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

six

As she dangled above the destroyed floor, Mariana noticed something was off. Bobby and Buck were focusing on rescuing people while Hen managed treating people. Mariana's job was to call out any movement in the rubble and to find places to stabilize any of the rocks that could potentially come tumbling down.

But something was off with the foundation of the building. She repelled down, landing softly on the destroyed stone. Bending down, Mariana picked up a piece of what looked like crumpled metal.

"Cap," she called, raising it up so he could see. Bobby plucked it from her hands and studied it for a second before glancing up at Hen.

"Is the owner here?"

"Uh, that's him right there. Why?"

Bobby immediately strode towards him and Mariana hurriedly unclipped herself from the rope, a swear pulling at her lips but never really escaping. She followed after him, knowing that he was still shaky after the events that transpired a few hours prior.

"When'd you put in the third floor?" Bobby asked the owner. "When did you put on the third floor? You think I don't know what that is?!"

He threw the metal at the man who jumped to avoid it. Mariana winced at the crashing sound and Bobby's yell, her mind flashing dangerous images. Red and blue flashing lights. An ache in her leg. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. Flashlight in her eyes.

"Tha-that's Kal Pal! That stuff's been banned! You didn't reinforce the concrete with steel and instead you used that crap! This used to be a two story building. The floor that collapsed, that was the roof, huh? Wasn't it?!" Bobby yelled, grabbing the front of the man's shirt. Mariana snapped out of her thoughts and she began to surge forward as Hen called his name.

"You know what you did, you son of a bitch!" he roared. "You're going to jail. That's manslaughter!"

"Captain!" Mariana barked, yanking back on his arms as he pushed the man forward. Bobby spun around, shoving Mariana back and to the ground. He immediately froze, as did Buck and Hen as Mariana caught herself by twisting and landing on her hands and knees in the middle of the debris. Her breathing was ragged as she straightened out, sitting up and brushing the dust off of the front of her uniform. Buck bent down and extended his hand for her to take but she shoved him away, rose to her feet, and marched out.

"What is wrong with you?" Hen exclaimed.

"Back off, Hen," Bobby barked.

"Back off, really?! Not twenty four hours ago, you were saying "help". What happened to that?"

Bobby wrenched his arm out of her grip and stormed off, following the path Mariana took. He found the younger woman by the truck where she was pacing back and forth.

"Mariana," he muttered in the beginning to an apology. She didn't even turn around to look at him. Her next words were icy and poised directly for the heart.

"If I wanted to talk to a drunk who hit me, I would go see my uncle at the county jail," she snarled before she walked off towards the injured wedding guests.

///

"Six hours in and no severed limbs," Anna announced as she exited the trauma bay. Mariana smirked at her comment and glanced up from the chart she was working on.

"Night's still young," Leslie called as she entered the second trauma bay.

Their shift had been slow which Mariana was both grateful for and frustrated. She used work to distract herself from all the shit happening in her life. The fact that no one was being brought in by EMS and wailing about how they accidentally sliced their toes off was becoming very annoying. Instead, she had to dwell in her thoughts for hours on end which is the last place she wanted to be, if she were frank.