In Flames Extras

The Outfit

"I don't like this. In fact, I think I've made my feelings about this very fucking clear," Eddie snapped as he walked into the bedroom. His only response from the bathroom was the telltale click of an eyeshadow palette shutting. The door was cracked open just slightly so he knew that she could hear him.

"Mariana, are you even listening?"

"Yes, I'm listening, dear." She drawled out the syllables of the pet name. She tossed the palette into the makeup bag she had resting on the counter and sighed.

"What do you want me to do? Say? We've had three kids in the ER in the past two weeks from racing. As much as I wish she wasn't, Athena's right when she says that I'm the only one who can get close to him," the latina sighed.

Elliot Nayers was back in the LA street racing circuit. After a short stint in prison and then a few years in Las Vegas, he was back and collecting the souls of innocent teens once again. Athena had approached Mariana a week earlier about the possibility of getting involved with the task force to arrest him for the last time and she agreed without hesitation.

Much to the frustration of her husband.

But here she was, clad in tiny shorts and a tight tank top that definitely highlighted the pushup bra that currently graced her chest. Mari had broken out her old curling iron and straightener and went through the motions of her teenage self. To top it off, her normally bare face sported a dark smokey eye and red lipstick. One of the guys from Athena's team would be picking her up in a Camaro because there's no way a former titled streetracer could show up in her mom van.

Mari opened the bathroom door fully and turned to face her husband who was seated on the bed. He lifted his eyes from his phone and promptly dropped the object straight onto the floor. The corners of her lips lifted into a smirk as his dark eyes traced down the curves of her body. Nine years working as a firefighter and three years post-baby meant she was back to her pre-pregnancy body and it clearly showed. For thirty-three, Mariana Ramirez-Diaz didn't look a day over twenty-one.

"I'm calling this off right now," he finally said, his voice hoarse and tight. She rolled her eyes and stepped towards him, her slim fingers curling around the side of his neck and tilting his chin up so she could capture his lips with her own. His hands slid along the back of her knees and then her thighs and up, up, upwards unti-

Her phone buzzed with a text.

"That's my ride," she whispered as she broke apart from him. "I'll come home to you, I promise."

He nodded mutely and then pulled her down for one final, searing kiss. Her hand settled against his collarbone, just over the scar from the bullet that tried to take him three years ago. She inhaled sharply and pulled away from him, stepping back to ensure there was distance in case she gravitated back towards him. Four years of marriage and she never got tired of his presence, not to mention his touch.

With one last glance at him, Mariana headed outside to meet with Sergeant Stanton.

It was two in the morning when he heard the front door shut softly. If Eddie hadn't been wide awake and waiting, he would have easily missed it. He stood up from the couch and shut off the mindless droning of the infomercial he wasn't paying attention to before turning to face the foyer where an exhausted Mariana stood leaning against the front door.

"We got him," she said quietly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Her breath was shaky as she pulled her hands away from the door. Mari lifted her head to see him better and he could see the dark storm building in her eyes. She took one hesitant step towards him and he opened his arms to let her just collapse against him. Her fingers curled tightly around the soft cotton of his shirt as she buried her face against his shoulder.

"I gotcha," he whispered. "Let's get you out of these clothes, hmm?"

Eddie led her upstairs to their room. Mariana stared at the bed helplessly and he knew what she was thinking. The clothes on her body, or lack thereof, were tainted by her past. Mariana wasn't one to shy away from shorts and tank tops and sports bras and bikinis. He had seen her show off her hard-earned body and the scars that covered her skin many times, both in and out of their bedroom.

But the outfit she had on was one that she had no choice in wearing. It was a relic of a time past that she had to relive tonight and the last thing she wanted to do was sit on their bed with the weight that was bearing down on her shoulders.

And so Eddie pushed her towards the bathroom and quietly told her to take a shower and to leave the clothes on the toilet. As he heard the water turn on, he headed for the closet to grab one of his old shirts that she liked to sleep in and some pajama shorts for her. He slipped into the bathroom to grab the clothes off of the toilet lid and replace them with the items he had grabbed for her.

They would be taken out with the trash tomorrow, shoved to the bottom of the kitchen bin where she wouldn't have to look at them ever again.

Elliot Nayers viewed Mariana as a commodity. As something to sell.

But when she emerged from the bathroom dressed in his shirt with her big brown eyes still cloaked in that heavy shadow, Eddie could only see his best friend standing before him. His lover, his confidante, his driving force. He would crawl through fire to ensure that she would never feel the way she did tonight.

She didn't argue when he led her to the end of the bed, a makeup wipe in his hand. Eddie gently started to rub the makeup off of her skin, pressing delicate kisses against her temple, her jaw, her cheek.

"It was just a lot," she murmured. "But we got him. For good."

He nodded knowing that there was nothing else to say as she fell against him, pressing her cheek against his as her hands scrambled for purchase against his back. Eddie held her as she gathered her bearings and he would keep holding her until he couldn't.

A/N: so that is not what i intended for this to end with idk why i have to write like this but work song by hozier came on and i just became a new person