It has been a few days since then and I am nervous. Buck and I settled on a date which then allowed me to invite Buck's parents to the wedding. I am worried that Buck is going to be annoyed about going behind his back but as I said before I am not convinced that he was going to invite them. Right now I am trying my best to focus on restocking the ambulance. We had a couple of calls already. I'm starting to think someone said the Q word.

"Hey, whatever is bothering you won't for long," Howie is trying his best to reassure me.

"Well I need to tell Buck that I invited his parents to the wedding but I'm not sure how he will react," I explain the situation to him. Howie gives me a curious head tilt.

"But I thought Buck was repairing his relationship with his parents," Howie echoes what Eddie said to me a few days ago.

"Yeah I thought so too, however when I asked about it he never gave me a straight answer," I used the same response I gave Eddie. The thing is I knew we were going to have dramas with the in-laws but I didn't realise that I'd be overthinking it.

"Before you can ask I did invite them myself. I just have to tell Buck," I add for good measure. Before Howie has the chance to answer the signal bell goes. I will have to continue this later. After ten minutes of driving, we made it to the scene. Apparently, a flight attendant went berserk after a long flight. I can't blame her though. The scene that greets us can only be described as chaos.

"Let me get a collar on her then I will assess whether-,"

"She's not the real emergency. Over here," The baggage handler that called it in draws our attention to his colleague.

"Ella, Chim, I need you guys over here now. Eddie, Buck you two deal with the flight attendant," Bobby gives us his orders.

"He's having trouble breathing. I thought about pulling it out but-,"

"You made the right call," Bobby gets to work on reassuring the man as we get to work on treating him. There is one thing that is a little confusing.

"A champagne cork?" I know I'm being Captain obvious but I have never seen a penetrating injury as bizarre as this and I have seen a lot in my four years as an LAFD paramedic.

"I've seen them take out an eye but this is in there pretty good," Howie remarks as we check on our victim. I quickly assess the victim's breathing. Of course, it is shallow.

"I'm barely getting any air. The cork is blocking his airways," I announce.

"The good thing is I'm not getting fluid in his lungs and the fact that he is not coughing up blood, which means it probably hasn't pierced his windpipe," Howie gives me the good news. Well, that makes life easier. With a few remarks from Buck, we come to the conclusion that we have to pull the cork out as carefully as possible. It is because the cork is in a location that has all but made a tracheostomy impossible. Tension soon flares between the flight attendant and the ground crew.

"Oh, god. It's all rainbows and unicorns on the ground. Try flying the unfriendly skies," The flight attendant snaps.

"You don't know Darrell, lady," The other ground crew member snaps back.

"Shut up. I need to focus," I counter. I am the only one keeping the man from death. After some encouragement from Howie, I managed to get the wires out. As soon as I do, Howie carefully pulls the rest of the cork out. As soon as it is out I pack the wound. To my surprise, the blood isn't gushing out in the way that it would if the artery was nicked.

"Cheers," Howie jokes as we add the finishing touches.

It is the night after and Buck and I decided to help Eddie look after Christopher while he went on a date with Ana. Right now we are trying to convince him to go to bed. At least we are getting somewhere. Luckily for us his demands are simple. He wants me to tell him a story while we wait for Eddie to return.

"And that's it," I finished my story.

"Are you sure?" Christopher asks. I guess the ending wasn't the greatest. The thing is I know I am not the best at storytelling.

"Yes, I am sure. You know what I will think of a better ending for the next time I come over," I promise him. After a minute Eddie comes in and I excuse myself. With that Buck and I leave. After what feels like an eternity Buck and I made it back to our apartment. A sigh falls from my mouth.

"What's wrong?" Buck asks as I place my small bag on the table.

"Something about the wedding that I've been too afraid to tell you," I responded. A look of curiosity flashes across his face.

"I invited your parents myself because I wasn't sure if you were going to do it or not," I get it out in the open. Buck looks simultaneously relieved and shocked.

"Well...to be honest I was hoping you would. We still have a lot to work out between us which made it a bit embarrassing," Buck gives me the most Buck answer he could think of. It makes sense though. At least I was worried for nothing.

It is the day after and we have been called to what can only be described as one of the stupidest escape plans ever imagined. Our idiot of the day thought it would be a good idea to make his escape via the roofs of various houses along his route. That would be smart however there is a catch. He ran out of roofs. Now it has turned into a negotiation. It has already been a couple of hours and the man refuses to budge.

"Shut up. I need time to think," The man counters the latest offer. The thing is he has had two hours to think. If I have to wait any longer I might say to Bobby that Howie and I have medical calls to attend to.

"He should've tried to think before he ended up on a roof. I mean he cornered himself," Eddie remarks as he leans on the engine next to me. The thing is he is not wrong.

"Well, he made a series of bad decisions that led to him being on that roof. It would be tragic if it wasn't stupid," I add. It is at that moment that I notice Howie glancing at Bobby.

"Why don't they storm the roof? It's not that high. We could give them a ladder," Howie suggests. I can't tell if he is joking or not.

"It's a tactic that negotiators use to drag out the process in order to wear down the suspect. Eventually, they will hit breaking point," Bobby confirms.

"Or we do," Howie confirms what I am thinking.

"Ten bucks says he gets pushed from the roof," I add a wager to make it more fun.

"Twenty says he makes a leap for the tree," Eddie joins in. We all glance at him.

"What? He's got one more bad life decision ahead of him," Eddie justifies himself as he offers twenty dollars. Howie is quick to do the same. Well, it looks like things are getting more lively. After another hour I am chatting to Athena.

"Honestly I think it's stupid that Buck wanted me to invite his parents. I get the history between them but still," I remark.

"You did invite them though?" Athena clarifies.

"Of course," I responded. Another hour. This time a poker game has broken out between Howie and I while Howie stresses about Maddie's birth plan.

"So Maddie definitely wants the baby at home?" I ask to clarify.

"'I was a nurse and you're a paramedic' What could possibly go wrong?" Howie confirms. I catch myself giggling as I make my move.

"It feels like a 911 dispatcher should know the answer to that question," I say as Howie makes his move. Dammit, He wins again. He flashes me a smile. Luckily for me, we are not placing bets. Another hour passes and the boredom is getting to me. I wish I could be attending to an actual medical emergency. Even someone who is overreacting will do. I want to be anywhere but here. Thankfully Eddie had the bright idea to order pizza. Yet another hour goes by. Honestly, I thought the negotiators would have worked their magic by now. Buck is currently talking one of the negotiator's ears off about the drama in regard to the wedding. Yet another hour passes and I am tempted to go up on the roof and shove the man off. We soon all root for him to jump off. Another hour. This time Eddie is ranting about Christopher finding out about his relationship with Ana. I know I shouldn't eavesdrop but I am that bored.

"I can't really ask him what he knows without revealing that there is in fact something for him to know," He voiced his concern.

"Christopher is a smart kid. He can see that there is something different about you. So the less you say the more he is going to suspect," Bobby says.

"You better rip the band-aid off before he figures it out on his own," Athena adds. It sounds like she is talking from experience.

"I just don't know what to say," Eddie remarks before glancing at the idiot. After a minute I notice the owner of the house sneaking around with a ladder. That can only mean one thing. I should tell the others but I want this nightmare to end. After a few seconds, the owner of the house shoves the man off his roof. That is one way to do it. With that Howie and I spring to action.

It is the night after that shift and I am relaxing with Buck, however, it doesn't take long for our relaxation to come to an end. There is an awkward knock on the door.

"I've got it," I announce as I get up. I open the door to find a worried-looking Christopher.

"Hey, Chris. Come in," I let him in.

"Who is it?" Buck asks as he joins us.

"It's Chris. He must have snuck out while Eddie was busy," I explained.

"I don't want to be alone. So I came here," Christopher explains as I lead him to the couch.

"You should have at least told your dad where you were going. Anyway Buck can you call Eddie to let him know that Christopher is here?" I ask as I sit down next to Christopher. Eddie must be losing it. Christopher hangs his head in shame.

"So I heard you got mad at your dad," I get to work on finding out the reason why Christopher is here.

"I don't want to talk about it," Christopher responds. There is something clearly bothering him.

"Well, you're here so we gotta talk about something. Besides, if you are mad it helps to talk about it. You were here for Buck when he needed it so let us return the favour," I get to work on reassuring Christopher. A sigh falls from his mouth.

"Dad's dating," Christopher reluctantly tells me. No wonder why he is bothered. There is a lot of baggage that comes with starting fresh. In fact, I would go as far as saying my relationship with Buck was a miracle.

"It must be pretty weird for you. Maybe it feels like he is forgetting your mum but Chris I promise you-,"

"I wish I could forget," Christopher announces. He means to move on.

"What do you mean?" I tentatively ask.

"People go away. Not just mum, Abuelita, Carla, my friends. They leave then I miss them. I don't want to miss anyone else," Christopher explains. I can relate in ways that he can't imagine.

"People go away and it's sad. It hurts but you know not everyone goes away forever. Sometimes they come back and you are going to be so happy when you see them again," I responded.

"Do you promise?" Christopher asks.

"I do and until then you have me and Buck. Because we are not going anywhere," I add for good measure. Christopher cheers up a little. He pulls me into a hug.

"Hey, Ella?" Christopher whispers.

"Yeah, Buddy," I responded.

"You're a good friend," Christopher thanked me in his way. Luckily for me, he knows that he can talk to me whenever he needs. I just wish that I could do more to help him through his grief. Still, he is a good kid. It doesn't take long for a relieved-looking Eddie to arrive. At least Christopher was smart enough to head to a place where he felt safe.  

A/N I have decided to do some more episode tie ins then I am going to conclude this story. Of course, Buck and Ella's story won't be over yet but I think it is better for pacing if I split their story into two. Since this is an Author's note I am going to remind you to vote and/or comment if you are enjoying the story.