Burning Flames ¦ Evan Buckley

Chapter 30 - Me and The Devil

El had decided to help Buck as much as she could with his recovery. With Mikey spending 95% of his time with Maddie, and Maddie with Mikey, it only felt appropriate that she chipped in as much as she could. For the most part she was helping with cooking, cleaning, decorating, taking him to physical therapy and essentially being his slave for a while.

He would often want to hear how work was going and any exciting scenes that he missed. At first it was hard to talk about as it made him upset but as soon as he started seeing improvements and was learning to walk again, all the stories were merely motivation for him to keep pushing for his goals.

El definitely became a sounding board for Buck. He would often vent to her, normally about the same catalogue of things. At first it was how annoyed he was at Ali for leaving him but now he was going on about how it was a good thing, that he could find someone who would better understand his line of work.

It had been a five months of the same thing, but El had to admit, it was starting to become her routine and she enjoyed spending time with Buck, even if he did completely and utterly annoy her at every given opportunity however for a while he couldn't walk so it gave her all the chances to tease him relentlessly.

For the last 2 she had been helping him train for his recertification exam, helping to push him to the best of his ability. He was even stronger now than he was before the accident and there was nothing more in this world that he wanted than to be back out in the field, helping people.

-

Buck had just passed his final exam to get back to work and El had been organising a party with Bobby and Athena for a little while now. She merely told Buck that they had been invited round for dinner at random however everyone was waiting for him.

El approached the door and rang the doorbell and waited next to Buck. "I'm so glad you guys were able to make it" Athena beamed as she answered the door.

"Thanks for having us over," Buck smiled.

"I know it's short notice" Athena spoke as they walked down the stairs, Buck still not noticing the group of people.

"Surprise!" They all yelled out.

Buck jumped back and placed his hand over his chest, a large smile appearing on his features "Aw!" He beamed and turned to El who had a cheeky look on her face "You did this?"

"Maybe" She grinned at him. He shook his head at her with a smile before greeting the rest of the team.

-

El leant against the door beside Eddie, watching as Christopher made his way over to Buck with a card in hand. Buck crouched down with a smile on his face, "Wow, thanks buddy. Wow. This is great" He spoke as he looked at the card, joy spread across his features.

"It's you and me," Chris spoke.

"Oh, and what's that?" Buck asked, pointing to the picture.

"It's a surfboard, right?" Eddie joined in.

"Yeah...Aunt Ellie is going to teach me" Chris smiled, pointing back to her.

"Oh, ho, ho, ho, is that right?" Buck smiled sweetly, his eyes flashing over to El who had a smile planted on her features.

"He's obsessed" Eddie smiled, putting his arm around El, "You're not teaching him"

"Definitely am" El teased playfully.

"Dear Buck, you are an awesome firefighter. Love Christopher. Very sweet, Christopher. Thank you" Buck smiled before wrapping his arms around him, hoisting him into his arms.