under pressure

✧

"Fire and Rescue. Hello!" Bobby opened the unlocked door to the home with Buck and Olivia quietly following after him as they shared an uneasy expression at their environment. The call they received from dispatch wasn't too detailed but the facts of the call were enough to make them all worried especially when the word grenade was uttered.

"I'm back here." A faint voice called out.

"Kind of weird that the door was unlocked," Olivia murmured.

"The guys not worried about intruders," Buck scoffed as he motioned to the military insignia littered around the home. "He's equipped with a damn grenade."

"Touché, Buckley, touché," she hummed.

"Hey, chatterboxes." Bobby snapped his fingers at the two. "Can we focus on finding this guy?" They nodded in sync, immediately pursing their lips and following after Bobby as his footsteps quickened once the voice picked up again. He finally found the right door, twisting it open and spotting the wounded guy in a chair. "What's your name, sir?"

"Charlie," he answered.

Once they spotted the situation's intensity, Olivia and Buck ran over with their medic bags in hand. He had been lying down in a reclining chair with an overhead lamp shining directly over his wounded leg with the grenade embedded.

"Alright, tell us what happened, Charlie."

"Damn grenade went off while I was taking it apart," Charlie stated.

"Why are you taking apart a grenade?" Buck asked the question on everyone's mind.

"I was cleaning it. I'm a collector."

"Did you pull the pin?" Olivia asked.

"Oh, it ain't that kind of grenade," he retorted. "It's a 40 mike-mike. A practice round for M203 grenade launcher. I picked it up at a flea market in Brea, part of my 'Nam collection. My screwdriver must have touched the propelling charge. I..."

"Alright, I see metal," Bobby cut in. "A lot of shrapnel. Femoral artery's been nicked. We got to get him transported now." He grabbed his walkie, relaying the information to the hospital as they rolled him over to the cabin of the ambulance. "I've got an adult male, age 65, with a large piece of shrapnel in his right thigh. Femoral artery damage with profuse bleeding, ten minutes out. Buck, I want you to travel with him to the hospital, keep him stable."

"Oh, Cap, I don't think there's space for the four of us back there," Buck motioned to him and the shorter firefighter attached to his hip.

"I said, Buck. Not Buck and Liv," Bobby corrected.

Despite the tug on her arm, all Olivia did was send him a sickly sweet smile before following after their captain as they entered the firetruck and drove right behind the ambulance. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, up until the moment, they arrived at the hospital and were met by a bomb squad telling them that the grenade in Charlie's leg was not in fact a practice round like they originally thought it was.

"Well, we can't bring him inside of a hospital with people," Olivia huffed.

"We called military."

"The military?" Buck scoffed at the guy. "Uh, can't you do it? You're bomb squad."

"You can't diffuse a grenade. We need to find someone who knows how to pull that thing out of him without setting it off. They're sending a guy from Pendleton. Should be here within the hour."

"He doesn't have an hour," Liv said.

"I can do it," Eddie suddenly volunteered. "If he doesn't go to surgery soon, he'll die."

"You've done this before?" Bobby questioned.

"Well, none of the guys I served with were dumb enough to shoot a live round in themselves, but I'm familiar with the ordinance," Eddie assured.

Anyone could see the wheels turning in Buck's head as Eddie spoke. The blonde looked at him and then turned to everyone else, "I'm in."

Olivia facepalmed, knowing this could go two ways. Either Buck and Eddie become great friends and this entire grenade situation would be a blessing in disguise or everyone goes boom and this was all for nothing.

Thankfully, the first scenario played out, and Buck and Eddie seemed to get along well in the midst of a high-intensity situation.

✶❤︎✶❤︎

Returning back from a call from their recent call where a guy had gotten his head trapped in a microwave filled with cement, everyone had been scattered around throughout the upper level of the firehouse.

Buck and Eddie were by the pinball machine due to their newfound friendship, Hen and Olivia were seated at the table directly across from them gossiping about any and everything, Chimney was eating in the kitchen, and Bobby was off doing God knows what.

"Hey, what about G.I.?" Buck asked Eddie. "Like G.I. Joe. That's a great nickname."

"Sounds like gastrointestinal," Hen spoke.

"Second that," Olivia chirped. "Not everyone needs a nickname..." Trailing off, her eyebrows knitted together and her lips pursed together. "Actually, Eddie is already a nickname if we're being technical."

"Liv's got a point," Eddie shrugged.

Buck scoffed, "But—"

Holding her hand up, she shook her head and shut him right up. "No."

"Alright, everybody, listen up," Bobby announced as he climbed the staircase and gained everyone's attention. "I've got an announcement to make. I just got off the phone with the people from the calendar, and they have made their choice."

"Well, no hard feelings no matter who won." Buck extended his fist to Eddie who reciprocated the gesture.

"That's nice but it wasn't you," Bobby informed.

"Well, it's obviously a fix," Buck exclaimed. "No, congratulation anyway, G.I.!"

"They didn't pick him either."

"That's my captain!" Olivia cheered.

Bobby smiled but shook his head. At the sound of someone loudly biting into a stick of celery, they all turned to glance at Chimney, who then turned to look behind him, surprised that he was chosen for the calendar.

"No way," Chimney said. "You got to be kidding me."

"No, congratulations, Chim!" Bobby shouted. "Or should I say, Mr. April?"

"No way. Are you serious?" He questioned, still baffled.

Everyone stood to join him in the kitchen, celebrating his victory while he processed the moment.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Athena's voice broke them out from the celebratory moment as she made her way over to Bobby. Hen and Liv shared a sly look, throwing each other a subtle thumbs up while the officer cupped Bobby's face in apology and sealed it with a kiss.

"Woah, woah," Chimney muttered while the rest of the boys look just as shocked.

Bobby turned to look at his team with a smile on his face. "What are you all looking at? There's no more announcements."

"Pay up." Hen and Olivia held their hands out for the three boys in front of them.

"Wait a minute, you told her?" Bobby turned to the younger female firefighter.

Hen dropped her jaw in shock as she turned to a guilty-looking Olivia. "Wait, you knew?"

"I'm sorry! What is going on?" Buck asked.

"Bobby told me!" Olivia blurted out. "We were talking one night during a very long shift and he blurted out that he and Athena were dating! But he sort of swore me to secrecy. And then you guys decided to come to me with your stupid theory which wasn't much of a theory and so I decided to—"

"Play us all," Hen scoffed. "I told Chim we needed to watch out for the young ones. You and Buck...sneaky!"

Olivia feigned offense, holding her hand to the left side of her chest. "Why aren't we more focused on them?"

Hen playfully rolled her eyes but still chose to give Olivia half of the money. Once it was in her possession, she was pocketing it and walked over to Buck and Eddie who were perched comfortably on the couch.

"I want my money back," Buck grumbled to himself. "Cheater."

"You're just mad I didn't let you in on my dirty little secret," she teased.

He flicked the bottom of her ear and nodded. "I am mad." Then he decided to throw his arm around her shoulder grinning widely. "But I forgive you."

"You two are close," Eddie pointed out the obvious.

"We're close now," Buck corrected. "Liv could not stand me my first few weeks here."

"I wonder why that was?" Olivia mused. She shook off Buck's arm and shifted her body to face Eddie. "This guy could not keep it in his pants. He even tried with me. Did he ever tell you about the time he stole the fi—"

"I think that's enough out of you," Buck interjected. "Not everyone needs to know about that."

"Oh, no, I need to know all about that," Eddie countered.

"You know what?" Buck let out a playful huff as he hopped off of the couch, loudly clapping his hands together. "If you're going to talk about me, I'll leave."

"Bye!" Watching as Buck headed toward Athena and Bobby, Olivia averted her attention back to Eddie with a faint smile on her face. "Get comfortable, I have so many stories."

"Or I can get to know you a little better?" Eddie switched the topic as he scooted closer on the couch to fill the space where Buck was once sitting. "I haven't been here for long but we haven't had much of a chance to speak."

"Yeah...I think that sounds like a better idea."