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Buck dropped the tools he was holding, startling Hen, Chimney, and Eddie with the loud noise, but Buck didn’t care. He wasn’t worried about anyone giving him a weird look. He wasn’t worried about what anyone was doing or saying, actually. Not when his sister, his big sister who he hadn’t seen in almost 15 years, was standing in the bay doors and covering her mouth with her hand as tears gathered in her eyes, suitcase abandoned by her feet. Suddenly he was 11 years old again, his sister watching him with tears in her eyes as she walked away. But here she was. In LA. At his firehouse. Coming toward him instead of walking away.
“Evan.” She croaked, before shouting his name, “Evan!”
“Maddie!” Buck rushed out before he was running to her and they collided between the trucks, hugging each other tightly, both of them barely keeping from sobbing as they held each other. “Oh my god, Maddie. You’re- you’re here.” He just … he couldn’t believe she was here. She was alive and she was HERE.
“Woah!” Someone exclaimed as they fell to their knees, still hugging each other as if their lives depended on it. He felt like a little kid again, sobbing into her shoulder as he held onto her. Just like he did after a bad dream or getting ignored by their parents again.
“Shh, I’m here.” She sobbed, stroking a hand through his hair. “I’m here, honey, I’m here.”
“I can’t believe you’re here.” Buck rasped, backing up just far enough to look at her, uncaring of his tears. “You’re actually here.”
“I’m so- sorry it took me so long to find you.” She hiccuped. “To come to you.”
“Why, uh, why don’t we move this upstairs to the couches?” Bobby suggested, drawing their attention.
“Yeah, yeah, ok. Ok.” Buck nodded and sniffled, getting up and helping Maddie to her feet and clinging to her hand as they went up to the loft and sat on a couch and just hugged each other again. She was combing her hands through his hair like she used to do when he was really little and scared or sad.
“Sorry for just showing up.” Maddie said with a wet chuckle, backing up so she could look at him, really look and hold his face in her hands. “You’re so grown up. You’re so big now. And I missed it. I can’t believe I missed all of it.”
“How do you two know each other?” Chimney asked, looking between them curiously.
“Evan’s my baby brother.” Maddie said, not looking away from him, smiling as she traced his birthmark lovingly. “Because of the big age difference, I wasn’t there when he needed it. When he needed me.”
“That wasn’t your fault.” Buck said firmly when her lips wobbled. “I never blamed you.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister.” Hen said, looking stunned.
“I, uh,” Buck cleared his throat and sat back a little more, Maddie holding his hands in hers, “Maddie’s almost ten years older than me. She moved to Boston when I was around 11, to finish nursing school. I, uh, I was put into foster care that year. Our parents kept, um, they, uh, they kept- kept forgetting me. Forgot to pick me up from school or take me. Didn’t go to conferences, lots of things, really. So CPS got involved. Took me away for a while. I went back when I was turning 13, but they did it again, so I was moved more permanently to foster care.”
“My,” Maddie sniffled, “my soon-to-be ex-husband deleted the calls from them. He monitored my phone and deleted the messages and everything. But I got a postcard this past Christmas. A postcard from my baby brother to the hospital I worked at in Hershey, showing he was here in LA working as a firefighter. It … it was a bad Christmas, and … I wasn’t going to stay anymore. So I filed for divorce and pretty much ran here. I haven’t seen Evan in 12 years at least. God, longer, actually.” She sniffled again, angrily swiping away tears. “I am so sorry I wasn’t there for you. That I didn’t know and couldn’t take you in.”
“It’s not your fault.” Buck said gently.
“I didn’t know you were in the system.” Bobby was frowning.
“Not really something I advertise.” Buck shrugged. “Aged out and moved on. Eventually ended up here. I knew that Doug’s plan was always to get his MD and come back to either Hershey or Mechanicsburg, so I took a chance and sent the postcard to the hospital. Maddie was studying for her RN, so I figured she had to be a nurse by then.”
“I was an ER nurse.” Maddie nodded, smiling at him proudly. As if she was proud he remembered something about her. “I just … I can’t get over how much you’ve grown and how handsome you are. I missed so much.” She gasped, ready to start sobbing again.
“I’m Eddie.” Eddie said, stepping forward, holding a hand out in an offer to shake hers, giving a small smile. “I’m your brother’s new partner. It’s nice to meet some of his family since he’s met ours.”
“I’m Hen.” Hen stepped forward, leaning forward to offer a hug that Maddie accepted and hugged Hen back pretty tightly. “Don’t worry about Buckeroo. I stood in as his big sister until you could get here.”
“Thank you.” Maddie gasped, wiping her face again when she leaned back.
“Howie.” Chimney said, giving her a small smile. “These guys call me Chimney, but you can call me Howie.”
“Howie.” Maddie smiled, shaking his hand.
“Bobby Nash. Captain of the 118.” Bobby smiled, setting down a mug of tea in front of her. “I don’t want to say a lot more of Buck’s personality makes sense, now that I know some more of his history, but it kind of does.”
“He’s always been a little reckless and impulsive.” Maddie snorted, picking up her mug. “You should have seen the horrible attempt at a skateboard ramp he made when he was eight that landed him with a broken arm.”
“I can believe it.” Bobby laughed, giving Buck a smile and patting his shoulder.
“I’ve gotten better.” Buck grumbled, grinning as the others laughed or rolled their eyes.
“Buck, huh?” Maddie asked, looking at him curiously. “It suits you.”
“Thanks.” Buck ducked his head but looked up again, as if expecting his sister would disappear if he looked away.
“I was taller than you last time we were together.” She sniffled, her lip wobbling slightly again.
“Only by like three inches.” Buck snickered.
“And now you have, what? A foot on me?” She bumped her shoulder against his.
“Probably.” Buck smiled, feeling his face heat up.
“Is it ok if I wait here for you to get back?” Maddie asked anxiously when the alarm went off.
“Please.” Buck blurted before he could stop himself, flushing at his outburst. “Please,” he said a little less panicked, “there’s … there’s a lot for us to talk about.”
“I’ll be right here. Go save lives, baby brother.” She kissed his head when he hugged her again before getting up to follow the others to the rig, constantly looking up to the loft where she stood waving at him.
“So how long has it been?” Eddie asked curiously, once they were taking off and heading down the street. Buck felt as nervous and anxious as Eddie looked when he told them about Christopher. He’d never actually planned to tell anyone about growing up or his family, not unless he absolutely had to. But Eddie had probably had the same idea before the big earthquake. He pressed his knee to Buck’s to help him calm down. It was weird that they could do that when they’d only known each other for a little over a week.
“Almost 15 years.” Buck swallowed thickly. “Would have been 15 years end of next month, actually.”
“She seems to love you a lot.” Bobby offered.
“She does.” Buck nodded. “She was more of a mom for me than our actual mom. She took on a lot that she shouldn’t have had to. Not as a teenage girl that hadn’t gotten knocked up in high school anyway.”
“You never talk about her.” Hen said gently.
“Hen,” Buck chuckled a little sadly, “I haven’t had a home since I was 11 years old. Back before some people I’d never met came to the house and gave me 20 minutes to pack whatever I needed for school and some clothes in a trash bag. I know you guys all worried about me living in a share-house when I first started here, but that’s what I’m used to. I shouldn’t be too surprised, really, that I got clingy the longer Abby stayed with me before she finally left. But it’s hard to let go of something that felt like it could have been real. Could have lasted for once.”
“No one ever offered to adopt you?” Eddie asked interestedly.
“My parents may have lost legal rights over me, but they never signed over their parental rights. Seemed like a hassle when I turned 17 and was on my third home. To me, anyway.” Buck shrugged, more to roll his shoulders and try to relax them. “Can we talk about literally anything else? Anything other than my shitty childhood?”
“Sure thing, Buck.” Chim said, offering a small smile. Thankfully no one said anything else about his unexpected backstory the rest of the day.
When they got back to the station, Buck ran straight back to Maddie’s side. Both of them let out a breath of relief that the other was there. It was going to take a long time before Buck would be able to fully believe and accept that Maddie was there. That she was with him again. There was so much they needed to talk about. Fifteen years of missed time together, really.
“Your hair’s so short.” She teased. Scratching his scalp lightly like she used to do when she tucked his hair behind his ears.
“Easier to maintain this way.” Buck ducked his head. “One, uh, one of the homes I was in, the guy said boys didn’t have long hair, that it was girly, even though he listened to, like, 70’s and 80’s rock all the time and those guys had long hair, too. Pretty sure he was just mad because his had all fallen out.”
“He cut it?” She asked sadly.
“Took his clippers and shaved most of it off.” Buck nodded a little sadly at the memory. “Got moved after that since his wife told my case worker that he’d held me down to do it. I was their last kid because she filed for divorce and wanted to have a new place before fostering again.”
“Still a few curls hidden underneath.” She smiled softly.
“And I still don’t know how to take care of it.” Buck chuckled. “Which is why I’ve kept it short instead of growing it out again.”
“How long was it? Before that asshole cut it?” Maddie asked, grinning when Buck laughed.
“Down to my shoulders.” Buck shrugged. “Oh, here.” He opened his phone and went to his photos. He’d managed to save some pictures from when he was younger on it, so he scrolled until he found a couple from before the forced hair cut. “Still curly as hell and practically untameable.”
“That is too cute.” Maddie practically squealed, drawing attention from the others who were hovering without trying to be obvious about it.
“Care to share?” Hen asked hopefully. Buck rolled his eyes and Maddie passed her the phone. “Oh my gosh! Is that baby Buckeroo?”
“I was 14, not a baby.” Buck argued, reaching for his phone but Eddie took it from Hen before he could get it back.
“You look like you belong in a surfing catalog. That or in the x-games.” Eddie teased. “Blonde, windswept, wavy-curly hair. Must have had all the girls falling over their feet to talk to you.”
“No, because I was also the weird kid that didn’t have a home. Teenagers are dicks, especially to other teenagers they see as easy targets.” Buck scrunched his face up. “Not that I was an easy target, but they learned that eventually.”
“What’d you do?” Chim asked in amusement.
“Nothing that was ever proven.” Buck shrugged, smiling when Hen laughed, Chim smiled mischievously, and Eddie and Bobby sighed. “Remember, bullying and pranking wasn’t the same in the early 2000’s as it is now. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because they left me alone after a little while. Then I was on the football team and suddenly I was cool, apparently.”
“The paper did an article about the team when you won.” Maddie said, sounding close to tears again. “Evan Buckley, Senior, scores game winning touchdown for Hershey High, clenching the state title for the first time in 40 years.”
“Best way to get scholarships is through sports.” Buck nodded. “Played a little in college before going out and exploring.”
“Where’d you play?” Bobby asked curiously.
“Ah.” Buck flushed when everyone looked at him expectantly. “Um, I played for the Naval Academy. In Annapolis.”
“No shit?” Eddie asked interestedly.
“So?” Maddie asked with a smirk, taking Buck’s phone back and handing it to him. “History or photography?” Buck blushed as everyone watched him for his answer.
“Photography. Or, Public Affairs, really. But I’m still crap if I’m not behind a camera.” Buck cleared his throat.
“Sorry I wasn’t there.” Maddie whispered.
“You kind of were.” Buck gave her a small smile and pulled out the necklace that he hadn’t worn in years but for some reason he’d put it on that morning. He opened it up and there was a tiny picture of Maddie at 18, holding a nine year old Buck in her lap, both of them smiling. “Surprised I haven’t lost it after all my moving around, but I had it with me when I graduated.”
“I’m proud of you.” She sniffled.
“Got a college degree, Buck?” Bobby asked interestedly. “You never mentioned that.”
“It doesn’t exactly apply to our jobs.” Buck snickered. “I was a photographer for the Navy for a while, thus the training I told you about. Went through it with everyone, but decided part way through that it was not for me and if they wanted me with them, I was sticking to taking pictures of it all.”
“What training?” Maddie asked, leaning into him.
“SEALs.” Buck shrugged. “Stopped a year in and went around with one of the teams for a bit, getting shots they wanted for propaganda.”
“So Eddie isn’t the only one that’s been to war.” Chim tilted his head curiously.
“All I did was take pictures.” Buck fidgeted. “Handed some proofs over to the Army and Marines, for things I’d gotten.”
“Lieutenant Buckley. Dios.” Eddie said with a groan, before laughing a little.
“What?” Chim pressed.
“I got some pictures, of … of my team getting pulled out and going through medical before we were transported stateside. Embedded in the pictures was the name of the photographer. Lieutenant Buckley. I just thought it was a weird coincidence meeting Buck here. It’s not all that uncommon of a name.”
“Wait, you were in them?” Buck frowned.
“It was a SEAL team that pulled us out.” Eddie nodded, eyes flitting around a little anxiously.
“Sorry.” Buck apologized.
“For what? They were good pictures, and they weren’t published with who we were. Just used for media releases when we got our medals.” Eddie shrugged, shoulders a little more tense than they normally were. “You’re shit at taking selfies, but your pictures of other people are good.”
“Yeah, I never really liked being in the pictures.” Buck scrunched his face up. “It’s why most of my insta is pictures of my workouts or body or cute dogs.”
“You take thirst pictures?” Maddie teased.
“Hey, I worked hard for this. I share workout tips and healthy eating tips, I don’t respond to the people who DM me just wanting more revealing pictures or want to hook-up. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice ego boost, but not what I’m looking for. Plus I get tried of explaining my birthmark as a birthmark and not a burn or something else.” Buck countered. “Why don’t we head out? Shift’s over, I can hang out at your hotel or you can come to the apartment?”
“I didn’t get a hotel, I just came straight here. All I have is my one suitcase, really. So let’s go to your apartment and get some food and try to get to know each other again.” She held out her pinky to him, already teary eyed. Offering him a pinky promise. Like when they were kids.
Buck sucked in a breath and shakily looped his pinky with hers, feeling tears gather in his eyes again. His sister was really here, really back in his life. He had his family back.