Finding love in the silence

Chapter 3

As he settles down he hears a knock at the door. Not expecting anyone, he cautiously walks to the door. Peeking through the spy hole, he lets out a sigh as he sees Maddie. He really didn't have the energy for this but he knew he needed to speak to her more so reluctantly opened the door.

"Hey," he says.

"Hi."

"Want to come inside?" he asks.

"Yeah, sure," she replies and enters, and he watches her look round.

"So, what brings you here at this hour?" Buck asks.

"Just wanted to check on you, I know we need to have a proper chat and it can wait but I just wanted to check on you." Buck was glad her answer was in line with what he wanted as well.

"Okay, do you want a drink?"

"Yeah, but I'll make them? It's going to be hard with one hand I'm guessing," she chuckles.

"True," Buck smiles back.

He follows her into the kitchen and watches as she fills the kettle and gets two cups and Buck points to where the coffee is, and when he sees her holding up a picture of him and Alex.

'Oh, shit' he thinks - he really did not want to go through this now.

"So, Alex? I mean if you want to leave it we can..." she says.

"No, might as well get it over with. We met a while back at the hospital after I got injured on a call, he was a nurse," and he can see the look on Maddie's face, it was the same as Bobby's earlier, "and it got really serious real quick and I fell hard for him. He was taking care of his sick father and I ended up helping him, we would stay up all night talking about everything and I don't know how but I ended up living here. But his father passed and then he said he wanted to travel and see the world now he didn't have to look after his dad. I was ready to go with him but he explained he wanted to do it on his own. And now he won't answer me, so I'm going with yet again I have been abandoned, but hey I'm getting used to that," Buck says. He knows it was a low blow, but it was the truth.

"What an ass! And I'm sorry I did the same but things weren't exactly rosy for me and that's why I couldn't come and I'm sorry. But how about we have a drink and leave the heavy stuff for another day?" she says as she makes the drinks.

"Agreed, how did you find your first shift?" he asks.

"Well, started off a bit crap but ended good, what about you?" she asks, smiling.

"Well, I ended up at the hospital, so a typical shift for me! But I was glad I got to see the little boy Chris again and his dad," Buck says smiling.

"Well now that smile means there's more, so come on," she giggles, passing Buck his drink.

"No there's nothing, he wasn't even awake. I just sat coloring with Chris. But Eddie's wow, handsome," Buck says, knowing he is blushing.

"So, you like him?" she asks.

"I don't know. Plus he has not long lost his wife so I doubt he's on the market, and his son has CP. Oh, and he is deaf, I mean that wouldn't bother me but from what I was told he struggles to cope so I'll leave it. Plus I said to Bobby I would respect the firefighter rescuee boundary, which will be for the best," Buck says.

"Okay," Maddie replies, and Buck spots a look on her face but cannot put his finger on what it is.

They talk about other things and Buck avoids discussing certain stuff and he can tell Maddie is doing the same. Eventually, it gets late and she makes her excuses and leaves. Buck is glad to have time to himself. He decides to head to bed grabbing some painkillers as his hand has started hurting and heads to bed where he lay in between the sheets. The memories of happy times he'd had filled his head, which then makes him feel sad at what he had lost, but he eventually manages to close his eyes and nod off.