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Christopher was excited! Today was the day his class were making Father’s Day cards. He couldn’t wait to make his cards, he knew exactly what he wanted to draw on his dad’s and on his Buck’s! He had thought long and hard on what to draw for Buck, after all it was his first Father’s Day with them, he deserved a nice card.
Christopher hummed happily to himself as he waited patiently for Ms. Flores to get to him, she was handing out construction paper for their cards.
However, when she got to him she only gave him one piece of paper. She didn’t seem to notice the confused frown on his face, she just kept handing out pieces of paper. Surely she had just made a mistake, right?
Christopher put his hand up and couldn’t help but wiggle his fingers in an effort to get her attention. He knew he should be patient but this was important! This was a card for his Bucky they were talking about.
“Yes, Christopher?” Ms. Flores asked, finally noticing him.
“I need another piece of paper,” He explained, swinging his legs underneath his desk. He just wanted to get started on his cards.
“Why?” Ms. Flores asked, looking confused. “Did something happen to yours?”
“No,” Christopher huffed. Did she think he would mess up these important cards?! “I need to make two cards.”
“I don’t understand,” Ms. Flores says, and Christopher knows he shouldn’t but he really wants to roll his eyes.
“I need to make two cards,” Christopher says slowly, willing her to understand. “One for my daddy and one for my Buck.”
Christopher does not like the dark look that flashes over Ms. Flores’ face. He’s noticed that she looks like that whenever his Buck is mentioned. What could she possibly have against Buck? Buck was the best!
“Christopher, honey,” Ms. Flores says in what he assumes she thinks is a soothing tone. “These cards are for Father’s Day. Buck is not your father.”
Christopher can’t help the way his chin trembles at that and he can feel tears welling up in his eyes.
“I love Buck like I love my dad. I want to make him a card!”
“Christopher,” Ms. Flores says warningly, and that’s enough to make the tears spill over. Christopher can’t help the sob that rips from his chest and he just wants to get away, he wants to be at home with his daddy and his Buck. They’ll make him feel better.
oOoOoOo
It’s blissfully quiet at the 118 at the moment, though none of them dare utter the dreaded ‘Q-word’, not wanting to jinx it.
Bobby is making them lunch and Eddie’s got his head resting on Buck’s shoulder, trying in vain to just will his headache away. He knows he could just go to Buck’s locker and get some of the Tylenol he knows Buck keeps for him because he’s always forgetting his but he doesn’t want to move. He’s comfortable.
Buck is reading, careful not to move too much and risk jostling Eddie. Hen and Chimney are sitting at the table as they all wait for Bobby to finish making lunch.
The sudden ringing of his phone makes Eddie groan in pain and annoyance. Buck huffs out a soft laugh at his reaction as he passes Eddie his phone that was sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch they were on.
Eddie flashes Buck a quick thank you smile, one that immediately fades as he realizes that it’s Christopher’s school calling him.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Mr. Diaz. This is Helen Meyers, the principal at your son’s school? I’m calling to ask if you’d be able to come take Christopher home. He’s quite upset and I don’t think we’re going to be able to get him to calm down.” The woman’s voice is soft but full of authority and Eddie is already leaping up out of his seat, headache forgotten.
“What happened, is he okay?!” Eddie asks as he sends a pleading glance to Bobby who just nods his head, giving him the go-ahead. He’s racing down the stairs from the loft without a backward glance, getting into his truck in record time.
“Physically he’s fine but there was a bit of an incident with his teacher and he’s upset. I can explain further when you arrive.”
“Okay, thank you. I’ll be there as fast as I can,” Eddie replies, hanging up and throwing his truck in reverse, leaving the parking lot. As he drives towards the school he can’t help but wonder what exactly his girlfriend said to upset his son so much they needed to call home.
He arrives at the school within ten minutes, even though it’s technically a twenty minute drive from the station. But LA traffic was on his side for the first time ever and he may have been speeding, so he got there in half the time.
He makes his way into the school, going straight to the office and ignores the looks of the few students and teachers in the hallway. He must be quite the sight, still in full uniform and basically booking it to the office.
The school receptionist sees him as he approaches and gets up to let him in to the office, leading the way to the principals office.
“Right in here, Mr. Diaz,” She says and Eddie barely remembers to give her a nod of thanks before he’s falling to his knees in front of his son who is still sniffling and looking absolutely miserable. Eddie notices the principal, Helen, apparently, and Ana but he doesn’t acknowledge them yet, he needs to make sure Christopher is okay first.
“Are you okay, mijo? What happened?” Eddie asked, wrapping his arms around his boy who just clings to him tightly.
Christopher hiccups, burying his face in Eddie’s neck. “W-we were making Father’s Day cards and I wanted to make Buck one. Ms. Flores wouldn’t let me,” He sobs and Eddie’s heart breaks at the absolute misery his son is projecting.
“Oh, mijo,” He says, tightening his arms around his son. “We’ll make Buck a card when we get home, okay?”
Christopher just nods and sniffles. Eddie stands up, scooping Christopher up as he goes and sitting him on his hip so he doesn’t have to put him down. It goes to show just how upset his son is that he doesn’t protest at being cradled, something he’s been doing more and more as he gets older.
With Christopher firmly wrapped in his arms, Eddie turns his attention to his girlfriend, whose arms are crossed. She looks somewhat apologetic but mostly defiant and the Eddie feels anger curl in his belly.
“What the fu—heck, Ana?” Eddie hisses, correcting himself at the last second. He glances over to the principal but the woman is just looking at Ana in disappointment.
Ana huffs, throwing her arms up in the air. “Edmundo, you are Christopher’s father! We were making Father’s Day cards! Why would he make one for your co-worker?! Buck is not his father!”
Christopher flinches in his arms and Eddie can’t help the snarl that comes to his lips. “Who are you to tell him that?!” He asks, low and angry. “That is not your place.”
“Why are you acting like I’m the bad guy here?! You should be upset with Buck! He’s the one confusing Christopher!” Ana shouts, completely losing her cool as she recrosses her arms angrily in front of her. “He acts like he’s trying to replace you!”
Eddie takes a deep breath to steady himself. He doesn’t want to have this conversation in front of either his son nor his girlfriend’s boss but it looks like that’s exactly what’s happening.
“As far as I’m concerned, Buck is Christopher’s dad. His other dad. You know how much Christopher loves Buck and how much Buck loves Christopher. You are way out of line, Ana,” and with that Eddie turns towards the principal, dismissing Ana. “I’m taking him home. I’m also going to be calling you about how I go about moving Christopher into another class.”
“I understand, Mr. Diaz,” Helen says, shooting Ana a reprimanding look when the other woman goes to protest, looking angry and hurt.
“Edmundo!” Ana calls after him as he leaves with a nod to the principal and not a glance towards her.
Eddie ignores her as he goes to sign Christopher out. The principal personally goes to collect Christopher’s things and hands them to him with an apology on Ana’s behalf.
Christopher is quiet as Eddie gets him settled into the car and after climbing in himself, Eddie turns to look back at Chris. “What will make you feel better, mijo?”
“I want to see Buck,” Christopher replies quietly, still subdued but thankfully no longer crying.
“Okay, buddy, let’s go see Buck,” Eddie agrees, knowing that trying to talk Christopher out of it would be a lost cause. His son is not going to feel better until after he’s seen his Buck.
oOoOoOo
Everyone can’t help but be surprised when Eddie walks back into the station and up to the loft, this time with Christopher tucked in his arms. The normally bright, happy boy is quietly leaning against his father’s chest, looking absolutely miserable.
“What are you guys doing back?” Bobby asks curiously, looking at both father and son in concern. “I was expecting you to go home.”
“I’ll explain in a bit,” Eddie says distractedly as he looks around the room for Buck. The whole team is there, minus Buck, the one person he’s looking for. “Anyone seen Buck?”
“He should be back any minute, he just went to grab a sweater from your locker— he says that he forgot his and is borrowing yours— I swear that boy is always cold,” Hen replies, laughing fondly.
Buck jogged back up the stairs to loft, zipping up his hoodie as he does.
Christopher sees him first and suddenly he’s wiggling in Eddie’s arms, trying to get to Buck. “Buck!”
Buck looked surprised. “Hey, superman! What are you doing here, buddy?” He asks, reaching to take Christopher from Eddie, furrowing his brows when Eddie lets out a sigh of relief when he sees him.
Christopher just lets out a sob and buries his face in Buck’s neck.
“Shhh, it’s okay, bud,” Buck tries to soothe, running his fingers through Christopher’s curls. He tries not to let the anxiety he can feel building show as he tightens his arms around Chris.
“What happened?” Buck whispers to Eddie when he comes to stand beside his boys, running a hand down Christopher’s back.
Eddie just sighs. “Ana happened.”
Buck was confused. He knew that Christopher wasn’t overly fond of his dad dating his teacher but he’d always assumed that it would just take some time to get used to. A small part of him, one that he keeps buried deep, couldn’t help but wish that Eddie would see his son’s displeasure with his relationship and break up with Ana. And then date Buck instead.
Buck shook himself from his thoughts and turned his attention back to Christopher. His little boy needed him right now. “Why don’t we sit down and then you guys can tell me what happened. Is that okay with you, buddy?” Buck asks Chris, who just nods against his neck, not making any moves to stop clinging to Buck like a terrified koala.
Buck sits down on the couch closest to the table, rearranging Christopher on his lap until the boy is comfortable. Eddie drops down into a chair at the table, sitting in front of Buck and Chris, and sighs, dropping his head into his hands.
The rest of the team linger, although they pretend they aren’t listening to give the boys at least the illusion of privacy. Bobby is washing dishes quietly and both Chimney and Hen are reading, Chim yet another baby book and Hen a medical textbook.
Eddie scrubbed his face with his hand, in a tired and frustrated gesture. “Chris wanted to make you a Father’s Day card. He asked Ana for another piece of paper so he could make two and she told him no, that you weren’t his father and the cards were only for fathers,” Eddie explained and felt the room around him pause.
Buck felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. He looked down with wide-eyes at the little boy in his arms, a wave of love and devotion rushing over him.
“You’re my other dad, Buck,” Chris hiccuped. “Why can’t I make you a card too?”
“You can, mijo,” Eddie said, knowing that Buck probably wasn’t able to speak right now. “As soon as we get home we’ll make him a beautiful card.”
Christopher nodded, relaxing against Buck. Meanwhile, Buck’s world had just been turned right side up. Sure he’d been thinking of Christopher as his son, as his and Eddie’s son, in the privacy of his own mind for a while now but to hear the boy in question say that he thought of him as his a dad, with no hesitation and complete confidence, made Buck feel like his heart had been shattered and then put back together again.
Buck hugged Christopher tightly against him, looking at Eddie a bit nervously. Would Eddie be mad that Chris wanted to make him a card? Yeah, he’d said they could make him one and he didn’t seem to be mad, but maybe it was just so Chris didn’t get more upset and as soon as they were alone Eddie was going to pull him aside and tell him he had to take a step back. He didn’t want Eddie to feel like he was trying to replace him.
But he didn’t have to worry because Eddie was looking right back at him with a soft, fond look. He looked content as his son clung to his best friend after practically asking the other man to adopt him and Buck felt himself start to relax. Everything would be okay. More than okay, he thought, as he looked down at the sweet boy in his arms.
As Eddie sat back and watched Buck with Christopher he couldn’t help the sudden realization that this is what he wanted. This is who he wanted. Buck. Buck and Christopher and the little family the three of them made.
He would have to talk to Ana before he said anything to Buck. Based on the amount of angry texts he’d received from her just in the time it had taken to drive from the school back to the fire station — ones Eddie had barely glanced at as he switched his phone on silent so it would stop buzzing — it would not be a very pleasant conversation.
But, if in the end, this is what he got? His two favourite boys all to himself?
That would be worth every second.
He’d talk to Ana and then he’d talk to Buck. And if the way that Buck was looking at him was any indication, that would be a wonderful conversation.
For now, though, Eddie just let himself bask in the love he felt for his boys.