••••

ANXIOUS COULDNT EVEN DESCRIBE HOW VICTORIA WAS FEELING RIGHT NOW. Her fingers were fiddling with each other, her foot tapping against the ground as the chatter of the Cafe around her filled her ears. Her heart was racing a bit as her palms became sweaty, the air in the room turning warm as it hit her skin. And all that intensified by a thousand when her eyes landed back on Buck.

The man was sat in front of her, silent as ever as he had his arms leant against the table. Neither had spoken so far but that was because Victoria didn't know how to start and Buck was wondering why she even asked him here in the first place. She was glad he showed, he couldve just ignored her message. She didn't exactly leave them in the greatest place.

But Buck wouldn't do that. He was a literal sweetheart which is why it pained Victoria to feel like she may have hurt him. It wasn't her plan to, she didn't mean to but it had happened. And she felt like she had to explain herself to him. Especially after her conversation with Hen.

Clearing her throat, she brings her hands together, her eyes resting on Buck. "Thanks for meeting me." She admits, putting a tight smile onto her face. Buck's eyes softened as she spoke, his head nodding as he gazed back at her.

"Yeah, it seemed important." Buck responds. Victoria pressed her lips together tightly, staring at her barely touched coffee in front of her.

"It's about the other night." She tells him. Buck sighs, shaking his head as he brings his hand to his head.

"We don't have to--"

"Yes, we do." She states. Victoria knew he would brush it off, that he would act like it wasn't a big deal but she didn't want to do that. She wanted to talk about it and apologize. "Buck, I didn't mean to throw you out like that I was just.... afraid." Victoria says as she looks back down at her hands. "I get these panic attacks and it feels like the rooms closing in on me and my heart beats out of my chest practically into my ear and I just... I can't seem to get them to stop." She explains to him.

Buck frowns, feeling his heart clench a little. "So, when Rosie found out about us, you felt like you couldn't breathe." He says, his voice cracking slightly. Victoria knew he blamed himself but that wasn't right, she was the only one to blame.

"I promise it's not you. Not really it's..." She trails off, trying to find the right words. It was never about Buck. He truly didn't do anything, it was her messed up head that wasn't allowing her to be happy. "You are seriously the best thing to happen to me in a while and although that is true--"

"If you need more time, it's okay." Buck assures her. Victoria didn't want more time though. She finally made the decision to start something and she wanted to commit to it. Buck saw the frown on her face. "Vic--" He starts to say but stops when he sees the tears in her eyes.

"I just need help." Victoria admits. She had never said that out loud but she knew she needed to. "Hen says I should go to therapy." She says. Buck looked a bit confused and shocked for a second.

"You're not in therapy?" Buck would've thought she would already be going to therapy, especially after everything that's happened to her.

"No... I never went." She tells him and she had to laugh, it felt right. Victoria was stupid for never going to therapy but growing up, she kind of felt like it was a scam. But now, it probably a good idea to talk to someone about this. "I need to heal that part of me that's broken." Victoria tells him.

Buck nods his head, staring at his coffee for a moment. "Okay, so are we breaking up in order for you to do that or do you need me with you to be able to do that?" He wasnt going to be angry if she needed a break but he just wanted to know instead of being in the dark.

"I don't know."

"You're confusing me." Buck admits, trying to make sense of it but he couldn't. Victoria sighs as she rubs her face a bit.

"I'm confusing myself." She states. Victoria didnt know what to do. She knew Buck would wait and honestly, that was part of the problem. She didnt want him to wait for her. She didnt think she was worth waiting for. But he would. She knew he would. And although she didn't want that, she didn't want to keep him on a string, she didn't want to lose him.

Because despite what her head was trying to say, her heart really wanted him. And he treated her right. That's what every girl wanted. That's what she needed. Especially after five years of empty connections. Victoria takes a deep breath. "But we are gonna be late for work." She admits as she grabs her bag from the chair.

Buck nods, standing up from the table and putting cash down before she even had the chance. "Vic, i am really sorry that this isn't going the way you planned." He apologizes. Buck knew she wanted to go slow, at least slow in a sense that it would just be them for a little while. She didn't want everyone to find out and he was okay with that. But that didn't seem to be working.

"I guess that was my problem. Trying to plan everything." Victoria admits as she stands up with him, making her way out of the Cafe. Buck trails behind her and as they get to the sidewalk beside his jeep, he nudges her arm gently. She gazes up at the man curiously.

"Hey, Rosie said you really like me." Buck says with a smile on his face. Victoria couldn't help but laugh as she raises an eyebrow.

"Did she?"

"Mhm. Don't know if it's true though." Buck teases. Victoria rolls her eyes playfully as she shakes her head.

"Get in your jeep." She tells him, shoving him lightly toward it. Buck chuckles as he moves toward his car. Victoria smiles as she starts to walk down the street, Buck's eyes following her until she was out of his sight.

••••

VICTORIA HONESTLY WAS GLAD TO BE AT WORK, it was the one place she could completely just push away all her problems. She could have a clear head. Because she was focused on the scenes they responded to. It was like she was a different person when she was there. She wasn't overthinking herself, she wasn't overwhelmed, she had everything under control. Something she couldn't say for the rest of her life.

She was treating a patient who was having a seizure, Buck and a newly returned Chimney beside her. That was until Bobby came rushing over to them. "Chimney, Vic, Buck!" He shouts, catching their attention. "Step away. Step away." Bobby tells them and they all slowly back away from the patient. They were confused to say the least. "I need everybody's attention. We are now preparing for a possible chemical exposure incident. That means nobody in, nobody out. We can't risk spreading whatever may be present here." He explains to them.

Not overwhelming, Victoria did say that right? She sighs as she glances at the patient before looking at her hands. Luckily she had gloves on but whatever he was exposed to could be airborne as well. "Cap." Eddie says and they all look over, seeing Hen moving toward the now closing Vault door. "hen!" He shouts, rushing after her with everybody else.

"Hen!" Bobby gets there just as the vault shuts.

"What the hell is she doing?" Victoria asks with a scoff. They tried to get it back open but it was really no use, it was sealed tight.

"Don't act like you wouldn't pull something like that." Buck states and she just raises an eyebrow. As if he wouldn't do it as well.

"I'm a changed woman." Victoria says, pressing her hand against her chest.

"Mhm. I'll believe it when I see it." Buck responds. Victoria almost leans into him but stops herself, clearing her throat as she glances back toward Eddie and Bobby.

"Hen, do you copy?" Bobby asks through the radio. There was silence for a moment which worried everyone.

"I'm here, Cap. Making myself comfortable." Hen mumbles the last part, knowing she'd be in there for a while.

"Not too comfortable." Bobby responds before turning to one of the bank workers. "How do we open this?" He asks curiously.

"Uh, we don't. The vault operates on a time lock. It won't reopen until the start of business tomorrow." The woman denies and Victoria sighs, rolling her eyes.

"What if it's an emergency?"

"There is a number for the vault company on Mr Prentiss's desk." She tells him and Bobby nods his head.

"Show me." He tells her before following after the woman. Victoria sighs as she rubs her face a bit.

"So, this just turned into a very long call." Victoria states. It was obvious that this wasn't going to be over anytime soon, especially now that they had two trapped inside the vault with whatever nerve agent it was.

"Hope it didn't disturb your plan of laying on the couch and stuffing you face full of chips." Chimney says with a smirk on his lips. Victoria clenches her jaw as she turns toward the man.

"For your information I haven't done that in a while." She denies. Both Buck and Chimney just stare at her. "Okay, since last month." Victoria corrects herself. Chimney raises an eyebrow at her. "Last week-- just shut up, Chim." She groans causing the man to laugh as he walks away. Victoria moved her eyes to Buck who had an amused look on his face. "You wanna say something?" She asks him.

The smile instantly drops and he shakes his head. "Nope, I've learned to keep my mouth shut." Buck admits. Victoria nods, taking a step toward him, glancing around before lifting her hand.

"Good boy." She says with a smirk as she taps his cheek. Buck blushes and he was so grateful that no one else was around to hear her say that.

••••

AS THEY STAND BY THE VAULT DOORS, Eddie waits with the drill in order to make a hole for some oxygen to flow through into the room. "Okay, we're going dark. Chimney, hit it." Bobby says through the radio. It was a moment before the room went dark and Eddie started to drill a hole, the sparks flying everywhere. Victoria covers her face as she glances around.

"We're through!" Eddie says after a moment, backing up from the door.

"Chim, power us back up." Bobby says through the radio before glancing over at Buck. "Buck, crank the o2." He demands and the man nods his head.

"We're wide open, Cap." Buck tells him. "Now what?" He asks curiously.

"Now we get in there." Bobby tells him and Buck raises an eyebrow.

"How are we gonna do that?" Buck questions.

"We're gonna crack this safe." Bobby states. Victoria nods her head slowly. She got that but they still had to make it through literal steel.

"Okay.... but how?" She asks him. Bobby sighs as he looks down at the woman.

"Had to ruin the effect, huh?" He asks with a small smile and she just places her hands on her hips.

"Sorry, Bobby. Should've let you have your moment." Victoria responds with a laugh. Bobby chuckles before they all make their way outside and to the wall that connects straight to the safe.

"Okay, we start drilling here and here." Bobby tells them as he indicates to the points in the wall.

"Creating a crumple zone." Eddie says with a nod of his head.

"Exactly."

"Then what?" Eddie asks curiously.

"Then, I have an idea. But we've gotta soften it up first." Bobby admits.

"Soften up a foot of concrete?" Chimney asks, raising an eyebrow.

"It beats three layers of tempered steel." Buck mutters as he holds the drill in his hand. Victoria pouts toward Buck.

"Aw, your muscles not strong enough?" She asks as she taps his arm. Buck meets her gaze, seeing the smirk on her lips.

"I'd like to see you try and get through steel." He retorts and she just presses her lips together.

"Well, I mean, you couldn't so." Victoria points out. Buck shakes his head as he looks back toward Bobby.

"Let's do it." Bobby tells them and they drill a few holes into the wall so it would make it easier on them to hit at the right spots.  "alright let's start smashing this wall in." Victoria steps back, allowing Eddie and Buck to hit the wall a few times with sledgehammers. It doesn't do much but it allowed them to be able to get a good access point.

"Okay, chim I need you back inside eyes on the vault cam. If we're compromising their safety in any way, you got to let me know." Bobby tells him and Chimney nods his head.

"Copy that, Cap." Chimney says before rushing inside. Victoria moves on her feet, her hands tapping her side. She was worried about Hen because they truly don't know what she could've been exposed to. "All right, I got eyes on the vault cap." Chimneys voice came through the radio.

They all move, connecting the winch to the hook in the wall. But as they try and back the truck away, it pulls at the wall but isn't good enough to actually break it apart. "The winch isn't gonna do it, Cap." Eddie denies as he looks toward Bobby who sighs. His phone rings making him pull it out and answer it.

"This is captain Nash." Bobby says. Victoria places her hands on her hips as she tilts her head back a bit. "Okay, thank you." He states with a sigh before hanging up. "Patient zero, the armored car courier just died at the hospital." He tells them. Victoria's eyes widen.

"They know what it was yet?" Eddie asks him and Bobby shakes his head.

"No. They did say that no one else is exhibiting symptoms." Bobby says, at least that was the good thing about this situation.

"Yeah, no one else except them." Buck points out as he gestures toward the wall. Bobby sighs, not knowing what to say. "Oh, screw this." He mutters, moving past Victoria to get to the firetruck.

"All right, buck--" Bobby starts to say but Buck was already long gone.

"No, stand back!" Buck shouts, getting into the drivers seat. Victoria raises her eyebrows with a smirk as she watched Buck before her eyes move to Bobby, his hand on his hips.

"You are so doing a dad stance right now." She teases, laughing a bit. Bobby slowly moves his eyes down to her. "And that's a glare. Really perfecting it." Victoria states, making an okay signal with her fingers.

Buck drives firetruck back slowly and Victoria cant help but bite her bottom lip as she watches him. Breaking a hole in the wall, the concrete falls to the ground, the dust going everywhere. Victoria coughs a bit as Eddie moves toward her, not seeing the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"That was so hot, he's so manly and strong." Eddie says in a feminine voice beside her, cutting her from her thoughts. Victoria narrows her eyes as she pushes him slightly.

"I do not sound like that." She denies and Eddie smirks as he chuckles.

"You kinda do." He admits and Victoria rolls her eyes. "You can't lie, you were staring at him like you wanted to climb in that truck right then and there. I'm right, aren't I?" Eddie asks as he raises an eyebrow. Victoria crosses her arms against her chest.

"Why you looking, huh? Something you want to confess, Eddie?" She asks, teasing him back. "Do you have a deep infatuation with our Buck?" She asks with a gasp. Eddie glances away from her momentarily.

"You and Anthony both just answer questions with questions." Eddie points out and Victoria shrugs.

"It works."

"And then brag about it."

"Oh, I'm bragging? You know you do it quite often, right?" Victoria questions with a scoff. Eddie looked a bit confused.

"When have I ever bragged?" Eddie ask, genuinely curious to know the answer.

"When we lifted weights and you got more than me." She points out. Buck makes his way over to them but lingers back when he hears their conversation.

"No. That was just the facts."

"Oh, it was the facts?"

"Yep, you sore loser." Eddie states, pushing her helmet down a bit and she fights against his hands.

"Oh, whatever." She mumbles, scrunching her nose up as they walk toward the hole in the wall. But as they look through it, they see Chimney standing there next to a very open door.

"Hey, guys." Chimney says as he waves at them before moving to check on Hen.

"Seriously?" Buck asks with a sigh, looking at the mess they made. Victoria shakes her head slowly.

"All that work for nothing." She adds. Buck narrows his gaze as he stands back up.

"You just stood there." He points out. Victoria turns her gaze to him.

"And looked pretty doing it. Oh, sorry. Looking good is hard for you while with me it's just natural." Victoria states, patting his shoulder. Buck rolls his eyes a bit but smiles down at her. He's about to say something else when Eddie cuts him off.

"Says the one who spends an hour in the bathroom every single day." Eddie points out. Buck furrows his eyebrows as he looks toward the man.

"You wouldn't even know that." Victoria denies as she meets Eddies eyes.

"Rosie and Chris talk about it when she's babysitting."

"That little bitch. She spends more time than me in there." She states, crossing her arms.

"Are we sure about that?" Eddie questions and she scoffs, hitting his chest while the man only smirks. Buck bites the inside of his cheek, watching as her eyes shined bright at she talked to Eddie.

"Oh, patronizing me are you?" Victoria asks him, placing her hand on her hip as she raises an eyebrow.

"I mean, I thought it was natural." Eddie teases her as he looks at the woman. Buck glances between them, watching as they stood a mere foot away from each other. Victoria just tilts her head, gazing up at Eddie.

"You think I just wake up with hair like this? Not everyone can finger brush for two seconds and call it a day." Victoria complains as she gestures toward her hair and Eddie only chuckles. "You're so annoying, you and your smirk. You know what? I'm still very mad at you." She says, giving him a small glare before walking toward the truck.

"Oh, please. You'll love me by the end of the night." Eddie tells her with a smirk on his lips. Victoria lets out a loud laugh, tauntingly as she doesn't even turn her head back to him.

"Don't count on it!" She calls back and Eddie laughs, shaking his head as he takes off his gloves. He moves past Buck, not seeing the annoyance clear on the man's face. Buck just clenches his jaw as he watches the man walking toward the truck before shaking his head and walking after him.

••••

BUCK LETS OUT A LONG SIGH AS THEY RETURN TO THE FIREHOUSE. He rubs his face a bit as he glances down to his shoulder where Victoria had her head. She was passed out asleep as soon as they got in the truck. Chimney and Hen got out of the truck as soon as it parked along with Bobby. Eddie hesitates when Buck nudges his leg with his foot. He gestures toward Victoria and Eddie raises an eyebrow. "Should we wake her?" Eddie asks, wondering if that was what Buck was trying to get his attention for.

"I don't know, cause she'll get mad at us if we wake her but she'll also get mad if we don't and she wakes up in an uncomfortable position." Buck explains. Eddie nods his head slowly.

"So, it's a lose-lose?" He points out. Buck sighs as he presses his lips together tightly, his eyes moving back to Victoria.

"Basically."

"So, you do it." Eddie tells him. Bucks lips part as his eyes widen, his gaze snapping back to Eddie.

"Wha-- why me?" He asks with a whine. Eddie chuckles as he shrugs his shoulders.

"Because you're her boyfriend." Eddie points out the obvious. Buck narrows his eyes a bit, biting his tongue to say something that had been in his mind. Instead he settled for saying something different.

"Okay? You're her friend." Buck retorts. Eddie just shakes his head.

"Mm, boyfriend trumps friend. You wake her." Eddie says, patting his knee as he moves over toward the door. Buck groans as he tries to kick at Eddie.

"I'm not waking her, you do it." He demands. Eddie just gives him an amused expression.

"Buck, I can get out so easily while as you can't." Eddie says, referring to the fact that Victoria had rested on Buck as opposed to Eddie so Eddie didn't have to worry about moving her.

"Not if I trip you and you faceplant out of this firetruck." Buck states bluntly. Eddie stops what he was doing, raising an eyebrow as he licks his bottom lip.

"Was that a threat?" Eddie asks with a small laugh, not really taking it seriously. Buck narrows his gaze.

"A promise." He corrects. Eddie just stares back at him before glancing toward the door.

"I'll push you both out if you don't shut up." Victoria's voice pipes up causing them both to look at her. They see her lifting her head as her hands come up to rub her eyes.

"Hey, you're awake." Buck says gently and he is only met with an annoyed glare.

"Well, yeah, you both are annoyingly loud." Victoria grumbles, pushing past both of them to get out of the truck. Eddie chuckles as he follows in suit, Buck after him.

"So that might be the weirdest day I've had since joining the LAFD and we've had a few." Buck admits as he closes the door behind him.

"Seriously. It was like a bank robbery with no robbers." Eddie says with a scoff.

"Eh, I've seen weirder." Victoria admits as she shrugs her shoulders. As they go to take their first steps, police Sirens fill their ears as the cars speed up to the firehouse. "Spoke too soon." She says as she just puts her hands inside of her pockets.

"Step away from the vehicle." One of the officers says from the megaphone in the car. Bobby steps in front of the group, just as confused as the rest of them.

"Can I help you, detective?" Bobby asks curiously as he sees the man walking up to them.

"You and your people just stay where we can see you, captain." He warns, gesturing for his team to go toward the trucks. Victoria looked confused as she watches them open the compartments, pulling out two bags.

"Excuse me, you wanna tell me what's going on?" Bobby asks with a scoff but as one of the officers turns toward them, they turn the bag upside down an a huge chunk of cash falls out from inside of it.

Victoria's jaw drops as she watches. That was just a few bucks, that had to be at least a couple of grand. Her eyes search over the money before she looks toward Buck who had the same expression on his face. The whole team did.

"Maybe you can tell me." He responds in an accusatory manner. The team all share a glance with each other, half because they had no idea what was going on but also because they knew,

Well they knew this was going to be an especially long day.

••••

IF SOMEONE TOLD VICTORIA SHE'D BE INTERROGATED FOR A ROBBERY, she'd never believe them. Mainly because she would never be stupid enough to get caught. Victoria's motto is if you're going to commit a crime, at least get away with it. So, as she sat in the interrogation room, she couldn't help but feel annoyed and bored that they were wasting her time with this crap. Why would she steal the money from the bank and hide it in the firetruck? That seems a little redundant.

"Three hundred thousand dollars." The detective tells her. Victoria sighs as she brings her hand up to rub her face. She had been in this room for what felt like forever, in reality it was probably a few minutes, but still she wanted to die.

"You keep saying that number like it means something to me." Victoria responds, tilting her head.

"It's how much you and your friends stole from that bank." The woman beside him tells her. Victoria raises her eyebrows, a laugh leaving her lips. Her friends? They think that the team stole that money? Them? Oh, she didn't think this would be hysterical.

"You think they are capable of robbing a bank? I love them to death but they're not exactly the most coordinated group." Victoria denies as she smirks, shaking her head.

"It could all be an act." The detective responds and Victoria rolls her eyes a bit before leaning forward and resting her arms on the table.

"Bobby's moral compass is too big, he'd end up turning himself in. Chimney would be too logical and probably over think everything. Eddie would never do anything that would take him away from his son. Hen would be the same because of her son and Karen. And Buck... well, he's like a chicken on rollerskates, he's adorable but clumsy."

Their team couldn't pull off a robbery to save their life. And if they were to do one, they wouldn't pick each other. Victoria sure as hell wouldn't choose them, she'd rather fly solo. Because again, every single one would have a moral dilemma and well, Buck would be Buck. He'd get sniffed out in seconds.

"I see you didn't add yourself to that little scenario." The woman points out. Victoria just stares back at them with a blunt expression. That's all they got from  that?

"Single mother to her teenage sister, dad's dead, moms gone. Three hundred grand would do a lot for two people struggling in LA." The detective lists off.

"Who says I'm struggling?"

"So, you're just able to keep up a two bedroom apartment all by yourself?" He asks with a scoff. Victoria just shrugs her shoulders.

"Well, my dead fiancé's money helps a bit." She admits as she clenches her jaw a bit. "You know, his life insurance policy?" Anthony had it in his will for half of his insurance policy to go to his family and half to Victoria. So, she wasn't exactly struggling because she knew how to not waste money.

"And that has been lasting you for five years?" The woman asks, seemingly not believing her.

"I budget." Victoria responds with a harsh tone. The detective leans forward.

"Where's the money?" Victoria groans as she covers her face with her hands.

"Oh, my god. You are two of the most airhead detectives I have ever met, and I've met a few." She admits as she rolls her eyes a bit.

"Deflecting won't make us stop going after you for stealing that money from the armored car." The woman denies. This makes Victoria a bit confused as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"The car?" She asks and they nod their heads. "You're telling me that the stolen money's not even from the vault? My whole team was near the vault the entire time and you expect us to have had been able to do a robbery at the same time." They were good but they were not that good. They couldn't be in two places at once.

"You most likely had an accomplice." The detective states. Victoria honestly had enough at that point, she was surely losing her mind slowly during this entire conversation.

"Okay, I know my rights and I know I don't have to answer any questions and since they're idiotic ones, I'm gonna just sit here." Victoria states as she sits back in her chair, crossing her arms against her chest and lifting her legs onto the table. The detectives didnt look impressed. "And stare." Narrowing her gaze, she just remains silent afterwards.

Because if they were going to act like literal children with no braincells, she was going to treat them like toddlers and put them in a time out.

••••

ATHENA LETS OUT A SIGH AS SHE LOOKS OVER AT VICTORIA AND HEN. They were all sat in Athenas living room, thankful the interrogations were over. At least for now. "Let robbery homicide do their dance, eliminate the obvious suspects and find the real ones. I mean, I know it ain't easy but you got to let the wheels of justice do their thing." Athena says as she looks at Hen who brings her phone down, rubbing her face.

"Those wheels... those wheels have a way of sometimes crushing people like me." Hen admits causing Victoria to glance over at her. Athena furrows her eyebrows.

"Oh, come on. You don't think--"

"It's just this business of turning over every rock to look under it. I mean, I got some rocks that I'd rather no have anyone peeking under, you know?" Hen explains to them with a slight scoff. "Just promise me, Athena. I will not end up in a six by nine with Eva fighting over our top bunk." She pleads and both Athena and Victoria let out scoffs.

"Never gonna happen." Athena denies, shaking her head.

"Yeah, Eva is never laying her eyes on you again." Victoria adds. She always hated Eva, ever since she first heard of the woman, it was clear she was nothing but trouble.

"My protector." Hen says with a smirk as she looks toward Victoria.

"So, are you actually going to talk about this new hubby you're seeing?" Athena asks out of the blue as she looks toward Victoria. The womans eyes widen as she looks at Hen who holds her hands up in defense immediately.

"I didn't say anything." Hen denies, not about to take the heat for this. Victoria was confused as to how Athena knew then because she knew for a fact Buck wouldn't tell Athena of all people.

"Oh, she didn't need to." Athena denies, bringing out her phone from her pocket. "You see, I got a very interesting text the other day. Very.... revealing." She says and Hen takes it from her, reading the text out loud.

"I know I said we should take things slow but if you want to get on your.... knees for me, I wouldn't be opposed." Hen had her hand covered over her mouth as she stifled a laugh. Victoria's cheeks were burning red. She remembered when she sent that to Buck and she just thought he either hadn't seen it or maybe didn't know what to say.

"I wondered why he never answered." She mumbles to herself. Hen was just smirking at her, her eyebrows raised.

"Didn't know you were so forward." Hen teases as she crosses her arms against her chest. Victoria groans as she tilts her head back momentarily.

"He's really hot okay, and he knows how to pleasure a woman, something many men will never understand their whole life." Victoria points out. She was not going to apologize for sending that text to who she presumably thought was Buck. Because he was a man who would get on his knees when asked.

"Or even care to." Athena adds, pointing at Victoria.

"It's yalls fault for liking men." Hen states. Victoria glares over at her and Athena shakes her head.

"Wait, so you told Hen about him but not me?" Athena asked, usually all three of them talked about these types of things. Victoria opens her mouth to say something but Hen beats her to it.

"She didn't tell me much, just that she was seeing someone. I didn't press because I didn't want to spook her." Hen admits and Athena nods her head, seemingly agreeing.

"Oh, yes. This is a very delicate situation."

"Why are you two acting like I'm a puppy scared of the ocean?" Victoria asks, a bit annoyed as she stares at them.

"Because you are." Hen responds. Victoria flips her off just as the front door opens and Michael walks in.

"Hey." Michael says as he looks over at the women. Victoria sends him a smile, waving happily as if she wasn't just being made fun of by Athena and Hen.

"Hey." Athena responds.

"I need to borrow Harry's computer. They confiscated mine. You have any idea where it is?" Michael asks her curiously and Athena scoffs.

"Probably in the same evidence lockup downtown as yours."

"Wait, what? They took his too? The hell... what are they thinking? He's robbing banks and playing Minecraft?" He questions, rolling his eyes a bit.

"Hey, some kids are very clever for their age." Victoria points out and Michael raises an eyebrow.

"Not Harry."

"Listen, I don't know. Like father like son, I guess." Athena says in an accusatory manner and Victoria just shares a glance with Hen. "Tell me you didn't spend the better part of your day helping my fiance bust open a vault?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"We were trying to save hen." Michael says, placing his hands on Hens shoulders.

"Thank you for that, by the way."

"You got it."

"I think." Hen adds, narrowing her eyes before her phone starts to vibrate. She looks at the caller id. "it's the hospital." She admits, answering as she stands up from the chair. "Hello? This is she." She says, making her way out onto the patio.

"Place looks pretty good. What happened, you clean up after they left?" Michael asks as he glances around the spotless house. Athena shakes her head, humming.

"Police were very careful." Athena says.

"You mean terrified of you." Michael corrects her in amusement.

"Can you spread some of that fear to me because they trashed my apartment." Victoria grumbles, pouting. She would have to spend so long cleaning everything up, she just didn't feel like doing it right now.

"You just need to stop smiling so much." Athena points out without so much as an ounce of hesitation.

"I don't smile that much." She denies but she sees the look that both Athena and Michael give her. "Do I?" Victoria asks, her eyes widening slightly.

"You and Buck are both golden retriever puppies." Athena points out with a shake of her head. Victoria scoffs as she narrows her eyes.

"Hey, no, he's the puppy." She denies just as Hen comes back into the room.

"Got my tox report back. You'll never believe what they found." Hen says as she places a hand on her hip.

"Scorpion venom." Athena says as she stares at her phone. Hen gets a perplexed expression on her face.

"I feel robbed.  How the hell did you know that?" Hen asks, quite surprised that Athena had actually gotten it right.

"Yeah, I didn't even get to guess." Victoria states as she crosses her arms against her chest. Athena just raises an eyebrow at her.

"Would you have said scorpion venom?"

"No...."  She says slowly, pressing her lips together tightly. Athena shakes her head as she looks back toward Hen.

"It was in the hand sanitizer that you found in the vault." Athena tells her and Michael furrows his eyebrows.

"Uh, what is that supposed to mean?" He asks curiously. Athena sighs as she leans back against her seat.

"I have no idea." Athena admits, moving her eyes to Victoria before they land on Hen and she could see the realization hit. "But... you do." She says and everyone looks toward Hen who nods her head.

"Yeah. I know who did this."

••••

VICTORIA WAS SAT AT THE TABLE WITH THE OTHERS, her head rested on Chimneys shoulder who was sat beside her. She couldnt believe they were back at work after all of that nonsense went on. They didnt even get an apology from the idiot detectives who suspected them. "Let me see if I got this right." Buck "The fake nerve agent attack was a distraction for the armored car robbery... which was a distraction for the diamond heist." Buck says, trying to wrap his head around it. "Crime is hard."
H

e whines as he sits back against his chair.

Victoria smirks over at him, laughing lowly. "That's okay, buddy. We all know why you picked firefighting." She responds, sending a wink over to Buck who playfully glares back at her.

"Not the brightest bulb in the room." Chimney adds, taking a sip of his drink. Buck leans forward, raising an eyebrow as he stared directly at Victoria.

"Oh, like you'd be so good at it." He taunts. Victoria didn't know if he was being serious or not, her eyes narrowing a bit.

"You know I grew up in Chicago right? My neighborhood wasn't exactly known for it's touristic charm." Victoria points out, snorting a bit. Every way you turned, there was some sort of gang or crime going on. She still had favour's from some of the gangs she grew up around.

"You saying you were a bad girl, vic?" Hen teases her, jokingly tapping her fingers along the girls arm. Victoria rolls her eyes.

"I'm just saying I could totally commit a crime and get away with it. Not get caught like these idiots." Victoria says with a shrug of her shoulders. Buck seemed a little on edge by her comment.

"Wait, not like murder, right?" He asks, his eyes widening in the slightest. Victoria tilts her head, pressing her tongue to the inside of her cheek as she slowly looks over him.

"I'd just stay on my good side, buckaroo." She jokes, keeping her tone straight. The others laugh while Buck somewhat slides down in his chair. Hen shakes her head as she rubs her face a bit.

"Franklin knew the bank and Marty knew us." Hen says, looking at the others.

"Is it bad that I barely knew who Marty was?" Victoria asks. She had seen him around a few times but she hadn't really had conversations with him like the others had.

"It's the world according to Vic." Hen teases her with a roll of her eyes. Victoria flips her off a bit.

"Was that a Carrie reference?" Eddie asks curiously. Hen and Victoria both snap their heads in his direction. Victoria raises an eyebrow at him.

"You've seen Carrie?" She asks, amusement in her voice as she stares at the man. Eddie feels all the eyes on him and he could only groan.

"Shannon was obsessed with it, okay? Moving on." Eddie says, tilting Victoria's head away from him with his finger on her jaw. Victoria smirks but looks back in front of her. She saw Buck glancing between them but didn't pay much mind to it. "But how'd they know each other?" Eddie asks, bringing the topic of conversation back to the heist.

"Brothers in law. Well, ex brothers In law." Hen answers him. "Franklin had been married to Marty's crazy sister. And when they ran into each other again, a plan formed. Franklin was the inside man. His job was to create a medical emergency in the bank. The kind that would trigger a hazmat response because Marty knew that we'd have to seal the perimeter to execute the big bird protocol. He gets the driver to leave the truck and empty all his pockets. And while the driver gets clean, Marty gets rich."

"Well, now all Marty's getting is a jail cell." Victoria adds.

"Except, how's he gonna get all that money out of there? Can't just walk it off the scene. He needed a mule. Or a team of mules. Us." Hen points out.

"Not a bad plan. I mean, it's crazy, but it could've worked." Bobby admits as he shrugs. Victoria lets out a light snort.

"But they were stupid." She points out and Bobby smiles, shaking his head.

  "We bring the money back here and all he has to do is sneak in, access the ladder truck and retrieve the money. Except there wasn't any, because the police had already beaten him to the punch."  Bobby explains.

"But how'd the police know exactly where to find the money?" Buck asks, confused on how to police even knew about any of this.

"Also, I don't get how they walked right in and found it. Surely they'd have searched two more cabinets before finding it." Victoria adds. She understood that they recieved an anonymous tip but how did Franklin know exactly where Marty hid the money?

"Cause there was one variable that Marty didn't count on. The double cross." Chimney adds. Victoria just raises her eyebrow. Honestly she would be more interested in this if it wasn't for the fact it caused her apartment to be destroyed. "See, Marty may have known everything about LAFD protocol, but Franklin knew about the bank. He knew what was in that vault. He could steal those diamonds with his eyes closed. See, Marty's plan was simple, but Franklin's was more time sensitive, so he told Marty the best day to Rob the armored car would be his last day. He knew there'd be a party at the end of the day, at the close of business. He'd start with Marty's plan, then he'd improvise. Franklin made sure he collapsed inside the vault. He knew what our response would be. Then all he had to do was wait for the vault to automatically close and time seal for the night. Then he'd have hours alone inside that vault  while we ran our rescue protocols. It was a meticulous plan. But there was one unexpected complication." Victoria almost dozed off as Chimney explained everything to her.

She couldn't be a detective that was for sure.

"Me." Hen says. "He was supposed to be in there alone so me running in to save his sorry ass? A complication. He had to take me out too." She tells them.

"Did he expect us to not try and save his life?" Victoria asks with a scoff, rolling her eyes a bit.

"At this point, I should've just left him." Hen mumbles back in agreement. "But now he's playing beat the clock. Soon as the cameras couldn't see. Franklin swiped six million in stones and waited to be saved. He had the stones all he needed was a clean getaway. He sends the police after us so while the police were investigating us, he could flee the country. New name, new passport, new life." She says, crossing her arms against her chest.

"He just wasn't fast enough." Bobby denies.

"Marty knew he'd been double crossed." Eddie says as he nods his head. Victoria just rests her chin in the palm of her hand as she looks at everyone.

"He's goes to confront Franklin." Bobby adds and Buck raises his eyebrows.

"So, Marty killed Franklin." Buck finishes. Victoria brings her hands up to run through her hair, a groan leaving her lips.

"I don't care who killed who, I'm just glad the days over." Victoria admits causing everyone to give her a confused look.

"We just got here." Hen points out. Victoria blinks as she looks around momentarily before holding out her hands.

"Well, is it daytime, hen? I don't think so, so therefore I am right." She states as she shrugs her shoulders. Hen brings her fingers to her eyebrows, a long sigh leaving her lips.

"Eat your soup." Hen tells her with a shake of her head. Victoria just laughs as she picks up her spoon. Her eyes move across the table toward Buck who was already looking at her. He gives her a small smile which she returns before his gaze drops to his bowl.

••••

Authors note;

Yeah me asking for Anthony's faceclaim did not help one bit because there's what my head wants, what my heart wants and what yall want. Jenson and Sebastian are the two biggest suggestions, but I don't know if I want... a more 'masculine' guy, or if I want someone like hyo seop from business proposal because the way I'm gonna potray Anthony is really sweet and cute, aside from his military time. Not that Jenson and Sebastian aren't cute and sweet but the vibe they give off, you know? I don't knowwwww.

Also i know when I'm gonna do vics begin episode but idk of I should do some flashbacks of life at 51 and Anthony before them.

Also I'm actually gonna run out of vic gifs so soon because there aren't actually that many out there 🥲