••••

BUCK LETS OUT A LONG GROAN, leaning down as he places his hands on his knees, trying to take a deep breath. He didn't know why he accepted this task or why he didn't try and talk her out of it. He felt like he was dying. And it made it worse how Eddie and Victoria both seemed to be fine. "You know, when I said I'd help you train to be a firefighter again I meant doing drills, at the firehouse, at an actual decent hour in the day." He complains as he stands up straight, putting his hands on his hips.

Victoria laughs as she wipes the sweat from her forehead. They had only ran five miles and he was already saying something about it and it was their first day. "This is helping me." She admits and he just sighs.

"You forget, I'm not a runner." Buck tells her and Eddie just places his hand on the man's shoulder.

"You say that numerous times a week, mi amor." He points out causing Buck to glare at him a bit.

"Clearly I have to say it more."

"Maybe he should have the heart monitor on." Victoria says with a snort making the man only stick his middle finger up at her.

"Very funny." He mumbles before sitting down on the bench behind him. "Shit." Buck places his hand on his stomach as he just turns his body to lay down fully.

"Lying down is only gonna make it worse when we run back." Eddie tells him but it didnt seem like Buck was really listening to him.

"I don't care." He admits and Victoria just stares down at her boyfriend before she hears her phone ring.

Taking it out of her pocket, she sees Gabby was trying to face time her. "Its Gabby." She tells them as her finger hovers over the answer button.

"Good, tell her you're literally killing me right now." Buck demands and Victoria smirks as she rolls her eyes.

"Youre so dramatic." She tells him before answering the call and seeing the woman appear on the screen. "Hey." Victoria says with a small smile.

"Guess what?" Gabby says suddenly and Victoria was taken aback a bit.

"Hi, how are you? I'm great, how are you Gabby?" She responds making Gabby look a bit annoyed.

"I'm fine-- guess what?"

"What?" Victoria asks with a roll of her eyes, waiting impatiently.

"You know the annual fire conference that they rope one house into going for each state every year?" Gabby questions her and Victoria scrunches her nose up, displeased.

"Unfortunately."

"And you know how your house was picked this year?" Victoria didnt know where she was going with this. "Guess where the conference is?" Gabby asks her and Victoria rubs her face, not in the mood for a guessing game.

"Florida?"

"Chicago." The woman corrects and Victorias eyes widen.

"Are you serious?" Victoria asks. She didn't know they had announced it. The luck that it would be in Chicago were, well, one in 50.

"Youre finally gonna have no excuse to come visit us!" Gabby says excitedly and Victorias smile falters a bit, glaring at her.

"Wow, how excited I am now." She responds sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, you've been saying you'll come visit for weeks."

"Sorry if I just got back from fighting a literal wildfire." Victoria answers her bluntly and Gabby just looks past her.

"Hi, Eddie." She says with a wave and Eddie smiles at her, waving back.

"Hey."

"Oh, so he gets greeted?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Where's buck." Gabby questions, ignoring what she had said.

"Currently dying." Victoria answers as she moves the screen to show the man on the bench.

"She made you run, huh?" She asks with a small laugh. "Shay used to hate you for that." Gabby points out and Victoria narrows her gaze.

"She loved it more than you forcing her to learn to cook."

"Hey, my cooking lessons were amazing." Gabby scolds, a bit hurt. But Victoria knew Shay complained because even the tiniest mistake and Gabby would go off on her.

"Mhm." She simply hums, shaking her head.

"Also, running at four am is diabolical." Gabby announces with a scoff.

"Thank you!" Buck says loudly, glad somebody agreed with him. Victoria rolls her eyes a bit.

"Im hanging up now."

"Whatever, I love you." Gabby calls out before the call was ended. Putting her phone away, Victoria moves over to the bench, leaning down and grabbing Bucks hands.

"Come on, up you get." She tells him, dragging a tired Buck up so he was now sitting instead of dying on the bench.

"Can we just call a cab?" Buck asks them, not seeing the point of running five miles back to their apartment.

"Thats gonna be hard to do without your phone." Victoria admits, grabbing it from his pocket and holding it up. He goes to take it from her but she moves back.

"Please, Vic." But she just wiggles it in her grip before taking off running. "Vic!" Buck was too tired to even try and go off chasing her. His eyes move to Eddie who was still standing next to him. "I blame you for this." Buck admits and Eddie raises his hands up in defense.

"Hey, it was your decision to tell her you'd help her train."

"I still blame you." He mutters as he glares at the man. Eddie just laughs a bit, shaking his head before running off in the direction Victoria went. Letting out a long groan, Buck tilts his head back before reluctantly running after him.

••••

ARRIVING AT THE SCENE, the group walk in and see Athena standing next to Bobby as the body of a woman floats in the pool in front of them. "Don't think we're gonna be needing those med kits." Bobby denies as he looks over at them. Victoria groans as she tilts her head back a bit.

"So, my one job is off the table?" She retorts and Bobby gives her a tight smile.

"Yeah. Crime scene units on the way. We just need to get a medical confirmation that she's dead." Athena states as she looks over at them.

"On it." Chimney says, taking a step forward before looking at buck. "Excuse me." He clears his throat, moving past them and Buck looked confused.

"Uh, did you just say excuse me?"  Buck asks, watching after the man before looking at Eddie and Victoria. "chimneys being weird." He admits.

"How can you tell?" Eddie questions.

"Yeah, he's always weird." Victoria points out.

"Hes weirder than usual." Buck says and Victoria just makes her way over to the body. "Ooh, ooh, hey, whoever killed her kicked that gate in good. Saw a clean footprint on it." He calls out.

"Well, that foot would be mine. The gate was latched shut from the inside. Front door was locked too." Athena answers him and Eddie raises an eyebrow.

"If everything was locked when you got here, how'd the murderer get in or out." He asks curiously.

"It's a locked room mystery." Buck says, looking toward the man.

"A locked yard mystery. What do you think? Home invasion gone bad? Murder for hire?" Eddie suggests and Buck nods his head.

"Was she married? Cause you know, the husband is usually the culprit." He states and Athena just listens to the two ramble with each other.

"Are we making a true crime podcast?" Athena asks the pair, raising her eyebrows as she holds her hands out.

"Blame Vic, it's all she watched for months." Buck says, gesturing at the woman who tilts her head.

"And now I know how to kill a man and get away with it." She says and Buck could practically see her smirking behind her mask.

"I don't think that should be the takeaway from it." Eddie denies with furrowed eyebrows.

"Calling it-- definitely signs of a struggle. Looks like a fresh manicure too." Hen says, lifting up the womans hand and Victoria shakes her head.

"Guessing that the broken nail would have bugged her less than the bullet hole." Victoria points out before standing  up again.

"You got an ID for the paperwork?" Athena asks as she sees the detective walking over to her.

"Yeah, the victims name is Delia Narwood. She's the owner and sole occupant of the property." He says before tripping and everyone watches as he caught himself. "And an apparent fan of tiny garden statuary." Rico says with a small laugh.

"Hey, you know none of this mails addressed to Delia Narwood-- it's not even the right house number." Eddie denies as he looks at them. Buck raises an eyebrow.

"So, she was stealing people's mail." He states, thinking to himself for a moment. "Maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to and it got her killed." Buck says firmly as he turns to face Athena who didn't look impressed.

"Okay, cagney And lacey. I think your work here is done." She points out making the others laugh. Victoria shakes her head as she stares at them.

"You both are losers." Victoria tells them, Eddie sending her an air kiss as she begins to walk.

"Why am I carrying your med kit?" Buck asks suddenly, noticing that he was the one carrying it, not Victoria. She only turns to face them as she still walks backwards.

"Because you're the man." She states and Buck blinks, a bit confused.

"That makes no sense."

"Theres no questioning it, Buck. There just isn't." Eddie denies before following after the woman. Buck shakes his head but puts the bag over his shoulder as he starts walking.

••••

ROSIE MAKES HER WAY PAST HER SISTER WHO WAS LEANT AGAINST THE DOOR FRAME. Victoria let's out a long sigh, running a hand down her face. "Thank you for dropping her off." She says as she looks toward Lucy who only shakes her head, smiling gently.

"Oh, yeah, it's no problem." Lucy denied, placing a hand in her pocket. "I completely space sometimes too." She admits and Tamara let's out a small snort.

"More like all the time." She mumbles and Lucy narrows her gaze, slowly looking toward the young girl.

"Go wait in the car." Lucy demands and Tamara presses her lips together tightly but starts walking down the hall. Lucy shakes her head as she looks back toward Victoria.

"Teenagers are tricky."

"Youre telling me. She's been living with me for a few months and she walks like she owns the place." She points out, although she did loving her around.

"Mm, don't you just love it?" Victoria retorts, tilting her head.

"At least she's a little easier to handle than Tim." Lucy jokes and Victoria laughs, raising an eyebrow.

"Hes your TO, right?"

"Sometimes I question my sanity when I leave the station." She admits with a long sigh. Victoria smiles gently as she tilts her head.

"Im sure he's just watching out for you." Victoria responds and Lucy narrows her gaze a bit.

"He calls me boot so many times I get triggered when I go shoe shopping." Lucy states and Victoria shakes her head, laughing.

"Hey, um, we're having a small get together at my friends place this evening. Did you wanna come?" She asks hesitantly, putting her hands in her pockets.

"Really? That'd be great." Lucy responds with a smile. She didn't have many close friends at the moment who she didn't work with so it was nice to hang out with somebody who she didn't see on a day to day basis.

"You can bring someone if you want." Victoria tells her and Lucy shakes her head.

"I'm not really in the dating pool right now."

"You could always bring Tim." She teases and Lucy laughs, scrunching up her face.

"Yeah, I'll pass on that." Lucy admits and Victoria just smiles at her. "Ill probably ask my best friend Jackson if he wants to come." She states and Victoria nods slightly.

"Cool. Well, it starts at six but feel free to show up later, Chimney will have surely messed something up causing a delay anyways." Victoria mutters with a small sigh making Lucy laugh a little bit.

"Sounds good." She responds before backing up a bit. "Ill see you." She says, bidding Victoria a goodbye.

"Bye." Victoria says with a smile, waving at the woman before closing the door.

••••

EDDIE HAD BEEN STANDING BY THE PATIO WHEN VICTORIA AND BUCK ARRIVED. A beer was in his hand as he had wandered over toward them. Even though no one was staring at him, he felt like everybody was. "So, how exactly are we telling everyone?" Buck asks curiously, them having not actually had that conversation before they came here. Victoria just shrugs her shoulders.

"I figured we would just say it and dip." She points out, not exactly in the mood to be bombarded by everyone.

"I second that idea." Eddie says with a firm nod and Buck sighs a bit.

"Come on, guys. You don't think we'll be cornered?"

"I think you'll be cornered by Maddie giving the two survivors a chance to sneak out." Victoria says, pointing between her and Eddie. Buck narrows his gaze, biting the inside of his cheek.

"I never thought I'd find two incredible people who are so loving." Buck responds sarcastically and Eddie chuckles as he places his hand on the man's shoulder.

"We'll be sure to give you a great eulogy."
H

e tells the man who fakes a laugh before pushing eddies hand off. Eddie smirks as he takes a drink of his beer.

"Hey, guys, how are you?" Maddie asks as she makes her way over to them. Buck let's out a sigh, instantly pulling her in for a hug.

"Good that I can now actually hug my sister."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Chimney agreed to this given how covid crazy he's been." Victoria points out and Maddie scoffs as she pulls away from Buck.

"Oh, I made him agree to this." She states firmly and Victoria smiles before looking down the woman.

"Youre literally glowing, Maddie."

"I can't believe we're already this far along." She admits, placing her hands on her stomach.

"You know what they say, time does fly." Buck states and Victoria wanted to facepalm as Maddie just stares at her brother.

"Why are you acting weird?" Maddie asks him curiously and Buck just scoffs as he rubs the back of his neck.

"I'm not acting weird, you're acting weird." He retorts and Maddie narrows her gaze a bit.

"Okay...?"

"Hey, babe, why don't you go grab us a drink, hm?" Victoria says, patting his chest, really just making any excuse to make him leave. Buck points at her.

"Thats a good idea." Buck responds before quickly rushing away. Victoria smiles toward Maddie before seeing Lucy walking in.

"Lucy, you made it!" She says excitedly, moving over to the girl who notices her.

"Am I late?"

"No, right on time." Victoria assures her before her gaze shifts to the man beside her. "Hi, I'm Vic." She says, holding out her hand and the man smiles back at her.

"Jackson. It's really nice to meet you." He tells her and she nods her head as he shakes her hand.

"You too."

"This is Maddie, the woman of the house." Victoria says with a smirk and Maddie rolls her eyes playfully at the girl before offering a smile to the pair in front of her.

"Come on in, make yourself at home."

"Thank you." Lucy says before looking down at bit. "Oh, I didn't know you were pregnant! Is it your first?" She asks excitedly and Maddie laughs a bit as she nods her head.

"It is. Very excited but also really nervous." Maddie tells her and Lucy smiles back at her brightly.

"Wow, that's amazing."

"Thank you."

"Eddie." He introduced and Lucy shakes his hand.

"Lucy, this is Jackson." She tells him before her eyes narrow a bit. "Weren't you in her apartment earlier?" Lucy asks him curiously and Eddie tenses a bit as Victorias eyes go wide.

"I think you're getting me and Buck mixed up." Eddie says with a small chuckle. Lucy furrows her eyebrows.

"Really, cause i could've sworn--"

"Buck is actually getting me a drink, would you like one?" Victoria cuts in, not letting her finish her sentence.

"Sure, that sounds great." Lucy says and Victoria grabs her hand, pulling her away quickly. Maddie was a bit confused, glancing toward Eddie who just gives her a tight smile. He clears his throat, awkwardly taking a drink of his beer before slowly walking away.

••••

VICTORIA WAS STARING IN FRONT OF HER, her fingers wrapped around her glass. She was barely making conversation with anybody, her mind purely on how she would go about telling everyone. It wasn't like they would say anything bad-- at least she hoped they wouldn't. Hen seemed to be fine with them, more so just wanting them to be happy.

"I'm surprised that glass hasn't broken yet." Athenas voice breaks through her thoughts and Victoria glances over at her.

"Hm-- what?"

"Youre holding that glass awfully tight." She says again and Victoria glances at her hand, softening her grip as she clears her throat a bit.

"Oh, didnt even notice." Victoria denies as she looks around again. Bobby shares a glance with Athena.

"You all right? You seem distant." Bobby points out and Victoria nods her head instantly.

"Just listening to the music."

"Vic, there's no music playing." Athena denies and Victoria hadn't even noticed that. She seemed embarrassed, looking for anything to get her out of this conversation. And when she saw Lucy, she quickly stood up.

"Have you guys met Lucy? She's also a cop." Victoria tells them, ushering the girl over. "Lucy, Athena here is a Sergeant." She states and Lucy instantly smiles, offering her hand to the older woman.

"Oh, it's really nice to meet you." Victoria takes the opportunity to practically sprint over to where Eddie and Buck were standing.

"Okay, we need to tell everyone cause i don't know how long I can take this."

"Vic, its been half an hour." Eddie bluntly responds and she did not appreciate the lack of compassion from the man.

"Yeah, and it's torture." She points out, crossing her arms against her chest as Eddie rolls his eyes playfully. "Hen won't stop staring at me." Victoria states, gesturing at the woman who was talking to her wife.

"You're right, we need to just rip the bandaid off." Buck agrees with a nod and before Victoria could say anything, he was walking off.

"Wait, what are you-- Buck!" She calls after him but the man simply pulls a chair out and stands on it. Victoria covers her face as she turns toward Eddie. "Oh, my god." Victoria couldn't watch this.

"Whats he doing?" Eddie asks and she just scoffs.

"Crashing and burning."

"Can i have everyone's attention." Buck asks as he claps his hands. The conversations die down and now everyone was just looking at the man. "We have an announcement to make." He states, gesturing toward where Victoria and Eddie were standing but  she quickly pushed Eddie in front of her so no one could actually look at her.

"Oh, god, you're not pregnant too are you?" Bobby asks and Buck furrows his eyebrows.

"What? No."

"Good, cause i can't lose two of my paramedics at once." He mutters as he looks toward Athena who just shakes her head.

"No, um.." Buck trails off for a moment. "God, I don't know how to say this other than to just say it." He admits and everyone was confused, wondering where he was going with this. "Eddie, Vic and I... all three of us... we're uh-- we, together-- we're together." His words jumbled together, not really having a clear sentence to say.

"Yeah, we know you're constantly together. It's quite strange honestly." Chimney says with a snort, earning laughs from the others.

"No, like, eddies with us." Buck tries again but the message still wasn't getting across.

"I can't watch. Is anyone reacting?" Victoria asks as she presses her head against eddies back.

"Not really."

"Wait like... you and Eddie-- I'm confused." Maddie questions, blinking a few times. Eddie just tilts his head back a bit.

"Hes blowing it." He mumbles as Buck struggles to come up with a response. Eddie just steps forward, grabbing Victorias arm to pull her with him much to her dismay. "What he means to say is--" Eddie starts, grabbing Bucks hand and bringing him down from the chair. "We're all dating each other and we're really happy." He says with a soft smile on his face.

Everyone was quiet, you could hear a pin drop as they all stared at the trio. Victoria just had her eyes on the ground, not wanting to see their reactions at all in case they were negative. But luckily it wasn't that, it wasn't even surprise, it was more annoyance as Athena shakes her head, pulling out her wallet.

"I'll be damned Hen, you called it." She mutters as she holds out a fifty toward Hen who proudly takes it with a smirk on her face.

"Didn't I?"

"Yeah, I'm not that surprised if I'm being honest. You two were always weirdly close." Bobby adds and the trio were only confused as they just listened to them. Buck had his eyebrows furrowed, not understanding what was happening.

"Huh?" He asks but he was suddenly hit on the chest. "Ow!" Buck looks down, seeing Maddie standing in front of him.

"How long has this been going on for?" She questions with a scoff.

"A few months-- ow!" Buck only blocks her as she hits his chest a few more times.

"A few months and you never told me?" Maddie accuses as she crosses her arms against her chest.

"We just wanted to get used to it first. Trust me I wanted to." Buck assures her, rubbing his chest. Maddie shakes her head but chooses to believe him.

"Am I the only one actually shocked by this?" Chimney asks the group as he looks around at them.

"Yes." They all say in unison and Chimney seemed a bit surprised. His eyes move back to the couple in question.

"So, wait, we know Eddie and Vic have hooked up before but does that mean-- you two.." He gestures toward Buck and Eddie who awkwardly look back at him, not exactly wanting their sex life on display.

"Yeah." Eddie responds and Chimney raises his eyebrows.

"Wow, and i thought Vic couldn't keep a secret." He admits and Victoria just hits his arm, a slight glare on her face.

"You're the one that can't keep a secret."

"Oh, I keep plenty." Chimney admits with a laugh and Victoria just stares at him expectantly.

"Like what?" Chimney saw his mistake, seeing how everyone was now looking at him.

"Nothing." He instantly denies, his face turning red. Victoria raises an eyebrow at him. "I-I meant to say that like we all can keep a secret-- you just often you know, spout yours out and-- i-i don't know what i mean. Buck and Eddie have kissed, wow that's so crazy! No one saw that coming, like at all, things are shocking from every angle. You know, you find out things you never knew existed or you even wanted to exist--"

He stops himself quickly, his ramble just continuing on as he backed away from everybody.  "Not that this is a bad thing, it's a good thing, I just mean-- well um--" Chimney seemed stuck in his words, stuttering out anything to try and bring the conversation away from him. But in doing so, wasnt watching where he was going and ended up going right over the railing.

Maddie gasps as she rushes over, along with everybody else. "Oh, my god!" It was quite a shock to everyone as they all peered down, seeing Chimney now laying on the grass but thankfully he was still moving.

"Chimney, are you okay?" Victoria calls out to him.

"Ow." Chimney could only grumble out as he just stared upwards. The others quickly rushed to get down to him while Victoria was just stuck in shock besides Eddie.

"Well, at least everyone will be too busy talking about this to ask us any questions."

••••

Authors note; no, because why could I actually see this happening to Chimney? Everyone finally knows, yay!! But yeah... i feel like nobody would be surprised in the show either. But we're getting a Chicago reunion soon !! Not saying it'll all be dandy.... hehe he. Chapter 62, get ready. Actually the next three chapters are gonna be eventful.