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“Someone call 9-1-1! My wife’s going into labor!”
Of course she is.
Buck turns to Eddie. “It was foolish of us to think we could get through a date without an emergency.” Eddie chuckles and shakes his head. Together they step in to assure the couple they’ve got this well in hand. With a smirk, Buck proudly states, “I once helped deliver half a dozen babies in a yoga studio.”
Buck enjoys the flabbergasted look Eddie gives him. He’s adorable when he’s exasperated by Buck’s antics.
Honestly, after that night in the yoga studio, delivering one baby in a restaurant is a piece of cake. The EMTs arrive shortly after Buck’s successfully delivered a beautiful baby girl, wrapped in a tablecloth.
Eddie and Buck watch the EMTs wheel the woman and her baby off with the woman’s husband trailing behind in a daze.
The restaurant manager approaches then. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been here.”
Buck shrugs. “It’s not actually that hard. Once the process starts, it pretty much goes by rote.”
“Either way, I want to comp your meals tonight. Have you ordered yet?”
Buck meets Eddie’s eyes and it’s like they can read each others’ minds. “That would be great, but can we get it to go? That took a lot out of me.”
The manager nods his head. “Of course. I’ll grab your waiter and give you a chance to look over the menu.”
They head to Eddie’s house because it’s closer to the restaurant. And if Buck’s honest, it feels more like home than his own apartment.
The manager had sent them home with the restaurant’s four most popular dishes and two desserts. They spread it all out on the coffee table and eat family style.
Buck can feel Eddie’s gaze on him as he takes a bite of the tortellini. When he turns he finds the most adoring look on Eddie’s face and just melts. “What?” Buck asks after he’s swallowed his food, squirming under the scrutiny.
“I’m just really happy. I kind of prefer just being here at home with you.”
Buck smiles. “Me too.”
“So a date was unnecessary?”
“Oh, it was very necessary. I’m just glad it got interrupted and we ended up back here.”
Eddie sits back into the couch, fiddling with his hands.
Buck looks over his shoulder at his friend. Boyfriend? Partner?
In a fit of inspiration, Buck twists, leaning over Eddie. He takes Eddie’s jaw in one hand and presses his lips to his “friend’s”.
Eddie immediately leans into it. Buck sighs inwardly, glad they’re on the same page. He was afraid this would be weird, but it’s actually weird how non-weird it is. Just another sign they should have been doing this months ago. Another sign that they’re both idiots.
They get lost in each other, hands finding places on the other’s body that they’ve never ventured. Eddie’s left hip and Buck’s collarbone. And spots they were rediscovering in a new way. Buck’s shoulder blade Eddie had patted dozens of times before and Eddie’s bicep that just weeks earlier Buck had been grasping to hold him up after he escaped from the well. Buck presses kisses everywhere he can reach, like tiny benedictions. Like he’s trying to convince himself that Eddie’s here, that he’s fine.
And just like that, Buck’s breathing starts to catch. He moves from bliss to anxiety so quickly it takes him too long to realize it and Eddie even longer. Buck starts pressing on Eddie’s sternum, which finally gets his attention. Buck sits there, gasping for breath, holding on to Eddie’s forearms for support.
“Buck? What happened? Did I push too far? I thought—“
“No,” Buck gasps out. “No, I just thought about how I almost lost you in that well and…” Buck peters out, his shortness of breath preventing him from going any further.
But Eddie gets it. He presses one of Buck’s hands to his own sternum and takes deep, slow breaths. “Just breathe with me. Match my breaths. That’s it. I’m here. I’m alive. Can you feel my heartbeat? It’s a little fast. You did that to me. You make me feel alive, Buck. I’m here and I’m okay.”
Buck responds to Eddie’s breath and heartbeat and words, his own breath slowing down, his heartbeat evening out. Eddie pulls Buck toward him, lying down across the couch with Buck sprawled on his chest.
They lie there for longer than is strictly necessary, until they both fall asleep, secure in each others’ arms.