"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"
"I need help."
"What happened, sir?"
"I didn't mean to shoot him. I was just robbed and he snuck up on me. Oh god. There's a lot of blood."
"Sir, what's your location?"
"I'm at the bodega near the Dam. I think he's a firefighter. His uniform says Nash."
"Ok sir, I need you to stay on the line with me. Help is on the way."
It had been a month since Buck left L.A. After the event of Athena slapping him, Bobby had been sleeping in a motel. His crew didn't speak to him unless it was related to the call. They all kept their distance from him. Then, Bobby found out Athena had asked for an investigation to be started against him. Chief Alonso had been the only one to stay by his side. His trial was next week and he was stressed. Maddie had been the only one to call or text him. She too felt like her brother was at fault. Bobby hadn't eaten anything today and he just finished shift. The motel he was at was close to a diner, so Bobby decided to walk there.
Someone ran into Bobby a few minutes later, obviously in a rush. He then looked to where that person had come from. It was a bodega that had a broken glass door. The owner was bleeding. Bobby didn't see the gun that the owner was holding though. He had gone up to the owner to see if he could help. He felt a searing pain in his side and the owner was freaking out. Everything was a blur. He could feel himself falling. He could see the owner panicking over the phone, probably calling 9-1-1. Time passed by and Bobby could hear muffled talking. He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. It hurt too much.
Bobby woke up. He could smell antiseptics and hear the beeping of a monitor. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. No one was in the room with him. Bobby pressed the call button and waited a few minutes before a nurse walked in. "Captain Nash, it's nice to see you awake. The doctor will be in here in a few minutes. Are you in any pain?"
That was when Bobby finally noticed the bandage on his side. He nodded, not trusting his voice. He didn't know how long he had been in there. The nurse gave him something for the pain and left shortly after the doctor came in. "Captain Nash, do you remember what happened?" Did he? He just remembered that he was walking...to... oh. "Yeah, um... I was walking to a diner when I saw the owner of a bodega bleeding. I tried to help him. But that's really all."
The doctor nodded. "It is common for someone not to remember trauma. The owner shot you. See, he had just been robbed and believed you were the robber coming back. You were shot in the side, but luckily, the damage wasn't as bad". He had been...shot... and no one was here? Surely they would have alerted his wife? "How long have I been here?"
"You've been here for about three days." Bobby couldn't believe it. Maybe they did visit him during those days. "Has anyone been here to see me?" he asked. The doctor set his clipboard down. "I won't lie to you, when we called your wife, she had very strongly expressed her feelings about you. She made it clear that, after we told her you were in good condition, you 'deserved to feel how Buck felt'. So, no. No one has been to visit." Bobby didn't understand. He thought that Athena would have come.
He was released two days after he woke up with the promise to go on light duty once he was cleared to go back to work. During those two days, no one had reached out to him. He was feeling...something... He couldn't understand what he was feeling, so he called Maddie. He knew that he was mad at Buckley, though. Buckley was the one who made Athena leave him. It was Buckley's fault no one had visited him.
Maddie texted and told him that she would have visited, but the call centre had been busy. Reports of tiny earthquakes coming in left and right. But she agreed that it was her brother's fault for ruining their relationships. The day that Buck left, Chimney had argued with Maddie about whose fault it was. This ended up with Chimney telling her to move out and breaking up their relationship. Bobby thanked her and walked into his motel room. He felt the ground moving a little later. This must have been those microquakes Maddie was talking about.
He laid down for a little, still feeling the effects of the pain medication. He was asleep for a few hours until he heard a rumbling. Bobby stepped outside just in time to watch the dam break. He quickly started to climb the fire escape from the room above his to reach high ground. The water forced him down though. It carried him until he could grab a street pole. The force of the water made it hard for Bobby to hold on and the stitches in his side were screaming. Or maybe that was him. It was hard to tell at this point.
It was a few hours later before the water had gone away. Bobby took in the sight around him. The town was destroyed. And he knew others would be too. He didn't know how long he was out there before he saw flashing lights of a fire truck. Bobby didn't think twice before calling out for help. He was too weak to move. He was even more upset when he saw who was there.
Back in Austin, Owen got a call about a dam break in L.A. They needed all the help they could get as a lot of the fire stations were waterlogged. Austin was one of the only two departments to answer the call for help. The chief chose the 121 and the 126 to head to L.A. Owen had accepted before he realised what that meant for Buck. It was too late to back out now. He had to break the news.
"Hey, listen up. We just got a call about the L.A. Dam breaking. It took out most of the fire stations and police districts. We were assigned to head down there tonight to help with any relief along with the 121 and some police officers. I know right now isn't the best of circumstances and I would like to apologise to you Buck. The chief gave me no choice. But let me remind you, that you have a whole team to look out for you and a certain police officer."
Buck couldn't believe what he was hearing. He left and promised to never go back. Now, he is being forced to go back to where he wasn't wanted. Buck didn't know if he could do that. He quickly got up and walked out of the station. He couldn't be in there anymore. Not after hearing that. Yeah, Owen apologised and made it clear to Buck that the team wouldn't let anything happen to him, but Buck needed the space. He went to the one place where he felt safe. The Lake.
That's where Carlos found him, again. TK told Carlos about them being sent to help in L.A. Carlos also knew about what happened to Buck in L.A. He was also being sent to L.A. to help cover ground for search and rescue, so he made a promise to himself that he would help Buck in any way. Carlos had grown attached to the blonde. He was cute, adorable, funny and a great man. He was falling for him. But he was dating TK...but the interaction at that diner made him think that TK might like Buck as well. And if the way Buck was blushing when Carlos went all 'protective boyfriend' mode had anything to say or when he blushed at TK's comment, Carlos could think the man liked them too. In all honesty, Carlos was jealous that the waitress was touching Buck and flirting with him, so it was barely an act that he put up.
He walked over to Buck, like last time, and again sat down next to him. This time around, Buck had known he was there and leaned into his touch. "Carlos, I don't want to go back. What if I see them again? Or worse, what if I ran into Maddie or Captain Nash? I don't think I can handle that right now. I just started therapy". Carlos hummed and brought Buck into him, "If you do, TK, your team and I will be there next to you. You won't have to face them alone. And if Captain Nash tries to do anything, I have jurisdiction over there for the time being and can arrest him for harassment". Buck sighed, "I guess that is true. But Maddie is my sister. I can't do that to her. She has been through a lot. Maybe this is her way of coping after leaving her Ex..."
Carlos shook his head, "Buck, that gives her no excuse to be hypocritical towards you. Or to anything she texted you. Yes, you both have been through a lot, but she should be there and understand you. Not whatever she is doing now." Buck nodded and closed his eyes. It was a calming sensation. To have someone on his side for once, all the physical affection. It was moments like these that Buck wanted to last. But all good things must come to an end sometime as the 126 engine pulled up next to the lake and TK hopped out. "You found the missing man again 'los! What would we ever do without you?" Carlos stood and kissed his boyfriend, "You, Tyler Kennedy, would crash and burn. Buck on the other hand, I think he would die from the lack of affection after you burn." Buck and TK laughed at his comment before the two headed to the truck. "I'll meet y'all in California. Safe travels."
18 hours later, the 126 and the 121 pulled into L.A. Buck had fallen asleep with his face against the window while TK fell asleep against Buck. The only person still awake, besides the driver, was Owen. Who may or may not have taken a picture of the two and sent it to Carlos and the group chat. He could tell all three men loved each other, but were too afraid to admit it.
They pulled up to the incident command centre and hopped out. Buck stretched his legs and walked over to the rest of the team. If he had taken a look to his left, he would have seen four people staring at him in shock. His team listened in on what needed to be done and who was going where. Carlos came up to them after being dismissed by the police incident commander and told them he would be following them up to the dam. The only other team that would be working with them had Buck shivering. It was the 118. It was then that he noticed three of the teammates and Athena. Hen was staring at him in shock while Chimney and Eddie were talking and glancing at Buck. Athena was the only one to come up to him. "Buckaroo, I've missed you so much." She gave him a tight hug. "Missed you too, Mama 'Thena. How are you?" Athena released Buck and smiled at him, "I'm good, sweetheart. Now, introduce me to this new team of yours. I want to make sure they are treating you right."
Buck hesitantly led her over to their truck. "Guys, I want you to meet Sergeant Athena Grant. She's the woman who I told you boasted about me being a danger magnet, TK." Athena laughed at the man. "Nice to meet you. I'm Captain Owen Strand and this is our team. We have Judd Ryder, Paul Strictland, Marjan Marwani, my son TK, and the Probie, Mateo Chavez." Each one waved respectively. "I'm Officer Reyes, Sergeant Grant. It is nice to officially meet you."
"You're the one that volunteered to follow them, aren't you? Well, it's nice to put a face to your name." She shook his hand. While they were talking to Athena, probably getting the concerned mom talk, Buck made his way over to Eddie, who met him halfway. "Hey, Buck..." Buck instantly hugged him. "Eddie, I'm so sorry for leaving you and Chris. I thought he didn't need me and then you said that about his nightmares and I swear I wanted to make it up to him." Eddie shushed him. "Buck, it's ok. I wasn't any help at all. I was going through my own troubles at the time and thought it was a good idea to push you away, even after the lawsuit. I forgive you, if you forgive me. I was going to invite you to Diaz family movie night the day you left. And it made me realise I held a grudge for too long." Buck had already forgiven Eddie. He forgave Eddie when he called him exhausting, because Buck knew it was true. He forgave Eddie for pushing him away.
They talked for a little before TK came and dragged Buck away to head to the dam. "Who was that?" TK asked. "Oh... that was Eddie. He apologised again and we talked about him and I video calling so I can see Chris when we're back in Texas". TK scooted close to Buck before looking at him, giving him that look. "Really? Wait, he was the one who you told me had been grieving his wife right?" Buck nodded. "Yeah, but Captain Nash didn't allow him any time off to grieve correctly, so he took it out on other people." TK wanted to ask what Buck meant by that, but that wasn't Buck's story to tell. TK just sat close to the man for the rest of the way, laying his head on him for a short time. They finally made it to the dam and were shocked by how much damage the water caused. Well, everyone but Buck was shocked, tsunami and all.
They quickly began a search and rescue procedure. It had been a few hours since they started, not finding anyone. But then, Carlos heard a cry for help. He told Owen and the team followed the voice. Buck stopped short when he saw who it was. Carlos came up to Buck. "Buck, you alright?" Before Buck could say anything though, Captain Nash's voice broke through. "How dare you show your face around here after leaving and messing everything up?" Buck backed into Carlos before tripping and falling on his back. There was so much malice heard in Captain Nash's voice that it threw even Judd off. "After everything you destroyed, you had the nerve to come back here. If I had enough strength..." He started before the team stepped in front of Buck. "You would what? Hurt him? Good luck trying because we won't let you anywhere near him." Judd growled out.
"You can't stop me. He will come crawling back and ask for forgiveness just like he did after the lawsuit". Paul spoke up, "You mean the lawsuit that he was right to file because you discriminated against him? That lawsuit?" Captain Nash growled, "He had no right to attack me because I wanted to keep him safe. If you don't want to end up at the other end of the stick, I suggest letting him go. Nothing good comes out of being with him."
"Oh? And what if we kept him? All of us here have been discriminated against, minus a couple. From the way I see it, Buck had every right to file the lawsuit. You just couldn't let your perfect little hold you had over him go. But now we have the most awesome teammate ever. He has been more helpful to us than anyone else." Mateo called out, stepping closer to Captain Nash. Owen got the last comment and laugh in. "Listen here, Nash. You might be a captain, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt your family. Because that's what your team is supposed to be. Not some punching bag. Your wife told me how they left you alone in the hospital. And now you know how Buck felt when he was in the tsunami. So tell me, Nash, was this worth it?"