••••

AS VICTORIA LOOKS UP AT THE CART THAT WAS STOPPED UPSIDE DOWN ON THE ROLLERCOASTER, all she could do was shake her head as her hands were placed on her hips. "See, this, is why I hate rollercoasters." She states, seeing that one of the civilians was hanging out of the cart. Victoria hates going on any sort of amusement park ride especially rollercoasters. She didn't have a death wish by going on one of them. Buck stops beside her, a smirk on his lips.

"It's fun." He retorts as he accesses the situation above them. Victoria just slowly turns her head to him, her eyebrow-raising at the man. 

"That's fun to you?" Victoria asks, wondering if he was dropped as a baby since he was always excited about the worst things. Buck just shrugs his shoulders as he gestures towards the rollercoaster.

"Well, it doesn't usually get stuck upside down like that," Buck states, pointing out the obvious. Narrowing her eyes, Victoria just stares blankly at the man next to her, as Bobby walks over to the pair.

"Hmm."

"Buck, we came at the wrong angle. I'm gonna have you climb up there, harness him in, and hang tight while we move the truck. You think you can handle that?" Bobby asks him, looking over at Buck who instantly nods his head. 

"Hell yeah. This daredevil hero stuff is what I signed up for, Bobby." Buck tells him with a smile causing Victoria to roll her eyes.

"Good," Bobby replies as he nods his head. Buck seemed too enthusiastic about doing this, at least in Victoria's eyes. She was honestly glad that he was on the team. At least she didn't have to climb a rollercoaster.

"That is exactly the type of thing people say before they fall to their death," Victoria shouts after him, and as Buck climbs the first part of the structure, he just looks back at her with a blunt expression on his face.

"Thanks for that." He replies and she just gives him a thumbs up before he continues to climb. She looks over, realizing that Bobby was just staring at her, shaking his head slowly.

"What?"

"You ever hear the phrase, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?" Bobby asks her as he raises his eyebrows at the younger woman. All Victoria could do was shrug her shoulders as she leaned against the truck railing.

"Yeah, but that doesn't apply to Buck." She denies which makes Bobby chuckle a little, both of them watching Buck climb towards the cart.

"Everybody try and stay calm. We'll get you down, I promise, all right?" Buck calls out as he grips the metal underneath his hands. "I need you to relax, I need you to breathe and I need you to keep as still as possible." Victoria lets a small sigh out of her mouth as Buck stops next to the cart, talking to the man who was hanging on first. "Hey Bobby, he's asking about his friend." They hear through the radio, causing Bobby and Victoria to just glance at each other for a minute.

"Chimney, it's Cap, do you copy?" Bobby questions as he speaks on the radio.

"Copy, Captain. What do you need?"

"How's the kid on the ground?" Bobby asks him curiously, needing to know what to tell his friend in order to keep him calm.

"We lost him." Chimney responds and Victoria just lets out a sigh. When you fall from that height, you never really have much chance of surviving, especially hitting the pavement.

"All right, I don't need the people up there seeing that. So, do me a favour. He survived right? Get him on a gurney, you know the drill." Bobby explains to them before glancing back up at where Buck was.

"Copy Cap."

"Rosie asked to go to this, and right now, I am so glad that I said no," Victoria admits with a sigh as she crosses her arms against her chest. She knew Roseanne was growing up but she just didn't want it to happen so fast. She was her little sister and it was so weird that she was now a teenager, capable of making her own decisions.

"I'm sure she will thank you after hearing about this on the news," Bobby replies with a slight laugh. Victoria smiles at him before there is a sudden scream from up high. They watch as the civilian plummets to the ground while Buck is left hanging with his arm reached out to where the person just was.

"Damn," Victoria mumbles as she glances down for a moment.

"Go check if he's got a pulse," Bobby tells Victoria who nods her head, although they both know it is very unlikely. Victoria takes one last look up at Buck, seeing the broken expression on his face. She knew he had never lost anyone before, and the first one was always the hardest. Clearing her throat, she just looks back towards Bobby.

"On it." 

••••

VICTORIA HAD HER EYES ON BUCK WHO WAS JUST STARING AT THE TABLE, she knew the last call was hard on him. It was clear it affected him since he wasn't being incredibly annoying to her. She was just eating off the plate Bobby had provided her as he placed one in front of Buck. The man shakes his head as he lets out a small sigh. "I'm not hungry." He tells them as he just clenched his jaw slightly.

"This is America, Buckaroo. Eating has nothing to do with being hungry." Chimney states as he sits down at the table. Buck only ignores him, fiddling with his fingers. Victoria was sure he would burn out if he didn't eat, especially since their job was labor-intensive.

"Yeah, this job is a marathon, not a sprint. Eat." Victoria states as she gestures towards his plate. Buck glances towards her for a moment but doesn't touch anything near him, his gaze drifting.

"I was right there," Buck tells them, making the group look at each other before listening to him. "You know, all he had to do was reach up and grab my hand." He states, shaking his head. It was so easy and yet the man had decided to let go and fall to his death.

"People do funny things at times like that. Sometimes they just freeze up." Chimney admits as he shrugs his shoulders. You never know how someone is going to react in a highly intense scenario.

"Some people just don't want to be saved," Victoria mutters, it really was as simple as that. You couldn't save someone who didn't want to be saved. She glances up from her plate, seeing that everyone is just staring at her.  "What?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows as that was a pretty solid piece of advice to tell someone on the job.

"That's your advice?" Chimney asks, raising his eyebrow at the woman. Victoria nods her head, shrugging her shoulders a bit.

"It's a statement." She corrects him as Chimney just continues to stare at her.

"A morbid one." He mutters which just makes Victoria confused, it really wasn't that bad and Buck needed to know that if he was going to survive on the job.

"How is it any different from what you just said?" Victoria asks, never understanding Chimney since he seems to change his mind every two seconds.

"Because it--"

"Guys," Bobby states firmly making them both shut up. Victoria narrows her eyes towards Chimney but doesn't say anything else.

"I've never lost anyone before. Does it get any easier?" Buck asks them, wondering if there was a way to forget or somehow make it easier to handle. Victoria scoffs, shaking her head, it hadn't gotten easy in the nine years that she had been a firefighter.

"No." Bobby and Victoria say at the same time. Both of them glance at each other before continuing to eat the food that was in front of them.

"Look, people die, and that's part of the gig, right? See your problem is you're looking at every job like it's a long-term relationship. They're one-night stands, man. At that moment, they mean everything to you, but once the morning comes, it's onto the next one." Chimney explains to him as he snaps his fingers. Victoria just stares bluntly at the man next to her.

"Oh, and that analogy is so amazing." She says sarcastically as she tilts her head. Chimney just shrugs as he starts to eat his food.

"Hey, hope you guys don't mind I brought some company for family dinner." Hen interrupts with a smile and they all look over to see her with Athena. "And this one was sneaking around outside." She adds, bringing Roseanne out from behind her. Victoria instantly stands up from the table, making her way over to her sister.

"Why aren't you at school?" She asks in an accusatory tone, crossing her arms against her chest. Hen moves towards the table, not wanting to get involved. Roseanne just stares back at Victoria, shrugging her shoulders.

"I uh.. don't feel well," Roseanne tells her in a not-so-convincing tone. Victoria narrows her eyes, clearly not believing her excuse one bit.

"Mhm." She hums as she just looks over her sister, not seeing any sign that she is even the slightest bit ill. "Are you sure it's not because you have that math test in class today?" Victoria asks, she knew there was a huge test that Roseanne most likely didn't study for.

"No, I'm so sick," Roseanne replies, faking a cough.

"Girl, you're not fooling anyone," Athena tells her, shaking her head as everyone in that room could see that she was faking it. Roseanne groans as she tilts her head back for a moment.

"He always puts questions that he doesn't even teach us on the test, it's not fair." She grumbles, crossing her arms. Victoria lets out a sigh, shaking her head before moving back.

"Just sit down," Victoria states as she gestures to the seat next to Buck. Roseanne doesn't say anything else, she just sits down, giving a small smile to Buck who returns it.

"You know, I ain't sold on you yet, but I think keeping me from getting shot deserves a second chance," Athena says as she looks towards Buck who just stares at her for a moment. Roseanne's eyes widen as she looks towards Athena.

"You were almost shot?" She asks, a shocked tone in her voice. Athena and Victoria glance towards her for a second.

"Hey, there won't be a third though," Athena states as she points at Buck who nods his head, a slight smile forming on his face.

"Buck here is having a little trouble moving on from a call that didn't go his way," Bobby tells her and Athena nods her head.

"You know why they make us wear these uniforms, right? Cops, firefighters, paramedics?" Athena asks him as she raises an eyebrow at the man.

"Uh, sex appeal?" Chimney jokes but Victoria just glares towards him. He glances towards Roseanne for a moment. "Sorry." He apologizes as he stands up from the table.

"So, people can easily identify us," Buck answers her.

"Both true, but it's also for our own good. Because when we take the uniform off at the end of the day, it symbolizes letting go of all the sad, crazy, inhumane things we've seen that day." She explains to him and he just nods his head slowly. Buck glances down at the table for a minute.

"I see his face every time I close my eyes. That happened to you guys?" Buck asks them curiously, clearing still wanting to know more.

"It'll pass," Athena says as she puts some food into her mouth. Suddenly the bells went off and everyone got up from the table. Bobby notices that Buck hasn't gotten up like everyone else.

"You coming kid?" Bobby asks him before they all head towards the staircase. Victoria hangs in the back with Buck though.

"Hey," Victoria says, nudging Buck and causing him to stop in his step for a moment. "I could lie and say it gets easier, but it doesn't." She states with a small sigh, she wishes she could say it's easy to forget. Buck nods his head, frowning lightly. "For me, it's usually losing kids that mess me up." She states it was always hard to lose a kid, knowing that it could've possibly been Roseanne who she lost.

"I've never really asked what the situation was between you two," Buck admits as he looks towards her. Victoria furrows her eyebrows, tilting her head.

"Situation?" She asks, a bit confused about what he is talking about. Buck only points towards Roseanne who is still sitting at the table before they begin to walk down the stairs.

"Yeah, Hen was saying how it's just you two," Buck tells her which makes Victoria freeze for a moment. She was seriously going to kill Hen for mentioning it to Buck.

"Yeah, it is," Victoria responds, not knowing why he suddenly wanted to know this, it wasn't like they talked about life outside work except for dating.

"What about your parents?" He asks, clearly wondering why she was taking care of her little sister and their parents weren't. Victoria didn't know what to say, she didn't necessarily like talking about her parents, especially with someone who she didn't know that well. Luckily the truck blared its horn.

"We have a call." She points out as she clears her throat, quickly making her way over to the truck to avoid the awkward conversation. Buck watches after her confused but follows, getting into the truck and closing the door behind him.

••••

VICTORIA HAD HER HEAD RESTED AGAINST THE WINDOW AS THEY WERE HEADED TO ANOTHER CALL. A sigh leaves her lips, bringing her hand up to rub her face. She had texted Roseanne to go back to school but it did not exactly go over well. Raising a teenager wasn't exactly easy but she had raised her sister since she was a teenager herself so that experience wasn't really her own. "So, how did your date go?" Buck asks suddenly, catching her attention. Victoria just meets his eyes, raising an eyebrow at the man.

"How did your therapy session go?" She retorts as she tilts her head. Buck just smirks to himself which makes her let out a scoff. "Of course, you slept with her," Victoria says as she shakes her head, She wasn't surprised in the slightest since he slept with anything that moved.

"You don't know that." He responds as he furrows his eyebrows but Victoria just rolls her eyes, leaning back against the seat.

"Yes, I do. Because men are dogs." Victoria states, narrowing her eyes. She had never met any decent man except for the ones she had worked with, well, all except for Buck now.

"I can't help that I'm irresistible," Buck admits with a shrug of his shoulders. Victoria snorts, laughing as if he was truly delusional. Honestly, she couldn't think of something that he wasn't. Well, except for being so-called, good-looking.

"You are not that good-looking." She tells him with an amused expression. He really was just too cocky for his own good.

"But you admit I am a bit," Buck states with a growing smirk which makes her groan a little bit. The last thing she ever wanted to do was boost his ego, it was already too big.

"The date went like any other, crashed and burned." She admits with a sigh as she crosses her arms against her chest. Victoria hoped that it would go well but just like every other date she's been on, it didn't go anywhere.

"Or maybe that's what you were hoping would happen." Buck points out as he gestures towards her. Victoria just stares at him with a blunt expression on her face.

"I know you are not giving me dating advice right now." Victoria retorts as she just shakes her head slowly. "I get all dressed up, I do my hair, and for what? Another mediocre man who only cares about sex and isn't even good at it." She mutters with a scoff as she crosses her arms against her chest.

"You're just really bad at picking em' aren't you?" Buck asks her with a smirk, raising an eyebrow at her, Victoria glares at him before flipping the man off. Buck chuckles as he rests his head against the seat.

"You know the last time I had an orgasm from another person? Three months. Because men only care about pleasuring their damn selves and I cannot for the life of me, figure out which women are gay." Victoria explains to him, that surely there was one guy in the entirety of Los Angeles who knew how to please a woman.

"Woah, you're into chicks?" Buck asks, a bit shocked by the sudden revelation. Victoria shrugged her shoulders, she thought everyone knew that.  "You know, if you want an--" He starts to say but she just holds out her hand, stopping him mid-sentence.

"I will throw you out of this truck." Victoria threatens as she narrows her eyes. She did not need to hear what he was suggesting because she already knew. "No offense, but you are the last person on earth who I would go to." She admits, crossing her arms against her chest, Buck gasps, putting his hand on his chest.

"Offense taken," Buck states as he tilts his head, Victoria laughs, raising her eyebrow at him.

"You are most definitely not my type," Victoria tells him making the man narrow his eyes. "Like at all." She adds, looking at Buck who laughs a bit.

"So, your type is not hot?" He asks her as the truck comes to a halt. Victoria rolls her eyes playfully as they both get up in order to get out. They come face to face, which makes Victoria just clear her throat. Buck steps back lightly, holding out his hand. "Ladies first." He says which makes her shake her head, getting out of the truck and looking up at the scene. "Seriously? It's gotta be a jumper? He couldn't threaten himself with a gun?" Buck asks with a groan as he stares up at the man on the balcony.

"Right. Cause that would be preferable." Hen responds as she just stares at Buck.

"It would be quicker," Victoria admits as she shrugs her shoulders, watching a woman try and talk to the man who was standing on the railing of the balcony.

"We're gonna have to do the maneuver," Bobby tells them, his eyes moving over to Buck who already knew what he was going to ask. He lets out a groan, shaking his head as he doesn't want to go on any more lines, not after what happened on the rollercoaster.

"Bobby, no--"

"Yes." Bobby cuts him off, not about to let Buck give in to his fears because it would just make everything worse.

"I'll do it." Chimney suggests causing everyone to just glance at him.

"No, Buck's got this," Bobby states as he just stares at the man who still does not want to go up to the roof. Victoria just raises her eyebrows as she watches the scene in front of her, knowing they didn't have too much time.

"Why can't Vic do it? Women can do the maneuver too." Buck points out as he gestures towards Victoria. She raises an eyebrow at him, a bit confused but she got the message. However, she knew Buck only said it in order to get out of doing the maneuver.

"Uh, thank you?" She responds as she just shares a glance with Hen, shrugging her shoulders. Bobby shakes his head as he looks at the man.

"Buck, go. You got this." Bobby tells him, knowing that Buck could do it, he was just in his head. Buck didn't seem enthusiastic that he still had to do it, though.

"Good luck, buddy," Victoria says as she pats his back. Buck just stares at her for a moment, clearly not amused before heading towards the building. Hen shakes her head as she just laughs lightly while Victoria leans against the truck.

••••

BUCK NOTICED THAT VICTORIA WAS HEADING TOWARDS THE DOORS WITH ROSEANNE AND JOGS IN ORDER TO CATCH UP WITH THEM. Victoria was laughing at something that her sister had said, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Hey, can I talk to you before you take off?" Buck asks as he stops next to them. Victoria glances towards him, a bit confused as she looks towards her sister for a moment. She clears her throat as she nods her head.

"Uh, sure." She replies as she furrows her eyebrows before looking back at Roseanne. "Rosie, wait for me by the car," Victoria tells her and Roseanne nods as she just glances towards Buck, smiling lightly as she moves past them. Victoria raises her eyebrows at the man expectantly.

"Look, about earlier... I didn't mean to get into your personal business when I asked about your parents." He tells her, not wanting to make anything uncomfortable between them. Victoria lets out a sigh as she shakes her head,

"It's fine, Buck," Victoria responds, knowing he didn't have any bad intentions when he asked. She goes to move past him but he just grabs her arm.

"No, it's not." Buck denies and Victoria just furrows her eyebrows. "I have a pretty crappy relationship with my parents and I don't know, I was just wondering if maybe it was the same for you." He explains to her, which makes her nod her head. She understood why he asked, she wished hers was as simple as just having bad blood.

"Mines a bit more complicated than that." She admits as she runs a hand through her hair. "Look, I don't talk about my past, not often. There's only a few people who know much about me." Victoria tells him, she had really only told her friends back in Chicago and Hen here in Los Angeles, everyone else was in the dark.

"And I'm too new here to understand," Buck states, nodding his head, it wasn't easy for some people to trust others, he got that. He was just too new around here for them to have known much about each other.

"I just, it takes me a bit of time to open up to people. The only person who knows here is actually just Hen and she doesn't even know that much." Victoria tells him, she had told Hen that her parents weren't around but didn't get into any specifics, it was still too much for her.

"God, no, I'm sorry. I don't know why I keep pushing." Buck admits as he shakes his head. He felt like a complete idiot, he should've just left well enough alone.

"I um.." She starts slowly, fiddling with her fingers. Victoria hated telling people but with Buck, it just seemed different, she didn't know why. Glancing around, she notices too many people around so she just grabs his arm, pulling him into the locker room. Buck makes sure no one follows him before looking at Victoria who had just sat down on the bench. "My dad's dead and my mom, she uh... she's sick," Victoria tells him which makes Buck just sit next to her silently for a moment.

"Oh." Buck didn't really know what to say, he didn't know if she wanted comfort or to just have him listen. "Do you mind if I ask more?" He asks, not wanting to push at all, but it was hard to know what lines to cross when they hadn't really spoken outside of work. Victoria takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment.

"My dad died when I was sixteen. It was a car accident, I was with him in the car." Victoria starts as she stares down at her hands. Buck frowns as he looks at the woman, listening to her intently. "People always ask why I chose to do this job, it's because of him. Maybe because I'm trying to make up for the fact that I couldn't save him." She explains to him, biting the inside of her cheek as she thinks of her dad. She didn't really think of him because it brought up too many bad memories. "He had something that pierced his chest and um, there was too much blood. I tried to stop it, the bleeding but then his heart.."  Her hands were shaking a little, something that Buck had noticed, he immediately felt horrible for causing her to talk about this. "It just stopped." She finishes, sniffling lightly as she looks away from Buck, not wanting him to see the tear that slipped from her eye.

"Vic.." Buck lifted his hand in order to rest it on hers but stopped himself. He was sure she would hurt him if he dared touch her so he just brought his hand back to his leg.

"My mom has schizophrenia, she was diagnosed around the time she was pregnant with Rosie. After my dad died, I couldn't take care of them both so I put her in a home." She finishes a shaky breath leaving her lips. Buck felt horrible, not only for her but also for the fact that she had to raise her sister by herself.

"I am so sorry." He apologizes as he just rests his arms on his legs. "I shouldn't have pried," Buck states, it wasn't easy to talk about your past, especially with the things that she had to go to.

"It's okay. Honestly, it feels pretty good to talk to someone about it who won't judge me." Victoria tells him as she wipes her cheeks, sitting up straighter. Getting it off her chest, she knew it was good for her. She hadn't talked about her family much, the last real-time was talking about it with her friend Kelly Severide because her mom needed new medications.

"How do you know I won't judge you?" Buck asks her curiously, his eyebrows furrowing lightly.

"I just know." She responds, Buck just seemed like a good guy, sure, he had his issues but she couldn't say that he was a horrible person.

"Maybe I will start judging you from now on." Buck states with a smirk on his face. Victoria narrows her eyes as she raises an eyebrow at him. 

"Mhm."

"Look, I know we're not close or anything and I'm pretty sure you don't even like me-" Buck starts to say but Victoria cuts him off.

"Oh, I despise you." She teases with a smirk which makes him smile, rolling his eyes playfully.

"But if you ever need to get something off your chest like that, I'm here," Buck admits as he tilts his head, staring at the woman. Victoria nods as she offers him a slight smile.

"There can be rough calls. I'm here for you too." Victoria tells him, knowing they had to be there for each other if they were going to make it.  "Maybe." She teases him as she winks at the man, Buck laughs, shaking his head.

"I've actually been talking to someone, her name is Abby." Buck tells her with a soft smile on his face, Victoria raises an eyebrow at him, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"Okay, I don't care about your dating life." She says as she stares bluntly at him before a smirk forms on her lips. "I'm kidding but I do have to go since Rosie's waiting for me." Victoria admits as she brushes her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, no, it's okay," Buck says with a nod, knowing Roseanne was probably wondering where she was. Victoria stands up, tilting her head as she lifts her hand and puts it on his shoulder.

"You're not so bad, probie." She admits as she looks down at him. Buck groans a little bit as he scrunched up his face.

"Can you stop calling me that?" Buck asks her curiously, even though he knows that was never a possibility. She just laughs as she tilts her head back for a moment.

"Never." She replies with a smirk, tilting her head. Buck chuckles, shaking his head as the woman moves past him. 

••••