Mariana didn't wake up to the sound of her alarm but rather the feel of calloused hands stroking her side. She let out a soft groan and rolled over, burying her face in her pillow. Her shirt rode up, exposing the skin of her back. Soft lips trailed up her spine and danced along the scars on her back and she huffed out a laugh.
"Mornin'," she greeted, voice rough with disuse.
"Good morning, angelita," Eddie hummed.
"You're insatiable," she laughed, rolling over so she could bring his lips to meet hers. He smiled against her lips and pulled himself up onto her, mindful of keeping all of his weight off of her so he didn't crush her. She drifted her mouth towards his jaw, gently nipping at his neck and ear.
"Can you blame me?" he groaned, tangling one hand in her hair as the other drifted down her lithe, athletic body.
"Shame that I have to ruin this little moment to go get breakfast ready for my favorite person and the menace who lives in this house," she teased and pulled away from him. Eddie sighed and rolled onto his back, watching as she pulled on a pair of pajama pants and entered the bathroom.
"Christopher isn't a menace," he called as she brushed her teeth. The latina spat out her toothpaste and turned back to look at him, leaning her head against the door frame.
"Exactly," she hummed with a wink. Eddie rolled his eyes but laughed at her comment. He loved this. He loved waking up every morning to the brunette in his bed. He loved hearing her teasing from the moment he woke up to the minute he fell asleep.
Even though she practically lived at the Diaz house before he officially asked her, Eddie was learning plenty about his girlfriend everyday. Apparently, Mariana had quite the punk phase in high school and occasionally still played Green Day and Nirvana when she was in a funk. However, she almost exclusively baked to the tunes of ABBA and Fleetwood Mac.
Mariana found that Eddie was a routine guy. It must be from his time in the military, but he was up at six in the morning and out for a run without fail. Sometimes she joined him but she much preferred her runs at eight.
One thing they both danced around was nightmares. They both had them, but they rarely spoke of them and tried their hardest to not wake up the other. Sometimes he woke up to find her sitting on the back porch with that little teddy bear clutched in her hands and sometimes she found him sitting on the front porch, staring down at the dog tags in his hands. They didn't question it and just sat next to their person until they were ready to head back inside.
Eddie pulled himself away from his thoughts as Mariana spoke once more. "I'm gonna start on breakfast while you wake Chris up. Then I need you on toast duty."
"Yes, ma'am."
She grinned and leaned down to press a quick kiss to his lips, her hair brushing against his face. Eddie chuckled and dragged her in for another kiss before she pulled away.
"Insatiable," she grunted. "Absolute menace."
"I'm your menace."
"Get up, Boy Wonder. We have to drop off Chris and be at the station by nine. Who knows, maybe we'll have a normal day?"
"Oh and I'm the menace!"
She waltzed out the room with a gleeful chuckle.
Five hours later, Eddie shot his girlfriend a withering glare as she innocently blinked up at him. They turned their attention to the plane flying above with a skydiving instructor stuck underneath.
"We haven't talked about how we're getting him down," Buck announced.
"How's the leg?" Bobby asked.
"Screws are out. Feeling great."
"Alright. Dispatch, this is 118. Can you get me in that pilot's ear?"
"Bobby, what's the plan?" Mariana asked.
"Up to a little driving test today?"
Her eyes studied the plane and then the clouds and wind direction before she turned her attention to the truck. "We putting them on top?"
"Yep."
"And I'll drive the runway."
"Uh-huh."
"So much for normal. Suit up, boys. We're going for a drive."
/
With a satisfied hum, Mariana tossed the rag hanging on her belt into the laundry basket and approached the kitchen. Bobby bumped her shoulder as she passed him on her way to the sink to wash her hands.
"Fixed the rings. They got a bit loose from the plane rescue but I made sure they would be able to handle another round of truck surfing," she explained. "What're we talking about up here?"
"Chimney has a younger brother," Buck announced.
"Oh, no shit?"
"We share some of the same DNA but he's still practically a stranger to me," Chimney argued.
"I keep telling you," Hen said. "Family comes to us in different ways, Chim. Lean in. And don't think you're going to send him home without meeting all of us. I know you."
She passed out papers to everyone and Mariana skimmed over it with an amused expression.
"Uh, what is this?" Eddie asked.
"Talking points regarding Henrietta and Karen?" Bobby read aloud.
"Social services is vetting Karen and me to become foster parents. We listed each and every one of you as references so when they call, I need you all to sing our praises."
"You mean these specific twenty-six praises?" Eddie said innocently, raising the paper up.
"Karen made the list. She's very thorough," Hen chuckled.
"Hen, we know you. We don't need some piece of paper to remind us of your many wonderful qualities," Bobby assured her.
"I appreciate that, Cap, but I'd rather you didn't improvise. The stakes are very high."
Mariana stabbed her fork into the slice of cake Bobby left out for her and tilted her head up to look at Hen. "Who is your contact?"
"Hmm?"
"Your social services contact. Who will be calling us?"
"Lisa Donovan is our contact. I have no clue if she'll be the one calling you all."
Mariana smirked and tossed the paper onto the counter. "She will. You better make sure the bedroom is ready, Hen, because I can guarantee you that you'll be foster parents soon."
"You can't promise that, Mari," Hen sighed.
"I'm a former foster kid who works with Lisa on the regular. Yeah, I can promise this one."
Everyone watched as Hen practically deflated as the nerves rushed out of her body. She rushed around the counter and pulled a laughing Mariana into a tight hug. "Thank you so much."
"No, thank you for being a foster mom. It's so necessary to have good foster parents out there. You and Karen will be amazing."
/
The karaoke bar was dimly lit but Mariana knew exactly where she was heading. The latina found her friends easily and slid up next to Eddie, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek as he leaned against the bar and waited for Buck to make his next move on the pool table.
"Hi," he greeted with a smile.
"Hi, sorry. I thought I'd get out earlier but we had a few extra charts that Crystal asked me to do."
"You're fine," he assured her. "I'm just glad you're here."
"Who's winning?"
He winced and she smirked at his expression. "Definitely not me."
"I get it, y'know? Sometimes you gotta put a little mileage between yourself and home so you can figure out what you want and who you are," Buck exclaimed, drawing their attention back to the game.
"If I hadn't enlisted, I'd still be working with my pops," Eddie added.
"Eddie, don't encourage Albert to go off to war," Maddie chastised.
"There is as much virtue to the noble warrior as there is to the most enlightened of scholars," Albert said.
"That! What he said," Eddie cheered. Mariana laughed softly and shook her head.
"Now we see who has the brains in the relationship," she teased.
"Listen, everyone has their path. You just do you, Albert."
"I will. I will do me," he declared confidently.
"Might wanna watch how you phrase that one, buddy," Buck snickered.
"I just need a little of my brother's courage," Albert added. "You know, he did not let father dictate his life. He took a stand, got out. Came to America to follow his dreams."
Mariana nudged Chimney with her elbow, shooting him a look. He sighed and shook his head. "There was no stand."
She didn't know when she shut down. But the slurring of his words and the anger in his tone caused Mariana to revert to her fight or flight mode. She tensed, flinching as the bottle hit the counter and clattered along the wood. The words just sounded like a low drone in her head as the thoughts kept piling up and drowning out any rational thought.
A hand slid along her back and she snapped out of her thoughts, suddenly realizing how heavy her breathing was. Eddie ducked his head down so she only focused on him and he rubbed his thumb along the small of her back. He had sobered up the instant he saw her look uncomfortable and made his way to his girlfriend.
"We're going to go outside, okay? Match my breathing. You're safe, okay? You're safe and I would never let anyone hurt you."
She exhaled shakily and nodded, letting him lead her out of the bar. Once they were at his truck, he stopped and dropped his hands from her back. She shook her head and instinctively moved closer to him. Eddie wrapped his arms around her and rocked her side to side.
"I don't know what happened. It just...became too much really quickly," she mumbled.
"It's PTSD, sweetheart," he told her. "And it's okay that you feel that way. Because you've had a lot of things happen to you. But you're safe."
"I know. And I know you wouldn't let anything happen."
"I've got your back. Always."
She shut her eyes and pressed her forehead against his collarbone, nodding against the fabric of his shirt. "Ditto, Boy Wonder."
/
When Mariana returned to the kitchen to grab more ice, she found Maddie was replaced with Chimney. The latina sighed and hopped up onto the counter, knowing that he would want to talk.
"I'm sorry about my outburst," he said without preamble.
"I know. Pretty sure it's Albert you should be apologizing to and not me," she hummed, swinging her feet back and forth.
"Already did. I just...I never want you to feel scared because of me," he admitted.
"It wasn't- well, I-...yeah, I was scared but it isn't something you or I could control. I can't have you guys walking on eggshells around me constantly. That's not fair to you or me."
"We want you to be comfortable."
"I know that and I appreciate it. But even I don't know what triggers my PTSD. Sometimes it hits out of the blue. If you really want to help, just know the signs and help pull me out."
Chimney assented to her bargain and held his hand out. She took it and hopped down from the counter, pulling him in for a hug.
"Thank you for being in my life, Howie," she whispered. "You're a good brother, blood or not."
"You owe me $20," he replied.
"Eddie told you the full story of how we met, didn't he? Damnit."