Chapter Ten: So we Meet Again

Luna was standing next to Marjan, they had been battling this fire from San Angelo for weeks now, and it was time to call in reinforcements. Crews from all over were coming to join them and Luna didn't want to have to meet up with her ex. Between being sick for two weeks straight and this fire, she was beginning to think the universe was playing tricks on her. They were standing around in a huddle as the chief of the fire department for  San Angelo was debriefing them and assigning them to different sections.

"I'm Deputy Chief De Leon of the San Angelo Fire Department, acting incident commander. For those of you just joining the party, welcome."

TK leans in a bit. Just as Luna walks back from the porta party. "I think that guy is staring at you."

Marjan and Luna look over, seeing Hen, Eddie, and Buck from the 118. Luna curses.

"Isn't that your ex?" TK whispers.

"You mean he who shall not be named."

"I want to introduce my operations section chief, Captain Owen Strand out of Austin." De Leon steps away.

Owen steps up and starts speaking. "The thing we were praying wouldn't happen has happened. The wind has shifted. The fire's now on a collision course with the city of San Angelo. There's a possibility of weather coming in, but we can't rely on it, and we won't. We have one last shot to turn the tide. Here" he points to a spot on the map. "On Copper Ridge. We cut a containment line here, and we can stop this beast in its tracks. I know you're exhausted. A lot of you haven't had more than a couple of hours sleep in days. But on behalf of the city of San Angelo and their 120,000 souls, we're gonna get you up on that fire line and you are gonna cut like hell. Good luck. Stay safe."

Owen gets called over to the tent and Judd leans up against it, Marjan, Tk, and Luna walk over.

"What's going on?"

" There's a bunch of kids at a camp trapped up past the fire line," Judd explains.

"Can we get an evac chopper up here?" De Leon points to a spot on the map.

" It's too dangerous, and these access roads are all aflame. We can't get an engine up there."

"Hey. Pardon me, Cap. You could get to it with ATVs easily enough. I used to ride around on ATVs in the woods just like these growing up." Judd explains

"Firefighter, you just became the strike team leader." De Leon points to Judd who nods.

"Hell, I'm in." Marjan says as Luna nods.

"Driving through fire instead of digging a ditch?  Sign me up."

"All right. Eight-man team. Take a medic. You don't know what you're gonna find up there." Owen says as Luna nods.

"I'm a medic. Eddie Diaz with the 118, Los Angeles." Eddie walks into the tent Luna curses wanting to run headfirst into a wall.

"You a paramedic?" Owen asks.

" Firefighter. But I was a medic in the army, and on more than a few missions that looked a lot like this."

Judd just rolls his eyes. He hated Eddie. "What are you waiting for, Hollywood? Get your bag. Meet us down by the motor pool. We'll roll out." He turns to Owen. "I am taking Jitterbug too."

"Copy that."  Eddie walks off as Luna feels the bile rising in her throat,

Luna grabs an ATV with Marjan. "So we get to work a shift with Eddie? Boy, I have so many things I want to ask."

Luna tosses her bag in the back. "Okay listen up and listen well. None of you are to ask Eddie Diaz any questions about me or him or anything. We are here to work and that's it. Got?" Luna says as everyone nods, Judd just stays silent loading up the ATV. "Juddy?"

He sighs. "What? I ain't making any promises" Luna just rolls her eyes as everyone else laughs. They drive up to where the fire trucks are parked and The two stop the ATV right there seeing the other two members of the 118.

"You ready, soldier?" Marjan yells with a hint of teasing.

" Be right there."

"Well, hop to it. These at-risk kids aren't getting any less at-risk." She sasses as Luna hits her on the arm. She mumbles something only they can hear. And Luna cackles, throwing her head back before they drive off.

//

Eddie was driving with Judd in an Atv Luna was with Marjan. Eddie was impressed to hear that Marjan went viral on the internet for some of the risky things she did. But what also impressed him is that she got Luna viral a few times as well. They coined the nicknames Firefox, and Meteor. Marjan  even made an Instagram page just for them. They were both two powerful women who couldn't be stopped by literally anyone or anything.

Eddie was fanning away some bugs. "Got you some of them critters, Hollywood? Bet they don't get that big in LA."

"Oh, well, we got plenty in El Paso," Eddie replies as Judd's eyes go wide.

"Oh, no way. You're from El Paso? Where'd you go to high school?"

" La Salle," Eddie explains.

" La Salle. Whoa, we used to whoop your ass every year at State. I was at Austin Heights."

"You're a Bulldog?"

" Roger."

"And I thought we were gonna be friends," Eddie says as Judd shakes his head with a smirk.

Luna and Marjan drive by Luna laughing hard as Marjan passes the men "Whoo!"

"Lame!" Luna makes a face at the two men as they drive ahead further. Judd and Eddie were smiling.

"Those two always like that?"

Judd nods. "Those troublemakers.  Always."

They arrive at the fire line piling out.

"Hey! Back up. We're here now. We're gonna get you all down the mountain, okay? Marjan,  and Eddie's gonna check everybody out, make sure they're okay. So hey, hey, hey, who's missing?" Judd asks.

" Mr. Gomez. He left last night looking for JJ, and he never came back."

" JJ run away?" Paul asks.

" No, man. He was out doing his solo."

" Solo?" Marjan asks.

"Yeah, it's two nights mandatory alone in the woods. It builds character and self-respect, but it's usually pretty well-monitored."

"You know how?" Paul mutters as Luna hits him in the arm. Eddie takes note of how well she works with her team.

" Mr. Gomez, have a cell phone?"

The kid nods. " He's the only one that does. "We're not allowed."

"No call in eight hours, it could just be bad reception."

Luna looks up seeing a man wrapped in a blanket. "Or something else. Hey, hey." she runs up to the man and he collapses falling to the ground.

"Please help."

"Hey, where's JJ?" Paul asks.

"Couldn't find him."

Luna puts her head on the man's chest.  "He's not breathing." Luna gets into warrior mode. "Move back" Luna rolls over and picks the man up in a fireman's carry and she places him on the picnic table."Marjan, grab the IV bag from the kit. I'm gonna run a line."

" Hey, men, let's back up. Let's let them work."

"Back up. Right back here. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going."

Judd was moving the kids back.

"I'm not hearing any air escaping. Lungs are intact." Eddie says as Luna begins looking the man over.

"Then why isn't his chest rising?"

They open his chest. Seeing it burnt up in some place. " Ah, damn."

"We need to do an escharotomy."

"What the hell's that?" Marjan asks.

" That burn tissue? That's called eschar. It's constricting his chest like a rope. It's preventing his lungs from expanding. He can't draw a breath. We need to cut it."

" Now?"

" Now." Luna nods.

They pour alcohol all over his chest. "Okay. Hope you're not squeamish." Eddie looks at Marjan who just makes a face, he starts cutting his chest with a scalpel. "Rescue breaths."

Marjan starts using the bag over his face, He sucks in a big breath trying to sit up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

"JJ."

" Easy, buddy. Easy. Sir, we're aware of the missing kid, all right? I need you to take nice and steady breaths." Luna says

"Nicely done, Diaz."

"You too, Firefox" Eddie looks up at Luna. "Meteor" The two women just smile.

//

Luna, Eddie, and Marjan were waiting back at the Great Oaks camp while the others were either searching for JJ or bringing the kids back.

"This is the Great Oaks strike team. Do you copy?" Eddie says into his Radio.

" This is a base med unit. Go ahead."

"Sending seven minors your way. Mild dehydration, smoke inhalation, and a few lacerations, but they're fine. One adult male, critical. Gave him 11 milligrams of morphine. He will need a life flight." Eddie explains.

"Hey, Eddie. It's Hen. You're sending out seven minors? I thought you went up there for eight."

"One kid's still missing. A couple of the guys from the Austin 126 are searching out for him now."  Eddie continues.

"All right, you got about two hours of daylight left, and the wind reports are not good."

"Yeah, it's getting a little toasty out here."

"All right, Eddie, you need to put a clock on this."

"I don't think any of these folks are leaving without this boy, clock or no clock." he turns to Look at Luna and Marjan. " Remind me a little of some other people I know."

//

"Maybe we should go out and help them search."

"Judd told us to stay here. That's what we should do." Eddie kneels infront of his kit. "I dont want to get on Judd's bad side any more than I have." He smirks as Luna rolls her eyes at him.

"How can you be so calm under literal fire?"

He shrugs" Well, at least no one's shooting at us."

Marjan and luna just stand there pacing back and forth, Marjan's phone pings from her pocket and she pulls it out showing the notification to Luna.

"Seriously? You wanna follow our Instagram?" She walks over to Eddie.

" Heard you put a lot of effort into it. Was curious."

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Luna looks at Marjan who makes a face. "That's not what I meant"

"I haven't been on social media in a while. The last post is, like, nine months old. Super boring."

"We'll be the judge of that," Luna smirks at him as Eddie just stares back at her with the same smirk Marjan can sense the tension.

"Fine. Deal."

They accept the request and Luna looks over Marjan's shoulder. She was in charge of the account after all and she was too lazy to pull out her phone.

"Is that a Prius in the air?" Eddie zooms into the phone.

" Tornado dropped it between two buildings."

"Huh," Eddie says as Marjan and Luna laugh at the look on his face.

"Is this your kid?" Marjan turns her phone to Eddie showing off a picture of Chris and He. "Luna you said he was cute but not this cute."

Eddie chuckles. " Yeah, that's Christopher. He's my world. Doing the whole, you know, single dad thing."

"You did not build him a skateboard."

"Yeah, well, Buck helped." Eddie shrugs, and Luna just smiles remembering that moment.

"Wait, is that that creepy guy who was staring at me before?"

" He's harmless," Eddie says before Luna makes a face. "Mostly." they both say.

His radio bleep. "Great Oaks search team, give us your current location. We're sending air support."

"Air support? Who's crazy enough to go up in something like this?" Eddie asks as Luna just shrugs they continue scrolling through each Instagram. "Is that Luna covered in mud and holding a chicken?"

Marjan laughs looking at the photo "Yes I forgot I took that." Eddie turns his phone so Luna could see. she gasps.

"Marj... No, you took that photo of me." Marjan is laughing as Luna is looking at the photo. "Oh my god, this has a million likes. Marj!" Luna starts hitting her as Marjan just laughs harder.

Eddie smirks liking the photo which alerts Marjan she turns the phone to Luna who makes a face at Eddie. He shrugs. "You look cute."

She smirks feeling bashful suddenly. He looks at the photo more seeing she was tagged in it and goes to Instagram to follow her. It sends an alert to her phone and it pings she pulls it out sips on her water and looks at him before accepting it. Why not? It wasnt like she had nothing to Hide she didn't hate him anymore.

"Great Oaks strike team leader, this is air support. Judd, do you copy?" Luna listens closely over the radio Eddie was the only one with a radio.

"Cap, is that you?" Judd's voice is heard and Luna sits up straighter.

" Yeah, I heard you could use a hand. What's your 20?"

" Yeah, we're a few klicks west of the camp. We haven't found this kid yet. We found his tent, but no remains, so we think he went deeper into the woods trying to get away from the fire." Judd says.

"All right, we see you."

Luna was pacing back and forth they were listening to Judd and Owen and Paul all trying to save this kid all risking their lives for a child they didn't even know. She was scared, she couldnt lose any more people especially not Judd not when they had gotten so close, they were so close that she had introduced him to her family. They told her how they liked him. She loved everyone on her team but Judd is different and nothing or no one would change that.

"- Hey, Judd? This is Paramedic Henrietta Wilson. I'm up here with your captain."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Eddie says they listen to Hen talking  Judd and Paul through saving JJ's foot from a bear trap.

"Miss Henrietta, the fluids worked." Luna audibly sighs.

"I'm very glad to hear it."

"All right, I'm gonna harness up for the rescue. Judd, can you get him out of there on an ATV?" Owen says.

" Yeah, that ain't a problem. I gotta pick up Marjan, Luna, and Diaz."

"Roger that. See you back at base." Owen says as Luna nods with a smile she was relieved. They wait a few minutes before hearing the pilot's radio.

"Mayday. Mayday. We are going down. This is a distress call. Mayday. Mayday. We are going down."

"Oh, God."

//

It was nighttime now Luna had come back from the great Oaks with Marjan and the others they were sitting on the back of an ATV. Buck, TK, and Mateo walk up covered in dirt and holding supplies.

"Oh, glad to see strike team's already got their feet up." Tk jokes.

"Ooh, you guys must be exhausted. All that go-karting up and down the hill?" Buck's face falls as he notices that everyone is sad.

" You didn't hear, did you?"

" Hear what?" Tk's face falls

They were in the Base command Tent listening to De Leon.

TK slams his hand down on the table. " This is a joke! We know exactly where the chopper went down. So why haven't you sent out a rescue team?"

" As I said, the beacon is coming from two miles inside an active burn zone. It is not safe to send anyone up in the dark."

"Commander, with all due respect, we accept the risk and we ain't asking anybody else to go," Judd explains.

"You know I can't authorize that."

"No those are our people up there," Buck says Luna was trying to keep Tk calm.

"They could be bleeding out right now. Dying."

"Son, we haven't had any cell or radio contact at all since Mayday. Nobody else is risking their lives tonight. And your father would be the first one to agree with me." Tk just walks out and Luna looks at everyone else before following TK.

//

Luna was standing off to the side they had just gotten dinner delivered and everyone was chowing down. She looks up from her phone seeing a plate in front of her, she follows the hand holding it seeing Eddie.

"No thanks, I am not hungry." She simply says as Eddie nods.

"Marjan mentioned you were sick."

Luna curses rolling her eyes. "Yeah, the kid's that we helped the last job sneezed in my face and gave me the flu. I haven't been doing well."

Eddie leans back against the truck "Yeah, well the flu sucks, especially with all this going on."

"I'm okay."

Eddie nods the two enjoying their comfortable silence. "Do you think you will ever come back to L.A.? Everyone misses you Especially Chris. "

Luna thinks for a moment she opens her mouth to speak before Marjan appears with three bags in her hand "TK and Buck are planning to steal a fire truck."

Luna looks at Eddie they grab a bag from Marjan. "Idiots" they follow the two to the Austin Fire truck seeing them trying to climb in.

"Hey, dumbass. Dumbasser. Did you stop and consider the consequences of what you're about to do at all?" Judd yells as they stop in their tracks.

" You don't know Buck."

"You two didn't seriously think that you could sneak off and drive into wildfires, did you?" Marjan says as Luna shakes her head at the men.

" Yes?"

" Well, that ain't gonna happen." Paul sasses.

"You think you're gonna stop us?"

" Stop you? We're going with you." Mateo says.

"Come on, let's go." Eddie opens the door to the back for Luna she hops in first followed by everyone else Judd was driving.

Luna and the rest of the group find the helicopter crashed they search the surrounding area and find Hen's jacket next to a mine shaft, they end up finding everyone there. They were alive, barely holding on but alive. And yes they didn't care about getting in trouble or being reprimanded. Those were their friends some even their family. There was rain that happened and it cleared the fire away. The crews were set to go home

Luna had stopped by her apartment finally having the time to shower. The amount of dirt she felt leave her body was amazing. After her long shower. She padded into her living room sighing, there was a knock at her door and she walked toward it immediately sticking her hand in the decorative plant vase she had next to her door, she had on her on the gun as she looks through the peephole she removes it and opens the door removing the chain.

"Eddie? Come in." She steps to the side. He walks in and she closes the door. "What are you doing here?" She hides one of his shirts behind a couch pillow.

Eddie was looking around her house "nice place"

Luna nods. She folds her arm over her chest. "Why are you here?"

Eddie looks at her he chuckles looking down and she looks at her outfit realizing that she was wearing a very revealing top with short shorts she covers her chest with her arms. Before picking up a couch pillow and covering herself.

"Is that my shirt?" He point to the shirt that was wrapped around the teddy bear. Luna hides behind another pillow and he laughs she was nervous. Her and Perry were fizzing away it was obvious they had lost their touch

"I came here to say goodbye we are headed back to L.A."

Luna nods. "Where's Buck and Hen?"

"Judd told them about this BBQ place like an hour from here and they booked it dropped me off told me they'd be back." He shakes his head. "Although they haven't eaten in like a day so that could be a while."

Luna chuckles "Yeah Buck can eat." They both laugh.

"You look better"

She nods. "Yeah I feel a lot better after a shower. They stand there awkwardly for a few moments "Can I get you anything coffee? tea? Beer?"

"Just water I have to drive back."

Luna nods going to the kitchen to get him water. He sits down on the couch reaching behind the pillow to grab the teddy bear. He picks it up and looks at it smiling. Luna comes back with water and she sits down in the chair. Across from the couch

"Come back with me-us" Eddie sits down the water bottle he sits forward placing his elbows on his knees. "Luna.."

"Eddie. I have a life here."

Eddie sits forward. "You have a life in L.A too? A family. Christopher needs you...Athena needs you.... I need you"

Luna stares at him their eyes boring into each other cold tense glances. And yet all of this intensity and rage was flamed and hot and heavy.

Luna lunges at him their lips immediately connecting they were in love and there was nothing that could stop them anymore.

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