Chapter Text
Eddie leaves Christopher with Buck, he feels confident that he will be safe with Buck. No one knows Buck, no one who knows Eddie would think that he would leave him with someone who is practically a stranger. Eddie can’t even believe he’d done that. But he knew that Buck would do anything to keep his son safe. He’d already seen that.
“Rafe, stay here. If Buck or Christopher need me, call my burner phone. Otherwise, just make sure they stay inside and stay safe. Carter and Sam are going to drive me to the safe house. They’ll bring me back when we’re finished,” Eddie told Rafe as Carter and Sam pulled up in their Black Explorer. Much classier than the Escalade. Eddie had no need to prove himself, or compensate for anything.
Eddie hops into the passenger seat of the Explorer, Carter already having moved to the back seat. Sam was always the driver. He liked it, and Carter seemed to have no qualms about always riding shotgun. Unless Eddie was with them. Eddie always took the passenger seat. Unless Rafe was driving him. He felt safer that way.
“Are you boys ready?” Eddie asked. “First I want information. Then, we make them pay.”
“I just can’t believe the Flores’ weren’t involved,” Carter said from the back seat. “I really thought it was them, boss.”
“We all did,” Eddie agreed. “The Carmine’s came out of nowhere. Small fish trying to play in a big pond. Well, no one will need to be worried about them anymore. And we don’t know that the Flores’ didn’t have a hand in this. That’s part of the many things I’d like to ask the fine gentleman that are waiting for us.”
“You got it, boss,” Carter affirmed. “We asking nicely first?”
“No.”
The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Eddie was meditating. Envisioning what was about to happen, that was meditation enough for him. He snapped out of it when Sam brought the car to a stop at an unsuspecting townhouse just outside the city.
“They’re in the garage. Basement wasn’t suitable. Has a large outside window that looks straight into the neighbors yard,” Sam informed Eddie. “But this was the best option we had with limited time. Neighbors on the right are supposedly out of town for the weekend, and the neighbors on the left don’t get home until almost 8 p.m.”
“Perfect. Let’s go,” Eddie led the way across the yard to the back door of the garage. He opened it and flicked on the lights, the two goons were tied up to chairs, seemingly asleep. Eddie assumes they had been knocked unconscious.
“The drug should be out of their system any minute now. Give them a shake, they might just be napping it off,” Carter suggested.
Eddie did more than give them a shake. He gave them each a sharp kick to the shin. They grumbled awake, quickly sitting up straight, as straight as they could while bound with rope, anyway, when they realized where they were.
“Hello boys, fancy meeting you here,” Don Diaz grinned like a shark. Eddie had left the building. Don Diaz was here to play.
“Look man, we were only acting on orders,” the first goon said. The bigger one that Buck had described to him.
“Who’s?” Don Diaz asked. He was pretty sure it was Don Carmine. But he wanted absolute confirmation before he went off killing the head of a syndicate.
The big ones' eyes slid to the smaller one. Sonny Carmine. A very ambitious son, but not a very bright one.
“Okay, neither of you want to talk. Fine. Let me make an educated guess, you had no orders. Daddy doesn’t know you’re here, Sonny. He has no idea what you’ve attempted. Unfortunately for him, you just doomed his whole syndicate,” Don Diaz whispered into Sonny’s ear. “Am I right?” Don Diaz grabbed onto his chin and held it tight, standing behind him and forcing him to look straight forward. He held a knife to his throat.
“Please don’t take it out on my father,” Sonny begged. “He didn’t know.”
“Of course he didn’t know. He would never have let you attempt it on your own. You’re not a very good baby capo are you? Do you think your dad would ever leave the syndicate in your hands?” Don Diaz asked. “Pathetic.”
Don Diaz moved from Sonny to his friend. “And who might you be?”
The goon didn’t respond. Of course not, why would he willingly give up his name? Though it wouldn’t matter in a short time.
“Okay, the hard way it is,” Don Diaz shrugged. He took his knife and dug it into the big one’s thigh. He grunted but didn’t scream. Well, he’s stronger than Sonny, Edmundo would give him that. He has no doubt Sonny wouldn’t last two minutes under torture. Don Diaz didn’t stop there though. No, he pulled out his revolver and shot him in the foot. Then the other foot. Ah, there were the screams he’d been looking for. “Would you like to answer my question now? What’s your name?”
“Benny, sir. Benny Cout,” he answered.
“Benny Cout… I don’t know you. You’re not from one of the L.A. families,” Don Diaz informed him.
“N…no, sir. I’m not from any family. Just a friend of Sonny’s,” Benny shook his head. “I don’t have any stakes here.”
“And no loyalty either it seems. A pity,” Don Diaz said. “The only thing I hate worse than an idiot, is a disloyal idiot. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I am loyal to myself,” Benny suggested.
“Wrong answer,” Don Diaz shook his head. He shot Benny in the thigh. Another scream. “That’s the selfish answer. It won’t save you. Not here. I’m done with you. You’re not the one behind this operation, that is clear. You just go along with whatever, and whoever will serve you the most.”
Don Diaz turns his attention to Sonny. He’s the real mastermind here, if one uses the term loosely.
“Sonny, Sonny, Sonny, what should we do with you?” Don Diaz asked. “Attempting to murder my son. My son! My pride and joy. What did you think would happen? Your father would hail you with honor? He would name you his heir? Of course not, he would berate you. Because he knows that had you succeeded, and certainly now that you’ve been hindered and caught, I would tear apart the whole syndicate in order to avenge him. And now I will rip it apart in order to make it known that no one, no one, even an errant son, gets away with attempting to hurt my son. Do you hear me? You will be the cause of all the suffering that is about to be inflicted upon your family. I hope you are proud.”
Edmundo took the knife and slit Sonny’s throat. He had wanted to make it hurt, and to make him pay, but his anger got the better of him. For good measure, he took his pistol and shot him twice, in the head. Benny looked on in horror.
Edmundo cleaned his knife on his shirt and put it back in his boot. He reholstered his gun, and turned to Sam and Carter. “Take care of the other one and divest of the bodies. Await further orders. I want to plan the next operation carefully.”
Sam and Carter nodded, understanding their assignment.
“Meet me tomorrow at the deli. Tonight, I have business to attend to,” Don Diaz instructed, then he headed into the house to transform into Eddie. He called an Uber and made his way back to Christopher, and to Buck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Buddie~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Eddie made it back to Buck’s place, Rafe was still stationed outside. Eddie knocked on the window of his car, as Rafe was meticulously staring at the entrance to Buck’s building.
“Mr. Diaz, you’ve returned. No one has been in or out of the building in the time you’ve been gone. All is well,” Rafe reports.
“Thanks, Rafe. You can take off for a while. I think I’ll stick around for a little bit. I’ll call you when we’re ready to head home,” Eddie told him.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll be awaiting your call,” Rafe rolls up the window, but waits until Mr. Diaz is inside before driving off.
Eddie grins and heads upstairs to his son, and his new friend.
When Eddie is greeted at the door by a grinning Buck and a laughing Christopher, Eddie feels his whole soul light up.
Cries of “Daddy” and “Eddie” made him grin back at the two boys.
“Boys!” Eddie called in return, engulfing both in a hug. A light blush creeped across Buck’s cheeks.
“We didn’t expect you back so soon. Do you have to leave already?” Buck looked disappointed.
“Thought maybe we’d stick around,” Eddie shrugged. “If that’s okay with you.”
“S…sure,” Buck agreed. He isn’t quite sure why they’d want to. They’re more strangers than anything. But he wasn’t about to turn down the first company he’d had in weeks. He didn’t even want to think about that and his supposed fire family.
“We were going to order pizza, daddy. Buck doesn’t have any food!” Chris shouted in excitement.
Buck looked embarrassed, “I wasn’t expecting company. Normally I have a stocked kitchen. I love to cook.”
“It’s okay, Buck. I did spring Chris on you this morning,” Eddie assured him. Anything to make that look disappear from Buck’s face.
“I read that kids Christopher’s age should have a choice in their daily routine and in small family decisions, such as what to eat for lunch,” Buck shrugged. “So I let him choose. I figured pizza one day won’t hurt him much.”
“We have pizza lots of days,” Chris chimed in. “Daddy can’t cook and Maria moved away. Carla cooks breakfast sometimes if she has enough time before she takes me to school.”
“Thanks, Christopher,” Eddie sighed. “I really am trying to find a new cook. I just don’t have time to learn between work and taking care of Chris, and about a million other things. Take out is just easier a lot of the times.”
“I love to cook normally. My d… Bobby, he taught me everything I know,” Buck said. He didn’t like thinking about the 118 right now. He still doesn’t quite believe how easily they all just left him behind, but then, maybe he does. He’d always been left behind.
“Dad, you should hire Buck!” Chris suggested. “Then I can see him all the time.”
“Mijo, Buck might not be looking for a job right now,” Eddie told him. However, the idea didn’t seem so bad to him. He would like to keep Buck around, in any capacity he could. He felt like the guy could use someone in his corner. “Let’s focus on lunch for now. How about we order that pizza and you can catch me up on what you and Buck did while I was gone?”
“Large pepperoni good for everyone?” Buck asked as he used an app on his phone to order.
“That works for us,” Eddie confirmed.
“25 minutes,” Buck reported. “Chris and I were watching a documentary on sharks, we can continue that.”
“Yeah, Dad! Did you know that sharks don’t have bones?” Christopher asked his dad. “They have cart…cart… what was it Buck?”
“Cartilagenous tissue,” Buck dutifully answered. “It is actually very interesting. I never knew that either.”
“Well, sounds like you boys were having fun,” Eddie grinned. “Let me just use the restroom and I’ll be ready to learn all about sharks.”
“Oh! It’s just through here,” Buck led Eddie to the downstairs bathroom. “Help yourself.”
Eddie didn’t really need to use the bathroom. He just wanted it as an excuse to look around. He couldn’t help himself. He was curious. Of course he’d already had Rafe run a background check on Evan Buckley. But that didn’t mean Eddie couldn’t learn more from the way he lived. Buck intrigued Eddie.
The trek from the living area to the bathroom didn’t reveal much, except that the furnishings were very sparse. The bathroom didn’t really have much to tell either. A few old magazines sat next to the toilet and there was a generic bottle of hand soap on the sink. Seems maybe Buck didn’t have a lot of visitors.
Eddie flushed the toilet and washed his hands to keep up pretenses and meandered his way back to his boys in the living room. They were both engaged in the shark documentary playing on the TV. Eddie ducked into the kitchen to look around while they were distracted. No photos or memos on the fridge, and Chris wasn’t wrong. There didn’t seem to be any food except for some half-rotted apples on the counter.
Eddie’s thoughts churned as he joined Buck and Christopher in the living room.
“Dad! You’re missing so much,” Christopher said, excited to see Eddie. God what Eddie wouldn’t do to keep that youthful excitement in his son forever. Eddie already dreaded when Chris grew up and started being less excited to see his father. He shook his head, no use dwelling on those thoughts now. Not when there was a problem right in front of him that he could solve.
Eddie just needed to find some time where he could talk to Buck without little ears present. The sooner the better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Buddie~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eddie got his chance when the pizza arrived. Eddie followed Buck to the kitchen so he could put the pizza on plates for them.
“I couldn’t help but notice this place hardly looks lived in or inviting,” Eddie started off.
Buck looked affronted.
“No, sorry, that came out harsher than I meant it to. What I meant is… you seem… lonely,” Eddie put out there. Okay, so that didn’t sound much better.
“Uh…,” Buck floundered.
“I know you’re out of work. I thought maybe you would want to become our personal chef. Comes with a free place to stay, and constant company. Even if that company is usually in the form of a very inquisitive five year old.”
“I love that inquisitive five year old,” Buck confessed. “Seriously, Eddie, you’ve got the best kid.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” Eddie grinned. “And he was onto something when he asked me to give you a job. You don’t seem to have a lot of company coming around. You don’t have a job. And clearly, you can’t be left alone too long, you forget to eat. And end up on deserted bridges.”
Buck flinched at the last statement, though they all affected him. Eddie wasn’t wrong per se, just blunt.
“I have a lease here. I can’t just up and leave,” Buck tried to argue.
“How about I deal with that? I won’t even make you sign a contract. You’ll be free to leave whenever. If you go back to firefighting or you find something else…,” Eddie trailed off.
“I can’t go back to firefighting. That’s why I’m in this whole mess,” Buck admitted. “Can I think about it?”
“Of course, Buck. Just, don’t take too long okay. You look like you could use someone to take care of you,” Eddie said.
Buck blushed and Eddie filed that information away for later. He had no intention of ever letting Buck go once he had him in his grasp, but Buck didn’t need to know that yet.
“Buck! Dad! Where’s the pizza?” Chris called, interrupting their little moment. Ah, kids.