✆Season 1, Episode 4✆
Maria opens the door to Athena's police car and gets in, "Whatever your plan is for handling this situation with May, I'd like to know so if I have to back you up to the Captain, I know in advance."
"How'd you know I was going to be here?" Athena asks.
"Michael texted me. Is this a smart move? You two are so close to getting May back."
Athena doesn't answer, just opens the door and gets out, "Okay, I guess that's a plan."
As the two walk to the back of the house where music is playing, Maria watches as the girls panic and start hiding a few things, "Hello, Officers. Is there a problem or something?"
Maria says, "A neighbor called and complained."
"I'm sorry. Was the music too loud?" She doesn't meet Maria's eye and walks a little crooked.
"No, it's the smell they were objecting to," Athena says before Maria can.
"Officer, I promise you, no one here is smoking marijuana."
"Mm. Did I say marijuana?" Athena glances off, taking her sunglasses off, "No, I don't believe I did. No, see, they called to say some skanky teenage ho living up in here, bringing a real stank to the neighborhood. Bringing down the property values and such," The teens watching gasp.
The girl glares at Athena, "Excuse me?"
Athena doesn't even look to the side before calling out, "Georgina Turner, where the hell you think you're going?"
The girl who was trying to walk off turns back, "Uh, hi, Sergeant Grant. Officer Nash."
"Sergeant? Why so formal? You've spent the night at my house, eaten at my table. We go way back. Go on. Tell 'em, Georgina."
Georgina explains, "She's May Grant's mom."
Athena takes another step forward, getting real close to Laila, "My baby was in the hospital because of you. She nearly died. What do you have to say to that?"
Laila looks uncertain for a moment before smiling, "Good. She's a punk-ass slut."
Before anyone can move, Athena is cuffing Laila, "You're under arrest."
"You can't do that!" She scoffs.
Maria moves to look in Laila's bag, where she finds a small little baggy, "Try again. Party's over."
"You two are in so much trouble. My father's an attorney."
"Tax attorney. Trust me, sweetheart, he's not getting you out of this one. You've been swaying since the moment we walked in," Maria tells her, starting to walk away.
Georgina stops them, "Mrs. Grant? Could you tell May I'm sorry?"
Athena shakes her head, "You should tell her yourself."
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Maria walks into a tense situation as Athena is facing off against the Creedy's, "Was this about revenge? Is that it? You-you got it in your head that Laila is somehow to blame for your daughter trying to kill herself?"
Athena is quick to stand up, "Don't you talk about my daughter."
"All right, that's enough," Maria interferes, "Your daughter is going through the system. Everything was in order. 911 calls about your daughter and her friends, legal search and entry, clean arrest as well as the texts she sent to May Grant and others. This is not Laila's first time being at the center of a teenager's suicide attempt. We talked to the other parents who came to your with concerns. You two did nothing."
"Yeah, all right, I've heard enough about what you two think..."
"You want to know why your daughter's sitting in that cell?" Athena interrupts him, "You failed. Your daughter is a nightmare because the two of you are a nightmare. Now get the hell out of my station."
"All units reports to LAX for emergency perimeter."
They ignore the shouting behind them as they ask, "Where do you need us?"
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Athena looks to Maria as they drive to the airport, "You shouldn't have lied about there being 911 calls. That's easy enough to call a bluff on."
"Who said I was lying? Four or five neighbors called. Noise complaints, blocked street from too many cars, and a couple other complaints. Athena, this is why you gotta tell me what you are planning. Trust me, I want to help May just as much as you do. That's my little sister."
"Did May ever tell you this was happening?" Athena asks as they pull up.
Maria shakes her head, "She knows I would've either done something about it or told you. Trust me, May and I will be having words about this."
They go into professional mode as they walk through the airport and meet up with a Captain, "Sergeant and Officer? Nice to meet you. Captain Dowers, airport security."
"What's the status?"
"Well, it went down just off Dockweiler into the water. We got departures grounded on the taxiways. Arrivals with no gates. Got air traffic control and NTSB up my ass. My guys are spread all over hell trying to keep this place on lockdown till we can figure out what's going on. I just hope to God it isn't a...isn't a bomb or ISIS or whatever. I know that emergency manual cold. But nothing prepares you for this."
Maria and Athena turn to stop him, "Okay, just breathe. We panic, everyone else panics. We've got to be the calmest people in the room at all times."
Athena nods in agreement, "LAPD is here and ready to assist."
As Captain Dowers starts to go over some things with them, people interrupt, "Excuse me. Excuse us. Do you have any information about the accident? They're not telling us a thing, and I'm looking for my husband. His name is Dale Marks. He was in 4-B. He was probably wearing his Mets cap. He usually wears his Mets cap."
"I heard there were survivors," A man starts.
Athena tries to calm them all down, "Okay, look, folks, folks, folks, look. As soon as we have updates for you, we will pass them along."
Maria adds, "I know this is a difficult situation, but the finest first responders are out there right now doing everything they can for your loved ones."
Other officers come to escort them away and calm them down further as Captain looks at them, "Breaks your heart, doesn't it?"
"Worst part is yet to come."
"Flight 207 crew in need of assistance, waiting to deplane. We have a passenger who is out of control," Captain Dowers radio crackles to life.
"Copy, officer responding."
Athena shakes her head, "What, a plane just crashed and some jackass is complaining about not getting his extra bag of nuts? No, sir, not today. Let's go, Officer Nash."
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Athena and Maria walk onto the plane where various people are yelling, "This is totally unnecessary."
"What's the matter with you people?!"
"Excuse us. Excuse us. Excuse us, sir," Maria follows Athena where they see an officer duct taping a man to a seat with tape over his mouth, "Someone want to tell us what's going on here?"
"We have it under control," The officer tells them.
Maria scoffs, "Under control? Passenger duct taped to his seat is under control?" She moves to stand in the empty seat next to the man while Athena moves to stand in front of the officer on the opposite side.
The officer tries, "We appreciate your concern, Officer, but this man was causing a disturbance; he repeatedly tried to exit the plane when he was told to remain seated. He assaulted an officer?"
"What?" Maria asks.
A woman steps forward with her phone out, "I have the whole thing on video," She hands it to Athena, who holds it so Maria can watch as well.
"No, I will not sit down. I've been sitting for, like, eight hours," The man paces up and down the aisle.
"Sir, I've told you several times. I need you to take a seat."
He argues, "And I've told you several times that my father is laying in a casket beneath this plane. Do you want to talk to my grieving mother? Huh? Do you? Here," He holds his ringing phone out as the ringing stops, "Hang on, Ma. Go ahead. Explain to my mother why her husband is rotting in cargo."
The officer looks between the video and Maria and Athena as he tries to gauge is they are on his side, "Okay, I'm not gonna tell you again. I need you to take a seat."
"Yeah, or what?" He starts getting close to the officers face, "What? Are you gonna kick my ass? Sir, yes sir."
Next thing they knew, the man was thrown to the ground in the video and people were screaming. Athena stops the video and hands the phone back.
"Damn. That escalated awfully fast," Athena comments as Maria shakes her head.
"First of all, you are gonna take this duct tape off of this man's mouth," Maria demands, "I mean, are you insane?'
The officer just stares at her until Maria scoffs and does it herself, "Are you okay, sir?"
"Yes. Thank you."
Athena turns back to the officer, "Now, tell me why these people can't exit this plane."
The man butts in, "Yeah, we've been here for eight hours..."
Maria stops him, patting his shoulder, "We're here, now. We've got this."
"We got word that no one should exit an inbound aircraft."
"I see," Athena nods, "You got word. From who?"
The officer quickly answers, "From the CEO of the airline."
Maria snorts, loudly, "Is that a joke? CEO's just call you up?"
He turns a little red, "Right now, we have no idea what caused that plane to crash. So until we find out it wasn't terrorism, nobody's getting off this plane."
Turning to her partner, Maria almost laughs, "He says it with such confidence. But I still can't believe it. His badge says Los Angeles Airport Police and he's taking orders directly from CEO's."
"An industry whose motto is the customer is always the moron? They make a billion dollars a year on baggage fees, and you're on their side? Your knees pressing against the seat in front of you because they want to add three extra rows, and you're on their side? Five damn peanuts in that bag, and you're on their side? Oh, no, no, no, no. Not today. Because we both know that it is perfectly safe for these people to get off the plane. I don't give a damn what the CEO says."
That is met with cheering as Maria goes to untape the man from the seat when the officer tries to grab Maria's shoulder. Athena is quick to react and push the man back, "You did not just try and grab her shoulder."
"Don't make me..." He fights to say as Maria untapes the man.
"Don't make you do what?" Athena advances on him, causing him to take several steps backwards, "You place a hand on her again and you are going to have a big problem on your hands."
Maria smiles, almost mockingly, "Now, you said that this customer was causing a disturbance. Well, then I'm putting him under arrest for disorderly conduct. In fact, why not arrest everyone on this plane. They are in our custody now."
Athena smirks, proudly at Maria, "You all hear that? You are all under arrest. And that means that you are all leaving this plane."
The passengers clap and cheer as Maria and Athena glare at the officer once more.
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After not hearing from her dad for a couple of days, Maria heads to his apartment, "Dad? You okay? I haven't heard from you in-" She walks in to see Hen and Buck sitting next to a drenched Bobby Nash, "You drank?"
"Maria-"
"No, dad, not this time. I wish you well, but I have some paperwork to do," Maria rolls her eyes and turn around.
Buck scoffs as he follows her out, "Really? Your dad needs your help."
Maria turns to him, "No, you don't get to judge."
"Why not? He's your father. He needs help. When was the last time you were here to check on him?" Buck advances.
"He's a grown man. A Fire Captain. I didn't think I needed to check on him 24/7 to make sure he wasn't drinking himself to death. Especially after he promised me he'd never drink again!" She shouts into the apartment.
Buck pushes her back and against the wall, "Hey! Back off! We had a rough call. You should be a better daughter so he feels comfortable coming to you instead of drinking."
Maria slaps him across the face, "You don't get to tell me how to have a relationship with my father. You only know him as he allows you too. I know the truth."
"I'm just saying, you could be less of a bitch," Buck warns her.
She fake laughs, "Great. The walking STD is telling me how to live my life. Go to hell, Buckley," And with that, she turns to walk away.
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AN: A little more enemies vibes. I just keep imaging Season 2 when Eddie is introduced and the dynamic that grows. Ah, I'm so excited!
What makes me so excited about writing stories is when I watch the show and am able to mentally place my character in certain moments and scenes. I just finished a watch of 9-1-1 all the way through, and boy are we in for a ride with Maria.
QoC: What is your favorite 9-1-1 relationship? (Real or should-be-real)
Thank you for all of the votes and reads and comments!!!