Chapter Text
One Friday afternoon, Evan Buckley packed up all of his belongings and wrote one last letter to the 118, which he stuck to the fridge with a puppy magnet.
I really love you guys, trust me, I really do. I just can't do this right now. I’m not dying, don’t worry. I plan on being alive for a long time. I just need a break from the 118, Los Angeles, and Southern California in general. I'm not sure when I’ll be back, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be back. All I know is that I need a break, a really long one. Don’t bother contacting me, it won’t work.
Love,
Your Buck
Eddie was the first to see the letter. He didn’t want to believe it at first, but when he arrived at his house, he saw all of Buck’s belongings gone. He left no trace. It was like he never existed.
The 118 was not the same without Bobby; he was the glue that held the place together. Without him, they were bound to collapse. Buck was the first to go. They split up into different stations. The 118 was now a soulless building that once had a passion that no other fire station in L.A. could replicate.
Every now and then, Eddie would text Buck’s number. He knew he wouldn’t respond, but it was all he had left of Buck, until that went away, too.
Eddie: Hey, Buck! Chris, and I miss you. We love you
Eddie: Merry Christmas, Buck. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are. You are always welcome at the Diaz home.
Eddie: Happy New Year, Buck. I know you achieved so much.
Eddie: Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope you found love, Buck. You deserve it,
Eddie: Happy Birthday, Buck. I can’t believe it. Chris and I tried to bake you a cake, but yours is always better.
Eddie: Please come back, Buck, please, I miss you.
New Number: You got the wrong number. This isn’t Buck. Please stop texting me, it’s getting annoying. Go to therapy.
Eddie: I’m so sorry (message not delivered)
Eddie officially has nothing left of Buck.
It was bound to happen. Eddie didn’t know why he was shocked. Buck was obviously going to change his number. He didn’t want anyone to find him; he wanted to disappear from L.A.
Explaining to Chris why Buck left was a different story. He understood why Buck left, but at the same time, he was angry. He wanted Buck to say goodbye, leave something other than a stupid handwritten letter.
It has been a long time. No sign of life from Buck. The 118 are now strangers whose laughs you can recognize anywhere. They became faces you recognize on the street, but would never say a word to. They see each other on big calls, but they refuse to acknowledge each other’s existence.
Jee-Yun misses her uncle. She would constantly ask Maddie and Chimney when Buck would come back, so the two of them could make cookies together.
Chris missed his other dad. It was frustrating that he could not go to the other person whom he could trust. Buck was always there when he got into a fight with his dad. It was nice when the two of them were there to parent him together. It felt empty without Buck.
Harry admired Buck. He just didn’t tell anyone about it. He sometimes writes letters to Buck that he keeps to himself. He doesn’t know Buck’s new address. How can he send him a letter?
May always wanted an older sibling. Buck was the older sibling that May needed. She craved that guidance, and that was now gone.
5 Years Later
Five long years have gone by, and the memories of Buck still linger in the Diaz household. No matter how many times Eddie would remodel the house, there would always be a piece of Buck floating around.
Christopher came back home from college for the summer. The Diaz boys were reunited once again. Eddie and Chris worked together to make this summer pretty special. They were planning to do a road trip across the West Coast. Chris also brought a journal from his school's bookstore. He was planning on making a scrapbook documenting his journey.
“Okay, Chris, are you ready for the ultimate Diaz road trip next week?” Eddie asked. He was cooking dinner that night.
“So ready, I got everything planned, and I’m going to take lots of pictures,” Chris responded. He was sitting at the dinner table with some of his journaling supplies.
“Want me to buy you a camera? I know you don’t like taking photos on your phone,” Eddie suggested. As much as Chris loves taking selfies on his phone, he prefers taking photos of the outdoors on a professional camera.
“Oh, I already have one.”
“Really, where did you get one?”
“It’s Buck’s.” Silence fills the room. “When Buck left, he left his camera in my room, so I started using it,” Chris added. Eddie smiled, nodded, and went back to cooking. He has gotten much better over 5 years. Unfortunately, he didn’t have Bobby with him, but he is a fast learner. He bought multiple cookbooks and subscribed to many cooking channels. Chris loves his baked salmon and would ask for it anytime he had friends over.
“So, are you making baked salmon?” Chris asked; he had the signature Diaz grin on his face.
“Not today, I’m making spaghetti and meatballs tonight,” Eddie responded.
“Those are fine too, maybe you can catch live salmon over our trip,” Chris suggested. He would do anything for baked salmon.
“Unfortunately, I do not have a fishing license, but that won’t stop us from having a nice time on a boat.” Chris just shrugged in response and continued to work on the cover of his journal.
“Okay, clear the table, I have the world's best spaghetti and meatballs coming right up,” Eddie said, carrying a bowl of his perfected pasta. Chris did as he was told, and he filled his plate with Eddie’s pasta, along with some fresh garlic bread. He took a bite and smiled.
“So, what do you think?” Eddie asked, filling his own plate with pasta.
“It is no baked salmon, but it’s really good, this is amazing,” Chris responded. He filled his plate with more pasta.
Dessert was homemade brownies, which were Buck’s recipe, but Eddie didn’t tell Chris that. Along with some store-bought ice cream. Eddie got the birthday cake flavor, and Chris got cookie dough.
They finished the night with The Twilight Zone, the Diaz boys' new favorite show.
“Dad, what would you do if you saw your look-alike?” Chris asked at the end of the episode.
In the episode, a young woman finds her look-alike at a bus stop, and no one believes her.
“I have no idea,” he shudders at the thought of look-alikes. His mind goes back to the “Kim Incident” and how he lost his son to his demonic parents. He holds back tears at the memory, his parents stole his son from them, and claimed to be Chris’s parents.
He remembers going to one of Chris’s chess competitions, finding out that Ramon told everyone that he was Chris’s father. If he were really his father, he would know that Chris hated chess.
The Diaz parents failed with Eddie. They failed with Sophia. They failed with Adriana. They never tried with the Diaz siblings; they left them to depend on each other. They thought that since they failed with them, they could try again with Chris. They were wrong. Chris will always be Eddie’s son; nothing would ever change that.
Eddie pushes those memories back; they will be something he will bring up with his therapist. In the meantime, his son was home with him; they were together. The perfect father-son duo will never be separated, even when Chris goes back to college.
Eddie did invite Sophia and Adriana to join them on the road trip, but Sophia was busy with wedding preparations, and Adriana was on a trip for her marine biology career. She was studying ocean life in Mexico. Sophia was a zoologist. She met her husband when she was on a research trip studying the wildlife in the Himalaya mountains. They shared a passion for wildlife. It was a match made in heaven.
Eddie was so proud of his sisters. He never got to go to college, so he spent a lot of his money making sure they went. They did, and they went on to be successful women. Sophia and Adriana even worked together to write a research article on preserving the ecosystems in the ocean.
Adriana had a boyfriend named Ethan, who was a neurosurgeon. Neither Sophia nor Eddie liked him, but they couldn’t pinpoint why.
“Okay, Dad, I’m going to bed now. Good night, I love you,” Chris said, hugging his dad.
“Goodnight, I’m going to make double chocolate pancakes tomorrow, so sleep tight.”
“I will.”
“I love you, Chris.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
Eddie went to bed shortly after. Exhaustion was hitting him like a truck, a fire truck to be exact. He went to his bedroom and glanced at his side table before collapsing on his bed. There sat a photo of Buck, Eddie, and a young Chris. Eddie never had the courage to put it back into storage. He almost sobbed when he found it when he was doing a spring cleaning of the attic.
Eddie missed Buck.
The morning birds woke Eddie up, so he quickly got to making the pancake batter. Chris joined him later, and the two started making their pancakes. Chris would sneak in extra chocolate chips when Eddie wasn’t looking.
“So Chris, I was thinking we could go to the store today, get some stuff for our big road trip next week.” Chris nodded in agreement and put more syrup on his pancakes.
“That sounds good to me.”
“Glad we are on the same page, let’s watch more Twilight Zone now.” They finished their breakfast and went back to the living room to watch their favorite show together.
“You know what. Going to space doesn’t sound that interesting anymore,” Chris said as the episode came to an end. Eddie laughs and clicks the play button on the next episode.
In this episode, a group of astronauts returns from space, landing on another planet that seems similar to Earth. The problem is that everyone there is completely frozen in time.
“Space doesn’t seem that bad,” Eddie responded.
“You don’t know that, Rod Sterling was a genius, maybe the Twilight Zone actually exists,” Chris said.
“Maybe we are in the Twilight Zone,” Eddie jokes. Chris just rolls his eyes and focuses back on the T.V.
Eddie and Chris decided that was enough T.V for one morning. Chris went back to his room to do some college work he got over the summer, and Eddie started tidying up the living room. He played some 5 Seconds of Summer to get him in the mood.
Thinking 'bout you lots lately
Have you been eating breakfast alone like me?
Thinking 'bout you lots lately
Or are you moving along?
Thinking 'bout you lots lately
Have you been feeling empty beds just like me?
Thinking 'bout you lots lately
Or are you moving along?
Much to his annoyance, his deep cleaning was interrupted by a knock on his door. He rolled his eyes and paused the music. There was another knock on the door.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he groaned. He walked to his front door and was greeted by a man. He wasn’t much shorter than Eddie. He was wearing a suit. He had a serious expression on his face. On one hand, he had a clipboard. In the other, he was holding the hand of a little girl. She looked to be no older than 3.
“Are you Edmundo Diaz?” The man asked. Eddie looked between the man and the little girl; she looked familiar, but he just didn’t know who she reminded him of.
“Yes, but please call me Eddie,” Eddie responded. He was so confused.
“May we come inside?” The man asked. Eddie nodded and moved aside. The man and the little girl walked in. Eddie walked them to his couch, where they all sat.
“I’m Mr. Waters. I am a social worker from San Francisco,” the man said. Eddie’s eyes widened.
“A social worker?”
“Yes, a social worker, are you aware of who Evan Buckley is?” Mr. Waters asked.
“Yes, he was my best friend. He left five years ago, after our captain died. I haven’t seen him since, none of us have,” Eddie responded. Mr. Waters sighs and gives Eddie his clipboard.
“Mr. Buckley has put you in his will to look after his daughter, Sana, in case something were to happen to him,” he continued. Eddie stopped him right there. That is why she looked familiar, that little girl, she was Buck’s daughter, not an exact copy, but they looked very alike.
“What do you mean, daughter?”
“This is Mr. Buckley’s daughter.”
“I know, I know, this is all just so confusing to me.”
“That is understandable, Mr. Diaz, it explains why you haven’t answered our calls,” Mr. Waters said.
“Calls? What calls?” Eddie asked. He could feel a headache forming.
“You are still listed as Mr. Buckley’s emergency contact,” Mr. Waters answered.
“I am?”
“Yes, you are, and as I mentioned before, you are listed in his will to be his daughter's guardian in case something happened to him.”
“What about her mom?”
“Her mom loved Mr. Buckley and Sana very much, but she felt like she couldn’t raise a child, so she left one night.”
“I hope she is doing all right. I understand that pain,” Eddie told the social worker. He remembered how he left Chris and Shannon. It is something he regrets every day.
“I hope so as well. Anyway, you need to sign these forms to get guardianship of Sana, just until we find out what happened to Mr. Buckley.
“Wait, you said that I get guardianship in case something happened to Buck, what happened to Buck?”
“Mr. Diaz, it appears that Mr. Buckley has disappeared.”