"Quit it, Edmundo. I'm serious! I cannot believe you right now," Mariana hissed. She pulled away from Eddie and moved to the other side of the hose rack. "I ask for your help with one thing and you sit here and act like a petulant child."
"I'm not sitting," he retorted.
She shot him her most unimpressed glare and he smirked in response. The brunette rolled her eyes and shook her head as she fought to keep the smile off of her face.
"I can't tell which one is the child, you or Chris," she muttered.
Eddie caught the hose end she threw at him and raised an eyebrow in response. She stuck her tongue out, mirth dancing in her eyes. He tossed the hose over the top bar and dashed around the rack, wrapping his arms around her waist as she began to bolt.
"No PDA at work!" she whined, settling back against his chest.
"This isn't PDA," he reminded her. "I'm just making sure a coworker stops being so annoying. This is PDA."
Eddie punctuated his statement with a quick kiss to her cheek. She rolled her eyes but he could see the smile threatening to break across her face.
"Firefighter Diaz, do you copy?" Bobby's voice crackled over their radios.
"Five by five, Cap. Over."
"Ramirez, come in."
"10-4, Cap. Your favorite child is online."
Eddie's fingers dug into her sides and she squirmed out of his grip, a murderous look in her eyes. He and Buck loved the fact that they had a solid few inches on her and that she was extremely ticklish. It was their favorite way to torment her.
"Do that again and you're sleeping on the couch. No. Wait. Christopher and I will have a movie marathon in our bed and you can sleep in his bed," she threatened, making her way back towards the firehouse. As she rounded the corner, she spotted Carla which meant Christopher was here too. She pulled ahead of Eddie and grinned at the sight of her favorite guy.
"Dad! Mari!" Christopher shouted.
"Pollito!" Mariana exclaimed, kneeling down so she could pull him into a hug. She pulled back with a frown and smoothed down his hair before looking up at Carla.
"Hey guys," Eddie greeted as he joined them.
"Five alarm school emergency," Carla explained. "He's supposed to tell Ms Flores today what he's presenting for show and tell on Friday."
"And so he suckered you into stopping here on the way," Eddie sighed. "Mari is a bad influence on you, little man."
His girlfriend narrowed her eyes at him and stood back up so she could plant her hands on her hips and stare him down. Christopher laughed at their antics, making the three adults smile.
"You know I can't resist a cute face," Carla chuckled.
"Okay. Show and tell. I thought you were bringing in your new hamster!"
"Henrietta the hamster is very cool," Mari added.
"That's because you and Buck were the ones that snuck her into the house."
"And we have no shame."
"The new hamster is old news," Carla interrupted the couple. She held out a box to Eddie. "Someone's been snooping in your closet."
"Hey, Christopher, that's not cool," Mariana warned. "Next time, ask. Alright?"
He nodded and she ruffled his hair, glancing up at Eddie who had fallen silent. Mari leaned over to see what was in the box and she immediately pressed her hand against his back as a silent but steady reminder that he was here in LA with her and Christopher and the crew. He wasn't back in Afghanistan.
"Is that what I think it is?" Buck exclaimed as he joined them. For once, Mariana was grateful for his intrusion.
"It's a silver star because my dad's a hero!" Christopher announced.
"We don't need jewelry to know that," Carla reminded him.
"Do you ever just wear it?" Buck asked. Mariana reached behind Eddie to smack Buck's shoulder.
"Never found an outfit to go with it."
"Oo, if I had a medal, I would never take it off."
"We know." Eddie pulled the box out of Buck's hand before addressing Christopher. "You sure this is what you want to bring to school on Friday?"
"And you so you can tell the story."
"Is that a story you can tell fourth graders?"
"Evan, I will end you."
"Not really," Eddie sighed.
"Please, Dad. Please!" Christopher begged. Eddie's eyes caught Mariana's and she offered him a comforting smile. He shrugged. "Okay. I'll figure something out."
"You promise?"
"Yes, yes. I promise. You and me, Friday morning telling "appropropriate for fourth grader" war stories." Eddie crouched down so he could see Christopher better as the bell rang out. Mari dropped a kiss to Christopher's head before she jogged off towards the driver's seat of the engine truck.
"Love you Chris! Have a good day at school!" she called as Eddie shouted out his own "love you!"
"Love you too!" their son shouted in return.
As Mariana eased the truck out of the apparatus bay and onto the highway, she let out a small laugh which drew everyone's attention to her.
"What's so funny?" Chimney interrogated.
"Just figured that Chris would bring Buck to be his show and tell."
"Wha-? You can't bring a person, Mari."
"Buck, you're Christopher's favorite toy."
/
"A missing child isn't really our thing," Mariana pointed out when Bobby and Athena explained why they were called out.
"An abduction, no. But a child falling into a well is more your domain than mine."
Everyone shifted uneasily and glanced at one another. Aside from Buck and Chimney, most of the crew were parents in some way.
"What's the game plan?" Buck asked.
"We won't know until we locate Hayden. Everyone spread out and search for him. Radio in the second you have any clues."
As they turned to move around the property, Bobby patted Mariana's shoulder to indicate she should stay behind. She shot Athena and Bobby a curious look.
"The mother is, of course, distraught. If at any point we think she might need it, you have the go ahead to keep her calm and if needed and she consents, administer a sedative," Bobby informed her.
"You think she would even consent to that? If that was Christopher or Diego down there…" Her throat tightened at the mere thought and she shook away the thought. "I would want to be as clear headed as possible."
"Just make sure she doesn't try to interfere or gets hurt in any way," Athena said. "The last thing we need is a mother injured while trying to save her child. And if the worst case scenario happens…"
"Has family been contacted?"
"Husband is on a business trip and on his way back now but he's all the way in New York. There's no telling how soon his flight can get here with layovers."
"Cap, think we found something," Chimney said over the radio.
They found the team surrounding a small well, shouting for Hayden. Bobby leaned over to see if they could spot the kid, but the well just descended into darkness.
"Alright, we're gonna need a visual."
It was like something out of a nightmare. Mariana nibbled on her bottom lip as they nervously watched the screen in hopes that the camera would show something, anything.
"Can a boy even survive that fall?" Athena breathed.
"The well's narrow so there's lots of friction to slow a fall. But if he's really down there…"
"There. Right there." Eddie pointed at the screen where a little head appeared.
"Look at the way he's pinned," Hen muttered.
"Arms forward, chest constricted, shallow breath" Mariana added.
"Forty-five feet. At that depth, oxygen's an issue. Cap, we gotta get a line of compressed air down there, ASAP."
"You...you found him?" Joy, the mother, bolted towards them. Mariana caught her quickly, holding her to make sure she didn't trip or anything. "Is he-?"
"He's alive. He's alive," Mari assured her. The woman trembled in her arms and Mariana quickly turned her away from the screen. "Why don't we go inside while they talk over our next steps?"
Joy nodded weakly and let herself be led towards the farmhouse. Mariana helped her into the kitchen and into one of the chairs. She found a mug and some tea in the cabinets and made a cup for Joy before sitting across from her.
"I want to assure you that my team is doing everything they can. They are extremely dedicated and will do everything in their power to get Hayden back to you safe and sound."
"Do you have kids?" Joy asked through her sobs.
"I...yes. I do. I have a son."
"How would you feel if that was him down there?"
Mariana sucked in a sharp breath and grimaced. "I would probably move hell and highwater to get to him."
"Then you know how I feel."
"Of course I do. I also know that my team is the best of the best and they are trying their hardest to save Hayden. I trust this team with my life and certainly I trust them with my son's life."
/
"Fucking hell," Mariana cursed as she moved across the mud. Her boots were sinking into the puddles as the rain beat down on her helmet and turnout gear. They had been drilling in the mud for two hours when the rain started pouring about thirty minutes ago. Puddles were quickly growing which concerned everyone for Hayden's safety.
They were able to get a line for communication down there and Joy could barely keep it together. Eddie assured Hayden that they were coming and Mariana really hoped that it proved true. This rain wasn't helping in the slightest.
"Buck, Mari, where are we at?" Bobby called over the storm.
"We're almost at forty feet. At this rate we're going, I'd say another hour but this rain is really gonna slow us down. Could be two, maybe even another three."
"Shoring up as we go is killing us," Eddie reported. "The ground's just too unstable. It's eating up time."
"That's time we don't have, Cap!" Hen shouted. "The boy's been down there ten hours already. He's wet now and almost certainly hypothermic."
Thunder cracked in the distance as lightning lit up the sky. Mariana instinctively flinched but shook it off.
"It's barely a mile away!" the commissioner said. "We gotta pull the plug."
"Hey, no no no. No way," Buck barked back.
"We got a five-story lightning rod sitting in an empty field out here!"
"It's still a mile away," Bobby argued.
"It gets any closer-"
"I know. Okay, get the winch and the harnesses and once we hit depth-"
"I'll go in. "I'll go."
Mariana and Eddie answered at the same time. They immediately looked at each other and he shook his head. "I'm the one that was talking to him on the radio. He knows my voice. Makes sense that it's me. Suit me up. I'm going down."
"No," Mariana retorted. "I'm the smallest. It's smartest for me to go."
He shook his head and led her away from the others. "Mari, it is too dangerous for you to go down there."
"Oh but it's fine for you?! Eddie, you need to think about the risks and what you have to lose. This is dangerous."
"I am thinking, Mariposa. What if it was Christopher down there? You wouldn't be able to stop me from going down."
"And I would be following you down. But you have a choice now, Edmundo! Let me go. Christopher needs you."
"Mariana! Listen to me!" He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to stop scanning the chaos around them and instead to focus on him. "I'm going down there because I would want someone to do whatever they could if Christopher was the one stuck down there. I need you up here because I need you safe, okay? Do you get what I'm saying?"
Her big brown eyes searched every inch of his face as if she was committing his features to memory. She nodded slowly and then pulled herself out of his grasp. "You need to go suit up."
/
Mariana wordlessly passed him the helmet and then focused on sorting through the other equipment she had grabbed off the truck. Her dark hair was plastered to her neck and cheeks, hanging limply around her face thanks to the rain. Even with tension radiating off of her and rain soaking her to the bone, Mariana was still one of the most beautiful people in this world.
"You better come back to us, you hear?" she growled, throwing her turnout coat onto the table. "If I hear about you pulling any stupid stunts down there, I'll come down and kick your ass myself."
"Mariana…"
"Promise me, Diaz. Promise me you'll be safe."
"I promise to be more careful than I've ever been as long as you promise to follow Bobby's orders, no matter what happens."
She turned her head just a bit so she could see him out of the corner of her eye and let out a weak chuckle. "You got the easier end of the bargain."
"Promise me, Ramirez."
"I promise." Her voice was so quiet and small for someone with such a larger than life presence. He slid his hand along her jaw, capturing her lips with his. She curled her hand around the straps of his suit, pulling herself into his body.
"I love you," he reminded her once they broke apart. "Nothing can change that."
"I know."
Bobby entered the tent, his eyes darting between the couple. Mariana stepped back from Eddie and nodded at her father as she walked out, grabbing a turnout coat off the table as she left. Bobby offered Eddie a sympathetic grimace as he handed him the air tank.
"Extra oxygen in case you need it. Water's rising fast down there. Green light, full supply. Yellow light, two minutes. I wanna see you topside before you see red."
"Copy that."
"We gotta go. And Eddie? Don't break her heart."
Mariana wrapped the turnout coat around her as she made her way ahead of the men to join the others. It felt bigger than normal and she frowned but didn't think anything of it. It probably just felt heavier from the rain. Thunder cracked once more right as Bobby and Eddie caught up to her and everyone turned to check the sky.
"That's it. We're done," the commissioner exclaimed.
"Come on, we're almost there," Buck insisted.
"That's close enough. Bring it up," Bobby instructed.
"Let's bring him home."
As Buck slowly lowered Eddie down into the mud, Mariana couldn't stop the sick feeling in her chest. It rose into her throat and down into her hands, causing her fingers to tremble. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat, her brows furrowing as her fingers brushed against something. Mari pulled it out and stared down at the hairbands and a polaroid. She flipped over the picture and gasped.
It was a polaroid selfie of him, her, and Christopher. They were sitting on the beach as the sun shone down on them. She remembered the exact moment Eddie took that photo. It was early in their relationship when they were still unsure and dancing around the subject. But he took this photo and he kept it in his coat pocket all this time.
The ponytail holders were for her. She knew that because anytime she lost a hairband, he always had one magically ready for her to use. Mariana never questioned it, but now she knew. He kept them on him just in case she needed them.
She stuffed the items back in the pocket and pulled the coat tighter around her, inhaling the smell of Eddie's cologne on the collar. This would be the longest thirty minutes of her life.
Two minutes remaining and Mariana was practically vibrating with nervous energy. The adrenaline was keeping her warm as she watched the line like a hawk, waiting for Eddie to pull it twice. Her stomach twisted into knots when Chimney announced that they lost visual.
"Times up, pull him out now!" Bobby ordered. They waited with bated breaths as Buck pulled up the line until his movements stilled and he pulled it faster, a panicked look crossing his face.
"I-I lost the weight!"
"What does that mean?!" Chimney shouted.
"I don't know. Something's wrong!" Bobby yanked the rope up as Mariana surged forward, her face going completely ashen at the sight of the cut rope.
"Oh god," she whispered.
"He cut the damn line!" Hen yelled.
"Mariana Belicia Ramirez, don't even think about it," Bobby warned. "Chim, I want you to gear up. I'm sending you down."
"Copy that."
"Cap, I should be the one to go down!" Buck argued.
"So we can end up with two cut lines?" Hen retorted.
"Camera's back. Still can't see...camera's underwater."
"Hopefully it's just the camera."