Chapter Text
After his shift, Eddie started investigating the migrant case on his own.
Something about it wouldn’t let him go.
Detective Hooks pretending to care while doing absolutely nothing about those people made Eddie sick. The entire situation hit too close to home, and like always, Eddie took responsibility for things far beyond his control. He wanted to help those families, find them safety, find them a home.
He still remembered being at the hospital with Hen while ICE dragged families away to God knows where, and even Athena — with all her connections and her lawyer friend Gabi — couldn’t stop it.
So that night after his shift ended, Eddie drove to the station to confront Ben Hooks himself.
Hooks ignored every phone call.
So Eddie waited outside the precinct for almost an hour until he finally spotted him walking out.
He straightened in his seat, ready to step out of the truck, but before he could, Hooks climbed into his car and drove off.
Without thinking, Eddie followed him.
The drive led far away from the city onto an isolated side road lined with abandoned buildings and dry brush. Eddie parked far enough away not to be noticed and watched Hooks step out to meet another man.
The guy looked unstable.
Dangerous.
“My father wants to meet you tomorrow,” the man snapped. “When are you closing the migrant case? We need to start the project.”
“Soon,” Hooks muttered. “There’s this cop, Athena Grant. She seems onto something. Two firefighters too, but I’m handling it.”
“Start following them,” the man ordered coldly. “See what they know.”
Eddie shifted slightly behind the wall he was hiding behind, his boot scraping against loose gravel.
The sound echoed louder than it should have.
Both men froze.
“…Did you hear that?”
Eddie’s heart dropped.
The unstable-looking man immediately pulled out a knife and started toward the noise while Hooks scanned the area nervously.
Eddie backed away quickly, trying not to make another sound, but his foot caught on broken concrete.
“Hey!” the man shouted.
Eddie turned and ran.
He barely made it back to his truck alive after overhearing Hooks’ conversation. His hands shook so badly he almost dropped his phone trying to call Athena.
No answer.
He tried again while driving.
Still nothing.
Straight to voicemail.
So he wrote everything down on a piece of paper so he wouldn’t forget.
I should’ve recorded them, he thought.
Athena had seen his call earlier and planned to call him back later, but with everything happening, she forgot.
The next morning, Eddie barely slept.
Every worst-case scenario kept replaying in his head. What if they got hurt because of him? What if Athena was already in danger? He wanted to tell Hen. Wanted to tell Buck.
But fear kept stopping him.
That shift was chaos from the second it started. It felt like somebody had said the Q-word because call after call kept piling up with barely a second to breathe between them.
While Eddie and Hen were still in the middle of a brutal rescue, fighting to stabilize a severely bleeding patient, another ambulance pulled in. In the chaos, Eddie glanced up just in time to see Athena being rushed out on a gurney, blood covering her uniform as she was wheeled toward the hospital doors.
“Athena!” Eddie shouted immediately.
Harry was already screaming for his mother while Buck held onto him tightly, trying to calm him down even as panic flashed across his own face.
Everything happened too fast.
Eddie’s entire world stopped.
“No,” he whispered in horror.
Athena looked lifeless.
“No, no, no…” His hands started shaking violently.
This was his fault.
If he had gone to her sooner.
If he had told someone immediately.
Athena was rushed into surgery within minutes. The halls filled with police officers, firefighters, nurses — people running in every direction while fear spread through the waiting area like wildfire.
Hen looked seconds away from falling apart while Chim stayed close beside her, trying to hold everything together.
Buck still had one arm wrapped around Harry, trying his best to reassure him.
And Eddie just sat there silently watching all of it.
Watching fear consume everyone he loved.
The guilt nearly crushed him alive.
His hand tightened around the crumpled paper in his pocket — names, locations, Hooks’ connection to the project.
If Athena got shot because she was investigating this…
What would happen to Hen?
To Chim?
To Buck?
To Christopher?
Fear settled deep into Eddie’s chest.
So for the first time in his life—
He stayed quiet.
He didn’t go to Hen.
Didn’t go to Buck.
Didn’t tell anyone.
Because for the first time, Eddie was genuinely terrified that involving the people he loved would get them killed.
Instead, he quietly slipped away.
Chim noticed him leaving, but Eddie muttered that he needed to be alone — that he had to get away for a moment.
His feet carried him toward the small hospital chapel at the end of the hallway.
The room was empty except for flickering candles near the altar.
Eddie sat heavily in the front pew, elbows on his knees, shaking hands clasped together as he stared at the floor.
He didn’t even realize he was crying until tears landed on his knuckles.
“Please…” he whispered brokenly. “Please let her be okay…”
His fingers wrapped tightly around the Saint Christopher necklace hanging around his neck.
He hadn’t prayed in a long time.
Not really.
But right now he felt desperate enough to beg.
“I don’t know what to do,” Eddie admitted quietly into the empty room. “Every time I try to help, people get hurt.”
His breathing became uneven.
He thought about Christopher.
About Buck.
About all of them.
And for one horrible moment, Eddie wondered if everyone around him would actually be safer without him involved at all.
The chapel door creaked shut behind him.
Eddie froze.
A cold feeling crawled down his spine.
Slowly, he wiped his face and stood, turning around—
Only to find Anatoly Caster standing in the doorway.
The knife was already in his hand.
Eddie’s stomach dropped.
“You,” Eddie breathed.
Caster smiled faintly.
“You should’ve stopped digging.”
Eddie immediately stepped backward, pulse hammering violently in his chest.
“How did you—”
“You firefighters really think you’re heroes,” Caster stepped closer slowly. “Always trying to save people.”
Eddie turned sharply toward the side exit—
But Caster lunged first.
Pain exploded through Eddie’s abdomen as the knife buried deep into his side.
Eddie gasped sharply, stumbling backward into the pew before collapsing hard onto the floor.
Caster covered his mouth before he could scream.
“No one’s coming,” he whispered coldly against Eddie’s ear. “They’re all too busy worrying about Athena.”
Panic surged violently through Eddie’s body.
He fought desperately despite the pain, managing to elbow Caster hard enough to break free for a second.
Eddie stumbled toward the chapel doors.
Blood soaked through his uniform shirt, smearing across the walls as he staggered toward the elevators—anywhere he could find help.
But he didn’t make it far.
Caster grabbed him again before he could get anywhere.
“Please—” Eddie choked out weakly. “Please just let me go…”
Caster slammed him hard against the wall, leaving him dizzy.
“You know what I find funny about you?” he asked almost conversationally. “You really think those people care.”
Eddie’s breathing shook violently.
“They do,” Eddie whispered automatically, though even he sounded uncertain.
Caster laughed softly.
“Then why are you here alone?”
That hurt more than the knife.
Eddie clutched weakly at his Saint Christopher necklace as Caster dragged him through the side exit toward the parking garage.
“Please,” Eddie begged again, tears mixing with sweat and blood now. “I have a son…”
“I know,” Caster replied calmly. “That’s why I’m keeping you alive.”
He opened the trunk of a black car.
Eddie immediately tried to fight again despite barely being able to stand.
“No— no, please—”
Caster shoved him inside anyway.
“You’re useful to me,” he said while Eddie curled painfully against the metal floor of the trunk, one hand pressed desperately against his wound and the other gripping his necklace.
“I like you, Eddie Diaz,” Caster continued with a disturbing smile. “And I really want to know what you know.”
The trunk slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed Eddie whole as the car started moving.
Meanwhile, back upstairs, Buck finally noticed the empty space beside him in the waiting room.
His stomach dropped immediately.
“Where’s Eddie?”