. “All good?”

“Yup.” Buck and Chris said, bumping fists before Chris climbed in and got in his seat, ready to go. 

“Am I driving or are you?” Buck asked, once the door was shut. 

“You. I’ll put in the directions, but you know how I feel about driving in LA.” Eddie patted his arm before getting in. Buck rolled his eyes and got in as well. The drive was nice and Eddie talked about a few of the calls they worked, but Buck mostly let it settle as background noise. 

“This is a nice neighborhood. Does a fire captain really make this kinda money?” Buck looked around. “Might need you to get promoted and get me a house like this, Eds.”

“You’d hate it.” Eddie laughed. “Surrounded by nosey neighbors, not mountains, trees, or ocean?”

“Yeah, I would.” Buck chuckled. “I mean, I’ve been surrounded by people before, but I had the trees and oceans, too. Alright, Superman, let’s go harass dad’s boss!”

“I’m not gonna harass Captain Bobby.” Chris laughed. “Not with Ms. Athena around, anyway.”

“Right. Bobby’s wife. Who’s a cop.” Buck bit his lip nervously. He’d done pretty good at staying away from police for a while, aside from when he’d had to interact with them. They weren’t really seen the same in other countries as they were in the US. He just preferred to avoid interaction with any sort of law enforcement after the whole Doug ordeal.

“They’re all gonna love you, relax.” Eddie said quietly, so Chris wouldn’t hear. 

“I’ll work on it.” Buck sighed, picking up the box with the sangria in it while Eddie carried the containers of treats Buck had made. Chris didn’t even knock, just walked in, and was greeted with cheers all around, which wasn’t surprising. The kid always made a room light up. Eddie hurried down the steps to set the containers down and came back to help Buck down. He could do stairs, he could, he just really didn’t like them. Eddie took the sangria and held a hand out to help Buck just hop to the bottom. 

“Wondered if Eddie was ever gonna bring anyone around other than Christopher.” Buck looked up and saw Hen Wilson looking at him with a smile. “Hi, I’m Hen, this is my wife Karen, and our son Denny has probably already whisked Christopher away with the other boys to get up to some shenanigans.”

“Buck.” Buck smiled and shook their hands. “Well, Buck to Eddie and the guys I work with. Eva to Christopher, unless he’s in a mood.”

“Eva?” Karen asked curiously. 

“I met Chris through video chatting with his mom when he was two. He got stuck on my name and always just called me Eva instead of Evan.” Buck shrugged. 

“Wait, so why Buck?” Hen asked, looking confused.

“My maiden name, if men can have those. I took Eddie’s when we got married last year, so I’m technically a Diaz, but I wasn’t born one.” Buck chuckled. “Evan Diaz, formerly Buckley, which is why I get called Buck a lot.” Hen’s eyes went wide and Buck felt his smile falter a little. “Uh, that- that’s not a bad look I hope.”

“I’ll get them.” Karen said quickly, disappearing into the backyard. 

“Maybe you should sit down or something.” Hen suggested, but Buck did not want to do that. 

“Eds. Te necesito ahora.” Buck called, and Eddie appeared around the corner by the kitchen and came over.

“Que paso?” Eddie looked between Buck and Hen. “What’s up?”

“His last name is Buckley.” Hen said urgently. 

“It used to be.” Eddie said slowly, taking Buck’s hand in his. “Why’s that matter? He’s a Diaz, my husband.”

“Because Chimney’s partner is here, someone who has been looking for her brother for years with the same name.” Hen said urgently, and Buck felt his stomach drop out. He took a step back and shook his head.

“No. No, that’s not possible.” Buck said, but Eddie tightened his grip on his hand. 

“Who?” Eddie demanded. 

“Maddie.” Hen said, giving Eddie a stern look, but Eddie glared right back. 

“I don’t know who that is, so how the hell would I make whatever connection you did?” Eddie argued.

“She took Chim’s name, even if they aren’t legally married.” Hen sighed. “Her name was Maddie Buckley, turned Kendall from her first marriage. And she changed it years ago, when Jee-Yun was born, so they could all have the same name.” 

“Oh my god.” Buck gasped, trying to back away, but Eddie wouldn’t let him go. “Oh god. I- I can’t be here.”

“Eva.” Eddie said gently, drawing him out of his panic just a little. “Look at me, just me, yeah? What’s wrong?”

“Her- she-” Buck rasped, trying to breathe, but Eddie hugged him close, “no. Doug. Doug Kendall was my sister’s husband. The one who-”

“Jesus.” Eddie said, tightening his hold on him. “Ok, ok, it’s fine.”

“Is it?” A new voice asked, and Buck looked up and met his sister’s eyes. The sister he hadn’t seen since he’d run away from everything. 

“Everything ok?” Bobby asked, looking between everyone in confusion. 

“I spent years-” Maddie said, gasping a little as she started to cry, but Buck only wanted to run more. He swore to Eddie he was done running, and he was going to keep that promise, but he hadn’t expected for his sister to just be there. He thought he’d have time to prepare himself, mentally, “years, looking for my little brother. My first husband attacked him when I tried to send him away, and when I got to the hospital after the police from Virginia Beach contacted me, no one would tell me anything about what happened. I had to read the police reports to see what happened. Doug low-jacked my car and then went after my little brother because he was a useless piece of shit. Doug, not my brother. Doug nearly killed me, then he nearly killed my baby brother. And when I was finally done with the lawyers and police, my brother had disappeared. I’d had to get a new phone because everything else was in Doug’s name, and my old one was taken into evidence. But I lost all my contacts, and since I hadn’t talked to Evan in years at that point already, I didn’t know his number by heart. My parents had no idea where he was, where he went, and I couldn’t stay around them while I tried to grieve because they didn’t care. Yes, I was sad Doug was dead. But that was because I couldn’t believe I was free, finally; and it had cost me my brother. I came to LA because I knew he always wanted to be on the beach and to live in the sunshine, thinking I’d find him here. Instead I found Howie, and started working as a dispatcher, and my life finally started to come together. But I couldn’t give up on finding him. And now? Now, here you are.”

“Eddie- Eddie, I need to go.” Buck said frantically, trying to back away, “I can’t- no.” Buck shook his head. “I’m not ready- I’m not-”

“Just wait, ok?” Eddie said pleadingly. “Please don’t run again. You said you were done running, remember?” Buck shook his head again and tried not to cry, he really did, but Eddie held onto his hands tightly and Buck was gripping his hands as if they were the only thing tethering him to the surface of the earth. He whispered urgently to Buck in soothing tones in Spanish that helped ease some of his anxiety that had made it hard to breathe. “Let’s go outside for a minute and then we’ll do a proper re-introduction, ok? Talk to me, baby.”

“Outside.” Buck agreed, mumbling into Eddie’s neck because he honestly just wanted to curl up inside his husband and never come back out. When he finally pulled back enough to see the rest of the room, everyone was gone, thankfully. 

“Take all the time you need, Eddie.” Bobby called, peeking around the corner from the kitchen. “Chimney’s calming Maddie down, too.”

“I can’t believe it never came up what our partner’s names were.” Eddie huffed. 

“I can’t either.” Bobby chuckled. “Take your time, kid.” Buck looked up and saw the man giving him a gentle and reassuring look. “We did not mean to open something deeply traumatizing for either of you. For anyone.”

Buck muttered a not really-apology apology. In Spanish, because he couldn’t think that clearly right then. Eddie murmured to him softly the whole trek outside, and Buck started to let go of some of his tension and physically shook his body out once they were outside. They spoke quietly in Spanish for a little while, Eddie confirming that Buck had really just seen his long-lost sister. Buck nodded and turned around, trying to find her. As soon as their eyes locked, Buck couldn’t stay still, he headed straight for her, his eyes burning already as hers brimmed over with tears, her arms out to catch him. Maddie wrapped her arms around him tightly, and Buck buried his face in her hair, afraid to let go and she would be gone. She even smelled the same as when he was a little kid and she would comfort him.

“I was going to hire someone.” Maddie gasped, stroking a hand through his hair and rubbing circles on his back. “Next month, once I had my next paycheck. I was gonna hire someone to find you.”

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t around sooner.” Buck rasped back. “God, I got started on so many other things once I came back to the US and then Eddie asked me to marry him and I missed you in every fucking country I went to.”

“I missed you too.” She chuckled wetly. It took a few more minutes before they were able to lean back and just look at each other. “You got a little taller, even though you were already a giant.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just get shorter?” Buck teased, smiling when she poked his ribs. “Finally stopped around 20 ish, settling at six-two.”

“I have- so many questions.” Maddie laughed and then Buck laughed and then they hugged again. 

“I’ll answer them all.” Buck agreed. “We were going to use this as a test to see how I could handle interview questions if I get interviewed anyway.”

“That’s right!” Maddie exclaimed, leaning back. “My baby brother’s going to the Olympics!”

“Paralympics.” Buck wobbled his head and tapped the toe of his prosthetic against her shoe. “Same same, I guess.”

“My brother’s an Olympic athlete!” Maddie exclaimed, causing a few people to laugh or cheer.

“So’s my husband.” Eddie shouted back, smiling when Maddie flipped him off playfully. Buck snickered and couldn’t wait for them to get to be as good of friends as Buck was with Eddie’s sisters. 

“Guess we’ll have to look at the vow renewal sooner than we anticipated, Eds.” Buck said, still snickering.

“I’m down for another honeymoon!” Eddie said happily, rejoining them with Chimney standing beside Maddie. “I will happily go on another honeymoon if we reenact our wedding with your sister there.”

“Why didn’t we do that?” Chim asked with a dramatic, groaning sigh. Maddie rolled her eyes and shoved his face away gently before linking her arm with Buck’s. 

“I wanted my brother present for the one that mattered.” Maddie said unconcernedly. “Oh, you probably need to meet everyone, huh? We’ll need to add you to the firehouse spouse wine nights.”

“That’s a thing?” Buck asked excitedly. 

“It definitely is.” Karen said, laughing as she came over and stuck her hand out. “I know we were just introduced, but now that we know you’re connected to two families here, I’m going again. Doctor Karen Wilson, aerospace engineering.”

“I know, and I have so many questions that I will bring to the first wine night.” Buck chuckled. “It’s awesome to meet you, seriously.”

“Oh, this is Howie.” Maddie pulled Chimney back over. “My fiance and father to my daughter, wherever she’s gotten to.”

“Chimney.” Buck grinned when Chimney smirked and shook his hand. “Eddie wouldn’t tell me the story behind your name, though.”

“I’ll fill you in on the real story.” Hen snorted, earning her a frown that was more of a pout from the man in question.

“He’s never let it go that he introduced us.” Karen added, making Buck snicker again. 

“Mama! Can we play games with Harry in his room?” A boy ran up (that had to be Denny) and asked hopefully. 

“After we eat.” Hen countered. “Go tell the others to wash up and head to the table so they can all meet a real Olympic athlete.”

“Really?” Denny asked, looking intrigued. “Ok, be right back!”

“Still not used to that.” Buck scrunched his face up. 

“How long have you been running?” Chimney asked curiously.

“Loaded question.” Buck pursed his lips, before Maddie and Eddie snorted, and then the three of them were laughing. 

“I missed something.” Chimney looked between them in confusion.

“I’ve been running since I was 18, technically.” Buck said, still chuckling. “Ran from school, from home, from Maddie and our parents, before running through Central and then South America. If you’re referring to the less trauma induced answer, I’ve been running on a prosthetic for a few years. Around four. Didn’t start until I’d been on the regular leg for about a year.”

“Buckleys run.” Maddie said, shrugging when everyone winced. “Which we both know and can make fun of.”

“Oh my god.” Chimney groaned. “Yup, you’ll fit right in with us.”

“E-Bucks!” Christopher yelled and Buck sighed, looking at Eddie. His husband just shrugged innocently. 

“What?”

“Nothing!” Christopher replied, giggling with Denny and another boy like they just made a joke.

“Buck, officially, this is-” Eddie gestured to Bobby who was walking over to them.

“Bobby.” Buck finished for him, holding his hand out and shaking Bobby’s. Bobby was smiling at him. 

“Bobby Nash. Nice to meet Eddie’s other half. You may be pleased to know he was a vault when it came to anything to do with his partner.” Bobby chuckled.

“He was being dramatic.” Buck jumped when Eddie pinched his ass. “Asshole.”

“This is my wife, Athena Grant-Nash.” Bobby introduced the woman beside him and she definitely was in law enforcement. Buck could tell by the way she held herself.

“Glad you could make it.” She smiled as she shook his hand. “Why don’t we sit down to eat and we can ask questions or you can just tell us whatever you're comfortable telling us.”

“Is it safe to say you all know Maddie’s version of how she ended up out here?” Buck asked, letting Maddie drag him to the table to sit beside her. Eddie sat on Buck’s other side and Chimney sat on Maddie’s other side before a little girl with black hair was squealing and crashing into him. 

“I sit by mama!” She giggled. Chimney pretended to be aggrieved to move but scooted over to another chair so their daughter could sit between them. 

“Hi.” Buck said, leaning forward when Maddie leaned back. 

“Uncle Eva!” She exclaimed and Buck will deny that his eyes misted up at her cheer. “Mama! Uncle Eva’s here!”

“He is.” Maddie chuckled. 

“Hi Uncle Eva!” Jee said happily again, waving at him enthusiastically, even though they were maybe a foot apart. 

“Hi Miss Jee.” Buck sniffled, wiping at his face quickly. He stuck his pinky out to her and she wrapped hers around his. “I can’t wait to get to know you.”

“I tell you all the good stories.” She said certainly.

“Look forward to it.” Buck nodded, taking his hand back when she finally let go.

“May, Harry, this is Buck, Eddie’s husband.” Athena introduced. “Buck, this is my daughter May and my son Harry.”

“Nice to meet you.” May gave him a warm smile while Harry gave him a distracted wave. 

“To answer your earlier question, Buck, we know Maddie’s story.” Bobby said as they all sat down and started passing food around. “Before we get distracted again, you will probably want the dishes with green on the rim, those are the vegetarian and vegan friendly dishes.”

“Really?” Buck blinked. “You didn’t have to make anything special just for me.” 

“We wanted you to feel welcome and comfortable.” Athena shrugged. “And Bobby loves trying out new recipes. So you did him a favor by letting him test these out.”

“They’re trying to get you to give them details I don’t.” Eddie whispered, snickering when Bobby gave him a disappointed dad look.

“So how did you meet Eddie?” Hen asked curiously. Buck looked at Eddie who was smirking like an asshole.

“You could have at least told them that much.” Buck shook his head. “It’s kind of a weird story.”

“We’ve got time.” May stated, watching with rapt attention.

“So, probably around the time Maddie was finishing with the police and everything in Virginia Beach, I was getting my things from the hotel I’d been staying in. They kept my stuff for me in case I came back. So Gladys, one of the desk ladies, and Carlos, the maintenance manager, helped me book a train ticket to a bus station in El Paso. From there I took a bus to Mexico City. I ended up on a bus with Ramon Diaz.”

“So you met Eddie’s dad?” Chimney asked interestedly.

“I did.” Buck agreed. “I … looked like shit because I’d only been out of the hospital a few days, and still had a lot of bruising.” He pulled his phone out but held onto it for a second. “Are you ok to see this?” He looked at Maddie who gave him an unimpressed look. “Alright.” He sighed and rolled back to the picture he took on the bus with Ramon before passing it over. The table was quiet while the adults looked at it and back up at him. “I got the crap beat out of me pretty good. My voice actually still gets a little weird sometimes because my vocal chords were crushed. Had two broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a lot of cuts and scratches from broken glass from falling through a window while being strangled. Anyway, Ramon was sitting in the seat opposite me and we just sort of got to talking. Pretty sure he was worried I was in some kind of trouble, which wasn’t wrong, exactly. We talked for most of the bus ride about his son who had joined the army to provide for his girlfriend-turned-wife and their new son. We exchanged numbers and kept in touch pretty much since then.”

“We thought dad was crazy when he talked about meeting a random white boy on a bus to Mexico who was fluent in Spanish and was barely legal.” Buck stuck his tongue out at Eddie, but Eddie only grinned. 

“I was almost 19.” Buck argued petulantly. “Anyway, I spent the time I was healing living and working with Carlos’ extended family in Guadalajara. They had a massive auto shop and junk yard, so I found an old jeep and rebuilt it before taking off again. Spent most of the next year just driving further south and trying to figure out what to do next. I took temporary gigs teaching people basic English as I went, working in various auto shops or watching kids in group homes before they were fostered out or adopted or had other family show up to pick them up. And when I was in Panama, on a day off since I worked at the canal as a heavy equipment guy, I got a phone call from an unknown number. I thought it was just someone that had gotten my number from someone else, and since I’d spent the past year and a half immersed in Spanish and Mexican culture, that’s how I answered. Except the person on the other end of the phone didn’t know Spanish well. Ramon had given her my number and told her to call if she ever got overwhelmed. So I met Shannon and Christopher for the first time.”

“So you met Eddie’s dad, and his ex-wife and son, before you met Eddie?” Karen asked, looking like she was getting the best gossip in years. 

“I did.” Buck chuckled. “Christopher was upset, and I’m pretty sure his two year old self was just recognizing her anxiety and stress and didn’t know what else to do besides cry. So we turned it into a video call and I talked to her about the canal.”

“Oh my god!” Chimney exclaimed. “You! You were the ex-wife’s best friend! From the funeral!”

“I was.” Buck agreed. Eddie reached over and squeezed his thigh reassuringly. 

“Wait, the one with the ship analogy you couldn’t tell me?” Maddie asked curiously before looking at Buck. “Do you remember it?”

“I do.” Buck nodded. “But I don’t think the kids are all that interested to hear about that right now.”

“We don’t mind.” Harry shrugged. “I thought it was cool.”

“I heard it the first time at two, and the second at eight.” Chris shrugged. 

“You sure?” Buck looked around and everyone was nodding. “Alright, uh,” he scratched his head, “so the way the canal works is in stages, right? It is a long, slow process. Because once a ship enters, the water has to fill to a certain level so it can pass through. A section fills up with water and the ship moves forward, a new section filling up and another barrier going down as a barrier comes up behind it. The thing is, that process is a lot like us. We are the ship. We move through life, through experiences, similarly. We get filled up with so much crap; stress, love, anger, joy, and it builds and then another barrier comes down and we’re moving, taking all of it with us. But things blend together as you go. Things get picked up and left behind. We can’t close ourselves off to good or bad just because we want to build that barrier to keep it out. The only thing we can do is push through it. In whatever way we can. We can’t box that thing we don’t want to think about off and hope it goes away, stops bothering us. It won’t until we deal with it and accept that it was part of our journey. So we go through the canal. A new barrier falls and one closes behind us as we go. And we get to leave behind what made us feel unworthy of continuing forward. Anger fades to irritation and annoyance, pain fades into scars; we pick up more things that bring us joy. Barnacles. They cling to us because we deserve to have something joyful that wants to stick with us. And at some point, we don’t realize another barrier has gone down and another one has built up behind us. Suddenly we’re in the clear, open sea. We’re free of what was making us feel confined. We aren’t held down or back by the negative shit anymore. We aren’t forcing ourselves to cram it into a box or behind a barrier that’s only going to erode away and eventually catch up to us and cause issues. We made it through. We survived. So now we’re free to explore our ocean. To find more barnacles, more joy and happiness, that will help us weather the storms.”

“That’s-” Maddie swallowed thickly, holding Chimney’s hand tightly, “that was really beautiful.”

“And now you know why I couldn’t repeat it.” Chimney agreed, reaching up and wiping her eyes. “He’s got a real gift with words.”

“Telling Shannon that … it led me to … to talking about what happened for the first time ever. What I ran away from; what happened to lead to me running. To ending up on a bus with Ramon Diaz and somehow managing to gain a shit load of family in the process.” Buck said softly.

“I’m glad you had her.” Maddie said, passing him his phone back. 

“We can go over more pictures later.” Buck offered, and everyone perked up at that. “I did a lot of shit after that, traveling further south and getting into South America properly. Did a lot of random jobs, well, more random jobs, I guess. Worked on coffee farms and on river expeditions on the Amazon river, even replanted trees in the largest rainforest in the world. I was in Rio when Chris got his first crutches instead of a walker and was starting PT with them. Honestly, at that point, I’d talked to Ramon and Shannon the most out of the Diaz family. I knew about all of them, but Ramon wasn’t willing to just give my number to anyone. Not really. So Shannon became my best friend. We’d talk for hours and I’d be there for all of Chris’ PT sessions on video, cheering him on.”

“And then we got to do it together!” Chris said excitedly, but Buck bit his lip. 

“I had my accident when I was turning 23 and made it to Peru.” Buck offered. “My jeep got pushed off a cliff, basically, and when I woke up in the hospital I was down half a leg.”

“Dad was on video calls a lot with Chris and Shannon when Buck was getting through it.” Eddie added. “I swear, he became a different person after he met Buck.”

“He said I was his unfiltered connection to his kids.” Buck nodded happily. 

“That sounds like him.” Eddie shook his head with a small huff. 

“You say that like he changed a lot.” Bobby said curiously.

“He did.” Eddie shrugged. “Suddenly he was interested in what we were thinking and feeling. Growing up, dad didn’t do ‘feelings’. He saw them as a weakness, saw expressing them over repressing them as a weakness. But out of nowhere he was asking how we were feeling and trying to help us process and giving us suggestions that were actually helpful and made sense. We had no idea where it was coming from until the three of us, me and my sisters, cornered him one day and he confessed the whole thing. How he’d met a random gringo on a bus and had been worried because he was only 18 and looked like he’d been through hell. After that, once he told us about him, it was Evan said this, or Evan told me I was being an asshole.”

“He was.” Buck grinned when everyone laughed. 

“When did you two actually meet, then?” Bobby asked.

“When I was discharged.” Eddie sighed. “I … was not doing well. And then Shannon just left us, and I still refused to deal with what happened overseas. Dad tried to help out with what he could, but he was still working and wasn’t home much, so I was stuck with mom and her constant disapproval about my parenting.”

“It was a week after Shannon went to LA that I met Eddie.” Buck commented, answering the original question before he got sidetracked. “Ramon called for Chris’ usual PT session since she wasn’t there to call me. He’d gotten a new phone apparently, and was pretty frustrated by it. He said he didn’t want an upgrade that was smarter than him before showing Chris I was on so we could do PT together like always. I met Eddie when they got home and Chris ran to his room to get his new toy to show me.”

“This complete dork just blurts out ‘Jesus, you’re beautiful’.” Eddie chuckled. “I did not know that Eva and Evan were the same person. And that’s sort of when Buck became our mediator.”

Buck paused long enough to shovel some food in his mouth, curious what he was getting into and after the first bite, he knew he was going to be asking for recipes. Everyone else took his pause to eat as well. They managed to finish eating, but Buck could tell they all had more questions. 

“So how did this go from phone friends to husbands?” Chimney asked, smiling proudly when a few people laughed. 

“Maybe three months after the funeral?” Buck looked at Eddie. “Somewhere around there.”

“Buck and Shannon were best friends.” Eddie sighed. “And even though her and I were back to being friendly again, not quite friends but getting there, after the divorce, he still needed to grieve and come to terms with everything. Not just Shannon being gone, but also being back in the US.”

“So you got divorced and got with your ex-wife’s best friend?” Chimney laughed.

“She’d think it was funny.” Eddie shrugged. 

“She would think it’s hilarious and remind Eddie I was her friend first and he was watching Chris while we went out at least once a week.” Buck snorted. “I’m pretty sure she was planning to set us up anyway.”

“What makes you say that?” Eddie tilted his head curiously. 

“Because she said the three of us were going to hit up dating nights together since none of us had dated since high school and that you and I would ditch her for shots at the bar together before she would find us and join us, calling it a bust.” Buck shrugged. “Except she said it like she already expected the two of us to pair up if we were anywhere together. Might as well accept it that your ex-wife set you up with her best friend.”

“She set me up with an asshole.” Eddie grumbled.

“Yeah, but I’m your favorite asshole.” Buck smirked. “Plus, at least this way your family already approves of me.”

“That’s a mild way of putting it.” Eddie laughed. “Dad likes you best, over all of his biological kids.”

“So where do you fall on the spectrum?” Harry asked curiously.

“What spectrum we talkin’ about?” Buck tilted his head. 

“Queer.” Harry chuckled and rolled his eyes. 

“No idea.” Buck shrugged. “Before Eddie I hadn’t slept with anyone in … three? Years? Three and a half? Something like that. And I haven’t dated anyone since high school, so I don’t think that counts. Never really cared enough to look into any of that stuff. The labels or anything.”

“Did you just want to take a break?” May asked, frowning. “Is that why there’s a big gap?”

“Nah, I had a lot of work to do on myself.” Buck shook his head. “It’s … challenging to be used to your body, how it moves and works and carries you and then experiencing an accident like I did and having to re-learn how everything works in the after. And not just how it works, but also how you feel about it. I wasn’t interested in anything until I could look at myself in the mirror and not be sad or ashamed. If I was embarrassed or ashamed about what I was looking at, I wouldn’t have been able to handle passing comments from a stranger. Even if it was just for one night. It took me about two years to get to the point where I thought I might be ok with it. But by then I’d agreed to come back to the US. And I didn’t want to just sleep around before getting here when I had plans for when I got back to distract me. Even if my plans only went a few months out. I just didn’t want to do that when I wasn’t comfortable with other people seeing my leg stop at my knee and stare or say something mean. I wasn’t ever worried about that with Eddie, though. He, uh, when we were talking the first year he was back from the Army and before he came to LA, I’d mentioned I’d had an accident and didn’t realize it had never come up that I was down half a leg.”

“He said, and I quote,” Eddie grinned, “obviously I’m ridiculously handsome and fit, but I’m also a pirate.”

“You what?” May laughed delightedly. 

“One, I can’t believe you remember exactly what I said. And two, I know I look good.” Buck shrugged, grinning when everyone laughed. “I worked hard for this, learning to maintain it a little differently. But the confidence I have mixed with only having one leg kinda throws people for a loop considering it was from an accident and not from birth. Both Eddie and Shannon called me a kid, though, the first times we talked. I was 20 when I talked to Shannon the first time, she was 22. I was almost 25 the first time I talked to Eddie who was around 27. You all get me at 27 and having been through enough therapy I could probably host my own group counseling.”

“You’d be alright at that.” Eddie winked at him.

“Your family would know.” Buck snorted.

“Out of curiosity, maybe it’s morbid,” Maddie took a breath, steeling herself, “did you ever try calling?”

“A few times.” Buck nodded. “Twice, really. I’m guessing I got your phone when it was dead and in an evidence locker the first time. The other time the message said the number was disconnected.”

“You called me?” Maddie asked, her voice cracking.

“Of course I did.” Buck frowned. “You’re the only one I would call.”

“You didn’t try calling mom or dad, I mean?” Maddie huffed.

“Oh, no, absolutely not.” Buck shook his head, trying not to look too disgusted with the idea. “God no. And if Ramon ever found out I’d tried, he’d find a way to track the call and go have words with them, none of which they’d understand because he would be riled up and it would be all Spanish.”

“I think it’d be funny.” Eddie pitched in helpfully, making Buck roll his eyes and the others laugh. “Oh, let me go grab the dessert you made.”

“I can get it.” Bobby offered.

“Um, it’s not really for kids.” Buck said sheepishly. “It has Venezuelan coffee dust on it.”

“We get cupcakes.” Chris added. “We made them earlier, Buck, so there are two desserts.”

“I guess we’re both getting it.” Bobby chuckled as Eddie headed inside with him. 

“Sorry for talking about my sex life briefly.” Buck offered, shrugging when a few people snorted. 

“How’ve you been adjusting otherwise?” Hen asked curiously. “With being back in a primarily English speaking society, I mean.”

“Oh man.” Buck blew out a breath as Eddie and Bobby came back. “Some days are so bad. I’ll end up going to markets and shops that are Spanish only just to feel normal again.”

“We mostly only speak Spanish at home.” Chris added helpfully, frosting already all over his face from the cupcake he was demolishing. “He gets a little weird when he forgets his adderall.”

“I’m kinda scattered without it.” Buck pursed his lips. “I’m just- I’m not used to things here yet. Drop me in Mexico, or Nicaragua or fuck, even Chile, and I’ll be able to function, but sometimes it feels like looking at a map that’s inverted or everything is written backwards and I have to decipher it before I can process it. It’s … frustrating. I’ve been here for almost two years and some days I’m still driving into Spanish neighborhoods to try and find my equilibrium again.”

“Time out.” Denny said, holding his hands up in a ‘T’ motion, wiping the frosting off of his face quickly. “I was promised getting to meet an Olympic athlete.”

“Hola.” Buck waved and smiled, shrugging when Eddie snorted and shook his head as the boys’ eyes went a little wide. “I’ve been running and going to track meets a lot the past year and just qualified to go to my first summer games in a couple months. Part of me coming here today was so I could figure out how to appropriately respond to interview questions without telling someone to fuck off.”

“Really?” Denny sat up interestedly. 

“Really.” Buck nodded. “I do the 200. I considered doing the longer races, but I have too much muscle mass up top compared to the other distance runners. I still run with them occasionally when they want someone to push them harder at certain points. Sort of like being a pacer. I can start them off on a strong steady pace and they can go from that, or I meet them part-way through and get them to the end. I know Eddie’s been a secretive bastard, but did he tell you how I got connected with the team?” Everyone shook their heads no. “Ok, it was a total accident, actually.” Buck smiled when they chuckled. “I was just running like I normally do, and I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in a running group. I realized at the end that nearly everyone in the group had a prosthetic of some kind. The guy leading the group, Jeremy, introduced me to his brother, Jensen, who does javelin. Eddie was nice enough to come get me and pick me up after he got off shift that day.”

“He somehow ended up in Hollywood.” Eddie chuckled. “I tried to look up how he could have gotten that turned around, but I still have no idea how he did it other than daydreaming.”

“So do you want us to ask you interview type questions?” Harry asked, licking the last of his frosting off his face.

“Whatever questions you want to ask, but especially interview type questions.” Buck nodded.

“Wait,” Bobby interrupted, his first bite of Buck’s dessert in his mouth, “I want this recipe.”

“We’ll trade later.” Buck chuckled. “I’ll have to translate it to English on another card for you.”

“Proceed.” Bobby said, smiling when the kids snickered or rolled their eyes. 

“Where’d you go to school?” Harry asked.

“Hershey Pennsylvania.” Buck said easily. “Class of 2010.”

“Did you go to college?” May asked, earning her a curious look from her mom. 

“Kinda?” Buck tilted his head. “I … had no goals when I graduated high school.” Buck shrugged when Athena sighed. “I didn’t. I had no idea what I wanted to do, still don’t really know, but I went to college anyway. It was just community college, but I still signed up for it. And then I spent most of my time and tuition money on my bike, fixing it up in shop class and generally just fucking around. Until the school called me to a meeting and said I was getting kicked out because I barely had a GPA and if I wasn’t going to be in class, they wanted to make sure kids who wanted to, could. I was pretty upset about it and just took off on my bike. I rode around for maybe an hour before I was run over. Not my fault, but it still sucked. So I got a nice trip to an ER and an insurance claim on my bike when the police emailed me a copy of the police report to submit.”

“He’s taking some online classes now.” Eddie added.

“Oh, yeah, I am.” Buck agreed. “Once I finally caved and got tested for ADHD, and was getting medicated and learning how neurotypical people process information, I started taking some classes in rehabilitation sciences. I needed rehab for my leg, obviously, but with a diagnosis like Chris got, and even me with my ADHD, there’s still rehab involved to a degree. Unlearning and relearning healthy versus unhealthy coping mechanisms.”

“I know I appreciated my rehab doc.” Chim said with a shake of his head. Buck tried to remember if Eddie had said anything, but Eddie shrugged when Buck looked at him. “Before Eddie’s time I was in an accident. Had a piece of rebar right here.” Buck finally noticed the small scar on Chimney’s head. “They weren’t sure what all I’d be able to do when I woke up, but all the scans and everything looked good and I eventually got the all clear to get back to work.”

“That’s amazing.” Buck leaned forward. “And you haven’t noticed any personality changes or anything?”

“Can’t lie for shit now, but that’s it.” Chimney shrugged.

“Lying is unnecessary anyway.” Buck argued.

“It can be helpful in our line of work, though.” Hen said, drawing Buck’s attention. 

“Maybe.” Buck wobbled his head. “When I had my accident, both of them, really, I appreciated honesty over vague statements of reassurance. Those made me more anxious than the truth.”

“And that’s what an experienced paramedic needs to be able to discern.” Hen nodded. “If our patient is awake and cognizant, we need to be able to assess if the truth will be beneficial or if it would be better to keep them calm until they can get into an OR.”

“Valid point.” Buck conceded.

“How and when did Eddie propose?” Maddie asked, smirking at him. “Nobody knew until he was maybe three months from getting married.”

“I’d been back in the US about six months or something around there.” Buck wobbled his head. “I was hanging out with Chris, trying to figure out what we could do to sort out the childcare paperwork shit, because it was a giant mess, and we were talking kinda loud in the coffee shop, I guess, because this woman just stopped and introduced herself as a home health aide and offered to help us figure it out. That’s how I met the inimitable Carla Price. We set it up to meet Eddie a week later when I had a chance to look through her credentials and everything, and while I thought I was getting a different kind of reward, this dick stopped kissing me after I called him and Chris my family and asked me to marry him.” 

“We picked out the ring a couple months before and I was going insane waiting for dad to ask.” Chris added dramatically, making the adults crack up. 

“I thought I’d have to do more convincing. So I was kinda surprised when he said yes so easily.” Eddie grinned, taking Buck’s hand in his and playing with his ring. “Instead he just snapped at me saying I asked, he answered, and demanded the ring.”

“It’s mine now.” Buck grumbled, leaning over and stealing a kiss. 

“So we’d been dating for around four months when he moved in with us, he’d only signed a six month lease, so that worked out. We got married after he’d been back in the US for around a year.”

“Where did you go for your honeymoon?” Athena asked interestedly.

“An adults only resort in Jamaica.” Buck said, glancing at the kids briefly. 

“Why was it adults only?” Harry scrunched his face up.

“Uh.” Buck looked at Eddie, but even he had his lips pursed. 

“Next question.” Eddie said finally, clearing his throat.

“It was called Hedonism.” Chris said helpfully. Buck put his face in his hand and Eddie looked to the sky. “Tia Sophia talked about it when she thought I wasn’t listening.”

“An adults only, all-inclusive, clothing optional resort.” May said, reading something off her phone with wide eyes, her cheeks going dark in embarrassment. “Nope, I’m agreeing with Eddie. Next question.”

“You went to a nude resort?” Chimney asked delightedly.

“Next question.” Buck and Eddie said at the same time.

“We haven’t figured out what to do for our delayed honeymoon.” Athena arched an eyebrow at Bobby, who looked rather enticed by the idea as well.

“Oh my god, no, next question or I’m leaving.” May said, covering her face. 

“Why don’t we go inside and I can show you guys some of my pictures from when I was traveling so you can see more of my journey over the past several years rather than me just blabbing about it?” Buck offered.

“Perfect.” May stood up and quickly left the table. Buck turned and arched an eyebrow in question at Bobby and Athena. Bobby at least looked apologetic.

“She’s taking a gap year from school.” Athena huffed. “So she got an apartment and is working at dispatch right now. We’d let her know she had mail here, but we did not expect her to just show up without warning to pick it up.”

“They were role playing.” Hen added, snickering at Athena. “In the kitchen.” Buck cracked up with Eddie, but they shared a look because they may or may not have done a few role-playing things themselves. When Christopher was safely with one of the other Diazes in LA and they weren’t worried about being interrupted.

“We’ll, uh,” Eddie said, still snickering, “get you some info on the resort before we leave.”

“Good.” Athena agreed, sending everyone into more laughter before they were all up and heading into the living room. 

Buck made it to the living room where the kids were already waiting and May helped him hook up his phone to the tv screen so he could just show the pictures like a slideshow. The first picture up was actually the picture he’d already shown everyone. Him and Ramon on the bus.

“I don’t … I don’t actually remember much of the fight. I remember being afraid, though. I was only 18 and already running away. Anyway, this was taken about a week and a half, maybe two, after Doug.” Buck shrugged and swiped to the next picture. “This was when I met Carlos’ family. They picked me up at the bus stop and spent a few weeks just helping me heal and get through some physical therapy while also keeping my mind busy working on some of the cars in the yard. His uncle taught me to cook here and there, when I was up at night from nightmares and couldn’t sleep.” There were a couple pictures where the bruises were gone and Buck was gaining more muscle mass and more of a tan, smiling more. There were a lot of pictures after that of Buck driving through the rest of Mexico and into the other Central American countries. 

“That’s me!” Chris said excitedly when there was a screenshot of the first video call that Buck, Shannon, and Chris had together.

“Yeah.” Buck chuckled. “Didn’t mean to take a screenshot, but after that I took at least one each time we talked.”

There were pictures of Buck working random jobs, mechanic, to heavy equipment controller; tutor to tour guide. He had a few pictures of some of the coffee farms he worked on as well as the river tours he worked. Everyone ‘oohed’ and ‘awed’ at his pictures of the rainforest. Someone yelped at the picture he had of a massive snake draped over his shoulders on a boat. 

“There were snakes everywhere, dude.” Buck shook his head. “This was Ferdinand. It’s what I called him, anyway. He liked to tag along on the tours and scare the tourists into giving up a sandwich or 20. He didn’t really like anyone else touching him, though. I think he imprinted on me. He wasn’t happy I was leaving, but I found out he went back into the rainforest after I left, deciding he was done with the tourists, too.”

“You would befriend an anaconda.” Eddie sighed, winking at him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Buck rolled his eyes before pausing. “Uh, the beaches in Brazil were a little different. And I was there for Carnivale. So just, uh, be prepared.” He swiped and showed himself on the beach, working as a lifeguard. There was a fun picture of Buck by the massive Jesus statue with Chris inset on his crutches, though. 

“You were so little.” Eddie said, wrapping a grumbling Christopher in his arms and giving him a dramatic kiss on the head. 

“I was average size, dad.” Chris shoved him away.

“Whoa.” May said, eyes wide as Buck swiped to the next picture. 

“That looks incredible.” Hen added, looking at the massive floats and fancy, very small, outfits the performers wore. Buck tried to skip the shots of him dressed up with everyone, but Eddie snatched his phone out of his hands and kept them up. 

“What?” Buck shrugged. “It was Carnivale. Everyone was dressing up.”

“Still have that outfit anywhere?” Eddie asked with a smirk.

“No.” Buck laughed. “I lived out of a duffel bag, Eds. I left it in Rio for someone else to wear for another event. Anyway,” he snagged his phone back and swiped some more, “these were more coffee farms and a few other farms that I stopped and worked at temporarily. And this … this was from my accident.” There were a few pictures of Buck in the hospital and even one of his trashed car. It was practically folded in half. There were a lot more screenshots of Buck, Shannon, and Chris after that. There was even a screenshot of Ramon and Buck when he was up on his new leg. “He told me your mom thought he was watching a football game or something when he cheered loud enough to startle her.”

“Sounds right.” Eddie hummed, pulling Buck closer to him and wrapping his arms around his waist. 

“This is when I got my running leg.” Buck stated when he swiped over and he was wearing his running clothes, ready to run for the first time in a year. The next picture was from when Shannon called while he was running and Chris was moving through the frame behind her. “As soon as he saw me running he started to move faster, too.”

“He crashed into the coffee table a lot.” Eddie chuckled. “I don’t know how it waited to fall apart until we were moving.”

“This is when I met Eddie,” Buck pointed at the picture on screen that had Chris’ face taking up most of the camera but Eddie and Ramon were in the background. Eddie’s hair was a lot shorter and Buck couldn’t help glancing at Eddie’s hair. “I like your hair longer.”

“I’m aware.” Eddie chuckled, giving him a small squeeze. “Oh, hang on a sec,” Eddie unplugged Buck’s phone and plugged his in with his own screenshot up. “Shannon sent this to me after we did our first three-way call. Buck had just more or less trauma dumped and showed off his thigh while showing his prosthetic even though those shorts were short enough he didn’t need to move them.”

“I didn’t really think about that.” Buck shrugged when everyone chuckled. Eddie showed a few more screenshots of him and Buck before hooking Buck’s phone back up. “This is more or less my going away when I was finally leaving Peru.” There were a ton of pictures of Buck going through the airport and customs. Even a confused Buck looking around LA as he landed at the airport and everything was in English. “I felt like a tourist in the country I was born and raised in, it was insane.” Then there was the picture of Buck in the coffee shop that Shannon had taken before he noticed her and a few of the pair of them talking with more coffee cups littering the table to show how long they’d been there. “I felt like I was vibrating out of my skin when we finally called it a day. We made plans to have Eddie and Chris come see my new place that weekend. I’d only been in it for a day, really, with furniture, by the time we met up. She said Chris was gonna help break it in for me and let me know if it was alright or not.”

“It wasn’t.” Chris added, making a few people chuckle. “It was plain and boring and had barely anything in it.”

“He had maybe four sets of clothes.” Eddie added.

“I didn’t need a lot.” Buck shrugged. “I didn’t hold onto things, there wasn’t a point. I mean, if I saw something cool or that I thought would be neat to see again I sent it to Shannon or Ramon.”

“Dad has a whole shelf of things that Buck sent him over the years. He even orders coffee directly from one of the farms Buck worked at, saying it’s the best coffee he’s ever had.” Eddie commented.

“After that,” Buck sighed, flicking the images and showed Buck and Chris curled up on Abuela’s couch together with Eddie bracing an arm behind them to keep them from falling over in their exhausted and emotion driven sleep. Then they were spending time with the LA Diazes before they were getting ready for the funeral. Eddie switched it back to his phone and showed Buck and Chris walking away from the gravesite together, and Buck scowled as Eddie zoomed in on Buck’s shoe. “You’re an asshole.”

“How?” Maddie asked, chuckling wetly and wiping at her face. 

“When you get used to only tying one shoe, you’d be surprised what you forget.” Buck snorted. “Should I have noticed since I put my leg on after I already had my pants on? Yeah, I should have, because I would have been looking down to make sure my pants sat right. But I didn’t notice it, or it didn’t register, until we were at the cemetery.”

“He blamed me.” Eddie said, still chuckling. “But he prefaced it by saying not to laugh. Then he asks if he can throw the mismatched shoe in the grave with Shannon so no one would notice.”

“I was like that all day!” Buck exclaimed indignantly. “I switched it to a sneaker the day before I left Peru because I didn’t want to wear steel-toed work boots through the airports. And I left it that way all week.”

“Shannon would have loved it.” Eddie shrugged.

“She would have harassed me forever about it.” Buck whined, bumping his hip against Eddie’s shoulder. Everything after that were pictures of Buck and Chris, or Buck, Chris, and Eddie. There was a comparison picture of the first time Buck met Ramon and when they reunited for the funeral. There were a lot of pictures of Buck and Eddie being dorks together, too. Laser tag, axe throwing, go-kart racing, and even cooking together. Buck was biting Eddie’s face a few times, just because he could, and Eddie was trying to look annoyed but he was smiling or laughing each time. Eddie switched the output back to Buck’s phone since he had the most pictures from their wedding and they scrolled through all of them. 

After that were just pictures of Buck at his various track meets. Eddie and Chris, or just Ramon, all sitting in the stands and cheering him on. Buck never really looked at the pictures of him running, because he’d never really cared. The kids all thought it was pretty cool, though. So he played a video Chris had taken of his last meet where he’d qualified for the Olympics. The last picture was the three of them in the car before driving to the cookout. 

“Anyway, that’s pretty much me for the past nine-ish years.” Buck shrugged, unplugging his phone and putting it in his pocket again. “I feel like I sort of took over this whole get together.”

“You were the reason for it, so that’s fine.” Bobby chuckled. 

“When do you leave for your events?” Athena asked curiously.

“About two months.” Buck wobbled his head. “We’ll be going after the regular games have started and have our very own opening ceremony and everything. Jensen said it’s because there’s too many people if we do our events at the same time as theirs.”

“I already put in for time off for it.” Eddie said before Bobby could ask. “Only planning to be gone for a week, coming back once he’s done with his events.”

“Depending how I do will determine when I get to come back.” Buck added. “I might come back with the family or I might come back a little later. Really hoping we get to travel together, though.”

“Dad and Chris are gonna be going with you initially, and I will be there when it’s almost time for your events.” Eddie pulled Buck down and into his lap. Not that Buck fought him on it. He slumped all of his weight against Eddie, smiling when he grunted. “Brat.”

“And you married me anyway.” Buck said, wiggling more and making him fall back against the couch before he put his hands on Buck’s ribs, freezing him in place. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Eddie asked, not moving his hands from Buck’s sides. “What’s the matter, Eva?”

“I’m gonna throw my leg at you.” Buck threatened, tensing up when Eddie squeezed his massive palms against Buck’s ribs more. “I swear to god, Edmundo- ah!”

“Get him dad!” Chris cheered as Eddie poked his ribs and tickled him mercilessly. 

Buck cursed at him in rapid Spanish, but it only made Eddie laugh as he held Buck firmly in his lap. When he stopped Buck reached for his leg, but Eddie grabbed his hands and held them locked around his middle. Eddie bit his cheek playfully before giving him a quick kiss. 

“You two are adorable.” Maddie said, her phone up in her hands as she giggled. 

“Pops was calling dad a bunch of bad names.” Chris snickered. 

“That’s because pops is ticklish.” Eddie chuckled. “And he both likes and doesn’t like when I tickle him.”

“We were never like this, were we?” Chimney asked, looking around at everyone.

“You were worse.” Hen snorted. “Your sister and Chimney dated but didn’t date for over a year before they officially got together.”

“Then they were sappy and goo-goo eyed for another year.” Karen added.

“Guess both Buckleys are sappy when they’re in love.” Eddie chuckled. “So how many times did Maddie say something blunt and not realize it wasn’t necessarily appropriate conversation?”

“Ok, that was one time.” Buck argued.

“Mi corazon it was once a week.” Eddie snorted. “At least.”

“Yeah, that sounds right.” Chimney grinned at them. “Hazard of being raised by robots, I suspect.”

“They weren’t … robots.” Maddie said, her face scrunched up in annoyance. “They just also weren’t remotely emotionally available.”

“They knew what emotions were?” Buck asked skeptically. “That I find hard to believe.”

“Things were different before you were born.” Maddie huffed sadly. “They were warm and loving when it was just the two of us, before you were even an idea.”

“What?” Buck asked, feeling incredibly confused. “Two of who? There’s only two of us. You and me.”

“There used to be three of us.” Maddie frowned. “Wait, did … they told me they talked to you about it.”

“About what?” Buck sat up, not dislodging Eddie. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The agreement was they told you about everything when you turned 18.” Maddie said angrily. “Oh my god, I’m gonna-”

“Nothing.” Chimney cut in. “You’ll do nothing, because we already do the politest thing we can and talk to them twice a year. For Jee’s birthday and Christmas. You cut them out for a reason.”

“I had another little brother.” Maddie said, nodding and taking Chimney’s hands in hers. “His name was Daniel. I was eight and he was six when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Chemo didn’t work, and none of us matched for a transplant so they came up with the dumbest solution possible and decided to make a donor.”

“No.” Buck shook his head, not wanting to believe it. “No, that can’t- no.”

“You were a genetic match.” Maddie said with a heavy breath. “But even with that, there was still only a slim chance it would work, which they were told. Repeatedly. When it didn’t work, I promised to never tell you about it so long as they promised to tell you when you were 18. That was the agreement. That they told you why they were such apathetic assholes our entire lives.” Buck couldn’t help snorting at Maddie calling their parents names. Surprised by how irritated she was. “They were fine, normal parents even, until Daniel died. After that they just got trapped in their grief so I was the one to take care of you and raise you. Being ten years old and looking after a one year old was challenging, but you seemed to like me around more than them, anyway.”

“Well, yeah.” Buck scoffed. “I knew you cared about me, I knew they didn’t. Wasn’t hard to figure out.”

“I-” Maddie stood up and took a breath, “I need to step outside or I’m going to call them and scream at them a month earlier than our scheduled time.”

“I have something that could help.” Buck stood up with Eddie giving him a push before he was waving Maddie toward the kitchen and getting out his sangria and pouring them each a glass. They went outside and Maddie took a few breaths to try and calm down before chugging half of her drink. 

“We are going to be so numb to catastrophe when our kids are becoming adults.” Maddie joked and Buck laughed and put an arm around her shoulders, hugging her to his side. “It’s stupid, honestly.”

“It is.” Buck sighed. “Our lives have been disaster after disaster since we were kids, apparently.”

“They really have.” Maddie chuckled, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning against him. “I’m so happy you found us.”

“Me too.” Buck kissed the top of her head. 

“Most of you anyway.” She nudged his prosthetic, making him snort. “Wish I could have been there to cheer you on in your recovery, or even just been with you for some of it. Be another phone friend like you had with Shannon. Sorry you lost her.”

“Me too.” Buck sighed. “I still got Eddie and Chris out of it. And now all of you guys.”

“I am also not surprised that you are with pretty-boy Eddie Diaz.” She said, making Buck laugh loudly. “Seriously, all I heard about him when he started was how pretty he was from literally everyone. Definitely not my type, but I can see him being yours. You complement each other.”

“Like you and Chimney?” Buck offered. “He’s all smiles and jokes, and you’ve always been more serious and direct. No-nonsense. He makes you laugh and you keep him grounded.”

“Eddie’s all roots and stability, while you’re wild and running free.” She added. “You’re the fun crazy one between you two, and I have Howie as my fun and crazy.”

“Makes sense.” Buck nodded. “Eddie’s an oldest kid, pretty much raised his sisters while his dad was gone a lot. You’re an oldest kid who pretty much raised me. Go figure we end up with our polar opposites.”

“Exactly.” Maddie agreed, laughing with him. “I’m glad you’re done running, baby brother.”

“I don’t have a reason to run anymore.” Buck shrugged, squeezing her again. “I’ve got my family all right here. And I cannot wait for you to spill your wedding plans at wine night so I can make them a reality.”

“I’ll get you a special order, monogrammed, clipboard to keep everyone on task.” Maddie nodded. “And that will help me relax and focus on keeping you from going bridezilla instead of me doing it.”

“One of us needs to.” Buck snickered. “Eddie’s family planned and executed our wedding and honeymoon, so we both deserve to go a little crazy for yours.”

“I don’t think I like this.” Chimney’s voice from the doorway drew their attention.

“Like what?” Buck asked innocently. 

“What’s not to like?” Maddie added just as innocently. 

“We’re not getting a small wedding anymore, are we?” Chimney sighed defeatedly.

“It can stay small.” Buck shrugged. “But my sister is getting an elegant, extravagant, intricate event. I’m not 12 anymore and sneaking away in a cab to get to a wedding her husband didn’t want me at anyway.”

“We needed a wedding planner.” Maddie continued. “I only have so much time between Jee-Yun, work, and deciding outfits and table settings. Evan has time.”

“Ah.” Eddie pursed his lips and shrugged apologetically at Chimney. “You’ve never experienced Clipboard Buck. From the looks of it, Clipboard Buckley times two. I’d say have fun with that but I’m sure I’ll be dragged in in some way. After the Olympics.”

“Obviously.” Buck and Maddie agreed with a scoff. 

“I will get distracted if I jump into the wedding binder Maddie has already started and probably miss my event.” Buck added.

“Not if you don’t forget your medicine.” Eddie said, arching an eyebrow at him. 

“I won’t.” Buck grumbled. “Don’t be a dick, we’re having a nice moment.”

“And you’ll have plenty more. But it’s getting late, and if we don’t leave soon, the kids will never get separated and we’ll have to figure out who’s taking care of the sugar crashes.” Eddie pointed out.

“I thought-” Buck frowned and went back through his memories of baking earlier and which recipes he had out.

“Thought what?” Maddie asked curiously.

“I’m pretty sure I made the sugar-free ones.” Buck frowned. “I substituted natural sweeteners that aren’t as harsh or intense as regular sugar.”

“Need that recipe, too.” Bobby called over everyone, making Buck smile. 

“I’ll bring over my book sometime and we can swap.” Buck agreed. “But, yeah, we should call it a night. Today was a lot and I’m almost sure there will be nightmares.”

“Too bad you are a serious athlete and get drug tested.” Maddie sighed. “I have something that could help with that.”

“Eddie can help me through it.” Buck shrugged. “He’s helped me through them before. They still hit kinda randomly. But we have a system.”

“Midnight hot chocolate.” Eddie nods.

“Oh!” Maddie lit up and turned to him with a bright smile. “You still do that?”

“It helped when we were kids, and it is the only coping mechanism that seemed to work.” Buck ducked his head. “I felt close to you and that helped me be able to calm down better and get some actual sleep.”

“I’m glad.” Maddie hugged his middle again. “Ok, let’s get Jee-Yun and let the boy-dads argue with their kids.”

“Or boy-moms.” Hen added.

“You are both.” Maddie corrected. “Just like Buck and Eddie are both mom and dad for Christopher.”

“I’m the mom.” Buck faux whispered, smiling when everyone laughed. “Luckily I’m the mom that can’t get pregnant.”

“We’re not talking about more kids again yet.” Eddie groaned. “We just had that conversation with Christopher.”

“Are you wanting more kids?” Karen asked with a hopeful glint in her eyes. “Not now, obviously. Just when you’re ready, let us know, and we will absolutely help you with the whole adoption process.”

“Noted.” Eddie sighed. “Alright, Diazes, vamanos!”

“Christopher!” Buck called out. “¡Va a casa, ahora!” 

“Awe papi. ¿Puede quedarme con Denny y Harry?” Christopher called back. 

“Por que?” Buck called back, Eddie pursing his lips as he looked back into the house where the kids were apparently gathered still. 

“You and dad are gonna go home and be gross and lovey.” Chris said, appearing beside Eddie. “I love you both, I do, but I don’t wanna be around that all night.”

“Called. Out.” Chimney said, snickering as he held his fist out for Chris to bump, smiling happily when the kid obliged, rolling his eyes. 

“Why do you say that?” Eddie asked, crouching down to meet Chris’ eyes, because he was purposely avoiding looking at both his dads.

“Because pops had a really rough day.” Chris said quietly. “None of us knew his missing sister would be here, and he’s gonna need a lot of that physical touch/grounding stuff you do for him. He’s gonna be ok for a while, but he’s gonna crash out at some point. And he always feels guilty if he does that around me. Even when we tell him it’s nothing to be guilty about.”

“He can stay with us.” Hen said, looking between them. “We can just have a kid party at ours, even. That way Maddie doesn’t have to worry about seeming ok around Jee-Yun, too. And when the time comes, we will switch things around and you will take turns watching the kids so we can get a date night or something.”

“Only if you’re sure?” Eddie asked.

“We’re sure.” Karen agreed, nodding as she and Hen looked at each other. “We’ve still got the other room set up for girls, and Jee knows where everything is.”

“Does this mean I can go, too?” Harry asked hopefully.

“Did you ask?” Athena put a hand on her hip and arched an eyebrow at her son.

“Aunt Hen, can I come too?” Harry asked.

“As long as you boys can listen when we say it’s bedtime.” Hen agreed.

“We will.” Harry, Denny, and Chris all agreed easily. 

“Alright, why don’t you, Eddie and Chim, get your respective former Buckleys back home?” Bobby suggested. “And let us know if you guys need anything tomorrow.”

“I’m fine.” Buck huffed quietly when Eddie stood back up to face him and pulled him into his arms. “I’ll be fine.”

“I know.” Eddie argued just as quietly. “Our son wants to make sure you stay that way.”

“That’s cheating.” Buck whined, leaning his head against Eddie’s.

“Yup. So. We’ll grab the back-up bag you have for Chris in the truck, since we haven’t talked you out of keeping emergency bags out of the cars yet, and hand it over and head home and make sure you stay fine.” Eddie nodded against his head. “Besides, we can use the time however we want.”

“Necesito tequila.” Buck grumbled finally.

“We’ll pick some up on the way home.” Eddie chuckled. 

“Wait,” Maddie shoved her phone at Buck before they could head to their vehicles, “number. I need your number so I can text you and get a reminder that this was real. That you’re actually here.”

“Absolutely.” Buck typed in his number and then took a picture of the two of them together and set it as his contact icon. “Fair warning, there is a certain point when I’m drinking that Eddie hides my phone from me because I’ll call or text people I’ve met over the years and we’ll blab for hours until I pass out.”

“Here,” Eddie took the phone before Maddie could put it away again and put in their address, “this way, if you get too anxious, you can come by. Tomorrow. I think you both need tonight to decompress before you’re spending all your free time together and terrorizing all of LA.”

“It wouldn’t be ALL of LA,” Maddie laughed, smiling at having the information, holding her phone to her chest, “but I will be introducing Evan to everyone I work with at some point.”

“Have a goodnight, everyone.” Bobby said with a big smile, waving them off as they headed for their vehicles. 

Eddie grabbed the bag for Chris and ran it back to the house before they were heading home. Buck pulled into the liquor store near their place and Eddie went in to get a few things before they were home and Buck was putting on comfy clothes while Eddie mixed some drinks for them. It ended up taking a few days before Buck and Maddie could get together, because he’d had some seriously bad nightmares and had to work through them. He’d had to take several naps during the day to try and feel human again. 

Maddie came by and picked him up so they could spend the day together, both promising Eddie and Chimney they would call and text check in constantly. They went by her work because she wanted to introduce him to a lot of her work friends. She'd taken a week off to try to recover from her own nightmares and crap from seeing her baby brother again, so it really was just a visit. Naturally, while he was visiting, was when something had to go wrong. The problem was, when Buck was in a stressful situation, he fell into Spanish. He didn’t mean to, it just always came out. That didn’t really help with the armed men who were apparently using the system for whatever the hell they were doing. If Buck had to guess it would be for a heist of some kind. 

“He’s just a visitor.” Sue, Maddie’s boss, had said when they tried to take Buck to the computers to answer calls. He was even wearing a visitor name tag that said ‘E. Diaz’. “He’s not a dispatcher, he was just here to see his sister.”

“Then today he’s getting a new job.” The guy snorted, pulling Buck into the room of computers. Buck had seen a little of what Josh had done, the guy clearly wanted to show off a bit, and Maddie thought it was hilarious. “Go on, Diaz. Figure it out.” Buck scowled as they threw him into a chair. He was just glad that Josh had shown him how they dealt with calls for people who didn’t speak English. Because he could select the option to answer calls that were in Spanish. Which he did. Thankfully there wasn’t anything serious he had to deal with, but he did manage to give a message to someone he was speaking with that he dispatched the 118 to. Eddie would be able to figure it out and would probably complain that Buck and Maddie were never allowed to go out on their own again. 

It was so stupid, but thankfully only lasted a few hours. So when they were done, an entire relief shift of dispatchers being called in, Maddie, Buck, Josh, and Linda went out for a late lunch together. Linda and Josh were actually pretty cool. And they only teased Buck and Maddie a little bit about looking nothing alike and how Buck had fallen into Spanish rambling when the gunmen showed up. His face was burning, but he still threw a french fry at each of them, making them laugh. They looked through a few shops nearby, getting wedding ideas, but then the 118 was there answering a medical call, and before Maddie or Buck could sneak away, Chimney and Eddie were in front of them. Josh and Linda had practically run away laughing like maniacs.

“Not our fault.” Buck and Maddie said at the same time.

“A day, that was it. One day.” Eddie said disappointedly. 

“Not even a full day, either.” Chimney agreed. 

“We got centerpieces picked out!” Maddie said happily, and Buck knew a distraction tactic when he saw one, so he wasn’t gonna leave her hanging.

“And scheduled a cake tasting.” Buck added, just as enthusiastically. 

“Which Buck is coming along for, to make sure we don’t get anything too rich.” Maddie nodded. “We also have a few options for bridesmaid/groomsmen attire. Mostly because we each have a mix of men and women standing with us.”

“You just need to pick a color and we can set the final touches.” Buck nodded. “I think-”

“Guys.” Bobby cut in, fighting a smile. “It’s nice to see you both doing so well after this morning. Please, don’t get into any more trouble while your partners are working. Eddie, Chim, time to go.”

“Stop getting dragged into shit.” Eddie said, pulling Buck into his arms and giving him a kiss. “I love you, and I’ll see you when I’m off.”

“Love you too.” Buck kissed Eddie again. “Your ass looks amazing in that uniform, babe.”

“Stay out of trouble and maybe you’ll get to see it later.” Eddie arched an eyebrow at him. 

“You drive a hard bargain.” Buck chuckled. “See you.”

“Bye.” Eddie gave him one last kiss and hurried to the engine. 

“We probably shouldn’t be so obsessed with how hot they are in uniform, right?” Maddie asked, her eyes glued to Chimney.

“I think we’re rightfully obsessed.” Buck argued. “Let’s get outta here and maybe go look at your binder now that we have a few ideas sorted out.”

“Works for me.” Maddie smiled at him, looping her arm in his. 

They spent the rest of the day at Maddie and Chim’s place, looking through the binder before they just got to talking about everything they’d done since they got to LA. Buck couldn’t get too into wedding stuff, no matter how much he wanted to. So they focused on ordering a few specially designed clipboards so they each had one. 

Having been reunited with Maddie, made leaving her so much harder when it was time to head out for his games. Ramon was there, and between him and Maddie, his bag had been packed and repacked at least five times before Eddie stopped them. Isabel was fretting over him and making sure he had plenty to eat before they flew out. He had a special travel case for his running blade, because he was not wearing that one through the airports and it definitely wouldn’t fit in an overhead compartment.

Eddie was as anxious as Maddie was when they were at the airport and Ramon, Chris, and Buck were ready to go through security. Buck had a Team USA jacket and hoodie on, because he was told to wear them and Chris was going to document their trip and put it on social media. After several more hugs, they finally went through security. Where Buck, again, offered to take his leg off. Chris laughed so hard he almost fell over and Ramon huffed and shook his head, giving Buck a small smile. 

One of the TSA guys told him good luck and that they’d root for him. Which was really nice, actually. The flight was crazy long, though. They had one stop over to refuel and a few passengers were deboarding and new ones were getting on. Chris was so very excited to get his first passport stamps. Buck was on his second passport since the first one was all filled out and about to expire anyway. Chris had his first one hidden away at the house because he thought it was really cool and had taken it to show and tell one day to show how many places his other dad had been. 

Buck went to sight see with them a few times, but he had to focus and train, get ready for his race. So he spent a lot of time at practice and with the team. He didn’t realize how locked up or tight his whole body was until Eddie was there just before his races were starting. Eddie wasn’t able to stay with him, unfortunately (family stayed in hotels while the athletes stayed in the Olympic village). Buck was still able to sneak away for a few hours to hook up with his husband at least once to relax. Eddie did not seem to mind being used as a means to get his husband out of his head. He actually seemed pretty happy about it. 

The qualifying heats were intense. Jensen hadn’t been joking about the level of competition they were up against. He’d made it to the finals, though. He was fast enough to make it to the top ten, and that was so insane he could barely comprehend it. Before his final race, Eddie and Chris had given him three bracelets. They were the kind of friendship bracelets Buck could remember girls in his class making when he was younger. One had an ‘S’ bead in it, one had an ‘M’, and one had a ‘D’. One for Shannon, one for Maddie, and one for the Diaz family. Eddie even made him a longer one, a necklace, with an ‘E’ on it. It had been really hard not to kiss his husband senseless when he got them. But he needed to focus on his race so he kissed the letters before lining up with the other runners. Eddie, Ramon, and Chris were there with him, in the crowd somewhere, and he knew their other friends and family were watching from home. He didn’t expect to win, but it sure would be cool to take some sort of hardware home other than the kind he brought with him (a.k.a., his running blade). 

The bracelets and necklace weren’t actually magic, magic wasn’t real, but it sure as hell felt like it as Buck bolted out of the starting blocks when his race started. He had his best friend, his sister, and his family all with him. Encouraging him and cheering for him, even if only in his mind. So he ran. He ran harder and faster than he had before, pushing through the tightness in his chest, the strain in his muscles, through the ache that was building in his thigh from the force he was putting on his prosthetic. Crossing the finish line felt like clarity. It felt like purpose. Like his life suddenly slotted into place and running was no longer something he did to survive, but something he did to thrive. He was still gasping for breath and not bothering to hide the tears he felt on his face because of how right everything suddenly felt. 

He smiled and laughed before shouting when an American flag was wrapped around his shoulders. He’d gotten third. He’d done it, proved he could do it, and he’d earned it through so many tears it was insane. He jogged around until he found Eddie, Chris, and Ramon at the edge of the stands and ran straight for them. He jumped up and knew Eddie would catch him. He laughed and cried with Eddie and even Ramon who wrapped his arms around both of them while Chris cheered like a maniac. Eddie kissed him and then Buck got a hug from Chris before he had to get down and go take pictures and get ready for the medal ceremony. He didn’t mean to ramble off in Spanish when he was asked questions during the pictures, but he couldn’t help it. It just came out. One of the other medalists laughed and nodded along. So at least someone else knew what he was saying even if he forgot the words in English for a minute. 

Buck only had one actual interview before heading back to LA. It was short, though, so he suspected he’d be doing a longer one when he was back home. The interviewer had just asked him a few short questions, about who was with him, what motivated him, and how excited his family would be when he got home. All Buck said was that Ramon was his father-in-law, and Eddie was his husband and Chris was their son. And that as soon as he was home he was helping plan his sister’s wedding. He dedicated his medal to his family, his sister, and his best friend who had passed away before getting to see him make it as far as he did. 

There was a massive party at the Grant-Nash house when they got back to LA. There were dozens of pictures taken of people with Buck wearing his medal because the Diazes said he had to wear it. And he always listened to his boys when they wanted to do something big for him. He wore the same shorts he wore when he first met the 118 family for his interview. Along with his Team USA jacket and his medal. The interviewer this time asked him how long he’d been running and why he started. He couldn’t help chuckling to himself and smiling brightly, though she looked incredibly confused.

“It’s, uh, it’s kind of a long story. But I think … I’m ready to tell it. My life has been crazy, but, if hearing it helps someone else, then I want to share. So. I’ve only been running on my prosthetic for a few years, but I started running a long time ago.” 

Buck said it easily, because suddenly it felt easy to share. To talk about how crazy his life had been. He was done running FROM things, and he was ready to run TOWARD them now.