"Sixteen year old female fell from a second story balcony. No prior history of illnesses and no medications. Alert and talking on the ambulance. Possible concussion. Broken femur, two cracked ribs, and lacerations on her hands and knuckles."
"What happened to this poor thing?"
"Surgery needed..."
"No family except a little brother..."
"Texas?"
The memories shattered with the collision of her fists against the punching bag. Mariana whirled around, her foot slamming into the leather bag as it swung from the rafters. Faces swam in the vision of her memory but she shoved them aside and instead let her fists beat the leather.
"Mariana," Chimney called as he exited the locker room. She dropped her fists to her side and sighed, turning to face him. The older man offered her a crooked smile and walked over to the mini gym set up they had in the firehouse.
"Gotta stop beating yourself up kid."
"I'm not beating myself up. I'm beating the bag."
"You know what I mean. You've done good."
"I could do better."
He sighed and shook his head. "One of these days, Mari, you're going to realize that you can't blame yourself for everything. You're a good kid."
"Aw, is Chimney getting soft? Do you care about my feelings?" she mocked as she stripped off her gloves and began to unravel the wraps around her hands and wrists.
"You're also an asshole when people care about you," he snarked back. She shot him a devilish smirk before heading towards the locker room. He watched her saunter over to the lockers and ran a hand down his face.
"One day she won't win. One day!"
"Are you talking to yourself, Chim? That's a sign of insanity," Hen called as she walked by him. Her partner muttered something under his breath before following her upstairs.
///
"Adult male down on the hillside, we got three kids in a bouncy house," Hen informed dispatch. Mariana was already gearing up to climb down the cliff face, knowing she would be sent to help the father.
"Alright, we're going to stage the trucks on that service road. Hen, I want you and Buck to rappel down, anchor that bouncy house. Assess the condition of those kids, start to send them down one-by-one in a basket. Mari, you and I will take care of the dad," Bobby ordered. "Chimney, you're going to stay up here and work the winch."
Mariana shot him a thumbs up before jogging to the truck to grab her med bag. She clipped on her climbing helmet and strapped her bag onto her back before rejoining them at the cliff edge. Chimney clipped her harness onto the line and Mariana slowly backed her way to the edge.
"Mari, you're good to go," Chim announced and she quickly stepped back, catching her boots on the cliff face. Slowly but surely, Mariana dropped down the cliff and closer to the father. Calls like these were some of the more fun ones, in her opinion. She loved being able to do the more dangerous things which Bobby liked to call it her "inability to assess potential dangers and damages".
Landing smoothly on the ground, she radioed up her location and unclipped herself from harness as Bobby joined her. Mariana hurried to the father's side, carefully stopping him from moving.
"Cameron..." the man groaned.
"Sir, I need you to not move for me. Okay? Stay still and we will get you to safety as soon as possible," she informed him, keeping her voice soft and soothing. There was a switch between Mariana in the field and off the field. In the field, whether nursing or firefighting, she was calm and composed for the patient. She knew how to ensure patients were relaxed and assured them of their safety.
Off the field, she was a spitfire who wasn't afraid to get in your face.
"How are we looking?" Bobby asked.
"No vertebral damage from what I can tell. I need a c-collar and some gauze for the facial laceration. Broken femur..."
Mariana trailed off for a second, her voice seizing in her throat. Broken femur...
"Ramirez!" Bobby snapped her out of her memory. She shook her head to clear her mind and unstrapped her med bag off her back. With eased precision, she was able to adjust the man's neck for her to fit the c-collar on. Chim lowered a backboard for them and Bobby retrieved it as Mariana prepped the man to flip. They wordlessly worked together, securing him onto the backboard before she splinted the man's leg and gave the thumbs up to the gurney crew standing nearby.
Bobby followed them to the ambo transport while Mariana repacked her bag, cursing her stupidity for letting her emotions override her better judgement. No distractions on the job. That's the rule.
"You alright?" Bobby asked. She shrugged as she stood, swinging her bag over her shoulder.
"Fine."
///
Voices filled the packed auditorium as children shrieked and danced through the tables and adults chatted with one another. Some people walked among the tables with clipboards in hand as they stopped to chat with patrons.
Mariana stopped at table seven to grab some orders, a grin plastered on her face. "What will it be today folks?"
"Everything for all of us!" Ellen cried and the six other patrons laughed at her excitement. Mariana grinned and winked at the elderly woman before she jotted it down on the notepad clamped down on her clipboard.
"Come join us once you've served anyone dear! We want to catch up," Alice insisted.
"I promise as long as you remain out of trouble and don't start another food fight."
"It was one time!"
Mariana laughed and headed back to the kitchens. She deposited the meal ticket onto the line, slid her clipboard into its intended slot, and began to grab ready plates and their meal tickets.
Working at the homeless shelter was something she started when she was seventeen. Abuela deemed it necessary for her to find healthy outlets to occupy her time. Mariana made an effort to volunteer at least once a week here and also at a local group home for foster kids. With work, she maintained a busy schedule but it was good for her. It didn't allow her mind to run free.
By the time she served most of the other tables, table seven's orders were ready. It took three trips to safely get all the plates there but she succeeded and soon pulled up a chair next to Helen and Alice.
"It's so good to see you doing so well, Mariana. It helps the kids to see you succeeding," Helen said. Mariana ducked her head shyly as she pushed her mashed potatoes across the plate. She didn't feel very successful.
"Just trying to honor my abuela's memory, that's all." The older adults around the table booed at her denial and Alice slapped her hand in admonishment. Mariana jumped but offered Alice a teasing glare.
"Mariana, when you first started coming here, you were the angriest and most troubled child I'd ever seen. There was darkness in your soul. But look at you now! Mighty firefighter you are. You shook off the darkness, baby, and now it's time for the light."
The young woman grasped Helen's hand tightly, fighting against the tears building in her eyes. She nodded her thanks and Helen gently patted their clasped hands.
"They would be proud of you. All of them."
///
"Buck, I could drive better than you blindfolded sitting backwards," Mariana called from the kitchen as Hen and Buck wrestled for the controller.
"Hen, Hen please. Someone call HR!" Buck yelled. Mari smirked at the two as she shook her head. Bobby rolled his eyes, passing her the tomatoes for the salad. The two usually did dinner prep together. Mariana had cooked most of the time before Bobby came to the firehouse but once he made family dinners, they equally shared the work. It was their bonding time.
"Chimney! Here, you're up," Hen announced after she successfully pulled the controller out of Buck's hands. Chimney just walked past them silently and marched into the kitchen. He opened the fridge to grab some water as Buck and Hen followed.
"Hey, is there something you need to talk about?" Mariana asked as she added croutons to the salad. A quick turn of her head revealed Chim standing next to her at the island, looking dejected as ever.
"I'm a good-looking guy, right? I mean, like, you could do a lot worse than me, yeah?"
"Chimney, I've done a whole lot worse than you," Hen assured him.
Mariana let out a soft snort before replying with, "I don't date and can still assure you that yes, I could do a lot worse than you."
She passed Buck the plates and pointed to the table before grabbing the salad bowl and bringing it to the table. As she walked back, Chimney dropped the bomb.
"I asked Tatiana to marry me."
"Wow, okay," she replied as Hen's mouth dropped open and Buck's eyes grew wide.
"Um...well...what happened?" Hen asked.
"First, she said she cheated on a fiance that I didn't even know about, and that now we need to break up, then she said she didn't know. I..."
"Did you offer her the option of an open marriage? It's super modern." Buck supplied.
"Evan Buckley!" Mariana admonished. He ducked from her well-aimed smack to the head and went to deliver the burgers to the table while Hen and Mari turned back to their friend.
"Chim, I'm sorry. That may not have been the response that you hope for, but it's not no."
"It might as well be," he grumbled.
"Probably for the best," Bobby muttered and Mariana snapped her head over to glare at him. Granted, she didn't support Tatiana and Chimney's relationship but you don't just say something like that! Especially when Chimney was clearly frustrated. She backed away from the island and swiveled on her heel to go help Hen and Buck set the table, ignoring the fight that was bound to happen. As the voices began to raise, Mariana stilled in her movements and instead stared blankly down at the plates. Her chest felt tight and her skin tingled with discomfort. Chimney began to yell and she flinched, her grip tightening on the bowls in her hands. It wasn't until Chimney stormed off that she was able to breathe again and the ringing in her ears began to quiet.
"Mari, hey," Buck said as he clapped a hand down on her shoulder. She jumped and pulled away from him immediately, a panicked look flashing across her face. Hen and Bobby and Buck were all staring at her in concern and she just shook her head, squared her shoulders, and glanced back at the stairs Chimney had just rushed down.
"He's driving angry and that's never a good thing. Driving angry is driving stupid," she announced.