𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨. Evan Buckley ¹

forty two

BEAUTIFUL MESS.
chapter forty two.

Hunter looked around the scene with a scowl, "I fuckin' hate birds," she mumbled under her breath but not quiet enough for no one to hear.

"I thought you hunt them?" Chimney asked as they all walked the stretcher away from the barn and back towards the ambulance.

Hunter looked between the school bus and the birds with an unreadable expression, "yeah, there's a reason I shoot these bastards."

"Hunt," her captain warned, "I will stage an intervention with Athena about your language."

"Oh god," Chimney suddenly said, "He's making eye contact with me."

Hunter snorted, "You scared, Han?

"Just go, go, go."

Even at the end of their 24-hour shift, Chimney still wouldn't let the crows get out of his mind. It was partially funny to watch from the sidelines as he talked about the morbidity and history of them while worrying if the one he made eye contact with would find him again.

Thankfully by the next shift, he was over his minor obsession mixed with fear. This was most likely do to the fact that the one and only Evan Buckley was back at the station, officially reinstated as a firefighter of the LAFD.

"Are you okay? That's a monster," she heard the man in question state, that had caught her attention. Hunter looked over at a now seemingly pissed off Eddie Diaz who was sporting multiple bruises.

"Just rough housing with my kid-"

"Were you guys using hammers?" Buck joked.

"Nothing you need to be concerned with."

Hunter gritted her teeth. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was really happening. She had hoped he would finish fighting but it seemed like he had taken too much of a liking to it. Hunter knew what it was like but that didn't mean she was okay with her friend going down the same path as she was traveled.

The blonde shook her head as she gave the Diaz a disappointed look before brushing past him, heading towards the trucks to help with stocking. Buck had to admit, he was slightly disappointed his favorite Callahan didn't say anything but he couldn't follow her to question it as the alarm rang.

"Buck, you're the man behind today."

"Uh, wh- am I not going with you guys? Cap-"

"My house, my rules," Captain Nash told him before walking off. It was clear he was still giving Buck the cold shoulder, Hunter couldn't say she wasn't doing the same because in a way she was. It hurt Buck, a part of him expected to be welcomed back into the 118 with open arms but then remembered the words a pretty blonde once lowly uttered to him, 'this is how you lose the only people who ever gave a damn about you.'

The phrase wasn't entirely right or wrong. Hen and Chimney were still one hundred percent there for him. But those that mattered the most, Hunter, Eddie, and his own Captain, were still giving him the cold shoulder and he hated it.

Even after returning from the call, Buck still pushed for Eddie to talk with him but the Diaz wouldn't budge on his stance. "Lawsuit says your at one hundred percent, right?" Hunter heard him spit out as he walked away from his former friend. She was glad to see they were on the same page.

Hunter sighed as she sat down next to the man, "Fire alarms? Really? I'm surprised you only have five left."

"well," Buck said, picking one up with a smile, "Captain's orders- oh, and here you go. Now I only have four left."

"Nice try," she told him with a smile as she placed the fire alarm back down on the table. Since when did he actually listen to the orders of Bobby Nash. Hunter let her smile drop for a moment as did Buck.

"Are we good?"

"No," Hunter told him with a shake of her head, the scoff was evident in her voice, "Hell no. I told you things I never told anyone else and you went and told a stranger. I don't give a damn about the lawsuit it's the trust."

"Okay but, in my defense," He started as hunter squinted at him, curious to see how he would dig himself out of this hole, "Would you have rather me told my lawyer who has to keep it private or the members of the 118-"

"yeah, Buck, that's not the argument you think it is," Hunter tried her best not to cringe at the man's statement. Sometimes he would say things that made Hunter question her own life choices.

Buck eyes held a somber glaze as he looked down at the girl on the haybale, "I want you to know, I— I never told him about uh, Lane," Hunter looked up at buck, confusion on her face, "I told him about Donny and your— your hip. But then, he- he just looked on his own. I didn't tell him what happened."

"Well thank you," Hunter felt like a weight had been lifted off of her chest. Knowing that he still kept the darkest parts of herself secret, "that, uh, that means a lot."

Buck nodded, nervously hitting his lip before pointing his hands around, "and— and the fact that I — I know I fucked something up with you. And I just want to fix it. I never meant to hurt anybody, I never meant to hurt you."

"Keep doing how you are," she said with a tired and exasperate sigh, "my paranoid ass is probably making too big of a deal out of this shit. Friends forgive each other, right?"

"Right, friends forgive each other," Buck repeated, looking away from the girl and focused his eyes on the ground in front of the toe of his shoes instead. Hunter nodded as she placed a firm hand on his bicep while standing before walking away with a minimal smile.

Maybe they were being too hard on Buck. In the nicest way possible, he wasn't always the smartest and acted rash sometimes. The man never intended to hurt someone and figured by now he'd learned his lesson on how his actions affect others.

She now knew he didn't betray her as she had once thought. The fact that he had an opportunity to share one of her darkest secrets and kept it to himself meant a lot to Hunter. While Hunter might not be the same around him for while, she did hope he'd get his captain and other best friend back.