there goes the neighborhood

✧

"What is this? Ebola?"

The team eyed the victims they were tending to in utter confusion, a group of women collectively had blood dripping from their eyes and nose. It didn't help that the team was dressed in personal protective gear to prevent them from coming in contact with whatever was going on with the situation.

The team continued circling and taking their blood pressure, the results for the most part were completely fine. However, there was one woman whose blood pressure was slightly elevated but that still didn't explain the reason behind the bleeding.

It wasn't until the man, the only person who wasn't bleeding, regained consciousness and pointed out the fact that all of the women there were high. Therefore, explaining why it looked like they walked onto a crime scene.

"Looks like they were smoking something...pink."

"Puffer's Paradise!"

"You buy from them too!" One of the women exclaimed.

"No, but we've been treating quite a few of their customers," Hen said.

"Is that a dispensary?"

"Yeah, online," Olivia explained. "They were pretty popular during the shutdown in March. The only problem is they don't tell their customers the products are synthetic and laced with superwarfarin."

"Rat poison."

"Prolongs the high," Chimney added.

"Okay, let's push fluids to support their blood pressure. They'll need parenteral vitamin K and fresh-frozen plasma. ASAP."

"Are you the only ones using?" Bobby asked. "We need to know if you gave some to anyone else."

"I-I gave some to Kate down the block for her anxiety. Oh, and Mr. Carpenter for his bad back. Oh, and the nice lady on the corner for her arthritis."

"Liv, Eddie, Buck, start knocking on doors. See if any of the neighbors are experiencing symptoms."

When Eddie stood to join Buck and Olivia, the woman he was assisting smacked his backside. Before anyone could react, his girlfriend marched over with her finger raised and eyebrows furrowed.

"What the hell is wrong with you, lady? I know you're high but you didn't magically turn into an idiot, did you? Say something!"

Eddie shot Buck a wide-eyed look before dropping a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder and nudging her so they could continue their job. "You have a very murderous look in your eyes. We should probably head out before you get in trouble."

"It's not my fault that lady was stupid. You can't just touch people without their consent and you especially cannot touch my boyfriend!"

"Don't worry. You're the only one who can touch me."

Buck rolled his eyes as he walked behind them. "Someone kill me, please."

✶❤︎✶❤︎

Olivia peered up behind the dark sunglasses shielding her eyes and stared at the tall figure in front of her. She glanced to her left and then patted the empty lawn chair to the right of her.

"We saved you a seat. Figured you'd be running late with work."

"Didn't know we were bringing guests," Tyler raised his eyebrow. "Nice to see you again, Eddie." He waved at Christopher. "Hey, buddy."

"Hi, Tyler," Christopher beamed.

Eddie nodded at the man. "Nice to see you too, man."

It was the evening and the two firefighters had just finished their shift, picked Christopher up from his Tia Pepa's house, and headed straight to the recreational field to watch Kai's last soccer game. It had been all the eight-year-old could talk about for the past few days, so attending the game was a top priority.

Olivia leaned over and nudged Tyler so she could whisper in his ear. "Kai really wanted them to come. I'm sorry I should've mentioned it to you."

"It's not a big deal," Tyler shrugged. "I wish I knew beforehand but obviously, I'll have to get used to this. How's Kai doing so far?"

"He's doing pretty good. Seems like he's improved on his dribbling from last time."

"Yeah, that was their focus at last week's practice."

Olivia hummed before staring back out at the field, she could feel Eddie give her a reassuring squeeze on the knee and faintly smiled. The game continued for quite a while, most of it was watched in silence besides the occasional yelling from Olivia and the few curious questions that Christopher would ask.

Once the game concluded, they all waited while Kai and his fellow teammates got a medal to commemorate the end of their season. When he was done taking a team photo, the eight-year-old came barreling toward his mother's leg and wrapped his arms around her.

"Hi, munchkin! You did so good."

"Thanks, mama," Kai beamed up at her. Then he turned his head toward his father and plastered on an innocent expression. "Can we go get ice cream, Dad?"

"Of course we can." Tyler glanced at Olivia, Eddie, and Christopher. "You guys joining us?"

"Only if the MVP wants us to," Eddie teased.

Kai rolled his eyes as he grabbed ahold of his mother's hand. "Of course I do."

"Then we'll happily join you guys."

✶❤︎✶❤︎

"It was a suspiciously good evening. I'm pretty sure I even saw Eddie and Tyler talking to each other." Olivia recapped the previous night to Buck as she and him were paired up while searching a neighborhood for a turkey that was going around and attacking the residents.

"Shouldn't that be a good thing?" Buck asked. "Your boyfriend and baby daddy are finally getting along."

"I know. I should be ecstatic but I can't help but have this gut feeling that maybe it's all too good to be true."

"Well, maybe you should stop trying to find issues that aren't there and just focus on the positive. They're finally getting along."

Olivia hummed and acknowledged his words before switching the subject. "How was your night? You went on a date right?"

Asking Buck about his date ended up opening a can of worms that couldn't be closed. After finally opening himself up and diving back into the dating pool, he quickly found out that it wasn't as easy as it used to be, and his date ended up terribly. Not only was his date terrible, but he also wasn't able to just leave the date in the past because he soon found out that they lived next door to one another.

"It's not like Veronica knew she lived next door to you when you guys went out."

"We don't know that she didn't," Buck said. "You know, my therapist says everyone needs a safe space, a place where you can fully be yourself. My apartment was that place."

"Buck, it's just a crazy coincidence. Your apartment is still your safe place."

"I just don't wanna live like this. Always looking over my shoulder."

Right when he said that the bushes began to rustle and the two froze in their tracks and slowly turned around to see Sonny, the turkey. Olivia quickly whipped out the blueberries from her bag and tossed them at the turkey while Buck grabbed the net launcher to apprehend the animal.

"Seemed so harmless feeding him," one of the residents said as they watched animal control transport the turkey. "He was like the neighborhood pet."

"You know, I don't think I even know my neighbors," Chimney said.

"You will, very soon," Bobby patted him on the shoulder.

Eddie chuckled. "New baby, little apartment..."

"Thin walls."

"Never let them get too close."

"Exactly.

———————————

authors note

-short chapter but there wasn't too much going on in this episode!