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Buck is in a nostalgic mood today, at breakfast this morning, shovelling cereal into his mouth he remembers with shock that it’s been 3 years since he left home.
Three years since he hugged his siblings goodbye and walked out the door with nothing but the duffle bag in his hands and a cynical kind of hope that leaving Chicago will make everything better. It didn’t but also kind of did… He's happy with what he's achieved, especially considering all the odds were stacked against him: Gallagher from the Southside, drunk drug addict father, bipolar absent mother, high school drop out, lawbreaker (but luckily never arrested), who helped raise his siblings, and of course, broke as hell. All he fucking knows is that he’s got a good, legal, job he loves, a mostly decent apartment he never dreamed he would ever have, and good friends that aren’t all Southside trash like he is. But at the same time, he misses his friends from back home, misses the weird comfort of the Southside, and misses his siblings and all their bullshit and trouble more than anything.
They still talk, he wouldn’t have survived leaving if they didn’t still talk. But he’s their big brother, he knows they keep things from him, that they don’t want to pull him back into the mess that is the Gallagher’s.
So he works extra shifts so he can send them as much money as possible, puts a little bit of every paycheck into his own squirrel fund, supports Fiona as best he can, gives advice to his younger siblings, (Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl and Liam), he made a will, which makes him feel weirdly grown-up, and he makes sure all of them know just because they’re Gallagher’s from the Southside doesn’t mean they can’t be something.
So Buck is feeling nostalgic today and that must be some kind of sign to the universe to make him suffer for it.
Their last call comes in an hour left of their busy, 24-hour shift, they race into their turnout gear and are out the door in a snap.
“Okay, we got a house fire, single-detached home, dispatch estimates 10 feet between houses. The caller is the next-door neighbour and says the occupants are home, there are approximately 10 people who may be inside.”
“We know what caused the fire?” Chim asks.
“According to the caller they were probably cooking meth, but who knows.”
“10 people? Any specifics?”
“Seems like there are 6 kids, two parents and that they have a couple who basically live with them. Youngest is 7, oldest kid is around 25.” A pause as they all think for a moment, before anyone can say anything else they turn the corner to a seedy-looking neighbourhood, “Right there.” Bobby focuses their attention on a house not far down the street with flames licking up the sides. The flames light up the neighbourhood in an eery glow.
“Even with the decent space between houses, Jackson and I will make sure to prevent any spread. Chim, Hen we have a lot of possible injuries, get ready to treat, transport and call for another ambo if needed. You might have to help with the evacuation so keep sharp. Buck, Eddie, I want you to start evacuating the house, we’ll worry about putting it out, okay, and keep us updated.”
“Sounds good Cap.” Eddie agrees, grinning lightly at Buck and quickly fist-bumping him.
They move with well-practiced efficiency, which makes a small part of him well up in pride, that his team works so well together, that in seconds everyone is where they need to be, water spraying and him and Eddie moving as one towards the burning house.
He kicks in the front door rushing inside, keeping a careful eye on the flames. Eddie right behind him.
“Got some!” Buck yells seeing the pile of people on the ground right in front of the door, “I count 8!” all of them are lying on the floor, it looks like the older ones are shielding the younger ones from any debris.
“Help!” Comes from the tangle of people.
“Is anyone hurt?” Eddie asks, “Cap can we get some help evacuating?”
“Hen and Chim are on their way,” Cap says.
“Johnny got hurt trying to break the window.” The oldest woman says.
“Is there anyone else in the house?” Buck asks.
“David and Sara.” She groans, “They ran for the backdoor.”
“Okay, I’ll go get them,” Chim announces as Buck and Eddie grab the most injured of the bunch, Buck has a young man with burns and cuts all over his hands and arms while Eddie has two of the youngest in his arms at the insistence of their sister.
Luckily the evacuation runs smoothly, and they quickly get the fire under control. And they begin checking to make sure no one’s too injured and preparing for transport if anyone is.
“What’s your name kid?” Buck asks what looks like the oldest sibling who is also fairly uninjured.
“Alison Dodson.” She mumbles eyes transfixed on her burning house. The reflection of the fire in her glassy eyes is haunting. He can't help but to think of Fiona, Fiona who's face mirrors this expression every time some life-altering, world-stopping thing happens. Fiona would look just like Alison if this happened to them.
“Can you tell me everyone’s names?” He asks if this girl is anything like him or his sister he knows she’ll feel better talking about her family.
“Mmhm,” She seems to focus a bit, and points at a teenage boy with a toddler in his arms soothing the kid, “That’s Ethan and he’s got Derek.” Then points at another teenage boy who’s getting his arms wrapped by Hen, “Johnny,” then she points to the big group that Chim, Eddie, and Cap are assessing, “Jackie is taller one, then Lexi, the two Spanish girls there are Isabella and Andrea my best friends, and-” She’s cut off when the youngest breaks away from Eddie and dashes towards her, “This beautiful girl is Alice.” She pulls the young girl onto the back of the truck next to her.
“Well hello there Alice! My name is Buck.”
“Really? Is that your real name?”
“Well don’t tell anyone but it’s a nickname my siblings gave me.” She smiles up at him, “Do you mind if I check to make sure you’re not hurt?”
“Mmhm. But Ali and Isa and Eth protected me!”
“Did they?” She nods vigorously, “Well they’ll probably feel better knowing they did a good job won't they?” The young one looks up at her sister who whispers in her ear, “I know I’ll feel waaay better knowing your okay, and I know Ethan, Johnny, and Isa will too.”
“Okay! What’s your real name then?” She asks while Buck bandages a small cut on her arm.
“My real name is Evan, but I prefer Buck because my family picked it out for me.” Normally he would joke about being used to Buck, but he sees a lot of his own family in this one and can't help himself.
“But don’t mommies and daddies pick out your name?” She asks.
“Yeah, but” He lowers his voice, “My dad was pretty mean so I like my siblings' name for me more.”
“My dad is mean too.” She whispers back, in his peripherals he sees Alison tense, “Johnny says he’s a fucking drunk.” She smiles slyly saying the bad word.
“My dad is a drunk too,” he confesses, “But that’s a bad word isn’t it?” He asks.
“Yeah… Sorry, Ali.” She looks at her older sister who smiles indulgently.
“Well, Miss. Alice, you’re all good! Your family did a good job protecting you.” He smiles at the girl who reminds him so much of Debbie when she was younger, it's hard to believe the redhead is 11 already.
“Thanks, Buck, thanks, Ali!”
“No problem Miss. Alice.” He smiles at the girl who reminds him more and more of his little sister with each word.
“Of course, I love you, Alice.”
“Love you too Ali! Imma go thank everyone."
“Good idea! Go give everyone a biiiig hug!” She instructs hugging the little girl tightly.
“Okay!” She runs off towards the two Spanish women Alison introduced.
Buck sits next to the woman, “You don’t need to tell me anything.” He tells her
“Mmhm.”
“But I know what it’s like, who has custody?”
“I do, yeah, I got it last year.”
“What caused the fire?” She’s silent for a long moment
“I’m not a snitch.”
“I’m not either, but we’re good at our jobs, we’ll figure it out. But if you tell me now then I can help explain the situation to the cops.”
“Why would you?” She snaps.
“Cause I’m a lot like you, my family is a lot like yours. I told Alice the truth; Frank is a drunk bastard, and my mom abandoned us a long time ago. My sister, Fiona, and I dropped out of school to take care of our younger siblings… She got guardianship last year." He reminds her, "You have guardianship.”
“It was them. It was fucking David and Sara.” She growls, “Our parents. They showed up wasted last night, nothing we’re not used to. Spent all day sleeping. Then I got home from work and picking the kids up from school. We had dinner, Isa and Ami came over, we were watching TV when there was a boom from the basement. I thought they left! I didn’t even know they were still home!”
“Was it meth?”
“Probably, I never would have left them alone if I knew!”
“I know,” He pulls her into a side hug.
“God, what if someone got really hurt! My kids could have died!”
“Then it would have been their fault, not yours. You saved them, I saw you protecting them with your body, shielding them. No one is hurt because you protected those kids.”
“What else was I supposed to do?” She says smiling through her watering eyes.
“Exactly, to you, me, my sister Fiona, there are no other options, family comes first.”
“Yeah.”
“Listen, despite my better judgment I know a cop, she’s the good kind. I’ll have her personally deal with the case. If you want me to I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“A good cop.” She mutters, “You don’t gotta, I can deal with it myself.”
“I know I was surprised too, but she decent. Yeah, you can deal with it alone, but you remind me too much of myself and my family to let you do this alone.”
“Shit, okay. Yeah. Call the cop.”
“Let me go fill in my Captain then I’ll talk to her.”
“Kay.” She stands with him and makes her way over to her family, “I’ll tell everyone to tell the truth.”
“Sounds good.” He splits away and towards Bobby.
“She okay?” His boss asks.
“Yeah, so was the little girl, Alice. Listen, Alison, the oldest one, told me her parents, David and Sara caused the fire, she thinks they were cooking meth in the basement.”
“Damn. I’ll call CPS.”
“No need Cap, she has guardianship, she had no idea they were still in the house, as far as I can tell she did everything right. Listen I told her I had a cop friend that will personally deal, can I call Athena?”
“Yeah of course.” He pauses for a moment before saying, “I’ve never seen you like this.”
“Like what?” His big brother instincts are probably showing, and except for the toilet baby, he’s never really gotten so personally involved, not like this.
“You normally play it pretty cool, not that your uncaring or anything.” He quickly backtracks.
“I get what you’re saying, uh, my..." He thinks for a moment, "home situation wasn’t the best, parents are fuck ups like theirs I guess I just wanna help, you know.”
“Yeah, of course, and listen if you ever need to talk, I’m here.”
“Thanks, Cap.” He walks back to the back of the truck and dials the familiar number.
“Sergeant Grant.” She picks up.
“Hey, ‘Thena.”
“Buckaroo! Everyone okay?”
“Yeah, listen we just responded to a house fire. And, uh, the oldest kid is saying she thinks her parents were making meth in the basement which caused the fire, she has custody so I don't think CPS needs to get involved, but yeah.”
“Do you want me to look into it?”
“Yeah, please, I know their type, they won't talk to cops unless someone vouches for them. Which is why I called you.”
“Okay, yeah, give me the address and I’ll head over.”
“Thanks ‘Thena.” He rattles off the address.
Soon Athena's cop car pulls up and he introduces Alison and the rest of the Dodsons to Athena making sure Alison has his number and will call him if she needs anything.
The ride back is quiet, everyone’s mind on food as it is long past dinner time by the time they finish up at the Dodson house. They race up the stairs to get the first pick of leftovers from earlier that shift.
Soon they’re all gathered at the table eating, “Buck, did I actually see you get all cuddly and give that girl your number?” Chim asks.
“Damn, Buck I thought you were over that faze!” Hen chimes in.
“Oh, no, it wasn’t like that.” It feels kind of like someone saying he asked out Fiona - EW!
“So you didn’t give her your number?”
“No, I did.” Now the whole crew, sans Jackson who's napping, is staring at him.
“So you asked her out.”
“No! Listen it wasn’t like that!” He takes a deep breath, he’s done a lot to make his own way and leave behind the Gallagher name and reputation, but at this point, he’s bursting to gush about his siblings to his team, who are quickly becoming family to him, “She reminded me of my sister so I gave her my number in case she needs anything.”
“You have a sister?”
“Two, Fiona’s almost a year older, Irish twins I think it's called, and Debbie’s 11.”
“How did I not know you had siblings?”
“I haven’t mentioned them before, it’s not like you missed anything.”
“Do they live in LA?”
“Huh? Nah, they’re back home.”
“LA must be pretty exciting compared to Pennsylvania?” Bobby asks smiling at the young man opening up to them.
“What? I’ve never lived in Pennsylvania!”
“You haven’t? That’s where your birth certificate is from, Hershey, Pennsylvania.”
“Damn, I never knew that never knew Frank or Monica were ever in Pennsylvania.”
“Who are Frank and Monica?” Eddie asks.
“My parents.” He says shortly, “I wonder if Fi' knew I was born there?” He pulls out his phone quickly calling the phone.
“What?” He hears Carl’s harsh voice demand.
“Hey man!”
“Buck! Hey everyone it’s Buck!” His younger brother shouts quickly silencing the background noise.
“BUCK!” A cacophony of voices greet, loud enough that his team can clearly hear them – it’s weird knowing he's so close to them but they aren’t used to the Gallagher brand of chaos.
“Hand it over!” Another voice demands, the sounds of fighting, “Hey Buck, how are you?” Fiona’s voice asks.
“I’m good Fiona, I was just talking with the crew and Cap says my birth certificate is from Pennsylvania.”
“Oh! That’s right! I forgot about that! I remember Monica saying we went on a family trip to Pennsylvania to get away from someone they owed money to, so you were born there.”
“I’m not even surprised at this point, at least they didn’t cross the border that time.”
“True!” They laugh.
“How’s everyone?” He asks.
“Liam’s cute as ever, Debbie got an A on her math test, and no one helped her cheat, Carl hasn’t blown anything up this week, and Ian’s doing good in ROTC, he's in the running for a promotion, and Lip is acing his classes and running his SAT scam.”
“Wow! A good week for us! Good job on your test Debbs! No incidents, Carl, that's awesome!" He takes the time to celebrate each of his siblings, "Ian bro, you're totally going to get the promotion you'll have to tell me when the ceremony thing is! Lip, I'm fucking impressed you really are smart as hell!” He cheers, "You all make me so proud!" Eddie lightly taps his arm to get his attention, Bobby asks if he wants to introduce them.
“Ah, sure, why the fuck not. Listen up fuckers.” He gets his family’s attention, “Who’s all here?”
“All the kids. V and Kev are at the Alibi, so it’s just us today.”
“Right, I’m going to introduce you to my team. All of you better behave, I like this job and don’t need you to fuck it up, alright?” He hears everyone agree in varying states of agreement with his orders.
“Wait, Buck! We should video call them!” Debbie suggests, running to grab their battered laptop and clearing a space for it on the coffee table.
“Ian, Lip, hide the joints!” Fiona demands, he can hear a lot of shuffling as his family hides anything incriminating, “Anyone under 21 put away your beers!”
“We’re good,” Ian tells him after a long moment.
Buck turns to his team, “I’m going to video call them cause there's so many people otherwise it’ll be confusing.” He quickly stands hanging up the phone, missing the confusion marring his team's faces, "I'm going to grab my laptop, luckily I brought it in today so I could get some shit done." He jogs over to the changing room and grabs his equally battered and old laptop, and jogs back up the stairs. He then arranges the fire fam so everyone will be in view and starts the video call.
“Hey, guys.” He greets waving at his family who are on and around the couch, “This is my team, Captain Bobby Nash, Eddie Diaz, Henrietta Wilson, and Howard Han.” Pointing each one out.
“Call me Hen,” Hen smiles at the assembled Gallagher’s.
“And please call me Chimney!” He begs, waving at his family.
“And this is my family,” He says allowing Fiona to introduce them.
“Hi I’m Buck’s older sister Fiona, this is Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, and Liam.” She bounces the baby in her lap, gesturing to each family member in turn.
“I thought you only had two sisters from not-Pennsylvania?” Eddie asks smiling at the big family. Buck and the Gallagher's burst out laughing.
“Only two sisters! He wishes!” Carl laughs playing with a headless barbie doll.
“Nah they’re all my siblings, I do have two sisters, but I’ve also got all of those ugly brats.” He teases.
“I’m sorry in what world do the Gallagher’s live in Pennsylvania?” Lip demands laughing.
“Don’t forget your roots, Buck, you can take the Gallagher out of the Southside, but you can't take the Southside out of the Gallagher!” Ian says drinking something from a solid coloured glass, beer if Buck had any guess.
“Hey, y’all!” He hears a voice behind him greet, Athena. Bobby quickly stands giving her a quick hug and kiss.
“Everyone, this is Sergeant Athena Grant, from the LAPD.” He introduces, “Athena, this is my family.”
“Well, hello Buckley’s it’s nice to meet you!” She greets pulling up a seat between Hen and Bobby.
“Buckley’s?” Debbie questions.
“Remember kid, that’s Buck’s last name.”
“Oh right! I forgot you have a different name Bucky.”
“No worries kid,”
“You hang out with cops?” Carl asks glaring as intimidatingly as a 9-year-old can through the screen, which is actually pretty scary, especially with the nasty black eye he's sporting and his amusement with his headless doll.
“Who would’ve guessed right!” He laughs, really a Gallagher from the Southside, who’s broken more laws than he can count being friendly with a police officer.
“Well to be fair we’re decently friendly with Tony Markovich,” Lip adds in.
“Yeah, so he doesn’t give us shit,” Ian counters, “And cause he wants to bang Fiona.”
“Anyways! Athena, this is my family, Fiona, Lip, Ian," He introduces the older kids who all nod or tip their drinks in greeting, "and Debbie, Carl, and Liam. The Gallaghers.” The younger ones wave and Debbie waves Liam's hand herself.
“Gallagher?” Chimney asks confused.
“Yeah, I changed my name when I left Chicago. Wanted a fresh start you know.”
“Cool,” Chim says nodding.
“Did you see any fires today Buck?” Carl asks with a gleam in his eyes.
“Yes a house fire, luckily there were no injuries." Normally he would somewhat indulge Carl's interest, but with his team here and the similarities of the family he stops himself, "but remember the fire safety I taught you.”
“Fuck yeah whatever,” He groans, then smiles lightly, "The fire extinguishers you sent us are all over the house."
“Hey!” Fiona chastises while Buck tries to hide his smile but eventually gives up, "Good, but still be safe, okay kid?"
"Fine." He switches the headless Barbie with two action figures fused together.
They chat for a while, luckily with his family remaining on their best behaviour.
“Lip, pass the smokes,” Ian asks, the older tossing him a pack which he passes over to Fiona before throwing them back.
“Lip, me too,” Carl asks
“No, no smoking until your 14,” Fiona says knowing it’s futile.
“Buck, Lip and Ian were smoking way younger!”
“Yeah and then I had to quit when I joined the LAFD which sucked ass.”
“Whatever I’ll just steal some from Ian later.” He grumbles.
“The hell you will!” Ian kicks his younger brother.
“Fuck off!”
“Then don’t tell someone that you’re gonna steal from them, before you fucking steal from them! Dumbass.”
“Enough.” Fiona demands, “Carl, no fucking smoking, you two, keep it away from Liam.” At that Lip goes to the other side of the couch so he’s further from their baby brother. Fiona passes Liam to Debbie and follows Lip to the further side, opening a window on her way.
“I didn’t know you smoked Buck?” Hen asks.
“Yeah since I was like 10, but I had to quit before fire academy, which fucking sucked!” He groans, even now years later he often craves a smoke.
“You started smoking at 10?” Athena asks stunned, “Didn’t your parents try to stop you?”
“Frank? As if, he’s the one who gave me my first smoke, then he shook me down for money, but whatever, and Monica was too out of her mind to realize.”
“Hey, at least he gave you something before taking your money that time!” Lip laughs, the rest of the Gallaghers joining him.
“I’m not liking your dad much Buck,” Hen says, frown clearly displayed on her face, "Or your mom."
“Fair enough, I don’t think anyone who’s met the guy likes him. And yeah Monica's something, left about 6 years ago now."
“I think anyone who’s met the dick hates him,” Ian adds taking a long drag of the cig, "And the less said about Monica the better."
“Not wrong there, buddy.” Athena makes eye contact with Buck as he agrees with his brother, she raises her eyebrows clearly asking if she should do anything about what she’s hearing.
“Don’t worry about it ‘Thena, Frank’s barely home and they can kick him out if he shows up. Fiona’s got custody of everyone.”
“Oh yeah, don’t worry about Frank, he’s a bastard, but if we need anything we can handle it,” Lip says.
“Okay, where are you from? I have a lot of friends in different departments.” Athena says adding, “Just in case.” At Bucks frown.
“Chicago.” He answers, “And don’t worry about Athena, we can take care of ourselves.”
The conversation soon calms down and the two groups of Buck’s family chat nicely.
BANG BANG BANG
“IAN GALLAGHER!” Someone shouts, voice kind of distorted through the door.
“Who the fuck is it?” Lip asks as everyone turns to look at the door, which is, luckily, mostly in frame for the LA group.
“Ian?” Buck asks.
“I have no fucking idea! I haven’t pissed off or fucked anyone I shouldn’t have.” The teenager protests throwing his cigarette in the ashtray, which is just an old beer bottle.
“Damn. Carl, get the bat. Lip, the door.” Fiona commands, “Ian, hide! Upstairs!” Quickly the Gallaghers rush around, the laptop and the people watching forgotten about. The eldest hands Liam to Debbie and tells her to wait in the kitchen.
“Buck, what’s going on?”
“Huh? Oh, we live on the Southside, so someone banging on the door like this isn’t usually a good sign.”
“Damn. Is there anything we can do?”
“Nah, don’t worry, this isn’t our first rodeo.” His eyes are glued to the screen.
Lip opens the door carefully, “What?” Carl is right behind him killing bat in hand.
“Where’s Ian?” a voice demands.
“Why? What’d he do?”
“Don’t ask questions, Gallagher. Is he here or not?”
“He’s not here. Am I going to have to take another beating for him?”
“Not this time Gallagher.” The voice grumbles, “IAN GALLAGHER!”
“What do you want with him, Milkovich?” Fiona asks peeking her head around Lip. Shit, did Ian get in trouble with the Milkoviches again? Fucking shit.
“Bullshit he’s not here. I know damn well he’s here.”
“What the hell Mickey!” Lip shouts confused as hell. God, of course, Mickey Milkovich.
“Mickey!” Ian demands running down from upstairs.
“Ian, what the hell?” Fiona demands.
“Mickey?” Ian stares at the tattooed man on the porch, “I told you to come over so I could introduce you, this is not what I meant!”
“Shut the fuck up fire crotch.” Buck is stunned quiet. The black-haired, tattooed man enters the house when Ian pulls him by the hand, his hair is its usual messy style, his face is dirty as hell with what looks like a nasty bruise on his left eye, and his black wife-beater and sleeveless shirt complete the look.
“Ian? Are you fucking fucking Mickey Milkovich?” Lip demands.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re dating.”
“Dating? Fuck Ian really? This is worse than the whole Kash thing!”
“Dude shut up!”
“Ian! Did you fuck Kash?" Buck demands finally snapping out of his shock, "Kash and Grab, Kash?”
“Fuck.” The redhead mutters, “Yeah, I fucked Kash, but that was like last year.”
“I’m going to kill him!” Buck shouts jumping from his seat, “I’m going to murder that fucking pedophile!”
“Buck! Stop it! It’s over okay!” Ian begs finally looking at his older brother.
“First Kash now a Milkovich? Ian, what the hell?”
“At least I’m not a fucking pedo,” Mickey adds, cracking his tattooed knuckles.
“Everyone sit the hell down!” Lip shouts, all the Gallaghers, including Buck, and Mickey retake their seats.
“Okay,” Ian takes a deep breath, “Guys this is my boyfriend Mickey,” He smiles at the man sitting next to him, “Mickey this is Fiona, Lip, Debbie, Carl, and Liam. On the laptop over there is my brother Buck, and his team.” He smiles nervously at his family.
“His team?” Mickey asks looking at Buck.
“Station 118 of the LAFD, we’re firefighters. And this is Athena Grant, LAPD.” Mickey glares harder, shifting slightly in his seat, if Buck had to guess he'd say he's trying to hide a gun or something.
“No one will be killing anyone, the thing with Kash is over with.” The redhead instructs.
“Fine, but if I ever see him he’s dead.” Buck threatens, scowling.
“Don’t worry, the Milkovich’s… have had a chat with him...” Mickey stops himself from detailing what they did to Kash remembering a cop is present.
“Well, this turned into a shit show, Gallagher style!” Fiona laughs, "But I'll kill him, I swear to god, I'll kill the bastard." She grounds out furious look transforming her face.
“Isn’t that the truth!” Buck laughs, “God, I’d die for a beer right now.” He laughs with his family seeing Lip grab one for Fiona, and bringing over cups for Ian, Mickey and himself. His team can't tell but Buck knows damn well those cups are full of beer.
“Cheers!” Ian says, clinking his cup with Mickey, Lip and Fiona.
“Can I have some Fiona?” Carl asks innocently.
“NO!” Is shouted around the room.