seven
"the maneuver"

—

—

   "CAN HE HEAR US?"

   LYNN glanced up from staring at Chimney laying completely unconscious in the hospital bed, and even though she had known the guy a short time, her heart still pinged with sadness. Her blue eyes landed on Buck, who seemed more distressed than her which made sense, and he narrowed his eyes at the brunette nurse.

   "I always treat them like they can," the nurse responded softly, flashing everyone a reassuring smile before sliding open the glass door to Chimney's room. "All right, two minutes, and then I'm kicking you out."

   Bobby went through the door first, quickly followed by both Buck and Hen, but Lynn lingered at the door for a moment longer. She wasn't sure if she was interrupting something, since she was the newest addition to the team and she didn't know whether they could see her as close enough to join them in the room.

   "Eve, what're you doing?" Buck questioned as he noticed the girl stay back, and she awkwardly shrugged as she switched between them and Chimney on the hospital bed.

   "I wasn't sure if I was, um, interrupting something? I can wait in the—"

   "—You're apart of the firehouse family now, so, even when it's gloomy, you're there," Bobby stated, and Lynn tried her best to hide away all the emotion the statement was bribing to her eyes.

   Even after two years serving at the same station as a paramedic, she would never had considered them family. They either treated her like she was the house wife, or didn't mutter a single word to her. She only had one man she could speak to, and his name was Michael Barrens, who was accepting of her and knew her strength.

   Slowly and carefully, as if she was tiptoeing on glass, Lynn crept her way into the hospital room. Soon after everyone's stares dropped and then paying more attention to Chimney, she felt her cheeks starting to feel less red.

   "Hey, Chim," Bobby spoke softly, almost like if he spoke to loud he could hurt the man. He gripped ahold of Chimney's frail hand, and gave it a tight squeeze as he smiled sadly at him. "We're all here for you, buddy."

   "H-Hey," Buck stuttered for a moment, wince his voice seemed to crack a bit. "I was thinking maybe when you come back to work, um, you know, you should do The Maneuver instead of me."

   Both Hen and Bobby send warning glances towards Buck, and even though Lynn had never seen Chimney even attempt The Maneuver, she had a strange gut feeling that he wouldn't be able to do it.

   "To motivate him to get better," Buck whispered, and Lynn smiled at how adorable the sight was. He didn't want to speak any louder because then Chimney would hear him.

   "He can't do The Maneuver," Hen replied, and her voice was almost filled with sarcasm.

   "Yeah, he can," Buck defended, and Lynn placed both her hands on the back of his chair as she pressed herself closer towards Chimney. "Hey, Chim, you can do The Maneuver, right?"

   The firefighters all let out sad little laughs as the basically unconscious man slowly made a thumbs up with the same hand Bobby was holding previously.

   "I, um., I tried to get ahold of your parents," Hen explained, and she had to clear her voice halfway through due to the emotion clogging it. "There's a sixteen hour time difference with Seoul, you know, so maybe that has something to do with it."

   "Yeah, it's alright," Bobby stated, gripping ahold of the same hand, except this time with both of his palms. "His family's right here."

   "Please don't ever let him do The Maneuver!"

•••

   Another few shifts rolled in and out, nothing really extravagant happening during them, especially since the firehouse seemed extra lonely and sad without Chimney cracking jokes every other minute. Lynn admitted, she was excited for when the man would return from his sick leave.

   The most enjoyment Lynn got out of her days anymore was either cooking her many memorized recipes or teasing Buck, usually the latter.

   Lynn was stirring around some of the extra stirfry they had, making sure the tender peppers and other vegetables weren't going to overcook. She had, for the most part, already prepared dinner for the firemen of station 118. However, the boys ate the food so quickly that Hen and Lynn missed out, and the brunette shook her head when Hen said it was alright if they didn't get to eat dinner tonight.

   "I'm so used to only cooking for two people, it's kinda hard to adjust the recipes to feed like fifteen," Lynn joked, moving the wooden spoon in her hand. But when Buck reached his, probably dirty, fingertips into the pan, she gently whacked them with it.

   "Ow," Buck mumbled softly, raising his thumb to place it in his mouth as he sucked lightly. Both Hen and Lynn rolled their eyes at the childish sight, and she pondered when Buck would possibly start growing up.

   "If you wanted some, you should've told Lynn to make some more for you," Hen answered, staring over the delicious pan food that was starting to fill the air with its smell.

   "I'm good," Buck waved off, but his eyes were focused on something other than the two women in front of him. "I already ate."

   "You still owe me twenty bucks, Buck," Hen murmured, opening the fridge for Lynn so she could add a bit of butter to the seasoning. "Don't think I'm-a forget."

   "For what?" Buck questioned, and as Lynn placed the butter back in the cold fridge, she rose an eyebrow at the man. He had managed to sneak a piece of green pepper.

   "For the damn cookie bouquet that I delivered to Chimney," Hen retorted back, and she was already seemingly done with Buck's attitude not even halfway through the shift. "The one with the get well card that I personally watched you sign."

   "Hey! Evie signed it too," Buck protested, pointing his slender index finger over to Lynn. She rolled her blue eyes as she started to pour the finally cooked vegetables onto a white plate.

"Who the hell is Evie?" Lynn sneered, furrowing her eyebrows at the man seated on top of the counter. He only shrugged softly, his eyes meeting hers for merely a second before landing on something behind her.

"He's doing it again."

Lynn gazed over her shoulder to follow his gaze, and she tilted her head to the side as she was confused. There, Bobby was silently sitting in one of the small tables with a plate of what looked like untouched stirfry. In front of him, in between his hands, was a small, black book.

"What? Eating dinner?" Hen questioned, grabbing a spare plate so she would be able to get herself some of the last stirfry.

"Staring into that book," Buck corrected, and Lynn glanced from gently sitting her plate down on the dinning table back towards Bobby.

Yes, he always seemed to be staring emotionless into that tiny book, but Lynn would never comment on it. Perhaps it was a Bible without the lettering on the front, or a journal of something, or just his favorite book.

"C'mon, you must have a line on the gossip around here," Buck slightly elbowed Hen's shoulder as she took a seat opposite of Lynn. "What is it? Why is he so obsessed with it?"

"All I'm gonna tell you about that book is to stay the hell away from it," Hen countered, and now Lynn seemed to be just as interested in the mystery as Buck was. "Trust me, I made that mistake three months into working here."

"So you're saying no one here knows what he writes in it?" Buck inquired, and then tapped his hand on the counter loudly as he made his way around it. "Well, watch this."

"Alright, Buck, when he pops you in that pretty face, just make sure it's on the
side that's already got a mark," Hen advised, making Lynn laugh slightly while popping a small piece of red pepper with steak in her mouth.

Lynn watched Buck carefully as he started to adjust his belt, tucking his shirt a little bit further. She didn't even know how, but it seemed like Buck was even more attractive today than the previous, however, she always seemed to think that the next day.

She scolded herself time and time again, she would catch herself staring at Buck when he was preoccupied with something else. She'd always wait for her morning teasing, usually something among the lines that he could've beat her morning jog or he'd ask how he looked that day, obviously already thinking he was the most gorgeous one of all.

Lynn hated the fact that possibly deep down, she could've felt something towards Buck. But she always chalked it up to her teenage self conscious still bobbing in for air time.

"Earth to Evelynn?"

Lynn finally snatched herself out of her busy thoughts of Buck, to glance over to a confused Hen. She had both her eyebrows raised towards the brunette, and she could feel redness flutter on her cheeks.

"Yeah?" Lynn questioned, trying her best to ignore how she was utterly caught red handed staring at Buck by her coworker.

"I complimented your cooking, and I was gonna say that drool on your lip must be from the food, but then I saw you giving googly eyes to Buckaroo."

Lynn was almost taken aback from Hen's bold statement, and even though she knew she most definitely didn't have drool dripping down her mouth but she still wiped her pink lips.

"I was most definitely not giving googly eyes to Evan, whatever that means," Lynn responded, and she quickly shoved some vegetables in her mouth so she wouldn't have to continue speaking.

"And you two have nicknames for each other! It's pretty cute," Hen exclaimed, and Lynn glared daggers at the woman for being so loud. The last thing she wanted was for some firehouse rumor to go around that she had a high school crush on Buck. "I mean, Lynn, you've been here for almost two months now, and you're telling me nothings happened?"

"It's just what we called the other the first time we met, I guess we never really corrected each other afterwards," Lynn shrugged softly, hoping to make the situation seem like drastic than what she was leading on. "Hen, I promise that nothing is going on between Evan and I, trust me. He's so not my type."

"What? Adorable golden retriever isn't your type?" Hen teased, and Lynn only let out a sigh while shaking her head.

"More like playboy bachelor," Lynn corrected, pointing her silver fork towards her friend. "I've heard the stories, I mean, hell, he was almost fired for doing it with a chick on the roof."

"I don't know, Lynn, something seemed to change with him, just so happened to be right around the same time you showed up," Hen puffed out air, probably because she felt so confident in her teasing.

Before Lynn could come up with a snappy remark, she was interrupted as she heard a sudden rustling. When she gazed over her shoulder, her pink lips started to pull into a gasp when her eyes landed on Bobby pinning Buck up against the wall, anger written all over his face.

"Don't ever do that again," Bobby growled, releasing his fistful of shirt from Buck, storming away before anyone had the chance to say something. Lynn's eyes met with Buck's piercing wide ones, and he almost looked completely frightened for a moment.

Almost as if on cue, the bell, signaling a call was coming through, sang through the air tension filled air.

"Well, that wasn't awkward."