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

twenty-six

WARNING: mentions of assault, violence, and gender based assault

The so-called "Terrible Trio" of the LAFD 118's third shift all peered over the guardrail of the overpass down to the highway below where hundreds of cars and emergency vehicles were currently stalled.

"I can talk to her woman to woman," Mariana sighed. "I'll go."

"Okay, Mari move into position," Bobby ordered over the radio.

Some woman decided to block off traffic by climbing down onto one of the signs above the freeway demanding that her husband needed to "see her". Mariana, not well versed in love, didn't really understand what she meant but figured she could help calm her down.

"Okay, Chim." The radio crackled just as she swung one leg over the railing. Mariana glanced over at her boys.

"You got me?"

"Always," they replied.

The emergency landing float was pulled out from under the overpass just as Mariana began to climb down. Lola, the woman, was screeching for them to stop.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded. "I-I-I told you! I don't-"

"It's just there for your safety, Lola!" Athena shouted over the speaker. Mariana jumped down onto the grate next to Lola right as the woman yanked out a gun and fired it into the jumping sheet. Instantly, the brunette froze. She could hear the people yelling below, sense the chaos surrounding them, but all she could focus on was the roaring rush of blood in her ears and absolute fear that clenched around her heart like a vice. Lola turned and pointed the gun directly at Mariana's chest and all the latina could do was stare the cold metal down. She raised her hands in a surrender, mentally begging and pleading with God and anyone who would listen to let her stay this time.

"Lola! Listen to me very carefully. You now have every firearm in the greater Los Angeles area pointed at you. If you continue to threaten that woman, they will fire. Do you understand?" Athena roared into the speaker. "Do you?!"

The gun shook in Lola's hand just as Mariana began to tremble herself. She couldn't tear her eyes off of it. Her body ached with the phantom pains of the shots that nearly killed her months earlier.

"I don't wanna hurt anybody," Lola insisted as she lowered the gun. "I just can't handle being ignored anymore!"

"I know exactly what you mean!" Buck shouted down from his and Eddie's position. Both men were gripping the railing tightly as they controlled the fear they felt. Buck focused on calming down Lola while Eddie watched Mariana carefully.

"Oh come on!" Lola whined. "Yes, I'm sure you get ignored all the time."

"You have Norman. I had an Abby. We were in a relationship but then she just left. You think that you have something, something special. Y'know, she's the one. So you wait. And then at some point, it hits you. You're alone. She's not coming back. You're just there to collect the mail and it is piling up, right? And then you realize, you know what? It's over. You just need to face it and move on."

The sounds of sirens caught Mariana's attention and she slowly turned her head to look down at the people below. "Lola, Lola honey, it's me. I'm here and I see you just like the line says."

"Liar!" Her outburst turned Mariana's attention back onto her and that gun. That damn gun. "You look right through me! You don't even notice me. I'm just around to collect the mail!"

"Lola, honey, honey now listen to me. I'm here and I see you and I need you to put down the gun, okay? Put down the gun and let them bring you to me and then we can spend the rest of our lives together because I can show you how much I love you."