Chapter 6
Buck spends the rest of the week with Eddie and sometimes Chris, he was a very busy teen Buck had figured out. He asked Chris if he wanted to play video games with him one night and Chris just shook his head saying he had plans with his friends and that he was staying with his grandparents that night. The man knew that Chris wasn’t staying with Eddie full time but it still kind of hurt that he only got a week in Texas and the boy would rather be somewhere else, but he wasn’t going to voice that to either Christopher or Eddie.
“I leave tomorrow.” Buck says as he’s lying in Eddie’s bed, his arm reached out, hand splayed across Eddie’s small bump. “I wish I didn’t have to leave.” He murmurs, turning his head to look Eddie in the eyes.
“But you have to go back to work and get back to your dates.” Eddie grumbles, pushing Buck’s hand off of his belly before sitting up, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know why I forgot about that until now.” He laughs to himself, purposefully not looking at Buck.
Buck furrows his brows in confusion. “There are no more dates.” Buck tells him and finally Eddie looks back at him, raising an eyebrow as if to tell the man to explain himself. “Fuck, I originally came out here to tell you how I felt Eddie.” Buck tells him. “There are no more dates because I don’t want anybody else, I want you. I thought you wanted me too.” And then he got up out of the bed, pulling his sweatpants on over his boxers. “I’m sorry, I read too much into this.” He laughs to himself before grabbing his hoodie and walking out of Eddie’s room.
“Buck!” Eddie calls out, standing up and following the man. He notices Buck throwing his belongings into his suitcase and zipping it up. “Buck, stop!”
“Why? So, can you tell me what I already know? I get it, the sex is nice, but I really thought we could be more.” He says and shakes his head, laughing at himself once more. “But as always, I’m a stupid idiot. Nobody wants me.”
“Buck.” Eddie says softer this time, walking up to the other man and reaching out, grabbing his arm gently. “I never said any of that. I just assumed you were going to go home and start seeing other people again. I figured my chance was long gone.” He sighs, finally looking into Buck’s eyes when the man lifts his head up, there were tears in his eyes and Eddie hated himself. He too had tears in his eyes. “Fuck, Buck. I want you and only you. I want you and me and Chris and this baby to be a proper family.”
“Really?” Buck asks softly.
“I do.” Eddie nods. “Now, let’s go back to bed and talk about baby names.” Eddie slowly pulls Buck with him towards the bedroom. “And if you want, you can tell Maddie and Bobby about the baby. I just don’t want anyone else to know yet.” He tells him.
“Okay good, I don’t think I’d be able to keep it from Maddie.” Buck chuckles and sits down on the bed, grabbing his phone and searching up baby girl names. “I pretty much tell her everything, like I do with you. But I think I tell you everything, not just pretty much everything.” He laughs.
Eddie rolls his eyes and crawls back into the bed, laying next to Buck. “You said earlier this week, if Chris and I don’t move back to LA, that you’d move here to El Paso?” Eddie asks, hopefully. He knows the answer to it, but he wants to hear Buck say it out loud.
“I’m not going to let you raise the kids alone.” Buck tells him, scrolling through a list of baby names. “I’ll move out here in a heartbeat if you and Chris don’t come back to me. I’ll just come to you.”
And Eddie swears he fell even further in love with the man. “Good.” Eddie sighs and rests his head on the man’s lap. “Finding anything good?” He hums.
“Hmm, Aurora?” Buck asks and Eddie shakes his head, closing his eyes when Buck threads his fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp. “Blake? Cora? Ember?” He rattles off a few more names and Eddie shakes his head at all of them.
“No, I don’t like any of those.” Eddie sighs. “But we don’t have to choose tonight, I just thought we could go through some names together before you leave.” Eddie tells him.
“Charlotte? Eleanor?” Again, Eddie vetoes those names, and Buck just sets his phone down. “Okay, what about Jude? It’s gender neutral.”
“Jude.” Eddie says and nods his head. “Yeah, I like that. We need a middle name, but I want to sleep. We can figure that out a different day.” Eddie laughs softly, not moving from his spot on Buck’s lap. He’d sleep like that if he could, Buck running his fingers through his hair. He loved the touch.
“Sleep then Eds.” Buck whispers and sets his phone down, paying more attention to Eddie now. Eddie slowly falls asleep, snoring softly when he does.
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Buck arrives back in LA the next day around mid afternoon and immediately makes his way to Maddie’s after confirming that she was home. He wanted to tell her the news as soon as possible so he didn’t combust. He just wanted to tell someone that he was going to be a dad.
The whole drive to Maddie’s Buck is nearly vibrating in his seat. When he finally gets there, he jumps out of the Jeep and just barges into her house, calling out for her. “Maddie?”
“In the kitchen!” Maddie calls out and Buck finds her, in the kitchen sitting at the table with Jee. “You look like you’re about to jump out of your skin, what’s going on?”
“Eddie’s pregnant.” He blurts out. “And it’s mine.”
Maddie’s eyes widened at that, dropping the glass on the table she had picked up, thankfully it didn’t shatter. “Buck, what? Did I just hear that right?” She asks and Buck just nods. “How? Wait, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know. How far along is he?”
“He’s about four months along, we found out that it was a girl, we’re naming her Jude.” Buck explains. “I’m just scared I’m going to be a bad dad.”
“You’re going to be a great dad, Buck. And Jude sounds like the perfect name for your little girl.” Maddie tells him and gets up, giving him a tight hug. “I can’t wait to meet my niece.” She says with a smile.
“Um, there was one more thing I wanted to tell you.” He says and gestures for his sister to sit down, doing the same thing. “If Eddie and Chris don’t come back here” He starts but before he can finish, he gets cut off.
Maddie finishes it for him. “You’re going to move to El Paso.” She nods in understanding. “I understand that I’d miss you, but I totally get that.” Maddie hums softly. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you.” Buck smiles and sighs softly. He sat at Maddie’s for a couple of hours, just talking about babies, and they dug through what Maddie had leftover from when she had Jee, telling him he could take whatever he wanted. Buck was so happy, nothing could bring him down.