Doubling Down – Chapter Two – Emersli1

Reading Time:
9 Minutes

Two mornings later, Buck made a special breakfast casserole and some homemade cinnamon rolls for his favorite kid.  Chris needed a second shower after demolishing his cinnamon roll, being sticky from head to toe.  They watched Finding Nemo and an old favorite of Eddie’s called Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  And then it was time to go.

All the way to the hospital Chris speculated on where he would go if he had an enchanted bed.  Eddie and Buck both laughed in all the right places, but at least half their thoughts were prayers for the precious little guy in the back trying to talk them into buying him a four-poster bed.

The hospital process was new, for Buck and Eddie both.  Eddie had been deployed for the last major surgery that had helped correct Christopher’s hip dysplasia, so he felt just as at sea as Buck did.  Fortunately, the nurses were kind and patient, and helped them through the process.

Multiple rounds of blood work, an MRI, and an EEG later Christopher was in his assigned room on the pediatric orthopedic ward.  

“OK, I’m going to give you guys time to say Good Night, and then I’ll be back with young Mr. Diaz’s sleeping tablet.”  The cheerful nurse bustled off having several more nervous patients (or nervous parents) to reassure.

Eddie wondered wildly for a moment if ‘old Mr. Diaz’ could request one of those sleeping tablets.  

Buck must have been on the same page since after a thoughtful moment he ruefully shook his head.  “Wouldn’t do much for us.  We’re too big, and we’d have to split it anyway…”

Somehow that steadied Eddie.  That his partner was so invested in Christopher that he would be just as scared as Eddie.  He didn’t like to think ill of the dead, but Shannon had always seemed more exasperated with everything than worried about it.  Or maybe it was just always him she’d been exasperated with, even back then.

“Yeah, we’re gonna have to do it the old-fashioned way.  We’ve got two beers in the fridge at home.  We can each have one.  But no more than that, since we have to be back up here at six-thirty.”  Eddie leaned over and kissed his son.  “Now mijo, we’ll be here in the morning when they take you back.  You’ll be super sleepy, so you probably won’t remember it, but I promise you we’ll be here.”

Chris just smiled up at his dads.  “I know.  I’ve done this before, you know?  I know the drill.”

Buck wasn’t sure how much of the drill Chris could possibly remember from his last surgery when he was three, but he took the kid at his word.  “Yeah, but you’re gonna have to be patient with your dad and I ‘cause this is our first time.  If we mess up, you’re gonna have to give us grace.”

That got an actual laugh.  “How could YOU mess up?”  Chris chortled at the thought.

Buck gave the matter some consideration.  “Well … I could cry really really really hard and drip snot all over the place.  Or I might fall asleep in the waiting room and snore.  Or drool.  I might even get lost on my way back from the vending machines and wander the hospital, lost and lonely, for eternity.  There are lots of ways I could mess this up.”

Chris laughed again, and then gave his papa a beautiful smile.  “As long as you’re here when I wake up, you won’t have messed up too badly.  I love you, Papa.  Take care of Daddy while I’m here.”

Buck got a huge lump in his throat, and had to swallow a couple of times before he could answer.  “I love you too Buddy.  And you know I’ve got your dad’s back.  Always.”

Chris nodded.  “And Daddy.  I love you.  Take care of Papa for me.  Make sure he doesn’t snore in public.”

Eddie choked down a bubble of laughter.  Only his kid, man.  “I love you too mijo.  And I’ll poke your papa if he starts to snore.  Or drool.”

Accepting his parents’ hugs, Chris privately thought it was a good thing he’d had a word with Abuelita.  She’d assured him that she would look after Daddy and Papa and make sure they were OK.

The two men passed the nurse in the doorway as they headed out.

As they passed through the family waiting room, Buck gave the place a considering look.  “You know Eds, I might just sleep here for tonight.  That way somebody’d be here, just in case.”

Eddie was just about to stake out his own seat when his phone rang.  “Hello?”

“Eddito, you and Evancito will go home and rest and be back at the hospital at six.  No earlier.  Me entienda?

Startled, Eddie looked at his partner.  “How did you know …?”

A warm laugh sounded over the phone.  “I know you, nieto.  And your novio.  Neither of you would want to leave tonight.  But Christopher asked me to look after you for him, so … go home now.  Rest.  Tomorrow will be time enough to get acquainted with those awful hospital chairs.”

“Alright Abuela.  We’ll go home.”  Eddie nodded at Buck, who looked defiant for a minute before giving in grumbling.

Together the two men gave the waiting room one last, long look.  And then they went home.

Neither would really sleep tonight, and tomorrow would be a long day.

But at least they were together.

At five o’clock, they called it.

They’d both been pretending to sleep all night.  But at five AM they gave up.  Both men got ready for the day and together they packed a bag for the waiting room.

Eddie put in a paperback he’d been trying to find time to read for the past three months.  Buck put in several books of logic puzzles and word searches.  They packed chargers for their phones and tablets.  Eddie snuck in several of Buck’s favorite snacks, and Buck snuck a large Fanta in for Eddie.

Buck firmly believed that if you were going to put bubbles in orange juice, you’d better be making mimosas, but Eddie was crazy about Fanta.

Finally, at 5:20 they couldn’t stall any longer.  But maybe if they drove really slowly, they wouldn’t get to the hospital before Abuela’s six AM deadline.  And hey, this was Los Angeles.  Maybe they’d get stuck in traffic.

They didn’t get stuck anywhere, so they crept into the family waiting room at 5:42,  peering carefully around as though at any moment a tiny woman might jump out from behind one of the decorative pillars brandishing a slipper at them.  The waiting room was empty, so Buck and Eddie staked out their corner (by the table with the telephone) and settled in for a long wait.

At seven AM they kissed a sleepily cross-eyed Christopher and sent him off to surgery, singing as he went.  One day in the future Buck was sure he’d be the most popular drunk at the bar, but for right now Chris was just his baby and he’d just sent him down the hall into surgery.  The fact that the boy had his orderly and nurse singing “Go the Distance” right along with him didn’t make him feel any better.

Buck looked at Eddie and saw the same wrecked look in his eyes.  Then it changed, and Eddie let out a snort.  Buck snickered.

Together they walked back to the waiting room humming together.  

“I’ll be there some day.  I can go the distance.  I will find my way … if I can be strong.”

And if they both had tears in their eyes, well, the fluorescent lights in here were awfully bright, and they had the bravest kid in the world.

They’d been told the surgery would take about five hours.

Buck felt like this was the longest five hours of his life, and he’d gone all the way through BUD/s.

Eddie felt like this was the longest five hours of his life, and he’d been shot out of the sky and held under fire.

Speaking of …

“Hey Buck, I never asked.  How did it go at the range?”

Buck stirred and stretched a little.  “Well, it must have gone really well.  The range master smiled, and Sheriff Nottingham sent me home with a packet of recruitment materials.  AD Linley issued me a handgun and a backup piece and gave me credentials to carry.  Same with Marsh.”

Eddie smiled a little.  It was strained, but it was there.  “Good job.”

It got quiet again, both men’s thoughts still focused on the little boy one floor down in a surgical suite.

Abuela and Pepa showed up at eight with breakfast burritos and yarn, settling in for the duration.

Eddie and Buck ate in a distracted silence, trying hard not to focus on the phone that wasn’t ringing.  A few other families had scattered about the waiting room as the morning wore on, each group sitting quietly together, sometimes talking in low voices so as not to disturb the others.

Buck finally had enough of sitting still, getting up and offering to grab some things from the vending machines.  Eddie asked absent-mindedly for coffee, having long since drunk his Fanta.  Abuela asked for coffee as well, and Pepa just declined while giving him a knowing look.

Moving out of the waiting room and down the hall, Buck tried hard to keep focused on the positives.  This surgery would ease Christopher’s pain, and increase his mobility for years.  It was a common and well-practiced surgery, and he had a great team of medical professionals looking out for him.

But this was his first time as a parent instead of a supportive friend, and the difference was stark.

His phone rang as he was heading back, so he put the coffees on a nearby end table and checked, hoping it was Eddie.

It wasn’t.

“Hey Bobby, what’s up?”  The last thing he wanted was to tie up his phone line, so he hoped he could make this quick.

“Hey kid, I was just calling to see if you were back in town?  Thought maybe we could grab lunch?”  

Buck sighed.  “I’m sorry Bobby, but this really isn’t a good time for me.  Chris is in surgery …”

“What?!  Oh, no.  What happened?  What hospital?  Athena’s in the backyard.  I’ll grab her and we’ll be right there…”  There was the sound of frantic movement to accompany Bobby’s frantic questions.

And this was what made dealing with Bobby so hard.  It was abundantly clear in so many ways that he cared for them.  That he considered them family.  Not being able to trust him anymore completely broke Buck’s heart.

“Bobby, Bobby … slow down.  This is a scheduled surgery to lengthen his muscles and move a couple of tendons.  It’s to help his mobility.  It’s not an emergency and he’s gonna be fine.  If you want, I can send you a text when he’s moved to his room, but they restrict the pediatric floor pretty severely for the sake of all the families.  I don’t think they’d let you come back to the room.”

Bobby stopped his hasty movement.  “Oh.  OK, well, I’d like that.  I’ll be praying for a successful outcome.  And if you could let me know how he’s doing …”

“I’ll do that Bobby.  I’ve got to get back now.  You caught me on a coffee run.”  Buck really wanted out of this conversation.  He had enough to stress about right now.

“Yeah, OK.  You take care of Eddie and Chris.  We can talk later.  Bye, now.”

Buck absentmindedly returned the farewell and hurried on back down the hall.

Bobby hung up, and wondered why it felt as though his family was slipping through his fingers.