"Ooo girl, you look tired," Hen called as Mariana walked by.

"Halloween means unnecessary pranks and more visits to my ER," she groaned. She turned around the corner of the truck and almost ran smack dab into Eddie who looked just as tired as she felt. A massive bruise covered his elbow and she frowned but he quickly put his arm down.

"Whew dude, you okay? That thing's a monster," Buck exclaimed at the sight of it.

"Just roughhousing with my kid," he explained.

"Were you playing with hammers?"

"Nothing you need to be concerned about."

"Welcome back, firefighter Buckley," Chim said.

"Thanks Chim, glad to be back."

"Alright now that we've got that out of the way," Bobby sighed. "Morning briefing."

The bell cut him off which gave Mariana a perfect chance to grab Eddie before they ran off to the trucks. "Seriously, what the hell is that bruise? Christopher clearly didn't do that."

"It's nothing. Don't sweat it."

"So what? You're cutting me out now? Hitting guys, getting arrested, and now this? What the hell, Edmundo?"

"As if you haven't been doing that the past month! Where the hell did you get that cut on your face, Mariana? You freak out and tell me you're fine, you don't sleep over anymore, what is going on with you?"

"This isn't about me right now, Eddie. I'm worried about you!"

"It is about you when you're being a massive hypocrite."

"You practically swung at Buck in the grocery store and you're now coming after me. Wow, what a paragon of ideal behavior you are."

"As if you're one to talk! Have you even spoken to Buck since that fight two months ago?! No, you just play the victim and don't see that you're not the only one affected by this. You're just playing your whole wounded puppy bit and waiting for the rest of us to take care of you."

She recoiled instantly as if she'd been struck, anger flaring in her eyes. "How fucking dare you."

Eddie immediately knew he made a mistake but she was already walking away. "Marian-"

"I get that you're angry about something and I get that I haven't been the easiest person to deal with but you do not get to use me as your verbal fucking punching bag. Go to hell, Diaz."

Mariana wordlessly grabbed her turnout gear and climbed into the front seat, purposefully flipping his mic on mute.

/

"Who the hell put the checklist seven feet up? I'm five six, folks!" Mariana yelled. She was standing on the tips of her toes, stretching to grab the clipboard when a hand grabbed it and extended it down to her.

"What do you want?" Mariana asked Buck. "I need that to do my job, Evan."

"C'mon Mari, we need to talk."

"Well, you need to pass out smoke detectors to kids right now and I need to do a mid-shift check up on the truck so we can talk later."

She turned to walk away and froze, the clipboard falling out of her hands. Her eyes were locked on the sight of a woman walking in with a kid next to her. Mariana took in a shaky breath and quickly turned away, making a beeline for Bobby's office.

"Hey, is something wrong?" he asked the second she burst into the office.

"Valentina's here with Diego. I can handle her, I can't...he'd be so ashamed to see me like this, Bobby," she admitted quietly.

"Like what?"

"I don't know," she blurted out. "I just can't okay? With Eddie and Buck and now this, I can't. It's like I can't breathe. I don't know how to fix this and the world is crashing down and I'm still stuck in that wave, drowning because I can't...I can't breathe."

Bobby pulled her in for a hug. "You can stay here as long as you need."

/

Mariana sighed as she wrapped her stethoscope around her neck and joined Bobby, Athena, and Chimney.

"They're all in various stages of dehydration, malnutrition, a number of infections, and they probably have diseases we discovered the cures for a hundred years ago," Chim reported.

"I've seen bad cases working with the group home but this is awful," Mariana whispered.

"No gas, no running water. God knows how they bathed or cooked their food," Eddie announced as he joined them. "A hard enough kick and the whole house would fall down. All we found was canned food, Bibles, textbooks all from the 1950s."

"I just got one of the kids to talk," Hen said. "You're not gonna believe this. These kids weren't abducted. They live here. They're siblings. Their parents did this to them."

"Fuck, are you kidding me?" Mariana spluttered. Before she could even react, a car was pulling up into the driveway and honking. The driver got out and stormed towards Bobby and Athena.

"Those are my kids. What the hell are you doing with my children?" he demanded. The wife joined him. "Did you find her? Where's Bethany?"

"Who?" Athena snapped out.

"Our daughter. We've been looking for her for hours. She's lost and alone."

"Alone? Like you left the rest of your kids, huh? Your daughter is safe and so are your other kids," Mariana spat.

"They were secure and safe!" the father growled.

"They were chained up like dogs," she snarled. "CPS will be here soon enough to take the others away from you too."

"You two are going to jail," Athena said.

"Those are my children and I will treat them as I see fit!" the father yelled.

"Like hell you will!" Mariana roared, getting right into his face. "It's called abuse, you piece of shit. You aren't a parent, you're a monster. A fucking monster!"

Athena grabbed her shoulders and held her back as the cops pulled him away. Mariana shook with rage as the Nash's pulled her back towards the trucks. She collapsed against the side of the ambulance, resting her back against the metal wall.

"They're just innocent kids," she bit out. "Innocent kids."

"I know, baby. Just like you were," Athena hummed as she crouched down to see her daughter better. "You were just an innocent girl and you were hurt."

"It's not fucking fair. They don't deserve this."

/

Bobby set the mug of tea down in front of an exhausted looking Mariana. She ran a hand over her face and nodded in agreement. After the Halloween shift, Bobby and Athena unanimously agreed in taking her keys and having her stay at their house. Bobby woke her up to watch the sunrise and talk, something that she had been avoiding but now he knew she couldn't run.

"Do I even have to ask or are you just gonna tell me?" he asked, sitting next to her on the back patio.

Mariana stared down at the tea swirling in the mug in her hands and shrugged. "I don't know how to say it."

"Just talk."

"I'm scared," she started quietly. "I'm...scared to die now. I don't...I don't think I know what that feeling was for the longest time. But now I'm scared to die and I don't know how to deal with that. Because now Buck and Eddie seemed to have stopped caring about their lives and I cannot bury another person I love. I can't. When I was hanging off of that parking garage, I prayed to live. That I could see Christopher again and Eddie again and you and Athena. I was so scared."

Thick tears started to coat her words and she bowed her head. "For a time there, I saw myself being happy and content with a future with Eddie and Chris. But now I don't think that's possible. I don't think I'm allowed to be happy. And Buck...I keep seeing Luis all over again. The blood, the funeral, Diego. It's like I look at him and I'm twenty-four again, thinking that I'm finally happy and the world is right. And then that happens and I think that yeah, I'm not destined to be happy."

"Mari, you're punishing yourself and others for things you can't control. Sure, Eddie and Buck have kinda been assholes recently, but you can't keep pushing them away. They both love you in their own unique ways and they're both hurting. Just like you are hurting. I need you to tell me when you start to feel like this. I can't help you if you push me away, Mari, and I want to help you. I love you and Athena loves you and we want you in our family. Family means you are open to us. Okay?"

She nodded and let him pull her into his side. "Have you started seeing a therapist again?"

"Yeah, uh, apparently I have severe PTSD caused by multiple traumatic life events or whatever that means. And my fear results in anger because I struggle with emotions."

"We're going to help you get healthy together. All of us. The whole 118 family. Got it?"

She nodded once more and they settled in to watch the sunrise. His phone rang and Bobby answered it quickly, a look of fear flashing across his face. He hung up after saying "I'll be right there" and turned to Mari.

"Buck's in the ER."

Thirty minutes later, they were hurrying into the ER and looking around frantically. Mariana made her way to the nurse's desk and opened her mouth to speak when a familiar voice cut her off.

"Bobby? Mari?"

They whirled around and Mariana surged forward, wrapping him in a tight hug. "You're okay? Please tell me you're okay."

"Yeah, I just got some shallow cuts from the broken windshield glass." She stepped back and nodded, putting on a more serious front than her previously concerned expression. "I told the paramedics I was on blood thinners and they sealed the wounds."

"But they brought you here...to the ER," Bobby pointed out.

"Right, uh, no. They just thought I should get checked up. I just finished giving the police my statement."

"Well, what happened?"

"It's crazy. This lady hit this guy two days ago and um, she must have hit her head pretty bad cause they found a brain bleed. Probably why she was so confused."

"And what about the guy in the windshield?"

"In surgery. Um, docs say he's got a fair chance."

"It's cause you jumped in there and saved them," Bobby said with a grin. "Probably didn't even occur to you to worry about yourself."

"Yeah, I know. I know. I didn't think. I just rushed in like I always do. I guess it's like the uniform is my costume. I put it on and suddenly I'm brave and I'm strong and I make a difference. Without it, I'm not much of anything."

"Evan, you saved two people out of uniform. What you wear isn't the difference. It's what's in your heart," Mariana spoke up. "And in and out of uniform, no matter what, you're my best friend."

"Does that mean you're ready to let me back for real?"

"Doesn't matter if I'm ready. You are. It's time for me to get out of your way."

Bobby turned to leave but Buck stopped him. "Hey Bobby, are you two hungry? Maybe I could buy you breakfast. Be nice to catch up. I think Mari and I have some things to talk about."

"Yeah." She grinned up at him. "We do."