Chapter Text
Eddie should have expected to be hit the moment he stepped foot into the 118 again.
“Do. Not. Do. That. Again. Edmundo. Diaz,” Hen all but hisses, hitting his arm.
“Yeah, man, not cool. Glad to have you back though,” Chim adds, clapping him on the back.
Hen slaps him again for good measure, grumbling a little, before huffing and admitting, “It is good to have you back. Just…come to us next time you're struggling. We're family.”
“I know. And I'm really sorry.”
“Don’t worry, Hen,” Buck tells her, his grin bright and wide on his face. ”He's not going anywhere.”
Eddie looks over at his partner who’s looking so cheeky, keys swinging around his finger.
Keys to his Jeep, Eddie's truck, and their home.
Their home.
It's been three weeks since Buck dropped the bombshell called ‘I bought the bungalow’ on him, and he’s still trying to wrap his head around it.
His home. Their home.
It's safe. It's still theirs.
Even the week that has passed since they have gotten back (a week earlier thanks to Owen and Judd) and he had seen everything in its rightful place and immediately felt like he was at home hasn't changed the feeling.
Because, somehow, his home is intact, the love of his life loves him back, and Christopher is coming back soon.
He even got his spot back at the 118 back thanks to several strings being pulled by both Bobby and Owen.
And it just…boggles his mind because when he had left almost six months ago, he didn't think he'd ever feel like this again.
Whole.
No. That's wrong. Because he feels whole and more. Like there was always this part of himself that he never considered to be part of the whole before all of this, and now he's finally feeling it.
And he thinks it because of the unbridled, unrestrained love he has for Buck.
“I don't know Buckaroo,” Hen says, and Eddie immediately knows she's still upset about the whole thing. “You've got a runner on your hands.”
“Well,” his partner tells the paramedic, the playful lilt in his voice telling Eddie exactly what is coming out of that mouth before it even opens again. “Good thing I tied him to me.”
With that, Buck takes his hand from behind, lifting it for their team to see the two matching rings on their fingers.
Because, yeah, they made a stop at Vegas on the way back.
It's…probably not the greatest idea they had because Christopher knows about them but he was lukewarm about the whole arrangement at best.
But Buck had brought up the lightning strike, joking about how they really should have gone to Vegas to test his temporary math skills and how he wouldn't have had to worry about picking up odd jobs on the road to keep up with the mortgage payments.
And Eddie? Eddie had just stared at his partner, memories of that dreadful night coming to the forefront of his mind and the terrible 3 minutes and 17 seconds that Buck had been dead.
So his decision to get married and stop wasting time was warranted.
“Oh my God,” Hen whispers while Chim gapes at them. “You got married?!”
“Who got married?” Bobby asks as he joins them in the bay.
“These two idiots!”
Their captain looks at them, surprise all over his face. “You got married?”
“Yep!” his husband chirps.
“Yep, my ass, Buck,” Hen says. “Are you saying none of us got a proper wedding?”
And as they devolve into an argument about weddings, whether Maddie knows yet (she does) and maybe possibly hosting a makeup wedding, Bobby turns to him.
“Are you happy?”
He looks at Buck, absolutely radiating. He thinks of their home they built over the years. He thinks of the hole in their family that will be filled out again soon.
He thinks of all the holes in his walls, mostly patched up just within the last few weeks.
“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
And, years later, it'll still hold true. His metaphorical walls are free of open holes, the faint scars the only reminder of the years past.
And the physical ones?
The bedroom wall that once had holes in it is painted over a cool blue and the holes that were there are covered by pictures of the many adventures and family time the family of three then four then five have had. They’re still there, of course, but the many happy memories made over the years are more prevalent and important than the grief of the past.
Most importantly, though, is that Eddie has not thought about running in years.