Sanctuary

This is the Day

The next morning, Buck manages to stick his feet in the bathroom sink to at least try to wash the paint off, then dries them off with a towel.

As he steps outside his house, he sees something he knows for a fact wasn't there before:

It's a car. Obviously a used one, but there's keys in the ignition, along with a card.

Buck wastes no time driving it all the way to the fire station, pissed, and the minute he has it parked, he marches inside to find Eddie.

Eddie's all friendly as he asks, "Where'd you get your new machine?"

Buck is in no mood to play nice, "Did you leave that outside my house?"

Eddie admits, "What if I did?"

Buck tries to hand him the keys, "I can't accept it."

Eddie looks hurt at that, trying to explain, "It was just sitting in my garage taking up space. I don't mind you using it. Not like I need another car anyway."

Which helps, but Buck has to tell him, "Look, I really don't appreciate you showing up in the dark with no warning. I'm sure to you this was just a nice gesture, but really, I can't accept it."

Now Eddie's more upset, "I don't get it. It's not that big a deal. It's just an old car."

Buck agrees, "I know it is."

Eddie goes on, "I just see you coming in and out of the station..."

Buck stops him before he can continue, "Look, I didn't ask for it, and I don't want it. So..." Buck punctuates that last work by slapping the keys into Eddie's hand, and turns to go.

Eddie calls, "Look, I'm sorry." but Buck's not listening, already moving to the gym.

"You know, when someone does something nice, all you have to say is thank you."

But Buck still doesn't stop, which prompts Eddie to stomp off somewhere else, his pretty nice day suddenly turned sour.

That night, Buck's talking with Shannon at his dinner table.

Shannon's quick to point out, walking closer to take a look, "Love your curtains."

But Buck has something else on his mind, "I don't even know the guy, and he just shows up in the middle of the night to leave something I never even asked for."

Shannon tries to help him calm down, as she moves behind him, "Look, Buck, I know you managed to find somewhere to live that's as far away from humanity as possible, but you do realize you're gonna have to learn that if you're gonna be a part of a firefighter team, they're gonna be there for you. Even give you stuff you don't need. Believe me, there's no ulterior motives."

Buck tries to argue, "Well when you put it like that..."

Shannon goes on, "Sometimes that stuff just winds up taking up space in the house."

Buck tries to get her to see his point, "The last thing I want is to owe this guy, or anyone else, anything I can't pay back."

Shannon reminds him, "It's an old car, not an internal organ."

Buck thinks about that for a second, then asks reluctantly, "So you're saying that was a slight overreaction on my part?"

Shannon nods, "Yep. Just a little."

Buck finally stands up, admitting, "Okay, maybe I did. But just a little.", as he takes the dishes to the sink.

Behind him, Shannon tells him, "Look, Buck, the thing about life is, it's loaded with second chances."