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

seventy

"I talked to my parents," Eddie said casually as Mariana eased the truck through the crowd of firefighters. She pulled into the pool and parked the truck, her fingers tapping against the wheel in what he recognized as one of her nervous tics.

"What did you talk about?" she asked.

"We're going to drive through El Paso on the way back so..."

"Okay." She nodded and looked over at him, a conflicted emotion in her eyes. "Okay, yeah. We can do that. We can stop by on the way back."

"You're okay with that?" He reached over and squeezed her hand. She gripped his hand like a lifeline and nodded once more.

"Yeah, it's about time I met them, don't you think?" She laughed nervously. "It'll be fun."

"Fun," he repeated. "You're going to meet my parents for the first time and we're going to have to tell them about..." Eddie glanced back where Hen and Buck were bickering about something. "You know."

"Yeah...fun." She offered him a weak smile and he leaned across the cab and kissed her. Mari rolled her eyes and pushed him back.

"There are rules, Diaz," she reminded him before she grinned and patted his chest to console him. The couple left the truck to join their teammates, finding Buck complaining about the weather.

"Like getting slapped with a wet towel," Buck complained.

"It's called humidity. Welcome to Texas, Buck!"

///

"I'm Deputy Chief de Leon of the San Angelo Fire Department, acting incident commander. For those of you just joining the party, welcome."

Buck craned his neck to look over Mariana's head and at the firefighter standing a few feet away from them. The brunette stamped her foot down on his boot as she glared at him.

"Stop staring," she hissed.

"I'm not staring," he insisted.

"You're staring." Eddied rubbed a hand across his eyes. "Mari, don't kill him."

"Pay attention!" she snapped at both of them.

"I want to introduce my operations section chief, Captain Owen Strand of Austin."

"The thing we were praying for wouldn't happen has happened. The wind has shifted. The fire's now on a collision course with the city of San Angelo. There's a possibility of weather coming in, but we can't rely on it, and we won't. We have one last shot to turn the tide." Captain Strand pointed at the map. "Here. On Copper Ridge. We cut a containment line here, and we can stop this beast in its tracks."

"I know you're exhausted. A lot of you haven't had more than a couple hours of sleep in days. But on behalf of the city of San Angelo and their one hundred and twenty thousand souls, we're gonna get you up on that fire line and you are gonna cut like hell. Good luck. Stay safe."

Mariana headed off towards the trucks again, looking back at Eddie. He caught up to her and glanced around the camp. "What are you thinking?"

"I've dug plenty of fire lines but if they need me in medical, I'll go. What are you thinking?"

"Same as you."

"Rule number one, Edmundo," she warned as he directed her to the water table.

"When we're in the field, we are teammates. We leave the relationship at the door," he droned. She crossed her arms across her chest and stared him down as he sighed and held out a cup of water for her. Mariana rolled her eyes and still took a sip before handing it back to him.