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Bobby hasn’t been home for long when he decides he needs something productive to do. He moves around the kitchen in a haze of anger and hurt, opening the fridge with more force than necessary and causing the bottles of condiments to rattle in the door shelves. Pulling out a few bags of vegetables, he slams the fridge door so hard he’s sure he’s knocked something over inside, but he doesn’t pay it any mind. He goes about washing the vegetables, gritting his teeth when his phone starts to ring in his pocket. He lets it go to voicemail.
The knife clacks loudly in the silent house as he starts chopping the zucchini, putting every bit of anger he’s feeling into it. The front door opening and slamming shut drowns out the sound for a moment, and Bobby is sure he’s bruising the vegetable with how hard he’s gripping it.
“Bobby, we need to talk about this,” Athena says, her voice somewhere between commanding and pleading.
He doesn’t turn around, just grabs the onion and starts chopping again. “I’m not ready to talk.”
His phone starts ringing again, but he continues to ignore it.
“Uh uh, no. We are not letting this fester.” With a hand on his shoulder she forces him to turn and face her. “Talk.”
Bobby clenches his teeth behind his scowl, dropping the knife onto the cutting board and crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Fine. You--”
When his phone starts ringing again, he pulls out the device, turning off the ringer without even looking at the caller ID. The phone gets slammed to the counter next to the knife, and really, it’s a miracle he didn’t break it.
“You think that woman is a monster. That she’s undeserving of help because of all the harm she’s caused. All the people she killed.” And now the tears were threatening to form, but he blinks his eyes dry and takes a deep breath before he continues. “So what does that make me?”
The pinched look melts from her face immediately. “Bobby…”
“I killed people too,” Bobby breathes, suddenly strangled with emotion.
Athena is about to respond when her own phone starts ringing this time. Pulling it from her pocket, she frowns at the screen before answering quickly. “Chimney? What’s-- I’m right here with him. Why?”
All of Bobby’s emotions are suddenly eclipsed with concern and fear as he watches Athena’s face morph from confused to horrified. She meets his eyes, and a chill of dread flows down his spine.
“Where?” she demands. “Okay, we’ll call you when we know something.”
“What is it?” he asks as she hangs up, his gut telling him he doesn’t want to hear the answer.
…
Tires screech as they pull up to the scene, and Bobby is out of the SUV before Athena can even put it in park. There’s a police barricade, cops, detectives, and SWAT scattered across the block. There are several firefighters and EMTs being questioned, and each of them looks utterly shaken. But what truly sent a wave of horror through Bobby was the ladder truck riddled with bullet holes, and the horrifically large puddle of blood on the pavement in front of it.
“Oh my god…” Athena breathes, wrapping her hands around Bobby’s arm to anchor them both.
Ripping his eyes away from the blood, Bobby scans the scene until he finds a face he recognizes. He breaks free from Athena’s grasp and takes off, ducking under the yellow crime scene tape blocking off the area. He can hear Athena behind him, talking to the cop who was trying to stop him, but he doesn’t slow down.
“Captain Mehta!”
The man turns from the officer he was speaking to, and Bobby hates the way his face turns from serious to sympathetic. “Captain Nash.”
“What happened?” Bobby demands, feeling Athena’s hand settle on his shoulder. “Where are my men?”
“There was a sniper. Diaz was shot.”
All the air leaves Bobby’s lungs.
“He was alive when they left for the hospital,” Mehta rushes to say, reading the look on Bobby’s face. “He lost a lot of blood before we could get him help, but he was alive the last time I saw him.”
“What about Buck?” Athena asks, taking Bobby’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“He went with Diaz. Uninjured, but… definitely not okay.”
Bobby would have known that without being told. “What hospital?”
…
It’s not hard to spot Buck when they enter the ER waiting room. The man is hunched over, arms wrapped around his midsection, head bowed as he stares at the floor. Bobby is running across the room the second his eyes fall on Buck, Athena at his side.
“Buck!”
Buck raises his head at the sound of Bobby’s voice. Bile shoots up Bobby’s throat, the chill of horror running through his veins when he finally gets a look at the kid. He’s covered in blood literally from head to toe, and Bobby was trying not to think too hard about the fact that it was most likely Eddie’s. Buck’s eyes are dark and unfocused, and he seems to be looking through them rather than at them. There’s a tremble in his shoulders, and Bobby realizes he’s holding himself as if he were freezing.
Shock. The poor kid was still in shock.
“B-Bobby?” he rasps, sounding like he’d gargled sand. “‘Thena?”
“Yeah, kid. We’re here,” Bobby whispers, kneeling down in front of Buck to be at his eye level.
“Are you hurt, baby?” Athena asks, lovingly combing her fingers through Buck’s matted curls.
Buck seems puzzled by this question, and he takes a moment to think about it. “I don’t think so? Eddie is, though.”
Bobby shares a concerned look with Athena. Buck had said it so casually, as if he was telling them the sky is blue. “How about I take you back to your place to shower? Athena can wait here for news--”
Buck cuts him off with just a shake of his head, eyes falling back to the tile.
“Bobby, why don’t you take him to the bathroom and start cleaning him up?” When he looks up to meet Athena’s gaze, she lays a gentle hand on Bobby’s face, giving him all the strength she can through the loving touch. “I’ll go find out about Eddie and try to find Buck something else to wear.”
Tears prick Bobby’s eyes as she leans in to press a kiss to his cheek before she leaves. Once she’s gone, he turns back to Buck and dips his head in an attempt to make eye contact. Buck just continues to look right through him.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Bobby says, in a tone he hasn’t used since his daughter skinned her knee falling off her bike.
Buck shakes his head again, squeezing his arms tighter around himself.
“We’re not leaving,” Bobby soothes, laying a gentle hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Just going to the bathroom. Okay?”
Buck nods in agreement without even looking up. They stand together, and Bobby keeps a steady hand on Buck’s shoulder as he leads him toward the men’s room. Once inside, Bobby does a quick check to make sure they have the room to themselves, at least for the moment. When Bobby comes back to him, Buck is still standing in the spot he left him, staring at the floor. He’s a shell of himself, and the longer it goes on, the more terrified Bobby becomes. He doesn’t even know if Eddie is still alive. Between the way Buck looks and the way he’s acting, it’s a very real possibility that he's not.
Bobby guides him to lean against the counter and grabs some paper towels from the automatic dispencer. He runs them under warm water and rings them out, then takes Buck’s chin between his gentle fingers and starts to wipe the blood from his face. They’re quiet as Bobby works, his eyes darting back to Buck’s every few seconds to watch for a reaction of any kind. Buck just continues to stare, unseeing, at a spot somewhere behind Bobby.
Once Buck’s face and neck are sufficiently clean, Bobby tosses the red and orange stained paper towels into the trash. Just then the door opens, and Athena steps into the room. Her eyes are sad as she takes in the two of them, but she gives Bobby an encouraging smile as she sets a small pile of neatly folded clothes on the sink’s counter. “A nurse gave me some scrubs for him, and I got him a sweatshirt from the gift shop.”
“How is Eddie?” Bobby asks hesitantly.
“Alive,” Athena begins, knowing exactly what Bobby needed to hear. “He’s still in surgery.”
He heaves a soft sigh of relief. “We’ll be out soon.”
She gives him a nod and a sad smile as she leaves.
When Bobby looks back, it’s like Buck is actually seeing him for the first time since he got there. His brows are pinched in confusion, blue eyes scanning Bobby’s face. He’s not sure what Buck is looking for or seeing, but all at once the kid’s eyes well up with tears and his lip starts to wobble. Without hesitation Bobby pulls Buck into his arms, and the younger man slumps against his chest, letting out an agonizing mewl. Suddenly Buck’s legs give out and Bobby guides them to the cold tiles as whimpers turn to strangled wails. Bloody fingers dig into Bobby’s arm, desperately clinging, but he doesn’t flinch. He just cradles Buck’s head against his chest, shushing him gently as he falls apart.
“I’ve got you, kid,” Bobby soothes, pressing a kiss to Buck’s wild curls. “I’ve got you.”