Prologue

Maddie sat in the hard, plastic chair in the waiting room. Buck had been taken into surgery two hours earlier to fix his crushed right leg, and she hadn't heard anything yet. She had spent the better part of the time crying, and the latest tear tracks were still wet on her cheeks.

"Maddie?" asked Chimney a few minutes later. He sat down next to her and handed her a cup of coffee.

"I still haven't heard anything, Chimney. Why haven't I heard anything?" Maddie asked tearfully.

"Hey, no news is good news. It means that they don't need to fix other complications."

"The doctor told me it would take an hour and a half. It's been two."

"You know what? Doctors shouldn't give times, they always underestimate them," said Chimney with a grin.

"I know that you're trying to cheer me up, but it isn't working."

"I had to try..."

"Maddie Buckley?" asked a young man.

"Is Evan okay?" Maddie asked, standing up in a hurry.

"Your brother is out of surgery and has woken up. The surgery was successful, and the doctor feels that he should make a full recovery. You can see him, if you like?"

"Of course I want to see him!" exclaimed Maddie. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I'm just worried."

"That's understandable," said the young man with a smile. "Besides, I get a lot worse than that."

"Buck?" asked Maddie as she stepped up to her little brother. "How are you feeling?"

"Maddie? Hey, what did the doctor say about my leg?" asked Buck.

"He's confident you'll make a full recovery. It might just take some time."

"I can wait... I think."

Maddie laughed. "Oh, Buck," she sighed. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was so scared when I saw you stuck underneath the truck on the news."

"I can imagine. Now, you know how worried I was about you when Doug took you."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't help to you quick enough."

"That definitely wasn't your fault, Maddie. None of this was your fault. Although, from what I could see, Bobby handled that situation pretty well. Speaking of which, where is Bobby?"

"He's talking with the chief," said Chimney. "Hopefully, he'll come back and tell us that he's coming back to work and I can stop being the captain."

"Don't you like being in charge, Chim?" asked Buck sarcastically as Ali walked in.

"I hate it, actually." Chimney gave Ali a smile. "I think Maddie and I might go get something to drink," he added, taking Maddie's hand and leading her out of the room.

"I'm not hungry, Chimney," said Maddie as they stepped into the hospital cafeteria.

"You keep saying that, but you haven't eaten anything since we've been here, and that's been a few hours now. I highly doubt you've eaten anything all day, for that matter," said Chimney as he paid for their food and drinks.

"I really am okay. I don't need to eat."

"Should I tell Buck that his big sister is going to waste away because she isn't eating?"

"I'm not going to waste away, Howard," pouted Maddie.

The two of them took a seat at a table near the doors. Chimney watched as Maddie slowly picked at her fries. She didn't eat any of them, and she refused to look up at his face. Chimney knew that it wasn't just Buck being in surgery that was bothering Maddie- something else was going on in her head, and he knew that she wasn't going to freely talk about it.

"Hey, Maddie?" asked Chimney after a couple of minutes.

"Yes?"

"What's wrong? You look very sad."

"Well, considering that my brother just got his leg crushed and is now in the hospital..."

"No, it isn't that. You know that Buck will be okay after some time healing. There's something else bothering you." Maddie looked up, and Chimney saw tears in her eyes. Immediately, he pulled Maddie into a tight embrace, and whispered, "it's okay, Maddie. I promise. You just have to tell me so I can help you."

"Buck could have died out there in that street! He was stuck underneath a fire truck, and that kid didn't even care that an innocent person was going to die! I sent emergency services out to help you guys, and they couldn't get there. I couldn't get them there fast enough!" blurted Maddie as she buried her face in Chimney's chest and cried.

Chimney tightened his hold on Maddie. He didn't really know what to say to her- it wasn't her fault; she had done her job and sent out the help that they needed. She had no way of knowing that someone would stop the emergency vehicles from getting to the overturned truck. But, how could he explain all of that to her? It wasn't some random person that had been hurt by all of that, it was her brother- the one person that she knew she could turn to and ask for help no matter what happened.

"I nearly lost him, Chim," whispered Maddie, breaking Chimney out of his thoughts.

"But, you didn't. Buck is alive and relatively unhurt. He'll be okay and back to work before you know it," replied Chimney.

"I can't lose him."

"You're not going to lose him." Chimney lifted Maddie's head and looked at her. "Why don't we head back up there and you can spend some time with him?"

Maddie nodded. "I'd like that."

Chimney smiled and stood, holding out his hand to Maddie. "Let's go," he said, and they walked out of the cafeteria together.

Two weeks later

Maddie laughed as Buck complained, yet again, about her cutting off one of the legs of his work pants. She knew he didn't really care about them being cut up, but he just wanted to make her life hard while he stayed with her. His leg was healing well, and she had discussed the possibility of another surgery with Buck, but she knew that he wouldn't need it- he was healing well, even if it was a bit slower than he wanted.

"I'm just going to tuck the bottom of the leg into your cast," said Maddie as she finished hemming the pants. "Nobody will know I cut them."

"Fine," said Buck with a pout. He smiled. "Thanks, Mads. I know you were probably busy."

"Busy? Doing what? I have the day off work today, there's nothing I need to do. Besides, I was planning on going to the fire station with you for the ceremony anyway. Eddie deserves all the support he can get."

Maddie helped Buck with getting his cast through the pants, then went to get changed herself.

Everyone was busy. Maddie watched as Athena and Bobby hugged and kissed each other. They looked extremely happy- though, Maddie had to admit that everyone had been happy that Bobby was returning to work. Eddie was hugging his son and talking to his family. They looked excited and were still congratulating Eddie on becoming a firefighter. Maddie's smile widened when she saw Buck chatting with Hen- he looked content and happy, which was exactly what Maddie had hoped for when they had gotten to the station house.

"Hey there," said a voice, startling Maddie before making her smile again.

"Hi, Chimney." Maddie grinned, but didn't move from where she was leaning against the fire truck. "I know we talked about it, and you agreed that things weren't going to ever be the same for us, but..."

"I think you were right, Maddie."

"Well, I think you were right. Things never will be the same, but that's okay. We can still have what we want, and maybe make a new version of what we were going to have. I love you."

"You know, you were standing in the exact same spot when you asked me out last time? And, like last time, the answer is yes!"

Maddie giggled as Chimney lifted her into a hug. "You don't even know the question."

"I'm pretty sure I do. I love you, too, Maddie Buckley!"