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Maddie is getting really sick and tired of hospitals. Between an accident-prone firefighter little brother, and an equally as accident-prone firefighter husband, alongside her own affinity for getting herself hospitalised, she really ought to be used to the lights and the smells and the sounds.
She supposes she is, really, but that doesn’t mean she has to like it.
Effortlessly, she navigates the halls like she owns the place, greeting staff by name , for god’s sake. She finds Buck’s room easily enough, knocking once to be polite, but when she walks in he’s asleep anyway so it had all been redundant. Settling herself down in the small, plastic chair that’s all too familiar by Buck’s bedside, she pulls out her phone and opens the group chat.
[Bobby Nash Fan Club]
Maddie: Hey, just got to the hospital, he’s still out though.
Hen: Yeah, he was out the whole time we were there. Tell him we’ll swing by after our shift when he wakes up!
Maddie: Will do.
Bobby: Poor kid. Never heard someone’s head make such a loud noise getting hit before.
Chim: 💀
Eddie: It was like a cartoon sound effect, Maddie.
Eddie: I swear it actually went ‘bonk’ and little stars appeared above his head.
Karen: ?????
Hen: Buck got hit in the head with a bowling ball again :(
Karen: ?????
[Maddie sent a picture] [A selfie. Maddie is in the foreground grinning and Buck is blurry in the background, obviously asleep in a hospital bed, butterfly stitches on his temple.]
[Chim reacted ‘💀’ to an image Maddie sent.]
[Karen reacted ‘!!’ to an image Maddie sent.]
Karen: Is he okay??
Bobby: Kid’s got a thick skull, he’ll be fine.
Chim: LMFAO
Athena: @Hen What do you mean ‘again’??
Maddie closes down the chat with a vague smile, shaking her head. Her brother was an idiot, but by god was he a well-loved idiot. She crosses the room to sit on the edge of his bed, adjusting the blanket over him where it had crumpled slightly. He didn’t look to be in too much pain, at least, his face was smooth and relaxed in sleep, albeit a little pale. He doesn’t stir when she brushes a few curls off of his forehead.
For the most part, her visit is boring. Buck stays blissfully asleep for the next few hours, and Maddie half-heartedly reads through the next four chapters of her book before getting bored. She pulls out her phone, scrolling through twitter, but the hospital wifi is slow and she gets frustrated quickly, sighing quietly and slipping it back into her pocket. Outside, the sun is just beginning to set, and Maddie stands up, stretching and glancing at the clock - seven-fifteen. Slowly, she walks to the door, deciding to go and grab a drink and a snack. She’s been here for four hours now, and Buck hasn’t so much as shifted once. What are the chances he’d wake up in the five minutes that she stepped out?
“Maddie!” An excited, if croaky, voice greets her when she steps back into his room with a Dr Pepper and a doughnut.
She should have known.
“Buck! How’re you feeling? I just stepped out to grab a snack, sorry you woke up by yourself.” She replies, setting her snacks down and immediately fussing over him.
He smiles and clumsily bats her hands away, his coordination still a little shot. “Nah, no worries, Mads. ‘s not the first time.” He waves away casually, and Maddie’s smile falters a little at that, but Buck is speaking again before she can ask. “What happened, though? My head hurts.”
Maddie shakes her head, holding her hands up in mock-surrender when he bats at them. “Yeah, I’m not surprised it does. You got yourself a nice, shiny concussion. Apparently you tried to headbutt a bowling ball. And I’m told this isn't the first time?” She teases, satisfied when Buck looks vaguely embarrassed, smiling sheepishly.
“Ugh, bowling balls really have it out for me, Mads.” He whines, looking at her with wide, big eyes. And, listen, Maddie’s an older sister. She is no stranger to her little brother playing things up for attention and for sympathy, and she is certainly no idiot. She knows what he’s doing. Just because she recognises it, however, doesn’t mean she won’t indulge him so she huffs and rolls her eyes as she reaches forward, playing carefully with his hair the way she used to when he was little and had scraped his knee. Buck grins and leans into the touch, relaxing into the pillows he’s propped himself up on. “How long do I have to…?” He trails off, but Maddie knows what he’s asking.
“Just for the night. Overnight observation and then you can go home, so long as you stay with someone. I think Bobby and Eddie might be fighting over that, but just for the record, there’s always a room for you at mine and Chim’s if that’s what you’d like. Jee-Yun would love to see her Uncle Buck.”
Buck smiles at the mention of his niece, then his brow furrows and he looks at the clock. “Hey, where is Jee-Yun? Don’t you need to get home to her? Chim was on shift today –”
“Hey, hey, it’s fine. I want to be here with you.” She interrupts, sensing his guilt at keeping her away from Jee-Yun. “Besides, Jee is with mom and dad.”
At the mention of their parents, Buck’s face does a complicated thing, and he looks away for a moment. “Oh, right. Yeah, I forgot they were visiting.” He pauses, and Maddie can hear the words on the tip of his tongue before he’s hesitantly asking them. “They didn’t want to come?”
Suddenly, Maddie is fifteen again, and she’s sitting in a hospital room in Hershey, comforting her little seven-year-old brother who fell from a tree and broke his arm, whose parents couldn’t bear the thought of seeing their child in a hospital bed. She’s sixteen and visiting eight-year-old Buck after school when he had tripped during soccer and busted his knee at recess, earning an overnight stay with no parents. She’s eighteen, checking her eleven-year-old brother out of the hospital when he’d broken his nose while messing around with friends, and his parents ‘hadn’t had the time’ to come and do it themselves.
She’s thirty-six and she’s sitting by her twenty-nine-year-old brother’s bedside, explaining yet again that, no, their parents didn’t want to come and visit him in hospital.
“They said they would watch Jee.” She settles on.
“Jee could have come.” He points out, because Maddie would normally have brought her.
Maddie grimaces. “Yeah, she could’ve.” She agrees quietly, placing a gentle hand on Buck’s wrist. They’re both thinking the same thing, neither one of them needs to say it. Instead, she offers: “I could text them?”
“Don’t bother.” Buck mumbles, huffing out a breath that sounds like a laugh, but doesn’t have much humour in it at all. “Besides, it’s nearly Jee-Yun’s bedtime. You should get home, Mads. Give her a kiss goodnight for me?”
There’s a lot of things Maddie wants to say to that, but she can see that look in Buck’s eye that he gets when he’s absolutely not going to talk about something anymore, and she hates the way any mention of their parents seems to bring that out in him. Instead of putting her foot down and insisting she’ll stay, she takes the thinly-veiled request for some alone time as what it was. “Okay, I will. But you call me if you need anything, okay? And I mean anything. Nothing is too big or too small, you hear?”
That, at least, brings a small smile back to his face, and he nods. “Night, Mads. Love you.”
Maddie stands and collects her things, pressing a kiss to his forehead, mindful of his temple. “Goodnight, Evan. Sleep well. I love you, too.”
When she glances through the small window on the door, Buck’s eyes are already closed.
Bobby has to sweet-talk the nurse on the front desk to get in. Visiting hours hadn’t technically closed yet, but she must have known from the look in his eyes (and probably also the LAFD hoodie he’s wearing, if he’s honest) that he has no intention of leaving when they do, eventually, close. It’s both a blessing and a curse that the staff are so familiar with them, because it’s what gets him in but, well, coming to the hospital enough to be recognised wasn’t really something that Bobby considers himself lucky for.
He thinks, at first, that Buck is asleep when he gets to the room, peeking in through the window before he opens the door. When he does open the door, however, Buck’s eyes open quickly to see who it is.
Now, Bobby doesn’t want to brag, or over-inflate his importance in Buck’s life, but he had been relatively confident that when Buck saw him, he’d get a smile, a wave, maybe even an excited Bobby, hey!
What he gets instead, is Buck visibly processing what he’s seeing, buffering for a moment, and then his face falls. For a moment, Bobby falters. He hurriedly sets down the thermos of warm garlic and rosemary tomato soup he’d brought for Buck, as well as the fluffy socks and the book he’d last seen Buck reading during a slow shift, onto the side table, quickly sitting beside Buck on the bed and hovering his hands around Buck’s shoulders, unsure if he should touch.
“Hey, what’s going on? What’s wrong, kid?” He asks, eyes searching Buck’s own and widening when they start tearing up and Buck shakes his head so violently that Bobby’s sure he’s aggravating his concussion. “Woah, hey, take it easy. Keep still, bud, talk to me. What’s going on, is something hurting? I want to help, Buck.”
“No, no, I’m fine.” Buck mumbles tearfully, and that really doesn’t make Bobby feel better because people who are fine don’t usually sound seconds away from bursting into tears. Then, Buck laughs, and it comes out all wobbly and thin but before Bobby can reply he’s speaking again. “You came to visit?”
Bobby’s expression settles a bit into something less alarmed and more just sad . “Of course I did, Buck.” He murmurs, finally settling his hands on Buck’s shoulders and rubbing small circles with his thumbs. “I had to sweet-talk the nurse to get in, really lay on the Nash-charm thick.” He adds, relaxing slightly when it makes Buck giggle slightly, though he still looks vaguely tearful.
Tired blue eyes drift over to the items Bobby had abandoned in his rush to comfort Buck. “Is that my book?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah, I brought it from the firehouse. Thought you might be a bit bored, so I could read you some, if you like. I don’t know if you’re hungry, but I made you some soup, too. And I grabbed socks, because I know you always get cold sleeping overnight in a hospital.”
Perhaps it was silly of Bobby to think that bringing Buck things he thought he would like would make Buck happier, not sadder. Buck spends a long few seconds just staring at the items, then looking at Bobby, and then the tears were back, one actually spilling over this time and Buck was quickly trying to hide his face but it wasn’t quick enough because Bobby still saw it.
“Oh, Buck. Hey, c’mon, it's okay.” Bobby says softly, despite not knowing what was setting him off. “If you’re not hungry, you don't have to eat the soup. Or if you want to go to sleep, I won't read to you. Is it- is it the wrong book?” He asks, trying to figure out where he’d stepped wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time Buck had gotten a little more… sensitive, after an injury. Head injuries had the potential to make someone more emotional, and Buck often found his emotions higher to the surface when on any kind of hospital-grade painkiller, so Bobby wasn’t too worried, but he did want to fix it.
“No, no, I’m sorry, I’m not–” Buck pauses, laughing again but it was the same wobbly, brittle laugh from before. “I’m being stupid. This is…sorry, Bobby. Thank you, for bringing all that stuff for me. I appreciate it.”
Slowly, Bobby nods, lifting Buck’s chin where he’d ducked his face down. “It’s okay, kid. It was really no trouble.”
“It was , though. You cooked me soup from scratch, and dug out my book and my favourite socks because you know I get cold. And you drove all the way here after a long shift instead of just going home to your own bed, and you had to convince the nurses to let you in, and Linda can be a real stickler for the rules sometimes so I know that couldn’t have been easy–” Buck starts, his words running into each other a little, his voice shaking and he didn’t even pause to draw in a breath.
“But none of that was any trouble , Buck. I wanted to. Besides, you’re worth any amount of ‘trouble’.” Bobby replies, confused and hurting for the way Buck is so caught on being an inconvenience when he is anything but.
“You make it sound so easy .” Buck whispers, swiping frustratedly at another tear.
“It is easy, kid. You’re an easy person to care about.”
Buck sniffs and leans forward, gingerly burying his face against Bobby’s chest, mindful of his stitches, and Bobby accepts him easily. He doesn’t push, happy to just hold Buck for a moment, rubbing soothing circles into his back with one hand, the other bracing the back of his head carefully. A few minutes pass before Buck speaks again, small and almost embarrassed.
“My parents are staying with Maddie this week. They, uhm…they didn’t want to come and see me.”
“Buck…” Bobby muttered, pulling Buck in a bit tighter.
Another small sniffle against his shirt. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be projecting all this onto you. But you come in here with my favourite soup and my favourite socks, and the book I’m halfway through and I just… my parents would never think to do that for me. Hell, I don't think they would even know any of those things. They don’t even want to see me, because I’m in hospital and it’s too hard but you just make it look so easy .”
Bobby ducks down and presses a kiss into Buck’s hair. “I’m sorry they didn’t come to visit, kid. That’s not a reflection on you, though, okay? You are somebody who deserves to have the people who love him show up for him. I had to drag Eddie, and Hen and Chim out of here earlier so that we could go back on shift. And, d’you know what? I didn’t even want to. I wanted to stay here, with you even though you were asleep, and would stay asleep for hours, just as much as the rest of them wanted to. As soon as we called Maddie, she got here as quickly as she could, and Athena took her lunch early to come and sit with us in here earlier. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, that your parents don’t have enough sense in their bodies to know what a privilege it is that you’re their son. That they don’t appreciate every second they could possibly get to spend with you. But I promise you, that is not on you.”
He holds Buck tighter when he starts crying again, shoulders shaking quietly, breaths muffled into Bobby’s hoodie. When he feels Buck’s breath begin to even out, feels his shaking subside and his body grow limp against him, he settles him back against the pillows and snags a tissue from the box beside the bed, drying his cheeks as gently as he can. He settles back into the uncomfortable hospital chair, quietly mourning the way his back will feel in the morning, and then turns his gaze to Buck, watching him rest.
His last thought as he’s drifting off himself, is a brief lament over how blind the Buckley parents were to what wonderful people their children had grown up to be, despite their apparent efforts to cause the contrary.
Bobby wakes with a groan and a wince as his phone buzzes in his pocket. Sure enough, his back is not happy. The clock on the wall reads 07:42am, and Buck is still snoring softly into his pillow, mouth slightly open in sleep.
Bobby pulls his phone out blearily, squinting at the screen.
[Bobby Nash Fan Club]
Eddie: Did Bobby and Athena win the draw?
Hen: Yep, they get Buck for the weekend.
Athena: Better luck next time, Eddie.
Athena: Would you all like to come around for breakfast? I’m sure Buck will like the company, and I know you’ll all be breaking down our door if you don’t see him soon.
Karen: Hen and I would never break down your door, Athena.
Karen: Bobby gave us a key, we’d just let ourselves in if you didn’t.
Chim: Bobby gave you a key??? Why don’t we get a key??
Chim: I’d come by while you’re not home and leave you little presents all the time.
Chim: Okay that sounded sinister and I can see why I don’t get a key.
Eddie: I have a key.
Chim: WHAT.
Maddie: We also have a key, Chim, I just didn’t tell you because I know my husband well enough <3
Chim: Betrayals all around.
Hen: Smart move, Maddie.
Bobby: Breakfast sounds like a great idea, Athena.
Chim: How’s he doing?
[Bobby sent a picture] [The photograph is centred on Buck’s face, his uninjured side mushed into the pillow. His mouth is slightly open, eyes closed, drooling onto the pillow.]
[Eddie reacted ‘😍’ to an image Bobby sent.]
[Eddie unsent a reaction.]
Karen: 🤨
Eddie: Nothing.
Eddie: What time should we come around for breakfast?
Athena: Smooth.
Bobby: By the time we get checked out and home, it’ll probably be just gone 9am.
Athena: See everyone at 9:30? Kids welcome.
[Hen reacted ‘👍’ to a message Athena sent.]
[Maddie reacted ‘👍’ to a message Athena sent.]
[Chim reacted ‘👍’ to a message Athena sent.]
[Eddie reacted ‘👍’ to a message Athena sent.]
[Karen reacted ‘👍’ to a message Athena sent.]
[Bobby reacted ‘👍’ to a message Athena sent.]
Bobby: Would your parents like to join us, Maddie?
Bobby watches as Maddie begins typing and then deletes her response a few times.
Maddie: They’re going to head home in a little bit, actually. Their flight is in a few hours.
Bobby feels a flare of irritation. Part of him feels bad that he’s putting Maddie in this position, because he knows it isn't her fault at all, but he can’t stop himself from sending one more message.
Bobby: Would they like to stop by the hospital before they go? Buck and I can hang around until they get here. It’s on the way to the airport.
Again, Maddie types and then deletes. It’s Chim who replies eventually.
Chim: They said they’ve got too much left to pack but to send him their love.
Bobby: Okay, I will.
Bobby replies eventually, before slipping his phone back in his pocket. It’s not okay, not really, but he can appreciate that the group chat probably isn’t the place to start examining the Buckley parenting style.
Instead, he gently wakes Buck, lets him take the time to get his bearings through the sleepy-medicated-concussed haze, blinking tiredly and sitting up slowly. At the prospect of a family breakfast, Buck perks up and eagerly, if somewhat clumsily, begins to try and get ready to leave with renewed energy.
The thought of his parents attending (or rather, not attending) breakfast didn’t even seem to cross his mind, and Bobby tries to push the annoyance away at the fact that Buck hadn’t even seemed to consider it an option. Or, if he had , he’d deemed the notion of his parents wanting to see him – their concussed child – before they flew back to the other side of the country a ridiculous notion, not worth addressing.
By the time they get to Bobby and Athena’s house, it’s 9:10am and Buck is fast asleep in the passenger seat. It’s only a 20 minute drive from the hospital to his house, but that is apparently enough time for Buck to fall into a deep enough sleep that it takes several gentle shakes and four repetitions of his name before he stirs. The walk (stumble) inside is longer than usual, and Buck collapses immediately onto their couch and is snoring again within minutes. Privately, Bobby is touched that Buck is comfortable enough to do so.
Athena pokes her head out of the kitchen at the sound of Bobby shuffling around, her gaze softening at the sight of Buck already conked out. She walks over and presses a quick kiss to Buck’s forehead, sweeping wayward curls out of the way as she does so. Then, she straightens up and kisses Bobby, too.
“What’s wrong?” She asks quietly as she pulls away, swiping a thumb under Bobby’s eye as if that’ll wipe the bags and tiredness away.
Bobby sighs, not sure where to begin. “Poor kid deserves better than his parents skipping town rather than visiting him in a hospital bed.”
“Yeah,” Athena murmurs, dropping her gaze to where Buck’s still crashed on their couch. Their doorbell rings in the background, and her expression brightens slightly. “Mm, sounds like ‘better’ just got here.”
Bobby smiles, huffing out a small laugh.
Hen, Karen, Denny, Mara, Chim and Jee-Yun all file in quickly, taking their shoes off and heading to the living room. Denny, Mara and Jee disappear outside after being told they would have to be quiet if they wanted to play inside, but they do all give a sleeping Buck a quick look of concern on their way out, and make an active (if somewhat exaggerated) attempt to walk past as quietly as possible.
“Maddie’ll be here in about a half hour, if that’s okay with you guys. She’s just dropping her parents off.” Chim explains, and the look he gives Bobby lets him know they’re both on the same page about that.
That’s enough to assuage Bobby’s immediate desire to make some kind of comment about them and their lack of appearance. He just can’t get the image of Buck, exhausted and injured and just so… resigned to the fact that he wasn’t worth caring about, out of his head. Still, he swallows his thoughts and nods, promising that of course it’s okay if Maddie joins them later.
Eddie and Chris arrive next, Chris holding a hand-made get well soon card for Buck that’s practically the size of him , grinning proudly and brandishing it for everyone to see. He seems disappointed to find Buck asleep, but is appeased for the moment once he spots Mara, Denny and Jee-Yun outside, hurrying to join them once Eddie promised to get him once Buck woke up.
Eddie settles himself wordlessly onto the gap in the sofa between Buck’s head and the arm, just about wide enough for him to sit if he rests his hand on Buck’s head. The movement seems almost too well-practiced, but Bobby doesn’t draw attention to it. He and Hen share a look , though. They seem to be doing that an awful lot recently when it comes to those two.
It’s only five minutes later that Athena comes back, announcing breakfast is ready. They end up setting up on the big table outside, because between everyone and the kids, it's a bit much for their dining table. Everyone seems to get the same idea, settling outside and leaving Bobby to wake Buck.
Just like in the car, he is slow to rouse, blinking sleepily and struggling to rise fully from the depths of sleep. Bobby gives him time; there’s no rush. His breakfast may go cold, but it's worth it to allow Buck this quiet moment of safety. Buck deserves to wake up without the weight of any expectation on him.
All in all, it takes about five minutes to get Buck sat up, leaning heavily into Bobby’s side, still blinking tiredly. It’s not overly surprising - the doctors said it would take a while for the painkillers to cycle out of his system, and one of the side effects, amongst other things, was drowsiness. Quietly, Bobby uses the arm wrapped around his shoulders to rub up and down Buck’s bicep, trying to gently coax him toward wakefulness. He’s starting to doubt that they’re going to get him any more alert than he is at this moment, though.
“You want to try going out and having some breakfast?” Bobby asks quietly, and it’s obvious even to his own ears how horribly fond he sounds.
Buck takes a deep breath and nods clumsily, struggling to get himself sitting upright without leaning on Bobby. Graciously, Bobby takes pity and gives him a hand up to standing, and keeps a hand on his shoulder as he walks (stumbles) to the back door and out onto the patio. When the other’s see him, a round of cheers go up and Buck blushes, grinning bashfully and laughing good-naturedly.
Chim pulls his chair out for him, tilting his head and offering a “M’lady.” as he does so, sweeping his hand in a guiding gesture that makes Buck laugh again, accepting the seat. Bobby takes his own seat at the head of the table, Athena on one side and Hen on the other. Conversation flows easily, though Bobby spends most of it watching Buck who, in turn, spends it watching everyone else. He still looks mostly half-asleep, but he also looks content to just listen.
Maddie joins them shortly after Buck and Bobby do, greeting everyone warmly and pressing a kiss to Buck’s uninjured temple. She says something quietly to him, and his face falls slightly, but then she whispers something else and he smiles faintly, nodding, so Bobby leaves it be.
By the time breakfast is done, Buck has been mostly pushing his food around his plate and is dozing off in his seat, slumped against Eddie’s side. Eddie doesn’t look bothered, in fact he looks pretty proud, and it makes Bobby want to scream and shake them both violently until they get it , but instead he settles for sharing another look with Hen.
Denny and Mara clear the table, and Bobby can’t help but be a little charmed by it, whilst Hen and Karen nod approvingly at them and promise ice cream at the park later for their initiative. Chris seizes the opportunity to present Buck his get-well-soon card, and Buck does an admirable job of waking himself up enough to give a reaction deemed acceptable to the ten-year-old.
Slowly, the adults migrate back inside, and Buck slumps onto his spot on the couch again, against Eddie’s side this time. Karen, Hen, Chim and Maddie settle on the remaining seats, and Buck once again seems content to be an observer to the conversation, whilst Eddie idly draws shapes onto Buck’s side.
Athena and Bobby stand in the doorway.
“Do you think I should say something to them?” Bobby says eventually, quiet. He doesn’t specify who ‘them’ is, but he doesn’t need to.
Athena hums quietly. “No.” She replies simply, settling her hand against Bobby’s lower back.
“They ought to be reminded how lucky they are–”
“It’s not our place, baby. You know that.”
A deep sigh, and a pause. “...They have two amazing children, Athena. Two wonderful people who deserve to be acknowledged and cared about–”
“They are. ”
“ – By their parents. I just…wish he could’ve been raised in an environment that was a bit more…supportive, is all.”
Athena softens. “I know. Me too. I don’t know what happened last night that’s got your feathers so ruffled – because I know this isn’t just about those messages in the group chat – but I do know that that boy deserves better.”
Bobby just sighs and nods.
“You did a pretty good job, though, filling in the gaps they left.” She continues, quietly.
He snorts. “I hardly filled any gaps, Athena. He was twenty-five when I met him. He’s a good person, a great person, because he put in the work to be.”
“Oh, I’m not denying that. But even at twenty-five, he had a whole lot of learning and growing to do, you know that as well as I do. And he wouldn’t have gotten there without you. You gave him that feeling of recognition, of safety and of mattering . And you did a hell of a job of it. You don’t need to give Margaret and Phillip a piece of your mind, baby. You just need to keep being there for him. Filling in their gaps.”
Across the room, Buck pulls tired eyes away from Hen and Karen’s current animated story, finding Bobby’s gaze, and smiles sleepily at him.
Yeah,
Bobby thinks.
I can do that.