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

sixty-four

It was like a horror movie. One second Eddie is practically being held back by Chimney and Hen as Bobby frantically radioes over and over for Mariana and the next second the train car he was in ten minutes earlier is crashing to the ground.

Eddie should honestly be used to how many times he's watched the love of his life be in life threatening moments, but it never gets easier. In fact, it gets worse. Could he and Buck have secured the car before they left? Could he have checked out the other cars rather than helping with the mobile home? Could he have just called them both in as sick and laid in bed with her and their son all day?

He didn't know when everything became "we", "us", and "ours". Christopher was now their son. They lived in their house. When he thought about their life from things like paying bills to getting groceries, he always referred to it as ours. Being around Mariana was like breathing fresh air and now it felt like he had been sucker punched in the chest.

He didn't even remember moving until Buck and Bobby grabbed him to stop him from running straight into the wreckage. He clutched onto the edge of the ambulance in an attempt to keep himself from falling to his knees. A silent prayer ran through his mind over and over again. Please, please, don't let this be it.

The horrible grating noise of metal crushing metal subsided and the dust began to settle, revealing the back half of the fourth car completely demolished under the weight of the other car. Hen raised her hand to her mouth in muted horror and Chimney sat on the edge of the ambulance stunned.

"Ramirez." Bobby desperately tried the radio. "Ramirez, come in."

Silence. Everyone around them had stopped to watch as the train came down and now it felt like the world was frozen based on how they all just...didn't move. Eddie felt like he was going to be sick.

"Ramirez. Mariana. Please come in."

The other end of the radio crackled with static before shutting off.

"Mariana, I need you to say something."

"...-ez, ca-...-ear me?"

Eddie's head snapped up and he stared at the wreckage as Bobby raised the radio once more.

"Mari, is that you?"

"Affirmative, Cap." Her voice rang out clear over the radio. "Diego and I are safe and unharmed. We're near the front under a support beam. Buck will know what I'm talking about."

"You heard her," Bobby announced to his team.

That was all the confirmation Buck needed to rush to the wreckage with Eddie hot on his heels. Metal sheets from the side of the train covered a majority of the debris and Buck started yanking them off from the pile.

"Mari!" Eddie yelled.

"Over here!" Her voice was muffled but they could hear her to the right. He climbed over the wreckage and pulled the sheet metal off, revealing a metal beam resting over two seats creating an air pocket. The dust shifted and revealed an LAFD jacket as Mariana moved.

"Hi," she said lamely as she turned her head to see him.

"You are the biggest pain in my ass," he announced as she bent down to lift Diego up and pass him to Buck. Eddie threw her rules out of the window and wrapped his girlfriend into a tight hug, ignoring the dust and dirt that clung to her. She grabbed his arms for support and shut her eyes at his familiar touch.

"Never do that again," he ordered. "I can't lose you."

"Yeah, that I can agree with," she breathlessly laughed. "Never thought I'd be grateful for physics."