Conflicted (Buddie) ENGLISH VERSION

Back on the field

"My house, my rules. Am I clear on that?"

This was how Bobby, his captain, told him about his return on duty, ending this crazy and stupid battle they were fighting on with their advocates. 

They were in the emergency service at hospital when Buck called to announce that he was hurt, again. His captain ran in, worried and found him, standing in the waiting room, directly after he has been cared for, his left forearm wrapped in a bandage. On the phone it seemed worse than it was, but when he then saw him there, captain Nash remembered that the young man was on anticoagulants and that the slightest scratch could bleed as hell. 

The firefighter was driven to hospital after he decided to follow a suspicious car on the road, driven by a woman he crossed at the gas station, which seemed to be hurt. On the first look, nothing seemed to be worrying but when he stared at the car she was walking to, it was hard to ignore the body, laid down on the bumper, the head through the windshield. Because streets were full of people enjoying Halloween, dressed as monsters, it wasn't that unusual to see this, except that when he looked at this amazing setting, almost realistic, he realized it wasn't "almost" realistic. Indeed, it was realistic. A man was stuck in the wind-shield and probably for an amount of time.

Whatever it takes, without being on duty, he helped the driver and his stowaway and when he did, he cut himself on a piece of glass. 

Today, it was finallythe big day, he could get back to home. His home; the firehouse. 

With its big red doors, its trucks parked in the shed and the effervescence of all the firefighters already on duty early in the morning, he felt pretty excited thinking about him being back on the field. When he came in, he stared the members of the night shift who were packing there stuff before leaving and the looks he received as a welcome back were even more piercing that the water he almost drown in during the tsunami that hit L.A a few weeks earlier. 

The first face he was finally happy to recognize was Hen's, focused on her list of pharmaceuticals for the ambulance. She didn't see him first and it was only when he standed, arms in the air, yelling her name that she lifted her head. She frowned and during a few seconds, Buck thought she didn't recognize him, but her face lit up with a mocking smile and she hugged him. 

-Welcome back with us Buck. 

He blew with relief when enjoying the hug like if he missed it for eternity. In Hen's back, Chimney, chewing his gum, hands in pockets, walked to them. 

-You're finally getting back today? He wondered. 

-Hell Yeah Chim! It's been too long since i'm left on the side. Time to get back in town! 

He nodded, revealing his embarassment. Buck poursued the entire house in justice and they all had to testify why they thought captain Nash was right about letting Buck rest. Chimney had a terrible car accident, a bar went through his skull, getting him right into intensive care and probably because everyone prayed for him, he was back on duty within a month. Not even a year later, he got stabbed multiple times in the chest by his girlfriend's ex-husband -who's also Buck's sister- and he was back at 118 three weeks later. So he couldn't understand why him, while he was fully recovered from his accident, he couldn't go back at work. The bomb that blew up their truck and threw him on the floor, crashing the vehicle on him happened four months ago and even though he fainted in his captain's garden, coughing up blood and that two weeks later he was stuck right in the middle of a tsunami, he couldn't understand why, he couldn't be back at work when he was, as he repeteadly said, at hundred per cents. 

-Happy to know you're doing great, Chimney commented, poursuing his walk through the house. 

Hen eye-followed his shadow and rolled her eyes jaded.