LET YOU DOWN
chapter six.
HUNTER GROANED TIREDLY, her head resting on Buck's back as she wrapped her arms around his waist eliciting a laugh from him. Buck looked around the locker room, making sure no one else from the 118 was watching.
"I don't want to work," she groaned out.
Buck laughed, resting his hands on top of hers and trying to turn his neck to look at her but to no avail, "What's wrong with you?" he questioned with a smirk, "You're never this touchy and... and you normally don't hate work until after the 12 hour mark."
Hunter tried to pull from him after his attempt at a witty remark but he held onto her arms and spun himself around so they could be face to face, her arms still linked around him. "I'm hungover from last night, Alexa was a nightmare."
"And I thought you could hold your liquor?" he pointed out, eyeing her suspiciously.
"I'm getting weak in my old age-"
"You turn 29 in two months," he deadpanned.
"um, okay, well I also spent like eight - nine years sleeping on a cot in Afghanistan, so..." Hunter retorted with a sarcastic smirk. And if she was being honest, she never spent a lot of time in her own cot.
Buck let out a chuckle as he laughed at her, not so much at her words but at the girl in general, "I'm gonna need you to start drinking more if the is the aftermath," he joked, looking down at the blonde woman who still hadn't let go of him. He reciprocated her actions and wrapped his arms around her. Buck liked it when Hunter would get up close to him, it made him feel appreciated and like he belonged. It wasn't often she was like that, and she never was in the firehouse.
Hunter didn't respond, instead she lifted her head from his chest slightly and softly laid a kiss above where his shirt had stopped. "Hey, hey, hey," Buck said, letting go of her, "Don't start something you won't finish-"
"Won't or can't?" she retorted, "Because given the chance, I will."
Buck sighed looking at her, "I- I haven't even finished getting dressed yet."
Hunter furrowed her eyebrows, that was all the better. "I can tuck your shirt in-"
"Calla," he said sternly, pointing at the closed door, "out."
Hunter groaned as she turned and walked out, flipping him off in the process. Buck smiled at he watched the girl's retreating figure.
Hunter quickly regretted her decision to leave him alone because as soon as she found him again nearly ten minutes later he had a clipboard in hand. Buck and a clipboard were a deadly mix, just ask anyone.
"Oh my god," she muttered, turning to run away but she had been caught.
"Calla!" he smiled, "Just in time for the restock."
"no, no," she told him, looking at him with a glare that could kill, "I am not apart of this. Eddie has it covered. I'm can't help anyways-"
"Can't or won't?" he asked with a smirk, knowing she would recognize the words, "Because-"
"Because the longer you keep talking the higher your chances are of getting kicked in the balls. So I cannot help unless you want to make an impromptu hospital visit," she told him through gritted teeth but held a smile that was fake enough to entice fear into both Eddie and Buck.
"Yeah, you know, I got it..." Eddie trailed off, looking at Buck who quickly nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, so AED?" he asked after looking down at his clipboard.
Eddie waited for a moment, mustering up the strength it took him to respond, "Check."
"Who gave that guy a clipboard?" Hen asked with wide eyes, finally joining the three with Chim by her side.
Hunter pointed at her and held her own set of wide eyes as she agreed with the woman. Everyone knew Evan Buckley and clipboards were a mix that went together a little too well.
"Ah, don't worry. It's a kinder, gentler clipboard as is the man who holds it," Said the blond man, gesturing to himself, "Meet Buck 3.0."
Hunter rolled her eyes, she had heard all about Buck 3.0 already and quite frankly, it wasn't that different from the previous version.
"What, three? What happened to 2.0?"
Chimney scoffed, "Two's leg was crushed by a ladder truck and his childhood was ripped apart. Still not sure what inspired the software update," he said eyeing the man with suspicion.
"I'm just ready to let go of the past."
"Your parents lied to you your entire life and you're just gonna let that go? What's your secret?"
Buck pointed a finger at Hen before answering her question, "Therapy. As in my parents agreed to come to a few sessions with me, work our stuff out," Buck noticed the skeptical look he was receiving from his friends, "Look, they're trying. I figure I should try too."
"Very mature, Buck," Hen observed with a smile.
"Very Buck 3.0," He smirked like he was victorious,
Hen rolled her eyes, "Okay, I'm not calling you that."
Hunter plucked the clipboard out of Buck's hands as she looked over at Chim, "Do you get a ticket into these family sessions too?"
"Key word family, which I am not," Chimney announced a little to excitedly, "Technically."
"Hey, Probie!" Buck yelled out, voice bellowing as Hunter cringed, trying to get away from the loud sound.
The probie cursed as he dropped the stack of books and papers in his hands. Hunter sighed as she brought her hand up to slap the back of Buck's head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. You're the new B-shift probie, right?"
"Yeah," he confirmed but quickly back tracked, "I mean, yes, sir. Just finished my first shift."
"oh!" Hunter let out, "How was it?"
"Uh, how was it? Oh, pretty quiet."
Hunter reeled back as the word left his mouth. "Whoa, whoa."
"Did- did he just say... "
"No! Sorry, I just said it was..." The probie tried to let out but was cut off by Hunter.
"That's a bad word!" she whisper yelled, "Don't say it again!"
"Hold on, hold on. I don't know. Maybe if he says it a second time, it undoes the curse," Hen tried to reason.
Chimney looked over at the woman like she had lost her mind, "Maybe if he said it a third time, the Candyman will show up and kill us all. Let's not test that theory," Chim quickly spoke, growing more panicked.
"That-that word is forbidden in the firehouse... any house," Buck stuttered out, "We just... we don't use the Q-word."
"Who used the Q-word?" Bobby asked, the conversation catching his attention as he leaned over the balcony railing. The four firefighters looked like deer caught in head lights. Buck quickly pointed to the probationary firefighter with wide eyes while Hunter rose her hand and pointed towards the blond man next to her.
Buck quickly swatted her hand away as Eddie closed the truck cargo door with a confused look, "What am I missing here?"
Before anyone could answer Eddie's question the fire bell rang out. Hunter groaned, "And so it begins..."
"We've been jinxed," Chimney sighed, looking up at the sky."
Once in the engine truck Eddie began making fun of them and their superstition. "You guys sound like my abuela's neighbor's curandera."
"Well, does she happen to know how- how to reverse it?" Buck asked hopefully, "'Cause if not, we're about to experience the shift from hell."
"Non-stop calls all day long."
"Now the EMS gods are gonna make us pay."
"It's going to be worse than when Buck jinxed me on the bus-"
"That was not my fault!"
Eddie chuckled, looking around at the other firefighters, "Come on, you guys don't really believe that."
Hen laughed too, "So Buck never told you about the last time somebody used that word?"
Buck's eyes widened at the memory, "The gods took it out of context."
"36 calls," Bobby spoke up from the front seat.
"36? In one shift?"
"Yeah. It was a house record."
"It was actually 37," Buck interjected.
Hunter looked over at him and laughed, "Darlin' that one wasn't even a call. That was karma doing god's work."
Hen and Hunter shared a knowing smirk as they thought back to Buck getting trapped in a room after the fire suppression system had been tripped. He had been asking for it after all, he was the one who had used the q-word that day. Now that someone had used that word again, their shift would be anything but quiet. Buck glared at the three who tried to suppress their laughs at the memories.
"Well, I think you guys are giving the EMS gods a little too much credit," Eddie said, dismissing their fears.
"See," Eddie said, "Fender bender, nothing crazy."
Hunter scoffed with cocked eyebrows as she pointed up to the man on the build board as if to prove to Eddie he was wrong. The day could only get worse from there.
Call after call came through, their dinner was long past cold and they never even had time to serve themselves plates. It seemed as soon as they sat down a call came again much to their annoyance. Between Buck getting thrown up on and Hunter getting clawed by a cat, Eddie getting soaked with water during a fire call, it was safe to say all members of the 118 were ready for the shift from hell to be over.
Not one call went by that someone didn't look over at Eddie as if to say "I told you so." Maybe if Eddie had admitted they were right, the calls would stop. Hunter was willing to try anything, Eddie on the other hand, was not.
"You ever replay a conversation in your head and worry you sounded like an idiot?"
Hunter eyed Eddie with a glare, "You mean like this morning when you said we weren't jinxed- Owe!"
The blonde send a glare Buck's way as she rubbed the back of her head where he had just hit. "Have you met me?"
Eddie laughed at Buck's self insult, "I ran into Ana Flores this morning. Christopher's English teacher."
"Mhmm, Chris's hot English teacher," Hunter hummed out, she shrugged off the looks the two men gave her, "What? I have eyes."
"You haven't mentioned her in a long time," Buck pointed out.
"Well, she's not Christopher's teacher anymore-"
"Is she still hot?"
If Eddie was going to answer he wasn't given the chance as all three of them froze, "Interesting," Buck let out, looking down at the clown trapped under the helium tanks.
Bobby looked up at the three, "Help me move some of these tanks to relieve the pressure."
Hunter's jaw dropped as she keeled over, "Oh my god."
"Come on," He said again. Hunter doubled over even more, along with the two boys at her side. It seemed the helium tanks were leaking and the gas had gone to Bobby's head. The voice all too squeaky to be normal.
"It's- it's your voice," Buck managed to get out as he leaned on Hunter for support.
"Buck! Be a professional!" Hen yelled but it sounded like an altered voice recording. They couldn't take Hen seriously when her voice was straight out of a kids toy.
"I'm gonna... I'm gonna go and get- go and get more oxygen tanks," Hunter tried to get out, the words sounding like a whisper over her laughing while stumbling away.
"It was a normal call. Went like clockwork," Eddie tried to justify his doubt about the curse, "Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am."
Hunter rolled her eyes at the saying while Hen spoke up, "You notice how you never hear anyone say, "wham, bam, thank you, sir"?"
Buck furrowed his eyebrows, "It doesn't rhyme."
"Or maybe all that whammin' and bammin' is nothing to write a thank you note about."
"Eh, I don't know," Hunter said skeptically with a smirk, "I'd write Eddie a thank you note..."
Hunter paused after seeing the looks everyone was giving her, "maybe that helium got to me," she tried to justify her words with a shrug.
"The point is I think this proves that the whole jinx thing is a little silly and we should be all done with it-"
It had seemed Eddie had tempted fate one too many times for that day. Hunter jumped slightly as a loud bang crashed with the top of the firetruck. "Edmundo, I take it back," Hunter grimaced, slowly turning to look the man in the eyes as he sheepishly grinned. How bad did their luck have to be to make a telephone pole with a terminal fall on top of the engine truck, "I am going to kill you."
"Right... no curse here," Buck all but spat at Eddie.
Hunter looked over at Buck before pulling out her phone. She waited a few moments before he did too. Reading the text she had just sent he pursed his lips with a slight blush rising to his face. i'm just sayin' the whole pissed off vibe is kinda hot.
Wow you sure you didn't mean to text Eddie? Hunter read the text in her head and rolled her eyes while shaking her head with a smile, looking at the blond who didn't move his frown.
"No gas leak. However, the gas is gonna remain shut down until further investigation," Bobby said to Jim as they walked back outside the restaurant joint."
"I'm gonna get canned. years of customer service up in smoke... or gas." He panicked
Buck smiled softly, "Actually, there wasn't any of either, Jim."
"It's still Larry!"
Athena brushed of his explosion as she turned to the three firefighters, "Caller said he was a fire chief."
Bobby and Hunter shared a look of confusion, "Someone else pretending to be LAFD?"
"What do you mean, someone else?"
"I don't think its someone else," Hunter said quietly pointing to the man watching too intensely from the crowd.
"Hey," Buck yelled out as soon as the man started running, "I got him, Chief. Hey!"
Hunter furrowed her eyebrows as they watched Buck chase after him, "Isn't that your job, Athena?"
Athena shrugged and rolled her eyes but quickly jumped into action as they all heard the engine of the firetruck turn over, "Uh-oh. Not on my watch!"
Hunter and Bobby stood frozen as they watched the engine truck roll away, his wife beginning to chase after it in her car. "Dispatch, this Captain Nash, our engine just got hijacked."
It seemed as if the world was messing with them, "All available units, report to North Hill Street. Five-alarm fire. I repeat, all available units, report to North Hill Street. Five-alarm fire."
Cap looked around, as if trying to find a solution to an impossible problem, "Quick, everyone in the ambulance."
"Edmundo, don't you dare say a word," Hunter pointed a finger at him.
"Never been so glad to get to the end of a shift," Chimney groaned, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"And hopefully the end of that jinx," Hen chimed in.
"I mean, that's it, right? Next shift is back to normal?"
"I might call in sick just in case," Chimney joked.
"Oh, you're joking but you won't see me the rest of the week," Hunter chuckled.
"Hey, I know you guys are eager to get the hell out of here, but I'd like to buy you breakfast," Bobby approached them with a smile, stopping them before they had a chance to leave.
Buck looked around at his friends, "You ever get to that point where you haven't eaten in so long, you stop being hungry?" Hunter's jaw dropped in disbelief at his words, "Yeah, no, me neither... Still hungry. Let's go."
"Actually, cap," Hunter stopped them, "I'm just gonna head on home, promised Alexa I'd help clean."
"You sure, Hunt?" He asked looking closely at Hunter who nodded with a soft smile, "All right, let's go. Eddie, you gonna meet us there?"
"Oh," Eddie started with a tight grin, "Sorry, guys. I, um, I already have plans."
The other members of the 118 nodded before turning to leave. Hunter spun around to face Eddie as soon as they were out of ear shot, "Is it the hot ex english teacher?"
Eddie looked at her with a blank face before scrunching it up, "Yes, its the smart, pretty ex-english teacher."
Hunter faked gagged, "Men," she joked, "I miss it when you guys were objective."
Eddie rolled his eyes at his friend as he walked into the locker room, Hunter following him, "What about you? I know you'd rather go out to eat then help clean, so you got a hot date?"
"Eddie, in the two years you've known me, have I ever gone on a date?" besides, she was technically already dating someone, but no one knew that.
"Okay, fair point," he said, "But, like, I think you should try it-"
Hunter fake laughed, "I'm gonna stop you right there," She said, beginning to walk out, "Have fun with Ana, Edmundo."