"You should have heard her, she practically cheered when she realised who he was" chimney laughed

"It was microwave guy, that guy was my first call. How could I not" she defended herself

"Hopefully he keeps himself away from microwaves and fast speeding children rides" josh chuckled "thanks for inviting me guys, despite my fifth wheeling"

The two couples plus Maddies coworker Josh decided to have a game night, none of them minded Josh's company - in fact they even enjoyed being in the presence of the voice always heard on the radio

"Oh please" Maddie waved dismissively "we are just a group of friends playing cards"

"Yeah and 4 of you are all in a relationship" he added

"How's the dating life going?" Kate asked, sipping her wine

"It's not" josh snorted, "hence the fifth wheeling"

"Is it that bad?" Maddie asked

"So bad" Joshua sighed, "It's LA. Everybody's always in their car or looking at their phones. Or in their car looking at their phones. And we're stuck with online dating, which is... An absolute nightmare. The crazies, the randos, the catfishers, and not to mention the liars. Profile pics brought to you by Photoshop. It's impossible"

"You guys got lucky. I don't know how you did it"

"We started as friends" Maddie said,

"Us too... coincidentally" Kate nodded

"Wait, I know about them two. But what about you?" Josh asked Kate and buck

"Uh.." Kate looked at her boyfriend "I moved here and he was still in some sort of relationship, so we were friends-..

"Very close friends" chimney cut in

"Yes, buck was there for me a lot-..

"As was she" buck said, taking her hand

"So eventually he decides he wants to move out of his old place. I had a spear room that I offered and he took it, bearing in mind I had offered this just as I was developing feelings. So he moves in and we..

"Practically become a couple without actually acknowledging it, I cook dinner she makes breakfast. We watch movies and drink. All we are both in total denial of the other having reciprocated feelings" buck explained

"So one night we go out with chim and Maddie - who are also slowly falling for each other, buck had the intentions of "getting me laid"

Buck chuckled quietly, Kate glanced at him "what?"

"I had no intention of helping with that" he admitted

"What?" Kate said, sounding shocked "unbelievable" she shook her head, pretending to be mad

"Well Kate got up on stage that night and I think Evan actually fell in love with her then" Maddie added.

"Okay I was tipsy, I had a few shots to calm my nerves and a guy send me a few drinks. Once I'm finished singing we were left alone and we had a moment. I pretty much told him how amazing he was, and tried to hint that he was exactly my type-.."

"Which I didn't pick up"

"So than we almost kiss and Taylor Kelly sends him a drink. So In my rage of jealousy I go to the bar and tell buck it's fine. He ends up having sec with Taylor and I having sex with the bar man. I avoid him the next day and when we did talk it was so awkward. after a very sentimental call I go home and confess everything. He kisses me and than we..."

"Oh wow, we don't need anymore detail" chimney cut in, his face grimaced

Kate laughed, Buck kissed her hand

"A few months later he's crushed by a truck and I tell him I love him"

"Wow. That's like the Perfect story" josh said, admiring their story

"There's been some not so perfect moments but we got through it. This man is entirely my rock" Kate smiled at him,

"Okay, maybe I don't hear anymore" Joshua joked

"Hey, how's house hunting going?" Maddie asked, remembering they had mentioned it

"Impossible" they both said,

"It seems impossible to find a one bedroom that isn't an hour away from everything and a minor dump" Kate complained

"And two bedrooms are just extra space we don't need" Buckley added

"A house is pretty permanent, what if you have kids one day?" Josh joked, causing Maddie and chimney to laugh at the idea of Evan Buckley being a father.

Kate stiffened in her seat, "uh.. not for a long time"

"Besides, buck is still being raised" chimney joked, Kate mustered a smile at the joke

"I think I like where we are" Kate said, glanced at buck "kids are a big responsibility"

...

"You're gonna cut the window? This just keeps getting worse."

"Ma'am, just try to stay calm. How's she looking, Hen?"

"Vitals are good. Just breathing a little heavy. Are you in pain?" Hen asked the girl

"No, but has anyone ever died of actual shame?" She asked "I'm sorry, Gary. This is not how I wanted our first date to go."

"Hey, you wanna hear something embarrassing?" Kate asked the girl "I was about a month with a guy, I decided to sleep over one night and during the night I must have gotten my period because when I woke up the next day, there was blotches of blood on his sheets - I could have died with embarrassment, but instead he made me a tea gave me some fresh clothes and ran a hot shower. He didn't make me feel embarrassed"

"That's a normal response, I just tried to throw my own poo out his window and got stuck" she groaned

"It can only get better from here, right?" Her date chimed, "I've always wanted a bay window." He tried to reassure

"He's probably never gonna wanna speak to me again, and you have no idea how hard it is to meet someone these days."

"Uhhh.. okay- how about one time I vomited on my boyfriend when I was sick" she added

"Still not the same, but a little better"

"Uh Eddie might've finally met someone special. Then he went and bit her head off. Now she'll never talk to him again and will probably flunk his kid." Buck ranted, only stopping when he noticed the beading eyes all staring at him "Well, you kinda did."

Kate sighed, she shook her head quietly "there's a time and place"

The girl ended up being sawed out of the window, once she was out of the frame hen checked her vitals and all seemed fine, except for the embarrassment she thought she'd die of.

"I'll call a Lyft." She told Gary

"Oh. Or you... or you could stay." He suggested

Kate smiled happily, she linked her arm around Bucks, her head resting on his arm.

"Did you really think id judge you that morning?" He asked, referring to the story she told, of course she changed a few details

"No, but she didn't know that"

...

"Pretty sure all kids call their parents liars at some point"

Eddie was still beating himself up, he reacted so badly when Christopher got hurt and he wasn't sure what to do now. He only hoped his friends could help

"Yeah, well, feels a little different when you hear it coming out of your kid." He sipped his beer

"Just wait till he gets to the "I don't have to do what you tell me" phase."

"Aren't you still in that phase?" Eddie asked, Buck responded with a scoff

"The thing is, he's right. I lied to him. Or maybe I lied to myself. Either way, I feel like a fool. I spent years trying to convince my kid to believe in the Easter Bunny. But now I gotta tell him none of it's real."

"Yeah, I think you might be overcorrecting here."

"Yeah, there is no need to got telling him the easter bunny isn't real. Let him enjoy the magic" Kate agreed

"I Told him he's no different than the other kid. But he is. He has CP. There's a lot he can't do."

"Have you ever heard of Jim Abbott?"

"Baseball player?"

"Mm-hmm. Pitched a no-hitter in the '90s, which in itself is pretty crazy, but it's even crazier if you know that Jim Abbott was only born with one hand."

Kate listened to bucks story, wondering when he read a story like that

"I read his book when I was in the hospital." Buck shrugged, almost as if he heard Kate's thoughts

"Okay. How'd he do it?" Eddie asked, questioning the stour

"He practiced switching his glove to his throwing hand relentlessly so that he could field after he pitched."

"I like the positivity. I'm just not sure how any amount of practice is gonna help Chris stay on a skateboard."

Kate sighed, she patted Eddie's shoulder "Eddie you are a great father, you have raised one strong kid but you have to remember that Christopher is going to try these things, he's a kid and kids do stupid things and get a few scrapes. You just need to remind him that sometimes he has limitations, but if he really wants to he can cross them with help of course"

"You see, why can't you just tell him that" Eddie said, getting frustrated at his lack of inspiration for his son

"Because I'm not his father" Kate replied, a short laugh at the end.

"Yeah, you're right I know"

"Can we talk about that call?" Buck asked, "what's the most embarrassing dates you've had?"

"Nothing like that" Kate chuckled

"I've had my fair share of bad dates, I know the feeling"

"You had bad date?" Eddie asked, his brows furrowed

Buck nodded "on my first date with an ex, I joked on bed she had to do a tracheotomy in the restaurant"

"No" Kate laughed, "oh my.." she continued to laughed, only stopping for air

"Hey, you told me that you once had a guy asked if you've ever seen sun" Buck defended himself

Kate took in a breath, "that was bad for him not for me"

"You've never embarrassed yourself on a date?" Eddie asked

She shrugged "I didn't go on my first date till I was 16, he was the only guy I dated till I left him 2 years ago. Any date me and Buck have had as went smoothly" Kate explained to them both

"I refuse to believe that" Eddie shook his head

"Alright Eddie, what about you?" Kate asked,

"One time when I was on a date, I ate something bad and hour later that same dinner was on her dress" Eddie admitted, his face Turning red with embarrassment as his friends laughed,

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up"

Kate sighed "oh Edmundo, you never cease to amaze me"

"Good to know"

"You've seriously never had an embarrassing date?" Buck asked his girlfriend

"Fine" she gave in, "it was my 4th date and he took me for a moonlight picnic, I really had to pee so I went to a bush; I squatted down and when I peed.. the wind blew against me and it ran all down my leg and into my shoes" she confessed

"Oh wow" Buck exhaled , holding back a laugh

"Go on" she permitted the two

They both shared a glance before bursting into a fit of laughter, Kate soon joined in realizing it actually was funny the more she thought about it.

Eddie left an hour later, after they had discussed more on how to help Christopher out on his situation.

"Hey can we talk about something?" Buck asked

"Sure" Kate turned around from the sink, drying her hands "what's up?"

"You seemed on edge yesterday when josh mentions kids." He mentioned

"Oh" Kate mumbled, "em.. yeah, I'm just - I'm not sure on whether I want to have to any more"

"Oh?" Bucks brows furrowed "I didn't know that"

"No one did" Kate shrugged "I had a son and he was the best thing to ever happen to me but it opened me up to this raw pain and I don't think I could do that again. Not for a while anyway"

"So what does that Mean?" Buck asked, knowing he wanted kids one day. Preferably with Kate

Kate wrung the small towel in her hands "It means I don't want kids right now, I may feel differently down the line but it's not as if we have to worry about it. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear"

"No, no I understand. Besides we have all the time in the world"

"Yeah" Kate turned around, "all the time" she mumbled