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Buck's been feeling terrible since they got home! Like, TERRIBLE terrible! He's sweating through his hoodie, he's as white as a sheet, his lips are grey and cracked, his eyes are dull and his brows are stuck in a permanent pull, like he's constantly in pain.
Everything hurts from his head to his toes, and there's a weird feeling in his chest that's aching his shoulders, all the way down to his hands. He can also feel his heart racing behind his ribcage, like it's threatening to jump out his throat.
Something was wrong, really wrong, but Buck could no longer find the energy to do anything about it as he lead there in his large double bed, alone, while he waited for Eddie to come back from picking up some stuff at his house.
Hey lays there motionless, spread out like a starfish, as he fights for every inhale and exhale, praying for whatever this is to let up so he can at least reach for his phone that is only feet away in the other room, but each time he breathes, it becomes more and more difficult.
He needs help. He needs his phone. If he doesn't get it soon, he's worried Eddie is going to come back to find his dead body.
With all the strength and resilience he could muster, Buck reaches out and grips the side of the mattress, giving himself some leverage to help pull him upright. It takes a lot longer than he'd like to admit, but eventually he manages it.
The air is knocked out of him when he's finally up, and he has to frantically grab the bedside table to stop himself from toppling over.
Ok, all he has to do now is get from here to his phone. 911 and Eddie would be able to take care of the rest.
He stands, kind of. Once vertical he lands hard against his bedroom wall, causing him to hit his head off the plaster. It makes him wince, especially as it jolts his ribs, but he uses it as an aid to move.
Buck slides across the wall, moving one foot slowly in front of the other before it's somewhat resembling walking, and uses every new object in his path to grab onto, propelling himself forward.
Then comes the hallway.
If Buck's right, his phone is on the kitchen counter, which is just at the end of the hallway that seems to be growing longer and longer the more he stares at it
It's a clear shot, a simple walk, if he's holding onto the wall the whole time like he has been doing, he can get there in no time.
So he starts off, strong at first, but he soon realises that his bedroom had been easier due to it being carpeted, meaning his feet had better stability. His hallway, on the other hand, was hardwood flooring, meaning his socked feet were sliding all over the place as he pushed himself forward against the wall.
Everytime he looked up from where he was, the hallway seemed to have grown another few feet, and was twisting and blurring right in front of his eyes.
His vision begins to tunnel and dark spots appear and expand, blocking his view of a random pair of shoes that had apparently come out of nowhere and decided they were going to be the thing to take Buck out.
How he hadn't seen them, he had no idea, but his foot caught on them and in a large, stomach dropping crack, Buck fell to the floor in a heap, his head ones again hitting the surface and bouncing.
It hurt so much he couldn't even make an audible sound in response, he just lead there, clutching his middle and his head with his mouth wide open and face scrunched.
The pain in his shoulders was worse now and he could feel his limbs becoming almost numb. No way was he able to get up now.
Just as his consciousness was beginning to fade, he heard his front door open, and a call to him echoed through the house. Announcing their presence.
Eddie.
Eddie's back.
Buck tries to yell, tries to shout for help, but his voice isn't working and he feels really weird. His body is starting to tremor, and his limbs are starting to move of their own accord, shaking violently against the hardwood.
The darkness has almost taken over Buck's vision when he hears a terrified shout of his name close by, and suddenly there's a person hovering over him, talking to him, staring down at him.
Eddie's horrified eyes are the last thing he sees when his own roll back into his head and his body starts to seize.
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Eddie is trying to move as fast as he can so he can get back to Buck as soon as possible. He promised he'd be twenty minutes max, grabbing just a few essentials so they can stay together for a few days, just until their doctors say it's safe for them to be on their own for a prolonged amount of time.
He grabs his toothbrush, five days worth of clothes, his chargers, three blankets (one specifically he knows is Buck's favourite), and a few board games and card decks, just incase the two of them get board.
Before long, he's out of the house and back in his truck, heading back to Buck's with his eye on his phone in the holder by his steering wheel, keeping an eye out incase Buck messages him.
He gets there with five minutes to spare and carries everything into the house like a waiter balancing six plates on two hands. He calls out once, letting Buck know he's home- he's back! And places everything down on the coffee table before going to find his friend when he gets no response.
Maybe Buck went for a nap or something.
He rounds the corner into the hallways and his heart drops out his ass.
Buck's on the ground, barely conscious, with spasms surging through his body and limbs, and there's a gargling noise coming from deep in his throat that has Eddie on the ground beside him in seconds.
"Buck! Buck, hey!! Can you hear me?! Buck!"
He watches in real time as Buck's eyes roll back and a seizure takes over his body.
Eddie's years of medic training and time in the field instantly leaves him, and he's stuck frozen watching his best friend seize violently on the ground. He instinctively reaches out and places a hand under Buck's head, cushioning it from smacking off the floor, and he pulls himself together long enough to realise he needs to time the seizure and call 911.
Why the fuck is Buck seizing?! And why now?!
Surely if something was going to present itself after the trauma he'd been through, it would've done it already?!
No one at the hospital mentioned anything about Buck having a TBI, or even a concussion, so what the hell is going on?!
The seizure stops after about thirty seconds, and Eddie is finally able to breathe again. He waits for Buck to make some kind of sound, or movement, while he places his fingers under Buck's jaw, taking his pulse.
Fast but strong.
A little too fast, and a little too strong.
And that's when he remembered...
That woman had used a cattle prod, twice, on Buck while he was trapped in that god forsaken house.
Buck had told him that in the car on the way back, but for some stupid reason, Eddie had assumed he meant she had hit him with it, not actually used the electricity that surged through it on him. He figured if that was the case, Buck would've mentioned it to the doctor when they asked about his injuries, but he didn't! At least, not in front of Eddie! And Buck wouldn't be so stupid as to not mention being electrocuted to a medical professional! Right?!
"Buck?" Eddie stuttered, using his free hand to shake Buck's shoulder. The blonde's head lolled back and forth but there was no sign of him waking.
It's then Eddie gets a good look at the injury on Buck's neck, the one that had been hidden by the deep hoodie he'd been wearing. The one that looked suspiciously like an electric burn.
"Damn it, Buck!" Eddie cursed, before pulling out his phone and dialing 911, something he should've done from the moment he saw Buck on the ground. He'll remember to yell at himself for that later.
"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"
It's Maddie, shit.
"Uh, I'm-" Eddie clears his throat. He needs to relay the information, but knowing it's Maddie on the other end is sending him into a spiral. He takes a deep breath and focuses on the pulse thumping against his fingers on Buck's neck.
"This is off duty firefighter Eddie Diaz, Station 118, I have an unconscious male, mid thirties, who's just experienced a seizure that lasted around half a minute. He has lacerations to the left side of his neck that suggests he's been electrocuted. I need an RA unit to my location immediately... I'm so sorry, Maddie."
Eddie can hear her broken breathing through the phone, and his chest aches at the sound. Maddie has seen her baby brother in pain so many times before, why can't the damn universe give them a break?!
"C- copy that, firefighter Diaz. RA is five minutes out." Maddie says with a shaky voice, before there's a gasps. "Eddie, that's the side he was struck by lightning on!"
Eddie grunts, holding back the tidal wave of emotions threatening to break free as he listens to Maddie cry out. He's aware of the side the lightning hit, he remembers it like a nightmare constantly looming over his mind like a dark cloud, but he was praying that by some miracle, it wouldn't have an effect on the injuries Buck had now.
Logically, he knows that's not true. Buck's heart stopped after the lightning. Eddie was the one who brought him back! And now, with two possible surges of electricity hitting his nervous system again, only a few years after the first, it most likely would've reopened that wound. May have even made it worse.
The thought alone is so scary Eddie has to shake his head back and forth to block it out. He needs to focus on keeping Buck alive until the ambulance gets there, not on the possible diagnosis, or the flashbacks of Buck hanging dead from the firetruck ladder.
"You're gonna be ok, Buck." He whispers, getting Déjà vu from when Buck had collapsed after he'd found him. He had hoped that he wouldn't ever have to experience something like that again, but of course, the universe is cruel and likes to play horrid tricks to mess with Eddie's mind whenever it gets the chance.
Soon enough, there's a call from the front door, the paramedics, and Eddie shouts out to them. He realises as he stands to let them in, that he's still on the phone to Maddie. She hasn't left, and doing what she can to keep him calm while falling apart herself on the other end.
"I'll meet you at the hospital?" He says quietly into the phone, watching as the paramedics load Buck's unconscious body onto a gurney.
"I'll be there." She promises. "Go with him in the ambulance. I'll see you both soon."
Eddie then hangs up and follows the medics outside on autopilot. He jumps into the ambulance without a second thought and takes a seat next to Buck's head.
He can hear the monitor beeping rhythmically, a sign of Buck's life, but Eddie can't help but replace his fingers against Buck's pulse. He needs his own knowledge, not to trust a machine.
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When they arrive to the hospital, Maddie and the 118 are already there in the waiting room, ready to catch him when his legs give out from exhaustion.
They each hold him close to their chests and whisper reassurances that Buck would be ok, that he's strong and he's survived everything that's been thrown at him, that no way in hell is he going to give up now.
Within hours Buck's allowed visitors. He's been checked over a number of times by a specialist in injuries to the nervous system, and stabilised to a point they believe no longer puts him in any danger.
Turns out Eddie was right, the cattle prod use had set Buck's heart back to the time of the lightning strike. He'd apparently gotten to the hospital 'just in time' and Eddie tried hard not to think about what that could mean.
At this point, he's sitting by Buck's bedside, running his thumb over Buck's knuckles, and watching as his chest rises and falls as he sleeps. He looks peaceful now, not in pain like he had been, and Eddie wants nothing more than to climb onto the bed with him and hold him close.
What that could suggest, Eddie has no idea, but he couldn't care less right now. Buck is safe and that's all that matters.
And when the blonde eventually wakes, Eddie is going to rip him a new one for withholding important medical information from professionals when he could quiet literally drop dead from doing so.
One thing is for certain though, Buck is never leaving Eddie's line of sight again. Damn grabbing more clothes from his house, he'll just wear Buck's instead!
At least that means he can stay by Buck's side at all times. Which is exactly where he wants to be.