Buck was just about to start making dinner when there was a knock on his door. He left the kitchen to answer it, not really sure who it would be, and was surprised to find Karen at the door. Karen, who wasn't alone.
"Hi, Buck!" Denny exclaimed, wrapping his arms around him and Nia followed.
"Hey guys!" Buck said bending over to hug them back.
He hadn't seen any of the 118's kids since before the lawsuit, he hadn't seen Karen either. Honestly, seeing them all here felt like a breath of fresh air.
"What're you guys doing here?" He asked when they all pulled back.
"Sleep over!" Nia yelled and Denny just nodded.
He looked to Karen for confirmation as the two kids moved further inside the apartment and made themselves at home in the living room.
"I hope you don't mind," Karen said with a smile stepping further into the apartment, "I was hoping you could take them for the night. I already ordered pizza that'll be here soon so you don't have to worry about dinner."
"Of course," Buck nodded, excitement growing, "Yeah of course I can watch them. Is something going on?"
"Well I have to babysit the other two tonight, if that's what you mean." She replied with a fond roll of her eyes.
"Other two?" Buck prompted, not entirely sure where this was going.
"Yes, my over excited wife and her best friend." Karen gave him a conspiratorial wink, "They've gotten it in their heads that there's a mystery to be solved and have now entirely taken over my living room. Don't suppose you have any idea about that?"
"The mystery of the sketchy therapist?" He asks, sinking feeling in his gut.
"That's the one." She confirmed, "They've got a whole white board set up and everything."
She paused for a second and opened her phone and handed it to him to show him the picture of it. Sure enough, there it was, random bits of information and pictures scattered across it. Chim was sitting on the couch with his hair all over the place and Hen seemed to be pointing at something on the board with a ridiculous looking foam finger on her hand.
"Oh my god!" He exclaimed, unable to hold back his grin at his friends' frazzled appearances, "No way!"
"Oh, yes." Karen said with a chuckle of her own.
"Are those?" He paused zooming in on part of the board, "Old pictures of me? And pictures of Abby? and Eddie's firefighter calendar submission pictures with his face X'ed out?" He asked, confusion growing the more he looked.
"Ah, yes," Karen laughed, "They seemed to have reached the stage where they hit a wall with their theories so they started decorating."
Buck laughed outright at that, "Decorating?"
"Don't tell them I call it that." Karen grinned at him, "I do not need to hear the spiel about 'visual representations' being important again."
"Deal." Buck chuckled at the exasperation in her tone, "Hey, so did they figure it out?"
"No," Karen responded, "Whatever it is, you're in the clear for now, and I don't think they'll figure it out with the data they're working with either. Honestly, I'm fairly certain they have more questions than they started with at this point."
"At least there's that," Buck sighed.
Karen side eyed him for a moment, a serious look passing over her face, "Are you okay with this?"
"Not like I could stop them." Buck shrugged.
"Buckaroo, listen to me." Karen said turning to face him more fully, "Those two can be ridiculous and over excited when they find a new mystery, but they still understand boundaries. Say the word and I will go home and put a stop to this permanently."
Buck considered that for a moment. He wasn't really sure what he wanted. He knew that he didn't want to tell them, to tell anyone really, it felt too much like an admission of guilt for that. But that didn't necessarily mean that he minded them knowing.
At least, he maybe didn't mind anymore. He had definitely minded before all of it had been dredged up again, even at the beginning of this whole ordeal, but honestly he was kind of exhausted now. The awful tangle of emotions that has been clawing at his ribcage since he saw Dr. Wells' name on the paper was starting to be too much. He wanted it over, and he wanted this settled, and half the issue was that he wasn't even sure if he was allowed to feel like this.
Maybe a part of him kind of wanted them to know, for his own sake. If they figured it out on their own then that meant he didn't have to tell them. If they figured it out then it was more like they'd carried out an investigation, looked at the evidence and formed a conclusion.
Their opinions of him and what had happened would be objective, unbiased. It wouldn't be poisoned by his recount of the events, his explanation and his feelings on the matter that made it seem worse than it was. They could decide exactly how bad it was, if it was even bad at all, and then he'd know how to feel about what'd happened, instead of just the swirling and confusing mess of emotions that'd rooted itself firmly in his chest.
He trusted their opinion of right and wrong, he trusted their opinion of him. Hen especially, she always knew the correct answer, always the right advice to give him. He also knew that they cared about him and wouldn't be unkind when they inevitably informed him that he was being overdramatic.
"No, It's ok, let them." He told her, mind made up. "I do have something to ask of you though."
"What is it?" She replied, looking at him like she was trying to puzzle something out.
"If you figure it out before them, let me know." He told her, the same thing he'd asked of Hen and Chim, because he trusted Karen's assessment too.
"Will do." She nodded to him.
They stood in companionable silence for a minute, just watching as Denny and Nia played with the Lego's that lived in his coffee table drawer for when any of the kids were over.
"Well I better head out, I've got two more children to corral tonight." Karen said, breaking the silence.
"Ah, good luck with that." Awkwardly scratching his neck with a chuckle, "I apologize about your sleep schedule."
"Don't worry too much about it." Karen patted his shoulder, "I'm putting them to bed as soon as I get home. I'll still be getting my eight hours, I assure you."
Buck laughed at that. "Thank you, and sorry about your living room."
"Don't worry about it," Karen waved him off heading for the door, "They do this sometimes."
.......................................................................
For the fourth session Bobby was first, Eddie second, and Buck last. Plus, Dr. wells had to squeeze in another emergency session in the morning, so she'd warned Buck about the fact that there'd be no 15 minute break between his and Eddie's sessions. Which Buck had then informed Chim and her of when they'd met up that morning.
Bobby's session went by without incident other than the glares he shot them entering and leaving the office. Although, if you asked Hen, they were confused and tired glares more than anything else, performative at best. She made a mental note to get Athena to go out with her one night, try and see what her friend could do in wearing Bobby down and fixing the fire station and their little family.
Eddie's session also went by without incident, he barely acknowledged them going in, and nothing happened during it. Or at least not that Hen was aware of. She still didn't know what they were watching for after all. At the end of the hour, Eddie exited the office and Buck slipped in behind him for his session.
Eddie apparently seemed to like his odds of getting a straight answer better without Buck present. Hen knew he'd find out that he was mistaken soon enough, not even they knew why they were here after all.
"Ok, what is going on?" Eddie asked, leaning up against the wall with them, "What exactly are you trying to accomplish by being here?"
"We're keeping an eye out." Chim answered with a shrug.
"Keeping an eye out for what? I mean seriously they aren't even talking! And Buck is..." he trailed off squinting as if he couldn't believe his eyes, "Buck's fucking playing Pac-Man."
Hen and Chim both leaned over to see Buck through the window, and sure enough, he was in fact playing Pac-Man on his laptop. They both stifled a chuckle at that.
Eddie was not amused. "I don't get it!"
"He doesn't trust her," Hen explained to him, "Something happened, and now he doesn't trust her, not with any of us."
"What? What happened?" Eddie continued to push.
Hen exchanged glances with Chim before answering carefully, "We don't exactly know."
"You're doing all this and you don't even know!" Eddie scoffed. "You're taking his side and you don't even know why?"
"Whoa, Eddie." Chim butted in, hands raised in surrender, "We aren't trying to take sides here."
"Oh yeah? Then explain this!" He gestured to where they were all standing in the hallway.
"It isn't about taking sides, because there are no sides, you may have forgotten but we're all still a team. Regardless of whatever disagreements or conflicts there might be within our own ranks. We trust him in the field and we trust him when he says that she isn't to be trusted alone with anyone." Hen explained, "So we're watching his back, and helping him watch yours and Bobby's too."
"This is fucking ridiculous." Eddie rolled his eyes, "I'm sure he's just being overly emotional about something stupid again."
"If that's really what you think about everything that's happened in the last year, then you need a serious fucking reality check." Chim shot back, more aggressively than Hen thought he would.
"Besides," Hen, pointed out, voice gentler than Chim's, but no less firm. "Clearly Dr. Wells is complying with whatever Buck is telling her to do. Tell me that that isn't as good as a confession from her that she did whatever Buck thinks she did, and that it was bad."
"Whatever." Eddie replied, and turned to walk away. Hen let him get all the way back to the door before she called after him.
"Hey Eddie," he stopped but didn't turn to face her, "You and Buck promised to have each other's backs. He messed up, but he's been doing his best to have your back these past few weeks, even if you've all but spat in his face for it. I think you should consider at least trying to hear him out. You might be surprised what you find out when you actually listen."
He turned around to look at her, expression calculating, "What is that supposed to mean?"
She shrugged in response but added, "I think you're lying to yourself if you think there isn't still a part of you that trusts him. I think it's part of the reason you haven't talked to Dr. Wells about anything that matters yet."
Eddie just scoffed, turned on his heel, and left.
"Damn, Henrietta." Chim whistled, "You definitely weren't that harsh with me."
"You didn't need me to be."
.............................................................
Ten minutes later, Eddie marched back into the hallway and parked himself against the wall with Chim and Hen.
"You're back." Hen observed, giving him a raised eyebrow.
"I'm pissed, not stupid." Was his only response.
The remainder of Buck's session was spent in silence after that. Slowly the hour ticked by and Hen felt triumphant. Clearly something she'd said had gotten through to Eddie in some part. It was a step in the right direction.
Soon enough, Buck's session was over and the door was opening and Buck stepped out into the hall to greet them. His eyes immediately found Eddie's though and he froze in surprise. Eddie simply stared back for a moment, then shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked out the door leaving the other three in the hallway.
"What was that?" Buck said, turning to face the other two.
"I think he's finally coming around." Hen replied, and hoped to god that she was right.