Eddie had dealt with water leaks before, but this was something else; this was horrible and just something he didn't want to deal with. So he packed up his and Chris' stuff that he didn't want to be ruined and dropped them off at Buck's place before heading back to the house to see if he could figure it out. He had shut off the water before he had left at the main line into the house.

The water was still all over everything in the house. Thankfully, it wasn't high enough to ruin the couch or chairs, but the other things were waterlogged. The kitchen was a mess, and it seemed like it might have started there, given how high up the walls were wet. So much had been absorbed into it. He looked around the room and tried to figure out what to do until his landlord could get there.

This was one of the times when he was glad he had a landlord. Eddie got the back door propped open, and he found the push broom that he used when he was sweeping on the back porch and scrubbing the wood when it needed it. He started to try to get the water out that way, and it mostly worked. It was like dealing with sand that just crept back where it was. There wasn't enough water to really use buckets since it was like an inch all over the entire floor. Eddie didn't have a snow shovel, and his flat-headed shovel had been borrowed by a cousin just the day before, and the pointed one wasn't going to do a thing.

Buck had offered to come and help him, and they could take Chris to Abuela or Pepa's, but they were both out of town. Hen and Karen had a kid-free weekend planned, and Athena and Bobby had Athena's parents visiting. So Eddie could deal with his on his own, and then he would take Buck's help when his family got back into town tomorrow.

"This is just the worst," Eddie said, pushing more water out. He would need to get the rugs and other things out, but that would come after he had gotten some of the water out. He wasn't even sure he had any idea how to get most of it out of the place.

"Well shit," a guy said from behind him.

Eddie turned and nearly raised the broom, but he recognized a man who had come around a few times to help the landlord with issues with the house. He could not remember the guy's name for the life of him.

"I have the main line turned off, but I am honestly not sure what happened. I think it started in here. Given how high up the walls are wet compared to other parts of the house, more time to soak up the wall."

"Agreed. Okay. Well, this is obviously something horrible. You won't be able to live here while we deal with this."

"I know. I need to get most of our stuff out."

"I'll get a pod delivered here and get some more crew out here to help you move stuff, and it can be decided if you are keeping it or if it's too ruined. A dumpster as well as we will have to start to rip out walls. I have no...you've not had issues with water pressure?"

"I texted last night that the shower acted a little weird and wasn't nearly as hard as it normally was. Steve said he would come out today and look at it. Then I woke up to this, but there was no leak or anything from the water heater. That was the first thing I checked, as I have seen that before. I think this is all the pipes, and who knows where it started."

"Agreed. I am not sure that this is going to be an easy thing at all to take care of. Damn. I'll get the guys. Where is the little man?"

"At Buck's. He's the only one I felt right leaving him with. I packed up the very important stuff in case we came back to it being even worse, even with the water off."

"I'll get some stuff ordered from the hardware store as well to help clean shit up. I'll have one of my kids here keep track of what gets thrown away and take pictures and stuff. This is...not good. You have renter's insurance, right?"

"Yes, I took pictures before I started to get the water out."

"Okay, we will work on this. I'm well versed in dealing with this shit. There is nothing that I can think of that would make this your fault. I mean, if this were the bathroom backing up, I would say you put stuff down that might have backed it up, but this is all fresh and clean water, well outside of normal shit, it's picking up. So there are no flushed tampons and pads that caused this."

"No, and I know better than that. My older sisters once caused that issue, and my father was unhappy. He made them help with the cleanup. He had told them time and again, and even my mother had. It was an eye-opener to them what it really meant to flush stuff like that and what it did. We had a few parents who thought it was abusive to make them clean up the mess they made and help with it, but I think in the long run, it made sure that they really understood what they were doing when they just ignored that."

"I have had to deal with that in a few of the small complexes. I'm going to head outside. I'll get better things to take care of the water, so just relax for a few minutes, okay?"

"Thanks." Eddie looked around the kitchen, thinking about how this would go when he figured out where the damage was. He wasn't even sure it was a single pipe. Maybe it was something where a lot of pipes failed at once. That wasn't out of the realm of possibility. It was the kind of thing that made home ownership stressful.

Eddie had been debating for a while now on getting a house. He headed over to the fridge and opened it up to get something to drink out before he thought about other electronics. All of his power strips were on top of things, which made it easier for Chris to access them, so he hadn't worried about anything frying when the water was everywhere. He figured that once they started to do other things, the power would be cut, but the electronics would come out of the house first thing. He didn't want to deal with any of them getting damaged. They would have to test each one just to be safe.

Ten minutes later, the sound of car doors slamming told Eddie that more people were arriving. At least the temperature outside was nice, and he could just leave the doors and windows open.

"Eddie," Steve said.

"Hi," Eddie said as he looked at his landlord.

"I have a property about ten minutes from here, closer to your station. I've got guys who will move you into there for now. It's just been renovated, so it's in tip-top shape and accessible for your son as well. If you want to go and look at it before making the choice, you can. It would be the same rent cause I agree with Alan that this is not something you could have done. I had this place checked over before you moved in, and while that's been a few years, it's not like things fail this fast that much. I'm so fucking sorry."

"Barely anything I think is going to be fully ruined. Alan's getting things set up to make sure that pictures of everything I throw away are taken for insurance purposes."

"I have the paperwork needed for your insurance, and we can submit a lot of pictures. I remember your small claim for something else that went wrong right after you moved in. I hope that thing is going to be too complicated. I figured if we just moved you from one place to another, it would be better than a pod since it's close."

"Thanks, that would be better. I can get Buck and Chris to work on things there if that's okay?"

"Of course. I have a few guys getting boxes and everything for you. We can set up a table in the living room after getting the furniture out, and I think we can pack up the whole house in a short time. I've my entire crew out here."

Eddie felt that last bit of stress leave him. He wasn't sure what to think, but at least people were helping him. This was not what he needed. He would need to call Bobby to give him a heads-up that the shift tomorrow was not going to happen for him.

This was more than a single day of working on stuff, especially getting the new place set up, even with Buck's help.

---

Eddie dropped the last box onto his bed, at least with the help of everyone around him; he had been able to get the house set up enough to where he could sleep in a bed that night. The arrival of Buck to help with certain things while Hen and Karen watched Chris at the new house and worked on getting things unboxed and loads of laundry done when the stuff in the laundry room had been found to be soaked through since the hampers hadn't stopped the water and everything was wet.

"What's that look?" Buck asked.

"Seventeen pipes, at last count. There was no issue with water at any point before this; they all just failed at the same time or some such shit. I have the worst luck. Where is Chris?"

"He went to his bedroom to read in bed for a little while. He was tired after the morning's stress. I get why you guys focused on the two bedrooms and electronics first, but now we have to work on the other stuff. Chris' room is going to need a lot of stuff pulled out and dried out."

"The backyard is a good staging area for things to dry out to see if they need to be replaced or not," Eddie said.

"Yeah, we have already set up a few things there. Why don't you take a little while yourself, calm down, and destress? I can make sure that we don't fuck up anything."

"Caleigh is a beast," Eddie said.

"And the guys at the station think I'm a monster with a clipboard. I have nothing on that thirteen-year-old. Whose kid is that?"

"Alan, the main repair guy for Steve. She's got a touch of OCD, from what he said. He likes to give her things like that, and they manage as well as they can. She's going to be the absolute bane of the insurance company. I talked to them for an hour already. They are processing everything based on the images that I took of everything, and since it's one of those things where it's evident that it's not me but a freak accident, the images that we take of items I want to be replaced will be easy to take care of."

"This house is nice," Buck said before he sat down beside Eddie. "It's bigger."

"He just finished it up. I'm not sure I'll want to move out. It's got a bigger guest room and a bathroom for my room and one for Chris' with a Jack and Jill one with the living room. That's really freaking nice. I've already been given leave to buy what we need to make CHris' bathroom more accessible for him, and he'll pay me back for that. It's what we did with the other bathroom."

"This has to be more rent."

"I'm sure that it is." Eddie laid his head on Buck's shoulder, and he turned a little, taking in the comfort that Buck was giving him. There was a lot going on, but Eddie hadn't been allowed to be closer to Buck all day; now, he just wanted it, even if it meant it was just cuddles. This happening two weeks into the relationship was not the test it would have been when it came to other people Eddie could be dating. Even after only two weeks of working together, Buck would have dropped everything to help him.

Buck started to rub his hand up and down Eddie's back. Eddie's exhaustion would take over if he sat down for too much longer, especially wrapped in Buck's arms, so Eddie got up and headed to the door, pulling Buck behind him.

"Let's go," Eddie said.

Buck laughed.

Hen and Karen were sorting through the boxes in the living room, arranging more things as needed.

"I'll remember that the next time I want to move; having thirty guys on hand makes it much easier," Eddie said.

Hen laughed before she held up a kitchen tool on a table in the living room because Buck wanted Eddie to bring it to him.

"That's Buck's, actually. It was meant to go with me when Chris and I went to his place this afternoon."

"Okay, well, it's returning to the kitchen for now. We have lunch ordered, by the way. It will arrive at both locations in about twenty minutes; we ordered your guy's food for the other house."

"Thanks. We are getting ready to head back. Thanks again for all of this. You guys wanted a kid-free weekend."

"Eh, you can take Denny soon and repay the favor, but the crisis doesn't wait for anyone. We are always going to help," Karen said.

Eddie smiled and headed to the door, leaving Buck to talk to them. The ruck had been emptied again since they were taking smaller loads than Edie would normally want to take when moving, but it was easier to do it that way, and when the truck bed was full of stuff, go. The electronics were in the first sets, with the TVs sitting up for a while before being plugged in and used. Karen had put on some background music with her phone before moving. The house had no Internet, phone, or TV yet, but that was scheduled for a few days, and BUck was going to get a wireless device from the cell company that they could use until it all got set up. Since most of the entertainment that they did was Internet-based, it wasn't hard to just live with that. Eddie had brought the DVR from the house to the new and the company knew that it was pretty much a few set up but using old equipment.

It was a stress that Eddie didn't want to deal too much with, but they had to do certain things. There was a lot of stuff going on that needed to be balanced. Eddie had already messaged Bobby the new address to update everything with the LAFD. Eddie was going to have to go to school with Chris and get all of that stuff updated as well, then his driver's license and everything else like that. The mail would take a month to get sorted out, and he would have to go to the post office on Monday to get a transfer set up until Eddie could get things changed as they came into the house.

Buck had started a list on his phone of things he thought of that would need to be taken care of, and after things were all moved, they would sit down and talk things through, and Eddie would make a list. Of course, there was a lot of small and random shit that Eddie would only remember when he was in the middle of it.

"Hey," Buck said as he shook Eddie's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm just thinking. That's all. Let's go." Eddie saw that Buck had gotten the last few things out of the truck's cab. The delicate stuff didn't do well in boxes and was instead strapped in the backseat of the cab with the seatbelt.

Eddie smiled at Buck at the care he took in everything he did when it came to them, and Eddie knew he loved him. He had loved him for longer than he wanted to admit, but this swelling feeling in his chest was something that he wanted to have for the rest of his life. He pulled Buck close and kissed him.

Buck hesitated and then just went with it until the whistle.

Eddie closed his eyes; he forgot that they were not alone.

"Shit," Buck said.

"Yeah. I forgot."

"How long?" Karen asked.

"Two weeks," Buck said.

"Athena won," Karen said.

"Of course she did," Hen said.

Eddie agreed. It was exactly what he thought it would be like if someone actually bet on that kind of thing in their life.

"Does Chris know?"

"No, we were going to tell him tonight at Buck's. I'll go and talk to him. You go ahead back to the house," Eddie said.

"Nah, we need to do this together."

Even as the words left Buck's mouth, Eddie knew he was right. It was part of why Eddie loved him so much.

"Okay." Eddie held out his hand, and Buck slipped his hand into it.

Chris was sitting on his bed reading a book with a pile of clothes beside him. Eddie knew that Chris had a method for cleaning and other chores. He did small bouts of it and then read for a few minutes to relax and let his body rest.

Eddie didn't care how Chris cleaned as long as he did and didn't play around too much. Eddie didn't micromanage Chris when it came to things like that. He just wanted his son to have the tools needed to be on his own when it was time.

"Hey, got a few minutes?" Eddie asked.

"Sure. I just finished the charter." Chris set the book off to the side. The boxes of books were off to the side and had been put into boxes based on the shelves they were on. Chris' room was a lot bigger and could hold a lot more shelves and other things, so that would be something to buy since Chris didn't like to let go of books unless he was never interested in reading them again.

"Buck and I wanted to talk to you about something important."

"I saw you and Buck kissing three nights ago," Chris said.

"I told you I heard him," Buck said as he walked over to the side of the bed behind Chris and sat down.

Eddie sat down in front of him, and he sighed. "Why didn't you say something, mijo?"

"I heard you two talking afterward, and you were waiting to have a little time to yourselves because you didn't want me to lie to anyone or keep a secret from Abuelita and Pepa. I just kept it for myself because I didn't want you to feel like you needed to tell anyone to tell me."

"Well, Hen and Karen know. You would be the first one we told, but then we lost ourselves a little and kissed in front of them."

"It's okay. I'm the first you told me on purpose, and that's good enough." Chris threw his arms around Eddie and held on tight.

"You make me happy every day, Chris," Eddie said. He looked at Buck, who was crying. I think your Bucky needs a hug next."

Chris abandoned Eddie from Buck and threw his arms around to hold on tightly. Buck wrapped his arms around Chris and held tight before reaching out and pulling Eddie in.

"Go get me more books," Chris said as he wiggled out from between them.

Eddie laughed and ruffled Chris' hair before getting up from the bed. Buck followed with a laugh as well.

Hen and Karen were in their last box, which had a pile of things stacked in the corner to be thrown into the washer the next time it was empty.

"So Buckaroo, when are we moving you?" Hen asked.

"What?"

"You are all in, and I know it. I knew that once you settled on Eddie and were willing to admit what was between you, you would just move in and leave. So, when are we going to end up moving you into Eddie's new place?"

"I'm...not?" Buck looked at Eddie, but Eddie couldn't help but laugh at him. Buck's look said it all. He hadn't thought about it, but it seemed like something he was keen on.

"You moved in with Abby pretty quickly, and outside of her freak out, you were all in until things went wrong. So, like you are going to do it soon, why not now?"

"Hen," Karen hissed, but she didn't look too upset.

Eddie pushed Buck to leave the living room, and his boyfriend went without a lot of fuss.

Buck got into the truck without a word. Eddie started up the truck, and as soon as he got inside, he looked at Buck before shifting gears to pull out.

"Any time you are ready, Buck, I am. There have been times that I've debated asking you to move in before we started this relationship. It would mean my couch, so I didn't even know if you have couch-surfed before. I didn't think asking about that was a good idea if we weren't together. Things are different now. I know you would want your own space, so we could take the office in the back and make a bedroom out of it."

"Or I can just sleep in your bed and not need a bedroom. The office could still be a space where either of us can be alone. We could turn it into a library or sitting room or whatever. It could even be just an extra living room with a TV. We could set up stuff from my place there. Or whatever."

Eddie nodded, and he agreed that Buck's idea was good. That room was a nice one, and it was a high point to have a place where they could work on things. Eddie could do his taxes sitting at a desk instead of on his bed so that Chris wouldn't bother him. Chris was usually good, but there were times that he didn't really think before moving around the house a lot.

"If you move in, I'm going to want to rent this place for full price. Right now, I'm paying what I was for the other place, or I will be paying for it."

"I could swing that, and we could discuss other things. We can figure that stuff out."

"So, are you moving in?" Eddie asked.

Buck shrugged, but he nodded at the same time. "I have a little time left on my lease, but after that, I would love to; I could easily move in and just keep up the rent on my loft. I could have it cleaned up and ready to go. We need to talk to Steve first. He might not like it or want it."

"I'm sure that Steve will be fine with it. He can take his time with the house and get other things up to date in it. I liked it, but it was getting too small for us and having someone else in my life. Chris made a comment about wanting a bigger yard so he can do a few things in there, and I would like to have a gazebo or something like it to sit outside and not be on the porch."

"You have been thinking about this all day, haven't you?" Buck asked.

"Yes, ever since he showed me this place. I like it a lot. It's really nice. The areas are big enough to have room for Chris to move around with shi crutches but also without them. It's in a good spot and closer to pretty much everyone in my life. Except for you. So I guess you moving in makes that better."

Buck laughed a little and waved for Eddie to get them going again. The old house came into view a few moments later, and Eddie felt like he was moving on. It was a good feeling. It was like there was a change inside of him that needed it. He needed to be pushed out of what he was doing to grasp what he wanted.

"Bobby's going to be freaked out about the changes. We will have to make sure to declare ourselves, but I think that Bobby keeps that paperwork on hand after that last couple."

"Probably. I wouldn't be shocked. He likes to have everything on hand that he could want or need when it comes to running the station." Eddie parked the truck with the bed toward the house before he shut off the engine. He leaned back in his seat and relaxed a little, looking at the house in the rearview mirror.

"Even if a move is good, it's still something that is hard to want to let go of."

Eddie nodded. He held out his hand, and Buck laced their fingers together before lifting Eddie's hand and kissing it.

"Let's go before they think we aren't getting to help again."

Eddie laughed but let go of Buck's hand before getting out. This was a change, but it wasn't the worst change that could have happened.

The End