"I hope I gave you some to believe in, cause none left for me."
"The softest soul can't hurt a fly."
"If I die before I wake, then it's my soul for him to take."
"We can do whatever we want, but boy don't you dare go falling in love."
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The next morning..
Buck was usually a bright and early person, but Artemis was still sleeping because of the pill she had taken earlier that morning. He was mesmerized by the woman next to him, the way she was sleeping peacefully or the way her hair fell perfectly on her face. He wasn't thinking of anything else in that moment except her, he even noticed the baby dragon that he had bought her. Her arms were wrapped around it, she started to wake up and their eyes connected as one.
He heard a knock downstairs, he went up quickly but tried to not to wake up the exhausted girl. He saw Eddie, chim and maddie a the door.
"Buck? Why are you here and shirtless? Don't tell us you two... Uh." maddie say. "No we didn't, she just had a rough morning, she still asleep right now." he lets them in and they walk to the kitchen.
"How's she really doing?" Eddie conernly asks. "Not good, she woke up crying, Eddie, she never cries. She took a pill and fell asleep afterwards. I was there after SWAT released the hostages, she was a wreck so I stayed here the night in case something would happen."
"Good idea." they all walk into the kitchen, and they bring her breakfast and flowers. "Have you contacted her family yet?" chim asks. "No, um Apollo is gonna be gone for the week, andreas and Atlas won't pick up their phones."
"Wait, doesn't she have a best friend?" Eddie ask. "Wait but we don't even know her name, how are we supposed to figure out her number?" chim asks. "She has the be on Artemis's emergency contact list, let me see what I could find out." chim tries to make a few calls while they all talk. _________________________________
I wake up with the most horrible headache ever and my ears were still ringing, the memories start flooding in my head of last night. The satin tank top and shorts I was in allowed the cold breeze inside my room to hit me like a train. I look beside me and realized what I just did, oh my god did I really just ask buck to stay the night with me?
Oh fuck. I put up my hair in a low pony tail, Wash my teeth and face, today was gonna be a long day. I didn't want to come out of my room in, I was embarrassed, people saw my vulnerable side, you are so pathetic Artemis. I hear knocking on my door, "go away!"
"Some ones a bit grumpy, c'mon Ari open the door please." the sound of serenas voice was a big relief, I wasn't ready to face buck yet. I open the door and she immediately hugs me, "Que Paso, muñeca?" She holds my hands in hers and i couldn't seem to tell her what happened.
"You know what happened Rena, otherwise you wouldn't be up at 10 am, buck told you?" She nods her head and I fall back onto my bed, she noticed how puffy my eyes were, "were you crying?" She puts her arms around me and I nod my head fast. "It was so scary Rena, it was like I brought back to that night all over again. The gun sounds were so familiar to me, it's still a fresh wound. I almost died twice from a gun, I thought it was gonna be three strikes and I was out."
"No, no, this world couldn't take you out so easily because you haven't had your happily ever after." She pulls me into one final hug, "how about we go downstairs and feed you, when was the last time you ate."
"Two days ago." I muttered, her eyes go wide and she beginnings to drag me down the stairs, "no! Serena let me go! I don't wanna go! Stop it!" I'm holding onto the railing then she pulls me down my leg and you can hear the both of us arguing.
I lift up my head and see maddie, chim and Eddie. I'm sitting on the stair case, "yeah um no." I try to go up the stairs again but Serena grabs my hand. "Please?" She gives me her infamous puppy eyes. "Fine." I stop at the bottom of the stairs to take in the brightness.
"I haven't died yet, you guys didn't have to gather here." I say and everyone's positive smiles haven't gone away. "We're happy you're alive and well, that's why we came because we care." Eddie says. "Yeah well uh, stop caring, life is much easier that way. I'm not in the mood for a pity party, thanks for uh trying tho."
They force me to sit there and I am slumped in my seat, I'm not even eating just picking at my food. "Is the food okay? I made sure there wasn't any meat in there." maddie says. "It okay, I'm not very hungry." Bucks phone starts to ring, I see it from the corner of my eye and its the red head.
"Go buck, she needs you. I don't need you to be my babysitter." I say then take a sip of water. "She can wait." he says and sits down again. "I keep noticing your eyes are drawn to my arms, you know the story now. Well not all of it, there's no use of explaining everything else." I say barely blinking and stare at my plate.
"Artemis, we get it, if anything I do. Your never able to be truly free of whatever happened, but it's the people around you that make it more bearable." Maddie says. "Alright Artemis lets talk, what happened yesterday" Eddie asks.
"You've heard the story from many people, there's no point of repeating it again." I cross my arms and start to bite the inside of my cheek. "Not that, earlier when you had that arguement with Buck." buck was also uncomfortable, we glance over at one another and I finally sit up straight. "You guys heard me, me and Buck made amends already, let's move on. I uh appreciate you being here and checking up on me but all I need is time."
They all get the hint and they finish eating, they catch me up on what's going on in their lives, Eddie is starting to talk to Christopher teacher, Maddie and chim said their I love you's but nothing much from buck. After 3 hours they realized I'm worn out of my social battery, even thought I barely said anything, "you don't have to stay buck, this morning was rough but it hasn't happened in years so I should be fine."
"I meant what I said Artemis, I'm not going anywhere, you just went through a lot. That's why chim has taken some time off too, to be there for Maddie." I scoff. "You don't owe me anything buck, we're not together like they are. That doesn't I'm not thankful for being there for me." He nods his head and grabs his jacket, "I'll call you later to check up on you, okay?" I nod my head and chew on the bottom of my lip. He leaves and I slide down the door, Serena sees me and sits in front of me. "That hot man is head over heels over you Ari, men like that don't exist that often. Do you like him?"
My top lip quivers, my head is laying on my knees. "I don't want to, I have been fine for 3 years by myself, what if this ends up like what happened to me and Ryker? Buck is my coworker, Serena, if this doesn't end well. I don't want to transfer to another firehouse."
"But you do like him?" She looks at me with a smile and I get up and walk away from her to my room. "No I don't, let's keep it that way." Serena always knew I was stubborn, so she followed me and stopped at the door. "Damn Artemis, your room smells like cologne, I can barely breathe in here but he does have good taste." She sits down next to me analyzes my bed. "What's this?" She holds up the baby dragon, I snatch it away from her and I tuck it it half away under the covers. "Oh my god, did he get that for you?"
"Yeah, and I like it, so leave squeaky the baby dragon, alone. I need to go out and distract myself, we haven't gone out in a while, what about the club?" She gets up waves her finger no, "no, no, no Serena you just went something traumatic, your not going out."
"I'm not drinking Serena, you can get wasted but I'll be fine." I get up and look through my closet. "If I go to the club, I'm not making it home with you, Ari." I laugh and I hit her in the arm. "It's fine, I'll drive back myself, I have all my body parts I should be fine." Soon she finally gives in but what I didn't know was if going to hate myself later.
