#angsty content

It’s harder to get on Buck’s good side than Maeve originally thought. It’s been weeks since she started working at the 118, and Buck’s been either giving her the cold shoulder or reluctantly working beside her on calls. There’s no in between.

Three weeks have passed since her first day, and Maeve finds herself cooking dinner for the 118 after Bobby discovered that she isn’t a terrible cook. She’s making her famous mac n cheese that Harper loves.

“Smells good,” Hen says, standing beside Maeve.

Maeve has gotten considerably closer to both Hen and Chimney since she came to the 118. Hen’s introduced Maeve to her wife, Karen, and her son, Denny. Maeve’s also met Chimney’s girlfriend, who also happens to be Buck’s older sister, Maddie, and their daughter, Jee-yun. Maeve loved spending time with baby Jee. It reminded her of when Harper was a baby.

A smile forms on Maeve’s lips as she says, “It tastes a lot better than it smells. It’s super gooey and cheesy.”

Hen puts her hand on her heart and says, “Just how I like it. It’s been three weeks and you already know the way to my mac n cheese loving heart.”

That’s when Chimney walks up and says, “Bobby’s mac n cheese might have some competition now.”

Both Maeve and Hen laugh before Maeve continues cooking.

As soon as she gets the pan of mac n cheese in the oven, Bobby says from the level below, “Hen, Chimney, Buckley, come here.” Hen and Chimney look over the railing.

“Mr. I Survived a Gunshot on Duty,” Chimney says. “Funny seeing you here.”

That catches Maeve’s attention.

Is the famous Eddie here that she’s heard so much about but has never met?

Maeve cleans the counter and the dishes before joining everyone downstairs. As she walks down the stairs, she notices a guy standing in the middle of Bobby, Hen, Buck, and Chimney. His arm in a sling and dressed in plain clothes. He has a bit of facial hair and his hair is short but growing out.

Buck looks over at Maeve and she makes eye contact with Buck, whose smile fades when he sees her. The guy, Eddie probably, notices and looks over at her.

“Hi,” Maeve brightly says. “My name’s Maeve Grier. You must be Eddie.”

He shakes hands with Maeve and says, “Eddie Diaz. You must be what has Buck freaked out. I keep telling him that I’m coming back and that no one’s replacing me.”

Keeping the already forced smile on her face, Maeve says, “Well, I keep telling him that I’m here until you get back. I’m not here to replace you.”

Eddie looks over at his friend and asks, “Feel better, buddy? Both of us now have assured you that I’m not going anywhere.”

Buck rolls his eyes and asks, “When’s dinner? Because I’m hungry.”

“Thirty minutes,” Maeve says to Buck. She turns her attention back to Eddie. “Anyway, how’s your shoulder, Eddie? I heard about what happened and I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

Eddie nods and says, “Feels good. Docs say I can come back in a few weeks if things keep progressing as quickly as they are.”

Maeve talks to everyone until the oven beeps, signaling that dinner is ready. She goes up and pulls it out of the oven. Everyone follows her up and sits at the table. “And here we go,” she says as she serves the pan of mac n cheese. “I made a lot so there is enough for you if you’d like some, Eddie.”

He thanks her and everyone sits to eat.

***

The end of the shift arrives quickly, and just in time for Maeve to get home to eat dinner and have movie night with her daughter.

As she’s leaving to go home, Buck calls, Hey! Grier, wait up a second.”

She turns and watches Buck jog up to her. “I have to get home, Buck,” she tells him. “I do have a family I’d like to see sometime today.”

“I just wanted to apologize for the way I’ve been acting,” he states, catching Maeve off guard. “It’s not fair to you. Eddie got shot and I’ve been taking everything that I’ve been feeling out on you. I was so worried that Eddie wasn’t going to make it and now I’m worried that I won’t have my partner back because you’re filling in for him while he’s gone.”

Maeve raises her eyebrows and asks, “Partner? Like work partner or-”

Buck immediately cuts her off. “Work partner,” he says, a light laugh leaving his lips. “I actually have a girlfriend.”

A little “oh” falls from Maeve’s lips. Buck smiles and says, “Sorry that I had to break your heart.”

She rolls her eyes. “You wish, Buckley,” Maeve says. “I do have to go though so if that’s everything then I’d like to leave.”

He shakes his head, saying, “That’s all I wanted to say. Plus, we’re all getting together for drinks and stuff later, probably around nine tonight if you’re interested. I’m sure someone wouldn’t mind picking you up, or you can catch an Uber. We’re going to go to that bar in North Hollywood called Royal Nightclub if you’re interested in coming. We’re all bringing our significant other if you have one of those.”

Maeve’s face unintentionally falls, but she recovers quick enough so Buck doesn’t realize that something’s wrong. Or so she thinks anyway.

“I’ll have to see. I’m usually a night owl,” she lies. Maeve’s always up until the middle of the night for a variety of reasons. “Rain check if not?”

Buck nods and says, “Yeah, sure. Have a goodnight, Grier.”

As he turns to walk away, Maeve calls after him, “It’s Maeve. You can call me Maeve.”

He puts a hand up to say goodbye before calling back, “Goodnight, Maeve.”

She smiles and heads to her car. She puts her duffel bag in the backseat before getting into the driver’s seat and driving off.

***

Harper greets Maeve as soon as she walks in the door. “Mommy!” her little girl yells. Maeve drops her bag and leans down to pick up her daughter.

“Hello, my love,” Maeve says, smiling. “How was your day at school?”

Maeve stands up, holding Harper in her arms. “I made a new friend,” Harper happily says. “His name is Chris. He’s super nice and let me borrow his crayons.”

She laughs and says, “Look at you, making new friends. Let’s eat dinner and you can tell me all about Chris.”

Maeve makes her and Harper some dino chicken nuggets with fries to eat for dinner after Nylah, the babysitter watching Harper, leaves “So, Harper,” she says to her daughter. “Tell me more about this Chris. How did the two of you meet?”

Harper says, “My teacher partnered everyone up with a person from another class. She said it was the ‘special’ class because they need a little extra help learning. Chris was in that class. He’s really nice, mom. He should come over and play for a bit.”

She laughs and says, “Not tonight, my love. Maybe over the weekend. I’m sure his parents don’t want him going out on a school night.”

“It’s just him and his dad,” Harper says. “He said his mom died a few years ago before the tsunami.”

Maeve looks at her daughter and says, “That’s terrible.”

Harper nods and says, “But his dad is a firefighter. He works for the LAFD or something. I don’t remember what station he said though. I think it had an eighteen in the number, or an eight.”

Maeve’s eyebrows draw together. Does someone have a kid at the 118 besides Hen and Chimney. Denny’s younger than Maeve and Jee-yun is a baby. Who else has a child.

This question wracks Maeve’s head until she realizes what time it is. It’s nearly six and she wants to watch a movie with Harper before Harper’s bedtime at eight.

She sends Harper into the living room to pick a movie on Disney+ while she cleans the dishes.

Bobby is definitely old enough to have a ten year old, but Maeve vaguely remembers that he has stepchildren. One graduated high school and the other is slightly older than Harper. Buck doesn’t have any kids, that Maeve knows of. After hearing about “Buck 1,0″, there could be several Buckley Jr.s running around Los Angeles.

Maybe it’s Eddie. She kind of remembers him mentioning a son earlier in the day but she was caught up in a conversation with Hen while Eddie was talking.

Out of curiosity, when Maeve walks into the living room for the movie, she asks, “Harper, do you know Chris’ last name?”

Harper looks back at her bother. “Diaz,” she says to Maeve.

Diaz. Eddie Diaz’s son. Chris.

Maeve wasn’t planning on going out for drinks tonight, but she needs to talk to Eddie.

Cinderella begins to play on the TV in the living room. Maeve pulls out her phone and texts Nylah.

hey nylah, can you come back at eight? something came up and i need to go out for a few hours tonight.

She’s quick to respond.

of course, miss grier. see you at eight.

Maeve sighs with relief as she tries to enjoy the movie.

***

Harper fell asleep halfway through the movie so Maeve carries her to bed, gently tucking her in. “Goodnight, my love,” Maeve whispers to her daughter. “Sweet dreams.”

She quietly leaves her daughter’s bedroom before making her way down to hers. It’s nearly eight, and it’s going to take her about forty minutes to get from her house in West Covina to Royal Nightclub in North Hollywood.

Not wanting to go over the top since it is just drinks with co-workers, Maeve picks a casual but sexy outfit. She grabs a white bodysuit with a U neck that reveals some cleavage. The straps on the shoulders are thin and the back is open. She grabs a pair of high-waisted black jeans to put over the bodysuit and a Gucci belt to put around her waist. Maeve puts on a pair of white heels to complete the outfit.

Maeve puts on light makeup, just enough to cover any blemishes and dark circles, and brushes out her naturally wavy brown hair.

As she’s grabbing her ID, car keys, and phone, there’s a light knock at the front door. Maeve walks downstairs and opens the door, revealing Nylah. “Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Maeve quietly says. “Harper’s fast asleep. I should be back by midnight. I’ll let you know if something changes though.”

Nylah nods and says, “Of course, Miss Grier. Enjoy your night. If you need me to stay overnight, I will.”

“I don’t think you’ll need to stay overnight but thank you for the offer, Nylah,” Maeve says, “See you later.”

Then Maeve leaves. She’s quick to hop in her car and drive to the club where she’s meeting everyone.

She has no idea if Chris told Eddie about Harper. Honestly, she doesn’t know how much longer she can keep Harper a secret. She just doesn’t want to be judged for the fact that she got pregnant and had a baby at 18 in Los Angeles with no job and a dead boyfriend.

Not that she thinks the 118 will judge her, but she’s been judged before and she hated that feeling and doesn’t want to go through that again.

A very short forty minute drive later, she arrives at Royal Nightclub. Maeve notices the group waiting in line to go inside. She gets out of her car and joins them.

“Maeve!” Hen says as soon as she notices Maeve walking up to them. “You came! We weren’t sure if you were going to come or not. Buck told us you didn’t give a definitive answer and that you looked upset when he brought up that we were going out.”

She puts a smile on her face, saying, “I wouldn’t miss drinks with my favorite co-workers.”

Buck, who has his arm draped around a redheaded woman, says, “I think I figured out why you looked so sad when I brought up that we were going out and bringing whoever we were seeing or who we’re married to. Considering you walked up alone.”

Maeve blinks at Buck and says, “No, I’m not dating anyone. I don’t know how you’re dating someone though. You’re annoying as hell sometimes.” Then she sends him a smile so he knows she’s messing with him.

He laughs and shakes his head, looking at his girlfriend then back to Maeve. “Maeve, this is my girlfriend, Taylor Kelly. Taylor, meet Eddie’s replacement, Maeve Grier.”

Maeve rolls her eyes and says, “I’m not Eddie’s replacement.”

“And I’m not annoying as hell,” Buck retorts.

Taylor says, “Oh no. You are, sometimes.” She puts her hand on Buck’s chest as she looks up at him.

The group laughs.

Then Bobby introduces Maeve to his wife, LAPD sergeant Athena Grant. “Wonderful to meet you, Maeve,” Athena says when Bobby is done introductions.

Eddie then walks up and says, “Hope I didn’t miss the fun part.”

“Just in time,” Hen says as they slowly make their way in one-by-one.

The club has a stage, a bar, and a large dance floor that’s surrounded by high-top tables and booths that line the wall. Neon lights flash as some dance song plays. A bunch of people are on the dance floor.

Maeve finds her way to the bar, Eddie right behind her.

After ordering drinks, Eddie looks over at Maeve and says, “A daughter, huh?”

And there it is.

“Harper,” Maeve says, looking over at Eddie. “Who is apparently a very big fan of your son because he let her borrow his crayons. He seems very proud of the fact that you’re a firefighter.”

Eddie laughs and says, “Christopher loves to brag that I’m a firefighter. He’s also a big fan of your daughter. Said she was super nice and helpful. Apparently he wants Harper over to play video games with him.”

Drinks arrive and Maeve says, “Harper loves Mariokart so you better have that if she’s going to come over and play video games with Christopher.”

“We got al kinds of video games,” Eddie states. “Does everyone know about Harper?”

Maeve shakes her head and says, “No. I haven’t told them. I don’t know how to tell them about my ten year old daughter that I had at 18 after I had just moved to Los Angeles and right after my boyfriend, her father, died. I feel judged when I tell people that, and the only reason I’m telling you is because our children will probably grow to be friends with each other.”

Eddie gets his drink and says, “They’re not the ones that usually judge people. Except Buck. I wouldn’t tell him until you absolutely needed to.”

She laughs and the two rejoin the group.

It’s about eleven when she finds herself alone with Buck. Everyone went to dance and Taylor went to the bathroom. Maeve sits alone with Buck at their table.

“Enjoying yourself?” Buck leans over and asks. “You seem loose. How much have you had to drink?”

Maeve looks at Buck before saying, “I’m sober enough to drive home if that’s what you’re asking. I can have fun and be sober.”

Buck laughs and says, “I’m just making sure. I wouldn’t want you to get into an accident on your way home.”

Without thinking, Maeve says, “I don’t want to end up like my dead boyfriend, thank you very much.”

The mood shifts and Buck’s face falls. “So that’s why you looked sad when I told you we were all bringing the person we’re with. It’s not the fact that you were single but because your boyfriend died. How did he die? How long ago?”

She shakes her head and says, “I’m not doing this. We don’t have to do the thing were we get to know each other because I’m temporary, right? I’m leaving as soon as Eddie recovers from his gunshot wound anyway so why would I tell you anything about my past?”

Buck blinks at Maeve. “I’m your friend, Maeve,” Buck states. “Or so I thought.”

“You didn’t start treating me like a normal human being until today and you want to act like we’re friends?” Maeve asks. “Seriously, Buck?”

He shrugs and says, “I was worried for my friend’s job.”

Maeve says, “That doesn’t give you a right to treat me like dirt, Buck. You made it sound like I was a bad person for temporarily filling in for an injured firefighter.”

“I didn’t mean to-” Buck begins but Maeve just gets up and walks off. “Where are you going?”

She calls back, “Home. I’m no longer having fun.”

Maeve leaves the nightclub and gets in her car. Her hands are shaking and her mind is racing. She feels justified in her reaction to Buck asking about Luke. She didn’t even mean to bring up the car accident Luke was killed in, but she needed to leave. She hates talking about it, especially when she knows she has to drive home and right past were Luke was killed.

With a sigh, she begins her long drive home.

Nylah sits on the couch watching some kind of late night show on low volume. She looks back at Maeve and asks, “Everything okay? You look exhausted.”

“I’m fine,” Maeve lies. “You’re free to go. I’ve got it from here. Thank you.”

Her babysitter nods, collects her things, and leaves. Maeve sulks upstairs and changes from her outfit that she went out in into her fuzzy pajama pants. She ties her hair up in a messy bun on top of her head before she goes and checks on Harper.

Harper lays on her side facing the door. She sleeps peacefully and Maeve smiles at her daughter. She looks so much like Luke, sometimes it scares Maeve. Harper has his green eyes but Maeve’s brown locks. She has Luke’s nose and facial structure but Maeve’s lips.

It’s been a week since Maeve went to the bar with the 118 and their significant others. Except for some short, two of three sentenced conversations while on duty, Maeve and Buck haven’t talked. She doesn’t plan on talking to him about it either.

They’re not friends. Maeve’s leaving in two weeks when Eddie comes back anyway. There’s no point.

Eddie did invite Maeve and Harper over Saturday night for a sleepover.

That’s another thing that’s happened in the past few days. Maeve asked Eddie to pick Harper up from school when he got Christopher. Both Harper and Christopher begged Eddie for a sleepover this weekend when he picked up the kids. So Eddie called Maeve that night and they planned a sleepover with the kids.

Maeve isn’t so scared to tell the 118 about Harper now, knowing that she’s not the only single parent that works at the 118. Maybe they won’t judge her.

She’s not holding her breath though.

The day of the sleepover, Harper is up super early. Like seven in the morning early.

“Mommy!” Harper says, shaking her mother awake in the morning. “Mommy, when can we go to Chris’ house?”

Maeve’s eyes open slightly and she says, “Harper, it’s barely seven in the morning. I don’t think Chris or his dad are awake at this time. Give me an hour to sleep some more then I’ll call Chris’ dad to see what time we’re allowed over, okay?”

Harper pouts but reluctantly agrees. “Fine,” she says, laying down beside Maeve on the queen sized bed. Maeve wraps her arms around her daughter and buries her face in her little girl’s dirty blonde hair. Maeve’s asleep again in a few minutes.

***

“I’m sorry, Miss Grier,” the officer states. “Mister Acker didn’t make it.”

“Luke.” Maeve sits up quickly, looking around. Her daughter isn’t in her bed anymore and Maeve’s grateful for that. She doesn’t know how to explain to her daughter that she dreams about when she found out Harper’s father died.

Her eyes fall on the picture of her and Luke as soon as they moved to Los Angeles. Maeve’s cradling her belly, though she isn’t showing yet. She just found out she was pregnant with Harper when that picture was taken. She couldn’t have been more than eight weeks pregnant when she found out she was pregnant.

Maeve’s phone ringing brings her out of her disassociative state. She looks over at the device on her bedside table. It’s Eddie.

“Hey,” Maeve yawns when she answers the phone. “What’s up?”

Eddie asks, “What time do you and Harper want to come over?”

“Um,” Maeve stammers. “What time are we allowed over?”

The other end of the line is quiet for a minute before Eddie says, “Well, my son has been bugging me all morning about letting you guys come over as soon as possible so just let me know when you’re in your way over?” That sounded more like a question.

Maeve sighs, “Alright. We’ll be on our way in about a fifteen minutes. Maybe sooner once Harper hears that we can come over whenever. Do I need to bring anything?”

“No,” Eddie states. “Just bring yourself, Harper, and your pajamas over. Do not bring anything else, Maeve.”

She laughs and says, “Okay, okay. Fine. I won’t bring anything. We’ll be over soon.”

Eddie hangs up the phone and Maeve begins to get ready, putting on a cropped red t-shirt and black sweatpants. “Harper!” Maeve calls. “Get ready to go to Christopher’s house! We leave in fifteen minutes.”

Maeve hears her daughter squeal and a door shuts. She smiles and packs a duffel bag with her toothbrush, face soap, and her pajamas. As Maeve goes into the living room, there’s a knock on her door. Confusion fills her as she goes to answer the door.

She’s shocked when she sees Evan Buckley standing at her front door. “Buck,” she gasps. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“We need to talk, Maeve,” he says. “We can’t keep working like we have been. Bobby isn’t very happy that we’re not working together on calls like we were before last weekend.”

Nervous, Maeve pushes Buck back and stands outside with him. She closes the door. “You can’t just show up at my front door and demand to talk to me, Buckley,” Maeve states. “How did you even get my address?”

Buck looks down at Maeve. “It’s in the LAFD database, like mine,” Buck tells her. “Don’t go off topic. We need to talk.”

“No, Buck,” Maeve sighs. “We don’t need to talk. I’m leaving in two weeks when Eddie gets back, and we’ll probably never speak again. You can go because I have plans.”

The taller man stares down at Maeve. “I didn’t mean to bring up something that was obviously sensitive to you,” Buck apologizes. “If I had known-”

Maeve waves her hands, shutting Buck up. “Stop,” she says. “Buck, stop. You didn’t know, and you’ll never know. Just stop.”

“Contrary to popular belief, Grier,” Buck begins. “I do want to be your friend. The 118 want to be your friend. If you’d just talk to us then we’d be able to be your friends, and maybe convince Bobby to let you stay. You don’t have to go when Eddie comes back in two weeks.”

Maeve rolls her eyes. “A month ago you were ignoring me because you thought I was replacing your injured best friend,” Maeve says. “Now you’d ask me to stay?”

Buck throws his arms up in the air. “I don’t know what else you want from me, Maeve. I’m trying to be your friend here. I want to be your friend, if you’d let me.”

She stares up at Buck. “You treated me like shit when I arrived and now you want to be friend, what, because you know Eddie’s job is safe? Because you knew that I was leaving? Eddie comes back, assures you that I’m not replacing him, and now you decide to try and be my friend,” Maeve says, growing more and more frustrated with every word. “That’s not a friend, Buck. A friend would’ve supported me and welcomed me into the 118 when I got here. Not a month later when I’m leaving in two weeks.”

“I’m sorry, Maeve,” Buck almost whispers. “I really am. I just, I watched my best friend get shot, his blood was all over me, and it was starting to feel like he was dead. It didn’t have anything to do with you, Maeve. I promise.”

Maeve’s eyes soften. “You didn’t have to be such an ass to me though,” Maeve tells him, voice low too.

Buck looks down at his feet. “I’m sorry for that too,” he says. “Old habits, I guess you can say.” Then both Maeve and Buck hear a little girl’s voice come from inside the house. “Do you have a child in there?”

“It’s the TV,” Maeve lies. “I was watching Disney Plus when you knocked on the door. Um, I was watching Moana.”

The man in front of Maeve still looks kind of suspicious before he says, “Well, I’ll let you get back to your plans. I’ll, um, see you for our shift tomorrow afternoon.”

“Yeah,” Maeve says. “Um, I’m sorry that you went through that with Eddie. Watching him get shot, getting covered in his blood.”

Buck sends Maeve a smile before he says, “I’ll move past it. I always move past traumatic events.”

Then Buck walks off, getting in his car and driving off. Maeve walks back into the house, leaning against the door. Her eyes are closed.

He genuinely sounds like a good guy. Buck sounds like he’s very possessive over anyone he cares about, and Maeve likes that in a guy. Luke was the same way. Luke protected Maeve and he was so excited when Maeve found out she was pregnant with Harper.

Luke protected Harper in the few days that he knew she was inside Maeve’s belly.

Buck’s not Luke. No one will ever be Luke, and she hasn’t wanted to be in a relationship with anyone that wasn’t Luke.

The one guy she could possibly ever see herself in a relationship with after Luke is in a relationship with someone else,

***

Maeve and Harper get to Eddie’s around ten that morning. Christopher is very happy to see Harper, and vise versa.

“I made pancakes,” Eddie tells the girls when they arrive. “I can’t promise that they’ll be edible but I did make them. Chris likes to make fun of me because I can’t cook.”

Christopher pipes up in the living room, “You can’t cook, dad. Buck is a better cook than you.”

Harper’s voice pipes up next. “Who’s Buck?”

Both Maeve and Eddie look at each other before Christopher says, “He’s my best friend. He works with my dad, and I guess your mom.”

“Yeah, since the tsunami a few years ago, Buck and Chris have been pretty much attached at the hip,” Eddie explains. “Buck saved Christopher during the tsunami. They were at the pier when it hit. Buck literally saved my son.”

Maeve thinks back to the tsunami. She helped with search and rescue, but never ran into the 118. “Where were you?” Maeve asks, curious.

Eddie sighs. “With Bobby, Hen, and Chimney. I saved people on the ferris wheel at the pier right before it fell. I met one of my friends, Lena Bosko, while we were saving people on the ferris wheel. Buck was out with his leg injury and Lena was brought in temporarily like you until he came back.”

“Wait, Buck was the one that had his leg crushed?” Maeve asks. “I heard about that. I didn’t know it was Buck.”

Eddie nods. “It was Buck,” Eddie states. “That man has been through a lot. Between the leg and the tsunami and me getting shot right in front of him. He’s been through so much shit. I don’t know how he’s still a firefighter.”

Maeve doesn’t know either. She would’ve quit after her leg got crushed under a ladder truck.

It makes sense now that Buck reacted the way he did when Maeve was brought in. He’s probably tired of people coming in and out of his life. He’s tired of change. Everything makes sense now.

“Um, can I ask you for Buck’s number?” Maeve asks, catching Eddie’s attention. “I said somethings to him earlier when he showed up at my house that I need to apologize for. I don’t have his number but he has my address.”

Eddie sends Maeve Buck’s number, and she’s quick to text it.

hey, it’s maeve. grier. i got your number from eddie, i hope you don’t mind. can we meet tomorrow before our shift? at the café near the station?

Buck texts back almost immediately.

of course. see you tomorrow, say, 1?

Maeve replies with an “okay” before turning back to Eddie.

Laughter comes from the living room and Eddie asks, “Should we go see what our children are up to? They sound like they’re up to no good.”

“They’re definitely up to no good,” Maeve laughs.

***

That night, Eddie, Maeve, Christopher, and Harper all lay in the living room. The four of them built a massive pillow fort, and they all lay underneath it.

“Dad,” Christopher says, catching Eddie’s attention. “Buck should be here. He would’ve loved this pillow fort.”

Maeve runs her fingers through Harper’s hair and looks at Eddie. “One day it’ll be the five of us,” Eddie tells his son. “Maybe this week, Buck can come by and build a pillow fort with us. But you can’t tell Buck about Harper, because Maeve hasn’t told Buck about Harper yet.”

Christopher looks at Maeve and asks, “Why?”

Now it’s Maeve’s turn to answer. “Because I’m scared,” Maeve admits. “I had Harper when I was really young, and I’m scared of being judged because of how young I gave birth to her.”

Eddie looks at Christopher as Chris says, “Buck wouldn’t judge you for how young you gave birth to Harper. Buck doesn’t judge anyone.”

“Christopher,” Eddie says in a stern tone. “We will not be telling Buck about Harper, okay? Not until Maeve’s ready.”

Christopher nods and says, “Okay.”

Maeve smiles. “Thank you, Christopher,” she says to the younger Diaz. “Thank you for understanding.”

Soon, both Christopher and Harper are sleep. They lay beside each other on the other side of Eddie. Maeve lays on her back under a blanket.

“Thank you for telling Christopher to not tell Buck about Harper,” Maeve whispers to Eddie.

Eddie turns his head and looks over at Maeve. “He’s not as judgmental as you think he is,” Eddie tells Maeve, his voice a whisper. “When I told him I had a son, he was shocked but he didn’t judge me. He’s not like that. None of them are, but I understand why you haven’t told any of them yet.”

Maeve sighs, “I just need to know that I’m not temporary, Eddie. I don’t want to introduce my daughter to everyone then have them leave her life.”

“Well, you’re stuck with me because of that,” Eddie states, nodding his head toward the kids. Maeve leans up a bit to see Harper and Christopher practically cuddling each other. Maeve smiles.

“We’re gonna have to keep our eye on that,” Maeve says, laughter evident in her voice.

Eddie nods and laughs softly.

Both of them get comfortable for the night before Maeve’s phone buzzes. She checks it quickly before she goes to sleep.

goodnight, grier.

Maeve smiles as she texts back a goodnight to Buck.

***

The next morning, Maeve drops Harper off at home where Nylah is already waiting. Maeve gets ready for work, putting on an LAFD t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She leaves early to go meet up with Buck before their shift.

She’s nervous, but she’s excited to finally talk to Buck about what’s happened in the past few weeks.

Maeve grabs a table outside the café, ordering a cup of coffee even though it’s nearly one in the afternoon. She drinks it, waiting for Buck to get there.

When he does, he sits across the table from her. “So, explain to me why you decided to meet up with me before our shift,” Buck says.

“I just thought we should, you know,” Maeve begins. “Talk. A lot of things have been lost between us because of miscommunication these past few weeks. I wanted to clear the air.”

Buck orders a glass of water and a salad. “So, in other words,” Buck slowly says. “You want to start over.”

Maeve slowly nods. “Yeah,” she says. “I do.”

The two look at each other before Buck holds out his hand. “Hi,” he suddenly states. “Name Evan Buckley, but everyone calls me Buck. Welcome to the 118.”

A smile forms on Maeve’s lips as she reaches out and shakes Buck’s hand. It’s more callused than Maeve thought it would be, but it’s also kind of soft at the same time.

“Maeve Grier,” she says, smiling at Buck.

Buck smiles back at her before she pulls her hand away. Maeve sips her coffee before clearing her through.

A comfortable silence falls between them before Buck breaks it. “I really am sorry for the way I treated you when you arrived at the 118,” he states. “It just felt like Eddie was dead and he wasn’t. I’m also not the best at communicating my feelings, like you’ve recently found out. You didn’t deserve the way I treated you, and I hope you can forgive me.”

Maeve’s face softens. “You don’t need to apologize, Buck,” she tells him. “Trust me, I know how you feel.” Then she sighs. “My boyfriend, Luke, died in a hit and run car crash. Ten years ago, right after I moved here with him to get away from my parents.”

“Maeve, I’m so sorry,” Buck says, reaching across the table and resting his hand on Maeve’s as they’re wrapped around her cup of coffee. Maeve’s eyes are on their connected hands, and it feels like electricity is spreading from where their hands are connected. She pulls her hands back.

Then she continues. “I treated a lot of people like shit after Luke died,” she explains. “My friends, I avoided my family’s calls. So trust me, I understand why you treated me like shit.”

Buck looks at her with a soft expression on his face. “Thank you for telling me,” Buck says after a few moments of silence.

“We’re friends,” Maeve says. “You deserved to know why I ran out last week.”

He smiles at Maeve and she smiles back, her heart racing in her chest.

She hates how she’s reacting to Buck smiling at her. How she felt electricity course through her, starting where their hands were connected.