Roaming hands and large swells.

8.

"I- no, no just, tell me exactly what you think happened and what- what you think about it, I guess." Buck had his arms crossed on his chest, standing like he was either ready to fight or run.

Eddie suddenly understood why Hen had asked if he should be here. This- whatever had happened- Hen had at least been in the neighborhood of right. She might've even been completely correct and Buck just wasn't able to acknowledge it.

Neither was a good option. The pit in his stomach grew til he thought he might be sick.

"Ok, buckaroo, we can do that." Athena nodded, taking the lead, "but how about we sit down."

Buck nodded, face still perfectly blank, allowing her to lead him over to the couch. He sat down next to Eddie while Athena took a seat on the coffee table in front of him. Hen and Karen took seats on the coffee table on either side of her while Maddie sat on Buck's other side on the couch. Watching Chim look around and then scramble to bring over one of the dinner table chairs would've been amusing if not for the current situation.

"So, as far as I can piece together, it goes like this." Athena started once they'd all taken their seats, "During your first couple months, a little bit after we'd started being able to be in each others presence, you had your first loss on the job. I remember it, you weren't handling it too well."

"Devon." Buck nodded, which was information that Eddie had already been aware of.

Devon had been a freshly 18 year old kid who'd gotten on a roller coaster just when it decided to fail on the loopedy loop while they were upside down. The bar holding them in their seats had broken and Devon's friend had fallen to his death immediately while Devon had managed to hold on long enough for the fire department to get there and for Buck to scale the loop of the rollercoaster. Buck had reached out his hand for the boy to grab, but Devon had refused to. He'd eventually let go and fallen to his death. Eddie hadn't been there, but he knew from stories that Buck hadn't handled it well.

"After that, Bobby, acting in concern as your captain, mandated you go to therapy before you get cleared to return to duty." Athena continued and Buck nodded his confirmation. "You were sent to see Dr. Wells. You weren't actually too happy about attending therapy though, if I had to guess by how you were back then."

"No, I wasn't." Buck confirmed, "Bobby said I wouldn't be allowed to work again if I didn't though, so I did it."

"You actually gave it a real try too, you opened up to her. You were even crying at one point, right?" Athena continued, making sure to keep meeting Buck's gaze evenly.

"Yeah, I did." Buck nodded, there was starting to be some cracks in the mask now, "How did you know that I was crying?"

"Camilla, the friend, said some things that do not bear repeating." Karen offered with a grimace, "She was a really terrible person, her and Dr. Wells both are."

"What did she say?" Buck asked, and Eddie saw his Adam's apple bobbing as he clenched his jaw.

Eddie was ready to go full street fighter on both of these women at this point. He wasn't even ashamed of it either. He'd take another arrest without argument for this.

"It doesn't matter what she said because not a word of it is true." Athena growled redirecting Buck's focus, and once she had it asking, "Do you want to continue?"

"Yes." Buck nodded, though his voice sounded a bit more breathy than before.

"Ok, so you opened up, and she, instead of therapizing you, had sex with you." Athena stated plainly. No room for doubt just a statement of fact.

"Basically." Buck nodded. "So what are your thoughts?"

Which, what? Eddie's only current thought was that he'd like to put this woman in the ground, what did he mean their thoughts?