Buck's Baby (By Accident)

Accident

Eddie looked at him blankly. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, confused.

"Come on Eddie, we know you've been spending a lot of time at Buck's lately. Even sleeping over, I hear" Hen replied, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively in his direction.

"That's right" Chimney added. "It wouldn't be unreasonable to believe you'd been at Buck's last night. Doesn't he call you whenever Aidan pulls a weird face or sneezes or something?".

Eddie rolled his eyes at the pair. "You're both ridiculous, you know that? I've been helping him through this because I know how hard it is to be a single parent. And for your information, I haven't slept at Buck's house for almost 3 weeks".

"Okay okay don't get your panties in a twist" Hen soothed, smirking in Chim's direction. "We were just teasing, that's all".

"He asks me to come over, it's not like I just turn up and demand to spend the night. Besides, I don't mind helping him" Eddie replied, feeling as though he had to defend himself, although not entirely sure why.

"I'll bet you don't" Chim muttered under his breath.

At that moment their conversation was interrupted by the alarm ringing shrilly through the building. Buck woke up with a start, jerking himself off Eddie's shoulder and looking around in confusion.

"What happened, where's the fire?" he said, looking around wildly, his hair ruffled and some drool on his cheek.

Eddie reached out and wiped the corner of Buck's mouth with his sleeve.

"You fell asleep for a second. Come on, we gotta go get ready".

Buck accepted Eddie's outstretched hand and the older man hauled him off the couch.

Buck did his best to ignore the knowing looks and smirks Hen and Chimney exchanged as him and Eddie joined them in the back of the truck. He knew how it looked; him and Eddie had been spending a bit more time together lately. Okay, a lot more time. But that was just because Eddie was helping him with the baby, right? It hadn't even occurred to Buck that anyone would think anything different. Eddie was his best friend and had been a great support over the last month. In his mind there was nothing more to it, and he was certain Eddie felt the same way.

They arrived on scene after a quick drive, the team piling out of the truck and taking stock of the situation. They'd been called for a boy in distress after having climbed up a tree and gotten stuck, unable to get back down and too high to jump. The boy looked to be all of 8 or 9 years old, sitting at the top of a tall elm tree and crying loudly.

"Chim, get on the ladder and see if you can't reach the boy that way!" Bobby instructed as he strode towards the boy's mother to comfort her.

"Got it, Cap" Chimney replied, scurrying up the side of the ladder truck. Eddie followed behind him, getting ready to take the controls of the ladder.

"What's your name, buddy?" Buck shouted up at the boy, craning his neck to see if he could find an easy path up.

"Connor!" the boy called back, his voice shaking with fear.

"Okay Connor, just hang on there bud, my friend is going to come up the ladder and get you down from there. Can you stay nice and still for me until he gets there?"

Buck saw the boy nod, his face streaked with tears.

"Reckon he's okay up there?" he asked, turning to Hen.

"He might be dehydrated, depending how long he's been up there for, but I can't see any significant injuries from here. I'm gonna prep a bag of saline just in case" Hen replied, rummaging around in her gear for her IV kit and the bag of fluids.