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Albert
Buck gets a third beer from the fridge, wanting to forget today’s call. It had been a tough one. Albert looks at him strangely.
“You sure you want to drink that, Buck?” Buck glares at him. He wonders if Maddie put him up to this. “Hey don’t get mad at me. I only asked because you said you are dropping off your kid to school in the morning.”
Shit, he did have to drop off Chris tomorrow. Carla had said she would not be able to make it early morning. It is only after a few minutes that Buck realises Albert had said your kid. Buck is used to strangers calling him, Eddie and Christopher a family. He’s also been called Christopher’s dad multiple times when he takes him out alone. He never bothers to correct them because it leaves a warmth inside of him, a fulfilment of an impossible fantasy if only for a moment. It’s not as if he would meet them again so is there any harm in letting them think he is Christopher’s father? It is better than the awkward conversation to explain that he is not.
But Albert is not a stranger. Albert knows the truth. He wonders if Albert knows how he feels and is trying to goad him. Did Maddie tell him and Chimney about it? He wouldn’t expect her to but how else could Albert know? He reminds himself to take a few deep breaths, aware that he might start hyperventilating if he did not stop this train of thought now.
He puts the beer back in the fridge and ignores Albert as he heads upstairs to his bed.
Hen
Carla had dropped Christopher at the firehouse because she had a family emergency and Eddie and Buck’s shift was to end in an hour. They had just returned from a call and Buck, as usual, told Chris a child-friendly version of what happened, followed by Christopher telling him about his day. He was excited because his science class had been covering the universe and he was getting extremely interested in constellations.
“You know what would be fun? Having a telescope,” Chris gushed.
His enthusiasm was contagious and Buck was smiling widely. “I’ll do some research on the different models tonight and then - “
“Hey hey hey, we’re not getting him a telescope,” Eddie interrupted. “The electric circuit set you got him last month was opened twice. The chess set has not seen the light of day after the day it arrived. You are not adding another item to the list.”
“Daaaad! I promise it won’t happen this time. I really really want to look at the stars and the planets. Do you know you can even see Jupiter sometimes?”
“Please, Eds, just this one time? I’ll make sure Chris makes good use of it.”
Eddie huffed as both of them looked at him with their puppy dog eyes. Buck knew he could never resist the two of them together. “Fine, but this is the last time.”
“Now we know who the fun parent is,” Hen commented from the other end of the table as Chris hugged Buck. Buck chooses to ignore her.
Taylor
Taylor is ranting about her producer/boyfriend when Buck’s phone rings. He is about to ignore it when he sees it is from Carla. He immediately starts imagining the worst possible scenarios. “Carla? Is Chris okay? What happened?”
“Buuuck! It’s me. I wanted to talk to you.” Buck lets out a relieved sigh when he hears Christopher’s cheerful voice.
“Hey buddy. What’s going on? Shouldn’t you be finishing up your homework?”
“I’m done with it. I only have to work on my science project now but I don’t know what to do.”
“Uhm, a volcano?” Buck suggests, not sure if that is age appropriate. He makes a mental note to look up science projects for nine year olds.
“That’s for kids, Buck! I need a grown up project.” Buck laughs.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I called you.” Buck’s heart skips a beat.
“Tell you what superman, let’s you and I both think of some ideas today and we’ll finalise it and start working on it when I come over tomorrow. Sound good?”
“Yes!! And can we go for ice cream after that?” Buck can see the smile that would be on Chris’ face right now. The one no one can resist.
“Only if you eat your veggies tonight.”
“Ughh, fine. By Buck. I love you.”
“Love you too kiddo. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Taylor is looking at him and smiling when he hangs up. “What?”
“You’re such a good dad,” she says before continuing her rant.
Eddie
“Why does Eddie get double time with the charger?” Chimney complained. Buck had told him that they only for one hour per 24 hours, which really was the protocol. Buck was about to tell Chimney that Eddie had not violated it, it was Buck who had given his hour to Eddie because he needed it to keep in touch with Christopher. But Eddie spoke up first.
“Because I’m the father of his kid.” Eddie grinned. Buck stared at him, wide-eyed but Eddie had already turned back, as if he had said something completely normal. As if he had not just dropped an emotional nuclear missile on Buck’s world.
Chimney tilted his head and smirked. “Anything you want to tell us, Buckley?”
“Nope. You done with the form or are you waiting for Jee’s next birthday to get the charger?” Buck was proud of how normal his voice sounded despite the storm inside him.
Bobby
“Hey Cap, you got a minute?”
“What did you do?” Bobby sounds exasperated but his eyes are smiling as he gestures Buck to take a seat.
“Why do you assume - “ Buck stopped at Bobby’s pointed stare. “Fair enough. But I did not do anything, not yet anyways. It’s about Christopher.”
“I’m listening.” Bobby goes into his caring dad mode.
“Lately he seems to be acting up a little? He asks me for something that I know Eddie would not approve or has already refused. I hate saying no to him, but I also can’t go against what Eddie wants. Moreover, I’m not even someone who can give him permission.”
“You can’t really say that Buck. From what I have seen, Eddie has given you full reign on deciding what’s good for his son. And what you are seeing now, is Christopher realising it as well. So now, he’s testing the boundaries to see what he can get away with. Kids are crafty. They always ask the other parent for permission even if one of them said no. This is especially so when the second parent newly joins the family.”
“But I’m not his parent, Bobby. I’m Eddie’s friend. Hell, I’m Christopher’s friend.”
“Buck, you can be his friend and parent at the same time. I don’t know what you are thinking, but from my side of things, you already act like one. The fact that you asked for advice on this problem is evidence enough. Eddie and Christopher obviously treat you as you are already.”
Buck thought about what Bobby said. He still didn’t agree with his Captain but he did need a solution. “Uh so what do I do?”
“You implicitly set those boundaries. You don’t always have to agree with what Eddie wants but both of you should have a united front when it comes to important issues. So you let him know that if Eddie has said something, it goes without question but you are still there for him in case he thinks that it was unfair. You need to dad up, Buck.”
Buck chuckles because it is clearly a joke (right?) but he is not sure how to follow Bobby’s advice. The phrase dad up keeps floating in his head all day.
Christopher
It’s Valentine’s day and Chimney and Hen were discussing their plans for the next afternoon after their shift ended. Chimney and Maddie were going for a late brunch (which was absolutely not lunch because there would be mimosas). Hen was taking Karen to an exhibition about AI which Karen had been raving about. Buck was glad Eddie wasn’t around to listen to the details of the exhibition otherwise it would have been another week of no video games at the Diaz house. Bobby chimed in about his plans to stay in for the afternoon (which Buck did not want to hear because come on, it was Bobby and Athena. They were practically his parents in everything but blood. And no one, Buck will repeat, no one wants to hear about their parents’ activities.) But they were planning to go for a romantic dinner later.
Buck was wondering if he could ask Eddie about hanging out with him and Chris when the man in question came over and handed him the phone. “Chris wants to talk to you.”
“Hey superman, what’s up?”
“Buck! Will you come over for lunch tomorrow please?” Buck agreed, though it seemed odd to him that Chris especially wanted to talk to him to ask this instead of Eddie just telling him to come over. So he asked if it was a special occasion. “Yeah, it’s Valentine’s day,” Chris said matter-of-factly.
The next day, when Buck arrived at Eddie’s house, he was surprised to see the spread on the table. There were a couple of different salads, grilled cheese sandwiches, some PB&Js, a bowl of mixed berries, juices and heart shaped cookies.
“I made lunch,” Chris declared proudly. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Buck!” He held out his arms as always and Buck picked him up and held him close. “Carla says that today is about love, all kinds of it. So, I want to celebrate it with you and dad.” Buck blinked to hold back his tears.
“Carla is one smart woman. And I am so happy and honoured that you want to spend it with me, Christopher. I love you, buddy.”
“I love you too, Buck. Now let’s eat.”
Once they were sitting in the living room, Eddie produced something red from behind him and Christopher handed the gift to Buck. “What is this?”
“Open and find out,” Eddie teased.
Buck slowly pulled at the ribbon and found a set of papers inside. He had barely read the words ‘Adoption Order’ when his tears found their ways down his cheeks. The form was already filled up and all that was left was for Buck to sign.
Buck looked up at Eddie, vision blurred by this tears. “You have been a part of our family since the day you met Christopher. You’ve always been there for him and for me. And I know it is difficult for you to internalise it when I tell you we feel the same. So we want to make it official, and tell you how much you mean to us.”
“Buck, will you be my other dad?” That was what broke him. He nodded furiously, smiling and pulling both of them into a tight hug.