Work Text:
While the rest of his family would argue that there was nothing good about it, Buck would wholeheartedly defend that one of the best things that’s ever happened to him came as a result of the lightning strike.
Thanks to the lightning strike, he finally became a father.
Okay, backtrack—he’s a dog dad and that dog was one of the best things that had ever happened to him.
He may not have remembered the day his doctor gave him the news. The news that, as a result of the strike, he’d be living with a permanent arrhythmia and would be at increased risk of fainting for the rest of his life, or at least, unless he one day had a heart transplant. Not that he necessarily believed in the psychological versus biological affects of organ transplants, but he just wasn’t chancing it. If there was one thing about him that he could be proud of, he would say he had a good heart. He could live with a heart condition, he supposed.
After his latest brush with death…well, he was just glad he still had a life he could come back to. The department had been even more understanding than he’d expected, offering for him to keep his job and to just be given less strenuous tasks on calls when needed so that he could keep his health in check.
And even Bobby was willing to take him back. He’d long-since realized that keeping Buck from his job wouldn’t exactly do much in terms of keeping him safe and that, on the job, at least Bobby and the rest of the team could keep an eye on him.
He just…wasn’t sure he was ready.
Even after his cardiologist had given him the all-clear, he just…didn’t feel right. Until she offered him another option.
A trained cardiac alert dog that was prepared to do anything from protecting their owner from injury due to dizziness or blacking our, or retrieving objects, or even dialing 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency.
Honestly, it wasn’t something he’d ever considered. Having a dog, sure. He thought about it all the time. But a service dog? He just…didn’t think he was the kind of person to qualify for something like that. Surely there were other people who needed one more than him and he’d just be taking resources away from those who needed it.
At least, that’s how he explained it to Eddie when he’d turned down the offer from the training agency.
“You…you do realize you’re one of those people, right?” Eddie had asked him, a faint hint of genuine concern in his teasing question. “One of the people who need resources like this to keep them safe and help them live their life.”
His first instinct was to refute it, to argue back that clearly Eddie just didn’t understand, but…
“They offered, once I got discharged. Sent me all kinds of brochures for trainers in El Paso that specialized in dogs that could help with PTSD,” Eddie explained, not exactly looking Buck in the eye. “I turned it down. I figured…taking care of Chris on my own was already more than I felt like I could handle, the only thing that would make me more anxious was trying to take care of a dog on top of all that.”
Buck just couldn’t help but sit there shocked, both that Eddie hadn’t told him, and that he immediately thought about how much it would help to have a dog with him that could keep him grounded and calm his urge to panic. It seemed so obvious.
“Would you—“
“Yeah,” Eddie interrupted with a huff of a laugh. “In a heartbeat. I…I don’t want to convince myself I shouldn’t be taken care of because other people needed more help than I did. Not anymore, and I can’t…Buck I need you to really think about this.”
Under Eddie’s serious gaze, Buck was helpless. All he could do was squirm, even in the sanctuary that was Eddie’s kitchen.
“You think…I should?”
That much was obvious, he just needed Eddie to actually spell it out for him.
“I think you’ve gone through so much all on your own,” he countered, the same soft smile reaching the corners of his honey-brown eyes. “And I think…I don’t know, I think maybe this dog could be the one to finally convince you that you deserve more.”
And so, that next morning, he found himself meeting with a kind young woman about insurance. Somehow, and for what was definitely the first time, he was happy to do it.
Hearing about the trainers and their mission just made him more and more convinced that he’d made the right choice. They started as a non-profit that sought to rescue abused and neglected dogs that were being kept on breeder farms, training the more mature dogs to be emotional companion dogs for those with more mild service needs, while the puppies that were rescued from breeders would be trained for more complex service tasks such as seeing-eye dogs or, in his case, cardiac alert dogs.
And she didn’t ask what happened to him, didn’t question whether he really needed a service dog or not, she just asked him what he wanted help with. What kinds of tasks he’d like for his dog to be able to help him with.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure. Yeah, he was terrified of passing out after his track record with unconsciousness. He couldn’t deny that the thought of having a heart attack was equally distressing, but he also didn’t exactly know how a dog was supposed to help him manage that.
“Well, most of our dogs here have been given brief emotional support training along with their disability assistance,” she explained. “We understand that the circumstances that lead to physical changes in our lives often come with plenty of emotional changes as well. I know that when I personally developed diabetes many years ago now, not only did I appreciate having my beautiful girl Daisy with me to keep track of my blood sugar, but when I developed intense anxiety around food, she was there to help me feel less alone.”
And…yeah. That pretty much sounded like exactly what he needed.
“So they…they help with anxiety too?” He clarified, hopeful and nervous. “What about…other stuff?”
The woman, Claire according to her name tag, smiled and nodded.
“Anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, depression, OCD, you name it,” she confirmed. “It depends on the person, everyone has different experiences and we try to focus less on what specific roster of skills our dogs have, but rather the unique personality that we think would best compliment our clients.”
It made sense, now that she spelled it out for him. Dogs, and any animals, had personalities and traits just like people did.
“You know, I think we’ve got a real special girl who’s gonna like you,” Claire added with a smile. “That is, if you’re sure about this. I try to make sure I don’t adopt out any dogs my clients have started to bond with, so if you’re interested, I can take you back to the training area?”
And the rest was history.
He started training with his dog almost immediately. Conveniently, the training process served as an excellent excuse given the fact that he wasn't ready to go back to work just yet. He knew exactly how that conversation would go down if he even so much as hinted at it to Bobby and the last thing he wanted to do was worry his family any more than he already had.
At least he had Eddie.
He found himself thinking that more often than ever after waking from his coma. Living for even just a few days in a world where Eddie Diaz wasn’t in his life was torture. He’d never realized just how much he could miss another person until he had to live his life without Eddie. And right after they had finally crossed such a big hurdle together too. At least, he hoped Eddie wasn’t doting on him as some unnecessary debt he felt he had to play just because Buck had been there to help him during his recent mental health crisis.
Arguably his favorite part about slowly training with a service dog, he discovered, was that she seemed to be very excited to discover that Buck’s family had the same job that she did. When Eddie would come over after work and check the faint scars on his neck, Buck would just obediently wait for the cold, wet nose and big slobbery lick that he knew was coming right afterwards.
That, and his dog took to Eddie not unlike how quickly he himself became attached to the man all those years ago. Apparently all of Hen and Chimney’s jokes about him being more golden retriever than human hadn’t been as much of a joke as they’d thought.
And so, with a rigorous schedule of training, Buck found himself almost immediately in love with Dory. Her name, of course, coming from the fact that ever since the tsunami, he’d adopted an overwhelming relationship with the classic Pixar film. Christopher’s words that day, reminding him that as long as they just kept swimming everything would be okay, held such a special place in his heart that he figured his new little hero could share that special namesake.
He’d yet to actually introduce Dory to anyone apart from Eddie. Considering she was still in training, overloading her with new experiences and information wouldn’t exactly be fair considering she was already working so hard. Besides, it gave him a chance to fully bond with his new roommate.
Even if he couldn't yet take Dory home with him, not until she had completed more of her training and passed some of the certification tests, he found himself laying awake in bed at night missing the feeling of raking his hands through golden fur and the remains of slobbery kisses lingering on his skin.
Three months later and he was still just as deep in love as he was the first time she leapt into his arms.
Dory had met the entire firefam at that point. Buck was back to work, Dory was by his side everywhere he went, and she'd eventually learned that just because he was running into crumbling buildings and flaming car wrecks, she did not need to save him from that kind of danger. There were certainly more tiny holes poked in the pant legs of his turnouts than there had been beforehand, but at least he knew her grip strength was nearly enough to keep him in place.
And, well, if she hadn’t needed to learn otherwise, he would’ve rewarded that gesture even more than the things he’d trained her to do. The fact that she instinctively wanted to protect him? That meant more than anything.
So Dory was an official part of the family. Nobody loved that new addition more than Chris, who begged for Buck to spend the night all the time because it always led to the four of them curled up on the couch, the three boys side by side, and Dory perched on Eddie’s lap with her head on Christopher’s thigh.
The fact that, to the untrained eye, Dory seemed to like Eddie more than him was certainly not lost on Buck either. He would deny it to anyone else, but he genuinely did think that his dog had latched onto the older man the same way that he had soon after they’d first met. Maybe it was just something about Eddie, but he certainly wasn’t complaining.
Eddie, on the other hand, was a firm believer the Dory understood more than she was letting on. Namely, that the only reason she liked him so much was because they were now partners too. Eddie had Buck’s back first and for that, Dory was just as loyal to him as she was to Buck.
Around the station, Dory clung to Buck even more than usual. With all of the commotion and loud noises and strange smells, it wasn’t surprising, but the only times she’d relent and give Buck more than an inch or two of space, were when Eddie would tag in and take her place. Once Eddie was by his side, Dory would take her much-deserved break to go beg for bits of Bobby’s cooking in the kitchen, which no one could really blame her for.
But there had yet to be any actual emergencies yet.
The closest they’d come to anything actually going wrong and Dory intervening had been when Buck, deliriously sleep-deprived, had nearly left the loft to go to work without taking his meds and Dory had decisively retrieved them from his bedside table, bringing to him as he tied his work boots to leave.
No drama, just a simple mistake.
Regardless, he stopped at the nearest coffee shop to the station to get her a little cup of whipped cream, rewarding her for being so smart and such a good girl.
It was even more surprising when she intervened to give emotional support for the first time, and it wasn’t even for Buck.
They’d been at the scene of a kids tee-ball game that had left a little girl with her arm stuck in a chain link fence, swollen from being scraped on the rusty metal. She’d been terrified once they brought out the bolt cutters and saws to remove the piece of fence that she was trapped in, screaming and crying for her parents to help.
Buck was taking point, as he usually did when it came to precise technical work with their power tools, and so Dory had been left to stand back where it was safe since there was no significant risk of something causing a heart rate irregularity. Considering it wasn’t particularly difficult extraction, Bobby hung back and watched his team from a couple yards away, Dory planted firmly at his side as she watched Buck like a hawk.
After a while, Buck just couldn’t do it.
Kids crying was his kryptonite, sue him.
As Hen and Chimney worked on reducing the swelling in the girl’s arm and Eddie attempted to cover as much of her skin as possible with blankets to that the sparks from the saw wouldn’t hurt her even more, Buck made a quick whistle call and Dory came running, planting herself at his side and sniffing him briefly to check that he didn’t need her medical help.
“Hey Kayla, remember my dog I told you about?” He spoke up, reclaiming the little girl’s attention. She nodded, sniffling as she rubbed at her tears with her free hand. “Well, she’s an expert at helping people. She’s a service dog which means she’s super smart and she happens to be really brave when it comes to making people feel safe in scary situations.” Buck gave his good girl a some scratches behind the ears, her tail wagging back and forth through the dirt. “I bet petting her for a bit would help you feel better, would you like to try?”
Kayla nodded immediately as Buck signaled for Dory to run around to the other side of the fence, sitting perfectly as the little girl began to gently stroke the top of her head.
With a nod for Eddie to go ahead with the saw, Buck kept his attention on Kayla as she squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on petting Dory until finally, the hard part was done. Once all that was left was to use the bolt cutters to snip away the small section of the fence that her arm was wedged in, Buck eagerly stood and circled the end of the fence, calling for Dory to come to him.
She didn’t hesitate, running up to him and licking all over his face and Buck couldn’t help but laugh, praising her up and down for being such a brave and helpful girl.
Before he knew it, his love sesh was interrupted, not unkindly, as Eddie squatted down beside them, reaching out to give Dory some well-earned belly rubs.
“Look at you go, mi princesa, you’re a natural,” he joined in, beaming. “Did your dad teach you that? Or are you just so smart that he didn’t even need to, hm?”
Buck snorted a laugh, rolling his eyes as he pulled a treat out of the small pocket on Dory’s service vest.
“She’s very well trained, thank you very much,” he teased. “Although, considering how long she’s been doing this, I think it’s fair to say she’s a natural.”
“Definitely,” Eddie cooed, Dory fully relaxed into Eddie’s belly rubs as her tail wagged at the speed of light. “Ain’t that right, dulzura?”
Buck was nothing if not endlessly endeared and amused by his best friend’s constant slew of nicknames for his dog. He’d teased for a while that Eddie simply couldn’t remember his dog’s name and had instead opted for calling her literally anything else, but he soon learned it was the opposite. He had fallen hard and fast, originally acting a bit uncomfortable and avoidant around the dog as if he was intruding on something he wasn’t supposed to, but from the second he caved, there was no going back. He absolutely adored that dog, and it was just fitting that she loved him right back.
Before long, all of Buck’s previous fears surrounding his abilities on the job had vanished. He was back where he belonged. His team knew that, his captain knew that, and most importantly, he knew that.
Dory was just like a safety net, ready to catch him should anything go wrong, and in the meantime, she would sit there by the engine and watch him save lives without an ounce of worry, her unending faith in him like a balm over all of his anxieties.
And so, one afternoon on a day off work, the pair were heading to one of LA’s many gourmet dog boutiques, a cute little shop not too far to walk from his loft, that sold absolutely ridiculous dog treats. Still, his perfect girl deserved the world, especially after a long week of non-stop calls. She’d even been exceptionally brave when a little tool mishap had caused a shallow cut to Buck’s hand, to which Dory had sat anxiously pressed up against his leg, her head perched on his forearm as she watched Eddie disinfect and wrap the wound. She didn’t interfere, she didn’t forget her training, and if she wanted some seven-dollar apiece, fancy pet-friendly donuts from a dog bakery, then she was damn well gonna’ get it.
They were only about two blocks away when it happened.
Whether it was a real gunshot or just a car backfiring, Buck didn’t care to know. All that mattered was that he was on the streets of downtown LA and there was a gunshot ringing in his ears.
His heart rate must’ve spiked because Dory immediately jumped into protective mode, biting at the small pouch that hung from her leash which held his emergency meds.
The problem was, his legs were just too unsteady, his vision swimming as panic overtook him and he may have, incidentally, forgotten to breathe for a bit.
He stumbled into a nearby alleyway, catching himself on the crumbling cement wall as his back slid down until he was sitting on the ground, hands shaking in his lap.
Dory pressed right up into his space without hesitation, sniffing around him and pressing her nose into his neck a few times, nudging his head around as if trying to get a reaction. His hands instinctively tightened in the golden fur on her back, unmoored with nothing but his dog to keep him afloat. Every few moments, Dory would turn to face the end of the alley, bark a few times at the strangers, before turning back to Buck. Licking all over his face did nothing, but she was determined not to give up.
Luckily, inside one of the pockets of his shorts, was Buck’s phone. He’d programmed a failsafe feature in which pressing three on one of the buttons would open up an emergency information screen that listed his emergency contacts and what to do.
Dory snatched up his phone between her teeth, carrying it over to a woman who had worriedly approached them, before dropping it at the woman’s feet. She pressed her nose to the screen three times before pushing it towards the woman with her paw. With that taken care of, she wasn’t spending a single second longer without some form of physical contact with Buck, pushing him upright from where he had begun to slump forward. She knew to keep his head and chest elevated to improve blood flow.
To their combined luck, the woman seemed to be aware of the medical alert feature on Buck’s phone and understood what Dory was trying to tell her considering the phone was ringing almost immediately and she was rattling off information to whoever was on the other end, which, assuming she followed the instruction, said to call 9-1-1 and specifically request station 118 if possible.
It was definitely his preference for a few reasons, namely the fact that he trusted his family above anyone else and there was no one he’d rather have taking care of him but, considering the circumstances of Dory’s first real health scare with Buck, it was imperative that Buck was in the hands of someone she could trust. Until she got used to the idea of it, having to give up her place of protection so that a bunch of strangers could start doing things she didn’t understand to her Buck was just asking for disaster. She was terrified enough already.
Even while he didn’t fully have enough awareness to figure out what was going on, Buck could understand enough.
Warm weight on his stomach. Dory.
Tightness of breath, vertigo.
Heightened anxiety messed with his blood pressure.
Probably would’ve been a panic attack if Dory hadn’t swooped in to save him with her grounding presence.
Until Dory stood from her place laying on his stomach, licking at his face to get Buck to keep his eyes open, that he knew help must’ve arrived. She yipped a few times until the sound of thumping footfalls got closer and closer.
There were hands on him, gentle but startling, as a mask was placed over his face and a cuff wrapped around his bicep.
“He’s okay, we’ll take care of him, sweetheart. You can relax,” a voice—Eddie’s voice—flooded through his system. “That’s right, you did good. You did so good, babygirl. Dios, thank you. Thank you, mi ángel.”
Of course Eddie went right to comforting his dog. Typical. Sure, Hen and Chimney no-doubt had it handled, with Bobby by his side as well to transfer him onto a backboard and get him moved to the ambulance, but Eddie took care of the real hero.
There was no chance in hell she was riding anywhere but in the ambulance with Buck, Eddie made sure of that. She showed no hesitation when it came to jumping into the back, perching her paws up on the edge of the stretcher as she nuzzled Buck’s face. As soon as Eddie slid onto the bench seat beside her, he went back to petting her sweetly.
“You can go ahead, mi preciosa. He’s gonna’ be okay, you can check for yourself,” he encouraged, nodding for her to hop right up onto the gurney with Buck and curl up at his feet, her sweet golden face pillowed on his thigh. And, because Eddie knew Buck like he knew his own name and apparently that extended to his dog as well, he gently picked up one of Buck’s hands and laid it right beside Dory’s snout so she could nuzzle it and he could feel that she was still right there with him.
God, he had a damn good dog.