Noncandescent

The Calm Before the Storm

Buck replies, all friendly, “You too. Take care.” Then walks away.

At the station, Hen shares a knowing look with the other nurses, but doesn't say anything.

Ethan, after watching Buck walk away for another moment, drops the charts on the station. “Nice guy. Hen, could you file these for me?”

Hen holds her tongue, with only a, “Of course, doctor.”, waiting for him to leave.

Then, once the coast is clear, she tells another nurse, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say Ethan’s got a little crush on Buck.”

When Buck greets his sister, Maddie greets him warmly, “Hey, Buck!”, moving in for a hug.

“Hey, Mads, how are you?”

“Oh, man, it’s so good to see you. I feel like I never see you anymore.”

“I know.” Then Buck moves towards the baby swing. “Hey, little man.  How’ve you been?” Then kisses the top of the baby’s head.

“Today, he’s doing awesome. Can I get you a drink, Buck?”

Buck nods, “Yeah, you got any coffee?”

As Maddie goes to grab it, Buck turns back to the baby, “Oh, Johnny. You have no idea how much I wish you knew how to talk. I wanna be here when you say your first word. I miss you all the time.”

The next day, Buck gets up first, Eddie following not too long after.

They don’t say anything, just shoot each other looks that they used to be able to read so well, but now, it’s like they’re strangers again.

Eddie decides to bite the bullet, asking, “You already eat?”

Buck replies in a clipped voice, “Yes.”

Eddie grabs milk from the fridge, asking, “Oh yeah? What did you eat?”

“Everything bagel and a banana.”

Here they switch sides, where Buck is now going in the fridge for something, and as he watches from the corner of his eye, he notices the cupboards are empty.

“Planning on making a grocery run in the near future?”

Here Buck doesn’t even try to play nice, “Eddie, you get way more time off than me, because you all but insisted that was only fair for Chris. Why can’t you do it?”

Eddie drops the pretense as well, “All I asked was if you were planning on making a run. Drop the attitude. Why couldn’t you have at least saved enough breakfast for me?”

Buck snaps, “Well, last I checked, we don’t even bother trying to sync our schedules anymore. I don’t know if you’re just going to go and leave me with Chris, or I am. We don’t communicate anymore.”

Here, Eddie gets pissed off enough to slam a cupboard door, “What the hell is wrong with you, Buck? Does the fact that I’m actually here piss you off that much?”

Buck confesses, “No, what pissed me off is how you just expect me to juggle full time shifts, grocery runs and taking Chris on Carla’s days off while you sit at home watching wrestling matches on pay-per-view and dream about restoring that car.”

Eddie points a finger at Buck, “Hey, you never said a word about not being okay with it. No one said you had to.”

Buck reminds him, “Well, we need the money more than ever, because you cut into our savings to restore a car that’s just rusting in the garage. You have almost 30 grand in your own savings, when there’s plenty around here you could easily fix if you wanted to.”

Eddie asks, skeptical, “Oh yeah? Like what?”

Buck lists them off, “Like the crack in the wall, the front yard needing some serious landscaping, or how about how I keep reminding you of all the things we can do to make this place even more handicap accessible for Chris?”

Eddie admits, “Okay, you might have a point on the last one, but this place is already plenty handicap accessible. That’s why we live here, remember? And those other things are not absolutely necessary. He gets around just fine. I think I know what my son needs a little better than you, considering I’m his father. If you want to spend your money on it, go right ahead. But I’ve been saving up for that car for years. I’m not giving that up.”

With that, Buck says, “I don’t even know why I bother.” and walks away.

In his frustration, Eddie snaps, “Yeah, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out."