Let me in

Chapter 5 : A hint of anger.

Chimney broods as he swirls his spoon through his coffee.

And Bobby and Eddie share a look before taking a big sip of coffee, sharing the same sense of concern for the youngest firefighter in the firehouse.

Neither of them has time to go about their  occupations or interrogations any longer because the alarm is already sounding.

And seriously, what can happen so early in the morning?

[...]

"Are you kidding me? Aren't you? Please tell me you're kidding me." Buck's voice is strangely high-pitched, bordering on hysteria, as if he's torn between laughing, hitting, and crying.

He's on the first floor, but they all hear him from the loft.

Chimney grimaces, nervously playing with the edges of his empty plate. The others look at him and he explains the situation in a two-three words, just like Maddie did with him yesterday, and like she's doing with Buck now.

Two-three words, which have the effect of a bomb.

"They-- they can't stay!" Buck shouts out in disbelief, and Maddie grimaces on the other end of the phone.

"But they told me. They've temporarily relocated back to our house on the coast. Those are their words. They said they wanted to get a little closer to me... and you."

"Oh, they did?" Buck scoffs but doesn't expect an answer. "And then I thought they sold our house on the coast! That's what they told us!" He continues, frowning as his brain tries to process all the information.

"I guess not." Maddie sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

She was the one who contacted them first, she was the one who wanted to try to offer her child a semblance of a normal family. But with a few physical visits a year and phone or video calls, not that. Not to have them around every day.

But it's temporary. After all, they told her. Those are their words.

We're moving in temporarily.

Temporarily.

That's the word.

"But... They can't." Buck repeats, obviously having a hard time believing and digesting the news. "Mom's got her firm and Dad's a judge now, they can't... How can they?" He gets confused.

Maddie sighs, because if it's hard enough for her, it's even harder for Buck, and she knows it. They know it.

"I know, that's what I asked right away, but Mom said her firm was in good hands and she'd handle the necessary things remotely, and Dad, well, apparently, he took some time off." She repeats what their parents told her.

Buck's face falls and after the surprise, he doesn't feel like laughing or crying, but definitely wants to hit something. Or someone.

"Time off? Are they fucking with us? Dad hasn't taken a single day off in almost forty years of career, for fuck's sake! That's-- That's bullshit!"

Upstairs, Bobby's face is tense and he'll probably have won his share of white hair by the end of the day for hearing so much rudeness coming out of Buck's mouth.