In Flames Extras

When you hurt, I hurt

SPOILERS for last night's episode, 4x14. I wrote The Letter before 4x13 even aired so...idk pick which one you like better LMAO

An average day in one of the busiest ERs in America. Mariana was three charts deep, nine months postpartum, and eight hours into a shift. Pepa was watching the kids but Mariana really, truly missed her babies and her husband. The 118 was just starting their shift today and aside from the customary "love you" text from Eddie, she hadn't seen him in hours.

When Mari ended maternity leave, Eddie was still worried about having her in the field. She was not made to be a housewife and needed to do something. So they compromised. Until Hope was exactly one year old, Mariana would work at the hospital before rejoining the 118. So for three more months she would be solely Mariana Ramirez-Diaz, ER nurse and wife and mom.

The phone rang indicating a new incoming emergency and Mariana looked up at Travis as he answered. Confusion washed over his features and he pulled the phone away from his ear, shouts spilling out of the receiver.

"What? What are they saying?" she asked as his face drained of all color.

"Firefighter shot."

The two nurses were the first ones out the door to meet the firetruck that peeled into their delivery bay. It barely came to a stop before a familiar figure was jumping out, blood smeared all over him.

"Buck!" Travis shouted and Mari felt her heart seize with fear. But then firefighters from the 133 started lowering down a body onto the cot and she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it wasn't her brother who was injured.

"Mari," Buck stammered out.

"Through and through, upper torso, large caliber!" one of the men shouted. Mari looked down at the victim and inhaled sharply. The man she had left this morning still in their warm bed as she headed to work was laying before her. Her husband looked deathly pale on the gurney before her, blood pouring out of a gunshot wound on his shoulder.

She didn't even hesitate.

Mariana hauled herself up onto the stretcher, straddling him so she could apply pressure on his shoulder. Three times she had found herself in this position. Once with Luis, once with Chimney, and now once with Eddie. The latex gloves on her hands were quickly soaked with blood and she fought back against the desire to gag.

"Mariana!" Travis yelled.

"Stay with Buck," she ordered as they began to rush the gurney back towards the emergency room. The voices around her drowned out into some messy, incomprehensible roar that flooded her senses but she could only focus on the dark eyes staring up at her from under hooded eyelids. His lips moved just barely and she nodded. She understood. Shifting her weight off of him and onto her thighs, the chain around her neck tumbled out of her scrub top and dangled above him. The thin silver band hung between them as a solid reminder of their promise to one another.

"Ramirez!" one of the doctors barked. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Thirty-four year old male, no prior medical conditions and no allergies. Has been shot before when serving in the military," she rattled off robotically as they directed the gurney towards the elevator to rush them into the operating room. "Blood type is B positive and he has three kids at home so you really need to make sure you do whatever you can to keep him alive. Don't bother calling his emergency contact."

"You know this patient?"

Mariana nodded, her eyes never leaving Eddie's blank stare. She pressed harder against his chest and felt her heart shatter at the pained groan that he let out. Blood coated his skin and she felt sick just looking at it but she also couldn't tear her eyes away. She didn't want to look away for a second and never see him again.