"Can you believe they ate all the fudge without us?" Chimney shouted as Mariana pulled the fire truck out of the station.
"Finders keepers, losers weepers," Hen sang.
"Man, allergies are going crazy today," Eddie grunted.
"Yeah, you too huh? The index wasn't elevated this morning. Think it's a new kind?" Buck asked.
"New kind of what?"
"Pollen!"
"A new kind of pollen?" Chimney drawled out.
"You're not feeling this, Chim?"
"No, I do not."
"I'm seeing pollen."
"I can hear it."
"Are you two kidding me right now?" Mari called from the driver's seat. "Are you high or something?"
The call was at a convention center but nothing prepared them for the Toddlers and Tiaras nightmare inside. Chimney and Mariana led the team in, finding Athena arresting a woman.
"Victim's over there."
They followed the horrified looks and the stream of officers to find a woman on the phone. She turned and Mariana blinked away her confusion before dropping her bag and gently taking hold of the woman's shoulders. A high heel was literally embedded in her cheek.
"Why don't we sit down before that adrenaline drops? Okay? And let's hang up that phone," she announced as Chimney took the woman's phone away.
"Hey guys," Chimney said, turning to get Buck and Eddie who were, for some reason, still by the door. "Hey! Diaz, Buckley, let's go!"
"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to not touch the heel. We don't want you to risk pulling it and adding to the damage," Mari instructed her.
"Can someone get us the rest of our gear?!" Chimney shouted.
"What the hell is their problem?" she hissed. "We need to stabilize this before we get her to the hospital."
"Chimney! Mari! Gonna need you over here," Athena called. The two paramedics sighed left after reassuring the woman she would be fine.
"What the hell is going on?" Mari asked as she joined Athena.
"We got a problem here. Your guys be trippin'."
"Guys, look at me. Do you know where you are?" Chimney exclaimed.
Eddie shoved aside the balloons he was previously fascinated with. "We're everywhere man."
"They're on drugs!" Athena hissed.
"Oh fuck, I was right," the latina breathed.
Hen threw herself into Chimney's arms and he patted her back to calm her. "Oh my God it's the brownies. We've been getting a lot of stuff lately especially since the earthquake."
"You guys eat that stuff? We just throw that stuff right in the trash!"
"We're firefighters, everybody loves us."
Mariana gently grabbed Buck's hands and then Eddie's and led them over to Hen, Athena, and Chimney. "Alright, Chim, you work on shoe face. Athena, did you call another RA unit?"
"Yeah they're on their way here."
"Okay, great. Uhhh, call Bobby and can I use a few of your officers? We need to make sure these guys don't wander off. I guess I am now on babysitting duty."
Chimney pried Hen off of him and went to move the woman closer to the entrance while Mariana coaxed Eddie and Buck to follow her. Athena led Hen after them and she gestured to two of her officers to join them before she went to call Bobby.
"I'm going to do a quick check on your vitals, okay?" Mari told them as she pulled her penlight out of her pocket. "These nice officers are going to handcuff you just to make sure you guys don't run off and do something stupid."
Buck was the first person she checked. Dilated pupils, dry mouth, and hallucinations all pointed towards a hallucinogen but she couldn't tell which one so far. It was luckily in small doses so she didn't have to worry about that. She gave the thumbs up indicating that he could be handcuffed. Hen had the same symptoms and no sign of it being severe so she was good to be handcuffed as well.
Eddie was an absolute baby when he was high and Mariana had to fight the smile that threatened to cross her lips. Instead she grabbed his shoulder and checked his pupils and reactivity. Yep, dilated as well.
"Mari?" he asked quietly.
"Hmm?" she hummed as she checked his pulse.
"You're really pretty."
Heat bloomed in her cheeks and she stepped back and cleared her throat, motioning that it was okay for Eddie to be handcuffed. He instantly teared up as they slid the metal along his wrists.
"What's going on? I don't like this!" he insisted.
"Ooo you made him cryyyy," Buck sang.
"Evan, not the time! Hey bud, you're alright," Mari reassured Eddie. "Just breathe. You're okay. Somebody dosed you with a hallucinogen."
"We don't want you to hurt yourself or anybody else," Athena explained.
"Yeah, I like that idea," Eddie exhaled.
"'Thena, your head is beating like your heart," Hen breathed.
"Is it?" she deadpanned before turning to the two sober firefighters. "No word from the house. Do you know if Bobby had any of those brownies?"
Chimney and Mariana shared a horrified look before they turned to Athena. "You need to get to the station now."
If you asked Mariana what her plans were for after shift, it involved sleeping for ten hours and a breakfast bagel sandwich from the stand by her apartment. It was not sitting in the ER with Chimney as her team got flushed out with saline and had their blood drawn for toxicology reports. Maddie joined them once she got off shift and Athena joined once she calmed Bobby down and brought him in.
"Alright, who is taking who home? They need to be monitored throughout the night for any reactions but they should be fine by the morning," Anna announced as she left the nurse's station with a few clipboards balanced in her hand.
Maddie claimed Buck, Chimney claimed Hen, and Athena claimed Bobby. That left Mariana to take care of Eddie. Christopher was currently at school but she called Carla and arraigned for her to pick him up. Mari signed off on the release form and soon received a bleary eyed, delirious looking Edmundo Diaz. He stumbled a little as he walked and she tried to stop herself from chuckling, she really did.
"Hey, don't make fun of me," he whined. Apparently the effects of the drug were still in his system.
"But it's so easy," she teased. "C'mon Boy Wonder, let's get you home and into bed."
The police drove them to the ER while Mariana and Chimney brought the truck back which gave them the opportunity to get their respective vehicles. Mari's car was in the shop so she just nabbed Eddie's keys and took his truck, knowing that she would be sleeping on his couch anyways to make sure he didn't have some sort of psychotic break during the downfall of the drugs.
She waved goodnight to the three others helping get their person into cars and then fished into her pocket to grab Eddie's keys to open his passenger side door. He moaned in protest as she gently nudged him towards the door but luckily he climbed in himself. She shut the door behind him and then jogged over to the other side and had to use the nerf bar to wiggle her way up. Mariana wasn't super short, just about five foot five, but Eddie had a good seven inches on her.
The drive to his house was quiet aside from the soft snores escaping the giant next to her. Mariana glanced over at him at a red light, a small smile on her face at the sight of his tousled hair falling into his face and the peaceful expression he held. Eddie was usually very stoic and hard which was probably due to his time in the Army. She found him hard to read sometimes but seeing him with such a peaceful look made her chest feel a little tight. Her nursing education warned her that it could be a possible heart attack but the rational portion of her brain reassured her that it was called emotions.
That's...not okay. Her brain was beginning to panic. Mariana smacked the radio on, grimacing at the sounds of country coming out of the speakers. I mean, he was from Texas but really? Instead, she quickly switched it to one of her favorite Spanish radio stations to drown out her thoughts.
She memorized his address from the various times she and Buck had hung out with him and Christopher. The neighbor was quiet considering everyone was at work and school so that meant no one would witness Mariana trying to help carry him into the house.
Or a better thought, she could just wake him. She shut off the engine and hesitated before leaning over, gently shaking his shoulder. His eyes snapped open and no amount of drugs in his system could slow him down. Eddie sat straight up, a wild look in his eyes.
"Hey, hey. You're fine. I just drove you home," Mariana explained soothingly. She'd seen that look in people's eyes before. She'd seen it in her own eyes after a long night of memories. "Let's get you inside and in bed before you fall asleep on me again."
"Christopher…" he mumbled out.
"Carla's driving him home and I'll take care of him while you rest. Okay?"
He nodded and fumbled for the handle to open the door, practically falling out of the car after Mariana helped unbuckle him. His house keys were luckily on the same ring as his car keys and soon, she had the front door pushed open.
"Go get out of these clothes and then get into bed. I've got Christopher and I'll bring water and dinner by later," she ordered. He didn't even try to protest and stumbled off towards his bedroom while she gravitated towards the kitchen. There were some dishes piled up in the sink so she set about cleaning and putting those in the dishwasher before she wiped down the counters. Satisfied with her work, she checked the cabinets and frowned at the lack of baking supplies. She could make do with what Eddie had but it would be basic chocolate cookies.
After she was shot, Mariana needed an outlet. She couldn't work, couldn't do anything strenuous, and couldn't return to her old habit of driving. So she baked. Mariana would neither confirm nor deny that she had an extensive Pinterest board. Buck wouldn't breathe a word of it knowing that he would lose access to her baked goods.
By the time she had the first batch of cookies pulled out of the oven, Carla was walking in with Christopher. Mariana gladly accepted the hug the young boy offered and she promised him the first cookie once they cooled enough.
"Where's my dad?" he asked.
"Your dad, Buck, Hen, and Chimney got sick at work because of someone trying to pull a prank. So your dad is sleeping right now. You're stuck with me for the night. How does that sound?"
Christopher grinned at her and she mentally highfived herself. Mariana found that kids were easier to deal with than adults because kids wouldn't let her down, but there was just something about Christopher that made her want to scoop him up and never let him leave her arms into the cruel world she had faced.
Carla left with a stack of cookies in her hands and a promise to get coffee soon which left Mariana in charge of one very excited eight year old. Mari put on her "stern parent" face, as the kids in the group home called it, and made him finish his homework first before they went and played a few rounds of Candyland, which Mariana definitely let him win. Once it got close to seven, she set him up with an episode of Liberty's Kids and went to cook dinner. She was in the middle of pouring pasta into a strainer when a groggy eyed Eddie Diaz appeared in the doorway.
"Hey," she greeted. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired but...aware," he mumbled out, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His normally coiffed hair fell across his forehead as his lips pursed with a sigh and she couldn't help but be reminded of Christopher's pouting face he had given her just moments before when she told him she needed to start dinner instead of play another round with him.
"That's good. The doctor said it should be flushed out of you in six to twelve hours. Is it cool if I sleep over? My car's at the shop and I need to make sure you're medically clear in the morning."
"Yeah, sure. Of course."
Mariana set the spaghetti sauce on simmer and headed towards him, grabbing her purse where she kept an extra pen light at all times. She raised it up for him to see and he nodded sleepily, indicating that it was okay. Mari gently grabbed his chin and shone the light in his eyes, humming to herself.
"Still a bit dilated but your motor skills are back. First high?"
"You say that so casually that it seems like you have experience."
"Nah, I've just seen it countless times in the ER. You up for some spaghetti?"
"Do you want to stay forever? I can barely cook eggs."
She grinned as she headed back to the stove to check the status of her sauce. "My lease isn't up until January, sorry."
He clicked his tongue and moved behind her so he could grab the bowls from the shelves. "Damn. Guess I'll try again later. But seriously, thank you for all of this and especially cooking. Christopher's mom did all of the cooking so I feel like I've been letting him down in the food department."
"What...if you don't mind me asking, what was she like?"
He studied her for a second and then answered. "Shannon was a great mom. She raised Christopher by herself for years while I was in the Army. But the stress broke her and I stayed away too long and she left two years ago. It's just been me and Christopher since then."
"Do you still miss her?"
"Miss her? Yeah sometimes. When being a single parent becomes too much I always wish she was around to help but...we had fallen out of love long before she left. After Christopher was born, I think we both realized that we loved the idea of a family more than we loved each other."
"I get that," she hummed. "I also get the whole single parent thing. Not that I have experience being a parent. Well, no but that's a completely different story. I've just seen the parents struggling at the homeless shelter I work at. There's no one to put the stresses and worries on. It's just you and your kid against the world. But you know you can always call me or Buck, right?"
"Yeah." His eyes followed her as she flitted about the kitchen, serving up dinner and looking as if she practically lived there. "Yeah, I know that."
After dinner, Eddie insisted on doing the dishes while Mariana and Christopher curled up on the couch. Mariana had a copy of a Magic Tree House book in her purse for when she stopped by the group home and she offered to read it to Christopher. Eddie could hear her read from the kitchen, every rise and fall of her voice and the inflection she used as she acted out the characters.
It just solidified his faith that he made the right choice to join the 118.
"Someone's tired," he observed once he finished the dishes. Christopher blinked up at him slowly and Eddie grinned, bending down to pick him up. "Say goodnight to Mari before you fall asleep, little man."
"Goodnight Mari," he slurred out, his head resting against his dad's shoulder.
"Night buddy. Sweet dreams!"
Christopher was asleep before Eddie could even change him into pajamas and slide him under the covers. He carefully shut the door behind him and walked cautiously towards the living room to not make any noise.
"Looks like someone else is tired too," he teased at the sight of a certain brunette stretched out on his couch with the book limply clutched in one hand and the remote held in the other. Her eyes were shut but he could tell she wasn't fully asleep.
"I've been up since one in the morning, I do remind you," she sighed out, cracking one eye open so she could look at him. "You should get some rest too. I can tell you're still feeling some effects."
"I just wanted to thank you. You really didn't have to do any of this, you could have just called Abuela or Pepa or Carla."
"What are teammates for, Diaz?" She settled back against the decorative throw pillows and shut her eyes again, a teasing smile on her full lips. Mariana had taken her dark hair out of its usual braid and now it splayed out around her like a halo.
"Y'know you could take my bed and I can sleep on the cou-"
"Don't even try. I'm known as the most stubborn cow on the planet for a reason."
He shook his head, an affectionate grin on his face. "Do you at least want a t-shirt or something so you can get out of those clothes?"
"These are surprisingly comfortable and if not, my gear bag is in the hall. Go to sleep Eddie!"
"Not even a blanket?"
"I once slept on the basement floor for a week without a blanket or a mattress because I accidentally dropped a plate at my foster home. I'll be fine."
He forgot how blunt she could be when she spoke of her childhood. To her, it was normal. She grew up with the abuse and while she knew it was wrong, sometimes she just didn't know how wrong it was. Eddie pushed down the anger that swirled in his chest at the thought of tiny little Mariana shivering on the cold cement floor in the dark just because she broke a dish. He rubbed the image out of his eyes and glanced at the woman currently stretched out on his couch.
"Goodnight mariposa," he finally said.
"Night Boy Wonder," she mumbled out.
When Mariana joined him in the kitchen the next morning to grab a cup of coffee and check his vitals, she said nothing about the blanket that mysteriously appeared over her in the middle of the night. He didn't speak a word of it either. But as she stood next to him at the counter, one hand holding a Star Wars coffee mug and the other wrapped around his wrist and checking his pulse, a silent understanding passed between them.
I got your back and you've got mine.