thirty four
"i like you"

—

—

"EVAN?"

THE NEXT TIME LYNN had woken up was nearly five hours later, finally feeling a bit more better compared to when she had first awoken. This time, however, Buck was no longer in his uniform table hospital chair and was no where to be seen.

It's not like Lynn expected the boy to never leave her side the entire time she was here, but a certain sadness crossed her face as she recognized she was completely by herself.

Lynn took this time to let a loud sigh escape her lips, and she gazed back up towards the blank white ceiling as the same thoughts as always crept into her head.

How come Lynn couldn't let the words fall from her mouth? That she liked Buck, and there was no arguing against it. Even when she was on her death bed she couldn't mutter the words, and she hated the fact she couldn't just accept it.

"Hello, Evelynn, would you like to go for a walk?"

Lynn immediately snapped her distracted glance and busied thoughts as she moved her blue eyes over towards the sliding door to her small hospital room. She saw a young blonde woman, who was wearing a blue nurses outfit, and had a clipboard neatly tucked under her arm.

"Doctor said it'd be good for you," the blonde explained, flashing a polite smile towards Lynn as she entered her room. "How are you feeling?"

"Good, considering less than a week ago I had a metal bar in my stomach," Lynn cracked the joke, and it made her chuckle when she saw the nurse was trying desperately to hide her laughter as well. "A walk sounds nice, actually."

"Great, let me just work around these wires," the nurse replied, taking a few seconds to rearrange the many lines that were attached to Lynn's right arm. She then attached them from the machine sitting next to her bed, and placed them onto a moving iv rack instead. "There, you're all set. But if you feel the slightest bit upset, just immediately come back to your room and call for a nurse."

   Lynn nodded while understanding everything the nurse had explained, and slowly shifted her legs to hang off the bed. Just as soon as her feet touched the cold flooring, she jerked away, but after spying a pair of comfortable house shoes, she slid her feet into them and stepped her weight on the ground.

   Lynn gripped the silver rack when her weight seemingly felt too heavy, but after a second of readjusting, she straightened her back as best as she could.

   "You're pretty resilient, Evelynn, most people don't come back from what you went though, let alone be walking a week later," the nurse smiled, placing a warm hand on Lynn's shoulder while giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Looks like something's keeping you here after all."

   Something's keeping me here?

   And that was when it finally snapped in her mind, it wasn't something that was convincing her to stay strong. It was a someone.

   After a few minutes of Lynn walking back and forth in a short line in her room, the nurse deemed her perfectly okay to go on a walk around the hospital. Which was much needed, because if Lynn had to count the ceiling tiles one more time she felt as if she could lose her mind.

   It had been around ten minutes into her slow walk through the hallways of the hospital, which didn't seem crammed whatsoever because it was a bit late in the day. The last time she glanced to a clock on the wall it was just past nine pm, so it was surely after visiting hours. She decided to walk to the cafeteria, especially after figuring out it was just fine for Lynn to get some caffeine in her system.

Just as she rounded a corner towards a hallway that Lynn believed led to the cafeteria, the metal rack that carried her iv nearly knocked someone down. Immediately, Lynn started stuttering apologizes as she reached for the person, but instantly stopped when she recognized Buck standing in front of her.

He seemed utterly worn out, to be honest, like he hadn't gotten a goodnights sleep in ages. The bags under his eyes were plenty noticeable, and he rubbed one of his eyes in trying to process what had just happened. In his spare hand was a cup of coffee, which luckily didn't spill when the two ran into each other.

"Evan, are you okay?" Lynn questioned, reaching a hand forward to place it in the crook of his neck. Her thumb gently traced his collarbone, and the man's gaze rose from staring at Lynn's hand towards her instead.

"What're you doing up? Did you talk to the doctor? Is it alright if—"

"—Evan, I'm perfectly fine," Lynn interrupted, raising both of her palms up in the air defensively. "Now, I asked if you were alright."

"Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I?"

Lynn's icy blue eyes switched from Buck's eyes and flickered for merely a second towards his lips. She found his faint pink lips so damn attractive, as if they were pulling her in like a tidal wave and there was no escaping.

"You look exhausted," Lynn explained, feeling a tad bit bad since she felt as if it was her fault. "Have you stayed here the entire time I've been here?"

"I couldn't leave you, Evie," Buck replied, his eyes flickering towards the ground, and Lynn could see his glossy eyes even though he tried to hide them. "I just couldn't."

The two went silent for a moment, not that it was uncomfortable or awkward, but just trying to accept what the other was feeling. Lynn was desperately trying to convince herself that it was time to come clean; that she needed to tell Buck how she felt before there was even a split second chance that she wouldn't be able to. When she thought she was going to die down in that car complex, the thing she had regretted most was the fact she could never tel Buck how she felt.

"Evan, we need to—"

"Evie, I want to—"

Both of the firefighters immediately enveloped into a fit of laughter as they spoke at quite literally the same time. Lynn's licked her pink lips as she gazed down to her comfortable slippers, but Buck didn't tear his eyes off the woman.

"Evelynn Kennedy, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for so long," Buck started off, his voice just the slightest bit shaky as his eyes met those of Lynn's. "I think I've known it since I first ran into you at the fire station."

Even though Lynn couldn't even process where their conversation was going to, she felt her breath hitch in the back of her throat as her chest heaved with anxiety.

"Evie, I..." Buck drifted, raising his empty hand to sheepishly rub the back of his neck. He couldn't quite find the right words, and was mentally scolding himself for stammering.

"I like you, Evan."

Lynn practically gasped as the words so easily fell from her mouth, and she almost thought for a second it happened inside her head and she didn't actually say it out loud.

However, when she craned her neck to glance up to Buck, she knew exactly what had happened when the shock spread to his face. Immediately, Lynn regretted the words as a furious blush covered her cheeks, and she instinctively buried her hands in her palms as Buck stayed speechless.

"God, I have no idea why I said that, you can completely ignore all that and just—"

Lynn was abruptly interrupted before she could finish her ramble, because the second she rose her head from her hands she was shocked the have the feeling of Buck's lips planted so warmly on hers.

She let out the softest of gasps into the kiss, but that only seemed to deepen it more as she shifted her arms to wrap around Buck's neck. He had lifted both of his hands, placing them so gently on both sides of Lynn's cheeks. There was practically no distance between the two of them, where their chests were touching and their legs were starting to tangle.

It was the most meaningful, passionate kiss that either of the firefighters had ever experienced; not realizing how amazing they've been with together for so long without sharing a moment like this before.

As the brunettes finally pulled away from each other, it was almost like they were breathless. Buck's hand didn't leave Lynn's soft cheek, and his thumb softly traced in circles as he pressed his forehead against Lynn's.

"I like you too, Evie," Buck softly murmured, lowering his spare hand to wrap his fingers around Lynn's palm, and he gazed down with gentle eyes. "You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that."

And so, the two firefighters who had just finally admitted their love for each other stood in the hallway for a few moments. Their foreheads pressing against one another as their breath bounced off each other's cheeks, just enjoying the feeling of being able to be so close with one another.

And it was beautiful.

a/n: ahhh finally their kiss!! i think this is where i'm going to end this book (i'll include a flash forward scene next chapter) but my biggest problem is making my books wayyy too long and never having the energy to actually finish them, so i like where this story had went and i think it's best just to end it here <3