Chapter Text
APRIL-NINE MONTHS ALONG
Buck has woken up to an empty bed more often than he hasn’t. Back in his Firehose days, it was with a mixture of sadness and frustration, at his bedmate, at himself, at the world. Every once in a while when he and Tommy were dating, it filled him with an odd sense of guilty relief. But usually, it just filled him with resignation. He wasn’t the kind of person others stuck around for. He was used to it.
These days, all Buck does when he wakes up to an empty bed is reach over to feel how much warmth is left in the empty spot and scent the room. More often than not, if the spot is still warm and the room still smells of ripe fruit, Eddie will be back soon. He’ll stand at the threshold of their room with a fresh cup of coffee and wait, with a confident smirk, to be invited into their nest, and when he is, he’ll greet his omega with a chaste peck. He won't even have the decency to pretend he isn't laughing at Buck for trying to chase the taste of coffee further with his tongue.
If the spot is cool to the touch and the room smells only of apples and peanut butter, Eddie probably isn’t home. Buck is used to it. You don't live the life they live, with the profession they have, and expect to wake up in each other’s arms every morning. He’s used to it.
But Eddie isn't scheduled to work today and with Buck ready to pop any day now, he isn't chancing any extra shifts. It's getting almost impossible to pry the alpha away from Buck’s side if it isn't absolutely necessary. He spends most of his time these days with a possessive hand on his stomach and an equally possessive alpha plastered to his back or side.
He made his way out of the bedroom into the living room and plopped down onto the couch with a heavy sigh. The space is also lacking the scent of his alpha, but he can’t actually bring himself to panic over it. Part of him wants to panic, the hurt pup, the abandoned omega, the expecting parent. But it doesn't matter anymore. He trusts Eddie to tell him if something was truly wrong. Plus, he's found himself being surprisingly rational towards the end of his pregnancy.
Eddie wouldn't leave without Chris, and Buck can hear music faintly coming from the teenage pup’s room.
And beyond all of that, Buck simply can't believe that Eddie would ever leave him again.
He lets out a soft groan as he realizes he left his phone behind and briefly debates the merits of yelling for Chris to help him out. He lets the thought go with an eyeroll and reaches for the remote. Anytime the rest of the A Shift is working without him, for whatever reason, he puts the news on. It started during Quarantine, when he almost never turned off the news anyway, but he kept it up after, a handy way to keep tabs on his family if worst came to worst.
He knows Eddie does the same now.
It doesn't last long. The worst has, in fact, not come to worst, and it seems like the most interesting thing the local news has to offer is some annoying kid in his twenties harassing grocery store shoppers for not returning their carts to the cart corrals. Buck watches as entitled Angelino after entitled Angelino gives interviews complaining about the inconvenience half-heartedly.
He can’t take it anymore.
“Chris!”
He listens as the music in the pup’s room pauses and the young omega mutters to himself. Chris’ crutches click-clack down the hall briefly before he pops his head into the living room. He stares at Buck blankly. The pregnant omega raises a brow and he just huffs.
“Can you get my phone? If I stand up right now I think I'll pee my pants.”
The pup scrunched his nose up and turned around. Buck let out a small laugh as he heard Chris making his way down the hall. He pops into Buck and Eddie's bedroom, emerging a few minutes later and walking back down the hall with Buck’s phone in his hand and one of his nesting blankets draped over his shoulders and bunched up out of the way of his crutches.
Buck barely held back happy tears when the smell of fruit pies and milk, mixed with Chris' sugar and salt water scent, hit him.
“Hey Buck?”
The omega looked up as the pup sat beside him. Chris wouldn’t quite meet his gaze, his eyes flitting to and fro around the rest of his face.
“Yeah, buddy?”
Chris gathered the blanket closer to himself, burrowing into the soft material and nosing at it.
“I’m glad you came back.”
Buck pulled the pup closer to him, tucking the slightly squirming young omega under his arm.
“I'm glad I came back too.”
He squeezed Chris' shoulder, making room for the pup to nose lightly at his scent gland. They had agreed to mate after the pup was born in order to take it a little easier on Buck's hormones. That didn't stop the alpha from sinking his teeth into the surrounding skin as often as possible. Even now, he could feel the ghost of Eddie's canines.
“Even though you left because of me?”
The hand he was bringing up to pull through Chris' curls froze.
“Woah- hey- what? I didn't leave because of you, why would you think that?”
He looked down as well as he could with Chris' face hidden in the crook of his neck.
“You and dad fought all the time and nothing happened. The one time me and you had a fight you left the next day.”
His words were mumbled and muffled as he stayed hidden away.
“Chris, hey, bud, look at me.”
Buck waited with bated breath for his pup to look him in the eyes.
“I did not leave because of you.”
Chris’ breath skipped a beat, and finally, he looked up. Unshed tears swam in his eyes and his scent was steadily approaching something that reminded Buck of playing I-Spy to keep his best friend’s puppy from seeing dead bodies as they floated by.
“You wanna know why I left?”
The pup nodded wordlessly.
“I left because I needed to. I needed space, your dad needed space, you needed space. We needed to figure out how to be a family, again, the right way.”
Chris looked away from Buck, his eyes feeling too heavy as he wiped his nose and sniffled.
“And?”
Buck huffed a little laugh at his pup’s surly response. Pup will be pups, he supposes. Even the perfect ones don’t really know what they’re doing.
“And I think that's what we’re doing right now, don't you?”
Chris sniffled again and nodded.
“Yeah.”
Buck grinned and pulled Chris back down, starting to nose through the pup’s curls.
“Yeah?”
Chris kept nodding, his chin poking at Buck's chest with every movement.
“Yeah.”
His voice came out stuffy but light, like that simple affirmation had taken the weight of the world off of his shoulders at long last.
“Yeah.”
He huffed out a laugh, pulling away from the older omega’s embrace.
“You’re so lame.”
Buck let out a wet laugh at the pup’s ribbing.
“He giving you trouble again?”
Chris frowned in sympathy as Buck hissed through a wince.
“They're always- Always giving me trouble these days.”
He brought a hand up, hovering over the other omega’s stomach until Buck nodded. Chris laughed when the puppy kicked his hand as soon as it made contact.
“It's ‘cause he can't wait to meet his awesome big brother.”
Buck raised a brow. Chris had been vocal about how weird he thought his parents were being by not wanting to know the puppy’s designation or sex, flip-flopping every now and then, never truly settling on what he really thought they were.
“Oh, it's a boy day, now?”
Chris nodded, his overgrown curls bouncing with every movement.
“Yeah. Totally a boy.”
“Whatever you say Superman.”
They sat in silence for a second, half-heartedly watching some human interest story about a Make-A-Wish kid taking his girlfriend on an international vacation.
“What’s his name?”
Whenever he had thought about being a parent, being an expecting parent, he had always imagined he would love answering almost any and all questions about the pup. But ‘What are you naming them?’ had quickly become his least favorite sentence. Because…
“I don't know, your dad and I- We-”
Chris cut him off with an unimpressed scoff.
“If you say you haven't talked about it, I'm running away to Bobby and Athena's this time.”
Buck leveled the pup with an equally unimpressed look. It was far too soon for anyone to be joking about running away, and they had told the pup that. More than once.
“We have talked about it. A lot. We just haven't found one we agree on, yet.”
Buck's vote was for Steven if it was a boy, and Isobel if it was a girl. Eddie, while he did like the idea of honoring his grandmother, thought it was pointless to honor someone by using a variation of their name. The less said about the alpha’s thoughts on the name Steven, the better.
“I know you though, you've got a list, don't you?”
Buck opened his mouth to protest, but his pup knew him better.
“Tell me.”
“Um…”
He trailed off, moving to get more comfortable. Something pinched weirdly in his stomach, and he let out another hiss. Chris moved like he was getting ready to help Buck up, but the omega waved him off and settled back in his seat.
“Juniper, Ross, Lilah, Birdie-”
He cut himself off as the pup kicked at his ribs. It had been happening a lot these days, Buck randomly cutting himself off even more often than usual, starting up once the pup decided to be nicer to him.
“S-Steven-”
Chris wordlessly shook his head.
“What? I have an uncle named Steven.”
He doesn't mention the fact that the last time he saw his uncle Steven was at a funeral in 1998. He's heard more than enough snide remarks from his parents while growing up to know that the older omega is exactly the kind of person he’d want to name his pup after.
“Steven Diaz?”
That had been Eddie's criticism too. Buck had managed to get him to drop his disdainful tone by crawling over him and reminding him that he’d be Evan Diaz one day, and wouldn’t it just be so sweet if he and his pup’s names matched, alpha? Just the once though. His alpha had wised up to his tricks the next time, rolling him with a growl and listing off names that started with B as he traced his fingers over Buck's ribs under his shirt.
“Keep going.”
“Christian, Bear, Robert, I-Isobel, Nora, Star, L-Leah, Jamie-”
A kick to the bladder cut him off that time, a very, very sharp kick. Buck honestly wouldn't be that surprised if his boxers had caught something when he flinched.
“Leah.”
He looked to Chris questioningly, trying not to let on just how much pain he was in at the moment.
“Her name should be Leah.”
“Leah Diaz.”
Buck cracked a small smile. Of course. Of course Chris was coming to the rescue once more. Of course, the pup’s name would be Leah.
“Ugh, Buck, I didn't think you were serious about peeing your pants.”
Buck's head snapped down, following Chris’ line of sight to the growing dark spot on his pants quickly leeching into the couch cushion.
“I didn’t-”
Buck cut himself off with a sharp inhale as he realized what was happening.
“Call your dad.”
--- --- ---
It's been six hours since Buck’s water broke. It took two of those hours to get ahold of Eddie, who had been halfway through attending a three-alarm fire when Chris finally had the bright idea to call maddie at dispatch. By the time the alpha arrived, Buck had been seen to, thoroughly, put in a gown and bed and given an epidural and several cups of ice. Eddie and Chris spent the next four hours taking turns distracting the omega and feilding calls from the 118 and the rest of their families. They got a slight break when Buck fell asleep for an hour and a half.
“Joy is a good middle name, I think. Either way. Boy or girl.”
Buck looked up at Eddie with a groggy glare. He hadn’t been awake that long and had been perfectly content with doing his breathing exercises in silence. But he softened quickly, just seeing his alpha’s face.
“Joy?”
Eddie nodded and shot a small smile at the omega. He had come into the delivery room smelling of stale scent patches and smoke and sweat. Buck had pitched a fit immediately, practically exiling the alpha unless he took his blockers off and scented him that second.
Chris asked if he could step into the hall for a breath of fresh air.
The only time Eddie had left Buck’s side after that was when the conversation with his mother turned into a shouting match, the omega starting to whine as his alpha’s voice faded. When he returned, Buck refused to relax until Eddie was pressed up next to him, their legs intertwined and stretched out in front of them.
“You know Father Bryan?”
Buck shook his head.
“Bobby’s priest.”
Buck nodded lightly and burrowed back into Eddie’s side.
“He told me I needed to let myself find joy. And then that night, you showed up on my doorstep with a six pack.”
He ran a hand through the omega’s curls, lightly pulling at the hair on the crown of his head.
“And, I think that's what started this whole thing.”
Buck purred and rubbed his cheek against Eddie’s chest.
“So… Joy.”
Eddie nodded, pulling at Buck’s chin. When he raised his head, Eddie brought his palms up to both sides of his face and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the splotchy skin above his eye.
“You, Chris, Leah… you're all my joy.”
He pulled away, quickly licking the omega’s sweat off of his lips and Buck let out a breathy laugh at his effortless acceptance of their pup’s new name. He had been so close to getting the alpha to accept Isobel, ‘wrong’ spelling and all, but that was out the window now. Eddie had rushed into the room and without even looking up or moving from where he was sitting, one hand being squeezed into discoloration by the laboring omega and the other mindlessly scrolling on his phone, Chris told him exactly what his little sister’s name was going to be.
Eddie hadn’t argued.
“Joy is good. Either way.”
In the end, Buck pushes for two hours. The pup is a healthy seven pounds and two ounces, with dark curls plastered to her head, skin just slightly darker than Chris' and very clear lungs. They take her away to be cleaned and weighed, and Buck can’t take his eyes off of her. Eddie can't take his eyes off of Buck.
The omega seems to realize this, startling when he meets Eddie's unwavering gaze. He ducks his head, and the alpha follows with a soft chuckle, ducking his own to keep Buck's gaze.
“I hate when you do that.”
Eddie smiles, a single canine poking out. God Buck hopes, a little deliriously, that the pup gets her sire’s teeth.
“Guess you're just going to have to look at me, then.”
Buck can't even blink.
“I'm always looking at you.”
Eddie nods as he picks up one of Buck's hands.
“Yeah. you are.”
He lets out a shaky breath.
“Evan… still can't believe your middle name is Peter… Buckley-”
Buck tries to pull his hand away, his eyes darting back to their pup and the nurses for just a second. Eddie doesn't let him go. It's okay though. Buck wasn't trying that hard to get away. He just needed someone to hold onto him a little tighter.
“If-if you propose to me right now, I'm not… writing your name on the birth certificate.”
It's a lie. Buck has been imagining mockups of their pup’s birth certificate like a school-age pup writing their name next to their crushes in their notebook for months now.
“Evan Peter Buckley, will you let me court you?”
The omega's mouth goes slack. The nurses fall silent.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Eddie chuckles again, moving just a bit so the nurse can bring their fussy pup back to them.
“Little ears, baby.”
He looks down at their pup, at their beautiful little Leah Joy, and he can’t imagine being anywhere else.
“F-fuck you.”
This is where he belongs. With Chris and Buck and Leah.
“I love you.”
He doesn't say it back. He doesn't need to. Not now. Eddie could go his entire life without hearing the omega say it ever again. He would still know he loved Buck.