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

forty-six

"Oh hell, Evan, if you're going to fall can you at least fall away from me rather than on me?" Mariana grumbled as she picked herself up from the ice. He yelped from next to her and she immediately moved to the right to avoid him falling on her. Eddie caught his girlfriend as she stumbled into him, laughing at her and Buck's baby deer impressions.

"Cali girl can't handle some ice, huh?" he teased.

"You're from El Paso, Texas dumbass," she hissed. "Buck should be the one used to this!"

Buck, in response, fell over again.

Mariana escaped Eddie's arms and crouched down to search for the remaining fingers. She crawled onto some of the fake snow and spotted a few drops of blood. Pushing the fake leaves out of the way, she triumphantly grabbed the last finger remaining.

"Aw, why'd I get the middle finger?" she announced. "Now that's just rude."

Eddie let out a chuckle and extended his hand out for her to take. She begrudgingly accepted it, slipping a little on the ice but his hands came down to rest on her waist.

"I gotcha," he assured her.

"What's the plan for tonight?" she asked, passing the finger off to Buck.

"I am actually meeting some army buddies and Chris gets a whole night with his best buddy."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Hell yeah. Hey Buckley! We're taking Christopher to a movie tonight!"

When Eddie got home from fighting that night, he first headed to Christopher's room to check on him and then made his way to his bedroom. The heavy weight across his shoulders seemed to lift at the sight of the lithe figure curled up in his bed. She had one of his old shirts from high school on and it was incredibly too large for her, exposing her shoulder as the collar slipped down. DIAZ was stretched across the back of the shirt and while he would never admit it outloud in fear of facing her wrath, the sight of his name on her satisfied some kind of predatory feeling in his chest.

Eddie showered quickly and slipped into bed behind her, relishing in the feeling of her warm skin against his. Mariana let out a soft grunt and her dark eyes slowly blinked open.

"Hi," she whispered sleepily. "How are the boys?"

"Hm?" he asked.

"Your team. How's your team?"

"Oh. They're good. Go back to sleep, sweetheart. We can talk in the morning."

She nodded against his collarbone and let out a soft sigh that brushed against his skin. "Missed you. Bed's too cold when you're gone."

"I know. It's too empty when you're gone." He kissed the edge of her hairline and draped an arm over her waist, pulling her even closer.

Her breathing evened out and he wished he could join her in sleeping. But his mind kept racing about everything. He felt guilty about lying to her, about fighting, but he felt good when he fought. And seeing the small scars on her body that were remnants of fists and belts on her perfect body assured him that he could never let her know.

///

Mariana flipped open a chart with one hand and grabbed the ringing phone with the other. This shift had been non-stop constant incoming calls and she was mentally exhausted. Three more hours to go.

"County Gen ER," she answered.

"Incoming from RA 136. Male, early thirties, busted in illegal fighting ring. Piece of his nose broke off and he has plenty of blunt force trauma to the head. Barely stabilized and you'll want neuro ready."

"Got it. ETA?"

"Eight minutes."

She hung the phone back onto the hook and sent out a quick page to neuro before calling out. "Bay 2, incoming!"

Years of working in the ER gave her the ability to simply work without thinking or doubting herself. They had the guy stabilized and ready for transport to the OR in twenty minutes. Everything moved so smoothly that she barely thought about the case as the next call came in. As the end of her shift came closer, Mariana took the time to sort through the charts of patients that had been transferred.

"Hey Les, I'm gonna go do an ICU run and drop these off," she announced, holding up a bunch of charts. Her boss and friend signaled a thumbs up and Mariana hurried off to the elevator before she was sent to get a rubber ducky out of a grown man's ass. The ICU was much quieter than the ER but the excitement and energy still buzzed in the air. Mariana's job was making sure patients survived before they got to their next stage. The ICU made sure patients survived after they were seen by doctors until they could get PT and other long term help.

"Ryan, I bring you gifts," Mariana sang as she approached the nurses desk.

"I love having you here when you're not in one of my beds," Ryan joked as he took the folders from her. "All your patients have been doing good tonight. Any you want to visit?"

"None that come to mind. Thanks though."

She glanced down at the hall and paused at the sight of a very familiar figure standing outside of a room. Nodding her head towards the sight, she asked Ryan what that was about.

"Oh, said he was a friend and wanted to check up on him. I told him he couldn't go in but the guy was fine. Got his nose punched in but he'll live."

The bruises. The late nights. The ICU visit. Oh, Edmundo Diaz, you've gotta be fucking kidding me.

"Thanks, Ry. Tell Peter that you two have gotta come over for dinner one night. That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am."

Mariana looked back at Eddie once more, her dark eyes absolutely flaring with anger and he stared right back, looking as if every inch of him was dripping with an apology.

A/N: I turned 20 today so that's fucking wild holy shit enjoy!