WARNING: this chapter includes mentions of gender based assault, violence, and men being creepy
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."
"I don't believe you, Norman! You don't even know who I am anymore! I don't even know. I've been a mother for eighteen years and now that Zack's gone, I don't remember who I was before that! Back when you used to look at me!"
Norman pulled out his phone and started to scroll through it. Lola stepped towards the edge, muttering something about the end. Buck called her name again, pausing her movement.
"Maybe I wasn't being super clear on the point I was trying to make-"
Music overtook the speakers and Lola relaxed as she explained to Buck the song. Mariana slowly stepped forward and wrapped her fingers around the gun. The woman didn't protest as she took it from her. The brunette passed it behind her back and raised her hand, letting Eddie grab the gun out of her hand. The second it was gone, Mariana dropped to one knee and let out a heavy gasping breath. Buck landed next to her on the ledge.
"Lola, I'm going to help you down so you can reunite with Norman. Mari, Eddie's going to help you up," he informed them.
"Did I...is she okay?" Lola asked.
"To be honest Lola, you waved a loaded pistol in the face of the gun violence survivor. She's not okay."
Mariana slowly stood and reached up, knowing that Eddie would grab her hands. He helped her climb up onto the overpass and hesitantly touched her shoulder.
"Can we just get this ambulance down there?" she asked, her voice shaky and tight. Eddie didn't argue.
The second the ambulance stopped next to the firetruck, Mariana was climbing out of the passenger seat and ripping her gear off. Bobby quickly caught her just as she threw her helmet down and he grabbed her shoulders to stop her from moving.
"Mari, Mari, easy now," he said. Athena joined his side, the older woman resting a hand on Mariana's cheek.
"Baby girl, it's okay to not be okay."
At those words, Mariana just collapsed in on herself. Sobs wracked her body as she fell into Bobby and Athena's waiting arms. They folded her into a hug as Hen and Chimney came around her side to block her from the media.
"She never...she never truly broke after the shooting. We all waited for it to happen," Buck explained quietly as he moved to stand next to Eddie. "She's always the strong one because she couldn't let the people who hurt her see. She has a lot of nightmares and today, she lived one."
He moved past Eddie and silently placed his hand on Mari's back. The dark haired woman quickly turned, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Her fingers scrambled to find purchase on his uniform top and he squeezed her gently.
"I gotcha," he reassured her.
/
Mariana really needed to stop letting her friends rope her into nights out. Anna and Crystal were insistent that she joined them after her shift from hell and she figured it would help keep her mind off of it so here she was, sitting alone in a bar as her friends danced on the dance floor.
She sighed, pushing her glass side to side as she watched the water slosh back and forth. She could be doing better things with her time like sleeping or volunteering or hanging out with Christopher and Eddie. The thought put a small smile on her face as she imagined her boys. Her fingers instinctively went to pull up Eddie's contact but she hesitated and thought against it. He was just a coworker and a friend. With Shannon back, he probably would restart his relationship. They were just friends. Buck was busy with his new fling, Ali. She was glad he was settling into another relationship, but there was a small pit in her stomach that she just couldn't seem to get rid of.
"What are you doing here all alone?" a guy asked as he sidled up next to her. She pocketed her phone and took a drink of her water.
"Just waiting for my friends," she explained.
"Can I buy you another drink?"
"Nope."
"Are you sure? What are you drinking?"
"Water."
"Ah, DD for the night."
"Sure."
"Well, I'm Jake."
"I'm not interested."
By the expression on his face, Jake wasn't told "no" normally. His nostrils flared and he set his drink down on the bar, inching his face closer to hers.
"You're playing hard to get, right?"
"I'm not playing at any game. I told you I'm not interested."
"Look at me. How could you not be interested?"
"Fat egos don't turn me on, sorry. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go make a call."
She pushed off the bar and headed towards the door so she could call without the sounds of drunk people singing along to blasting music. She stepped into the night air and sighed, opening her phone. Her finger hovered over the contact when something slammed into her back. Mariana grunted, landing on her hands and knees as the gravel parking lot dug into her skin. Her phone slipped out of her hand and slid along the concrete.
"What the hell?" she shouted, standing and turning to face Jake.
"You didn't have to be such a bitch and embarrass me in there," he snapped.
"Man, sorry that you have issues but I'm not going to apologize for telling you I'm not interested," she growled, snatching her phone up off the ground. Her fingers flew across the screen to send a message and she pressed call just as Jake stalked forward and grabbed her forearm.
"You have an attitude. Usually I like that in girls but you need to learn a lesson." He yanked her into his chest, his other hand drifting low onto her backside. Mariana scoffed and shoved him back.
"Don't touch me," she hissed. "Don't you dare."
"Listen, bitch."
"I don't have to listen to you at all," she spat. His hand squeezed her wrist tightly and she fought the rising panic in her throat. The hit came faster than she was expecting. Her head snapped to the side as her cheek exploded with a burning hot pain. Her knees almost buckled but she held herself up pretty well. He raised his hand to throw another punch and she raised her hand, grabbing his fist and pushing back. Rather than cowering like she did all those years ago, Mariana fought back this time.
"I hate assholes like you," she growled. "People who think they have power just because they're bigger than you. I've dealt with plenty of men like you."
"It's cause you're a little bitch."
He threw them off balance, knocking Mariana and himself onto the ground. Her phone went flying as they rolled along the ground and fought for control. He pinned her arms back, sitting on her waist. She struggled against his hold and did what she did best: she made him even angrier. Reeling her head back, she spat directly into his eye. He yelped and let go of her arms, giving Mariana a chance to punch and hit as best as she could. She got a few good hits in as he slapped her, leaving what felt like a good sized cut from his ring.
Sirens wailed in the distance and she smirked up at him. "Looks like my ride is here."
Three cop cars screeched into the parking lot with a familiar car following close behind. Jake scrambled to his feet, shouting out that Mariana had attacked him first. Athena stepped out of her car and leveled him with a bone chilling glare.
"Based off the fact that Miss Ramirez had you on speaker the entire time she called me, I'm going to go ahead and say you're lying. Greene, arrest this idiot before he has the chance to open his mouth and make the situation a whole lot worse," she seethed. Mariana sighed and laid her head back against the pavement, trying to calm her racing heart.
"Mariana! Mari!" Bobby shouted. Her eyes snapped open, finding Athena and Bobby standing over her with equally worried expressions.
"Hey, hi. Funny seeing you guys here. I mean, Athena I knew was coming. You were a surprise," she gasped out. "I'm just gonna lay here for a minute and thank modern technology. Where's my phone?"
Bobby quickly handed it to her and she frowned at the sight of over fifty messages. Athena noticed her confusion and laid a hand against her head.
"Honey, you thought quickly and correctly calling me. But did you mean to text the group chat?"
"Fuck, I just meant to text you so I could send my location," she groaned out.
"I'll call off the hounds but we need to get you to the hospital. Did you hit your head at all? Do we need to call an RA?" Bobby worried.
"No spinal injury but I might have a slight concussion from the punch to the head," she admitted. Athena's eyes blazed with anger and she glanced back at Jake who was cuffed and being pushed into the back of one of the cars.
"I'll drive her to the hospital. Bobby, you call the others and tell them it's fine. You'll meet us there."
Everything after that was a blur. Mariana vaguely remembered being driven to the hospital and being rushed into an ER bed even though she protested that there were far more acute cases before her. Athena took a quick statement as the doctor patched her up and then there was just silence.
She sat at the end of the examination table, a black eye forming on one eye and a butterfly band aid over the cut on her cheek. Bruises marred her arms but a smile was still on her lips. Because Mariana won. That asshole would be going to jail. She had a mild concussion and would be out of work for a week. Athena insisted on staying in her guest bedroom so she could keep an eye on her, but Mariana knew they were just playing the role of an overprotective parent.
"Call off the hounds?" she asked when Bobby walked into her room.
"Other than the promise that you would come by during shift so they can all see you're okay, only one hound insisted." Bobby stepped aside and out the room, revealing one panicked looking Edmundo Diaz.
"Mariposa, shit. All we get in an SOS text and your location and the next thing I know, Bobby is telling me that you're in the hospital?" He rushed towards her, bending down so he could examine her injuries.
"Who did this?" he practically growled.
"He's been arrested, don't worry," she reassured him. "I'll be out of work for about a week but I'll be fine."
"How are you acting so calm?" Eddie looked practically desperate.
"Because for once I was able to hit back."
He grasped her face with his hands gently, stroking his thumb just barely over the bandaged cut. He could see the pride in her eyes and a small smile graced his face. Instinctively, he leaned forward and pressed a feather light kiss to her forehead. Her breathing hitched and she looked up at him, startled.
"Sorry, it...it was instinct from Christopher. Y'know, when he gets hurt and…"
"Yeah," she breathed.
Their eyes locked and she opened her mouth to speak and then hesitated, closing it. He slid one hand off her cheek and down to grasp her shoulder, reassuring her that it was okay.
"You make me feel safe," she admitted quietly.
"What...what do you mean?" He thought he understood it but he just wanted to be sure.
"I'm used to men hurting me. My uncle, foster dads, and the guy tonight. Buck and Chim and Bobby don't scare me because I know they wouldn't hurt me. I know you wouldn't hurt me either, of course. But the thing is...I've literally never felt scared of you. Not even that night in the club."
He smiled softly at her admission as he rubbed circles on her shoulder. Mariana sighed and leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm tired."
"I might have convinced Athena to let you stay with me. Since you took care of me after the LSD brownie mishap."
"You don't owe me anything," she groaned.
"I know."
"I don't want Christopher to see me like this."
"Like what? Someone who fought and never gave up? You're Christopher's buddy, other than Buck of course. I wouldn't want anyone else but you to show him what perseverance is."
She pulled back so she could see his face. "You're kind of a sappy person when you want to be."
"Are you on drugs? Did they put you on drugs?"
"Unfortunately no."
He grinned and stood, offering his hand to her. She grasped it and followed him out to the nurse's station so she could sign her discharge papers. Bobby and Athena gave Eddie a sufficient "if she gets hurt, you die" speech and then let them finally leave so Mariana could go get some rest.
"Are they holding hands?" Bobby asked his girlfriend as he watched them leave.
"Yep," Athena hummed.
"I'll get started on the paperwork tomorrow."
A/N: Assault is incredibly prevalent in the world and appears in various different ways. You have the right to say no. You have the right to leave uncomfortable situations. You have a right to a voice and to being safe. If you or a loved one has experienced domestic assault or violence, you have the right to seek help. Life shouldn't be filled with pain. You deserve to be loved correctly. If you need any help or need someone to talk to, my messages are open always.