Chapter Text
“He’s built like a fucking tree.” Eddie is currently pacing around the upstairs area of the station, running a hand through his hair as he turns to the others “how could someone just..take him?” Bobby sits him down in one of the chairs that surround the table, the chair that Buck just so happens to sit in for every meal. The chair that Eddie is now breaking down in. Buck has been missing for about 33 hours, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it feels like a lifetime to Eddie.
Schedules got weird and the team got put down for another shift while Buck got away with taking the weekend off. He was supposed to go pick up Chris from a friend's house this morning, but when he didn’t show up, Chris called Eddie, and Eddie called buck…26 times. Listen, the last time Buck didn’t pick up the phone, it was because he had gotten himself caught in the middle of a tsunami. But no natural disaster is happening in LA at the moment, and there was no life-threatening injury going on for Buck as far as we know. So why the hell has he disappeared?
Nobody fully has an answer for that except for the fact that his car was found in the back alley behind one of the nearby bars. That’s what Athena told the team 47 minutes ago.
“We should be out there looking for him. Kicking down doors, not sitting here.”
“Whose doors?” Hen’s voice is soft as she speaks, but there’s no doubt that she is worried too, you can hear it if you listen close enough, the slight tremble as she tries her hardest to remain calm, not for herself but for everyone around her, like always, like Buck. He shakes his head quickly, standing up a bit too fast for his liking, but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter because his best friend is gone, and a headache is not going to stop him from burning down the world to find him.
“I don’t know. But there has to be something we can do…Like the- the guy! You said he left with a guy, who was the guy? Who did he leave with?” He turned to Athena, but that feeling of dread built back up in his body as he noticed the look on her face. “We don’t know. Nobody at the bar recognized him, and the camera angles couldn’t pick up a face or plate.” “So what are you saying?” He ran his hand through his hair again, keeping it on the back of his neck for a moment as he stared at the woman. “Are you saying there’s nothing we can do? That he’s gone?” “Nobody is saying anything Eddie.” Bobby’s voice was masked, hiding how he actually felt about the whole situation. That was his kid, though he never said it, it didn’t make it any less true. Ask anyone, Evan Buckley is Robert Nash’s son, and right now Robert Nash has to deal with the fact that his kid is gone, and he has to put on a brave face to be strong for his team. Eddie knows he’s not the only worried one worried here, he’s not the only one that loves Buck, but dammit why does it feel like he’s the only one trying.
“Eddie, I'm sending you home for the day, you can’t work like this.”
He turned his head up at the words, feeling his voice catch in his throat for a minute. He would normally argue but there was no point. Cap was right, he can’t work like this, and he sure as hell doesn’t want to. “Fine.” He walked down the stairs, grabbing his bag from the locker room before leaving out the doors, not bothering to change from his uniform.