25. Chapter 25

Maya anxiously paces the living room.

“You need to calm down.” Carina sighs lightly as she stirs the pot on the stove.

Maya stops. Her back to Carina. She grimaces and slowly turns around. “What did you just say?”

Carina looks over her shoulder at Maya. She raises an eyebrow at her. “I said- you need to calm down. You’re going to wear a hole in the floor.” Carina gives her a soft smile before returning to her pot.

Maya frowns and stomps out of the living room into the bathroom and closes the door a little harder than she probably should have. She wraps her hands around the edge of the sink and stares at herself in the mirror. Rationally, Maya knows she needs to calm down. She knows she’s overthinking this. She knows that Carina didn’t mean what she said with any malice, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t grind her gears a little.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Maya has been working on that lately. Controlling her breathing when she’s starting to feel out of control. It works some of the time to calm her down, but not always. She knows it’s not a good thing for a fire captain to be having panic attacks. She also knows it’s from the stress of everything that’s been happening in her life with her father and in the world in general with the pandemic and basically every other issue that has come up in the last couple of weeks.

There’s been a lot going on.

And now, today, she knows. She knows it’s not a big deal and she shouldn’t be so anxious about it, but she is meeting Carina’s brother. Like properly meeting him. They’ve seen each other in passing. And the meeting over the phone when she and Carina were in Victoria. But that doesn’t count. Now counts. And Maya wants to make a good impression. She wants to show Andrew that she can be trusted, that is she honest, and that she loves Carina.

So, today is different. They are having dinner together. Andrew is coming over and they are going to have proper conversation and share a meal. He is the closest family member that Carina has, and she knows that he is an important part of her life. She also knows that the siblings don’t always see eye to eye but he is her little brother.

Maya knows a thing or two about that. A wave of guilt crashes over her thinking about her own brother. She wonders where he is and how he’s doing. She wishes she could help him like Carina has helped Andrew.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door.

“Yeah.” Maya mumbles.

The door opens slowly, and Carina peeks her head in. “Stai bene?”

Maya closes her eyes and shakes her head. Carina pushes into the bathroom. She slides up next to Maya at the sink, putting a hand on her shoulder. “What’s happening?”

Maya opens her eyes and looks into the mirror, looking at Carina through the mirror. “Don’t tell me to calm down.” She mumbles, feeling silly.

Carina hums. She wraps her arms around Maya’s shoulder and leans in and press a sweet kiss to her cheek. “I’m sorry.” She presses her forehead to Maya’s temple. “I didn’t mean it in a negative way. I just know how you get sometimes.”

Maya sighs and turns into Carina, wrapping her arms around her waist. “I’m just nervous.”

There’s a chuckle from Carina. “Dio mio. He’s just my stupid baby brother.”

Maya smiles and rolls her eyes.

Carina runs her hands down Maya’s arms until she finds her hands on the small of her back. She grabs the wrists and unwraps Maya’s arms from around herself. “Come help me. Take your mind off of it.” She pulls Maya out of the bathroom with her and into the kitchen. She holds out the spoon to Maya. “Stir.”

“I don’t think this is going to help.”

Carina takes Maya’s hand and literally puts the spoon in her grasp and then puts her hand over the pot with the spoon dipping in and stirring. She wraps her body around Maya from behind as they stir the pot together.

“This is ridiculous.” Maya grumbles but secretly she loves it. She loves the feel of Carina pressed up against her. She loves that they are ‘cooking’ together.

Carina tilts her head down and presses a kiss to Maya’s shoulder. And then another to the side of her neck. She feels the involuntary shiver in Maya’s body. She nips a bit at Maya’s skin with her teeth and it pulls a slight moan from Maya. “Ridiculous now?” Carina teases. She knows the effect she can have on Maya and uses that to her advantage to distract her.

There’s a knock on the door and they both turn towards it. “I’ll get it.”

Carina answers the door. Andrew leans against the doorframe with a smirk on his face. He looks into the apartment sees Maya standing a few feet behind Carina. He thinks that’s suitable for what he’s about to say. “Playing house with a firefighter?” He teases. Carina told him all about how she was moving in with Maya and he could see just how happy and excited Carina was.

“Shut up you poop head.” Carina groans.

“Shit head.” Maya says under her breath correcting Carina, but she is utterly confused by what Andrew said.

“Tradition.” He holds out the bottle of wine to his sister. “Even though I can’t drink any. My hope is to get you drunk enough to reveal all sorts of embarrassing stories about yourself.” Andrew wiggles his eyebrows at Maya.

Maya tilts her head to the side.

“Are you going to invite me in? Or should I just stand here in the doorway all evening?” He’s a bit of a smart ass.

Carina rolls her eyes but opens her arms and Andrew steps inside and she wraps him up in a hug. “You look good, fratello.”

“Grazie. I feel good. Maybe for the first time in a few months, I feel good.”

Carina hums, so happy for him. She’s seen him at work, but seeing him now, outside of work with a smile on his face and a little hop in his step, he looks good.

“Okay, next.” He pushes his sister away playfully. “The infamous Captain Bishop.”

Despite herself, Maya blushes. She doesn’t know what it is about these two and their compliments and flirting but it has Maya all frazzled. She can tell they are siblings just from that alone. “I hope you’ve only heard good things.”

“Oh, well, mostly.” Andrew plays around. He holds his arms out and Maya steps into his embrace.

Carina watches with her arms crossed casually over her chest. Andrew winks at her over Maya’s shoulder.

“I did hear about the not so flattering sidestep you took with Jack.”

“Andrea!” Carina nearly yells.

Maya takes a step back, pulling away from Andrew’s hug, she stares down at the floor.

“Hey, we all have our issues and flaws. Just look at me.” Andrew is embracing the fact that he has bipolar. It’s not something that he is ashamed of anymore. He just needs to learn how to stay healthy and live with it now.

“Yeah, but you didn’t cheat on your girlfriend because you were messed up.” Maya still feels guilty about it.

“True. But I didn’t have a girlfriend either, to cheat on. Hey.” He puts a hand on Maya’s shoulder, and it gets her to look up. “I’m not here to berate you or shame you or anything like that. It was meant to be lighthearted. You know, I’ve also heard that you are both past that. And that we are here to celebrate you having moved in together and my improved health.”

Maya nods and gives him a weak smile.

“How about I open this?” He raises the bottle of wine that is still in his hand.

“There’s a corkscrew in the drawer to the right of the sink.” Maya mumbles.

Andrew steps away from her to go find the corkscrew. Carina steps in to replace Andrew. “You okay?” She wraps Maya in her arms.

Maya takes a deep breath. “Yeah.”

“Bene. Ti amo.” Carina kisses her briefly. But it’s never one brief kiss with them, though. It’s one short kiss and then another slower exchange.

Andrew turns around and sees them standing their kissing. “Oh, god. How does this always happen?” He goes off into a long string of Italian sentences that Maya only can pick a few words out of.

For her part, Carina sucks her bottom lip into her mouth to try to suppress her giggles.

He switches back to English and points at Carina. “Did she tell you that I found out that she was in Seattle by walking into the place where I lived and there she was, half naked, making out with Arizona Robbins on the couch?”

Carina scoffs. “My shirt was just unbuttoned.”

“Or about the time at the intern mixer when I was walking down the hall with Robbins and we were talking about me moving out because she had a lot going on with her daughter and-“ He waves his hand at Carina. “And that I was going to move in with Owen and there Owen and Carina were making out in a supply closet.”

Andrew throws his hands in the air. “And now this.”

“Except you don’t live here.” Carina points out.

“Thank god for that.” He rolls his eyes before pouring two glasses of wine.

“Is all of that true?” Maya asks.

“Yes!”

“Don’t listen to him. But those things did happen. It’s not a big deal. Andrea is just weird about sesso.”

“I am not. I’m weird about having to watch my sister have sex.”

“I wasn’t having sex.”

“But you did after I saw you, both times. Yes?”

Carina shrugs. “Well-“ She’s not going to deny it. Carina goes over at takes the wine glasses from the counter and brings one back to Maya.

“So, what’s for dinner?” Andrew switches the subject like he never brought it up in the first place.

“I made risotto.” Carina tells him.

“No pasta?” Andrew asks.

“Sorry, no. Maya says we eat too much pasta, so I thought I’d change it up.”

“I wasn’t complaining.” Maya buts in.

“I know, bambina.” Carina reaches up and puts her palm on back of Maya’s neck, scratching lightly at the skin there with her fingertips.

Andrew hums. Pasta is his favorite, so he’s just a little surprised that Carina didn’t make any sort of pasta dish. But he can see how much pull Maya has on Carina and even the influence on what she makes for their dinner tonight. It’s very evident as they stand there across from him. Maya with her wine glass in her left hand and her other arm around his sister’s waist. He thinks they look good together. “It’s crazy but you guys look perfect together.”

Maya scoffs. “I’m not perfect.”

“Maya.” Carina scolds softly. A whisper.

“But she sure is.” Maya adds.

It’s Andrew’s turn to scoff. He turns his back to them and looks into the pot of risotto. “She’s far from perfect. Trust me. She’s stubborn and has a terrible Italian temperament.” He stirs the dish. “What are we waiting for if this is ready?”

“The bread.”

“You have a nice apartment, Maya.” He says it to get a rise out of Carina.

“Hey, I live here too.” Carina takes offense to that.

“Thank you, Andrew. But it is our apartment now.” She smiles up at Carina and is rewarded with a sweet kiss.

Andrew spins around and leans against the counter. “I do like this though.” He nods at them when they are through with the kiss. “You have my approval.”

Carina rolls her eyes. “I don’t need your approval. Or anyone’s approval. I do what I want, not what other people want.”

“And that is another one of your flaws. Miss Independent, who doesn’t stick to one thing for very long. Whether it’s a place, or a job, or just a research project, or person. It’s always about the next thing and never getting bogged down with one thing. Sometimes life can be great if you just keep it simple.”

“Oh, please. You are the same way. It’s the doctors in us. We are always looking for improvements in our patients lives, in our lives, it’s just in our nature. And don’t try to deny it.”

Maya watches them argue. She wonders about Andrew’s point and if he is correct about his sister.

“If papa were to have another episode, would you go back to Italy and tend to him?” Andrew brings up an interest point.

“No.” Carina hugs an arm around herself. The other still holding her wine glass.

“You say that, but you’ve done it before. What’s stopping you from doing it again?” Andrew challenges.

“Maya.” She says matter-of-factly.

Her eyebrows shoot up at the mention of her name. “What?” Maya was just an innocent bystander in this conversation until now.

“Really?” Andrew asks. “Wow.” He knows that means Carina is serious about this relationship.

“Oh, don’t do that.” Carina sets her wine glass on the counter. “Move.” She shoves Andrew out of the way to get at the stove. She checks on the bread and then stirs the risotto. “I know what you are thinking.” She mumbles to her brother. “But you know what. I am serious. It’s two things mostly.” She rolls her eyes at herself. Carina raise her index finger on her left hand, counting. “I’ve seen what Maya has gone through with her father recently and it made me reassess the relationship that I have with our father. He doesn’t care about me. He berates me to my face. He’s even thrown my specialty in my face. I don’t need that. He’s mean and angry and that is focused on me a lot of the time when I’m with him. So, no, I won’t go back. Someone else will have to help him because I’ve spent enough of my life wasting it on his problems to get nothing in return for it.”

Andrew stands there with his mouth hanging open. He looks from Carina over to Maya who is still standing on the opposite side of the island from them. The bewildered look on Maya’s face is hilarious.

“And-“ Carina raises her middle finger to add to the index finger. “Two, I found something that is worth staying for.” At that, she turns around and holds her hand out towards Maya. “Vieni qua.”

Maya takes a few steps and slips her hand into Carina’s. “More than a research project, more than a job, more than my annoying baby brother.” She looks right into Maya’s eyes.

“Hey.” Andrew doesn’t say it with any real offense though. He smiles at the pair.

“Don’t listen to him. I’m not going anywhere.” Carina makes sure that Maya knows.

“Good cuz I kinda like you.” Maya smiles.

“Only kinda?”

Maya shakes her head. “No, I love you.” She whispers.

“Good cuz I love you too.”

The oven beeps to let them know that the bread is ready.

“Perfect.” Andrew helps himself to getting the bread out while the couple is too busy making heart eyes at each other.

They all sit down to eat. The conversation turns to what is happening at the hospital. Maya listens as they talk in medical terms. She knows some of them but not everything they are talking about. It’s a new interesting thing that she’s found she enjoys. Listening to Carina talk about medical stuff and delivering babies. It might be her new favorite part of the day. Getting to come home or Carina coming home and Carina just telling her about her day at work.

She’s zoned out and hasn’t realized it until there is a hand on her thigh.

“What are you thinking about?” Carina asks her.

Maya hums. “You.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I like when you come home from work and tell me about your day at the hospital.”

“A lot happens there sometimes but most days aren’t too exciting.” Andrew tags into the conversation.

“It’s amazing that you bring babies into this world.” Maya praises her girlfriend.

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Andrew mumbles. “Babies are born all the time.”

“You sound like papa, Andrea, stop it.” She glares over at him before turning back to Maya. “You’ve done it too.”

Maya chuckles. “Yeah, but you are far most skilled and prepared for it than I am. I’m just freaking out the whole time.”

“And you call me every time and I talk you through it again. You just have to let it happen. It’s all natural.”

“But what if there’s a problem one time.” Maya has heard about all the possible problems that could arise during childbirth from Carina and now it freaks her out that something could happen the next time she has to help deliver a child on a call.

“You’re a professional. You’ll be fine.” Carina squeezes her thigh. “Eat.” She points her spoon at Maya’s bowl.

Maya rolls her eyes. “I’m not a child.”

“Then eat your dinner.” Carina says playfully. “Or you can’t have any tiramisu for dessert.”

“Next time, Maya you’ll have to make something from your family. Bishop, what is that?”

Maya hums. “I’m not sure. I think I’m part English and maybe German from my father’s side. I don’t know about my mother. She never talked about it.”

Andrew hums. “Well, are there any dishes that your parents made that were special, as a kid?”

“Not really. My father insisted that we eat healthy. Or that I ate healthy. I never had dessert so when Carina moved in and made lasagna and tiramisu all the time, I knew I hit the jackpot.” She jokes.

“Her lasagna is very good. Just like mamma’s.”

“You don’t need to tell me. That’s how she hooked me. She brought lasagna to my office one day when I was working.” Maya smirks over at Carina.

Carina just shakes her head. “It was more than that.” She knows she didn’t win Maya over with just her lasagna.

“But the lasagna.” Maya moans. “Even as a leftover in a Tupperware. It was amazing.”

Andrew chuckles. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” He points his spoon at Carina. “As they say.”

“As they say.” Carina repeats.

“So, Andrew, what was Carina like as a kid?”

Andrew hums over the question. “Pretty much the same as she is now. Caring and loyal. A bit goofy. A huge nerd. She always had to be learning something new. But she was all gangly long legs and arms. A stick of a thing. Oh, I know, she had this one blanket when she was little that she carried around everywhere. I mean everywhere. Outside, through the dirt, out on the street where we played. In the house, to school for a while. Everywhere. It was so disgusting. I remember the day mamma took it away and threw it in the garbage. Carina went in the garbage that night and got it out and brought it to bed with her. The next morning mamma found it in bed with her and had a fit because it had been in the dirty garbage and here it was in the clean bed with her. Papa came in, and this is the part I remember really, cuz I was so young. He came in and found out what was happening and started yelling. He ripped the blanket out of her hands and went to the kitchen, Carina crying and following after him. He got the box of matches out from the top of the tallest cabinet and lit one and started the blanket on fire. He held it over the sink until the whole thing burned.” Andrew’s voice is softer now at the end. The cute story turning sad.

Carina adds her part. “Carina you have to grow up, you can’t be a silly little baby forever.” She huffs. “That’s what he said to me.”

Andrew gives his sister a sad smile. “Now that I think about it, he was always so hard on you. Even as a kid.”

Carina gives a single nod.

Maya reaches over and takes Carina’s hand in her own. “Only happy stories from now on.”

“Remember when we used to go down to the beach with mamma.” Andrew switches to a happy story.

“You loved the water.” Carina says of Andrew. “I would try to build a sandcastle just about every time we went.” Carina turns slightly in her seat so that she is facing Maya. “And Andrea would splash around in the water for what seemed like hours. And then at some point he would run through and step on and destroy my castle.”

“Silly brother.” Maya says.

“And you would huff and get upset but each time we went you would start on a new sandcastle even though I would always come through and destroy it. It never deterred you from making a new one.”

Carina smiles, a little twinkle of nostalgia in her eyes. “I think the beauty in it was that each castle could be different. Something new every time. There was an excitement in that. Even if silly brothers would eventually ruin it.”

“When I moved and would come back just for summer. We were older and we’d spend half of our time at the beach.”

“Andrea thought he was smooth. He’d always try to pick up girls at the beach. And maybe his Italian worked on the girls in the US but the Italian girls didn’t understand his lack of accent and the unusual way he said some words. It was pretty comical. I don’t think that skinny little boy body that you had was helping either. Maybe you should’ve kept your shirt on.” Carina teases.

“Oh, please. They loved me because I lived in the US. It was intriguing to them. I was like this foreigner, but I knew the county and the language. It was the best of both.”

“If you say so.” Carina saw it entirely differently. “What was that one girl’s name that you had a crush on for the longest time? Gina? Ginger? Something.”

“Oh, I remember her. She didn’t want to have anything to do with me. We would see her every time we were at the beach. She was always hanging around. I would try to talk to her, but she wasn’t really interested, I could tell, but that didn’t stop me. She was so pretty.”

“She was.” Carina agrees.

Andrew shakes his head. “Yeah, that’s the problem. She didn’t want to have anything to do with me. It was you she was interested in. I think she had a crush on you, Carina.”

“She did. She even gave me her phone number.”

“What?” Andrew nearly jumps out of his seat. “And you never told me this.”

“I didn’t want your feelings hurt.” Carina shrugs.

“Oh, boy.” Maya looks between the pair.

“So, what happened?” Andrew calms down a little bit again.

“Oh, you know.” She shrugs again.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to be more specific than that.”

“I don’t know if I should be with your sensitivity to sex.” Carina smiles a little.

“I’m not sensitive to sex- wait you had sex with her.” Andrew throws his hands in the air. “You can’t remember her name, but you slept with her.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“What do you mean you guess?” Andrew is all riled up about this.

Carina grimaces. “It wasn’t very good.”

They all laugh.

“We were young and had no idea what to do. I don’t think either of us had been physical with a woman before. It is what it is.” Carina shrugs it off.

“Wow.” Andrew sits there, stunned.

“Wow.” Maya mumbles along with him.

Andrew shakes his head. “I can’t believe it.”

“That your crush was interested in me?”

“Exactly.”

“I told you it was that skinny little body and your weird accent. Not appealing. I, on the other hand-“ Carina looks down at her body, motioning over it with her hand.

“Yeah, we get it, you’re hot.”

“I agree with Andrew.” Maya smirks. “You’re hot.”

Carina leans in and presses her lips to Maya’s. “I’ll get dessert.” She pushes herself up from her chair.

Carina goes to the kitchen. She can feel both of their eyes on her as she moves about. She thinks this is going well with Andrew which she is happy about. Carina knows it could be a total disaster. And she knows it sort of started out that way, but he’s redeemed himself.

“What about you, Maya? Any annoying siblings?”

“I don’t know if he’s annoying, but I have a brother. A younger brother. But I haven’t been in contact with him for a while now.” Maya hangs her head.

“Oh, sorry to hear that.” Andrew leans back in his chair. “Two older sisters with younger brothers.” He smirks. “I’d like to meet him one day. If you ever do get in contact with him, that is. We could bond about our annoying older sisters.”

That gets a little smile from Maya. “Sure.” She mumbles.

Carina comes back with two plates, placing one in front of Maya and then Andrew. “Well, try it. Tell me how it is.”

They both dig into their dessert and take a bite. Carina gets twin moans in reply from them. She laughs and goes back for her own plate. She sits next to Maya again and they eat in relative silence.

“What are your plans for the rest of the evening?” Carina asks her brother.

“Nothing much.”

“We were just going to watch a movie.” Carina tells him.

“Sunday night is movie night.” Maya adds.

“If we are both home. Sometimes with Maya’s weird schedule she’s not home on Sunday nights.”

“Three out of every four Sunday’s I’m home. I told you that.” Maya has tried to explain her schedule to Carina on more than one occasion, but it hasn’t stuck yet. She’s thinking of just getting a calendar and writing it all down for her. Then Carina won’t have to ask what shift she’s working every day. It’s not really that complicated once you get it down. But then again, she enjoys that Carina asks what her schedule is every day. It makes her feel cared for and important enough that Carina wants to know.

“Yes, but I don’t know which Sunday’s those are.”

Maya rolls her eyes playfully. “You can join us for movie night if you’d like Andrew.”

“Oh, no thanks.” He holds his hands up in front of him, palms out. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt that. Nothing like being a third wheel on date night.”

“It’s not a date.” Maya says. “We are just sitting on the couch watching a movie.”

“Sounds like a date night to me.” Andrew smirks.

Maya thinks about it. It never dawned on her that that is what their movie nights are. “Oh.” She mumbles.

Carina laughs at her side. “You are so clueless sometimes. How is that possible?”

“It just- I never thought that’s what is was. Especially since you moved in. It’s just something we did. Do. I don’t know. Wow. I’m so terrible at this relationship stuff sometimes. It’s just that it doesn’t feel like a date. There’s no pressure or anything. It’s just you and me hanging out.”

“It is.”

“It’s just so easy.”

“I know.” Carina can see the wheels turning in Maya’s head. “Don’t overthink it, bambina.” She presses a kiss to Maya’s temple.

“You guys are disgusting.” Andrew pushes out his chair. “I mean that in the best way possible. Like, disgustingly cute. And I think that is my cue to make my exit. We need to do this again sometime. And Maya, I was serious. You need to cook something next time. You better not be making my sister do all the cooking for you.”

“I don’t.”

“She doesn’t.”

“Good.” He seems satisfied with that answer. Andrew has only heard Maya talk about how Carina cooks and how great it is. No one has said anything about Maya cooking. “Cuz every great romance should be a shared experience. A give and take. I shared back and forth. Not all the responsibility falling on one person.”

“Andrea.” Carina sighs.

“What?” He shrugs.

“Are all you Italians romantics?” Maya chuckles.

“Si.” Carina and Andrew say at the same time.

They all laugh.

“I’ll leave you to your movie night. Thank you for inviting me to dinner. I had a lovely time and I’m glad we were able to do this.” He means on a bigger level than just them getting together for a meal. He knows a few weeks ago this wouldn’t have been possible. He is thankful for his improved mental state.

Maya stands from her seat. So does Carina. “It was nice to properly meet you, Andrew.” Maya reaches out to shakes his hand.

Andrew takes Maya’s hand but instead of shaking it her pulls her into a hug. “Us Italians, you’ll learn, are big huggers.” He whispers in her ear. “Take good care of my sister.”

Carina can hear what he says as she’s standing right next to them. She rolls her eyes. She wants to remind him that she can take care of herself. But that’s not really the point.

“I will.” Maya promises.

They release from their hug. Andrew points a finger at Carina. “I’ll see you at the hospital.”

Carina nods and gives him a brief side hug. “Goodnight, Andrea.” She waves him out the door. Before she even can shut the door and turn around, she hears a sigh come from Maya. “What?” Carina spins around.

“That went well.” Maya is relieved.

“I told you.” Carina chuckles.

“I know- I just-“

Carina steps up to her and wraps her arms around Maya. “You were nervous. I know.” She gives Maya a sweet kiss. “Now what movie are we watching for date night.”

Maya rolls her eyes. “I’m not going to live that down, am I?”

Carina shakes her head. “Not for a while.”

“I’ll clean up from dinner. You go change and pick a movie. Nothing scary though.”

“Sounds perfetto.”