the "temporary fiancé"

"I'm not going to lie, this wedding stuff is kind of fun." Buck stated when he and Josephine escaped his jeep after parking in front of a bridal store. The two spent their day off to marking off a few things on the to do list in preparation for Josephine's wedding. "Never thought I would be in this stage of my life." 

The brunette contorted a perplexed expression at him. "You're not even the one getting married. You're here for moral support, temporarily filling in for my fiancé." 

"You mean your temporary fiancé." He fondly corrected, earning an instant eye roll from the woman. She lost count the number of times that he attempted with that title. More so, the fact people assumed they were an engaged couple throughout the day.

"Thankfully, this is our last stop of the day. And I won't have to hear you proclaim that name again." Josephine truthfully expressed, pushing the door to the bridal shop open. 

Both of their ears were met with the soothing strings of a classical song resonating to the prestigious display of the bridal shop. Elegant wedding gowns plastered on the mannequin displays every where you look. Even complimentary candies and champagne glasses on on the side for the arrival of scheduled customers. 

"Damn," Buck muttered out. "Shouldn't you have a bridal party with you? Like the reality show, 'Say Yes to the Dress'?" He asked curiously. 

Josephine glanced up, "I already picked out my dress. We're here for a fitting." She answered when the bridal consultant sauntered her way to the latter. 

"Ah, Josephine, it's so lovely to see you again. I believe we have a fitting for your wedding gown today. Must be very exciting." The blond haired older woman beamed in delight at the brunette. She switched over to Buck besides her. "This must be Bryan, your fiancé?" 

Flattered by the compliment, Buck lets out a small chuckle. "Actually, I'm Evan- her temporary fiancé." He grinned widely as Josephine covered her mouth. 

Marie, the bridal consultant shared an uneasy expression- quite confused by the term. Josephine interjected, "He's just a friend that tagged along as moral support today." 

"Alright, let's get started." Marie calmly replied, leading the duo down to the staging area of the shop. She supplied Buck a complimentary glass of champagne and snacks at the couch before taking Josephine to the back to slip into her wedding dress. 

In the back inside the dressing room, Josephine stared into her reflection in the large three way mirror. Her hands slid down the fabric of the wedding dress she chose to wear on her biggest day of her life. She realized for a second that she hadn't exhale after sucking in her breath. Despite the distress of finalizing parts of the wedding, this significant moment made it feel more surreal. Soon she'll have a husband, another milestone in which her father won't be present nor walk her down the aisle. 

A couple knocks on the door took the young bride out of her trance. "Josie, are you ready to come out?" 

Meanwhile, Buck munched on the colorful macarons that were small in comparison to his hand holding the sweet pastry. Amid eating another macaron, Marie sang out presenting Josie on the walk way. 

Josephine stepped onto the walk way facing Buck, nervously taking long strides towards him for display. There was a churn in the pit of her stomach for some reason to be out in this dress in front of the young man.

 As if he wasn't supposed to see her. 

For Buck, his blue eyes instantly locked onto the sight of the brunette he's worked side by side for the last couple of months. Though this view appeared differently than the woman whom he shared banter during their shifts. He sharply inhaled, completely speechless for some odd reason. He couldn't deny her beauty considering it was his first impression meeting her. 

Something about Josephine radiated angelic features in the wedding dress. The way those brunette locks cascaded pass her shoulders with her anxious smile gracing upon her lips. His jaw fell as she near to the end of the walk way. Inside his chest, tugged a piece of his heart. He felt like the groom at the end of the alter waiting for her to stun the guests anticipating to see the gorgeous bride. 

Josephine halted and smoothed her hands down her dress. She deeply exhaled then finally made direct eye contact with the blue eyed man in awestruck. Neither spoke until Marie intervened with a small smirk curved upon her lips. "So, Evan as her temporary fiancé. I believe we can agree this dress is amazing on our lovely bride?" 

He cleared his throat out of nerves and stares from both women. Brushing his hands onto his jeans before rising to his feet, nodding along. "Y-Yeah, y-you look wow."

"Uh, thanks." Josephine blushed. 

"Bryan is going to be blown away. He's a lucky guy." 

 After the breathtaking moment between Buck and Josephine at the bridal shop, brushing it off- the two friends returned to Josephine's place for dinner. She decided to cook dinner for her "temporary fiancé" for tagging along on wedding planning ventures. Buck sat at the counter watching the woman prep tacos for themselves, extra for Bryan supposed to be arriving home from work. 

Her fiancé waltz through the front door, starving for a meal and her blissful kisses. What he didn't expect was a guest in their penthouse laughing away with his fiancé. He clutched onto his keys and entered the room. 

"Hey babe, you're just in time because I made some tacos." Josephine beamed after noticing his return. "Oh, and Buck is joining us for helping me with wedding stuff today." 

Buck stood up, paving his way towards Bryan. "Hey man, it's finally nice to meet you." He outstretched his hand. 

"You too." Bryan took his hand with a friendly grin. "I saw you on the news a couple weeks ago." He strolled over to Josephine, furrowing his brows. "I thought we were finalizing the rest of the wedding stuff, babe?"

"We are." She affirmed. "Buck offered to help on our day off with the minor parts of the wedding, considering Vanessa couldn't. We could do that tonight after dinner." 

His phone rang in his pocket before responding to his fiancé. Bryan picked it up to read the incoming text message. Both Buck and Josephine's eyes directed to the unreadable expression of the man staring at his phone. When his eyes lifted, he switched gazes between the latter mostly at his fiancé's worried expression. 

"Something wrong, babe?" 

"Uh yeah, Lucas said there's a mishap with our proposal and needs my help on it." Bryan answered. 

Josephine stared in bewilderment, "Right now? You literally got home. Can't you two work over the phone or something?" 

"No, it's really important if we want to get this deal tomorrow."

Buck saw the faltering expression spread on the brunette's face. He found it confusing himself by Bryan's behavior in spite meeting him mere seconds ago. "Important than our wedding?" She inquired. 

Bryan exhaled a sigh, briefly looking at the man on the stool. "Of course not, but we need this deal, Josie." He approached his fiancé and rested a hand upon her waist. "Just for tonight, okay?"

"Yeah, go ahead." Josephine dismissed, removing his hand from her hip and continued chopping the tomato on the board. 

He dropped his head, momentarily. Going for his keys and suitcase not before waving off to Buck, awkwardly simmering the tension between the couple. As soon the sound of the front door shut, the brunette breathed out. "Sorry you had to witness all that. This wedding is around the corner and my fiancé seems to prioritize his work before us. He's been distant which makes me think he has cold feet." She roughly suspected. 

"I doubt that Bryan has cold feet, Josie." Buck declared in a firm tone. "Maybe it's this business deal is the reason why he's distant." He tried to assure his friend. 

"Buck, I've known him since we were kids." Josephine dropped the knife to stare up at him. "Something's off and-"

He cuts her off, "And he's been in love with you since you two were kids. You need to take a deep breath and not get into your head about the worst case scenarios. He loves you."

Josephine's eyes soften at the sincerity from Buck's. She pursed her lips by the fluttering feeling in her stomach. "You're right. Maybe I am in over my head."

"Like I said, Bryan is a lucky guy to be marrying you." 

She giggled by the sweetness of his tone, "You know, I kind of enjoyed you being my "temporary fiancé" for the day. Thank you, Buck." 

"Does that mean I don't have to get you a gift for the wedding?"

"No! There's a wedding registry for a reason, Evan!"

Hen stirred the vegetables in the pan in the kitchen of the 118 firehouse while Josephine spoke about the previous day running wedding errands with Buck. She swiped through her camera roll to show a picture of her wedding dress. "So, what do you think of the dress?" Josephine inquired once displaying her phone to Hen. 

"You are drop dead gorgeous, Josie." The woman exclaimed, eyes enlarged by the majestic wedding dress. "I just can't believe you brought him along."

Both women maneuvered their eyes at the young man apparently distracted. She shrugged a little, "It wasn't that bad. Kind of enjoyed his company."  

Hen amusingly raised her brow at the brunette taking a glimpse at the tall blond man before returning to the picture on her phone. The older woman scoffed at Buck's hand snatching up a piece of sliced vegetable from the pan to eat. "Really? If you want some just ask."

Josephine snapped her head to see him mumbling out. "I'm good, I already ate." 

"You still owe me $20, Buck. Don't think I'm gonna forget." Hen mentioned to break Buck's stare. 

"Oh yeah, me too." Josephine raised her hand. 

Buck baffled by the two women, "For what?" He questioned. 

"For the damn cookie bouquet that I delivered to Chimney." Hen grabbed a bowl from the fridge. "The one with the get well card that I personally watched you sign?" She reminded, closing the door shut. 

Josephine quipped, "And the edible arrangement I sent. Not sure why you had to hop on both rather than one." She muttered the last part to herself. 

Buck ignored both women, "He's doing it again."

"What? Eating dinner?" Hen said as she and Josephine followed where the blond was staring at. 

"Staring into that book." Buck emphasized before reverting to his colleagues. "Come on, you guys must have a line of the gossip around here. What is it? Why is he so obsessed with it?" He desperately asked them. 

Hen and Josephine shared a look before Hen shook her head at him. "All I'm going to tell you about that book is to stay the hell away from it." She took her bowl and whispered. "Trust me. I made that mistake into three months working here." 

Buck's eyes wandered to the brunette woman on the stool. She surrendered, "I didn't even try after Hen's advice because we should mind our business."  

He rolled his eyes and leaned over on the counter, "So you're saying no one here know what he writes in it?" Neither woman bothered to respond. "Well watch this." He jumped off the counter with courage to unravel the mysterious black book their captain tends to keep in hiding. 

"Alright, Buckley. If he pops you in that pretty face just make sure it's on the side with the mark on it." Hen warned. 

Josephine laughed, joining the woman at the table. "I won't be crying at your grave, Evan." She sang out to the man. "Hate his big ego but it's cute and entertaining knowing he's going to get his ass beat." She propped her elbow on the table and rested her cheek onto her hand to watch it unfold horribly. 

Hen hummed in agreement, keeping eyes intact on Buck. The duo observed Buck using his charm on their captain. However, the outcome of it ended him pinned up by the older man. Josephine and Hen shook their heads when Buck looked over at them. Suddenly, the alarms went off in the firehouse of another call. 

The call the 118 was summoned for wasn't one anybody expected to arrive to. Civilians were screaming for their lives to get to safety on land from going down on a burning plane into the ocean in the Los Angeles area. There  were pieces of the plane and bodies flowing to shore in which was unsettling to witness. 

Instead of basking the horror of the scene, Bobby hustled his team to meet the Coast Guard preparing another life boat on the ocean. He asked about the incident commander in charge of the scene, resulting in being initiated for the position the next second.  

Bobby instructed Hen to check on the Coast Guard chopper while Josephine and Buck check with the dive team. As they bring the boat to the water, Josephine couldn't help to catch a glimpse of a dead body resting on the shore. She swallowed hard and swiftly turned ahead to proceed with her assignment. 

Nothing about this job deemed to be easy. There's a lot of unfortunate sights one will witness while bringing civilians to safety. Sometimes Josephine wished she could save them all. 

"The water's on fire." Buck exclaimed as the life boat approached the flaming plane. 

"That's jet fuel." Josephine roughly sighed, eyes remaining intact with the destroyed plane and screaming civilians scattering for survival from the pieces of aircraft to the water. 

Hen looked back at the team from the front of the life boat. "I count twelve to fifteen on the wing. At least thirty in the water! How long before that thing sinks?" She yelled. 

Bobby surveyed the scene, "Based on the timing of the swells, I don't think that plane could take four or five sets before going down." He informed. 

They all reflected to the tragedy unraveling in front of them. People on top of the aircraft were jumping off into the water as others gathered in hopes to be transported onto one of the life boats approaching. 

"Where the hell are we going to evacuate all these people to?" Buck heavily breathed out.

Bobby clutched onto a seat, passing by in the rocky plane. "We have to get these people out of here and to the beach." 

"And with this thing going down in four minutes, we need to move fast." Josephine grunted as the team tried to pave their way for civilians in need of their help. 

Fortunately for Hen, she found the emergency raft lever at the entrance of the plane. Once pulling it, she yelled out to the passengers to swim to the raft as time dwindled until the plane began sinking. 

Meanwhile, Josephine was the first to discover a man weighed down by a piece of aircraft. She looked over her shoulder, motioning to Buck and Bobby. "Guys! We have someone here!" The duo joined her side and assisted to take the piece off of the man she soon learned to be called Richard. 

"I can't get my seat belt off. It's digging into me." Richard cried out.

Hen appeared to his view and comforted him. "Stay with me, sir. Stay with me, okay?" Josephine and the other two gathered around the man. "I'm gonna pull this thing right off, okay?"

She looked up at the brunette with a brief nod. "We're gonna do this on three, okay?" She assured.

"One..."

Richard screamed in pain when the belt was immediately pulled off from his skin, stinging him. Bobby calmed the man as they bring him to his felt with ease. Hen brought her arm around Richard, "We're gonna get you off the plane." She pursue to escort the man off to the life boat. 

Josephine proceeded to followed Bobby further into the plane when she noticed Buck stuck in his stance. She patted his shoulder to gain his attention. "Come on, Buck. We don't have a lot of time." She sighed, understanding the overwhelming emotions in registering these high intense situations- specifically dead bodies. 

He nodded, taking a grip onto the hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, let's go." 

However, Josephine didn't expect to come across one that hit close to home. 

"Mommy, come on, we have to go." The young boy pleaded to his mother in their seats. 

Bobby came around to the mother and son's side. "Are you all right?" He questioned, analyzing the situation. "Are you trapped?" 

As the woman gestured her legs that were pinned by the seat, Josephine's eyes became alerted by it causing her to stop an eager Buck about to pull the chair. 

Tammy, the mother begged Bobby. "Please save him." 

Seeing the tears welling in her eyes, Bobby nodded in response then turned to Buck and Josephine. "All right, take the kid." 

"No, no! I'm not leaving without you!" The young boy protested. 

The mother switched her gaze between the members of the 118 and her son. "Okay, baby, listen. Look, look. These people are firefighters, okay? I need you to get on their boat so they can do their job. I need you to get on their boat so they can do their job." She sniffled, bringing a hand to caress his face while taking in the last look of her son. "If everyone is worried about you and your pretty face, how are they gonna do what they need to do to save me?"

She paused, "Have I ever lied to you? Then you have to believe me. I will be with you again so soon. Mommy loves you so much. Do this for me."

Josephine sharply inhaled with her lips parted as she listened to the mother speaking to her son. Her hand clutched on the cushion on the seat as she swallowed the lump down her throat. 

Diego Santiago dressed in his police uniform stumbled into the kitchen where his family was seated for breakfast. He rushed up to his wife at the counter for a blissful kiss. After, he pressed a kiss onto his eldest daughter's forehead as she devoured her cereal. Finally, he came reached his youngest daughter- a five year old Josephine squealing at the sight of her father. 

He chuckled endlessly when she instantly wrapped her arms around his neck. The man held the back of his child's head and pulled away. "I gotta head off to work, sweetie. Before I say goodbye," He raised his pinky. 

Josephine smiled and followed to interlock their pinkies. They twisted their arms and looked at each other. "Safe and Sound." Said in unison before lightly kissing each other's hands. 

"Josie!" Bobby's voice snapped the girl from her trance where Buck noted the woman spacing off. "Take the kid and go!" 

She quickly nodded and took the little boy into her arms. "Come on. I got you." She held him tightly, passing through to the end of the plane. "It's gonna be okay. We'll take good care of you." 

At the end of the opening of the plane, Josephine carefully passed the child into the arms of the Coast Guard with other survivors seating inside. She offered a hand Hen to climb out of the boat and find other people that could possibly be stuck on the plane. 

Suddenly, the plane shook having Josephine and Hen holding onto the seats and each other for balance. This became a warning that soon the plane will be going down. Noting that and the rapid rise of the water, Bobby ordered his team to keep on the search in the back of the plane. 

There was banging noises heard from the bathroom where Hen, Josephine, and Buck found a couple crying out for someone to hear them. Although, the trio was having trouble to move the heavy weight blocking the door. "They're trapped in there." Josephine grunted. 

She cursed herself under the pressure to resolve the issue with a sinking aircraft that'll occur in the next few minutes. Blocking out the noises, the motor whirring ignited an idea to the young woman. She pressed on the walkie. "Wait, hold the boat!"  

Eventually, Buck understood where the woman sought out to fix their issue. "Tie the rope to the cart." She passed the rope from the medic bag to a confused Hen. After quickly explaining to the woman, she assisted in tying a knot while Buck ran off to throw the other end of the rope for the Coast Guard to tie it on the boat. 

"Good to go!" Hen notified. 

Both woman overheard the young man ushering the Coast Guard to start the engine and go. They grabbed for one another and pushed to the side to stay clear of the incoming container. "Shit." Josephine breathed out. 

She and Hen raced to break out the couple inside the bathroom. They guided them out to the aisle and on the way towards the boat waiting for them. "We got you, we got you. Come on. There's a step." 

"Watch your step. Y'all walk ahead." Hen told. "Get on the boat." 

As Hen continued to move with the couple, Josephine averted to Bobby and the woman. She went to take a step until a hand gripped onto her wrist. Her eyes lifted to meet a worrisome Buck. "We have to get on the boat." 

"Come on, y'all! We don't have time! Get on!" Hen yelled out to the latter. 

Josephine ripped her arm from Buck's grasp and pressed on the walkie. "Bobby, it's time to go. Get out of there!" 

"Evacuate all rescue personnel. Everyone off the plane now." Bobby said on the line. 

"That means you too, Cap." Josephine argued. 

He replied, "I need a minute!" 

This time Buck intervened the line. "A minute? In a minute you'll die." He deadpanned. 

When Bobby didn't answer back, Josephine took the initiative to seek out their captain in spite of Buck's protests. "Josie!"

"Go with Hen! I promise I'll be back!" She rushed out from his arm's reach in search of their captain. Buck huffed and complied to her orders going with Hen, who thought the young woman was crazy. 

Other than Buck and Hen, Bobby scolded the young woman the moment he saw her swimming towards him and Tammy. She ignored him, advising to take the rope and tie it on the seat. Only a matter of seconds, where she couldn't see the man nor the woman anymore- causing to call out for her captain's name in a frantic. 

It brought her relief when someone harnessed to the helicopter managed to pull Bobby and Tammy from underwater. She swam to the life boat where Buck easily pulled her up and into his warm embrace. In that moment, she felt the urge to cling onto him as vulnerable emotions overcame her. 

Hen softly smiled and covered the woman with a solar blanket. "I thought Buck was reckless, now I have to worry about you?" She narrowed. "If you ever pull something like that, Josie. I'll beat your ass." 

"If that means saving someone other than myself, I'll be willing to, Hen." She coughed out, leaning into Buck. 

The young man rubbed her arm for warmth, deeply sighing. "Scared me there, Josephine." 

"As if you don't scare the team with your little stunts, Evan."

Josephine didn't waste any time to jump to her feet and attend to the wounded by the time they've reached shore. Of course, both Buck and Hen reeled her back to get checked the first few minutes. After, Hen left the duo to find Bobby since flying off with the Coast Guard in the helicopter. 

The duo began enabling their assistance to the wounded at the recovery site on the beach. Following to snatch a few supplies from an area, they were caught off guard by one of the survivors. "Thank you, we owe you everything!" The younger woman grasping onto Josephine's arm to express her gratitude. 

"You saved our lives!" Her boyfriend added. 

Taken back by their words, Buck and Josephine sheepishly grinned. "Uh, it's a team effort, ya know?" He answered. 

"Part of our jobs, really." Josephine shrugged. 

"We're getting married!" The younger man held onto his now fiancé laying on the makeshift bed. 

She blushed, "He asked me as soon as we made it to dry land."

Abruptly, Buck's phone rang in which he quickly spared his congratulations to the young couple and wandered off to answer the call. Josephine's eyes trailed after him then averted back to the couple. "That's amazing. I'm really happy for you two." 

"Congrats on your engagement too!" Josephine reflected to the ring on her finger where the woman stared. "You two must be really happy." She nodded off to Buck standing in a distance in a midst of a call. 

Josephine let out a laugh, "Thanks, but he's not my fiancé. We're only co-workers." 

 "Sorry, I have this belief that there's something between you two." 

Her fiancé chuckled out, rubbing his hand on her shoulder. "Excuse her, she finds herself playing cupid or senses a great romantic dynamic of two people by watching rom coms." 

She swatted at the man. "Hey! I have a great sense when it comes to love especially between two people that don't know it yet." She sweetly smiled up to Josephine. 

"Well, I might prove you wrong when I'll be walking down the aisle in a few months." Josephine winked at the couple. 

"Bobby? Bobby, open up!" Hen pounded her fist on Bobby's apartment door that morning. Buck continued to ring up their captain while Josephine waited for her turn to knock on the door as she leaned against the wall in the hallway. 

Buck looked between the women. "He ever gone MIA like this before?" He asked. 

Hen and Josephine shared a look then sighed. "No. Honestly, I don't, I don't know much about his story before he took over the house." Hen truthfully told. 

"Just that he, uh...he's in recovery." Josephine cleared her throat, leading her to recall that nobody really knew about Bobby's backstory. 

Ringing their captain for the tenth time, Buck paused and silenced his colleagues. "You heart it? You hear that?" He shuffled towards the door as Hen and Josephine listened to the ringtone on the other side of the door. 

Buck nodded to himself, stretching his arms to clear a pathway towards the door. "I'm gonna kick it down." He pronounced in preparation. 

"Uh, no you're not." Josephine pushed him to the side. "I have a better idea. Let me pick at his lock which is a safer and easier idea." She started to pull the bobby pin out of her hair and saunter to the door. 

Hen's hand blocked the brunette. "I have a better idea." She slipped out a key to the duo, shaking her head. "Bobby and I gave each other spare keys just in case one of us couldn't make it home one day." 

"Um...I think I should feel offended that I didn't get one." Josephine commented. 

The blond nudged her, "Maybe we should give each other spare keys then." 

"So you can use my penthouse to bring your dates home?" She hummed out. "I think not, Evan." 

Hen unlocked the door, bursting it open to Bobby's apartment which kind of seemed empty. Scanning around the lonesome apartment, the trio soon found their captain knocked out on his bed through the opened doorway. 

They emerged inside the bedroom to wake up their captain. As Buck attempted, Josephine pressed her lips and lifted up an empty liquor bottle. Hen sighed, poking at Buck. "Come on, let's just get him up." 

When they laid Bobby inside the shower with caution, Hen flipped the knob to the shower faucet on- immediately awakening the older man. His eyes fluttered open to meet the trio staring down at him. 

All of them were now sitting in Bobby's living room. The older man felt eyes resting upon him. Finally, Buck took the lead to break the silence. "How long has it been?"

"546 days. 45 and a half if we're being picky." He exhausted a sigh. "Days. 18 months." 

Josephine bit her lip, "The crash was hard core."

"Yup." Bobby replied as Hen made him a cup of tea. He thanked her while she sat on the coffee table. 

She pressed her lips together, "We all have our breaking point. Who were you cooking dinner for? There's four plates set." Briefly glancing back at the round table. 

"I don't know. I was drunk." He shook his head, lowering his gaze. Then looking up to assure his team. "I'm going to be fine. It was a one time thing. I promise, okay? I'm good." He switched over to each one of them. "I'm sorry I put you guys through this."

"You know why redwoods can grow so high?" Hen asked Bobby. "They move and bend with the wind. If you stay rigid, eventually you'll break."

"You calling me uptight?" Bobby furrowed, flickering at Josephine and Buck. "She's calling me uptight, isn't she?" 

Both Buck and Josephine stifled a laugh. "Maybe ask for help once in a while?" Josephine suggested. 

Bobby's lip quivered as his voice broke. "Help." He started to sob and showcase his vulnerability, leaving the trio to come to engulf the man in a comforting matter. "I'm sorry, you guys. I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

At the end of the shift, Josephine closed the locker door after exchanging from her uniform to regular clothes. She picked up her bag and exited out of the locker room to head back home. She waved off to the rest of the 118 on the way towards the exit of the firehouse. Once stepping out to the front, she picked up her keys in her bag to approach the parked Honda Civic. 

"Hey, Josie! Wait up!" The brunette turned to see Buck jogging after her on his way out of the firehouse. She remained in her spot until he reached her.

She folded her arms. "What's up, Buck?" 

"How are you?" He clutched onto the strap of his backpack, glancing down at the brunette with concerning eyes.  

"I'm fine. Why?" She shared a bemused expression.

"I noticed that you froze up back at the scene in the airplane with the mom and the kid. Just wanted to ask if you needed someone to talk to you about." 

The brunette elicited a small tight lipped smile. "Well, seeing the mom assuring her son took me back with my dad. Before he headed for work in the morning, we would lock our pinkies and say "safe and sound" as a promise that he will come home safe after his shift then kiss each other's hand." She sighed from reminiscing her childhood. "I used to believe it worked until the day he never made it through the front door."

Buck's face faltered, "I-I'm sorry, Josie."

"For what?" She frowned, tilting her head. "There's nothing you have apologize for. Out of that one day, he managed to walk through the front door after many shifts. Besides, he died as a hero that day. He saved so many people which was part of his job. It's what inspired me to become a first responder eventually."

"Your dad sounds like a great guy. Even if I hadn't met him, I figure he'll be proud of you right now." 

-Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. It was hefty to write all of this, mostly the airplane crash section. I had more at the end though decided to place it in the next chapter, since this one is long enough already. Do you prefer the whole episode written in one chapter or spilt? Please answer, so I know how to sort it out in the future. Anyways, writing the first part of the chapter with Buck and Josie was cute. Hope you like it! Tell me what you think! Don't forget to comment and vote! Stay tuned!-

WRITTEN: 4/21/21

PUBLISHED:4/22/21