CHAPTER FOURTEEN – Santa Monica Pier
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THERE WAS A KNOCK AT THE FRONT DOOR, Vienna quickly rushed to answer it. "Oh, my God. Thank you Eddie. My car literally just broke down" Vienna sighed letting Eddie and Christopher into the house.
"Of course, we were going to the same place anyway" Eddie replied.
"I told you the car was old but did you listen? Nope" Gabriella said from the couch as Elena giggled from next to her aunt.
Vienna rolled her eyes, "And I told you not to put pink in your hair" grabbing her house keys.
"It looks cool though" as she got off the couch. "Are we still going to Buck's party?"
"Yes, where did you think we were going?" Vienna asked her, she shrugged. "Okay, let's go or were gonna be late"
...
"Surprise!" The party guests yelled. Buck walked down the stairs of Athena Grant's house making him jump a bit. Buck reached the bottom of the stairs and hugged his girlfriend.
The party was going great everyone was having fun and congrating Buck until things took a turn to for the worse.
"So, how does it feel to be back in long sleeves?" Summer asked Jackson and Lucy, Vienna rolled her eyes taking a sip of her beer.
"Well, I have come to peace with it" Lucy replied proudly.
"No, you haven't" Summer teased with a chuckle.
"No, I haven't" She sighed, taking a sip of her wine.
"Leave your fellow rookies alone, I can easily put you back in long sleeves" Vienna told her rookie giving her an unamused look, the other rookies chuckled and Summer quickly nodded.
"Your daughter's adorable" Lucy said to Vienna watching Mini Reyes play with the other kids. The conversation was cut short by the sound of coughing Vienna turned around to see Buck coughing while talking to Bobby.
"Buck?" Vienna asked, he took a step back looking at the blood on his hand before vomiting up blood. "Buck!"
...
"You got lucky" The doctor told Buck after Buck was rushed to the hospital. "Most people who suffer a pulmonary embolism don't do it surrounded by trained medical professionals. Saved your life"
"So, what caused the blood clot?" Maddie asked the doctor.
"Clots, plural" The doctor replied looking at Buck's chart. "There's the one that hit his lungs, and then there's two more in his leg. As to the cause? It's unclear" Vienna sighed pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Yeah, but he just got a clean bill of health last week. This came out of nowhere" Chimney pointed out.
"Did it?" The doctor questioned. "No pain or tenderness in the leg? Skin discoloration, swelling?"
"I thought I just pulled a muscle or something" Buck shrugged, Vienna sighed again. "Okay, I-I've been training for my LAFD recertification test"
"Well, it's not surprising. Training hard can lead to dehydration, which can increase the risk of clots"
"Okay, um, well, great. Look, I'm not dead. You found the clots. When can I get out of here?" Buck asked the doctor.
"We'll move you to a room, keep you on the anticoagulants. Tomorrow, we'll run some more tests. And then...we'll see" The doctor replied, the others nodded.
"Thanks, Doc" Chim said to him and the doctor left the room. "You know what? I'm gonna go tell everyone that you're okay, let them know that you're staying awhile, all right?" and walked away, leaving Maddie, Vienna and Buck alone to talk.
"When did your leg start bothering you?" Vienna asked them, putting her hands on her hips.
"Like, a day or two ago" He told them avoiding eye contact with them, Maddie scoffed. "V, I-I was not ignoring this, okay? I-I didn't know what it was, I thought I had a leg cramp or something"
"Yeah, well, you need to be more careful" Maddie chimed in. "Because if this had happened when you were alone...you could have died"
"No, but I-I didn't, okay? I just passed out-" Buck started but was cut off by Vienna.
"Yeah, just passed out after vomiting up blood" She scoffed rolling her eyes.
"What?" He asked confusedly, "I don't- I don't remember that. I vomited up blood?" The two nodded to his question. "At Bobby and Athena's house?"
"Yep" Vienna nodded, Buck glance around confused trying to remember.
"Oh, no"
"Oh, yeah"
Vienna sighed, "I've gotta go pick up Elena and Gabriella from Hen's" and gave Buck a quick kiss on the cheek "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid" Maddie nodded.
Vienna walked away from the two pulling out her phone sending Gabriella a quick text saying 'she was on her way' while walking into the waiting area.
"And I don't have a fucking car" Vienna mumbled to herself putting her phone in her pocket.
"Hey, how's Buck?" Summer asked walking over to her.
"He's alright, they wanna run some more tests in the morning so..." She trailed off with a sigh "Uh, did you drive here?" she nodded. "Can you drive me to pick up Elena and Gabriella, my car kind of broke down"
"Yeah, sure"
...
"Settle down. Find a seat" Sergeant Grey said to the officers walking into the room as all the officers sat down in their seats. "First up, I'd like to congratulate Officer Jackson West on a fine pinch last night" as the officers clapped for him. "No crook is safe from Officer West, not even his landlord" and handed Jackson a piece of paper.
"Letter of commendation?" West asked him.
"Change of address form. Your apartment is now considered a house of ill repute and under asset seizure. We need your new address by tomorrow, even if it's Mama's house. Alright. This sharp-dressed man in the doorway is Detective Nick Armstrong. He'll be in the field after hours for your detecting needs" Grey explained. Reyes raised her hand. "Yes, Officer Reyes?"
"Detective Armstrong, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is patrol friendly and 10 is making us guard a cleared crime scene in the pouring rain 'cause you get a power trip off of it, where do you stand?" Officer Reyes asked him.
"Reyes" Grey said in a strict tone looking at the brunette, she smirked.
"No, it's alright, Sarge. I appreciate a direct question. A lot of cops take off the uniform, they put on the suit. Suddenly, they think they're better than the officers in this room. Patrol is where it all happens. It's fast, honest, pure, raw. 85% of all crimes are solved at the patrol level. So, the way I see it, I am here to help you, not the other way around" Armstrong explained to the officers.
"And if that doesn't win you over, I have five dozen of the finest donuts in the break room. That's all I'm saying" He continued as the officers laughed, Vienna nodded in approval.
"Okay, are we done? Good, 'cause we're done. Be safe out there" Grey told the officers once Vienna reached the outside of the briefing Rossi walked over to her with a smirk.
"You're still not over Detective Parker making us guard that crime scene, are you?" Rossi asked her, she shook her head.
"I'll get over it when I'm dead, she had us stand out their for 4 hours, now got grab our gear" Vienna ordered.
"Yes, ma'am"
...
"So, how's Buck doing?" Summer asked her T.O.
"Uh, well, he hasn't left his apartment in a week, and he's only been watching cooking show and sulking, so" She replied focusing on the road.
"Really?" Summer questioned, she nodded.
"He said, why would I need to leave, everywhere delivers" mocking Buck's voice making Summer chuckle. "But...me and Eddie came up with a plan to get him out the apartment"
"So, how are we gonna get Buck out of his apartment?" Eddie asked Vienna while Vienna used her shoulder to hold her phone to her ear so she could open the tube of ice cream.
"Uh, I have no idea" She sighed.
"While, Chris doesn't have school tomorrow and Carla's gone to Morongo for the week..." Eddie trailed off, she smiled.
"Yeah, that could work" She said sitting on the couch. "And it'd get him out the apartment"
"7-Adam-20. Assault at Santa Monica Pier"
"7-Adam-20. Responding"
The two pulled up to the pier to see a woman arguing over arcade machines. Reyes sighed as they walked over to the two. "Ma'am, sir, can we take a breath please? What's going on?"
"He stole my prize!" The woman yelled, Reyes rolled her eyes. "And he also assaulted me!"
"Ma'am, all I did is say, you didn't win so you couldn't have the prize" The poor worker sighed.
"Okay, ma'am. Just walk away, it's a $1 stuffed animal, you can probably get them at target" Vienna sighed, the woman scoffed and grabbed her kids arm and stormed off, she rolled her eyes.
"We can arrest her for a false 911 call, you know?" Rossi asked her, Vienna shook her head.
"Let the Karen go" She mumbled with a sigh.
The fell silence and everything mumbling to each other looking out at the water, the alarms started blaring and the officers quickly looked at each others as everyone started to ran the other way.
"Are those tsunami sirens?" Rossi asked.
"Go! Go! Go!" Vienna yelled and ran in the other direction from the water trying to get away but the water hit...
Written: 02/06/2023
Published: 30/06/2023
Word Count: 1527