In Flames // 9-1-1 Fox (seasons 1-4)

fifty-five

Mariana had to hold back her grimace as she climbed up onto the bowling pin machine. Eddie steadied her with a firm hand on her back as she moved carefully over the equipment to get to Arlene, the owner who had her arm crushed by the pin setter.

"Garrett?!" Arlene cried.

"It's okay, Arlene, I'm here!" the employee called back. "These people are going to help you, okay?"

"Compound fracture, more out than in," Chimney reported. "Pulse is weak."

"She's lost a lot of blood," Mariana added. "We need to get fluids going. We can't stabilize her like this."

"Alright," Bobby addressed Garrett. "Do you know how to move this thing? How to release it?"

"I mean, not really. I've only watched Arlene do it."

"Manual," she grit out.

"Right! Manual release...which is here somewhere."

"We could take it apart piece by piece," Buck suggested.

"Not unless you want her to bleed out," Mariana commented dryly. Garrett grabbed a hook off the wall and passed it up to Eddie.

"Here. Put this in the back and then turn it."

"Blood pressure's dropping," Hen reported.

"Pushing fluids."

"I'll get a tourniquet, tie the arm, and get her out," Eddie supplied.

"Not gonna work. The cross brace is the only thing that's holding her arm in place. The minute you move it, she's gonna bleed out on the floor," Mariana replied.

"And given how broken her bones are," Chimney added. "It'll be like tying off a wet bag of rocks."

"What if we embrace the cross brace?" Buck suggested. "We cut her from the pinsetter here, then we weld these points here, here, and here and you've got a-"

"Damn good splint," Bobby finished. "We're gonna need a stick welder."

Well hot damn, Buck had a really smart idea. They were able to extract Arlene from the rest of the machine while still maintaining the integrity of the arm and keeping her vitals steady. Mariana high fived her best friend as they followed behind the stretcher and out of the bowling alley.

"A living tissue under a metal endoskeleton," he said in a Schwarzenegger accent.

"You know, technically, it would be an exoskeleton, right?" Eddie replied. Mariana huffed out a laugh at Buck's annoyed expression.

"Can't just let me enjoy the win."

"Good job, bud," Bobby said.

"Yeah, Buck. We'll let you take this one," she teased.

///

"But am I happy?" Chimney sighed. "Albert is annoying, but maybe he's right. Things with me and Maddie are great, but we're not exactly lighting the world on fire."

Mariana ducked under Eddie's arm to grab her belt out of her duffle bag that was in his locker as he pulled on his uniform shirt over their usual under layer for when they needed to get into turnout gear.

"Does it matter what he thinks?" Eddie asked. "Only you know how you feel about Maddie."

"I really care about her."

Both Hen and Mariana let out noises of disgust at his words. Chimney raised his hands in surrender at the two women.

"The dreaded "C" word," Hen said. "I really care about good arch support. That's not how you feel about your significant other."