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

ninety-two

Sigh.

Mariana rolled her eyes and focused on wrapping up the picture frame in bubble wrap before sliding it in the box in front of her. She glanced over at her husband who was seated on the floor with a box in front of him. He was slowly but surely putting rolled t-shirts into the box with his left arm.

Eddie sighed dramatically again and she set the next frame onto the bed and planted her hand on her hip, turning to glare at him. He blinked up at her innocently and she crossed her arms over her growing bump.

"What's up?" she asked. "Or did you just want the whole house to get fresh carbon dioxide thanks to your sighs over there."

"I'm sorry," he grunted as he tossed a shirt into the box. "This...sucks."

She slowly lowered herself onto the ground next to him and leaned against his side. "The cast is on for two more weeks and then you'll be good as new. It just sucks now because you can't flex your muscles as much as you want."

He let out an indignant snort and pressed a kiss to her hair. "I feel guilty."

She knew how difficult it was for him to be open and honest and use his words and so Mari just sat and waited for him to speak. He settled his left hand on her bump and rubbed circles over her shirt, his eyes softening at the action.

"I wanted this to be right. I wanted to be able to do anything you needed and now-" He gestured lamely to the cast on his dominant hand.

"You can still help. You are still helping," she assured him. "You being off work has helped make packing easier because you can help the boys with school. You make the best tea. You still give a mean foot rub."

"We're moving in two weeks and I'm not going to be able to lift anything," he groaned.

"So? We have Buck and Travis and Chimney for the heavy lifting."

"It's just-"

"Babe." Mariana touched his shoulder gently to catch his attention. "In two weeks, we are moving into a new house. In three and a half months, we are going to be able to hold Peanut. I don't care about anything except that in three and a half months, I can break your hand again when I push your kid out of me. I'm just so glad that you were able to come home."

He kissed her sweetly. "You always know the right stuff to say."

"Perks of being married to me." Mari pulled her feet up into his lap and leaned against the baseboard of the bed. "Be a dear and rub my feet."

///

"Where does this go?" Buck called as he hoisted up two boxes. Mariana sighed and pursed her lips in disapproval and his sudden inability to read.

"The rooms are written on the boxes," she reminded him. Buck looked down at the boxes and screwed his face up in concentration. "What's the matter, Buck? Can't read?"

"Eddie wrote these."

Mari bit back a laugh. "Hey, be nice. He was writing with his left hand."

"I think it says kitchen," Travis announced from behind him. Mariana shook her head and headed for Christopher's room where Eddie was working on painting the walls. While the cast was gone, he still couldn't lift really heavy things for a few more weeks which meant he was on paint duty.

Los Angeles real estate goes by in a blink of an eye so they barely had time to do any work on the house before they had to move. Luckily, their room was perfect and Diego liked the blue of his room so that left Christopher and the nursery. The boys would be sharing an air mattress in Diego's room for the night while Mari and Eddie slept on another air mattress. The next few weeks would be jam packed with unpacking and setting up the new house.