Sanctuary

Flying Solo

When Eddie somehow makes it back home, his feet take him to the base of the stairs that lead to the hideout above the garage.

But he doesn't go up this time. In fact, just looking at the stairs makes him want to break down crying, at the thought of what he was about to do.

"Whoa, hey, where's the fire?" Shannon's quick to ask as she follows Buck inside.

Buck doesn't even turn around as he says, "I'm getting the hell out of here. I've been here too long already."

Shannon doesn't bother hiding her confusion, "You're leaving? But you just got here!"

Buck dashes back to the bedroom as he replies, "This is exactly what I was afraid of, Shannon. What I did...I can't stay here for another second."

Shannon tries to reason with Buck, as he pulls stuff kuj if cupboards, "Okay, let's just calm down for a second so we can figure this out. Does Eddie know you're leaving?"

"Who do you think told me to get the hell out?"

That leaves Shannon stunned for a moment, as Buck keeps talking,

"Eddie would be happy if he never saw me again, and you know something? He should be."

That manages to loosen Shannon's tongue, enough to say, as Buck walks back to the bedroom

"Buck, wait. You can't just leave now. It's the coward's way out." 

That gets Buck to stop right in front of Shannon, look her dead in the eyes as he repeats,

"Coward's way? You think I'm being a coward? Then you really don't know me at all."

Shannon tries to get Buck to see the truth, as he just keeps moving back and forth from the same rooms,

"Buck, you have people here who care about you. You have to stay here and face this, not run from it."

"You mean like you?" Buck snaps, and he knows he's hit a nerve, by the hurt look on Shannon's face.

"What did you just say?"

Buck rolls his eyes, "Don't play dumb with me, Shannon. You just think you're stuck here, and you'll tell yourself literally anything so you don't have to leave. At least I know when enough is enough."

Buck's fully prepared for whatever Shannon could possibly fire back at him, anything except for what she actually says.

"You're absolutely right, Buck. You win. But you know what? Some of us aren't that lucky."

Then Shannon walks towards the door, with one last, "Best of luck to you, Buck.", before she leaves.

And that finally gets Buck to pause what he's doing, if only for a second, now feeling shitty for taking his hurt out on a woman who's been nothing but nice to him.

Eddie's now moved to his bedroom, staring out the window, head spinning.

He knows he was cruel, but he just had to do something, anything, to alleviate the pain.

But instead, it just magnified it. Worse, he can't find it in him to just move past it.

There's no way he can do that, not after trusting him with Chris. There has to be an explanation.

Before Eddie can talk himself out of it, he's jumping in the car, after calling Carla to watch Chris, and taking off to Buck's house.

He can only pray he gets there in time.

The second he pulls up to Buck's house, the first thing he sees is the front door wide open.

Quickly, Eddie gets out of the car, calling out, "Buck!"

When there's no answer, he walks inside, and once he sees it's empty, down to the bed that hasn't been slept in, he knows the truth.

Buck is gone.