Hannah

“I’ll go.” Buck says a little too quickly. The only thing swirling in his mind was picturing Eddie stuck in the well and him clawing at the mud desperate to save his best friend, his partner. He could not go through that again. 

The team’s heads snapped to look at him. Eddie’s eyes darted to meet his, a look of sadness swirling in his brown eyes. He brought a hand to his face as he breathed out slowly.

Buck couldn’t meet his eye, the conversation of expendability playing on a loop in his mind. But this was different. He was doing this to save Eddie. 

“I want you harnessed and clipped to the ladder at all times. If it does get struck we do not want you falling 20 foot in the air.” Bobby looked to Buck in concern, it had been a while since he had done something reckless, but this was necessary: the roof needed venting. He had no other option.

“Got it Cap.” Buck nodded, moving to get harnessed up at the bottom of the ladder. Hen’s eyes followed him, a look of apprehension flashing over her features. She wasn’t even surprised when Eddie moved towards Buck.

“Buck are you sure about this? I can go with you.” Eddie spoke earnestly, he had a bad feeling about this. His stomach was falling to his knees. He moved to help Buck tie the rope to his harness, an action he had done a million times before but this time felt much more pertinent. As if the knot would snap if he didn’t check it multiple times.

“Christopher needs his dad. You all have kids, if I get struck no one will need me.” Buck spoke, not looking into Eddie’s crestfallen face. He didn’t notice the exasperated look on Eddie’s face as he climbed onto the top of the truck. Or maybe he didn’t want to. 

“Be careful up there Buckaroo.” Chim commented, watching his brother climb the ladder.

Bobby held his breath, it was oddly quiet as Buck climbed the aerial. The thunder having taken a pause, and the rain hitting the pavement with force being the only noise apart from the roaring blood rushing in his head. He looked up at the sky. Something was wrong.

The sky let out a deafening roar ripping through the city, almost inside their ears as it passes. 

“What the hell was that?” Buck pauses at the top of the ladder, looking at the sky. 

He doesn’t see the zap of lightning. He doesn’t see the white light pulsate through the sky and hit the ladder, or the sparks that flew from the impact; but he felt the force of being thrown downwards. He felt the searing pain as he tried to grapple to grab the harness, to break the fall. Grasping at any piece of rope he could get his hand on.

“BUCK!” Eddie’s voice screamed through the thunder. 

His blood rushed to his head, not hearing anything around him but knowing he had to get to his partner. His best friend could not die. Eddie practically threw himself on top of the truck, grasping to the ladder to reach his Buck, all while screaming his name. 

“Eddie it’s not safe! You need a harness!” Bobby’s voice didn’t register. His mind was on Buck and only Buck. He had to get his Buck.

Lightning isn’t supposed to strike twice; but it did that day. 

Eddie was taken by surprise as his body was thrown backwards. He tried to grasp anything he could, desperate to get to Buck. He needed to save Evan. He turned his head towards him and saw his lifeless body swinging back and forth with the force of the strike; before he hit the asphalt and his world turned to black. 

“Shit!” Bobby was trying to think rationally. The storm roaring in the background jumbling all of his thoughts. “Chim, work the aerial get Buck down. Hen you’re with Eddie!” He barked, looking towards his pseudo Son’s lifeless body.

As Chim slowly lowered the aerial to the ground, Bobby held his hands in the air desperate to feel his skin grace his fingertips. When he finally grasped onto his turnout he held his arms in a cradle as other firefighters rushed to get the gurney underneath him. Bobby held his breath as he places his fingers to Buck’s neck, crying out when he feels nothing. Buck is dead. He rips the turnout open and starts CPR.

“CHIM!” He shouts in despair, “Come back to me Son.” He pleads, tears dripping down his face as he pushes onto his flail chest. 

Hen looks over to the scene and holds a baited breath as she watches Bobby do compressions. She shakes her head and the tears away and looks back to Eddie, who is very much alive. 

“Eddie, I need you to wake up.” She sniffs and rubs his sternum with a knuckle, breathing out as he opens his eyes.

“Buck,” He mumbles trying to get off the ground. Hen tries to push him back down, but knew she didn’t have the strength once Eddie saw Bobby doing compressions. “Buck?” He questions in disbelief as he scrambles to his feet and refuses to acknowledge his clearly broken leg and arm. He could deal with the pain, but Buck was dying. He was dead. It was too late. He was too late.

Hen runs over to help Chim, all but forcing Bobby to take a break from compressions. Bobby steps back, the anguish clear on his face. Eddie watches in horror as they attach him to the monitor and sees the flat line and continuous beep. Eddie prayed to anyone who would listen, Buck could not die.

He didn’t even feel himself move forwards, until he felt himself take Buck’s cold, limp hand into his. “Evan, please.” He cried and squeezed onto his hand as if it would squeeze life back into his body. 

He holds his breath as Bobby comes behind him, hand on his shoulder with tears freely flowing down his face. Everything goes silent once again, the storm moving away. Until there’s a noise making Eddie’s head snap towards Buck’s face.