bombero | open post.

<3

Late or not, he’s going to find her having accidentally fallen asleep in bed after slipping on a pair of comfy sweatpants. Growing a baby takes a lot of energy, what can she say.

He's not actually late. There weren't any more calls before the end of shift, which Eddie is taking as proof the "jinx" isn't actually real. Not that he's going to tell Buck that right now. He knows better than to argue with a pregnant woman, even jokingly.

Besides, it would ruin the softness of the moment he steps into when he finds her in bed. The sunlight streaming through the window paints her in warm yellows, makes her hair seem like it's glowing a little. Buck might be a little frustrated with her body right now, but to Eddie? She looks as beautiful as ever. He almost doesn't want to wake her. Especially since she looks so cozy. But she's gonna kick herself if she sleeps the whole day away.

"Hey," he says quietly, kneeling at the edge of the bed and running a gentle hand over her hair. "Time to wake up, baby."

"Hmm?"

Buck stirs at his touch before blinking her eyes open, looking at him with a touch of confusion. Wasn't he still at the station a moment ago? She's pretty sure of that.

And then she glances at where her phone is lying on the mattress, a couple inches away from her hand, and sees the time on it and puts two and two together. She thought she'd gotten past the Fall Asleep at the Drop of a Hat stage of this pregnancy, but that was probably pretty naive.

"You're home on time?"

"Mhmm." He gives her a smile that's just a little bit cheeky. "Not sure you'd have noticed if I did come home late, though."

What with the unexpected nap and all. He could've come in later and then just said he'd gotten home on time. He wouldn't, but he could've.

"You feeling okay?" Odds are it's just the same exhaustion that she's been experiencing, but Eddie can't help but ask.

“Yeah.” She tugs at him, aiming to get him onto the bed with her even if she’s not planning to go back to sleep now. She can still want to cuddle him, but especially since he was on shift overnight and she woke up alone this morning. “Just the li’l mango making me tired.”

Eddie happily crawls into bed with her, only pausing to first kick off his shoes. Once on his side of the mattress, he stretches, back popping a few times, before he holds out an arm in an invitation for Buck to curl up against his side. He smiles down at her. And down at the little bump.

"Kinda crazy we can see them now."

Buck just grins back at him, snuggling happily against him. She’s missed this a lot with them on different schedules instead of working mostly the same shifts - not that she doesn’t get plenty of time with him still, but waking up to him and just lazing around for a bit.

She takes his hand and rests it against the slight curve of her stomach. “Guess mango was the magic fruit for that.”

It might sound a little crazy to someone not them, but Eddie misses Buck when he's at work. He kind of hates that they've got to spend time apart, even if he loves the reason it's happening. It's not just about trusting her to have his back, either. He just... loves having her around. It's been an adjustment, her being on leave.

"Guess so." He gently rubs her belly with a soft smile. There's not much to feel there, yet. But he's looking forward (even if he suspects Buck isn't) to the day he can feel their baby kick his hand. "Maybe we should get some mango-flavored something to celebrate?"

"Smoothies," she says decidedly. "From that place that makes them with the really good yogurt?" It's kind of pricey, but what isn't in LA? And if they're celebrating, they should do it right.

She rests a hand over his and twines their fingers together. "Did you need a post-shift nap?"

"Smoothies it is." He brings their intertwined hand up to press a kiss to her knuckles. "I actually got a decent night's sleep in the bunk room, so I'm ready to go when you are."

The perks of having a quiet shift.

"Doesn't feel right that you worked a full shift and I'm the one who feels like she still needs a nap."

It's one of those things that she just needs to accept, she guesses. Along with the fact that she's going to get a lot bigger. "We should probably get going before I fall asleep again."

"I'm not the one growing an entirely new human being," he says. "You probably had the more exhausting day out of the two of us."

Eddie drops a kiss onto the top of Buck's head before rolling out of bed. He's quick to move around to her side, offering her a hand up. Not that she can't do it herself, but this way he gets to hold her hand again.

She breathes out slowly. "Yeah." He's not wrong. It just doesn't feel the same because she's not running around saving lives, her body's just doing this on its own without her active input so it doesn't feel like she's doing much.

Buck accepts the hand up, happy to hold him, and also probably practice for when she gets big enough that she'll want a hand out of bed. She runs a free hand through her hair, smoothing out the light bedhead, and tugs her shirt back down from where it rucked up a bit so he could feel the bump.

"What do you think? Shopping presentable?"

Eddie takes a moment to smooth a flyaway Buck missed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Looking good, Buckley," he says. Sure, he always thinks she looks good, but he does actually mean it for real too. She's more than shopping presentable.

"Smoothies first or clothes?"

"Good, cause I am prepared to cry if we meet a snobby salesperson who refuses to sell jeans to me cause I look trashy," she says. Not that they're planning to shop at Rodeo Drive or anything. She's just very good at crying right now, thanks to the hormones.

In the meantime, she's grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Smoothies first. I need an energy boost."

With one hand, Eddie grabs his keys and wallet from the little bowl they keep near the front door. The other hand reaches out for Buck's, threading their fingers together.

"Sounds good. Maybe if we're feeling up to it we can stop for lunch on the way back too."

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