11. Chapter 11

Carina goes down to check on Amelia and the baby. Just a quick pop in to see how they are doing before they go home.

She’s surprised to see Meredith Grey in the room. Maybe she shouldn’t be.

“Oh, hello.” Carina makes her entrance. “How is everyone doing today?”

“I’m good.” Linc replies right away. “Thanks for asking.”

“She was talking about me and the baby.” Amelia smirks over at Link.

Carina raises an eyebrow. “Mostly, si. But papa is part of everyone and an important part. So, I will ask again. How is everyone?”

Amelia rolls her eyes. “Come on, Dr. DeLuca.”

Meredith sits in the chair holding baby Scout staying out of the conversation.

“You know how mothers are after they give birth.” Amelia continues.

Carina tilts her head to the side. “Everyone is different. No two births or birth experiences are the same.”

“Right but-“ Amelia glances over at her son, beaming happily at him. “-we absolutely love him and couldn’t be happier.”

“Good.” Carina nods. “Glad to hear.” She looks over Amelia’s chart. All her numbers and labs look good. “I’d say-“ She raises the back of her hand to her mouth to cover a yawn. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’d say if you are feeling up to it and the bambino checks out then the happy family can go home this afternoon.”

“Up all night Dr. DeLuca?” Amelia wiggles her eyebrows.

“Yes. Well, not all night. And nothing like you are suggesting. The fire captain died yesterday at a scene.”

Amelia wrinkles up her face in confusion. She can’t be talking about Maya because Carina surely wouldn’t be standing here right now, if she were.

“Sorry, former captain.”

Amelia sighs. “You had me really confused there for a second.”

“Sorry, it was a long night.”

“Then I probably shouldn’t tell you what I need to tell you.” Meredith stands and hands the baby over to his mother.

“Don’t sound so cryptic, Mer.” Amelia says playfully.

Meredith isn’t playing though. Carina looks over at Meredith and sees the concern on her face. “It’s Andrea?”

Meredith nods. “Would you like to step into the hallway or?” She looks over at Amelia, Linc, and the baby.

Carina glances over too. “You all live in the same house.”

“Yes, and I brought Andrew back to the house yesterday after Richard’s surgery. I found him sitting on the floor against a nurse’s station. He didn’t know what was going on. I think he was coming down from his high.”

“His manic state.” Carina corrects.

“Yes, that.” Meredith nods. “Anyway, he’s at the house. And now that Amelia and Linc and the baby are coming home-“

“You’re worried he’ll get agitated?” Carina asks what Meredith didn’t say.

“Well, he seemed fine with my kids running around this morning. He’s upstairs in the bedroom laying on the bed, curled up in a ball.” Meredith looks around at all the occupants of the room.

“What do you think we should do?” Carina doesn’t know why she says it. She doesn’t know why she is deferring to Meredith. Well, she does. It’s because Andrea won’t have anything to do with her. But for some reason he trusts Meredith to make decisions for him. It stings and that’s why Carina is so cool and indifferent towards Meredith most of the time now.

“Well, I want to wait a few days. See if he snaps out of it.”

Carina doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t like the sound of that idea though. She thinks he needs treatment, and he needs it now. It’s just a matter of how to make that happen at this point. Carina knows he’s in a depressive state now and that would be the time when he might listen to reason, when he isn’t so manic that nothing matters but the one thing on his mind at the time, when they would be able to get through to him.

“But-“ Meredith continues, seeing that Carina is just staring at her from across Amelia’s hosptial bed. “I think we need a back up plan, for if he doesn’t come around.”

“I agree.” Carina nods. She runs a hand through her hair, flipping it over to the other side. Her head spins a little and she feels a headache coming on. Carina rubs at her temple.

“I know, it’s a lot.” Meredith says, gently.

“I just wish he would talk to me.” Carina sighs. “I spent half the night up talking to Maya. She’s finally comfortable enough to open up to me, at least about work stuff, that with a little prodding and patience she usually tells me everything. I wish I could get Andrea to do that. He’s so private and closed off most of the time.”

“He is.” Meredith agrees.

“Can I come over and see him after my shift?” She hopes that maybe she can talk Andrea into getting treatment.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Meredith knows Andrew doesn’t want to talk to his sister.

“I have to try.” Carina nearly begs.

“Yeah, sure. I just don’t know how responsive he’s going to be.” Meredith gives Carina a sad smile.

Carina hangs her head. “I know.”

Amelia reaches out and takes Carina’s hand, giving it a squeeze.

“Grazie.” Carina mumbles. This has really brought down the mood in the room. Carina takes a deep breath. “I should get going. I have other patients to see. It was good seeing you all and seeing the piccolino.”

“Okay, have a good day.” Amelia tells her, giving her a sympathetic smile.

Carina smiles sadly and turns to exit the room. She walks down the hallway before finding a chair outside one of the rooms and has a seat. She just needs a minute. Carina knew this is the path Andrea was on. She knew they would get to this day. She knew that but that doesn’t make it any easy. It’s not something you can really prepare yourself for in totality.

It’s been a long day. The paperwork. Checking in on Andy and Sullivan. Getting a sense of where the team is at with dealing with Captain Herrera’s death. Dealing with her own emotions while remaining strong and capable has forced Maya’s head to pound with pain. She sets her pen down and rubs at her temples.

All of that and having to argue with Dixon about her emotions. She didn’t want to cry in front of him. Anybody but him. He doesn’t need another excuse to boot her from the job. But he’s got more than one now. He goes in on her about letting Pruitt onto the roof. He blames her, even though Sullivan is just as much ‘at fault’ as she is.

She knows where she stands. She knows he’s not going to do anything to Sullivan. Sullivan is his golden child. Maya is mad, on top of sad, on top of grieving, on top of exhausted. But she argued with him to give Pruitt a line of duty funeral anyway. Which he isn’t going to do.

It’s all so much.

After Dixon leaves, there’s on knock on her door. Maya has her head down on the desk hoping her headache well magically go away. “What?”

“Hey, Cap.” Vic tries to say with as much cheer as possible.

Maya raises her head and squints at Vic. “What do you need?”

“Rough night last night?” Vic slides into the chair opposite Maya.

“You were hammered. How are you ever vertical?”

Vic smiles. “I always bounce back like nothing ever happened.”

Maya frowns. “I wasn’t that drunk.” Her stomach grumbles. She couldn’t stomach anything this morning but water and a half piece of toast that Carina made her eat before she let her leave for work. She smiles thinking about how much Carina cares for her. “But, I was up half the night.”

“Doing?”

Maya shrugs.

“Sexy things?” Vic inquires.

Maya groans. “Do you think now is the time for sexy things?”

“No.” Vic hangs her head. She knows it’s not.

“What’s up with you and Avery?” Maya asks, turning the subject back on Vic.

Vic shrugs. “You know about that?”

“I’m the captain. I know everything.” Maya folds her hands together on the desktop. “So, where’s that at?”

Vic groans. “It’s so frustrating. Jackson’s like an old man. He wants to go slow and be friends and develop a relationship. I don’t know. It’s all over the place.”

Maya just nods and smiles.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Vic grumbles and bows her head before thinking of something. “How’s your doctor?”

Maya’s smile grows. “Fine. Thank you.”

“Oh, come on. That’s all you’re going to give me?”

“Yep.” Maya nods.

Vic groans. “Get up, you’re coming with me.”

“Where are we going, Hughes?”

“You’ll see.” Vic grabs on to Maya’s elbow and drags her through the station.

“I don’t want to see. I want to know before I get there.” Maya grumbles, not liking the idea. She knows Vic has something up her sleeve and she knows it probably has to do with this calendar idea.

“I feel like you could be a summer month. A hot chick for a hot month.” Vic mumbles mostly to herself.

“I’m a fire captain for the Seattle Fire Department. I hardly think that’s appropriate.” Maya argues.

“Oh, come on. Do it to cheer me up.” Vic stops them and looks over at Maya with a pout. “Please?”

Maya rolls her eyes. “Fine.” She knows it’s for a good cause.

She doesn’t really know how she got there but somehow Carina is getting out of her car at the fire station. One minute was finishing her shift at the hospital, the next she was at Meredith’s place trying to talk to her brother. And now. Carina looks up at the front of the fire station.

Her feet take her forward seemingly of their own accord. It’s like Carina isn’t even telling them to do it. They just now what to do. Like her body is on autopilot and it knows exactly where it needs to go, needs to be.

“Hey, Dr. DeLuca.” Travis smiles when he spots her. “What are you doing here? We were just reminiscing about all the good stories we have of Captain Herrera.” The crew sits around the table.

Carina isn’t in a smiley mood though. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disrupt. I can come back another time.”

Maya pops out of her chair and turns towards Carina. “Hey.” She mouths.

Carina nods. “You guys are busy. I’ll go.”

Maya hurries over to her and catches Carina’s elbow before she can turn away. She knows something is up by the way Carina’s eyes don’t sparkle like they usually do or how she hasn’t smiled yet.

“You’re welcome to sit with us.” Vic offers. “Even though you didn’t know Pruitt.”

“No, that’s fine. I don’t want to interrupt.” Carina offers.

Maya hums. Something is really wrong with this woman. “We’ll be in my office.” Maya mumbles and tugs gently at Carina’s elbow to turn her towards the office.

“What’s up?” Maya asks. She doesn’t want to use the word wrong because, well, that implies that something is wrong, and it is, and Maya knows that, but she doesn’t want to voice it.

“Andrea.” Carina sighs and hangs her head.

“Here.” Maya offers up her office chair, leading Carina to sit in it. She pulls another chair around the desk and sets it facing Carina. “What happened?”

“I’m not really sure, to be honest. He won’t get out of bed. He diagnosed Richard and was in the surgery but then after- Meredith found him. He was confused and didn’t know what was going on, so she brought him home and I just went to see him.” Carina sighs. “He looks so small and so scared and so broken.”

Maya rubs her palms up and down Carina’s thighs, leaning forward in the chair, hanging onto every word that leaves Carina’s lips.

“He needs treatment, but Meredith wants to wait. See if he snaps out of it.” Carina puts on a Meredith accent, mocking her. “But he’s not just going to snap out of it, Maya. I’ve seen it before. With my father, with Andrea even. He could be like this for weeks or longer if something isn’t done.”

“Then do something. What’s stopping you?”

“Meredith. Andrea.” Carina takes Maya’s right hand in between hers. The rubbing on the legs is soothing but more distracting than anything. “He won’t even talk to me. I just visited him. He’s just a lump in the bed. All I got were a few grunts from him.”

“Come here.” Maya stands up. Carina raises an eyebrow. “Come on.” Maya gives her a half smile.

Carina stands and Maya wraps her in a tight hug. She sighs, thankful more than anything that Maya understands this and that Maya is willing to be there. No one has ever done that. Be there to care and to listen to her problems or what she is going through, until now. Until Maya. Carina had been afraid to tell Maya anything about herself. That old fear of rejection. That old fear of no one caring. That feeling that she wasn’t worth caring about. No one has ever focused on her the way Maya is focusing on her right now.

Maya loosens the hold she has on Carina so she can lean back and look into her eyes. That sparkle isn’t quite there, but it’s better than when she first arrived at the station. Those rich brown eyes a little brighter than they were earlier. “I have an idea.” Maya whispers.

Carina raises an eyebrow.

“Follow me.” Maya takes a step back; her hands find Carina’s as she steps backwards again. Carina takes a step forward and Maya walks backwards until they are in her bunk room. “Sit.” Carina does as she’s told and sits on the edge of the bed. Maya gets down on the floor on her knees. She unzips the little zipper on the side of Carina’s heeled boot and pulls it off of her foot. She looks up and locks eyes with Carina and starts rubbing her foot.

Carina closes her eyes when they start to fill with tears. Maya’s hands and fingers rub and massage her foot for a minute before she goes to take the other boot off. Carina sighs once her foot is released. It wasn’t a particular hard day at work and her feet aren’t sore but it’s still nice to have her feet free from shoes. She opens her eyes when the magic hands are gone, and Maya is standing up.

Maya goes over to the little sink. “Do you want some water?” She washes her hands.

“Yes, please.”

Maya fills a glass and brings it back over to the bed. She lets Carina get a big drink before taking the glass back. Maya pops two ibuprofen in her mouth and washes them down with a gulp of water. “I have a headache.” She explains.

Carina puts a hand on the small of Maya’s back just now remembering all the ‘stuff’ Maya had to deal with today. “How did it go today?”

Maya shrugs. “Not terribly, I guess. I could have held my cool with Dixon better, but it is what it is. I’m not going to worry over it. What’s done is done. I will defend my decisions and choices and myself, but he’s not ever going to see things my way so there’s not much point.”

“Do you have any more of those?”

“What?” Maya glances over at Carina.

Carina lays her head on Maya’s shoulder. “I have a headache too.”

Maya pops off from the bed without saying anything. She grabs two more ibuprofen and comes back with a full glass of water. “Sounds like we both had absolutely wonderful days.” Maya chuckles sarcastically.

“It’s a little better now.” Carina says and swallows the pills that Maya hands to her.

The soft pleased smile on Maya’s face is more than anything to tell Carina that it’s the same for her. “You wanna lay down?” Maya whispers, there’s something scary about asking that. It’s not like it’s not something they’ve done before. Heck, they sleep in the same bed more nights than not nowadays. But, this, here, at the station. It feels different.

Carina is laying down almost before Maya even finishes asking. Maya nods and lays on the bed on her side, facing Carina.

“Take your shoes off.” Carina mumbles.

“I can’t.” Maya shakes her head lightly. They have to stay on in case there is a call, and she has to rush off. She reaches up and tucks some of Carina’s loose hair behind her ear. She circles back to Andrew. “Just so you know-“ She swallows down the thickness in her throat. “-whatever you need, with Andrew, I’ll do what I can.” Maya isn’t going to make any promises because she has work and is captain and sometimes you can’t just work around that. But, if she’s available and free than she’s willing to offer up support for both DeLuca siblings.

Carina closes her eyes. “Thank you, bambina.” It’s almost overwhelming the amount of support that she is receiving from Maya. At one point, Carina wasn’t sure if Maya was even capable of it but now, now Maya is offering so much even if she doesn’t know she is doing it.

“You.” She runs her finger across Carina’s forehead. “Are.” And down her nose. “Very.” And a thumb across her cheekbone. “Welcome.” And then nudges Carina’s jaw with a curl knuckle. Maya seals it with a soft kiss. Carina shudders and shakes a little and it takes Maya a moment to realizes that she is crying. “Hey. No.” She sets her palm on Carina’s cheek. “It’s okay. I’m sorry. Did I say the wrong thing? I didn’t mean-“

Carina is shaking her head. “No, Maya.”

“Okay, then what is it?” Maya worries.

“Every- everything.” Carina stutters.

Maya hums. She leans in and presses her lips to Carina’s again. She’s not sure what to say, so she doesn’t say anything. She kisses Carina’s chin and her cheek and her nose before pressing her lips to Carina’s forehead and letting them linger there. “You’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out.” Maya gulps down the bit of uneasiness at those words. “Andrew will get treatment and he will get better. I’m sure of it.”

“I have an idea.” Carina says, her voice is hoarse. She’s been thinking about her idea since Meredith told her Andrea was unwell this morning when she was visiting Amelia and the baby. She isn’t proud of the idea that floats around in her head, but she can’t think of anything else that could work. Carina will need help though and she will need to get others on board with her idea, but if she does, it just might work.

Maya hums waiting for Carina to voice this idea, but Carina shakes her head. “I can’t tell you yet.”

“Okay.” Maya is fine with that. As long as there is a yet at the end of the sentence it means Carina will tell her when the time is right. She rubs her hand up and down Carina’s back. “Okay.”

Maya speaks quietly as she tells Carina in detail about her day. She talks about Dixon and the calendar fundraiser and how ridiculous she thought she looked in a swimsuit and her turnout pants.

“Amazing.” Carina mumbles sleepily.

“What?” She hadn’t thought Carina had been listening. Maya was mostly talking for something to do, to fill the silence, to give them something other than the sad negative thoughts in their heads.

Her eyes had been closed as she listened to Maya talk. “I bet you looked amazing.” Carina yawns.

Maya chuckles and shakes her head a little. “Thanks, babe. But you didn’t see it.” Maya dances her fingers up and down Carina’s arm. She alternates between that and just holding onto her hand loosely. She keeps talking about the set up and what Travis and Vic had her do and how ridiculous it all seemed. Maya talks and speaks lightly and doesn’t realize that Carina has fallen asleep.

“What else did you do today?” Maya asks the question but doesn’t get a response from the Italian.

“Carina?” Her eyes search all of Carina features for any clue that she is awake. There are none.

So, Maya slips her arm over Carina’s hip, resting it there, still, and watches her sleep for a little bit. She’s not surprised with everything that’s happened in the last two days. The poor woman is probably exhausted.

She is interrupted by a knock on her office door though. She barely hears it from inside the bunk room. Maya would willingly lay in bed all day with Carina just to make her feel better. But she quickly and as quietly as possible gets out of bed and scrambles to the bunk room door. She slips out into her office and runs a hand over her hair, smoothing it out from where she had been laying on it.

“Oh, there you are. Did Carina leave?” Vic plops down in a chair.

Maya raises her index finger to her lips and shakes her head. “No.” She whispers.

Vic quirks an eyebrow at that.

“She’s sleeping.” Maya speaks quietly.

“Awwww.” Vic coos.

Maya walks over to where Vic is seated. She stands next to her and folds her arms over her chest, trying to look intimidating. “After our little rendezvous last night, I showed up at her place and kept her up half the night. So, she’s tired.” Maya leaves out the part about Andrew.

“Look at you, Bishop.”

“What about me?” Maya grumbles, not liking where this is going already.

“Taking care of your girl.”

Maya only hums in reply. She looks away from Vic. “It’s what she’s done for me.” It’s barely above a whisper.

“So, you feel obligated to do the same or return the favor or whatever?”

Maya shrugs. That’s not how she feels. The word obligated makes it sound so negative. It’s not an obligation. It’s not anything other than Maya feeling like she wants to be there for Carina during a hard time. It’s a want or a need not an obligation.

“I just came to see if you guys wanted to join us for a few rounds of cards in a little bit but-“ Vic tips her head towards Maya’s bunk room.

“Maybe another time.” Maya mumbles, still in her head about why she wants to take care of Carina. Everything she thinks of circles back to one thing. The one thing that she feels but scares her and terrifies her and doesn’t know how to do. Love.

She wonders for a moment if that’s why Carina has taken care of her. Love. Does Carina love her? It’s one thing to think you are in love with someone. It’s a completely entirely other thing to realize or be told that someone is in love with you or loves you back. It’s like the possibility that Carina loves her has just entered Maya’s mind for the very first time. She wonders if it’s possible. Or how it’s possible.

Maya doesn’t do love. She doesn’t think anyone has ever loved her. Well, maybe her dad. He loved her so much that he trained her himself and got her to the Olympics and won gold. But other than that. And that’s a different kind of love. That’s familial love. The love of a parent for a child. This isn’t. This is something different. Bigger. Scarier. Romantic love.

“Maya?”

Maya raises an eyebrow. “Hmm.”

“Where’d you go?”

Maya sets her jaw, slightly on edge because of her own thoughts. “I’m right here.”

Vic laughs lightly and taps at her skull.

Maya rolls her eyes. “Get out.” She nods at the door.

“Oh, come on. The guys are driving me nuts. Can’t I just stay in here for a while.” They just keep talking about Pruitt and Vic doesn’t want to talk about Pruitt anymore. She’s sad and she just wants to be sad and not be forced to reminisce. Vic told them she was coming to get Maya so they could start a game of cards.

“No.”

“Please?” Vic begs.

Maya thinks it over. She feels bad for Vic. For the whole team. They are going through a lot of emotions right now. “Whatever. But only if you are quiet. I don’t need you waking Carina up.”

Vic smirks. “So, what’s the plan?”

“For?”

Vic shakes her head. She can’t believe Maya hasn’t thought this through yet. “There’s a girl sleeping in your bunk.”

“Carina’s not a girl.”

Vic wants to laugh but saves her friend from it. “No. She’s a grown ass woman. Asleep in your bunk. At the fire station where you are the captain.”

Maya’s eyes get big and wide. “Oh.”

“That might look bad.”

“Well, no one is going to know if you don’t tell anyone.” Maya shrugs.

Vic stands from her chair to leave Maya to handle her little predicament. “I won’t but- you know you can’t let her sleep here all night.”

Maya bows her head with a sigh. “I know. I just feel bad. Last night- I woke her up. And I don’t want to have to do it again.”

“I know.” Vic pats Maya on the arm. “But you have to. Get her a cab home and wake her up and send her off.” She suggests. Maya nods. “We’ve all had a rough few days. I’m sure she understands.”

“We were just laying down. She wasn’t supposed to fall asleep.”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me, Maya.” With that Vic leaves to go find the guys and give Maya a little time with Carina. She gets to the door and turns and gives Maya a wink.

“What was that for?”

“This is a side of you I’ve never seen before. That’s all.” Vic likes seeing this softer side of Maya.

Maya huffs and rolls her eyes. So what? She has a soft spot for Carina and wants to do things for her and take care of her and make her feel better. That doesn’t mean she was some emotionless crazy person before. Or uncaring or whatever Vic thinks.

“Seriously. You should join us for cards. When you’re done here.” Vic nods at the bunk room.

Maya nods in reply and looks over at the closed door. Vic makes her exit and Maya goes back to the bunk room door. She puts her hand on the handle and opens the door slowly. She doesn’t want to have to do this. Can’t she just let Carina sleep? What’s the big problem with that?

“Carina.” She whispers and sits on the edge of the mattress. She rubs her hand up and down Carina’s arm. “Wakey wakey.” She coos and wonder where the words came from. Maya has never said anything like that in her entire life. It’s sound so chessy coming from her mouth.

Carina rolls onto her back and puts an arm across her eyes, hiding them in her elbow.

“I’m sorry to do this but you can’t sleep here.” Maya reaches up and gently pulls Carina’s arm away from her face.

“It’s your fault.” Carina pouts.

“Oh really?” Maya giggles.

“Yeah, you wanted us to lay down.”

Maya shrugs. “Fair.”

That gets a little giggle out of Carina.

“I’ll take the blame for that. But what I won’t take the blame for is having a civilian sleep the entire night in my bunk.” Maya explains.

Carina pushes herself up onto her elbows. “I know. But thank you.”

Maya shakes her head. “You don’t need to-“

Carina cuts her off with a kiss to her lips. She wraps her hand around the back of Maya’s head and pulls her in tight thanking her through her kiss. She releases Maya’s lips with a wet smack. Maya chases after her for more but Carina leans back. “Thank you, Captain Bishop.” She puts a hand on Maya’s chest, keeping her at bay.

Maya groans. “You can’t do that.”

“I just did.” Carina wiggles her eyebrows. She yawns then and raises her arms to stretch. “This letto isn’t bad.” She pushes her hands up and down against the mattress. Though her nap was short Carina feels a little better. “How long was I asleep?”

“Half hour maybe.” Maya shrugs. She didn’t clock it. “I can call you a cab and make sure you get home okay. Or I can have one of the guys take you in the station truck.”

“The fire truck?” Carina doesn’t think that’s right.

Maya shakes her head. “It’s just a pickup truck for the captain or battalion chief or whoever is the bigwig at that station.”

“Bigwig.” Carina tries the strange term that she has never heard anyone use before. “I can drive. I drove here.”

“Are you sure? It’s late. I can arrange something. I just-“

Carina puts a hand on Maya’s bicep. “Are you worried about me?”

Maya pouts and nods.

“I’ll be fine, Maya. Will you walk me out?”

Maya nods. She stands and waits for Carina to sit up and put her shoes back on. She watches her intently, thinking about what has played out between them in the last two days. The support she’s gotten from Carina and vice versa is intense. It’s a feeling Maya isn’t accustomed to. She’s never had anyone that was a positive support with a cheery disposition and attitude. The lightness and positive that Carina brings into Maya’s life is rather eye opening for her.

That cheery disposition is absent today and it makes Maya sad. She’s sad that Carina is sad. It seems so wrong for the wonderful, bright, amazing Italian to be sad about anything.

“Ready.” Carina stands.

Maya nods and holds out her hand automatically. She smiles when Carina smiles just a tiny bit as she takes Maya’s hand. It’s the little things. A little smile here or there when the mood is somber to lift it up just a little.

They silently out the front of the station, into the parking lot. Carina unlocks her car. They stand facing each other at the driver’s side door neither quite sure what to say.

Carina looks down between them at the ground before raising her eyes again. Her slowly rakes her eyes up Maya’s body, her uniform, the collar of her button down with the silver bars on it. She thinks about asking Maya what they mean. But now isn’t the time.

Instead, she slips two fingers the snaps on Maya’s shirt, hooking her and pulling her close. “One day I’d like to be the one to take this uniform off of you.”

It takes Maya a moment to get the suggestive reference. “Oh.” Her eyes get big. “OH.”

Carina chuckles lightly.

Maya always gets changed at the station but she’s thinking right now that maybe one day she could wear her uniform home after a shift.

Carina wraps her arm around Maya’s shoulder and guides her into a long, slow kiss. She takes her time and really relishes in the simplicity of the kiss. It’s not rushed. Not hungry. It’s a simple assurance to say hey I’m here and you’re here and thank you and you’re welcome and you’ve got this. A bit of a check in. To be on the same page with each other.

“Maya.” Carina sighs her name.

“I love the way you say my name.” Maya knows it’s not the right thing to say right now but she couldn’t help it. “No one says it the way you do.”

“It’s the accent, isn’t it?” Carina raises an eyebrow.

Maya shakes her head. “I don’t know if it’s that. You’re accent is very sexy though. Have I told you that before?”

“You may have.” Carina smirks.

“It just the way you say it like it’s- I don’t know-“ Maya shrugs. “Important or something. Like it matters. Like it means something.”

“Oh Maya.” Carina rolls her name off her tongue again. “It is important. You are important. Just like your name.”

All Maya can do is nod. She doesn’t always feel important. When someone calls her Captain Bishop she feels important. But never before has she felt important when someone called her simple Maya. Her mom would always say her name quietly. Her dad hardly used her Maya, calling her kiddo or sport or champ instead. There’s just something about the way Carina says it that has Maya thinking about it, that’s all.

“You should go home. Get some sleep.” Maya locks eyes with Carina. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Carina nods. “I’ll see you-?”

“After next shift. We need a date night.”

A small smile tugs at Carina’s lips. After everything that’s been going on she’s more than happy to spend a quiet night with Maya. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Don’t get your hopes up too high. I’m not good at that stuff, remember.”

Carina leans in a presses a kiss to the corner of Maya’s mouth. “As long as it’s with you it will be amazing.”

Maya rolls her eyes at the cheesy line but she feels the same. They could do absolutely nothing but sit on the couch and it would be a perfect evening. “I’ll think of something.”

“Okay, bella. I’ll see you. Call me in the morning.” Carina squeezes Maya’s arm and reaches for the car door.

“Wait.” Maya stops her and reaches out to pull Carina into one last hug. “One for the road.”

They stand in an embrace for a long minute. “Okay. I’m ready.” Maya mumbles. She thinks she needed that as much or more than Carina did.

“I’m not.” Carina holds onto her for a little bit longer. “Okay. Now. Or I’m never going to let go.” She releases Maya from the hug and takes a step back. “Bye.” She gets in the car and rolls down the window.

“Get back to work, Captain Bishop. No more fraternizing with civilians.”

Maya bends down and looks into the window. “I didn’t mean to call you a civilian- earlier.” She cocks her head to the side.

“I know. I’m teasing you.”

“Right.” Maya nods. “I knew that.” And she did, it’s just that everything is so crazy it’s hard to tell up and down from left and right and jokes for seriousness right now. “I’ll see you later. I lo- like your car.” Maya panics. “By the way. I like your car. Have I told you that? Very fancy. Very professional. Very doctor like.” She doesn’t even know what she is saying.

Carina chuckles. “Thank you, Maya.” She says smoothly, totally catching Maya’s near slip of the tongue. “It’s late. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

Maya just nods and takes a step back. She’s making a complete fool of herself. “Bye.” She waves a little.

Carina smiles and waves and shift her car into gear and driving out of the parking lot. Maya watches until she can’t see the car anymore before sighing and going back inside. She’s got a lot to think about.