"Another day, another injury, another instance of job security," Mari sang to herself as she climbed into the truck. Bobby shot her an unamused look and she innocently blinked up at him, pretending like she hadn't said a word.
"Can I ask a favor of you and Buck?" he asked as she pulled out of the garage.
"I am not a representative of Mr. Buckley and therefore cannot speak for him," she replied dryly.
"Can you two not corrupt Eddie? I have enough paperwork from you two and I would like to enjoy date nights with Athena that doesn't involve having to go to the hospital."
Buck let out an indignant "hey!" from the back as Eddie snorted out a laugh. Mariana's smirked and shrugged.
"Don't know. What's in it for me?"
"Your job?"
"Hmmm, kinda weak. I'd expect better from you."
She sent him a mischievous grin as she pulled the fire truck into the parking lot and flipped off the siren. Bobby rolled his eyes and hopped out of the truck, calling out for everyone to clear a path for the team to get through.
"Eddie," Mari called and he appeared at her side, her paramedic bag held in his hand. She glanced down at it and then back up at him and he merely shrugged. Within a few calls he had already become an integral member of the Buckley-Ramirez terror squad. He was the levelheaded one of the bunch and that was saying something considering her didn't hesitate to jump into pools with Buck or pull risky rescues with Mariana. Grabbing her bag, they headed over to the woman who was lying on the ground.
"Do any of you maybe have a pen? I've got a partial license plate. Somebody should write it down," the woman groaned.
"Don't worry about the license plate, ma'am. It's right here on the back of the car," Eddie reassured her as he handed Mari her stethoscope and grabbed his own. The brunette started to check her pelvis for fractures as the woman continued to speak.
"Not this car. The car that hit me!"
"Wait, this isn't the car that hit you?" Buck asked.
"No, this is the car that ran me over! It better be insured."
"Let's focus on getting you out of here first."
Mari moved to check her head as Eddie focused on figuring out how to safely move her out from under the car. The second she looked at the woman's face, the brunette paused and narrowed her eyes, studying her.
"Can you tell me your name?" Mariana asked.
"Lorraine," she whined out.
Hen and Chimney joined them and hesitated as well. "Don't we know you?"
"Uh, no. I don't-I don't think so," Lorrained stammered out.
"Last year, Hancock Park."
"That's right, I never forget a femur," Chimney exclaimed.
"You forgot mine," Mariana pointed out and Chimney shot her an unamused look.
"It's the damn porch pirate," Athena announced.
"And a frequent flyer in the ER. Hi Lorraine, I've missed you. How's that bad back?"
/
With her ponytail bouncing with every step, Mariana bounded around the front of the truck just in time to see the gaudy protester signs. She let out a low groan and rolled her eyes as she took the gloves Buck offered her and slid them on.
"Now it's a party," she muttered as they entered the funeral gates.
"We got a colostomy bag!" Bobby called. "Probably backing up we're going to have to intubate him."
Hen and Chimney kneeled down to start working but the man immediately pushed them away. He instead looked at Bobby. "You do it."
"Sir, I am not a trained paramedic. I can't intubate you. They can."
"I'm fine," the man insisted.
"You're really not fine. Your bowel is probably obstructed and your colostomy bag is backing up into your system. You're about to choke on your own waste and you will suffocate and die," Chimney argued.
"Get. Away."
Mariana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Sir, if you refuse care we cannot administer it by force."
The man glared at Buck, Mari, and Eddie. "What about one of them?"
"Diaz, Ramirez. You're up."
Mari held out her hand for the intubation equipment while the man continued talking. "Diaz? What kind of name is that?"
"My father's from Mexico. My mother's Swedish. I can help you out with the Swedish half but no one told me which half that is."
The man violently shook his head and glanced over at Mariana. She shot him a sickly sweet smile and bit out, "Both my parents were immigrants so I wouldn't want to hurt your sensitive disposition and taint your pure white skin by touching you."
"Mari," Athena warned.
"Out of the two oaths I took, none said listen to racist bullshit," the brunette muttered in response.
"Would you like me to call you another paramedic team so you can have an all white one?" Bobby sighed. The man nodded as Mariana threw her hands up in exasperation.
"He's gonna aspirate," she grunted. As if on cue, the guy rolled over and vomited up the contents of his colostomy bag.
"Actual diarrhea of the mouth. Outstanding," Chimney gagged.
"Oh wow, he really is full of shit!" Mariana exclaimed. Bobby shot her a pointed look but she merely shrugged. "Am I wrong?"
"Ok guys, let's just get to work," Hen said in exasperation. They rolled him on his side and Eddie stuck two fingers in his mouth in an attempt to get him to clear his airway.
"We need mechanical suction, this ain't cutting it."
"Get him on the gurney and into the ambo. We have suction on the truck," Mari ordered. "Keep him on his side and get the backboard over here."
Poor Chimney had to be the unlucky soul sitting in the back of the truck while Hen drove. Mariana shot Chimney a reassuring wink as she shut the ambulance doors and then walked back to Buck, Bobby, and Athena who were talking to a pretty brunette.
"Mari!" Buck exclaimed. "This is Maddie, my sister."
"Buck talks about you all the time. I feel like I already know you," Maddie greeted the brunette. She held out her hand and then glanced down at Mari's glove covered hands. The latina sheepishly grinned and quickly stripped them off, shoving them into a little biohazard bag she kept in one of her pockets.
"Sorry about that. Yeah, Buck has told me so much about you."
"I get it. Former ER nurse."
"Current ER nurse. I'd love to talk about that with you someday."
"Considering Buck says you're his adopted sister, I guess that means you're my sister too. We should grab coffee and talk about how annoying our little brother is." Buck grinned at the women interacting, not bothered by them teasing him.
"You two are amazing. You never let anything get to you," Maddie complimented the two women.
"Get to me?" Athena scoffed. "Do you know how many times in a given day somebody's got the opportunity to get to me? If I start letting 'em get to me, I wouldn't make it past breakfast. Which reminds me, we should eat."
"Eat? You wanna eat after that?" Maddie laughed.
"It's lunchtime!"
"She's right Bobby. What's for lunch?"
His two troublemakers flashed him puppy dog eyes and he sighed. "What do you want me to cook?"
/
The downside of having Bobby cook was that they were on kitchen duty in response. Buck's job was wiping down the counters and tables, Eddie was on dish duty, and Mari helped dry and put dishes away. There were a few incidents with Mariana snapping her towel at Buck's back and Buck retaliating by splashing her with dish water while Eddie tried to get them to stop to no avail.
"Hey so, that guy...does stuff like that happen to you a lot?" Buck asked as he leaned on the island. Eddie shrugged and passed Mari a wet plate so she could dry it off.
"El Paso is eighty percent latino so there wasn't a lot of blatant racism. I white pass pretty well but when people hear the name Diaz, they start to make assumptions. I faced it more often in basic training for the Army, to be honest."
"My parents came here legally but I still heard it all. Dirty Mexican, anchor baby, drug dealer, yadda yadda. Security guards followed me around stores and cops have pulled me over when I was driving, legally under the speed limit, to work. Kids threw rocks at me when I walked to school. People tell me to go back to where I came from which is funny considering I was born here. Those are the big moments but there's also the small times. Teachers telling me I shouldn't take advanced classes, people assuming I speak perfect Spanish, and stuff like that." Mariana finished putting the last dish away as Eddie threw their towels in the dirty bin. They joined Buck at the island, sitting on the stools.
"Doesn't it make you angry? None of that is right!" Buck exclaimed.
"It makes me furious," Mariana hummed. "People hate me for my skin color and my last name and my heritage. Those are all things I can't control. But I can't let it get to me. Like Athena said, if I let people get to me then I wouldn't make it past breakfast. That's why I like to work with kids. They can see someone who looks like them and has experiences like them and they know that all the bullshit racists spew isn't true."
The alarm rang out and dispatch announced it was a medical call with police en route. Mariana was up and out of the stool in seconds, knowing that with Hen and Chimney still delivering a patient at the hospital, she and Eddie were the two most qualified medics at the house. Bobby radioed for Chimney and Hen to meet them there and they would soon find out that it was for good reason.
The whole place was a shitshow. People lined the streets as cops blocked them off. One officer waved the 118 over towards the victim which turned out to be a teenage latino boy badly beaten.
"What happened?" Mariana asked as she kneeled down next to him and gently pressed against his face. The kid let out a sharp hiss of pain and she winced in sympathy. Broken noses were one thing but a fractured cheekbone hurt like a bitch. Eddie kneeled down on the other side of the kid and started asking him questions about pain and where it hurt.
"He says that two guys followed him through a store and then jumped him when he started to run home," the officer explained. Mariana grimaced and glanced over to where some officers were talking to two guys.
"Hate crime?" she grunted.
"Appears so," the officer sighed.
"Hen and Chim almost here?" she asked Bobby. The captain nodded but leveled her with an inquisitive look. The latina stood up, brushed off her uniform, and pointed towards the two men being interrogated.
"Need me to check them out?" The officer shrugged but nodded and Mariana marched towards them with Bobby hot on her heels.
"Ramirez," he called. She simply raised her hand in a "don't" motion and kept walking. She sidled up next to the officers and crossed her arms.
"Anyone here need medical? Can't release you into custody until we get a medical clear," she explained.
"Some scratches and a few bruises from that little bitch fighting us," one of the guys offered.
"Oh, by the looks of it, he clearly was the one at an advantage here," she commented dryly. The officers backed off for a moment to give her some room and she pulled out her pen light to shine it in his eyes.
"So why'd you do it?" she hummed.
"Do what?"
"I think you know. Why'd you beat the shit out of a random kid?"
"He gave the cashier his number. Like, who does he think he is? Little brown boy had to learn a lesson."
"And that lesson is?"
"If he wants a girlfriend, he can just cross the border and get one of those dirty Mexicans that look like him."
Mariana scoffed and rolled her eyes as she pocketed her pen light. "You'll live. Problem is I can't fix your other diagnosis. Unfortunately, racist fuckhead isn't curable."
"I'm not a racist! I'm just protecting my country." His shout drew people's attention to them and Mariana flashed him a dangerous smile, stepping closer so she was right in his face.
"No, you're just a racist piece of shit. I mean, damn, you let a dirty Mexican just check your vitals. Doesn't that mean your tainted or some bullshit?"
The guy's eyes narrowed and he looked over at his buddy and let out a haughty laugh. "I can't believe it. How'd she get this job, affirmative action?"
"Say it to my fucking face, tonto."
He snapped his head towards her and she smirked at how red his face was getting. She was pushing all of his buttons and hell, she was enjoying every second of it.
"What'd you just fucking call me?"
"Tonto. Gordo. Pendejo. Culo. Cabrón. Wow, imagine getting upset because you can only speak one language. Stay mad, bud."
The guy grabbed her arm and shoved her away from him. She quickly found her footing and righted herself, spreading her arms open.
"C'mon, man, you like beating the shit out of latinos! I'm bigger and stronger than him. I'm sure I can give you a hell of a fight. C'mon. I dare you."
He just had to take the bait.
The guy lunged for her and Mariana easily stepped aside, her knee planting neatly in his abdomen. He let out a gasping wheeze and she took the chance to throw him down to the ground just as his buddy came swinging from behind. He wrapped his arm around her neck and squeezed but the brunette quickly brought her elbow up and smashed it directly into his nose. He groaned and fell back against the police cruiser, blood gushing from his broken nose. She could have sworn she heard a loud "ooo" come from the crowd around her.
Mariana brushed the dirt off her hands and turned towards the officers who were standing off to the side, mouths agape. She casually gestured to the injured men and waved her hand.
"You saw that was self defense, right? I can release them into your custody now."
She made her way back to her team finding Bobby standing there looking defeated, Eddie and Buck trying to hide their laughter, Hen and Chimney attempting to focus on getting the kid on a gurney, and one Athena Grant looking extremely pissed.
"Suspend me, go ahead. Wouldn't be the first time," she pointed out as she passed them.
Bobby just threw his hands up in the air and let out a heavy sigh. "That's considered self defense and considering the last time someone attacked you in the field, I don't think HR would want to fight you on that."
She leaned over the gurney so she could see the kid's face and she offered him a small smile. "Those guys are going to jail, bud. I'll make sure of it."
/
Mariana was duly reprimanded but LAFD PR agreed that it wouldn't be good to publically censure a latina firefighter for defending herself and standing up to a hate crime. So instead she had to attend mandatory anger management therapy which was laughable. Frank already saw her once a week for therapy so that was hardly necessary.
Buck kept replaying the news clip of her fight but Mariana was already growing tired of it. She was angry and she let out some steam. It wasn't right and yeah, she felt a tiny bit of guilt, but most of all it wasn't the impression she wanted people to have of her.
I mean, if the newscasters saw her now, they wouldn't be making it into a sensationalized story. Mari was currently laying on her stomach in front of the Diaz television as Power Rangers ran across the screen. She craned her neck to look over Christopher's shoulder, nodding approvingly at his homework.
"Looking good, chiquito," she appraised. "Soon you're going to master your fractions. Heavens knows I still can't do them."
Christopher giggled at her comment and continued working but he perked up at the sound of the front door opening. Mariana lifted her head up from her arms and pulled her eyes away from the multicolored spandex superheroes.
"Pizza's here!" she cheered. The brunette hopped to her feet and then helped Christopher stand before she handed him his crutches. Eddie was apparently a terrible cook and he refused to let either Buck or Mari cook because he was the host and "God knows Abuela would have my head if I let the guests cook". So Mariana stayed with Christopher and helped him with his homework while the guys went to pick dinner up.
"Pepperoni or cheese, pollito?" she called out to Christopher.
"Cheese please!"
Mari loaded two slices on the plate and set it down at his seat before heading back to the kitchen to grab Buck and herself a plate. Buck joined Christopher at the small table and launched into an animated discussion over which Power Rangers franchise was the best.
"Time to feed the other child," Mariana joked as she filled a plate up for Buck. Eddie chuckled at her statement and opened the fridge to grab a beer for him and Buck.
"Want a beer?"
"Oh, uh no thanks. I don't drink. At all."
"That's cool. Just a water?"
"Yes please."
He went to fill up a glass for her before gathering the courage to ask. "So, the not drinking. Is it religious? Just a choice?"
"My uncle was a drunk who beat me. So, I can't...I associate it with bad memories. I'm fine with other people drinking, sure. But the smell…" She shook her head to ward off the memories clawing to the surface and leaned back against the fridge so she could watch his reaction. "Besides, I hear it tastes like crap."
"I'm sorry," he breathed, turning to face her.
"Not your fault so you don't need to apologize. In fact, my therapist says it's good for me to tell people. To be open. I, uh, struggled with that a lot before the shooting. Hen and Chimney knew me for two years before they found out my birthday." She ducked her head, dark hair spilling over her shoulders and obscuring her face. He leaned against the sink, waiting for her to continue speaking.
"When you were shot...I assume it was in the army...did it give you this eye opening experience or was that just me?" Her voice lifted in an attempt to show humor but he could hear the tense vulnerability she hid behind it.
"Yeah, after I woke up in the medical tent, I knew that my time with the army was done. I needed to be with Christopher. I needed to be in his life."
She raised her head and her honey brown eyes locked with his. "I was so angry before I got shot. I was angry and alone. I didn't care what happened to me. I didn't care if I made it home from a shift. There was nothing for me. But then I woke up in the ICU and realized that this team is my family. I miss my real family of course but...the pain is easing. Wow, sorry for dumping all of that on you. That's embarrassing."
It's as if he could see the walls rebuilding themselves around her. Eddie quickly placed the glass in his hand on the counter and stopped her by gently grabbing her hand. Mariana tilted her head up to look at him, being at a height disadvantage.
"Thank you for telling me that," he murmured. "I'm glad to know that you trust me."
"I'm really glad you and Christopher have joined our family."
He offered her a small grin and released her hand, stepping back to grab the two beers in one hand and her glass of water in the other. "I wouldn't change it for the world."