Chapter Text
Bobby paced around the firehouse, trying not to study the carnage too closely. It had been an hour since the police left to search for his missing firefighters, but every second felt like a year.
He had taken them offline when he gave his statement to the police and told everyone to head home. Most did, but Hen and Chim stayed. The friends sat on the couch, speaking softly to each other. Bobby could see unshed tears dance in both of their eyes.
He looked away from his colleagues, his family, and blinked back tears of his own. Worry and fear gnawed at his very soul and he sighed heavily as he sat at the kitchen counter.
The smell of pasta still filled the air, but he wasn’t hungry, despite not eating for hours.
Bobby didn’t think he could hold it down even if he did eat something.
“They’ll be okay, cap,” Hen assured him, placing a hand on his knee. When had she walked over to him? How did he not notice?
“I know. They are strong, and it’s not like this is their first rodeo,” Bobby replied, giving her a confident smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Yeah, Buck and Eddie know how to handle themselves,” Chimney said, sitting on the other stool beside him. “We should be more worried for that lady.”
“Hah,” Bobby forced out a chuckle, trying to keep the mood light. But he had seen that woman; seen the fury in her eyes.
For once, he was worried his boys wouldn’t make it out of this one.
He felt a buzz from his pocket and pulled out his phone. The caller I.D. read, Unknown Caller. He sighed and hung up, really not in the mood for spam right now.
Bobby went to say something to Hen when his phone buzzed again. He pulled it out once more, the same words meeting him.
“What?” he snapped, picking up the phone. He did not care if he was being rude or not.
“Bobby!” a familiar voice shouted through the phone.
“Eddie?!” he replied, launching up to his feet. The two paramedics whirled around, jaws dropped. “Eddie, are you okay? Where’s Buck? Where are you?”
“We are in the alleys behind the house. I don’t know where. We need an ambulance now. Buck’s hurt,” Eddie’s voice was panicked in a way Bobby had never heard before. With a speed he didn’t know he still possessed, he slid down the fireman’s pole and ran to the ambulance, Hen and Chim at his heels.
“Okay, we are on our way now. Keep him awake. Where are you two?” Bobby asked again.
“He's barely conscious, she drugged him but I don’t know with what,” Eddie’s voice sounded far away and the captain didn’t know if he was talking to himself or not.
“Diaz, where are you?” he asked once more, a little extra force behind his words.
“I don’t know! There aren’t any street signs or anything. We- we walked west I think? But I don’t- Buck! No!” Eddie cut himself off with a shout of alarm.
“Eddie?” Bobby yelled through the phone.
“Buck no, come on, breathe! Buck I need you to-”
The phone cut off with a haunting click, leaving Bobby without answers and a fresh wave of tears.
“Cap?” Hen said, turning in her seat to face him.
“We need to find them. Now.”
___
“No!” Eddie shouted as Buck began to convulse on the pavement. Eddie rolled him on his side.
“Eddie?” Bobby’s voice rang through the speaker. Eddie lunged for the phone with one arm, not leaving Buck’s side, telling him to as weak, ragged breaths escaped him.
As soon as his fingers grazed the metal, the phone died.
“Shit!” Eddie yelled. Buck’s convulsions subsided and he fell lax, covered in sweat.
“Buck, Buck, hey,” Eddie said softly, pulling Buck into his lap and holding his face in his shaking hand. “Buck.”
Buck’s eyes didn’t flutter. His chest barely rose.
“No, no, no, no,” Eddie whispered, pressing his fingers to the blonde’s neck.
For a second, nothing.
Then a weak and stringy beat hit his fingers, far too much like the one he has felt on the dying man only hours before.
He didn’t know what to do.
He couldn’t do anything.
He had no equipment, no phone, no team.
All he had was his heart lying in his arms, dying.
“Buck, come on. You need to wake up. You need to be okay,” Eddie mumbled, pressing his forehead to Buck’s.
They sat like that for a few minutes, the only sounds being the muffled cries of the woman and Buck’s shaky breath.
“Come back to me,” Eddie pleaded, running a hand through Buck’s curls.
Then a new sound joined them as one stopped.
Sirens filled his ears as Buck’s breathing went silent.
“No!” Eddie cried, putting Buck flat on the ground and beginning CPR. Eddie’s vision blurred with tears as he tried to force life back into Buck.
He felt ribs snap like twigs beneath his hands and a sob built in his chest. Red and blue lights filled the alley but he barely noticed them.
“Eddie!” Chimney called, running up to him. Eddie didn’t acknowledge him. “Let me take ove-”
“Don’t touch him!” Eddie screamed, not stopping compressions. Chim’s eyes widened, but he didn’t move any closer.
Eddie placed his mouth on Buck’s and blew air into his lungs. The firefighter’s chest rose and fell.
“Come on,” Eddie begged, joining their lips once more. This time, Buck’s chest kept rising.
“Yes!” Eddie cried with relief, almost collapsing. He distantly heard the others shouting orders and bringing over a gurney, but all he could focus on was the subtle pulse under his fingers.
Slow, stringy, but there.
“Come on,” a hand landed on his shoulder. Eddie looked up and saw Bobby.
“You found us,” Eddie stated. Bobby nodded. “How?”
“After the phone died I called Athena. She managed to track the phone. How she did it so quickly I will never know, but let’s just be grateful that she did.”
“Yeah,” Eddie replied, turning away from his captain and back to Buck, who was now on a stretcher. Eddie followed him and the others to the ambulance, climbing into the back with Buck.
“You’re gonna be okay,” Eddie whispered to him, holding his hand tightly, as Hen and Chim set up an IV and LifePak. “You’re gonna be okay.”
Eddie wasn’t sure if he imagined it, but he could have sworn he felt Buck squeeze his hand back.