Chapter Text
It was hard for Eddie to pray with Buck screaming.
“He needs the sleep. Let him be,” the doctor commanded, even when Buck’s nightmares were at their worst. Even when he was shaking and sobbing Maddie’s name, Bobby, Christopher, Eddie…
Eddie could only watch, only sit helpless and witness as Buck wept and made weak swimming gestures as his fevered brain took him through another tsunami dream. “Eddie!” he cried, “Eddie, help…”
Eddie’s watch chimed at the top of the hour. He stood from a horrendously uncomfortable hospital chair, plucked the digital thermometer off the bedside table, and gently passed it over his unconscious husband’s sweat-soaked brow.
“Please,” he begged the device. “Please.”
Buck’s temperature flashed in bright red numbers:
106.3.
Eddie underhanded the device across the room where it shattered against the wall. “DAMMIT!” he yelled, fingers itching for a baseball bat.
In the bed, Buck briefly startled at the sudden noise, then went still. His eyes opened and closed three times over a long 30 seconds before they fixed on Eddie, and widened.
“Evan?” Eddie leaned in close and took Buck’s hand.
Colorless lips smiled up at him. “Don’t move,” Buck whispered. “Position of your head… Angle… Blocking the light perfectly and the light—light’s making a halo…” Buck touched Eddie cheek. “Mi angel hermoso.” (My beautiful angel).
Tears flooded brown eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you.” Tears flooded blue eyes. “I’m so sorry, Eddie. I’m trying. I’m trying so hard, but…” Buck hiccuped. Tears bounced down his ashen cheeks. “I’m trying to stay.”
Eddie kissed his knuckles, and begged. “Stay with me, mi amor. Mi vida.” (My love. My life.)
“I’m tired, Eddie,” Buck whispered as he shivered from an undetectable cold. “Eddie, I’m s-so tired…”
Eddie sniffed. “Don’t talk like… You need to…” Eddie sobbed, “You have to hold on.” Eddie leaned over and buried his face against his husband’s stomach. “Please stay, Buck…”
Trembling fingers combed his hair. “I love you so much, Eddie… Mi amor… Mi vida.”
A knock on the door jolted them both. Bobby opened it, started to say something (likely relaying a message from some very annoyed nurses who’d just lost their third digital thermometer) but froze when he saw the patient’s eyes open. “Buck?” he gasped.
“Bobby!” Buck sobbed, reaching for his father.
Eddie reluctantly stepped aside and collapsed into a chair opposite the foot of the bed, face in his hands. He heard Bobby take a deep breath and approach the bed. “Hey, kid,” he greeted, voice trembling. “How you feeling?”
“Like lasagna.”
Eddie couldn’t imagine how Bobby kept a straight face. “Lasagna?”
“Six cheeses baking in an oven,” Buck explained before he grinned too wide - almost maniacal. “I have a wildfire of a fever, Bobby.”
Bobby nodded. He rubbed Buck’s hand between both of his. “You’re a little sick, kid.” Then he plucked up a tissue and dabbed away the nightmare tears on Buck’s cheeks. “But you’re getting better.”
Buck snorted. The haze in his eyes cleared a smidge. “Look after them for me, will you?” he whispered. “Chris and Eddie. Make sure Eddie… Make him survive this.”
In his seat, Eddie squeak-sobbed into his fists.
Bobby went rigid. He made a face that Eddie had never seen before. “Not giving up on me, are you, kid?”
Buck licked ashen, chapped lips. “I know what’s happening to m-me,” he whispered. “I’ve heard the nurses, the doctors. I know what meningitis does…” Buck blinked heavy-lidded blue eyes. “I’m n-not stupid, Bobby.”
“Buck—“
“My organs are shutting down it’s — it’s downhill from here, Cap.” Buck squeezed Bobby’s hand. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I’m l-leaving…”
“Evan.”
Both Buck and Eddie gasped when Bobby used that name. Both froze, transfixed.
Bobby leaned in close to Buck. “Listen to me. You’re right. You’re in a fire,” he whispered, “and as your captain I’m ordering you to evacuate.” Bobby transitioned into Captain Robert Nash before their eyes. “The building is collapsing. You must get out, NOW!”
Buck’s eyes - instantly wide open and alert - blinked without their typical sluggishness. “Yes, sir,” he said. “Yes, Cap.”
“Good man.” The persona disappeared, leaving a father looking at his son. “I love you, kid.”
The next time Eddie took Buck’s temperature, it was down to 105.9.
Less than six hours later, it dropped to 103.
Three days after that, the nurses handed Eddie his husband’s discharge papers, all relieved smiles. “Sorry I broke three of your thermometers,” Eddie said through a wince.
He found Buck sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, adjusting his shirt and tugging on his shoelaces.
“You still don’t remember our wedding ceremony?” Eddie asked, out of the blue.
Buck looked up at him. He shook his head. His bottom lip trembled. “I don’t, Eds, I’m sorry. What - what made you—“
Eddie gently removed the silver ring from his husband’s finger, then got down on one knee.
“Eddie,” Buck chuckled, “are you proposing again?”
Eddie grinned for the first time in a week. “Are you saying ‘yes’ again?”
A twinkle shone in both of Buck’s blue eyes. “You haven’t asked me yet.”
“Evan Buckley,” Eddie whispered, “Will you marry me… Again?”
Buck’s smile matched Eddie’s. “Yes, husband,” he chuckled, “I’ll marry you.” He took a deep breath. “Today. I want to marry you today.”
Eddie put the ring back on Buck’s finger. “Buck, we should get you home and in bed.”
Buck shook his head. “Call everybody up, Eds. I want to marry you by sunset.”
Eddie cupped both of Buck’s cheeks and kissed him. “Whatever you want, mi Angel hermosa. Thank you for staying.”
THE END