Halloween was Mariana's least favorite holiday yet she still helped decorate the firehouse to make it look like the perfect non-scary haunted house. So how would she celebrate her favorite holiday?
"Have enough bags there?" Eddie asked, an amused tone coating his words as the pile of reusable bags entered his house.
"There's more in the car," she mumbled out as she gently laid them down on the hall floor. "This is just some stuff to bake cookies and ingredients. I hope you don't mind that I'm taking over your kitchen."
"It's practically your kitchen now, Mari. Besides, I think you and Buck and Chris would throw a coup if I tried to stop the bake a thon from happening," he teased. She brightened up and headed back to her car to grab more bags, leaving Eddie to carry the first round to the kitchen.
"How do you have so many decorations?" he asked once she set down the final bag from her third trip. Mariana let out a small huff and stood up straight, examining the piles around her. She nibbled on her bottom lip and then shrugged.
"I don't decorate my apartment because it's just me so I collect decorations with the idea that I'm gonna decorate," she admitted. "My mom loved to decorate and it was the one time during the year that she didn't seem sad. My abuela loved baking during the holidays and would make a ton and pass them out to neighbors and homeless shelters. She would play music and just spend the whole day baking while Luis and I decorated the tree. I couldn't afford a lot but I loved seeing the excitement on Luis' face."
A wistful, dreamy look crossed her face and Eddie couldn't help but tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and cup her face, tilting her chin up so their eyes met. She hummed in curiosity and he grinned, brushing his thumb against the fading yellow bruise of her black eye she received three weeks earlier.
"You don't usually talk about your family," he explained.
"Maybe it's time I start," she mused. "Now, c'mon. We gotta unpack the baking stuff before the cold stuff goes bad."
It wasn't until they were putting away brown sugar while Run Rudolph Run played from Eddie's phone that Mariana paused and realized how domestic it all felt. Here she was, standing in this guy's kitchen after getting groceries to make Christmas cookies with him and his son and their best friend. She felt no urge to run, but rather she desperately wanted to stay. That should scare her, right? She normally would feel like running for the hills.
She watched as Eddie put the flour up on the shelf, his fluffy dark hair ruffled from her teasingly messing with it earlier when he joked about putting her on his shoulders so she could reach the mixing bowls. There was no warning for her to dash out of the place and never return. Instead, she realized with that start that all of this felt right.
"You got your thinking face on," he pointed out.
"Just thinking about my favorite guy," she hummed. "I know he's going to love baking all these."
"Buck?"
"No, Chris, you dummy. Buck's your favorite guy." Mariana smirked and hopped up to sit on the counter.
"Oh, I'm a dummy now?"
He ran his fingers along her side, causing the brunette to shriek and squirm against his touch. She laughed, grabbing his shoulders. "Okay! Okay! I surrender."
Eddie stopped his attack and rested his hand on her waist, a playful glint in his eyes as she rested her head back against the cabinet and recovered her breathing from the tickle attack.
"Shannon is coming by tomorrow to talk about Christopher and I'm not sure if she's ready to be back in his life or anything," he finally said.
"Has she said anything or given any indication that she wants to be back or something?"
"Not in so many words."
"Do you want her back?"
He stared into her honey brown eyes and shook his head. "I don't want Christopher to not know his mother, but I don't...if we were to start talking divorce, I wouldn't fight it at all."
"You think you're ready to move on?" She tilted her head to the side, dark hair spilling over her shoulder while her brows furrowed.
"I've been ready."
/
"Ever consider going into professional decorating?" Hen called as she passed Mariana another toy. The brunette laughed at her friend's comment and shook her head.
"Then I wouldn't have the boys at my every bidding," she sang.
"She was up until three in the morning baking cookies. I honestly don't know how she has this much energy," Eddie muttered to Buck.
"Dude, I went to the bathroom at like two and she was still baking," Buck said. "She was worried we would run out."
"And it looks like we aren't. See? I'm smart." Mariana appeared behind Buck and nabbed one of the cookies. "Baker gets to at least sample it."
"Uh huh, sure," Buck drawled out, sneakily grabbing half of her cookie and popping it in his mouth. She narrowed her eyes playfully at him and nudged him with her shoulder. He grinned down at her and tugged on her braid.
Chimney cleared his throat, pulling their attention away from one another and back to their three teammates who were staring at them in varying degrees of unimpressed.
"I should help Eddie with toys." "I'll go grab more boxes." "Yeah."
They pulled away and headed to their respective station. Mariana loved seeing how happy the kids were as they got the sweet treats and making fun of Buck was just an added bonus.
"...we can actually have a conversation that doesn't end up in a screaming match."
Mari, Buck, and Chim all glanced over at Eddie and the woman standing in front of him. Mariana's eyes darted back and forth between them and she realized what was going on. He looked to her with an expression that seemed like one full of regret and she offered him her attempt at a comforting smile.
"Fine then. Follow me," he grit out, leading Shannon towards the locker room.
"That's his ex," Buck said once they were gone.
"Mhmm."
"And they're going to talk."
"Looks like it."
"And you're not worried about it at all?"
"Why should I be, Buck? Eddie and I are just friends. Just like you and I are friends."
Chimney and Buck shared a look before they went back to work, acting like nothing happened. Mariana's eyes kept darting over to look at the two people fighting in the locker room. Eddie looked defeated and angry, his whole body tense and his eyes hard. He stormed out of the locker room, stopping and standing by the stairs in an attempt to gather his bearings.
"Should I…?" Mari started.
"Go," Chimney hissed.
She hurried out from behind the counter, the fluffy white puff ball at the end of her Santa's hat bouncing with every step, and walked swiftly over to Eddie. Mariana slowly approached and laid a hand on his shoulder. He whirled around, anger written on his face that immediately melted away once he saw her. Wide eyes full of concern, Mariana gently took hold of his hand and squeezed it.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"It's nothing," he shrugged her off.
"It's clearly not. C'mon Boy Wonder."
He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "She wants visitation rights but she also wants a divorce. I'm not against it, but she insisted on not taking on a role of parent again. I get it, I do. But what do I tell Christopher? I mean, what if she never comes back some day and he's just left waiting?"
Mariana shook her head. "You don't worry about that. All you have to tell Christopher is at the end of the day, you will never leave him. No matter who comes and who goes, you are always by his side."
"How do you always have the right thing to say?"
"Because those are the words I wanted to hear my whole life." She turned her head, seeing Buck and Chimney watching them. "We should go back to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass."
/
"I offered to wait in line with him but he said it's private," Eddie said as he raised his phone. "Christopher!"
"I really admire that kid," Buck gushed. "I love the way he always wants to do everything on his own."
"Yeah," Eddie laughed before he pocketed his phone. "So? Not gonna say anything?"
"About what?"
"You know what about?"
"I figured it was none of my business."
"It's not."
"That's what I'm sayin'!"
"Ok, it just...I didn't plan it. It just happened."
"I never said you did."
"She's just a really good person and she helps out with Christopher."
"Totally understand."
"And then I kinda started having feelings for her!"
"And now your wife is back in town."
Eddie sighed. "I only asked her to come back to get Christopher in the school. I didn't think she would keep coming back. I don't want to confuse Christopher and I don't want to hurt Mari. I don't know what to do."
"Mariana has had a lot of shitty stuff happen to her. Emotions are hard for her, but I can tell you that she really does like hanging out with you and Christopher."
"She feels like a second chance. I've only known her for eight months and yet it feels like she's already a part of my life. She treats Christopher like her own kid and she makes me feel invincible. But I'm scared that I'm going to hurt her because that's the last thing I want."
"Or that she'll leave and hurt you, right?"
"Yeah. It was my fault that Shannon left. I left her to go back to Afghanistan and she was left to raise Christopher alone. I got to pretend that when I ran away, it was for a noble cause. When she left, she was called a terrible mother."
"You're just scared that if you let Shannon back in and both she and Mariana leave, you and Christopher will be left behind again. But Mari doesn't leave people behind. One of her biggest fears is losing her family or being left behind."
"Ugh, emotions complicate everything."
"If you at all hurt Mariana, I hope you understand that I will always take her side. We might be friends, but...she's Mari."
They shared a look. Maybe one of understanding. Maybe something territorial. The two men stood as one of the workers dressed as an elf helped Christopher walk towards them.
"How'd it go, pal?" Eddie asked.
"It went great," Christopher exclaimed.
"What'd you ask for?"
"Can't tell! Santa said he would grant it. Where's Mari?"
Eddie scooped him up and headed towards the drink stand where the brunette was waiting in line to grab them hot chocolates. She grinned once she saw the Diaz boys and gladly accepted the hug Christopher offered.
"Did you tell Santa what you wanted?" she asked, smoothing down his hair as she leaned against Eddie so she could see the young boy easier.
"Yep!"
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Nope! Won't come true then."
Mariana laughed and winked at Eddie before nodding. "Alright, let's just hope Santa can grant it."
Buck appeared next to her, bouncing on his heels and craning his neck to see over the line. "Are we there yet?"
"Ah yes, both the children are now here," she commented dryly. Buck teasingly grabbed her sides and started tickling her, making the brunette shriek and duck away. She hid behind Eddie and Christopher, panting as she pointed a finger in warning at Buck.
"Don't you dare, Buckley. I've got Christopher here to protect me so you can't tickle me anymore! Isn't that right, Chris?"
"Yeah! I'll protect you."
"My hero!" The brunette pressed a quick kiss to Christopher's cheek before shooting Buck a nasty glare. Christopher giggled and she turned her attention back to him, her whole face lighting up. The lights strung up in the trees cast a glow on her honey brown eyes and dark hair and highlighted the redness in her cheeks. Mariana tilted her chin up to look at Eddie, an emotion he couldn't read hidden in the depths of her eyes.
/
"So, I don't know how but we have mostly minor injuries. Some cuts and bruises except for this guy and I don't know if he's gonna make it," the officer explained as they approached the bus crash.
"Remind you of how we first met?" Mariana breathed out once she saw the blood pouring out of the man's neck.
"Except you were the one holding his carotid," Eddie fired back as they kneeled down next to the men. "Sergeant."
"That truck came out of nowhere man. A piece of glass clipped him in the neck. Feels like it hit a major artery," the man explained.
"Yeah, that's the carotid," Mariana announced.
"You got your finger in the hole?" Eddie asked.
"It's what we're trained to do. I've seen it before unfortunately."
"Me too. Where were you?"
"Lebanik."
"I was at Bagram."
"Army?"
"Uh huh."
"Nobody's perfect."
"Let's run the fluids wide open," Eddie ordered. "You mind keeping your finger there for a moment? You don't have anywhere to be, right?"
"I can't get a clean path in. It's easier for you to keep your hand there rather than risking us switching," Mariana explained.
"Right. I'm good," the man said.
"Mari?" Eddie called.
"Here's the gauze and ready to apply pressure," she announced, immediately handing it to him.
"Did you serve too?" the man asked.
"No sir, only just the people of LA," she answered.
"Mari here is an ER nurse and firefighter. We met when she was doing the exact same thing you're doing," Eddie explained. "One, two, three."
He clamped the gauze patch down onto the wound as Mariana wrapped more gauze around it to hold pressure. "Alright, let's move him out of here guys. Keep the pressure. He's stabilizing."
"Is he going to make it?" the soldier asked.
"Thanks to you, marine. How you feeling?" Eddie did a quick once over to check for injuries.
"I'm fine. Anything else I can do?"
"We're good. Thank you for your service literally," Bobby assured him. Mariana shot him a grateful smile and turned to head back to the truck with the guys.
"What do you mean you two met over a guy bleeding out?" Buck asked. Eddie and Mari shared a knowing glance before shrugging. "That's a story for another day."
Mari stopped to check on a woman who was frantically looking around. "Ma'am, do you need any help?"
"That man was trying to get to his daughter's recital!" she exclaimed, pointing in the direction of the soldier.
"Mari?" Bobby turned to the brunette. A determined look settled across her face and she grinned, stripping off her gloves and handing it to him. She tightened her ponytail and handed her bag off to Buck.
"How fast am I allowed to go?"
"Ten over."
"Twenty."
"Deal."
She jogged over to the truck as Eddie approached the man, letting him know that they would be driving him. Mariana settled her headset over her ears and started the truck up, waiting for everyone to pile in. The second the doors shut and Bobby gave her the all clear, Mariana was racing down the freeway.
"Where am I headed?" she called.
"Meadowbrook Valley Church," the marine replied. "Do you think we'll make it in time?"
"Mari here used to be known as the best driver in South LA," Buck announced. "If anyone can make it in time, it's her."
"Since when?" Eddie asked.
"Story for another time!" she said as they flew down an intersection.
"Better hurry up and get dressed, we're gonna be there before you know it."
"I'm gonna cry. I-I know I'm gonna cry. Those soldier reunion videos on YouTube always get me."
"That's cause you're a baby, Buckley."
Mariana neatly weaved in between the heavy traffic and made a sharp right turn, easing up the truck as she pulled up in front of the church. They bounded out of the truck, rushing up the stairs as he led them into the church. The firefighters stopped in their tracks as the family reunited. Mariana rolled her eyes as Buck wiped away a tear and she glanced over at Eddie, surprised to see some tears shining in his eyes as well.
"Hey," she said quietly, resting her hand on his arm. "Are those tears, Boy Wonder?"
"Got dust in my eye or something," he brushed her off. She rolled her eyes but smiled softly at the look in his eyes.
"You came home, Eddie. And I'm glad you did. No matter the circumstances, we met and now I get to have Christopher and you in my life. That's the best Christmas miracle of all. We love having you two in the 118 family." She reached up and gently wiped the lone tear off his cheek. "Merry Christmas, Boy Wonder."