Mockingbird (9-1-1 Fanfic)

Prologue

The day that Edmundo Diaz joined the military, his daughter's life changed. It was not for the best, not like he said. Amelia Diaz grew up without her mother around, leaving Eddie to do it on his own, with the help of his parents. By the time Amelia was five years old, she knew that her dad was her dad, but she was also spending more and more time with her abuela and abuelito.

By the time Shannon entered their lives Amelia had spent much of her life with her grandparents. As Eddie was going between jobs and trying to keep himself and his daughter alive. That left him with very little free time.

Meeting Shannon had changed him, he was home more often, Amelia was seeing him everyday instead of just whenever he could.

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Eddie had been extremely cautious when introducing his girlfriends to his daughter until he reconnects with Shannon. Amelia is a toddler when Eddie introduces Shannon to her, but she knows the new woman is not her mommy, and she also knows that she isn't not very fond of her. But Shannon has known from the start that if she wanted a relationship with Eddie, she had to accept the fact he had a daughter.

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Shannon had not been the biggest change in young Amelia's life though. Her father joining the military and being thousands of miles away and hours ahead or behind is what really changed Amelia's life. Everyone's lives.

After joining the military, Eddie would leave for his deployments, and Amelia would leave for her grandparents' house. It was back to the first two years of her life all over again.

Shannon had not wanted to care for her.

After Christopher was born, it was much worse. Shannon would get angry at Amelia, screaming until Amelia called her grandparents, crying and begging them to take her away. Amelia never understood why Shannon stopped wanting her around as she got older. She just got used to packing a bag the second her dad was out the door.

Eddie was clueless when it came to Shannon and Amelia's relationship. Shannon put on a show for Eddie every single time he returned home. She always spent the night before prepping Amelia on things she was allowed and not allowed to mention. Amelia never cried to her dad that she hated Shannon or that she was back with his parents every time he walked out.

It was easy for Shannon to make things up, especially when Eddie would call or want to skype. She'd tell him Amelia was at a sleepover or sleeping already. Eddie rarely called his parents, leaving Amelia completely out of his and Shannon's lives.

Although, he had no idea.

Amelia's grandparents had tried to say something to Shannon, but she just brushed them off and told them it was impossible to take care of a child with special needs and a child who had a lot of energy and was always running around. They offered Millie the option to tell her dad and live with them full-time, but she declined because she didn't want Eddie to be mad at her or Shannon. But what she didn't say was that, she didn't want to be pushed out of her dad's life for good or even Christopher's.

The last time Eddie returned home from overseas, he did not redeploy. Amelia was estatic and she knew she would be with her dad and her brother again. And then, one day, she woke up, and Shannon had left. Leaving only a note for Eddie and leaving Christopher without a mother, just like Amelia.

Millie became angry at Shannon, and every time her name was brought up around her, she would walk away because she didn't want to say something, get into trouble, or say something bad about her in front of Christopher. He was her little brother; she wouldn't hurt his feelings.

A few months later, things finally started getting back to normal. Amelia was not spending every day at her grandparents' house, and her dad was there. The first few weeks after Shannon left, he locked himself away and only came out when necessary, and Amelia almost wished she'd left with the woman. After a while, her dad got over it, and it was like she was never even around. The three of them, Eddie, Amelia and Christopher had a routine they didn't need Shannon.

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About a year after Shannon left, Amelia and Christopher sat on the porch as Eddie was inside, arguing with his parents. Amelia wondered if her dad knew they could hear everything they were saying. She tried hard not to, trying to keep her brother's attention away from the argument because he'd get upset. He never liked when their father argued, and it seemed to happen a lot lately. Amelia would take Christopher outside search for little rocks or even bugs and show them to him.

It did help, most of the time.

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A little while later, Eddie came outside and sat in between them. "How would you guys feel about going on a trip?"

"Just us three?" Christopher asked.

"Yeah, buddy." Eddie smiled as Amelia nodded yes.

For weeks Eddie looked for a job and decided that moving to California and becoming a firefighter was no big problem. At first, Amelia was excited, and then they moved. She'd had to say goodbye to the only home she'd ever known in El Paso, and once again, she and Christopher were both spending more time with family members than with Eddie. He was going to work every single day and training every night. He was rarely home, only there to say good morning and come home after they were asleep.

School was not an option for Amelia, she cried and cried every day about going because she knew that if she did, the same thing that happened in El Paso would happen in California. Eddie begged his daughter every day to make friends and meet new people and told her to give it a chance. Nothing he, or anyone for that matter, said would convince Amelia to go. That meant Eddie was either dropping her off to his Abuela every morning, or his aunt Pepa would watch over her.

Amelia would do her school work until Christopher returned home from school and then they'd both go to either of their rooms and play until dinner. Eddie was never home by the time the got tucked into bed. That didn't bother either kid, because no matter what, he was there when they woke up and he was always so happy to see them.

Maybe, California was the best decision Edmundo Diaz could have ever made.

A/N: I so desperately want to delete this fic and never touch it again because I decided to rewrite it, but I'm not starting completely over, so it is very confusing. If this doesn't make any sense to anyone, please tell me so that I can delete it and just start over all over again. Sorry this is so short, but I am currently working on chapter one, so it'll be up soon! I'm going to come back tomorrow and edit this.