Title: Everything that Matters
Fandom: 9-1-1, minor Numb3rs
Genre: Contemporary, Drama, Family, pre-Relationship
Pairing: Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz, briefly season 4/5 canon relationships
Rating: R
Warnings: Child abduction, ableism, canon-typical situations, procedural inaccuracies, character bashing, implied child abuse
Author Note: This is entirely fictional, obviously. Expect a raging amount of legal inaccuracies. Like an EPIC amount. It was very difficult to research how any of this would realistically go down, so I gave up and just made shit up.
Note 2: This got more serious than I intended and also a little longer than I intended, but it is what it is. There are quite a few loose ends where this leaves off, but there will be a second, shorter part soon.
Timeline: between season four and season five. Eddie has recovered from the shooting but isn’t back at work yet.
Challenge: Just Write Create Your Own Bingo – Bad Things Happen, Prompt: kidnapping
Word Count: ~10,100
Summary: Buck is getting ready for a date when he gets a strange phone call from Christopher.

Everything that Matters

Buck was in the middle of buttoning his shirt, eager for his date with Taylor when his phone rang and Christopher’s name flashed on the screen. He frowned. Chris was supposed to be with Ana’s sister for the weekend, getting to know Ana’s nieces and nephew, who were just a bit younger than Chris.

It grated on Buck’s nerves how close Eddie and Ana were getting, but he didn’t have any say in it. Still it was weird for Chris to be calling when he was in San Diego for a couple nights, in theory very busy getting to know new people, who might one day be extended family.

Eddie had gotten Chris an iPhone a couple months back, after some begging on Chris part, and with Buck advocating for it, but the use was supposed to be very limited. In fact, Eddie had been dead set against it until after the shooting. Buck had been primary on child care and Eddie seemed to need to be able to reach Chris at any time, and the phone had suddenly seemed like a good idea.

He quickly answered. “Hey, Chris. Everything going okay?”

Christopher’s voice came out in a hushed whisper. “I’m calling from my watch. I think I’ve been kidnapped.”

Buck’s brain shorted out. “You what?”

“Grandma and Abuelo picked me up, and I’m in El Paso. They took my phone and tablet, so I have no way to contact Dad. They didn’t know about my watch; I hid it. They locked me in my room here.”

Buck’s mouth was hanging open, but he snapped it shut and forced his brain into gear. “Okay. We’re going to fix this. How much charge on your watch?”

“Half charged.”

“Turn it off and hide it. Turn it back on in the morning. We can use the Find My feature on mine or your dad’s phone to find you if necessary, but it won’t work if the watch is dead, and half charge won’t last much longer than overnight for a cellular watch. I assume you don’t have the charge cable…?”

“No, they took everything that looked electronic out of my bag.” Chris sniffled. “Bucky, I’m scared. I don’t know why they did this. They said they’re going to get emergency custody and I’m going to be in a home for a while until the legal stuff is sorted.”

“Buddy, just trust me. I’ll get your dad, and we’ll get everything fixed. I just need you to turn off the watch to save the battery. Hide it, but make sure it’s not too far from you.”

“Don’t wear it?”

“Do you think your grandmother is going to do that weird thing you told me about where she tries to watch you take a bath?”

There was a long silence. “I’ll hide it. Please come get me.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can. Resistance is fine, just make it silent resistance, and hide the watch. Turn it back on in the morning. I promise we’ll get you as soon as we can.”

It nearly killed him to hang up, but he needed to get off the phone so he could get to solving the problem. First step was to cancel with Taylor, but he needed to cancel in a way that wouldn’t leak back to anyone he wanted to stay out of the situation.

An idea suddenly bloomed in his head. It wasn’t great; it was borderline cruel, but it was expedient, and it would work for more than Taylor. In fact, it would probably work on everyone.

He dialed quickly.

“Hey there, big boy; I’m ten minutes out.”

“Tay, I need to take a rain check. Can we get together in a couple of days?”

“What’s the deal?”

“I just…” He gave a long pause while he flipped through his stack of contact cards he kept in the drawer, seeking inspiration for what to do after he talked to Taylor. “Listen, an old fling called about a contraception mishap. I need to meet with her.”

“I…see. Is this for certain? Because I know how you are about kids, Buckley.”

He frowned. “I’m not sure anything is for certain yet. Right now it’s a conversation.”

“Well, definitely converse, but if there’s a kid in the picture, we should have a serious conversation of our own.”

Buck frowned heavier. “There’s already a kid in the picture. Christopher.”

“That’s Eddie’s kid.”

“Yeah.” He ran his hand through his hair. They were definitely having a talk. “I’ll text you about a rain check.”

“You do that. Hope it’s a false alarm.” She hung up before he could say anything else.

A business card in the drawer did give him an idea. He considered a few seconds before dialing, not sure if he’d get an answer, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. He could go through Athena for advice, but that would mean Bobby probably getting involved, and he felt he needed to keep this tight and limited in scope until they had Chris in hand.

“Ransone,” came briskly over the phone.

“Uh, Detective Ransone, this is Evan Buckley. I don’t know if you remember me.”

“Firefighter. One of Athena’s kids. Yeah, I remember you. I assume you’re aware it’s not working hours, Firefighter Buckley.”

“Um, yeah. Sorry. I just needed some police-type advice, and I wasn’t sure who to call.”

“9-1-1 in an emergency is always a good idea. I’m sure you know who to call if it’s not an emergency.”

Sighing, Buck transferred the call to his headset as he grabbed his jacket and headed out of his condo.

With a sigh of his own, Ransone said, “But you’ve got me a on the phone, so why don’t you tell me why you didn’t call Athena.”

“Because our group is a tight knit bunch of gossips, and I’m not sure if Eddie’s kid is in danger or not, and I know our friend group well enough to know some of them wouldn’t perceive the issue the way Eddie or I would.”

There was a pause that gave Buck time to reach the underground garage where his Jeep was parked. “Why don’t you back up and fill me in.”

“Eddie is dating this new woman, and he’s always been super protective of his kid. For background, there’s also always been tension between him and his parents where they’re always trying to get custody of his son and saying he should just surrender custody to them and let Chris live in El Paso.” Buck started the Jeep and began the drive to Eddie’s. “So, Eddie’s girlfriend got Eddie to agree to let Chris go to San Diego this weekend and spend time with her sister and get to know her sister and her sister’s kids.

“Friday night was the first night there, tonight would have been the second night, Eddie would have picked Chris up tomorrow afternoon. Eddie’s been real clear about the plans. And I’m the backup on all Chris’ care. I’m the backup pickup person at his school, I can take him to doctor’s appointments, the whole deal. I’m just saying that so you don’t think I’m not aware of Eddie’s childcare plans. In fact, I’ve been Christopher’s primary guardian the last couple of months while Eddie was recovering from the sniper attack a back in May.”

“I get the picture. How old is Christopher?”

“He’ll be nine in August. He has Cerebral Palsy, and he generally relies on crutches when he’s not at home for his mobility. At home, he can get around due in part to a few stability aids, but also the layout of the furniture. Anyway, Chris called me a little bit ago from his Apple Watch, which is cellular and paired with his iPhone. He said he thought he’d been kidnapped.”

“He thought he’d been kidnapped?” Ransone repeated.

“Yeah, he said his grandparents picked him up and took him to Texas. They took all his electronics to prevent him contacting his father, except he was able to hide his watch. They said something about getting an emergency custody order and putting him in a home where his father can’t get to him. Chris has no way to charge his watch, and it was at half battery, so I told him to turn it off for the rest of the night and turn it back on tomorrow.”

“Have you talked to the father?”

“I’m on my way to his place now. I know he’s with Ana, and if Ana knows about this, I don’t want her to spook his parents into acting sooner.”

“Can you extricate him from her without alerting her to your knowledge?”

“Yeah, the same way I broke off my date tonight. I’m going to be all in a tizzy about a phone call from a past hookup calling about a contraception failure.”

“Ah. Yeah, that would freak most men out.”

“Ana thinks I’m a manwhore anyway, so she’ll just roll her eyes at me and probably think it’s real. I just need to be sure I’m doing the right thing.”

“We can certainly question Ana and her sister for their suspected involvement in what might be a kidnapping. However, if your suspicions are correct that they are involved and they would alert Eddie’s parents, then it would be wise to wait. Is it your plan to go to El Paso tonight?”

“That was my thought, but I’d really like some advice from someone in law enforcement before I tell Eddie.”

“If you just show up and try to get the police involved, you run the risk of police and judges who know Eddie’s parents, assuming they’re well respected members of the community and all that tried and true nonsense that tends to shelter people who think they can get away with this sort of thing.”

“That’s about the situation and my concern.”

“Well, the cross-state aspect makes this federal. And I do know someone at the FBI who owes me some favors. Once you get Eddie alone, call me back and I’ll let you know what Don recommends. No matter what, get on the first flight you can to El Paso. It’s easier for Eddie to enforce his parental rights in person.”

“Okay.”

“You’re sure you can get him alone?”

“Pretty sure, yeah. Eddie will think the freakout is real and call off his date.”

“This is painfully co-dependent, you realize that, right?”

“Yes, but I’m not remotely interested in fixing it.”

“Uh huh. I’ve got some phone calls to make. Call me when you have news.”

“Will do. And Detective? Thanks for helping.”

“Helping the kid. You’ve already refreshed my memory about what a pain in the ass you are, Buckley.”

“It’s a gift.”

As soon as the line was clear he dialed Eddie, but his best friend didn’t answer.

So he called again.

And again.

On the third call, Eddie answered, sounding a little breathless. “Buck, now isn’t a great time. Is there an emergency?”

He hated lying to his friend, but he’d do what he had to do for Christopher. “Eds, I’m sorry, man. I cancelled on Taylor, and she said if this was legit we’d have to rethink our whole thing, and what even is that.” He didn’t have to fake being upset at Taylor over possibly dumping him because of his non-existent kid.

There was some rustling in the background. “Wait, what? Slow down.”

“I heard from this woman—Sam—” he’d actually mentioned that name at some point, so it should be familiar to Eddie, though Sam was actually Samuel. “She was brief fling. Just one time—maybe two. Man, it was a while back when everything was so crazy.”

“Buck, slow down. What’s going on? I’m switching to speaker. I need to fix…something.” He heard the tone change to indicate he was on speaker and the rustling was more obvious.

“Edmundo,” was softly hissed in the background.

Buck continued on like he hadn’t heard anything. “She said there was a condom failure, and she wants to talk to me tomorrow, and I’m freaking out, Eddie!”

“Whoa. Okay, I get it now. Are you on your way here?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry to mess with your night, Eddie, I just need to talk, and I’m freaking out, and Taylor saying that stuff about us needing to reevaluate if Sam is really…” he trailed. “Eddie, why is my life even like this?”

“Buck, you didn’t do anything wrong. I know how conscientious you are about safe sex, and condom failures can happen to anyone. Hell, Christopher was the product of a condom failure. And look at how great that turned out. Of course, Shan also told me she was on the pill and she wasn’t, but the point stands. You’re great with kids. If Sam really is pregnant, and it really is yours, it’s all going to be okay. You’ll get an attorney, make sure your rights are protected, and we’ll take it from there.”

“Really is mine?” he echoed about his non-existent kid. “You think she’d lie to me about that?”

“Well, it’s been a while, right? I seem to recall Sam was months ago. And you really did only mention her a couple of times. Couldn’t she have been with other people. Don’t you need to verify paternity?”

“She’d better not be putting me through this if she’s not sure,” he said hotly, then checked himself because Sam was a dude and Sam wasn’t pregnant.

“Buck, just get here, and we’ll talk about it.”

“Right. Of course. I’ll be there in about seven minutes, unless traffic is shitty over by the Von’s.”

“It’s always shitty by Von’s. See you in ten because you’re going to drive safely.”

“Right, see you soon.”

~*~

To his consternation, Ana was still there when he arrived.

Eddie immediately pulled him into a hug, offering him reassurances. Ana patted him on the arm and tried to offer her version of sage advice.

“I’m sure this Sam woman just needs to work out child support; she won’t need anything else from you.”

Buck reared back. “Are you saying I shouldn’t be involved in my child’s life?”

“I’m sure she’s not saying that,” Eddie said placatingly.

“I just think any woman would want a stable influence for her child, and you have to admit your lifestyle isn’t the most conducive to…” she trailed off and gave him a sympathetic expression.

Buck crossed his arms over his chest, legitimately offended now. “What in the world does that mean?”

“What does it mean?” Eddie asked, sounding confused and a little peeved. “Buck will be a great father, and he should pursue parental rights if that’s what he wants.”

“That may not be what the mother wants and, really, her wants and needs come first here,” Ana insisted.

Eddie’s mouth dropped open, then it snapped shut. “Maybe we should table this for tonight. Buck and I really need to talk; he’s clearly having a crisis. Sorry our evening got stalled out.”

She frowned. “Are you serious? I can just wait until you two talk.”

“I think it’s better to call it a night. Buck and I will probably be up all night talking and then crash out for a few hours in the morning. I’ll be by in the afternoon for the drive to San Diego. You’re still going with me, right?”

Buck noted that her expression was a little stiff as she nodded. “Yeah, of course. Any chance to see my nieces and nephew.”

“Then I’ll call before I head over, but it will probably around two. We can grab dinner on the way back.”

“Of course.” She hesitated. “If you’re sure…?”

“Yeah. I really need to talk to Buck. Sometimes emergencies with family are going to come up.”

The expression went completely closed off. “Family. Naturally you have to help family. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” She went up on tiptoe to kiss Eddie’s cheek, then nodded to Buck, grabbed her large overnight tote bag and left.

Buck stared after her. “I can’t believe she’d say I shouldn’t be involved in my own kid’s life!”

“Buck, she’s just got… Oh, never mind. I have no idea what’s going on in her head. That was messed up. I’m sure Sam wouldn’t have called if she didn’t want you to be around her baby.”

Buck waved it away. “Sam’s not having a baby. He’d have to develop an entirely different reproductive system.”

Eddie stared. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“That was all a ruse to get Ana out of here without arousing her suspicions. I need her to think you and I are going to be busy all night.”

“We are. With me wringing your neck! What the hell is going on?”

“Chris called me,” Buck said swiftly before Eddie could get any more worked up. “He’s in El Paso. Your parents picked him up from Regina’s house.”

Eddie’s mouth was hanging open then he looked like he’d been gutted. “What?”

“They took all his electronics so he couldn’t contact you. He hid his watch, but I told him to turn it off to conserve the battery and turn it back on in the morning. I don’t know if Ana knows or not, I don’t know if Regina was complicit or doing what she thought she was supposed to do, but I didn’t want to alert anyone who could help them move Christopher before you could get thre. Because right now, we know where he is, and we might not if they get a heads up.

“Our flight leaves for El Paso in two hours and fifteen minutes. Pack a bag, stick a change of clothes in for me too—because I left the loft with nothing—grab your legal paperwork, and then we need to go.”

Eddie stared at him for long moments, like he was shell shocked, and then it was a flurry of motion, doing exactly what Buck had told him to do.

Then the questions started.

“What else did he say? Is he all right?”

“The first thing he said to me was he thought he’d been kidnapped, but other than the alarming words, he sounded okay. Pissed a little. Scared too. He said your parents were going to get emergency custody on Monday and…”

Eddie stopped shoving clothes in a small duffel bag. “And?”

“He said something about them putting him in a home you wouldn’t be able to get him out of.”

Eddie started swearing in rapid-fire Spanish, so fast that Buck only caught one or two words out of ten.

“I called Lou Ransone.”

Eddie frowned. “The cop?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want any of our crew involved in case it somehow got back to your family or Ana or just someone thought they knew better than us. I don’t think Athena would screw us over, but who knows about any of the rest of them if they thought they knew best. I mean, hell, I can’t even get my own sister on the phone for weeks now.”

Eddie frowned. “Really?”

“Yeah, she’s ducking me. Won’t do anything but send the occasional picture of Jee and say they’re having family bonding time.”

“That doesn’t seem…right?”

“Tell me about it, and Chim just gets pissed and tells me I’m not being supportive of Maddie, and then Hen gets defensive for Chim. And then Bobby gets weird because Chim has a new baby and needs our support. I just… She’s my sister and no one cares that she won’t talk to me.” He waved his hand. “Not the point. Sorry for the tangent. But that’s why I don’t want anyone involved who is too close to our circle. Hell, I can’t even talk about how I feel about the shooting without people going off on me for trying to make your situation be about me.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up.

“Athena’s good, but she’s too connected to the rest, and I can’t deal with the baggage.”

“So, you called someone who knows Athena instead?”

“Well, when you put it like that… But it’s a professional relationship, and I figured if he thought there was a real issue here, he wouldn’t pull her into his case because she’d be personally connected to it.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point. Let’s go. You can call Ransone and do whatever you need to do while we drive to the airport.” Eddie went to the door and started to open it but then stopped at the last minute.

“What’s up?”

“Ana’s car is across the street, and it looks like she’s still in the driver’s seat.”

“Best view is from your bedroom window right?”

“Yeah.”

Buck clapped him on the shoulder. “Okay, wait here.”

“Keep the lights off,” Eddie called after him.

Keeping Eddie’s room dark, he peered out the blinds and confirmed that Ana was watching the house.

“She’s watching the house, man.”

“What the fuck?”

“We sure are great with picking partners, aren’t we?”

Eddie frowned. “What’s wrong with Taylor?”

“I wasn’t kidding about the things she said. I may have faked a contraceptive failure emergency to get Ana out of here and me out of my date, but Taylor’s reaction was a deal breaker. And I reminded her that there is already a kid in my life, and she blew that off like it wasn’t important.”

“Oh. Well. Fuck her, then.” Eddie rubbed his hand over his face. “Do we put a twelve-pack in the back of the Jeep and pretend like we’re going to go drink somewhere and hope she doesn’t follow? Or sneak out the back, hop the fence, and hope my neighbors don’t notice?”

“Fence,” Buck said with a nod.

“Stealth mode it is.”

“Go through Mrs. Flutterby’s yard. She has the creepy gnome garden, but there’s no security, and she likes me well enough that if we startled her, she wouldn’t call the police.”

“She went to bed hours ago anyway,” Eddie commented, heading for the southwest corner of his rear fence. Buck followed and helped boost Eddie over the fence as silently as possible, then he tossed the duffel over. He scaled it pretty easily, then it was a matter of creeping through the gnome forest to her never-locked gate.

Buck had requested an Uber to pick them up two blocks over the minute they decided on this course of action, and the Uber was quick, so they had to jog to get to the pickup point in time. Then they were off to LAX.

He didn’t want to have the conversation on speaker with the Uber driver, so he did a multi-party call with Eddie and then dialed Ransone.

“What’d you decide?” Ransone asked without preamble.

“We’re on our way to the airport now.” He chose his words carefully. “His girlfriend is watching the house, so we had to go out the back.”

“Really? Well that gives me someone to tail.”

Buck rattled off the known make and model of Ana Flores’ car.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Eddie confirmed.

“Okay, I figured you two were going to be on the last flight to El Paso. My friend Don, who is with the FBI, is meeting you at the airport. He’s going along as an interested observer and will help get you in to talk with an associate of his who is with the Texas Rangers. Both the FBI and the Texas Rangers can probably make a case out of this once you are there in person with the needed documentation. There is an FBI field office in El Paso, so Don can make contact there and make a federal case out of it if needed.”

“And he’ll be able to?” Eddie clarified.

“They took him across state lines, so yes. In the meantime, as soon as you guys are at the house and have confirmed your son’s location, we will move on Ana Flores here in LA and Don has agents that are going to question the sister in San Diego. I understand she has several children so they’re going to be careful in their approach, but if she was knowingly complicit, she will be arrested.”

Buck blew out a breath. “This feels like it got huge.”

“This is not the way to handle custody disputes,” Ransone countered. “AMBER alerts are issued all the times because of non-custodial parents or relatives taking off with children, and then we have state-wide or multi-state manhunts. We’re keeping it lowkey right now to give you guys time to ensure Christopher isn’t moved before we have the right people in position to act, but this is actually pretty damn serious.”

“Right.”

“And I ask again, why didn’t you call Athena?”

“Could she have worked the case?” Eddie asked carefully.

“No, not with her connection to you. Is there another reason not to get her involved?”

“It’s not her,” Eddie responded, “so don’t think that. It’s the people around her. Fire departments are small, and too much happened in the spring. Everyone is being a little goofy, and there’s no telling what they’d do or say if they thought they knew best. Everyone knows my whole damn family, and I don’t need the wrong thing said to put my son at risk.

“Athena isn’t the issue, in a roundabout way, her husband is. Not because he would hurt me or my son, but he’s the dad figure of a bunch of codependent people who all think they know what’s best for everyone else. I know if I had time to talk to Bobby and impress on him the importance of keeping it to himself, he wouldn’t say a word, I have absolute faith in that, but I don’t have the time. Anymore than Buck did. Buck made the right call to keep the information contained and get to me and get expert advice before letting the news get out.”

“I hear you. She won’t hear about it from me, at least not before we make any arrests.”

“Appreciated.”

“You two have my number. I’m sending you Don Eppes’ contact info so you can find him at the airport. Keep me posted, and don’t do anything stupid. Your job is to provide information to the authorities as they need it and be there to get your son and bring him back home. Don’t do anything foolish that requires you to return to El Paso for criminal proceedings.”

“Wow, rude,” Eddie snarked.

“Don’t front,” Ransone shot back. “If someone took my kid this way, I don’t care if they were my parents, I’d be tempted to deck them. At least my father. And the words I’d have for them wouldn’t be fit for polite company. And if those words were caught on bodycam, it could come back on me in a negative light. Always consider you could be on camera at any moment when you’re with law enforcement. Texas is also a single-party consent state. No one needs your permission to record, so mind what you say and how you say it. Your only goal is to get your son home. The better you look in the process, the better it will be for future court proceedings.”

“He hears you,” Buck responded. “And we will absolutely keep our attitude in check the entire time.”

“Good.”

“Thank you, Detective,” Buck said.

“Literally my job. Even on my day off.”

“Was it?” Buck asked. “Well, shit. Sorry about that.”

“Life of a public servant. I’ll consider it worth it when you bring your kid home.”

“Eddie’s kid.”

“I said what I said. See you when you get back.” The line went dead, and Buck pulled the Bluetooth from his ear, feeling his face getting hot.

“Sorry about that.”

“Why? Is he wrong?”

“Well… I mean…”

“Our kid. Deal.”

Buck smiled. “Okay.”

Eddie reached out and curled his hand around Buck’s wrist, squeezing firmly. “We’re bringing our kid home.”

“Of course we are.”

“Thanks.” Eddie blew out a shaky breath. “Thank for always being someone both of us can depend on.”

~*~

Agent Eppes was average height and medium build, and he came across as competent and reliable. Just the right vibe to settle Eddie down, who listened intently to everything the agent said as they walked through the airport. Buck listened closely as well, taking in every single detail, but he knew he was in the support role now, making sure Eddie had what he needed to get Christopher back.

When they got to the gate, Eppes had them sit away from other passengers so he could question both of them relentlessly about every detail of what had happened, every person involved, and as much history as they could pack into the short wait they had before boarding.

A few minutes before boarding, Eppes went to talk to the gate agent and came back with three new boarding passes. “I was just asking her if she could put us in the back of the plane, preferably with empty seats around us if they’re not too booked, which they aren’t.

“All I said is we’re going to Texas for a federal case, and she threw us all in first class.” He handed Buck the new boarding pass. “Figure your long legs will appreciate the room.”

“Truly. Thanks.”

“No problem.” He gave Eddie a careful once-over. “You worried or pissed over there? Because you’re very self-contained, and I don’t know you well enough to decipher the blank expression.”

“Both,” Eddie said bluntly. “Worry will win out until I know Christopher is okay, then I’ll just be angry.”

“Once you have your son, I want you to leave. Just go. If things go to plan, Buck will have a set of keys to the car we’re driving. I’ll be with whatever local law enforcement we’re with, and you will leave. Go to the hotel, reconnect with your kid, have breakfast, and wait for me to join you. Work off your hostility in the hotel gym or whatever you need to do, but do not stay and confront your parents. Save it for court.”

“That sounds much easier than it’s going to actually be.”

“I know it will be hard,” Eppes countered. “Probably will feel like it’s impossible. But just pick up your kid and go. When you get to the hotel, get a list of all the things he’s missing and text it to me. I’ll do my best to find it all, but there’s no point in putting him through the confrontation.Not to mention we don’t need the fight between you and your parents on body cam. That will probably help them in a court proceeding.”

Eddie closed his eyes and nodded.

“We’re going to be landing in the middle of the night. I assume I can’t just go over there and get my kid…?”

Eppes shook his head. “Nope. I’ve already called in a favor to have a friend who is off duty keeping an eye on the house to make sure they don’t leave, but I need to connect with local law enforcement in the morning and we need a warrant. If we knock without being prepared, all your parents have to do is deny us entry and claim your son isn’t there.”

Eddie blew out a breath.

“I know it’s hard, but we get a hotel and get settled. I’ll get prepared to show up in the right spot the minute the federal courts open, and you get things ready for your kid. Eddie, you will need to swear out an official complaint, showing you have full custody and swear that Christopher was removed from California without your knowledge or consent. Buck, you may also need to give a statement about how you were contacted by Christopher about his circumstances. Hopefully it won’t take more than an hour or two.”

“It’ll be that fast?”

“Probably. If you’re already back at the hotel after doing the official complaints, you’ll need to text me when you see the watch comes back on. It may be necessary to show the judge that the kid’s watch is on in that house, which we can probably do over a FaceTime call. If not, you’ll join me and show him. We’ll play it by ear until we have the warrant, and then it should be fast. Then you go in, get Christopher out, and let law enforcement handles the rest. We’ll meet up to handle the final details, then you all go back home.”

“And back in California?”

“The minute we confirm Christopher’s whereabouts, Ransone will bring in Ana Flores for questioning, and my team will talk to Regina Cruz, and determine her level of involvement and if an arrest is warranted.”

Buck exchanged a look with Eddie, and there was some unspoken understanding that everything was different, but what all that would mean would have to come later.

Then their group was called for boarding, and they were headed to Texas.

~*~

Buck watched Eddie pace around the hotel room, wishing he could do more to help. “Eds, do you think you can get some sleep?”

“Not a chance.” He stopped the circuit and dragged his hands through his hair. “This is the worst kind of hell. I can’t believe they did this to me. Why now?”

They’d avoided speculating thus far, and Buck was hesitant to do so. He shrugged his shoulders.

Eddie frowned. “Who are you texting?”

“Taylor.”

“Taylor?” Eddie sounded a little indignant. “Now?”

“We broke up,” Buck murmured, not looking up from his phone. “I thought she understood Christopher’s importance in my life, but she didn’t, and that’s a deal breaker for me. She keeps late hours, and I just texted to stay I needed to talk to her about how our conversation went when I called her earlier, but she wanted to get it out of the way.” He slid his phone into his pocket and met Eddie’s gaze. “Anyway, it’s done. We’re going to try to remain friends, but we agreed on some space for now.”

“Oh.” Eddie sat on the bed next to Buck, shoulders slumped. “I never have to question your commitment to Chris, but clearly everyone else is suspect.” He passed his hand over his eyes. “I know you have a theory about what happened here, Buck, and you’re not telling me. Why?”

“We already suspect Ana’s involved, Eddie, why do you need me to say it?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t get it, and I wish you’d say something. Anything.”

“Fuck, Eddie.” It was Buck’s turn to get up and start pacing. “She has this little vision of how your perfect little life together will go, and anything that doesn’t fit she tries to push out. Me, your family from the 118. Why not Christopher if he’s not part of her little family vision?”

Eddie frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve only been around so much because you trusted me with Chris, and Chris trusts me more than her, but she’s never spared a moment to tell me that it’d be better if I were gone.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it’s not my job to tell you that your girlfriend is a fucking harpy! Jesus, Eddie, she gets you to cancel everything, and it always seems reasonable to you. Reasonable that you never can go to game night at Hen and Karen’s, reasonable that you never are available for karaoke with Chim and Maddie, reasonable that you always are suddenly backing out on family dinners—not only with Bobby and Athena but with Pepa and Abuela too. She’s got it making sense to you that you never have time for anyone but her.”

Eddie’s mouth was hanging open.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you that she’s toxic as fuck. Either that or you usually let your girlfriends alienate you from all the people in your life. Whichever it is, if Christopher doesn’t suit her needs, so why wouldn’t she take an opportunity to find a way to offload him from your life the way she’s offloaded everyone else? She finally met your parents after the shooting and got real cozy with them.

“She has to know they want to raise him, and she has all the inside information she needs to feed to them. I’m not sure how she planned to manage the situation once you realized what she’d done, but I have no issue believing she was behind all this, and that she did it to get you alone, focused entirely on her.”

“I would never abandon Christopher.”

“I know that, Eddie, but why would she know that. She’s been very successful at keeping you away from everyone the last few months.”

Eddie shook his head. “Half the time she said you guys canceled, and the other times it seemed reasonable to prioritize her. It makes sense to put her first sometimes.”

“Eddie, we never canceled. The only routine event that’s been canceled since you got shot was Abuela’s Sunday brunch had to be canceled because one of Hector’s kids got mono, of all things, and they were worried Abuela had been exposed.”

Eddie scrubbed his hands over his face. “So, she’s been lying to me.”

“It was apparently pretty damn easy.”

After a beat, Eddie said, “You’re mad at me.”

“I’ve been frustrated with how easy it was for you to set aside our friendship like it didn’t matter just because you started dating. I didn’t mind stepping in with Chris, you know I love him like he was my own, but you more or less cut me out of your life because your girlfriend wanted it. This isn’t the right time to talk about it, but… Don’t ask questions we don’t have the emotional resources to talk about right now.”

“Buck…”

“For real, Eddie, neither of us can handle this conversation right now.”

“It’s killing me a little that you think I cut you out of my life.”

“Maybe you need to think about it through and not just tell me you didn’t do it. Whether you did it because of her manipulations of not, you still did it.”

“You were busy with Taylor.”

Buck’s eyes narrowed. “Really, you need to think long and hard before using that excuse considering how many hours a week I spent with Chris.” He held up a hand when Eddie seemed set to push the conversation. “I really don’t want to talk about this right now, Eddie. For both of our sake. We are both on the edge emotionally. I don’t want us to say things we’ll regret.”

Eddie was silent for long moments before he nodded. “Okay, Buck.”

Buck stripped out of his shirt and jeans. “I know I won’t sleep, but I’m going to lie down until we hear from Eppes and see if I rest a little.”

Eddie just nodded.

Half an hour later, Eddie turned off the one dim lamp, lay down on the same bed as Buck, on top of the covers, and joined him in staring at the ceiling, trying to will the time to pass faster.

~*~

Eddie’s text notification jolted them both to alertness in an instant. Buck assumed it was Eppes, so he was pulling on his clothes, when Eddie said, “Eppes will be here in ten to pick us up.”

It only took them five minutes brush their teeth and be ready to go, but Buck was all for leaving the room and pacing a hole in the sidewalk, but Eddie halted him before he could leave the room.

“We will talk later, but I need you to hear something and think about it, okay?”

Buck nodded warily.

“Christopher is my top priority in life, but you’re number two, okay? Ana didn’t even rank yet. With everything that matters, I trust you, so I knew Chris was safe with you. But I was taking up so much of your time taking care of him, I didn’t want to take more for me. When I say you were busy with Taylor, that’s my jealousy speaking I guess. I never liked you being with her, but what I’m really saying is I’d already taken so much of your time, I didn’t want to monopolize you when I already felt I was being unfair. I knew things would get back to an even keel with us when Chris was back to school and I was back to work, so I was just biding my time.

“I know that doesn’t excuse everything, but I just need you to know where my head was at, all right. You don’t have to answer now, and we need to go anyway, but please think about it okay.”

Buck nodded, not sure he’d be able to stop himself from thinking about it once they had Christopher back.

“Okay, then. Let’s go get our kid.” Eddie grabbed his zippered portfolio with his paperwork.

Even though it wasn’t ten minutes yet, Eppes was already at the circle in front of the hotel waiting for them. The rental car had a booster seat in it designed for someone Christopher’s age. Eppes had thought ahead and asked Christopher’s height. At four-foot-four, he needed the booster seat.

“Federal judge is waiting for us,” Eppes began. “Texas Rangers are going to run point rather than the FBI, though the warrant needs to be federal since it’s across state lines. You’re going to swear out the complaint and have the warrant signed at the same time. Normally, in this sort of interstate kidnapping situation, we can get warrants first and dot the I’s and cross the T’s later, but due to some connections the Diazes have with the local police, sheriff, and even the judiciary, we’re being cautious.”

“Is that why let the Rangers take point?” Buck asked.

“Even the local FBI SAC agrees it’ll be easier with the locals if someone in Texas law enforcement takes point, but if there’s even a hint they’re playing favorites with the Diazes, the FBI will step in.”

“Do you get that vibe from the Rangers?” Eddie asked.

“No. They have no vested interest in anything but solving the case. In fact, I get the impression that the captain in the Rangers that we’re working with has had issues with the local police chief, so he’s got no investment in seeing any local police corruption be allowed to fester.” He shot a quick look at Buck in the rearview mirror. “You check the watch yet?”

They’d explained to Eppes at the airport last night that both of them could check for Christopher’s location on their phones, but Buck was faster and better with technology. “About an hour ago. Nothing. But I’ll check it again now.” He pulled up the Find My app and checked for people. “Yes. His watch pinged in El Paso twelve minutes ago.”

Eddie folded over on himself a bit, burying his face in his hands.

“His phone’s last location is San Diego,” Buck confirmed. “So that’s where it was turned off. Same for his iPad.”

“Good. We’ll want screenshots from your phone taken in the judge’s presence and submitted into evidence.”

“Can do.”

They met Captain Luther and Sergeant Dale of the Texas Rangers in a conference room at the federal courthouse. It took about thirty minutes to tell the story of what happened and answer a few barebones questions, and then they went over the paperwork Eddie had brought and left for about twenty minutes with Eppes.

Buck knew they’d already done a lot of the legwork to verify as much of the story as possible, so it was only another twenty minutes before Sergeant Dale came back with some paperwork for Eddie to sign, and then they were escorted to Judge Wilkins chambers to make some sworn statements and show the judge the phone with Christopher’s location.

After that was all done, while the paperwork was being completed, Buck sent off several screenshots to Sergeant Dale to add to the casefile. Then the Texas Rangers had a federal warrant in hand.

Eppes tossed the keys to Buck. “You drive; I’m going with Captain Luther. You stay parked down the street, you wait for my indication you can enter. Once you can enter, you get Christopher, and you leave and go back to the hotel. We will meet you there to get Christopher’s statement. The only permissible deviation is if Christopher needs medical care. That’s it. Am I clear?”

“Crystal clear.”

“Let’s go, then.”

They wound up two houses down from the Diaz home, and Eddie pointed out the upstairs window. “That’s usually where they have Christopher when we visit.”

“Upstairs?”

Eddie nodded. “It’s not ideal. I used to point out on the regular that for all Mom and Pops talk about having Chris live with them, they’ve never made any efforts to accommodate him. They’ve got a bedroom downstairs in addition to the master suite. The other bedroom was Adriana’s when were growing up. Mom turned it into a craft room she barely uses. But she insists the upstairs bedrooms are fine for him.

“As you know, he navigates the stairs okay when it’s occasional, but it’s not ideal for him to have to do it multiple times a day. And to make it so that he might have to rely on others to navigate the communal areas of the house isn’t kind or fair.” Eddie sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, not taking his eyes off the house where the two Texas Rangers were knocking on the door. Eppes was hanging back a bit, not quite blending in with the other two law enforcement guys but not sticking out either.

Then Ramon Diaz was answering the door, and Eddie sat up straighter in his seat, staring intently at the house.

Despite the search warrant, the Rangers didn’t seem to be having a whole lot of luck getting past Ramon. There was what looked lot like a fairly intense argument even if they were keeping the volume down.

Eddie rolled down he windows, despite the oppressive summer heat, to try to hear anything that was said, and Buck did the same.

“I got nothing but a slightly raised voice,” Buck murmured. “It’s too indistinct.”

“Yeah.”

Then the sound of shattering glass pierced the air and Christopher’s voice screaming out, “Daddy! I’m here! Don’t let them send you away! I’m here!”

Despite their promises, Eddie was out of the car like a shot, and Buck was hot on his heels.

Their promises to stay in the car were irrelevant in the face of Christopher screaming for help.

Ramon was in handcuffs, detained by Captain Luther, by the time they charged into the house, and Helena was actively fighting Sergeant Dale, kicking and screaming like a banshee. Eppes called an audible. “You need to go upstairs, Dale. I got her.”

Dale practically shoved Helena Diaz at Eppes, who took her to the ground immediately, and Dale went past a stunned Eddie.

Upstairs, they found a deadbolt had been installed on the door, and there as no key anywhere in sight. Christopher was still hollering up a storm inside.

Eddie pounded on the door. “Chris, we’re here! Buck and I are both here. I need you to calm down, mijo. We’re going to get the door open, okay? Just calm down for me, all right? Did you hurt yourself?”

There was a beat of silence and then, “No. I just want out. Please let me out.”

“How’d you break the window?”

“I used my crutches. I heard Abuelo saying I wasn’t here, and I didn’t want the police to leave, and I saw you in the car down the street.  Please get me out.”

Buck looked to Sergeant Dale. “Can I break it down?”

“I don’t know… Can you?”

“Walk in the park,” Buck replied. “We’re both firefighters. Breaking this door down won’t be hard.”

“Go for it.”

“Chris?” Buck called out.

“Bucky? Are you getting me out?”

“We’re breaking the door. I need you to stand far away from it, okay? As far as you can, but don’t get in broken glass, okay?”

“I’ll sit on the bed,” Chris called out.

“Holler when you’re on the bed.”

A couple seconds passed before Chris’ more muffled voice called, “I’m on the bed.”

Buck looked to Eddie. “I got the door. Your shoulder up for carrying him?”

“Nothing could stop me from carrying him out of here.”

“Let’s do this, then.” He called out. “We’re coming in, bud. Cover your eyes and face with a pillow just in case there are wood splinters.” He looked to Dale. “There shouldn’t be. This door isn’t that sturdy, but I’d rather be safe.” One solid kick and the door was hanging on one hinge with a splintered lock.

Eddie charged into the room and grabbed Chris into his arms and immediately started walking out with him, following Eppes’ earlier orders to the letter.

Chris had started crying as soon as Eddie had ahold of him, burying his face in Eddie’s shoulder and holding on tight.

Buck realized Dale was following them out, and he wondered if that was to get everything recorded in case it was needed later.

“Eddie!” Helena called.

Eddie said nothing to his parents, both of whom were sitting handcuffed on the sofa.

As soon as they were at the car, Eddie set Chris down on his feet, but Chris didn’t want to let go. “Mijo, I need to know if you’re hurt. We’re good to leave here either way, but if you’re hurt, even if it’s a scratch, I need to take you to a hospital.”

Chris let himself be pushed back gently to look into his father’s eyes. “I’m f-fine, Daddy. I just want t-to go h-home.”

Buck went down on one knee next to Eddie. “Hey, Superman. Are you sure you don’t have any cuts for the glass or even any bruises? We really need to know. Nothing is going to stop us from going home, but your dad needs to be sure.”

Chris sniffled and stared at the ground for a few minutes. “Grandma grabs kind of hard.”

Eddie’s whole body went rigid.

Buck gently nudged his best friend. “Does she? Where does she grab?”

Chris pushed up his sleeves, and it was a little weird he was wearing long sleeves in summer. There were purplish bruises in grip patterns on his forearm.

Eddie didn’t say anything, and Buck was pretty sure he was about to explode.

“Those look uncomfortable,” Buck said reassuringly. “Was it just your forearm or did she grab you on both forearms? What about upper arms?”

“Both. Top and bottom. I don’t think she knows how hard she’s grabbing, though. She pulls me along when I don’t go fast enough, and I told her it hurts, but she wouldn’t listen.” He started crying again. “I just want to go home.”

Eddie seemed to come out of his rage-trance and swiped Christopher’s tears away. “We’re going to do that, buddy, I promise you, but I think maybe it’d be a good idea to let a special children’s nurse have a look at you and make sur your arms are okay. We’ll stay with you the whole time, okay?”

Chris chin trembled, but he nodded.

“Buck has missed you a ton, and he worked his butt off to sneak me to El Paso, so how about giving him a big hug while I talk to the Sergeant real quick and then we’ll go, okay?”

Chris didn’t need any prompting. He threw himself Buck’s direction. “Bucky! You came for me.”

“Of course I did. What would I do without my best friend?”

Chris nodded into his shoulder.

A moment later, Eddie touched his back. “We’re good to go. Sergeant Dale will meet us there in a little bit.” Buck inferred that Eddie had wanted to find out where Dale had wanted them to get treatment.

“How about I drive,” Buck offered, “and that way your dad can ride in the back with you and tell you the clean version of how I snuck him to Texas.”

Christopher pulled back and peered at him curiously. “Is there a dirty version?”

“I’ll plead the fifth.”

Chris started to smile, despite his face being wet with tears. “Bucky, what did you do?”

“I guess you’ll have to ask your dad.”

Chris held out his arms to Eddie. “Okay, Dad. Tell me the story.”

“Well… It does end with a clandestine escape over the fence and through Mrs. Flutterby’s gnome garden.”

“You snuck into Mrs. Flutterby’s gnome garden?”

“At one point, yes.”

“I was locked in the room and you two had a gnome adventure without me?” Chris said indignantly.

“You were the powerful Prince Christopher captured by a troll and a dragon, locked in the tower, and we had to embark on our quest to save you,” Buck countered.

Chris eyes narrowed. “That sounds good and all, but I still want the whole story. Even the dirty parts.”

“Maybe not all the dirty parts,” Eddie bargained.

“Definitely the dirty parts.”

“Buck, help me out here.”

Buck shooed them towards the backseat. “I don’t know who this Buck you speak of is. I’m just a lowly chauffer. Off you go now.”

~*~

The hospital took longer than they wanted it to be because they has to wait for a someone to arrive to take photos of Christopher’s bruises. Other than one bruise on his leg, the bruises were confined to his arms. Buck could tell how much it all bothered Eddie but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do in the moment to help his friend.

Eddie kept his temper under wraps, smiled and laughed for Christopher, but Buck knew he needed to vent his feelings, and soon.

Christopher managed to give a clear and concise statement for Sergeant Dale while they were waiting, so that took that off their to-do list.

Then they were cleared to go.

Chris was getting cranky from being in the hospital when he just wanted to leave, and he wasn’t pleased about the hotel, but Buck chilled him out, staying they wouldn’t be able to leave until the FBI was done anyway. Chris still wasn’t happy, but he let Buck carry him to the car, willing to give Eddie’s shoulder a rest.

It was well after lunchtime, and Buck privately thought part of Christopher’s crankiness was hunger, so he suggested stopping for food, but Eddie commented that Sergeant Dale had said the room service was pretty good at their hotel, so Eddie put in an order when he knew they were about to leave. It was supposed to arrive withing fifteen minutes of them getting back.

“Good thinking, Eds.”

“I have good ideas on occasion,” Eddie remarked from where he was exaggeratedly leaning on Chris, as if he would fall asleep any moment. Chris was laughing and trying to push him off.

They were barely in their room before the food arrived, so the timing was perfect.

Chris was so tired, he yawned through the second half. It was still early afternoon, but they were all exhausted.

“Naps?” Eddie asked.

“I could totally be persuaded to take a nap,” Buck said.

Chris slumped against Buck. “I want to sleep so much.”

“Sleep it is.”

They got Chris tucked in, with promises they’d be sleeping in the same bed with him as soon as they’d checked in on the “adult stuff.”

Chris held onto Eddie’s hand and stared at him. “They wanted to send me to a home. They showed me photos and videos, and they thought I would be excited about it. Grandma kept me locked in the room because she said I was being ungrateful.”

“I’m so sorry, Chris.”

He shook his head. “They’re right that it was a nice place. There was a pool and all kinds of activities, but it still all felt like prison. And they wouldn’t let me talk to you. Why did they want me if they just wanted to send me away?”

“If only I could answer that, mijo. I honestly have no idea. Your grandmother has always thought she’d be a better parent for you, and she’s been convinced you were going to get hurt living with me. I think me being shot just caused something to snap in her, and she felt like all her worst fears were coming true, even if it doesn’t make real sense. She knew if she had you at the house, it’d be easy for me to get to you, but if she put you in a home somewhere, I’d have to fight for custody in court. For some reason, she’s really convinced I’d lose if it came down to a court battle in the state of Texas, which is why she did it this way.

“There are still holes in that explanation, but it’s as much as I have to give you.”

Chris was silent for a long time. “You’re saying she wanted her way, and thought the only way she could win was to make sure she fought the battle here?”

“Something like that.”

“And did Ms. Flores help her?”

“It looks like it, but we aren’t sure.”

“No, Ms. Regina didn’t know they were coming, and she called Ms. Flores to ask about the change, and Ms. Flores said it was fine.”

“I see.” Eddie stroked back Christopher’s hair. “You told Sergeant Dale that?”

“Yeah, while you were talking to the doctors. Bucky was there, though.”

“Square deal. As long as they know.”

Chris nodded into his pillow with a jaw-cracking yawn. “Love you, Daddy.”

“Love you too, mijo.”

“Love you, Bucky.”

“Love you, Superman.”

A second later, Chris was out like a light.

Buck immediately pulled out his phone to make some calls, but Eddie took it from him, and set it on the bed. Then he took both of Buck’s hands in this own.

“Right now, in this moment, everything that matters is taken care of. There’s always more to do, but, Dios, Evan, we squeaked by on this one. Mostly thanks to you. I don’t know how to thank you for that.” Buck opened his mouth, and Eddie pressed his hand over it. “I know you don’t need thanks or even want it, but this could have gotten so big and ugly, and I need to say how grateful I am.

“Not just for what you for Christopher, but what you did for me. How you’ll say what I need to hear, even if you think I’m not ready for it. The best thing you could promise me is that you’ll keep being you.”

Buck’s eyebrows shot up, and he gently curled his fingers around Eddie’s wrist and pulled his hand down. “Eds…you guys are my family. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

“I know.” Eddie leaned forward and rested their foreheads together. “I predict we’re going to really need you for a while. Like epic enmeshment.”

Buck chuckled. “How long is a while?”

Eddie leaned back to meet Buck’s gaze. “Forever seems good.”

Buck blinked and blew out a breath, feeling himself go marshmallow soft in his heart. “Eddie…”

“I still need to officially break up with Ana. It’s over, of course it’s over. It was over before we left Los Angeles, but I need to tell her—need her to know. She’s out there thinking she’s still my girlfriend. But when that minor thing is handled, will you go out on a date with me?”

Buck couldn’t help the smile. “Of course. All you ever had to do was ask, though Chris may not let us out of his sight for a while.”

“The feeling is mutual, but I think we can manage to bring him along on a date or two.”

“Very true.”

Eddie cupped Buck’s cheek. “If I’d known you were an option, there wouldn’t have been an Ana.” He pressed a light kiss to the corner of Buck’s mouth.

That healed something in him that had ached since the moment Eddie had skipped out on plans to have breakfast with Ana. “It’s always been you, Eddie.”

Eddie smiled. “Let’s get some sleep and then we can get on with the business of our do over.”

The End