Roaming hands and large swells.

9.

Buck was off the day after that, which was honestly for the best. It was also not an off day where they were scheduled for therapy, which was great.

Quite frankly, he needed the day to himself. He needed to not have to face his coworkers after last night. It was embarrassing, at the very least. He knew what they'd said they thought about it, but he also couldn't stop thinking about how Buck 1.0 had been. If maybe they were just too nice to say that maybe that version of him held at least part of the blame.

He was also glad to not have to see Eddie again quite yet. Sort of. He also missed the other man more than words could describe and if Eddie called right now he'd drop everything and literally run to him. He was still embarrassed about last night though.

Hi, hello, so glad to be given the gift of your friendship once again. Now let me have a big loud messy breakdown in your arms. Thanks.

Who even did that? Well, other than Buck. Could he get anymore high maintenance?

Anyways, the point was that he had some time off where he wasn't going to see any of them, and he was choosing to see it as a blessing. Also as a day to get some errands done. So, he woke up bright and early and jogged down to the park near his apartment where he ran one of the trails there and then jogged back home. He took a shower, drank a protein shake, took his meds, and headed to the hardware store to get some wood and varnish for the crib he was building.

He did that sometimes, well, he'd started doing it since his leg got crushed to pass time. He'd build and donate a crib or something else that the local shelter said they needed. The crib he was currently working on was almost done. He knew that Maddie was planning on painting this one with a garden theme too. So it would be super cute for whatever babies needed it.

The hardware store was somehow out of wood. Well, not entirely out of wood, but out of the kind he needed. So he had to drive across town to the other store's location where the store associate swore they had the thinner planks that he needed for the slats.

It was fine, it's not like he really had anything dire he needed to deal with today. Other than maybe getting some lunch soon, because he was getting hungry. 

It was then, while he was crossing between Rose and Granville street, that it happened. The only warning being the sudden blaring of a horn while he was crossing the intersection and then a Minivan was T-boning the pickup in front of him.

Buck slammed on his breaks, throwing the jeep into park and hitting his hazards before he was leaping out of the jeep. He had his phone out of his pocket in a second and was already dialling 9-1-1.

"This is 9-1-1, what's your emergency?" The voice over the phone sounded vaguely familiar, but he didn't have the mental capacity to think too much about it as he ran over to the cars.

"This is off duty firefighter Buckley with the 118. I'm at the intersection of Rose and Granville, there's a minivan that T-boned a pickup." He called into the phone.

A man stumbled out of the pickup truck, looking mostly unharmed other than a profusely bleeding nose.

"Buck? Is that you?" Asks the voice over the phone and he realised who he's talking to.

"Hey Josh." He greeted before getting back to business, "I've got at least one person injured, send me an RA unit."

"Already on the way, it's three minutes out." Josh informed him.

"Hello, Sir? I'm a firefighter, are you alright?" He asked, standing in front of the driver, who didn't seem able to really make eye contact with him.

"'Mmmm fiiineee" The guy answered, stumbling a bit.