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Buck rolls over and plants a kiss between Eddie’s shoulder blades, his bare skin soft and sleep-warm. Eddie shifts back against him, making a soft grunt of protest.
“Morning.” He presses his smile into the back of Eddie’s neck.
“Mmph.”
“Baby,” Buck murmurs. He slips an arm around Eddie’s waist, then slides it up his chest, feeling his strong heartbeat under his palm. “We have to get up.”
“Five more minutes,” he grumbles, voice rough, and normally it would send shivers down Buck’s spine, but they really do need to get up.
“Baby—”
Eddie groans then huffs, flopping onto his back to glare up at Buck. “It’s too damn early.”
“I know.”
He leans down to kiss the wrinkle between Eddie’s scrunched eyebrows. He’s so damn beautiful, even when he’s grouchy in the mornings. Eddie gives him the tiniest of smiles, and Buck rewards with a proper kiss, pressing him into the mattress until Eddie sighs and opens for him. His hands wander under Buck’s shirt and up his back to splay over his shoulder blades.
“You’re trying to sidetrack me,” Buck says, pulling back to trail kisses along Eddie’s jaw.
“Mm-hm.”
It would be easy to give in, to keep kissing Eddie or to close his eyes and slip back into sleep, but they can’t really afford distractions today.
“Eddie.” He sits up, even though Eddie is damn near irresistible. “We’re on a schedule.”
Rubbing his palms over his face, Eddie grumbles, then forces himself up. He slumps against Buck, tucking his face into the crook of Buck’s neck. “I know. And this is important to Chris.”
“It is.” He smacks a kiss to Eddie’s head and scoots off the bed, dragging Eddie to his feet. “Go get your shower, and I’ll make a quick breakfast.”
“Ugh. Okay,” he says but stays standing by the bed, looking a little lost.
Buck wonders how much of his reluctance is due to what’s happening today rather than his usual dislike of mornings.
“Hop to it,” Buck tells him, slapping him lightly on the ass and dancing away before Eddie can retaliate, Eddie’s laughter following him down the hallway.
He pulls out supplies for asimple scrambled eggs and toast and checks his phone for a messages. There are a couple from Maddie asking if she should bring anything later and one from Eli saying “the usual Diaz chaos” with a pic of Chris sitting on their bed amid a pile of books and clothes, sticking his tongue out. Buck grins and sends a quick “can’t wait to see you guys!”
He’s just plated the eggs when Eddie walks into the kitchen, doing up the last buttons on his shirt with his tie draped over his shoulder.
“Hey, perfect timing,” Buck says and sets the plates on the table.
“Thanks.”
They eat in silence, heads down over their plates.
When he finishes, Buck drops his fork on the plate with a clang. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m—” He scrubs a hand over his face and sighs. “I’m all right. Just feeling—”
“Nostalgic? Really, really old?” Buck grins as Eddie kicks his foot.
“I’m not that much older than you, asshole.”
“Uh-huh.” Leaning over, he kisses Eddie’s cheek. “I’ll shower real quick. We need to get on the road in half an hour.”
Eddie nods, then stops him as he’s putting the dishes in the sink. “Are you okay?”
His M.O. for the past three weeks has been to keep moving and not think about it, otherwise he’ll break down sobbing.
“It’s a good day,” he replies slowly, resting his hip against the counter and crossing his arms.
“But?”
“I’m proud of him, of course, but I wish time would slow down a bit. He’s growing up so fast.”
Eddie settles next to him and catches Buck’s hand, threading their fingers together. “I swear just yesterday he was small enough to fit in one arm like a football and now he’s taking this big step for his future. I don’t know where all the time went.”
He pulls Eddie into his arms and kisses his temple. “It’s a good day,” he repeats, as much to convince himself as Eddie.
“Yeah.”
Sighing, he straightens and drops a kiss to Eddie’s mouth.
Time is against them, in more than one way, so he hurries through a shower, checks his list of what they need half a dozen times, and they’re on the road with minutes to spare.
They spend the drive mostly in silence, Eddie staring out the window and Buck concentrating on navigating through traffic and occasionally singing along to his roadtrip playlist, which Eddie pretends to be annoyed at, but the smile hiding behind his hand betrays his true feelings.
It takes awhile to find a parking spot, with Eddie grumbling in the passenger seat. Buck eventually finds one, even if it’s a trek to the stadium. He stops Eddie outside the car with a palm on his chest, then straightens his tie and smoothes the shirt over his shoulders. Eddie does the same for him, a dance they’ve perfected over many years.
“You ready for this?” Buck asks, fitting his hands to Eddie’s waist and trying out a smile that feels a bit brittle.
“Nope,” he replies, voice wobbling. “But Chris is, so.” He cocks his head and looks around at the other people walking through the lot toward the stadium. “Think everyone else is having as a hard a time at this as we are?”
“Probably not,” he says. “But we’re special.”
Eddie laughs at that, a genuine laugh that shows his teeth and the crinkles at his eyes. Buck kisses him softly, then takes his hand.
Eli meets them at the entrance, hugging each of them, and they find seats together. Everyone will be at the party later, but Chris had wanted to keep it small for the ceremony. Eli is all smiles and easy charm. It’s not hard to see why Chris fell for him. His enthusiasm lessens some of the—not exactly sadness or despair but something like it—that Buck’s been feeling.
He should be paying attention to the speakers, he knows, but long speeches always make him zone out. Eddie nudges his knee, rolling his eyes, and leans against Buck’s side, in the spot that seems perfectly carved for him. Buck kisses his temple and smiles when Eddie entwines their hands.
Finally, after what feels like an age, it’s Chris’s turn. He’d asked them not to be too loud and embarrassing, and Buck’s determined to hold himself in check, even though he wants to stomp his feet and whistle. Whatever nervousness or mixed emotions plagued him the past few weeks, when Chris crosses the stage and he hears “Christopher Buckley-Diaz, PhD, marine biology,” a pride so fierce wells up in him that he feels golden with it. He claps loudly, blinking through the tears running down his face. He turns to Eddie and finds a similar expression, a wide smile and eyes bright with tears that haven’t quite spilled over yet.
The rest of the ceremony is even more of a blur than the beginning. It ends at last. Eli hunts through the milling crowds of graduates and families and tracks down Chris quickly, catching him up in a hug that lifts Chris off his feet with a breathy laugh and red cheeks. Eddie and Buck swoop in as soon as Eli releases him. Chris holds on for a long moment that prompts more tears.
“I am so proud of you,” Eddie says, cupping Chris’s cheek.
“Thanks, Dad.” Chris yanks the motorboard off his head and hands it to Eli, who tucks it under his arm. “Both of you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Course you could. You’re a genius,” Buck tells him, and Chris grins, ducking his head.
Eddie nods towards Chris’s diploma. “Now this, Dr. Christopher Buckley-Diaz? That has a nice ring to it, huh?”
“It does, right?” Chris bounces on his toes, smiling so big his eyes disappear into squints.
Buck laughs along with everyone else, though it sounds a little watery. Chris graduating is a good thing, years in the making, but it also means he starts his new job next week. In Australia. Studying the Great Barrier Reef, which is his dream job. He’s worked so hard for it, and Buck only wants what makes him happy. He just wishes it was closer. Not having him in California anymore, no longer a couple hours away? Buck’s not sure he’ll survive that.
“Gonna miss you, kid,” he chokes out.
Chris scrunches his nose in such an Eddie way that Buck’s heart squeezes.
“I’m not gonna be gone forever. You’ll still see me at Christmas, and we’ll talk all the time, I promise.”
“I’ll make sure of it,” Eli puts in.
Eddie rubs a hand between his shoulder blades. Buck leans back into the touch, using Eddie’s familiar warmth and steadiness to ground him. Wiping his sleeve across his eyes, he pulls himself together.
“So, lunch?” he asks.
“Yeah.” Chris steps close, curling a hand over Buck’s shoulder and squeezing. “I’m gonna miss you too, Dad. Both of you. I’m just—”
“Excited about your future?”
He grins, and it’s so much like the adorable, precocious seven-year-old Buck first met that it settles something in him. He may not be their little boy anymore, but Buck loves the man he’s become, will become.
Tangling his fingers with Eddie’s, Buck follows Chris out of the stadium, his step lighter than when he walked in.
&&&
“Hey,” Eddie says, walking in from the kitchen where he and Christopher were having a whispered discussion as they did the dishes. Buck hadn’t wanted to intrude and retreated to the couch. “We want to talk to you about something.”
“Okay,” he says slowly. It comes out more like a question because Eddie and Christopher both look serious. Buck counts to three in his head and tries not to catastrophize like he tends to do.
Eddie sits on the coffee table in front of him while Christopher settles next to him, cuddling up close like he hasn’t done in ages, since he’s a teenager and too cool for that kind of thing now. Buck straightens from his sprawl against the cushions, waiting for Eddie to continue.
“We, uh, we have something for you.” He fidgets with an envelope beside him that Buck didn’t notice before. It’s manila and thick, and he can’t guess what’s inside.
Eddie swallows and glances at Christopher, who smiles back, patting his knee. Eddie’s expression and the nervous twitch of his fingers reminds Buck of Eddie when he asked him on a real first date—because they’d been together for years without realizing it—and a few months ago when Eddie knelt in their bed and asked Buck to marry him.
“Eddie?”
Eddie smiles, soft and affectionate, pushing past his nerves, then hands Buck the envelope. It lays heavy in Buck’s hand. He’s afraid to open it.
“What is this?” He looks at Eddie and then to Christopher. He displays none of Eddie’s tension, his gaze bright and steady on Buck.
“It’s the paperwork for you to officially adopt Chris,” Eddie tells him.
Buck freezes. All the air is sucked out of his lungs, his ears filled with a strange buzzing. He swims out of his shock slowly and blinks, Eddie’s worried face snapping back into focus.
“You-you want me to adopt Chris?” His voice cracks at the end. His eyes sting, and he rubs a fist over his chest over the spot where his heart feels like it might beat out of his ribcage.
“Yes,” Eddie says gently. “We both want that.”
“Are you sure? We’re not even married yet.” He wants to say yes, to take what Eddie and Christopher are offering with both hands and hold on tight, but there’s that voice in his head, the one that tells him he doesn’t deserve things like this, that he doesn’t deserve their love.
“We will be soon. It seems silly to wait.”
“But—” He turns to Christopher and holds his breath. “You really want this?”
“Yes!” Christopher says, nodding vigorously “Me and Dad have talked about it a lot. You’ll always be my Buck, but I want you to be my dad too.”
“Chris,” he chokes out, tears spilling down his cheeks.
Eddie takes his hand, squeezing. “You’re our family, Buck, no matter what. We just want to make it official.”
“You’re already my dad anyway,” Christopher adds.
Buck sobs and gathers Christopher to him, clinging in a hug that Christopher returns just as fiercely. He feels Eddie’s arms wrap around both of them. He kisses Christopher’s curls and mouths I love you to Eddie.
“Love you too,” Eddie murmurs, pressing a kiss to Buck’s cheek.
Sometime later, Eddie sits back, but Buck and Christopher keep ahold of each other.
“Buck?”
“What is it, buddy?” He scrubs a hand through Christopher’s hair and smiles when he lifts his head off Buck’s chest and bites his lip.
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to change my name too. To Christopher Buckley-Diaz.”
“You—” It’s difficult to speak past the lump in his throat. “I’d be honored, Christopher.”
He grins and hugs Buck tightly again, and Buck marvels that, for the first time in his life, he’s getting everything he wants.
&&&
Christopher thrusts his empty wrapper at Buck, then stares expectantly at him until Buck finishes his own ice cream. Buck tries hard not to laugh. Christopher is eager to continue their tour of the zoo, even though this isn’t their first or dozenth time here, and Buck appreciates the little boy’s enthusiasm, loves that it hasn’t dimmed no matter how many times he sees the same animals. Buck could do with looking at the world with the same childlike wonder, instead of stressing and worrying about worse-case scenarios. It’s the nature of the job, he knows, but maybe he should take some lessons from Christopher.
“Ready to go, kid?” he asks, biting back a smile at Christopher’s put-upon sigh.
“Yes!” He jumps off the bench, then sighs when Buck pulls him between his knees to attack him with a napkin. He has chocolate smeared all over his face. “Buck,” he whines, fidgeting and huffing impatiently.
“Okay, okay. Hold your horses.”
“I don’t have any horses.” His little nose scrunches, and Buck laughs. “Come on! Tigers next, Buck!”
Ruffling Christopher’s messy curls, Buck stands and hands Christopher his crutches. “All right, Superman. Lead the way.”
He takes off like a shot, belying Eddie’s assertion that he’s not very fast. Buck catches up easily and slows him down with a palm cupped over his bony shoulder.
He seems to be growing before Buck’s eyes. The first time they came here, after the tsunami, Christopher barely made it a couple hours before asking Buck to carry him. They’d both flagged fairly quickly, honestly, still recovering from their ordeal, and only saw a quarter of the zoo that day. But now Christopher makes it through most of the park before his legs tire enough to need Buck’s help.
At least he hasn’t grown too big for Buck to sweep him into his arms.
Christopher marches right to the tigers; he knows the paths by heart, and prefers to go in a certain order each time, spreading out his favorite animals instead of stacking them all at the beginning like Buck would.
For once, the tigers aren’t sleeping, though Buck finds their napping piles adorable. One tiger paces, tail swishing, while another stretches, one giant paw against the glass.
“Why’s he walking like that?” Christopher asks, standing as close to the glass as he can. He’d no doubt press himself through it if he could.
“It’s called pacing, and she’s a girl tiger.”
Buck looks to the left where a keeper stands, blending into the wood surrounding the glass.
“Oh!” Christopher perks up and sidles closer to the keeper, who crouches down when he tugs on her shirt. “Why’s she pacing? And how do you know it’s a girl?”
Buck worries Christopher is about to get an earful about tiger genitalia, but the keeper explains paw and tale size and how each cat has distinct stripes. That only brings up more questions for Christopher. Buck stays back and watches while the keeper indulges him with all the answers she can. She glances at Buck with an alarmed expression when Christopher asks what a tiger would do if it met a penguin. Buck takes that as his cue to step forward and gently splay a hand over Christopher’s back, halting his seemingly endless supply of words.
“I think we’ve taken up enough of the nice keeper’s time, buddy.” He squeezes his shoulder and smiles so he knows Buck’s not mad. “Can you tell her thank you for talking to you?”
Christopher nods, beaming so big Buck’s not sure how his face can hold such bright and obvious joy. “Thank you! I learned a lot!”
“You’re very welcome,” she says. “I’m always happy to talk about my favorite animal.”
“Me too!”
He returns to staring at the tigers, now cuddled up and napping, unconcerned with the many chattering people grouped in front of the glass.
“Thank you for that,” Buck says to the keeper, nudging Christopher over so a smaller boy can get close to the glass. “He’ll be high off that for days.”
“It’s no problem. Tiger facts are my jam.” She grins awkwardly, then clears her throat. “Your son is very inquisitive.”
“Yeah, he’s super curious. Hard to keep up with sometimes.”
“That’s good, isn’t it? Kids are like sponges at that age. They soak up everything.”
“I—” Buck swallows, his brain catching up with what she said. Your son. It sends a bolt of longing through him and leaves him aching and weirdly guilty. “He’s, uh, he’s a genius,” he manages to say.
Another guest calls her away before she can reply, and Buck exhales shakily.
It’s not the first time someone has assumed Buck is Christopher’s dad. It makes sense on the surface, but every time it creates a maelstrom of emotions churning in his gut. He should correct people, tell them he’s just best friends with Christopher’s actual dad. But he never does.
“Buck!” Christopher says, cutting into Buck’s thoughts. “Look!” Tugging on Buck’s hand, he points at a tiger paw pressed right against the glass.
Buck crouches next to him and wraps an arm around his waist to steady him, then listens as Christopher exuberantly recounts everything he learned from the keeper.
Eventually Christopher gets his fill of the tigers and drags Buck to the next animal. Since he was a kid, Buck’s been fascinated by animals of all kinds, from the worms in the garden to the cat that belonged to the old couple next door, but seeing it all through Christopher’s eyes makes him appreciate them in a whole new light. He loves everything, even the ugly and slimy things most people would run away from. He greets each animal with curiosity and enthusiasm. It reminds Buck not to take nature for granted and that sometimes you just gotta slow down and admire the vibrant green color of a vine snake.
They eat soft pretzels while watching two giraffes stretch their long necks up to snatch leaves off the tops of the trees. Christopher chatters about what they’ve seen today and plans for the next time they visit. It fills Buck with warmth, knowing Christopher wants to spend time with him. Christopher is amazing and the best little kid on the planet and if he wants to be with Buck, it must mean Buck’s not so bad.
After the birds, Christopher starts to flag, his steps slowing, his enthusiasm waning with each minute.
“You want me to carry you?” Buck asks, ruffling Christopher’s hair.
Christopher nods, leaning heavily against Buck’s side. Buck swings him up to rest on his hip, and Christopher whoops tiredly at the extra flourish he puts on it. He loops his arms around Buck’s neck and lays his head on his shoulder. By the time they head to the parking lot, Christopher is seriously drooping, practically asleep against Buck’s chest, one arm curled around the stuffed tiger Buck couldn’t resist buying for him.
“Buck?” Christopher murmurs sleepily as they tromp through the parking lot toward the Jeep.
“Yeah, buddy?” He tightens his arm around Christopher and digs his keys out of his pocket, carefully repositioning him on his hip so he can open the backdoor. Whatever Christopher meant to say gets lost in a huge yawn, and Buck smiles fondly. “Let’s get you home. Your daddy must be missing you,” he says, buckling Christopher in and kissing his forehead.
“Thanks for taking me to the zoo, Buck.” He wraps his arms around Buck's neck in a hug made awkward by the way he’s leaning inside the car and wraps himself even more tightly around Buck’s heart in the process.
“You’re welcome,” he chokes out, but Christopher is already asleep, hand tucked under his cheek.
Brushing the hair off Christopher’s forehead, he backs out, then settles into the driver’s seat.
He feels warm from the inside out from spending the day with his favorite kid. He hopes he can hold onto this feeling when he goes home alone to his cold and empty loft.
&&&
Eli opens the door looking disheveled and half-asleep. He sways on his feet, propping his shoulder against the doorjamb like it’s the only thing holding him up. Biting back a smile, Buck exchanges a look with Eddie.
“Rough night?” Buck asks, shifting the wrapped packages in his arm.
“Yeah.” He goes to comb a hand through his hair and stops when he realizes he’s holding an empty bottle. He stares at it blankly for a moment, then finally moves out of the way so they can come inside. “He vehemently objected to everything we did all day and half the night.”
Eddie laughs and squeezes Eli’s shoulder. “It’ll get better, I promise.”
Eli grunts, deflating. “My parents said that too, but that doesn’t help now.” Absently setting the bottle on an end table, he gestures down the hall. “Well, come on back. Chris’s been driving me crazy for the past 20 minutes waiting for you to show up.”
Buck’s heart thumps. Their flight had been delayed and then the rental car company somehow lost their reservation. Buck hates that South Carolina is on the other side of the country, but it’s better than Australia, so they’re learning not to complain too much. Still, though, California is on an ocean. Can’t Chris find a job closer to home so they can spoil their grandkid rotten in person and not rely on pictures and video calls?
“Jordan’s been crying bloody murder all morning so Chris is rocking him to try to calm him down. Not that it’s helping.” Eli grimaces, and exhaustion seems to settle over him like a weight dragging his shoulders down.
Buck knows that feeling, if for different reasons. He wonders what Chris was like as a baby. He can’t imagine Chris being anything but perfect. That’s undoubtedly his bias speaking, though.
Eddie pulls Eli to a stop and wraps him in a hug. Eli sags against him, sighing.
“Buck and I will take care of the kid later, and you and Chris can nap, okay?”
“Oh, you don’t have—”
“Eli, trust me. You want to take advantage of any offer of help.”
“Besides,” Buck adds, “you’ll have to pry that baby away from us. Grandparent prerogative.” Jesus, it doesn’t feel like that long ago Buck was teasing Eddie about Chris’s first crush and being called grandpa and now he’s married with a baby. Buck’s so overwhelmed in that moment with love and warmth and fucking light that he nearly drops the gifts he’s carrying.
He’s never figured out what he did to deserve this life, but he’s so goddamn grateful anyway.
“I—” Scraping a palm over his face, Eli flashes them a tired smile. “Thank you. You ready to meet him?”
“Yes!” Eddie and Buck say together, and Eli's smile grows less wobbly.
He leads them down the hall to the nursery, the door ajar. He pushes the door open, then stands back for them to go in first.
The nursery has an ocean theme, because what else would it be, with schools of fish swimming across the blue walls, a starfish mobile hanging over the crib, and sharks on the sheets. Chris sits on a rocker in the corner, humming softly to the tiny baby in his arms, who’s fussing angrily and kicking his feet, one sock fallen off.
Buck loves him already.
They’ve seen a million pictures and videos over the past few days, but nothing beats this moment of actually laying eyes on their grandson, his face screwed up and bright red, mad at the world.
Buck reaches for Eddie’s hand, even though it means juggling the gifts, and feels Eddie squeeze back.
Chris glances up and beams. “You’re here!”
“Hey, kid,” Eddie says, a little choked up.
Tears prick at Buck’s eyes, and he drops the gifts onto the nearby dresser. “It’s good to see you,” he says. It’s been seven months, since Christmas, when Chris and Eli told them about the baby.
“You too, Dad.” Chris’s eyes go glassy, and he gasps as Jordan’s tiny foot connects with his arm. “I’m sorry this isn’t a better first impression,” he says over the baby’s cries, which are approaching wailing territory.
“If you think we care,” Eddie says, grinning. “We lived with you when you were a teenager. A little crying is nothing.”
Chris rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I wasn’t that bad.”
“I beg to differ,” Buck mutters, remembering slammed doors and screaming fights when emotions got too high.
Chris smiles sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry. Think I’m getting payback for that now.” He tips his chin down to Jordan, flailing inconsolably in his lap.
“Aw, what’s all this noise about anyhow, little one?” Eddie coos, easily scooping the baby up and tucking him against his chest. Chris slumps in the chair, looking even more exhausted than Eli.
Jordan hiccups and curls into a tight ball, just a small bundle in Eddie’s arms with a shock of dark curls and a yellow bunny onesie. Eddie rubs his back and kisses his forehead and after another hiccup, Jordan falls silent.
“How did you do that?” Eli gapes, dropping onto the chair next to Chris.
Eddie smirks while Buck covers a snort with a cough.
“Abuelo is magic, isn’t that right, bud?” Eddie pats Jordan’s butt, and Jordan answers with a surprisingly loud burp. Everyone cracks up, Chris burying his head against Eli's shoulder. “Guess you take after grandpa Buck, huh?”
“Hey!” Buck protests. “I resemble that remark.”
Eddie grins at him, eyes crinkling and cheeks a pretty pink, then returns his gaze to the baby. He looks so fond and entirely smitten with Jordan already, and it makes Buck love him even more.
“You wanna hold him?” Eddie asks, and Buck’s stomach swoops.
“Yeah,” he answers quietly, suddenly nervous.
Stepping close, Eddie carefully passes the baby to Buck. He holds his breath, expecting Jordan to start crying again, but he just yawns, which is the cutest thing Buck’s ever seen, and settles with his head on Buck’s chest. Within minutes, he’s asleep, making soft sucking sounds. He’s so tiny and feels like nothing in Buck's arms, his cheek warm where it’s pressed against Buck’s collarbone.
Chris and Eli stand so Buck can sit in the rocker. Eddie gathers Chris into a long hug, murmuring something in Chris’s ear that has them both wiping away tears.
“We brought gifts,” Eddie says when they pull away, and Chris rolls his eyes.
“Of course you did. There was no point in telling you not to, huh?”
“Grandparents are supposed to spoil their grandkids,” Buck says, running a finger along Jordan’s velvety skin. He’s not sure how anyone gives up holding this precious little boy. “And this kid is gonna be spoiled rotten.”
Eddie catches his eye, and Buck doesn’t think he’s ever looked softer. Buck’s never regretted not having more kids, but Eddie goes gooey around babies. Grandpa Eddie might be his favorite version of Eddie yet.
“Did you settle on a middle name?” Eddie sits on the footstool and lays his hand over Jordan’s back, sweeping his thumb back and forth.
Eli laughs. “Choosing Jordan was difficult enough. We needed a few extra days for the middle name.”
“But, yeah, we did.” Chris’s gaze is steady on Buck when he says, “It’s Evan. Jordan Evan Buckley-Diaz.”
Buck swallows, overwhelmed and shaky from the rush of tears. “Chris, you—”
“We wanted him to be named after one of our dads.”
The tears fall in earnest at that. Eddie quickly scoops Jordan up so Buck can stagger into Chris. Chris catches him with a soft grunt and huffed laugh. Buck tightens his arms around Chris’s shoulders, holding him close.
“Thank you,” Buck tells him, barely getting the words out past the lump in his throat.
Chris shakes his head and squeezes so tight Buck's ribs creak. “I should thank you. I hope I’m half the dad you were.”
“You made it easy.” He smacks a kiss to Chris’s forehead, something he hasn’t done in ages, and Chris laughs, swiping a hand across his eyes with a sniffle. “Best kid on the planet.”
They let go after another couple of minutes. Buck glances around the room at his family, Eddie and Eli gently placing Jordan in his crib and Chris snooping at the gifts, and smiles.
This is the perfect moment. He’s had several in his life, so many he never expected to get, and this is just one more beautiful memory to add to all the others.
&&&
Eddie's quiet on the drive over, eyes trained on his phone. Buck can’t blame him, after the day they’ve had. While he was able to shove everything else to the side and do his job, Buck knows worry about Christopher gnawed at him every moment.
Buck slows in front of the school, and Eddie jumps out before Buck puts the Jeep in park, running up to the doors where the teacher waits inside with Christopher. Eddie gathers him up into a hug, his relief and love palpable in the gentle way he holds Christopher to his chest. Buck watches from the Jeep, and his heart thuds sharply against his ribcage, expanding until it fills his whole chest and catches in the back of his throat.
It’s stupid to be jealous of a little boy’s happy reunion with his dad, but he can’t remember his own parents ever showing that much care for him.
Swallowing past the lump choking off his breath, he hops out as Eddie starts down the stairs and hurries over to grab Christopher’s crutches and backpack. Eddie nods at him in thanks, shifting Christopher to balance on his hip. Christopher rests his head against the curve of Eddie's shoulder, tiny arms looped around his neck. He’s even cuter in person than the picture Eddie showed him earlier, his messy curls falling across his forehead, a big smile on his face despite the late hour and his no-doubt worry-filled day, wondering if Eddie would ever pick him up.
Eddie sets him down by the Jeep and opens the back door, gesturing for Buck to hand him Christopher’s things. They transferred the carseat to the Jeep before leaving the station, a miracle considering all Buck was thinking at the point was get Chris. Home. Bed.
“Who are you?” Christopher asks, gazing up at Buck with a curious expression. He’s practically bending backward to look at him, so Buck kneels in front of him, keeping a careful distance between them.
“I’m Buck. I work with your dad.”
“Oh!” His little face lights up, and he shuffles forward, peering at Buck even more intently. “Dad talks about you all the time.”
“Does he?” Buck says and grins at the way Eddie's cheeks go bright red.
“Uh-huh.” His nod sends his glasses slipping down his nose. Buck pushes them back into place, and Christopher smiles at him, shy and sweet. “Do you like Legos?”
“I love Lego.” He glances up, and the fond look he sees on Eddie’s face makes his breath catch.
“I guess I’ll let you play with mine someday.”
Buck laughs. “I’d be honored.”
“All right, bud,” Eddie says, squeezing Christopher’s shoulder and guiding him toward the car. “Let’s get you home so you can eat and bathe before bed.”
His nose wrinkles, but he nods, then turns back to Buck, throwing his arms around his neck in as tight of a hug as his skinny arms can manage. Closing his eyes, Buck cradles him gently.
“Thanks, Buck!”
Buck’s heart dances in his chest. He presses his palm to hold it in, but it’s too late. It’s already escaped his body and landed at the feet of this adorable, curly-haired boy.