The calm before the storm
Maya was just standing in the aisle and couldn't move, here she was, her wife, alive, awake, smiling, but Maya just couldn't get her feet to move.
"Bambina? Can you come here?" Сarina looked into her favorite blue eyes and saw a mixture of excitement, love and relief. - "I'm fine now, please come, I want to take your hand." As if on cue, Maya ran to the bed and took Сarina's outstretched hand. She was silent and did not take her eyes off her wife. Everyone else in the room decided to give the couple some time alone and quickly left the room. As soon as the door closed behind Andy, Maya burst into tears and, being careful not to touch the wires coming out of Сarina's body, leaned against her.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God....." was all Carina could hear from Maya, "I thought I'd lost you as soon as I saw your car on that road. It looked so terrible, I... I... I couldn't do anything, I just stood there, they wouldn't let me come to you. And then Ben did an ultrasound and saw the fluid in your stomach, it happened so fast, I couldn't do anything." Сarina saw Maya start to hyperventilate
"Maya, please take a deep breath, I'm here now, I'm awake, I'm going to be fine, I'm back with you, I know you were ready to do anything to help me, but you know the rules and I'm grateful that they didn't let you do anything, you would have lost yourself."
"I can't live without you, I wouldn't be able to cope if I lost both you and Drea" Maya began to calm down and speak more clearly, but still did not change her position.
"Drea?" Carina asked, puzzled, maybe she had heard something wrong, because it was hard to understand what Maya was saying.
"Oh my god...." only now it came to Maya what she said, "Сarina, we are going to have a son, I'm sorry, I found out when Ben was doing an ultrasound in the field, I didn't mean to, it just came out by accident"
"Maya, don't worry, I'm glad you found out then. We're going to have a son, a little version of you, as I've always dreamed of from the very beginning of our journey."
Maya leaned her forehead against Сarina's and after a gentle kiss they stayed in this position for another half hour until they heard a light knock on the door
"Hey, Сarina, we were all very worried about you, we asked you not to scare us like that anymore" Teddy said in her joking way
"I promise it won't happen again," Сarina smiled weakly in response. "Now, tell me what's wrong with me and why there are so many different tubes and wires inside me"
At this request, everyone's faces went blank, and Maya slightly moved away from the bed, which Сarina took as a bad sign
"So, Сarina, you were in a head-on collision, the person who did it fled the scene, the police are looking for him, but since there are no cameras and the car is rented, it's hard to do, the police need time. As for your injuries, I must say, the list is long, but with physiotherapy and medication, I expect full rehabilitation and recovery before the birth of little Deluсa" - Teddy smiled at the last words - "If I describe your injuries in general, it is tough. We had to remove 40% of your liver, part of your intestine, you almost lost one kidney, but Meredith worked miracles, so you have two almost healthy kidneys. Your bones have a lot of injuries as well, you have a broken collarbone, two ribs, one of which pierced your lung and the worst situation with your legs, because of your illness we could not insert plates, Link tried to get out of the situation as best he could. You will have to be in a cast for a long time, so we will give you a wheelchair."
The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Maya listened to this for the second time, but it didn't get any easier.
"Wow... Uh, I don't know what to say to that, but I don't feel any pain, although with such injuries I should" Carina was shocked by what she heard and couldn't even find the words to describe her emotions
"While you were in a coma, some injuries started to heal and you are still on very strong painkillers, so it is logical that you do not feel anything, as much as I hate to say it, but soon you will start to feel everything."
Maya saw the fear on her wife's face and immediately turned to her: "Carina, my love, don't worry, the main thing is that you are awake, that you are fine and that Drea is fine. I will always be there for you, you will not be alone and no one will harm you anymore, we will get through this together." Carina could only nod her head.
"Well, with such injuries I am still alive and Drea is too, I am very happy about that, but how did it happen, I was hit from the front. There must have been some kind of impact on my stomach, but I haven't heard anything from you. Maya, Teddy, what are you not telling me?"
Before Teddy could answer, Addison entered the room: "As selfish and narcissistic as it sounds, it's because of me." Montgomery always knew how to make an impressive entrance.
"Dr. Montgomery, thank you from both of us, you saved my wife and my son, I owe you a debt of gratitude." Maya came up and shook hands with the doctor.
"I fully support my wife's words, but I want to hear your opinion about the whole situation" Carina's voice switched to the doctor's, in another situation Maya would have melted from this.
"In fact, I was completely shocked that the uterus, placenta and baby were almost unharmed, there was a small tear at first, but while you were undergoing surgery to restore your collarbone, I fixed everything."
Maya could see the gears turning in Carina's head, but she didn't want to stop it, she needed to think about everything she had heard from her colleague.
"Dr. Montgomery, I just don't know how to thank you, you have always been my idol, but now you are also my son's guardian angel." Against the backdrop of all the events, Carina could not stand it and could not hold back her tears, Maya immediately came closer and began to wipe away the tears that were already rolling down her cheeks with a gentle touch.
"First of all, you can call me Addison, and secondly, I really liked your family, I got attached to you, so I'm just happy that you two are okay. I'm going to ask you two just one thing."
"Of course, Addison," Carina turned to Maya, her face the same smile she had.
"I'm waiting for the invitation to the first birthday party" Everyone in the room laughed at this request, it was in the spirit of Addison Montgomery.
The doctors talked to the couple for a while, discussed the plan of action for the next few weeks and left, Bailey being the last to leave.
"You two are about to drive me crazy, but I'm so happy to see you conscious and smiling. Bishop will be lost without you, so you have to hang in there for yourself, for the future resident of this hospital, for your wife and for all of us, you are too important to this world to leave it, you hear me?" Bailey finished and at that moment all three of them had tears in their eyes again.
"Thank you, Dr. Bailey, I will always try to be here for you all, you are important to me too" and Bailey smiled and left the room.
Now only Maya and Carina were left in the room. All Maya could look at was Carina's face, she just couldn't look away.
"There's a whole bunch of firefighters in the waiting room who want to say hello to you, are you ready for such a noisy company?" Maya asked quietly, as if she was afraid to break the peace.
"You want to invite everyone, are you ready for this?" Carina asked in surprise, half an hour ago Maya had never left her side and kept her hand in hers, and now she wants to invite the whole fire station into the room.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to ask, they were just really worried about you, I thought you'd want to see them, if it's too much I'll tell everyone to go home and come back tomorrow." Maya started babbling at the speed of light again
"Bambina, it's okay, I want to see them, it's true, I'm a little tired, but I can handle a little visit from our friends," Carina smiled gently and squeezed her wife's hand lightly as a confirmation of her words.
"Okay, don't go anywhere, I'll call everyone in a minute," Maya laughed at her own words.
"Oh, so now you're making jokes, Maya Bishop?" Carina laughed as well, although a second later her ribs told her she was not yet up to it. Maya saw a sign of pain on her face and wanted to turn back, but Carina stopped her, "I'm fine, I just forgot about my ribs, follow everyone else, I'm not going anywhere."
Maya went back to the door, opened it and finally turned with a big smile, "This is Deluca-Bishop for you."
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The waiting room was once again full of firefighters, all back in their seats, waiting for at least Andy to come in with the news, ideally Maya would do it, but she wouldn't leave Carina's side even if she woke up.
Vic sat between Travis and Ben: "When do you think Andy is coming, I'm getting really nervous" Just as Vic finished speaking, Andy appeared in front of them. Everyone immediately revived and jumped up to the captain.
"She's awake, Maya is with her now" tears were streaming from Andy's eyes, but his smile was so wide that you could count all his teeth
"Oh my God, we were about to storm the place," Vic joked as usual, but she was so happy that she started hugging everyone and jumping for joy.
"Did you see her, did you talk to her?" Travis started asking Andy, and everyone was listening attentively to their conversation
"No, I didn't have time, she started to refuse the ventilator and Maya came running, so we all went out, the doctors then returned to the ward, but I decided not to interfere, so I went to Сarina's office to prepare things for Maya."
For a few more minutes, everyone hugged and greeted each other, then sat down in their usual places and waited for more news from Maya. About 30 minutes later, they saw the lieutenant walking down the aisle. She had such a happy face, everyone relaxed and could finally exhale.
"Who wants to see yours favorite family member?" everyone heard Maya's joking and happy tone, so they ran up to her without wasting a second. Together they went to the ward.
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Everyone was talking and congratulating Сarina, and she was happy to see the people who had become her real family, without whom she would not have been able to cope. While they were joking and talking, Vic managed to cry a few times and poor Travis had to keep calming her down, everyone just laughed at that. Maya also took part in the conversation, but her attention was focused only on Сarina, she was wondering if her wife was tired from such activity after several days of coma, but watching her happy wife, she was happy too.
"Maya, can you bring more napkins, Victoria has already used all the available packs of napkins in this room" Andy said jokingly.
"I'll bring it right away," Maya left the room smiling and headed to the nurse's station to get some more tissues. On the way she thought about thanking everyone for their support and inviting them to a picnic as soon as Сarina will be well enough to host so many guests at home, while she was thinking a smile appeared on her face again, she was really happy: friends, wife, son - everything she needed for her happiness, but suddenly she bumped into someone and it brought her out of her thoughts.
"I'm sorry, I was thinking and didn't see where I was going," Maya immediately began to apologize to the man who seemed very familiar to her.
"It's okay, I didn't really see where I was going either," the stranger began, but then he stopped talking and began to stare at Maya's face.
"Do I know you?" Maya asked in confusion, this man was so familiar and yet so strange, she couldn't understand who he was and where she knew him from.
The man just kept silent when she asked him a question, when he suddenly clapped his hands, which scared Maya - "That's right, you're Maya Bishop, Lane's daughter. Well done, Olympic champion, your dad is proud of you and talks about you all the time, you come to see him so rarely that I barely recognized you."
These words gave Maya shivers, this man had been friends with her father since childhood, she remembered him very vaguely and now he did not look good. His head was tied up, his arm was in a cast and there were many bruises that were visible from under his clothes
"Yes, I remember you, Uncle David, I haven't seen you in a long time either." Maya forced a smile to avoid appearing rude, but she wanted to get rid of this man so she could return to her wife and friends.
"What are you doing in the hospital? Do you have any health problems? Dad is always complaining that you have given up sports for a firefighting career" With every word this man said, Maya wanted to run away more and more
"I'm here as a visitor, a person close to me has been injured," Maya replied without elaboration and ignoring the second part of her uncle's words
"Oh, I'm sorry, I got hurt a few days ago too, but I did my best. I drove home a little drunk, but don't tell anyone, it'll be our little secret. By the way, Lane also told me that you were dating an immigrant woman and that you wanted to marry her, is it true? Did she spoil you so much?" the man asked, smiling.
As soon as Maya heard this, her eyes darkened with anger, these were Lane's words from A to Z, she no longer just wanted this man to leave, she wanted to hit him so hard that the doctors would be tired of rewinding his head.
"I'm sorry, I have to get back, I wish I could say it was nice to see you, but it wasn't" Without waiting for the man to answer, Maya turned around and continued walking to the nurses' station. As she walked, she heard footsteps behind her.
She reached the station, asked for napkins and started to turn around to go back when she saw Uncle David standing right outside Сarina's room, suddenly, the blood in her veins stopped, Maya froze again, she prayed to all the gods that her uncle did not realize that this was the person Maya was talking about. Without wasting any time, Maya ran to the room and stood between the door and the man
"Uncle David, you can leave, I don't want to see you, and if you try to enter this room, I will call the security," Maya said confidently and insistently
"Wow, what a reaction, is it really that immigrant woman? I see a lot of firefighters, is this your team? How do they feel about your 'relationship'?" the man asked with disgust.
"I'm telling you again, leave here on good terms." Maya stood her ground, her body was like a stone, she clenched all her muscles
"Okay, okay. Cool it, I'm not interested in your relationship, but your father was right about that woman, she made you a loser" he turned and walked away from the room until he stopped at a vending machine.
Maya thought that was it and turned to the door to enter the room. Before doing so, she took a big breath, then exhaled.
"Just forget what he said, you have let go of this situation, they are nobody, they have no right to dictate who I love and who I am with" Maya quietly repeated these words three times, her wife needed her now and she had learned to ignore such statements.
She pushed the door open and seemed to enter a world of jokes, happiness, and peace. Everyone was joking, Vic was crying again, and Сarina was laughing gently along with everyone else. This picture immediately improved Maya's mood, which her father's old friend had been trying so hard to spoil.
"Maya, where did you go for napkins? Vic was just about to wipe her tears on your jacket" Andy immediately turned to the sound of the door opening, something was wrong, she could see it in her friend's face, but decided not to question her yet and tried to defuse the situation with a joke
"Sorry, it takes time to make napkins" Maya easily picked up on the joke, which cheered up the room again.
Maya handed the napkins to Vic and immediately found herself next to Karina. Сarina could see the change in Maya, in her mood, so she squeezed her hand lightly. This was their way of communicating if there were people around and they couldn't exchange words, and Maya responded with a light squeeze. Сarina realized that they would talk about it later.
"Сarina, do you want to hear the story of how Maya forgot a protocol at the academy and thought she was going to be expelled for it? She thought for a whole week that the committee was considering her expulsion?" Andy began to tell her laughing, and Maya immediately rolled her eyes.
"Oh my God, I'd love to hear that" - for Carina to hear that her wife could have forgotten the protocol was impossible, that Maya Bishop could have forgotten anything - impossible, especially fire safety rules
"It was around the fifth week of school..." Before she could finish, someone opened the door and started to enter the room. Everyone turned toward the sound. Vic, Andy, Ben, Sullivan, Ross, and Theo didn't recognize the person, he wasn't wearing a robe or any other clothes that would indicate who he was. But Maya immediately felt angry.
"What are you doing here, I warned you not to come here," Maya began to shout. Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"It's you, you're the bitch who drove into me," the man looked at Сarina, who seemed to be not even breathing, just looking at the man. For a moment, everything was quiet, everyone was silent
"What did you just say?" Theo was the first to speak up
"This woman ran into me five days ago, and she gave me a concussion and a broken arm. I went into debt to pay for my treatment. You owe me money!" the man kept shouting.
Maya stood there and could not believe what she was hearing. This man had almost taken her wife and son away from her and now he was blaming her for everything. She wanted to go over and hit him, but she felt a hand on her arm, she looked down and saw that Сarina was having a panic attack.
"Сarina, Сarina, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick? Is something wrong with the baby?" Ignoring David, she turned to her wife
"Maya, Maya... It's... This man.... Maya, I can't breathe" Сarina's vitals began to rise in panic, and all the machines started beeping. Suddenly the room came to life, nurses started running in. Maya could only see Сarina's frightened face
"So she also got knocked up on the side, so much for your wife, or what is she to you after that" the man said smugly and a smile spread on his face, but no one had time to react to it, because a second after he finished speaking Victoria Hughes' fist hit his jaw. Theo and Sullivan were at his side in an instant, took his hands and led him out of the room, Ben ran after him. Chief Ross went out to call the police and report the incident and new details of the accident. Vic and Andy stayed in the room and tried to help Maya calm Сarina, who was already in full-blown anxiety.
"Carina, focus on Maja, or on me, breathe, it's bad for both you and my godson" Andy tried to joke to bring Carina back to her senses. The Italian smiled, but still breathed shallowly
"It's that man... He told me about him... He knew who it was... He tried to warn me... He helped me," Сarina said quickly. The three women looked at each other, wondering who Сarina was talking about, who "he" was.
"Сarina, my love, who are you talking about, who is 'he' and how did 'he' help?" Maya asked cautiously, stroking her wife's cheek.
"The man who was with me while I was in a coma. I can't remember his name. Why can't I remember" Сarina started to get nervous again and her heart rate rose again
"Сarina, it's okay, you'll remember, just try to calm down, as one of my old and close friends used to tell me, 'calm is the key to most doors'" Vic smiled as she recalled Ripple's words as they thought about how to overcome the relationship problems in the fire system.
After a few minutes, her heart rate calmed down a bit and Maya gently hugged Сarina and kissed her forehead
"You did well, you did well, I'm sorry, it's my fault, I brought that man into this room. He's a friend of my dad's, so he knows all the details," Maya almost cried.
"It's not your fault, bambina, I was just scared, I remembered everything that happened to me at the moment of the collision, I love you," Сarina tried to calm both herself and Maya. - "Vic, Andy, thank you too, I don't know what I would have done without you. And Vic, your friend said a very clever thing, I need to talk to him sometime to gain some wisdom" she smiled, but the mood in the room changed after she said that
"Сarina, you can't. This friend is dead, he was my fiancé and fire chief, his name was Lucas Ripley" Vic said with tears on her face but a gentle smile. This topic was still painful for her.
Lucas Ripley, Lucas Ripley, that's right. Сarina shouted so sharply that everyone jumped
"Сarina, what's wrong????" Maya almost screamed, she was already reaching for the call button, afraid that Сarina was getting worse
"It's him, he was with me while I was in a coma" - Сarina winced in pain from such sudden movements, and Maya immediately turned to her to adjust the pillows and blanket. As soon as she did, Maya looked up and saw a look of complete fear and distrust on Vic's face, Andy looked at Сarina, then Maya and finally Vic. There was a moment's silence, Maya and Andy looked at each other and then at Vic.
"Was Lucas with you?" - Vic finally asked quietly.
"Yes, he helped me. He was always talking about you and the team," Сarina answered immediately.
Andy wanted to say something, but before she could react, Vic started to fall to the ground. The room was in chaos again. Maya barely managed to catch Vic when she lost consciousness.
"Help, I need a gurney," Andy shouted to the nurses while Maya tried to wake Vic up, but she wouldn't wake up.
Doctors ran into the room and connected Vic to the machine. For the second time, Maya saw with her own eyes how her loved one's heart stopped.
"The pacemaker has stopped, call Pierce, call Altman," some unknown doctor shouted. Maya and Andy stood there and couldn't even say a word, Сarina was lying on the bed looking at nothing, it was her fault that her friend was dying, but she didn't have time to go deeper into dark thoughts when they heard the doctor's harsh shout again
"Starting CPR"