trick or treat! may i prompt nora’s first halloween??
So this got legs and got away from me. 🙈 Like @quintessenceofdust88 said it's because Nora is a very independent girl.
Their family had been invited so celebrate Halloween with the Han's and the Wilson's, but Buck and Tommy decided to decline the invitation. Nora was only a month and a half old and had no reason to go out trick or treating. And Buck and Tommy were tired, so they didn't want to be up too late, or deal with battling traffic to get back to their house once the kids returned from trick or treating, or even to deal with the traffic when the kids left to go and collect their candy.
No, it was a much better idea for them to stay home and hand out candy, no matter how much Buck wanted to show off their family costume, and see all the kids in their costumes. Jee-Yun had happily told Buck that she was dressing up as Zoey from K-Pop Demon Hunters, but Maddie had been tight lipped about what they were dressing Kevin up as. Buck couldn't blame her, because he hadn't given any hints as to what they were dressing up as, either.
They were just about to take a family photo in their costumes when two things happened at once: Nora needed her diaper changed and the doorbell sounded, signaling that trick or treating had started.
Their first trick or treater isn't actually a trick or treater, however, but one of their neighbors. Buck blinks in surprise when he opens the door, bowl of candy in hand, only to find Mrs. Gutierrez on their doorstep. He pauses, the bowl of candy he was in the process of lifting up frozen midway.
"Oh, Mrs. Gutierrez, hi! Is everything alright?"
"Well I was going to ask you that."
Buck tilts his head in confusion. "Why would you ask me that?"
"Well it's just that I noticed that you and Tommy haven't been leaving the house much lately, your cars are always in the drive. And there was all that hubbub last month where there were all these people who weren't either of you coming in and out, before you stopped leaving. I know you boys both work dangerous jobs and I wanted to be sure that you were alright." Mrs. Gutierrez says and Buck knows that some people might be worried about the fact that she's paid that close attention to their driveway. But she lives right across the street, and she always checks in on him and Tommy when something big happens in the city, and she's been sending Tommy meals during wildfire season since he first moved in and learned that he was a first responder.
"Sorry to have worried you, Mrs. Gutierrez. We're okay, no injuries here."
"Please, Buck, I've told you to call me Helena." She has, and Buck always reverts back to calling her Mrs. Gutierrez by their next interaction.
"Helena," Buck corrects. "Neither Tommy or I are injured. Everyone is happy and healthy here."
"Then why haven't you been going to work?"
"Well…" Buck starts, but he doesn't get very far before Tommy is coming into view, cradling Nora in his arms, content now that she has a fresh diaper and looking oh so cute in her costume. Buck can't help the smile that takes over his face at the sight of his two favorite people.
"Evan, what's taking so lo- oh, hello Helena." Tommy says, pausing for a moment at the sight of Mrs. Gutierrez before he adjusts, smiling at her. "Did you need help with something?"
Mrs. Gutierrez is silent for a moment, her gaze caught on the baby in Tommy's arms. "Are you babysitting?" She asks, even though Buck thinks it's fairly obvious that they're not. Based on the gleam in her eye Buck thinks that she knows that they're not babysitting, either, but she doesn't want to assume. Tommy steps forward so that he's next to Buck, and Buck puts the bowl of candy back down so he can wrap his arm around Tommy's waist.
"No, we're not babysitting." Tommy says. "Helena, I'd like to introduce you to Eleonora Kinard, our daughter." He carefully shifts the baby in his arms so that she can see her face.
"Oh, Tommy, Buck, she's beautiful. I didn't know you had an adoption in the works." Mrs. Gutierrez says, and Buck knows that adoption is the obvious conclusion for her to come to because Buck had not been visibly pregnant, that was sort of the whole point of it being called a cryptic pregnancy, but he can't help the pang of hurt he feels at that. Even though it wasn't intentional on her part and she meant nothing by it.
"Oh, uh, she's not adopted." Buck says, ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck when Mrs. Gutierrez turns to look at him. "Turns out I'm a carrier. Went to the hospital for appendicitis, came home with a baby."
Mrs. Gutierrez's eyes widen as she listens to Buck, but she recovers quickly, concern overriding her face. "Oh, you poor thing. And you're okay? You and the baby?"
Buck is touched that she's so concerned. "We are, yes. Little Miss Nora here has a clean bill of health." He reaches over to run a finger over the curve of her cheek. "And I'm doing well, too. It was sort of terrifying in the moment, but now I wouldn't trade her for anything."
"And your recovery is okay? You're not pushing yourself too hard?"
"Tommy is being a good fiancé and making sure I don't push myself too hard." Buck leans over to press a kiss to Tommy's cheek. "And our family is taking care of us. My sister and one of my coworkers coordinated getting the house ready for us to bring a baby home and then they gave us a baby shower once we were settled in. My captain filled up our freezer, and both our teams have been checking in." Buck says, voice filled with pride and his chest full of warmth and how everyone has come together for them, for their daughter.
"That's lovely. And fiancé? Did that happen before or after the baby?"
"After, although apparently Evan had been planning it for a while." Tommy says, carefully moving to hold the baby with one arm so that he can show off his ring.
"Well congratulations you two. On your beautiful baby and your engagement. You've always been a wonderful couple, and now you're a beautiful family." Mrs. Gutierrez smiles after she 'oohs' and 'aahs' over Tommy's ring.
"Thank you, Helena." Buck says, tightening his grip on Tommy. He still gets a little thrill whenever they get called a family. He can't help but think back to the words Thomas had spoken to him all those years ago. 'You don't find it, son, you make it.' He's made it. Quite literally, in fact, when it came to Nora.
"Now, I have to ask, what exactly is your costume, Tommy?" Mrs. Gutierrez asks, and Tommy laughs. He hands the baby over to Buck, who holds her up to press a kiss to the top of her head before he settles her against his chest. With his hands now free he reaches for the prop he's left just inside the door, brandishing it with a flourish.
"I'm a gardener." He says, gesturing towards the green apron he was wearing over one of his many plaid shirts. He'd put a pair of gardening gloves in one pocket, and there was a packet of seeds sticking out of the other. The prop he'd stashed by the door was a comically large watering can, painted with sunflowers and ladybugs.
"Oh! I see it now! And Buck is a flower, how clever. And- Nora, was it? Why she's the most adorable little ladybug." Buck preens at the praise, since the whole theme had been his idea. It had started because he'd wanted to dress Nora up as a ladybug,complete with a hat with a pair of antenna, since that was her nickname. Buck knew he was biased but he thought that she was the cutest ladybug in all of Los Angeles. And with how she liked to curl up against their chests it only made sense for him to dress up as a flower, so she could safely nestle in his greenery. He'd found a soft green shirt, and he'd crafted a headpiece that looked like a sunflower, taking care to keep the petals soft and out of anywhere Nora might end up laying. The thing that really tied the whole outfit together, in his opinion, was the flowerpot he was wearing around his waist, the classic terracotta brown, held up by a pair of green suspenders. He'd also decorated the baby carrier to look like a ladybug, knowing that at some point during the evening it would be needed.
"Thank you. It was all Evan's idea."
"Well you're very creative, Buck."
"Oh, once I decided Nora was going to be a ladybug it was easy." And Buck had decided on that once he realized he was going to have a newborn to dress in Halloween, seeing the way she was scrunched up on Tommy's chest.
"Still, you're all just darling. Oh! Have you gotten a photo of all three of you all dressed up yet?"
"Not yet, Helena. We were about to but then someone needed a new diaper." Tommy says, leaning over to press a kiss to the top of Nora's head.
"Well I'd be more than happy to take one for you."
Tommy thanks her and pulls out his phone, pulling up the camera and telling Mrs. Gutierrez how to operate it. They spend the next few minutes taking photos in a variety of poses.
"Thank you." Tommy says as she hands the phone back to him.
"No thanks necessary." She says, waving off the thanks. "Well I should get back before the trick or treaters get to mine and I cause a traffic jam on your doorstep."
"Thank you for stopping by. I'm sorry that we worried you."
"Oh, now that I know what's been keeping you boys busy I'm not at all upset." Mrs. Gutierrez tells them before she turns to start walking back to her house.
The watch to make sure that she safely makes it back to the sidewalk before they head back inside.
"Well that was interesting."
"Certainly not who I expected to be at the door." Buck agrees once they've settled themselves onto the couch. "So what movie did you decide on for us?" He had tasked Tommy with picking out what they were going to watch, knowing that they would have to pause it every time the doorbell went off and telling him that it had to be kid friendly.
"The Addams Family."
"Oh, I know who they are!"
"I know. That's part of why I picked it." Tommy says, leaning over to press a kiss to his birthmark. "I'm going to go and make us some popcorn, what do you want to drink?"
Buck decides to wait for Tommy to come back to start the movie. "Wait, why is there Christmas music if it's a Halloween movie?"
"Just watch the movie, Evan. And give me Nora before you get butter all over her."
"Your Papa is silly, Nora." Buck tells the baby in his arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead before handing her over to Tommy.
It's not long before the doorbell rings, and it takes them at least twice as long as it should to get through the movie. What feels like their whole neighborhood graces their doorstep that night amidst all the trick or treaters. Apparently they should have watched where Mrs. Gutierrez went once she reached the sidewalk, because she did not end up going back to her house and instead spread the word about the new addition to their neighborhood.
(A few days later their doorbell gets another workout, with their neighbors dropping off meals and baby gifts).
