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Chapter Text

Buck and Maddie had been attached at the hip since they were kids. Unlike other siblings where you would fight with them and hardly ever get along, Buck and Maddie had a common goal, which became their main reason to stick together. You see Buck and Maddie's parents are not good parents to either of their kids and it’s been like that since Buck was born. Although he always thought the problem was him, Maddie was there to assure him it wasn’t his fault and that they were just bad parents, not bad people. 

That phrase soon didn’t matter anymore as Maddie fell in love and left the house leaving Buck alone to deal with them until he was old enough to graduate and leave. Buck never liked Maddie’s new husband, but apparently neither did their parents so maybe that meant Doug wasn’t too bad of a guy. One day after Buck had crashed his motorcycle and went to visit his sister he hatched a plan, one to get them out of this terrible town and away from their terrible parents and relationships. When Maddie turned up to pick her brother up from their house Buck didn’t hesitate to run out of the house and into his sister’s jeep. That’s when the plan came to light.

Maddie threw Evan her keys and told him that sweet word. 

“Freedom, you’re way out of here” Maddie spoke to her brother knowing what she was giving up. 

“You’re giving me your jeep? Are you serious? Does Doug know?” Evan asked shocked and happy but concerned all the same. 

“Look I can give you a little bit of money to get you started and then you go wherever you want” Maddie explains avoiding the obvious.

“I mean this is amazing, but where am I gonna go?” 

“It doesn’t matter the point is to go and get as far away as you can and…be happy” 

“Cause that’s what you did?” 

“Yeah, yeah exactly” 

“Come on Maddie you don’t have to pretend with me all right? I know things aren’t ok with Doug” 

“It’s just complicated, most marriages are” Maddie deflects yet again. ‘Why won’t her brother just take the opportunity and leave?’

‘Here goes nothing it’s now or never Evan’ “What if you came with me? No more Mom and Dad, no more Doug. Just you and me against the world. You and Me in the world.” Evan almost begs Maddie with his eyes just hoping beyond hope Maddie takes his offer. 

Maddie sighs. “Mom would love it if I left him. It would be I-told-you-so until the day she died” 

“That’s not a reason to stay miserable” 

“Where would we even go?” Maddie asks on the verge of tears. 

“Doesn’t matter. The point is to go” 

“Oh, I did just say that didn’t I?” Maddie chuckles at her brother using her words against her. She looks at Evan and he has the biggest smile on her face how can she say no to that? “What would I tell Doug?” 

“You don’t tell him anything, you just leave him a note. He works the rest out when you don’t come home.” 

Maddie thinks about it for all of five seconds. “Yes” 

That is the best word Evan has ever heard. “Yes?” 

“Yes, let’s get the hell out of here” Maddie laughs and Evan joins her. They get in the car and make a plan for Buck to pick Maddie up at the hospital the next day. 

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When Evan gets home, he bounces up and down with joy, but he quickly packs his bag and plans the trip out. They’re really going to do this and Evan is so excited she actually said yes. Evan gets to the hospital the next day as planned and doesn’t find Maddie anywhere he starts to get worried when he runs into Omar, Maddie’s friend. He gives Evan a note from Maddie and he reads it as soon as he’s done reading it he knows it’s a bunch of bullshit he throws it away and pulls Omar to the side. “Where is she?”  

“She doesn’t want to leave with you Evan, I’m sorry” 

“No, I don’t believe it. It’s Doug, right? Where is he? Is he here?” 

“He’s not here, but she doesn’t want to see you” Omar placates, but Evan isn’t having it. 

“Omar, just tell me where she is?” Omar sighs heavily and points to a break room. “Thank you” Omar grabs his arm before he runs off. 

“Evan, get her out of here. Please” Omar almost begs Evan and now he knows it’s about Doug. 

Evan heads into the room that Maddie is supposed to be in and sees her in a chair with her head pointed to the floor. “Mads” 

“What are you doing here? I told you to leave” Maddie answers not looking up. 

Evan crouches down. “Maddie please look at me, because if what I think is on your face is actually on you’re face I’m dragging you out of this hospital and out of this town.” 

Maddie sighs trying not to cry and slowly looks up at her brother. “You don’t have to worry about me Ev, you need to get out of here please.” 

“I’m not leaving you Maddie and I’m serious. Do you have clothes here?” she nods. “Good because you're putting them in my bag and we’re getting the hell out of here. You can lie to me all you want, but I know you want to come with me and you are.” 

“But what about Doug?” 

“Doug who? If he comes after you I will not hesitate to hurt him if I have to because there is nothing that can come between us and between you and anyone else who thinks they can hurt you is exactly where I want to be standing. Maddie, I promise I will protect you.” Evan sticks out his pinky but Maddie is still hesitant.

“I can’t ask you to do that Evan” 

“You’re not asking me. I’m telling you.” He pulls his sister out of the chair and embraces her in a hug. “I promise Maddie, Doug isn’t going to hurt you again.” This time Maddie links Evan’s finger together and that’s where they’re at when Omar comes in. 

“Did you convince her? It looks like you convinced her”

Evan smiles, “I convinced her. Now she just needs to get her stuff out of her locker and-” Evan is cut off by Omar throwing him her bag. 

“Already done and I told the boss the abbreviated version of the situation so if Doug shows up here, we’ll be prepared. We’ll protect you, Maddie.” Omar explains and joins the siblings in for a hug and then a separate hug for Maddie only. She’s crying as she leaves with Evan, but is internally happy her brother decided to drag her out of the hospital. 

As soon as they get in the car with Evan driving and Maddie in the passenger seat, they embark on their new adventure. “So where are we going first?” Evan asks turning down the volume of the radio. 

“I don’t know” Maddie mumbles still not believing what she did. 

“What’s one place you’ve always wanted to go to?” 

Maddie smiles thinking about where she wants to go and looks at her brother as she answers. “I want to go to New York City. We’ve always lived not too far away from it and I really want to go there.” 

Evan smiles seeing Maddie smile. “That’s where we’re going then, but I hate to warn you they are probably colder than we are right now.” Evan jokes and Maddie joins in.

She laughs as she responds. “We’ll bundle up New York style when we get there” and with that, the Buckley siblings get out of their town and leave everything behind. 

“Give me you’re cellphone” Evan orders and Maddie complies. 

“What are you doing?” Maddie asks and Evan doesn’t answer and he tosses their phones out of the car. “What the hell did you do that for?!” Maddie yells. 

“I did so, one we couldn’t contact our parents ever again I hope, and two so Doug doesn’t track you and try to follow us.” 

“He wouldn’t do that and why wouldn’t you want to contact Mom and Dad?” 

Evan deadpans looking at Maddie. “You and I both know what Doug is capable of and I’m not taking any risks.” 

“Ok, now what about Mom and Dad? I know they’re terrible parents but they’re not-”

“They are terrible people, Maddie so don’t give me that bullshit. Plus I told you it got worse after you left and I would rather live the rest of my life never seeing them again.” 

“Evan, what happened when I left?” Maddie asked sounding concerned.

“It doesn’t matter. Doing this isn’t about me it’s about us and getting us out of this town not just one or the other” He knows he needs to tell her what actually happened after she left, but maybe a different time. Right now let’s focus on getting out of this state. 

The Buckley siblings plan on never coming back and besides they’ll get new phones and numbers when they get to New York. They’re starting over, a fresh start.

Chapter Text

— 3 Months Later—

When Maddie and Evan got to New York City the first thing they did was explore the great city and spend their money on clothes, food, and new phones that couldn’t be tracked and some of their other money on a place to stay that was also discreet and didn’t need too much information. The siblings decided that the money wouldn’t last and after a few weeks they decided to get jobs. Maddie kept up with working in a hospital but did things other than a nurse. Evan on the other hand had a difficult time finding a job, but overall helped make money by making friends and joining in on their small business. Which was taking care of people’s houses. They also made a pact to never stay in one place for too long, but this was mainly for Maddie’s sanity, but if it kept his sister calm Evan did it. 

“New York is awesome. The different houses people have are insane” Evan explains walking into their tiny apartment. 

“I’m glad you like it, but we’re gonna have to leave soon.” 

“Ok, have you thought any more about what I said”  Evan had been trying to convince Maddie to file some paperwork against Doug, unanimously of course. 

“I would love to Ev, but I’m afraid if I file for divorce and then a restraining order it’s going to back to him somehow about where we are” 

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re leaving New York soon. I was doing some research and you don’t need to give him your address or see his face. I have a friend who works at the police station and he said they can do it through the local police station so other than knowing you were in New York he won’t know anything else. Before you try and argue or protest I already have the paperwork you need to fill out and my buddy’s number so you don’t even have to send it to his address.” 

“I don’t know about this Evan, can you trust you’re friend?” 

Evan smirks thinking about his ‘ friend ’ “Of course, I trust him Mads” 

“What was that look?” 

“Nothing, just yes I trust him and you can fill out the paperwork before we leave.” 

“Fine” and with that Maddie fills out the necessary paperwork as well as paperwork for a restraining order and Evan calls his ‘friend’. 

“Hey, yeah she’s doing it right now, we’ll just drop it off on the way out of New York. I know it’s so soon, but I told you this wasn’t going to last. Ok, bye I’ll personally come in to drop it off. Bye” 

“Was that you’re friend?” 

Evan smirks “Yes it was, and I’ll drop off the paperwork as we’re heading out of New York. OK?” 

“Ok, I already finished packing so after dinner we head out?” 

“Sounds good” The Buckley siblings leave New York behind with one last stop inside the police station. “Just stay here and I’ll run in. I’ll be right back” Evan reassures and Maddie nods cranking up the music a tad when her brother leaves the car. Evan gets inside and meets up with his friend . “I’m looking for a Noah Bradshaw,” Evan asks the lady up front, and instead of her telling him the man in question sneaks up behind him and wraps him up in a hug. 

“I’m right here Ev,” 

Evan smiles at the man holding him from behind and spins around to kiss him. “Here’s those papers for you” 

Noah kisses him again and takes the papers in the process. “I’ll make sure these get taken care of. I’ll take extra good care of them for your sister.” 

“I’m sure you will Noah, that’s why I trust you, but please make sure you get these processed and if you have any questions about the paperwork just contact me ok?” 

“Ok, can I contact you about anything else?” Noah smirks. 

“No, I can’t tell you where we’re going. I have to keep my sister safe. You knew this wasn’t going to last long” 

“I know it just sucks” Noah pouts and Evan kisses off of his pouty face. 

“Don’t pout, I’m sure we’ll see each other again someday” 

“You know I don’t believe in fate, Evan” 

“Well believe for me” Evan kisses him again and walks out of the police station with a pep in his step. He gets into the car and buckles up. “Ready Mads?” 

“Yeah, what took you so long?” 

“Well I had to see my friend one last time” 

“Are you going to tell me about your lady friend?” 

“What makes you think it’s a lady friend?” 

Maddie’s eyes widen at the realization. “Evan Buckley” 

“What? I thought it was obvious” 

“That you were gay, I don’t think that is obvious why didn’t you tell me before now?” 

“I’m not gay, I’m bisexual, which means I like both girls and boys” 

Maddie fondly rolls her eyes at her brother. “Well, I guess better late than never right?” 

Evan laughs and Maddie joins. “Right” 

And the Buckley Siblings continue on their adventure. 

— 4 Months Later— 

The next destination for the Buckley siblings was Chicago, IL and Evan was about to turn Twenty. When Evan was on the hunt for his next job, Maddie started her job as a receptionist at the hospital next week. The siblings were thriving in Chicago and Evan’s birthday was coming up this year and for future years to come Maddie was going to make sure Evan had a better birthday what better way to start than in Chicago? 

“Suprise” Maddie exclaimed as her brother entered their apartment. Evan was looking for jobs and doing interviews left and right all day and while he was gone she did a little decorating in their plain apartment, bought him a little chocolate cake, got the 2 and the 0 for Evan’s 20th birthday, and even bought him a little present. 

“What is all this?” Evan asked incredulously looking around at the decorations. 

“We’re celebrating you’re birthday silly” Maddie explained holding up the cake to Evan as he shut the door. 

“Mads, no offense to your valiant effort to celebrate my birthday, but I didn’t enjoy it and was hoping we could forget it.” 

“I know you haven’t enjoyed your birthday in the past, but we’re changing that this year” 

“Really, why now?” 

“Because Evan, birthdays are meant to be special and these birthdays we’ve both had in the past haven’t been special, but this means that now that we are on our own and can enjoy times like these… We just need to take advantage of it. That’s all I’m saying.” Maddie explains not really finding the right words, but it seems like Evan is getting it as his smile grows wider and he blows out the candle without another word. “No I have to take a picture” 

“Why do you have to take a picture?” Evan asks laughing at his sister’s antics 

“Because I want to remember everything about our birthdays from now on. Ok? So light the candle again, take the cake in your hands, and blow it out while I’m taking a picture” Evan rolls his eyes but listens to his sister and gets ready to blow the candles out again. “Ok! One, two, three” and on three Evan blows out the candles again and Maddie takes the picture on her phone. “Thank you now let’s enjoy this cake while we wait for takeout” 

“You ordered takeout, Mads we barely have enough money as it is and you bought me a present as well” Evan sighs and rubs his face in frustration. 

“Yes I did and I ordered you’re favorite. So just behave and let me spoil you for once. We’ll be fine on money. How did job hunting go?” 

“Good, I got a job at a restaurant as a bartender, but now I have to learn how to be a mixologist before I can even be behind the bar,” Evan explains as he takes the first bite of his chocolate cake with Maddie. “Did you actually order Thai Food or are you joking with me?” 

“No I ordered it” Maddie stated proudly and got Evan’s present and set it on the bar in front of him. “Open it” she orders and he smiles at her, but opens it anyway. 

Evan starts laughing when he pulls out a t-shirt souvenir from Chicago, but it’s got a funny saying on it and it reads… ‘Sarcastic by Nature and Chicago by choice’ “Why do you do this to me?” 

“You did it to yourself when you bought that awful shirt in New York and it still makes me laugh to this day,” Maddie states trying to hold her laugh in. 

“To be fair I didn’t it was supposed to be for a girl I just grabbed a shirt and pulled off the racks cause I liked the color.” 

“Well I’m never going to let you live that down and I hope you do it with every place we go to” 

“No, no way” Evan denies, but deep down it could be a little inside joke between him and his sister so it might be a good thing to reminisce on later. The food gets here and the siblings enjoy Evan’s birthday he has to admit, that this has been the best birthday ever and they could make this a new tradition for their birthdays. 

— A Few Weeks Later—

Evan is practicing mixing different types of drinks for his test tomorrow at the bar when Maddie walks in. “what are you doing?” 

“I have my test tomorrow at the bar and so I’m practicing mixing drinks. What would you like?” 

“I’m not drinking” 

“Oh come on. I’m sure you won’t let me drink and I can’t be hungover for my test tomorrow and need to nail some drinks before tomorrow. Plus we’re celebrating” 

“Celebrating what?” Maddie asks sitting on the bar stool and setting her bag on the stool next to her. 

“Noah called me today and told me that not only are you legally safe from Doug and that if he’s even in the same state as you then he’ll be warranted for his arrest meaning…” Evan pauses his drink mixing and stops throwing the mixer to encourage his sister to finish his thoughts. 

“That the restraining order has been approved?” 

“Yeah, and the court confirmed that we sent the divorce papers so they're getting you divorced and officially back to being a Buckley. So by next week, you won’t be married anymore” Evan finishes his explanation and goes back to throwing the mixer around in cool swift motions and pours the mix into the cup and slides it over to Maddie to try. “You have to at least try and tell me if it tastes good” 

Maddie rolls her eyes, but takes a drink and is pleasantly surprised. “What is it supposed to be?” 

“It’s a wet Martini” Evan explains and then takes a sip himself. 

“Hey” 

“What it was just a sip, and I hate to break to you Mads, but it’s not the first time I’ve had alcohol” Evan deadpans and Maddie rolls her eyes again. 

“Fine, but a sip that’s it” Evan continues making drinks and Maddie keeps trying them every time and adding some feedback to make it better. 

Next week rolls around and Evan of course passed his Bartending test and Maddie is officially divorced, but she’s still worried and will be until he’s in prison.

A few more weeks go by and Maddie and Evan decide to head to their next destination. This time not in the bustling of the city, no this time they’re going to Montana. A small town in Montana to be exact called Kila Montana and man it took them a while to find it, but it’s the cutest town they’ve ever seen. Maddie’s words not Evan’s.

Chapter Text

When the Buckley siblings arrived in the tiny town of Kila, Montana they found a diner and ate there before finding a place to stay and work.

“Why did you pick this place again?” Evan asks eating his breakfast. 

Maddie smiles and rolls her eyes fondly at her brother. “It’s cute plus we can’t be in the big city all the time and everyone seems really nice here” 

“I guess, but this place doesn’t have a souvenir shop so ha” Evan pointed at her at his last word and she laughed. “What’s so funny?” 

“Luckily for you, while you were taking your sweet time in the bathroom in Kalispell I picked up a shirt in the store at the gas station” 

“Maddie” Evan wined throwing a piece of egg at her causing her to laugh her ass off. “God I hate you” 

“No, you don’t” Maddie states still laughing when a man in his mid-40s comes over to their table. Maddie notices and instantly stops laughing and puts her guard up. 

“Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt you’re breakfast time, but I noticed that you guys were new and you” the stranger turns his attention to Evan who sits up a little straighter. “And this might come off a little strong, but I’ve been looking for a ranch hand and you have the physique I’m looking for you can even stay on the property while you work and you’re…” the guy pauses making eye contact with Maddie trying to figure out the relationship. 

“She’s my sister” Evan states seeing the man trying to figure them out. “We’re traveling around the country and my sister wanted to visit the countryside and well we don’t get more countryside than this” Evan explains gesturing with his arms around the town. 

“Well you and you’re sister could stay on the property if you haven’t found a place to stay, that is if you’re staying for a little while” 

And before Maddie can deflect the stranger her brother ever the social butterfly explains to him. “We are staying for a little while, yes, and we are struggling to find a place to stay, but we don’t want to invade you’re home or anything” 

The guy chuckles at the statement. “Oh, you’re not I have a house closer to the work you’ll be doing that you guys will have to yourselves. I’ll just have to kick my daughter out of it, she likes hanging out in there when it’s vacant” the stranger explains and Evan happily takes his offer. 

“I’m Evan and this is my older sister Maddie, and you are?” 

“Parker Hayes sir and I can’t wait to work with you” Parker holds out his hand and Evan shakes it and just like that Evan has a job here. The siblings get introduced to Parker’s wife Mary Hayes and shown their house. 

— Later That Night — 

“I can’t believe you just let some stranger practically take us in” 

“Maddie I know you’re worried, but we’re ok. Doug is not going to find you in this little town you put us in and now we need to make the best of it and you said it yourself these people seem nice. If some stranger is willing to take in other strangers and give one of them a job then we just roll with it for now. We’ll be ok” Evan puts a comforting hand on his sister’s shoulder. “You’re safe Mads, you know I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you ever again right?” 

“I know” Maddie slumps down and pulls Evan into a hug knowing deep down that yes they are safe and yes Evan will really do anything for her. “What am I going to do for a job, there’s no hospitals nearby” 

“No, but I did see a veterinarian clinic and I’m sure with your skills they could use some assistance. Could be worth a shot?” Evan points out hopefully, giving Maddie a little smirk. 

“Ok, I’ll try it out, but what about getting around 'cause I don’t think he’s going to let me borrow his horses” Maddie jokes. 

“You can use the jeep. All my work is here anyway I don’t need it right now” 

“Ok” and with that the siblings get some sleep for their first real day in Kila, Montana. 

— A Few Weeks Later —

Evan is surprisingly enjoying country life. I mean learning how to be a ranch hand was a little challenging at first and the Montana summer sun didn’t exactly help but it made it all worthwhile when he met the farmer’s daughter. 

“You must be the new ranchhand?” a very beautiful voice sounded from behind Evan while he was cleaning out the poop from the horses, literally shoveling shit. He likes everything he’s done so far, but he absolutely hates this chore he has to do. 

“And you must be the beautiful farmer’s daughter” Evan threw back not even looking at her yet. 

“You haven’t looked at me yet” 

“I can just tell, farmer’s daughter” Evan finally puts the shovel down for a second wiping the sweat off his forehead and looking at the girl in question. 

She has her hands on her hips as she sees him eying her up and down.“Do you like what you see?” 

He smirks but knows better than to answer that question. “I feel like that’s a trick question” 

“Cute and smart, that’s very rare around here” she comments flirting and throwing him a cold bottle of water. 

“Thanks, and you said new has there been more ranch hands?” 

“There’s always more ranch hands just about every man in town has come to work for my dad, but unfortunately for me, none of them are like you” She smirks at him as he smiles back at her. 

“How come?” 

“Well I know everyone in this town and they’re all family so it would be hard to flirt with any of them, but you are new to this town and new to being a ranch hand” she chuckles at the last part.

Evan chuckles, drinking the water almost completely. “That obvious?”  

“It was, but you’re getting better” 

“And I appreciate the compliment, but I should probably get back to work” Evan picks up the shovel again and gets back to it but the girl still hasn’t left. 

“Tell your girlfriend you and her can join us for dinner tonight, that’s what I came out for that and giving you water” She responds and starts to walk away, but just as she expected he stops her with that comment. 

“She’s not my girlfriend. She’s my sister” Evan states. 

She smiles before she turns back towards him. “Ok, see you at dinner Evan” 

“Wait how do you know my name?” 

“I heard you silly when you were talking to my mom the other day” 

“Do I get your name?” 

“What do I get in return?” She shoots back and Evan laughs and rubs his face before answering knowing he’s gone for this girl already.

“Whatever you want” 

“That’s a dangerous price, but I’ll bite” She walks over to him, puts down the shovel, pulls him towards her, and whispers into his ear. “Isabelle, but people like you can call me Izzy” She pushes him away just as quickly as she pulled him in and he almost stumbles into the poop. She starts to walk off, but before she leaves completely she turns around and says one last thing to him. “I’ll collect my debt after dinner” 

— 3 Months Later —

Evan bursts into the house and starts packing frantically. 

He knew it was a bad idea to get involved with Izzy. The last three months had been amazing but knowing Evan’s luck it didn’t last for long and her dad just found them in the barn having sex for the thousandth time. You see this girl hadn’t had any proper interaction before she met Evan and when a newcomer comes into town and into her father’s ranch she takes the opportunity in front of her and now her dad wants Evan dead. The man is currently being held off by his daughter while Evan tries to get Maddie and him out of there, but Maddie isn’t home yet, but hopefully, he can catch her before she turns off his jeep. 

Evan bolts out of the house with their bags and Maddie pulls into the house, but what he recognizes the quickest is Parker running toward him with what looks like a shotgun and Izzy not far behind him. “Don’t turn off the car!!” Evan yells as Maddie opens the door. He jumps in the car and yells at his sister which he doesn’t do often. “Shut the door and go!!! Now!!!” 

Not asking any questions and trusting her brother, she pulls back out away from the house and away from this town. “What the hell did you do?!” Now Maddie was yelling which also doesn’t happen often. 

Evan rubs the back of his neck as he tries to explain to his sister. “I sort of got caught with Izzy in the barn” 

“And what were you doing in the barn, Evan?” Maddie asks already knowing the answer. 

Evan hesitated, but they swore they wouldn’t keep secrets from each other so he sighed and explained. “I was having sex with her, ok Maddie, and let’s just say her dad found out and he tried to kill me” 

“What!??” 

“I’m sorry, she was just a fling and wanted to explore with someone and she wanted me and I know that I probably should’ve said no, but I didn’t and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last three months and her father is very protective of his daughter” Evan explained emphasizing very. 

Maddie rolls her eyes at her brother’s antics “Ok, where to next?” Maddie asked pulling over before getting on the highway.

“Flordia? I really want to see the beach” 

“Ok Flordia it is, but you’re driving 'cause that is a long drive” She gets out and they switch places making their long trip to Flordia.

— 2,605 Miles Later —

After a very long drive, the siblings finally make it to Jacksonville Florida, and get settled in their two-bedroom apartment only ten minutes away from the beach and Evan couldn’t be happier. 

“Why did you pick the beach again?” Maddie asks incredulously already thinking about the sand they’re going to track. 

“It’s fine Mads, neither one of us has been to the beach before and I’ve always wanted to see the ocean” Evan explains while making lunch. 

“So what are your plans for work now that we’re in Florida” Maddie wonders watching her brother in the kitchen. “You can’t exactly do another ranch hand job and have a fling with the farmer’s daughter, although there might be a version of that in Florida” She jokes already laughing.

“I actually already have a place to work, thank you very much,” Evan says matter-of-factly throwing a piece of food at his sister for the comment. 

She laughs more and even catches it in her mouth before speaking again. “How did you find a place to work that quickly we’ve only been here for a few days” 

“I have friends Mads and a buddy of mine that lives in Florida is friends with the owner of this cool restaurant on the beach and they’re looking for a bartender so I start work next week” 

“Well good for you Ev, I think that’s the quickest you’ve found a job yet. I guess I better get a load on things. What are you going to do with your free time?” 

“Well, there’s a gym down the street I’m going to check out after lunch” 

“Ok, well I can drop you off while I take the jeep and look for a job at the hospital” Maddie states, and the siblings eat lunch and then make their way into the city. Maddie might not like the beaches right now, but seeing the face of her brother light up every time he gets a sneak peek of the water is worth every grain of sand on that beach. 

—3 Weeks Later—

Evan loves everything about Florida. The sand, the people, the water, his job, and especially the gym. He hasn’t been able to work out in a while so finding this gym is soaking up most of his free time. Maddie and Evan made it to the beach for a day last week and other than some serious sunburns, they loved every minute of it. Well Evan did, he found a bucket and while Maddie was relaxing on the chair he drenched her in water and then she proceeded to chase him into the ocean for a sibling battle, but overall it was the most fun either of them had since leaving their town in Pennsylvania. 

Currently, Evan is working on his bench-press reps when he gets interrupted by someone coming up to him. Normally, during his time at the gym, no one messes with anyone at the gym just people doing their own things, but this person had other plans. Evan hooks his weights on the bench above him and sits up. “Can I help you?” 

“Yes, actually weird question how much are you bench-pressing right now?” 

“I don’t know about 400, why?” Evan wonders and when he looks at the girl as he tells her 400 she looks like her eyes popped out of her head. 

“400-shut up are you serious? How old are you?” 

“No offense lady, but this seems like a lot of personal questions for a stranger to know” 

“No my bad, I’m not very good at these types of things yet. Let me start over, my name is Ellie Harrelson and I’m a recruiter for the Navy SEALS I think you would be a great asset” 

“Like the badass, super tough Navy SEALS?” 

She laughs at his description but continues. “Yes, and I think you have what it takes” 

“What all because I can lift 400 pounds?” Evan wonders why this person is so interested in someone like him. It’s not that much. 

“Yes, I bet you that most of the guys in here can’t lift that much let alone even get close to that much and I sure as hell know most of the guys on the SEAL team can’t do that so again, how old are you? And what’s your name?” 

“I’m sure that can’t be true, but my name is Evan Buckley and I’m Twenty” 

“Your-you- your Twenty-years-old?!” Ellie stutters in disbelief. 

“Yes, why is that such a shock?” 

“Because Evan, someone of your age can’t bench-press 400 pounds and you were doing reps, meaning you were going back and forth. Wow. Ok, anyway the point is that I think you would be a great asset to the team, and if you graduate from the training which I don’t doubt you will then you will be guaranteed a spot on my team.” 

“You think I have potential?” Evan asks unbelieving. 

Ellie is shocked about this young boy doubting his skills but encourages him nonetheless. “Yes, Evan I think you have the potential to do great things and I know joining the SEALS might be a scary thing and it can be I’m not going to lie to you, but I think you have what it takes and not just because of your strength” 

“Then what else?” 

Wow does he really not know? Ellie asks herself but answers him anyway. “You also have a big heart and although sometimes it can affect being a SEAL it also is a powerful tool and it proves that you would do anything for the people around you whether you care about them deeply like a family or if they’re strangers and that is exactly the kind of people I want on my team” Ellie states boldly and hands Evan her business card. “Call me if you decide you want to be a SEAL and I will personally make sure your potential doesn’t get wasted” 

Buck smiles down at the card and looks back up at Ellie. “Thank you Ellie and I will have to think about it and I’ll get back to you, but I don’t want to leave Florida just yet, wouldn’t I have to move away” 

“No, not at all not for training at least. You can do you’re training right here in Jacksonville” Ellie explains and Evan nods going back to his reps, ending the conversation for now. Ellie leaves and calls Steve right outside the gym. 

“Go for Steve” 

“Go for Steve is that really you’re beginning line” 

Steve rolls his eyes “Hi El, what is it?” 

“I think I found that last slot for our team” 

“Oh really, my interest is piqued, who?” 

“Well he’s not in training yet, but if he graduates training he needs to be on our team” 

“Ellie who is this guy? You haven’t pushed this hard since you wanted your brother on the team” 

“And I was right about him too, but he’s this kid who can bench-press… and you’re not going to believe this almost 420 pounds” 

“Seriously!? Wait you said kid, how old are we talking here?” 

“It’s fine Steve he’s Twenty, he just has the baby face to make him look younger” 

“Ok, what else did you get off of him?” 

“Nothing really just that he seems lost and broken, and I think we can help him. He also seems like he doesn’t recognize the kind of skills he has. Like it’s almost wasted potential” 

“Wow, where did you find this kid?” 

“The gym obviously” 

“Alright let's hope he joins, but keep this to yourself for now I don’t want to tell the team until the guy has graduated” 

“Got it” Ellie hangs up the phone and leaves the kid to his reps. 

------------------

When Maddie gets home from her shift and finds her brother sitting on the couch with something in his hand and staring into nothing she is almost immediately worried. “Evan, are you ok?” he must not have heard her enter the apartment because he jumped out of his skin. 

“Oh Maddie, when did you get home?” 

“Just a second ago, are you ok Ev?” Maddie asks taking the empty seat next to her brother. 

“Yeah, so I was at the gym today doing my reps when this lady came up to me telling me she’s a recruiter and was genuinely impressed with my reps that she sort of offered me a place on her SEALS team.” 

“What!? That’s awesome Ev, why don’t you seem more happy about it?” 

“Because if I were to graduate then you would be alone for months on end while I’m on the other side of the country and I don’t know if I feel comfortable leaving you alone” Evan explains still staring off into space. 

“Evan, look at me please” When Evan doesn’t listen she grabs his face and turns it towards her. “Ev, if this is something you really want to do then I’ll be fine and you didn’t teach me those self-defense classes for nothing. I’ll be ok” 

“I want to do this, but the reason she even saw me in the gym was because I go to the gym almost constantly and I’ve been going so often so that I could protect you” 

“Evan you have to understand that I’m going to be ok, and Doug can’t get me” 

“But he’s not put in prison, he’s probably searching the world for you and it scares me that one day I’m going to come home and he’s going to be trying to hurt you or you would already be gone and then I would blame myself and probably do something stupid to get you back” Evan rants getting increasingly frustrated and upset all at the same time. 

“Evan, Evan, you’re ok. I’m ok and no one is going to separate us. We’re in this together I promise you, and you have already put precautions in to make sure I feel safe everywhere we go and that’s not going to change just because you’re not here all the time” She pulls his face closer to hers and connects their heads trying to calm Evan’s breathing. “You’re ok, now what’s the other reason you don’t want to give this a try it can’t just be because of me” 

Evan pulls away now that he’s calm, but keeps looking at Maddie. “It’s because of Dad” 

“What about Dad?” 

“I started bench-pressing and getting stronger when I got into high school and my coach who was also my weights teacher wanted me to join the football team” 

“I remember that you were so excited when you told me and I went to your first game” 

“Yeah I was excited, but after my third game I quit” 

“Why would you quit? You were so good” 

“Dad made me, he said if I didn’t quit then I wouldn’t see the light of day again…which in other terms meant that I would get beaten so bad I would have to skip school for a while” 

“He threatened you?” Maddie has tears in her eyes now. She noticed how mad their dad was when Evan joined the team, but she didn’t think their dad would do anything like that. That was before Evan told her so maybe it does make sense now. She pulls out of her thoughts and sees Evan trying not to cry. She pulls him in for a hug and the floodgates release and Evan is bawling his eyes out in his sister’s chest which just makes Maddie’s heart break more. She whispers to him after the tears go down to light sniffles. “Evan, I want you to listen to me… Dad can’t hurt you anymore; you can do whatever you want. So if you truly want to do this then we’ll figure it out together ok? Dad can’t hurt you anymore and I’ll make sure of that just like you will ensure Doug never comes after me. We protect each other ok?” 

“Ok” Evan whispers into her chest, but she can still hear it despite it being muffled. “I love you Mads” 

She smiles at her broken-hearted warm brother and repeats the sentiment. “I love you too little bro” 

The Buckley siblings spend the rest of the night watching movies on the couch and ordering takeout for dinner and the next day Evan gets up early to make breakfast and calls Ellie to let her know of his decision.

Chapter Text

—3 Months Later—  

Evan gets home from his training to find Maddie cooking in the kitchen which is a rare occasion since Evan does most of the cooking, but Maddie has been cooking more because Evan’s been too tired to cook. Training is really kicking his ass. “What u doin'?” 

“I’m cooking Evan” 

“I know, but why, you rarely cook, you need some practice in that department” he lightly scolds when he sits on the stool watching his sister prepare dinner. 

“Hey, I’ll have you know since you’ve been gone almost all day every day I’ve been getting better” 

“Uh huh, I really hope so 'cause I don’t want to tell my instructor I can’t come in tomorrow because my sister gave me food poisoning” Evan mocks again laughing when Maddie retaliates by throwing a piece of chicken at him. “Well, the chicken’s a good start, at least it’s cooked” 

“Go get cleaned up and dinner should be done when you get back” 

“Fine” and with that Evan goes to the bathroom and takes his shower coming out six minutes later. 

“That was quick” 

“Not quick enough. I have to be able to wash everything necessary in less than five minutes” Evan explains, taking his seat at the table as Maddie brings out the chicken. “So what did you make for us tonight?” 

“Honey, garlic chicken, and rice” Maddie states sitting down across from Evan and serving him a plate before doing it for herself. 

“You know you don’t have to serve me I might be tired, but I’m not useless” Evan noted while shoving food in his mouth 

“I know, but you’ve been working so hard, and I just want to do something special for you” 

“Ok,” Evan swallows and pushes his food to the side for a second. “What’s going on? Is there something you need to say? Cause you always do this when you need to tell me something important” 

“Ok there is, but you can’t get mad” 

“Maddie, why would I get mad?” 

“Because it’s something I should’ve told you a long time ago and didn’t” Maddie knows she has to tell him, but she’s waited too long and he's going to be mad. 

“Maddie, just spit it out” Evan deadpans looking directly at Maddie

“Ok, you know how our age difference is a pretty big gap, well before you, we had a brother named Daniel. He was seven when you were born and you don’t remember him because he died not too long after you were born.” 

“How did he die?” Evan asks but not understanding the getting mad part yet. 

“When he turned six, he got Leukemia and none of the treatment was working so they tried a bone marrow transplant, but Mom, Dad, and I weren’t a match and then you were born and you were a match, but a week after the procedure he died, and we moved away. The parents erased everything they had, and we moved towns to start fresh after he died.” 

“So that’s why I don’t remember him because you guys never talked about him” 

“Yeah, but also…” 

Evan starts putting the pieces together that Maddie is having such a hard time saying. “They were ashamed of me because I couldn’t save their son, right? That’s what you're having a hard time saying.” Maddie just nods trying to keep the emotions at bay. “Why wouldn’t you tell me this?” 

“They told me never to tell you, but when we ran away together, I wanted to tell you so many times and I just never did. I kept pushing it off and I’m sorry Evan” 

“Why was I born Maddie? Because I think I can come up with a reason, but I just want to hear it from you.” Evan clutches his fists in frustration.

“Evan-” 

“Why was I born Maddie?” Evan is really trying to keep his anger at bay, but it’s not working and it’s only getting worse with Maddie not responding. 

“You were born to save Daniel and when you couldn’t our parents were ashamed of you and hated you, I should’ve seen it I should’ve known never to leave you with them, but I did and I’m sorry” 

“So, every time I got hurt and they would pretend to care it was all just an act. I failed at the one thing I was supposed to do in this world and that’s why our parents hate me so much, because I remind them of him. I remind them of the family they could’ve had, not the terrible, useless son they were stuck with.” Evan gets up from the table and walks out of the apartment without another word. 

“Evan” Maddie calls, but he’s already out the door and will hopefully come back. 

-----------------

Evan is at the gas station getting a drink twenty minutes later when he gets a phone call. “Hey, Noah what’s up?” 

“Ev, are you with you’re sister right now?” 

“No, we got into a fight. I’m at a gas station right by the apartment why?” 

“He’s in town” 

“What?!” 

“Go to your sister now and make sure she’s safe” 

“Ok,” Evan hangs up the phone, throws money on the counter, and walks out to his car to their place. He speeds off rushing to the apartment scared to death he’s too late. Doug has already gotten to her and was waiting for the perfect moment and it was when Evan left the apartment fuming with anger at his sister now the anger is replaced with anger for Doug and Evan is not sure what he’ll do if he lays eyes on Doug. 

He gets to their apartment floor and their door is wide open. He starts to panic internally, but externally his training is kicking in and he will do anything to protect his sister. So with that mentality, Evan walks into the apartment cautiously and sees Doug hovering over Maddie about to hit her, yeah hell no that’s not happening so he storms over, grabs Doug’s flying fist, and forces him away from Maddie hitting the wall on the forceful impact. “Doug”  he grits his teeth at the man in question. 

“I was wondering where the little brother ran off-” Doug isn’t able to finish his sentence when Evan’s body slams into him against the wall and they start throwing punches at each other except Doug isn’t getting hardly any punches in. 

Evan is dodging left and right at Doug’s fast and sloppy punches and every time he dodges, he hits. When Maddie’s voice is behind Evan scared it throws him off balance and Doug strikes hard across Evan’s face and another immediately after to his ribs. “Evan!!” Maddie screeches while watching the whole thing with the police on the phone. Evan recovers and throws an even harder punch at Doug knocking him to the ground and then he goes at it. Evan kicks Doug repeatedly in the ribs and lower torso making him pay for even thinking about trying to hurt his sister. “Evan, he’s down stop” Maddie calls from behind him and he kicks one last time out of pure anger and backs away from him as he hears paramedics and police head up to their floor. Maddie spins Evan to face her and caresses his face gently and he winces in pain. “God, Evan, he got you good” 

“It’s fine Maddie, are you ok?” 

“Yeah, I’m ok he didn’t do anything to me” 

“He was going to when I came in, he was about to hurt you” 

“I’m ok Ev, you saved me and now you seriously need to ice these injuries” Paramedics and Police both enter the apartment, and the paramedics go straight for Doug on the floor and the police go straight to Evan and Maddie. 

“What happened here?” The policewoman asks eyeing Evan and Maddie dismisses the cop's speculations and explains to the police everything that happened. “Well, you have a very protective brother miss” 

Maddie smiles at him. “Yeah, I do” 

“You should get checked out as well” The policewoman addresses Evan’s face and has a paramedic come over and examine Evan. The other paramedic gets Doug on a gurney and another police officer whom neither of them had noticed before goes down with the paramedic to make sure Doug doesn’t try anything. 

“I’m fine nothing, some painkillers and some ice can’t fix” Evan assures the policewoman and the paramedic. 

“He’s fine, nothing broken, but you might want to keep it easy for a few days. He caused some bruised ribs. Nothing too serious and yes lots of ice to keep the swelling down on your face and ribs and some painkillers and rest” The paramedic informs and joins the other paramedic downstairs. 

“He will be put away for a while I assure you. We have a record of him disobeying his restraining order and with both of your statements plus tonight’s events I promise you he won’t be around you or your family anymore” 

“Thank you, officer” Maddie supplies, and the siblings are left in the house alone once more. Evan had moved to cleaning up the blood spot on the floor from where Doug spit up and overall cleaning up the area free of Doug. “Evan, what are you doing? You need to go get some rest I’ll-” 

“No, you won’t Maddie, I did this to him. I’m going to clean it up” Evan continues scrubbing hard on the surface, trying to cover up the mess he made. 

“Ok, but you can do it in the morning” Maddie tries, but he shakes his head no. “Evan, I’m sorry I should’ve told you a long time ago especially after we made each other promise we weren’t keeping secrets anymore, but I was scared of how you would react and the longer I put it off the worse it got.” 

Evan sighs and stands up from the floor gently. “It’s ok Maddie, I’m sorry I never should’ve walked out on you. If I never left, then maybe Doug wouldn’t have come” 

“No, Ev this is not your fault don’t blame yourself, ok?” Maddie tries to make it clear for him as she drags him into a chair at the table and gets ice. When she gets back over and places the ice on his face he hisses at the cold and the pain, but nods at Maddie knowing that deep down he didn’t know Doug was going to come pay a visit he’s just glad he got here when he did. 

—The Next Day—

Evan walks into his training camp to tell Ellie and his instructor in person what had happened and why he needs to be out for a few days. “Hey Ellie, where’s Commander Strait?” 

She runs over to him, grabbing his face gently and caressing the side that has the bruise. “I don’t know, but better question what happened to your face?” 

“Ow, and I sort of had a confrontation with my sister’s abusive ex” 

“Confrontation? What kind of confrontation?” 

“The kind where I used my fists to make sure he never touched her again. He found her when I wasn’t home at the time and when I came home, she was about to get hit by him and I couldn’t let that happen, so I protected her and he only hit me a few times, but the paramedic told me to take it easy for a few days” 

“Where else did he hit you, kid?” Evan stays silent at Ellie's question and not wanting to repeat herself scans his body movement before lifting his shirt and seeing his bruise on his ribs. "Evan” 

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t do nothing he was going to hurt my sister again and I can’t let her get hurt and-” 

“Woah, woah, slow down you’re ok you said it yourself he’s off to prison and she’s safe right?” 

“A little shaken up but yeah, she’s safe. She took a couple of days off of work as well” Evan states. Ellie doesn’t want to hear anymore and pulls Evan into a hug when people come into the room. 

“El is actually hugging someone must be serious,” one guy says to the other

“Yeah, can’t imagine who could deserve a rare hug from El,” the other one says

Ellie breaks out of the hug at the voices. “What are you guys doing here?” She smiles big at them.

“We had to come to see what all the fuss is about the training camp Steve has you stuck at” 

“I’m not stuck here” Ellie elaborates and pulls Evan closer to her and the guys in front of her. “Guys, this is Evan, Evan this is some of my teammates that’s Clay and that’s Tyler” 

“Nice to meet you guys” Evan holds out his hand and they shake, but then notice his face.

“Who did you lose a fight to” the one named Clay asked 

“You should see the other guy” Evan deflects not wanting to explain what really happened. 

“So, you won?” the one named Tyler chimed in 

“Yeah, I won” Evan smiles at Tyler who smiles back. Just then, Commander Strait walks in and sees Evan. 

“Oh Evan, you’re early. Wait, what happened to you’re face?” 

“Commander Strait, can we talk in private?” 

“Sure Buckley, right this way. Clay, Tyler good to see you boys” Commander Strait calls out before leading Evan toward his office. 

“Is that why you're here? For Evan?” Clay smirks at her

“Part of the reason yes and we are not together he’s closer to y'all's age than mine anyway” She pats the boys’ shoulders and heads in the direction of the office. “I got to go boys but be good while you’re here please” 

“Bye El” both boys respond at the same time. 

“Are you still thinking about Evan?” Clay chides knocking shoulders with Tyler to snap him out of his thoughts. 

“No, I wasn’t let’s just go” 

“Oh, you so were” 

“Ok, maybe just a little bit, but I was worried about him. I mean that was a pretty gnarly punch to the face” Tyler blames it on the state of the young man, but maybe he does think he’s attractive it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to see him again.

Chapter Text

—9 Months Later—

The Buckley siblings had decided to stay in Jacksonville for Evan’s training and it’s been the longest they’ve stayed in a place, but part of it is because Doug is in prison nowhere near them and can’t hurt Maddie ever again. 

Training has been great, hard, but great the people Evan met when he had to pause his training for a few days turned out to be his new teammates if he were to graduate, but they didn’t know that part yet. Ellie had told him he had to keep it a secret for the time being. He also had gained a new nickname, one he liked. His nickname was now Buck and he got it from Clay, during one of the obstacle courses, he had got distracted by Tyler encouraging him and bucked over one of the hurdles, but lucky for him he got back up and continued going and a new nickname and a new type of embarrassment later he only had one more test to get through in HELL’s week to pass and that was today. “Mads, I'm so nervous. If I don’t pass this test I can’t graduate and I couldn’t sleep last night because I was so stressed and I’m freaking out man I’m freaking out” 

Even though Maddie likes Buck and the story that comes with it she chose to continue to call him Evan and Evan didn’t seem too upset about that. “Evan, calm down, breathe you’re not going to pass getting all freaked out” 

Buck takes a deep breath following Maddie’s orders. “You’re right I’ve passed all the other tests I can pass this one” 

“Good now keep that mantra today and eat some breakfast” 

“Yes, Mom” Buck jokes, and the siblings eat breakfast together before going their separate ways to work. Maddie takes the Jeep and drops off Buck at the base. 

“Good luck, love you, little bro” 

“Love you too big sis,” Buck says his goodbyes and takes one last test. 

--------------------

Buck rushes into the hospital where Maddie works and goes to the front desk. “I’m looking for Maddie Buckley she works here”  

“May I ask who’s wondering?” 

“Her brother Evan Buckley-” Buck gets interrupted when he sees Maddie. He runs over to her, grabs her hand, and pulls her into one of the breakrooms. 

“What the hell Evan?! You can’t do that you almost gave me a heart attack” 

“I’m sorry but I wanted to tell you in person what my results were for my test” 

“Well spit it out already” Maddie anticipates impatiently

“I passed” and as soon as those two words came out of Buck’s mouth Maddie’s arms were wrapped tightly around him squealing in excitement for her brother. They stay in each other's grasp for a little while until they let go and emerge from the breakroom.

“I can see if I can get off early so we can celebrate” 

“No need, the guys and Ellie are waiting for me in the car. I knew you had a long shift tonight and they offered so I’m going with them” 

“OK, let me know when you’re heading home, and make smart choices tonight,” Maddie told him. Just as he was about to leave the hospital, Clay and Tyler jumped to his side, almost knocking him over. 

“Come dude El is impatient” Clay explains pulling Buck away from his sister 

“Ok, ok guys I’m coming I just had to tell my sister the good news” 

“Oh, so this is the famous Maddie we’ve heard so much about” Clay smirks at Maddie who smiles sheepishly. 

Buck sees Clay’s flirtation and stops it immediately. “Oh no, not happening let’s go Clay” 

“See you later Maddie,” Clay smiles brightly at Maddie and Buck pulls him away. 

“We’ll take good care of your brother tonight Maddie, I promise” Tyler reassures and Maddie laughs at the banter. 

“Come on Ty” Buck wines and Tyler runs up to them slinging his arm over Buck’s as they walk out of the hospital. 

“There you guys are I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to walk in there dragging you all out by the ears” Ellie chastises as the boys pile into the car. 

“Sorry Buck was too busy telling his sister the good news” Clay supplies 

Ellie is awed at how sweet Buck is. “Awe how sweet and how did she take it?” 

“Good she was genuinely happy for me and a little sad that she couldn’t get off work to join us. I did have to be the one to drag Clay here away from my sister” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” 

“Oh you have major heart eyes for Buck’s sister” Tyler concludes making everyone laugh 

“And you have major heart eyes for Buck” Clay counters making Buck and Tyler blush 

“At least I’m proud of it” Tyler states throwing his arm around Buck again

“Yeah, but your boy is a little flustered, Ty.” Clay playfully hits Tyler’s shoulder, and the boys continue their banter until they get to the bar specifically for military service workers. They all get out and enjoy each other’s company, with Buck and Tyler joined at the hip in everything they do. With Buck, freshly twenty-one, he proudly abuses his new age and even pulls Tyler away for some wanted alone time. 

Tyler was caught off guard as he was pulled down a hallway “Buck, what are you doing?” 

“I want to kiss you” 

“I want to kiss you too, but you’re drunk and I don’t know if this is something you’ll regret later when you’re sober” 

“I’m not drunk yet, Ty, and this is what I want to do, so please kiss me,” Buck begs. With those bright blue ocean eyes, how can he resist anymore? I mean, it’s not like he’s forcing him, Buck did ask. With that logic, Tyler leans in and kisses Buck. He’s got some alcohol on those beautiful, perfect lips, but it’s Buck, and he couldn’t care less. 

-------------------------

Clay and Tyler drag Buck to his and his sister’s apartment, carry him to his room, and plop him on the bed. While Tyler is helping Buck get comfortable in bed, Clay talks to Maddie. 

“Hey Maddie,”

“Hey Clay, so how was the celebration?” 

“The celebration, oh yeah it was good. Buck drank a lot, but did he tell you what happens after training?” 

“Yeah sort of, just that we have to move to Cornodo” 

“Yeah you guys need to leave by next week for the next part of Buck’s training” 

“He has more training? And what do you mean by-” 

Clay interrupts her before she spirals.“Don’t panic ok? You’ll have your living situation covered by the Navy and I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to find another nursing job” 

“I don’t know if I want another nursing job, I’ve been doing it off and on for almost three years now and I don’t like it, it was just the only thing I knew how to do” 

“Ok, well there’s got to be something you liked about it” 

“I liked being able to help people, but other than working in the hospital, doing what you guys do, or working as a first responder I don’t know what else there is” 

“Ok…” Clay thinks about it for a little bit and then it hits him. “What about being a dispatcher you’re not in danger like first responders are, but you’re helping people in the way you loved nursing. It could be a good start and I could see it now 911 badass dispatcher Maddie Buckley” 

Maddie laughs as Clay exaggerates being a dispatcher with his hands and Maddie’s laugh is infectious and cute which causes Clay to laugh. 

Clay decides to shoot his shot. “So…do you have anyone special in your life?” 

“Just my brother, it’s been him and I against the world since he was Eighteen. Do you?”

“That’s sweet, and no I don’t kind of hard to have a relationship with someone when they don’t want to be away from you for months on end” Clay explains wishing he had someone like what Buck and Tyler have, but then Maddie says ‘oh’ and he realizes he can. “But, it just depends if someone liked another person then they could you know make it work” Clay suggests 

Maddie smiles at how shy Clay is getting. “I would love to make it work, but I would also like to get to know you first. If that’s ok” 

“I’d like that” Clay smiles back at her and then both realize they should probably go check on Buck and Tyler. They walk down the hall and into Buck’s room to find him passed out on his bed and Tyler is running his hand through Buck’s curls sitting next to him on the bed. “Ty, what you doin' bud?” 

“He wouldn’t let me leave until he was asleep and quiet,” Tyler whispers to Clay and kisses Buck on the head before leaving the room. 

“You’re sweet to him, just don’t break his heart or I’ll break you” Maddie threatens and Clay and Tyler make their way to the front door. 

“Bye Maddie,” Tyler says a little scared of the big sister.

“Yeah bye Maddie, see you all in Cornodo” Clay adds and winks at Maddie before shutting the front door. Maddie locks the door and then puts the bathroom trashcan by Buck’s bedside before kissing him on the forehead and leaving him to sleep while Maddie works on packing. 

“Are we really not going to see them until they get to Coronado next week?” Tyler wines to Clay as they get into the car. 

“Yes Ty, you’re going to be fine for a week without Buck in your life” 

“Fine, are you going to be fine without Maddie in your life?” 

“You know what-” 

“Boys, boys you can text and call both of your Buckleys, and you lovesick assholes will be fine until they get to Coronado I promise” Both boys groan at Ellie as they make their own trip to Coronado.

Chapter Text

—Three Weeks Later—

The Buckley siblings finally made it to Coronado, California three weeks ago and Buck has graduated from the last of his training today and for the first time in a while, he has family cheering him on in the crowd. Maddie took Clay’s advice and became a 9-1-1 Dispatcher leaving her nursing days behind her, but still using her skills in her daily job. 

“Wooo that’s my little brother!!” Maddie yells cheering with Clay, Tyler, and Ellie when Buck gets his trident on his uniform making him an official SEAL. 

“Yeah, Buck!!” Clay adds to the embarrassment. 

Buck comes down the stairs after shaking his instructor’s hand and joins his group, hugging Maddie first. “You guys are terrible” he laughs at them, but deep down he enjoys it. 

“Ah, you love us” Tyler chimes in, throwing his arm around Buck and kissing him on the cheek. 

“Yes, I do” Buck smiles looking at Tyler and getting a proper kiss on the lips this time.

“PDA!!” Clay yells, making Buck flip him off as he kisses Tyler again. 

“Ok, lovebirds break it up” Ellie chastises and they finally pull apart. 

“Thank you all for coming, I really appreciate you being here, it means a lot to me” Buck turns serious still in Tyler’s arms, and locks eyes with Maddie in understanding.

“We’re always going to be here for you Buck” she explains pulling Buck towards her for a hug. “Plus now that you’re a part of our team, here comes the leader of SEAL Team 6 Commander Steve McGarrett” Ellie announces releasing Buck from the hold and turning him around to shake the hand of his new Commander.  

“Hi you must be Evan Buckley, I’ve heard a lot about you” Steve firmly shakes the kid’s hand and feels his strength. “Man you are genuinely a strong guy, you’re going to be a great member of our team I can already see it.” Steve praises and he can’t help but notice when Buck cowers at the attention like he’s not used to it. Hopefully, that’ll change quickly. “And you must be Maddie, the big sister” 

“Yes sir I am” Maddie shakes the man’s waiting hand. 

“You must be very proud of him” Steve states smiling. He doesn’t address the parents as Ellie had told him they were not around. “And both of you please call me Steve” 

“Or Dad, that’s what we all call him” Clay jumps in, getting playfully slapped by Steve. 

“Preferably, just Steve ok?” 

Both siblings respond in sync. “Ok,” everyone laughs at the sibling duo, and then more people join next to Steve. 

“These are some of our other teammates,” Steve explains to the Buckley siblings and then addresses the people joining the group. “Guys and Danny this is our new team member Buck” 

“Hi, I’m Daniel ‘Hondo’ Harrelson, I’ve heard a lot about you from Ellie” Hondo greets and holds his hand out to shake Buck’s hand, which the man shakes and Ellie is right this guy is strong. 

“You’re Ellie’s little brother aren’t you?” Buck recalls seeing the resemblance in the sibling duo. 

“I am, you’re also a little brother” Hondo states looking at the girl next to Ellie, yeah that must be the sister. 

Buck points at his sister and she waves. “That’s her, it’s been her and me against the world for a couple of years now” 

“That’s awesome. I’m glad you and your sister are close. Siblings are the best relationships you can have.” Just then, Sonny pops in to introduce himself to the new guy. 

“You look a little young, how old are ya kid?” 

“I’m Twenty-One” Buck states, “what’s your name?” 

“Dang, you’re gonna be our youngest member now, I’m Sonny” 

“He’s our resident Texan if it wasn’t already obvious” Hondo adds 

“Yes I am, born and raised in Dallas” 

“Nice we never got the chance to visit Texas, but I worked at a ranch in Montana” 

“How was it?” 

Buck laughs at their time in Montana.“Let’s just say I should never go back to that town” 

Both Hondo and Sonny look at each other and have questioning faces on. “Now you got to tell us what happened?” 

And before Buck can deflect the conversation someone else comes up with Steve to introduce himself. “Hi, I’m Danny, I’m not on the team, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care about all of these knuckleheads” 

“Nice to meet you, Danny” Buck is confused about his relation to the team but then as if Steve can read his mind he elaborates further. 

“Danny is also my husband and runs his own team in Hawaii” Steve explains seeing Buck’s confused look. 

“Oh cool, I’ve always wanted to see Hawaii” 

“Maybe one day, kid. Alright, I think we require a celebration with our new members of our family,” Steve announces and everyone piles in cars to Buck and Maddie’s place. 

“Why are we going to the house?” Buck asks the people in the car and everyone just shrugs and continues the drive to their house. When they arrive Buck is told to wait in the car with Tyler for a little bit. “Do they really think I’m stupid enough to not know when I’m about to walk into a party?”

Tyler grabs his face and hates the way Buck talks about himself even if he is joking. “One, don’t talk about yourself like that, and two it’s just something they wanted to do for you for all of your hard work so put on one of those million-dollar smiles, kiss me, and then let’s go” Buck laughs but compiles and leans over to kiss his boyfriend and then Tyler pulls away a few minutes later and steps out of the car hand-in-hand to the front door. 

---------------------

The party is amazing, but after going on for a few hours it gets overwhelming for Buck and he steps outside to breathe. Maddie finds him five minutes later.

“What are you doing out here?” 

“It’s just a lot, I’m not used to all of this attention” 

“I know but-” Maddie gets cut off by her brother. 

“No you don't, Maddie, the parents paid attention to you, they celebrated your birthday, and I mean the only time they didn’t seem to care about you was when you moved away. The only time they cared about me was when I would purposely injure myself and even after a while, they didn’t care I was doing that. Then it all got worse after you left and there was nothing I could do for their parenthood and love that you and Daniel got” Buck rants.

“Buck, where is this coming from?” Maddie had thought they were past this, but Maddie realized at that moment that Buck would never truly get over what their parents did to him no matter how hard she tried and it broke her heart even more.

“It’s coming from joining this team and being a part of a family again Mads. It’s just overwhelming that’s all and I feel like no matter what you do or they do it’s never going to feel the same” Buck explains getting quiet at the end trying not to show Maddie that he’s on the verge of tears. Maddie must’ve caught something because she pulls Buck in for a side hug and holds him there until the front door opens and Tyler steps out. 

“There you are Buck, was getting worried about you…are you ok?” Tyler comes in front of the sibling duo and Buck pulls away seeing Tyler. 

“Yeah I’m good Ty, just needed some air” Buck gets up and Tyler pulls him into a hug. 

“You know you’re not alone right” 

Buck smiles and looks at Maddie. “I know” and deep down Buck knows that and these people are going to make sure he always knows that despite what his parents think, he’s going to be ok. 

Chapter Text

—3 Months Later—

Buck has been on a few missions with his new crew and he is loving it. The adrenaline, the thrill, the family aura of his team, and not to mention doing these ops with people who care about him and love him and would do anything for him the same way he would for them. That sentence soon becomes true when Buck gets hurt for the first time saving one of his family members from dying, which probably wasn’t the smartest move but he couldn’t just sit and let somebody die, so he did the only rational thing he could think of at that moment and took the flying bullet in the shoulder instead of it landing on his teammate's heart. 

Said teammate was not happy, but at least they were not dead and that’s all that Buck cares about. Because of his little stunt and his injured shoulder, he has to go home for a few weeks while it heals. Maddie is going to be sooo pissed. So he calls her to give her an update now, hoping that she’ll be calm enough by the time he comes home. 

“Hey Buck, how’s SEAL life?” 

Buck rubs the back of his neck with his good hand knowing she’s going to see his arm when she pays attention to the computer. “It’s good” 

“What did you do?” She comes into the frame and gasps at her brother’s arm. “Evan, what happened?” 

“I sort of got shot, but I’ll be home tomorrow” 

“You!” Maddie takes a deep breath. “You got shot?” 

“Yes Mads I hate to break to you, but it is a possibility when you sign up for the Navy” Buck tries to joke to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t work when his sister looks like a vien is about to pop out of her head.

“Don’t be a smartass, where’s Clay and your boyfriend?” 

“Well,” 

“We’re right here Maddie” and Clay jumps into the frame waving at Maddie. “Ty is here too he’s just pissed at Buck” 

“I’m sure we’re both equally pissed” Maddie supplies, but smiles when she sees Clay being safe, at least one of her people can stay safe. “So what happened?” 

“Well,” Buck starts but is pushed out of the way gently as Tyler jumps in and explains to Maddie.  

“Well, Maddie your idiot brother decided to take the bullet for me” 

“In my defense, you could be dead right now if I didn’t-” Buck tries to defend but Tyler holds out a hand to him telling him to shut up. 

“No, you stop talking” Tyler continues after making sure Buck isn’t going to interrupt. “So yes, I probably would’ve been dead if he didn’t jump in, but that’s not the point. The point is your brother is an idiot and could’ve just as easily died” 

“And where were you when this was going down?” Maddie asks directing her attention to Clay

“I was on my way to their location when I had my own problems to deal with” Clay supplies

“Are you hurt too?” 

“No” 

“Liar” Buck interrupts. If he's in the dog house Clay is too. 

“Shut it, Buckley, I’m fine just some bruised ribs from fighting off a guy. I’ll also be coming to the house for a little while, not as long as Buck, but…” Clay trails off. 

“Anyway,” Buck slides back towards the computer. “We’ll be home tomorrow Mads, I love you” 

“Uh huh, love you too” and with that Maddie hangs up, not knowing what she’s supposed to do with the boys in her life who go across the country to save lives. 

“Ty, can we please talk?” 

“Nope” he pops the p and tries to leave, but Buck grabs his hand

“Please, I leave later on tonight and I don’t want there to be tension between us” 

“Well it’s a good thing I’m coming with you then” 

“Wait you are?” Buck gets a little excited 

“No, don’t get excited, we’re all going home for a little while until we get called for another op, this isn’t about you” Buck gives Tyler puppy eyes. “No, Buck, we are not talking about this right now. You need to rest and I need to make sure you’re actually still alive.” 

“I know you can feel my pulse and you would know I’m alive if you would just kiss me and stop pouting” Buck whined and Tyler rolled his eyes but still kissed Buck. 

“I don’t want to talk about it right now, because I know how the conversation is going to go, you’re going to think that what you did was right and I’m going to argue that you were stupid and probably right and then we're going back and forth. Not right now, now shut up and let me hold you and make sure you’re here and safe” Tyler explains sitting on the bed with a deep breath pulling Buck gently onto the bed and wrapping his arms around the man.

-------------------------------

Buck, Clay, and Tyler get home with Maddie picking them all up from the airport, and as soon as the SEALS get home they all crash. Maddie and Clay snuggle up on the couch while Buck and Tyler take Buck’s bed. 

“How is he really?” 

“He’s doing ok Maddie, really he enjoys the ops and the thrills and he’s probably the happiest SEAL we have and he can easily turn that part off when we’re on ops and then switch it back on when we get back to base. It’s more Tyler being the worrier.” 

Maddie rolls her eyes “I can’t imagine why” 

“He just worries about Buck, we all do. He’s ready to do anything for his team, and his family and we would do it for him, but it’s almost like he’s afraid to lose us, and having that mindset means that he’s willing to do anything to protect us especially if it means hurting himself.” 

“Yeah, that sounds like Buck. It’s just who he is Clay, he wears his heart on his sleeve and he worries about the people close to him and you guys have become his family and the only family other than me that he would do anything for.”

With that being said Clay asks a question he’s been wondering since he met the kid. A question on everyone’s mind. “I know it’s not my place to ask and I should ask him, but was he abused as a kid?”

Maddie is caught off guard, but realizes maybe that’s the reason he’s so reckless is because he would protect anyone and everyone because he didn’t get that when he was living with their parents. “You’re asking because you already know, right? But he doesn’t talk about it with anyone. I’m not even sure Tyler knows” 

“Why are you so sure Ty doesn’t know?” 

“Because the way he got angry, means that he doesn’t know the real reason why Buck would sacrifice himself for the people he loves and although I’m mad at my brother’s actions I also know why he would do it.” 

“Meaning you're not really mad at him because you understand him, in a way Tyler doesn’t yet” Clay concludes looking towards Buck’s door. 

“Exactly, and I think if Buck wants that relationship to work he has to tell him” Maddie finishes and then moves on to less depressing conversations. “So about us?” 

Clay leans in closer to Maddie. “Yeah” 

“Want to take it a step further?” 

“Are you ready for that? I don’t want to push you into anything I remember you telling me about him and I don’t want you to-” Clay is interrupted by Maddie kissing him.

“I asked you, you’re not pushing at all. You’ve been so sweet and patient with me” Maddie explains kissing him again. 

“You’re the patient one with me being gone for so long” 

“I’ll be fine” and she kisses him again and this time there's no more communication between them just sweet, long kisses on the not-so-comfortable couch. 

-------------------

––Two Days Later—

“Buck you don’t get it!!” Tyler yells in Buck’s room 

“No you don’t get it Tyler, you don’t get why I would risk my life for you” 

“I don’t need to get it, Buck I just need you to be safe” 

“Then you picked the wrong career, Ty I care about you and love you, but that’s not the reason I would risk my life for you. That’s what you were going to say right? That I would risk my life because I love you and that wouldn’t be enough” 

“Buck, I love you but I’m not going to jump in front of a bullet for you” 

“Wow, then I guess this is just one-sided right? You won’t go to lengths for me, but I would do it for you” 

“That’s not what I meant Buck” Tyler sighs not saying the right words

“Well then what did you mean?” 

“I didn’t mean to say it like that. I just want to understand why you would risk everything” 

Buck hesitates but he’s starting to get upset and this needs to come to light. “Because…I can’t watch someone I care about die, I won’t handle it if I see any one of you die” 

“That’s not it, what is it Buck?” 

“If I died saving someone then I would’ve fulfilled my parent's goal for me. I would die with them not completely hating me anymore” 

“What? What does that mean?” 

“It means I was supposed to be a savior baby, my parents had me so that I could save my older brother and when he died they hated me because I couldn’t save their golden angel of a son, and I…” Buck is having a hard time saying this last part, but Tyler senses his pain and pulls Buck to sit on the bed and look at him telling him that he’s right here and that he’s not alone. “I would get beaten by them when I didn’t completely ace a test, or didn’t do my chores correctly, or anything really and the only time they showed me any kind of care was when I would fall off my bike, or fall out of a tree if I hurt myself then they cared.” 

“So you think that just because your parents wouldn’t be mad at you, you stick your neck out for everyone else no matter what might happen to you?” There’s no way this could be true, that Buck really thinks this low of himself that he would sacrifice everything for his parents even though they don’t give two shits about him. 

“Sort of” 

“Buck listen to me very carefully,” Tyler cups Buck’s cheeks wiping the stray tears with his thumbs. “You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for our family. You don’t have to do that anymore because I don’t know what I would do if you died and ultimately that’s why I was so mad because you made me fall in love with you and now I don’t know what I would do if you died. So please don’t sacrifice yourself, you matter Evan, and you don’t need to pull some heroics for this family for us to love you. We already do that without you having to try and play Superman” Tyler jokes at the end and Buck wet chuckles. 

“Ty,” 

“Buck” 

“I love you” 

“I love you too, but please for my sake and Maddie’s please don’t do something like that again. I know you're going to play hero sometimes and save the day, but just do it without getting yourself killed in the process ok?” Buck nods in response and then Tyler kisses him. “I want verbal communication” 

“Ok, I’ll be more careful, for you and Maddie” 

“Good” and then the two snuggle and kiss in bed until Maddie and Clay get home from grocery shopping. 

Later that night after Maddie and Clay cooked dinner they were all relaxing on the couch about to watch a movie when Maddie piped up. “Before we start our movie I have an announcement to make” 

“We all know you and Clay are dating” Buck pipes up and Tyler laughs while Maddie throws popcorn at them. 

“No, that’s not it. I’ve been doing so well at the dispatch center here in Cornado that my supervisor wants to move me to L.A. They are in desperate need of dispatchers and I took the job” 

“Wow that’s awesome Mads” Buck congratulates.

“Yeah I’m so proud of you baby” Clay congratulates her as well kissing Maddie in congratulations 

Maddie gushes at the praises “Thanks guys” 

“So when do we need to be packed and out of here?” 

“In two weeks, I’d have you help me pack Buck, but your arm in a sling puts a damper on things” 

“Sorry,” Buck responds before the Buckley siblings, Clay and Tyler all settle down for their movie. They are all excited for their future in L.A. and Buck has a feeling they’ll be staying in L.A. forever.

Chapter Text

It’s been a couple of months since Maddie moved to L.A. and started work as a 9-1-1 dispatcher. Things are way more hectic in L.A. than they ever were in Cornado, but she’s thriving and she’s even made some friends. One of her new friends is also a 9-1-1 dispatcher who has been it for so long he’s a supervisor and his name is Josh and they became fast friends at work and home. 

“So who is the hottie on you’re wall at home?” Josh asks Maddie one day at work in the breakroom. 

Maddie starts laughing not knowing who Josh is referring to.“Who?” 

“The hot blonde in most of the pictures in your house, when I was over last night I noticed some interesting pictures” 

Maddie starts laughing, she forgot Josh was gay, but the funniest thing is that he seems to be attracted to her brother. “He’s my little brother” 

Josh gets red in the face from embarrassment “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry I didn’t know he was your brother” 

“What did you think he was?” 

“I don’t know close cousin, friend, I mean the possibilities were endless” 

“No he’s my brother we actually live together when he’s home,” Maddie says the last part quietly. Evan left a week ago and was right back on another op as soon as he was healed up. 

“He lives with you, so he’s single?” 

“No he’s in a relationship with someone and he works on the other side of the country” 

“Ooh like a spy?” Josh smirks

“No, like in the military” 

Josh’s smile gets wider just thinking about the man. “Oh so he’s a military man” 

Maddie laughs internally at her best friend and drinks some of her coffee. “He’s also dating someone Josh who works alongside him and keeps him in line when I’m not there” 

“I know, so how’s your love life?” 

“Also taken” Maddie deadpans before walking out stunning her friend.

Josh catches up to Maddie before she puts on her headset. “But you…how are you dating? Why haven’t you told me you were dating someone?” 

“I don’t talk about it a lot because he’s also in the military with my brother actually” Maddie answers and then smiles softly thinking about Clay and Buck and their antics. She also looks at the picture Buck gave to her before he left of Clay, Buck, and Tyler fooling around by a military truck. 

Josh looks at what Maddie is looking at and notices the new picture.“ That’s a new picture. Which one is your boyfriend?”

“He’s the one in the middle” Maddie explains sadly. 

And Josh picks up on it. “You miss them don’t you?”  

“Yeah I do” and she puts on her headset to get back to her job. 

--------------------------

“Yes, ma’am I’m sending help right away just be quiet and keep your voice low if you need to you can slide the phone out of sight, but keep me on the line” Maddie explains to the woman Ruby on the phone. 

“118 to Dispatch” Maddie calls into the headset. 

“This is Captain Nash of the 118 go ahead” 

“Ok, the woman’s name is Ruby Smith she is in the upstairs bedroom closet and the intruders are downstairs possibly in the kitchen/dining room area I’ve already radioed police units to the location and they should be there in the next three minutes.” 

“Ok thank you Dispatch, any reported injuries?” 

“No she’s shaken up but-” 

“Maddie, there in the bedroom” Ruby whispers to Maddie before sliding the phone back out of sight.

“Ruby, just stay very still, the police should be there any minute now” Noise comes from the other line of the phone and Ruby’s screams surge in her ear. 

“No, get away from me! Leave me alone! No, don't touch me!! Maddie!!” 

“I don’t know who’s on the other line, but you need to leave her alone, the police are on the way. We’ll be there in less than two minutes, but if you let her go right now I will make sure you get out of there” 

“How?” 

“I have a schematic of the house if you leave her be I will get you out of there before the police get there, but your window is closing” 

“Ok how do we get out of here?” there’s movement from the other end and Ruby’s screams are now muffled and continue, but she’s still there. 

“Ok, I need to know Ruby is going to be safe before I can give you that information” 

“You’ll give me the information or I’ll blow her brains out” the guy yells out through the headset Ruby’s screams get louder and Maddie can hear a gun be cocked. 

“Ok, if you go down the stairs and to the back of the house there is a back door go through it and a fence hasn’t been put up yet so you’ll be able to escape from the back and into the alley before the police come, but leave Ruby” there is no other sound just the scuffing of feet on hardwood and Ruby being dragged through the house and down the stairs. One of the guys not talking to Maddie tells the other to ‘put the woman in the linen closet’ Maddie notes it’s the linen closet by the back door and one door closes and another one opens and the guys supposedly escape when Maddie hears rough handling and looks to see the cops have arrived on scene and hearing the whole thing Maddie notes the police have apprehended the suspects. She continues to listen when she hears the 118 enter the house from the front and open the door to the linen closet and sighs in relief giving a thumbs up to Josh and Sue who were watching idly by. “Ruby, Ruby are you ok?” 

“She’s fine dispatch, good job” A man’s voice that Maddie had clocked wasn’t the captain. 

“Thank you, you guys are great too” 

“Oh no, you guys do all the work. She’s a little shaken up and a red spot on her face indicates a slap, but other than that she’s ok thanks to you…” he pauses to hopefully get Maddie’s name. 

“Maddie, it’s Maddie and you?” 

“Howard ‘Chimney’ Han ma’am” 

“Is chimney a nickname?” 

“It is, hey how about I’ll-I’m coming. Sorry Maddie I got to go” 

“Bye Chimney” 

“Bye Maddie” The phone hung up after that and Maddie was happy another life had been saved and she even made a friend out of it even if she laughed a little at the nickname. 

—3 Years Later—

After that call, Maddie made fast friends with the entirety of the 118 and is really starting to feel like she and Buck are going to be okay. Today, Chimney has invited her to the fire station for breakfast at the 118. 

A lot has happened over the past three years. Buck is still loving the job, although every time he comes home with a new injury she gets a gray hair or two. The last time he was home, which was last year, he had to be home for four months because he jumped out of a building and didn’t land very swiftly, breaking his arm when he landed on the ground. He got scolded hard for that one by Steve, Tyler, Danny, and Maddie when he got home. During that time Clay had gone home with him with his own injury and Maddie and Clay decided to end things, but that they could still be friends and nothing would be awkward between them and they kept true to their word. 

Tyler and Buck almost ended things after another argument about safety and being reckless, what Tyler doesn’t know is that Buck is always going to be that way and Maddie isn’t rooting for their relationship to stay together much longer for that reason. Because if Tyler truly loved Buck he wouldn’t be trying to prevent him from doing something that he’s never going to change about himself and Tyler just has to accept that or move on. Maddie had tried to talk her brother into breaking up with him, but he’s still hoping things will be different, she’s not sure why he’s pushing so hard for this relationship to work, but it could be because this is his longest relationship ever so maybe he’s just scared to lose it. Maddie had also decided that Buck shouldn’t meet the 118, because he’s always gone and it wouldn’t be fair to meet someone and then them just leave. Maddie has to deal with it and she doesn’t want anyone else to have to deal with it too. 

“Maddie, are you coming? Everyone is already up here” Chimney seemingly snaps Maddie out of her thoughts and she climbs the stairs to the loft and Bobby’s famous cooking. Maddie thinks her brother would get along great with these people, but maybe one day when he’s not constantly risking his life for a country he’s barely home for. 

“Hey guys good morning, Bobby it smells amazing just like always” 

“You're too kind Maddie” Bobby blushes similar to what Buck would do when he gets praised god she misses him. 

“Hey Hen, how’s Karen and Denny?” 

“They’re good, Karen is making a breakthrough in her research and Denny has been working on a science project for school” 

“Oh cool is he making a volcano or something I know how to make one if he is” 

“I don’t think it’s that kind of science project, Maddie, but how do you how to build one? Did you do one in school?” 

Maddie could lie and say yes she did, but it’s actually because of her brother he needed help coming up with something for his school science fair and didn’t want to do your average volcano. “Oh no I didn’t do anything like that in school” 

Chimney and Hen give each other looks then Chim pipes up. “How did you learn to do it then if you didn’t learn it in school?” 

“My little brother made a foam volcano entirely out of things he found at home and I helped him put it together” she explains and it’s officially in the open now. 

“Wait, you have a brother?” 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Hen adds on 

“Do you not trust us with your family Maddie?” Eddie chimes in 

“Guys, guys I just didn’t tell you because it’s a complicated relationship we have” 

“Like he’s not around” 

“Sort of…” Maddie sighs and just lets it out. “He’s in the military” 

Eddie also sighs understanding the turmoil people you love in the military can be. He didn’t fully understand it until Shannon died, but he understands now nonetheless. “I understand that Maddie, it’s hard to talk about family in the military” 

“How do you know Eddie, you were in the military not waiting for someone to come back?” Chim asks

“Well, I don’t exactly know how you're feeling, but my ex-wife wouldn’t tell people she was married for the longest time while I was gone as it would be hard for her to explain, so I get it” 

“Thanks, Eddie, it has been hard, and normally I can handle it, but he’s been gone for almost nine months now and it’s not getting any easier” Maddie starts to cry and everyone else wraps her in a hug. 

“Thank you for telling us Maddie and you know we're all here for you, right? You’re not alone” Athena states and then everyone sits back down getting back to their breakfast when Maddie gets a phone call. 

“Excuse me guys, I got to take this” and she exits her chair and heads down stairs a little bit to get some privacy. The person on the other end speaks up. 

“Maddie?” Clay asks sounding out of breath. 

“Clay, is everything ok?” Maddie is immediately worried that Clay is calling her and not Buck. 

Clay lets out a breath and tries to get it together for Maddie. “No, it isn’t” 

Maddie can barely even think about that, but she has to know. “Is he…is he dead?” 

“No, no, no he’s not he’s…um I don’t know how to explain it he’s in bad shape Maddie” 

Maddie rubbed her temple, climbed the stairs to see her family, and made eye contact with Chimney who immediately noticed her demeanor but didn’t head over yet. “What do you mean?” 

“Just come to the hospital, I’ll explain everything there” 

“Clay,” 

“Maddie I can’t explain I refuse to explain over the phone so please just come to the hospital, Cedar Sinai” 

“Ok, I’m on my way” Maddie takes a few deep breaths after hanging up, before approaching her family. “I have to go” 

“Where are you going? Are you ok? You look like you are about to burst into tears, how about you sit down and-” 

“No Chimney I have to go now. I’m sorry” Maddie starts heading towards the stairs when someone who isn’t Chimney stops her

“Maddie, what’s wrong?” Eddie stops her gently and turns her around to face him. “Is it you’re brother?” 

“Yes, he’s at the hospital, but I don’t know his condition and I have to go I have to see him” 

“You can’t go alone” 

“He’s right Maddie no one should face this alone, Chim, Eddie, guys we’re going with” Bobby explains with no hesitation. “Athena, can you call dispatch for us?” 

“Sure thing Bobby” She kisses him and pats Maddie’s shoulder before heading down.

“Alright, where are we going Maddie?” Bobby asks 

“Cedar Sinai” 

Chapter Text

Buck and his team have been trying to catch a serial terrorist under the name Osama bin Laden. The team found out his next target was a school in his home country Saudi Arabia and all they knew was that a bomb had been placed in the school somewhere and they needed to disarm the bomb and hopefully find bin Laden. Steve split the team into groups of two, Buck and Hondo paired together taking the north side of the school, Clay and Tyler took the west side of the school, and Steve and Sonny took the east side of the school already clearing the south side when they entered. Other than knowing they were looking for a bomb the team went in blind, hoping to catch Laden in the act. 

“What are we even looking for?” 

“A bomb, Buck” Hondo deadpans staring at Buck as they enter another classroom. 

“Yeah I know that, but do we even know what the bomb looks like? What kind of bomb are we dealing with?” 

“No, we don’t” 

“And that doesn’t worry you?” Buck asks walking up to a teacher’s desk and checking the drawers. 

“Yeah it does, but we got to find it and hopefully bin Laden” 

Buck freezes when he opens the last drawer of the teacher’s desk. “Uh Hondo” 

Hondo looks up and sees Buck’s worried face, mask almost completely gone. “What is it, Buck?” 

“I found it” Buck keeps his hands steady not letting go of the handle and his eyes on the bomb as Hondo heads over. 

“Holy shit! What kind of bomb is that?” 

“I don’t know, but I would like to know” Buck chides and Hondo kneels closer to take a look at it. It doesn’t seem to have any timer on it which means it could be motion activated. Hondo is about to radio in Steve when Buck stops him. “Don’t sound you’re radio it could activate the bomb” 

“Shit, you’re right it could, but it could also be motion activated and I’m worried that if you move your hand from the handle that looks like the wires are attached to it could go off”

“What do we do then?” Buck takes deep breaths trying to stay calm. 

“We’re not going to panic and I’m not going to leave you so don’t even think about it” Hondo eyes Buck and then takes a closer look at the bomb to see how he could disable it. 

“Give it to me Hondo, what are we dealing with?” 

“I… I don’t know Buck, honestly, I’ve never seen a bomb like this before, and one wrong move and we both die. I could try something, but I don’t know what kind of bomb it is and sadly no bomb is the same” 

Buck breathes deeply before speaking again. “Hondo, I trust you ok? You are a brother to me so I trust you to try and save us and get us out of here, preferably alive” Buck chuckles a little at the end but makes an effort not to move. 

“Ok… I’m going to try something and if it works then we're hopefully in the clear if it doesn’t then…” 

“Don’t think like that, we both have older sisters who need us. Let’s defuse this bomb and get home to them” Buck encourages and Hondo gets to work on the bomb and they both pray that this works and Steve or anyone else doesn’t call into the radio. Hondo thinks he’s disarmed the bomb, but there is only one way to find out. 

“Ok Buck slowly take your hand off of the handle and slowly back away from the bomb” Hondo instructs also backing up away from the bomb.

Buck listens to Hondo and carefully unsticks his hand from the handle and once removed the small victory is short-lived when Hondo’s radio picks up on the other side and Steve’s voice comes through. “Buck, Hondo repor-” Hondo quickly turns off the radio and they freeze as they wait to see if the bomb reacts when all of a sudden they hear the faint sound of ticking and they both turn around bolting for the door, but they’re not fast enough when the bomb goes off sending them flying into the wall on the far end of the classroom. Hondo and Buck attempt to protect their heads from the blast, but it’s not enough when they both smack into the wall and everything goes black.

-----------------------

“Omg Clay, what happened when you found them?” Maddie asks, tears streaming down her face as she holds Ellie who is also crying. The 118 and some of SEAL Team 6 are idly listening nearby. 

“They were out cold, bodies covered in burns and rubble from the torn-up classroom. You might be able to see them, but you can’t go anywhere near them, they're in containment units to not expose their bodies to the air. If exposed it could cause their burns to get infected” 

“Aren’t they covered?” 

“They are, but there are so many burns it’s not safe right now for them to be exposed” 

“Ok, can you go tell them to let us see our brother Clay, I don’t care if we can’t touch them. We have to see them” Ellie explains now frustrated, speaking for both her and Maddie. 

“I will, but they’re in bad shape guys and I know it’s not going to stop either of you from seeing them just… be mindful of what you’re about to see” Clay finishes almost in tears again and goes to find the nurse. Maddie turns to face the 118. 

“I’m sorry guys, I know you have work if you want to leave you’re more than welcome to I won’t be mad” 

Bobby speaks up before anyone else can. “Maddie I told you we’re here for you and you’re brother and…” 

“Ellie, I’m Ellie and my brother was with Maddie’s brother” 

Bobby smiles at her and she smiles back half-heartedly. “And Ellie will need all the support you guys can get” Bobby finishes Maddie untangles herself from Ellie to hug Bobby and the rest of the 118 join in on the hug. When Clay comes back with the nurse in tow. 

“Maddie, Ellie this is Nurse Jackie she’s watching the boys and will take you to them” Clay explains. 

“Just two of you, not everyone, that place is small enough as it is” Nurse Jackie explains to the ever-growing group. Everyone nods and Maddie and Ellie follow Nurse Jackie to Buck and Hondo’s room. “Here you go ladies, don’t go into the containment unit ok?” 

“Yes ma’am” they both respond and land their eyes on their brother’s broken form on a hospital bed that looks too big for each boy's body. 

“Nurse Jackie, what is their current state?” Ellie asks stopping her from leaving the room. 

“Well Miss Harelson, you’re brother is in critical condition with several burn marks up and down the back side of his body that’s why we have him at an angle. Other than the radiation exposure and burn marks, Mr.Harelson experienced a Pulmonary Barotrauma which is a blast lung and it means we also have him on a ventilator to help him breathe. He also got a piece of debris in his right calf, but we were able to pull it out no problem” Nurse Jackie explains softly and then turns to Maddie to give her a debrief on her brother. “Now Miss Buckley, you’re brother is in the same position as Mr. Harelson when it comes to severe burns and radiation exposure, however, Mr.Buckley also re-broke his arm trying to protect his face from the blast as well as a Tympanic Membrane Rupture. In other terms, he’s partially deaf in his right ear. It’s not severe so it shouldn’t be permanent, but when he does wake up if he’s dizzy or has ringing in his ear let us know” 

“And when are they going to wake up?” Maddie asks glancing at her brother. Neither sister was ready for the answer.

“At the moment, it is best for them to stay asleep which is why they're both in medically induced comas to try and not irritate the burns. We’ll have to see where they're at in a week and then go from there. As for them being in the containment room, they should be out by no later than tomorrow, but you still won’t be able to touch them for another few days after that” Jackie explains leaving the girls alone for now. 

“Thank you, Nurse Jackie” 

“Please, just Jackie” and she leaves without another word. Maddie and Ellie hold each other as they look at their brothers and hope that at least for now they're not in pain. 

Forty minutes later the girls go back to the waiting and explain to everyone their condition. 

“Man, those two are going to be the death of me” Steve sighs 

“I thought that was going to be Clay, Tyler, and Buck” Maddie adds remembering how wild they used to be. 

“It was, but Hondo and Buck have been hanging out a lot on base and causing mischief to everyone else” Clay explains, and the SEAL Team and Maddie chuckle. While the girls were gone everyone else introduced themselves and started talking, well everyone except for Tyler. 

Maddie looks over at Tyler who is sitting in the corner of the waiting room with his head in his hands.“Is he going to be ok?” 

“Honestly, probably not he took it the hardest when we found Buck and Hondo in the state they were in and all he wants to do is be there for Buck and he feels like he failed” Clay supplies looking longingly at the member of their team. 

“I’m pretty sure Jackie will let him see Buck if he tells them that they’re together” Maddie states 

“Nah, their not dating anymore broke up two months after Buck got back to base” 

Maddie slaps Clay on the shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Because we’ve been too focused trying to find this guy that we weren’t even paying attention when they did break up” 

“What was it about?” 

“What it’s usually about, Ty not supporting Buck in his actions no matter how stupid and reckless they are and they're never going to get back together if Tyler can’t get past that” Clay explains to Maddie rubbing his shoulder. He nods his head towards the 118 huddled together. “So who’s your new friends?” 

“Did you guys not introduce yourselves?” 

“Oh we did, we’re just curious how you know a group of hot firefighters” 

“Well, I was doing a call one day, and I sent them to the call, and Chimney, the one passing Coffee around, reassured me that the woman I was on the phone with was okay. We started talking, and then he introduced me to his team.” Maddie smiles, watching how sweet Chimney has been. 

“Do you like him?” Clay asks nudging Maddie to get her attention

Maddie is speechless, but honestly, she hasn’t thought about it very much and maybe she does even if she’s not quite sure she’s ready to date again. “I…maybe… I think I do actually, but honestly, right now I just want to focus on my brother and make sure he’s going to make it through the night” 

Clay puts his arm around her in a comforting way and pulls her in for a side hug. “He’s going to be ok, Maddie he’s a fighter I see it every day and he’s going to fight to come home with you” 

“I hope you’re right, Clay because I’m really worried about him,” Maddie says softly, just holding onto Clay in comfort and looking over at her found family. They are here for her, and Buck’s found family is here for him, and that’s all they need right now. Their families give them the comfort they can’t give each other.

Chapter Text

—2 Weeks Later—

The boys have been in their coma for two weeks and are both out of the containment units. Hondo is off the ventilator and should wake up any day now and Buck should also be awake any day now. It’s just a matter of waiting around and because both Ellie and Maddie can’t be by their brother’s side Twenty-four-seven the SEALS and the 118 have been taking turns watching them so that they don’t wake up alone. Ellie and Steve are in Hondo’s room right now and Clay and Eddie are in Buck’s room. When they do wake up, only Maddie and Ellie are allowed to touch them but only after they sanitize their hands considering their burns are so severe. 

“He is going to wake up, right Steve?” Ellie asks hesitantly holding her brother’s hand. 

“Yes, he and Buck are both going to wake up and it’s going to be a long recovery for both of them, but we are going to be by their side through all of it” Steve puts a reassuring hand on Ellie’s shoulder. 

“I feel bad for bringing Buck into this. If I just left him alone in that gym then Maddie wouldn’t be struggling right now” 

“Don’t do that to yourself El, he has a family now and that’s because of you. If any of us should be at fault it should be me, I called into the radio and the bomb reacted to it. if I just waited a few more minutes then-” 

“No Steve if I can’t blame myself then neither can you. We didn’t know what kind of bomb we were dealing with and that is on bin Laden” Ellie reassures Steve and they sit in silence hoping they will wake up soon. As if the universe was listening, ten minutes later Hondo slightly squeezes Ellie’s hand and she jerks to look at him and sees him stirring. “He’s waking up. Come on bub, wake up for me your sister is right here” She rubs her thumb over his hand and it seems to be the motivation he needs because dark brown eyes start to flutter open. 

“El” Hondo’s voice is hoarse and barely there, but it’s there and that’s all his sister needs before she’s smiling at him. Then everything starts to sink in and the pain and reminders of that mission hit him harder than the blast. “Whe-re’s Bu-ck?” He has to get it out, but it’s harder than he would’ve thought and then Ellie helps him get some ice chips and it stings from the disuse, but the ice helps. 

“He’s ok, he’s in the room right next to yours” Ellie whispers rubbing Hondo’s head. “I’m just glad you’re awake” She leans forward and kisses his head when Hondo realizes there’s another presence in the room. 

“How do you feel Hondo?” Steve asks

“Like I shouldn’t be alive, how’s Buck?” 

“He’s ok, he’s not awake yet” 

Hondo starts to break down in tears. Buck is hurt because he couldn’t diffuse the bomb. “Steve I’m so sorry, Buck’s hurt because of me. I couldn’t diffuse the bomb” 

“No, Hondo don’t talk like that. It was a very complicated bomb and we didn’t know what we were dealing with. It’s not your fault Hondo” 

“But maybe if I had found the bomb then Buck wouldn’t be hurt and Maddie wouldn’t be worried about him” 

“Hondo stop, you and I both know that if roles were reversed Buck would still be in that bed because there’s no way he would’ve left you and you know that” 

Hondo sighs and accepts it for now. Screw Buck and his stubbornness. “How bad is it?” 

“You have burns throughout your body, and you probably still have chest pain, the nurse said you would have that for a few more days and a piece of debris hit your leg, but they got it out” After Steve’s explanation he leans his head back on the pillow. 

“How bad is Buck?” he asks a question he’s not ready to know the answer to, but he has to know. 

“Maybe you should get some rest and we’ll tell you later” Ellie suggests but knows deep down her brother isn’t going to rest until he at least knows what Buck is going through as well. 

“Please just tell me El,” He all but begs at her and Steve steps back in explaining Buck’s condition. 

“He also has several burns along with a broken arm and a ruptured eardrum they won’t know the extent of it until he wakes up. You guys are lucky to be alive” 

“Yeah well we don’t feel lucky” Hondo deadpans and then looks over and sees Buck’s curls popping out over the window. “Can I see him?” 

“Maybe after the nurse checks you out and you get some rest ok, bub?” Ellie suggests and this time Hondo takes the suggestion and lets the nurse clean his burns and explains that there still fragile and no one can touch him except for his sister. They also explained to him that because he’s awake they want to do a head and chest scan to make sure there’s no lasting damage to both, but that the tests won’t happen for a few more days. After his extensive headache (I mean checkup) he dozes off to sleep. 

—2 Weeks Later—

It’s been a month since Maddie and Ellie first saw their brothers for the first time and Hondo has been awake for almost two weeks now, working on the part of recovery that will take the longest; everything after you wake up. The only problem is that Buck hasn’t woken up yet and the doctors are getting nervous, but Maddie and everyone else are trying to keep the faith. 

“Clay” is all Maddie can get out as she tries not to burst into tears again. 

“Maddie, he’s going to wake up, ok? He’s not going to leave you and he’s still fighting to come home” Clay puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

“I know, but Hondo is freaking out and he has every right to be. He and Buck should be doing this part together and they are not and it’s breaking both of them more” 

“Maddie,” Clay pauses when he notices something Maddie hasn’t spotted yet

“I know Clay, but I just want to see-” 

“Maddie!” 

“What Clay?” she looks at him and he jerks his head toward the bed when she looks at the bed, she’s filled with happy tears as her baby brother’s baby blue eyes are staring back at her with just a little more hurt in them, but pure happiness seeing his sister. He tries to speak, but his voice is so hoarse it doesn’t come out. Maddie gets him some ice chips and puts a few in his mouth and he swallows them and he officially realizes the amount of pain he is in. 

“Ow” it’s barely there but he speaks nonetheless

Maddie wet chuckles. “So how you're feeling is probably a stupid question then right?” 

He tries to laugh, but it hurts so much. “Everything’s ringing, I can barely hear anything” Buck voices and Clay gets up to get the doctor’s 

“Everything is ok, Evan you just ruptured your right eardrum” At the explanation he looks at his body and gives his sister a look that says ‘Seriously, just my eardrum’. “You also have several burns and you rebroke your arm” 

Buck’s eyes look like they're about to bulge out of his head when he realizes he didn’t get these injuries alone. “Hondo!?” He tries to sit up but immediately regrets it. 

“He’s in the next room, Mr.Buckley” A doctor Buck just noticed was in the room informs him. “Now, how's your ear?” she walks up to him and checks his ear while a nurse makes notes on the notepad. The doctor looks at Maddie. “He’s not going to need surgery for the ear and his hearing will come back in time, it just might be a few weeks before he’ll be able to hear properly. As for you’re arm Mr.Buckley I’ll have someone come in here in a minute and get it in a cast for you. The burns you and your partner suffered are going to be there long term and will take the longest to heal as we have to take special precautions to make sure they don’t get infected, which is why no one else other than your sister is allowed to touch you. The fewer germs you're exposed to the better.” The doctor explains and leaves the room after cleaning up his burns. 

—2 Months Later— 

Buck and Hondo finally get discharged from the hospital and can go home. They both had long physical therapy because of the burns and Hondo mainly because of the debris that was in his leg. For longer than Buck would like to admit his hearing is still touch and go and every once in a while he’ll get the ringing and nausea from it, but he doesn’t tell his sister because he doesn’t want her to worry. Hondo on the other hand still has chest pain, but like Buck, he doesn’t tell his sister because it’s minor and doesn’t bother him as much. The burns, the nightmares, and Buck’s broken arm are the worst of the problems. The burns get in the way of everything and make every movement they do give them extreme pain that they can’t hide. The nightmares aren’t too bad, it’s more like the noise for them. They try not to let it bother them, but it’s everywhere, any noise that even remotely sounds like an explosion is awful, and who knew there were soo many? They are in mandated therapy sessions that the doctors prescribed as part of their recovery process, but do they talk to them? Not really. 

“Alright Buck, you ready to go?” 

“Yeah, anything to get me out of this hospital” Buck follows Maddie out of the hospital and in their new jeep, which Maddie purchased when they moved to L.A. They picked up lunch and headed to the house. “I don’t think I’ve ever been inside our house in L.A.” 

“Sure you have” 

“No, after I left the first time I broke my arm you were about to move to L.A. and I haven’t been home since. When we get there, there isn’t going to be a welcome home party right?” 

“No, Buck I figured you would want to relax and enjoy our Thai food just us, like old times. I promise no one is at the house” 

Buck smiles at his sister and twists her waiting finger with his good one. “I would love that” The Buckley siblings get home and as promised the house is quiet and just the two of them, although he’s not sure how much he likes the silence. While their eating lunch Buck gets up slowly and turns on the stereo so it’s not as quiet anymore. “Sorry I don’t like the silence as much as I thought I would” 

“It’s ok Buck this is your house too” Maddie smiles warily and watches carefully as her brother makes his way back to the table ready to jump up and help if he needs it and of course, Buck notices this when he sits back down. 

“Mads I’m ok, I’m not gonna break, you can stop staring at me” 

“I’m sorry, I’m just worried about you” 

“And I’m fine” 

“No, Buck you're not fine. You act like getting blown up is just a normal thing that happens” 

Buck sighs getting frustrated. “That’s because it is normal for me Maddie, people get blown up all the time. I hear explosions all around me in the field” 

“That doesn’t mean it’s ok. It happened to you it’s different” 

“Why is it different, because I almost died? If that’s the reason, I almost die all the time during ops, but it’s part of the job” 

“Yeah Buck, because you almost died” Maddie rubs the tears away from her face frustratingly and continues. “I thought you weren’t going to wake up I mean the way Clay talked over the phone I thought you died, and I know you didn’t and I believe that, but right now I have to continue to believe that I didn’t lose another brother so if I watch you while you walk carefully across our floor, or eat and do basic human things then screw me for wanting to make sure my brother is actually home with me and alive and breathing” the tears are now actively streaming down Maddie’s face and Buck’s heart breaks at the sight of his sister. He didn’t mean to make her feel that way. He slowly gets up and wraps his good arm around Maddie and she hugs him as tight as she can without hurting him. 

“I’m sorry Maddie I didn’t mean to scare you or hurt you. I didn’t mean to get hurt” Buck starts letting him feel sad for everything that’s happened and Maddie pulls away just enough to see those beautiful blue eyes even bluer when he cries and she wipes the tears away with her thumb and smiles up at him. 

“It’s ok Evan, it’s not your fault. I knew that you were going to come home to me and I know you're going to get through this, you know why? Because you are the strongest person I know and you are going to pick yourself back up and I’m going to be right here when you do. I love you, little bro” 

“I love you too big sis” Buck pulls her back in for a hug and after a few more minutes they break apart and finish eating their lunch. “Second strongest person” he mumbles finishing his food. 

Maddie chuckles but doesn’t hear it completely. “What?” 

“Second strongest person, you’re the first strongest person Mads” 

Maddie breaks into laughter and Buck can’t help but join his sister in the light atmosphere even if it’s just for a little bit. He’s going to be ok, he’s got Maddie and that’s all he ever really needs. 

Chapter Text

—3 Months Later—

Buck hates recovery. He absolutely hates recovery. Doing nothing all day, the constant pain in his burns, having a cast on again, and up until about three weeks ago he couldn’t hardly hear out of his right ear. Also as much as he loves his sister, she is suffocating when she wants to be, and because he can’t clean his burns every few hours like the doctor stressed about, by himself someone has to constantly be with him. On the off chance, Maddie is at work someone else is with him, so far it’s been Clay, Steve, Tyler(man that was awkward), and even Ellie has watched him while someone else watched Hondo because both boys hate recovery. 

Yesterday sucked. The rest of the team minus Ellie, Hondo, and Buck all went on a last-minute op. Which today left Maddie stressing about who is going to watch Buck. Buck tries and fails to soothe his sister. “Mads I love you, but I don’t need someone to watch me all day” 

“Yes you do, you can’t put the burn cream on your back and you have trouble doing simple tasks with your arm still in a cast. So don’t argue I’m getting you someone” Maddie argues staring at her brother and watching as he flops on the couch like a toddler. She rolls her eyes and calls someone as a last-ditch effort before she accepts defeat and lets her brother stay by himself. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey Eddie it’s Maddie I need your help” 

“Sure Maddie what’s up?” Eddie asks while telling Chris to get his shoes on

“Are you working today?” 

“No, what’s going on Maddie?” 

“I was wondering, if you're not busy today if you could watch Buck while I’m at work. He just needs someone here to help him with applying his burn cream and just basic stuff he can’t do right now.” 

“Maddie, Maddie calm down ok? Take a few deep breaths for me” 

Maddie listens to Eddie and glances at her brother flipping through the channels. “Ok, I’m ok” 

“Good, because yes I can watch Buck today and help him” 

“He’s not exactly easy to deal with” 

Eddie laughs at a grown man as big as Buck whining. “I can deal with it, Maddie don’t worry. We’re all here for you and Buck” 

Maddie takes a big sigh of relief. “Awesome, now how early can you be here?”
 

“I just have to drop Chris off at school and then I’ll be over” Eddie explains as they both are heading to the car Maddie gives him a ‘thanks’ and the phone disconnects. “Alright Chris, Carla is going to pick you up after school today so I can watch Buck” 

“What’s a Buck?” 

“It’s Maddie’s younger brother, he’s the one that I visited in the hospital a couple of times” 

“Oh ok Dad, can I meet him?” 

“Maybe after school, if he’s up for it I’ll tell Carla to drop you off” 

“Ok” Chris yells out excitedly to meet one of his Dad’s friends and then they go off to school.

-------------------------------

The door to the Buckley residence knocks. “Evan, can you get the door?” 

Buck rolls his eyes and slides off the couch and to the door slowly. He opens it and his eyes go wide in disbelief. “Eddie, what are you doing here?” 

“Buck right? I’m watching you today, did Maddie not tell you?” Eddie asks, staring at Buck’s form. 

Buck rubs his face in annoyance. “No, she did not. Maddie!?” 

“What is it Buck, it should be-” She comes around the corner and sees that it is in-fact Eddie. “Hey, Eddie come on in” Maddie opens the door further and her brother rolls his eyes before moving back to the couch. 

“Hey Maddie, is he ok?” 

Buck calls out from the couch before Maddie can. “I’m fine!!” 

At Buck’s response, Eddie looks between the two siblings. “He’s not very happy to see me is he?” 

“Nooo what would make you think that?!” Buck yells out sarcastically 

“I’m sorry, he’s being extra moody today,” Maddie whispers to Eddie. “You don’t have to stay I can figure something else out” 

“No I’m already here don’t worry about it Maddie, go to work” Eddie smiles and he sees Buck watching their interaction. 

“Thanks, Eddie, I’ll be back around dinner. He’s already eaten breakfast and he’ll need the burn cream reapplied in about an hour and then every three hours after that” Maddie instructs and then calls out to Buck before leaving. “Be nice, I’ll see you tonight Evan” Buck doesn’t respond, but she seems to not expect him to and walks out of the door giving Eddie another grateful smile. 

Eddie joins Buck on the couch. “What are we watching?” 

“I’m watching a ‘Wildlife of the Amazon’ documentary, but no one likes watching them so you don’t have to pretend you like them either” 

“My kid actually watches these sometimes and some of them are actually really interesting” Eddie tries to spark up conversation and keep it flowing positively but Buck’s not having it. 

Buck knows what Eddie is trying to do, but he decides to play along anyway. “You have a kid?” 

“Yeah, Chris he’s seven and loves everything he can get his hands on” Eddie smiles fondly. 

“That’s nice, I love kids” 

“I love this one” Eddie pulls out his phone and shows a picture of Chris. 

Buck nods at the photo and gets to the real topic of conversation. “So what’s the deal with you and my sister” 

“What do you mean?” Eddie asks confused. 

Buck scoffs and turns to look at Eddie for the first time since he sat down. “You're joking, right? I saw the chemistry practically pouring out of you guys”

Eddie laughs, actually laughs at that, but then realizes Buck isn’t joking. “Sorry, I don’t like your sister like that, plus I’m pretty sure she likes Chimney, he’s my coworker and the guy has pretty much been in love with her since they met” 

“What? So you don’t like my sister?” 

“No, is that why you would think I want to be here, so I can get in good graces with your sister?” Eddie isn’t sure what this guy is thinking but he’s way off. It's actually really funny. “Listen I’m just like everyone else, we all wanted to meet the famous Evan Buckley and I figured this would be a good way to do that” Eddie explains honestly studying Buck. 

“Oh, I guess I was off” Buck brushes it off and turns his attention back to the TV. He can’t seem to get comfortable though, these burns have really been a pain in the ass. 

“You ok?” Eddie picks up on the discomfort almost immediately but Buck dismisses it. 

“Yeah I’m fine” he grunts quietly, his body betraying Buck in the lie. 

“Buck, what’s wrong?” Eddie sits up being more alert, but Buck is still acting like everything is fine and he’s going to have to pull him out of it. “Buck I can help just tell me what’s wrong?” 

Buck is angry; Angry at the pain he’s in, angry at Eddie for absolutely no reason, angry at himself for not being able to tough it out for another thirty minutes. “I’m fine Eddie! Just leave me alone” Buck raises his voice at Eddie, but it just makes his burns hurt worse.

“You’re not, but you're too stubborn to admit it, so stand up” 

“What?” 

“Stand up, if you're not in pain then it should be easy right?” Eddie challenges him and hopes he’ll either admit defeat or tough it out. He hopes it’s the latter. Buck looks at Eddie and then makes the effort to try and stand up. ‘The stubborn way it is’ Eddie thinks to himself as he gets up to help Buck. 

“I don’t need your help” Buck pushes off the couch and grunts in pain. ‘Stupid body proving Eddie’s point’ Buck thinks when he stands up straight. “See, I did it” 

“Yeah, you did, now how much pain are you in?” Eddie points out standing next to Buck in case he falls back. “And don’t lie to me” Eddie deadpans

“Is that your Dad face?” 

“It doesn’t matter what my face is, now how much pain are you in?” Buck walks away from Eddie ignoring the question. “Buck just tell me, I can help you” 

“I don’t want your help, I don’t want anybody's help!! I want to stop feeling so goddamn weak!! I’m a fucking SEAL for fucksake!!” Buck yells and then he screams out in pain and Eddie is right by his side making sure he doesn’t crash to the floor. 

“Buck your allowed to be angry and you’re also allowed to feel pain and you're not weak. I don’t think there's a weak bone in your body and I don’t know anything about you except that your fucking tough and even tough guys are allowed to feel pain” Eddie speaks as he’s helping Buck to the chairs in the dining room. He sits him down and gets in front of him. “Is it your burns?” 

“Of course it’s my fucking burns, it’s always my burns but there is nothing you can do I can’t take anything I haven’t already taken when I had breakfast and you can’t put the burn cream on it for another thirty minutes” 

“I know, but there are other remedies to help you with your burns” 

Buck is almost crying at the pain and he doesn’t know what Eddie plans on doing, but he better do it fast. “Just hurry” Buck begs. His eyes are closed tight trying not to let the pain bother him and his head is leaned back on the chair, but Eddie hasn’t moved so he peels his eyes open at the man. “Why aren’t you doing anything? You said you could help” 

“And I’m going to, but first you need to take a few breaths” Eddie instructs, but despite Buck’s silent protests he takes a few deep breaths and looks at Eddie. “Good now stand up” Eddie helps Buck stand back up. “And take off your shirt” 

“What? I kind of have to have it on” 

“I know and you will, but you need something more comfortable. Where’s your room?” Buck points to the closed bedroom. “I’ll be right back” Eddie heads into Buck’s room and looks around a second before pulling his focus back to the task at hand, but a certain picture catches his eye, or a turned-down picture catches his eye on his dresser after he finds a shirt worthy. He flips the picture over and it’s of Buck and Tyler, with Tyler on Buck’s back in the middle of what looks like a battlefield. ‘Guess Tyler was right, but why is it flipped down?’ Eddie thinks to himself and then leaves the room to see Buck shirtless where Eddie left him. He takes in Buck’s form. There is a lot to look at, but the main thing is the bandage wrapped around his ribs and stomach area, probably where the main spot of the burning is. Along with the more visible burns around the shoulder area, the thing that catches his eyes the most is his big ass arms, and the amount of muscle this guy has makes him ridiculously hotter than Eddie could ever think about. 

Buck smirks, noticing Eddie practically frozen in place. “Like what you see?” 

Buck’s voice shakes Eddie out of his drooling and running thoughts and back to Buck. “uh, yeah actually, but I got a softer, more baggy shirt instead of the stiff one you had. Your burns look better” 

Buck gives him a weird look. “Really” 

“Yes, really I mean the last time I saw you, you were still in a coma, so I definitely think they’ve approved since then” 

“I’m surprised you noticed with the way you were staring at my abs” Buck’s smile gets wider as he watches Eddie blush as red as a tomato. Then, he throws Buck the shirt at him demanding he put it on. “And now you want me to cover it?” 

“Yes, it’s part of the thing that’s going to take your mind off the pain” 

“What’s the other part?” Buck asks while he slips on the shirt and instantly feels a little bit better at the soft material. 

Eddie notices him sag in relief at the shirt Eddie gave him and a smile creeps up on his face. “Give me your hand” Eddie instructs and when Buck hands him the one with a cast on it Eddie gives him a look. 

“You said my hand, you didn’t say which one” Buck teases 

“The one that doesn’t have a cast on, you idiot” Eddie jokes and Buck chuckles in response handing him the good hand. Eddie places Buck’s hand on his heart and when he looks back he’s met with Buck’s beautiful, ocean-blue eyes. 

Buck stutters at the closeness of him and Eddie but tries to remain focused eyes glued to Eddie’s brown ones. “What’s the point of this?” 

“The point is for you to focus on something else” Eddie whispers. “I don’t have anything to give you to take away the pain so the next best option is for you to focus on something else” Their eyes are locked onto each other with blue meeting brown. “What do my eyes look like to you?” 

“What?” 

“Describe how my eyes look to you. Like for instance yours reminds me of the ocean on a sunny day” 

“Ok…” Buck is confused, but whatever to stop him from thinking about the pain. “Your eyes are like milk chocolate, but right now with the softness you bring in your voice, it’s like dark chocolate. The sweetness in your eyes reminds me of chocolate” Eddie smiles at Buck as he watches him visibly relax and not be so tense from the pain. “Your heartbeat is as calm as your eyes. It’s steady, around seventy beats per minute which is average given the calm atmosphere around us. Mine is probably a little higher right now with the pain, but it’s calming down” 

“Good” Eddie checks his watch and sees the time has passed significantly and he can now apply burn cream. “You want to take off your shirt again so I can apply the burn cream” 

“But it’s not time yet we still have-” Buck pauses looking at the clock in the dining room and it is in fact time for the burn cream to be reapplied. “Time, when did it go by?” 

“We just passed the thirty-minute mark about three minutes ago” Eddie explains while he goes to get the stuff and a fresh set of bandages while Buck takes his shirt off once again. Eddie comes back and Buck is standing there awkwardly waiting for Eddie. “You doing ok?” 

“Yeah, just thinking. Thanks for getting my mind off of things” 

“Sure thing Buck” Eddie smiles at Buck before getting to the fun part of this day, unwrapping and reapplying the bandage. “You ready?” Buck nods in response also not ready for this part. Buck holds his hands out while Eddie unwraps the bandage revealing the worst of the burns. “Man, I can see why these are covered up” 

“It’s because they're ugly right? I keep telling Maddie they are but-” 

“No that’s not where I was going, these are deeper and can get infected very easily, hence why they need to be covered up for the time being” 

“Oh” 

Eddie notices that discomfort back on Buck’s face like he was hoping someone would agree with him on how ugly they are, but they're not ugly they just need to heal and it’s going to take a while. “They're not ugly Buck, I know you may think that now but it’s not true, it just shows how strong you are. I have my own scars to deal with and they just show how far you’ve gone and how much of a fighter you are” Eddie is working on applying the burn cream while he continues to talk to Buck. 

“What are your scars from?” Buck asks trying to focus on Eddie and not what he’s doing. 

“My time in the army. The more visible ones are from when I got shot twice on my last tour” 

“I’ve been shot a few times, it’s not fun. But those we got defending our country not because you accidentally got blown up” Buck voices wincing as Eddie is spreading the cream as carefully as he can throughout Buck’s back. 

“You still were defending your country, that bomb could’ve seriously hurt more people, but it didn’t you and your team protected the people and you and your partner came home” 

“I know, can we just change the subject, please? This isn’t helping” 

“Sure Buck,” Eddie is now wrapping the main part back up before applying the rest of the burn cream to other parts of Buck’s body and decides to bring up the topic Eddie has to know about. “So how’s your boyfriend dealing with all of this?” 

“Tyler, he’s not my boyfriend. Not anymore. That’s an interesting thing to change the subject to” Buck smirks, but Eddie can’t see it trying to focus on the burns. 

“Oh, I just thought he was” 

“Why?” 

“Uh, just, I saw your picture of you and him and then he was weird at the hospital” 

“Him being weird at the hospital is because he always gets hit hard when I get hurt and doesn’t accept that the reason I get hurt most of the time is because I just want to protect my family and I know what you're going to say, that I shouldn’t risk myself for my family, but what can I say I’m protective of who I love and I can’t bear seeing them in pain even if I’m the one that has to be in pain. As for the other thing, I thought I turned that photo down?” 

“You did, which is why it caught my eye, but I get where he’s coming from. It’s hard to watch someone you love get hurt but it shouldn’t cloud your judgement or change your relationship. I also understand where you are coming from. The need to protect your loved ones, but it also makes you sound reckless like you don’t care about yourself” Eddie concludes finishing his application of the burn cream. 

“I used to be, not care about my own well-being” 

“What changed?” 

“Honestly, my sister. She told me a pretty dark family secret and even after I knew I still wanted to protect them, I would try to do it in a way that wouldn’t get me killed all the time even after I told Tyler he still didn’t understand and wanted me to change a big part of myself and the next person that I love needs to understand that part of me isn’t going to change, that’s just who I am” Buck states glancing over his shoulder to see Eddie and read him. 

“I wouldn’t change anything about you, and a person that loves you shouldn’t want to change anything about you either, they should accept you for who you are not who they want you to be” Eddie states also glancing at Buck for longer than they should’ve been. “Ok I think you're good, how do you feel?” 

“Better, thanks now what are we going to do now?” 

“I don’t know, but we should probably figure out what we should have for lunch first so you can take your pain meds cause it’s almost time for that as well” 

“Alright to the kitchen” 

“You can’t cook with only one working hand” 

“You can help” 

“No, I can’t. I can’t cook worth of shit let alone a decent edible meal” 

Buck laughs at Eddie and drags him to the kitchen anyway. Eddie grabs Buck’s shirt on the way to the kitchen and throws it to him before they start cooking. Buck decides on quesadillas since they’re the easiest to make. Buck prepares the chicken while Eddie gets everything out and they work in sync in the kitchen to get some lunch when it comes to cooking it, Buck makes sure Eddie doesn’t burn it and tells him when to flip it. They turn out pretty good and the boys eat after Buck takes his pain meds. 

They spend the rest of the day doing things to keep Buck’s mind off of the pain. They read at first and Buck spouted out facts to Eddie who listened like Buck was telling the best story of all time and if Eddie had heart eyes the size of Texas, then that’s between him and God. After reading they moved to other more physical activities to keep Buck moving and not on the couch all day. They went outside where Buck worked on the garden with Eddie’s help even though he didn’t know what he was doing he was still going to help Buck. Later on in the day, they played games. Eddie taught Buck some new card games he learned from the Army and Buck taught and beat Eddie at some childhood games Buck and Maddie had in the closet. At some point in the day, Eddie decided that Chris was going to come by and hang out and Buck didn’t complain as Eddie thought, he was super excited to meet the man’s son. 

When Chris got there. They took advantage of Buck’s PlayStation and played some not-so-kid-friendly games before Eddie turned it off and told Chris to work on his homework Buck was helping Chris with his homework and eating a snack when Maddie came home. 

“Hey, I’m home!!” Maddie called out and saw Eddie walking towards her. “Where’s Buck? Is he ok?” Maddie is visibly panicking and Eddie calms her down.

“He’s fine Maddie, he’s actually more than ok. He hasn’t been in pain since lunchtime and he’s helping Chris with his homework right now” 

“He’s not in pain?” 

“No, he’s been doing pretty good since after lunch. Don’t worry I still applied it to him, but he insisted he didn’t need it” 

“Wow, he’s never not needed it. Your amazing Eddie” Maddie smiles, shocked at what Eddie was telling her, but happy her brother seems to be doing better. 

Eddie smiles thinking about the day he’s had with Buck. During games, he had never laughed that hard in his entire life, and when Buck was talking about the book he was reading Eddie couldn’t take his eyes off of him, just watching him talk about all the random laws of the world was the best part of the day. That and finding out he’s single and Tyler would just let someone like him go, Eddie will never understand. “It was a good day” 

Maddie smiles at Eddie’s starstruck look in his eyes and she just knows he’s going to be coming back a lot more. “I could tell. You’ve been daydreaming for like five minutes” 

“Well, he’s amazing and Chris absolutely adores him” 

“Chris isn’t the only one” Maddie teases and Eddie laughs even when his cheeks turn slightly pink, they head toward the kitchen. When they get to the dining room, Maddie is standing at the doorframe with Eddie as they watch Buck interact with Chris and somehow make school fun. “Hey Buck, how was today?” 

“It was good. Eddie helped me touch up the garden and then he let me rant about that book you got me for my birthday” Buck explains still watching Chris work out the problem. 

“Alright, bud we got to go. Did you get your homework done?” 

“Yeah, Buck helped me with the last two problems. He’s really smart and funny” Chris beams with happiness and gratitude for Buck and the adults notice Buck blushing at the compliments. “Bye Buck” Chris gets down from his chair and hugs Buck before turning to look at his dad. “Can we come by tomorrow?” 

“I don’t know bud you're supposed to stay with Abuela tomorrow after school while I’m at work” 

“Oh right, well can we come visit soon?” Chris gives his Dad the puppy dog eyes and Eddie turns to Maddie. 

“I don’t care, Eddie, just let me know, Buck is getting his cast off tomorrow. So if you guys aren’t busy at the station we might come by, if Buck is up to it” 

“I would love to see the firehouse” Buck speaks up and with a game plan in motion for him to visit the firehouse tomorrow and future plans to spend with Chris, the Diazes leave to go home leaving the Buckley siblings alone once again. 

“I’m glad you had a good time with Eddie” 

“Yeah me too, it didn’t really feel like a babysitter. It just felt like we were hanging out” Buck smiles as the day plays a repeat in his head. 

Maddie nudges Buck’s shoulder. “You like Eddie” 

“Yeah, so what?” 

“No, like you have a crush on Eddie” 

Buck gets a little high-pitched at Maddie’s assumption. “What?! No, Maddie that’s ridiculous I just started to get to know the guy today”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have a crush on him and your high-pitched voice there sort of gave you away” 

“Even if I did, not that I said I do, but if I did he doesn’t like me that way” 

“Oh I don’t know Evan, you didn’t see him daydream when he was greeting me by the door” Buck laughs it off and starts heading back toward the couch. “You know I’m right!!” Maddie calls back, and Buck shakes his head fondly. He does not think about Eddie and the exercise they did to get Buck’s mind off things. I mean who thinks staring into each other’s eyes and listing off how they look while simultaneously breathing the same air and listening to one’s heartbeat means anything? Ok, it might mean something and maybe Buck might have a slight crush on Eddie, and perhaps the way he so nonchalantly asked about Buck’s boyfriend might mean Eddie has a crush on him, but he could just be all wrong and reading too much into it. 

No, it can’t be true, Buck doesn’t have feelings for someone he barely knows, or does he? God Maddie’s getting into his head. But is she really? 

Or is she pointing out the obvious? 

What is happening?

Chapter Text

The bomb explodes and Buck looks around in the dust and finds that he is mostly unharmed and then when he looks for Hondo, he finds the man in a much worse state and he screams out for him. “Hondo!!! Hondo!! Come on bud!!” Buck yells as he tries to make his way over, but finds out he’s pinned and can't get out, leaving Hondo vulnerable. 

“What are you doing Buck?! Save my little brother, please!! Why can’t you save him?!!” Ellie’s voice echoes in the room, but he doesn’t see her. 

“Why aren’t you saving him?! You're a failure Evan, you can’t do anything right! You can’t even save your friend” A voice that sounds eerily similar to Maddie speaks out. 

“No, shut up!!! I saved him!! He’s ok! This isn’t real!!” Buck yells out still pinned to a piece of debris. 

“You can’t do anything right Buck, you failed him just like you failed Daniel” Maddie’s voice comes back.

“No!! You're lying I saved him!!” Buck screams out in agony, terror, and fear. “I saved him” he whispers brokenly. 

“ Buck, wake up!! It’s not real, Wake up Buck!!” 

----------------------------------------

Buck wakes up in a cold sweat screaming into the darkness of his bedroom and the only light is from the kitchen. The only reason that light would be shining through is if his door was open. He suddenly feels someone on his bed wrapping him up protectively. “You’re ok Buck,  just breathe for me your safe” the voice reassures him and he realizes it’s Maddie. 

“Maddie” he breathes out trying to catch his breath. 

“Yeah I’m here Buck, I’m here” Maddie soothes gently holding Buck in her arms. 

“I’m sorry I woke you up” 

“No, don’t apologize it happens. Hondo gets them too sometimes” 

“Hondo is alive?” Buck asks still not truly believing his nightmare is over. 

“Yeah of course he is Buck” Maddie continues to soothe her brother, hopefully back to sleep. “Just go back to sleep Buck you’re ok, I’ve got you” Buck snuggles into his sister at her gentle words and lulls himself back to sleep. 

--------------------------

Buck and Maddie step out of the jeep and Buck is excited to see the firehouse, he feels like a little kid but he doesn’t care. 

“Are you excited?” Maddie asks jokingly 

“Of course I am. Arm is officially free, burns are getting better every day, and I'm about to see a firehouse full of your friends, of course, I’m excited” 

Maddie laughs at her brother bouncing in place and she rolls her eyes fondly at him. “Well come on, Bobby is making lunch for us” 

Buck’s smile sags at that “We’re not intruding are we?” 

Maddie is not letting Buck’s insecurities take him down. “No we are not, Bobby insisted on making his famous Baked Mac n Cheese just for our arrival, and plus everyone is excited to finally meet you” Buck perks up before heading toward the stairs with Maddie trudging behind happily. When Buck gets to the top of the stairs he freezes in awe at the loft, it looks like the living room and kitchen you would see at home, but the table is much bigger for all the firefighters. 

“Hey Buck” Eddie’s voice breaks through Buck’s running mind and that million-dollar smile goes back on his face at the sight of Eddie in his uniform. 

“Hey Eddie” 

“Come on, come meet everyone their excited to meet you officially” Eddie drags Buck to the group at the table and they all look up to see the guests have arrived. Maddie joins right behind Buck, taking her place next to Chimney. 

“Hi Buck, I’m Hen” She approaches Buck and holds out her hand and he shakes it shyly. 

“Nice to meet you, I like your glasses” Buck compliments and Hen appreciates the compliment when Bobby joins in on the introductions. 

“Hi I’m Captain Bobby Nash, but please just Bobby” Bobby shakes his hand and notices the muscles right away. “I know we just met, but ever thought about being a firefighter?” 

Buck is a little taken aback by the question and no honestly he hasn’t thought about it and he’s not sure what he’s going to do after his burns are healed. “Honestly no, but I don’t really know what I’m going to do after my burns heal up” 

“I get that, well come on let’s eat some lunch” Bobby takes his seat at the front of the table and Buck takes a seat next to Eddie and Hen while Chimney and Maddie are sitting in front of them. 

“I’m Chimney by the way” Chim reaches his hand across the table to shake Buck’s 

“You're Maddie’s boyfriend right?” Buck jokes and Maddie and Chimney blush while everyone else laughs 

“Buck” Maddie chastises still as red as a tomato and everyone else continues to laugh. It eventually simmers down and everyone is making conversation around the table. 

“So Buck what is your plan after you heal?” Hen asks

“Uh… honestly I don’t know. I mean I love being a SEAL, but there are just so many what if’s and I got lucky this time but what if I’m not so lucky next time and I don’t know if I can do that to Maddie again” He glances at Maddie who looked at him when he mentioned her name 

“Buck, you do what you want to do, I’ll be ok. I’m happy here and these people are like my family and Doug is put away so you don’t have to worry about me anymore” Maddie assures her brother and smiles at Chimney. 

“Yeah, Buck if you don’t want to be a SEAL anymore or if you want to be a SEAL again then nothing is going to stop you. I told you that no one is going to change who you are and who you want to be” Eddie explains smiling at Buck softly. 

“Thanks, and your right Eddie I just…I just need to figure out everything” Buck says stuttering over his words and then gets up. 

“Buck, where are you going?” Maddie voices, but everyone is getting up. 

“Guys, guys I’m just stepping outside for some air, I’ll be back in like five minutes, guys calm down” He eyes everyone and they all sit down reluctantly. 

“I can come with you” 

“No need Mads, I just need some air” Buck walks down the stairs and is about to step out of the firehouse when he runs into someone. “Oh, I’m so sorry I wasn’t watching where I was going and-” Buck pauses mid-sentence when he sees the person he bumped into but it can’t be. He should be in prison, he can’t be here but he is standing in front of Buck with that wicked smile on his face. “Doug” he spits out the name with so much hatred. 

He smiles maniacally at Buck. “Hi Evan, I know what you are thinking, why am I here? And the simplest answer was for your sister, but what better way to hurt your sister than with you” 

Buck only has a split second to register his words before he yells out. “MADD-” Buck calls for help but is closed off by a cloth wrapped around his mouth and Doug pulls them out of sight. The last thing he remembers is being thrown into the trunk of Doug’s car and the darkness consuming him before he passes out. 

Chapter Text

Not even five minutes after Buck leaves Maddie’s sight, she hears the scream of her name being cut off by something else and she immediately has chills all over her body. “Buck!?” she calls out, already heading to the edge of the loft to look down. When she does, she doesn’t find her brother anywhere and is in a panic that Chimney and the rest of the 118 pick up on. 

“Maddie, what’s wrong?” 

Maddie whips around to see the 118 staring back at her. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?! What’s wrong is that my brother screamed my name like he was in trouble one second and then the next he disappeared, nowhere to be seen and no one better tell me that he was taking a breather like he said he was. If he was then he wouldn’t have screamed like that” 

Bobby takes control of the franticness of Maddie Buckley and tries to calm her down even a little bit. “Maddie we all heard it, but we know nothing of what happened after he went down the stairs. I’m going to call Athena, and Hen I want you to check the office cameras to see if you can spot him or anything suspicious, Eddie and Chimney I want you guys to look around the firehouse for anything and maybe, hopefully, Buck, and Maddie I need you to breath and try to calm down, we will find him. After that, try and call him.” Everyone fans out at Bobby’s orders while he gets Athena over. While there waiting for Athena, Eddie and Chimney come up empty, Hen doesn’t see much on the cameras, because whatever happened to Buck and whoever took him, knew what they were doing, but maybe Athena can find something Hen didn’t so he isn’t losing hope. Maddie called Buck several times and all of them went straight to voicemail before completely cutting out. 

“Ok, what’s going on? Bobby explained a little bit, but I want to hear it from you Maddie. If that’s possible?” Athena announces her presence gently and sits in front of Maddie who is sitting on the couch with Hen and Chimney on her left and right and Eddie is standing off, but still listening and hasn’t spoken since Buck went missing. Bobby is standing by his wife giving his silent support. Maddie explains and Athena records it all so she doesn’t have to say it again. 

“And then he screamed my name before he disappeared and I’m scared Athena, he just now getting better and this, whoever took him is just going to set him back further” Maddie gets a phone call from an unknown number and she looks at Athena who tells her to answer and puts it on speaker unaware of who it is. “Hello?” 

“Hey, Maddie it’s Noah Bradshaw, the detective on your case with Doug and briefly dated Evan” Noah’s rambled explanation causes the entire team to look at Maddie in confusion, but Maddie glances at Eddie’s reaction, and other than the weird look he gives that's it, but Maddie knows he’s hiding it. “I would’ve called Evan, but he’s not answering and I have to tell someone but I need to know your safe before I tell you” 

Maddie is bewildered at Noah’s vague explanation but has to know. She looks around the room and dubs herself safe before she responds. “I’m safe Noah, what’s going on?” 

“You know I would only alert you if it was about Doug, and well, it’s about Doug” 

Maddie visibly shakes at the thought of Doug and everyone catches it but doesn’t say anything yet. “What about him?” 

“Maddie I’m sorry to inform you and I wish I could be there for you and Evan, but Doug escaped prison a few days ago and he was reported to be seen heading toward L.A. last time CCTV footage caught sight of him” 

Maddie’s whole world is crumbling around her and she’s going down with it. Like things couldn’t get any worse, and then it dawns on her. Buck went missing, just a few days after Doug escaped prison. This means Buck didn’t disappear, he was kidnapped by Doug and that’s why he was yelling for Maddie, not because he was calling for help, but because he wanted to make sure Maddie was safe from Doug. She also starts to piece more things together and realizes Doug took Buck instead of Maddie, but why? To get revenge on Buck for beating the shit out of Doug the last time? To make Maddie feel miserable? Well mission accomplished Doug.“Maddie!” Maddie is jumped out of her thoughts by Noah yelling her name. “I’m still here, sorry” 

“I can try and figure out where he is, but Maddie I’m not going to be much help I’m sorry” 

“It’s ok Noah, I have a police friend of my own she’ll find Doug and Buck” 

“Buck? Who’s Buck?” 

“That’s his nickname now Noah. When you told me Doug escaped just ten minutes after I found out Buck is missing the pieces started clicking in my head, so thank you and I’ll let you know when we find him” 

“Ok, Maddie just keep me updated. I still care about him even if we’re not together anymore” 

“I’ll keep you updated Noah” Maddie hangs up and everyone is still staring at her confused and they should be, Maddie never told them about Doug and her past. “You guys are looking at me weird and I know why. I’m sorry I never told you guys” Maddie makes eye contact with Athena turning serious. “But Athena he’s bad news and Buck is in trouble. When Doug went to prison, Buck helped put him away and he did that by protecting me and punching the shit out of him and now I think he’s taking his anger on Buck and making me miserable in the process. God, are Buck and I ever going to be ok?” Maddie asks mainly to herself before bowing her head into her lap.

---------------------------------------

Buck wakes up very uncomfortable and still wearing off the drugs that Doug involuntarily gave him to get him out of the 118 and away from Eddie and Maddie and help, but at least Doug is here and not with Maddie, small victories despite being tied up like a starfish and did he mention he’s shirtless, yeah fun times. 

“Oh good you're awake” Doug’s voice is a sickening thought to Buck and he had hoped Maddie and Buck were free of ever hearing that voice again. He was wrong. “Not up for chitchat? That’s ok this isn’t a chitchat type of thing. All I want to do is make you suffer and in turn, make Maddie suffer” 

“She’s not here asshole, it’s just you and me” 

“On the contrary Evan, she will be watching. You see I set up a camera and when I hit record she will watch as I pick you apart and leave you helpless like you left me” 

Buck is furious, anger fuming at the seams despite being tied up. “You were going to hurt my sister, I couldn’t just let you hurt her” 

“Just sounds like excuses to me?” 

“And you drugging me, kidnapping me, and most likely going to rearrange my insides, is a reasonable excuse” Buck snarls at the man despite his prone position. His SEAL training already kicked in and the moment he gets a chance he’s going to wish he didn’t kidnap Buck, cause this time Buck isn’t going to hold back and he doesn’t care how much pain he’ll be in, Doug will never see the outside of this building again if Buck can help it. During Buck’s thought process, Doug was already preparing to beat him up, putting on brass knuckles and setting up the camera. 

“Don’t worry Evan, I’m going to beat you up and then I’m going to record, and then 

I’m gonna beat you up more” Doug says everything menaically happy and psychotic, definitely psychotic. 

----------------------------

Three hours later, Buck is still missing and Maddie is splitting at the seams in anxiety. Despite Athena knowing that Doug captured Buck, there is nothing else Athena has. The entirety of the 118 had stopped taking calls to be there for Maddie in support. Eddie has finally sat down despite his best efforts at standing stoically and acting like everything is fine. Hen had pulled him down next to her and Maddie. All of a sudden Chimney can’t take the silence, so he turns on the TV to find something to ease their mind, when they get a request for someone screen-mirroring the TV. Chimney looks around and everyone hasn’t even seen the TV yet, so it can’t be from them, and on the off chance it might be Buck or something that leads to Buck, Chim accepts it and Doug is on their screen. “Maddie is that Doug?” 

Maddie shoots up at the sound of his name and sees him on the screen in front of them. “Yeah, that’s him” At Maddie’s response everyone turns to the screen and Chimney turns up the volume on Doug. 

“Hey Maddie, I know you're just so excited to see me and I hope your little family is supporting you through this tough time, but I thought you would like to see your dear little brother” If everyone’s attention wasn’t on the screen before it is now and Doug moves out of the way to see Buck’s head hanging low and exhausted from all of the already forming bruises, blood, and gashes all across his front half of his body. Maddie’s not sure if her brother’s face was spared, but she guesses not. She can also feel Eddie fuming at the sight of Buck and grabs his hand to calm him down and he involuntarily does it for her. “He’s a little beaten and bruised, but he’s ok. He’s quite stubborn though. Couldn’t even give me a whimper of pain. It’s a shame though it means this next part should be more fun, well for me that is” Doug steps out of frame as everyone watches idly by and Athena tries to figure out where they’re at, but she doesn’t have much to work with. Buck is strained up with his arms to the walls of the room by chains and his feet dangling, it might be a warehouse, but there are a lot of warehouses in L.A. and she can’t see much else. She did, however, start recording the video while she analyzed what was going on. 

Eddie is not doing well. He knows Buck is a SEAL, but he also knows he was vulnerable before he was kidnapped and Eddie is worried because Buck doesn’t look good and his head doesn’t even shoot up until Doug says something to him. “You know Buck, I was looking through your phone, and other than your annoying big sister calling you multiple times” Doug rolls his eyes. “I noticed another number and the contact name was Eddie and I even went as far as to read his little voicemail for you. Would you like to hear it?” Doug shakes the phone in front of Buck’s hand making him jerk his face up at Doug Eddie has never seen that much hatred on Buck’s face, but he feels the same way toward the man hurting Buck. It all sinks in for Eddie when he realizes exactly what is on the voicemail. Doug hits play despite Buck’s best efforts to tell him to stop. 

“Hey Buck, I know you're probably not going to get this, but Maddie is really freaking out. I mean she’s really worried I think she’s called you maybe ten times if not more, but that’s not exactly why I’m leaving this message. I know I wanted to tell you in person, but after finding out Maddie’s crazy ass ex-husband has you and not some rando who walked into the firehouse and decided to pick you” Eddie chuckles at the thought, because only something like that would happen to Buck. “Anyway, Buck I- I just want to see you again and yesterday wasn’t enough for that and I want to spend every second of the rest of my existence watching you and Chris play games and helping him with his homework, and helping you when you're in pain, and be there for you, and right now I feel like I failed you. I feel like I could do something to save you from him, but I can’t and I hate it. Just come home Buck please, alive preferably. I need you” 

Eddie’s voicemail ends and Doug slams the phone down, most definitely cracking it. “You hear his pathetic pleas for you. It’s sickening actually for someone you barely know to feel that way about you. Well, unlike him I know you and even though you were Maddie’s annoying little brother, you’ve become a very attractive man and I think your next punishment is me getting a taste of the male Buckley” With that said Doug steps in front of Buck as he screams for his family not to watch him. More specifically aimed at Eddie and Maddie, but they don’t listen and watch horrifyingly as Doug’s lips land roughly on Buck’s and then after a few minutes Doug pulls away and talks to the camera again. “That my friends is just a sneak peek of what he’s going to get, but I decided you're not going to see that part and that this time Buck and I are going to be intimate and it should be between us and no one else. So with that said…” and Doug cuts off the camera, causing a static on the screen and Eddie screaming at it with his whole life in that screen. Maddie is comforting him and Chimney is comforting Maddie before they all look at Athena and hope she has something. 

“I got him” 

----------------------------- 

Athena gets to the scene with the 118 directly behind her, sirens off so as not to alert Doug. “Stay here until the place is cleared I will radio you when it’s safe to go in.” Athena directs and leaves no room for argument. Eddie wants to argue, but Bobby and Hen keep him from running in until they’re given the all-clear. When Athena enters the warehouse, it doesn’t take her long to hear Buck and Doug fighting. Athena better hurry. She barges into a room and sees Doug holding Buck in a chokehold with a gun to the side of his head, ready to blow his brains out. Buck sports new bruises, but so does Doug, and Athena can’t help but wonder what happened before she walked in. “Drop the gun” Athena holds out her own weapon, ready to take charge of the situation, but Doug doesn’t look like he’s going to back down. 

“Sergent Grant I presume, it’s nice of you to join the party but Buck and I were just leaving” Doug goes to move forward and Athena stands her ground trying not to focus on Buck’s bruised and battered form. 

“You really thought I was just going to let you walk out. There is nowhere for you to go especially not with that boy” 

“Awe she cares about you too doesn’t she Evan?” Buck doesn’t respond just glares at him and Athena has never seen so much hatred on someone’s face than she sees on Buck. “you see Athena, I’ve done some research on you and you seem like a pretty tough cookie to crack, but lucky for me, I love cracking people and shattering them to their core, just ask poor Buck here” Doug jerks him up more when he starts to slump, making him wince in pain despite his best efforts to hide it. Athena sees it and she knows he won’t last much longer without medical attention. “I’ve learned a lot about you and I know that you are no person to mess with, but I also know that you were beat up some time ago just like Buck here, by a man messing with women and he played you so good. I mean it is your fault for going alone how stupid was that, but you’ve at least learned from your mistakes so that’s good. One thing I don’t understand is why you haven’t just shot me I mean you did it to him, right? Shot him in cold blood, so just do it Athena Grant SHOOT ME!!!” Athena raises the gun, but before she can even get the chance, Buck’s adrenaline is back and he kicks Doug in the shin, causing him to drop the gun. In doing so, the gun shoots off and hits Buck in his leg dropping him to the ground right next to the gun before Athena can even register what’s going on, Doug runs toward Buck and towards the gun when a shot fires off and Doug drops dead to the ground and Buck slumps to the floor slipping the gun out of his hand. 

“Thena” Buck slurs and Athena is at his side in minutes while the two other officers watching the scene unfold, alert the 118 and cover Doug’s body before Eddie is running in, two seconds after the officers called them. 

“Eddie, that was quick. Wait, were you already heading this way?” 

“Maybe, but that doesn’t matter right now. How is he?” 

“I’m fine” Buck speaks for himself, but it comes out slurred again. 

“Sure you are” Eddie assesses Buck with his eyes and he speaks as soon as Hen comes in with the med bag while Eddie takes over supporting Buck’s head and Athena lets them be and pulls herself into Bobby’s embrace. “He’s got a concussion, possible broken ribs and internal bleeding, and a gunshot wound to his right thigh” Eddie spouts off as they stabilize him. “Hey, Buck how are we doing?” Eddie taps his cheek to keep those blue eyes looking up at him. 

“Like I was beaten up” Buck deadpans, hardly registering everything around him and barely notices when he sees the night stars shining at him as he’s brought outside and in the ambulance. He does try to stay awake, but it doesn’t work and the last thing he sees is Eddie’s dark chocolate eyes staring back into his ocean blue ones and the only thing he feels other than pain is Eddie’s hand running through his curls softly and his other hand in his hand. It’s very warm compared to his cold hands. 

-------------------------------------

When Buck wakes up, it is to the awful smell of a hospital and the very uncomfortable bed under him indicates he’s the one in the bed. He feels two very different hands in his, one is his sister. The small, soft hands cradling his left hand are a comforting contrast to Doug’s hands all over him. The second hand occupying his right hand is a large calloused hand, completely opposite to the other hands, but just as soft and reminds him fondly of the man those hands belong to and he realizes that the two people with him are the only two in the world he would want when he wakes up so that’s what he does. He turns to Maddie first. “Mads” he whispers, voice hoarse. 

“Buck” She wasn’t asleep, but she wasn’t focusing on her brother trying not to make herself cry, but hearing his voice again no matter how bad it sounded she wanted to cry again. “Oh my god, I’m so glad you're ok,” She says before giving him some water to sip on. 

“Thanks, that’s a lot better. How are you?” 

“Me, I’m not the one that got taken by my ex-husband and laying in a hospital bed again” Maddie states. 

“No, but it was your ex and he did it to hurt you and I know you saw the video and-” 

“And you're ok, that’s all that matters, but there is one thing I want to know before I leave you to talk to him” She gestures with her head to the sleeping Eddie at his bedside and he smiles before turning back to his sister. “Did he?” 

“No he didn’t, after the video ended he came back over and I was ready this time and I fought tooth and nail to keep him away from me and in the end, I slipped myself out of the chains and beat him up a few times before he got the upper hand and that’s when Athena came in and I-” Buck pauses. He’s not ashamed of it no matter how bad that sounds, but he isn’t sure what Athena has told them. 

“I know what you did, we all did and Athena is writing it off as self-defense because it was and if you didn’t kill him then-” Maddie is cut off by Buck. 

“I don’t regret it, Maddie, he hurt us and I couldn’t risk him doing it again and yeah it was self-defense, but as soon as I saw him in the firehouse I wanted to kill him” Buck states, and that anger is back, but it deflates when they hear Eddie stir and Maddie takes the time to go get coffee and inform everyone Buck’s awake while Buck and Eddie talk. 

“We’ll talk when I get back” Maddie states smiling at Eddie and Buck before kissing Buck’s birthmark and leaving the room. 

“Hi” 

“Hi” 

“Buck I’m so sorry I wasn't there when you needed me I-” 

“No Eddie, none of that. I heard your voicemail and I know you know I did. I don’t blame you, I don’t blame any of you. I wanted to be alone and Doug didn’t even let me have that” 

Eddie’s anger boils at just hearing his name and glances at the hospital room door like he’s expecting Doug to walk in. “how are you feeling about that anyway?” 

“Honestly, I’m fine it doesn’t bother me. I’ve killed a lot of people in my time as a SEAL and even though sometimes I wasn’t sure if I was actually killing a guy who deserved it or not, I knew Doug deserved it and I will never regret killing him, but I think my SEAL days are done” 

“Why because of your injuries? I’m sure you’ll be able to go back when you're fully healed. You and Hondo” Eddie suggests even though it kills him to encourage Buck. 

“Hondo isn’t going back either, he decided to be a leader of a S.W.A.T Team here in L.A. and that means I’ll get to see him more Ellie stopped too, she wants to spend more time with her family and I understand that. So I’ve decided to retire and whenever I get some spare time, hoping that no one else from my past tries to kidnap me, I’ll be contacting Steve after I get out of here” 

“That’s not funny”

“It is kind of funny” Buck smirks making Eddie roll his eyes fondly at the beautiful man in front of him, even despite the bruises littering his body. 

“So what are you going to do after that?” 

“After I heal?” Eddie nods in confirmation. “Well L.A. is our home now so I’m not leaving and maybe if there’s a spot open at the 118, I could be a firefighter and then maybe your partner, unless you think you might get tired of me” Buck smiles widely at Eddie and he blushes slightly at the possibilities of having Buck by his side all the time. 

“I don’t think I could ever get tired of you” Eddie smiles wider than Buck and then carefully leans forward, hovering over Buck. “Can I?” Eddie whispers into Buck’s space. 

“Of course, you can” Buck responds and Eddie kisses Buck’s sweet lips and it’s just that, a beautiful, sweet kiss before they pull away, Eddie’s head resting on Buck’s. “I want to spend every second of our lives with you as well Eds” Buck states softly referring to Eddie’s voicemail. 

“I wouldn’t want it any other way” Eddie responds kissing Buck one last time before Maddie comes back in and announces her presence with coffee Eddie takes the moment to squeeze Buck’s hand and grabs his coffee before leaving the siblings alone. 

“How did that go?” 

“Good, and Mads I think we’re staying in L.A. for a long time” Buck yawns feeling the tiredness sneaking in. 

“That’s good Buck because if we left Eddie and Howie would be following along with us” 

“You and him finally get together?” 

Maddie smiles just thinking about it. “Yeah we did, it happened a few days ago” 

“I’m happy for you Maddie, he seems good for you” 

“Eddie is good for you too, oh and Noah called while you were gone. You should call him so he’s not worried about you anymore” 

Buck smiles thinking about Noah and the time they had together and even though it wasn’t long it was special and Noah will always care about Buck and he will always care about Noah. “I will, thanks Maddie” 

Maddie just looks at her brother in awe and doesn’t see this scared boy who dragged her away from all the hurt and pain that came of Pennsylvania. She sees the man that has fought for everything they have now and although his injuries and hospital bills rack up from time to time, she couldn’t have it either way. She’s glad he dragged her out of that hospital and into his protective arms. The Buckley siblings have had their ups and downs for sure, but there is nothing she would change about their crazy lives because it led them to this moment. They both have families that care for them, they have people that will love them unconditionally, and on top of everything else they have each other. 

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Buck asks incredulously as he drifts off. 

Maddie smiles at her doped-up brother as he tries to fight off sleep. “Just that we did it. We are safe forever. No Doug, no mom and dad, and no more trauma (at least for a while) we’re safe Buck” 

“Yeah, we are Maddie” Buck's eyes close as Eddie returns with snacks from the vending machine. “I love you Mads” 

“I love you too little brother, get some rest” 

“OK,” and if he smiles contently at the people around him and the peace he feels before falling asleep, then no one needs to know. 

He and his sister have always been safe as long as they had each other—a united front if you will.

A tight bond between siblings that will never be broken.