You don't wanna give nobody the power
That's when it gets in the cut
And that's when it stitches you up
Eleanor was just finishing up breakfast when there was a knock on the door. She turned off the stove before heading over to answer the door. Eddie and a very smiley Christopher stood on the other side. Eleanor smiled at them as she moved aside to let them in the apartment.
"Good morning."
"Morning," Christopher smiled up at her.
"Are you sure this is okay? I don't wanna-"
"Eddie!" Eleanor cut him off. "It's okay, I can handle one kid and I could use the company. We'll be okay." Eddie just nodded. Christopher had retreated to the living room and stationed himself in front of the TV.
"Here's his bag, it's got a bunch of stuff in it. And I put some money in the zipper part in case you guys wanna go out and do something or order something." Eddie set his bag on the chair.
"You are so cute when it comes to Chris, I love it," Eleanor placed a hand over her heart and puckered her lip slightly. Eddie laughed at her reaction.
"Hey," Buck finally joined them downstairs. Eleanor went back over to the counter and gathered the breakfast she had prepared for the guys. She handed Buck his bag and coffee, he kissed her lips before going to grab his work bag. She handed Eddie a bag and some coffee as well.
"Thank you," he leaned in and kissed her cheek before joining Buck at the door.
"Have a good day boys, be careful!" she called after them. "Hey Chris, are you hungry?"
"Yeah!" he yelled, still in the same spot. Eleanor smiled to herself as she made a plate for Christopher and herself. She could get used to a routine like this..
"What're you watching?" she asked as she set his plate on the table beside him.
"Scooby!"
"Ah, your dad's old school huh? Got you watching the good cartoons." Christopher just nodded as he ate a piece of bacon. "So, what should we do today?"
"Cookies!"
"You wanna make cookies?"
"Yes. And video games."
"I don't know how well that one will go but I will try. Deal?"
"Deal," Christopher smiled before going back to the food on his plate.
After finishing breakfast Eleanor cleaned up a little bit and then decided to take a shot at the video games that Christopher wanted to play. It was no surprise when Christopher beat her at every game including Mario Kart. After being severely beaten virtually Eleanor let Christopher play some more on his own while she tinkered on her laptop. She had been staring at the nursing application for about a week now. This was something that she always wanted to do but she was afraid she'd fail.
Though after today, watching Christopher do anything and everything he set his mind to, she knew she needed to do this. She had learned something from him. Sometimes you just have to do it, even if you fail, get back up and try again harder.
****
Eleanor promised to make cookies after lunch so of course Christopher rushed through lunch. He helped her cook mac and cheese, mostly just stirring the pot and occasionally adding in ingredients. Eleanor was still eating when he rushed into the kitchen and began grabbing out the ingredients needed for cookies. Maybe she should watch him more often, maybe his energy would rub off on her or she'd be on a sugar high.
He helped mix everything together then Eleanor rolled out the dough and let Christopher go to town with the cookie cutters. It was past Christmas but those were the only cutters she had so snowmen and reindeer it was.
"How ya doing over here?" Christopher held up a cookie to show Eleanor as she walked over beside him. "Beautiful, I love it."
"This one is for you," he smiled up at her. Eleanor took the cookie from his hand, it was smothered in blue icing and had an E written on it. "Blue is your favorite."
"It is, thank you." Eleanor smiled and set the cookie aside, "I'll eat it later okay? I wanna enjoy how pretty it is now." Christopher just nodded and went back to decorating the others. She was lying, though she appreciated the thought, there was no way she'd be able to eat all that icing. Not without a major toothache, she wouldn't tell him that though.
After they had finished all three batches of cookies and Christopher was done decorating they cleaned up and headed for the couch. Christopher was tired, she could tell but he was waiting for Eddie to get home. It was about four o'clock now so Buck and Eddie should be home soon. Christopher decided to play some more video games to try and fight his sleep as he waited. Eleanor got back on her laptop and checked her email.
Her boss had answered the message from earlier. Eleanor had informed her that she submitted her nursing application. Her boss responded by saying she was glad to hear that, it was a great opportunity, and that they'd be willing to work with her school schedule and they'd even let her do some training at the hospital since she was already employed by them. Eleanor wrote back and thanked her.
****
Two hours had come and gone and the guys still weren't home. Eleanor and Christopher decided to order pizza for dinner since they were both hungry and they didn't know when the guys would be home. That was also two hours ago, and Eleanor was getting a little worried. She had texted both Buck and Eddie and hadn't gotten an answer from either. Christopher was now curled up beside her on the couch, sleeping soundly. His head rested against Eleanor's arm.
Finally, after another hour they arrived home. At around nine o'clock they finally walked through the door. Eleanor carefully got up, trying not to wake Christopher. "Where have you guys been?" The guys leaned against the counter both with a beer in their hand. "Long day?"
"Sorry, we were late and sorry we couldn't answer our phones."
"Yeah, we were in interrogating rooms," Eddie chimed in.
"What?"
"They think we robbed a bank."
"Excuse me? They think you two robbed a bank?" Eleanor laughed.
"Hey, we could've pulled it off."
"Sure," amusement still covered her face.
"She's right Buck, you could never do it." Buck looked between the two, completely offended by their words.
"Sorry," Eleanor shrugged. "So why do they think you guys robbed a bank?"
"We had a call at a bank and then they found bags of cash hidden in the truck."
"Okay.. reasonable. So how did it get there?"
"No clue," Buck and Eddie said in unison. After talking for a little more Buck decided to head to the shower and Eddie began to gather Christopher's things.
"How was he?"
"Cute as always. We made cookies and he helped me cook lunch. We ended up ordering pizza for dinner so don't worry, he didn't go to bed hungry."
"I don't worry when he's with you." Eleanor gave him a look. "Okay, maybe a little but that's just the parent side, you worry about everything."
"Maybe I'll understand it one day.. Until then I'll take your word for it."
"Thank you again."
"Anytime." Eddie pulled Eleanor in for a hug before going to get Christopher. He didn't wanna wake him so he carried him.
**Three Days Later**
It had been a very long and busy day at work for Eleanor. She was just finishing up a file when her phone rang, it was Buck. She sent it to voicemail and made a mental note to call him back as soon as she clocked out. She was almost done for the day. Eleanor closed the file she was working on, grabbed the stack off the edge of her desk, and went over to the filing cabinet. She heard her phone buzz on the desk again as she put the files away. She flicked through the sections and put the last file away just as her phone rang again. That was the fourth call from Buck.
She caught the call just in time to answer. She held the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she grabbed her bag off the hook on the wall. "Hey, sorry I-"
"I need you.."
"Buck, what's.."
"Waiting room by the the ER."
Eleanor didn't say anymore and neither did Buck. She hung up and ran through the halls to the waiting room. When she finally got there the whole crew was standing around, not a dry eye in sight. She looked around but didn't see Eddie.
"Buck.." He pulled her into a tight hug as a few tears slipped down his face. Seeing Buck cry made Eleanor tear up. "What happened?"
"Shannon died."
"Eddie's wife?" Buck nodded. "Oh my.." They all turned their attention when they heard the doors. Eddie stood in the doorway, looking around at everyone for a moment before he started walking again. He held Shannon's belongings as he headed for the door. Just as he reached the door Bobby came in, and Eddie finally lost it. Bobby held him in a tight hug as he cried. Buck held tightly onto Eleanor, holding her close to his side.