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The afternoon was quiet as usual on their off days, but soon that changed with the sound of a key in the door and an excited voice calling, "Eddie! Look what I found at that thrift store on S. Western!"
Buck comes running over to Eddie, drops several bags down, and starts pulling out things that can only be for Christopher. He shakes his head fondly and starts looking through the stack quickly growing larger on his coffee table as more things are pulled out of the bags.
The stack of books, puzzles, and games was about to tip over before he laid a hand on Buck's arm to slow him down. "What did you do?" Laughing at the bemused expression of his best friend, he added, "I don't mind, but did you have to buy out the entire store for this haul?"
Buck's grin could have lit up the room when he realized Eddie wasn't mad at his shopping trip, just a little overwhelmed at the amount of things he'd brought for their favorite kid. "Uh... Well, I was looking around since I haven't been in this particular store and found the toys and games section was right beside the books and you know that's never a good thing for me, Eds! Anyway, I started looking around and I remembered how we'd talked about Chris wanting to start reading more mysteries like Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie since he's getting older and likes those kinds of stories anyway then I found a collected edition of the Sherlock Holmes stuff and most of the Agatha Christie books were there. Then I looked around in the games section and found even more stuff. Eds, did you know they made Sherlock Holmes and Clue puzzles and games? They're so cool! I had to get them and we don't have to give them to him all at once, but we can keep some of them for little rewards for stuff like a good grade on a test or doing well on his report card. Plus, you know how much he loves puzzles right now. I couldn't resist when I saw all of these. Oh! I almost forgot! I found one of the Harry Potter Clue games that we couldn't find at Christmas!"
Eddie was looking at the back of one of the Clue puzzles and thought they sounded like a great idea for their kid. They had a story to read, a puzzle to put together, and then a mystery to solve with the clues in the completed puzzle. Chris would love them and he saw that Buck had gotten four of the Clue puzzles, a Sherlock Holmes one, and two other mystery-themed puzzles, as well. The books were ones he recognized as ones he'd read as a kid and the Sherlock Holmes collection was a nice hard-backed book with a leather cover. They would have birthdays, rewards for just about anything, and possibly even next Christmas covered. While he was doing this, he looked at Buck and noticed him looking a little guilty and he sat up straighter, "Why do you look guilty? Was there something you forgot to mention? Didn't you bring in four bags? I only saw you empty out three."
Buck ran his fingers through his hair like he always did when he was nervous and this got Eddie even more suspicious. "Evan Christopher Buckley, tell me what you've done."
Buck looked up quickly with wide eyes, "Damn, you just used your "dad" voice on me. I didn't do anything bad! I just got some stuff for you too. All of my things are still in the Jeep, and there are a lot of bags there. They had all kinds of box sets and collected editions of sci-fi and fantasy books and true crime stuff! I'm going to be set for reading material for the next year," he added smiling. Then the confession came, "But I did get some books for you too. I know you started watching that show Reacher and really liked it so I got you, like half of that set. I got a set of the Myron Bolitar novels by Harlan Coben and another set that's the books that aren't in a series by him. There was a set of James Bond books with several books in one, two box sets of Alex Cross books, and a couple of Mitch Rapp hardbacks that were autographed. See! It wasn't that much." As the list got longer, Buck's voice was getting louder and more defiant, but when he finished, he deflated with his head down like he expected to be yelled at.
Eddie stared at his friend with shocked eyes and mouth open before he huffed out a laugh and quietly asked him, "Why did you spend so much on me? I understand spoiling Chris, but I'm not even sure what to say about all of that. Wait, you said half of the Reacher books, how many was that?"
"Fifteen," he mumbled.
Eddie grabbed Buck in a tight hug and thanked him before asking again, "I appreciate what you did, but why spend so much money on me? You could have bought yourself more stuff or even saved it. This isn't like you to go spend a ton of money for no reason."
Looking shattered, Buck quietly replied, "I just recently found out that both sets of grandparents had set up trust funds for me and Maddie that would be paid out when we turned thirty or got married, whichever came first. I never knew about them until Maddie mentioned them a couple of weeks after our parents visited her and she asked what I was going to do with the money. I asked what she was talking about and she told me that we both had trust funds that matured or whatever when we turned thirty or got married but if we didn't claim them by thirty-five, they went back to my parents. While we were talking, she had texted Mom and got a phone call so fast it was crazy, and got yelled at for telling me about it. Apparently, they were counting on me not knowing anything about it and getting all the money, since they felt like they earned it for having to put up with me for so long."
Eddie quickly grabbed Buck in a bone-crushing hug and pulled him back to sit with him on the couch. "I didn't know that your parents could be any more evil than mine were after they tried to take Christopher from me, but yours take the cake with that bullshit. I will never understand how a parent wouldn't love their kids, even after losing one. I would, more than likely, hold on tighter to the ones left because of the loss. Are you doing okay? This has got to be a lot to deal with."
Buck leaned into the hug and just sat there for a minute trying to compose himself and get his thoughts straight in his head. "I'm not sure how I'm doing. I know that Maddie is furious with the parental units. She started screaming at Mom and I had to take Jee-Yun into the other room so that she wouldn't be scared. When they got off the phone, Maddie came over to hug me and said that she was cutting contact for good this time. The fact that they tried to keep this from me just to get more money than they were given in the wills just disgusted her and it was the final straw. I'm going to use some of the money to pay off the part of their house that Mom and Dad paid for so that they won't owe them anything at all. They didn't even need it! They've got this huge house and take vacations and cruises all over the world and they've never had problems with money, so I think they just wanted to make sure that I didn't get the money. I never even met my grandparents, so knowing they left me anything was nice. I've been wondering if Mom and Dad kept them away after Daniel died so that I wouldn't find out anything about him. It seems like something they'd do. Maddie agreed when I asked her about it."
Eddie shook his head while keeping a tight hold on Buck. He wanted to fly to Hershey and give the Buckley parents a piece of his mind. He just wanted to talk. Maybe yell a little. They weren't worth anything more from him or Buck. On the other hand, Buck was worth everything to him and Christopher. He'd made their lives so much better than they'd ever expected from almost the time they met. He didn't count the first shift since Bobby never told Buck they were getting him a partner. Once they'd talked about it, Eddie understood why he'd thought he was being replaced. Pressing a kiss to the top of his head, Eddie asked, "What are you thinking of doing with the rest of the money? And just to be nosy, how much is going to be left after you bought out Finders Keepers?"
Buck chuckled and leaned his head on Eddie's shoulder. Sighing, he whispered something that Eddie didn't hear and finally answered after getting a nudge and a laugh, "They were loaded, Eddie. One of them was for $2.5 million and the other was $27 million. How the hell did I end up with this much money, Eddie? I have no idea what I want to do with it all."
For the second time that day, Eddie was staring at his best friend with a shocked expression and an open mouth. Damn! He had been expecting a lot, but almost $30 million wasn't even close. "Okay... That's more than I thought you were going to say, but first things first. You need to get a money manager to help you take care of this and lock it down so that there's no way anyone can touch any of it. Next, we talk to tía Pepa about getting a lawyer to help make a will and anything else you might need to keep your assets away from those toxic assholes that call themselves your parents. What else did you have in mind? I know you'd mentioned wanting to find another place to live that's just one level, were you thinking about a house or condo or another apartment? You've also been talking about wanting a newer car since the Jeep is getting pretty old."
Buck stood up and started pacing. This was his go-to for getting his mind settled enough to make plans and lists of things needed for those plans. "Okay, I need to start making a list of things I want to look for in a house because that's what I want. It needs to be one floor, accessible for Chris and if one or both of us might get hurt again, because we do that a lot. I'd like to get a pool for exercise and PT and we'd need at least a two-car garage because I'd like for you and Chris to move in with me if you'd want to do that." Pointing sternly at Eddie to dissuade him from speaking yet, Buck continues, "I think I'd also like to set up a medical and educational trust for Chris and college funds for the Fire-Fam kids. Oh yeah, the house would need a great kitchen, because I need room to experiment like we tried to during lockdown but didn't have enough room because of all the damn people in my loft. I also think there needs to be a fund set up for wedding/honeymoon/baby possibilities in the future. I know that I want a family and I hope that you do too, because I'd really love to start a family with you and I'm not above bribing you to date me."
The shy, bright smile on Buck's face was beautiful and something that Eddie loved to see. It took him a few moments to get over the shock of what had been said, but when he finally got himself together, he stood up from the couch, grabbed Buck's hands, and said, "I'd love nothing more, but you know that we already have a family together, even if we're both too oblivious to realize it, right?"
Buck's smile got even brighter and he gently tugged on Eddie's hands to place a soft, sweet kiss on his lips before placing their foreheads together. "I'm pretty sure we both knew it but were afraid to screw things up by taking the best relationship we've ever had and turning it romantic. But, I'm willing to try if you are. I've been in love with you since the earthquake and seeing you with Christopher for the first time. You've always felt like home to me."
Eddie smiled back at Buck and returned the kiss, "You're home to Chris and me too. Now, why don't we clean up this mess of books, games, and puzzles so that we can go get our kid from school and give him the best present of telling him that his dads have finally gotten with the program and are dating."
Laughing loudly, Buck moves back to the coffee table to start re-packing the stacks of books and boxes back into the bags they'd come from. "Sounds good to me. I wonder who won the bet? It's got to be huge by now. I'm pretty sure I heard Hen talking about it on your first day on the team. I kind of hope it's Athena. She's put up with a lot over the years from the both of us and I think she deserves something nice."
Laughing loudly, Eddie agreed but added, "I do too, but I think we deserve something nice too. Let's go give our kid the good news, order takeout, and watch movies. We've got the rest of the weekend to make more plans for what we want to do about a new house and anything else we decide to do as a family."