Title: Here We Go Again
Series: The Smile in Your Eyes
Series Order: 1
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Contemporary, family, fix-it
Pairing: Gen, references to past canon relationships
Rating: PG
Warnings: canon-level angst, canon-level circumstances, implied ableism, natural disasters, procedural inaccuracies
Author Note: There are a few stories in this bingo that are connected. Each story can stand alone, but they all sit in the same universe. This is the first.
Timeline: Season 8ish, and some references to events mid-season. If you’re lost about the canon events referenced herein, check the series page for background info.
Challenge: Just Write Create Your Own Bingo – Bad Things Happen, Prompt: Natural Disaster
Word Count: ~3600
Summary: Buck and Eddie are in El Paso to get Christopher and bring him back home. Eddie has some choice words for his parents first. Buck is getting Christopher out of the line of fire. Nature has other plans for them. As per usual.

Here We Go Again

Buck took in the scenery from the passenger seat of the rental car. “Has it changed much since when you grew up?”

“Weirdly, not much. Strip malls are updated, new signage on things, but the grocery store is where I remember it. My parents moved here when I was a teenager, and the neighborhood is basically the same.”

Buck took his best friend. “You nervous?”

“Not really. I know I need to keep myself in check, and that may be the hardest part. You sure you’re good with taking Chris out for lunch while I talk to them?”

“Since when has that ever been a problem?”

“True.”

“He may not want to go, though. He seems very invested in getting the opportunity to tell his grandparents off as soon as it was safe to do so.”

Eddie gave a mirthless laugh. “Well, he can do that when you guys come back.” He glanced briefly at Buck. “I’m not sure what you said to him, but thanks.”

“I just got tired of you two not really talking.”

“We talk.”

“No, you really don’t. You have Zoom calls where you don’t talk about what’s important while spending all the time catching up on the minutia of each other’s day-to-day lives and don’t talk about why you’re not living in the same state.”

“I’ve been waiting until he was ready to talk about it,” Eddie said defensively.

“And he thought he knew everything there was to know because he got all the details from your mother.”

Eddie winced. “Right. And that’s why I need you to take Chris out so I can yell at them for basically lying to my kid.”

“Yeah. Yell all you want, Eds, they deserve it, but this is on you too. You need to take some ownership of how long this dragged on. He’s your kid, and you have full custody. You let him keep living here without a real conversation because you thought he needed time. Meanwhile your mother exploited the fuck out of the situation. Be mad at her, she’s a bitch, but you and Chris should have had an honest sit down with a therapist months ago, and that’s on you.”

Eddie pulled up to the curb of a nice two-story house. “You’ve been disturbingly blunt since you and Tommy broke up.”

“This is not about Tommy. This is about my family being all messed up because your mother was able to exploit your therapy aversion. I’m glad you’re getting it all sorted now, but this wasn’t good for anyone. You and Chris will get back on an even keel, but consider that his relationship with his grandparents is now fucked up beyond all repair. At least for a while.”

Sighing, Eddie rubbed his hand over his face. “I know. I let everything go on too long. I was so scared I’d lose him from my life entirely if I pushed. Just get him out of the house and let me deal with my parents. I’ll text you when you can come back.”

“I’ve got your back, Eds.”

“I know you do.”

“But, seriously, leave Tommy out of it.”

“I hear you.”

“That wasn’t exactly agreement.”

“I said what I said.”

Buck sighed.

They knocked on the door, and Chris answered, his expression a little guarded but also eager. “Dad!” After a beat, he threw himself at Eddie, and Eddie was so grateful, he melted into it.

“Christopher, who is at the door?” Helena came into view. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed Texas barbecue,” Buck said brightly. “Eddie recommended a place a few miles from here, so we came by.”

Helena Diaz frowned, looking utterly bewildered. “What?”

“Yeah, Chris is taking me to lunch. He’s buying since last-minute tickets to El Paso broke my piggy bank.”

“I am?”

“Oh, for sure.”

Chris looked up at Eddie, who squeezed Chris’ shoulders. “Go with Buck, okay?” He slipped Chris several twenties. “You can actually buy since Buck is being a drama llama.” He ruffled Chris’ hair. “I know you probably want to stay, but I really need to talk to my parents, and it would be easier if I didn’t have to watch what I say lest I break my piggy bank filling the swear jar.”

Chris’ lips twitched in amusement. “As much fun as that sounds like, I think I know the place Dad is recommending, and I am kind of hungry.” He lunged at Buck. “Hey, Bucky.”

Despite his increase in height, Buck easily lifted Chris off the ground. “Hey, bud. It’s so good to see you.”

“Be careful with him,” Helena screeched, but Buck ignored her. “Don’t drop him! And you should have called. Dropping by unannounced is rude! And Christopher cannot go to lunch with you. I’m preparing pot roast for lunch.”

“Her pot roast is so dry,” Chris muttered. “It sits in liquid for hours, so I don’t even know how she manages it.”

Buck snorted in amusement and set Chris back on his feet.

“I still have full legal and physical custody of my son. You only have paperwork allowing you to get him emergency medical care and enroll him in school. So, if I say he can go get lunch with Buck, he can go get lunch. If there’s anything you need, Chris, get it now. Otherwise, you can head out with Buck.”

“Nope! Got everything I need right here.”

Eddie smiled at them. “All right. Have a good time.”

“We will!”

“He can’t go out!” Helena yelled. “Ramon!”

“Abuelo’s in the mancave,” Chris intoned gravely, “he can’t hear you. Let’s go, Bucky. Have fun, Dad!”

“I’m not sure ‘fun’ is the word, but I’ll be sure to get everything taken care of,” Eddie said dryly.

Buck and Chris left with Helena’s voice clearly audible through the closed door. It was a heavy door too. Buck gave it an incredulous look. “You sure she can’t be heard in the mancave? I’m fairly certain the neighbors can hear her.”

Chris laughed. “Abuelo had it soundproofed. He said it was so his sports shows didn’t disturb her, but I think it was so she didn’t disturb his sports shows.”

“Very important distinction.”

“I’m learning all about nuance.” Chris climbed into the front seat of the rental sedan, and Buck huffed. “Yeah, I’m big enough to ride in the front now. Deal with your parental angst.”

“You’re a super annoying teenager,” Buck said as he slid behind the wheel.

Christopher laughed. “But you missed me, right?”

“More than you could possibly imagine.”

Chris’ expression shifted to something sad but also something Buck couldn’t quite place. “I’m sorry. I never wanted to be here so long.”

“It’s okay. We’ll talk later… Let’s get some lunch and be completely frivolous.”

He got a big, familiar grin in response. “Yeah!” Fat raindrops smacked against the windshield.

Buck frowned. “Do we need to grab you a raincoat?”

“Nah. It’s warm rain. I’ll tuck my glasses in my shirt, and we won’t be outside too long.”

~*~

“This is actually really good,” Buck muttered, licking barbecue sauce off his fingers.

“I love it, and so does Abuelo. Grandma says it’s not good for us, so he sneaks me out to have it.”

“That’s a good grandfather right there. Sneaking you out to have cheat foods instead of your grandmother’s dry-ass pot roast.”

Chris sobered. “He tries. I think he knows she’s not being fair, but he doesn’t know how to stand up to her.”

“That’s a real problem for a lot of people. My father is the same way with my mom. She could say the sun rose in the West, and he’d just be like, ‘uh, dearest, are you sure?’”

Christopher laughed. “Why are people like that?”

“They’re convinced someone is vital to their happiness, I guess, and they don’t want to risk rocking the boat and being alone.”

“Is being unhappy and with someone better than being alone?”

Buck shrugged. “Not in my opinion. I don’t think your dad thinks that way.”

“Obviously,” Chris snarked. “Look at all his relationships.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “Your dad tries. He really wants to be with someone, but I think it’s good that he’s looking for the right someone and not just anyone to fill the vacancy.”

Chris made a face and started to say something, but then his expression shifted and sort of froze into blankness as he looked out the window over Buck’s shoulder. “Bucky…”

Buck turned quickly, just in time to watch the funnel forming a little too close for comfort. “Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Isn’t there supposed to be an alert?” The words were barely out of his mouth when his phone started blaring.

Instead of looking at the phone, he stared at the tornado as it continued to gain momentum, the funnel slowly stretching toward the earth. “Well, shit. That’s too close for us to go somewhere safer. All we can do is hope it doesn’t touch down.” He got up and grabbed Chris by the hand.

The restaurant was fairly empty since they’d arrived after the lunch rush was done. He went to the hostess who was staring at her phone. “Shelter situation?”

“Shelter in place order has been issued because it’s too close for us to move to any safer location.”

“Situation here?”

“Not great shelter-wise.” She bit her nails. “We haven’t had a tornado here in a while.”

“No basement in this building?”

“No.”

“Smallest interior room?”

“There isn’t one. There’s the kitchen and the dining area. The bathrooms are outside.”

Buck sighed. “Walk-in refrigerator?” Not a great choice, but if it was the only option, they might have to take it.

She perked up. “Yeah.”

“Okay, get the manager. We have to be prepared to get everyone in there if necessary, which means anything heavy on the upper shelves has to come down and possibly moved out now while we have time to act.” He pointed at Chris. “You’re going under a table near an interior wall while I figure this out.”

“Buck.”

“Nope, not listening.”

Chris blew out a breath but let himself be herded close to the kitchen door. “Why does this keep happening?”

“I’m not sure twice counts as ‘keeps.’”

“Considering there are only eighteen natural disasters, two feels like a trend.”

Buck conceded the point and agreed to just keep Chris near the door, ready to shove under the table while Buck kept an eye on the tornado, which had touched down some distance away and was kicking up a hell of a debris field. “Call your dad if you can.”

“No cell signal: I already tried.”

“Of course there isn’t,” he sighed. “Send him a text. Maybe it will go through.”

The manager and Buck talked while Chris texted. Most walk-in coolers weren’t great shelter because they were actually pretty damn flimsy, but this one was old as dirt; a real refrigeration unit that was as old as the business, and probably the most solid part of the structure. There was a bigger risk of them getting stuck in it, so Buck told them how to line the edges of the door so it wouldn’t form a seal. They’d have to use wire to hold it shut if there were high winds.

“It’s definitely on the ground,” Buck called out to the staff working frantically in the kitchen. “I can’t tell how far. The debris field makes it hard to tell distance or directionality.”

The waitress appeared. “The cooler is almost ready. But can’t we just shelter in the kitchen?”

“You want to shelter in a large open room with knives?” Buck asked. “No thanks. I’d rather be in the outdoor bathroom.”

She shuddered. “Right.”

There was a sudden crack of shattering glass as something got thrown through the far window. “And that’s our cue.” Buck picked Chris up under his arm and headed swiftly into the kitchen.

“I’m too old to be carried around,” Chris protested.

“Like hell. Tornadoes trump age-related ego.” He tucked Chris into the far corner of the cooler, noting the temperature, which wasn’t as bad as it could have been, considering they’d spent five minutes with the door open emptying it of anything on the shelves that could fall on them.

He worked swiftly with the small restaurant staff and one other customer to get everyone inside the walk-in and as much of the stuff out of the cooler as possible. The pit master, who normally worked out back was a huge bear of man who went by Big Vaughn and seemed to know Christopher, and was on friendly enough terms with him that Chris didn’t mind the big guy in his space.

“Wasn’t there another customer in the restaurant?” Buck asked, looking around.

The waitress shook her head, looking disgusted. “They freaked out and took off to their car. I tried to stop them.”

Buck sighed as he grabbed one of the kitchen staff who was trying to do one more thing rather than hunkering down and riding it out.

They were all fully in the kitchen, but he could hear more glass breaking in the dining area, with the building starting to tremble. “I think we’re out of time; everyone in!”

Vaughn abandoned his post keeping Christopher company and helped Buck secure the door. They’d lined the edges to hopefully keep it from sealing, and they threaded some doubled loops of bungee cord through the handle to hold the door closed.

“Are we sure this is safe?” one of the cooks asked.

“Absolutely not,” Buck said smoothly. “This is just the best of a whole bunch of bad options. But there’s nothing above us to fall, so hunker down and ride it out.” Buck went to Chris, who had a couple of big T-shirts on that read Big Vaughn’s BBQ Shack.

“That’s all we had that could help with warmth,” Vaughn offered from the door.

“Appreciated,” Buck offered with a smile as he slid down the side wall to pull Chris close enough to shelter him with his body if necessary.

Vaughn and his two cooks were staying near the door to ensure it stayed shut as everything began to shake even harder.

“We need a better bad habit,” Chris muttered as he pressed close to Buck’s side.

“It is most definitely not a habit,” Buck said emphatically. “Bad or otherwise. It’s a terrible coincidence. And we are not getting separated this time. I’ll find some super glue and glue you to my side if you think there’s a chance we’re not going to be together through the whole thing.”

Chris pressed his face against Buck’s shoulder. “No way. We’re stuck with one another; no glue required.”

“Eddie, though….”

Chris heaved a dramatic sigh. “Yeah. Dad is going to put us on house arrest. He’s going to take us back to LA and stare at us a lot until he feels better about life.”

Buck laughed. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Sounds boring. Maybe we can convince him to reassure himself of proof of life while we all go to Universal Studios…?”

“Good luck with that plan.”

~*~

“Where did we park the car?” Chris asked, staring around in astonishment.

“I’m honestly not sure.” He kept Chris held tight to his side. “That’s not right, I know where we parked it, but I just don’t have any idea where that parking spot is anymore.” He hesitated. “Or where any of the cars are.”

“Wasn’t it blue?”

“Yeah, light blue.”

Chris had his hand braced above his eyes like a shade because the sun was blinding now that the skies had cleared. “I think it’s on top of the Thrifty.”

Buck stared. “I really hope that’s not our car.”

“Not like we’re going anywhere.”

Buck sighed. The tornado had wiped out the dining room half of the restaurant, but the kitchen half was mostly intact. “Tornadoes are really capricious, aren’t they?” But the roads were completely unpassable regardless of what kind of structural damage had been done. Debris was everywhere.

“I actually know that word, and yes.” Chris looked around, surveying the damage with the same sort of bewildered shock everyone else had going on.

Buck poked at his cell phone and continued to get the “all circuits are busy,” but he sent another text to Eddie, even though he immediately got another red exclamation point for his efforts.

“Nothing?” Chris asked.

“Nothing.”

“Well, Dad knows where we are, and wandering around seems like a recipe for tetanus.” Chris eyed the damage dubiously. “I vote we stay put and let him find us.”

“You’re actually not wrong about tetanus.”

“I’m not?”

“No. The soil churned up by the tornado is a more likely source of tetanus than all the building debris, though.”

“Really?”

“Mm.” Buck looked around, trying to figure out their next steps. Fortunately, people generally seemed to know what to do in a tornado and, other than the damage to clear in order for the roads to be passable, there weren’t any reports he’d heard so far of major injuries or people being trapped. The tornado had carved a very bizarre path, making odd turns before dissipating suddenly.

Big Vaughn rounded the corner of the building, a big grin on his face. “Despite the high winds and all the debris flying about, the outdoor smokers and firepit weren’t damaged a lick, and I’ve got my whole evening’s sales now sitting there. You boys hungry? I’m going to pack most of this up for local first responders to drop by and pick up while they put in the hours to deal with this mess, but y’all might as well eat while you wait for Eddie and Ramon to get off their asses and get over here.”

“I could eat,” Chris said, perking up. “We were mid-lunch when nature decided to mess with our whole day.”

“Perfect! Picnic tables out back I use for prep even survived. They just got blowed over. Come on.”

“How far are the roads blocked?”

“Not far,” Vaughn responded. “Less than a quarter of a mile the direction you came from, and everything is clear from there. I’ve been on my old CB talking to the sheriff. He’s going to try to get in touch with Ramon, but circuits are jammed for everyone. Don’t worry. Eddie knew where y’all were headed. They’ll be here soon enough.”

It was only ten minutes later when they heard Eddie’s panicked voice calling both of their names. Chris was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the picnic table, face covered in barbecue sauce, sucking on a rib like he was a fucking caveman, when Eddie and Ramon came charging around the corner.

“Hey, Dad! Abuelo! We have food!” He waved ribs in both hands.

Eddie stopped short and just stared.

Ramon gave a long, slow release of breath and seemed to regain his equilibrium faster than his son, crossing to say hello to Big Vaughn before ruffling Christopher’s hair. He accepted a plate of food and sat across from Buck. “Don’t tell your grandmother.”

“Tell her what?” Chris said, faking innocent very poorly. “We’ve just been waiting for a ride.”

Eddie finally managed to get his feet into motion and practically collapsed next to Buck, patting his hands over Christopher as if he were going to find an injury under all the sauce. “You’re okay?”

“My lunch got interrupted, but Big Vaughn is feeding us while he packs up everything left over for the first responders.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Eddie said weakly.

Big Vaughn dropped an enormous plate of food in front of Eddie. “Welcome home, Edmundo. Clearly, Texas wants you to leave again, so get eatin’ and then get goin’.”

Eddie snorted in amusement. “Hey, Vaughn. Thanks for the food and for looking out for these two trouble magnets.”

“Now, Eddie,” Buck began.

Eddie held up a hand, but the effect was ruined by the rib he was holding. “You can try later to convince me that this has nothing to do with the two of you.” He looked around while starting to gnaw on the ribs. “Where’s the car?”

“It’s on the Thrifty,” Chris said cheerily.

Eddie gave him a look. “You two are only ever allowed to go to the zoo. And only if you take an Uber.”

“Now, Eddie, be reasonable.”

He got a mouthful of meat, ripped it off the bone, and gave Buck a toothy grin. “This is my reasonable face.”

“Pretty sure his reasonable face has changed over the years,” Ramon faux whispered to Christopher, who burst out laughing.

“It’s not the worst natural disaster we’ve been in,” Buck said.

“We’ll start ranking them.” Chris gave a firm nod.

“You will not start ranking them,” Eddie said on a near-screech. “Ranking implies there will be another. I’m done! No more. Zoo trips only. Possibly only petting zoos!”

Ramon looked at Buck and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “When did he become this high-strung?”

“Pops!”

The End