Acceptance

Title: Acceptance
Series: Fan Flashwork Challenge
Ratings: Explicit
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom(s): 9-1-1
Category: F/M
Relationships: Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Characters: Evan “Buck” Buckley, Eddie Diaz, Christopher Diaz,
Tags: Transfemme Buck, Getting Together, Fluff
Summary: It starts with the meeting of Buck and Chris and finds its inevitable end with the relationship of Eddie and Buck.
Word Count: 8,630
Year: Season 2
Spoilers: Up Through Season 2
Notes: Written for the Fan Flashwork Challenge 371: Shout.
Beta: Grammarly

“HEY!” someone shouted at Buck.

Buck turned her head to look at where the person was. It was a man who was shirtless. She would have gladly ogled him if she had not been on the job.

“What can I do for you?”

“I saw the guy driving the car toss their phone into the bush. I told the cops, but the one isn’t listening to me.”

“Got it.” Buck looked at where the man was pointing, and she saw the closest cop. She looked around for where Athena was. Athena wasn’t going to have any part of that kind of shit. She was going to have that man’s head on a platter. There was stupidity, and just because a guy looked like a beach bum didn’t mean he was stoned.

Buck watched as Hen and Chim got the victim onto the backboard before she headed over to where Athena was.

“Yes?”

“Guy came over to talk to me. Said he saw the guy driving the car toss his phone into the bush. Then drive off. Cop won’t believe him.”

“It’s Reynolds, and he’s been known for that kind of shit. I’ll go and see what’s going on. Have the guy talk to me. I’ll find him with you in a moment.”

Buck was glad that the guy had only shouted her down so that he could give her that instead of asking her out because she was hot and fit. Buck could pop his balls with her arms, and while she would never harm someone, she would love to punch a few idiots. It would make her feel better about life, but it would also ruin her life. She tried not to do anything that would fuck up her job.

“How are you doing?” Athena asked, looking at the black eye that was still healing.

“Good. It doesn’t hurt that much anymore. Why?”

“You didn’t come to the girl’s night at Hen’s.”

“Oh, not that was because my sister came into town. She was upset at me not being where she thought I would be.”

“Which was?” Athena asked.

“In the house with my roommates. The guys I followed to LA before I started at the academy. I loved them, and they were good, but I really did need to find a place all on my own. I guess she assumed I would just stay with them forever until it was time for me to move in with the guy or gal I marry.”

“Does she know you?”

“No, not at all. Honestly, she really doesn’t. She was pretty close with me. Near raised me since our parents were checked out after I was born. Then she went to college, met Doug, and things went downhill from there. He hated me. The guy gave me the creeps but outside of the wedding, I was never around him.”

“What’s his name?”

“Doug Kendall, why?” Buck asked.

“My own curiosity. Now, why did he give you the creeps?”

“I don’t know. I was never around him long enough to find out. It’s the same thing we got with that one guy on that call about a month into me being at the 118. I think. Athena, that was over a decade ago. Can I go talk to the guy?”

“Yes,” Athena said.

Buck knew that tone and knew that Athena would make her pay for it. So, of course, BUck pushed the envelope. “Hey, next date you and Bobby go on, have him make the stir fry with ginger and green beans. You’ll love it.”

Athena huffed and gave Buck the little sly smile that said she was proud of her. The road to them seeing eye to eye had been long and hard. It had been a hell of a year on top of that. Things were what they were, and Buck was glad to find her footing here. Even if she had to deal with her boss making moon eyes at the hot cop.

Embracing being bisexual had happened after Buck had left home to go to college and before she had run away when college didn’t work out, and Maddie got her out of Hershey. Buck had connected well with the few guys and a couple of the girls she had been with over the years, but she had accepted that she still hadn’t found the one person she thought she could settle down with.

“Okay, and after that early morning hit and run, we are off. Back to the station to finish up the paperwork and then head home,” Bobby said a few minutes later after Hen and Chim were gone with the patient, and the LAPD had everything under control.

“Hey, Cap, don’t we have a new guy coming in on the next shift?” Makepeace called from the other side of the truck as Buck was getting inside. She glared at the man when he grinned at her.

“We do. The brass is biting my ass to get the other half of the rescue team picked.”

Buck kept her mouth shut because she didn’t want to start the conversation again on how if Bobby had picked a man for his first brass would have allowed him to pick the second of the pair as well, but it was him picking Buck that had made it harder for him to get approval to train both at the same time. Buck knew that it wasn’t it. It was what Bobby wanted all along. Bobby had kept her appraised of what he was doing the whole time. He had wanted to make sure that the first was a good fit for the 118 before he picked the second, as rescue pairs were hard to come by, and he would have hated to lose both at the same time if they bonded but didn’t bond with the 118.

“Well, as long as Buckley can bench press him, I think we are good,” Makepeace called out.

“We all know she can do that with you,” Riggs called from the other truck.

Buck smiled to herself. She figured this was like having a bunch of idiots for older brothers. Younger sister was a role that Buck was used to, but only younger sister to a female. It was strange to have so many guys treat her that way, but she had easily settled into it. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world either. Buck had not been made fun of for being fit even when she was in the academy, and the first time she had lifted one of the heavier guys over her shoulder and got him out of the fire rescue training section of the test, no one had made fun of her for anything. She could also drink them under the table most of the time. The only one that she couldn’t was now at the 133, and she still liked to try and beat him when she was at the start of her four days off.

Still, Buck was nervous about getting a new guy. She trusted that Bobby would find someone who fit with them, but that still didn’t mean that he would like having a woman as the one training him.

—

“Would you like some help?” Buck asked the woman who was trying to help a boy up.

“Yes, please. I’m not as young as I used to be, and I forget sometimes,” the woman said. She carefully let go of the boy’s hand and waved for Buck to step up.

Buck crouched down, and she looked at the ripped jeans and the bloody hands, then at the crutches. He would be good to use them after some of the spray she had in the Jeep that would numb the wounds. “Hi, my name is Buck. I’m gonna help you get up and sit on the bench. Then if you and your grandma are okay with it, I’ll head over and get my first aid kid and clean you up.”

“It’s okay with it,” the boy said. He looked at his grandma.

“It’s fine with me as well. Thank you. I guess those jeans will become shorts,” the grandma said.

“I have scissors and can take care of part of that now. I’ll have to cut them to get to the wounds, so I’ll just cut right at the rips.”

“That sounds good.”

Buck carefully helped the boy up, picking up his crutches as well and sitting them beside him on the bench. She ensured that he was settled before she headed to her Jeep to get the first aid kit. She was just accident-prone enough that she needed to carry it with her.

“Wow,” the boy said.

“Yeah, it’s the thing about being a firefighter. You just carry everything because you might, and I stress, might need it one day. I have never needed half of this kit, but I would hate to be without it.”

“My dad’s going to be a firefighter as well. That’s so cool. Do you love it?”

“I do. It’s the best thing in the world. What about you? Are you worried about your dad at all?”

“He was in the Army, and he came home. He’s always going to come home to me as a firefighter.”

Buck looked at the older woman who was standing beside her. The woman had a look of love on her face. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Evan, but I like to go by Buck.”

“Buck?” Chris asked.

“Well, there were a few other Evans in my class at the academy, and no one liked to call me Buckley, which is my last name, so they started to call me Buck. My parents weren’t big on nicknames. It was a full first name or nothing with everyone. It upset many people I was friends with, especially Maddie’s friends.”

“Maddie?”

“My sister, and yes, Maddie is on her birth certificate.” Buck started to get out everything that she thought she was going to need, but the first thing was the scissors to get off the legs of the jeans. “Now. What is your name?”

“Chris, and this is my Abuelita. I don’t remember her first name.”

“Isabel, my name is Isabel.”

“Well, Chris and Isabel, it’s lovely to meet you. I almost didn’t come to the park today. I like to walk around here on my days off sometimes but not always. I almost decided to just stay in my apartment.”

“We are lucky you chose not to, and please call me Abuela. Everyone does, even this one.”

“Okay,” Buck said.

“He’s my bisnieto,” Abuela said.

“Oh, I see. That’s cool. I never had great grandparents; I am not even sure I had grandparents. Alive, that is. It’s great you get time with her like that.”

Chris nodded his head, and he looked at the scissors that Buck pulled out. He looked a little afraid.

“Don’t worry. Here.” Buck showed him the tip of the scissors with a flat head that looked a little like a scoop. “This is so I don’t cut you. It’s like adult safety scissors to be used in times of hurry and emergency.”

“Oh, Grandma had a pair like that. She did her quilting with them.”

“I can see that so that no snagging happened. So are you okay with me using them to cut open your jeans to clean your wounds? Well, your Abuela can clean them.”

“No, you. Abuela’s done enough with all of her kids and grandkids. You have steady hands.”

Buck figured that the steady hands’ thing was something he got from his father. Buck worked quickly and gently with the cutting of Chris’ jeans off right where they were ripped. She figured that he would get someone to hem them up so that they didn’t become ragged. The jeans were not too thick, so they would not be too bad in the dead heat of summer for shorts. It wasn’t the best, but they would at least work. They were a little heavy for him to wear in September, but Buck wasn’t the one making the decision.

“How do your knees feel?” Buck asked.

“They just ache. I’ve been hurt worse. The crutches help me, but sometimes my body just does what it wants when I’m going through a growth spurt.”

“Oh, I remember those. Even I had issues with my body. I’m just glad you were not hurt worse. So, you tell me if the pain gets too bad. There are some rocks in there, and I want to take care of them first.”

Chris nodded his head. He was a perfect little patient, he never jerked his legs from Buck’s hold, and while he made noises, he wasn’t too loud and trying to get attention and comfort while Buck was doing what she was doing. Abuela did sit down beside him and let him hold her hand. It was adorable.

It wasn’t the first time that Buck thought about the family she had missed getting to know. She had never really asked about it. Even as a child, she knew that asking about things like that was not good. That her grandparents were dead was the easiest thing to think of. She had seen how much some of her friends’ parents hated losing their parents. It was just better not to ask.

Cleaning the knee wounds didn’t take long. The hands would be the same, and then Buck would have no reason to stay with them. The thought of going home to her empty apartment made her sad. It was the only thing she missed about living with her roommates.

“How does that feel?” Buck asked after getting the knees wrapped. Later in the day, once Chris was home, normal bandages or even no bandages would go, but Buck didn’t like the thought of him running around all day without them if he and his Abuela were running around a lot.

“Really good. What about my hands?”

“Well, I have some gauze for them and the same kind of antibacterial spray that will also make sure that they don’t hurt too much.”

“What about my crutches?”

“We are almost done, mis Nieto. I just have one more store to go to, and it’s a block over.”

“They really ache.”

“How about I carry you to the car and stay with you after I get you cleaned up the rest of the way, and your Abuela can head over and get what she needs. Then you just have to make it from the car to the house?”

“Are you sure?” Abuela asked.

“More than. That will give me time to really look at the scrapes on his hands and make sure his arms are okay.” Buck smiled at Abuela, and she rippled off the gloves she had put on before reaching and grabbing her wallet. She dug out her driver’s license and the ID card she had for being a firefighter. She handed them both over. “There, if something untoward happens, you can give the cops that. Make sure to ask for Sergeant Athena Grant. She would kick my ass if I did anything mean.”

“Is she your mom?”

“There are days that I think she looks at me like that, but no, she’s just someone I end up working with a lot, and she’s tried to take me under her wing. I’ve only been a firefighter for just under a year, and I’ll be having my badge pinning ceremony soon. Then I’ll be a full firefighter.”

“That will be cool. I can’t wait until my dad gets his.”

“I’ll head out. Here are the keys, and Chris can show you the car when it’s time to head that way. If I get there and you are not there, I will understand that Chris took you on a bit of a lark.”

“He often does, does he?”

“He’s a child full of a lot of adventure. Just like his father was at that age.”

Buck looked at Chris to see the boy smiling. Buck felt her heart beat a little faster at that grin. She was so fucked because she would never see this kid again.

—

Eddie looked at the two women who were looking at him. He had no idea who either of them was. He had only a few weird names. He knew Bobby but the others he would be working with the most were just names. Hen, Buck, and Chim. Those names gave him nothing on which two were the ones looking at him.

“BUCKLEY! COME SPOT ME!” one of the other guys said.

The dark-skinned woman shoved the very pale-skinned woman toward the direction of the fitness area. A woman named Buck and a firefighter? Eddie couldn’t have that much luck. He grinned and gave a smile to the dark-skinned woman, and he left the locker room to head over to where Buck was. Eddie had given Chris a phone just because of the boy’s worry about Eddie’s job. There were only family numbers programmed in there. Eddie checked the time, and Chris would still be in the hallway, so he pressed on the app to video call his son.

“Dad? Did you get into trouble already?” Chris asked.

“Nah, mijo, I didn’t. I just wanted to see your face again and ask you a question.” Eddie tapped the rotation thing, and Buck filled the screen. “Is that who I think it is?”

“BUCK!” Chris screen.

Buck’s head popped up, and she looked around before narrowing in on Eddie. Eddie tapped the button and flipped the phone around to where it would show Chris Buck when Buck took the phone.

“Chris.” Buck took the phone, and she smiled at the image.

“I told Dad he needed to find you once he started working. Does he work with you?”

“Yeah, if this lug of a man who had the phone is your Dad, then yeah, he works with me.”

“That’s my Dad, Edmundo Diaz.”

“Edmundo?”

“Eddie, por favor, Dios,” Eddie said. He reached out for his phone and then stepped over to stand beside Buck so that Chris could see both of them.

“I don’t know. I like Edmundo.”

“Do you like Evan, Buck?” Chris asked.

“Ouch, I thought you liked me, Chris.”

“Evan?”

“My name. I hate it. I just had never thought about giving myself a nickname. I don’t have a middle one to go by.”

“Hmm,” Eddie said. He smiled at Buck, though. He understood not liking a name, but he would have to figure out why Buck didn’t like Evan.

“I gotta go, Dad, or I’m going to get in trouble. Be good and listen to Buck. She’ll protect you.”

“Bye, mijo. Love you.”

“Love you too, Dad. Bye, Buck.” Chris was gone just a second later.

“What is going on?” Bobby asked, frowning at the two of them.

“Yesterday, I met the cutest kid. He and his great-grandmother were shopping, and a loose bit of concrete sent the kid down. He was walking pretty fast, so he fell and scraped his hand and his knees. Ripped his jeans. I helped them get settled and clean the kid up. He was talking about his father becoming a firefighter, and low and behold, it’s Eddie here. He’s got the cutest kid, Cap. Even cuter than your Athena’s kids.”

Bobby raised an eyebrow at that.

“His Athena?” one of the guys asked.

“Yeah, how have you not realized that, Chim?” Buck asked.

“Wait, you knew?” the other woman asked.

“Yes, Hen, I knew.”

Eddie looked at Bobby to see he was just shaking his head. He looked like a harried father, and with how it seemed he talked about the team, it was an apt description of what it seemed the house was in just a few minutes they had been there.

“Buckley, I’m not getting younger!” one of the guys yelled.

“Or prettier, unlike me,” Buck said. She spun around and winked at Eddie as she did before she walked over to start to spot a guy. “Makepeace, you gotta calm down.”

The man, Makepeace, made a noise, but Buck got the last word on it as she slapped his thigh hard enough to make him flinch.

Eddie looked at where Buck got ready to get the bar and spot Makepeace. Eddie looked at Hen for a second and raised an eyebrow.

Hen gave him a grin and nodded up toward the loft area. “I’ll give him the fifty-cent tour.”

Eddie wasn’t sure what the difference was between the normal tour, and the one that Hen gave was, but he was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to like it.

“Don’t worry, Eddie, you are safe with her. Hen would never do anything untoward with a man.”

“Just a man?” Eddie asked.

Buck just grinned.

“What does she mean by that?” Eddie asked when Hen and he were in the loft area.

“I’m a Lesbian. Buck is pretty active in the rights groups in the area. She uses the term pansexual for herself. She’ll gladly tell you that as soon as she gets settled, but I’m going to out her to you since she outed me to you.”

“I’m bisexual myself.”

“Well, then you will fit in well here. So you have a son? Christopher and your grandmother is Isabel.”

“Buck talked about us?”

“Last night when I called her about something. She talked about the kid and his great grandmother that she met while out of her apartment.”

“Chris is just as enamored with her. I’m not shocked she’s enamored with him. Chris is the best thing in this world.”

“It’s nice to see parents who really love their kids. We don’t always see the best here on the job. There are days that I hate that when I get home, Denny’s in school. I just want to hold him tight and never let him go.”

“Denny is your kid?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah.” Hen showed Eddie a picture of Denny on her phone.

“Cute.” Eddie closed out of the app he used to call Chris and opened up his camera roll. He showed off a few pictures of Chris in there.

For the first day, it went well. Eddie was stuck with Buck learning the ropes of how she did things, and it was only fifteen minutes into the first call that Eddie realized what his main job was going to be, and it was making sure that Buck stayed alive. She was full of heart and had a head for what she was doing but what she was doing wasn’t always understandable to Bobby.

Eddie looked at where Buck slung her bag into the back of the Jeep she was standing next to. The top was off, and it was all kitted out to get the most sun and wind. Eddie knew that Chris was at school, but Eddie had already been ordered to bring Buck around to Abuela’s as quickly as he could get her there, with Abuela knowing that Buck might not want to go with him anywhere after just a single day at work.

Dropping his bag into his truck, Eddie shut the door and walked over to Buck’s Jeep. She was looking at herself in the glass of the mirror.

“Getting yourself ready for a date?” Eddie asked.

“Yup, I am. Only I am not sure if you should be jealous or now. I heard your Abuela telling you to bring me by. I figured that we would drop my Jeep at my apartment, and then I would ride with you. Chris will need to be picked up, and I don’t want you to have to do it alone if you don’t want to. I kind of miss the little guy.”

“Chris said that he missed you as well. He wanted me to ask around until I found where you were. I was tempted to do it or to ask Bobby. A name like Buck and it being a woman is kind of hard to not know as the captain.”

“Yeah, it’s memorable. I’m on the news more than I would like. Have had to make sure that people don’t follow me home. A few guys have shown up here for dates and the like. Well, thinking they were going to get a date with me for liking seeing me on the news. I have had to turn down more than a few.”

“Well, you are beautiful.”

“Thanks. I don’t really try. I mean that. I just…work out and eat pretty well. I think that the good looks in my case are all genetic lottery.”

“I heard Hen say you have a sister.”

“Yes. Maddie. She’s still settling into life here in LA. She’s not that happy with my job of choice, but I wanted a family, and the 118 gave that to me. Even if a few of them are the family, you don’t like to claim. I know that if I needed them on the job, every one of them would try their best to save me.”

“Well, let’s load up, and if we are quick enough, Abuela might feed us.”

Buck laughed at that, and she shoved at Eddie’s shoulder. The smile on her face when she looked at him was one that Eddie knew would fuck him up one day.

—

Eddie knew he was fucked.

There was nothing more important than Chris in Eddie’s life, but Buck was there behind Chris and his family in third place. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world but watching as Buck pulled herself out of the pool in a two-piece bathing suit that actually covered her almost more than what she wore when she was getting dressed in the locker room.

“Thirsty?” Hen asked as she sat down and handed Eddie not only a bottle of water but also a towel.

“BIG SPLASH!” Chris yelled.

Eddie looked to see that the kids were all well away from the pool’s diving board. Buck pinned her hair up with the hair tie that one of the others from the 118 handed her before she climbed up the ladder and walked out to the end of the board. She gave a few moves, making it go up and down before she launched off on the upward spring of it. She curled into a ball and landed further into the water than Eddie thought possible.

“Yeah, you are thirsty. Just ask her out.”

Eddie shook his head.

“No, seriously, ask her out,” May said as she sat down on Eddie’s other side. She handed over Buck’s phone. “The kids were playing near it, and I thought it would be best over here with you.”

Eddie pressed the button to wake it up, and he saw the image of him and Chris there like he knew it would be. Buck had been all-in on being Chris’ best friend in the world, and Eddie wouldn’t do a thing to mess that up.

BUck swam to where the kids were, and she picked up Chris walking him into the deeper areas where Buck’s legs allowed her to go deep.

“I can’t.”

“Oh, no, you can’t. You just won’t. Are we going to have to do spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven to get you two on a date?” May asked.

“Okay, leave him alone,” Athena said. She prodded her daughter out of there, but the look she gave Eddie said what she was thinking. Eddie felt like the whole of the 118 lived in each other’s pockets.

Eddie looked back at Buck as she put Chris back into the pool area where the rest of the kids were who were having the time of their lives. There were lifeguards there since Bobby had rented out the pool to be used in the pool’s normal closed hours as a happy time for them all and their families.

“I’m going to his the snack stand,” Eddie said when Buck stretched when she got out before bending over and showing off her ass a little bit.

Hen’s laughter followed Eddie all the way to the stand. There was just a single kid in there who was running it, but that’s okay because it wasn’t like most of them wanted too much.

“What can I get ya?” the kid asked.

“Just a bottle of water, please,” Eddie said.

The kid handed it over and then held out his hand for the money. Eddie had only a five, so when the change was handed over, he shoved that into the tip jar. The kid had a book open and looked to be studying something vaguely medical. Medical degrees were not cheap.

Eddie turned around and was happy to not see Buck out there prancing around while dripping wet. He knew it wasn’t her fault that he was attracted to her.

“Come here, you,” Buck said before a wet hand wrapped around Eddie’s arm and jerked him over to her. Buck backed him into the wall on the hidden side of the shelter the food stand and main entrance were in.

“Buck?” Eddie asked before he was pinned in place.

“You’ve been staring, and I can’t take it. Tell me now, yes or no.”

Eddie knew that he could play dumb on it, but he didn’t want to do that to her or to him. Eddie dropped the water, not caring if it opened up or not. He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her flush against his body, and for a second, Eddie was a little shocked. He glanced at Buck’s eyes to see fear there. Eddie just pulled her in a little more, and he kissed her.

It took a few seconds for Buck to get out of the freak out she started to get into and into the kiss, but Eddie let her have that time. He knew that she could get out of it if she wanted out of the hold. Eddie had seen her take down a man who had decided that because she was a woman and he was drunk and horny, he had to submit to her advances. She had been working, and when he had tried to push her into a wall, she had disabled him in the swiftest manner that she could without hurting him. The man had threatened to sue, and Buck and Bobby had just told the man to go ahead. The LAFD would love that kind of optic, honestly.

Eddie had been shocked that it had happened before, but the man had quietly gone away when the whole city started to be pissed off that an LAFD firefighter couldn’t do her job without getting sexually assaulted. He was all behind that kind of attention because it was why some women never stayed in jobs like this. Bobby wasn’t one to let it stand, though. He would push to make sure that his people were safe.

There was nothing but the kiss and the feel of Buck pressed against him. It was freeing as hell, and Eddie was glad to be able to touch her. He ground into Buck, wanting more friction than he was getting at the moment. So Eddie held onto Buck’s hips a little tighter and rolled them to where Buck was the one pressed into the concrete. She gasped as the cold stone touched her skin and arched up into Eddie’s body even more.

“This okay?” Eddie asked, breaking the kiss only long enough to do so. As soon as Buck nodded her head, Eddie was kissing her again.

Eddie lost track time of time as they did it until he was sure that soon someone was going to come looking for them. He gentled the kiss and then broke it, pressing his forehead to Buck’s.

“I’ve never been his breathless from kissing,” Buck said.

“It’s been a while for me. We do need to talk, but I don’t think we will get much done here at this party, at least not anything meaningful. I really do like you, and it’s not your looks.”

“No, my looks make you want to get me down on the first surface you can. My sparkling personality is the thing that will keep you around for more.”

Eddie laughed and closed his eyes, just enjoying having Buck in his arms finally. He had been fighting it for weeks. Buck knew that Eddie was in the process of divorcing Shannon and that it was going to be a long process, given how she had skipped out and was making it hard to track her down. Eddie was done, and Buck knew it. Shannon had destroyed all trust Eddie had in her when she left him to deal and didn’t even try and contact Chris after that.

“I think I could fall in love with you,” Buck said.

“I think the same.” Eddie turned his head a little and rubbed his nose on Buck’s cheek. She laughed a little, her hands cupping Eddie’s body to ensure he didn’t go anywhere. It wasn’t like Eddie would go anywhere, at least not for a while.

Eddie moved his hands just slightly where his thumbs were brushing the front of the shorts that made up the bottom part of the swimsuit. “I don’t care about this.”

“I didn’t think you would. I planned on telling you soon, but I freaked myself out, and then you wouldn’t stop watching me today. I couldn’t help myself.”

“No, I bet not. I went away because otherwise, I would do something stupid like kiss the hell out of you the next time you got close to me. I guess I did anyway, but you know what I mean.”

“DAD! HELP!” Chris yelled out before he broke out into laughter.

Eddie stepped back from Buck and held out his hand, but Buck’s lips curled into a wicked grin, and she motioned for him to turn around. Eddie did as she wanted, but he had no clue what she would do. She grabbed onto Eddie’s shoulders, and Eddie knew what she was going to do. It had been years since he had carried someone like this for fun. Adriana and Sofia both usually did it during summers at the beaches. He didn’t want to drop her, so he waited for her to secure herself around him before grabbing onto her thighs right below the knees to hold on tightly.

Buck felt good like that, on his back, holding onto him tightly but also trusting that Eddie would never drop her.

“We can talk more tonight. Is that okay?” Eddie asked.

“Yes, let’s go deal with the children.”

—

Buck came back into the living room with a bottle of beer. She set it down on the table, waiting for Eddie to snag it when it was ready. It wasn’t the best night for this, but Buck felt like it was a good night for it. The party at the pool had lasted longer than she thought, and she was tired and sore. It made her cranky.

Eddie finished what he was typing on the phone, and he looked at Buck as he set the phone down.

“How long?” Eddie asked.

“Longer than I would like to understand it, but I felt off for as long as I could remember. I didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t until we covered puberty in a health class that I really realized what was going on. I was pretty happy with finding it out, and then I just took my time. Met with a counselor in college, and we talked about many things. Started to research transitioning, and I just didn’t like it. I wear padded bras when I’m out and about, but I don’t like them at work. I don’t mind being flat-chested, and while I have had a few men who didn’t like it, I didn’t care too much.”

“So, no surgery?”

“No, I didn’t like the options back then for what I could get as far as sensation. I have moments of dysphoria, but they are few and far between. It usually has to do with someone treating me like shit for how I chose to keep myself. I have underwear that helps hide me, and while I take low-dose estrogen, my package size hasn’t shrunk. I worked with a level of hormones that I take. I didn’t want to lose what I had, and the research said that I might if I don’t stay on top of that.”

“I’ve never looked into that kind of thing. Do you experience pain or need to do anything special?”

“Use it is mainly it.”

“And how do you use it?” Eddie reached over for the bottle of better, frowning into it as he tried not to meet Buck’s eyes.

“Just as well as you. Jerking off in bed while thinking of you. I’ve taken men to bed and fucked them. I don’t mind it. Better than using a dildo, as I can still feel it. I can get off by being fucked and don’t have to be touched.”

“I am not upsetting you, am I?” Eddie asked.

“No, you aren’t. I knew we would have to have a discussion like this. It’s normal. Over the years, most of the people I have dated knew beforehand as I met them through events.”

“Does everyone at the 118 know?”

“No, Hen does, mostly because one of the paramedics needed to know. Bobby knows and Makepeace. Bobby, because of my forms and anything else medical, I have him as the person to contact. Makepeace because he saw me at an event when he went with his son. He was happy to see a familiar face, and he latched onto me in a sea of unknown. His boy was just happy to have his father there and willing to learn. It was great. Since then, Makepeace and I have been gym buddies, and when he needs help understanding something to do with the life his son is living, he comes to me. He’s trying, and that makes him a good father in my eyes.”

Eddie nodded his head. He looked at his beer again and then set it down. He took Buck’s from her hand and moved to straddle Buck’s lap. He cupped the sides of her face before drawing her into a kiss. Buck let him take the lead in the kiss, enjoying the feel of his lips on hers, his hands on her body.

“You want to take this to the bedroom?” Buck asked when Eddie broke the kiss.

“No, not really. I like things like they are right now. I love a good romp in the bed, but there is something about out here where I can push you into the back of the couch, make you squirm half-dressed.” Eddie reached out and tweaked a nipple, and he felt the swimsuit top still on there. He snagged the edge of her shirt and waited for her nod before he pulled it up.

“Did you like it?” Buck asked.

“Too much but also hated it.” Eddie brushed over Buck’s top, and then he kissed her again.

It wasn’t as deep as the last had been, but Eddie touched. He touched all of the places he hadn’t been willing to touch for a while. Buck had wanted him to touch like that, but she had been afraid to even start it. Today had been the last straw.

Buck wasn’t sure what she wanted, but as long as Eddie touched her, she didn’t mind. Eddie held her like she was important, and it made her feel wanted, more wanted than she had ever felt before. Eddie had been different from the moment she met him.

“What if Chris comes in?”

“We will hear him. He’s not quiet when he’s half asleep, and you know it. Don’t worry. We will hear him.”

‘Are you sure? I’m pretty focused on you.”

“I’ll hear him then. I have jerked off once or twice out here while thinking about you. I’m good at listening to him moving around.”

Buck tipped Eddie’s head to where he was looking her in the eye. “Do you want me to take anything else off?”

“Not yet; I’ll get it when I want to.”

Eddie tipped Buck’s head back and laid it on the couch as Eddie slipped down to be on his knees in front of her. The shorts she was wearing left little to the imagination, but Eddie wanted her bare. He tucked his fingers into the stretchy fabric of the waist of her shorts before pulling them down. Buck lifted her hips, and Eddie got the shorts off her. She leaned back again and looked down at Eddie with a smile.

“What do you want?” Eddie asked.

“Whatever you want to give. I know my body. You don’t. So take your time and do what you want. Learn me.”

Eddie took that order to heart, and he pressed a kiss to Buck’s stomach, loving the inhalation and the way she moaned when he licked over the swim shorts. There was the taste of chlorine, but Eddie had tasted enough of it through hours of playing with Buck in the pool, working each other up with touches as they chose not to hide their affection. It had ended up with them being razzed a great deal, but Eddie hadn’t cared because Buck hadn’t cared.

“Does this feel good?” Eddie asked as he kissed up her chest, finding the front tie on her swim top and tugging at it with his teeth.

“Just any touch feels good, Eddie,” Buck said.

Eddie grinned at her, and he tugged more, getting it undone. The whole thing was dropping, but Eddie didn’t care. He had been in lust with Buck from the moment he had seen her when she came into the station. He had been enamored with her since Chris had talked about how the hour he had spent with Buck had gone since Chris hadn’t been moving around well. The start of love had come later when he had been lured in with how she a good human being.

“What happens if I untie this?” Eddie asked.

“Not much unless you untie the other side as well. My shorts are complicated to help me hide.”

“Then come down here.” Eddie leaned back, and he tugged on Buck’s hips, pulling her down to where he could get to her shorts better. The two ties were much tighter than Eddie thought they would be, but given how much they needed to help hold back, he kind of understood.

“I’m pretty big.”

“Good. I like mouthfuls.”

Buck hissed as her shorts were released, and she was pretty much naked. Eddie carefully tugged the shorts down before he licked across her. Buck’s moans were heady as she reveled in the attention that Eddie was giving her.

“Don’t stop, please God, Eddie, don’t stop,” Buck begged after a few more minutes. One hand was buried in Eddie’s hair, nails scraping over his skin. The other hand was gripping the couch tightly.

Eddie took her all the way to near orgasm before he stopped. He pulled her down and into his lap, wrapping his hand around her and letting his saliva slick the way to bring her off.

As soon as Buck recovered from orgasm, Eddie found himself manhandled onto the couch on his back and Buck going for his jeans. She got them off of him and swallowed down his cock in one go.

Eddie could only hold on for the ride as Buck showed off how much she loved sucking cock and how fucking good she was at it.

“Come here,” Eddie said, and he tugged at Buck. She climbed up to him and settled on top of him. Eddie snagged the blanket on the back of the couch to ensure that if Chris did sneak up on them, he didn’t see Buck’s bare ass. He wiggled his arms around until he was able to hold her tightly.

“I wasn’t prepared for that.”

“It wasn’t too much, was it?” Eddie asked.

“No, no. I got tested weeks ago. Not had sexual contact with anyone in a while, but I wanted to be sure.”

“I was tested after Shannon left. I feared she had been cheating on me. Never found out. Still wanted to be sure on not getting anyone else sick.”

Buck relaxed a little more on Eddie’s body, and he was pretty sure she was going to sleep. He didn’t care too much about whether she went to sleep or not. He would wake her up to move her to the bedroom when he wanted to head that way.

—

Buck knew that something was wrong the second she woke up. She felt numbness and pain in equal measure then there was the feeling of her hand being gripped hard. Her eyes fluttered, and the lights in the room were already down low. She tried to move and found that the bed she was on wasn’t allowing her to, and then she forced her eyes into focus.

“Hey,” Eddie said. His hand squeezed tightly on hers, and then there, his face was over hers. “You’ll be fine. The doctor doesn’t see why you can’t make a recovery as long as you don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Everyone else?”

The night started to come back to her. She remembered the bomb and being awake with the truck on her leg. Beyond Eddie’s head, she could see it now. Her leg was up in a sling, keeping it elevated and the blood flowing.

“Everyone else is fine,” Eddie said. He looked to the side, and Buck followed his gaze. Chris was on the second bed in the room.

“He saw the news when Carla was watching it. Your name was given as in stable condition, but he was freaked out. So here we are. I thought it best to have him here. He wants to be woken up when you are awake enough to get a hug from him. He might not leave your bed after that either.”

“Is that why I am in such a big one?”

“The woman who treated you in the ER for smoke inhalation when your mask was ripped off, she recognized you and made sure they knew that you might have a child barnacle attached when she helped get you settled in here.”

“Marla is a good egg. She’ll sneak me extra Jell-O when she can.”

“How do you feel?”

“Still pretty drugged up from the surgery. You promise the doctor said that things will be fine.”

“From what he had seen so far, yes? Things might change as things go along, but right now, you are good. Things will be good.” Eddie leaned over and pressed a kiss to Buck’s forehead.

Buck pushed herself to relax. Her body was sore now that she had calmed down from waking up and not knowing where she was.

“I had one of the nurses taken off your care, though, and your GP backed me up when she came in and talked to the doctor who did your surgery over the medications you are on.”

“What happened?”

“Language I would hope a nurse would never use against a transfemme person, but it happens. I know you’ve talked to me about things like that. She said something, and I got pissed off and in her face. You weren’t out of surgery yet, but she was trying to figure things out for your file.”

“I see. I’m not shocked even though I want to say that I should be. Where is everyone else?”

“Asleep. It’s the middle of the night still. Once Chris has seen you, I’m going to crash out, and you need sleep. You’ll be fine.”

“Dad, is my Bucky awake?” Chris asked.

“She is. I’ll get you.” Eddie disappeared from Buck’s sight, her curtain blocking the other part of the room. There was a soft light above her head, and she figured the curtain was pulled to stop it from keeping Chris awake.

Eddie appeared with Chris in his arms, and Chris looked like he was about to cry.

“Oh, Superman, don’t cry. You’ll make me cry,” Buck said.

Chris wiped at his eyes, but they were still shiny. Buck opened her arms, and Eddie carefully put Chris into the bed with her, ensuring he was on the other side of her leg.

Buck wrapped her arms tightly around him and held on. She had been afraid of not having this anymore. She was going to die and never see Eddie again or hold Chris. There had been so much that she had been afraid of.

“I’ll ring the nurses. They have been checking on you every little bit, but they said they could do the check with Chris in bed with you.”

Buck endured the check from the nurses with Chris a lump on her; she just wanted to sleep.

Being released to go home took a couple of days; Buck wasn’t sure what she would do with the loft apartment she had been pushed to after her last attempt at dating a woman had gone. Shania had been sweet, but after two dates, one of which had been Buck picking out the loft, it had ended. Buck had been left alone in a place she wasn’t sure she liked.

“Where are we?” Buck asked. The medication she had been given to help her settle after her first round of therapy had been stronger. It took only a second for Buck to recognize Eddie’s neighborhood. “Eds.”

“We talked about it, and the look on your face said you wanted it. I don’t care about taking care of you. Carla doesn’t care. Chris wants you where he can keep an eye on you. You will not be a burden. I know that everyone leaves, in some way or another but Buck, I fucking love you, and I’ve been there. I came back and just wanted someone to help me, someone to help take care of me, and Shannon just left. I want to do the same for you. Bobby and Chim offered to move your bed down into the lower area of the loft, but I overrode them on that. Give me a week. Give us a week.”

Buck swallowed, and she looked out the window again as they pulled into Eddie’s driveway. Abuela and Pepa were standing there with Chris in front of them. Chris looked like he wanted to come running over to them and help Buck get out of the truck.

“Come on, mijo,” Eddie said as he opened up his door on the truck.

Buck opened up her door and waited. Her crutches were behind the seats, as well as her things. Buck could give the Diazes a week, but she knew that she wouldn’t leave when she was healed if she did that. The house was just big enough for the three of them; the guest room would be used by Carla, and Buck would be settled into Eddie’s bedroom.

“Buck?” Chris asked.

“Yeah?”

“You ready?”

Buck looked at Chris to see that he was holding her crutches, his own hanging off his arms as he stood with strong legs.

“I am ready.” Buck looked back at Eddie and smiled at him. Eddie looked like the world was off his shoulders with Buck’s acceptance of moving in with him. She was pretty sure that he thought the same thing as her. That he would never get rid of her. He looked okay with that.

The End

I write fanfiction for fun. It’s a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!