Chapter Text
Cecelia Reynolds had been a nurse for a good ten years, and if you asked her, she would tell you that the worst patients weren’t doctors, they weren’t other nurses, they were first responders.
The members of firehouse 118 were frequent visitors to the First Presbyterian emergency room, both to drop off patients and to get seen themselves. At first, Cecelia couldn’t stand the lot of them. There was Henrietta “Call me Hen” Wilson, who was, admittedly, a great paramedic and very knowledgeable and had even ended up going to medical school but could never stop correcting her care team whenever she was checked out. There was Howard “Call me Chimney” (there had to be a story there) Han, who wise-cracked every minute he was awake and never ceased to remind Cecelia that he’d “had worse.”
“Yes, I know Mr. Han. I was there when you came in with the rebar through your skull, we don’t need to rehash this story, so if you’ll just relax I’ll take your vitals.”
There was Bobby Nash, the captain, who somehow had the worst fear of needles Cecelia had ever seen, and was endlessly combative about getting the care he needed, fighting to get discharged as soon as humanly possible. He was always there when the others were in, though, and sometimes apologized for his behavior at his last visit, so that was something.
Of the 118 members Cecelia would choose to treat if given the option, Evan “Buck” Buckley and Eddie Diaz would be her first and second picks. And sure, Buck, who the nursing staff lovingly called “Hotshot,” could be frustrating. He was a smooth-talker, and often the newer nurses fell easy victim to his charm, letting him move around when he was meant to be on bed rest or smuggling him coffee. Cecelia knew from a shift covering Robin’s patients in MedSurg that Buck also got pretty irritable after being in the hospital for more than a couple days. But Buck always greeted Cecelia with a smile and a “How’s Marcy?” and Cecelia was half-convinced the bubbly firefighter actually wanted to hear how her wife, whom he had never met, was taking up ceramics and making all the plates and bowls for the house.
Eddie Diaz, dubbed “The Broody One,” while mostly quiet and cooperative when someone was administering care, was just plain stubborn. It took Cecelia three times on the man’s case before she figured out his tells and could accurately gauge his pain. He refused to ask for help unless he absolutely definitely needed it and on multiple occasions had quietly made his escape from the ER without discharge papers before being brought back in by Buck and watched like a hawk.
And that’s what really made it desirable to treat Buck and Eddie, they kept each other in check. Of course, this did make it absolute hell whenever they were both being checked out, as they insisted on adjacent beds and spent their entire visit worrying about each other. It made sense though, they were together. And the drama was just another reason every ER nurse in First Presbyterian jumped at the chance to treat Evan Buckley or Eddie Diaz.
It started like this: Cecelia was aware there was a new-ish member of the 118. She’d seen him come in with patients, he’d learned her name from that alone. Eddie Diaz hadn’t been checked into Cecelia’s ER, and before he would be, several things happened:
One Shannon Diaz died in trauma bay 2. Cecelia gave Eddie her condolences and his wife’s belongings.
About a week later, Evan Buckley got his leg crushed. Cecelia had seen it on the news, she had seen Eddie holding his hand as he was dragged out from under the ladder truck. She had seen Eddie still holding it when they burst through the ER doors.
A few months later, Buck was brought in by ambulance again, this time with a pulmonary embolism and a woman who introduced herself as “Maddie, his sister.” Apparently, she used to be a nurse. Cecelia was quite impressed by the talking-to she gave her brother when she learned he’d been ignoring symptoms. Cecelia had been planning to give him that talk herself. Eddie had come in a few minutes after that. Alice at reception has dutifully reported that when asked his relation to the patient, he hesitated before answering “he’s my partner.”
Then the tsunami rocked LA, and Buck had been brought to First Presbyterian to be checked out properly after a quick stint at one of the field hospitals, and Cecelia, Leo, and Savannah had paused their frantic laps around the ER to look in awe at Buck, Eddie, and the son they didn’t know they had.
“He looks just like Buck!” Leo had commented a few days later, when everything had calmed down for the most part.
“But he called him ‘Buck’ and Eddie ‘Dad.’” Savannah argued.
“They can both be his Dads,” Cecelia had reasoned. “Maybe it’s less weird to call Buck his nickname than Eddie. When the baby’s born, Marcy’s going to be ‘Momma’ and I’m going to be ‘Mommy.’”
“Well, yeah, Cici, that makes sense, but they’re not going to use the name that everyone else uses, like apparently Buck and Eddie’s kid does. I really think he’s Eddie’s, is all I’m saying, and there was his wife!”
“That’s fair, and Buck’s younger, anyway, I think.” Leo flicked the spoon for his yogurt in thought, Savannah scowled as some drops hit her face. “I mean they would both have to have been young when the kid was born, but still.”
“Clearly they both love the kid, and the kid loves them back, so does it really matter?” And just like that, Cecelia put the issue to bed.
The first time Eddie Diaz landed himself under Cecelia’s care, Buck was with him nearly the entire time. The only time he left Eddie’s side was when he came back five minutes later from the ER lobby with the kid, who Cecelia learned was named Christopher, and who was the cutest child in the whole world - besides the three month old Sylvia Reynolds.
Apparently, Eddie had gone hypothermic after being buried alive under mud during a thunderstorm and swimming his way out. Buck spent the entire night clinging to Eddie’s arm and watching his vitals like his own life depended on it. Leo and Savannah were extremely jealous that Cecelia got to see all the cute little moments between them firsthand.
Alice had reported back that the kid’s last name was Diaz. Damn the debate, Savannah had been right.
Besides Buck coming in one time with Captain Nash hovering above him to be checked out for smoke inhalation, Buck and Eddie hadn’t been seen as patients in the ER in quite some time. That was, until the shooting.
Cecelia and Leo had been there when he’d been brought in. Savannah would curse herself for taking a lunch break later. Cecelia was waiting at the trauma boy doors as the fire engine rolled up and Evan Buckley produced himself from the side, covered in blood, and as he frantically pulled the source of the blood - an unconscious Eddie Diaz, out after him, placing him on the gurney and chasing after the trauma team as they started to assess. Cecelia did not miss the look on Buck’s face as the doors closed between them.
So they were desperately in love, right? It was sickeningly sweet, and Cecelia, Leo, and Savannah were so glad Eddie was okay and going to wake up soon and love was real and-
Robin sauntered into the break room with the most mischievous grin on their face. “You’ll never believe what I just found out.”
All heads snapped to attention.
“About Eddie? He’s on your caseload, right? You weren’t lying?” Savannah demanded.
“The Broody One has a fucking girlfriend.”
Jaws dropped. Spoons hit the table. Yogurt went everywhere. They were shocked.
“But-but-but BUCK!” Leo nearly screamed.
Cecelia’s head was in her hands. It was a lot to process. “So is he cheating or were we just way off-base?”
“Maybe they broke up?” Savannah offered. They all looked to Robin.
“Second option, I’m pretty sure. Sorry guys.”
“They were never together?” Leo stared at the wall in disbelief.
Savannah looked as if she might cry. “I think they were the best couple I know.”
“Wait, Robin. Why do you think we were wrong?” Leave it to Cecelia, who was also crying a bit, on the inside, to be the voice of reason.
“Well the girlfriend - her name’s Ana - was on the phone with someone - I think it was Eddie’s aunt - and said something about Eddie’s ‘friend’ Buck staying with Christopher - that’s the son, right?”
“Friend?” Leo balked.
“But Eddie told Alice he was Buck’s partner…” Cecelia tried to sort out the two realities at war in her head.
“I think Ana mentioned they were work partners, if that helps. She was telling me he brought Eddie in.”
“Work partners don’t look at each other like that.” Savannah stated what they were all thinking.
“This is better than Netflix.” Cecelia muttered.
It was all made more confusing when Robin reported two days later that Buck came in to drive Eddie home - at the latter’s request and they were “ this close to kissing, I swear!”
“I may or may not have been eavesdropping, but Eddie put Buck in his will.” Robin leaned in close at the table in the break room. “If Eddie - god forbid - dies, or becomes incapacitated, I suppose, Buck is Christopher’s legal guardian.”
“How is it possible to babytrap someone you’re not even dating?” Savannah rubbed her temples.
“Oh, Buck was plenty complicit from what I can tell.” Robin grinned. “I mean he only just found out about the will but he’s been watching Christopher unprompted all week. ”
“They’re idiots, aren’t they?”
They went a few months without much news, until Eddie came into the ER with a panic attack that he was sure was a heart attack and Savannah was there to see his dynamic with Ana herself.
“It was weird. Like, Christopher seems to like her enough. I think I caught something along the lines of ‘when I was in your class’ which is a bit crazy, but Eddie was - like - nervous around her or something. God, from the sound of it she might’ve caused the panic attack herself!”
“How?” Leo demanded.
“Apparently they were shopping for suits for the kid and someone said something about Ana being Chris’s mom, which we’ve established is not the case.”
“He didn’t bat an eye when I called Christopher Buck’s son that one time.” Leo commented, offhandedly, but it still attracted the crazed eyes of his coworkers. “What?”
“You didn’t tell us that happened!”
“Oh, well it was when we still thought they were together, so, it didn’t seem that unusual at the time.”
“What is going on between those two?” Cecelia mumbled as she threw her yogurt cup away and returned to the floor.
They didn’t have to wait long to see Hotshot and The Broody One again. LA was thrust into a city-wide blackout and the hospital’s generators couldn’t keep the ventilators in the ER running. They were bagging by hand when the 118 came in with a patient and Cecelia, Savannah, and Leo watched as Buck discovered his best friend (“Is that really what we’re going with? You won’t even spring for sweetheart?”) had visited this exact ER less than a week prior. It was really sweet, the way Buck worried and doted on Eddie. It would have been sweeter if they would just kiss about it and put everyone out of their misery.
Cecelia rushed to tell the others a few weeks later when she overheard Eddie talking about his recent breakup.
“What do you mean he’s dating Taylor Kelly?” Savannah pleaded with Leo. Cecelia was lightly banging her head against the break room table.
“He was there! He was her date!” Leo responded.
“And remind me why you were there, again? At the Channel 8 holiday party?”
“I know a guy. Listen, that’s not the point. The point is that Hotshot has been dating Taylor Kelly for 7 months.”
“Eddie got shot 7 months ago.”
“ Exactly.”
“They’re going to be the death of me.”
Funnily enough, Buck was the death of himself - temporarily. His pulse was back by the time he reached the ER and Eddie yelled “Do more!” to Cecelia’s promise that they’d do their best. Normally, she would’ve been irritated by that, but it was BuckandEddie, they were idiots in love, it was understandable.
Simon from the ICU sent valuable information by text to Cecelia a couple of days later. Cecelia immediately relayed it to the inner circle.
“So first things first, he is still in the coma, we have no idea if it is actually possible that the lightning shocked some sense into him.” Cecelia scrolled through the texts. “He’s doing better, and Eddie finally went inside to visit him. Apparently he’d just been pacing the halls for days. He hasn’t been eating, is barely staying hydrated, and hasn’t left the building since Bobby made him go home to shower and change.”
“But he finally went in?”
“Carla - the home health care aid that takes care of Chris - she brought him here and distracted Simon really obviously while Eddie snuck the kid into Buck’s room. Apparently Nicole saw the whole thing go down, too, Eddie wouldn’t look at him, and he was crying.”
“The Broody One can cry?”
“When the love of his life is on ECMO and his son is asking him to wake up?” Cecelia faux-clarified. “Yeah, apparently Eddie Diaz can cry.”
“They’re so in love it hurts me. ” Savannah complained playfully.
“Oh -” Cecelia added as a new text came in. “And Simon says he thinks Buck broke up with Taylor Kelly. She’s nowhere to be found.”
“Small wins, small wins.” Leo pumped his fist.
It had been really annoying when nearly the entire 118 was brought into the ER following the bridge collapse. The nurses had watched it with baited breath as they hoped their two favorite firefighters made it out okay. And, well, that was half true. Eddie would have you believe their hopes were 100% correct, but those ribs were definitely broken. Cecelia flashed Leo and Savannah a smug smile as she pulled seniority and claimed Eddie’s case for herself, leaving the others to deal with the more annoying (“But they’re also more interesting!”) cases of Hen, Chimney, and Bobby.
Buck was fine, as affirmed by Cecelia checking as soon as Eddie was settled on the bed with pain meds as they waited for the x-rays to be checked by the doctor. Buck stayed the entire 5 hours Eddie was in the ER and ordered them both an uber. Cecelia thought Buck would’ve spent the night watching Eddie, but apparently he had other things going on.
Cecelia, Leo, and Savannah were absolutely shocked when Buck arrived once again to the ER that night, out of uniform, covered in bodily fluids, holding a baby, with the baby’s mother on the gurney being wheeled in by the paramedics in front of him. They were partly relieved and mostly exasperated to discover that while apparently the baby was biologically his, he was just the donor and his friend, the dad, was on his way. No, Buck wasn’t romantically or sexually involved with this woman, but he did just deliver her baby.
Oh, but the other woman? The one that was a few steps behind them, also covered in blood and amniotic fluid? Yeah, he was dating her.
“Why? Just why?” Savannah said through a mouthful of cotton candy trix yogurt - Cecelia had broken out the sickly-sweet kids’ stash for this particular buddie vent session. “That was such an unnecessary roller coaster of emotions. When is he going to figure out that he’s been in love with Eddie for literal years . What are we on, now?”
“Four. Four years.”
“Four years of pining and I don’t even think they know it.”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. They’re idiots .”
“They’re gay, it’s allowed.” Leo cut in, as if Cecelia wasn’t a practicing lesbian.
“It’s annoying.” She reasserted. The others agreed.
Robin sent the picture nearly a year later. It hadn’t been that the 118 hadn’t been seen since then, but they hadn’t gotten hurt, which was really annoying to the hardworking and very gossipy nurses of the First Presbyterian ER. To be fair, the 118 had delivered many interesting cases to them in the meantime - that girl stuck to the pavement from the bachelor mansion had Savannah and Leo screaming. Cecelia was just trying to overhear what Hotshot and The Broody One were saying.
Anyway, the picture might’ve changed everything, except that idiot was kissing the wrong guy. Because while one of the people passionately making out in the hallway was definitely Evan Buckley, the other was decidedly not Eddie Diaz.
“He was there too!” Robin tried to comfort the still-dumbfounded ER nurses later. “Eddie was at the wedding. He didn’t seem surprised, neither did Maddie. Everyone else looked a little confused, so this is probably a recent development.”
“I just need a minute.” Savannah pressed her fingers on her temples.
“From a gay perspective,” Leo started off strong. “Eddie has to be in love with Buck, right? So the only reason he wouldn’t act on it if he knew Buck batted for that team was if he didn’t know he was in love with Buck!”
“Or maybe he’s too nice to say anything because, dare I say it, Buck is actually happy with this guy.”
“Cici! Take that back! Eddie and Buck are soulmates.”
“And they’ll come around, eventually.”
When Eddie and Buck visited Captain Nash in the hospital following his heart attack, they sat close, spoke too softly for the nurses to hear, and looked sad. Robin said they heard Hen mumble something about Chris. The only thing Cecelia witnessed herself was Buck promising Eddie “he’ll come back” as they passed her in the lobby. Her heart ached for the three of them.
Hannah was the newest member of the ER nursing staff at First Presbyterian. She wasn’t new to nursing, with 6 years of experience under her belt, but she came in blind where it concerned BuckandEddie.
“Did you see that cute firefighter couple come in?” Hannah asked Cecelia. She had to be asking Cecelia, she was the only other person in the break room. Cecelia did not see them come in, but she was suddenly very interested.
“Who was it? I might know them.” Cecelia attempted to act nonchalant. She doubted it was working.
“I don’t remember the names, but he’s on your caseload, that’s why I was asking.”
“Oh.”
“They came in right from work, if you could believe it. They’re easy on the eyes, too. A shame they’re taken, but they make such a cute couple.”
“How’d you know they’re a couple?”
“They said they were partners.”
“Right.” Cecelia had been burned by that one before. It was basically confirmation that Hannah’s hot firefighter couple was actually the tragic duo that had been acting like a married couple for 6 years now.
Low and behold, it was indeed the one and only Evan “Buck” “Hotshot” Buckley who dislocated his shoulder - slipping on lube (or pumpkin guts) according to the very amused Eddie, which definitely did not raise any questions in Cecelia’s head. Eddie sat in the visitor’s chair, a fair enough distance from the bed (but only enough so that the ER doctor and Cecelia could get Buck’s shoulder back into position) very clearly pretending to look at a swimsuit magazine. Cecelia was sure that had nothing to do with the fact that Buck was shirtless.
It was no wonder Hannah had assumed they were together. Cecelia wasn’t completely convinced, and she had recognized the man standing in the doorway as the same man from that picture. He barely left the doorway the entire time they were there.
“Oh my god.” Cecelia sighed as she sat down at the breakroom table, opening her yogurt. “If I didn’t know better I’d think they were together. I’m kind of mad that I know better.”
“They were back today?” Savannah perked up, immediately knowing of whom Cecelia spoke.
“Yeah, briefly. Hotshot - get this - slipped on lube and dislocated his shoulder. He’s convinced he’s cursed, apparently. Eddie brought him in and Tommy - the guy from may, his name’s Tommy according to his name tag, came to see him. Can this man not see that his boyfriend is a bit preoccupied with someone else?”
“Have we considered the possibility that they’re a throuple?” Leo suggested.
“Have you seen the two of them together? I feel like a third wheel if I’m even in their vicinity!” Savannah laughed. “They’re so in love, it’s so unfair that they don’t even know it. Some people have been trying to find love like that for years and they don’t even realize!”
“I’m so glad I have Marcy and Sylvia.” Cecelia mused. Leo and Savannah groaned.
So Cecelia forgot to inform Hannah that those two firefighters that came in earlier were, in fact, not a couple, but just very very stupid and fond. She didn’t even realize until she watched in slight horror as her new coworker approached Buck, who had somehow gotten himself covered in boils (must be that curse), asked if he needed to see someone, then looked for confirmation - not from his actual boyfriend sitting right next to him - but to Eddie, sitting across from Buck, sucking a ring pop like the idiot he was. And Eddie fucking nodded.
They were hopeless.