Memorable

Six times Buck got recognized by people he saved during the tsunami, and how his team realized he was a hero.

…

…

1

"Hi. I'm here for a cleaning at one?" Buck greeted as he walked up to the receptionist desk at the dentist. "Evan Buckley."

The woman behind the desk nodded, clicking something on her computer before looking up. When she did, her eyes immediately found the birthmark over Buck's eye. Most people's did. But then her eyes went wide with recognition and Buck's stomach tightened with unease.

Where did he know her from? She had tight corkscrew black hair, round dark eyes, a regal nose, and was probably four or five years older than him. He didn't usually respond to women much older than him on his old dating profiles, but maybe? Oh god, had they had sex before? That would be awkward.

Whatever it was, the woman didn't say. She swallowed deeply, seemed to center herself, and then quietly verified his appointment and told him to take a seat in the waiting area.

There were eight other people sitting in the uncomfortable chairs. A TV mounted on the wall was playing a holiday movie, even though it was August, but the sound was so low that Buck couldn't hear anything they were saying. Which meant there was little to distract him from the fact that the receptionist kept glancing up at him any time her coworkers weren't talking to her, the phone wasn't ringing, and no one was checking in. Which was, actually, often.

Just when it was getting weird, someone called out "Evan Buckley" and he was taken back to get his teeth cleaned. Several minutes later, his mouth was minty fresh and his teeth felt noticeably cleaner. He always thought he did pretty well with brushing his teeth, but the dentist always seemed to do better.

"Thanks, Doc," Buck said before heading for the front desk again to pay. The woman from before was still there, it still being her shift, and Buck hesitated for a moment. Then he chastised himself for being a coward and stepped up to the desk. "How much?"

The woman shook her head, her curls bouncing. "It's been paid."

Eyebrows furrowing, Buck asked, "It—What?"

She held out an appointment reminder card. "It's been paid. Have a nice day."

Buck left the office, bemused, appointment card held in his lax fingers. It wasn't until he was standing beside his jeep that he realized he didn't have another appointment to be reminded of, so why did she give him a card?

"Please don't let it be her phone number," Buck muttered to himself as he looked down at the card.

Blank. The card had the information for the office and spaces for the date and time of the appointment, but nothing was filled in. Frowning, confused, Buck turned the card over.

'Visit paid for August 23rd, 2019, on top of a firetruck, with a pink shirt and a smile.'

August twenty-third?

Like another wave, it hit him. The tsunami. The woman by the store, the man in the car, the dozen people being washed away in the water—The receptionist was one of the people he'd pulled out of the waves and onto the firetruck! He'd given her his overshirt to wear, even though it was soaked, because she was shivering. She'd taken it off before he lost Chris though.

"Huh," Buck let out. "What are the odds?"

It was good to know someone he helped that day was doing okay now, that they hadn't died after he dove back in to look for Christopher.

He wore a little smile the rest of the day, and it had nothing to do with his teeth being clean.

…

…

2

Hen was probably the only member of station one eighteen that didn't hate getting sent on shopping trips other than Romero. Everyone else felt it was a waste of time, but Hen saw it as one of the chores that needed doing and sometimes that chore fell to her. Today, it fell to her and Buck.

"Okay, so Cap wants us to pick up some pi…pee can ha? What's that?" Hen asked, stopping in the middle of the baking aisle, tilting the shopping list sideways and squinting. "It says 'Chief Visit' next to it?"

From where he was lazily leaning over the bar of the shopping cart, Buck intoned, "Picanha. It's a steak."

"A steak." Hen turned and shot him a teasing grin. "Someone's sounding pretty cultured. How'd you know that?"

With a shrug, Buck stood up, shifting the cart sideways to get out of the way of other shoppers walking by. "Bobby."

Of course. It was common for Bobby to pull Buck into the kitchen whenever there wasn't a call and Buck had free time. He'd been teaching Buck to cook for almost as long as Buck had worked at the station. Hen hadn't realized they moved past breakfast food, but apparently they had if they were discussing steaks.

"Sounds like a date food," Hen continued to tease, narrowing her eyes.

Buck snorted. "Oh yeah. Picanha is expensive. He's probably trying to butter up the chief for something."

Probably a new truck. Word around the station was the department got a grant for eight brand new ladder trucks. The chief was making his rounds to inspect each station, trying to decide which ones to give them to.

Nodding, Hen motioned for Buck to follow her out of the aisle. She exited the aisle and was halfway across the next one when there was a soft crash behind her.

"Sorry," both Buck and a woman said at once, their carts having collided.

Buck flashed her one of his patented Labrador smiles that had everyone falling in love with him. Instead of turning to goo at his feet, the woman's eyes widened in surprise.

"You."

Uh-oh, Hen thought. Was she about to see another woman slap Buck and claim he'd ghosted her? Hadn't they dealt with that enough the last time his identity was stolen?

Tilting his head curiously, Buck said, "Me?"

There was a look on his face, like something was niggling at him, like he might know this lady. Oh dear. If he actually had ghosted this woman, that would be even worse.

Then all of a sudden, right there in the middle of the grocery store, the woman began to cry. Buck and Hen both jerked in place, shocked but flipping to firefighter mode, piranha steak forgotten. Something was wrong and they needed to fix it. Buck shoved his shopping cart to the side of the aisle behind him and moved around the woman's cart to be nearer to her.

"What's wrong?" he asked at the same time Hen reached her and asked, "Are you hurt?"

Hen placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and began a visual examination. No visible injuries or reason for the tears, but that didn't mean there wasn't something under her clothes that was hurting her.

The woman shook her head and reached out with shaking hands to hold onto one of Buck's. "I thought you died," she managed. "I'm so glad. I'm so glad you're okay."

"Died?" It burst out of Hen like water from a firehose. What the hell? "You sure you got the right person?"

She looked to Buck to share her concern, but Buck wasn't looking at her. His eyes had gone distant, like he was remembering something, and he leaned down to look the woman in the eyes. Recognition lit his face.

"You—You were worried about me?"

The woman nodded, still crying, though she was clearly trying to reign in her emotions. "You were there. You saved me. And then you were gone in the water. I thought for sure you both drowned." She looked up at Buck with so much regret in her eyes that Hen suddenly felt like she was intruding on something personal. "You asked me to watch him and I didn't. I'm so sorry."

"Hey hey, no no no," Buck rushed to say, and even pulled the woman into a big Buckley hug. "He's fine, alright? We both made it out."

"Really?" the woman asked, her voice muffled in Buck's shirt.

Buck nodded. "I promise."

After a few minutes, the woman's tears calmed and she pulled away from Buck with an embarrassed smile.

"That was so embarrassing. I'm sorry about that," she apologized, even going so far as to bow.

Hen, completely confused, stood to the side with her hands half raised from when she had first checked the woman over, ignored. No, really, what the heck was going on? Hen didn't recognize this lady from any of their calls, but she said Buck saved her—

"Oh." The woman looked Buck over, taking in his uniform for the first time. "You're a firefighter. No wonder." The smile she gave was more genuine then. "An everyday superhero."

A shy laugh and Buck's smile was bashful as he lowered his chin, his typical response when someone gave him an unexpected compliment. "Ah, no. I'm just a guy who happened to be in the right place."

"Thank you." The gratitude was quiet but forceful and Buck's blush receded. "Thank you so much. And I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do for you."

Buck shook his head. "Don't worry about it. You're okay. We're okay. That's all that matters, right?"

After a few more pleasantries, Buck and the woman parted ways. Hen waited until she had disappeared around the far aisle and Buck had retrieved their own cart before launching herself at him.

"Okay what the heck was that?" she asked, grabbing the cart when Buck tried to maneuver around her instead of answering.

"What?" Buck asked, playing the fool. Hen knew he wasn't as dumb as he sometimes pretended, and she glared at him until he caved. His eyes slid away from her, like he was ashamed. "She was in the tsunami with me and Chris."

The tsunami. Hen remembered the chaos, the gas poisoning, the newlyweds and their son, the explosion. It was one of the most stressful days they'd ever had on the job yet. Countless hours just going, going, going, not enough people, too many injured and missing and dead. And then there'd been Buck, and no one had ever thought to worry about him. He had quit. He was at the movies with Eddie's son. He was fine. Except he wasn't, because he was there in front of them, all cut up and barely responding to their words, collapsing, breathing shallow. Dehydration, exhaustion, blood loss from the cut on his arm, and sun exposure.

"She was watching Chris?" Hen asked and was shocked at how quiet her own voice was.

A nod. "There were people in the water, so I asked her to watch him while I went to help them. Chris fell in when the water receded and I jumped in after," Buck explained. He shook his head. "I never thought anyone else would blame themselves for that."

Hen frowned. "You mean anybody except you." She knew exactly how easily Buck could pile on the blame for things outside of his control.

Buck glanced toward where the woman had disappeared. "She did really good that day," he said instead of answering her. "I'm glad she's alright." After another moment of silence, he cleared his throat and pulled the cart out of Hen's hands. "Come on. We got fancy steak to buy and Bobby's probably already wondering what's taking so long."

Hen let him go because she was too lost in her own thoughts to stop him. All that chaos in the tsunami and their own little Buckaroo was out there, being a hero and saving people's lives, no uniform required. And now here he was, concerned if they were doing alright. For all that Buck played at being carefree, he had a really big heart.

Like a golden retriever.

Smiling, Hen hurried to catch up with Buck and slung an arm around his shoulders, forcing him to bend over to reach her height.

"Hen—What?"

"You're a good man, Buckaroo." He gave her a bemused smile and she used her free arm to point ahead. "Now let's go get some piranha meat."

Buck laughed. "I dare you to call it that to Bobby's face."

"Did I say I wanted to die today? No thanks."

…

…

3

Most of the time, Bobby was happy to sit at home with Athena and watch TV on the couch, or cook together, or read together, or just exist in the same room together. Sometimes, though, he wanted to go out, to proudly show that he was married to this amazing, beautiful, talented woman. But Athena was definitely a 'stay in' kind of person, so if Bobby wanted to take her out, he had to enlist help.

"I'm gonna take these two on a bathroom run before the movie starts. You got the snacks?" Eddie asked, already wrangling Harry and Chris toward the bathrooms before Buck gave an affirmative.

Athena shook her head. "That man is a saint."

Buck laughed. "That's what his aunt says too." He stood in line with Bobby and Athena, hands in his pockets, staring off toward the bathroom until all three boys had disappeared beyond the door. Then his attention started darting around the room, taking in the movie posters and décor like he'd never been to that theater before.

They moved up in line.

"I still think we could've just rented something on the TV at home," Athena noted, looking at the board behind the counter for what to buy. "Could get three of them for the cost of the food here alone."

Bobby wrapped his arms around her waist and was happy when she leaned back into him. "Sometimes it's nice to see a movie on the big screen. Right, Buck?"

"Yeah. The sound is so much better in a theater than on the TV at the house," Buck agreed, now focusing on the snack case, eyes narrowing at he contemplated which candy to get.

At the house? Buck lived in an apartment. Athena and Bobby shared a look over her shoulder, but before they thought to comment on the phrasing, they were at the front of the line. The worker behind the counter looked up at Buck and their jaw dropped open.

"Hey," Buck greeted the guy with a friendly smile and wave.

The worker just kept staring in stunned silence. Bobby shook his head. It wasn't uncommon for ladies to start hitting on Buck at work, and sometimes guys as well. Figured someone would think he was attractive even at the movie theater, but hopefully the worker didn't start flirting over the counter with him.

Shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other, Buck said, "Uh…okay. Can I get two medium popcorns, a buncha crunch for me and dots for Chris, and three small sodas?"

"What? No candy for Eddie?" Athena pressed, and Bobby heard the same tone that she used when subtly prying info from suspects.

Buck shook his head. "He's not big on sweets."

"Uh-huh."

Athena glanced back at Bobby again, who shrugged. If there was something going on between Buck and Eddie, they hadn't come to him for paperwork on it yet. And until they did, it was none of his business.

The worker rang up Buck's order, then moved quickly to fill two large buckets with popcorn. Bobby frowned. Hadn't Buck ordered mediums? They put the buckets, three small cups, a box of dots, and two boxes of buncha crunch on the counter. Okay, Bobby definitely heard Buck order two candies, not three. Was this how the worker flirted? Free upgrades on food?

"Enjoy your movie," the worker said with a smile.

Buck looked between the buckets and the candy, gingerly picking up the cups. "Um. But I didn't—This is—?"

The worker shook his head. "You saved my life during the tsunami," he said, voice dipped low so people in the other lines didn't overhear. Bobby only caught it because he and Athena were right behind Buck in line, and he listened more intently at the mention of the tsunami. "Please. We make way too much on concessions. It's the least I can do to say thanks."

Flushed and stuttering, Buck didn't try to talk the man out of it, but instead said, "O-Oh, well then, I—I only did what anyone would've—You're sure about this?" A nod. "Well, uh, thank you. That's—You're really nice. Thanks."

Then, with a bashful smile, Buck gathered up the candy and stuffed it in his jacket pockets, hooked the empty drink cups with two fingers, and picked up the two large popcorns with both hands. He thanked the guy again before heading for the drink stand.

"He's gonna need help with that," Athena said, patting Bobby's arm and nodding in Buck's direction. "How bout you go lend him a hand while I grab our food?"

Bobby leaned down to give his wife a quick peck on the lips before unwrapping his arms from her waist and heading for his youngest team member. Buck was still looking for a place to set the popcorn buckets down when Bobby reached him.

"How about I hold those for you?" Bobby offered, and took the buckets off his hands.

Buck flashed him a grateful smile. He was still pink in the cheeks. "Thanks."

For the time it took Buck to fill two of the cups with soda—and Bobby noted that he knew exactly which kind to get for both Eddie and Chris without hesitation—they stood in silence.

Then Bobby said, "So you saved that man's life."

Buck shrugged. "I guess? I pulled him up on top of a ladder truck that happened to be there and that the waves weren't pushing all over the place. It's not like I got him to safety or a hospital or anything."

He finished filling his own cup, carefully grabbed all three in a triangle in his hands, and moved to leave so someone else could get their drinks. Bobby frowned slightly as he followed. They stopped at the end of the concession stand, where there was a small strip of counter for Buck to set the cups down on until Eddie and the kids were out of the bathroom.

"Buck, you got him out of the water and out of danger. That's safety already," Bobby said. "He may have had to wait for another station to get him to a hospital, but would help have found him at all if you hadn't saved him first?" Buck shrugged, looking vaguely uncomfortable with Bobby's words, shoulders hunched. "Exactly. See? Even without the uniform, you help people, Buck. That's who you are."

The praise had Buck's eyes looking suspiciously wet, but he cleared his throat and wiped his eyes before any tears could fall. "Thanks, Bobby," Buck whispered.

A second later, Eddie and the boys came over, Athena ten steps behind them with two drinks, gummi worms, and a bag of red vines. Buck showed Chris the dots, earning him a quiet cheer, but said he'd hand them over once they were seated in the theater. Between him and Eddie, they carried both popcorns and two drinks, with Harry offering to carry the third for Chris.

As soon as she reached them, Athena handed the gummi worms to Harry too and then the red vines to Bobby. That woman owned Bobby's whole heart, and he let her know immediately by giving her another kiss. Then their whole family headed into the theater to watch a movie. Together.

…

…

4

"I don't know if I'm ready to be a dad."

Across from Chim at the table, Buck scowled over the rim of his beer. The bar around them was loud and lively, forcing Chim to practically shout to be heard, so the scowl wasn't because Buck misheard him.

Setting his drink down, Buck said, "You told Maddie you were excited." He pointed accusingly at Chim. "Did you lie to my sister?"

Chim quickly waved his arms around to try and diffuse Buck's ire. This is why he'd wanted to go out with Bobby or Hen or Eddie—someone who was a parent. Someone not related to Maddie. But everyone else was busy that night except Buck and so now he had to deal with Protective Older Brother Evan whose only parenting experience came from hanging out with Eddie's son on his days off.

"No no no, I am. I am excited. I love Maddie more than I've ever loved anyone. She makes me happy. We're really good together." He ran his hands through his hair and sighed loudly. "I just—Dammit, you know what my family history is. What qualifies me to be a dad?"

For a while, Buck didn't respond. Chim sat with his elbows on the table, head in his hands, staring at the stained and sticky tabletop, lost in his own mind. Maddie was due to give birth in less than a month, and the closer she got, the more Chim was freaking out. He was going to screw this kid up so bad. He was going to fail as a father, as a husband to Maddie. His kid was going to run away like Albert had, anything and anywhere just to get away from Chim.

"What qualified Bobby?" Buck asked, his voice almost too quiet to hear over the noise. "If you asked him, I think he'd say he wasn't a good dad, but we all know he's wrong. We all see how he is with Harry and May, right? Is he a good dad?"

That was true. Bobby was great with Athena and Michael's kids. But wasn't it also true that his first wife and kids had died in a fire? What if Chim screwed up trying to cook chicken nuggets or something, lit the kitchen on fire, the whole apartment went up in flames, and he killed his kid?

"And Hen. Denny's her first wife's kid that she and Karen adopted. Then she cheated on Karen, and the father showed up, and there was all that drama, right? And now they've got Nia too. But when you look at how much she and Karen love their kids…Man, you can't tell me you think they're bad parents, right?"

Chim lifted his head just enough to look at Buck instead of the wood. "They're great parents," he muttered.

Even though his voice was lost in the din, Buck nodded along. "They are. And Eddie. Man, Eddie says he fails Chris all the time, right? But no one love their kid more." Buck smiled and waved his hand around as if motioning to Eddie standing somewhere in the bar with them. "It's hard, and he doesn't always know what to do, right? But really all he needed was to know he wasn't alone. You know? He needed a little help, and that's okay." Buck laid both arms on the table and leaned over them to get closer to Chim. "And you and Mads—You won't be alone. You have each other, and you have us. And you have your friend's parents, right?"

The Lees were great parents. They'd taught him more about being a family than his own father had. If he tried to be half the father Mr. Lee had been, he might do okay. And Buck was right, he had all these people who also had kids who could help him out, who would know what he was going through.

Buck must have seen the slight loosening of Chim's shoulders, because his lips tilted up and he said, "You're gonna be a great father, Chimney. I guarantee it."

Chim huffed out a small, breathy laugh. Who would've thought that Buck—the one member of the one eighteen without a kid, who was basically a kid himself—would have just the words to clear away Chim's anxiety? He nodded and held out his beer toward Buck, who responded in kind so they could clink the bottles together.

"Thanks, Buck. I appreciate it."

Buck opened his mouth to say, "No problem, m—" when suddenly a blonde woman stepped up beside their table and he cut himself off.

The woman was around Buck's age, give or take a few years, and had the air of someone who'd been dared to come ask for a guy's number. Chim rolled his eyes and sighed, taking a long drag of his beer.

Of course he couldn't go out for drinks with Evan Buckley without someone hitting on him. And then Chim had to watch as Buck politely turned them down, always saying he was taken – even though Chim was pretty positive Buck was single – but he really hoped they found the right guy somewhere else, and the women were always really sad when they left but they never even glanced in Chim's direction—Not that he wanted anything from them or anything, but at least an acknowledgement would be nice.

"Hi," the woman managed after a few seconds.

"Hi," Buck repeated.

She pushed her hand behind her ear—cute trick, probably had a lot of guys interested. "So I was just over there with my friends, and I saw you sitting here—" and here came the hook up line, "and I just—Is that a burn or something?" She motioned toward Buck's birthmark.

That was the worst flirtation Chim had ever heard. He took another drink to keep himself from commenting.

With a wry grin, Buck shook his head and smiled. "Nah. Birthmark." He was quick to reassure her, "People ask about it all the time. It's fine."

The woman nodded, no doubt cataloguing the information. "Right, okay. See, I recognized it. The birthmark I mean," she clarified, and an endearing blush dusted her cheeks. "It was a really stressful day for me, but how many guys have a mark like that on their eye, right?"

Chim groaned, but it was lost under the music. Had they helped this woman on a call and she'd been lusting after Buck ever since? Just great.

But Buck didn't look perturbed, or even like he was about to turn her down. In fact, it looked like he just realized where he knew her from. "The tsunami," Buck said, pointing at her. She nodded, looking overjoyed that he remembered. Buck smiled at her. "It's great to see you're doing okay now. You are, right?"

The woman laughed. "Yes. I'm actually here as part of a bachelorette party." She flashed a fancy, sparkly ring at him.

Buck gasped and, when the woman nodded and held her hand closer, took her hand to get a good look at the ring. "Oh man, that's awesome! Congratulations!"

"Thank you." The woman's smile was blinding. "He was actually on the truck with us too. We got really close at the hospital afterward."

"Wow." Buck's face looked like it hurt from how wide his smile was. "I'm so happy for you."

The woman's smile dimmed, less ecstatic, more serious, but no less genuine. "This wouldn't be possible if you didn't pull us from the water that day, so I wanted to come over and tell you how grateful I am. Thank you so much. You saved my life, and Alejandro's."

She opened her arms and Buck was quick to stand and pull her into a Buckley Hug. Buckley Hugs were the best. Chim should just ditch and go home to his own Buckley to get one for himself instead of watching whatever this was.

Once the lady had said thank you again and returned to her party at the far table, Buck turned his grinning face on Chim. Chim made sure his return expression was as sarcastic as possible.

"So here I am, worried about being a regular old dad, and you're sitting over there—a secret hero. A regular Clark Kent." He scoffed. "I thought I knew you."

Buck's smile turned sheepish. "Your just as much a hero as me. You would've done the same in my situation."

Chim wasn't sure about that, but the vote of confidence felt nice so he didn't argue.

…

…

5

It was a well-established fact that Eddie was not the best cook. His idea of a home cooked meal was something from the freezer section of the grocery store that just needed to be thrown in the oven. Even with Buck staying over more nights than not, he was better at breakfasts than dinners. Maybe Eddie should suggest to Bobby that they switch to learning family dinner meals instead of omeletes.

The point being, sometimes the meal of the night was fast food. When a shift was too long to consider cooking, and Chris had been stuck in the house all day on a weekend, Eddie would load him up in the truck and head for McDonalds.

"Hey, those are my fries," Eddie complained lightly, not really upset.

"Taxes," was Buck's simple response before shoving the fries in his mouth, and Chris chortled.

Eddie shook his head. "This system of government is corrupt. Think I'll start a revolt. What do you say, buddy?" he asked his son.

Chris shook his head, but still agreed, "Revolt!"

Laughing, Buck leaned back from the table. "I'm feeling a bit threatened. Should I run away?"

With another shake of his head and a fond smile, Eddie reached over to lace his fingers with Buck's on the table. Chris kept happily munching his nuggets.

"Excuse me."

It was a middle-aged man, a girl about Chris's age at his side. He looked between Buck and Eddie a few times, and his hands clenched into light fists at his side. Already anger started to swirl in Eddie's gut. If this guy said anything shitty to him and Buck for holding hands, Buck would have to hold Eddie back.

"You probably don't remember me," the man started once he had Eddie and Buck's attention, though Chris barely glanced at him. "Last August, you saved my life during the tsunami."

The tension bled out of Eddie's shoulders, replaced with the memory of dread. The moment he'd spotted Buck at the triage station, that he realized Christopher wasn't with him—

"Oh," Buck let out, squeezing Eddie's hand. The memory wasn't a pleasant one for him either. "Really?"

The man nodded, then motioned to his own left eye. "That mark. It's pretty memorable, right?"

Buck let go of Eddie's hand to reach up to touch his birthmark and a bit of bitterness reignited in Eddie at the self-conscious motion.

"Did you need something?" Eddie asked the man, doing his level best to sound civil and not like he wanted the guy to go away already. Chris looked at him curiously, still munching on his fries.

The man shook his head, then nodded. "I remembered you were worried about your son," he said, motioning to Chris, "when he fell off the truck. Ever since I was reunited with my Yoreliz, I've been wondering what happened to you two after you jumped back into the water after him." He put a hand on his daughter's shoulder and squeezed, and she smiled up at him. "I saw you both over here and, I guess, I just had to come over and tell you how happy I am to see you both made it out of there alright."

Now Buck was smiling. "Thanks, man. Yeah, we're both alright." He turned his smile on Chris, who gave a thumbs up, then motioned toward the man and his daughter. "Glad you're alright too."

"Thank you." The man nodded like a bow. "Anyway, I'll leave you alone with your family. I just had to come say hello real quick."

Buck shook his head. "No problem. Have a great day."

They watched as the man left with his daughter, with her starting to chatter at him excitedly as they walked toward their car. While Buck went back to eating, Eddie didn't look away until they disappeared in the vehicle, his mind and heart racing in time.

"You didn't correct him."

"Hm?" Buck asked through a mouthful of burger.

Eddie shook his head. "He said 'your son.' You didn't correct him."

Buck hurried to swallow, a guilty look darkening his expression. "Sorry. Should I have?"

Even though that man had reminded Eddie of one of the worst days of his life—when he thought he'd lost the two most important people—his chest was fluttering and warm. He shook his head again and took up Buck's hand once more. "No."

When Buck smiled, it was so relieved and happy that Eddie could do nothing but lean over and kiss him.

"Daaaad," Chris complained.

Eddie grinned against Buck's lips and kissed him again.

…

…

6

The call was for a three-car accident. When the one eighteen arrived, they found one driver out and leaning against their car, but the other two drivers were still inside their vehicles. The team split up to check on all three victims. The one outside of their car had minor neck pain, and their chest hurt from the seatbelt jerking them back upon impact. The other two had jammed driver-side doors that had to be opened with the jaws of life.

Each person was taken to the ambulance, where Hen was ready to check them out and determine if a hospital visit was necessary. Once the last person was free, Buck walked them over to where the other two were already sitting on the back of the ambulance.

"Last one, Hen," he greeted cheerily. "How's everyone—"

"Holy fuck, it's you!"

Everyone jumped at the sudden shout from one of the drivers, even Bobby and Eddie who weren't near the ambulance. They hurried over to see what was wrong.

The man who had yelled was pointing at Buck, his eyes wide. Buck pointed at himself. "It's me?"

"Last year," the man said, still shouting. Maybe his air bag had damaged his ears a bit. "I thought I was gonna die when that tsunami hit, but you pulled some superhero stunt and suddenly there I was, on top of a fire truck!"

"This again?" Hen let out at the same time Chim asked, "Again?" and Bobby said, "Another one, huh?"

They all looked at each other in shock for a moment, but then the man was shouting again. "Did you become a firefighter after the tsunami?"

Buck shook his head, looking amused—probably by the shouting. "Nah. Over three years!" He held up his fingers in case the man couldn't hear him.

"Dang! No wonder!" the man said with wonder. "Definitely the right job for you, man!"

"Thanks!" Buck smiled, then motioned to his own ear. "Ear ringing?"

The guy nodded, so Buck nodded. Then Hen stepped in again to double check the man was alright and Buck waved goodbye to him. Of all three drivers, he was the only one who might need to see a doctor sooner rather than later, so they packed him up in the ambulance and drove away. The other two were told to keep an eye on themselves and if anything got worse in any way, get to a hospital to be checked out just in case.

It wasn't until they reached the station again and Buck had disappeared to go use the toilet that anyone brought up what had happened.

"What did you mean 'Again?'," Hen asked Chim, then pointed at Bobby, "Or 'another one'?"

"I went out for drinks with Buck last month and this blonde woman was there for a bachelorette party. Apparently Buck saved her and her fiancé during the tsunami," Chim informed them, hands on his hips.

Bobby looked pensive. "When we all went to the movies a few months ago, the guy at the concession stand gave Buck extra candy because he said Buck saved his life during the tsunami."

"And when Buck and I went shopping for that delicious but weirdly fancy steak you made," Hen started, nodding to Bobby, "a lady was so grateful for him saving her from the tsunami that she broke down crying at the sight of him."

All eyes turned to Eddie, who was calmly pulling his gloves off. He froze under the sudden attention. "Uhh…Buck and I went to McDonalds last week and a guy came up with his daughter? He said Buck saved him too."

They looked between each other. There was no reason one or two people would keep thanking Buck whenever they saw him, so each of those encounters had to be a different person. That would be…five different people that Buck saved during the tsunami. Chim counted them on his fingers and then held his hand up toward the others.

"So Buck saved five people during the tsunami?"

"Six," Eddie broke in. When they looked at him curiously, he shrugged and said, "Chris. He might have lost him too, but he also saved him."

True. Just then, Buck rounded the corner from the bathrooms. Hen ran over, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him back to the group.

"Exactly how many people did you play superhero for during the tsunami, Buckaroo?" she asked.

Still stumbling to regain his balance, Buck said, "Superhero?"

"Yeah," Chim said. "We've each noticed you getting thanked for saving people during the tsunami. By the time we saw you, you were suffering from blood loss, exhaustion, and dehydration. How many people did you pull out of the water, Buck?"

How much work had he done when they all thought he wasn't ready to be in the field?

Buck scratched the back of his head. "Uh…I don't know. I wasn't exactly counting. Ten? Thirteen?" He shrugged. "I just grabbed anyone I saw."

No one spoke. Thirteen? Out of uniform, protecting Chris, on blood thinners, dealing with being at the epicenter of one of the worst natural disasters to hit southern California in decades, and Buck had saved thirteen or more people?

Chim whistled and Hen said, "Damn. You're like Superman over there. Saving the day and keeping it secret."

"I wasn't keeping it—I lost—It wasn't as impressive as you think," Buck stuttered, attempting to wave their praise away. He stopped when Bobby laid a hand on his shoulder.

"We're all proud of you, Buck. I'm proud of you. You did good."

Buck's eyes grew shiny and he pressed his lips together, trying to fight off the emotion that caused him. It wasn't enough, and he quickly excused himself to go hide somewhere until he wasn't fighting back tears. Hen waited until he was out of sight before she spoke.

"I'm gonna have to praise that kid more often. I know full well I couldn't have saved that many people if I'd been tossed about by a giant wave like that."

Everyone turned to Eddie when he continued stripping out of his turnout gear. When he noticed them watching, Eddie just shrugged. "You think I didn't already know how amazing he is? He lives with me, you guys."

…

…

fin