The Nature of the Emergency (Evan 'Buck' Buckley X OC)

One last piece of the puzzle for the wedding

It is the day after we arrived back from Texas and since we were on a special assignment Bobby has given us a couple of days off. In my case, that means I can relax. Well, I say relax but Buck is hammering me about choosing a wedding dress which means we are going to go dress shopping at some point. Not that I mind as it is a good excuse to go on a date with Buck. In fact, dress and suit shopping is the last thing that we have to do for the wedding prep. The thought makes me smile as I get ready for the day. There is one surprising thing about our trip back from Texas. Buck was the only one that asked me for details. Despite his puppy dog eyes, I kept my word to Captain Strand. No one knows what was said between us and no one will ever know. I am pulled out of my thoughts by my message tone sounding on my phone. I checked it. It is a massage from Hen.

"Hey Buck, do you mind if I go dress shopping with Hen instead of you?" I feel bad for asking but I know for a fact that Buck will be out of his depths with dress shopping.

"Just so long as we can meet up afterwards," Buck confirms as he joins me. After ten minutes I am finally ready to go. After a couple of minutes of waiting a knock rings through the apartment. After excusing myself I open the door to find both Hen and Athena.

"I thought you two could do with some help," Athena explains as I join the pair.

"That's good as I know I am going to need some help," I responded as I joined the pair. Something tells me picking a dress is going to be harder than picking a venue. At least this time I will have people that I assume have good tastes. After the longest thirty-minute drive we made it to the first boutique. Well here goes.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" A staff member asks.

"Not yet," Athena responds before I have the chance. At least she has given me the chance to look. After a few back and fourths between the three of us, we finally found a dress that we think might suit me. Something tells me that it may not be the right dress. After summoning the store assistant I make a beeline to the change room. After what feels like an eternity I am finally in the dress. There is just one problem. It feels like it is sticking to me in an unflattering way. It makes me feel a little bit exposed.

"No it's too tight," Athena confirms.

"Thank you. Do you have anything a little more modest?" I turned my attention to the store attendant.

"Let me have a look," She responds. I am hoping she finds something that we can use as a base for what I want.

"So Hen told me your special assignment didn't go too well," Athena remarks as we wait for the shop attendant to come back.

"No, it didn't. I spent most of the time stuck in a cave in the middle of a hot zone. A firefighter from Texas and I worked together to stay alive while Buck and the Texas firefighter's son tried to rescue us," I try my best at a humble brag while explaining what happened to Athena. For some reason, Athena isn't surprised that something went wrong. I put it down to the fact that she knows what our job is like.

"Well you're back and that's all that matters," Athena responds. Before I can reply the store attendant comes back with another dress.

"This one should be better than the first," The shop attendant remarks as she passes me the dress. With that, I head back into the chance room. After a slight struggle, I have the dress on. To my surprise, it covers more than I would have expected. After giving myself a look over in the mirror I rejoin the others.

"That is much better. In fact, I'd go as far as saying you look cute in it," Hen remarks. Being called cute by Hen is the compliment I wanted to hear. The good thing is that Buck will be blown away. Hen normally doesn't normally compliment people in that way.

"What do you think, Athena?" I turned my attention to her.

"I think Buck is going to be mesmerised by how beautiful you look," Athena confirms. Even though we have landed on a winner I do want to go elsewhere just in case. After two hours of looking at various dresses in various boutiques, we are currently taking a break. We are having something to eat while I consider which dress suits me the best.

"Honestly I think the second one that you tried on was the best," Hen says.

"I do too," Athena backs Hen up.

"But about that dress from the last boutique? The lace one?" I ask. The good thing is I've gotten it narrowed to two. It makes the choice a little easier.

"Maybe. The lace did suit you," Hen says between nibbles. The good thing is I have time to pick. I catch myself sighing. Nobody warned us that wedding prep is hard. Oh well, Buck and I need to get through it.

"Don't worry. You will know which one was the right one," Athena gets to work on reassuring me. She is right. As always I need to trust my instincts.

"I think I'm going to call it a day. Dress shopping is hard," I announce. At least the company was good. Athena gives me a funny look.

"It's the choosing that's the hard part. Besides you have an idea of what you'd like," Athena responds. She is right. With that, I text Buck letting him know that I am done and on my way home. After twenty minutes of driving Hen and Athena finally dropped me off at home.

"Thank you so much. I don't think I could have done it without any help," I thank them.

"We're just glad that we could help," Athena responded. With that, they leave. It has been a few hours since then and I am greeted by the smell of dinner. Buck decided that he was going to treat me tonight. Right now I am watching on as Buck tries his best to juggle all of the elements of the dish. Before you can ask I did offer to help but he insisted. After what feels like a messy eternity the food is finally ready. With a few swift movements, I have enough food on the plate. I take a seat as Buck gets some food for himself. A flash of annoyance crosses my face as I catch myself thinking about the dresses that I tried on today.

"You're overthinking it," Buck remarks as he joins me.

"I know. The thing is I want it to be perfect," I counter.

"You know you could show up in jeans and a T-shirt and it would still be perfect. Just go with your instincts," Buck responds. I consider what he has to say as I nibble on some of the food. Wow. Buck has done a good job despite the fact that he had a lot to juggle.

"The thing is my instincts are telling me to go for something simple," I explain. The problem is not many dresses that are simple suit me.

"The good thing is you have a couple of months before you have to make up your mind," Buck's response gets a giggle from me. The thing is he is right. However, I do want time to relax before the big day. Oh well, there is nothing that I can do. Right now I just want to spend my time relaxing.