••••

VICTORIA SAT IN THE FIRETRUCK AS SHE RESTED HER HEAD BACK AGAINST THE SEAT. It was her first shift back after the earthquake and boy was she excited. She couldn't take another day sitting around her apartment. Especially when the doctor was only keeping her home as a precaution the last few days. But now she was back and she couldn't be more happy. She didn't realize how much she missed the job and the people around her until she physically couldn't do it.

"Glad to be back?" She hears from beside her and Victoria turns her head to see Hen smiling toward her. Victoria laughs as she nods her head, a sigh leaving her lips.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely." Victoria responds to her as she brushes a hand through her hair. "I've been at home for far too long." She admits and Eddie just chuckles as he leans forward, placing one of his hands on her knee.

"Well, now you're back to the action." Eddie tells her and Victoria smiles brightly back at him.

"Hell yeah." She says with a laugh before her eyes move to Buck. He had been silent the whole ride so far and had an unhappy look on his face. Victoria nudges him with her foot and he just glances at her. "You okay?" Victoria asks curiously.

"What?" Buck asks, looking confused for a moment. Victoria gestures toward the window where he had been looking out of.

"Staring off into the distance." She points out. Buck blinks a few times before shaking his head.

"Oh, I'm fine." He replies causing Victoria to furrow her eyebrows. She goes to respond but the firetruck came to a halt and Buck all but rushed out. Victoria followed him out, not knowing what was suddenly wrong with him.

He had been fine the past few weeks, visiting her whenever he could, even more than Athena and Hen. Buck practically couldn't leave her alone and was constantly blowing up her phone and now, he was like a ghost. Ever since she had stepped foot into the station this morning, he was the only one not happy to see her. And he had barely said a word to her but would converse with everyone else just fine.

"Grab a creeper and some blocks." Bobby tells them, cutting through her thoughts, before making his way through the crowd of people. Victoria tries to navigate her way in order to follow behind him.

"She's over here." One of the girls say as she walks over to them before her eyes widen slightly. "Holy crap, you are hot." She tells them with a smirk on her face. Victoria resists the urge to roll her eyes as she continues to move through the crowd.

"Okay, guys. The strippers are here." She announces with a laugh. Victoria shares a glance with Hen.

"That's original." Victoria mumbles and it seemed Hen agreed with her disdain.

"Excuse me, clear a path! Coming through!" Buck calls out as all of them were blocking the victim. When they got through, they saw a woman with her head in a tail pipe. Victoria raises an eyebrow, she can't say she's seen this one before.

"Hi, what's her name?" Chimney asks curiously as he looks around the group. The guy who was standing next to the truck spoke up.

"Betty."

"Jennifer."

They all look at him confused as they heard the girl correct him. "Sorry, I thought you meant my truck." He tells them. Victoria had to resist the urge to just face palm herself because seriously, one man could not be this stupid.

"Why would we-- you know what? Nevermind." She stops herself, really just wanting to call this guy a complete idiot.

"This is your truck?" Bobby asks him, looking toward the man.

"Yeah, but it's not like I backed into her. She did this out of her own free will." He responds and one of the girls let out a scoff.

"You dared her to." She corrects him and the guy only shrugs.

"We were flirting."

"Your idea of flirting with a girl is daring her to stick her head in your tailpipe?" Eddie asks him, confused and also a bit annoyed by his behaviour.

"Men are such charmers." Victoria responds with a sarcastic smile on her face. Eddie just raises an eyebrow at her, chuckling under his breath.

"Hi, Jennifer. LAFD how are you feeling?" Chimney asks as he leans down beside her.

"Uh, pretty good actually. Except for this whole, you know, ginormous tailpipe on my head."

"Hey Jennifer, you're gonna feel me poking around. We're just checking on you, okay?" Hen tells her as she tries to get a good reading of how the girl was doing physically.

"Why is this tailpipe so large?" Chimney asks curiously.

"It's custom." The man says with a smirk on his face. Victoria looked at him with disgust, mainly because he was bragging and obviously just trying to show off.

"Where'd she get these bruises on her arm?" Bobby asks as he points toward them in an accusatory manner.

"That wasn't me." The man denies but no one seems to believe him.

"It's from the bull, she rode it like five times." The girl tells them as she gestures inside.

"There's no way we're gonna get a collar on her." Chimney says with a sigh as he shakes his head.

"Get me out of this thing." Jennifer pleads to them, not wanting to be stuck forever.

"These things are meant to increase the power to the engine." Buck says as he looks to the owner of the truck who nods his head.

"Yup." His smirk grows more and Victoria seriously just wanted to punch him.

"TSA 230 saw should do the job." Bobby says as he looks at Buck who smiles, laughing a bit.

"Oh, yeah. Like a knife through butter." Buck states and Victoria now felt more joy than she ever has before. She leans toward Buck and Eddie.

"Watch us make a boy cry." Victoria says with a smirk on her face. Both men just shake their heads but laugh at her comment.

"Chim!" Bobby calls out.

"Excuse me. Way ahead of you, Cap." Chimney says, already walking back through the crowd with the saw in his hand.

"What? No, I spent 1200 bucks on that tailpipe." The man complains with a scoff.

"You might want to close your eyes during this part." Bobby tells him, clearly not caring one bit about how it felt.

While watching Chimney give the saw to bobby, one of the girls moved over to Buck. "Just text your number into my phone and I'll text you so you have mine." She flirts as she smirks at the man. Buck just glances toward her while as Victoria narrows her eyes.

"Thanks, but I'm good. And I need to focus right now so my captain doesn't cut your friends head off." Buck points out as he tries to ignore the woman's advances.

"Hi. Do you have snapchat?" Another girl asks Eddie. Victoria just clenches her jaw as she shakes her head. She got they were attractive but now was not the time to be flirting.

"No. And I don't think I'm what you're looking for, I have a son." He mumbles back.

"That's great. So do I." She says with a shrug.

"I think I'm gonna puke." Jennifer says with a groan from inside the tailpipe.

"Me too." Victoria mumbles as she crosses her arms against her chest. She didn't know why she was getting so affected by these girls flirting with them.

"You better not. These fire guys are totally hot." The brunette says before her eyes go over to Victoria. "So is she." She adds with a small wink. Victoria clears her throat.

"Excuse me." She says as she moved past her to just pay attention to the job they were supposed to be doing.

"All right. What say we move the peanut gallery  a few steps over this way. Thank you." Chimney stated as he gestures for the group to move away.

"All right. Jennifer keep your head really still. You're gonna hear a lot of noise but everything is fine." Bobby tells her before beginning to saw the tailpipe in half. It took a moment to get it off but they were finally able to pull her head free.

Once she could see again, her eyes looked up to the firefighters. "Wow, you guys are really hot." Jennifer blurts out and Victoria honestly would only give her a pass since she was a bit disoriented.

"Do you want us to transport you to the hospital. Get you checked out?" Hen asks her curiously.

"She just needs another drink."

"No, what she needs to do is go home. All three of you do, in a cab." Bobby tells them with a slight scoff before turning to Jennifer. "Listen to me, when you sober up, you feel like you have a headache or blurry vision, or you feel confused, you got to get yourself to a hospital, you understand?" He explains and she nods her head. Victoria smirks as she takes the broken tailpipe and hands it to the man.

"Condolences on Betty." She says sarcastically, patting his shoulder before moving away. She didn't get very far though as another guy stopped her.

"Hey uh, wanna stick around a bit? I can show you a good time." The man asks, his eyes running over her which made her want to vomit. Victoria scoffs as she raises an eyebrow at him.

"Not even if it would save me from dying." Victoria responds with a slight sneer. The man seemed to not get the hint as he took a step closer, placing his hand on her arm.

"Oh, don't be like that baby." He flirts, seemingly not taking her expression as a no. And having a death wish since Buck was glaring daggers into his soul. Buck stepped forward, pushing the man back gently. Obviously he couldn't be aggressive since they were still at work.

"Why don't you head back inside?" Buck suggests as he gestures to the restaurant.  The man seemed irritated that they were interrupted.

"I'll leave if that's what she wants." He responds. Although Victoria wasn't even sure that was true. Most men never knew when to take a hint. So instead, Victoria took the saw from Bobby and turned it on, just bluntly staring at the man in front of her.

His eyes widened as he quickly retreated back into the restaurant. As she turned the saw off, she saw Eddie only smirk at her. "I think he got the message." He says with a slight chuckle. Victoria smiles but as her eyes go to Buck, it slightly drops. She didnt understand how he could defend her but not even speak to her. She didn't even get what she did wrong.

"So, is your son really the reason you don't date?" Buck asks as he looks toward Eddie, wondering if what he said to the girl was true.

"That and... they weren't my type." Eddie admits as he looks toward them for a moment. Buck just shrugged his shoulders.

"Not mine either. Not anymore. But I'm talking in general." He corrects himself. Eddie only sighs slightly.

"It's complicated when you have a kid." Eddie tells him but Buck just groans as he rolls his eyes a bit.

"Come on. That's a weak excuse."

"Not really." Victoria denies with a shrug making Buck look toward her. "Especially when they're younger, it's hard to just bring someone new into their lives." She says, knowing exactly why Eddie would want to avoid dating. Buck furrows his eyebrows but Eddie was grateful she understood. They didn't say another thing as they made their way back to the firetruck.

••••

"I'M BACK." Victoria says as she walks up the stairs in the Fire station. She had been told to go on a coffee run because everyone desperately needed it and the firehouse didn't exactly have the best kind. Plus, she honestly just wanted to get away from Buck for a few minutes because he once again returned back to his silence toward her. Was he a child? If he had an issue with her he could say something. Although she still couldn't figure out what the hell it would ever be about.

"You're a lifesaver." Hen says with a groan as she graciously takes her cup. Victoria lets her eyes fall on Buck for a moment, the man just scrolling through his phone and not even acknowledging her. She just clears her throat as she looks back at Hen.

"I know." Victoria responds as she hands everyone else their coffee. She just places Buck's on the table since if he wasn't going to look at her, she wasn't going to acknowledge him either.

Her eyes then go to the boy on the couch who she recognized from the photo Eddie showed them. A soft smile forms on her lips as she bends down shortly.
"

And you must be Christopher." She says as she tilts her head. Christopher smiles as he meets her gaze. Victoria knew he was here because Eddie got a call that his grandma had taken a fall and couldn't look after him.

"Yeah!" He responds excitedly. Victoria's smile only brightens and she could see that Eddie was slightly nervous as he watched them interact.

"Well, I'm Victoria, but all my friends call me Vic." She says as she nudges his arm a bit, laughing.

"You're very pretty." Christopher compliments and she could see the embarrassment that fell on Eddie's face in that moment. But Victoria only laughs again as she smiles at Christopher.

"Why, thank you." She says as she gasps slightly. Her hand then goes to the last remaining cup in the holder. "Do you like hot chocolate?" Victoria asks him and Christopher nods happily. "There you go." She says as she hands it to him.

"You didn't have to do that." Eddie denies, shaking his head.

"It's no big deal." Victoria says with a soft smile as she looks toward Eddie. Buck finally lifts his gaze to her momentarily and he couldn't help but frown seeing the way they were looking at each other.

"What's this? I don't remember asking the chief for reinforcements." Bobby says, catching all of their attention. "You any good at the hose, kid?" He asks with a smile as he looks down at Christopher.

"I can try." Christopher responds and Bobby only laughs, nodding his head.

"All right."

"So sorry, Cap. My aunts trying to get off work early, but until then I... I didn't know where to take him." Eddie says as he stands up, fiddling with his fingers. Bobby looks toward him, seeing that he was clearly worried that this wouldn't be okay.

"Yeah, you did. Right here." Bobby responds as he places his hand on Eddie's shoulder. "Buck gave me a heads up. I already cleared it with the chief." He explains and Eddie nods his head, sending a thankful look toward Buck.

"How cute." Victoria says as she glances at the man. But Buck once again doesn't say anything back to her. He could hear her scoff though as she just turns her back to him.

"Attention station." They hear the bells go off luckily which made all of them stand up. Buck honestly was grateful they went off because he could feel the awkward tension coming between him and Victoria. And he knew it was his own fault but it didn't matter.

"All right, let's go. Let's go!" Buck states as he claps his hands. Victoria winces slightly as she brings her hand to her side momentarily. Hen stops, furrowing her eyebrows as she brings her hand to Victoria's arm.

"You good?" Hen asks, clearly worried that she may not be fully healed even though the doctor cleared her. But Victoria nods her head, the pain going away.

"Just a muscle spasm." She says as she assures Hen she was okay. The woman nods and continues to the fire truck. But Victoria didn't miss the way Buck stared at her, concern in his eyes. She knew he wanted to say something but the fact that he didn't hurt more. She didn't know where this behaviour suddenly came from but if he was going to keep acting like this, he would find out just how pissed off she could get.

••••

VICTORIA SMILES AS SHE WATCHES CHRISTOPHER INTERACT WITH EVERYONE IN THE TRUCK. Her eyes specifically moving to Eddie who looked like a proud dad. "These are great, see, cause we can talk to each other." Chimney explains to him as he points to the headset they had on. "Though sometimes I wish we had a mute button for Buck." He says with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Don't we all?" Victoria adds on with a laugh but all Buck does is blare the horn causing them to look at him. Buck just smirks back at the group.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you saying something?" Buck asks them sarcastically and Victoria just rolls her eyes a bit.

"Yeah, we said you're annoying." She had hoped he would respond to her, he usually did when she commented something like that. He didn't say anything back but he did flip her off. Guess that was something.

"Buck, there's a kid present." Eddie warns him with a slight glare and Buck gave an apologetic look back.

"You have a scar on your head." Christopher points out as he looks toward Chimney.

"That's very observant, kid." He responds. "I had an accident. Got a big metal rod stuck in my head, but the doctor took care of it." Chimney explains to him with a smile. "You ever have surgery?" He asks curiously.

"Two times."

"Actually, three times." Eddie corrects him, smiling gently.

"Well, you got me beat. Now I feel kind of lame." Chimney admits with a laugh while as Hen just stares at him.

"Becsuse you are." Hen tells him and Chimney just narrows his eyes at her. "Your dad ever tell you why we call him Chimney?" She asks as she looks at Christopher but Chimney just hits her arm. "I'll tell you about it later." She says with a smirk on her face before her eyes move to Victoria.

She could see something was up as she just stared out the window. Taking her headset off, she nudged Victoria's arm causing her to meet her gaze. Victoria furrows her eyebrows but sees Hen is gesturing for her to take her headset off as well. It may be a little harder to hear but at least no one would be eavesdropping on their conversation. "What's up with you?" Hen asks her curiously.

"Nothing." Victoria responds.

"This doesn't have anything to do with the glare you've been giving Buck?" Hen questions, raising an eyebrow. Anyone could see it, especially Bobby who had asked Hen about it. Obviously Hen didn't know the answer to why they were fighting though.

"He's just being annoying." Victoria says with a shrug of her shoulders. "He hasn't talked to me since I got back." She admits and Hen nods her head slowly.

"Maybe he has nothing to say?" Hen suggests as she shrugs her shoulders. Buck had visited her literally every day of her recovery, maybe he ran out of things to talk to her about.

"Oh, please. He would constantly irritate me at the firehouse so why is it different now?" Victoria asks with a slight scoff as she rolls her eyes. Buck would either annoy her or at least talk to her all the time, and now everything's changed.

"You're thinking way too much into this."
H

en responds with a sigh as she shakes her head but Victoria wasn't so sure.

"Am I?"

"Why are you suddenly so affected by what he does?" She asks Victoria curiously. Hen didn't think she'd care this much about Buck speaking to her.

"I'm not." Victoria denies although anyone could see that was a lie.

"Mhm." Hen hums as she knew the woman was lying but decided to let it go for the time being. Victoria just looked out the window as she clenched her jaw. She didn't know why Buck not talking to her was affecting her now. Maybe it was because for the past few weeks he had been by her side. Or maybe it was because he wasn't spending do much attention on her.

Either way, she knew it was something, not that she'd admit it though. Especially to Hen who would only tease her for the rest of eternity.

••••

THEY WALK THROUGH THE MALL, moving through the crowd in order to get to the victim. "LAFD coming through." Bobby calls out, hoping people will actually move out of the way instead of just standing there gaping at what was going on. Hen met them halfway since she had already gone up at accessed the situation.

"Hey, I guess they'd been working on the escalator overnight. The floor panel on the landing-- it must not have been put back securely." Hen explains to them with a sigh as they notice the top of the escalator floor was gone. Victoria sighs as she knew this wouldn't be good.

"Daniel, help is here. The fire department is here." A woman tells him, who Victoria assumes in the girlfriend. "Please tell me he's gonna be okay. Please help him." She pleads with them as she walks over to the group.

"We're gonna do everything we can. They're gonna go from here. What's his name?" Hen asks as the others move toward the escalator.

"It's Daniel."

"Hey, Daniel. Can you hear me?" Buck asks curiously as he tries to peer inside. They didn't get a response.

"He might be unconscious." Victoria suggests as she looks toward Bobby.

"We gotta get the step out of here." Chimney states, referring to the step that was blocking half of the hole. They all crowd around it, bending down.

"One, two, three."  Buck says before they lift it up and away from the area.

"All right, Chim. You're up." Bobby tells him and Chimney climbs down the hole. Victoria shakes her head as she was waiting to see just how bad the damage was.

"I got a pulse guys!" Chimney shouts out.

"Oh thank God." The girlfriend says with a sigh of relief.

"Talk to me chim, what do you got?" Bobby says as he bends down so that the woman wouldn't hear behind them.

"It's not good."

"What's happening? Why are you stopping?" The girl asks them with panic in her eyes as she takes a few steps forward but Buck stops her.

"Whoa, whoa. Easy, easy." Buck says as he knew she wouldn't want to see it.

"We just have to access the situation first." Victoria says, trying to calm her down a bit. It wasn't a lie but they knew it was a bad injury.

"The chain is sitting on top of his femoral artery. It's possible it's even nicked it." Chimney tells them and victoria closes her eyes momentarily.

"Loosening it might make it worse." Eddie says as he looks at rhe group. "Tensions acting as a tourniquet, could be keeping him from bleeding out." He states.

"All right, let's get him out of there. Chim, tie him off." Bobby tells him. "Hen, get an I.V, run it wide open." He says, although there was a high chance that none of this would work.

"Copy that." Hen says as she moves toward her bag.

"Okay, on three." Chimney says as they had gotten him on thr stretcher and was about to pull him out. "one, two , three!" He shouts and they all lift him until he was on the now flat surface.

The man seemed still conscious as he looks up at the group of firefighters. "What did she say?" He asks as he had a pleading look in his eyes. Victoria glances to the girl who she could now see had a candy ring on her finger.

"I think she said yes, buddy." Chimney says with a smile on his face. The man seemed estatic to hear it but his energy seemed to deplete after that.

"Blood pressure is dropping." Hen warns as she sees the monitor start to go down.

"Breathing is shallow." Chimney says as he looks at the man whos eyes had closed. "Daniel, can you hear me?" He asks but there was no response.

"I can't find a pulse." Hen denies.

"He's in cardiac arrest." Chimney says as he starts to do chest compressions. Everyone watches them, Victoria trying to hold the new fiancee back.

"Daniel? Oh, please God!" The girl begs as tears stream down her face, pushing Victoria away slightly.

"Ma'am, you have to stand back. Let them do their job, okay?" Bobby tells her as he holds out his hand. Chimney continues to try and get the man back but it seemed to be too late, the damage was too severe.

"Chim." Hen says as she moves her hand to his.  "He's gone." She states, staring at Chimney who seemed to not want to stop. But as the flatline kept going, he knew there was no bringing him back. So, as he moved away from the victim, the fiancee fell to her knees, pleading for them to continue trying to save him.

Victoria could hear how the woman was wailing for her now dead fiancee. The agony in her voice, the way she was holding onto him, it all seemed to familiar. She had to look away as she felt her stomach churn. She could barely breathe herself as she continued to hear her deafening screams. It affected everybody, nobody quite knowing how to comfort her.

"Vic, why don't you--" Bobby goes to say but stops himself when he sees the woman crying. "Victoria." He says, a bit more sternly catching the others attention. Bobby moves toward her, bringing his hands to her arms. "Step away. Come back when you've pulled it together." He tells her, his voice low and she nods her head. Victoria sniffles as she turns, quickly moving away from the scene.

Buck watches after her with a frown on her face but by the look on Bobby's face, he knew no one should follow after her.

••••

EVERYONE HAD BEEN SILENT AS THEY ARRIVED BACK AT THE FIREHOUSE. No one really knew what to say after a call like that. It seemed to have affected everyone in a certain way. And there really was no way of just moving on from something like that. You're taught to save someone's life and then forget about it, but it wasn't always possible. Some things stuck with you. Especially when they reminded you of something from your own life.

"We should go out tonight." That sentence caught everyone off guard as they looked toward Victoria. None of them thought that it was going to be the first thing that was said. They looked more confused than anything because she had just been crying less than an hour ago.

"Really? After that call?" Hen asks, a bit skeptical as she looked toward Victoria. The woman only shrugs her shoulders, trying to put on a strong front for everyone else.

"Yeah, I mean, get our mind off it." Victoria suggests. Hen shared a glance with the others, none of them really knowing what to respond with. They wouldn't let her go out alone but they were still very concerned for her.

"You sure you're up to it?" Hen questions and she saw the look of annoyance Victoria got in her eyes.

"People die, Hen. It's a part of life." She mumbles as she shrugs her shoulders.

"Okay, yeah, let's do it." Hen says with a nod of her head but she was still quite reluctant. She was surely going to bring everyone else along because Hen knew that must be what Victoria needed. Victoria just walks away from them, heading toward the locker room.

"Has she ever broken down like that?" Eddie asks once she was far enough away. Hen sighs as she shakes her head. Victoria hadn't ever let a victim affect her like this. In Chicago, she didn't know bur definitely not since she's been here.

"Over a victim? Not really." Hen denies and Eddie nods his head, just trying to get a better understanding over what might be happening.

"She doesn't really show her emotions. The only time she did was because of a firefighter she lost back in Chicago." Chimney explains to him.

"But, you guys think she's okay?" Eddie asks, a small frown on his face. Hen sighs as she rubs her face a bit, watching Victoria as she sat on the bench, leaning over slightly.

"I don't." Hen states."But she hides it thinking that no one sees how sad she is." She tells them. Hen could see through Victoria's bullshit even when the girl tried her hardest to hide it.

"There's something more going on." Buck says, he knew when she was upset, especially spending the last few weeks with her. Did he ever get to comfort her? No, because she would just go to her room. But he knew the signs.

"Well, yeah. She never breaks like that over a victim especially in front of people if something more wasn't going on." Hen says with a roll of her eyes, as if blaming Buck for her recent behaviour. Buck furrows his eyebrows as he watches Hen and Chimney walk away before seeing Eddie start to head in Victoria's direction.

"Where are you going?" Buck asks him, a bit confused. Eddie stops momentarily to look back at Buck.

"To comfort her?" Eddie retorts as if it was very clear what he was doing. Buck blinks a few times before shaking his head.

"She doesn't like when people do that." He tells the man who furrows his eyebrows. Eddie didn't understand why Buck was trying to stop him.

"It's a sign of respect." Eddie points out but Buck holds his hands up in defense.

"I'm just warning you, man." Buck tells him and Eddie just shakes his head before walking over to the lockeroom. But as Buck watched him place his hand on her shoulder, he could have sworn Victoria was going to shout at him. But it was the complete opposite.

Instead, Eddie sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her. And if that wasn't bad enough, she rested her head on his shoulder. A man she barely knew was able to comfort her and yet if Buck did that, she would scream at him. Buck felt his jaw clench as he looked toward the ground. He knew he shouldn't be jealous, she was upset and was being comforted.

But that didn't stop him from thinking of the lingering stares, the touches, the emotions her and Eddie shared together in a mere month. Something that Buck was only now just getting to do.

••••

F

inally updated again! Why do you think Buck is ignoring Victoria ?