Saying Everything

by Human404

Summary:

oneshots from moments mentioned in Saying Nothing.

probably could be read as a stand-alone but it will likely make more sense with context.

Notes:

Chris has a vendetta against chocolate no one seems to understand.

Chapter 1: Chris V. Chocolate

“Chris, are you ready to go trick-or-treating?” Eddie called out. He was pacing the front door. Chris decided this year he wanted to be a soldier for Halloween to be like his Papi and his Dad. So, Eddie found him a costume that looked like fatigues (they looked more like a marine’s uniform, but Eddie wasn’t going to complain) and decorated Chris’ wheelchair to look like a tank. Eddie was dressed in his own fatigues.

“Chris” Eddie called out to the boy who came stumbling out of his room with a huge smile.

“Papi” Chris called out.

“You look great, Mi hijo” Eddie said while picking up Chris and buckling him into his chair. Eddie called Buck last week and they both agreed that with the amount of walking and it being dark, this was going to be the safest option for Chris. “Let’s get your photo to send to Dad.” A quick shot and Eddie had a picture of the cutest soldier sent off to Buck.  

Trick or treating was very successful, and Chris was wheeled back into the house with a pillowcase full of candy. Eddie reached down to unbuckle Eddie and he got out of the chair. Eddie took the candy bag to the kitchen and unceremoniously dumped it onto the kitchen table, taking a preliminary look at the candy and goodies in the bag. He removed 3 pieces that had been opened, a toothbrush, 7 bouncy balls, and a handful of other non-candy treats. He set aside the not candy for Chris later and threw away the open candy.

Chris walked in and started sorting his candy. Eddie cocked his head, when he was that young he just dug into whatever candy he could get his hands on. “What are you doing there, Me hijo.”

“Sorting” was Chris’ rather unhelpful answer.

“I can see that,” Eddie said, “Why is more what I was asking”  

“So we can ‘gotiate” Chris said. Eddie was spared any more confusion when his phone rang, and he saw that it was Buck. He quickly answered the call and his husband's face filled the screen. In the background, Eddie could see the remnants of a large fire on a beach.

“Mi Corazon” Eddie said “We just got back from trick or treating and Chris is sorting his candy?”

“Ohhhh, I forgot to tell you,” Buck said flushing. “The last few years when you were deployed over Halloween and I just happened to be at home we started our own little thing. He can sell any candy back to you, at an agreed upon price.” Buck explained “Keeps him from having too much candy”

“Are you where he is getting his negotiation tactics from?” Eddie asked.

“Yes,”

“Well I might need help, and I am new to candy negotiations.”

“Take me to him, I show you how it's done.” Eddie walked back into the kitchen to find Chris finishing off two piles one significantly larger pile, with mainly chocolates, but also some off brand candy, pretzel bags, a fig Newton, and some other miscellaneous stuff, and a second much smaller pile with Skittles, Slaps, Nerds, Rebanaditas, and some other candies Eddie knew Chris loved. Eddie was still confused.

“Wow! You have quite the hall there Superman” Buck’s voice came over the phone

“Yeah” Chris Cheered “Did you do your stupid dinner with your team, Dad” Eddie choked a little before leaning down and correcting him “Sorry, Dumb Supper”

“Yes, Superman we had dumb supper and our bonfire,” Buck said with a smile.

“Did you have fun?” Eddie asked.

“It never as much fun when you’re not around,” Buck said.

Chris chimed in “I’m thinking a dollar per piece this year”

“Wow, that must be some high-quality candy, let me get a better look” Eddie slowly paned the phone for Buck to get a good look at both piles.

“How about 1 ₵”

“50 ₵”

Buck hummed.

“25,” Chris said. Buck remained silent “10” Chris Finally said.

“2” Buck finally countered. “7” was Chris’ rebuttal

“3” was Buck's next offer. Chris took a moment to consider it before saying “5 ₵”

“Deal,” Buck said. “What’s the damage?”

“207 pieces”

Buck thought for a moment “$10.35 it is, you can collect payment from you Papi”

“Thanks, Dad!” Chris said shoving the large pile of mostly chocolate to Eddie.

 

Time Skip (1 Year)

“Chris,” Buck asked, “What would you like to be for Halloween this year?”

“I don’t really want to trick or treat this year,” Chris said despondently. Buck was not  surprised by this answer. They had just moved to LA and still didn’t know many people outside of Buck’s academy class and Eddie’s Abuela.  Still to hear it from a 7-year-old was sad.

“Why not superman,” Buck said. Chris just shrugged and gave a noncommittal grunt. “I need a little more than that” Buck was pushing he knew that Chris always struggled this time of year with one or both parents deployed. Not knowing who was going to be able to make it home for the holidays. Chris was also getting to the age where he understood the holidays more, their meanings, and the gap that missing loved ones have.

“I miss Papi, and I always get so so so much chocolate,” and if that statement didn’t confuse Buck nothing ever would.

“You love the chocolate I bring you,” Buck said, granted the chocolate he brings to Chris is hard not to love. He brings home some of the best chocolate in the world from his travels and he still is in contact with friends from around the world, sending each other care packages of snacks. One is the small abuela, named Mama Rosa, whom he met in Peru who still sends him her handmade chocolate every year near Christmas.

“That chocolate is impossible not to love,” Chris said “but the store-bought chocolate, no thanks”

“Does it taste bad,” Buck questions “I’m just trying to understand is all”

“No, it’s not bad I just don’t like them”  

“Okay,” Buck said, “Well if we don’t trick or treat what shall we do on Halloween”

“Can we do a dumb supper like you, Uncle Steve, Uncle Richards, Uncle Owen, Aunt Haley, and Ancle Sayre do?”

“Sure,” Buck said. He spends the next few days getting things ready for Dumb Supper and finding out the city ordinances for bonfires. On Halloween, Chris sets up the altar, while Buck cooks a feast. Their spacious backyard was filled with a long table and a large burn pile. Once darkness fell, Buck lit the fire and Chris and him ate their meal in silence. Once they were done Chris wandered over to the fire. Buck snapped a photo of Chris silhouetted by the fire and sent it to the lifeline group chat with the caption “Passing on traditions”.

 

Buck joined him and they were laughing a having a good time. A few neighbors came over when they saw the fire and stuck around to join in.  The next morning, they got up and went over to Abuela’s house to help get ready for Dia de los Muertos.

 

Time Skip (Another Year)

“Trick or treating or Dumb Supper” Buck asked Chris,

“Dumb Supper!” Chris said enthusiastically. So, they made their way into the grocery store instead of the costume store and set about buying all the ingredients for their feast. Outside the grocery store, a lady was passing out candy to all the kids. She tried to hand Chris to a small Hersey bar and Chris quickly passed.

They were almost done shopping; Buck was standing in the candy aisle looking at chocolate bars. Chris came around the corner with the breadcrumbs he was sent to grab and gasped in betrayal.

“Why are you getting chocolate” He asked

“I’d like to get some of the alter, and we’re out. I know you're particular with chocolate, so I am trying to see if there is a good option here or if I need to do something different.” Buck explained. They spent the next 15 minutes looking at and examining different bars of chocolate. “How about this one,” Buck said handing Chris a bar of Tony’s Chocolonely dark chocolate.

Chris examined the bar carefully, reading the entire label, before pulling out his phone and looking something up on the internet. He put it in the cart with a small “This seems acceptable”

 

At the Buckley-Diaz House

Buck was loading the car with Chris’ modified stander on wheels and longboard. He made sure to charge it last night and pack extra batteries, so it was good to go. He also grabbed his longboards and a few of his other skateboards as well as plenty of helmets, making sure Chris didn’t see him load the extra gear. They made their way to the park and Chris was lazily going over a mogul when he spotted a familiar person.

“UNCLE STEVE!” Chris called out. “UNCLE DANNO!” Buck goes and gets an extra board for Steve, and Danny is happy to sit to the side and watch. The four of them have fun, and before long Sayre and their partner also show up joining Chris in skating. Finally, Richards, Owen, and Haley make an appearance. They all had a great time at the skate park but soon they needed to get home to get ready for food and fun.

Chris shows Haley and Owen how to set up the altar while Danny and Buck control the kitchen. Everyone else is outside setting up the table and the burn pile.

Dumb Supper was going well, though Sayre’s partner kept trying to make conversation only to be shushed by all 6 SEALS. Once everyone was finished eating, they went to watch the fire, play some games and relax. A few neighbors who joined last year also made their way over to join in the festivities.

Late into the evening, or maybe it was early in the morning, Buck carried Chris over to bed. As he is walking out the door her hears Chris mutter “Best Halloween Ever”

 

Time Skip (1 more year)

Eddie, Buck, and Chris were all together for Halloween for the first time that Chris could remember. He was all ready for Dumb Supper (It was going to be the best one yet) when his Papi asked what he wanted to be to go Trick or Treating.

“I don’t Trick or Treat anymore Papi,” Chris said nonchalantly, going back to his game. Eddie turned to look at Buck who just shrugged.

“The first year we moved out here he said he didn’t want to trick or treat because he didn’t know anyone and was always given too much chocolate” Buck explained

“He loves chocolate,” Eddie said

“You are preaching to the choir here Eddie” Buck said “He loves Mama Rosa’s chocolate that she sends me every Christmas, and the chocolates I would bring back from other countries. I even got him to try and enjoy Tony’s Chocolonely. However, a standard Hersey Chocolate bar, Kit Kat, Twix, Snickers, Reeses, etc. he will not touch with a ten-foot pole. I don’t pretend to understand. I don’t know when this chocolate vendetta began.”

“I noticed that last year we when in El Paso, he didn’t eat any chocolate” Eddie muttered thinking of the last time he was home for Halloween. They both mulled over Chris and his dislike of chocolate, before realizing that they were late for work and for dropping off Chris.

 

At the Station

“So, he doesn’t like Chocolate, that’s not strange. Kids are weird” Hen said as Eddie, Buck, and Hen made their way into the locker room.

“No, you don’t get it” Buck was saying “He loves chocolate, he just seems to have a vendetta against any store-bought chocolate.” Hen looked up just as confused as Buck and Eddie felt about their son’s strange view on Chocolate. They fell into comfortable silence as they changed into their uniforms. Their shift was relatively peaceful, especially considering how close to Halloween they were. About halfway through Eddie finally convinced Buck to extend an invite to Dumb Supper to the station. A few people looked confused but several people who don’t have families in the area seem intrigued by the Idea.

At the Buckley-Diaz House

Eddie and Buck sat Chris down on the Couch and sat on the coffee table across from him.

“Ok superman, we need to know about the chocolate thing,” Buck said.

“You know about the Chocolate thing Dad,” Chris said a little confused.

“I’m going to need a refresher then superman,” Buck said, and Chris just huffed.

“Back when I was really little, you said your family was the Hersey people, Hersey chocolate people. And since your family was really mean to you I don’t want to have any of their stupid chocolate” Buck and Eddie tried to stifle their laughs, it really wasn’t funny but it was sweet and innocent.

“Chris,” Buck started “I’m from Hersey, Pennsylvania. That’s where the chocolate was started but my family has nothing to do with the Chocolate. You have KitKat, it really is ok”

“Oh,” Chris said looking a little deflated “I still like the Chocolates you bring home better”

“It is really good Chocolate, isn’t it,” Buck said bringing Chris close to him. “Thanks for standing up for me buddy”  

Chapter 2: Emancipation Day

Summary:

14-year-old Evan needs to get away from his abusive parents.

Notes:

TW: This contains several depictions of physical and verbal child abuse.

Evan was nervous walking home, he typically excelled in school, but this semester was his first time placed in honors classes. All of his core classes were on the Honors track and while he was excelling in his math and science courses, he was only performing average in his Social Studies and English. Honestly, it was his essays, they were nearly perfect grammatically, and he was a fantastic researcher, but the essays often went off on tangents that didn’t have much to do with the topic he was supposed to be writing about. Unfortunately, his inability to stay on topic pulled his English grade down to a B, and worse still his Social Studies grade was dropped to a C. He tried to talk to his teachers, but they were firm in their grades, and no amount of extra credit was going to salvage his grades for this semester.

He walked into the quiet house, set his report card on the counter, walked up to his bedroom, and waited for the inevitable.

 

“EVAN, GET DOWN HERE NOW!” Evan gulped at the angry voice of his father permeating the silent house. Evan made his way down to the kitchen to see his father red-faced with anger and his mother rummaging through the pantry. “Care to explain this” Evan's father shoved Evan’s report card roughly into his chest.

“I tried to...” The rough slap to his cheek shut him up as his head snapped sideways

“I don’t want your excuses,” Phillip said harshly, just as Margret emerged from the pantry, a bag of dried buckwheat in her hands. She went about pouring two piles in the corner of the kitchen.

“You know what to do,” Phillip said shoving Evan towards the piles of buckwheat on the ground. Facing the wall Evan slowly sank to his knees on top of the buckwheat. The discomfort was immediate. As time went on the discomfort grew into pain and the pain grew into agony. Evan didn’t know how long he knelt there, his mind sort of floated away after a while taking the pain with it (his therapist would later tell him that this was called dissociation). That was until a loud pop followed by the worst pain he had ever felt brought him back to reality.

“Clean up your mess and then get to your room” was all he heard his father say before he was left alone in the dark kitchen. Between the cramping and spasming in his legs and back from not moving from the kneeling position to the excruciating pain radiating from his left hip Evan could barely stand, but he somehow managed to clean the buckwheat and blood off the kitchen tile and made his way to his bathroom to clean himself up, he knew he needed to get all the seeds that stuck in his knees out learning from the unfortunate time he left a seed and it actually started to sprout in his knee.

 

With his knees cleaned and bandaged, he stood or tried to stand but the pain in his hip was keeping him on the ground. With one last heave, he managed to pull himself upright, however he almost immediately fell back onto his knees in front of the toilet, nauseous from the strain of getting up. Thankfully he didn’t have much in his stomach, so throwing up wasn’t too bad. He eventually managed to get upright and stay upright and stumble on uncoordinated legs to his bed. Sleep never came, the pain in his hip was constantly exacerbated by the alternating muscle spasms and cramps from kneeling for however long he was kneeling kept him awake.

 

The weekend went past in a blur of pain. Soon though his Monday morning alarm was going off. Evan’s leg was killing him. Well to be fair both of his legs were on fire, but the novel pain radiating from his left leg was excruciating. He knew he smelled and needed to change his clothes for school, but the thought of moving his leg to get out of the pants he was currently in made him panic. So, he settled for throwing on a clean shirt, and his least offensive sweatshirt leaving his shorts on despite it being January.

 

Evan was running late; he should have known it would take him longer than normal to walk to school when he could really only manage a slow shuffle rather than his normal pace of practically running to school. So here he was rounding the corner, his school coming into view 15 minutes into the first period. Another 5 minutes later he was shuffling into the office to sign himself in. The attendant was about to lecture him on another unexcused tardy when she finally looked up at Evan and took in the pallor of his face, his heavy breathing, and general unsteadiness.

“Evan, go the nurse,” she said instead. Evan just nodded and shuffled down the hall to the nurse. When he got there his knees buckled and he almost crashed to the ground but was caught by the school nurse. Unfortunately, the portly nurse could not support him, and they both sank to the floor.

“HELP” the nurse called out and the front desk attendant rushed to find them both on the ground, Evan’s face screwed up in pain and the Nurse under him was shocked and concerned. Together they got Evan up and onto the bed.

“You try to contact his parents; I’m going to see what I can do.” The nurse said. She looked over at Evan who was still breathing heavily but had opened his eyes. “Evan, what happened?”

“I took a bad hit … at football on Friday … and my hip has been killing me … ever since,” Evan said through his heaving breaths. The nurse turned to start making an icepack

“And your knees” She prompted, not missing the bandages covering his knees.

“Turf burn” Evan replied simply taking the icepack and placing it gingerly on his injured hip. Just then the front desk attendant came back and gestured for the nurse to join her in the hall.

“I can’t get through to either parent” the attendant started, “and from your face, I guess this is more than you can handle” The nurse nodded

“He has symptoms of a hip dislocation; his left leg is pretty well locked up and look how his legs are uneven in length” Both women glance in at Evan. “He needs to go to the hospital sooner rather than later”

“We need parental consent to transport to the hospital unless it is life-threatening,” the attendant said “I’ll keep trying the parents”

 

Three hours. It had been three hours, and no one could reach the Buckley parents. “I’m calling 9-1-1,” The nurse said. “That boy needs medical attention”

“We can’t,” the principal said “We still don’t have parental consent”

“I will take the fall for this then”

“The school can’t just put the blame on one person,” the principal said glumly “We would all be liable.” He hated seeing kids in pain, especially the look of pure agony that Evan was silently displaying on the bed. His eyes were tightly closed, breathing heavily. Every now and again he would spasm and his breathing would pick up until his muscles calmed down again.  

 

It was the end of the school day, and all the students and teachers had left for the day. And the Buckley parents were still unaccounted for.

“Evan, how do you normally go home? Do you bus or does a parent pick you up” the attendant asked

“I walk” Evan replied the three adults shared a look.

“How far is it to your house?” The principal asked, thinking about how to get him to someone who could take him to the hospital.

“I don’t know… 5 maybe 6 miles…” Evan’s responses have been getting slower and slower throughout the day.

“I’m calling,” the nurse said grabbing the phone and dialing 9-1-1. This time no one stopped her. “I need an ambulance to Clallam Middle School, we have a student who is showing signs of a dislocated hip,” The school nurse said to the 9-1-1 dispatcher “Evan Buckley, 13, Male,” The nurse started looking through Evan’s file “It says he is allergic to Aleve, and Advil” the nurse was silent as the dispatcher rattled off more information “thank you,” she said hanging up, “She said an ambulance was 7-10 minutes out and someone should wait outside to guide them in.”

“I’ll wait for them,” the principal said, leaving the nurse and the attendant to stay with Evan.

 

Soon, though not soon enough, Fire personnel were led back to the nurse’s office. They looked at the small 13-year-old on the bed.

“Hey Evan,” one paramedic said kneeling to be at eye level with the boy. “My name is Devin, can you tell me a bit about what’s going on,” Devin asked while another paramedic started a line.

“Hip hurts,” Evan said weakly

“Which hip,” Devin asked, and Evan weakly gestured to his left side.

“When did it start?”

“Friday,” Evan said, the three firefighters who were not currently working on Evan turned to look at the adults in the room.

“How’d you get hurt” Devin continued to ask.

“Took a hit at practice,” Evan said slowly “Thought it would get better over the weekend, but it just got worse as I walked to school today” Devin looked over at the school admins

“He came to school like this, and you waited 8 hours to call us.”

“We were trying to get ahold of his parents, we had to follow district policy,” the principal said glumly. “We didn’t want to leave him in pain, but school policy is if it isn’t life-threatening, we have to have the parent take him to the hospital. It sucks but a teacher got sued when they called an ambulance for a broken arm a few years back and the parents didn’t want to pay the ambulance fees because they didn’t make the call.” All of the firefighters turned their attention to the school admins. Another muscle spasm brought the attention back to Evan.

“Okay Evan, we’re going to give you something to make you feel really good, then we are going to get you to the hospital.” Turning to the other paramedic he had them start with a 2.5 mg dose of morphine. They were about to get Evan loaded on the stretcher when Evan’s deep breathing turned rapid and shallow with a slight wheeze to it.

“His blood pressure just fell off a cliff!” Devin called out “He’s having a reaction to the Morphine, stop the drip and push 10 mg of Epi” The other paramedic stabbed Evan’s thigh with an EpiPen. His breathing and heart rate returned to normal “Alright let’s load him up 3, 2, 1” Evan was placed on the stretcher and all 5 firefighters quickly made their way back to the ambulance and engine in the parking lot. “Wait” the nurse called out “One of us needs to stay with him until we can get a hold of his parents”

“Well by all means then, come along. But we got to go now!” Devin called. The principal decided he should go because he didn’t have any kids waiting on him like the attendant and the nurse did.

“Call the parents one more time to tell them Evan is going to” the principal started to tell the nurse, and then had to ask the Firefighters which hospital they were going to.  “Mercy General”  

 

Evan was really out of it on the ride to the Hospital, vaguely aware of the paramedic cutting away his shorts to get a better look at his hip and sucking in a harsh breath when he managed to get a look at it. The concerned look and quiet mumble of ‘How are you not passed out or screaming’ was missed by Evan. He also missed arriving at the hospital and didn’t become fully aware until a doctor was standing in front of him, the pain in his hip finally subsiding.

“There you are,” the doctor said as awareness finally filled Evan's eyes. “I’m Dr. Miles, an Orthopedic specialist. I know you’ve told a few people already, but can you tell me what happened?” He spoke softly to Evan.

“I took a hit at football practice on Friday, I think I heard a pop but I didn’t think much of it, thought with a little rest over the weekend it would be fine but it just got worse, especially after I walked to school this morning,” Evan said.

“And are your knees related to this football injury” Dr. Miles asked.

“Yeah, I slid on the turf, and so they got a little turf burn on them,” Evan said.

“Okay thanks for telling me,” Dr. Miles said with a smile “Well here’s what is going on right now. You had another reaction to Methadone, and Fentanyl that plus your reaction to the Morphine at school is pretty compelling that you are also allergic to opioids in addition to the NSAIDS, so we gave you an epidural which blocks nerve pain to help get you comfortable, and that should last you several days.” Dr. Miles continued once Evan acknowledged he heard the first bit. “I need to get imaging of your hip, I’d like to do an X-ray, a CT scan, and an MRI, but it’s going to take some time to get you into those. Our x-ray tech can be down here in about 30 minutes, but the CT and MRI have a few hours to wait. So, what I’m going to do is have a nurse come in and change the bandages on your knees while we wait for the X-rays. Does that sound okay?” Evan nodded. Dr. Miles left, and Evan was alone with his thoughts. Looking around he spotted his backpack, as he was reaching for it a nurse came in

“Ohh, let me grab that for you,” she said. Evan looked up at the voice,

“Maddie?” Evan asked, the nurse looked up, the dark brown hair was the only resemblance that the nurse had to his sister. “Oh sorry, I thought you were someone else”

“No worries,” she said handing Evan his backpack. He fished out his book and dropped the backpack on the floor by his bed.

“My name is Aulani,” the nurse said as she sat down on a stool with fresh bandages. “What are you reading?” Aulani asked as she peeled the bandage off his knees

“Dictionary of the Khazars” Evan answered, “The female edition, I haven’t been able to track down the male edition yet.” Evan got engrossed in his book as Aulani started to clean his knees. He was so engrossed that he didn’t notice when she pulled out a few errant buckwheat seeds from his knees. She quickly finished, cleaning, and rebandaging his knees before going to find Dr. Miles.

 

“Dr. Miles, a moment,” Aulani said tracking him down. “Something isn’t adding up with the patient in room 3” Dr. Miles pulled her into an empty room.

“I know,” He said, “Did you find something else”

“Aside from the wounds on his knees not looking like abrasive wounds I found these embedded in them” She held out her hand showing Dr. Miles. The Doctor took a few minutes to examine what was in her hand.  

“What is this” He finally asked,

“I don’t know exactly but my father used to tell me about his cousins being forced to kneel on rice for hours and the wounds on Evan's knees match exactly what he said they looked like. The bruising, the bloody pock marks, you even said he had muscle spasms when he came in and my dad said those lasted for days because of how long they would get forced to stay in the kneeling position.”

“Ok, I’ll place a call to CPS,” Dr. Miles said walking out of the room right as an experienced nurse was walking by

“I wouldn’t bother Dr. Miles,” She said, “Not for the Buckley Boy”

“Why, he has clear signs of abuse”

“He also has a CPS file a mile wide, and nothing has ever been done,” The nurse said walking off. Dr. Miles still made the call.

 

Meanwhile, Evan’s Principal was allowed to go back and sit with Evan until his parents arrived.

“How are you doing Evan”

“I’m fine Mr. Matthews, you can go home”

“I’m not leaving you here alone”

“It’s getting late, surely your family wants you home”

“It’s just my wife and when I told her what was going on she threatened me that if I left before you had someone else by your side, I was going to be sleeping on the couch for the rest of the week.” Just then nurse Aulani came back.

“I figured you might be hungry, so I got you some dinner,” she said setting a tray near Evan's bed. “It’s not great but its something” Evan picked at the turkey sandwich and read a little more. He was exhausted but the noises of the ER plus having his principal sitting next to him made sleep nearly impossible. So, when the imaging tech finally showed up to take him to get his CT scan, he was a little out of it.

“Hey! You’re in luck we can actually do both!” Both scans took a bit over an hour, and instead of being taken back to the ER, he was taken to a room. A few minutes later Dr. Miles walked in

 

“I am admitting you now that we have the images back, while it shows a full dislocation of your femoral head, I’m not seeing any complications. No associated fractures, internal bleeding, or damage to the nerves in the area. Which is great!” Dr. Miles said with a smile “This means we have a few options for treatment, I can go in surgically…”

“No,” Evan said “I ... I don’t want surgery”

“Ok, well let me finish and then we can make a decision ok” Dr. Miles continued with both the surgical and nonsurgical options for resetting Evan’s femur. Evan was still insistent about not having surgery.

“Ok, I will try to reset it manually, but I want to warn you since it’s been dislocated for 3 days sometimes the muscles seize, and if that has happened, we won’t have a choice”

“Ok,” Evan said quietly. With that, Dr. Miles left to go get some supplies and find a few nurses to help with the manual hip reduction. When he came back with the two of the strongest nurses, he found there were two new adults talking to Evan.

“And you kept poor Mr. Matthews here with your selfish need for attention” Was all Dr. Miles caught before the new adults noticed him and turned their attention to him. “Hello, I am Phillip, and this is my wife Margret, the boy’s parents”

“Ahh yes,” Dr. Miles said, “Well I have been keeping Evan apprised of what happening, but just to catch you up we are going to attempt to manually reduce the dislocation, however, if we can’t manually reset the joint we will need to go in surgically,” Dr. Miles said setting down his equipment. “If you guys go stand near his head, and maybe hold his hand. This is going to be quite painful even with the nerve blocker on board.”

“We’ll just go wait outside; we wouldn’t want to get in your way, Doctor,” Phillip said as he and his wife left the room and their son.

The three men took their positions around Evan and worked to his hip back in place. Evan didn’t make any sound but as soon as the joint was back in place with another pop Evan’s face took on a green color. The emesis bag barely made it under his face before he was tasting the turkey sandwich for a second time. Dr. Miles worked a brace onto Evan’s hip.

“I am going to keep you here for a few days, I don’t want your hip to slip.” With that, he left and went to talk to his parents. Evan with no pain and an empty room finally feel asleep.

 

The next few days at the hospital were fine fore Evan. He got 3 meals a day, the nurses were great and showed him how to get around on his crutches and how to sit without messing up his leg. He wasn’t allowed to put any weight on his left leg for at least 6 weeks and wasn’t supposed to bend it more than 90 degrees. Noticeable to everyone was the fact that his parents didn’t show back up until Thursday night when he was being discharged.

 

Evan gingerly got out of the car back at his house. His parents didn’t say anything on the drive, it wasn’t until he was in the house that his parents unleashed their rage at him.

“YOU STUPID BOY” his father roared at him. The hit that followed wasn’t unexpected, but it was strong, and Evan just barely managed to catch himself with his crutches before he crashed to the ground. “THAT BITCH OF A CPS WORKER CAME SNIFFING AROUND AGAIN” His father towered over Evan, still screaming at him until his mother came with her quiet rage directed at him.

“Eat your dinner, then go to your room” Evan was hesitant to eat the food his mother made for him, the simple sandwich mocking him. He couldn’t appear ungrateful but his whole being was screaming at him not to eat the food. He ate it anyway and spent the rest of the night puking, trying to stay standing over the sink and not crash in front of the toilet in an effort not to aggravate his hip.

 

TIME SKIP (2 MONTHS)

Evan was walking out of his physical therapy appointment with his stupid crutches, he was only allowed to put about 30% of his weight on his hip which meant he still needed the stupid crutches. He was supposed to go home but it was Thursday which meant that his parent had their bridge club meeting, so he had a couple hours to do what he needed to. He checked the address he wrote down from the phone book last week and started to make his way down the street.

He found the address in question and went inside, fighting a little with the door and his crutches. He walked up to the receptionist.

“Hi! Is this Ms. Bartlebaugh’s office,” Evan asked softly.

“Yes, do you have an appointment” the receptionist looked up and then back down to make eye contact with Evan. “Kid, where are your parents? do they know you’re here?”

“No, and that’s why it’s really important I talk to Ms. Bartlebaugh,” Evan said

“Kid, this is a lawyer's office, you can’t just walk in without an appointment and expect people to drop everything and talk to you.”

“Please I really need to talk to Ms. Bartlebaugh” Evan begged “It's really important”

“If it's that important, go home and get your parents to call and make an appointment,” the receptionist said coldly.

“No, I can’t do that” Evan begged “Please I just need a few minutes”

“Kid, I am going to call security if you don’t leave”

“Please”

“Kathy! What is going on out there” A voice called out.

“Nothing I can’t handle Ms. Bartlebaugh” The receptionist, Kathy, called back. Evan took his chance to slip past the receptionist except he wasn’t nearly as fast as he normally is and only just managed to push the door open when Cathy caught him by his arm. Not only did this mess with his balance and tweak his hip but also, she grabbed a new bruise on his arm, thanks, Phillip. He didn’t cry out at the pain, but he did try to get away.

“Let me go” Kathy just started to drag him out “Seriously let me go, I’ll… I’ll leave just stop manhandling me” Evan said. Kathy released him and gave him a pointed look. Evan started hobbling out when Ms. Bartlebaugh made an appearance

“Seriously Kathy what is going on out here.”

“Just a stupid kid, I handled it though. He’s leaving”  

“Please Ms. Bartlebaugh, it’s really important”

“Your leaving kid” Kathy shouted at Evan, Ms. Bartlebaugh held her hand to silence Kathy while she took in Evan. The small stature, the healing bruise under his eye, the crutches.  

“I’ve got 15 minutes until my next meeting, follow me” Ms. Bartlebaugh turned around, and Evan followed quickly. They made their way into Ms. Bartlebaugh’s office.

“So, Mr.” Ms. Bartlebaugh started.

“Evan”

“So, Evan what can I do for you”

“I need to be emancipated from my parents,” Evan said in all seriousness.

“How old are you”

“I’ll be 14 at the end of next month”

“Okay kid, go home and work this out with your parents” Ms. Bartlebaugh got up to show Evan out.

“Wait,” Evan said as he pulled out a manila envelope. “He is my hospital record from 6 hospitals in the area going back years.” He pulled out his most recent one “This is from 2 months ago and I am still in PT for it” Ms. Bartlebaugh took the envelope and looked at the hospital record.

“This says it was a football injury” Evan met her with a blank stare

“Do I look like I play football” Ms. Bartlebaugh apprised him for a moment and with a look conceded the point “Besides look down at the injuries to my knees” There highlighted in yellow ‘injury not consistent with abrasions; unknown seeds located in wounds on both knees’. Well, that was something.

“What kind of seeds were they”

“Buckwheat”

“Why emancipation?” Ms. Bartlebaugh asked

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be dead before I turn 18” 

“Why not go into the system”

“Supposedly CPS has a file on me, but they wouldn’t let me see it. Regardless, I wouldn’t trust them. If they really do have a file on me and still left me with my parents. How would I know if anyone they placed me with would be better? No, emancipation is best.” Evan said “And I don’t have much but I have some saved to pay you” Evan pulled out 50$, “It's not much but I can get more”

“Hold on to your money kid” Ms. Bartlebaugh turned away from Evan to think. “Ok, I will look into some stuff, you have a phone number or an email I can contact you at.” Evan shook his head. “Ok, same time next week. Come back and we can talk some more, there are some things I need to look into” she then showed Evan out and spoke to the receptionist to get his appointment on the books.

 

Evan left Ms. Bartlebaugh’s office, she was a family attorney so he hoped that she would be able to help him. Over the next week, Ms. Bartlebaugh looked into the laws regarding emancipation, age limits, work, housing, and school options. It did look like it was possible to get a 14-year-old emancipated, but possible didn’t mean probable. So, she looked more into Evan Buckley. His school records, hospital records, anything she could get her hands on. She needed a strong case that he would be better off on his own than in the hands of the state and the biggest piece of evidence would be if the local CPS really did have a file on him and did nothing. So, she tried to pull that file as well and was blocked much like Evan said he was.

 

Meanwhile, at the Buckley house.

“BOY” his father’s irate voice carried up the stairs. Evan could hear his father storming up the stairs. Evan's door flew open crashing into the wall. Evan struggled to get up and once he did a strong hit to his jaw knocked him down, and when he fell, he landed on his left hip and pain radiated up and down his side. His father grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “Why is some bitch lawyer looking into your CPS file” Evan's father hissed, drops of spit landing on Evan's face

“I don’t” Evan's claim to innocence was cut off with another punch to his face,

“YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT” another hit and Evan felt blood start to drip from his nose. He was thrown to the ground and his father landed several kicks to his ribs and stomach. With a final kick to Evan’s head, Evan went limp. His father stopped by the mirror and fixed his hair before leaving, shutting the door to Evan’s room, and leaving his unconscious son on the floor.

Evan woke when it was much darker, he didn’t have the strength to reach for his crutches, so he just stayed curled on the floor and fell asleep. He slept through his alarm and woke up at noon. His hip hurt but doing some of the PT exercises showed him it was dislocated again. The right side of his face and ribs were also throbbing. This time he did reach for and get a hold of his crutches and was able to heave himself upright. The world spun for a moment, so he laid down on his bed and waited for the world to become steady again. He must’ve fallen asleep (or passed out, he didn’t know) because the next thing he knew someone was pounding aggressively on his front door. Evan Hobbled downstairs and cracked open the door only to be met with a harried looking Ms. Bartlebaugh.

“Ms. Bartlebaugh” Evan started “Our meeting isn’t until Thursday”

“It is Thursday, Evan,” said Ms. Bartlebaugh. Evan turned to look at the clock, it was over an hour past their scheduled meeting.

“I’m sorry to have wasted your time Ms. Bartlebaugh.” Evan started “This whole emancipation idea was stupid; I’ll pay you for the work you already did but you need to leave now.”

“Wait Evan, I can get you out.” Ms. Bartlebaugh said. “You were right, there is something going on with CPS. I can get you out.”

“you, you can.”

“Yes,” the door opened up and revealed Evan fully hunched on his crutches fresh bruises blooming over the right side of his face.

“Okay,” Evan said softly “You still need to leave though”

“I’ll come by your school tomorrow and we can talk a little more freely”

“I have PE 3^rd period it starts at 10:13,” Evan said and shut the door. Ms. Bartlebaugh turned and left.

 

Evan dreaded going to school, especially when half of his face was all busted up. But he cleaned up the blood and hobbled his way outside where the bus was waiting. The only benefit to his injury was the bus stopped outside his house, and he didn’t need to walk to school while on crutches. With his hood pulled up tight he sat down. He made it all the way to 1^st period before he was forced to pull his hood down. He heard a few people gasp but no one said anything, and class continued.

 

At the start of third period, Evan went to the library, he was excused from PE due to his hip, however instead of finding a quiet corner to read he waited, and sure enough his name was being called over the PA system to go to the office.

“Hi Evan,” Ms. Bartlebaugh said. The next hour was filled with her talking about what this process would be like, what he needed to do to prepare, and what government subsidies he could apply to once he was emancipated.

“Okay Evan, you’ve got your homework” Evan nodded “There is one last thing, and I know it’s going to be uncomfortable, but you are your biggest chance and getting this to work. I need to document your injuries” Ms. Bartlebaugh pulled out a camera “If you’d like someone else with you”

“No,” Evan said tears started forming in his eyes for the first time in a long time “I just want to get it over with.” The next twenty minutes were spent going over all of Evan's current injuries and scars he has collected over the years. And the scars were prolific, burns, stab wounds, whip marks, and scars that she couldn’t even tell what made them. “If they hurt you again, call me, so we can document them” Evan nodded, and with that, she left. She barely made it to the bathroom where she promptly lost her breakfast. She managed to hold in her tears until she got to her car. How anyone could do that to a child?

 

The next 4 months pass quickly and with little fanfare. His parents did not take getting called to court well and thankfully due to the nature of the case, Evan was removed from the house when his parents were notified and placed in protective custody until the court date.

Evan was in his nicest clothes, dark-ish wash jeans with minimal rips, and a freshly pressed collared shirt (thanks to Ms. Bartlebaugh). Thankfully he didn’t need the stupid crutches anymore, and while he was technically able to walk without his cane for most of the day, it still was necessary to carry with him because his hip was still a little weak and if he was on his feet too long it got tired quickly.

“All rise” The court officer called

“We have Buckley v. Buckley,” Evan kind of zoned out as the judge called for the opening statements. Ms. Bartlebaugh then started calling witnesses and submitting evidence. Evan recognized the Nurse, Aulani, and the Doctor, Dr. Miles from his hospitalization from his hip. Too soon it was time for him to take the stand.

“Hi Evan,” Ms. Bartlebaugh said “I’d like you to take a look at these photos, Evan,” Ms. Bartlebaugh said, handing Evan and rather large stack of photos. Evan carefully flipped through the photos. “Do you recognize those photos, Evan”

“Yes,” Evan said

“Who took these photos?”

“You did”

“What are these photos of”

“There of me,” Evan said “My injuries and scars”

“Are these photos a fair and accurate representation of your injuries at the time they were taken” The ugly bruises and stark white scars looked just as horrific in the photo as they did on his body

“Yes”

“You honor, I move to have Items 20-56 submitted to the court as evidence”

“Granted,” the judge said the next 20 minutes or so were of Evan detailing each scar and bruise his lawyer documented over the last 4 months.

“Now Evan, do you know recognize this” Ms. Bartlebaugh handed Evan a packet

“Yes”

“Who wrote this document”

“I did”

“You honor, I move to have Item 57 submitted to the court as evidence”

“Granted,” the judge said

“What is this document, Evan”

“It’s my independent living plan,” Evan said “It highlights housing and 2 jobs that I have lined up as well as a school that I can transfer into that has an advanced placement program that I qualify for and can graduate from it in 2 years. I also highlight all of the government subsidies that I would qualify for.”

“This is very thorough Evan,” Ms. Bartlebaugh said handing the document over to the judge. Ms. Bartlebaugh asked a few more questions and then it was time for the cross.

“Evan” the lawyer that his parents had found had a slimy-sounding voice “I’d like to talk about your hospital stay in January.”

“Ok,” Evan said

“Now in the reports, all say that you got this playing football is this correct?”

“Objection!” Ms. Bartlebaugh called out “Speculation, he hasn’t seen those reports”

“Ohh yes,” the lawyer called for items of evidence 13,14, and 15 to be recalled and were handed to him” They were handed to Evan to look over, highlighting on all three reports where “Patient claims injury was sustained at football practice”

“Now did you claim to multiple people that this was a football injury”

“Yes,” Evan said

“So, you lied?”

Evan was silent “Evan you need to respond you either lied then or you are lying now, which is it?”

“Objection, Badgering” Ms. Bartlebaugh claimed

“sustained” the Cross exam continued in much the same way, his parents’ lawyer tearing into him only to be reined in by Ms. Bartlebaugh. It was brutal. Thankfully once it was over the judge called for lunch. Ms. Bartlebaugh took him to a side room and gave him a bottle of water and a turkey sandwich.

“You’re doing great Evan” For the next hour Evan picked at his sandwich and read his book, he found a copy of Illuminae at the library and was enthralled. Too soon, however, Ms. Bartlebaugh was telling Evan it was time to go back. The next half of the trial proceeded much like the first half with witnesses and evidence being presented. Thankfully Evan didn’t need to take the stand again. And all too soon it was time for closing arguments. Ms. Bartlebaugh spoke, beautifully summarizing all the evidence as to why Evan Should be emancipated. His parents’ slimly lawyer just proceeded to call Evan a liar again. Then the judge went to his quarters to make his decision.

The judge was gone for nearly three hours and everyone was getting antsy. Evan and Ms. Bartlebaugh hoped this would be an open and closed case. but the longer the judge took with his ruling the more unsure of the emancipation being granted. Evan never really thought about what would happen if this didn’t work, but now all he could picture was his tombstone.

Here lies Evan Jeremiah Buckley

Forever a dumbass

4/20/1992 – 6/1/2006

 

Right before he could fully spiral the judge came back.

“Now this case is certainly unique, and I did spend quite a while pondering the precedence that this would set for other children. However, in the face of such extreme violence and negligence, against a child, it seems that it is the only option to grant Mr. Buckley the emancipation from his parents. Additionally given the documented evidence of retaliation against Mr. Buckley I am also issuing a restraining order. If the senior Buckleys come within 500 feet of Mr. Buckley they will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for breach of a court order, Child abuse, and Child endangerment. Phillip and Margret, you are free to leave, an officer will be by your residence shortly to pick up Mr. Evan Buckley’s things.” The judge said. “Mr. Evan Buckley please stay I have a few things to discuss in regard to your ruling” Phillip and Magret were currently being escorted out of the court screaming “Mr. and Mrs. Buckley, if you do not exit the court peacefully, I will have you held in contempt” that shut up them up and they left the courtroom grumbling.

“Please follow me to my chamber Mr. Buckley, Ms. Bartlebaugh, and Officer Lyon”

“Okay Mr. Buckley” the judge started “please tell Officer Lyon the items in your home you wish to have returned to you”

“Oohh Ummm, there isn’t much really,” Evan started. “There are 7-8 books on my bookshelf that I have, a few of them are library books I can drop off on my way out of town. There are some pictures pinned on my wall, and the blanket off my bed. And my clothes, they are also on the bookshelf” With that Officer Lyon took off. “Now Evan, I can only in good conscious grate your emancipation with a few stipulations.

1. You cannot move out of Pennsylvania until you reach 16 years old. By your independence plan, you should be graduated by then and I feel better about you taking on the world.
2. You need to check in with Ms. Bartlebaugh at least every 3 months. or if anything major happens like you lose a job. I also want you to inform her if you do any traveling in the next two years.

Finally, I just need to reiterate that you are legally recognized as an adult in almost every way. There are still some age-based laws, like labor laws, but other than that you are an adult and that has many responsibilities that come with it. If you show me you can’t handle them, like if you get arrested, or lose your apartment. I will not hesitate to reverse my decision. Do you understand me?” The judge asked

“Yes,” Evan said.

“Then congratulations Mr. Buckley”

As Ms. Bartlebaugh and Evan left the courthouse, Ms. Bartlebaugh turned to Evan “I usually take my clients out for a drink to celebrate a victory in court however you're still 14 so that won’t work.” She stopped in front of Evan “So how would you like to celebrate, Ice cream? A corndog, I don’t know what kids like”

“Uhh, I have never had ice cream before,” Evan said.

“To Dairy Queen it is, I’ll call Officer Lyon to meet us there with your stuff”

 

Evan wasn’t lying when he said it wasn’t much, and Officer Lyon suspected that much of the stuff that he would find in his room Evan would think of as his parents and not want to take. Officer Lyon was wrong. When he got to Evan’s room it was sparse and everything Evan listed was all that was in his room. Officer Lyon left Evans’ bedroom distraught, he just had his son and couldn’t imagine treating him like that. He pulled out of the driveway with Evan’s Meager belongings.  

 

The ice cream was good. The blizzard options were a little overwhelming so I just went basic with a vanilla cone. Ms. Bartlebaugh convinced him to get a chocolate shell over it and that was definitely good. He was trying to enjoy the treat, but his brain kept cycling. He was happy to be free from his parents but couldn’t help but be nervous and concerned about what would come next.

“Evan what’s going on, I thought you’d be happier,” Ms. Bartlebaugh asked

“Just thinking about everything I need to do tomorrow” It really was a long list. He needed to call the apartment complex, the employers he interviewed with, submit his applications for housing assistance, EBT, call the school, and take the placement test officially. Basically, everything he planned to do but couldn’t do until he was officially emancipated. It was overwhelming for an adult let alone a 14-year-old. Not to mention all the stuff he needed to buy now that he was on his own. But that would have to wait until he got his paychecks.

“Evan, I’m still here to help you,” Ms. Bartlebaugh said. “So in my professional opinion, Just enjoy tonight and we will get everything settled tomorrow” With that advice on board Evan started to actually enjoy his ice cream cone.

 

The next morning there were a lot of phone calls, he unenrolled from his current school, called the new school, and got enrolled to start in the Fall. He also schedules his placement test for next week. He also called the ranch and the golf course that tentatively hired him and got on both of the scheduled to start next week as well. Things were going great up until he called the apartment complex. Apparently, a family also applied to the unit he was trying to get into. It was going to come down to who could turn in the final application with the deposit first.

“Grab your stuff kid,” Ms. Bartlebaugh said “and get in the car” Soon she was driving up the interstate, it was 3 hours to the apartment

“Ms. Bartlebaugh it's no use, I don’t have the deposit. The only reason this was going to work was because they agreed to a slightly higher rent for three months in lieu of the deposit. I'm going to fail before I even start”

“Don’t worry about the deposit kid” Ms. Bartlebaugh said, “Keep making your phone calls”

In the three hours it took to get to the apartment he got all of his applications for government assistance settled. He just needed to fax the emancipation record over. Ms. Bartlebaugh parked a block from the apartment complex. She handed him a check, and he grabbed the application and a copy of his emancipation records. “Run kid”

And run he did, he saw a family of four walking up and the landlord standing out front. Evan made it just after the family.  

“Sorry Kid,” the landlord said.

“Please, this is all I have,” Evan said.

“You should have gotten your parents to cut a check sooner than,” the landlord said

“I don’t have parents, please it's just me, and I can’t afford another place, please” This was the first time Evan said he didn’t have parents, and man it did make him feel lighter.

“Well then you're really out of luck, I don’t rent to minors” The landlord scoffed.

“No, I’m emancipated,” Evan said flipping his application “See. It’s exactly like renting to an adult”

“Look kid” The landlord started when the family spoke up.

“We are going to withdraw our application, we had a couple of apartments we could afford but just liked the price on this one” and with that, they walked away

“You got lucky kid,” the landlord said snatching his application and Check from his hands. “Follow me” The landlord walked inside, up 4 flights of stairs, and down a long hallway before stopping in front of unit 49. “Welcome,” he said opening the door and tossing the keys to Evan. Evan walked in, it wasn’t much. In fact, by most people’s standards, it was nothing: Peeling paint, a leaky shower, and some very suspicious stains on the carpet. But to Evan it was everything. It was freedom, a sanctuary.

“I expect your section 8 papers along with your rent next month or I’m charging you the full amount.” With that, the landlord shut the door and stalked off. Evan took a moment to look around the one-bedroom apartment. A knock at his door brought him out of his head. He opened the door to find Ms. Bartlebaugh

“This is it, it's…”

“Perfect,” Evan said.

Notes:

thanks for reading. I am sorry for any medical or legal inaccuracies I am not a doctor or a lawyer.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Talking Points